return

1064 the return of the king
Boromir have brought it to you. He is dead, and died well;
may he sleep in peace! Yet you deceive yourself. He would
have stretched out his hand to this thing, and taking it he
would have fallen. He would have kept it for his own, and
when he returned you would not have known your son.’
The face of Denethor set hard and cold. ‘You found
Boromir less apt to your hand, did you not?’ he said softly.
‘But I who was his father say that he would have brought it
to me. You are wise, maybe, Mithrandir, yet with all your
subtleties you have not all wisdom. Counsels may be found
that are neither the webs of wizards nor the haste of fools. I
have in this matter more lore and wisdom than you deem.’
‘What then is your wisdom?’ said Gandalf.
‘Enough to perceive that there are two follies to avoid. To
use this thing is perilous. At this hour, to send it in the hands
of a witless halfling into the land of the Enemy himself, as
you have done, and this son of mine, that is madness.’
‘And the Lord Denethor what would he have done?’
‘Neither. But most surely not for any argument would he
have set this thing at a hazard beyond all but a fool’s hope,
risking our utter ruin, if the Enemy should recover what he
lost. Nay, it should have been kept, hidden, hidden dark and
deep. Not used, I say, unless at the uttermost end of need,
but set beyond his grasp, save by a victory so final that what
then befell would not trouble us, being dead.’
‘You think, as is your wont, my lord, of Gondor only,’ said
Gandalf. ‘Yet there are other men and other lives, and time
still to be. And for me, I pity even his slaves.’
‘And where will other men look for help, if Gondor falls?’
answered Denethor. ‘If I had this thing now in the deep vaults
of this citadel, we should not then shake with dread under
this gloom, fearing the worst, and our counsels would be
undisturbed. If you do not trust me to endure the test, you
do not know me yet.’
‘Nonetheless I do not trust you,’ said Gandalf. ‘Had I done
so, I could have sent this thing hither to your keeping and
spared myself and others much anguish. And now hearing