coup-de-mains

Updated: May 20, 2025

Yet, as the almost annual irruptions were at every instant ready to be converted into coup-de-mains upon Aquileia upon Verona or even upon Rome itself, unless vigorously curbed at the outset, each emperor at this period found himself under the necessity of standing in the attitude of a champion or propugnator on the frontier line of his territory ready for all comers and with a pretty certain prospect of having one pitched battle at the least to fight in every successive summer.

Thomas De Quincey - The Caesars