Delope
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Delope (French for "throwing away") is the practice of throwing away one's first fire in a duel, in an attempt to abort the conflict. According to most traditions the deloper must first allow his opponent the opportunity to fire after the command ("present") is issued by the secondary, without hinting at his intentions. The Irish code duello forbids the practice of deloping explicitly.
The delope could be attempted for practical reasons if one's opponent was thought to be superior in ability, or for moral reasons if the duelist had objections to attempting to kill their opponent.
For one's opponent to insist upon a second shot after a delope was considered bloodthirsty and unbecoming. Often, it would fall to the secondaries to immediately end the duel after a delope had been observed.
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[edit] Notable uses
- William Pitt, Prime Minister of England chose to delope to indicate "moral superiority", having been forced into a duel with another member of parliament.[1]
[edit] In popular culture
- In Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon, Lyndon attempts the delope only to have his opponent insist upon a second fire, resulting in Lyndon's leg being amputated.
- In George MacDonald Fraser's novel Flashman, the title character appears to delope in a duel, though the matter is a little more complicated than that.
[edit] In game theory
Deloping is the best strategy for a duelist with lower accuracy than both his opponents in a truel (against rational opponents) who is given first fire.
[edit] References
- Flemming, Thomas. 1999. The Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the Future of America. New York: Perseus Books. ISBN 0-465-01736-3, p. 8-9.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Reilly, Robin. William Pitt the Younger. New York, 1978: 358-359.
