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The perennial human predicament, if the passage turns on one. 0-2 per passage.
Douglass arranges for Isaac Rolls to deliver his baggage at the moment the train departs, boards secretly in motion, and relies on his sailor disguise and knowledge while a conductor doubts him.
did not describe its bearer very accurately. Indeed, it called for a man much darker than myself, and close examination of it would have caused my arrest at the start. In order to avoid this fatal scrutiny on the part of railroad officials, I arranged with Isaac Rolls, a Baltimore hackman, to bring my baggage to the Philadelphia train just on the moment of starting, and jumped upon the car myself when the train was …
Douglass describes how Stuart shelters him and takes him to David Ruggles and the New York Vigilance Committee, leading to hiding, marriage to his wife (Rev. J. W. C. Pennington), and later passage to Massachusetts.
betrayer. Under this apprehension, as I suppose, he showed signs of wishing to be rid of me, and with whitewash brush in hand, in search of work, he soon disappeared. This picture, given by poor “Jake,” of New York, was a damper to my enthusiasm. My little store of money would soon be exhausted, and since it would be unsafe for me to go on the wharves for work, and I had no introductions elsewhere, the prospect for …
From Feb. 3–7, Pepys observes apprentices taken prisoner, Monk’s forces parading through Whitehall, abuse of Quakers, and the Parliament ordering new Common Council members while Monk moves into the City.
received there. After this we went to a sport called, selling of a horse for a dish of eggs and herrings, and sat talking there till almost twelve at night. 3rd. Drank my morning draft at Harper's, and was told there that the soldiers were all quiet upon promise of pay. Thence to St. James's Park, back to Whitehall, where in a guard-chamber I saw about thirty or forty 'prentices of the City, who were taken at twel…
While the fleet stays near Gravesend, Pepys records news and tensions around Parliament and the coming Restoration, including a prisoner’s release plan and chatter of naval captains opposing the General.
his business of being chosen a Parliament-man. My Lord brought him to see my cabbin, when I was hard a-writing. At night supped with my Lord too, with the Captain. 28th. This morning and the whole day busy. At night there was a gentleman very well bred, his name was Banes, going for Flushing, who spoke French and Latin very well, brought by direction from Captain Clerke hither, as a prisoner, because he called out…
In August 1665 Pepys and others check weekly plague bills around Dagenhams, amid fears of sick neighbors, forced burials, and a frantic incident involving a plague-infected maid in a pest coach.
Lady do confess exceedingly, and the latter do also now call me cozen, which I am glad of. So God preserve us all friends long, and continue health among us. AUGUST 3, 1665. To Dagenhams. All the way people, citizens, walking to and fro, enquire how the plague is in the City this week by the Bill; which by chance, at Greenwich, I had heard was 2020 of the plague, and 3000 and odd of all diseases. By and by met my…
After a night at Windsor’s Carteret chamber, Pepys surveys the surroundings, travels by water at night fearing plague corpses, and observes coffins and unburied plague bodies watched by guards.
So to sleep; being very well, but weary, and, the better by having carried with me a bottle of strong water; whereof now and then a sip did me good. 20th. I up and to walk forth to see the place; and I find it to be a very noble seat in a noble forest, with the noblest prospect towards Windsor, and round about over many countys, that can be desired; but otherwise a very melancholy place, and little variety save onl…
Pepys tours the Capuchin/monastery spaces at the Park with Lord Brouncker, attends plays and meets Nell Gwynne, hears of a seamen mutiny, and hosts company including Captain Rolt and Mr. Harris.
will have passed with it; wherein they are very open, what their meaning is, which was but doubted before, for they do in all respects doubt the King's pleasing them. 23rd. My Lord Brouncker and I walking into the Park, I did observe the new buildings: and my Lord seeing I had a desire to see them, they being the place for the priests and friers, he took me back to my Lord Almoner; [Cardinal Howard of Norfolk, the…
The narrative recounts Pepys’s imprisonment at the Gatehouse for alleged spying for France, his release for ill health, and the anxiety that lingered until a circular letter dated October 15, 1690.
reason of the tyranny and incompetency of those who now managed the Admiralty and affairs of the Navy, of which he gave an accurate state, and shew'd his greate ability." On the 25th of this same month Pepys was committed to the Gatehouse at Westminster on a charge of having sent information to the French Court of the state of the English navy. There was no evidence of any kind against him, and at the end of July h…
Thucydides narrates the dispute over Epidamnus: factional exiles and Illyrian allies raid the city, the people seek help from Corcyra and Delphi, and then hand the colony to Corinth for protection.
Causes of the War—The Affair of Epidamnus—The Affair of Potidæa The city of Epidamnus stands on the right of the entrance of the Ionic Gulf. Its vicinity is inhabited by the Taulantians, an Illyrian people. The place is a colony from Corcyra, founded by Phalius, son of Eratocleides, of the family of the Heraclids, who had according to ancient usage been summoned for the purpose from Corinth, the mother country. The …
Corinth organizes aid and settlers for Epidamnus, while Corcyra responds with a naval campaign, demands the return of exiles and removal of Corinthian forces, besieges the city, and then fights at sea at Actium.
was one reason of the care that they lavished on their fleet, which became very efficient; indeed they began the war with a force of a hundred and twenty galleys. All these grievances made Corinth eager to send the promised aid to Epidamnus. Advertisement was made for volunteer settlers, and a force of Ambraciots, Leucadians, and Corinthians was dispatched. They marched by land to Apollonia, a Corinthian colony, the…
The Lacedaemonian judges determine whether Plataeans aided them, then Thebans one-by-one massacre at least 200 Plataeans, enslave women, raze the city, and build religious monuments; the narrative then shifts to Peloponnesian ships moving toward Corcyra.
what you are now doing, and putting one short question to all alike were to decide accordingly, men would be less tempted to seek fine phrases to cover bad actions.” Such were the words of the Thebans. The Lacedaemonian judges decided that the question whether they had received any service from the Plataeans in the war, was a fair one for them to put; as they had always invited them to be neutral, agreeably to the o…
Idothea instructs Menelaus to ambush Proteus at sea-cave sleep, the crew hides in pits under seal skins while ambrosia masks the stench, and Proteus transforms through many forms until he is forced to speak.
you in ambush. Pick out, therefore, the three best men you have in your fleet, and I will tell you all the tricks that the old man will play you. “‘First he will look over all his seals, and count them; then, when he has seen them and tallied them on his five fingers, he will go to sleep among them, as a shepherd among his sheep. The moment you see that he is asleep seize him; put forth all your strength and hold hi…
Mercury flies to Calypso’s island, finds Ulysses weeping on the shore, and delivers Zeus’s command that Calypso must release him so he can reach Scheria and then Ithaca.
he got to the island which was his journey’s end, he left the sea and went on by land till he came to the cave where the nymph Calypso lived. He found her at home. There was a large fire burning on the hearth, and one could smell from far the fragrant reek of burning cedar and sandal wood. As for herself, she was busy at her loom, shooting her golden shuttle through the warp and singing beautifully. Round her cave t…
Calypso swears an oath by the waters of the river Styx that she will not harm Ulysses, then prepares to help him build and depart, providing food, drink, clothes, and later materials for the raft.
such a distant voyage: nothing that you can say or do shall make me go on board a raft unless you first solemnly swear that you mean me no mischief.” Calypso smiled at this and caressed him with her hand: “You know a great deal,” said she, “but you are quite wrong here. May heaven above and earth below be my witnesses, with the waters of the river Styx—and this is the most solemn oath which a blessed god can take—th…
The Cyclops kills and eats two of Odysseus’s men, then resumes feeding and eventually blocks and unblocks the cave; Odysseus delays stabbing him because the stone prevents escape.
end of your country, and wrecked it. We were driven on to them from the open sea, but I and those who are with me escaped the jaws of death.’ “The cruel wretch vouchsafed me not one word of answer, but with a sudden clutch he gripped up two of my men at once and dashed them down upon the ground as though they had been puppies. Their brains were shed upon the ground, and the earth was wet with their blood. Then he to…
To escape after the blinding, Odysseus hides under ram-bellies with the men tied to sheep, leaves when the Cyclops inspects the flock, and then sails off laughing despite his companions’ pleas.
in the doorway and stretched his hands in front of it to catch anyone going out with the sheep, for he thought I might be foolish enough to attempt this. “As for myself I kept on puzzling to think how I could best save my own life and those of my companions; I schemed and schemed, as one who knows that his life depends upon it, for the danger was very great. In the end I deemed that this plan would be the best; the …
Eurylochus’ men reach Circe’s house and hear her singing at the loom, but Circe drugs them, turns them into pigs, and Eurylochus reports the disappearance of the rest.
cast lots in a helmet, and the lot fell upon Eurylochus; so he set out with his twenty-two men, and they wept, as also did we who were left behind. “When they reached Circe’s house they found it built of cut stones, on a site that could be seen from far, in the middle of the forest. There were wild mountain wolves and lions prowling all round it—poor bewitched creatures whom she had tamed by her enchantments and dru…
After a Phoenician betrays him into slavery in a voyage, Zeus destroys his ship, and the survivor clings to the mast, drifts for days, washes ashore in Thesprotia, and hears about Ulysses at Dodona.
that he might sell me as a slave and take the money I fetched. I suspected his intention, but went on board with him, for I could not help it. “The ship ran before a fresh North wind till we had reached the sea that lies between Crete and Libya; there, however, Jove counselled their destruction, for as soon as we were well out from Crete and could see nothing but sea and sky, he raised a black cloud over our ship an…
Eumaeus declines to answer immediately and instead tells his own abduction story, describing Syra’s fertility and painless deaths, then Phoenician traders who deceive, kidnap him, and leave him alone, eventually washed to Ithaca.
and pillaged, or did some enemies carry you off when you were alone tending sheep or cattle, ship you off here, and sell you for whatever your master gave them?” “Stranger,” replied Eumaeus, “as regards your question: sit still, make yourself comfortable, drink your wine, and listen to me. The nights are now at their longest; there is plenty of time both for sleeping and sitting up talking together; you ought not to…
Eidothee creates a trap at sea-shore: Menelaus and his men lie hidden with seal skins, neutralize the stench with ambrosia, seize Proteus as he transforms, then Menelaus learns Proteus’s demand for hecatombs and an additional return passage to Aegyptus.
let the ancient one go free, and ask him which of the gods is hard upon thee, and as touching thy returning, how thou mayest go over the teeming deep.’ “Therewith she dived beneath the heaving sea, but I betook me to the ships where they stood in the sand, and my heart was darkly troubled as I went. But after I had come down to the ship and to the sea, and we had made ready our supper and immortal night had come on,…
Polyphemus returns carrying firewood, blocks the cave with an enormous stone, asks Odysseus’s origin, and eats two of the men brutally before sleeping with the sheep.
but waited to see the giant himself, and whether he would give me gifts as a stranger’s due. Yet was not his coming to be with joy to my company. “Then we kindled a fire, and made burnt-offering, and ourselves likewise took of the cheeses, and did eat, and sat waiting for him within till he came back, shepherding his flocks. And he bore a grievous weight of dry wood, against supper time. This log he cast down with a…
Odysseus escapes the Cyclops Polyphemus by binding three rams together so his men ride beneath them, clinging under the best ram until dawn when Polyphemus checks the flock and sends it out.
handling thee in thy solitude, it can in no wise be that thou shouldest escape the sickness sent by mighty Zeus. Nay, pray thou to thy father, the lord Poseidon.’ “On this wise they spake and departed; and my heart within me laughed to see how my name and cunning counsel had beguiled them. But the Cyclops, groaning and travailing in pain, groped with his hands, and lifted away the stone from the door of the cave, an…
Odysseus recounts his Cretan lineage, past wars, the voyage from Crete to Egypt, a massacre and enslavement plot, his seven-year stay with an Egyptian king, then betrayal by a Phoenician who intends to sell him in Libya.
for a whole year, nor yet make a full end of telling all the troubles of my spirit, all the travail I have wrought by the will of the gods. “I avow that I come by lineage from wide Crete, and am the son of a wealthy man. And many other sons he had born and bred in the halls, lawful born of a wedded wife; but the mother that bare me was a concubine bought with a price. Yet Castor son of Hylax, of whose blood I avow m…
Odysseus continues his story: after being taken to Phoenicia, he is clothed again, learns about Odysseus from the king, is sent on to Thesprotian ships to Dulichium, then escapes a planned enslavement in Ithaca by swimming away.
me to his house, foredone with toil and the keen air, till he came to his father’s palace. And he clothed me in a mantle and a doublet for raiment. “There I heard tidings of Odysseus, for the king told me that he had entertained him, and kindly entreated him on his way to his own country; and he showed me all the wealth that Odysseus had gathered, bronze and gold and well-wrought iron; yea it would suffice for his c…
Eumaeus recounts being sold from a deathless isle of Syria after Phoenician deception, and Odysseus responds that divine providence brought him to a kindly host.
their mistress and find out all eat and drink, and moreover to carry off somewhat with them to the field, such things as ever comfort the heart of a thrall.” And Odysseus of many counsels answered him saying: “Ah, Eumaeus, how far then didst thou wander from thine own country and thy parents while as yet thou wast but a child! But come, declare me this and plainly tell it all. Was a wide-wayed town of men taken and …
Outside the gates, Odysseus speaks to the neatherd and swineherd to test their loyalty, reveals his identity and wound token, and instructs them to bar doors and hold positions during the coming fight.
they were greatly lacking of such might. And Antinous still held to the task and godlike Eurymachus, chief men among the wooers, who were far the most excellent of all. But those other twain went forth both together from the house, the neatherd and the swineherd of godlike Odysseus; and Odysseus passed out after them. But when they were now gotten without the gates and the courtyard, he uttered his voice and spake t…
A coalition of kings from Sinear, Ellasar, Elam, and others fights Sodom and Gomorrah, raids the region, captures Lot, and Abram rescues Lot with 318 servants; Melchizedek blesses Abram.
And it chanced within a while, that Amraphel king of Sinear, Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam and Thydeall king of the nations: made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsa king of Gomorra. And with Sineab king of Adama, and with Semeaber king of Zeboim, and with the king of Bela which Bela is called Zoar. All these came together unto the vale of Siddim, which is now the salt sea. Twelve years wer…
A Levite couple hides their newborn, sets Moses afloat in a bulrush basket where Pharaoh’s daughter adopts him, Moses kills an Egyptian, flees to Midian, marries Zipporah, and Israel’s suffering reaches God.
And there went a man of the house of Levi and took a daughter of Levi. And the wife conceived and bare a son. And when she saw that it was a proper child, she hid him three months long. And when she could no longer hide him, she took a basket of bulrushes and daubed it with slime and pitch, and laid the child therein, and put it in the flags by the river's brink. And his sister stood afar off, to wete what would come…
Israel is commanded to avenge the Madianites; a thousand from each tribe fights with Phinehas, kills male enemies, spares virgins, and follows purification rules before dividing the spoils.
And the LORD spake unto Moses saying: avenge the children of Israel of the Madianites, and afterward be gathered unto thy people. And Moses spake unto the folk saying: Harness some of you unto war, and let them go upon the Madianites and avenge the LORD of the Madianites. Ye shall send unto the war a thousand of every tribe thorowout all the tribes of Israel. And there were taken out of the thousands of Israel twelve…
It adds that Israel will be brought back to Egypt by ships, sold to enemies as slaves and slavewomen, and yet receive no buyers to redeem them.
And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way which I bade thee that thou shouldst see it no more. And there ye shall be sold unto your enemies, for bondmen and bondwomen: and yet no man shall buy you.
Jesus prays further before the arrest, crosses the brook Cedron into a garden, is identified by lantern-bearing soldiers, and is bound after Peter cuts off Malchus’s ear in response.
I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me, have I kept, and none of them is lost, but that lost child, that the scripture might be fulfilled. Now come I to thee, and these words speak I in the world, that they might have my joy full in them. I have given them thy doctrine, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I desire not that thou shouldest take t…
Inside the trapped Roman camp, soldiers debate escape, the Samnites consult Herennius Pontius by letter, and he first urges dismissal then—if refused—mass death, after which he is summoned to the camp.
consul; while the soldiers, crowding to the general's quarters, demanded from their leaders that succour, which it was hardly in the power of the immortal gods themselves to afford them. 3. Night came on them while lamenting their situation rather than consulting, whilst they urged expedients, each according to his temper; one crying out, "Let us go over those fences of the roads;" others, "over the steeps; through …
Continuing Book IX summaries: Sardinia and Corsica feature Carthaginian warfare, including Hanno; Roman consul Atilius Calatinus is rescued; Hannibal the fleet commander is executed by his soldiers; Regulus and the Roman fleet losses are recounted.
Sardinians and Corsicans, together with Hanno, the Carthaginian general, in the island of Sardinia. [Y.R. 494. B.C. 258.] Atilius Calatinus, consul, drawn into an ambuscade by the Carthaginians, is rescued by the skill and valour of M. Calpurnius, a military tribune, who making a sudden attack upon the enemy, with a body of only three hundred men, turns their whole force against himself. [Y.R. 495. B.C. 257.] Hanniba…
Hannibal dispatches commissaries and sends chosen Carthaginian-allied youth to Carthage as garrison and hostages, then assigns his brother Hasdrubal Spain with a large mixed army and fleet before marching north from Gades.
time having sent commissaries into the different states, he orders four thousand chosen youth whom they had levied to be conducted to Carthage, both as a garrison and as hostages. 22. Thinking also that Spain ought not to be neglected (and the less because he was aware that it had been traversed by the Roman ambassadors, to influence the minds of the chiefs,) he assigns that province to his brother Hasdrubal, a man …
Hannibal advances into a mountainous state where elders offer provisions, guides, and hostages, but an ambush from high ground with rolling stones nearly destroys the Carthaginian rear, leaving Hannibal temporarily without cavalry and baggage.
these three days, as the soldiers were neither obstructed by the mountaineers, who had been daunted by the first engagement, nor yet much by the ground, he made considerable way. 34. He then came to another state, abounding, for a mountainous country, with inhabitants; where he was nearly overcome, not by open war, but by his own arts of treachery and ambuscade. Some old men, governors of forts, came as deputies to …
Hannibal’s troops storm the lesser Roman camp, negotiate ransoms by status and permit departure; Canusium receives survivors, and Busa the Apulian is later honored by the Roman senate.
of all; for when his hands were powerless to grasp his weapon, turning from rage to madness, he had died in the act of tearing his antagonist with his teeth. 52. The spoils having been gathered for a great part of the day, Hannibal leads his troops to storm the lesser camp, and, first of all, interposing a trench, cuts it off from the river. But as the men were fatigued with toil, watching, and wounds, a surrender w…
Hannibal offers Roman captives the option to ransom themselves at set prices—five hundred denarii for horsemen, three hundred for foot soldiers, and one hundred for slaves—and selects delegates to go to Rome and swear they will return.
expense, first inquiring of each whether he was willing to serve. They preferred this description of troops, though they had the power of redeeming the captives at a less expense. 58. For Hannibal, after so great a victory at Cannae, being occupied with the cares of a conqueror, rather than one who had a war to prosecute, the captives having been brought forward and separated, addressed the allies in terms of kindne…
When persuasion fails at the Achradina, Marcellus shifts to the Euryalus and restrains soldiers from killing free persons; Philodemus eventually withdraws, and Bomilcar sails from Syracuse with ships, later returning with more.
the Achradina, he sent before him some Syracusans, who, as was before observed, were among the Roman troops, to induce the enemy, by a persuasive address, to surrender the city. 25. The gates and walls of the Achradina were occupied principally by deserters, who had no hopes of pardon in case of capitulation. These men would neither suffer those who were sent to approach the walls, nor to address them. Marcellus, th…
Philip leads Achaean forces from Dymae, crosses the river Larissus into Elean territory, and battles Aetolians surprised by Sulpicius’s night landing, during which Philip is wounded, captured, and forced to reposition.
they had stirred up a Roman war against them. Setting out from Dymae, and uniting their forces, they passed the river Larissus, which separates the Elean from the Dymaean territory. 32. The first day on which they entered upon the enemy's confines, they employed in plundering. The following day they approached the city in battle-array, having sent their cavalry in advance, in order that, by riding up to the gates, t…
Silanus ambushes the enemy near a hollow valley, routs Mago’s line of targeteers and cavalry, captures Hanno, and kills or drives back most forces; Hasdrubal retreats to spread protection.
Gades he sent them into different cities, that they might both provide for their own safety by the help of walls, and for that of the town by their arms. 3. Scipio, seeing the enemy's forces thus distributed, and that to carry about his forces to each of the several cities would be rather tedious than important, marched his army back. Not to leave all that country, however, to the Carthaginians, he sent his brother,…
Syphax is thrown and captured by Laelius after his horse is wounded; Masinissa marches toward Cirta, where the captive Sophonisba persuades him not to surrender her to Romans, leading to her marriage to Masinissa and Laelius’s reluctant acquiescence.
await their first charge, but could not bear even the sight of the standards and arms; so powerful was either the recollection of their former defeats, or their present fears. 12. It was then that Syphax, while riding up to the troops of the enemy to try if, either by shame or by exposing his own person to danger, he could stop their flight, being thrown from his horse, which was severely wounded, was overpowered, a…
Ilioneus asks Dido to shelter the Trojans, stop fires against their ships, and allow repairs, explaining their storm-driven arrival and their route toward Italy after Troy’s devastation.
sue for leave to land their sickly men, And gain admission to the gracious queen. Ent’ring, with cries they fill’d the holy fane; Then thus, with lowly voice, Ilioneus began: “O Queen! indulg’d by favour of the gods To found an empire in these new abodes, To build a town, with statutes to restrain The wild inhabitants beneath thy reign, We wretched Trojans, toss’d on ev’ry shore, From s…
Aeneas and his crew rescue Achaemenides from a Cyclops’ cave, where he survived by eating roots and berries and blinded Polyphemus with Ulysses’ crew.
one star was kindled in the sky, Nor could the moon her borrow’d light supply; For misty clouds involv’d the firmament, The stars were muffled, and the moon was pent. “Scarce had the rising sun the day reveal’d, Scarce had his heat the pearly dews dispell’d, When from the woods there bolts, before our sight, Somewhat betwixt a mortal and a sprite, So thin, so ghastly meager, and so wan, …
The passage continues Ta-Ha with the contest of Moses and Pharaoh’s magicians, their eventual belief in the Lord of Aaron and Moses, Pharaoh’s threat of violent punishment, and Israel’s flight through the sea with manna and quail.
He said, "Hast thou come, O Moses, to drive us from our land by thine enchantments? Therefore will we assuredly confront thee with like enchantments: so appoint a meeting between us and you–we will not fail it, we, and do not thou–in a place alike for both." He said, "On the feast day13 be your meeting, and in broad daylight let the people be assembled." And Pharaoh turned away, and collected his craftsmen and cam…
It continues with directives about taking refuge and fighting noncombatants, then lays out rules for killing by mistake versus intent, compensation and fasting, and contrasts armed believers with those who stay home.
their homes for the cause of God. If they turn back, then seize them, and slay them wherever ye find them; but take none of them as friends or helpers, Except those who shall seek and asylum among your allies, and those who come over to you–their hearts forbidding them to make war on you, or to make war on their own people. Had God pleased, he would have given them power against you, and they would have made war upo…
This section includes footnotes and then begins Chapter II, describing Equiano’s birth and parentage, his kidnapping and separation from his sister, and his experiences traveling to the coast and witnessing a slave ship before reaching Barbados.
[Footnote F: See also Leut. Matthew's Voyage, p. 123.] [Footnote G: An instance of this kind happened at Montserrat in the West Indies in the year 1763. I then belonged to the Charming Sally, Capt. Doran.--The chief mate, Mr. Mansfield, and some of the crew being one day on shore, were present at the burying of a poisoned negro girl. Though they had often heard of the circumstance of the running in such cases, and h…
Equiano begins Chapter II by introducing his birth context, describing his family life and training in war, then narrating his childhood kidnapping with his sister, their separation, and his subsequent enslavement.
or an instinct of nature, I still look back with pleasure on the first scenes of my life, though that pleasure has been for the most part mingled with sorrow. I have already acquainted the reader with the time and place of my birth. My father, besides many slaves, had a numerous family, of which seven lived to grow up, including myself and a sister, who was the only daughter. As I was the youngest of the sons, I beca…
He continues the kidnapping story: he tries to call for help but is restrained and put in a sack, separated from his sister, and later becomes enslaved by a chieftain and a smith working bellows to process gold.
I had now some hopes of being delivered; for we had advanced but a little way before I discovered some people at a distance, on which I began to cry out for their assistance: but my cries had no other effect than to make them tie me faster and stop my mouth, and then they put me into a large sack. They also stopped my sister's mouth, and tied her hands; and in this manner we proceeded till we were out of the sight of…
Under the decks, Equiano suffers extreme stench and sickness, is tied and flogged for refusing to eat, learns enslaved Africans are destined for work in a “white people’s country,” and fears execution.
I was soon put down under the decks, and there I received such a salutation in my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life: so that, with the loathsomeness of the stench, and crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat, nor had I the least desire to taste any thing. I now wished for the last friend, death, to relieve me; but soon, to my grief, two of the white men offered me eatables; a…
Equiano recounts enslaved people’s beliefs about magic that moves ships, the arrival of another vessel and handshakes between crews, then describes overcrowded conditions causing suffocation, disease, death, chains, and filth.
'and why,' said I, 'do we not see them?' they answered, because they were left behind. I asked how the vessel could go? they told me they could not tell; but that there were cloths put upon the masts by the help of the ropes I saw, and then the vessel went on; and the white men had some spell or magic they put in the water when they liked in order to stop the vessel. I was exceedingly amazed at this account, and real…
Equiano describes daily scenes of horror—shriek and groans of the dying, fish tossed back, enslaved men jumping overboard to escape, drownings, and ongoing suffering from lack of air and stench.
The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable. Happily perhaps for myself I was soon reduced so low here that it was thought necessary to keep me almost always on deck; and from my extreme youth I was not put in fetters. In this situation I expected every hour to share the fate of my companions, some of whom were almost daily brought upon deck at the …
Equiano describes being separated from enslaved companions in Virginia County, forced to labor on a plantation, and witnessing an enslaved Black woman restrained with an iron muzzle while the white owner sickens.
in conversing with my countrymen; the women too, who used to wash and take care of me, were all gone different ways, and I never saw one of them afterwards. I stayed in this island for a few days; I believe it could not be above a fortnight; when I and some few more slaves, that were not saleable amongst the rest, from very much fretting, were shipped off in a sloop for North America. On the passage we were better tr…
On December 10 at Deptford, Equiano is forcibly taken in a barge from his ship, threatened with murder, transported downriver past Gravesend, and sold to Captain James Doran of the Charming Sally.
me; so that, from all this tenderness, I had never once supposed, in all my dreams of freedom, that he would think of detaining me any longer than I wished. In pursuance of our orders we sailed from Portsmouth for the Thames, and arrived at Deptford the 10th of December, where we cast anchor just as it was high water. The ship was up about half an hour, when my master ordered the barge to be manned; and all in an in…
Around mid-May the ship prepares to sail to England; Equiano is told his fate is decided, is sold to Captain Doran’s recommended master Robert King, and hopes to go to London but is taken to Philadelphia.
people in it frequently above high water mark. Sometimes our limbs were broken with this, or even attended with instant death, and I was day by day mangled and torn. About the middle of May, when the ship was got ready to sail for England, I all the time believing that Fate's blackest clouds were gathering over my head, and expecting their bursting would mix me with the dead, Captain Doran sent for me ashore one mor…
Equiano decides navigation knowledge could help him escape if mistreated, hires the mate to teach him, refuses a near-easy chance to board a French fleet for Europe out of loyalty, and continues being blocked by others’ objections.
Scenes where fair Liberty in bright array Makes darkness bright, and e'en illumines day; Where nor complexion, wealth, or station, can Protect the wretch who makes a slave of man." I determined to make every exertion to obtain my freedom, and to return to Old England. For this purpose I thought a knowledge of navigation might be of use to me; for, though I did not intend to run away unless I should be ill used, yet,…
Near Savannah Equiano narrowly avoids kidnapping by two white men claiming he is a lost person, then ships on the sloop Speedwell, and performs a burial funeral at a grave in Martinique-bound travel.
by law. I then immediately sent for Doctor Brady, who was known to be an honest and worthy man; and on his coming to my assistance they let me go. This was not the only disagreeable incident I met with while I was in this place; for, one day, while I was a little way out of the town of Savannah, I was beset by two white men, who meant to play their usual tricks with me in the way of kidnapping. As soon as these men …
In March 1775 Equiano embarks again for Cadiz, survives a Sunday shipwreck near the Bay of Cadiz, praises divine guidance, visits Gibraltar and Malaga, and disputes with Father Vincent about Catholic practice and Bible reading.
my passage lie, Yet Christ shall safely keep and guide me with his eye. How can I sink with such a prop, That bears the world and all things up?" At this time there were many large Spanish flukers or passage-vessels full of people crossing the channel; who seeing our condition, a number of them came alongside of us. As many hands as could be employed began to work; some at our three pumps, and the rest unloading the…
After Dr. Irving consents, Equiano departs June 18, travels by river, changes plans with a sloop and schooner, and is threatened with violence and re-enslavement by a captain.
to grant my request; but I gave him so many reasons for it, that at last he consented to my going, and gave me the following certificate of my behaviour: 'The bearer, Gustavus Vassa, has served me several years with strict honesty, sobriety, and fidelity. I can, therefore, with justice recommend him for these qualifications; and indeed in every respect I consider him as an excellent servant. I do…
Equiano recounts being hoisted at gunpoint without trial, threatened with shooting, then escaping in a canoe during confusion and reaching another owner’s shore with provisions to continue by canoe.
*Musquito Shore, June 15, 1776.* Though I was much attached to the doctor, I was happy when he consented. I got every thing ready for my departure, and hired some Indians, with a large canoe, to carry me off. All my poor countrymen, the slaves, when they heard of my leaving them, were very sorry, as I had always treated them with care and affection, and did every thing I could to comfort the poor creatures, and rend…
Jugurtha’s war continues as Bocchus sends five envoys to Sylla and then to Marius, seeking terms; they reach Roman winter quarters, secure discussion and truce, and receive a senate-sanctioned-style promise.
barbarian was altered by some of his friends, whom Jugurtha, hearing of the mission of Sylla and Manlius, and fearful of what was intended by it, had corrupted with bribes. CIII. Marius, in the mean time, having settled his army in winter quarters, set out, with the light-armed cohorts and part of the cavalry, into a desert part of the country, to besiege a fortress of Jugurtha's, in which he had placed a garrison c…