LIBRARY OF THR University of California. Received Jlu/Jt^ » ^^9%..- Accession No, 7/736'^ - Class No, / b i w ^1 Digitized by the Internet Arciiive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/easypassagesfortOOsargrich ClamJiirn |ms Sm« EASY PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION INTO LATIN SARGENT HENRY FROWDE Oxford University Press Warehouse Amen Corner, E.G. €lwcm)sian ^«ss Btxm EASY PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION INTO LATIN BY JOHN YOUNG SARGENT, M.A. FelliTiu and Tutor of Hertford College, Oxford SEVENTH EDITION AT THE CLARENDON PRESS M DCCC LXXXIX \All rights reserved^ 7 /? 3i- PREFACE TCTTHE SEVENTH EDITION. A great many new passages have been substituted for old ones in the present edition, and this has made a rearrangement necessary. In addition to the pieces set in Pass Examinations in the Oxford Schools, others set in the Class Schools, in College Scholarships, and various Competitive Examinations have been admitted. Owing to this extension some of the new exercises will be found harder than the generality of those which appeared in previous editions. It seemed, however, that a sufficient number of easy passages had been re- tained to warrant the retention of the old title. These will be found chiefly at the beginning, and are cal- culated to lead up to the more difficult ones that follow. The references to Latin authors will be found useful in helping the student to deal with the latter by suggesting an appropriate style and syntax. Also more examples of continuous narrative have been inserted; partly to engage the interest of the learner, and partly to give the teacher an early oppor- tunity, as similar expressions recur, of judging how far his hints and instructions have been appreciated. J. Y. SARGENT. , ffi 98 ' NOTICE. 1 ' • ', 1 / A Key to this Edition of Sargenfs Easy \ > Passages for Translation into Latin has been s \ prepared, and will be supplied to Teachers only, \ \ on application to the Secretary to the Delegates, \ < Clarendon Press, Oxford, > s Post free, price 6s. \ ffi^V^N^V^'N^-V^X^'N.^V.^'V^V^V^V^^.^V^'^XV.^V^V.^V^V^'V^V^V^VX^^'V.^W^....^^ OF THB W OF THB 1 r UNIVERSITY X^^^OUFOR^^^ . CONTENTS. A. No. PAGE 221. A body of Roman cavalry 124 212. A certain Pythagorean iig 132. A dervise, travelling through Tartary 72 140. A few days before his death 77 202. A great number of people . H2 10. A party had been sent 5 213. A shepherd, in pursuing 119 288. A thousand foot soldiers 162 180. Accordingly Brutus also gave 100 266. After a short time a sound . 149 68. After spreading wool upon 37 18. After the battle of Panormus 10 181. After the Governor's order 100 16. After the overthrow of Critias . S 175. After the prisoner had made 97 245. After this ceremony he was 138 11. Alcibiades, the Athenian . 6 220. Alp Arslan defeated . 123 193. Although a man ought 108 21. Although serving in the ranks II 292. Although there is nothing . 164 217. Amidst the darkness of the night 122 108. Amidst this confusion 59 114. An infant comes into the world 62 50. An order against wearing . 27 196. And it fortuned a three days after 109 179. And it happened that . 99 281. And it was now near . 158 Vlll CONTENTS, No. 198. And when the count saw that 200. And when the lark came 298. * And yet,* I continued 152. Animals in their generation 19. Antiochus in the pride 69. As soon as Philippus 70. As soon as they got 148. As they left their homes 206. As we were on our way 279. At a seaport to the westward 242. At last his caprice took 136. At length Aristodemus 224. At length he sends word 105. At night Ben Estepar 204. At that time there were 262. At the city-gate they separated 248. At the last, ' Good Master Doctor ' B. 289. * Be ready heart and hand' 106. Before an assembly thus modelled 101. But a report soon circulated 153. But at the same time the hen 59. But now for the increase 169. * But now, how shall I dare ' 141. But the events of the last year 149. But the good knight . 150. But the ingenuity of Columbus 47« But the Rhegine general 81. But the spirit of the French 36. But the wind was contrary 227. By conduct like this . 110. By his hands, Julian was 92. By this means he frustrated 215. Cyzicum is a famous city 1 20 No. 29. 5. 112. 93. 123. 71. 133. 100. 131. 210. 90. 73. 63. 230. 77. 118. 120. 228. 143. CONTENTS, Darius in the letter Day at last dawned Democritus enquired, who had . Despondency had begun to seize Discretion points out the noblest Don Pedro was the legitimate heir During this debate the king E. Epaminondas never married Epictetus makes use of an allusion Eudemus, a Cyprian, when on his way Eumenes, who was a man P. Favorinus once administered Fernando stopped not For some days he fixed Fortune suddenly changed sides . Friends and fellow-soldiers From such a survey . G. Good agriculture depends Gulliver thus relates IX PAGE l6 3 6i 51 67 38 56 71 117 49 40 34 129 42 64 65 128 78 64. Having waited for a south wind 34. He then laid in a store 75. He then went on to warn . 235. He was not without . 163. His attendants advised 208. His eldest son . 216. His flight was no less 233. His natural endowments 34 19 41 132 90 116 121 131 No. 236. 161. 184. CONTENTS. His resolution was immediately . Holguin seeing four canoes * How so, my lord ? ' . PAGE 133 89 102 256. I am come to inform you . 203. I had it from the mouth 55. I never was more astonished 276. I said there was a society . 125. I shall here relate 74. If the gods thought that I had 126. Immediately after this came 23. In a moment the fortune 56. In ancient records 190. In his flight from Mutina 231. In order to avoid 234. In person the prince . 174. In the meantime the enemy 165. In the meanwhile Eteonicus 88. In the meanwhile, to provide 232. In this person were collected 266. In this situation 207. In those books I came upon 177. It appears that destiny 296. It has been the custom 89. It was already evening 295. It was determined 300. It was evening 99. It was midday when the deputies 211. It was the custom at Rome 164. It was the last . 107. It would require the pen 144 "3 30 155 68 40 69 13 30 106 130 131 96 91 48 130 149 "5 98 166 48 166 169 54 117 91 58 4. Julius Atticus, the father of Herodes 3. Jupiter himself appeared No. CONTENTS. L. XI PAGE 229. Laino, whose base is washed 129 M. 151. Many of the Indians . 191. Many of the most illustrious 277. Meanwhile a certain Gaul 142. Meanwhile Charles, satisfied 253. Meanwhile the Vestal virgins 297. Men of low degree 255. Menenius Agrippa 127. Menippus the philosopher .. 48. Milo of Crotona 226. My language too, is unpolished 274. Nature gave you, my friend 294. No impediment could now 53. Not many days after .... 61. Notwithstanding the almost insuperable 182. Now, because I have no witnesses 8. Now when the Delphians . 46. Of our hero's moderation . 176, On receiving this news 238. On the fifth day 249. On the 5th of February 287. On the 19th of April 30. On the road some Persian scouts 291. On the second day 94. On the steep and slippery mountain 58. One day, it was the eighth 241. One day Piso in a rage 259. One Dicseus, an Athenian 27. One of the ringleaders was Xll No. 6Q. 51. 162. 14. CONTENTS. One of these two vessels One pathetic yet ludicrous Others collected their subjects Ovando listened to these men PAGE 90 7 260. Philip of Macedon 240. Pizarro, when the messengers 263. Pompey sailed to Cilicia 275. Princes disputed for your friendship 111. Protagoras was originally a porter 97. Pulcheria taught him to maintain 146 135 148 154 60 53 166. Questioned as to the relations 92 R. 42. Rhodes, an island of ancient 23 168. ' Say not a word more ' 93 20. Sedition was spreading II 172, Siccius Dentatus was known 95 155. So approaching it, as it were 86 2. So now in the hour of danger I 222. Sobieski gave the word 124 83. ' Some of his comrades ' 45 85. Such irreverent jests . 46 214. Sylla after dislodging . 119 121. T. Thales being asked how a man 66 60. The admiral set sail at sunset 32 254. The approach of night 143 91. The barbarians received 50 CONTENTS, No. 67. The bedchamber was in 205. The boldness of these boatmen 195. The child, who thought that all 145. The consul Flaminius now . 146. The consul had encamped in 197. The count then entered into 35. The countess, fearful of the fate 31. The craelty wreaked by the Spaniards 109. The devout and fearless curiosity 1. The Dorian army marched to Athens 188. The enemy at first were astonished 293. The enterprise was attended 225. The envoys, who had not yet 103. The evening was already . 86. The faithless foe only sought 299. The fate of Valens himself . 252. The figure stood and beckoned 52. The following anecdote is related 187. The general replied, * Your advice 130. The generality of mankind live . 183. The great Governor, hearing this 157. The Grecian fleet, as we have seen 87. The Greeks resolved to return 38. The guards sent one to show 264. The horsemen rode off in anger . 160. The houses of Sardis were . 290. The Indians rushed on 129. The king had been for some time 185. The lad, in answer to their enquiry 104. The legions of Armenia 267. The magistrates and council 278. The meeting took place near 33. The messengers who were sent . 137. The most affecting incident 72. The natives however were not . 25. The next year the Portuguese 218. The people of Tarentum 54. The Pharos is a tower Xlll XIV CONTENTS, No. 128. The philosopher seeing a great cloud 44. The place, like the hill-forts 173. The Pompeians were too much 192. The practice of charity should 13. The Prefect set out accompanied 40. The present danger awakened 117. The prospect of a future state 223. The rebel chieftain, cunning as he 43. The Rhodians sent envoys . 186. The Roman army in Sicily . 283. The Roman general obtained 96. The Roman world was deeply 285. The route by which the army 82. The Samnites attacked at once 84. The Samnites met their enemies 156. The satrap sent him a message 79. The soldier who had used me ill 9. The son of Croesus, although 158. The Spaniards, while thus employed 139. The water washed some of the crew 119. The wisest and best of men 32. The young prince, trained in 280. * Their discourse,* replied the son 246. Then came she to him 282. Then Criton, hearing this . 22. Then replied that valiant knight 194. Then the child went to Pampeluna 272. Then the prisoners went mad 170. Then the young man replied 270. Then was committed that great crime 251. There came to Athens 199. There is a little bird . 154. There is a river called Astrseus . 113. There is nothing in history . 122. There is scarcely among the evils 189. There was a stream of no great size 250. There was at Athens a large 167. There was at this time CONTENTS, No. 17. There was then an illustrious 67. Thereupon the woman burnt three 258. * These are the mansions ' . 171. These several reports reached 76. These soldiers, all Greeks 6. They found the market-place 37. They had been informed 237. They had crossed the plain 45. They provided themselves with . 269. They say that Lucius Manlius 284. They sent deputies to the Roman 39. They who went into the inn 65. This change of wind . 138. This proclamation caused great joy 201. This too the little ones 98. Those verses from the Georgics . 124. To the solemn question 243. Towards the close of his reign 49. Travelling through a forest . XV PAGE 9 31 145 95 41 3 20 133 24 151 160 21 35 75 112 54 67 136 27 U. 7. Upon receiving this answer . . . . ^ . 4 80. Upon this, I gave them four 43 15. Upon this Ovando . 8 V. 28. Very just and neat 15 209. Volumnius had been 116 w. 24. We are told that Valerian .... 13 144. We had one dangerous place . . 78 147. We have it on the authority 81 273. We may compare the career . 153 115. We pass the first years .... 62 78. We went downstairs directly 42 XVI CONTENTS. No. ^ PAGE 257. We were a little uneasy . . . . . . 144 261. Well, he reaches home 146 116. What gratitude do we not owe 63 178. When Caesar entered, the Senate . . . • . 99 286. When C)n-us was twelve 161 26. When Dolabella was proconsul 14 95. When he was now advanced . . . . .52 219. When Pyrrhus, on his way 123 268. When the Athenians were 150 244. When they arrived at Westminster . . . -137 247. When they had all drunk to him 139 271. When they were ordered to enter . . . . 152 41. When those at the bridge 22 159. When with infinite toil 88 134. While at a distance from 73 135. While engaged in hunting 74 12. While the King lay in his blood 6 239. While the two armies fronted 134 62. With the theft of the Palladium 33 Y. 102. Yet even in the transport 56 PASSAGES FOB TRANSLATION INTO LATIN. 1. The Dorian army marched to Athens, and lay encamped under its walls. Aletes, their leader, had previously consulted the Delphic oracle, and had been assured of success, provided he spared the life of the Athenian king. A friendly Delphian, named Cleomantis, disclosed the answer of the oracle to the Athenians, and Codrus resolved to devote himself for his country. He went out at the gate, disguised in a woodman's garb, and falling in with two Dorians killed one with his bill, and was killed by the other. The Athenians now sent u herald to claim the body of their king, and the Dorian chiefs, deeming the war hopeless, withdrew their forces from Attica. 2. So now in the hour of danger the geese heard the sound of the enemy, and they began to cry in their fear and to flap their wings; and Marcus Manlius, whose house was in the Capitol hard by the temple, was aroused by them; and he sprang up and seized sword ;and shield, and called to his comrades, and ran to the edge of the cliff. And behold a Gaul had just reached the summit, when Marcus rushed upon him and dashed B 2 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION his shield into his face and tumbled him down the rock. The Gaul as he fell bore down those who were mount- ing behind him ; and the rest were dismayed, and dropped their arms to cHng more closely to the rock, and so the Romans, who had been roused by the call of Marcus, slaughtered them easily, and the Capitol was saved. Livy, V. 47. 3. Jupiter himself appeared to a citizen in a dream, and bade him tell the consuls not to lay down their office without being reconciled. On this Pompeius stood still, and said not a word; but Crassus advanced, took his hand, and exclaimed, *My countrymen, I am doing nothing ignoble or mean in being the first to give way to Pompeius, whom you deemed worthy of the name of Magnus before he had a beard, and twice decreed him a triumph before he was a senator.' Such was the cere- mony which Pompeius demanded of his equals ; to the multitude he was still more haughty. He withdrew him- self from the business of an advocate, on which the most illustrious citizens had been wont to pride themselves ; and he never went into the forum unless surrounded by a company of nobles. 4. Julius Atticus, the father of Herodes, must have ended his life in poverty had he not discovered an im- mense treasure buried under an old house, the last remains of his patrimony. According to law the em- peror might have asserted his claim to the treasure trove. But when Atticus gave voluntary information of his good luck, the equitable Nerva who then filled the throne, refused to accept any part of it, and commanded him to INTO LATIN. 3 use without scruple the present of fortune. The cautious Athenian still insisted that the treasure was too large for a subject, and that he knew not how to use it. * Abuse it then/ replied the monarch, with good-natured peevish- ness, * for it is your own.' 6. Day at last dawned, but did not quite clear up the mystery of the night's alarm to the mass of the in- habitants of Tarentum. They were safe in their houses, unmassacred, unplundered ; the only blast of war had been blown by a Roman trumpet; yet Roman soldiers were lying dead ; and Gauls were spoiling their bodies. Suspense at length was ended by the voice of the pubhc crier summoning the citizens of Tarentum, in Hannibal's name, to appear without their arms in the market-place ; and by repeated shouts of * Liberty! Liberty!' uttered by some of their own countrymen who ran round the town calling the Carthaginians their deliverers. The firm partizans of Rome made haste to escape into the citadel, while the multitude crowded to the market- place. 6. They found the market-place regularly occupied by Carthaginian troops ; and the great general, of whom they had heard so much, was preparing to address them. He spoke to them, in Greek apparently, declaring, as usual, that he was come to free the inhabitants of Italy from the dominion of Rome. ' The Tarentines, there- fore, had nothing to fear, they should go home, and write each over his door, a Tarentines house \ those words would be a sufficient security, np door so marked should be violated. But the mark must not be set 4 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION falsely upon any Roman's quarters ; a Tarentine guilty of such treason would be put to death as an enemy ; for all Roman property was the lawful prize of the soldiers.' Accordingly all houses where Romans had been quar- tered were given up to be plundered, and the Cartha- ginian soldiers gained a harvest, says Polybius, which fully answered their hopes. 7. Upon receiving this answer, the Adelantado burnt several villages, and approached nearer to the camp of Maiobanes. Fresh negotiations were entered into : Maio- banes convoked an assembly of his people, and they contended that Geryones ought to be given up, and cursed the day when first he came amongst them. Their noble chief, however, said, *that Geryones was a good man, and deserved well at his hands, for he had given him many royal gifts when he came to him, and had taught him and his wife to join in choral songs, and to dance, of which he made no little account ; wherefore he would not desert Geryones, since he had fled to him, and he had pledged himself to protect the fugitive ; and would rather suffer all extremities than give detractors a cause for speaking ill, to say that he had delivered up his guest.' 8. Now when the Delphians heard what danger they were in, great fear fell on them. In their terror they consulted the oracle concerning the holy treasures, and inquired if they should bury them in the ground, or carry them away to some other country. The god, in reply, bade them leave the treasures untouched. ' He mro LATIN, 5- was able,^he said, * without help to protect his own.' So the Delphians, when they received this answer, began to think about saving themselves. And first of all they sent their women and children across the gulf into, Achaea. After which the greater number of them climbed up into the tops of Parnassus, and placed their goods for safety in the Corycian cave ; while some effected their escape to Amphissa in Locris. In this way all the, Delphians quitted the city, except sixty men and the prophet. 9. The son of Croesus, although old enough to talk, was unable to speak, and even afterwards, when nearly^ grown up, could not utter a word, but was for a long time thought to be dumb. But when his father had been defeated in battle, and the city where he dwelt taken, and a soldier with a drawn sword was going tQ, slay him not knowing that he was the king, the young man opened his mouth and tried to speak, and in the effort burst the impediment which made him tongue-tied, and spoke out plainly and articulately, crying to the man * not to kill Crcesus the king.' Then the soldier lowered his sword, and the king's life was spared, and from that time forth the youth had the use of his voice. 10. A party had been sent to Saxona to get bread ; for the inhabitants of that island had always been friendly to the Spaniards, and were in the habit of supplying them with provisions. The Cacique of the place, with a stick in his hand, was urging his men, and hastening the preparations. The Spaniards were looking on : one of them had his dog with him, and the animal was wild to 6 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION get at the Cacique. The Spaniard could hardly hold It in; and unfortunately happened to say to a comrade standing by him, * what a thing it would be if he were to set the dog at him.' His friend, in jest, said, * At him,' thinking that the Spaniard could certainly restrain the dog. But with this encouragement it burst from its master, rushed on the Cacique, and killed him in a manner hideous to behold. Livy, xxix. 42, 43. 11. Alcibiades, the Athenian, was brought up as a boy at the house of his uncle Pericles, where he was in- structed in the liberal arts and accomplishments. Pericles also ordered Antigenides the flute-player to be sent for, to give him lessons in flute-playing, which was then considered a very genteel thing. When the flute was handed to Alcibiades,' he put his mouth to it, and blew ; but was so ashamed at the distortion of his face, that he immediately dashed down the flute, and broke it. * The occurrence became generally known and talked about, and the result was, that by common consent flute-playing ceased to be fashionable among the Athenians. 12. While the King lay in his blood, a noise and tumult arose in the town, and Tanaquil ordered the gates of the royal house to be shut, to keep out the people. And she spoke to them out of an upper window, and said that 'th^ king was not dead, but only wounded, and had ordered that Servius should reign in his stead until he had recovered. Therefore Servius filled the king's place, and sat -as judge on the royal throne, conducting all affairs as the king himself was wont to do. INTO LATIN, f But when it became known, after some days, that Tar- quinius had died, Servius did not resign the royal power, but continued to rule for a time, without being appointed by the people and without the consent of the Senate. Then, after he had won over a large number of the people by all kinds of promises and by grants of land, he held an assembly andp^rsuaded the people to choose him for their king. Livy, i. 41. 13. The Prefect set out, accompanied by seventy horse- men and three hundred foot-soldiers. Anacaona, who had probably some suspicion of his intentions, summoned all her feudatories around her, to do honour to him when she heard of his coming. Then she went gut to meet him with a concourse of her subjects. Various amuse- ments were provided for the strajigers, and Anacaona thought that she had succeeded in propitiating this severe looking Governor, as she had done the last. But the former followers of Roldan were about the Governor, telling him that there was certainly an insurrection at hand, and that if he did not look to it now and suppress it at once, the revolt would be far more difficult to quell when it did break out. Livy, i. 9. 14. Ovando listened to these men^ indeed he must have been much inclined to believe them, and professed himself convinced that an insurrectio|i was intended. With these thoughts in his mind, he ordered that on a certain day, after dinner, all the cavalry should get to horse, on the pretext of a tournament. The infantry too he caused to be ready for action. He himself, a 8 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION Tiberius in dissembling, went to play at quoits, and was disturbed by his men coming to him, and begging him to look on at their sports. The poor Indian queen hur- ried with the utmost simplicity into the snare prepared for her. She told the Governor that her Caciques, too, would like to see the tournament Livy, i. 9. 15. Upon this Ovando, with demonstrations of pleasure, bade her come with all her Caciques to his quarters, for he wanted to talk to them, intimating, as I conjecture, that he would explain the show to them. Meanwhile he gave his cavalry orders to surround the building; he ^ placed the infantry at certain commanding positions, and told his men that when in talking with the Caciques he should place his hand upon the badge of knighthood which hung upon his breast, they should rush in and bind the Caciques and Anacaona. It fell out as he had planned. All these deluded Indian chiefs and their Queen were secured. She alone was led out of Ovando's quarters, which were then set fire to, and all the chiefs burnt alive. Anacaona was afterwards hanged, and the province was desolated. Livy, i. 9. ^ 16. After the overthrow of Critias, Pausanias, king of the Lacedaemonians, came to the assistance of the Athenians. He made a peace between Thrasybulus and those who were in possession of the city, on the follow- ing conditions r * that no one, except the thirty tyrants, and the ten magistrates who succeeded them and had emulated their cruelty, should be condemned to banish- ment, or have their property confiscated, and that, the INTO LATIN. 9 control of state affairs should be restored to the people.' The following circumstance too redounds to the credit of Thrasybulus, that after the reconciliation had been made, being now possessed of great influence in the state, he carried a law, * that no one should be accused or punished for acts done previously to the peace.' This law they called an amnesty. He was not content, how- ever, with merely passing the law ; he found means to carry it into execution. For when one of the com- panions of his exile wished to take the lives of those with whom a reconciliation had been made, he issued a public prohibition, and performed what he had promised. / 17. There was then an illustrious Roman, Appius Claudius by name, who, on account of his great age and the loss of his sight, had ceased to attend the Senate. But when he heard of the embassy from Pyrrhus, and the report prevailed that the Senate was going to vote for the peace, he could not contain himself, but ordered his servants to carry him in his chair through the forum to the Senate-house. When he was brought to the door, his sons and his sons-in-law received him and led him into the Senate./ A respectful silence was observed by the whole body on his appearance, and he delivered his sentiments in the following terms: — 'Hitherto I have regarded my blindness as a misfor- tune, but now, Romans, I wish I had been as deaf as I am blind : for then I should not have heard of counsels so ruinous to the glory of Rome.' No sooner had he finished speaking than the Senate voted unanimously for the war. Cicero, de Senectute, §§ i6, 17. . lO PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION- IS, After the battle of Panormus, the hopes of the Romans rose again, and the Senate gave orders to build a third fleet of two hundred sail. But the Carthaginians, weary of the war, thought that a fair opportunity of making peace was now offered : and that the Romans had not so entirely recovered from their late disasters, but that they wpuld gladly listen to equitable terms. Accord- ingly an embassy was despatched to offer an exchange of prisoners, and to propose terms on which a peace might be concluded.'jH^ Regulus (according to the well-i known story) accompanied this embassy, under promise] to reUirn to Carthage if the purposes of the embassy 1 should fail. On his arrival at Rome, he refused to enter the walls, and take his place in the Senate, as being no longer a citizen or a senator. Then the Senate sent certain of their own body to confer with him in_gresence of the ambassadors, and the counsel which he gave con- firmed the wavering minds of the fathers./ 19. Antiochus in the pride of his heart was showing • Hannibal the vast forces he had got together to make war upon the Romans, and was pointing out his regi- ments resplendent with silver and gold ornaments, and showing the scythed chariots, the elephants with their towers, and the horsemen in all their bravery with shining bits and saddles and trappings. Filled with vain- glory by the contemplation of such a vast and well- appointed host, he looked at Hannibal and said, * Well, do you think that will do ? Do you think all that will be enough for the Romans?' The Carthaginian, with a covert allusion to the cowardice of those soldiers in their costly armour, replied, * Enough? O yes, all that will INTO LATIN, II certainly be enough for the Romans, be they ever so greedy/ Nothing could be more courteous, and at the same time more cutting, than this answer. The king was thinking of his army as a match for the Romans ; Hannibal, as so much booty. ^ 20. Sedition was spreading among the tribes of that \ region, when Camillus advanced with his forces to re- . press it by a sudden blow. The defence of the peaceful I province had been entrusted to one legion with a few / bands of the allies ; and this little army was enough to I overcome all resistance in the field. Tacfarinas, relying on the arts which he had learnt from his late masters, ventured to give battle, and suffered a speedy defeat. The pro-consul claimed the honours of a conqueror; and Tiberius, it was believed, was more willing to grant them on account of the obscurity of his name, which \ had shone with no splendour since the old days of the ^Gallic invasion. if Camillus himself had had no expe- rience in arms; nor was he now elated by success, or tempted to think himself a mighty general. He was not indeed aware how short his triumph would be. 21. Although serving in the ranks he had more influence than his superiors ; and the soldiers gave more heed to him than to their officers. This circumstance hastened his death. For he bade his pilot steer into the harbour in his eagerness to be the first to enter, and this cost him his life. For he got in, indeed, but the others did not follow. And so he was surrounded by a swarm of enemies. While bravely fighting, his vessel was struck, and began to sink. He might have escaped by throwing himself ^ OF THE ^ R UNIVERSITY 1 12 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION into the sea, because the alHed fleet was close at hand, and ready to take on board all in danger of drowning ; but he resolved to die rather than desert his ship. The rest were not so scrupulous, but swam to shore. But he, holding that an honourable death is preferable to a dis- graced life, was slain as he fought hand to hand with the enemy. 22. Then replied that valiant knight, sir Marmaduke, 'Surely, my friends, it shall never be said of me, that I drowned myself for nothing. Do not ye so either, but follow me, and I will clear a passage, through them even to the bridge.' Then spurring his charger, he plunged among the enemy, and dealing blows on either side passed unhurt through the throng, and laid open a wide path for his followers. For he was tall and stout of body. And as he fought thus valiantly, his nephew, who was wounded, his horse being slain, shouted after him, * Sir, save me ! ' He replied, ' get up behind me.' — 'I cannot,' he answered, *for my strength is gone.' Presently, his comrade, an esquire of the same sir Mar- maduke, came up, and descending from his horse, he placed the young man on it, and said to his master, * Sir, go where you will, I follow.' And he followed him to the bridge, so that both were preserved. All who re- mained, to the number of a hundred horsemen and five thousand foot, perished, except a few who swam the river. Livy, ii. lo. 23. In a moment the fortune of the day was changed, and the pursuers in their turn took to flight. Many were killed in the shock of the encounter, and many as they INTO LATIN, 13 endeavoured to escape. And they not only perished by the sword, but rushing bhndly into the swamps many were swallowed up, horses and all, in the bottomless mud. The king himself was in great danger ; for his horse being wounded fell and threw his rider headlong to the ground, so that he narrowly escaped being killed where he lay. He was saved by the devotion of a knight, who hastily dismounted, and lifted the trembHng king into his own saddle. The knight, being unable on foot to keep up with the retreating horsemen, was over- taken by some of the enemy who had hurried up on seeing the king fall, and by them stabbed to death. The king having skirted the marsh, succeeded in reaching his camp, where most of his followers had given him up for lost. 24. We are told that Valerian, in chains, but invested with the imperial purple, was exposed to the multitude, a constant spectacle of fallen greatness, and that whenever the Persian monarch mounted on horseback, he placed his foot on the neck of a Roman emperor. Notwith- standing all the remonstrances of his allies, who repeat- edly advised him to remember the vicissitude of fortune, to dread the returning power of Rome, and to make his illustrious captive the pledge of peace not the object of insult. Sapor still remained inflexible. When Valerian sank under the weight of shame and grief, his skin, stuffed with straw and formed into the likeness of a human figure, was preserved for ages in the most cele- brated temple of Persia, a more real monument of triumph than the fancied trophies of brass and marble so often erected by Roman vanity. The tale is moral 14 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION and pathetic, but 'the truth of it may fairly be called in question. 25. The next year the Portuguese mariners discovered the island of Madeira. But in their first attempt to cultivate the land they met with an untoward accident. In clearing the forest they kindled a fire which spread and burnt for seven years, and in the end the timber which had given the island its name became its rarest commodity. But Cape Bojador on the African coast long formed the limit of discovery in a southern direc- tion. This cape was formidable in itself, being terminated by a ridge of rocks with fierce currents running round them, but was much more formidable from the fancies which mariners had formed of the sea and land beyond it. *It is clear,' they were wont to say, *that beyond this cape there is no people whatever : the land is as bare as Libya — no water, no trees, no grass in it : the sea so shallow that at a league from the land it is only a fathom deep ; the currents so violent that the ship which passes that cape will never return.' 26. When Dolabella was proconsul of Asia, a woman of Smyrna was brought before him. This woman had taken the lives of her husband and son, by secretly administering a draught of poison. Moreover, she con- fessed the crime, and said that she had good reasons for doing it, because the said husband and son had laid wait for and murdered another son of hers by a former husband, an excellent young man who had done them no harm. That the facts were so there was no dispute. Dolabella put the case before his council. But none of INTO LATIN. 15 the judges ventured to deliver sentence in so doubtful a case ; since on the one hand the crime of poisoning had been admitted, and ought not, they thought, to go unpunished; while on the other hand, a well-deserved punishment had been inflicted on two malefactors. Dolabella referred the matter to the court of Areopagus at Athens. The Areopagites, having heard the case, bound over the accuser and the accused to come up for judgment that day one hundred years. 27. One of the ringleaders was a certain Michael Joseph, a blacksmith, a notable talking fellow, and no less de- sirous to be talked of. The other was Thomas Flammock, a lawyer, who by telling his neighbours commonly upon any occasion that the law was on their side had gotten great sway amongst them. This man talked learnedly, and as if he could tell how to make a rebellion, and never break the peace. He told the people that sub- sidies were not to be granted or levied in this case : that is, for wars in Scotland, for that the law had provided another way of raising means for these journeys ; much less when all was quiet, and war was made but a pretence to poll and pill people. And therefore that it was good they should not stand now like sheep before the shearers, but put on harness, and take weapons in their hands. Livy, xxii. 25, 26. 28. Very just and neat is the reproof administered to Albinius by Cato. Albinius composed a history of Rome in Greek. In the beginning of the book he writes to the following effect : that no one has a right to be hard upon him if there occur any passages wanting in correctness or l6 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION elegance. * For/ he says, * I am a native Roman, born in Latium; Greek is quite a foreign language to me/ And on that ground he asked pardon and forgiveness for any mistakes there might be. When Cato had read it, he exclaimed, * Nay then, friend Aulus, you are surely trifling with us, since you have chosen rather to beg forgiveness for a fault, than to avoid committing the fault. For we are wont to ask forgiveness, either when we have erred unwittingly, or sinned under compulsion. But as for you, who, pray, compelled you to commit a fault, for which you had to ask forgiveness before com- mitting it ? ' 29. Darius in the letter which he sent to Alexander assumed a tone of remonstrance, as one who had suffered an unprovoked aggression. He reminded Alexander that his father had been on terms of peace and alliance with Ochus, but on the accession of Arses had commenced hostilities, without any just cause, against Persia ; and that since he himself had mounted the throne, Alexander instead of sending an embassy to renew the ancient amicable relations between the two kingdoms, had in- vaded his territories, and forced him to wage war in self- defence. He was now reduced by the chance of war to make a request ; such, however, as one king might be- comingly address to another : that Alexander would re- store his mother, wife, and children. He himself was willing to become Alexander's friend and ally, and desired that he would send ministers with the two Persian envoys to treat with him. 30. On the road some Persian scouts fell into his hands, from whom he learnt that Darius, with an army INTO LATIN, 17 far greater than he had before brought into the field, lay on the left bank of the Tigris, preparM to guard the passage against him. He now advanced at full speed towards the Tigris; but when he reached it, found neither Darius himself nor any hostile force, and met with no other obstacle in the crossing than the rapidity of the stream. On the left bank he gave his troops a few days' rest after their forced march, during which there occurred an eclipse of the moon. Aristander expounded it as a sign that during that month the Persian monarchy was destined to lose its power and glory ; and when Alexander sacrificed to the moon, the sun, and the earth, as the powers which concurred to produce the portent, the victims were found to announce a victory. 31. The cruelty wreaked by the Spaniards upon their captives was excessive. Las Casas mentions that on one occasion they hanged up thirteen Indians * in honour of Christ and His twelve Apostles.' These men hanging. at such a height that their feet could just touch the ground, were used as dumb figures for the Spaniards to try their swords upon. On another occasion he saw some Indians being burnt alive in a sort of wooden cradle. Their cries disturbed the Spanish captain, taking his siesta in his tent, and he bade the alguazil, who had charge of the execution, to despatch the captives. This officer, how- ever, only gagged the poor wretches, who thus fulfilled their martyrdom in the way he originally intended for them. Livy, xxix. 42, 43. lb PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION 32. The young prince, trained in a school of deceit, maintained the character of his race for cunning. With tears he implored the general not to send him away : not even a royal crown was so dear to him, he said, as the sight of Cortes. Cortes, not unmoved himself, checked the boy's tears, and saying," that if such were his feelings he would soon have him back again, sent him away to his own people. But like a tiger let out of prison, finding himself free, he began to carry on the war against his benefactor with such vehemence, that the tears he shed at the interview would seem to have been tears of joy. Many of the Spanish officers, friends of Cortes, were glad that this had happened, and that his excessive forbearance had been mocked by the young traitor ; as if Cortes had been influenced solely by good nature, and not by motives of the deepest policy. 33. The messengers who were sent to entrap these simple islanders, said that they were sent by God to convey the Lucayans to the islands of the blest, where dwelt their ancestors, and the dear ones they had loved when alive. Under this pretext great numbers were de- coyed from their home and carried away to Hispaniola, to work the rest of their days in the mines. When they learnt the truth, some refusing sustenance perished by hunger, some lived on in patient despair, and some endeavoured to escape and return to their native land./ One Lucayan, who had been a carpenter in his own island, having made his way through the woods to the northern coast, cut down a tree, and having laid the stems of smaller trees across beams made of the main trunk, lashed them together with the stringy roots of INTO LATIN, 19 certain shrubs which grow there, and filling in the inter- stices with leaves and twigs, thus constructed a kind of raft. 34. He then laid in a store of maize, and some vessels of water as provisions for the voyage. He took on board with him another Indian man and a woman, all three being related to each other. Having provided themselves with paddles they set out, with the north star for their guide. For many days and many nights they rowed and drifted ; Hispaniola, their loathed prison, had long been out of view ; they had already gone two hundred miles, and were already hoping to see Lucaya once more. 'Cheer up, sister,' says the Indian, *not many mornings more will dawn upon us before we behold our native land again.' When lo, a dark object is seen on the sky- line. At first they rejoice, thinking their native land is in sight Soon, however, their joy is turned into despair. That which they thought to be land is a Spanish caravel. It has already seen the raft, and bears down swiftly upon the fugitives. They are seized and carried back to His- paniola. 35. The countess, fearful of the fate that awaited her children if they were taken, declared that she would rather kill them with her own hand than let them fall into the tyrant's power. But her husband recoiled with horror at the dreadful suggestion, and said that he would put them under the protection of some friends abroad, and would himself escort them on their journey. Ac- cordingly they set out for Venice, to attend the annual festival on St. Mark's day. After spending the day there c 2 20 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION at the religious celebration, they embarked about one o'clock in the morning, when every one was sound asleep, on board a vessel prepared for the purpose, as if to return home, but their real destination was Corfu. 36. But the wind was contrary, and morning overtook them while still but a short distance from the land. The royalists who garrisoned the port sent an armed cruiser to seize their vessel and bring it back, with stringent orders not to return without it. As they drew near, the count applied himself to encouraging the rowers, from time to time raising his hands to heaven and praying to God for help. But this high-spirited lady nerved herself to carry out the resolution she had long before taken. She mixed a draught of poison, and produced a sword. Then having placed the bowl before her, and unsheathed the sword, she said, * Death is our only refuge ; there lie the roads to death; choose each his own way, and escape the tyrant's cruelty. Come, sirs, the eldest first, take the sword, or drain the cup if you prefer the slower death.' Their enemies were close upon them ; the countess was urgent. Then some chose the poison, and some the sword, and dying threw themselves from the ship. The brave lady and her husband, clasped in the embrace of death, leapt overboard, and sank beneath the waves. The king's men captured an empty vessel. 37. They had been informed that Sir Marmaduke I^ngdale (whom they still called their general), after the overthrow of the Scottish army, had been taken prisoner, and remained in Nottingham castle under a most strict custody. Morrice, with a party of twelve horse, a choice INTO LATIN, 21 band, sallied forth in the beginning of the night, with a resolution to take Rainsborough prisoner, and thereby to ransom their general. They were all well acquainted with the country and knew the ways exactly, and went so far, that about daybreak they put themselves into the common road that led from York. The guard, expecting no enemy in this direction, negligently asked them * whence they came ? ' and they negligently answered : and asked again, * where their general was ? ' saying, ' they had a letter for him from Cromwell.' 38. The guards sent one to show them where the general was, which they knew well enough, and that he lay at the best inn of the town. And when the gate of the inn was opened to them, three of them entered, the rest rode on to the other end of the town, to the bridge over which they were to pass towards Pomfret. .^Here they expected and did find a guard of horse and foot, with whom they entertained themselves in discourse, saying, * that they stayed for their officer, who only went in to speak to the general,' and called for some drink. The guards, making no question of them being friends, sent for drink, and talked negligently with them of news ; and, it being now broad day, ^ some of the horse alighted, and the foot went to the court of guard, conceiving the morning's work to be over.^ 39. They who went into the inn, where nobody was awake but the fellow who opened the gate, asked in which chamber the general (for so all the soldiers called Rainsborough) lay ; and the fellow showing them from below the chamber door, two of them went up, and the Z% PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION- Other stayed below, and held the horses, and talked with the soldier who had walked with them from the guard. The two who went up opened the chamber door, found Rainsborough in his bed, but awaked with the little noise they had made. They told him in short * that he was their prisoner, and that it was in his power^o choose whether he would be presently killed ' (for which work he saw they were very well prepared), ' or quietly, without making resistance, to put on his clothes, and be mounted upon a horse, that was ready below for him, and accom- pany them to Pomfret.' 40. The present danger awakened him out of the amazement he was in, so that he told them he would wait upon them, and make the haste that was necessary to put on his clothes. One of them took his sword, and so they led him downstairs. He that held the horses had sent the soldier away to those who were gone before, to bid them get some drink, and anything else that could be made ready, against they came. When Rainsborough came into the street, which he expected to find full of horse, and saw only one man, who held the others' horses, and presently mounted that he might be bound behind him, he began to struggle and cry out. Where- upon, when they saw no hope of carrying him away, they immediately ran him through with their swords, and leaving him dead upon the ground, they got upon their horses, and rode towards their fellows, before any in the inn could be ready to follow them. 41. When those at the bridge saw their companions coming, which was their sign, being well prepared, and INTO LATIN, 23 knowing what they were to do, they turned upon the guard and killed so many of them, that the rest fled in distraction, so that the way was clear and free ; and though they missec^ carrying home the prize, for which they had made so lusty an adventure, they joined to- gether, and marched, with the expedition that was neces- sary, a shorter way than they had come, to their garrison ; leaving the town and soldiers behind in such a conster- nation, that, not being able to receive any information from their general, whom they found dead upon the ground, without anybody in view, they thought the devil had been there ; and could not recollect themselves which way they were to pursue an enemy they had not seen. 42. Rhodes, an island of ancient renown, with its capital, a rich fair city of the same name, was being beleaguered by Demetrius, a general of great repute in his day, who from his skill and experience in conducting sieges, and his knowledge of the engines employed in the taking of towns, had gained the name of Poliorcetes. In the course of the siege, a certain house belonging to the municipality, standing outside the walls, was marked out for attack, and he was preparing to dismantle it, and then burn it to the ground. Now in this house was kept the famous portrait of lalysus, the handiwork of Proto- genes, an illustrious painter ; and Demetrius was jealous enough to grudge the Rhodians the possession of this masterpiece. 43. The Rhodians sent envoys to Demetrius with this message : * What possible reason can you have for want- ing to destroy that picture by burning yonder house 24 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION down? For if you overcome us all, and capture the entire town, you will, through your victory, become owner of the picture untouched and unharmed ; but if you fail to vanquish us, and raise the siege, we bid you reflect, whether it is not a mean thing because you cannot conquer the Rhodians in war, to make war upon Protogenes now dead.' When he had heard these words of the envoys, he raised the siege, and spared both the picture and the city. 44. The place, like the hill-forts of India, was an iso- lated rock, precipitous on all sides, and only accessible by a single narrow path. Provisions had been laid in sufficient, it was thought, even if the siege should last for two years, Alexander himself, when he saw it, was almost inclined to despair. But he sent Cophas to summon Arimazes to surrender. The chief received the message with derision, and asked whether the Mace- donians had wings. In no other way did it seem pos- sible for an enemy to reach the summit. The taunt roused Alexander to a resolution which he would allow no obstacle to foil. He proclaimed a reward of ten talents for the man who should first mount to the top, and a sum proportionately less for each of the next nine. The lowest prize was to amount to three hundred darics. The most agile and expert climbers in the army soon came forward as competitors for wealth and honour, to be earned by a risk which they were used to despise. Sallust, Bell. Jugurth, 92 sqq. 45. They provided themselves with cords and with a number of iron pegs with which the tents were secured. INTO LATIN. 25 and set out in the middle of the night toward the most precipitous, and consequently the most neglected side of the rock. The attempt would perhaps have been utterly desperate, if the ascent had not been rendered easier by the snow which lay on the ground, and which had be- come so solidly frozen, that the pegs when driven into it could support the weight of the body. Still, more than thirty of the adventurers lost their footing, and were buried so deep in the snow at the foot of the hill that their bodies could not afterwards be found. Their more fortunate companions, who gained the summit in safety, announced their success to their friends below by the waving of flags, the signal which Alexander had ap- pointed. As soon as he saw it he again sent Cophas to summon Arimazes, and to point out to him that the Macedonians had found wings. Sallust, Bell, Jugurth. 92 sqq. 46. Of our hero's moderation and wisdom many ex- amples might be given. We will content ourselves with one, from which it may be easily inferred how popular he was with his countrymen. When a young man he had occasion to plead his own cause at Athens, and not only acquaintances and personal friends came to support him, but Jason the tyrant also, the most powerful poten- tate of the day, attended. Jason, although at home in his own country he dared not go abroad without a body- guard, came to Athens without any escort, and paid his friend Timotheus the high compliment of risking his own life in order to be present, rather than fail to sup- port Timotheus when defending his honour. At a later day he conducted the war against Jason, by command of 26 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION- the people : deeming the claims of country more sacred than those of private friendship. 47. But the Rhegine general, Phyton, was detained with all his kindred, and reserved for a different fate. First, his son was drowned by order of Dionysius ; next Phyton himself was chained to one of the loftiest siege- machines, as a spectacle to the whole army. While he was thus exhibited to scorn, a messenger was sent to apprise him that Dionysius had just caused his son to be drowned. * He is more fortunate than his father by one day,' was the reply of Phyton. After a certain time the sufferer was taken down from this pillory, and led round the city, with attendants scourging and insulting him at every step, while a herald proclaimed aloud, * Behold the man who persuaded the Rhegines to go to war, thus signally punished by Dionysius ! ' 48. Milo of Crotona, the famous athlete, came to a strange and miserable end. Being now advanced in years, he had given up his profession, and happened to be travelling alone in a woodland district of Italy, when he saw an oak tree by the wayside, with spreading branches, but hollow in the centre. Wishing (I sup- pose) to try whether he still retained aught of his former strength, he thrust his fingers into the hollow of the tree, and endeavoured to rend the trunk asunder. And he succeeded in splitting the timber, and pulling apart the sides. But as soon as Milo relaxed his hands, think- ing the task was accomplished, the oak returned to its natural position, when the pressure was removed, and, closing tightly over the poor fellow's hands, held him there a prisoner, until he was devoured by wild beasts. I UNIVERSITY 1 INTO LAT/JV.\ zy 49. Travelling through a forest with a marsh on each side of the road, he recollected some reason for going back, and ordered the driver to turn. He did not do so instantly, and Paul repeated the order. * In a moment,' the man replied, *here the road is too narrow.' Paul flew into a passion, jumped out of the carriage, and called to an equerry to stop the driver and chastise him. The equerry endeavoured to allay the storm by assur- ances that the carriage would turn as soon as possible. * You are a scoundrel as well as he,' was the reply-; * he shall turn even though he break my neck : at all hazards he shall do as I bid, the moment I give the order.' Meanwhile the coachman had done so, but too late to save himself from a sound beating. 60. An order against wearing boots with coloured tops was rigorously enforced. By the Czar's order the police officers stopped a gentleman driving through the streets in a pair. He remonstrated, and said he had no others with him, and certainly would not cut off the tops of those : upon which the officers seizing each a leg as he sat in his droschky, pulled them off, and left him to go barefoot home. Coming down a street the emperor saw a nobleman who had stopped to look at some workmen planting trees by his order. *What are you doing?' said he. 'Merely seeing the men work,' replied the nobleman. * Oh ! is that your employment ? Take off his pelisse, and give him a spade. There now — work yourself ! ' 51. One pathetic yet ludicrous occurrence is men- tioned in connexion with the practice of suicide among as PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION' the Indians. A number of them belonging to one master had resolved to hang themselves, and so to escape from their labours and their sufferings. The master being made aware of their intention, came upon them just as they were about to carry it into effect. *Go seek me a rope too,' he exclaimed, *for I must hang myself with you.' He then gave them to under- stand that he could not live without them, as they were so useful to him ; and that he must go where they were going; They, believing that they would not get rid of him even in a future state of existence, agreed to remain where they were ; and with sorrow laid aside their ropes to resume their labours. 52. The following anecdote is related of Sertorius : — A white hind, of remarkable beauty and extreme swift- ness, had been given to him as a present by a certain Lusitanian. Sertorius set about to make people believe that this creature had come into his possession super- naturally ; that it was inspired by Diana, and that it held conversations with him, warning and instructing him what was best to do. And if it happened that any dis- agreeable duty had to be imposed on his soldiers, he used to give out that he had been advised by the hind. When he had said that, all obeyed willingly as if obeying God. One day an alarm was raised of a sudden attack ^ by the enemy. The hind, frightened by the bustle and tumult that followed, ran away and hid in a neighbour- ing marsh : and afterwards, search having been made in vain, was supposed to have perished. 53. Not many days after, news was brought to Ser- torius that the white doe was found. Thereupon he INTO LATIN. 29 bade the messenger be silent, and tell no one under pain of punishment. At the same time he gave him instruc- tions, to loose the doe next day and let her suddenly come into the room where he should be with a company of his friends. When his friends had arrived the follow- ing day, Sertorius told them that he had dreamt that the lost doe had come back to him : and, as she had been wont, advised him what he ought to do. He then gave a signal, the doe was let loose, and came running into the chamber of Sertorius. Cries of astonishment and admiration arose. The credulity of the barbarians was of great use to Sertorius in important matters. It is recorded that out of all the tribes which made common cause with Sertorius, although he suffered many defeats, not a man ever deserted from his side, although savages as a rule are fickle in their allegiance. 54. The Pharos is a tower of great height and mar- vellous construction, built on an island, from which it takes its name. This island by its position forms a breakwater and harbour for Alexandria. A pier has been run out to the length of nine hundred feet, the work of early kings, and connects it with the town by means of a narrow causeway and a bridge. There are many dwelling-houses on the island, and a village as big as a town. The people are wreckers, and are accustomed ^ to plunder all ships that by want of skill or stress of weather are driven out of their course in this direction. The Pharos commands the entrance to the harbour, which is so narrow that no ship can enter if the oc- cupants of the tower wish to prevent it. 30 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION 65. I never was more astonished in my life than when I halted on the top of one of the numerous hills of which this portion of the Crimea is composed, and looking down saw under my feet a little pond closely compressed by the sides of high rocky mountains. On it floated six or seven English ships, for which exit seemed quite hopeless. The bay is like a Highland tarn, and it is long ere the eye admits that it is some half-mile in length from the sea, and varies from two hundred and fifty to one hundred and twenty yards in breadth. The shores are so steep and precipitous that they shut out, as it were, the expanse of the harbour, and make it appear smaller than it really is. Towards the sea the cliffs close up, and completely overlap the narrow channel which leads to the haven, so that it is quite invisible. On the south-east of the poor village, which struggles for exist- ence between the base of the rocky hills and the margin of the sea, there are the extensive ruins of a fort, built some two hundred feet above the level of the sea. 56. In ancient records the following story is told about the Sibylline books. Once upon a time, an old woman, a stranger, came to the court of Tarquin the Proud, bringing with her nine books, which she asserted were inspired oracles, and said she wanted to sell them. 1^'- Tarquin asked the price. The woman named an ex- travagant sum. The king laughed at her for an old crazy woman. Thereupon she walked to the fireplace, took three of the books, and burnt them before his face. She then asked the king whether he would buy the re- maining six at the same price. At this the king laughed louder than ever, 'This old crone,' he said to himself, *is undoubtedly mad.' INTO latin; 31 57. Thereupon the woman burnt three more volumes on the spot, and then calmly repeated her demand that he would give her the same price for the remaining three. At length Tarquin's interest was aroused ; his face grew serious ; he began to think that such persistence was not without a motive, and ought not to be treated lightly. And so he purchases the three remaining books at the price originally asked for the nine. The woman then went her ways ; and was never more seen upon earth. VThe three books were stored away in one of the temples ; and the priests have recourse to them as oracles whenever it is necessary to enquire the will of Heaven. 58. One day, it was the eighth of August, very early in the morning, by reason of the heat the mariners began to bring-to their vessels, and, as they had been commanded, to draw forth those captives from the hold. Whom, placed together on that plain, it was a marvellous sight to behold, for amongst them there were some of ^a reasonable degree of whiteness, handsome, and well made y others less white, resembling leopards in their colour ; others as black as Ethiopians, and so ill-formed, as well in their faces as their bodies, that it seemed to the beholders as if they saw the forms of a lower hemi- sphere. But no heart, how hard soever, but was pierced with sorrow, seeing that company ; for some had sunken cheeks and their faces bathed in tears, looking at each other ; some were groaning very dolorously, with eyes fixed upon the heavens, crying out loudly as if they were asking for succour from the Father of nature; while others struck their faces with their hands, and threw themselves on the earth. 32 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION 69. But now for the increase of their grief came those who had the charge of the distribution, and they began to put them apart one from the other, in order to equalise the portions; wherefore it was necessary to separate children and parents, husbands and wives, and brethren from each other. Neither in the partition of friends and relations was any law kept, only each fell where the lot took him. So the partition was not made without great difficulty; for while they were placing in one part the children that saw their parents in another, the children sprang up perseveringly and fled to them ; the mothers enclosed the children in their arms and threw themselves with them on the ground, receiving wounds with little pity for their own flesh, so that their offspring might not be torn from them. And besides the trouble they had with the captives, the plain was full of people from the neighbourhood, who in that day gave rest to their hands, the mainstay of their livelihood, only to see this novelty. 60. The admiral set sail at sunset, favoured by a light breeze from the south. About midnight, however, the wind fell, and drifting with the current they were driven out of their course, so that when day broke they saw the Cuban coast left far away to larboard. But taking ad- vantage of the turn of the tide, they made all speed by rowing to reach that part of the island, where from the experience of the last summer they knew a landing could best be eflected. And here the zeal of the men was especially commendable, who by unremitting labour at the oar enabled the transports and tenders to keep up with the galleys of war. All the ships reached land by noon. No enemy was in sight at that point. A large INTO LATIN. 33 body had assembled there, but frightened by the number of the approaching ships, had withdrawn from the coast, and retired further up the country. 61. Notwithstanding the almost insuperable difficulties of such a navigation, he persisted in his course with his usual patience and firmness, but made so little way, that he was three months without seeing land. At length his provisions began to fail; the crew was reduced to the scanty allowance of six ounces of bread a day to each person. The admiral fared no better than the meanest sailor. But, even in this extreme distress, he retained the humanity which distinguishes his character, and refused to comply with the earnest solicitations of his crew, some of whom proposed to feed upon the Indian prisoners which they were carrying over, and others insisted on throwing them overboard in order to lessen the consumption of their small stock. He repre- sented that they were human beings reduced by a common calamity to the same condition with themselves, and entitled to share an equal fate. His authority and remonstrances dissipated those wild ideas suggested by despair. Nor had they time to recur, as he came soon within sight of the coast of Spain, and all their fears and sufferings ended. 62. With the theft of the Palladium may be compared the exploit of Fernando Perez del Pulgar at the siege of Granada. 'Who will stand by me,' said he, *in an enterprise of desperate peril ? ' The Christian cavaliers well knew the rash hardihood of del Pulgar, yet no one who heard hesitated to step forward. He chose fifteen D 34 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION companions, all men of powerful arm and dauntless heart. In the dead of night he led them forth from the camp, and approached the city cautiously, until he arrived at a postern gate which opened upon the Darro, and was guarded by foot-soldiers. The guards, little thinking of such an unwonted attack, were for the most part fast asleep. The gate was forced, and a confused and chance-medley skirmish ensued. 63. Fernando stopped not to take part in the fray. Putting spurs to his horse he galloped furiously through the streets, striking fire out of the stones at every bound. Arrived at the principal mosque, he sprang from his horse, and kneeling at the portal took possession of the edifice as a Christian chapel, dedicating it to the Blessed Virgin. In testimony of the ceremony, he took a tablet which he had brought with him, on which was inscribed in large letters, Ave Maria, and nailed it to the door of the mosque with his dagger. This done, he remounted his steed, and galloped back to the gate. The alarm had been given, the city was in an uproar ; soldiers were gathering from every direction. They were astonished at seeing a Christian warrior speeding from the interior of the city. Fernando, overturning some, and cutting down others, rejoined his companions, who still main- tained possession of the gate by dint of hard fighting, and they all made good their retreat to the camp. 64. Having waited for a south wind they set sail, and on the second day ran past Avlona and Durazzo. They were descried from the mainland, and Captain Coponi, then in command of the fleet at Durazzo, immediately INTO LATIN. 35 put to sea, and the wind falling, had nearly come up with our squadron, when it began to blow a gale from the south, which proved our salvation. He did not, however, give up the chase, hoping by perseverance and good seamanship to weather the storm, and as the frigates drove before the gale in a northerly direction, none the less continued the pursuit. Our fellows, while making the most of their good luck, were in mortal dread of being captured, in case the wind should fall. Finding a haven, called Lady's Bay, three miles beyond Lissa, they ran their vessels in there — this haven is protected from the south-west but not safe from the south — think- ing less about danger from the weather than from the enemies' fleet. However, as soon as they had got into port, by miraculous good fortune the wind, which had been blowing forty-eight hours from the south, chopped round to the south-west. 65. This change of wind completely turned the tables. Those who had lately been in a fright, found themselves ensconced in a snug haven; and those who had been threatening destruction to our ships began to fear for their own. The tempest in fact protected our men, but so shattered the Turkish fleet that every one of their decked ships, sixteen all told, were dashed to pieces and destroyed, and out of their immense multitude of sailors and marines part were battered to death on the rocks, part hauled ashore by our men : all these latter were saved and sent home by our admiral. Two of our vessels, being slower sailers, were over- taken by night, and not knowing where the rest had taken refuge, anchored right opposite Lissa. These D 2 ^6 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION Osman Bey, in command at Lissa, prepared to capture, sending out a number of pinnaces and small craft for the purpose, but at the same time offered to treat for their surrender, and promised quarter to those who should give themselves up. 66. One of these two vessels had on board 220 men drafted from a levy of recruits, the other less than 200, but all seasoned hands. And now one may see what advantage there is in courage and constancy. The raw hands, frightened by the number of the vessels, and brought low by the tossing and sea-sickness, accepted the enemies' assurance that they would do them no harm, and surrendered themselves to Osman. They were all brought before him, and in violation of his solemn oath, put to death most cruelly before his eyes. But the veterans, who had been exposed no less to the beating of the storm, and the sickening smell of the bilge-water, never dreamt of flinching or showing the white feather. But having got through the first part of the night in haggling about terms, on pretence of surrendering, they compelled the sailing master to run the ship ashore. Then, having found a defensible position, they passed the rest of the night there, and when Osman sent a troop of horsemen to capture them, they made a brave defence, and after killing not a few of their opponents made their way in safety to the head-quarters of our army. 67. The bedchamber was in an upper story, accessible only by a removable staircase or ladder, at the foot of which there lay every night a fierce mastiff chained, and a Thracian soldier tattooed after the fashion of his INTO LATIN. 37 country. The whole house moreover was regularly occu- pied by a company of guards ; and it is even said that the wardrobe and closets of Thebe were searched every evening for concealed weapons. These numerous pre- cautions of mistrust however were baffled by her artifice. She concealed her brothers during all the day in a safe adjacent hiding-place. At night Alexander, coming to bed intoxicated, soon fell fast asleep, upon which Thebe stole out of the room — directed the dog to be removed from the foot of the stairs, under pretence that the despot wished to enjoy undisturbed repose — and then called her armed brothers. 68. After spreading wool upon the stairs in order that their tread might be noiseless, she went again up into the bedroom, and brought away the sword of Alexander, which always hung near him. Notwithstanding this en- couragement, the three young men, still trembling at the magnitude of the risk, hesitated to mount the stairs ; nor could they be prevailed upon to do so, except by her distinct threat, that if they flinched, she would awaken Alexander and expose them. At length they mounted, and entered the bedchamber, where a lamp was burning ; while Thebe, having opened the door for them, again closed it, and posted herself to hold the bar. The brothers then approached the bed ; one seized the sleeping despot by the feet, another by the hair of the head, and the third with a sword cut his throat. Cicero, de Off. ii. 7. 69. As soon as Philippus had left the meeting and gone Jiome, and betaken himself to rest in an upper chamber, 38 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION' Xenoclides delivered the fortified posts of the town to the charge of certain of the conspirators, surrounded the palace with a guard, and stationed sentinels at the doors, with orders not to leave them. He then caused a galley to be manned and armed, and put it under the command of his brother, instructing him to keep moving up and down the harbour as if to exercise the rowers, thinking that if fortune baffled their plans, he would have a means of retreat left. He then selects from among his followers certain young Byzantine nobles, of great personal strength and courage. These he commissioned to go to Philippus, without their arms, as if they merely came to see him. They were admitted on being recognized. 70. As soon as they got inside they barred the door, and fell upon Philippus as he lay in bed, and proceeded to bind him. A great noise and uproar ensued loud enough to be heard outside. And here one may observe how unpopular irresponsible monarchy is, and how miserable the life of an autocrat who desires to be feared rather than loved. For his body guards, if they had been well disposed to him, might have broken the doors open and saved the emperor's life, while the conspirators who were unarmed, were calling aloud for a sword to those outside as they held their victim alive. No one however interfered to save him ; but one Seuthes, a Thracian, handed them a sword through the window, and with this Philippus was despatched. 71. Don Pedro was the legitimate heir to the throne of Castille. Henry and Fadrique were his half-brothers, children of Leonora de Guzman. When Pedro suc- ceeded to the throne, at his mother's instigation he put INTO LATIN, • 39 her rival to death. His brothers Henry and Fadrique escaped, and the former renounced his allegiance ; the latter fled into Portugal, but after some time he made his peace, returned, and was appointed master of the order of St. lago. When several months had elapsed, he was invited to join the court at Seville, and take his share in the amusements of an approaching tournament. He accepted the invitation, but was sternly and ominously received, and immediately executed within the palace. The friends of Pedro asserted that the king had that very day detected Fadrique in a correspondence with his brother Henry and the Arragonese, while popular belief attributed the slaughter of the Master to the influence of Pedro's mistress Maria de Padilla. 72. The natives however were not deficient in strategy. Their commanders ordered proclamation to be made all along the line, that no one should leave his post, that the booty was theirs, and whatever the foreigners left would fall into their hands ; they must make up their"^ minds to conquer, as everything depended on that. The antagonists were fairly matched in numbers and in courage. Our men it is true had been deserted both by fortune and by their leader, yet they had confidence in their own prowess, and whenever one of our squadrons made a charge, great numbers of the enemy fell. Seeing this, the barbarian chief gave orders to his men to fight at long range, and not to come to close quarters, and to fall back whenever the English made a charge, (they were lightly armed, and their agility from constant training was so great that they could do this without loss,) and to press on in pursuit whenever the English retired. 40 • PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION 73. Favorinus once administered the following rebuke to a young pedant whose affectation it was to use antique and obsolete words in ordinary conversation. *Curius and Fabricius and Coruncanius/ said he, * in their day, and the three Horatian brothers in times still more remote talked plainly and intelligibly to their contempo- raries, and used not the language of the Auruncans or the Sicanians or the Pelasgians, the original inhabitants of Italy, but that in vogue in their own day ; but you, as if you were talking with Evander's grandmother, must needs employ words gone out of use ages ago. I suppose the fact is you don't want to be understood. If so, hadn't you better be silent altogether ? But perhaps it is the innocence, the integrity, the modesty, the sobriety of the ancients that you emulate. In that case I would say, let your conduct be old fashioned, your conversation modern.' 74. If the gods thought that I had wronged them they would not have omitted to punish me when they caught me in the greatest danger. For what danger can be greater than a sea- voyage in winter-time ? The gods had then both my life and my property in their power, and yet they preserved me. Was it not then open to them so to manage, as that I should not even obtain interment for my body ? Have the gods then preserved me from the dangers of sea and pirates merely to let me perish at Athens by the act of my villainous accuser Cephisius ? No, sirs, the dangers of accusation and trial are human, but the dangers encountered at sea are divine. If there- fore we are to surmise about the sentiments of the gods, I think they will be extremely displeased and angry if INTO LATIN, Atl they see a man, whom they themselves have preserved destroyed by others. 75. He then went on to warn the members of the league that they ought to form their estimate of friends by their deeds, and not by their words, and should ascertain who were to be trusted and who were not. * Use your freedom sparingly,' he said. * Liberty, when kept well in hand, is a serviceable thing both for indi- viduals and for states : when pushed to excess it be- comes a source of danger to others, and is apt to run away with and prove fatal to its possessors. Let the various classes within each state, high and low, and no less the several states among themselves, do their best to promote concord. ^ For as long as you are united neither king nor potentate will be strong enough to crush you. Discord and sedition offer continual opportunities to the adversary, for the faction that is worsted in domestic conflicts, is more fain to throw itself into the arms of the foreigner, than to submit to a fellow-citizen.' 76. These soldiers, all Greeks and mercenaries, fight- ing for a country not their own, encountered each other on the field of battle like enemies — but conversed in a pacific and amicable way, during intervals, in their re- spective camps. Both were now engaged, without dis- turbing each other, in catching eels amidst the marshy and watery ground between Epipolae and the Anapus. Interchanging remarks freely, they were admiring the splendour and magnitude of Syracuse with its great maritime convenience — when one of Timoleon's soldiers observed to the opposite party — 'And this magnificent ^ 42 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION city, you, Greeks as you are, are striving to barbarize, planting these Carthaginian cut-throats nearer to us than they are now ; though our first anxiety ought to be, to keep them as far off as possible from Greece.' 77. Fortune suddenly changed sides. When Antony returned to Italy, everyone thought that Atticus would be in great danger, on account of his intimacy with Cicero and Brutus. And so on the arrival of the generals he had withdrawn from public, fearing proscrip- Xioxiy/' He lay concealed at the house of P. Volumnius, to whom, as we said above, he had rendered assistance : (for so continual in those days were the vicissitudes of fortune that now these^now those found themselves at the summit of success or in the depth of adversity ;) and had with him Gellius Canius, a man of his own age and not unlike him in character. Atticus' goodness of heart is proved by the fact that he lived on such close terms with Gellius, whom he had known as a boy at schoolj that their friendship went on increasing to the end of their lives.y/^ 78. We went downstairs directly, highly contented to have found such a protector. The street was covered with the dead and dying; their cries were enough to have pierced the hearts of the most savage barbarians. We walked over the bodies, and when we arrived at the church of St. Catharine, met an officer of distinction on horseback. This generous person soon discovered us, and seeing me covered with blood, said to the person who conducted us, * Fellow soldier, take care what you do to these persons.' . At the same time he said to my INTO LATIN, 43 wife, * Madam, is yonder house yours ? ^ My wife having answered that it was, ' Well,' added he, ' take hold of my stirrup, conduct me thither, and you shall have quarter/ Then turning to me, and making a sign to the soldiers with his hand, he said to me, * Gentlemen of Magde- burg, you yourselves are the occasion of this destruction, you might have acted otherwise/ Pliny, Epist. vi. i6 ; vi. 20. 79. The soldier who had used me ill, took this op- portunity to steal away. Upon entering my house we found it filled with a multitude of plunderers, whom the officer, who was a colonel, ordered away. He then said he would take up his lodging with us, and having posted two soldiers for a guard to us, left us with a promise to return forthwith. We gave with great cheerfulness a good breakfast to our sentinels, who complimented us on the lucky fortune of falling into their colonel's hands ; at the same time, representing to us that their fellow soldiers made a considerable booty while they continued inactive merely as a safeguard to us, and therefore be- seeching us to render them an equivalent to a certain degree. 80. Upon this, I gave them four rose-nobles, with which they were well contented, and showed so much humanity as to make us an offer to go and search for any acquaintance whom we desired to place in safety with us. I told them I had one particular friend, who had escaped to the cathedral, as I conjectured, and promised them a good gratuity on his part if they saved his life. One of them, accompanied by my maid servant, 44 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION- went to the church, and called my friend often by name ; but it was all in vain, no one answered, and we never heard mention of him from that time. Pliny, Epist. vi. i6 ; vi. 20. 81. But the spirit of the French army was now ex- hausted; they had laboured and fought without inter- mission for fifty days, they had spared neither fire nor sword, and Zaragossa was still unconquered. * Before this siege,' they exclaimed, * was it ever heard that twenty thousand men should besiege fifty thousand ? ' Scarcely a fourth of the town was won and they themselves were already exhausted. *We must wait,' they said, 'for re- inforcements, or we shall all perish among these cursed ruins, which will become our own tombs before we can force the last of these fanatics from the last of their dens.' Marshal Lasnes, unshaken by their murmurs, and ob- stinate to conquer, endeavoured to raise the^ soldiers' hopes. He pointed out to them that the losses of the besieged so far exceeded their own, that the Spaniards' strength must soon be wasted, and their courage must sink, and that the fierceness of their defence was already abated; but if, contrary to expectation, they should re- new the example of Numantia, their utter destruction must quickly ensue from the combined effects of battle, misery, and pestilence. Livy, xxi. 20. 82. The Samnites, attacked at once by two consular armies, were compelled to divide their forces ; and eight thousand men were detached from the army before Aqui- lonia to relieve Cominium. A deserter acquainted Papirius INTO LATIN, 45 with this movement ; and he instantly sent off a messenger to warn his colleague, while he himself attacked the enemy at the moment when he knew their force to be thus untimely weake'hed. The auspices had been re- ported to be most favourable ; the fowls ate so eagerly, so said their keeper to the consul, that some of the corn dropped from their mouths on the ground. This was the best possible omen. But just as the consul was on the point of giving the signal for action, his nephew, Sp. Papirius, came to tell him that the keeper had made a false report. Livy, X. 40 ; Cicero, de Divmat. ii. 34. 83. ' Some of his comrades have declared the truth,' said the young man : * and far from eating eagerly, the fowls would not touch their food at all' 'Thou hast done thy duty, nephew, in telling me this,* replied his uncle ; * but let the keeper see to it if he has belied the gods. His report to me is that the omens are most favourable, and therefore I forthwith give the signal for battle. But do you see,* he added to some centurions who stood by, ' that this keeper and his comrade be set in the front ranks of the legions.* Ere the battle-cry was raised on either side, a chance javelin struck the guilty keeper, and he fell dead. His fate was instantly re- ported to the consul. * The gods,* he exclaimed, * are amongst us : their vengeance has fallen on the guilty.* v. When he spake, a crow was heard just in front of him to utter a full and loud cry. * Never did the gods more manifestly declare their presence and favour,' exclaimed the consul ; and forthwith the signal was given, and the Roman battle-cry arose loud and joyful. Livy, X. 40. 46 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION 84. The Samnites met their enemies bravely; but the awful rites under which they had been pledged, gave them a gloomy rather than a cheerful courage : they were more in the mood to die than to conquer. On the Roman side, the consul's blunt humour, which he had inherited from his father, spread confidence all around him. In the heat of battle, when other generals would have earnestly vowed to build a temple to the god whose aid they sought, if he would grant them victory, Papirius called aloud to Jupiter the victorious, ^ Ah, Jupiter, if the enemy are beaten I vow to offer to thee a cup of honeyed wine, before I taste myself a drop of wine plain.' Livy, X. 41, 42. 85. Such irreverent jests do not necessarily imply a scoffing spirit : they mark superstition or fanaticism as much as unbelief; nor would the consul's language shock those who heard it, but rather assure them that he spoke in the full confidence of being heard with favour by the gods, as a man in hours of festivity would smile at the familiarity of an indulged servant. Besides, Papirius performed well the part of a general : he is said to have practised the trick which was so successful at Bannock- burn : the camp servants were mounted on baggage mules, and appeared in the midst of the action on the flank and rear of the Samnites ; the news ran through both armies that Sp. Carvilius was come up to aid his colleague, and a general charge of the Roman cavalry and infantry at this moment broke the Samnite lines and turned them to flight. The mass of the routed army fled either to their ca^np or within the walls of Aquilonia; but the cavalry, containing all the chiefs and the nobility INTO LATIN, 47 of the nation, got clear from the press of fugitives, and escaped to Borranum. Livy, X. 40. 86. The faithless foe only sought an . opportunity for treachery. They allowed a few days to pass by, and then when our soldiers were slack and off their guard, made a sudden sally from the gates, choosing the hour of noon, when some were absent and some were taking their siesta without leaving the entrenchment, wearied with their incessant labour. The enemy took advantage of a high wind to set fire to the works. The wind caused the flames to spread so rapidly that the rampart, the cur- tain, the tower, and the artillery caught fire at once and were consumed before any knew how the disaster had happened. Our men in sudden alarm snatched up any weapons that came first, hurried out of the camp, and dashed upon the enemy. But they were prevented by a cloud of arrows and missiles from the wall from follow- ing up the pursuit. 87. The Greeks resolved to return to the camp, and arrived there at the hour of supper, which they greatly needed, as when they began the battle they had not yet made the morning meal. But they found that the camp had been plundered of their whole stock of provisions, and were almost all forced to pass the night fasting. The next morning they learnt the death of Cyrus from two messengers sent to them by Ariaeus, who announced that he would wait for them until the next day, but should then set out on his return to Ionia. Clearchus, in the name of the other generals, bade them carry word 48 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION back to Ariaeus that the Greeks were victorious and undisputed masters of the field, and that it had been their intention to march against the king : and they now- offered to place Ariaeus on the throne. The messengers were accompanied by Cheirisophus and Meno, who, having been a guest and friend of Ariaeus, was desirous of being employed on the mission. 88. In the meanwhile, to provide themselves with a meal, the Greeks were compelled to slaughter their beasts of burden, and to dress their food with the arrows, shields, and other relics of the battle, which they found at a short distance from the camp. Toward noon some Persian heralds came from the king, accompanied by Phalynus, a Zacynthian, who had gained credit with Tissaphernes by his pretensions to military skill. They were com- missioned to summon the Greeks to lay down their arms, and throw themselves upon the king's mercy. Just as they had delivered their message, Clearchus happened to be called away to inspect a sacrifice : and having merely remarked, that it was not usual for conquerors to sur- render their arms, he desired his colleagues to return such an answer to the proposal as might appear to them most becoming. Cleanor, an Arcadian, who was the eldest among them, then declared that they would die sooner than give up their arms. 89. It was already evening, and they had not yet so much as settled on a safe place in which to bestow their prisoner for the night. At last some one suggested the treasury, an underground dungeon walled and vaulted with stone. Into this the prisoner was let down, the aperture closed INTO LATIN, 49 with a large stone worked by machinery. The next day the more moderate part of the population, remembering his former services to the state, proposed that he should be pardoned, and employed in procuring some alleviation of their present ills. The rebel leaders, however, who were now in power, after secret consultation resolved unani- mously to put him to death. The only question was whether the sentence should be carried out immediately. The more bloodthirsty party carried the day; and a messenger was sent with a draught of poison. He took the cup, it is said, and merely asked, *if his colleague was safe, and if the knights had escaped.' Being told that 'they were safe,' *It is well,' he said, and drank the poison without faltering, and shortly after breathed his last. 90. Eumenes, who was a man of a kind heart and not without a sense of humour, was accosted one day by a per- son wearing a cloak, with long hair and a beard reaching down to his waist, who asked for a trifle wherewith to buy bread. Eumenes asked him who and what he was. To which the fellow with an offended air and in a toiie of reproof replied, that he was a philosopher: 'and I am sur- prised,' he added, * how you came to ask what you can see for yourself.' ' I see,' said Eumenes, 'a beard and a cloak, but I have not seen the philosopher yet. But excuse me, sir, would you be kind enough to tell me, what are the signs by which you think we ought to have known that you were a philosopher?' Thereupon one of the gentle- men present proceeded to tell Eumenes that the man was a worthless good-for-nothing vagabond, a haunter of low pothouses, who was accustomed to assail people with scurrilous abuse if he did not get what he asked for. E 50 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION- But Eumenes simply said, * Let us give him a few pence, whatever he is, for the sake of humanity, not for the sake of the man,' and forthwith gave him enough to purchase bread for a month. 91. The barbarians received Hannibal's army at the boundary of their country with branches and garlands, furnished cattle for slaughter, guides and hostages ; and the Carthaginians marched through their territory as through a friendly land. When, however, the troops had reached the very foot of the Alps, at the point where the path leaves the Isere, and winds by a narrow and difficult defile along the brook Reclus up to the summit of the St. Bernard, all at once the militia of the Gauls appeared partly in the rear of the army, partly on the crests of the rocks en- closing the pass on the right and left, in the hope of cutting off the train and baggage. But Hannibal, whose unerring tact had seen in all the courtesies of the bar- barians nothing but a scheme to secure at once immunity for their territory and a rich spoil, had, in expectation of such an attack, sent forward the baggage and cavalry and covered the march with all his infantry. Livy, xxi. 32-37. 92. By this means he frustrated the design of the enemy, although he could not prevent them from moving along the overhanging mountain-slopes, parallel to the march of the infantry, and inflicting very considerable loss by hurling or rolling down stones upon it. At the * White Stone,' a high isolated chalk cliff, standing at the foot of the St. Bernard, and commanding the ascent to it, Hannibal encamped with his infantry, to cover the march INTO LATIN. 51 of the horses and sumpter-animals, laboriously climbing upward throughout the whole night; and amidst con- tinual and very bloody conflicts, he at length on the following day reached the summit of the pass. There on the sheltered plain which spreads to the extent of two-and-a-half miles round a little lake, the source of the Doria, he allowed the army to rest. Livy, xxi. 32-37. 93. Despondency had begun to seize the minds of the soldiers. The paths that were becoming ever more diffi- cult, the provisions failing, the marching through defiles exposed to the constant attacks of foes whom they could not reach, the sadly thinned ranks, the hopeless situation of the stragglers and the wounded, the object which appeared chimerical to all save the enthusiastic leader and his immediate suite, — all these things began to tell even on the African and Spanish veterans. But the confidence of the general remained ever the same ; nu- merous stragglers rejoined the ranks ; the friendly Gauls were near ; the watershed was reached, and the view of the descending path, so gladdening to the mountain pilgrim, opened up; after a brief repose they prepared with renewed courage for the last and most difficult undertaking, the downward march. In it the army was not materially annoyed by the enemy ; but the advanced season — it was already the beginning of September — occasioned troubles in the descent, equal to those which had been occasioned in the ascent by the attacks of the barbarians. Livy, xxi. 32-37. E 2 52 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION' 94. On the steep and slippery mountain slope along the Doria, where the recently fallen snow had concealed and obliterated the paths, men and animals went astray and slipped and were precipitated into the chasms. In fact, towards the end of the first day's march, they reached a portion of the road about two hundred paces in length, on which avalanches are constantly descend- ing from the precipices of the Cramont that overhang it, and where in cold summers snow lies throughout the whole year. The infantry crossed ; but the horses and elephants were unable to pass over the smooth masses of ice, on which there lay but a thin covering of freshly fallen snow; and the general encamped above the difficult spot, with the baggage, the cavalry, and the elephants. On the following day the horsemen, by zealous exertion in intrenching, prepared a path for horses and beasts of burden; but it was not until after a further labour of three days with constant reliefs, that the half famished elephants could at length be conducted over. Livy, xxi. 32-37. 95. When he was now advanced in years, although not afflicted with any disease, he lost the sight of his eyes. This calamity he bore with such patience, that no one ever heard him complain, nor did he attend less on that account to private and public business. He used to come into the amphitheatre when an assembly of the people was being held there, riding in a carriage drawn by a pair of mules, and would say what he had to say from the carriage ; and no one considered this as a piece of pride on his part. For nothing insolent or boastful ever fell from his lips. Nay, when he heard his own INTO LATIN. 33 praises sung as the saviour of his country, he only said, he thanked God who, when wishing to restore Sicily, had chosen him to be the instrument of His work. For he thought that nothing in human affairs was carried on without the will of God. 96. The Roman world was deeply interested in the education of its master. A regular course of study and exercise was judiciously instituted : of the military exer- cises of riding and shooting with the bow ; of the liberal studies of grammar, rhetoric, and philosophy ; the most skilful masters of the East ambitiously solicited the attention of their royal pupil, and several noble youths were introduced into the palace to animate his diligence by the emulation of friendship. Pulcheria alone dis- charged the important task of instructing her brother in the arts of government, but her precepts may countenance some suspicion of the extent of her capacity or of the purity of her intentions. 97. Pulcheria taught him to maintain a grave and majestic deportment : to walk, to hold his robes, to seat himself on his throne, in a manner worthy of a great prince; to abstain from laughter; to listen with conde- scension ; to return suitable answers ; to assume by turns a serious or a placid countenance; in a word to represent with grace and dignity the external figure of a Roman Emperor. But Theodosius was never excited to support the weight and glory of an illustrious name ; and instead of aspiring to imitate his ancestors, he degenerated (if we may presume to measure the degrees of incapacity) below the weakness of his father and his uncle. 54 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION' 98. Those verses you know from the Georgics of Virgil are generally read thus : — At sapor indicium faciet manifestus, et ora Tristia tentantum sensu torquebit amaro. But Hyginus (a grammarian of no mean repute, I assure you), in his own commentary on Virgil, stoutly maintains that this is not what Virgil left us, but the true reading is one which he found in a book that had once belonged to VirgiPs own family, viz. — et ora Tristia tentantum sensu torquebit amaror. And not only Hyginus but other learned men also agree in this opinion ; for it seems absurd to say * the taste by the bitter sensation will cause them to make wry faces,' for, say they, the taste is the sensation, and it would be the same as if one said, 'the sensation by the bitter sensation will cause' etc. However, when I read Hyginus's note to my tutor, he was mightily offended at the ugliness and awkwardness of the word amaror. * By the teeth of Peter,' said he (this is his most solemn form of adjuration), *I am ready to swear that Virgil never wrote that.' But I, for my part, think that Hyginus is right. 99. It was midday when the deputies arrived at Diego's quarters. The first thing they did was to ask the general to order them something to drink. Wine was brought, which they drank, and then asked for more, to the great amusement of the stately Spanish officers, who witnessed with a smile the absence of etiquette of these simple diplomatists. Then the oldest spoke. * Our people have sent us to ask what makes you so bold as to invade our country ? ' Diego replied, * that he relied on his excel- INTO LATIN. 55 lent troops, and that if they hked to see his forces, so that they might take back a trustworthy report to their countrymen, he would give them an opportunity.' He then gave orders that all the regiments should form and march past. The spectacle had its effect. The envoys on their return dissuaded their countrymen from making common cause with the besieged ; and the people in the town, after repeated fires, the signal agreed upon, had been lighted on the towers in vain, finding themselves disappointed of their only hope of assistance, surrendered to Diego at discretion. / 100. Epaminondas never married. When Pelopidas, who had a good-for-nothing son himself, found fault with him for this, and said that therein he was not doing his duty to his country, Epaminondas replied : * Take care lest you are doing worse still for your country, who are going to leave behind you such a son as yours. My family cannot die out. My deeds are my children. I leave behind me the memory of the battle of Leuctra, which will not only survive me, but live for ever.^ At the time when the exiles under Pelopidas took Thebes, and drove out the Lacedaemonian garrison, Epaminondas kept himself indoors as long as the massacre of citizens was going on, being unwilling to stain his hands with the blood of his countrymen. For he considered every victory in civil war a curse and a calamity. 101. But a report soon circulated through the camp, at first in secret whispers, and at length in loud clamours, of the emperor's death, and of the presumption of his ambitious minister, who still exercised^4fei==s^|reign /T OF THE ^i ( UNIVERSITY J 56 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION power in the name of a prince who was no more. The impatience of the soldiers could not long support a state of suspense. With rude curiosity they broke into the imperial tent and discovered only the corpse of Nu- merian. The gradual decline of his health might have induced them to believe that his death was natural ; but the concealment was interpreted as an evidence of guilt ; and the measures which Aper had taken to secure his election became the immediate occasion of his ruin, Livy, ii. 58 ; xxviii. 24. 102. Yet even in the transport of their rage and grief, the troops observed a regular proceeding, which proves how firmly discipline had been re-established by the martial successors of Gallienus. A general assembly of the army was appointed to be held at Chalcedon, whither Aper was transported in chains as a prisoner and a criminal. A vacant tribunal was erected in the midst of the camp, and the generals and tribunes formed a great military council. They soon announced to the multitude, that their choice had fallen on Diocletian, commander of the domestics or body-guards, as the person most capable of revenging and succeeding their beloved emperor. Livy, ii. 58. Tacitus, Hist. i. 36 ; iv. 55. 103. The evening was already far advanced, and the two armies prepared themselves for the approaching com- bat at the dawn of day. While the trumpets sounded to arms, the undaunted courage of the Goths was con- firmed by the mutual obligation of a solemn oath, and as they advanced to meet the enemy, the rude songs which celebrated the glory of their forefathers were mingled with their fierce and dissonant outcries, and opposed to INTO LATIN. 57 the artificial harmony of the Roman shouts. Some military skill was displayed by Fritigern to gain the advantage of a commanding eminence, but the bloody conflict, which began and ended with the light, was main- tained on either side by the personal and obstinate efforts of strength, valour, and agility. Livy, ix. 40 ; xxiii. 24. 104. The legions of Armenia supported their fame in arms 3 but they were oppressed by the irresistible weight of the hostile multitude. The left wing of the Romans was thrown into disorder, and the field was strewed with their mangled carcasses. This partial defeat was balanced, however, by partial success : and when the two armies at a late hour of the evening retreated to their respective camps, neither of them could claim the honours or the effects of a decisive victory. The real loss was more severely felt by the Romans, in proportion to the small- ness of their numbers. But the Goths were so deeply confounded and dismayed by this vigorous and perhaps unexpected resistance that they remained seven days within the circle of their fortifications. Livy, V. 37. Caesar, Bell. Gall. i. 24. 50. 105. At night Ben Estepar withdrew his forces to an eminence, on the summit of which lay a level plain. There was a river in the rear ; on the other three sides the plateau terminated in a steep descent. Beneath this bank, on a lower level, was another plain, which bordered on a similar ridge, equally hard to climb. To this lower plain the Moorish captain, when the troops of the Span- iards were drawn up in front of their camp, despatched some light cavalry and skirmishers. In the meantime 58 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION Aguilar rode along the Spanish lines in front of the colours, and pointed out to the men, *that the enemy having abandoned beforehand all hope of resistance on level ground had taken to the hills, where they stood in view, relying on the strength of their position and not on the prowess of their arms. But the walls of Granada, which Spanish soldiers had scaled, were still higher. Yet neither hills nor citadel, nor the sea itself had formed a barrier to their arms.* 106. Before an assembly thus modelled and prepared, Augustus pronounced a studied oration, which displayed his patriotism, and disguised his ambition. * He lamented, yet excused, his past conduct. Filial piety had required at his hands the revenge of his father's murder; the humanity of his own nature had sometimes given way to the stern laws of necessity, and to a forced connexion with two unworthy colleagues : as long as Antony lived, the Republic forbad him to abandon her to a degenerate Roman and a barbarian queen. He was now at liberty to satisfy his duty and his inclination. He solemnly restored the Senate and people to all their ancient rights; and wished only to mingle with the crowd of his fellow- citizens, and to share the blessings which he had obtained for his country ! ' Livy, iii. 21 ; xxi. 12. 107. It would require the pen of Tacitus (if Tacitus had assisted at this assembly) to describe the various emotions of the Senate ; those that were suppressed and those that were affected. It was dangerous to trust the sincerity of Augustus ; to seem to distrust it was still more dangerous. The respective advantages of monarchy INTO LATIN. 59 and a republic have often divided speculative enquirers; the present greatness of the Roman state, the corruption of manners, and the licence of the soldiers, supplied new arguments to the advocates of monarchy; and these general views of government were again warped by the hopes and fears of each individual. 108. Amidst this confusion of sentiments, the answer of the Senate was unanimous and decisive. They refused to accept the resignation of Augustus ; they conjured him not to desert the Republic which he had saved. After a decent resistance the crafty tyrant submitted to the orders of the Senate, and consented to receive the government of the provinces, and the general command of the Roman armies, under the well-known names of Pro-consul and Imperator. But he would receive them only for ten years. Even before the expiration of that period, he hoped that the wounds of civil discord would be completely healed, and that the Republic, restored to its pristine health and vigour, would no longer require the dangerous interposition of so extraordinary a magistrate. 109. The devout and fearless curiosity of Julian tempted the philosophers with the hopes of an easy conquest; which, from the situation of their young proselyte, might be productive of the most important consequences. Julian imbibed the first rudiments of the Platonic doctrines from the mouth of ^desius, who had fixed at Pergamus his wandering and persecuted school. But as the declining strength of that venerable sage was unequal to the ardour, the diligence, the rapid conception of his pupil, two of his most learned disciples, Chrysanthes and Eusebius, supplied, at his own desire, 60 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION' the place of their aged master. These philosophers seem to have prepared and distributed their respective parts ; and they artfully contrived, by dark hints, and affected disputes, to excite the impatient hopes of the aspirant^ till they delivered him into the hands of their associate, Maximus, the boldest and most skilful master of the Theurgic science. 110. By his hands, Julian was secretly initiated at Ephesus, in the twentieth year of his age. His residence at Athens confirmed this unnatural alliance of philosophy and superstition. He obtained the privilege of a solemn initiation into the mysteries of Eleusis, which, amidst the general decay of the Grecian worship, still retained some vestiges of their primeval sanctity ; and such was the zeal of Julian, that he afterwards invited the Eleusinian pontiff to the court of Gaul, for the sole purpose of con- summating, by mystic rites and sacrifices, the great work of his sanctification. As these ceremonies were performed in the depth of caverns, and in the silence of night ] and as the inviolable secret of the mysteries was preserved by the discretion of the initiated, I shall not presume to describe the horrid sounds and fiery apparitions which were presented to the senses, or the imagination of the aspirant, till the visions of comfort and knowledge broke upon him in a blaze of celestial light. 111. Protagoras was originally a porter. One day he was carrying a bundle of logs, fastened round with a cord, from the country into Abdera, of which town he was a native. It happened that Democritus, a citizen of the same place, a man highly respected for his worth and his INTO LATIN. 6l reputation as a philosopher, was walking out into the country, when he met Protagoras stepping along lightly and easily in spite of the clumsy and unwieldy character of the load he was carrying. Democritus went up to him, and examined with curiosity the packing, and greatly ad- mired the skill with which the logs had been arranged ; and asked him to halt for a little while. Protagoras did as he was asked ; and Democritus on closer inspection found that the b\indle of logs so neatly rounded and compactly tied together by a short cord, was balanced and kept in its place on strictly mathematical principles. 112. Democritus enquired who had packed the wood in that way. He said he had done it himself. Where- upon Democritus asked him to untie it, and put it together again in the same way. When he had done so, Democritus, admiring the skill and cleverness of the man, who was evidently uneducated, exclaimed, *My young friend, with such natural abilities as yours, I think I can find you something higher and better to do.' So he took him home, and kept him, and paid his expenses, and taught him philosophy ; and made him the great man he afterwards became. 113. There is nothing in history which is so improving to the reader as those accounts which we meet with of the deaths of eminent persons, and of their behaviour in that dreadful season. I may also add that there are no parts in history which affect and please the reader in so sensible a manner. The reason I take to be this, there is no other single circumstance in the story of any person which can possibly be the case of every one who reads 6a PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION it. A battle or a triumph are conjunctures in which not one man in a miUion is hkely to be engaged ; but when we see a person at the point of death, we cannot forbear being attentive to everything he says or does, because we are sure that some time or other we shall ourselves be in the same melancholy circumstances. The general, the statesman, or the philosopher, are perhaps characters which we may never act in, but the dying man is one whom, sooner or later, we shall certainly resemble. 114. An infant comes into the world in a helpless state, and incapable of the exercise of reason. He gradually improves ; his reasoning powers expand as his body grows. His first step is to the vivacity of childhood ; his second, to the ardour of youth ; his third, to the wisdom of manhood. Here he remains stationary for a time, in the full and vigorous exercise of his rational powers. He then begins to feel himself infirm and in- active ; diseases impair his frame, the eye waxes dim, the ear becomes deaf. The enjoyments of life, society, books, all now lose their relish ; he bends towards the ground, whence he was taken ; his feet can no longer sustain their tottering load ; he sinks upon his couch, and dies. He is buried, and the body is gradually resolved into its original dust. — And shall this body live again ? Nature answers. No. But in the Gospel an animating voice exclaims : I am the resurrection and the life : he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live ! Cicero, de Senectute, § 25. ' 115. We pass the first years of this life in the shades of ignorance, the succeeding ones in pain and labour, the INTO LATIN, 63 latter part in grief and remorse, and the whole in error ; nor do we suffer ourselves to possess one bright day with- out a cloud. Let us examine this matter with sincerity, and we shall agree that our distresses chiefly arise from ourselves. It is virtue alone which can render us superior to fortune ; we quit her standard, and the combat is no longer equal. ^Fortune mocks us ; she turns us on her wheel ; she raises and abases us at her pleasure ; but her power is founded on our weakness. This is an old-rooted evil, but it is not incurable ; there is nothing a firm and elevated mind cannot accomplish. The discourse of the wise and the study of good books are the best remedies I know of; but to these we must join the consent of the soul, without which the best advice will be useless. 116. What gratitude do we not owe to those great men who, though dead ages before us, live with us by their works, discourse with us, are our masters and guides, and serve us as pilots in the navigation of life, w^here our vessel is agitated without ceasing by the storms of our passions ! It is here that true philosophy brings us to a safe port, by a sure and easy passage. Dear friend, I do not attempt to exhort you to the study I judge so important. Nature has given you a taste for all knowledge, but fortune has denied you the leisure to acquire it ; yet whenever you could steal a moment from public affairs, you sought the conversation of wise men; and I have remarked that your memory often served you instead of books. 117. The prospect of a future state is the secret com- fort and refreshment of my soul ; it is that which makes 64 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION nature look gay about me ; it doubles all my pleasures, and supports me under all my afflictions. I can look at disappointments and misfortunes, pain and sickness, death itself, and what is worse than death, the loss of those who are dearest to me, with indifference, so long as I keep in view the pleasures of eternity and the state of being in which there will be no fears nor apprehen- sions, pains nor sorrows, sickness nor separation. Why will any man be so impertinently officious as to tell me all this is only fancy and delusion ? Is there any merit in being the messenger of ill news ? If it is a dream, let me enjoy it, since it makes me both the happier and better man. Cicero, Tusc. Quest, i. 40. 118. Friends and fellow-soldiers, the seasonable period of my departure is now arrived, and I discharge, with the cheerfulness of a ready debtor, the demands of nature. I have learned from philosophy how much the soul is more excellent than the body; and that the separation of the nobler substance should be the subject of joy, rather than of affliction. I have learned from religion, that an early death has often been the reward of piety ; and I accept, as a favour of the gods, the mortal stroke that secures me from the danger of disgracing a character, which has hitherto been supported by virtue and fortitude. I die without remorse, as I have lived without guilt. I am pleased to reflect on the innocence of my private life ; and I can affirm with confidence, that the supreme authority, that emanation of the Divine Power, has been preserved in my hands pure and immaculate. Cicero, Tusc. Quest, i.41 ; de Senectute, § 22. INTO LATIN. 65 119. The wisest and best of men, in all ages of the world, have been those who lived up to the religion of their country, when they saw nothing in it opposed to morality, and to the best lights they had of the divine nature. Pythagoras's first rule directs us to worship the gods, * as it is ordained by law,' for that is the most natural interpretation of the precept. Socrates, who was the most renowned among the heathens, both for wisdom and virtue, in his last moments desires his friends to offer a cock to .^sculapius ; doubtless out of a submis- sive deference to the established worship of his country. Xenophon tells us, that his prince, whom he sets forth as a pattern of perfection, when he found his death approaching, offered sacrifice on the mountains to the Persian Jupiter, and the Sun, * according to the custom of the Persians.' Cicero, Tusc. Quaest. i. 42. 120. From such a survey of the miseries that haunt man's progress from the cradle to the grave, we may fairly say that the Thracians were in the right, who, if we believe Herodotus, used to lament when children were born, and to rejoice when they died. They wel- comed the termination of life as an end of wretchedness, and a haven of rest ; whilst they regarded its beginning with sorrow, as the entrance into a world of woe and pain. If birth then is a calamity, and death a blessing, who would wish to come into this world to be the victim of lifelong misery ? Who would not rather die, so to gain an immortality of happiness ? And if we would choose this for ourselves as the best of blessings ; why should we pray for anything different for our children and relations ? F 66 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION Can we wish to be better off than those we love so dearly, or could we desire happiness for ourselves, and misery for them ? No, surely not. 121. Thales being asked how a man might bear ill- fortune with most ease, answered, * By seeing his enemies in a worse condition.' An answer truly barbarous and unworthy of human nature. Solon lamenting the death of a son, one told him, ' You lament in vain.' * There- fore,' said he, ^ I lament because it is in vain.' This was a plain confession, how imperfect all his philosophy was, and that something was still wanting. Plato himself placed happiness in wisdom, health, good fortune, honour and riches, and held that they who enjoyed all these were perfectly happy ; which opinion was indeed un- worthy its owner, leaving the wise and good man wholly at the mercy of uncertain chance, and to be miserable without resource. Cicero, Tusc. Qu «hief, * will not you help me?' The Khan replied that he knew the king of Poland, and that the^e was no safety from him but in flight; of which he immediately set the example. 223. The rebel chieftain, cunning as he was, was taken by a stratagem of Decimus, who promised the king to cut him off, if his majesty would give him permission to effect his purpose in any way he pleased, without fear of punishment, and would give him his hand upon it, as their manner is. Having received this assurance, he collects an army, as if against the king, and gains the friendship of Brutius, without however seeing him; he harries the lands of the king, and takes much spoil, a part of which he gives to his retainers, and part he sends to Brutius. In like manner he delivers over several castles to Brutius. By continuing to act in this way for a long time he persuaded the rebel that he was engaged in serious hostilities against the king. But to prevent Brutius from having any suspicion of a plot, he was careful never to hold conference with him, or even to come into his sight. While keeping at a distance he so managed this friendship, that the two seemed to be bound together, not so much by mutual good offices, as by a common hatred of the king. 126 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION' 224. At length he sends word to Brutius that the time has come for collecting larger forces, and taking the field against the king : and begs him to come to a meeting at any spot he might choose to name. So a time and place of meeting were agree4 upon. To this place Decimus repaired with one attendant, in whom he placed great confidence, a few days before the time ; and there buried a number of swords in different spots, marking each spot carefully. On the day appointed they met, unattended, and after some time spent in discussing plans, separated. When Brutius had got a little way off, Decimus, before rejoining his friends, for fear of exciting suspicion, came back to the place, and sat down where one of the swords was hidden, as if he was tired and was resting. Then he called Brutius back, pretending there was something he had forgotten to say. Meanwhile he picked up the sword, unsheathed it, and concealed it under his cloak, and, when Brutius came up, said that as he was going away he had noticed a spot within sight of where they were, suited for pitching a camp. He then pointed to a place, and when the other turned to look at it, stabbed him in the back ; and killed him before any one could come to his rescue. Thus a man who had himself taken many by stratagem, but never a one by perfidy, was himself taken by a pretence of friendship. 225. The envoys, who had not yet been dismissed, on the news of the victory, were summoned before the Senate. There the spokesman is related to have said, *that they had been sent as ambassadors by their countrymen to make peace between the Romans and Perseus, because the war was both burdensome and INTO LATIN. I!Z7 oppressive to the whole of Greece, and expensive and ruinous to the Romans themselves. That Fortune had acted kindly, since, by ending the war by other means, it had given them an opportunity of congratulating the Romans on a glorious victory.' So spake the Rhodian envoy. The rejoinder of the Senate was as follows : * That the Rhodians had not been influenced by the advantage of Greece, nor by anxiety about the expenses of the Roman people, in sending that embassy, but had acted in the interests of Perseus. For if their motive had been what they pretended, they ought to have sent their ambassadors when Perseus, having led an army into Thessaly, was during the space of two years besieging some of the Greek cities, and terrifying others with threats of war. But the Rhodians had not said a word about peace then.' 226. My language, too, is unpolished. I reck little of that. Virtue shines by its own light. It is they, my adversaries, who need the trick of eloquence to hide their vile acts. I never learnt Greek. Why truly I had little inclination to get that kind of learning which had done so little towards making its teachers honest men. But I have learnt other accomplishments far more ser- viceable to the state : to smite the foemen ; to mount guard ; to dread nothing except dishonour ; to bear heat and cold alike ; to sleep on the bare ground ; and to endure at the same time hunger and fatigue. 227. By conduct like this our forefathers gained im- mortal honour, both for themselves and their country : while our aristocracy of to-day, proud of their ancestors, 128 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION- though so unlike them in character, despise us who take them for our models, and demand of you all public honours, not on account of personal merit but as theirs by right. Arrogant men ! but widely mistaken ! Their ancestors left them everything in their power to bequeath, their wealth, their titles, their renown. Their virtue they did not leave them, nor indeed could they, for virtue can neither be given, nor received as a gift. They hold me to be mean and ill-bred, because I cannot entertain ele- gantly, cannot prate about * Art,' and pay no higher wages to my cook than to my steward. All this I readily own. For I have learnt from my father and other venerable persons that refinement is for women, hard work for men : and that arms are more ornamental than fine furniture. 228. Good agriculture depends upon industry rather than upon expense. C. Furius Cresinus managed to get larger crops from his very small plot of ground than his neighbours did from their extensive farms, and therefore became an object of great jealousy, because it was thought that he charmed away the produce of other peoples' fields into his own by means of witchcraft. He was therefore summoned to take his trial on a certain day. So, fearing that a verdict would be given against him, he brought with him into court all his farm implements. He also led forward his daughter, a fine strong girl, healthy-looking and neatly clad, and produced his iron tools of good workmanship, his heavy spades, ponderous ploughs, and plump oxen. * There,' said he, * gentlemen, those are my charms ; but I cannot shew you, nor bring into court my days of toil, and nights of unrest and anxious thought.' He was unanimously acquitted. INTO LATIN. 129 229. Laino, whose base is washed by the waters of the Lao, was defended by a strong castle, built on the oppo- site side of the river, and connected by a bridge with the town. All approach to the place by the high road was commanded by this fortress. Gonsalvo obviated this difficulty, however, by a circuitous route across the moun- tains. He marched all night, and fording the waters of the Lao about two miles above the town, entered it with his little army before break of day, having previously despatched a small corps to take possession of the bridge. The inhabitants, startled from their slumbers by the un- expected appearance of the enemy in their streets, hastily seized their arms, and made for the castle on the other side of the river. The pass, however, was occupied by the Spaniards; a fierce struggle ensued; many were slain, the rest were taken prisoners ; and the Spaniards remained masters of both the castle and the town. 230. For some days he fixed his quarters there, ex- amining the site of the city from every side: and he discovered that it had not been selected without good reason for a royal stronghold. It is situated on a hill sloping towards the south-west. It is surrounded by swamps of impassable depth, both in summer and winter, formed by the overflow of the neighbouring lakes. In that part of the marsh which is nearest the city, there stands, like an island, a fortress built on enormous earthworks, solid enough to support a wall, and secure from the sapping of the neighbouring lagoon. From a distance it looks as if it was joined to the city by the wall. In reality it is separated by a river, which is crossed by a bridge : so that if attacked from without it affords nq K _^ g or TBTB ^ { UNIVERSITY 130 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION access in any quarter, nor if the king wishes to keep any one prisoner there, is there any way out except by a bridge easily guarded. The king's treasury was there. But at the time I speak of only three hundred talents were found in it, which had been sent to Ariston, but intercepted on their way. 231. In order to avoid occasion of anger, it is expe- dient not to see and not to hear everything. Where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise. You don't wish to have your temper ruffled? Then don't be inquisitive. The man who asks what other people say about him, is only preparing trouble for himself. Sometimes it is wiser to overlook altogether the remarks made upon us, some- times to laugh at them. Socrates, on receiving a slap in the face, merely said, * What a pity it is that one does not know when to put a helmet on before going out.' On another occasion, when his friends expressed astonish- ment, because having been kicked by an unmannerly lout, he patiently put up with the outrage, he said, * Why not, if an ass had lifted his heels against me, do you think I should have taken out a summons against him?' Again, when he was told that so and so was always abusing him, he merely replied, * Ah, he never learnt good manners.' 232. In this person were collected the most opposite defects and advantages of every kind. He was avaricious and ostentatious, despotic and obliging, politic and con- fiding, licentious and superstitious, bold and timid, am- bitious and indiscreet; lavish of his bounty to his relations, his mistresses and his favourites; yet frequently paying neither his household nor his creditors. His conse- INTO LATIN. 131 quence always depended on a woman, and he was always unfaithful to her. Nothing could equal the ac- tivity of his mind, nor the indolence of his body. No dangers could appal his courage, no difficulties force him to abandon his projects. But the success of an enterprise always brought on disgust. Everything with him was desultory; business, pleasure, temper, courage. His presence was a restraint on every company. He was morose to all that stood in awe of him, and caressed all such as accosted him with familiarity. Banished by his rival, he ran to meet death in battle, and returned with glory. Tacitus, Hist. i. 10, 49 ; ii. 5. Sallust, Catil. 5, 23. Cornelius Nepos, Alcibiades, i. 11. 233. His natural endowments were great for any part in public life, whether at the bar, or in the senate, or even in war ; for the part of a revolutionary leader they were of the highest order. A courage which nothing could quell; a quickness ,of perception at once and clearly to perceive his own opportunity, and his adver- sary's error; singular fertility of resources, with the power of sudden change in his course, and adaptation to varied circumstances; a natural eloquence, hardy, caustic, mascuHne; a mighty frame of body, a voice overpowering all resistance ; — these were the grand quali- ties which Danton brought to the prodigious struggle in which he was engaged. Livy, xxii. 25, 26; xxxix. 40. Sallust, Catil. i, 5. 234. In person the prince was tall and well-formed : his limbs athletic and active. He excelled in all manly K 2 132 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION- exercises, and was inured to every kind of toil, especially long marches on foot, having applied himself to field sports in Italy, and become an excellent walker. His face was strikingly handsome, of a perfect oval, and a fair complexion; his eyes light blue; his features high and noble. Contrary to the custom of the time, he wore his own hair long and falling in ringlets on his neck. This goodly person was enhanced by his graceful man- ners; frequently condescending to the most familiar kindness, yet always shielded by a regal dignity, he had a peculiar talent to please and to persuade, and never failed to adapt his conversation to the taste or to the station of those whom he addressed. Suetonius, Octavian, 79. J. Ccesar, 45. Livy, xxviii. 35. 235. He was not without a certain aptitude for mili- tary pursuits, and possessed considerable courage. But so crack-brained and eccentric was he in his general con- duct and behaviour, that he came before long to be called ' the Madman.' For ^instance, he used frequently to sally out from the palace without the knowledge of his ministers, with a single companion or so, and stroll through the streets, with a wreath of flowers on his head, and wearing a gold embroidered doublet, and pelt the people he met with stones which he used to carry under his arm. Sometimes again, he would scatter money among the rabble, crying out, * catch who can.' At other times he would visit the goldsmith's and picture- dealer's shops, and talk learnedly about 'Art,' and at others, stop and talk in the middle of the street with the first comer, or make a round of the taverns, and indulge in a carouse with tramps and scamps of the lowest sort. INTO LATIN, 133 236. His resolution was immediately formed : he rose and called together the officers of the Greeks and ad- dressed them. After having pointed out the magnitude of the evils which they had to apprehend, unless some provision were made without delay for their defence, he dexterously turned their attention to a more animating view of the situation. Ever since they had concluded the treaty with Tissaphernes, he had observed with envy and regret the rich possessions of the barbarians, and had lamented that his comrades had bound themselves to abstain from the good things which they saw within their reach, except so far as they were able to purchase a taste of them at an expense which he had feared would soon exhaust their scanty means. 237. They had crossed the plain to the foot of the hills in the dark, during the last watch of the night, and found the passes unguarded. But the people fled from the villages at their approach, and though the Greeks at first spared their property, could not be induced to listen to any pacific overtures. But having recovered from their first surprise, and collected a part of their forces, they fell upon the rear of the Greeks, and with their missiles made some slaughter among the last troops which issued in the dusk of the evening from the long and narrow defile. In the night the watch-fires of the Carduchians were seen blazing on the peaks of the sur- rounding hills : signals which warned the Greeks that they might expect to be attacked by the collected forces of their tribes. 238. On the fifth day, as the army was ascending 134 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION mount Theche, a lofty ridge distinguished by the name of the Sacred Mountain, Xenophon and the rear guard observed a stoppage and an unusual clamour in the foremost ranks, which had reached the summit, and they supposed at first that they saw an enemy before them. But when Xenophon rode up to ascertain the cause, the first shouts that struck his ear were, The sea, the sea! The glad sound ran quickly till it reached the hind- most, and all pressed forward to enjoy the cheering spectacle. The Euxine spread its waters before their eyes ; waters which rolled on to the shores of Greece, and which washed the walls of many Greek cities on the nearest coast of Asia. 239. While the two armies fronted each other, and were on the very eve of battle, a hind came running down from the mountains between the two opposing lines, with a wolf in chase of her. She ran in among the Gaulish ranks, and the Gauls transfixed her with their long javelins. The wolf ran towards the Romans, and they instantly gave free passage to the beast which had given suck to the founder of their city, and whose image they had only in the preceding year set up beneath that very sacred fig-tree in the comitium, which tradition pointed out as the scene of the miracle. *See,' cried out one of the soldiers, * Diana's sacred hind has been slain by the barbarians, and will bring down her wrath upon them : while the Roman wolf, unhurt by sword or spear, gives us a fair omen of victory, and bids us think on Mars and on Quirinus our divine founder/ So the Roman soldiers, as if encouraged by a sign from the gods, rushed cheerfully to the onset. INTO LATIN, 135 240. Pizarro, when the messengers reported there was no water to be found, at last bade the skin carriers fol- low him down to the sea, which was less than 300 yards distant, and dig in different places a little way from each other. A mountain range not far off gave him hopes of finding water, for seeing they had no surface streams running from them, he made sure that they contained hidden springs, which percolating by channels under- ground must find their way to the sea. Scarcely was an opening made in the ground, before streams of water, muddy at first and of slender volume, gushed out, and presently a clear and abundant flow, the gift as it were of providence. This circumstance increased not a little the faith of the soldiers in their general. He then ordered the soldiers to get their arms ready: while he himself, accompanied by his officers and a small escort, went on to explore the pass, and to find out where they could the most easily descend with their armour on, and where the ascent was least precipitous on the other side. 241. One day Piso in a rage ordered a soldier to be led to execution, on a charge of having murdered a com- rade, in whose company he had gone out of camp, but had returned without him. The man asked for time to have enquiries made, but Piso refused. The doomed soldier was taken outside the rampart, and was preparing to receive the fatal stroke, when suddenly his comrade appeared, whom he was said to have killed. Then the officer, who had charge of the execution, bade the execu- tioner put up his sword : the two soldiers embraced each other ; and then followed by a large crowd, with much rejoicing, they were escorted to Piso's quarters. But he J 36 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION- mounted the judgment seat in a furious passion, and ordered them both to be put to death : and with them the officer who had brought back the condemned man, with these words, *I order you to be punished with death, because you have been already condemned : you, because you have been the cause of your com- rades' sentence: and you, because you disobeyed your general, when ordered to carry the sentence into execution.' 242. At last his caprice took the form of fancying himself a Roman. Substituting for his royal robes a toga, as he had seen candidates for office do at Rome ; he walked about the forum shaking hands with and em- bracing individual citizens, and canvassing their votes at one time for the aedileship, at another for a tribuneship of the people. Then pretending to have been elected, he caused an ivory chair to be set for him, from which he gave judgment, summing up the pros and cons in some imaginary case. And so fickle and flighty was he, now fancying himself one thing, now another, that his real nature became a matter of uncertainty to himself as well as those about him. Sometimes he would refuse to speak to his friends, or to nod to his acquaintances. He made himself and others ridiculous by unsuitable presents: giving to certain highly respectable friends, people who stood upon their dignity, sweetmeats arid toys. And so it was concluded by some that his majesty did not know what he was doing, while others said he was mad, others that he was only joking. 243. Towards the close of his reign his conduct be- INTO LATIN, 137 came more intolerable, and at last he took care to ad- vertise all Europe of his folly or madness, or both, by inserting in the St. Petersburgh Gazette a notice to the following effect, *That the Emperor of Russia, finding the powers of Europe cannot agree among themselves, and being desirous to put an end to a war, which has desolated it for eleven years, intends to point out a spot to which he will invite all the other sovereigns to repair and fight in single combat, bringing with them as seconds and esquires, their most enlightened ministers and able generals, and that the Emperor himself pro- poses being attended by generals Count Pahlen and Kutusoff/ This piece of extravagance appears to have completed the disgust of the nobles and to have con- summated his ruin. ^ 244. When they arrived at Westminster[ he being un- able to walk on account of his age, and being carried in a sedan, a great concourse was assembled. And some remembering his former glory pitied the old man, but the greater part were filled with anger against him, on account of his supposed betrayal of the port, but chiefly because he had thwarted the interests of the populace in his later years, on which charge he had not even been allowed the opportunity of defending himself and of pleading his own cause. So after certain legal formalities had been gone through, he was condemned and handed over to the executioner. When he was being led to death, a Mr. Goodlove, whom he had known intimately, met him, and with tears exclaimed, 'Alack, then. Sir John! how unjustly you are treated, how un- deserved are your sufferings ! ' * But not unexpected,' 138 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION he replied, *this is the end that most good men have met with in our country ! ' Cicero, Tusc. Qucest. i. 96 sqq. 245. After this ceremony he was dehvered to the secular power. His last interview with his family is thus simply told. Now when the Sheriffe and his company came against St. Botolph Church, Elisabeth cried, saying, * O my deare Father ! Mother, Mother, is my father led away ? ' Then cried his wife, * Rowland, Rowland, where art thou ? ' for it was a verie darke morning, that the one could not see the other. Dr. Taylor answered, * Deare wife, I am here,' and staid. The Sheriffes men would have led him forth, but the Sheriffe said, * Stay a little, maisters, I praie you, and let him speake to his wife,' and so they staid. 246. Then Came she to him, and he tooke his daughter Mary in his armes, and he, his wife, and Elisabeth, kneeled down and said the Lord's Praier ; at which sight the Sheriffe wept apace, and so did divers other of the company. After they had praied, he rose up and kissed his wife, and tooke her by the hand, and said, * Farewell, my deare wife, bee of good comfort, for I am quiet in my conscience. God shall stir up a father for my children.' And then he kissed his daughter Mary, and said, *God blesse thee, and make thee his servant.' And kissing Elisabeth, he said, * God blesse thee, I pray you all stand strong and steadfast unto Christ and his worde, and keep you from idolatry.' Then said his wife, ' God be with thee, dear Rowland. I will, with God's grace, meet thee at Hadley.' INTO LATIN. 139 247, When they had all drunk to him, and the cup was come to him, he stayed a little, as one studying what answer he might give. At the last, thus he answered, and said, * Master Sheriffe, and my masters all, I heartily thank you for your good will ; I have hearkened to your words, and marked well your counsels ; and to be plaine with you, I do perceive that I have been deceived my- self, and am likely to deceive a great many of Hadley of their expectation.' With that word they all rejoiced. *Yes, good Master Doctor,' quoth the Sheriffe, (fGod's blessing on your heart, hold you there stillTI It is the comfortablest word that we heard you speak yet. What, should ye cast yourself away in vain ? Play a wise man's part, and I dare warrant it, ye shall find favour.' Thus they rejoiced very much at the word, and were very merry. Cicero, Tusc. Qucest. i. § 96 sqq., 103 sqq. 248. At the last, * Good 'Master Doctor,' quoth the Sheriffe, 'what meane ye by this, that ye said ye think ye have been deceived yourselfe, and think ye shall de- ceive many one in Hadley?' * Would ye know my meaning plainly ? ' quoth he. * Yes,' quoth the Sheriffe, *good Master Doctor, tell it us plainly.' 'Then,' said Dr. Taylor, ' I will tell you how I have been deceived, and, as I think, I shall deceive a great many more] I am, as you see, a man that hath a very great carkasse, which I thought should have been buried in Hadley churchyard, if I had died in my bed, as I well hoped I should have done : but herein I see I was deceived ; and there are a great number of wormes in Hadley churchyard, which should have had jolly feeding on this 140 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION- carrion ; which they have looked for many a day. But now I know we be deceived, both I and they. For this carkasse must be burnt to ashes, and so shall they lose their bait and feeding, that they looked to have had of a: Cicero, Tusc. Quasi, i. § 103, 104. 249. On the 5 th of February he was brought out to complete his earthly journey. The same spirit animated him to the end. On the way, being alighted from his horse, he lept and fet a friske or twaine, as men com- monly do in dauncing. * Why, Master Doctor,' quoth the Sheriffe, ^ how do you now ? ' He answered, * Well, God be praised, never better, for now I know I am almost at home. I lack not past two stiles to go over, and I am even at my father's house.' At last, coming to Aldham Common, the place assigned where he should suffer, and seeing a great multitude of people gathered together, he asked, 'What place is this, and what meaneth it that so much people are gathered hither?' It was answered, *It is Aldham Common, the place where you must suffer; and the people are come to looke upon you.' *Then,' said he, * thanked be God, I am even at home.' And so light from his horse. As they were piling the faggots, one Warwick cruelly cast a faggot at him, which light on his head, and broke his face, that the bloud ran down his visage. Then said Doctor Taylor, *0 friend, I have harme enough ; what needed that ? ' 250. There was at Athens a large roomy house. But the house had a bad name, people shunned it as if plague-stricken. Noises were heard there in the silence INTO LATIN. 141 of night, and if you listened you could hear the clanking of chains, beginning some way off and then coming nearer. And then a ghost used to appear in the likeness of an old man squalid and worn, with a long beard and unkempt hair. On his legs were fetters, and chains on his hands, which rattled as he moved. The occupants used to spend whole nights lying awake in an agony of terror. They fell sick, and death followed their ex- cessive fright. For even in the day time, although the apparition was no longer visible, the memory of it haunted them : and the fear still oppressed them when the cause was removed. The house in consequence was deserted, given up entirely to the ghost; although it continued to be advertised *to be let, or sold,' on the chance of a stranger taking it. 251. There came to Athens one Athenodorus, a philo- sopher. He read the notice, and ascertained the price, but his suspicions being aroused by the cheapness, he made inquiries, was told the whole story, and determined in spite of all to take the house. As soon as evening drew on, he ordered a desk and chair to be set for him in a front room; and had his note-book brought, with pens and ink and a light. He then dismissed his attendants, and set himself to write, concentrating all his faculties on the task, that his mind might not wander and conjure up imaginary sights and terrors. -^-At first a dead silence prevailed, then came a clanging of iron, and a rattling of chains. However, he would not lift his eyes, nor stop writing, determined to keep his thoughts fixed and his ears shut. The noise grew louder and seemed to come nearer, now it was at the door, now in 14^1 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION the room itself. He looked over his shoulder, and there he saw the ghost, just as it had been described to him. 252. The figure stood and beckoned with its finger, as if to summon him : the philosopher in reply motioned with his hand, as if bidding the ghost to wait a little, and again bent down to his writing. Then the apparition shook its chains over the head of the writing man, who once more looked up, and seeing the beckoning re- peated, got up at once, took the light and followed. The form moved slowly on as if retarded by the weight of its chains; then turning into the court-yard, sud- denly vanished. The philosopher, finding himself alone, gathered some grass and leaves and laid them down to mark the spot. That day he goes to the magistrate, and requests him to send and have a hole dug at the place. And what do you think? There they found a skeleton, with a chain wound about it. The flesh de- cayed with time and decomposed had fallen away and left the bones bare and rust-eaten. The remains were col- lected, and publicly buried. So the ghost was duly laid, and the house was haunted no more. 253. Meanwhile the Vestal virgins, taking no care about their own property, first settled among themselves which of the holy vessels should be taken with them and which left, because they were not strong enough to carry them all ; they then buried a part within the precincts, enclosed in jars; and carrying the rest, having divided the bur- dens, they took the road which led to the Janiculum. On the way they were espied by one Albinus, a poor man, who was conveying his wife and children in a INTO LATIN, 143 waggon, among the rest of the population then crowding out of the city. He thought it wicked that the holy sisters should be walking on foot, carrying in their hands the precious relics, while he and his were riding in a waggon. Therefore, postponing his own journey, he told his wife and children to get down, and then placing the Vestals and their sacred utensils in the waggon^ he drove them to Caere, the place they were bound for. 254. The approach of night, though it delivered the dejected Spaniards from the attacks of the enemy, ushered in, what was hardly less grievous, the noise of their barbarous triumph, and of the horrid festival with which they celebrated their victory. Every quarter of the city was illuminated; the great temple shone with such peculiar splendour, that the Spaniards could plainly see the people in motion, and the priests busy in hasten- ing preparations for the death of the prisoners. Through the gloom they fancied that they discerned their com- panions by the whiteness of their skins, as they were stript naked, and compelled to dance before the image of the god to whom they were to be offered. They heard the shrieks of those who were sacrificed, and thought that they could distinguish each unhappy victim^ by the well-known sound of his voice. Livy, X. 38. 255. Menenius Agrippa, surnamed Lanatus, was chosen general against the Sabines, and triumphed over them. And when the populace had seceded from the Senate, because they could not endure the tribute and military service laid upon them, and when it was found impos- T44 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION sible to recall them, Agrippa told them the following story : * Once upon a time, the human limbs, seeing the belly idle, quarrelled with it, and refused their services. When by that means they too lost their strength, they understood that the belly dispersed over all the limbs the food that it received, and became reconciled to it. Even so the Senate and people made up, as it were, one body, of which concord is the strength, and discord the de- struction.' Livy, ii. 32. 256. * I am come to inform you of a secret you must impart to Pausanias alone. From remote antiquity I am of Grecian lineage. I am solicitous of the safety of Greece. Long since, but for the auguries, would Mar- donius have given battle. Regarding these no longer, he will attack you early in the morning. Be prepared. If he change his purpose, remain as you are — he has pro- visions only for a few days more. Should the event of war prove favourable, you will but deem it fitting to make some effort for the independence of one who exposes himself to so great a peril for the purpose of apprising you of the intentions of the foe. I am Alexander of Macedon.' 257. We were a little uneasy, however, when we found it snowed one whole day and a night, so fast, that we could not travel; but the guide bid us be easy, we should soon be past it all; and so we struggled on. It was about two hours before night, when our guide being something before us, and not just in sight, out rushed three monstrous wolves, from the thick wood adjoining. INTO LATIN. 145 Two of the wolves flew upon the guide, and had he been half a mile before us, he had been devoured before we could have helped him. One of them fastened upon his horse, and the other attacked the man with that violence, that he had not time, or not presence of mind enough, to draw his weapon, but hallooed to us most lustily. My man Friday being next to me, I bad him ride up and see what was the matter. 258. * These are the mansions of good men after death, who, according to the degree and kinds of virtue in which they excelled, are distributed among these several islands ; which abound with pleasures of different kinds and degrees, suitable to the relishes and perfections of those who are settled in them : every island is a para- dise accommodated to its respective inhabitants. Are not these, O Mirza, habitations worth contending for ? Does life appear miserable that gives thee opportunities of earning such a reward ? Is death to be feared that will convey thee to so happy an existence ? Think not man was made in vain who has such an eternity reserved for him.' I gazed with inexpressible pleasure on these happy islands. At length said' I, *Shew me now, I beseech thee, the secrets that lie hid under those dark clouds which cover the ocean on the other side of the rock of adamant.' The genius making me no answer, I turned about to address myself to him a second time, but I found that he had left me. 259. One Dicseus, an Athenian exile in the Persian service, asserted that one day, when he was in the Thriasian plain, which stretches from Eleusis north- L 146 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION- ward, in company with Demaratus, the banished king of Sparta, who followed in Xerxes' train, they saw a cloud of dust, such as might be raised by the trampling of many thousand men, advance from Eleusis. As they were wondering what this might be, they heard a noise which seemed to him to be the song which the initiated sang in praise of lacchus. Dicaeus then assured his companion that some great evil was about to befal the Persians : for the gods were manifestly quitting Eleusis, on the desolation of Attica, to proceed to the assistance of the Greeks, and if they should direct their course towards Peloponnesus, the blow would fall on the land army: if towards Salamis, then Xerxes would run great risk of losing his fleet. Cicero, de Divinat. i. 44. § 100. 260. Philip of Macedon had a soldier of great personal courage, whose assistance he had often found valuable in his expeditions, and whose bravery he had in consequence frequently rewarded by grants from the treasury, till by re- peated acts of bounty he had roused the spirit of avarice in his heart. This fellow was wrecked and cast ashore on the estate of a certain Macedonian, who, as soon as he heard of it, ran up, recovered him from his swoon, carried him to his own house, gave up his own bed to him, and, suffering and half dead as he was, made a new man of him, entertained him for thirty days at his own cost, and furnished him with provision for the journey, so that he exclaimed at parting, * Let me only have the luck to catch sight of my general, and your kindness shall not go unrewarded.' 261. Well, he reaches home, gives Philip an account INTO LATIN, 147 of his shipwreck, says nothing about the help which had been given him, but proceeds to ask him for the grant of a certain person's farm. Now, that person was none other than the very man who had entertained him, taken him in, and restored him to health. But kings, especially when occupied in wars, have to make many grants blind- fold ; for how else will so many thousands have their in- ordinate cravings satisfied, or how be benefited, if every one is merely to have his own ? So soliloquized Philip, as he gave orders for the fellow to be put in possession of the coveted estate. Cicero, de OfficiiSj iii. 14. 262. At the city-gate they separated. A strange slave had followed them at a distance all the way. He now stood still for a moment, apparently undetermined which of the two he should pursue. ' Youth is rhore liberal,' said he half aloud, after reflecting a moment, ' especially when in love.' With this he struck into the path Charicles had taken, and which led through a narrow lonely lane between two garden-walls; here he redoubled his pace and soon overtook Charicles. *Who art thou?' asked the youth, retreating back a step. ' A slave, as you see,' was the reply, * and one who may be of service to you. You seem interested in Cleobule's fate, eh?' 'What business is that of yours?' retorted Charicles; but his blush was more than a sufificient answer for the slave. * It is not indifferent to you,' he proceeded, * whether Sophilos or Sosilas be the heir.' *Very possibly; but wherefore these enquiries? What is this to you, sirrah ?' ^ More than you think,' rejoined the slave. 148 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION' 263. Pompey sailed to Cilicia, the seat and birthplace of the rebellion. The enemy made but a faint show of resistance, collapsing under the first blow. For as soon as they saw his ships bearing down upon them on all sides, they immediately threw down their arms, and ceased rowing, and with a general clapping of hands, which was their way of asking quarter, begged that their lives might be spared. Never did we gain so bloodless a victory: and never did a people prove more faithful to us after their defeat. This was due to the singular fore- sight and judgment of Pompey, who caused the seafaring population to be transplanted from the sea-board, and kept in the inland districts. Thus he at the same time rendered the sea open to commerce, and supplied the land with cultivators. One hardly knows which to admire most in this campaign : the swiftness with which it was conducted, it was finished in forty days ; the good fortune that attended it, not a single ship was lost; or the permanence of its effects; there were never any more pirates. 264, The horsemen rode off in anger, and the sailors again changing their minds, came to land, and casting anchor at the mouth of the Liris, which spreads out like a lake, they advised Marius to disembark, and take some jOood on land, and to rest himself from his fatigues till a wind should rise: they added, that it was the usual time for the sea-breeze to decline, and for a fresh breeze to spring up from the marshes. Marius did as they advised, and the sailors carried him out of the vessel, and laid him on the grass little expecting what was to follow. The sailors immediately embarking again, and INTO LATIN. 149 raising the anchor, sailed off as fast as they could, not thinking it honourable to surrender Marius, or safe to protect him.. ^^^^'^ >^ 265. In this situation, deserted by everybody, he lay for some time silent on the shore, and at last, Irecovering himself) with difficulty, he walked on with much pain on ^"^^c^ account of there being no path. After passing through deep swamps and ditches full of water and mud, he came to the hut of an old man who worked in the marshes, ^iK^ and falling down at his feet, besought him to save and help a man who, if he escaped from the present dangers, would reward him beyond all his hopes. The man, who (either knew Marius of old, or saw something in the ex- pression of his countenance which denoted superior rank^, said that his hut was sufficient to shelter him if that was all he wanted, but if he was wandering about to avoid his enemies, he cpuld conceal him in a place that was more retired. Upon Marius entreatiog him to do so, the old man took him to the marsh, and bidding him lie down in a hole near the river, covered Marius with reeds [and other light things J which were well adapted to hide him without pressing too heavily. / 266. After a short time a sound and noise from the hut reached the ears of Marius. Geminius of Terracina had sent a number of men in pursuit of him, some of whom had chanced to come there, and were terrifying the old man and rating him for having harboured and concealed an enemy of the Romans. Marius, rising from his hiding-place, and stripping off his clothes, threw him- self into the thick and muddy water of the marsh ; and 150 PASSAGES I' OR TRANSLATION this was the cause of his not escaping the sear(::h of his pursuers, who dragged him out covered with mud, and leading him naked to Minturnae, gave him to the magis- trates. Now instructions had been aheady sent to every city requiring the authorities to search for Marius, and to put him to death when he was taken. 267. The magistrates and council of Minturnae, after deliberating, resolved that there ought to be no delay, and that they should put Marius to death. As none of the citizens would undertake to do it, a Gallic or Cim- brian horse-soldier (for the story is told both ways) took a sword and entered the apartment. Now that part of the room in which Marius happened to be lying was not very well lighted, but was in shade, and it is said that the eyes of Marius appeared to the soldier to dart a strong flame, and a loud voice issued from the gloom — ' Man, do you dare to kill Caius Marius ?' The bar- barian immediately took to flight, and throwing the sword down, rushed through the door, calling out, 'I cannot kill Caius Marius.' This caused a general con- sternation, which was succeeded by compassion and change of opinion, and self-reproach, for having resolved to hurt a man who had saved Italy, and whom it would be a disgrace not to assist. 268. When the Athenians were informed that the troops who were at Pylos had not yet captured the Lacedaemonians, and that their hopes were failing, they did not know what to do. And Cleon, fearing lest they should be angry with him, because he had prevented them from making peace before, said that the messengers / INTO LATIN, 151 had not spoken truly. And since he was an enemy of Nicias, he cast blame also upon the generals ; * for,' said he, * if the generals had been men^ they would have taken it long ago ; and if I were elected, I could easily finish the war/ Hereupon Nicias replied that he had better go there, if he thought it so easy, and he would give him his general's command. At this Cleon was astounded, and tried to change what he had said, since he did not expect that Nicias would resign his com- mand. But the people were not sorry when the boastful Cleon was caught in his own snare, and though he was unwilling to go, so much the more they urged him to do as he had said. 269. They say that Lucius Manlius was a very suc- cessful general. He was, however, cruel to his soldiers, and crueller still to his son. For the youth, as he had always lacked good teaching, was awkward in appearance and speech. This circumstance so annoyed Manlius that he would not suffer his innocent son to remain at home, but drove him from the society of his equals to labour among slaves in the fields. On hearing this, the tribune of the Plebs, whose duty it was to aid the oppressed, issued a summons against the cruel parent. It seemed, however, better to the youth to undergo any hardship than to be the cause of disgrace and ruin to his father. Accordingly he went to the tribune's house at daybreak, and burst into the chamber where the owner was then sleeping. First he explained who he was, then, drawing a sword, he declared that he would kill the tribune if he persisted in the matter. * Pro- mise,' said he, ' that you will not accuse my father, or 1^2 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION- I will slay you on the spot !' The tribune, greatly alarmed, dared not resist, and obeyed the young man's demand. Thus the virtue of a dutiful son saved this unnatural father from well-deserved punishment. Livy, vii. 5. Seneca, de Beneficiis^ ill. 37. 270. Then was committed that great crime, memorable for its singular atrocity, memorable for the tremendous retribution that followed it. The English captives were left to the mercy of the guards, and the guards deter- mined to secure them for the night in the prison of the garrison, a chamber known by the fearful name of the Black Hole. Even for a single European malefactor, that dungeon would in such a climate have been too close and narrow. The space was only twenty feet square ; the air-holes small and obstructed. It was the summer solstice, the season when the fierce heat of Bengal. can scarcely be rendered tolerable to natives of England by lofty halls and by the constant waving of fans. The number of the prisoners was one hundred and forty-six. 271, When they were ordered to enter the cell, they imagined that the soldiers were joking ; and being in high spirits on account of the promise of the Nabob to spare their lives, they laughed and jested at the absurdity of the notion. They soon discovered their mistake. They expostulated, they entreated, but in vain. The guards threatened to cut down all who hesitated. The captives were driven into the cell at the point of the sword, and the door was instantly shut and locked upon them. Nothing in history or fiction approaches the horrors which were recounted by the few survivors of that night. INTO LATIN, l^'^ They cried for mercy. They strove to burst the door. Holwell, who even in that extremity retained some pre- sence of mind, offered large bribes to the gaolers. But the answer was, that nothing could be done without the Nabob's orders, that the Nabob was asleep, and that he would be angry if anybody woke him. 272. Then the prisoners went mad with despair. They trampled each other down, fought for the places at the windows, fought for the pittance of water with which the cruel mercy of the murderers mocked their agonies, raved, prayed, blasphemed, implored the guards to fire among them. The gaolers in the meantime held lights to the bars, and shouted with laughter at the frantic struggles of their victims. At length the tumult died away in low gaspings and moanings. The day broke. The Nabob had slept off his debauch, and permitted the door to be opened. But it was some time before the soldiers could make a lane for the survivors, by piling up on each side the heaps of corpses on which the burning climate had already begun to do its loathsome work. 273. We may compare the career of Rome with the life of a man. In reviewing its whole history, how it began, how it grew up, and reached the fulness of man- hood, and then fell into decay, we shall find four periods of development. The first stage was under the kings, lasting about two hundred and fifty years, which it passed near the cradle of the race in struggling with the neigh- bouring communities. This may be called the infancy of Rome. The next period extends over two hundred and fifty years, from the consulship of Brutus and 154 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION- CoUatinus, to that of Appius Claudius and Q. Fulvius, during which it subdued Italy. This was the most stirring period, and may be called the youth of Rome. From that time to the reign of Augustus, was two hundred years, during which Rome brought the whole w^orld into subjection. This was the age of its manhood, and the maturity of its power. From that time forward Rome gradually declined ; yet in its old age, it shewed an unexpected renewal of vigour, under the beneficent sway of Trajan. 274. Nature gave you, my friend, the heart of a king, but she gave you not a kingdom, of which therefore Fortune could not deprive you. But I doubt whether our age can furnish an example of worse or better treat- ment from her than yourself. In the first part of your life you were blest with an admirable constitution, and astonishing health and vigour : some years after we beheld you thrice abandoned by the physicians who despaired of your life. The heavenly Physician, who was your sole resource, restored you to health, but not to your former strength. You were then called iron- footed, for your singular force and agility : you are now bent, and lean upon the shoulders of those whom you formerly supported. Your country beheld you one day its governor, the next an exile. Seneca, de Consolatione ad Poly b. 25. 275. Princes disputed for your friendship, and after- / wards conspired your ruin. You lost by death the greatest part of your friends : the rest, according to custom, deserted you in calamity. To these misfor- INTO LATIN, 155 tunes was added a violent disease, which attacked you when destitute of all succours, at a distance from your country and family, in a strange land, invested by the troops of your enemies : so that those two or three friends, whom fortune had left you, could not come near to relieve you. In a word, you have experienced every hardship but imprisonment and death. But what do I say ? You have felt all the horrors of the former, when your faithful wife and children were shut up by your enemies : and even death followed you, and took one of those children, for whose life you would willingly have sacrificed your own. Seneca, de Consolatione ad Polyb. 25. 276. I said, there was a society of men among us, bred up from their youth, in the art of proving, by words multiplied for the purpose, that white is black, and black is white, according as they are paid. To this society, all the rest of the people are slaves. For example, if my neighbour hath a mind to my cow, he hires a lawyer to prove that he ought to have my cow from me. I must then hire another to defend my right : it being against all rules of law, that any man should be allowed to speak for himself. Now, in this case, I, who am the right owner, lie under two great disadvantages ; first, my lawyer, being practised almost from his cradle, in defending falsehood, is quite out of his element, when he will be an advocate for justice. CictTO, pro Murena, 12. 277. Meanwhile a certain Gaul, armed only with a shield and a sword, and decorated with a collar and arm- 156 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION lets, stepped forth. He was a gigantic warrior, surpassing all the rest both in strength and courage. So in the heat of the battle, when both sides were fighting with the utmost fury, he began waving his hands as a sign to the combatants to stop fighting. A pause followed. Then, in the midst of a deep silence, he proclaimed in a loud voice, * If any one is willing to fight with me, let him come forth.' But no one dared, such was his bigness and the fierceness of his look. Thereupon the Gaul began to gibe and make faces. This was too much for T. Manlius, a young Roman of noble birth. It pained him that such dishonour should befal his country, and that no one out of so great a host should stand forth to fight the Gaul. So out he stepped himself, and suffered not foul scorn to be cast upon the valour of the Romans : but armed with a buckler and a Spanish sword, he took his stand opposite the foe. Livy, vii. 9. 278. The meeting took place near the approach to the bridge, while both armies looked on in breathless expec- tation. They took their places then, as I said before. The Gaul, as he had been trained to do, sheltered him- self behind his shield, and waited. Manlius, trusting to valour rather than to skill, dashed his own shield against the shield of the other, and threw the Gaul off his balance. Then, while the Gaul is trying to recover himself and resume his position, Manlius makes a second dash at him with his shield, and a second time dislodges him from his posture of defence. Seizing his advantage, he forced himself under his adversary's guard, so that the Gaul could not gather force for a stroke, and drawing his rnr: y^yx^ ^ ^ rx y OF THB TJNIVERSITY dagger plunged it into the other's breast, and, following up the blow, pressed with all his might against his enemy's right shoulder, and never relaxed his effort until he had thrown him over. When he had fallen Manlius cut his head off, drew the collar from him, and put it, all bloody as it was, upon his own neck. From which exploit both he and his descendants were surnamed Torquati. Livy, vii. 9. 279. At a seaport to the westward of this city lived, some time since, a merchant who by numerous voyages had acquired a large fortune, and who preserving a taste for his early profession, frequently amused himself during the summer by sailing from island to island. He had an only son to whom he had given an excellent education, and the young man though only fifteen years old, had so far penetrated into the most difficult secrets of nature as to have acquired the language of birds. One day while the father and son were sailing in a new and favourite vessel, a pair of ravens continued for some time to flutter over their heads, occasionally settling on the mast or in the shrouds, and croaking so incessantly that the old merchant was much disturbed, and almost deafened by their noise. ' I wish,' cried he, * since I cannot silence those vile birds, that I could at least discover the subject of their discourse !' 280. ' Their discourse,' replied the son, * is addressed to me; they have been telling my fortune; and they assure me that I shall one day be much richer and more powerful than thou art, and that a time will come when 158 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION' thou shalt be happy to support the sleeve of my cloak whilst I am washing : and that my mother will be proud of holding the towel to wipe my hands.' ' Indeed !' ex- claimed the father, *art thou so discontented and am- bitious ? But I will soon try whether the croakers are not mistaken in their prophecy ! ' With these words he suddenly caught the youth round the waist, and threw him headlong into the sea : after which he altered his course, and still boiling with indignation, sailed back to port. The youth was fortunately an expert swimmer, and see- ing an island at some distance, succeeded at length by the help of Providence, in reaching the shore. 281. And it was now near the setting of the sun ; for he had been away in the inner room for a long time. But when he came in from bathing he sat down and did not speak much afterwards ; for then the servant of the Eleven came in, and standing near him, said, ^ I do not perceive that in you, Socrates, which I have taken notice of in others : I mean, that they are angry with me and curse me, when being compelled by the magistrates I announce to them that they must drink the poison. But on the contrary, I have found you to the present time to be the most generous, mild, and best of all the men that ever came into this place ; and therefore I am well convinced that you are not angry with me, but with the authors of your present condition, for you know who they are. Now therefore, for you know what I came to tell you, farewell; and endeavour to bear this necessity as easily as possible.' 282. Then Criton, hearing this, gave a sign to the boy INTO LATIN, 159 that stood near him \ and the boy departing, and having stayed for some time, came back with the person that was to administer the poison, who brought it pounded in a cup. And Socrates, looking at the man, said, * Well, my friend, as you are knowing in these matters, what is to be done ?' ' Nothing,' he said, ' but after you have drunk it to walk about, until a heaviness comes on in your legs, and then to lie down : this is the manner in which you have to act.' And at the same time he extended the cup to Socrates. And Socrates taking it — and, indeed, with great cheerfulness, neither trem- bling nor turning colour, but as his manner was, looking sternly under his brows at the man — * What say you,' he said, * to making a libation from this ? may I do it or not?' 283. The Roman general obtained possession of the enemy's camp, and abandoned all the booty to the soldiery : such prisoners as were of Spanish origin he suffered to go home without a ransom, but ordered the Africans to be sold into slavery. Amongst these was a youth of royal birth, and of such remarkable beauty that the general stopped and enquired of him who he was and how he happened to be serving in the army at that age. In reply the boy said he was a Numidian, and that his countrymen called him Massiva. He had been left an orphan, he said, by the death of his father, and had crossed over into Spain with his uncle Masinissa, who had lately come to help the Carthaginians, and by reason of his youth had never been allowed to take part in an engagement. On the day of the encounter with the Romans he had secretly taken a horse and armour l6o PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION and gone out to fight without his uncle's knowledge ; but owing to his horse's stumbling, had been thrown down and taken prisoner by the enemy. Hereupon Scipio asked him if he would like to go back to his uncle. The boy, shedding tears of delight, said that he certainly would. So the Roman made him a present of a gold ring and a richly caparisoned horse, and, giving him an escort of cavalry to conduct him, let him go free and unharmed. 284. They sent deputies to the Roman general, offer- ing him his choice of peace or war. It was the custom, they said, of their nation never to decline the combat with an enemy who challenged them : however they had gained their immediate object ; they had found the settlements they sought ; with the Romans they had no quarrel ; they were content to remain upon the soil they had seized. They boasted the valour by which these acquisitions had been so rapidly made, and ended by declaring that they yielded in strength and bravery to no nation, excepting only the Suevi, whom the gods themselves could not withstand. Caesar replied, as was his wont, that it was the duty of a Roman proconsul to protect the Gauls against all external enemies. He would hold no inter- course or discussion with any foreign nation, while it occupied an inch of Gallic soil. Csesar, de Bello Gallico^ i. 13. 285. The route by which the army was marching led across the fatal field. As they traversed the high plain of Calaluz the soldiers saw everywhere around the traces of the fight. The ground was still covered with fragments INTO LATIN. l6l of armour, with broken swords and spears, and a stilL sadder sight were the bones of men and horses, which in this sohtary region had been whitening in the blasts of seventy winters. Here was the spot where the vanguard had halted in the obscurity of the night. There we're the remains of the enemy's entrenchments which time had nearly levelled with the dust ; and there, too, the rocks still threw their dark shadows over the plain, as on the day when the vahant Alonso fell fighting at their base. The whole battle handed down from the lips of their fathers came back to the memory of the Spaniards, and as they gazed on the unburied rehcs lying around them,, the tears fell fast from their iron cheeks. Tacitus, Ann, i. 6i. 286. When Cyrus was twelve years old he went with his mother to visit Astyages, who desired to see him because he heard that he was beautiful and of a noble disposition. At dinner, Astyages used to order the best dishes of all kinds to be set before the boy, who had not been accustomed to such magnificence. Once when Cyrus saw a great quantity of food set before him he asked whether he might dispose of it according to his pleasure ; and being told that he might, he proceeded to distribute it to the attendants — all except Sacas, the king's cup-bearer. Then Astyages asked why he gave Sacas nothing. And Cyrus said, 'Because there is poison in the wine which he gives you, and this I perceived the other day when you were feasting your friends on your birthday. For the poison so affected the bodies and minds of those present that you all talked at once, and sang absurd songs, and when you got up to dance, not M 1 62 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION- only did not keep time, but could not even stand upright.' And Astyages said, * Does not your father drink wine, boy ?^ * Certainly he drinks it,' answered Cyrus, * but he suffers nothing of that kind, for Sacas does not pour it out for him.' 287. On the 19th of April the Albanians revolted from the Turks. They held a meeting at Scodra to declare themselves independent, and their leader spoke as fol- lows : * Brethren, when they sold us to our enemies, that mountain race, which is of all nations the most barbarous, they did not know who we were, or what institutions we enjoyed. We, the descendants of Alexander the Great, surrounded by wolves eager for prey, shall know how to defend the tombs of our fathers. To-morrow our brethren will be delivered over to the enemy. Will you allow this ?' The whole assembly answered that they would not. He then said that for fifty years he had served the Sultan, but now he separated himself from him, and recognised no longer any lord. Then having torn off the medals from his breast, he dashed them on the ground, and bade them show themselves worthy of this enterprise, and first tear down the crescent banner, and set up the Albanian flag in its place. When this was done he said that they had arms already, and could find hands to wield them ; nothing but money was want- ing to the Albanians, who were brave but poor. 288. A thousand foot soldiers were put at the disposal of Alexis, together with a picked company of thirty horse- men. These had secret orders given them to obey their leader implicitly in every particular. Whatever enterprise INTO LATIN. 163 Alexis might call upon them to engage in, however sudden, however unexpected, however rash it seemed, they were to carry out his orders without question asked ; and to look upon that enterprise as the sole object of the campaign. When the day for action came, Alexis, after parting with the king, whom he had accompanied in his ride around the camp, called his troopers together, and said, * We have now, my men, to brace ourselves up to do the deed which you were commanded to execute under my guidance.' 280. * Be ready heart and hand ; and let no one hesi- tate to do as he sees me doing. The man who hangs back, or tries to cross my purpose, I tell him, he shall never see his home again.' A shudder ran through them all, as they remembered their secret orders. By this time the king was seen approaching. Alexis ordered them to couch their spears, and * keep your eyes on me,' he said. Pausing a moment to collect himself before taking the irrevocable step, he charged the tyrant as he approached, transfixed his horse, and dashed the rider to the ground ; where the troopers despatched him as he lay. 290. The Indians rushed on, a host against a man ; as having nothing to do but to despatch the prey that had fallen into their hands. . But Alexander, who was now partly sheltered by the wall, and also by the trunk and spreading boughs of an old tree that grew near it, kept his assailants at bay with his wonted vigour. Their chief and another, who ventured within reach of his sword, paid for their rashness with their lives. Two more, before they came quite so near, he disabled, after M 2 164 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION the manner of a Homeric combat, with stones. The rest, deterred by these examples, kept at a safe distance, and only plied him with missiles, which were mostly in- tercepted by the branches under which he stood, leaning either against the trunk or the wall. Livy. 291. On the second day his voyage was interrupted by a gale which, meeting the rapid current of the Indus, caused a swell, in which the galleys became unmanage- able. Most of them were severely damaged, many went to pieces, either afloat or after they had been run aground. While the shipwrights were repairing the disaster, Alex- ander sent a few light troops up the country, in search of natives who might serve as pilots. A few were taken, well acquainted with the navigation of the river ; and under their guidance he continued his voyage to the sea. Near the mouth it still blew so hard from the sea that he was fain to take shelter in a canal pointed out by the Indians. And here the Macedonians were first astonished by the ebb of the tide, when they saw their vessels suddenly stranded. Livy, xxviii. 30. 292. Although there is nothing new to tell you, and I am rather expecting a letter from you, or better still your arrival in person ; yet, as the messenger was starting I could not let him go without sending you a line. Mind you come as soon as you can. We are all eagerly expect- ing you, be assured of that. Not only ourselves, the family, I mean, but everybody. I was half inclined to fear that you would put off your visit. But seeing how important it is in your own interests that you should INTO LATIN. 165 come as soon as possible, I have ventured to give you this reminder. I have already told you what my wishes are : for the rest you must use your own judgment. And please let me know when we may expect you. Good bye. Rome^ Feb. nth. 293. The enterprise was attended with more difficulty than was expected. The infidels had ploughed up the lands in the neighbourhood ; and as the light cavalry of the Spaniards was working its way through the deep fur- rows, the Moors opened the canals which intersected the fields, and in a moment the horses were floundering up to their girths in the mire and water. Thus embarrassed in their progress, the Spaniards presented a fatal mark to the Moorish missiles, which rained on them with pitiless fury ; and it was not without great efforts and consider- able loss that they gained a firm landing on the opposite side. Undismayed however they then charged the enemy with such vivacity as compelled him to give way and take refuge within the fortifications of the town. 294. No impediment could now check the ardour of the assailants. They threw themselves from their horses, and bringing forward the scaling-ladders, planted them against the walls. Gonsalvo was the first to gain the summit ; and as a powerful Moor endeavoured to thrust him from the topmost round of the ladder, he grasped the battlements firmly with his left hand, and dealt the infidel such a blow with the sword in his right as brought him headlong to the ground. He then leapt into the place, and was speedily followed by his troops. The enemy 1 66 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION made but a brief and ineffectual resistance. The greater part were put to the sword : the remainder, including the women and children, were made slaves, and the town was delivered up to pillage. 295. It was determined by the chiefs to strike at once into the heart of the Red Sierra, as it was called from the colour of its rocks, rising to the east of Ronda, and the principal theatre of insurrection. On the i8th of March the army encamped before Monarda, on the skirts of a mountain, where the Moors were understood to have assembled in considerable force. They had not been long in these quarters before parties of the enemy were seen hovering along the slopes of the mountain, from which the Christian camp was divided by a narrow river. Aguilar's troops, who occupied the van, were so much roused by the sight of the enemy, that a small party, seizing a banner, rushed across the stream without orders, in pursuit of them. The odds however were so great that they would have been severely handled, had not Aguilar, while he bitterly condemned their temerity, advanced to their support with the rest of his corps. 206. It has been the custom for the prosecutor in cases of treason like the present, to dwell on the heinous- ness of the crime : to describe the disastrous effects that would have followed on success ; the subversion of order; the triumph of anarchy; the reign of terror, with revenge, murder, rapine and all their attendant miseries. But if the object is to inflame your anger against the prisoners, surely there is no need. The facts speak for themselves, and it is but rhetoric thrown away. But, my lords, in INTO LATIN. 167 the present instance vindictiveness would be a blunder. It is not through indifference to the enormity of their crime that I say this, no man underrates the injuries directed against himself. But the licence of retaliation is different in different cases. 297. Men of low degree who pass their lives in ob- scurity may be angry and sin, for few will be the wiser. The sphere of their fame is as limited as their fortune. But rank has corresponding obligations. When men are set in high places all the world knows of their doings. The more exalted the position the more limited the charter. Princes cannot do as they like. They may not indulge in likes and dislikes ; least of all may they give way to temper. What in other men is mere caprice, is called tyranny and oppression in the occupant of a throne. I admit that no punishment could be great enough for the guilt of these men. But last impressions are always the most vivid, and in the case of criminals people forget the crime, but cease not to talk about the punishment, if it happens to be of more than ordinary severity. 298. * And yet,' I continued, * we have not discussed the principal wage? of virtue, and the greatest of the prizes that are held out to it.' * If there are others greater than those already men- tioned, they must be of extraordinary magnitude.' VBut how,' I replied, 'can anything great be com- pressed into a brief space of time? And the whole interval between childhood and old age is brief, I con- ceive, compared to eternity.' l68 PASSAGES FOR TRANSLATION ' Rather describe it as nothing.' * What then ? Do you think that it is the duty of an immortal thing to trouble itself about this insignificant interval, and not about eternity?' ' I think it ought to concern itself about eternity : but what do you mean by this?' * Have you not learned,' I asked, * that our soul is immortal, and never dies ?' He looked at me, and said in amazement, ' No, really — I have not; but can you maintain this doctrine?' * Yes, as I am an honest man,' I replied ; * and I think you could also. It is quite easy to do it.' * Not to me,' he said ; * at the same time I should be glad to hear from you what, by your account, is so easy.' Cicero, Tusc. Qucest. i. 5, § 9. 299. The fate of Valens himself was never exactly known. Some said that at nightfall he fell mortally wounded by an arrow, and that his body, confounded among those of the common soldiers, could never be recognised. Others asserted, that when he was wounded, some of his guards conveyed him to a neighbouring cottage, and while they were engaged in trying to dress his wound, the enemy surrounded the house, and being unable to force the doors, heaped straw and wood against them, and setting fire to these materials, burned the house and all within it. One of the guards who escaped out of a window survived to tell the story, -f Such was the end of the Emperor Valens, in the fiftieth year of his age, and the fourteenth of his reign. He is said to have been a firm friend, a rigid maintainer of both civil and military order, a mild ruler of the INTO LATIN, 169 provinces. On the other hand, he is charged \vith avarice, indolence, severity bordering on cruelty; and it is added, that though affecting a great regard for justice, he would never allow the judges to give any sentence but such as he wished. Livy, i. 16. Tacitus, Hist. ii. 49, 72. 300. It was evening when the ambassadors arrived at the Roman camp. Carus was at that time seated on the grass eating his supper, which consisted of a bowl of cold boiled peas, and some pieces of salt pork, with a purple woollen robe thrown over his shoulders. He desired them to be brought to him, and v;hen they came he told them that if their master did not submit he would in a month's time make Persia as bare of trees and standing corn as his own head was of hair ; and, suiting the action to the word, he pulled off the cap he wore, and displayed his head totally devoid of hair. He invited them, if they were hungr}^, to share his meal; if not, he bade them depart. They withdrew in terror. Carus forthwith took the field, and recovered the whole of Mesopotamia. He defeated the troops sent against him, and took the cities of Seleucia and Ctesiphon. Livy, iii. 26. THE END. Now ready, small quarto, pp. xii, 1192, bevelled boards^ red edges, price Eighteen Shillings. 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