How stand I then,
That have a father kill’d, a mother stain’d,
Excitements of my reason, and my blood,
And let all sleep, while to my shame I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,
That for a fantasy and trick of fame
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause.
– William Shakespeare
Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 4. Hamlet feels guilty and shamed by the attitude of Fortinbras’ soldiers who prepare to go to Poland to die for a piece of worthless land, while he has done no fighting for his and his murdered father’s honor.