At a man time when king David's political fortunes were low and he was a fugitive, a Benjamite cursed him and David swore that he would not put him to death by the sword. But when David was dying he had a long death-bed conversation with his son Solomon in which he sounded for all the world like a vindictive Mafia godfather. The oath he had taken in life would no longer be valid after his death. Among other precise instructions to his son, Solomon was to seek out his former tormentor and bring down his "hore head in blood". Solomon obeyed his father to the letter.

The Xixia were Mongol vassals, but when Jenghiz Khan asked them for troops they replied that if he needed help he did not deserve to rule. Jenghiz let time pass, but his last campaign was against the disrespectful Xixia. When he saw his death coming and that he could not live long enough to reduce his insolent vassals, he gave his generals orders to carry on the fight until Xixia bones were spread over the hills. They were.

France was for centuries the admitted dominant European continental power. But this rank was not attained without costs. Louis XIV's reign was one war after another, culminating in the extremely budget-draining War of the Spanish Succession. Louis was succeeded by his great-grandson Louis XV, who kept up the French war-mongering tradition but in an almost gratuituous way. Louis XIV had tried to shore up France's frontiers; Louis XV got France involved in the affairs of the Holy Roman Empire, he neglected the navy, and he indebted the country. Before dying he said: "After me, the deluge". It is not clear whether he meant that his grandson and heir, Louis XV, was an incompetent or that he had hocked France's finances to such an extent that the monarchy itself was in peril. Louis XVI was dethroned in 1792 and beheaded in January 1793.

Danton was once Robespierre's best friend. They were both radicals but Robespierre grew more radical than Danton, who became one of the "indulgents" or tepid terrorists. Danton was accused of corruption with some justification although no outright proof. Those Robespierre accused were usually tried and guillotined. Trials lasted hours. The case of Danton, who was an extremely eloquent orator and had popular support, took up one day of debate in the assembly. He was judged together with a lot of unsavory characters he himself despised. Declared guilty, he was being carried in a tumbril to the guillotine and as he passed Robespierre's house he shouted: "The scaffold is waiting for you." To his executioner he said, "Show them my head. It is worth seeing." Four months later Robespierre followed the same route as Danton but he could not say anything because his jaw had been crushed by a musket ball.

Simon Bolivar lived for the glory of the republic of Great Colombia, which he founded. But Great Colombia was constituted by three former Spanish colonies: Venezuela, Nueva Granada, and Quito, and in each there were separatist parties. Bolivar opposed the politicians, who once tried to assassinate him. But he incessant campaigning in very rough conditions had left him exhausted. In 1828, he was practically deposed and sent to the port and beach of Santa Marta, well out of the political mainstream. His Great Colombian dream was undone by factionalism. Bolivar's last words were: "Let all who can flee". This was in 1830. A century or so later, the uncontainable Chicano emigration to the United States was already under way.

During the late 19th century international relations were quite unstable. That this could lead to a near-collapse of civilization in Europe was not generally foreseen, although some Viennese decadents had that intuition. French and German military were devising war plans against each other. On the German side Gen. Alfred Graf von Schlieffen was the author of the plan which bears his name. Schlieffen was so engrossed by warfare that once when an aide pointed out to him a colorful sunset over a river, he waved his hand and said: "An insignificant obstacle!" His plan consisted in a concentrated drive through Belgium towards Paris. Schlieffen's famous last words, probably concocted by his disciples, were: "Strengthen the right wing!" Schlieffen's plan could have worked at the start of World War I except that the chief of the German general staff, Gen. Helmut von Moltke, got cold feet when French Gen. J. Joffre, his French counterpart, went on the offensive in Alsace and Moltke diverted crucial forces that would possibly have permitted him to encircle Paris.

Perhaps the famous last injunction with the most ominous consequences in history was Lenin's testament. On 25 May 1922, Lenin suffered the first of the three strokes that would kill him. He asked for cyanide to end it all, but Stalin did not connive. Lenin was back in business in the summer, though much less frenetic than before. Struggling against his disability, Lenin managed between December 23 and January 4, 1923, to dictate the notes that constitute his political testament and express his view on the party leadership and his recommendations on who should succeed him. He had reservations about all the party leaders, but he was particularly critical of Stalin, whose power in the party he described as "unlimited" and he personally as "rude", which could possibly be the greatest understatement in history, although of course Lenin could not be too scathing of Stalin for using methods that he himself had freely employed.

Lenin had asked for cyanide again and Stalin had again refused. Lenin's wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya, had no political influence of her own but she basked in Lenin's prestige and on occasions expressed her opinions on party affairs. When she sent Trotsky a congratulatory letter for assuming a position contrary to one held by Stalin, the latter berated her over the phone with such insolence that Krupskaya literally fell and rolled sobbing on the floor. Lenin was told about this in March. He demanded an apology from Stalin who wrote describing the incident as a "silly misunderstanding" and taking a dismissive attitude towards Lenin himself. There is a description of Lenin's reaction by one of his attending physicians: "Vladimir Lyich lay there with a look of dismay, a frightened expression on his face, his eyes sad with an enquiring look, tears running down his face. Vladimir Ilyich became agitated, tried to speak, but the words would not come to him and he could only say: `Oh hell, oh hell. The old illness had come back'." For the rest of his days Lenin only uttered the syllables "vot-vot" (here-here) and "s'zed-s'zed" (congress-congress).

Lenin lingered until January 21 1924, when a third stroke finished him. Soviet Russia grieved at the passing of its creator. St. Petersburg was renamed Leningrad. Stalin was in the forefront of the mourners. Against the view of the other Politburo members, Stalin ordered that Lenin's body be embalmed and a "commission for immortalization" was created. A waxy but passably healthy-looking Lenin was finally entombed in the marble mausoleum that still exists in Moscow's Red Square and constitutes a favorite tourist attraction.