A He nears-he reaches-they are side by side; A shriek-a shout! But yesterday such deeds- And while we speak, the Phocian strangers bear, That handful of cold ashes to which all The grandeur of the beautiful hath shrunk. To find that heritage-a tomb. AYE (pronounced ā), always; ever. [Used in this sense only in poetry.] LESSON XI.-THE LATTER DAYS OF GRECIAN HISTORY. 1. ABOUT fifty years after the battle of Plata'a the Grecians became involved in a series of domestic contests, called the "Peloponnesian Wars," which continued, with occasional intervals of peace, until Philip, king of Macedon, by the successful battle of Charone'a, broke up the feeble Grecian confederacy, and soon after succeeded in inducing the conquered states to elect him commander-in-chief of all the Grecian forces. It was while Philip was plotting against the liberties of Greece that his intrigues called forth from the Athenian Demosthenes, the greatest of Grecian orators, those famous "Philippics" which have immortalized both the orator and the object of his invectives. 2. Alexander the Great, the son and successor of Philip, carried out the plans of his father by a successful invasion of the Persian dominions; but on his death, in the thirty-third year of his age (B.C. 324), the vast empire which he had so suddenly built up was as suddenly broken in pieces, and the Grecian states again became a prey to civil dissensions, which were terminated only by the subjugation of all Greece to the dominion of the Romans, in the year 146 before the Christian 512 66 era. for, nation the M 3. away the P Roma ency, at the reme desol alone beca once verte Her WILLSON'S FIFTH READER. PART XI. his point is the proper termination of Grecian history; Known to have existed previously in the regions round rivers flow into the sea, so does the history of all the aiterranean, terminate in the history of Rome." ith the loss of her liberties the glory of Greece passed and the energies of the people gradually wasted, until, od of the Persian wars; and from the epoch of the Conquest the spirit of the nation sunk into despondpopulation had been gradually diminishing since time of the Christian era, Greece existed only in the te, or had sunk to insignificant villages, while Athens brance of the past. Then, many of her cities were maintained her renown for philosophy and the arts, and devoted to tillage, v ae the instructor of her conquerors; large tracts of land, d into pastures for sheep and vast herds of cattle; while apacity of Roman governors had inflicted upon the sparse population 1. were either barren, or had been con impoverishment and ruin. other early writers, from the period of the supposed founding THE early history of Rome, as recorded by Livy and LESSON XII.-EARLY ROMAN HISTORY. came of these poetic legends, which he has given to the world un- against Rome with an overwhelming force. The Ro continuation of the legend is supposed to have been narrated by one of the Roman minstrels, as given in the following lesson, at a period one hundred years later than the events there recorded. LESSON XIII.- THE STORY OF HORATIUS. 1. Bur the consul's brow was sad, Before the bridge goes down; 2. Then out spoke brave Horatius, "To every man upon this earth And the temples of his gods? 8. "Hew down the bridge, Sir Consul, I, with two more to help me, Now, who will stand on either hand, And keep the bridge with me?" Two brave Romans, Spurius Lartius and Herminius, responded to the call of their comrade; and the three, with arms in hand, sprang forward to defend the passage, while others hastened to cut away the props that supported the bridge. 4. Meanwhile the Tuscan army, Came flashing back the noonday light, Four hundred trumpets sounded A peal of warlike glee, As that great host, with measured tread, 5. The three stood calm and silent, To earth they sprang, their swords they drew, To win the narrow pass. But the scorn and laughter of the Etruscans were soon changed to wrath and curses, for their chiefs were quickly laid low in the dust at the feet of the "dauntless three." 6. But now no sound of laughter A wild and wrathful clamor And for a space no man came forth 7. But hark! the cry is Astur: And the great Lord of Luna Comes with his stately stride. Upon his ample shoulders Clangs loud the fourfold shield, And in his hand he shakes the brand Which none but he can wield. The proud Astur advances with a smile of contempt for the three Romans, and turns a look of scorn upon the flinching Tuscans. 8. Then, whirling up his broadsword With both hands to the height, He rushed against Horatius, And smote with all his might. With shield and blade Horatius Right deftly turned the blow. The blow, though turned, came yet too nigh; It missed his helm, but gashed his thigh: To see the red blood flow. 9. He reeled, and on Herminius He leaned one breathing-space; Then, like a wild-cat mad with wounds, Through teeth, and skull, and helmet, The good sword stood a handbreadth out 10. And the great Lord of Luna.. And the pale augurs, muttering low, In the mean time the axes had been busily plied; and while the bridge was tottering to its fall, Lartius and Herminius regained the opposite bank in safety. Horatius remained facing the foe until the last timber had fallen, when, weighed down with armor as he was, he "plunged headlong in the tide." 11. No sound of joy or sorrow Was heard from either bank; But friends and foes, in dumb surprise, All Rome sent forth a rapturous cry, 12. But fiercely ran the current, 13. "Curse on him!" quoth false Sextus, But for this stay, ere close of day We should have sacked the town!" For such a gallant feat of arms Was never seen before." 14. And now he feels the bottom; Now on dry earth he stands; And now with shouts and clapping, He enters through the river-gate, Borne by the joyous crowd. Then follows an account of the rewards which a grateful people bestowed upon the hero. The minstrel thus concludes the legend: |