The respect they had for their arms made them also swear by instruments so valuable and so useful, as being the most sacred things they knew. Accordingly, in an ancient Icelandic poem, a Scandinavian, to assure himself of a person's good faith, requires him to swear, "by the shoulder of a horse, and the edge of a sword". - из примечаний к Гамлету. Кстати, Шекспир в Маргиналиях присутствует в нескольких местах.
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