Anna Komnene (c. 1083-1153)
“You can see one and the same man boasting that he will shake the whole world and the very next minute cringing prostrate in the dust – and this is even more likely to happen when they meet stronger characters.”
- From The Alexiad (Book XIII, section 10) by Anna Komnene, translated by E.R.A. Sewter, (Penguin Classics, 2009).
