DIRGE. (p.) Calm on the bosom of thy God, E'en while with ours thy footsteps trod, His seal was on thy brow. Dust, to its narrow house beneath! Soul, to its place on high! They that have seen thy look in death, QUESTIONS.-1. Why the rising inflection on child, secord stanza See Note I., page 30. 2. Why the falling inflection on away, fourtn stanza? See Rule VIII., page 31. 1. EXERCISE XCVIII. THE HUNTER OF THE ALPS. FROM THE GERMAN OF SCHILLER Will not thou thy lambkins héed ? Sweet and innocent their look, 2. 3. Chase o'er mountain hights the roe!" Wilt thou not, through mead and déll, Sweetly the resounding bell Mingles with the song of birds. Wilt thou not await the flowers Dark and drear, the mountain lowers, 4. And the boy went forth to chase, (=) On, on, up the craggy pile, With blind daring's reckless pace, Through the mountain's dark defile! On before him, like the wind, Trembling flees the panting hind. 5. Fleetly climbs she to the verge 6. O'er the chasm's fearful brink 7 Hangs she, on the topmost hight, She, with silent looks of woe, Seeks to move his stony heart, 8. And he raised his godlike hand To protect her from the foe, "Wherefore, in my airy land Bring'st thou with thee death and woe? Why dost thou my flocks then chase?" EXERCISE XCIX. STORY OF ALCANDER AND SEPTIMIUS. OLIVER GOLDSMITH. 1. Athens, even long after the decline of the Roman Empire, still continued the seat of learning, politeness, and wisdom. The emperors and generals, who, in these periods of approaching ignorance, still felt a passion for science, from time to time, added to its buildings, or increased its professorships. Theodoric, the Ostrogoth, was of the number; he re paired those schools which barbarity was suffering to fall into decay, and continued those pensions to men of learning which avaricious governors had monopolized to themselves. 2. In this city, and about this period, Alcander and Septimius were fellow-students together. The one the most subtle reasoner of all the Lyceum, the other the most eloquent speaker in the academic grove. Mutual admiration soon begot an acquaintance, and a similitude of disposition made. them perfect friends. Their fortunes were nearly equal, their studies the same, and they were natives of the two most celebrated cities in the world; for Alcander was of Athens, Septimius came from Rome. 3. In this mutual harmony they lived for some time to gether, when Alcander, after passing the first part of his youth in the indolence of philosophy, thought, at length, of entering into the busy world; and, as a step previous to this, placed his affections on Hypatia, a lady of exquisite beauty. Hypatia showed no dislike to his addresses. The day of their intended nuptials was fixed, the previous ceremonies were performed, and nothing now remained but her being conducted in triumph to the apartment of the intended bride groom. 4. An exultation in his own happiness, or his being unable to enjoy any satisfaction without making his friend Septimius a partner, prevailed upon him to introduce his mistress to his fellow-student, which he did with all the gayety of a man who found himself equally happy in friendship and love. But this was an interview fatal to the peace of both. Septimius no sooner saw her but he was smit with an involuntary passion. He used every effort, but in vain, to suppress desires at once so imprudent and unjust. He retired to his apartment in inexpressible agony, and the emotions of his mind, in a short time, became so strong, that they brought on a fever, which the physicians judged incurable. 5. During this illness, Alcander watched him with all the anxiety of fondness, and brought his mistress to join in these amiable offices of friendship. The sagacity of the physicians, by this means, soon discovered the cause of their patient's disorder, and Alcander, being apprised of their discovery, at length, extorted a confession from the reluctant dying lover. 6. It would but delay the narrative to describe the conflict between love and friendship in the breast of Alcander on this occasion; it is enough to say, that the Athenians were at this time arrived to such refinement in morals, that every virtue was carried to excess. In short, forgetful of his own. felicity, he gave up his intended bride, in all her charms, to young Roman. the 7. They were married privately by his connivance; and this unlooked-for change of fortune wrought as unexpected a change in the constitution of the now happy Septimius. In a few days he was perfectly recovered, and set out with his fair partner for Rome. Here, by an exertion of those talents of which he was so eminently possessed, he, in a few years, arrived at the highest dignities of the state, and was constituted the city judge or prætor. 8. Meanwhile, Alcander not only felt the pain of being separated from his friend and mistress, but a prosecution was, also, commenced against him by the relations of Hypatia, for his having basely given her up, as was suggested, for money Neither his innocence of the crime laid to his charge, nor his eloquence in his own defense, was able to withstand the influence of a powerful party. 9. He was cast, and condemned to pay an enormous fine. Unable to raise so large a sum at the time appointed, his pos sessions were confiscated, himself stripped of the habit of freedom, exposed in the market-place, and sold as a slave to the highest bidder. A merchant of Thrace becoming his purchaser, Alcander, with some other companions of distress, was carried into that region of desolation and sterility. His stated employment was to follow the herds of an imperious master, and his skill in hunting was all that was allowed him. to supply a precarious subsistence. 10. Condemned to hopeless servitude, every morning waked him to a renewal of famine or toil, and every change of season served but to aggravate his unsheltered distress. Nothing but death or flight was left him, and almost certain death was the consequence of his attempting to fly. After some years of bondage, however, an opportunity of escaping offered; he embraced it with ardor, and, traveling by night and lodging in caverns by day, to shorten a long story, he at last arrived in Rome. 11. The day of Alcander's arrival, Septimius sat in the forum administering justice, and hither our wanderer came, expecting to be instantly known and publicly acknowledged. Here he stood the whole day among the crowd, watching the eyes of the judge, and expecting to be taken notice of; but so much was he altered by a long succession of hardships, that he passed entirely without notice, and in the evening, when he was going up to the prætor's chair, he was brutally repulsed by the attending lictors. The attention of the poor is gene rally driven from one ungrateful object to another. |