the army is the nation , the nation is the army , the army is the army is the nation is the army and i want your gold earrings for the good of the nation the army and rome and my goodness , is that a chicken i see before me , '' and he went on until sethre , who never minded making a fool of himself ( because he did that often enough without wanting to , so he could certainly do it deliberately ) , launched himself at strephon , grabbed him round the middle and pulled him down on the floor , where he continued to spout about the nation and the army and the good of us all till sethre rammed the cushion tarquin had thrown at him in his mouth and he was finally silenced , or at least muffled .