34 Lycurgus' Honesty.

There once lived in the city of Sparta1 a man whose name was Lycurgus. He was the son of Eunomus, the brother of Polydectes, the Spartan king. On the death of the latter his wife promised to obtain 2 the kingdom for him and kill her son if he would only marry her. Lycurgus seemed to consent, but saved the child's life, and relinquishing the supreme power ruled the state in his stead. When Charilaus, for so was the child named, was grown to manhood, he set out on a foreign tour, to free himself from all suspicion of aiming at being king." He was, moreover, desirous of bringing back with him anything likely to be of use to the state that he might meet with on his travels.

1. at Sparta (locative) in the city; there being no locative case to city, we cannot put it in apposition to Sparta. 2. conciliare. 3. annuere. 4. se abdicare; do not use the present participle, as it is clear he could not rule while in the act of relinquishing the supreme power. 5. adolescere. 6. abroad. 7. regnum affectare.

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35. Lycurgus as Legislator.

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He returned after an absence of some years, and brought home with him a draft of a code of laws and a system of domestic government2 compiled from the usages of different nations he had visited. His first care was to distribute the public lands among the citizens. Moreover, after forbidding the citizens the use of gold and silver, deeming them the cause of all quarrels and crimes, he made an iron coinage, to prevent wealth from giving any one an opportunity of living luxuriously. Besides this he commanded the citizens to dine in public and use coarse food. To prevent these laws from becoming obsolete at any time, he pretended that he wished to go to consult the oracle of Delphi, and bound the citizens by an oath not to change any of his laws until his return. Then he went to the island of Crete, and spent the remainder of his life there. He also gave orders that his bones should be thrown into the sea, lest, if they were brought back to Sparta, the people should consider themselves freed from the obligation of their oath.

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1. forma. 2. civilis disciplina. 3. colligere. 4. use a deponent participle where you can instead of a present participle active. 5. lest. 6. interire. 7. adigere. 8. he should have returned. 9. relligio,

36. Caesar marches against Ariovistus.

At the same time that this message was brought to Caesar, ambassadors came from the Aedui and the Treveri: the Aedui, to complain that the Harudes who had just been imported into Gaul were ravaging their territory, and saying that they had been unable even by giving hostages to purchase a renewal of the peace with Ariovistus; the Treveri, announcing that ten cantons of the Suabians had settled on the banks of the Rhine and were attempting to cross the river. Caesar was strongly moved by this news, and thought that he must make haste lest, if a new band of Suabians should join the old forces of Ariovistus, resistance might become less easy. So having got together provisions as quickly as he could, he hastened by forced marches to overtake Ariovistus. When he had gone three days' march, news was brought to him that Ariovistus with all his troops was on his way to besiege Besançon, the chief town of the Sequani, and had already accomplished a three days' march from his own territory. Caesar felt that he must take every caution to prevent this happening.

1. redimere. 2. 'with 'here is a sign of the genitive. 3. join themselves with. 4. use an impersonal verb. 5. translate this by a single verb.

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37. The Devotion of Codrus.

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During the reign of Codrus war broke out1 between the Dorians and Athenians. In answer to his appeal 2 to the oracle he was told that the side whose leader fell in the war would be victorious. receiving this answer Codrus put on a shepherd's dress and entered the enemies' camp, carrying some faggots on his shoulders. He was there slain by a soldier whom he provoked by wounding him with his billhook. When they understood the meaning of the oracle the Dorians fled, and so the Athenians proved victorious through the courage of their leader in offering himself to destruction. We not unfrequently read in ancient writers of leaders who dared such risks, of course, with the view of exciting their men, and this shows us the lengths to which superstition went. Who has not heard the story of Decius devoting himself to death at a critical moment to save his country?

1. exoriri. 2. to him consulting. 3. those. 4. offering. 5. scilicet, 6. how great was the power of superstition.

38. Contempt of Pain.

Alexander the Great, King of Macedon, was attended1 while sacrificing by the youthful nobility. One of the lads, while standing near the altar with a censer, once let a live coal fall on his hand. Though the bystanders perceived the smell of his roasting flesh he bore his agony in silence. He was unwilling to delay the sacrifice by shaking the censer, or by uttering words of ill omen, to make it void. The king, who could see what was the matter, continued the sacrifice beyond its customary limits, as he wished to test the boy's endurance. However, he never stirred an inch 3 and remained motionless to the end. If we consider this well we shall feel no surprise that the Macedonians routed the Persians with such ease, when even a boy of that nation could show such a singular example of fortitude.

1. praesto esse. 2. longer than was usual. 3. transversum digitum.

39. Doing a Thing on Principle.

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Some people are so obstinate that they refuse to believe any one, even if he speak the truth. A certain citizen of London, being ill and not knowing the reason of his sickness, sent for his medical man, who on his arrival questioned him about the illness. What did you eat yesterday?' said he. The other replied, 'Twelve muffins.' The doctor remarked with a laugh, 'No wonder your stomach is out of order, after eating so many, for if you had eaten twenty you would have died.' The patient however strenuously denied this, and at once went out intending to buy twenty muffins; and on returning home he toasted and ate them. Then he went up to the top of the house and throwing himself down headlong was killed. By this act he showed that any one could eat twenty muffins without dying in consequence.

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1. placenta. 2. nimirum. 3. laborare. 4. aegrotus. 5. future participle. 6. do not translate this by the present participle, as it is clear that he was not killed while throwing himself down.

40. The Return of Theseus.

But when they drew near to the coast of Attica, they were so joyful that they forgot to set up their white sail, by which they should have given knowledge of their health and safety unto Aegeus. He seeing the black sail afar off, being out of all hope ever more to see his son again, took such a grief at his heart, that he threw himself headlong from the top of a cliff, and killed himself. So soon as Theseus was arrived at the port named Phalerum, he performed the sacrifices

which he had vowed to the gods at his departure; 5 and sent a herald of his before unto the city, to carry news of his safe arrival. The herald found many of the citizens mourning the death of King Aegeus. Many others received him with great joy, and would have crowned him also with a garland of flowers, because he had brought so good tidings, that the children of the city were returned in safety. The herald was content to take the garland, and returned forthwith to the sea, where Theseus made his sacrifices. Perceiving they were not yet done, he refused to enter into the temple, and stayed without for fear of troubling the sacrifices. Afterwards, all ceremonies finished, he went in and told the news of his father's death. 1. pandere. 2. significare. 3. concipere. 4. facere. 5. departing. 6. lest he, etc.

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41. The Austrian Rule.

Then the old man told them, weeping, of the awful punishment of his sons, and exclaimed (or. obl.): What is to be1 the end of these woes? The lower orders are perishing-so are the upper classes. Our chief men, accused of treachery, are slain by the Austrians without a hearing. Hear the story from those who have escaped from the very presence of death. I, after losing my brothers and relations by death or exile, have had my boys brutally murdered but yesterday. My grief prevents me from telling the tale.' The fugitives are brought forward and tell their story (or. obl.): 'Several noble Venetians have been put to death because they were said to have held communication with the exiles: we escaped from the slaughter. Verily the foreign yoke is loathsome, nor can it be borne any longer. Does any one wish to wait for the end of the woes that we and this old man have recounted? To arms!5 Recall the exiles! implore the assistance of the French! Free from slavery our Italy that has been oppressed so many years!'

1. remember that questions in the first or third persons require an inf. in oratio obliqua. 2. plebes. 3. indicta caussa. 4. death itself. 5. let them seize their arms.

42. The Treachery of Sextus.

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The only Latin town that defied Tarquin's power was Gabii; and1 Sextus, the king's youngest son, promised to win this place also for his father. So he fled from Rome and presented himself at Gabij and there he made complaints of his father's tyranny and prayed for protection. The Gabians believed him, and took him into their city, and they trusted him, so that in time he was made commander of their army. Now his father suffered him to conquer in many 2 small battles, and the Gabians trusted him more and more, Then

he sent privately to his father and asked him what he should do to make the Gabians submit. Then King Tarquin gave no answer to the messenger, but, as he walked up and down his garden, he kept cutting off the heads of the tallest poppies with his staff. At last the messenger was tired, and went back to Sextus and told him what had passed. But Sextus understood what his father meant, and he began to accuse falsely all the chief men, and some of them he put to death and some he banished. So at last the city of Gabii was left defenceless, and Sextus delivered it up to his father.

1. this passage is full of the word 'and,' get rid of it in the Latin. 2. aliquot. 3. praesidio nudatus.

43. Alexander murders Clitus.

When Clitus was on the point of1 departing for his satrapy, Alexander invited several of his friends to a banquet that they might say farewell to their comrade. Amongst them were many flatterers, who praised the exploits of Alexander excessively. Clitus, however, who was in the habit of giving full expression to his thoughts, was so far from approving of their undue 5 praise of Alexander, as to say that he thought the achievements of Philip more worthy of admiration. He reminded Alexander of his former services, and stretching forth his hand exclaimed, 'It was this hand, Alexander, that saved your life at the battle of the Granicus.'6 The king was so angry at these words that he rushed at Clitus to kill him, and though his friends held him back at first, he afterwards got loose, and meeting Clitus, ran him through with a spear. But he was sorry for what he had done the next moment, and remained for three days subdued by grief, and refusing even to taste food.

1. in eo ut. 2. provincia. 3. iubere valere. 4. of saying freely what he thought. 5. excessive. 6. near (ad) the river Granicus. 7. avoid the use of the present participle.

44. Filial Love.

When Octavianus was at Samos after the battle of Actium, he ordered1 the prisoners to be summoned for trial. Among others there was brought before him an old man, named Metellus, oppressed with age and infirmities, and so much disfigured by a long beard and ragged clothes, that his son, who happened to be one of the judges, could scarcely recognise him. When, however, he at length recollected the old man's features, he was so far from being ashamed to own his father, that he ran to embrace him, and wept over him bitterly. Then returning towards the tribunal, 'Cæsar,' says he, 'my father has been your enemy, and I your officer; he deserves to be punished, and

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