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Often appears with: marriage and betrothal · justice as a virtue · education and the training of the young · custom and the manners of a people · crime and punishment · religious persecution and toleration · forms of government · slavery and bondage · rank, class, and social order · honor, shame, and reputation · the passions and the emotions · labor, wages, and the division of work
Usually: narrative (194) · detachment (183) · argument (170) · indignation (131) · censure (100) · injustice endured (95) · exhortation (58) · skepticism (56) · curiosity (53) · the test or trial (49)
“The bourgeois family will vanish as a matter of course when its complement vanishes, and both will vanish with the vanishing of capital.” Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto · insight
“That the useful is the noble and the hurtful is the base.” Plato, The Republic · precept
“Necessity, not geometrical, but another sort of necessity which lovers know, and which is far more convincing and constraining to the mass of mankind.” Plato, The Republic · observation
“This is no sudden development, nor the fruit of Emancipation. It is the plain heritage from slavery.” W. E. B. Du Bois (William Edward Burghardt Du Bois), The Souls of Black Folk · insight
“The Catholics are faithful to the observances of their religion; they are fervent and zealous in the support and belief of their doctrines. Nevertheless they constitute the most republican and the most democratic class of citizens which exists in the United States;” Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America — Volume 1 · observation
“But I believe the difficulty to be still greater in the United States than elsewhere.” Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America — Volume 1 · insight
“The negro enters upon slavery as soon as he is born: nay, he may have been purchased in the womb, and have begun his slavery before he began his existence.” Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America — Volume 1 · observation
“a bond of affection here united the oppressors with the oppressed, and the effort of nature to bring them together rendered still more striking the immense distance placed between them by prejudice and by law.” Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America — Volume 1 · insight
“...by accident the free one struck a bush, and its revolving motion being thus destroyed, it immediately fell to the ground, and, like magic, caught one hind leg of my horse.” Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle · vivid
“The father of a family applies it to his children; the master to his servants; the township to its officers; the province to its townships; the State to its provinces; the Union to the States; and when extended to the nation, it becomes the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people.” Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America — Volume 1 · observation
“On the 19th of August we finally left the shores of Brazil. I thank God, I shall never again visit a slave-country.” Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle · observation
“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
The text introduces Sura XXXI “Luqman” (Mecca) and teaches prayer, charity, belief in the afterlife, and moral wisdom including gratitude to God, honoring parents, monotheism, and self-presentation manners for a prophetic father-lesson.
5 Lit. for love among yourselves, or as an object of love, i.e. devout worship. 6 Thus Sura [lxv.] xxi. 71. The Midr. Rabbah on Gen. Par. 18, says that Haran, the father of Lot, was brought by Abraham's deliverance from the furnace to the adoption of his doctrines. Muhammad may have transferred this idea to Lot. 7 The following passages deserve to be compared, as shewing the loose way in which Muhammad could speak …
The passage addresses eating rules, livestock pairs, debates about what is forbidden, and legal-ethical injunctions such as honoring parents, not killing children for poverty, and fair measures and judgments.
foolishly slain their children, and have forbidden that which God hath given them for food, devising an untruth against God! Now have they erred; and they were not rightly guided. He it is who produceth gardens of the vine trellised and untrellised, and the palm trees, and the corn of various food, and olives, and pomegranates, like and unlike. Eat of their fruit when they bear fruit, and pay the due thereof on the …
Pepys meets officials to discuss Navy victualling needs, worries about the Queen Mother’s health, travels toward Branford to see the Prince of Tuscany, and then helps confront the Duke of York with court-martial abuses.
at the office, and away, and Colonell Middleton with me, who was of the same mind, and resolved to declare our minds freely to the Duke of York about it. 4th. After dinner with Sir J. Minnes and T. Middleton to White Hall, by appointment; and at my Lord Arlington's the office did attend the King and caball, to discourse of the further quantity of victuals fit to be declared for, which was 2000 men for six months; a…
Pericles shifts to comfort for the dead’s parents, then exhorts sons, praises widowly virtue as quiet respectability, and closes by stating the legal and civic honours are complete.
surely, to a man of spirit, the degradation of cowardice must be immeasurably more grievous than the unfelt death which strikes him in the midst of his strength and patriotism! “Comfort, therefore, not condolence, is what I have to offer to the parents of the dead who may be here. Numberless are the chances to which, as they know, the life of man is subject; but fortunate indeed are they who draw for their lot a dea…
The charter sets detailed rules for guardianship of underage heirs, marriage eligibility by social status, widows’ rights to inheritance and dower, and protections against certain seizures for debts.
(3) But if the heir of such a person is under age and a ward, when he comes of age he shall have his inheritance without ‘relief’ or fine. (4) The guardian of the land of an heir who is under age shall take from it only reasonable revenues, customary dues, and feudal services. He shall do this without destruction or damage to men or property. If we have given the guardianship of the land to a sheriff, or to any pers…
Minerva instructs Ulysses to target the suitors who have dominated Penelope’s house for three years, and she disguises him as an old, ugly beggar before sending him to the swineherd to learn the situation.
stone against the door of the cave. Then the two sat down by the root of the great olive, and consulted how to compass the destruction of the wicked suitors. “Ulysses,” said Minerva, “noble son of Laertes, think how you can lay hands on these disreputable people who have been lording it in your house these three years, courting your wife and making wedding presents to her, while she does nothing but lament your abse…
Penelope returns by firelight, orders the tables cleared and the embers managed, and confronts the maid Melantho’s taunts while Ulysses sits nearby planning and responding calmly.
he lay in his bed till morning, while Ulysses was left in the cloister pondering on the means whereby with Minerva’s help he might be able to kill the suitors. Then Penelope came down from her room looking like Venus or Diana, and they set her a seat inlaid with scrolls of silver and ivory near the fire in her accustomed place. It had been made by Icmalius and had a footstool all in one piece with the seat itself; a…
Penelope orders that Ulysses be washed and warmed by proper hands, praises his propriety, and calls the old nurse Euryclea to wash his feet instead of servants.
spoken shall surely come to pass. Ulysses will return in this self same year; with the end of this moon and the beginning of the next he will be here.” “May it be even so,” answered Penelope; “if your words come true you shall have such gifts and such good will from me that all who see you shall congratulate you; but I know very well how it will be. Ulysses will not return, neither will you get your escort hence, fo…
Athene appears in Ithaca disguised as Mentes at the palace entrance, where she finds the wooers feasting and arranging entertainments; Telemachus welcomes her as a stranger while the household prepares the meal.
and to sandy Pylos to seek tidings of his dear father’s return, if peradventure he may hear thereof and that so he may be had in good report among men.” She spake and bound beneath her feet her lovely golden sandals that wax not old, and bare her alike over the wet sea and over the limitless land, swift as the breath of the wind. And she seized her doughty spear, shod with sharp bronze, weighty and huge and strong, …
Nestor explains Agamemnon’s death: Aegisthus seduced Clytemnestra in Argos, sent away the minstrel, killed Menelaus only if alive, and eventually Orestes returned from Athens to avenge his father; he also urges Telemachus to seek Menelaus instead.
he killed a man more valiant far than he? Or was Menelaus not in Argos of Achaia but wandering elsewhere among men, and that other took heart and slew Agamemnon?” Then Nestor of Gerenia, lord of chariots, answered him: “Yea now, my child, I will tell thee the whole truth. Verily thou guessest aright even of thyself how things would have fallen out, if Menelaus of the fair hair, the son of Atreus, when he came back f…
Odysseus hides his nakedness after emerging from hiding, moves toward Nausicaa and her attendants, and she stands her ground while he decides how to approach and request help.
hill-tops, and the river-springs, and the grassy water meadows! It must be, methinks, that I am near men of human speech. Go to, I myself will make trial and see.” Therewith the goodly Odysseus crept out from under the coppice, having broken with his strong hand a leafy bough from the thick wood, to hold athwart his body, that it might hide his nakedness withal. And forth he sallied like a lion mountain-bred, trusti…
Odysseus tests Laertes by questioning who he serves and where he is from, describing his lavish hospitality to a supposed Ithacan visitor and listing gifts given to that guest.
the goodly Odysseus went up to him. Now he was holding his head down and kept digging about the plant, while his renowned son stood by him and spake, saying: “Old man, thou hast no lack of skill in tending a garden; lo, thou carest well for all,[42] nor is there aught whatsoever, either plant or fig-tree, or vine, yea, or olive, or pear, or garden-bed in all the close, that is not well seen to. Yet another thing wil…
He argues that postponed marriage, sexual separation and desertion, and “easy marriage and easy separation” stem from slavery-era practices of unlicensed unions, noting the Negro church’s partial role but claiming only improved living standards can fully cure it.
to town or tries other labor; as a tenant-farmer his outlook is almost hopeless, and following it as a makeshift, he takes the house that is given him without protest. In such homes, then, these Negro peasants live. The families are both small and large; there are many single tenants,—widows and bachelors, and remnants of broken groups. The system of labor and the size of the houses both tend to the breaking up of f…
Joseph weeps, embalmers preserve Jacob for forty days, Pharaoh permits the burial journey, Egyptians and Canaanites mourn at Atad, Jacob is buried in Canaan, and Joseph later instructs forgiveness and records Joseph’s death.
And Ioseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him. And Ioseph commanded his servants that were Physicians, to embalm his father, and the Physicians embalmed Israel forty days long, for so long doth the embalming last, and the Egyptians bewept him seventy days. And when the days of weeping were ended, Ioseph spake unto the house of Pharao saying: If I have found favour in your eyes, speak unto …
Miriam and Aaron criticize Moses for his wife, but God affirms Moses’s unique prophet-like access, strikes Miriam with leprosy, and orders her to be shut outside the camp for seven days before restoration.
And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses, because of his wife of Inde which he had taken: for he had taken to wife one of India. And they said: doth the LORD speak only thorow Moses? doth he not speak also by us? And the LORD heard it. But Moses was a very meek man above all the men of the earth. And the LORD spake at once unto Moses unto Aaron and Miriam: come out ye three unto the tabernacle of witness: and they ca…
The Israelites reach the desert of Sin, lack water at Kadesh, and Moses strikes a rock to provide water; Miriam dies, Aaron dies later on Mount Hor, and Israel mourns him for thirty days.
And the whole multitude of the children of Israel, came into the desert of Sin in the first month, and the people dwelt at Cades. And there died MirIam, and was buried there. Moreover there was no water for the multitude, wherefore they gathered them selves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people chode with Moses and spake saying: would God that we had perished when our brethren perished before the L…
The daughters of Zelaphead request land rights after their father dies without sons, leading Moses to receive God’s rule for inheritance, Joshua’s appointment, and Moses’ reminder of disobedience at Meribah.
And the daughters of Zelaphead the son of Heber the son of Gilead, the son of Machir the son of Manasse, of the kindreds of Manasse the son of Ioseph (whose names were Mahela, Noha, Hagla, Melcha and Thirza) came and stood before Moses and Eleazer the priest and before the lords and all the multitude in the door of the tabernacle of witness saying: our father died in the wilderness, and was not among the company of t…
Moses teaches laws about vows and oaths, especially how fathers and husbands may approve or cancel a woman’s vow, and when the LORD forgives or the vow remains binding.
And Moses spake unto the heads of the tribes of the children of Israel saying: this is the thing which the LORD commandeth. If a man vow a vow unto the LORD or swear an oath and bind his soul, he shall not go back with his word: but shall fulfil all that proceedeth out of his mouth. If a damsel vow a vow unto the LORD and bind herself being in her father's house and unmarried: If her father hear her vow and bond whic…
It gives guidance on marriage and abstinence, instructs believers not to separate except briefly for fasting and prayer, allows marriage for those who cannot abstain, and extends counsel on mixed marriages, servants, and virgins.
it? Now ye are full: now ye are made rich: ye reign as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we might reign with you. Me thinketh that God hath shewed us which are apostles, for the hindmost of all, as it were men appointed to death. For we are a gazingstock unto the world, and to the angels, and to men, we are fools for Christe's sake, and ye are wise thorow Christ: we are weak, and ye are strong.…
Paul gives instructions on head coverings and orderly worship (including women’s silence in congregations), then corrects abuses of the Lord’s Supper by urging self-examination and waiting for one another.
Follow me as I do Christ. I commend you brethren that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances which I gave to you. I would ye knew that Christ is the head of every man. and the womans head is the man. and Christe's head is God. Every man praying or prophesying having any thing on his head, shameth his head. Every woman that prayeth or prophesieth bare headed, dishonesteth her head. For it is even all o…
In 1 Timothy Paul instructs on prayer for all, church behavior and modest dress, leadership limits for women, roles for overseers and deacons, and household order as preparation for Timothy’s teaching ministry.
neither unto filthy lucre: but having the mystery of the faith in pure conscience. And let them first be proved, and then let them minister, if they be found faultless. Even so must their wives be honest, not evil speakers: but sober, and faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife and such as rule their children well, and their own households. For they that minister well, get themselves good…
Herzl argues that the Jewish State need not unify under Hebrew: people will keep their home languages, national teachers will adopt the most useful tongue, and he rejects theocracy while ensuring freedom of faith and equality before the law.
LANGUAGE It might be suggested that our want of a common current language would present difficulties. We cannot converse with one another in Hebrew. Who amongst us has a sufficient acquaintance with Hebrew to ask for a railway ticket in that language? Such a thing cannot be done. Yet the difficulty is very easily circumvented. Every man can preserve the language in which his thoughts are at home. Switzerland affords…
Hamilton/Madison begins a new essay on the Senate, listing its key elements—qualifications, appointment by state legislatures, equal state representation, number and term, and powers—and starts with qualifications tied to age, citizenship length, and avoiding foreign influence.
State governments such an agency in the formation of the federal government as must secure the authority of the former, and may form a convenient link between the two systems. III. The equality of representation in the Senate is another point, which, being evidently the result of compromise between the opposite pretensions of the large and the small States, does not call for much discussion. If indeed it be right, t…
Madison critiques the Confederation’s naturalization provisions for confusing “free inhabitants,” “free citizens,” and “people,” showing how states’ differing residency rules could undermine each other, and praises a uniform federal rule.
The regulation of weights and measures is transferred from the articles of Confederation, and is founded on like considerations with the preceding power of regulating coin. The dissimilarity in the rules of naturalization has long been remarked as a fault in our system, and as laying a foundation for intricate and delicate questions. In the fourth article of the Confederation, it is declared "that the FREE INHABITAN…
Amata’s fury grows uncontrollable: she rants in public, drags the wedding plans through woods with Bacchic rites, and gathers Latian women in frenzied ceremonies meant to block the Trojan marriage.
all are foreign, in a larger sense, Not born your subjects, or deriv’d from hence. Then, if the line of Turnus you retrace, He springs from Inachus of Argive race.” But when she saw her reasons idly spent, And could not move him from his fix’d intent, She flew to rage; for now the snake possess’d Her vital parts, and poison’d all her breast; She raves, she runs with a distracted pace, A…
Equiano stays with a family in Falmouth, fears being “betrothed” to a young girl, then travels to Guernsey, where a mate’s daughter “Mary” cannot match his skin color after washing.
to it, and then put my ears to it, when alone, in hopes it would answer me; and I have been very much concerned when I found it remained silent. My master lodged at the house of a gentleman in Falmouth, who had a fine little daughter about six or seven years of age, and she grew prodigiously fond of me; insomuch that we used to eat together, and had servants to wait on us. I was so much caressed by this family that i…
Equiano recounts visiting Guernsey, returning to Portsmouth for peace talk, being paid off in London, and learning skills from Daniel Queen while anticipating freedom.
a cartel to Bayonne in France[M], after which[N] we went in February in 1762 to Belle-Isle, and there stayed till the summer, when we left it, and returned to Portsmouth. After our ship was fitted out again for service, in September she went to Guernsey, where I was very glad to see my old hostess, who was now a widow, and my former little charming companion, her daughter. I spent some time here very happily with th…
Equiano buys a Bible while sailing and then recounts a legal workaround in St. Kitts where a white man and free Black woman are married on water because church law bars mixed-race marriage.
observe the unceasing blasphemous execrations which are wantonly thrown out by persons of all ages and conditions, not only without occasion, but even as if they were indulgences and pleasure. At one of our trips to St. Kitt's I had eleven bits of my own; and my friendly captain lent me five bits more, with which I bought a Bible. I was very glad to get this book, which I scarcely could meet with any where. I think …
Equiano charts a voyage from Antigua/Montserrat to Jamaica, takes Musquito Prince George to church, observes market activity, buys enslaved labor for cultivation, then sails to the Musquito shore at Dupeupy.
On the fifth of January we made Antigua and Montserrat, and ran along the rest of the islands: and on the fourteenth we arrived at Jamaica. One Sunday while we were there I took the Musquito Prince George to church, where he saw the sacrament administered. When we came out we saw all kinds of people, almost from the church door for the space of half a mile down to the waterside, buying and selling all kinds of commod…
At Cape Gracias a Dios and nearby Black River trading, Equiano describes Indian customs, gender roles, limited worship, Sunday work, honesty, rum-making, wildlife, and an incident where a Musquito governor turns drunk and riots.
for I believe they never had such an useful man amongst them. They came from all quarters to our dwelling; and some *woolwow*, or flat-headed Indians, who lived fifty or sixty miles above our river, and this side of the South Sea, brought us a good deal of silver in exchange for our goods. The principal articles we could get from our neighbouring Indians, were turtle oil, and shells, little silk grass, and some provi…
Lincoln, taking the oath as President on March 4, 1861, reassures Southern states that a Republican administration will not threaten slavery, property, or personal security, citing his prior statements and a platform pledge to protect state rights.
Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address March 4, 1861 Fellow citizens of the United States: in compliance with a custom as old as the government itself, I appear before you to address you briefly and to take, in your presence, the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United States, to be taken by the President “before he enters on the execution of his office.” I do not consider it necessary, at present, for me to …
Washington records the death of his wife in May 1884 and the birth of their child Portia M. Washington, emphasizing her devotion to Tuskegee’s school work and shared goals.
constant work in the interests of the school, together with her housekeeping duties, my wife passed away in May, 1884. One child, Portia M. Washington, was born during our marriage. From the first, my wife most earnestly devoted her thoughts and time to the work of the school, and was completely one with me in every interest and ambition. She passed away, however, before she had an opportunity of seeing what the sch…
Washington describes meeting Grover Cleveland during the President’s Atlanta Exposition visit, praising Cleveland’s personal simplicity and care in greeting Black visitors, donating to Tuskegee, and arguing that he shows no conscious color prejudice.
Grover Cleveland. Later I met Mr. Cleveland, for the first time, when, as President, he visited the Atlanta Exposition. At the request of myself and others he consented to spend an hour in the Negro Building, for the purpose of inspecting the Negro exhibit and of giving the coloured people in attendance an opportunity to shake hands with him. As soon as I met Mr. Cleveland I became impressed with his simplicity, gre…
Washington shifts to family life: he married Margaret James Murray in 1893, credits her roles at Tuskegee and in women’s organizations, describes their children’s skills and plans, and regrets frequent separation from family.
go too far when I say that I have read nearly every book and magazine article that has been written about Abraham Lincoln. In literature he is my patron saint. Out of the twelve months in a year I suppose that, on an average, I spend six months away from Tuskegee. While my being absent from the school so much unquestionably has its disadvantages, yet there are at the same time some compensations. The change of work …
In England and Bristol Washington speaks at women’s and blind college events, visits Queen Victoria at Windsor with Susan B. Anthony, meets Henry M. Stanley, observes English home life and servant-master deference, and reflects on listening difficulty due to English seriousness.
no proper conception of the deep interest displayed by the abolitionists of England in the cause of freedom, nor did I realize the amount of substantial help given by them. In Bristol, England, both Mrs. Washington and I spoke at the Women’s Liberal Club. I was also the principal speaker at the Commencement exercises of the Royal College for the Blind. These exercises were held in the Crystal Palace, and the presidi…
He addresses Quakers, criticizing their political testimony for lacking proper authority and condemning religious bodies meddling in politics, while affirming the Quakers’ supposed peace principles for establishing independence.
not so properly addressed to you as a religious, but as a political body, dabbling in matters, which the professed Quietude of your Principles instruct you not to meddle with. As you have, without a proper authority for so doing, put yourselves in the place of the whole body of the Quakers, so, the writer of this, in order to be on an equal rank with yourselves, is under the necessity, of putting himself in the plac…
He claims that democrats must believe no race or sex monopolizes ability, argues Black citizens cannot be deprived of a voice, and rejects limits on opportunity, including those attempted in 1918.
this government by allied minorities is the fear of external war which is used again and again to melt these living, human, thinking groups into inhuman, thoughtless, and murdering machines. The persons, then, who come forward in the dawn of the 20th century to help in the ruling of men must come with the firm conviction that no nation, race, or sex, has a monopoly of ability or ideas; that no human group is so smal…
In the allegory, a Black woman answers the King’s call after hesitating, declares herself black, and the King reveals his face as black before she goes to battle for him on a hostile day.
pans; and the woman straightway left her chatting and gossiping and the sewing of garments, and the woman stood before the King, saying: "The servant of thy servants, O Lord." Then the King smiled,--smiled wondrously, so that the setting sun burst through the clouds, and the hearts of the King's men dried hard within them. And the low-voiced King said, so low that even they that listened heard not well: "Go, smite m…
In “The Damnation of Women,” Du Bois recalls four women from childhood to argue that social conventions force poor women into unwanted outcomes, and he demands economic independence, knowledge, and self-directed motherhood.
idiotic conventions. Only at the sacrifice of intelligence and the chance to do their best work can the majority of modern women bear children. This is the damnation of women. All womanhood is hampered today because the world on which it is emerging is a world that tries to worship both virgins and mothers and in the end despises motherhood and despoils virgins. The future woman must have a life work and economic i…
Du Bois discusses African ideals of motherhood, then argues the Atlantic slave trade and American slavery disrupted family life and displaced the “mother-idea,” leaving women trapped amid polygamy and degraded social conditions.
my mother!" And the Herero swears (endless oath) "By my mother's tears!" "As the mist in the swamps," cries the Angola Negro, "so lives the love of father and mother." A student of the present Gold Coast life describes the work of the village headman, and adds: "It is a difficult task that he is set to, but in this matter he has all-powerful helpers in the female members of the family, who will be either the aunts o…
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 argues that by 1910 Black women form a dominant social and economic force, detail labor statistics and family disruption, and claims women’s uplift is essential to America’s future.
1887 she had raised money and built an orphan home and that same year, in the thirty-fourth year of her young life, she died, saying simply: "I belong to God." As I look about me today in this veiled world of mine, despite the noisier and more spectacular advance of my brothers, I instinctively feel and know that it is the five million women of my race who really count. Black women (and women whose grandmothers were…
Du Bois summarizes the racist logic that would have excluded Coleridge-Taylor—“mulatto” status, supposed unfitness for education, and restrictions on marriage—then expands the argument to whether Black people should have children under the color line.
his race, a moment, lifted up Forests of hands to beauty, as in prayer, Touched through his lips the sacramental cup And then sank back, benumbed in our bleak air." Yet, consider: to many millions of people this man was all wrong. *First*, he ought never to have been born, for he was the mulatto son of a white woman. *Secondly*, he should never have been educated as a musician,--he should have been trained, for his …
Lycurgus regulates Spartan marriages and women’s training: maidens wrestle and dance in public processions while bachelors are punished, and marriages begin with bride abduction and reserve between spouses.
for taking such pains to make the Thebans good soldiers, whether they would or no. These laws were called the Rhetras, to intimate that they were divine sanctions and revelations. In order to the good education of their youth (which, as I said before, he thought the most important and noblest work of a lawgiver), he went so far back as to take into consideration their very conception and birth, by regulating their m…
Spartan infants are examined by elders at Lesche and, if weak, sent to the Apothetae under Taygetus; mothers bathe newborns with wine, and nurses use austere care without swaddling.
though so eminent a commander; upon whose approach one day, a young man, instead of rising, retained his seat, remarking, "No child of yours will make room for me. " In their marriages, the husband carried off his bride by a sort of force; nor were their brides ever small and of tender years, but in their full bloom and ripeness. After this, she who superintended the wedding comes and clips the hair of the bride cl…
Timoleon dismantles the tyrants’ fortifications, invites Syracusans to help demolish them, establishes courts and a popular constitution, seeks Greek colonists to repopulate Syracuse, and hears that Mago has died by suicide and crucifixion.
a course did affairs run, and such was the speed and celerity of execution with which fortune, as with a new ornament, set off the native lustres of the performance. Timoleon, being master of the citadel, avoided the error which Dion had been guilty of. He spared not the place for the beauty and sumptuousness of its fabric, and, keeping clear of those suspicions which occasioned first the unpopularity and afterward…
Pyrrhus returns to Epirus, reconciles with Neoptolemus by sharing rule, but jealousy and a revealed plot lead Pyrrhus to kill Neoptolemus at a sacrifice.
all the young princes then at court, he was thought most fit to have Antigone for his wife, one of the daughters of Berenice by Philip, before she married Ptolemy. After this match, advancing in honor, and Antigone being a very good wife to him, having procured a sum of money, and raised an army, he so ordered matters as to be sent into his kingdom of Epirus, and arrived there to the great satisfaction of many, from…
Lucullus’ conquests release captives and spare royal women, while several wives and sisters commit suicide under threat of death; among them Berenice of Chios, Statira, and Roxana are described in detail.
of gold in his girdle; whereas Lucullus had specially ordered that he should be conveyed safe into the camp. Notwithstanding all which, he gave them leave to plunder the camp. After this, in Cabira, and other strong-holds which he took, he found great treasures, and private prisons, in which many Greeks and many of the king's relations had been confined, who, having long since counted themselves no other than dead m…
Phocion’s household life is praised: his wife and son embody modest virtue; his son Phocus is sent to Sparta after improper banqueting, and Phocion faces public mockery about favoring Spartan ways.
with him, and declaring he should resent it, should he continue obstinate in his refusal. But Phocion was not to be prevailed with at all, and, shortly after, Alexander died. Phocion's house is shown to this day in Melita, ornamented with small plates of copper, but otherwise plain and homely. Concerning his wives, of the first of them there is little said, except that she was sister of Cephisodotus, the statuary. …
With Agis dead, Leonidas forces his widow Agiatis to marry the young prince Cleomenes and then supports rule marked by luxury and idleness; the passage contrasts Cleomenes’s fierce justice with Spartan decline and notes his philosophy under Sphaerus.
the battle of Leuctra. I am not ignorant that the Messenians affirm, Theopompus was also slain by their Aristomenes; but the Lacedaemonians deny it, and say he was only wounded. Be it as it will, it is certain at least that Agis was the first king put to death in Lacedaemon by the ephors, for having undertaken a design noble in itself and worthy of his country, at a time of life when men's errors usually meet with a…
Marcela refuses marriage while young, then unexpectedly appears as a shepherdess, tolerates courting without offering hope, rejects men harshly, and becomes linked with carved beeches and widespread laments.
“That is the truth,” said Don Quixote; “but go on, for the story is very good, and you, good Pedro, tell it with very good grace.” “May that of the Lord not be wanting to me,” said Pedro; “that is the one to have. To proceed; you must know that though the uncle put before his niece and described to her the qualities of each one in particular of the many who had asked her in marriage, begging her to marry and make a …
Sancho praises Dulcinea (Aldonza Lorenzo) as brave, talkative, and unprudish, recounting her calling laborers from a belfry, then questions how sending “vanquished” gifts helps her.
“She it is,” said Don Quixote, “and she it is that is worthy to be lady of the whole universe.” “I know her well,” said Sancho, “and let me tell you she can fling a crowbar as well as the lustiest lad in all the town. Giver of all good! but she is a brave lass, and a right and stout one, and fit to be helpmate to any knight-errant that is or is to be, who may make her his lady: the whoreson wench, what sting she has…
The curate and barber execute their plan: they borrow women’s clothes and stage a disguise, arranging for the curate to play an aggrieved wandering damsel while the barber acts as a squire, so Don Quixote can be taken home.
OF HOW THE CURATE AND THE BARBER PROCEEDED WITH THEIR SCHEME; TOGETHER WITH OTHER MATTERS WORTHY OF RECORD IN THIS GREAT HISTORY c27a.jpg (169K) Full Size The curate’s plan did not seem a bad one to the barber, but on the contrary so good that they immediately set about putting it in execution. They begged a petticoat and hood of the landlady, leaving her in pledge a new cassock of the curate’s; and the barber mad…
The youth reveals she is a beautiful woman by removing her montera and uncovering long hair, and the curate tells her not to flee, inviting her to share her misfortunes and seek comfort.
“As this is not Luscinda, it is no human creature but a divine being.” The youth then took off the montera, and shaking his head from side to side there broke loose and spread out a mass of hair that the beams of the sun might have envied; by this they knew that what had seemed a peasant was a lovely woman, nay the most beautiful the eyes of two of them had ever beheld, or even Cardenio’s if they had not seen and kn…
Dorothea explains she cannot hide any longer, accepts the companions’ offer to listen, and begins her life story from her Andalusian origins as a well-cared-for daughter of wealthy peasants.
he has never seen before has been suddenly shown; but on the curate addressing some further words to the same effect to her, sighing deeply she broke silence and said: “Since the solitude of these mountains has been unable to conceal me, and the escape of my dishevelled tresses will not allow my tongue to deal in falsehoods, it would be idle for me now to make any further pretence of what, if you were to believe me,…
Dorothea explains she was called Dorothea, that Don Fernando used an image of Our Lady as a witness for their betrothal with oaths, yet she warned him marrying her would anger his father and that unequal marriages bring unhappiness.
you what I think, if what I suspect were the truth, but so far there has been no opportunity, nor is it of any importance to you to know it.” “Be it as it may,” replied Dorothea, “what happened in my story was that Don Fernando, taking an image that stood in the chamber, placed it as a witness of our betrothal, and with the most binding words and extravagant oaths gave me his promise to become my husband; though bef…
At dinner, Dorothea, the landlord’s daughter, Maritornes, and others debate what they like in romances, with the curate retrieving and scrutinizing chivalry books titled Don Cirongilio and Don Felixmarte.
what furious and terrible blows the knights deliver, I am seized with the longing to do the same, and I would like to be hearing about them night and day.” “And I just as much,” said the landlady, “because I never have a quiet moment in my house except when you are listening to someone reading; for then you are so taken up that for the time being you forget to scold.” “That is true,” said Maritornes; “and, faith, I…
Using diamond, ermine, mirror, and garden metaphors, Lothario claims Camilla’s chastity should not be risked by forced trials; obstacles should be removed rather than created, and she must be protected rather than ‘tested’ like an object.
lesson worthy of attention and study and imitation. Moreover by what I am about to say to thee thou wilt be led to see the great error thou wouldst commit. “Tell me, Anselmo, if Heaven or good fortune had made thee master and lawful owner of a diamond of the finest quality, with the excellence and purity of which all the lapidaries that had seen it had been satisfied, saying with one voice and common consent that in…
Lothario quotes verses advising a father to lock and watch a woman because glass can break easily, and he adds that he will now speak about the consequences to himself and to friendship if Anselmo demands the test.
was giving advice to another, the father of a young girl, to lock her up, watch over her and keep her in seclusion, and among other arguments he used these: Woman is a thing of glass; But her brittleness ’tis best Not too curiously to test: Who knows what may come to pass? Breaking is an easy matter, And it’s folly to expose What you cannot mend to blows; What you can’t make whole to shatter. This,…
During Anselmo’s village absence, Camilla reluctantly follows orders and prevents Lothario from being alone, but as days pass Lothario’s passion overwhelms restraint and Camilla sends a letter asking him to return quickly or she will go to her parents.
So Fate that ever scorns to grant Or grace or boon to me, Since what can never be I want, Denies me what might be. The next day Anselmo took his departure for the village, leaving instructions with Camilla that during his absence Lothario would come to look after his house and to dine with her, and that she was to treat him as she would himself. Camilla was distressed, as a discreet and right-minded woman would be, …