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Often appears with: fate, destiny, and necessity · crime and punishment · conquest, plunder, and captives · religious persecution and toleration · justice as a virtue · diplomacy and embassies · conspiracy and assassination · the fear of death · marriage and betrothal · counsel and advisers to rulers · roads, journeys, and overland travel · political legitimacy and consent
Usually: narrative (239) · detachment (172) · curiosity (76) · the fall of the great (71) · injustice endured (67) · lament (63) · exile and homecoming (56) · the stranger's arrival (49) · sudden reversal of fortune (42) · indignation (40)
“Therefore wait to see life’s ending ere thou count one mortal blest; Wait till free from pain and sorrow he has gained his final rest.” Sophocles, Plays of Sophocles: Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Col · precept
“You are loosed from your moorings, and free; I am fast in my chains, and am a slave! You move merrily before the gentle gale, and I sadly before the bloody whip!” Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom · vivid
“Twenty years he wandered,—twenty years and more; and yet the hard rasping question kept gnawing within him, “What, in God’s name, am I on earth for?” W. E. B. Du Bois (William Edward Burghardt Du Bois), The Souls of Black Folk · insight
“Wonderful would it have been thought by every man that was then in England, if any person had said before this that it would end thus!” (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle; translator/editor) James Ingram, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle · observation
“But the empire of the Romans filled the world, and when the empire fell into the hands of a single person, the world became a safe and dreary prison for his enemies.” Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire · insight
“No cry, no sob was heard amongst the assembled crowd; all were silent.” Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America — Volume 1 · observation
“The Union treats the Indians with less cupidity and rigor than the policy of the several States, but the two governments are alike destitute of good faith.” Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America — Volume 1 · insight
“I stood for some time in silent admiration of the exuberance of Nature and the littleness of man: and when I was obliged to leave that enchanting solitude, I exclaimed with melancholy, “Are ruins, then, already here?” Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America — Volume 1 · vivid
“Two hundred years have now elapsed since the inhabitants of Europe undertook to tear the negro from his family and his home, in order to transport him to the shores of North America; at the present day, the European settlers are engaged in sending back the descendants of those very negroes to the Continent from which they were originally taken.” Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America — Volume 1 · observation
“The priest stood waiting for the answer of Luscinda, who for a long time withheld it; and just as I thought she was taking out the dagger to save her honour, or struggling for words to make some declaration of the truth on my behalf, I heard her say in a faint and feeble voice, ‘I will:’ Don Fernando said the same, and giving her the ring they stood linked by a knot that could never be loosed.” Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote · vivid
“Contingency, that outside of the volume Of your materiality extends not, Is all depicted in the eternal aspect.” Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy, Longfellow's Translation, Paradise · insight
“Sir Siegmund,” quoth she, “forsooth I like not for to ride. Whatever fortune, here must I tarry with my kindred, who help me mourn.” Unknown (Middle High German epic tradition), The Nibelungenlied · insight
With help from Vigilance Committee contacts, Douglass and his wife travel by steamer and stage-coach to New Bedford, are denied cabin passage rules, and gain support from Quaker Nathan Johnson and others.
J. W. C. Pennington, then a well-known and respected Presbyterian minister. I had no money with which to pay the marriage fee, but he seemed well pleased with our thanks. Mr. Ruggles was the first officer on the “Underground Railroad” whom I met after coming North, and was, indeed, the only one with whom I had anything to do till I became such an officer myself. Learning that my trade was that of a calker, he prompt…
It begins Sura LIX on the Emigration, praising God, describing the expulsion of unbelievers from the people of the Book, and regulating spoils distribution among the apostle, kin, orphans, poor, and refugees.
transgresseth the precept of God, assuredly imperilleth his own self. Thou knowest not whether, after this, God may not cause something new to occur which may bring you together again. And when they have reached their set time, then either keep them with kindness, or in kindness part from them. And take upright witnesses from among you, and bear witness as unto God. This is a caution for him who believeth in God and…
Pepys meets Mr. White at Brampton, who claims Cromwell’s son Richard is alive in disguise in France and now going to Italy, with details of family betrayal and rumored grave-shifting.
before us. Sir J. Lawson is come to Portsmouth; and our fleet is hastening all speed: I mean this new fleet. Prince Rupert with his is got into the Downes. 13th. In my way to Brampton in this day's journey I met with Mr. White, Cromwell's chaplin that was, and had a great deal of discourse with him. Among others, he tells me that Richard is, and hath long been, in France, and is now going into Italy. He owns publ…
Pepys meets the Duke of York, hears bills proposed for Clarendon’s banishment/treason, learns Clarendon is in Calais after fleeing by boat, and draws a lesson that silence is better than speaking in such crises.
escape out of the nation. This day Gilsthrop is buried, who hath made all the late discourse of the great discovery of 65,000l. of which the King hath been wronged. 6th. With Sir J. Minnes to the Duke of York, the first time that I have seen him, or we waited on him, since his sickness: and blessed be God, he is not at all the worse for the small-pox, but is only a little weak yet. We did much business with him, …
After Pausanias’ death, the Lacedaemonians seek Themistocles’ punishment, but he escapes from Peloponnese to Corcyra’s coast, reaches Molossian Admetus, and is then sent onward away from Greek pursuers.
Pausanias gave him the pledge of raising him up from the temple, and begged him to set off as quickly as possible, and not to hinder the business in hand. The ephors listened carefully, and then departed, taking no action for the moment, but, having at last attained to certainty, were preparing to arrest him in the city. It is reported that, as he was about to be arrested in the street, he saw from the face of one o…
At Pylos, Telemachus refuses to be delayed at Menelaus’s friends’ house, orders preparations for sailing home, and meets Theoclymenus, a seer fleeing Argos after killing a man.
under the echoing gatehouse of the outer court. Then Pisistratus lashed his horses on and they flew forward nothing loath; ere long they came to Pylos, and then Telemachus said: “Pisistratus, I hope you will promise to do what I am going to ask you. You know our fathers were old friends before us; moreover, we are both of an age, and this journey has brought us together still more closely; do not, therefore, take me…
Telemachus invites the fugitive Theoclymenus aboard, promises Ithacan hospitality, sails past Crouni and Chalcis with a Minerva-blessed wind, while Ulysses reassures the swineherd and asks to beg in the city and reach Penelope’s house.
own head and by those of your followers tell me the truth and nothing but the truth. Who and whence are you? Tell me also of your town and parents.” Telemachus said, “I will answer you quite truly. I am from Ithaca, and my father is Ulysses, as surely as that he ever lived. But he has come to some miserable end. Therefore I have taken this ship and got my crew together to see if I can hear any news of him, for he ha…
Antinous interrupts Ulysses and hurls threats, while Ulysses recounts how he lost everything after Jove sent his men to Egypt, ending as a captive taken through Cyprus to Ithaca; Antinous then strikes him and Ulysses prays for Antinous’s ruin.
bread and meat; he was about, therefore, to go back to the threshold and eat what the suitors had given him, but he first went up to Antinous and said: “Sir, give me something; you are not, surely, the poorest man here; you seem to be a chief, foremost among them all; therefore you should be the better giver, and I will tell far and wide of your bounty. I too was a rich man once, and had a fine house of my own; in t…
Ulysses continues the lie by saying he recently heard Odysseus is alive among the Thesprotians and will return within the year, after the drowned of his crew due to divine anger.
never welcome him home again. It was by an ill fate that he ever set out for that detested city whose very name I cannot bring myself even to mention.” Then Ulysses answered, “Madam, wife of Ulysses, do not disfigure yourself further by grieving thus bitterly for your loss, though I can hardly blame you for doing so. A woman who has loved her husband and borne him children, would naturally be grieved at losing him, …
Telemachus and his crew prepare and sail a black ship as Telemachus prays and meets the soothsayer Theoclymenus of Argos lineage, who asks who he is and where his home lies.
“Set ye the gear in order, my friends, in the black ship, and let us climb aboard that we may make way upon our course.” So spake he, and they gave good heed and hearkened. Then straightway they embarked and sat upon the benches. Thus was he busy hereat and praying and making burnt-offering to Athene, by the stern of the ship, when there drew nigh him one from a far country, that had slain his man and was fleeing f…
He argues that despite impressive saving efforts, only about six percent become peasant proprietors and many fall back into serfdom, concluding that increased landholding often leads to migration to town and implies social problems move with residents.
and 1893, a fifth between 1884 and 1890, and the rest between 1870 and 1884. In all, one hundred and eighty-five Negroes have owned land in this county since 1875. If all the black land-owners who had ever held land here had kept it or left it in the hands of black men, the Negroes would have owned nearer thirty thousand acres than the fifteen thousand they now hold. And yet these fifteen thousand acres are a credit…
The narrator reflects on his son’s innocence beyond the color-line, the burial and relocation from Georgia to the North, and the hope that death means escape from bondage under the Veil.
what cared I, within my home beside my wife and baby boy? Wast thou so jealous of one little coign of happiness that thou must needs enter there,—thou, O Death? A perfect life was his, all joy and love, with tears to make it brighter,—sweet as a summer’s day beside the Housatonic. The world loved him; the women kissed his curls, the men looked gravely into his wonderful eyes, and the children hovered and fluttered a…
Du Bois recounts Crummell’s years of wandering for a purpose, his struggles in New York, England, and West Africa, and his eventual return home triumphing over hate and despair through disciplined work.
his degree in ’53. Restless still, and unsatisfied, he turned toward Africa, and for long years, amid the spawn of the slave-smugglers, sought a new heaven and a new earth. So the man groped for light; all this was not Life,—it was the world-wandering of a soul in search of itself, the striving of one who vainly sought his place in the world, ever haunted by the shadow of a death that is more than death,—the passing…
God calls Abram to leave Haran for Canaan, promises land and blessing, and Abram enters Canaan through Shechem/Bethel, then goes to Egypt during a famine and is forced out by Pharaoh.
Then the LORD said unto Abram: Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, and out of thy father's house, into a land which I will shew thee. And I will make of thee a mighty people, and will bless thee, and make thy name great, that thou mayst be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee. And in thee shall be blessed all the generations of the earth. And Abram went as th…
Abraham orders his servant to find Isaac a wife from Abraham’s homeland rather than among Canaanites; the servant travels to Mesopotamia (Nahor) and prays by a well, where Rebecca offers water.
Abraham was old and stricken in days, and the LORD had blessed him in all things. And he said unto his eldest servant of his house which had the rule over all that he had: Put thy hand under my thigh that I may make thee swear by the LORD that is God of heaven and God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son, of the daughters of the Cananites, among which I dwell. But shalt go unto my country and to …
It recounts Israel’s journeys from Rameses after Passover through the wilderness camps, then Aaron’s death on Mount Hor, Israel’s later encampments, and God’s command to conquer Canaan and divide inheritance by lot.
These are the journeys of the children of Israel which went out of the land of Egypt with their armies under Moses and Aaron. And Moses wrote their going out by their journeys at the commandment of the LORD: even these are the journeys of their going out. The children of Israel departed from Rameses the fifteenth day of the first month, on the morrow after Passover and went out with an high hand in the sight of all E…
Following a popular order, the senate decides Campanian treatment: restoring goods and liberty to Vestia Oppia and Faucula Cluvia, confiscating or chaining others, freeing many without granting Roman citizenship, and relocating them beyond the Tiber or near Liris/Vulturnus.
what it is your pleasure should be done." The commons thus ordered: "Whatsoever the senate on oath, or the majority of those present, may determine, that we will and order." 34. The senate having taken the matter into their consideration in conformity with this order of the people, first restored to Oppia and Cluvia their goods and liberty; directing, that if they wished to solicit any other rewards from the senate,…
Hasdrubal urges Syphax to attack Masinissa, leading Syphax to rout him and push him into mountain exile at Balbus, where Masinissa raids and sells plunder while Carthage complains to Syphax.
both of them preferred a moderate share of fortune at home to exile, he brought them over to his side, notwithstanding the Carthaginians studiously exerted every means to prevent it. 31. It happened that Hasdrubal was with Syphax at the time these things were taking place. He told the Numidian, who considered that it could make very little difference to him whether the government of the Massylians was in the hands o…
Bocchar attacks Masinissa’s mountain refuge, drives him into a valley, surrounds and wounds him, and falsely reports his death; Masinissa recovers secretly and returns with forces, raiding allies of Carthage.
the war, though he was himself highly incensed at them. But he considered it hardly suitable to the dignity of a king to pursue a vagabond robber through the mountains. 32. Bocchar, one of the king's generals, an enterprising and active officer, was chosen for this service. Four thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry were assigned him; and having been loaded with promises of immense rewards if he brought back th…
Livy narrates Hannibal’s flight from Africa through Byzacium to Cercina, his ship escape, Roman ambassadors’ claims, and Hannibal reaching Tyre and then Antioch.
which assertion he proved to be true. But now those persons who, for several years past, had maintained themselves by plundering the public, were greatly enraged; as if this were ravishing from them their own property, and not as dragging out of their hands their ill-gotten spoil. Accordingly, they instigated the Romans against Hannibal, who were seeking a pretext for indulging their hatred against him. A strenuous o…
After his mother’s death and separation from siblings, Douglass sets sail from Miles River to Baltimore, stops at Annapolis, lands at Smith’s Wharf, and is taken to Alliciana Street on Fells Point.
off what would be called by pig-drovers the mange, but the skin itself. I went at it in good earnest, working for the first time with the hope of reward. The ties that ordinarily bind children to their homes were all suspended in my case. I found no severe trial in my departure. My home was charmless; it was not home to me; on parting from it, I could not feel that I was leaving any thing which I could have enjoyed …
Douglass meets Sophia Auld, whom he describes as kindly and warmly humane, then credits his removal to Baltimore as a turning point toward eventual freedom and prosperity, viewing it as providential.
Hill, I was conducted by Rich, one of the hands belonging on board of the sloop, to my new home in Alliciana Street, near Mr. Gardner’s ship-yard, on Fells Point. Mr. and Mrs. Auld were both at home, and met me at the door with their little son Thomas, to take care of whom I had been given. And here I saw what I had never seen before; it was a white face beaming with the most kindly emotions; it was the face of my n…
Douglass is moved from Baltimore to St. Michael’s after Master Thomas marries Rowena Hamilton and quarrels with Master Hugh; he longs for Baltimore boys and considers escape.
present, to wipe from her wrinkled brow the cold sweat of death, or to place beneath the sod her fallen remains. Will not a righteous God visit for these things? In about two years after the death of Mrs. Lucretia, Master Thomas married his second wife. Her name was Rowena Hamilton. She was the eldest daughter of Mr. William Hamilton. Master now lived in St. Michael’s. Not long after his marriage, a misunderstanding…
At the start of 1835 Douglass refuses to stay only as a slave on others’ land, prepares for a final escape effort, consults with fellow enslaved men about freedom, and weighs Canada and the north’s dangers.
moved separately. We were one; and as much so by our tempers and dispositions, as by the mutual hardships to which we were necessarily subjected by our condition as slaves. At the close of the year 1834, Mr. Freeland again hired me of my master, for the year 1835. But, by this time, I began to want to live *upon free land* as well as *with Freeland;* and I was no longer content, therefore, to live with him or any ot…
Herzl’s family life and declining health are detailed alongside his consideration of refugee havens, culminating in the 1902 Chamberlain negotiations over colonization plans for Cyprus and the Sinai Peninsula via El Arish.
* * * * * At this point it is important to refer to his family life. He had married Julie Naschauer on July 25, 1889. She was the daughter of wealthy parents and grew up in a conventional social circle. When she married Herzl he was already a rising young author who was highly regarded among those with whom she associated. He was attractive, aristocratic in bearing, a keen conversationalist and had all the qualities…
Herzl responds to fears among “assimilated” French Jews, claiming a Jewish State would end anti-Semitism, stabilize a Jewish working class, and reduce anti-Jewish philanthropic colonization schemes’ unintended harm.
of numberless Jews who refused to despair, I am trying once more to prove in this pamphlet. Whole branches of Judaism may wither and fall, but the trunk will remain. Hence, if all or any of the French Jews protest against this scheme on account of their own "assimilation," my answer is simple: The whole thing does not concern them at all. They are Jewish Frenchmen, well and good! This is a private affair for the Jew…
Venus-huntress explains Carthage’s origin from Dido’s flight from Tyre and her brother’s tyranny, and then asks Aeneas who he is and what he seeks on Libyan land.
lawn, or in the forest stray’d? A painted quiver at her back she bore; Varied with spots, a lynx’s hide she wore; And at full cry pursued the tusky boar.” Thus Venus: thus her son replied again: “None of your sisters have we heard or seen, O virgin! or what other name you bear Above that style; O more than mortal fair! Your voice and mien celestial birth betray! If, as you seem, the sis…
Aeneas recounts Trojan exile and arrival in Libya, identifies himself and his rescued household gods, then receives an augury of twelve swans and guidance to seek Carthage, while Venus reveals herself through mist and departs.
ground, which Byrsa call’d, From the bull’s hide, they first inclos’d, and wall’d. But whence are you? what country claims your birth? What seek you, strangers, on our Libyan earth?” To whom, with sorrow streaming from his eyes, And deeply sighing, thus her son replies: “Could you with patience hear, or I relate, O nymph, the tedious annals of our fate! Thro’ such a train of woes if I should …
After the fire, Aeneas debates staying or sailing, and Nautes advises relocating the weak and women to Acestes at Acesta, while Aeneas receives Anchises’s night vision with a command to leave them behind.
from the clouds are sent, Which, hissing thro’ the planks, the flames prevent, And stop the fiery pest. Four ships alone Burn to the waist, and for the fleet atone. But doubtful thoughts the hero’s heart divide; If he should still in Sicily reside, Forgetful of his fates, or tempt the main, In hope the promis’d Italy to gain. Then Nautes, old and wise, to whom alone The will of Heav’n b…
Moses, having killed in self-defense, fears retaliation, seeks refuge, and travels to Midian where he waters shepherds, marries into the family, and encounters God speaking from the burning bush.
him: and lo! the man whom he had helped the day before, cried out to him again for help. Said Moses to him, "Thou art plainly a most depraved person." And when he would have laid violent hands on him who was their common foe, he said to him, "O Moses, dost thou desire to slay me, as thou slayedst a man yesterday? Thou desirest only to become a tyrant in this land, and desirest not to become a peacemaker." But a man…
The text continues Noah and then transitions into Qur’anic stories of the Exodus (Israel led through the sea; Pharaoh’s repentance at drowning), Israel’s obedience after knowledge, and Jonah-like Meccan exhortations to avoid doubt and false denial of signs.
He said: "The prayer of you both is heard: pursue ye both therefore the straight path, and follow not the path of those who have no knowledge." And we led the children of Israel through the sea; and Pharaoh and his hosts followed them in eager and hostile sort until, when the drowning overtook him, he said, "I believe that there is no God but he on whom the children of Israel believe, and I am one of the Muslims." …
Equiano laments being mocked by “freedom” and says he is disgusted with the West Indies until he can become entirely free by leaving them and returning to England.
of slavery to such a mockery of freedom? I was now completely disgusted with the West Indies, and thought I never should be entirely free until I had left them. "With thoughts like these my anxious boding mind Recall'd those pleasing scenes I left behind; Scenes where fair Liberty in bright array Makes darkness bright, and e'en illumines day; Where nor complexion, wealth, or station, can Protect …
The introduction claims the Negro problem has shifted from deportation and settlement schemes toward expanding Hampton-Tuskegee training for neglected groups, asserts the argument is now beyond debate, and praises Washington’s life story as frank and truthful.
that stands like the demonstration of the value of democratic institutions themselves—a demonstration made so clear in spite of the greatest odds that it is no longer open to argument. Consider the change that has come in twenty years in the discussion of the Negro problem. Two or three decades ago social philosophers and statisticians and well-meaning philanthropists were still talking and writing about the deporta…
After emancipation, many change surnames and briefly leave the old plantation; Washington’s stepfather summons his family to the Kanawha Valley in West Virginia, prompting a long overland journey.
Boyhood Days After the coming of freedom there were two points upon which practically all the people on our place were agreed, and I found that this was generally true throughout the South: that they must change their names, and that they must leave the old plantation for at least a few days or weeks in order that they might really feel sure that they were free. In some way a feeling got among the coloured people t…
He links the plague’s arrival to London’s Restoration-era population boom, describing wealthy flight from the west, while most people stayed in the liberties and eastern suburbs.
such as Wapping, Ratcliff, Stepney, Rotherhithe, and the like, the people generally stayed, except here and there a few wealthy families, who, as above, did not depend upon their business. It must not be forgot here that the city and suburbs were prodigiously full of people at the time of this visitation, I mean at the time that it began; for though I have lived to see a further increase, and might…
After bribery and escape tactics, Defoe moves to an illustrative story of three poor men in Stepney parish who choose exile for survival, detailing their trades and injuries and waiting until the plague abates toward the west.
and escaped by making themselves exiles in such a manner as is scarce to be credited, and who yet enjoyed more liberty than was to be expected in such cases. I have by me a story of two brothers and their kinsman, who being single men, but that had stayed in the city too long to get away, and indeed not knowing where to go to have any retreat, nor having wherewith to travel far, took a course for t…
He recounts a man who fled a house in Aldersgate Street, was refused lodging at several inns, accepted a garret bed at the Pied Bull near Islington, and died after the next morning, bringing infection to the household.
been driven to extremities for provision or for entertainment, had endeavoured to conceal their condition, and have been thereby instrumental involuntarily to infect others who have been ignorant and unwary. This is one of the reasons why I believed then, and do believe still, that the shutting up houses thus by force, and restraining, or rather imprisoning, people in their own houses, as I said ab…
To cope with infected houses, some families secretly transfer care to another house and padlock buildings, but fear and terror also drive people to flee while still infected, spreading plague; the narrator gives figures for abandoned homes and refugees.
the plague the week before, there died seventeen the week after, whereof fourteen were of the plague. This was in the week from the 11th of July to the 18th. There was one shift that some families had, and that not a few, when their houses happened to be infected, and that was this: the families who, in the first breaking-out of the distemper, fled away into the country and had retreats among their…
Because Redriff and Wapping had believed themselves safe, when plague surged in September and October they were unprepared and barred outsiders, worsening deaths for those who wandered into the countryside.
in that part of the town as a place of safety, and as a place which they thought God would pass over, and not visit as the rest was visited. And this was the reason that when it came upon them they were more surprised, more unprovided, and more at a loss what to do than they were in other places; for when it came among them really and with violence, as it did indeed in September and October, …
The new group traces itself to Islington/Cripplegate and explains earlier lodging shut-ups; after traveling around Holloway and Hornsey/Newington, they plan toward Epping Forest, but the horse forces the three travelers to stay on roads.
Richard. How then was it that you came away no sooner? Ford. We have been away some time, and kept together as well as we could at the hither end of Islington, where we got leave to lie in an old uninhabited house, and had some bedding and conveniences of our own that we brought with us; but the plague is come up into Islington too, and a house next door to our poor dwelling was infecte…
After London’s plague lessened, people fleeing from London are instructed to return; John’s group settles in a decayed house near a farmer, repairs it, survives winter hardships, then returns to the city by December.
up against them; and that, on the other hand, they would be questioned wherever they came, and would be in danger of violence from others in like cases as themselves. Upon all these considerations John, their captain, in all their names, went back to their good friend and benefactor, who had relieved them before, and laying their case truly before him, humbly asked his advice; and he as kindly advi…
He recommends escape (“the best physic…is to run away”), compares plague to a spreading fire, and proposes shrinking and evacuating London’s population—especially the poor—to reduce spread.
But if it begins in a close-built town or city and gets a head, there its fury increases: it rages over the whole place, and consumes all it can reach. I could propose many schemes on the foot of which the government of this city, if ever they should be under the apprehensions of such another enemy (God forbid they should), might ease themselves of the greatest part of the dangerous people that …
Douglass recounts leaving Col. Lloyd’s plantation for Baltimore at about age ten, driven by joy at anticipated change, aided by Miss Lucretia’s instructions to scrub before moving.
am now. Without any appeal to books, to laws, or to authorities of any kind, it was enough to accept God as a father, to regard slavery as a crime. I was not ten years old when I left Col. Lloyd’s plantation for Balitmore(sic). I left that plantation with inexpressible joy. I never shall forget the ecstacy with which I received the intelligence from my friend, Miss Lucretia, that my old master had determined to let …
After meeting two sympathetic Irishmen on Mr. Waters’s wharf, Douglass plans escape north to seek freedom, then begins learning to write using shipyard markings, copybooks, chalk, and stolen Bible hymn texts.
With all other blessings sought at the mercy seat, I always prayed that God would, of His great mercy, and in His own good time, deliver me from my bondage. I went, one day, on the wharf of Mr. Waters; and seeing two Irishmen unloading a large scow of stone, or ballast I went on board, unasked, and helped them. When we had finished the work, one of the men came to me, aside, and asked me a number of questions, and a…
Douglass describes traveling from Baltimore to St. Michael’s in 1833, reflecting on a bitter feud that kept him from returning, and forming a plan to escape while watching steamers to Philadelphia.
was going without the hope of ever returning to Baltimore again; the feud between Master Hugh and his brother being bitter and irreconcilable, or, at least, supposed to be so. In addition to thoughts of friends from whom I was parting, as I supposed, *forever*, I had the grief of neglected chances of escape to brood over. I had put off running away, until now I was to be placed where the opportunities for escaping w…
From the Chesapeake Bay, Douglass watches ships leaving and prays for deliverance, imagines freedom and flight, and then attempts escape by swimming to freedom through Delaware into Pennsylvania.
compel utterance; and there, with no audience but the Almighty, I would pour out my soul’s complaint in my rude way, with an apostrophe to the moving multitude of ships: “You are loosed from your moorings, and free; I am fast in my chains, and am a slave! You move merrily before the gentle gale, and I sadly before the bloody whip! You are freedom’s swift-winged angels, that fly around the world; I am confined in ban…
Lycurgus, fearing political envy from his queen’s family after the birth of Charilaus, goes into exile to travel and learn laws, notably influencing Sparta via Thales and later Homer.
with his nephew, if the child should chance to fail though by a natural death. Words of the like import were designedly cast abroad by the queen-mother and her adherents. Troubled at this, and not knowing what it might come to, he thought it his wisest course to avoid their envy by a voluntary exile, and to travel from place to place until his nephew came to marriageable years, and, by having a son, had secured the …
After Pausanias’ treason is discovered, Themistocles refuses to join a conspiracy, but is suspected and pursued; he flees to Corcyra, Epirus, and becomes a suppliant to Admetus of the Molossians.
the detection of Pausanias happened, which gave such advantage to his enemies, that Leobotes of Agraule, son of Alcmaeon, indicted him of treason, the Spartans supporting him in the accusation. When Pausanias went about this treasonable design, he concealed it at first from Themistocles, though he were his intimate friend; but when he saw him expelled out of the commonwealth, and how impatiently he took his banishme…
Themistocles escapes into Asian exile, debates reports about whether he met Xerxes, then hides at Cyme with Nicogenes; prophetic dreams and a concealed carriage help him reach Persian territory safely.
marriage the daughter of Hiero, tyrant of Syracuse, promising to bring the Greeks under his power; and, on Hiero refusing him, departed thence into Asia; but this is not probable. For Theophrastus writes, in his work on Monarchy, that when Hiero sent race-horses to the Olympian games, and erected a pavilion sumptuously furnished, Themistocles made an oration to the Greeks, inciting them to pull down the tyrant's ten…
Camillus faces popular hostility after soldiers expect plunder, repeatedly fighting division proposals; then he is accused by Lucius Apuleius of appropriating Tuscan spoils, goes into exile, and prays to Rome’s gods on leaving for banishment.
sorrow, being a man naturally of a mild and tender disposition, and, when the accusation was preferred against him, kept his house, and mourned amongst the women of his family. His accuser was Lucius Apuleius; the charge, appropriation of the Tuscan spoils; certain brass gates, part of those spoils, were said to be in his possession. The people were exasperated against him, and it was plain they would take hold of …
During the Gallic invasion, Romans flee with sacred objects and virgins, including Lucius Albinius; meanwhile senators and priests remain to pray at Rome’s forum, awaiting the Gauls’ attack.
at this time of the Gaulish invasion, and hid them underground in the temple of Quirinus; and that from hence that place to this day bears the name of Barrels. However it be, taking the most precious and important things they had, they fled away with them, shaping their course along the river side, where Lucius Albinius, a simple citizen of Rome, who among others was making his escape, overtook them, having his wife…
After Athens falls, Alcibiades flees to Bithynia and then to Phrygia seeking Artaxerxes’ aid, while Athens, under Lysander’s Thirty, regrets expelling him and debates his potential to restore Athenian democracy.
thousand prisoners, whom he put to death. And within a short time after, he took Athens itself, burnt all the ships which he found there, and demolished their long walls. After this, Alcibiades, standing in dread of the Lacedaemonians, who were now masters both at sea and land, retired into Bithynia. He sent thither great treasure before him, took much with him, but left much more in the castle where he had before …
After his banishment sentence, Marcius shows composed outward control but inward fury, leaves with few clients, plans revenge by raising a war against Rome using Volscians, and selects a commander named Tullus Aufidius.
men's dresses, or other marks of distinction, to know one from another: any one who was glad was, beyond all doubt, a plebeian; any one who looked sorrowful, a patrician. Marcius alone, himself, was neither stunned nor humiliated. In mien, carriage, and countenance, he bore the appearance of entire composure, and while all his friends were full of distress, seemed the only man that was not touched with his misfortu…
Perseus reaches Pella, then moves through Amphipolis and other places, reverts to covetousness, and—after losing control of treasure—flees by sea to Samothrace and seeks refuge in the temple of Castor and Pollux.
authority amongst them. Thus Fortune, deferring her displeasure and jealousy of such great success to some other time, let Aemilius at present enjoy this victory, without any detraction or diminution. As for Perseus, from Pydna he fled to Pella with his cavalry, which was as yet almost entire. But when the foot came up with them, and, upbraiding them as cowards and traitors, tried to pull them off their horses, and…
An edict recalls Metellus, but Marius flees to Cappadocia and Galatia, plotting to stir conflicts instead of retiring, and returns to Rome to build a house and resent Sylla.
inferiors, to be elected, though he pleased himself by giving out, that he was not willing to disoblige too many by undertaking a severe inspection into their lives and conduct. There was now an edict preferred to recall Metellus from banishment; this he vigorously, but in vain, opposed both by word and deed, and was at length obliged to desist. The people unanimously voted for it; and he, not able to endure the si…
A storm drives Marius’s ship toward Circeium; he wanders hungry through unsafe land and sea, hides in a wood, recalls an eagle-omen prophecy, and continues toward Minturnae.
would not be able to weather out the storm, and Marius, too, being indisposed and seasick, they made for land, and not without some difficulty reached the shore near Circeium. The storm now increasing and their victuals failing, they left their ship and wandered up and down without any certain purpose, simply as in great distresses people shun the present as the greatest evil, and rely upon the hopes of uncertaintie…
Marius sails via Aenaria to Africa, is denied entry by Roman governor Sextilius, receives cautious help from Numidian king Hiempsal, and escapes after a concubine’s intervention and omens.
to the isle of Meninx, where he first heard the news of his son's escape with Cethegus, and of his going to implore the assistance of Hiempsal, king of Numidia. With this news, being somewhat comforted, he ventured to pass from that isle towards Carthage. Sextilius, a Roman, was then governor in Africa; one that had never received either any injury or any kindness from Marius; but who from compassion, it was hoped,…
Cimon’s background continues: his Thracian lineage, exile-like hardships after Miltiades’ fine, alleged relations with his sister Elpinice, his romantic attachments, and his role as an anti-Themistocles political alternative in Athens.
Wrought by his hand the deeds of heroes grace At his own charge our temples and our Place. Some affirm that Elpinice lived with her brother, not secretly, but as his married wife, her poverty excluding her from any suitable match. But afterward, when Callias, one of the richest men of Athens, fell in love with her, and proffered to pay the fine the father was condemned in, if he could obtain the daughter in marriag…
After Cinna and Marius seized power, the young Crassus flees to Spain, hides in a sea cave with friends, and is sheltered by Vibius Pacianus until his provisions and protection stabilize.
came home had it demanded from him again; poor patient sufferer, when even the philosophy he professed did not look upon poverty as a thing indifferent. But of this hereafter. When Cinna and Marius got the power in their hands, it was soon perceived that they had not come back for any good they intended to their country, but to effect the ruin and utter destruction of the nobility. And as many as they could lay the…
After the defeat at Pharsalia, Pompey abandons his horse, wanders through the Tempe pass, rests with a fisher, then boards a merchant ship guided by a dream of Peticius and rescues companions.
of soldiers who had armed themselves to go out to battle, so possessed with the expectation of success and so full of empty confidence had they gone out that morning. When Pompey had got a little way from the camp, he dismounted and forsook his horse, having but a small retinue with him; and finding that no man pursued him, walked on softly afoot, taken up altogether with thoughts, such as probably might possess a m…