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ing that thou mayest bring wars to a successful | opposed to the rest of the world, and therefore result. Sloth never yet raised herself to the stars. with difficulty reaches the gods above, prone to Hasten on thy mighty deeds; black death impends insult and sickening at another's joys. over thee in the midst of thy labors. Thomson ("The Seasons "-" Spring," 1. 283) says:"Base envy withers at another's joy,

THE JOYS OF LIFE.

How many things God has formed for joyous purposes, and has distributed pleasures with a full right hand.

SECOND BIRTH.

A man cannot be born twice.

So John iii. 4:

"How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"

THE DWELLING OF VIRTUE.

And hates that excellence it cannot reach."

AMBITION.

O blinded counsels of the guilty! O wickedness, always full of fearful forebodings!

FEAR.

Then fear, the very worst prophet in misfortunes, anticipates many evils.

TO-MORROW.

It is unlawful for men to know what may be to

Simonides of Ceos (Fr. 28, S.) says much to the same effect:bring forth, nor when you see a man happy, how long he will

My house is chaste and my household gods stand on a lofty hill; a steep path up a rocky de-morrow. clivity leads to it: at first toilsome labor attends it, for I will not deceive: he who wishes to enter must exert all his energy: by and by high above thou shalt behold beneath thee the race of men. This is not unlike the following passage from Milton "On Education":

"I will point out to you the right path of a virtuous and noble education; laborious, indeed, at the first ascent, but also so smooth, so green, so full of goodly prospects and melodious sounds on every side, that the harp of Orpheus was not more charming."

So Psalm xxxvii. 34:

"Wait on the Lord and keep His ways."

STATIUS.

BORN ABOUT A.D. 61-DIED ABOUT A.D. 96.

P. PAPINIUS STATIUS was the son of P. Papinius Statius, the preceptor of Domitian, being born at Naples. Of his personal history little is known, as he is mentioned by no ancient author except Juvenal. He gained the prize three times at the Alban games (Suet. Dom. 4). He is said to have been stabbed with a stilus by Domitian. Several

of his works are extant.

THE DEMAGOGUE.

Then one whose nature was to attack the noble with the poisonous slander of his tongue, and who was unwilling to submit to the leaders placed over him, rose up to speak.

A TIGER.

As the tiger, when he hears the sound of the approaching huntsmen, rustles his spotted skin, shaking off his lazy sleep; he wakes to the combat, expands his jaws and points his claws; then bounds into the midst of the bands, and bears off his reeking prey, food for his bloody whelps.

THE DESERVING.

A just fortune awaits the deserving.

ENVY.

Being a mortal, do not pretend to say what to-morrow will

be so; for the change is quicker than that of a long-winged fly."

BLINDNESS OF MAN.

O Chance, and the minds of men blind to futurity!

MERCY.

It is a noble act to bestow life on the vanquished.

PEACE.

Peace is sought for by the cruelty of war.

LOVE OF LIFE.

The love of life, the last that lingers in the human breast.

SLEEP.

Beside the cloudy confines of the western night and the distant Ethiopians, there is a musty grove, impenetrable to the brightest star, and under the hollow rocks an immense cave descends into the bowels of the mountain, where sluggish Nature has placed the halls of lazy Sleep and the drowsy god. Motionless Rest and dark Oblivion stand on guard, and torpid Sloth with never wakeful eye. At the porch sits Ease, and speechless Silence with close contracted wings, driving the murmuring winds from the roof, forbidding the foliage to rustle, or the birds to twitter: here no roaring of the ocean, though all the shores resound, no crashing of the thunder: the stream itself, gliding along the deep valleys close to the grotto, rolls silently between the rocks and cliffs: the sable herds and flocks recline at ease on the ground: the newly-sprung grass withers, and the vapor makes the herbage languid. Glowing Vulcan had formed a thousand statues of the god within: close by it is wreathed Pleasure; here, in attendance, is Toil inclined to rest: here the same couch receives Love and Wine: deep, deep within, he lies with his twin-brother Death, a sad image to none. Beneath the dew-bespangled cavern, the god himself,

There is one above all others, who always acts released from cares, crowned with drowsy flow

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So Sophocles (Ajax, 669) says:

"For all that is dreadful and all that is mightiest gives way to law. First snow-faced winters yield to fruitful summers, and the orb of murky night gives place to the day with his white steeds to kindle his light, and the blast of the dreadful winds hath lulled the roaring main, nay, all o'erpowering sleep looses where he has bound, nor always holds us capAgain Shakespeare (“Troilus and Cressida," act i. sc. 3)

tive."

says:

"The heavens themselves, the planets, and this centre,
Observe degree, priority, and place,
Insisture, course, proportion, season, form
Office, and custom, in all line of order."

TACITUS.

BORN ABOUT A.D. 59-DIED ABOUT A.D. 120.

P. CORNELIUS TACITUS is supposed by some to have been born at Interamna, the modern Terni, but this is doubtful. We find him advanced to office by Vespasian, and to have been a favorite of his sons Titus and Domitian. He married the daughter of C. Julius Agricola, who was consul A.D. 77. He was prætor A.D. 88, and in the reign of Nerva, A.D. 97, he was appointed consul suffectus in the place of T. Verginius Rufus, who had died in that year. He was the intimate friend of Pliny the younger, and in the collection of Pliny's Letters we find eleven addressed to Tacitus. The precise time of his death is unknown, nor is it certain whether he left any family, though the Emperor Tacitus claimed to be descended from the historian.

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what is necessary for life, there is nothing in itIn domestic expenses, such as slaves, plate, and self excessive, nothing mean but what is made so by the circumstances of the parties. The only reason why the fortune of a senator should differ from the qualification of a knight is not that they are different in nature, but that they should excel each other in station, rank, and honors, and those other things which are for the recreation of the mind and the health of the body. Unless perhaps you are inclined to maintain that the most illustrious ought to submit to weightier anxieties and greater dangers, while they are without the means to soothe their anxieties and dangers.

FALSE COMPASSION.

If we yield to false compassion, industry will go to ruin, sloth will predominate, if man has nothing to hope or fear from his own exertions; all being secure of subsistence, will look to their neighbors for support, being idle in their own business and a burden to the public.

TRUTH.

Truth is brought to light by time and reflection, while falsehood gathers strength from precipitation and bustle.

HOW THE DEAD ARE TO BE REVERENCED.

The chief duty of friends is not to attend the remains of the dead with unavailing lamentation, but to remember his wishes and execute his commands.

So Proverbs (x. 7):

"The memory of the just is blessed."

FALSE GRIEF.

None grieve with so much ostentation as those who in their hearts rejoice at the event.

DAY OF MOURNING.

On the day that the remains of Augustus were conveyed to the tomb, there was dreary desolation with passionate sorrow.

THE COMMONWEALTH.

Whatever be the fate of noble families, the commonwealth is immortal.

FORTUNE TURNS EVERYTHING TO A JEST.

When we review what has been doing in the world, is it not evident that in all transactions, whether of ancient or of modern date, some strange caprice of fortune turns all human wisdom to a jest?

LAWS IN A CORRUPT STATE.

When the state is most corrupt, the laws are most numerous.

PEACE.

exceed our ability, gratitude gives way to our hatred.

INFORMERS.

In this way informers, a race of men the bane and scourge of society, never having been sufficiently curbed by punishment, were drawn forth by the wages of iniquity.

THINGS SLIGHT IN APPEARANCE MERIT ATTEN-
TION.

It would be not without advantage to examine these things, slight indeed in appearance, but which are often the secret springs of the most important events.

THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION.

In all nations the supreme authority is vested either in the people, the nobles or a single individual. A constitution composed of these three simple forms may, in theory, be praised, but can

Even war is preferable to a wretched and dis-never exist in fact, or if it should, it will be but

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TALENTS PROSCRIBED BY TYRANTS.

Wherefore we may well laugh at the folly of

He shone with the greater splendor because he those who think that they are able by an arbitrary

was not seen.

This expression is the French

"Briller par son absence."

CHASTITY.

act to extinguish the light of truth and prevent it reaching posterity. For genius triumphs under oppression; persecute the author and you enhance the value of his work. Foreign tyrants, and all who have adopted this barbarous policy, have

When a woman has lost her chastity, she will done nothing but record their own disgrace, and shrink from no crime.

Scott says:

"We hold our greyhound in our hand,

Our falcon on our glove;

But where shall we find leash or band
For dame that loves to rove?"

"Where the heart is past hope, the face is past shame."

KINDNESSES.

Obligations are only then acknowledged, when it seems in our power to requite them; if they

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The measure which I now defend by examples will, at a future day, become another precedent. It is now a new regulation; in time it will be history.

EMBELLISHMENT OF A STORY.

and fluctuating as the fancied pre-eminence which depends on popular opinion, when there is no solid foundation to support it.

LOVERS' QUARRELS.

Then there is the usual scene when lovers' are excited with each other, quarrels, entreaties, reproaches, and then fondling reconcilement.

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HOW PROJECTS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE ARE
FRUSTRATED.

Projects of great importance are frequently frustrated by envy and fear.

THE APPEARANCE OF NATURE REMAINS.

The everlasting hills are not changed like the faces of men.

DOING EVIL THAT GOOD MAY COME.

Every striking example has some injustice mixed up with it: individuals suffer while the public derive benefit.

THE AGENTS IN EVIL ACTIONS.

The assistants in the commission of crimes are always regarded as if they were reproaching the act.

NEW BROOMS.

Magistrates discharge their duties best at the beginning, and fall off at the conclusion.

THE DESIRE OF PERSONAL SAFETY.

The desire of personal safety is always against every great and noble enterprise.

LUST OF POWER.

The lust of power is the strongest in the human breast.

Shakespeare (" Henry VIII.," act iii. sc. 2) says:-
"Fling away ambition;
By that sin angels fell."
THE DESIRE OF POWER.

The desire of power is stronger than all other feelings.

THE BOLD.

Even the bravest men are not proof against a surprise.

THE SLOTHFUL.

Many enterprises succeed by trying, which seem impracticable to little minds.

CUTTING JOKES.

He had often made the prince the subject of his

A story embellished merely to create astonish- raillery; and raillery, when seasoned with truth.

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EFFECT OF INDOLENCE.

While other men have been advanced to eminence by industry, this man succeeded by mere

In human affairs there is nothing so unstable sluggishness and indolence.

ARBITER OF TASTE.

Being in favor at court, and cherished as the companion of Nero in his select parties, he was allowed to be the arbiter of taste and elegance.

CALUMNY.

with terror; it was neither a tumult nor a settled calm, but rather such an awful stillness as always indicates mighty terror and mighty fury.

NOT TO COME UP TO EXPECTATIONS.

While no higher than a private citizen, his merit

Spleen and calumny are devoured with a greedy was thought superior to his rank; and the sufear. Flattery wears a badge of servitude: while frages of mankind would have pronounced him in detraction and invective there appears an un-worthy of empire, had he never made the experireal kind of liberty.

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ment.

Shakespeare ("All's Well that Ends Well," act ii. sc. 1)

says:

"Oft expectation fails, and most oft there
Where most it promises."

THE WICKED.

The wicked find it easier to coalesce for seditious purposes than for concord in peace.

DANGEROUS ENTERPRISES.

Each man, as is usual in dangerous enterprises, expecting the bold example of his comrades, ready to second the insurrection, yet not daring to begin it.

FICKLENESS.

He had the address to soothe the minds of the soldiers, who (such is the nature of the multitude) are easily inflamed, and with a sudden transition shift to the opposite extreme.

PROSPERITY.

In the hour of prosperity, even the most illustrious generals become haughty and insolent.

THE ELEVATION OF NEW MEN.

Such is the nature of the human mind, disposed at all times to behold with jealousy the sudden elevation of new men, and to demand that he who

has been known in an humble station should know how to rise in the world with temper and modest dignity.

A DISSOLUTE SOLDIERY.

A slothful and listless soldiery, debauched by the circus and theatres.

THE TIMID AND THE BRAVE.

The brave and energetic stand a siege even against adversity, the timid and the cowards rush to despair caused by their fears.

So Jeremiah xlviii. 10:

"Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully."

CONTEST FOR EMPIRE.

When the contest is for sovereign power, there is no middle course.

POPULACE.

The populace as usual, knowing neither truth nor falsehood, and indifferent about both, paid their tribute of flattery with noise and uproar. They pressed him to accept the title of Augustus; he declined it for some time; but the voice of the rabble prevailed. He yielded to their importu

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