Count thousand ancestors or travel back Through Time's old round and early worlds ransack : But changing seasons sunk old Merit's head, And Vice, usurping, triumphed in his stead; Say from what warrior past you choose to Then Pride, attended by his barren train, come Who blazed in Ilion, Macedon or Rome. Seized Honor's sceptre and began his reign; And plead the potent virtue of their names; While your unworthy deeds proclaim you His fortune spent, Grandeur soon finds the Cursed be the hour when first the pride of On dignity in rags the world looks cold, birth Defiled the simple morals of the earth ! Each gloried in his innocence and truth, alone; And rank cannot survive the loss of gold; All fly the poor and shun their loathed embrace, And pride of birth enhances their disgrace: 'Tis wealth alone by which we measure worth. What though a livery had betrayed your birth? Temperance gave plenty, justice banished Though none could tell one fear, fathers bore, name your And merit crowned the king or robbed the The college would supply you with a score. peer. Translation of C. AND R. BALDWIN. RISE OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC, B. C. 509. OVERTHROW OF MONARCHY. UCIUS TARQUIN-justly surnamed "the Proud "-after having usurped the sovereign power by the murder of his father-in-law, Servius, retained possession of the throne by the same odious means to which he owed his elevation. His whole reign presented a series of cruelties and acts of injustice. Hence neither his victories and conquests over the enemies of Rome nor the splendid edifices which he undertook or finished in the city could wipe away the stain of his usurpation or obliterate the remembrance of his crimes. His power was upheld by numerous bands of soldiers and satellites, but his subjects were his enemies, and readily availed themselves of the first opportunity to overthrow his oppressive domination. During the siege of Ardea, a rich city of the Rutuli, Sextus Tarquinius, the king's son, offered violence to Lucretia, the virtuous wife of his cousin Collatinus. This lady, in the deepest affliction, called in her husband, her father and their intimate friends, Valerius and Brutus, and, having entreated them to punish her oppressor, stabbed herself with a dagger and fell dead in their presence. Brutus, raising the bloody weapon, swore on the spot that he would pursue the tyrant and his family with fire and sword until royalty should be abolished in Rome. His three friends took the same oath. Their indignation was soon communicated to the other citizens; the people and the army joined in. their views, and a decree was passed, with unanimous consent, to banish from among them not only the Tarquins, but even the title and the name of king. This decree was immediately enforced, and its execution put an end to the regal power in Rome after it had lasted, under seven successive kings, for the space of two hundred and forty-four years (B. c. 753-509). THE REPUBLIC. The Roman people now directed their attention to the adoption of a new form of government. After several debates it was unanimously agreed that two supreme magistrates, under the name of "consuls," should be annually chosen from the patrician order by the suffrages of the citizens for the administration of the commonwealth. These magistrates were to be invested with full power to convene public meetings, to preside over the Senate, to levy troops and select their officers, to administer the revenues of the state and impart justice to private persons, etc. Hence their authority might in some respect be deemed equal to that of kings, but, besides its being divided between two, it was not to extend, in virtue of each election, beyond the term of one year; and the modest appellation of "consuls" constantly reminded them that they were not the sovereigns, but the counsellors and guardians, of the republic. The first Romans whom the choice of the people raised to this dignity were Brutus and Collatinus. The latter did not possess it long. Although the most deeply injured in the tragical affair of Lucretia, he became somewhat odious to the citizens merely by evincing less energy than his colleague against the exiled family of the Tarquins; and for this reason he was earnestly exhorted, and at last prevailed upon, to resign his office, which was immediately conferred on Valerius. In the mean time, Tarquin, the dispossessed monarch of Rome, was devising every measure to recover his throne. He had retired among the Etrurians, from whom he was descended on the maternal side; they agreed, at his earnest request, to send an embassy to Rome for the purpose of recovering his movable property. But the ambassadors were also directed to make every exertion to prepare the way for his return. They fulfilled both commissions with great zeal and every appearance of success: the Senate granted their first request, and, as to their second and much more important object, many young men of the first nobility in Rome did not hesitate to adopt their views concerning the re-establishment of royalty in the person of Tarquin. BRUTUS CONDEMNS HIS SONS. The momentous plan was already arranged and measures adopted for its accomplishment when the whole conspiracy was detected by a slave called Vindicius, who had overheard the conversation of the accomplices. They were immediately arrested, and their letters to the tyrant, having fallen into the hands of the consuls, removed every doubt as to the reality of the plot. It was a distressing sight for Brutus to find his two sons among the conspirators-the more so as his office of first consul obliged him to act as their judge. That stern Roman, not shrinking from the duty, without hesitation sacrificed parental affection to the liberty of his country, and the two unhappy young men, with their accomplices, suffered capital punishment. DEATH OF BRUTUS. So terrible an execution raised to the highest pitch the animosity of the two parties. When Tarquin shortly after attacked Rome at the head of an army, the battle was obstinately disputed and the loss nearly equal on both sides. The Romans, it is true, remained masters of the field, but they had to deplore the loss of Brutus, who fell during the conflict by the hand of Aruns, one of the sons of Tarquin, after having inflicted a mortal wound on Aruns himself. He was honored by the people with magnificent obsequies, and the Roman ladies with unanimous consent wore mourning for him during a whole year, in order to show their gratitude for the zealous avenger of chastity. Not long after, the Romans suffered another great loss by the death of Valerius, the friend and colleague of Brutus. This great man, notwithstanding the numerous proofs he had given of patriotism and devotedness to the commonwealth, was once suspected of aspiring to royalty, chiefly because he inhabited a house of difficult access and built upon a hill, as if he had intended to make it a citadel. He was no sooner apprised of this unjust suspicion than he caused the house to be entirely demolished. He moreover passed many laws highly favorable to public liberty among others, one which permitted every citizen condemned to any severe punishment | warrior placed himself at the entrance of the to appeal from the sentence of the magistrate bridge over which the pursuers had to pass, to the judgment of the people. For this rea- and defended it, in spite of all their efforts, son Valerius was surnamed "Publicola," and till the bridge was entirely broken down beis still known in history under that popular hind him by his fellow-soldiers. He then title. But what did him still greater honor leaped with his arms into the Tiber and swam was his perfect disinterestedness: although safely to his friends, "having," says Livy, he passed through the highest offices of the "achieved an exploit which posterity will state, and had for a long time the manage- find it more easy to admire than to believe.” ment of the public revenues, he never sought to enrich himself, nor even to increase his little fortune. He died so poor that he did not leave enough to meet the funeral expenses. They were, of course, amply defrayed by the government, and the same honors were paid to him that had been paid to the memory of Brutus. The authors and chief defenders of Roman liberty were gradually disappearing, but the spirit which animated them still lived, and others endowed with the same indomitable energy of soul arose in their stead to support and strengthen the fabric so successfully begun. A fresh attack directed against them by their former sovereign required once more the display of their courage. The army of the assailants was headed at this time by Porsenna, king of the Etrurians, a prince justly renowned for his conduct and valor, and an ally of the Tarquins. DEFENCE OF THE BRIDGE BY HORATIUS.* In the first battle, fought near the Tiber, the Roman generals were wounded and their troops put to flight after a sharp and bloody conflict. The conquerors would have entered the city together with the fugitives had it not been for the wonderful intrepidity of a Roman called Horatius Cocles. This brave * See Macaulay's poem "Horatius," Vol. III., p. 494. A second engagement proved more favorable to the Romans, and cost Porsenna no less than five thousand of his soldiers; this made him take the determination to change the siege into a blockade and endeavor to reduce the city by famine. Starvation began to rage fearfully among the inhabitants, whose number, being about three hundred thousand, soon exhausted their provisions. In this distress the Romans were again rescued from further danger by the daring and desperate act of one of their citizens, a conspicuous youth named Mucius, and afterward surnamed "Scævola." That young man entered the Etrurian camp unperceived, and, penetrating into the very tent of Porsenna, killed the secretary, whom he mistook for the king. Porsenna generously spared his life, but, alarmed at the danger to which he had been exposed and struck at the obstinate courage of the Romans, he entered into a treaty with them. On the single condition that a certain extent of territory formerly belonging to the Etrurians should be restored he put an end to the siege, and left the royal exiles to their own resources. The aged Tarquin did not yet think his case entirely hopeless. Notwithstanding the failure of so many exertions, he still preserved sufficient influence over the Latin tribes to make them unite with him in a league against the Romans. The armies took the field and met near Lake Regillus, whence the decisive action which followed took its name. Never was a battle fought with greater animosity. The chief leaders of both parties animated their troops still more by example than by words and were found in the hottest part of the conflict; hence, nearly all of them were killed or wounded. Among others, a brother and two sons of the illustrious Publicola on the one side, and on the other a son-in-law and the two remaining sons of Tarquin, lost their lives whilst performing prodigies of valor. At last the Romans by desperate efforts caused victory to declare in their favor. About twenty-seven thousand men had been engaged on their side, and forty-three thousand on that of the Latins-nearly seventy thousand in all; of the latter, only ten thousand escaped. Their terrified countrymen immediately sent ambassadors to sue for peace. It was granted on moderate terms, and the Romans established more firmly than ever their noble political maxim, to conquer the proud and spare the vanquished. This important victory most effectually secured the commonwealth of Rome. Tarquin, being now left both without a family and without resources, retired to Cumæ, in Campania, where he died shortly after in grief and misery, at the advanced age of ninety years. PETER FREDET, D. D. known Mr. Lincoln was very fond. He once remarked, "It matters not to me whether Shakespeare be well or ill acted; with him the thought suffices." Edwin Booth was playing an engagement at this time at Grover's theatre. He had been announced for the coming evening in his famous part of Hamlet. The President had never witnessed his representation of this character, and he proposed being present. The mention of this play, which I afterward learned had at all times a peculiar charm for Mr. Lincoln's mind, waked up a train of thought I was not prepared for. Said he and his words have often returned to me with a sad interest since his own assassination-" There is one passage of the play of Hamlet which is very apt to be slurred over by the actor, or omitted altogether, which seems to me the choicest part of the play. It is the soliloquy of the king, after the murder. It always struck me as one of the finest touches of nature in the world." Then, throwing himself into the very spirit of the scene, he took up the words. SOLILOQUY OF CLAUDIUS AFTER THE MUR DER OF HAMLET'S FATHER. Oh, my offence is rank, It smells to heaven; And what's in prayer but this twofold force- Or pardoned, being down? Then I'll look up; |