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to man.

pers; and many a silent grasp of the hand passed from man As the night wore away, and the day dawned, Virginius, upon a foaming steed, his head bare, and in his right hand a bloody knife, dashed past the guard to where- beneath an oak which, withered and scorched by sacrificial fires, flung no shadow-great Jove was worshiped.

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4. Mounting the altar steps, he turned, and, with blood-shot eyes, glared upon the soldiers who thronged tumultuously around him. Holding aloft the bloody knife, he exclaimed, "With this weapon, I have slain my only child, to preserve her from dishonor!" Yells of horror and bitter execrations rose from the whole army; and a thousand swords flashed in the sun's bright beams.

5. "Soldiers!" he cried, "I am like this blasted tree. Two years ago the Ides of May,* three lusty sons went with me to the field. In one disastrous fight they perished. A daughter, beautiful as the day, yet remained: 't is but a week ago you saw her here, bearing to her old sire home comforts, prepared by her own hands, and sharing with him the evening meal; and you blessed her as you passed.

6. "You'll never see her more, that weekly came, with the soft music of her voice, and spells of home, to cheer our hearts. As on her way to school she crossed the Forum, Appius Claudius, through his minion, Marcus, claimed her as a slave. With desperate haste I rode to Rome. Holding my daughter by the hand, and, by my side, her uncle, her aged grandsire, and Icilius her betrothed, I claim my child.

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7. "The judge, that he may gain his end, decides that in his house and custody she must remain, till I, by legal process, prove my right! The guards approach. Trembling, she clings around my neck, — her hot tears on my cheek. Snatching this knife from a butcher's stall, I plunged it in her breast, that her pure soul might go free and unstained to her mother and her ancestors.

*IDES, with the Romans, the fifteenth day of March, May, July, and October. Ir the other months, it was the thirteenth.

8. "And this is the reward a grateful country gives her soldiery! Cursed be the day my mother bore me! Accursed my sire's untimely joy Accursed the twilight hour, when, 'mid Etruscan* groves, I wooed and won Acestes' beauteous child, while youth's bright dreams were busy at my heart! 9. "Soldiers! the deadliest foes of our liberties are behind, not before us they are not the Equi, the Volsci, and the Sabines,† who meet us in fair fight; but that pampered aristocracy, who chain you by the death penalty to the camp, that in your absence they may work their will upon those you leave behind.

10. "But why do I seek to kindle a fire in ice? Why seek to arouse the vengeance of those who care for no miseries but their own, and are enamored of their fetters? I, indeed, can lose no more. Misfortune hath emptied her quiver: she hath no other shaft for this bleeding breast; but flatter not yourselves that the lust of Appius Claudius has expired with the defeat of his purpose.

11. "Your homes, likewise, invite the destroyer: into your folds the grim wolf will leap: among the lambs of your flocks will he revel, his jaws dripping blood. For you, also, the bow is bent; the arrow drawn to the head; and the string impatient of its charge. By all that I have lost, and that you imperil by delay, avenge this accursed wrong!

12. "If you have arms, use them; liberties, vindicate them; patriotism, save the tottering state; natural affection, protect the domestic hearth; piety, appease the wrath of the gods by avenging the blood that cries to heaven. To arms! To arms! or your swords will leap from their scabbards, the trumpets sound the onset, and the standards of themselves advance to rebuke your delay!"

QUESTIONS.2, 4. Where did Virginius stand as he addressed the soldiers? 4. What terrible deed had he just committed? 4. What effect did the announcement of that act have upon the army? 5-7. Can you relate the incidents connected with the tragedy Who was Appius Claudius? Who were the qui, the Volsci, and the Sabines

*E-TRUS'CAN, pertaining to Ancient Etruria, in Italy, now Tuscany.

'QUI, VOL'SCI, and SA'BINES, neighboring nations at war with Rome. AP'PI-US CLAU DI-US, one of the decemvirs at Rome.

LESSON CVI.

1. RA'DI-ANT, shining brightly.
1. VEN'ER-A-BLE, worthy of honor.
1. SHRINES, sacred things; altars.
ERRORS.-Sev'un for sev'en [sev"'n];
suf'f'rer for suf'fer-er.

2. REEK'ING, emitting steam or vapor. 3. MAN'DATE, command.

4. SHACK'LED, bound with fetters. i'ron for i'ron [i'urn]; călm for cälm

PAUL AT ROME. - E. P. WESTON.

1. THE Seven Hills! *

2.

How like the cursed of God

They lay, drunk with the blood of slaughtered men ;
While radiant skies hung o'er them; and the domes
Of glittering temples gave the splendor back,
A gilded mockery to the eye of Heaven!
That whited sepulcher! † How had its kings,
With iron heel, trodden the necks of men,
Till the foul incense, from its Godless shrines,
Went rank to Heaven.

Nero, with gory hand,

Had waved his blood-hounds to the work of death ;
And the great city groaned with mortal throes
Of martyrs perishing for the name of Christ.
One form was there, one venerable man,

Grown gray

with suffering and worn with years, Who bade defiance to his threat of death, And awed a moment the proud tyrant's heart. 3. He stood to stay his followers, as they fled, A scattered household, from the Roman dogs, Bidding them die with an unwavering trust, When the vile minions of the despot's rage

Seized him to death. Nay,-not to death! To die? 'T were gain, the crowning of his loftiest hope!

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*Rome was built upon seven hills.

THAT WHITED SEPULCHER, the city of Rome.

NE'RO, a Roman emperor, noted for his extreme cruelty. He set fire to the city, and accused the Christians of the crime, and then put hundreds of them to death in the most cruel manner. This occurred about the year 63.

And, as he welcomed the uplifted sword

Reeking with slaughter, the mad mandate came:-
"Let the black dungeon blast his vaulting hopes,
And waste his sinews, till his lion heart
Quail to the terrors of a Cæsar's* power,

And suffering quench the flaming of his pride!"
4. How vain! Paul had not learned to bow his head,
Save to the mandate of the King of kings!
He who had won a conqueror's mastery,
Battling the hate of the envenomed Jews,
And poured contempt on vain philosophy,
E'en 'mid the idol shrines of Ephesus; †
He who had borne the knotted scourge unmoved,
And brooked the wrath of maddened multitudes
For the high crown which glittered to his eye;
Had wandered wayworn in the wilderness,
And spurned the perils of the angry sea,
So he might preach the mysteries of his faith;
He who had sung in prisons, scorning there
The bonds that shackled him, so they but leave
His praise unfettered for the ear of Heaven,
Could the grim dungeons of the rotting Rome
Appall his heart? Nay! as the child lies down
To the sweet pillow of his evening dreams,
So went that hero of earth's martyr-host

Down to those dungeon damps, calm in the strength
Which suffering had begotten of his faith!

6. What treasures, tyrant! wouldst not thou have given
For one small draught of such a peace as his;
While to the darkness of his prison-walls

He sung of his departure, reveling

In the rapt visions of his glowing faith;
Ay, joying in afflictions, laid so light,

* CE'SAR, a name given to the Roman emperors.

EPH'E-SUS, once a seaport of Asia Minor

Temple of Diana; see Acts, chap. xix.

now in ruins. It was famous for its

In the grand balance of eternal years,
Against Heaven's glory and the martyr's crown!
O holy sufferer, may thy strength be ours,
In the stern conflicts of this warring world!
QUESTIONS.-1. What is said of the Seven Hills of Rome? Why does
Rome "that whited sepulcher"? 2. What was the character of Nero?
afraid of Nero's threats and dungeons? 4-6. Why?

What can you say of the travels, persecutions, and work of Paul? find the best account of him?

the poet call 2. Was Paul

Where can you

2. PRE-SUMED', supposed.

LESSON CVII. 107

2. IN-SPI-RA'TION, exciting influence.

3. IN-FLEX'I-BLE, that will not yield. 3. SU-PREM'A-CY, highest authority.

5. COM-MEM'O-RATE, to call to mind.

5. GLO-RI-FI-CA'TION, giving glory to.
5. EU'LO-GY, praise; encomium.
6. BLAND'ISH-MENTS, soft words.

ERRORS.- Chil'dern for chil'dren; hun'derd for hun'dred; ad-văn'tige for advan-tage pos' for posts.

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1. Let no one dream that public virtue and devotion to country are principles which are dying out in this University. We have referred to what the fathers did: let us now see what the children are doing. More than four hundred and fifty of our number either now are, or have been, in the national service.

2. It was presumed that their education would be of advantage to them, so far as intelligence and personal influence were required; but it has been of advantage to them in other ways. It has given a substance and body to their characters, which only needed the inspiration of a lofty purpose in order to become the foundation of the highest courage, and even of great powers of physical endurance.

3. They went because they were called. It was not military glory, nor political ambition, nor schemes of reform, which moved them; but an inflexible purpose to preserve the integrity of a great nation, and maintain the supremacy of the laws. How they have performed that duty, appears from the

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