+def _quaternion_hermitian_basis(n, field=QQ):
+ """
+ Returns a basis for the space of quaternion Hermitian n-by-n matrices.
+
+ TESTS::
+
+ sage: set_random_seed()
+ sage: n = ZZ.random_element(1,5)
+ sage: all( M.is_symmetric() for M in _quaternion_hermitian_basis(n) )
+ True
+
+ """
+ Q = QuaternionAlgebra(QQ,-1,-1)
+ I,J,K = Q.gens()
+
+ # This is like the symmetric case, but we need to be careful:
+ #
+ # * We want conjugate-symmetry, not just symmetry.
+ # * The diagonal will (as a result) be real.
+ #
+ S = []
+ for i in xrange(n):
+ for j in xrange(i+1):
+ Eij = matrix(Q, n, lambda k,l: k==i and l==j)
+ if i == j:
+ Sij = _embed_quaternion_matrix(Eij)
+ S.append(Sij)
+ else:
+ # Beware, orthogonal but not normalized! The second,
+ # third, and fourth ones have a minus because they're
+ # conjugated.
+ Sij_real = _embed_quaternion_matrix(Eij + Eij.transpose())
+ S.append(Sij_real)
+ Sij_I = _embed_quaternion_matrix(I*Eij - I*Eij.transpose())
+ S.append(Sij_I)
+ Sij_J = _embed_quaternion_matrix(J*Eij - J*Eij.transpose())
+ S.append(Sij_J)
+ Sij_K = _embed_quaternion_matrix(K*Eij - K*Eij.transpose())
+ S.append(Sij_K)
+ return tuple(S)
+
+