LESSON XVII.-REGULUS BEFORE THE SENATE. 1. URGE me no more'; your prayers are vain'; And even the tears ye shed': When I can lead to Rome again Wherefore, of all that fought, was I I recked' not; could they chain the mind, And there they left me, dark and lone, Then from that living tomb They led me forth, I thought, to die'; 4. But no! kind Heaven had yet in store A joy I thought to feel no more, Or feel but in the grave. They deemed, perchance, my haughtier mood That he who once was brave Was I not brave' ?-had now become Silent their base commands I heard, I go, prepared to meet the worst, Fools as they were, could not mine eye, Else had they sent this wasted frame His father's name he must resign, Is yours; she knows it well, and you Ye know no longer it is hers, Ye know her fleets are far and few, And Rome, the bold and free, Shall trample on her prostrate towers, 9. One path alone remains for me; Then tell me not of hope or life; I have in Rome no chaste, fond wife, No smiling progeny; One word concentres for the slave Wife, children, country, all-THE GRAVE.-DALE. LESSON XVIII.—THE DOWNFALL OF CARTHAGE. 1. THE first Punic war ended disastrously to Carthage in the year 240 B.C. Twenty-two years later commenced the second Punic war, in which the Roman republic was at one time brought to the brink of ruin by the superior military skill of the Carthaginian Hannibal, who proved himself the greatest general of antiquity. Carrying the war into Italy, he penetrated nearly to the gates of Rome; but his army, enervated by the luxuries of the conquered cities, gradually dwindled away while victory already perched upon its ban ners. 2. Ere long Sicily was conquered by the Romans, the Carthaginian city of Syracuse being taken by storm after the siege had been a long time protracted by the mechanical skill of the famous Archime'des. The youthful Scipio, who received the title of Africanus, also carried the war into Africa; Hannibal, recalled from Italy to protect Carthage, was defeated; and the second Punic war ended in the complete humiliation of Carthage (202 B.C.). 3. But still the very existence of a rival and neighboring republic was a thing which the Romans seem to have made up their minds not to endure; the expediency of a farther war with Carthage was a favorite topic of debate in the Roman senate; and it is said that, of the many speeches which the elder Cato made on this subject, all ended with the sentence, delenda est Carthago, "Carthage must be destroyed." And in a third and final war, unjustly provoked by the Romans, Carthage was destroyed; her walls being leveled with the ground, and the buildings of the city burned (146 B.C.). The same year witnessed the conquest of Greece-like Carthage, the victim of Roman ambition. 1 AR-CHI-ME-DES. See account of, p. 324. LESSON XIX.-ADDRESS OF HANNIBAL TO HIS ARMY DURING THE SECOND CARTHAGINIAN WAR. ON what side soever I turn my eyes, I behold all full of courage and strength. A veteran infantry; a most gallant cavalry: you, my allies, most faithful and valiant; you, Carthaginians, whom not only your country's cause, but the justest anger impels to battle. The hope, the courage of assailants, is always greater than of those who act upon the defensive. With hostile banners displayed you are come down upon Italy: you bring the war. Grief, injuries, indignities, fire your minds, and spur you forward to revenge. First, they demanded me that I, your general, should be delivered up to them; next, of all you who had fought at the siege of Saguntum; and we were to be put to death by the extremest tortures. Proud and cruel nation! every thing must be yours, and at your disposal. You are to prescribe to us with whom we shall make war, with whom we shall make peace. You are to set us bounds; to shut us up within hills and rivers; but you-you are not to observe the limits which yourselves have fixed! "Pass not the Iberus." What next? "Touch not the Saguntines; Saguntum is upon the Iberus; move not a step toward that city." Is it a small matter, then, that you have deprived us of our ancient possessions, Sicily and Sardinia? you would have Spain too. Well, we shall yield Spain, and then-you will pass into Africa. Will pass, did I say? this very year they ordered one of their consuls into Africa, the other into Spain. No, soldiers; there is nothing left to us but what we can vindicate with our swords. Come on, then. Be men. The Romans may, with more safety, be cowards: they have their own country behind them, have places of refuge to fly to, and are secure from danger in the roads thither; but for you, there is no middle fortune between death and victory. Let this be but well fixed in your minds, and once again I say you are conquerors. LESSON XX.-CONTINUATION OF ROMAN HISTORY. 1. A SHORT time after the conquest of Greece and the downfall of Carthage, the animosities which had long existed between the patricians and plebeians of Rome ripened into a civil war, known as the "dissensions of the Gracchi" (132 B.C.), in which the brothers Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, the noble defenders of the rights of the people, were slain. In the Germanic wars which soon followed, the Consul Ma'rius greatly distinguished himself, and saved Rome from destruction, for which the grateful people styled him the third founder of the city. 2. But again civil war broke out at Rome, the partisans of Sylla, a profligate Roman general, being arrayed against those of Ma'rius. The latter, being compelled to flee, after a series of romantic adventures escaped to Africa. Being landed at Carthage, the Roman governor of the district sent to inform him that unless he left Africa he should be treated as a public enemy. "Go and tell him," replied the wanderer, "that you have seen the exile Ma'rius sitting on the ruins of Carthage." There is a moral sublimity connected with this scene, which the pencil of the artist and the pen of the poet have often been called upon to portray. 3. 4. MARIUS SEATED ON THE RUINS OF CARTHAGE. Pillars are fallen at thy feet, Fanes quiver in the air; A prostrate city is thy seat, And thou alone art there. No change comes o'er thy noble brow, 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. It can not bend thy lofty soul, Though friends and fame depart; And genius hath electric power, Bright suns may scorch, and dark clouds lower, The dreams we loved in early life May melt like mist away; High thoughts may seem, 'mid passions' strife, Like Carthage in decay; And proud hopes in the human heart May be to ruin hurled, Like mouldering monuments of art Yet there is something will not die, Where life hath once been fair; Some towering thoughts still rear on high; Some Roman lingers there!-MRS. CHILD. LESSON XXI.-ROMAN GLADIATORIAL COMBATS. 1. GLADIATORIAL combats among the Romans were originally exhibited at the graves of deceased persons. They thus formed a kind of funeral sacrifice, the shades of the dead being supposed to be propitiated with blood; but in process of time the magistrates and wealthy citizens gave shows of gladiators to entertain the people. The gladiators were composed mostly of captives and slaves, or of condemned malefactors. We read with horror the accounts of these barbarous and brutal gladiatorial exhibitions; and, were not the historical evidence irrefutable, we could hardly believe that in the city of Capua alone forty thousand gladiators were kept, and fed, and trained, to butcher each other for the gratification of the Roman people. Byron's picture of the dying gladiator is inimitably touching and beautiful. 2. THE DYING GLADIATOR. I see before me the gladiator lie. He leans upon his hand: his manly brow And through his side the last drops, ebbing slow Like the first of a thunder-shower; and now The arena swims around him-he is gone, Ere ceased the inhuman shout which hailed the wretch who won. |