Listen -- strange women, lying in ponds, distributing swords, is no basis for a system of government.

Supreme, executive, power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

You can't expect to wield supreme power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you.

If I went around saying I was an emperor, just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away.