"The Trojan Horse" by Lovis Corinth (1924): "A four-legged bonfire, ready for its flame" 

"You know how this works."

"May I assure you, that not only do you not have to torture me, you don't even have to bother threatening me with torture."

"And may I assure you that I have no shame or hesitation in torturing a defenceless old man. So, talk."

"How can I assist your curiosity?"

"You know. The war. The Trojan war. I'd like to hear the understory, the truth."

"The truth? How do you define — "

"Let's not start that. I've heard the Stories and I've heard some stories. I've heard the... talk...I want the what-I-saw from someone who was there."

"I was there."

"You know what I'm asking. Everyone swears this was the greatest of the wars, everyone has heard the stories of the glories. Everyone says the heroes' names will be lip-ferried to the future. Tell me about the War at Troy."

"How do you define war? What is a — ?" 

"Chop two."

***

"You still have some fingers left and a good chance of not bleeding to death."

"Thank you. I didn't like those fingers anyway. And a man my age needs so few."

"Let's start again. No word-fiddling."

"The stories are...well, what everyone says about the war, they don't have much to do with what happened. The stories and the lived, they're as similar as, say, a horse and a leech."

"The beginning?"

"Of course. Now if I were to point out every untruth, we'd be exhausted — "