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Often appears with: justice as a virtue · marriage and betrothal · custom and the manners of a people · the passions and the emotions · crime and punishment · rank, class, and social order · conquest, plunder, and captives · fate, destiny, and necessity · counsel and advisers to rulers · censorship and the press · courage and cowardice · sexuality and desire
Usually: narrative (352) · detachment (304) · argument (229) · indignation (176) · censure (145) · injustice endured (136) · curiosity (91) · exhortation (88) · reflection (81) · skepticism (79)
“This man whom thou hast sought to arrest With threats and warrants this long while, the wretch Who murdered Laius—that man is here.” Sophocles, Plays of Sophocles: Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Col · observation
“He passes for an alien in the land But soon shall prove a Theban, native born.” Sophocles, Plays of Sophocles: Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Col · insight
“And it shows how much more profitable it is prudently to remove, than to resent, return, and continue inimical proceedings.” Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin · precept
“For this, this only favour let me sue, If pity can to conquer’d foes be due: Refuse it not; but let my body have The last retreat of humankind, a grave.” Virgil, The Aeneid · precept
“For your souls' health, I'll absolution give So, though you die, blest martyrs shall you live, Thrones you shall win in the great Paradis.” Anonymous (Old French epic), The Song of Roland · precept
“This day shall free from wars th’ Ausonian state, Or finish my misfortunes in my fate.” Virgil, The Aeneid · precept
“They frequently wear their moustaches and long black hair curling down their backs.” Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle · observation
“They never drink their spirits without expecting you to taste it; but whilst making their exceedingly graceful bow, they seem quite as ready, if occasion offered, to cut your throat.” Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle · vivid
“At the present day, from the progress of civilization, there is much less warfare, except among some of the southern tribes.” Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle · observation
“He used to say the Cid Ruy Diaz was a very good knight, but that he was not to be compared with the Knight of the Burning Sword” Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote · observation
“he fancied it was right and requisite, as well for the support of his own honour as for the service of his country, that he should make a knight-errant of himself” Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote · insight
“Remember there is no jewel in the world so precious as a chaste and virtuous woman, and that the whole honour of women consists in reputation;” Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote · precept
In mid-January, Pepys notes ongoing court anxieties that Lady Castlemaine will remain with the King, and he records public bell-ringing and bonfires for the Queen’s arrival at Portsmouth, with only lukewarm popular joy.
looking-glasse sent by the Queene-mother from France, hanging in the Queene's chamber, and many brave pictures. And so to barge again; and got home about eight at night very well. 14th. Dined at the Wardrobe; and after dinner, sat talking an hour or two alone with my Lady. She is afraid that my Lady Castlemaine will keep still with the King. 15th. To Westminster; and at the Privy Seale I saw Mr. Coventry's seal …
Pepys recounts attending a court ball at Whitehall, watching the King, Queen, Duke of Monmouth, and favourites dance and switching from formal dances to country dances before going home.
the maydes of honour and the young Duke of Monmouth playing at cards. Some of them, and but a few, were very pretty; though all well dressed in velvet gowns. 31st. Mr. Povy and I to White Hall; he taking me thither on purpose to carry me into the ball this night before the King. He brought me first to the Duke's chamber, where I saw him and the Duchesse at supper; and thence into the room where the ball was to be,…
On 1 January 1662/63 Pepys reports gossip about the King’s frequent suppers with Lady Castlemaine and an embarrassing pregnancy incident, then continues with events in Whitehall, theatres, and Parliament-driven religious prosecutions.
myself, wife, family, and estate, in the great degree that it is, and for the public state of the nation, so quiet as it is, the Lord God be praised! 1662-63, JANUARY 1. Among other discourse, Mrs. Sarah tells us how the King sups at least four times every week with my Lady Castlemaine; and most often stays till the morning with her, and goes home through the garden all alone privately, and that so as the very cent…
Pepys attends sermons and literary events, debates about the value of Hudibras, watches skating in the Park with Captain Ferrers, and hears court gossip including the Monmouth “child dropped” incident and Monmouth’s rank.
vests officiating somewhere in Holborne the other day, and was committed by Secretary Morris according to law; and they say the Bishop of London did give him thanks for it. 17th. To my Lord Sandwich, whom I found at cards with Pickering; but he made an end soon: and so all alone, he told me he had a great secret to tell me, such as no flesh knew but himself, nor ought; which was this:--that yesterday morning Escha…
Pepys reports the naval victory over the Dutch (June 3, 1665), listing commanders killed or wounded, then notes the plague arriving in the City and the town’s accelerating fear, alongside social and political reactions to the battle.
Victory over the Dutch, June 3, 1665. This day they engaged: the Dutch neglecting greatly the opportunity of the wind they had of us; by which they lost the benefit of their fire-ships. The Earl of Falmouth, Muskerry, and Mr. Richard Boyle [Second son to the Earl of Burlington.] killed on board the Duke's ship, the Royall Charles, with one shot: their blood and brains flying in the Duke's face; and the head of Mr…
Pepys hosts Creed and Sheres, who describe Spanish court ceremonial customs and revenge culture, and Pepys celebrates news that the Anglo-Spanish peace is printed as England’s best recent treaty.
of Fletcher's; which is but so-so, methinks; only there is a most admirable dance at the end, of the ladies, in a military manner, which indeed did please me mightily. 27th. Creed and Sheres come and dined with me; and we had a great deal of pretty discourse of the ceremoniousness of the Spaniards, whose ceremonies are so many and so known, that, he tells me, upon all occasions of joy or sorrow in a Grandee's famil…
Pepys goes to the King’s playhouse for “The Joviall Crew,” hears rumors and intrigues involving Mrs. Churchill, discusses Court factions around Lady Harvey and Doll Common, and meets the King and Duke of York on thanks for his Tangier role.
the fruits of this intrigue. She married subsequently Colonel Godfrey, Comptroller of the Household, and died 1730, aged 82.] with some physic; meaning, I suppose, that she is with child. 15th. To Sir W. Coventry; where with him a good while in his chamber, talking of the great factions at Court at this day, even to the sober engaging of great persons, and differences, and making the King cheap and ridiculous. It …
A monument unveiling is described at St. Olave’s in 1884, including speeches by Russell Lowell and quotations praising Pepys’s Admiralty leadership and personal integrity.
"The contemporary account, which Lord Northbrook was good enough to send him, said: "'Pepys was, without exception, the greatest and most useful Minister that ever filled the same situations in England, the acts and registers of the Admiralty proving this beyond contradiction. The principal rules and establishments in present use in these offices are well known to have been of his introducing, an…
At Ithaca, servants host Minerva-disguised-as-Mentes and Telemachus, while Phemius plays lyre music; Telemachus quietly tells Athena he is disgusted by the suitors’ waste, mourns Odysseus’ presumed loss, and interrogates her about her identity and visit.
for himself, away from the suitors, that she might not be annoyed while eating by their noise and insolence, and that he might ask her more freely about his father. A maid servant then brought them water in a beautiful golden ewer and poured it into a silver basin for them to wash their hands, and she drew a clean table beside them. An upper servant brought them bread, and offered them many good things of what there…
After the song, Alcinous proposes athletic games so Odysseus can report Phaeacian superiority, and young competitors—named individually—test footraces, wrestling, leaping, and weight-throwing before challenging Odysseus.
of divers games, that the stranger may tell his friends, when home he returneth, how greatly we excel all men in boxing, and wrestling, and leaping, and speed of foot.” He spake, and led the way, and they went with him. And the henchman hung the loud lyre on the pin, and took the hand of Demodocus, and let him forth from the hall, and guided him by the same way, whereby those others, the chiefs of the Phaeacians, ha…
Euryalus taunts Odysseus as unskilled for games, and Odysseus retorts that he has endured hardship at sea and in war but will compete anyway, proving his strength by far surpassing the Phaeacian throwing distance.
one with a memory for his freight, or that hath the charge of a cargo homeward bound, and of greedily gotten gains; thou seemest not a man of thy hands.” Then Odysseus of many counsels looked fiercely on him and said: “Stranger, thou hast not spoken well; thou art like a man presumptuous. So true it is that the gods do not give every gracious gift to all, neither shapeliness, nor wisdom, nor skilled speech. For one …
Odysseus challenges Phaeacians to further contests in boxing, wrestling, or footraces, praises his own archery skills while doubting a race, and Alcinous redirects the entertainment toward dance and seamanship before Demodocus’s next song.
she; and the steadfast goodly Odysseus rejoiced and was glad, for that he saw a true friend in the lists. Then with a lighter heart he spake amid the Phaeacians: “Now reach ye this throw, young men, if ye may; and soon, methinks, will I cast another after it, as far or yet further. And whomsoever of the rest his heart and spirit stir thereto, hither let him come and try the issue with me, in boxing or in wrestling o…
After the song, Alcinous praises Odysseus, orders dance contests with special mention of Halius and Laodamas, and then arranges gifts—robes, gold, and a sword—while compensating Euryalus for his earlier insult.
This was the song the famous minstrel sang; and Odysseus listened and was glad at heart, and likewise did the Phaeacians, of the long oars, those mariners renowned. Then Alcinous bade Halius and Laodamas dance alone, for none ever contended with them. So when they had taken in their hands the goodly ball of purple hue, that cunning Polybus had wrought for them, the one would bend backwards, and throw it towards the …
Odysseus and Achilles’ shade argue about the value of life versus rule among the dead, and Achilles laments his past glory, then asks about Peleus, Neoptolemus, and whether his father still receives honor.
through the counsels of woman from of old. For Helen’s sake so many of us perished, and now Clytemnestra hath practised treason against thee, while yet thou wast afar off.’ “Even so I spake, and anon he answered me, saying: ‘Wherefore do thou too, never henceforth be soft even to thy wife, neither show her all the counsel that thou knowest, but a part declare and let part be hid. Yet shalt not thou, Odysseus, find d…
Odysseus tells Achilles about Neoptolemus’s heroism at Troy, including his role in the fighting and the wooden horse episode, while other spirits react and Ajax remains apart in anger over Achilles’ armor.
Argives gave thee one honour with the gods, and now thou art a great prince here among the dead. Wherefore let not thy death be any grief to thee, Achilles.’ “Even so I spake, and he straightway answered me, and said: ‘Nay, speak not comfortably to me of death, oh great Odysseus. Rather would I live on ground[20] as the hireling of another, with a landless man who had no great livelihood, than bear sway among all th…
Another beggar, Irus (Arnaeus), tries to drive Odysseus from the doorway, and Antinous turns it into a contest by matching Irus against Odysseus with promised reward of goats’-belly puddings and continued feasting rights for the winner.
and a doublet, whereof thou standest most in need. Moreover thou shalt beg thy bread through the land and shalt fill thy belly, and whosoever will, shall give to thee.” Then the steadfast goodly Odysseus answered him, saying: “Eumaeus, soon would I tell all the truth to the daughter of Icarius, wise Penelope, for well I know his story, and we have borne our travail together. But I tremble before the throng of the fr…
Melantho insults Odysseus and Odysseus threatens to report her to Telemachus, while Eurymachus and Odysseus exchange taunts that involve farm labor and war, escalating to violence when Eurymachus strikes a servant.
thou art, or yet more than now, while I am far away. But when thou seest thy son a bearded man, marry whom thou wilt and leave thine own house.’ “Even so did he speak, and now all these things have an end. The night shall come when a hateful marriage shall find me out, me most luckless, whose good hap Zeus has taken away. But furthermore this sore trouble has come on my heart and soul; for this was not the manner of…
After Judge Henderson shuts the school, the younger son wanders, flirts with Jennie, and later the older John, dismissed from the school, returns to find his sister attacked and kills the attacker in a stormy confrontation near the sea.
work. The white people of Altamaha are not spending their money on black folks to have their heads crammed with impudence and lies. Clear out! I’ll lock the door myself.” Up at the great pillared house the tall young son wandered aimlessly about after his father’s abrupt departure. In the house there was little to interest him; the books were old and stale, the local newspaper flat, and the women had retired with he…
Cannae veterans in Sicily ask Marcellus for permission to serve, arguing Rome wrongly condemns them while enemy campaigns continue in Sicily; they describe their exile and want a chance at honorable death.
been sent out of the way into Sicily, as has been mentioned before, on an understanding that they should not be brought home before the conclusion of the Carthaginian war. 6. With the permission of Lentulus, these men sent the most distinguished of the cavalry and centurions, and a select body of the legionary infantry, as ambassadors to Marcellus, to his winter quarters. Having obtained leave to speak, one of them …
Scipio’s men receive praise for taking New Carthage, he awards mural crowns to the first wall-scalers (Trebellius and Digitius) after a dispute, and he then summarizes the disputed numbers before ordering hostages returned.
on a signal given, a stop was put to the carnage, and the victors turned their attention to the plunder, of which there was an immense quantity of every description. 47. Of males of free condition, as many as ten thousand were captured. Of these he allowed to depart such as were citizens of New Carthage; and restored to them their city, and all their property which the war had left them. The artisans amounted to two…
During Philip’s Nemaean games at Argos, Publius Sulpicius raids between Sicyon and Corinth, Philip attacks the Romans, and Philip’s liberty-display is condemned as lustful abuse and violence.
the king himself went back from the congress to Argos; for now the time for celebrating the Nemaean games was approaching, which he wished to be celebrated in his presence. 31. While the king was occupied with the exhibition of the games, and was indulging himself during the days devoted to festivity with more freedom than in time of war, Publius Sulpicius, setting out from Naupactus, brought his fleet to the shore,…
After the games, crowds rush the Roman general Titus Quinctius and praise Rome for fighting wars for others’ liberty, even crossing seas so “justice, right, and law” would rule everywhere.
the thoughts nor eyes of any attended to the exhibitions, so entirely had the single passion of joy pre-occupied their minds, as to exclude the sense of all other pleasures. 33. But, when the games were finished, every one eagerly passed towards the Roman general; so that by the crowd rushing to one spot, all wishing to come near him, and to touch his right hand, and throwing garlands and ribands, he was in some deg…
He says representatives are restrained by ties of honor, pride, dependence on reelection, and the rule that laws bind lawmakers as well as constituents, making self-dealing difficult.
flagrant, both in public and in private life. But the universal and extreme indignation which it inspires is itself a proof of the energy and prevalence of the contrary sentiment. In the third place, those ties which bind the representative to his constituents are strengthened by motives of a more selfish nature. His pride and vanity attach him to a form of government which favors his pretensions and gives him a sha…
Dido discovers Aeneas’ plan to leave and confronts him with jealous accusations, pleading by their vows and shared nuptial bed to delay departure for the sake of her honor and potential offspring.
her tender mind, by slow degrees, To suffer what the sov’reign pow’r decrees: Jove will inspire him, when, and what to say. They hear with pleasure, and with haste obey. But soon the queen perceives the thin disguise: (What arts can blind a jealous woman’s eyes!) She was the first to find the secret fraud, Before the fatal news was blaz’d abroad. Love the first motions of the lover hears, …
Turnus, a Rutulian leader, realizes a guileful phantom has tricked him and, fearing shame and death, asks for shipwreck or drowning rather than returning dishonored.
wind in poop, the vessel plows the sea, And measures back with speed her former way. Meantime Aeneas seeks his absent foe, And sends his slaughter’d troops to shades below. The guileful phantom now forsook the shroud, And flew sublime, and vanish’d in a cloud. Too late young Turnus the delusion found, Far on the sea, still making from the ground. Then, thankless for a life redeem’d by shame, …
Mezentius addresses his horse Rhoebus, swears to avenge Lausus or die, challenges Aeneas, wounds the warrior horse with a spear, and is then confronted by Aeneas’s taunting sword.
unappall’d With pains or perils, for his courser call’d Well-mouth’d, well-manag’d, whom himself did dress With daily care, and mounted with success; His aid in arms, his ornament in peace. Soothing his courage with a gentle stroke, The steed seem’d sensible, while thus he spoke: “O Rhoebus, we have liv’d too long for me— If life and long were terms that could agree! This day thou either shal…
Mezentius offers a final request for his own burial and death-as-grave, refusing to frame his death as dishonorable, while applying his throat to the sword.
Aeneas, hast’ning, wav’d his fatal sword High o’er his head, with this reproachful word: “Now; where are now thy vaunts, the fierce disdain Of proud Mezentius, and the lofty strain?” Struggling, and wildly staring on the skies, With scarce recover’d sight he thus replies: “Why these insulting words, this waste of breath, To souls undaunted, and secure of death? ’Tis no dishonour for the brave…
Aunus challenges Camilla to fight on foot, but she dismounts, seizes the rein, traps him, and kills him as if hunting prey, ending the exchange with his defeated body.
with such a sway The weapon falls, the riven steel gives way: He groans, he roars, he sues in vain for grace; Brains, mingled with his blood, besmear his face. Astonish’d Aunus just arrives by chance, To see his fall; nor farther dares advance; But, fixing on the horrid maid his eye, He stares, and shakes, and finds it vain to fly; Yet, like a true Ligurian, born to cheat, (At least whi…
Turnus, driven by rage, shame, and the burning of the city, rides back to the fighting and declares he will break the truce and seek single combat to clear his honor and either free Latium or die.
Is death so hard to bear? Ye gods below, (Since those above so small compassion show,) Receive a soul unsullied yet with shame, Which not belies my great forefather’s name!” He said; and while he spoke, with flying speed Came Sages urging on his foamy steed: Fix’d on his wounded face a shaft he bore, And, seeking Turnus, sent his voice before: “Turnus, on you, on you alone, depends Our …
Equiano calms the drunk governor by threatening divine punishment, compares local governance to a judge’s arbitration, and then narrates Musquito feasts (tourrie/dryckbot) and their fermented foods and dancing.
yet we slept in safety, and never lost any thing, or were disturbed. This surprised us a good deal; and the Doctor, myself, and others, used to say, if we were to lie in that manner in Europe we should have our throats cut the first night. The Indian governor goes once in a certain time all about the province or district, and has a number of men with him as attendants and assistants. He settles all the differences am…
He explains Tuskegee’s industrial-education plan that students erect their own buildings using the newest methods and learning to find dignity in labor rather than merely drudgery.
A Harder Task Than Making Bricks Without Straw From the very beginning, at Tuskegee, I was determined to have the students do not only the agricultural and domestic work, but to have them erect their own buildings. My plan was to have them, while performing this service, taught the latest and best methods of labour, so that the school would not only get the benefit of their efforts, but the students themselves would…
Booker T. Washington describes being overwhelmed by receiving an honorary Harvard degree, frames fame as a tool to do good, and recounts being escorted to Harvard’s Sanders Theatre for the Commencement ceremonies.
Charles W. Eliot. This was a recognition that had never in the slightest manner entered into my mind, and it was hard for me to realize that I was to be honoured by a degree from the oldest and most renowned university in America. As I sat upon my veranda, with this letter in my hand, tears came into my eyes. My whole former life—my life as a slave on the plantation, my work in the coal-mine, the times when I was wi…
McKinley and other officials praise Tuskegee’s educational experiment during speeches in the new chapel, including tributes to Washington’s perseverance and an image of the “coloured President of the Tuskegee” on a platform.
In his address in our large, new chapel, which the students had recently completed, the President said, among other things:— To meet you under such pleasant auspices and to have the opportunity of a personal observation of your work is indeed most gratifying. The Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute is ideal in its conception, and has already a large and growing reputation in the country, and is not unknown abro…
Castruccio ambushes the Florentines at Serravalle by attacking from seized positions and splitting forces, causes a rout and heavy Florentine losses, pursues into the plain near Florence, and buys Florentine gate-opening betrayal that is discovered.
so with him that four hundred of his men were to be admitted into the castle the night before the attack on the Florentines, and the castellan put to death. Castruccio, having prepared everything, had now to encourage the Florentines to persist in their desire to carry the seat of war away from Pistoia into the Val di Nievole, therefore he did not move his army from Montecarlo. Thus the Florentines hurried on until …
From his window Defoe describes a plague-stricken naked man roaming and dancing in Whitechapel streets while women and children beg him to return, but no one dares touch him; he also records disputes about whether fires help.
to come back, and entreating the help of others to bring him back, but all in vain, nobody daring to lay a hand upon him or to come near him? This was a most grievous and afflicting thing to me, who saw it all from my own windows; for all this while the poor afflicted man was, as I observed it, even then in the utmost agony of pain, having (as they said) two swellings upon him which could not be …
From a “tower” viewpoint, Du Bois depicts pervasive Black vulnerability to collective white joy at Black death, compares American racism to Belgium’s in WWI, and attacks the hypocrisy of condemning atrocities abroad while tolerating them at home.
in the name of Civilization, Justice, and Motherhood,--what have we not seen, right here in America, of orgy, cruelty, barbarism, and murder done to men and women of Negro descent. Up through the foam of green and weltering waters wells this great mass of hatred, in wilder, fiercer violence, until I look down and know that today to the millions of my people no misfortune could happen,--of death and pestilence, failu…
The narrator explains why he disowns menial service: the work forces deception, flattery, and denial of shared humanity, and he contrasts skilled, dignified labor with humiliating tip culture and degrading household arrangements.
in corners and ate and ate! It was nasty business. I hated it. I was too cowardly to steal much myself, and not coward enough to refuse what others stole. Our work was easy, but insipid. We stood about and watched overdressed people gorge. For the most part we were treated like furniture and were supposed to act the wooden part. I watched the waiters even more than the guests. I saw that it paid to amuse and to crin…
Du Bois condemns the white South’s ongoing insult of Black womanhood, credits Black women’s resilience and moral strength, and highlights figures and institutions—from Black churches to famous abolitionists—to show their impact.
children, but because the darker woman was helpless, her chivalrous and whiter mate could cast her off at his pleasure and publicly sneer at the body he had privately blasphemed. I shall forgive the white South much in its final judgment day: I shall forgive its slavery, for slavery is a world-old habit; I shall forgive its fighting for a well-lost cause, and for remembering that struggle with tender tears; I shall …
Du Bois discusses beauty standards as a political trap, contrasts white ideals of female ornament with Black women’s labor-focused roles, and argues that economic pressure forces a “dilemma” about marriage and motherhood.
then? If ugliness and unconventionality and eccentricity of face and deed do not hinder men from doing the world's work and reaping the world's reward, why should it hinder women?" Other things being equal, all of us, black and white, would prefer to be beautiful in face and form and suitably clothed; but most of us are not so, and one of the mightiest revolts of the century is against the devilish decree that no wo…
Closing the prose section, Du Bois asserts Black women’s freedom was forced through contempt but will be worth the cost, then transitions into the poem “Children of the Moon,” dramatizing liberation, sacrifice, and death.
"She's no lady; she's a nigger," answered another. So some few women are born free, and some amid insult and scarlet letters achieve freedom; but our women in black had freedom thrust contemptuously upon them. With that freedom they are buying an untrammeled independence and dear as is the price they pay for it, it will in the end be worth every taunt and groan. Today the dreams of the mothers are coming true. We ha…
Du Bois argues Coleridge-Taylor died from overwork driven by the cruel choice between bread and beauty, then uses the death to pivot into the deeper racial tragedy of Black and mixed-race artists’ limited acceptance in America and England.
of evening. In the annals of the future his name must always stand high, but with the priceless gift of years, who can say where it might not have stood. Why should he have worked so breathlessly, almost furiously? It was, we may be sure, because with unflinching determination and with no thought of surrender he faced the great alternative,--the choice which the cynical, thoughtless, busy, modern world spreads griml…
Du Bois recounts how, after encouragement from Paul Laurence Dunbar, Coleridge-Taylor ran music festivals and pursued German plans, but returned and died at thirty-seven; he was buried on September 5, 1912, with major public acclaim.
"Wince and cry aloud." Rather the hint here and there of color discrimination in England aroused in him deeper and more poignant sympathy with his people throughout the world. He was one with that great company of mixed-blooded men: Pushkin and Dumas, Hamilton and Douglass, Browning and many others; but he more than most of these men knew the call of the blood when it came and listened and answered. He came to Ameri…
He advises Black parents to face race reality neither by shielding nor by cruelly dumping children into prejudice, but by frank, gentle guidance so children can turn race knowledge into dignity, service, and self-respect.
method, and in its way it is as bad as shielding and indulgence. Why not, rather, face the facts and tell the truth? Your child is wiser than you think. The truth lies ever between extremes. It is wrong to introduce the child to race consciousness prematurely; it is dangerous to let that consciousness grow spontaneously without intelligent guidance. With every step of dawning intelligence, explanation--frank, free, …
While Moctezuma’s people celebrate dances and revels during his confinement, Las Casas says Spanish captains lure thousands of young nobles as spectators, then butcher them.
Guard to King *Montencuma*, it came into their heads, that to act somewhat worth remembrance, that the dread of their Cruelty might be more and more apprehended, and greatly increased. In the interim all the Nobility and Commonality of the City thought of nothing else, but how to exhilarate the Spirit of their Captive King, and solace him during his Confinement with varity of diversions and Recreations; and among th…
During the truce episode, maidens return from the river bathing attempt and Porsenna rewards Cloelia (or Valeria), then later Poplicola’s ally-related victories and building honors follow, including outward-opening doors as a civic symbol.
receive back their deserters. To confirm the peace, the Romans gave as hostages ten sons of patrician parents, and as many daughters, amongst whom was Valeria, the daughter of Poplicola. Upon these assurances, Porsenna ceased from all acts of hostility, and the young girls went down to the river to bathe, at that part where the winding of the bank formed a bay and made the waters stiller and quieter; and, seeing no …
After Poplicola’s final triumph, he dies and the people grant him public burial in Velia, with formal community-funded interment and a year-long mourning by women as a lasting honor.
of political power which he used so wisely, that he rose to the highest reputation, was very influential, and left the Claudian house behind him, inferior to none in Rome. The departure of these men rendered things quiet amongst the Sabines; yet the chief of the community would not suffer them to settle into peace, but resented that Clausus now, by turning deserter, should disappoint that revenge upon the Romans, wh…
Plutarch compares Poplicola and Solon, arguing Poplicola surpasses Solon in happiness, virtue, and republican reforms, and that Poplicola’s victories and death win universal mourning.
COMPARISON OF POPLICOLA WITH SOLON There is something singular in the present parallel, which has not occurred in any other of the lives; that the one should be the imitator of the other, and the other his best evidence. Upon the survey of Solon's sentence to Croesus in favor of Tellus's happiness, it seems more applicable to Poplicola; for Tellus, whose virtuous life and dying well had gained him the name of the h…
After the naval victory, Xerxes retreats when Themistocles warns through Aristides and an informant that Greeks plan to sail to the Hellespont; later, Themistocles is honored at Spartan and Olympic celebrations.
was afterwards more fully understood at the battle of Plataea, where Mardonius, with a very small fraction of the forces of Xerxes, put the Greeks in danger of losing all. Herodotus writes, that, of all the cities of Greece, Aegina was held to have performed the best service in the war; while all single men yielded to Themistocles, though, out of envy, unwillingly; and when they returned to the entrance of Peloponne…
The passage praises Themistocles’ character through anecdotes about honor, keeping off rivals, using public timing for business, mocking fickle public praise, and later rebuilding Athens’ walls through delays and hostages.
their hands, and other expressions of joy, so that he himself, much gratified, confessed to his friends that he then reaped the fruit of all his labors for the Greeks. He was, indeed, by nature, a great lover of honor, as is evident from the anecdotes recorded of him. When chosen admiral by the Athenians, he would not quite conclude any single matter of business, either public or private, but deferred all till the …
The Romans nickname him Coriolanus for his Corioli exploits, and Plutarch digresses on how Roman and Greek naming practices can derive from deeds, traits, or fortune.
him his title to it. It is the hither accomplishment to use money well than to use arms; but not to need it is more noble than to use it. When the noise of approbation and applause ceased, Cominius, resuming, said, "It is idle, fellow-soldiers, to force and obtrude those other gifts of ours on one who is unwilling to accept them ; let us, therefore, give him one of such a kind that he cannot well reject it; let us p…
Pelopidas’s death prompts intense mourning among Thebans and extraordinary honors among Thessalians, who keep armor on, avoid normal meals, and request his body for burial.
already slain. The horse came up, also, and routed the phalanx, and, following the pursuit a great way, filled the whole country with the slain, which were above three thousand. No one can wonder that the Thebans then present, should show great grief at the death of Pelopidas, calling him their father, deliverer, and instructor in all that was good and commendable. But the Thessalians and the allies out-doing in th…
Marcellus harasses Hannibal’s stragglers, aids Neapolitans and Nolans, and in Nola earns Bantius—an admired survivor from Cannae—by refusing to execute him and instead rewarding him, gaining an ally against sedition.
confessed that he feared Fabius as a schoolmaster, Marcellus as an adversary: the former, lest he should be hindered from doing mischief; the latter, lest he should receive harm himself. And first, when among Hannibal's soldiers, proud of their victory, carelessness and boldness had grown to a great height, Marcellus, attacking all their stragglers and plundering parties, cut them off, and by little and little dimin…
Marcellus’s memory is preserved by funerary reports, inscriptions, monuments in Rome, and dedications in Sicily; the text then compares Marcellus with Pelopidas, arguing Pelopidas avoided killing after victories while Marcellus was harsher yet uniquely revitalized Roman courage.
was, O stranger, once Rome's star divine, Claudius Marcellus of an ancient line; To fight her wars seven times her consul made, Low in the dust her enemies he laid. The writer of the inscription has added to Marcellus's five consulates, his two proconsulates. His progeny continued in high honor even down to Marcellus, son of Octavia, sister of Augustus, whom she bore to her husband Caius Marcellus; and who died, a …
The comparison continues: Marcellus is praised for taking Syracuse and challenging Hannibal when others hesitated, while both men die with painful strangeness; a captain’s task is safe victory then honorable death, and Marcellus’s fatal ambush is framed as wasted bravery.
safe but unsuccessful; to be ashamed to confess that they had yielded one step in the terrors of the fight; and to grieve to extremity if they were not victorious. In short, as Pelopidas was never overcome in any battle, where himself was present and commanded in chief, and as Marcellus gained more victories than any of his contemporaries, truly he that could not be easily overcome, considering his many successes, m…
During the Pylos–Sphacteria siege, Plutarch recounts Cleon blaming Nicias for delay, Nicias handing command to Cleon, and Cleon’s later success in capturing Spartans bringing Nicias disgrace.
He scoured the coast of Laconia all along, and beat the Lacedaemonians that made head against him. He took Thyrea, occupied by the Aeginetans, and carried the prisoners to Athens. When Demosthenes had fortified Pylos, and the Peloponnesians brought together both their sea and land forces before it, after the fight, about the number of four hundred native Spartans were left ashore in the isle Sphacteria. The Athenia…
Plutarch concludes that Crassus’s death has an advantage because he does not surrender or submit to trickery, whereas Nicias allegedly magnifies shame by yielding for an inglorious escape.
truly Grecian ambition, nor in this respect would Crassus deserve to be compared to him, though he had enlarged the Roman empire to the Caspian Sea or the Indian Ocean. In a State where there is a sense of virtue, a powerful man ought not to give way to the ill-affected, or expose the government to those that are incapable of it, nor suffer high trusts to be committed to those who want common honesty. Yet Nicias, b…
After Leuctra, Thebes gains glory, yet Spartan conduct is praised: Spartans keep gymnopaediae running while officials secretly notify families, producing contrasting grief among survivors and visible joy among parents of the dead.
particularly, the beautiful youth, Cleonymus the son of Sphodrias, who was thrice struck down at the feet of the king, and as often rose, but was slain at the last. This unexpected blow, which fell so heavy upon the Lacedaemonians, brought greater glory to Thebes than ever was acquired by any other of the Grecian republics, in their civil wars against each other. The behavior, notwithstanding, of the Spartans, thoug…
Plutarch contrasts Roman hatred for Strabo with their deep devotion to his son Pompey, praising Pompey’s temperance, eloquence, integrity, and favor with the people even as enemies attack him.
Ah cruel Sire! how dear thy son to me! The generous offspring of my enemy! For on the one hand, never did the Romans give such demonstrations of a vehement and fierce hatred against any of their generals, as they did against Strabo, the father of Pompey; during whose lifetime, it is true, they stood in awe of his military power, as indeed he was a formidable warrior, but immediately upon his death, which happened by…
The narrative recounts Cato’s offended reaction to a ceremonial welcome in Antioch, Pompey’s tolerance of Demetrius’s presumption, Demetrius’s lavish rise and servants, and Pompey’s own simpler residence before his later theater complex.
himself always treated those that had to do with him in such a manner, that they submitted to endure with patience the acts of covetousness and oppression done by others. Among these friends of his, there was one Demetrius who had the greatest influence with him of all; he was a freed slave, a youth of good understanding, but somewhat too insolent in his good fortune, of whom there goes this story. Cato, the philos…
Clodius ridicules Pompey publicly and tries to provoke him in the forum; Pompey stays home, but eventually supports Cicero’s return and the corn law that strengthens Pompey’s control, amid debates about whether to send Pompey as mediator to Alexandria.
one finger?" and the rabble, upon the signal of his shaking his gown, with a great shout to every question, like singers making, responses in a chorus, made answer, "Pompey." This indeed was no small annoyance to Pompey, who was quite unaccustomed to hear anything ill of himself, and unexperienced altogether in such encounters; and he was yet more vexed, when he saw that the senate rejoiced at this foul usage, and r…