Sir Charles Wager served as Britain’s First Lord of the Admiralty from 1733 to 1742. He had a long and distinguished naval career, both at sea and ashore; and it will be useful for us to relate an anecdote from his early life that discloses much about his character and fortitude. The story that follows is found in the 1840 volume The Book of Shipwrecks and Narratives of Maritime Discoveries and the Most Popular Voyages.
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The Stoic philosopher Ariston of Chios was said to have believed strongly that the wise man should avoid making absolute judgments. Certitude, he felt, was neither possible nor desirable.
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Alexander the Great’s incursions into the Indian subcontinent brought him into conflict with local rulers unwilling to submit to Macedonian rule. One of these rulers is known to history by the name Porus. The sources are vague and contradictory, but he apparently controlled the Punjabi region bordered by the Jhelum and Chenab rivers.
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We have noted elsewhere that the young United States went to war against the Barbary principalities of northern Africa in 1801. President Jefferson found the continued payment of tribute to these piratical opportunists to be obnoxious, and resolved to punish the corsairs militarily. Tripoli returned the favor by declaring war on the Americans. Sword and bullet would now settle the matter.
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Quintus Curtius 
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