should now have to resist the power of tyrants. Such a man as we all now know him to be, cannot obtain office without seeking to gain2 royal power.

1 Chiasmus. 2 Regnum affectare.

41. Idioms.

Instead of weeping over past misfortunes, let us do our best to save the State. Who would hesitate to devote himself and all he has to defend his country? What can be baser than to submit to the tyrant who now deprives us of life, and of liberty, dearer than life! Rise, Romans, and show yourselves worthy to inherit those privileges which your forefathers bled and died to obtain. I at least will never believe that Caius will have the effrontery to pretend to be, as he has often done before, the only man in Rome that can put an end to this civil war.

These and some of the following exercises may be put in Oratio Obliqua.

42. Idioms.

It is not that I am more experienced or noble than Balbus that I seek your suffrages, but because from my earliest boyhood I have lived amongst you, and you can judge of my fitness to discharge this office. I am the youngest candidate that ever stood for the ædileship within the memory of man, and I cannot say that I will give you great shows or pageants if I am appointed. This at least I can promise, that I shall ever prefer the welfare of the state to private considerations, and shall strive to serve you so that you may think me worthy of being raised to even higher honours.

43. Idioms.

Whether Alexander the Great, who had led his victorious troops from the Ægean to the Indus without sustaining a single defeat, would have been a match for the Romans if he had come to blows with them, is one of those questions that are more easily asked than answered. This much may be said, that it is one thing to utterly crush Oriental hordes, imperfectly armed, all but destitute of discipline, and fighting not for freedom, but merely at the behest of a

despot; and quite another thing to face the serried ranks1 of a people, every man of whom is fully armed and trained, accustomed to victory, and fighting manfully for altar and home.

1 Acies conferta.

44. The Veneti.

In these circumstances, Cæsar determined before attacking the enemy to send for his fleet. He had already taken several towns; but he felt that he could not properly follow up his victory, as the enemy constantly fled for refuge to other towns situated on promontories inaccessible except by sea. There was nothing for it but risk a naval engagement; and the result showed that the bravery and discipline of the Romans, aided by the ingenious contrivances of their general, were more than a match for the Veneti. When one reads of the skill in maritime affairs possessed by this tribe, one can hardly fail to see, that long before the days of Hengist and Horsa, the adjoining tribes of the Continent of Europe might have passed 2 over in large numbers into Britain.

First three sentences a period. See which is the leading statement, and try to follow order of events. 2 What does might mean here?

1 Not necessary.

45. Early Teutonic Settlers in Britain.

Whether this is the case or not, the island would seem from such meagre accounts as have reached us to have been visited by the Gauls, for Cæsar gave as one excuse for his invasion of it that, in all his wars, assistance was given to the Gauls by the Britons. Nor can we doubt that those terrible Norse rovers, who scoured the seas from Iceland to Athens, and made themselves settlements in Sicily, France, and Britain, did not acquire their daring seamanship all at once. It may be then that for some centuries before the date when Danes, and Jutes, and Angles are said to have come to this island, a continuous stream of emigration had been going on from the Continent to the eastern coasts of Britain, so that when the final invasion was made by these tribes, they found a population mostly Celtic, but in the eastern seaboard at least largely composed of people speaking one or other of the Teutonic tongues.

1 Use concrete-participle.

66

46. Patriotism versus Economy.

All the best men refused to submit to these terms, or to applaud the speaker. Why did he seek to overthrow a Government which had been blamed, not for being too cautious, but too bold?" They, like their forefathers, believed that peace was preferable to war; but they held that those who could not defend their rights by their swords were in danger of losing all that they most prized. Was it worth while for the sake of a reputation for economy to endanger the safety of the State? It was surely better at a moderate outlay to reinforce the army and rebuild their walls than after defeat, disgrace, and loss of liberty, to have to throw off the yoke of the tyrant, for they were sure that come what might the citizens would never submit to Spain."

1

1 That they might be thought to be economical.

47. Idioms.

In the year B.C. 76 Cæsar, then 24 years of age, proceeded to Rhodes to study oratory. On his way thither he is said to have fallen into the hands of the pirates, who at that time infested the Mediterranean. So far were they from respecting the future Dictator that they detained him a prisoner till a large sum was paid for his ransom. He warned them that they would repent when too late of having seized and kept him a prisoner; but long immunity from punishment had made them fearless, and so they laughed him to scorn. They little knew the man they had to deal with, and only realised their position when Cæsar shortly after, having fitted out an armed force, returned and took them all prisoners.

1 English uses such synonyms from want of a variety of pronouns and of cases. If expressed here it must be expanded.

48. Helvetii.

On the one hand the Romans, on the other the Germans, pressed hard on the Helvetii. Nothing remained for them but to migrate, or be crushed between these advancing forces. Westward they thought they would find more room, but the way thither lay through the Roman 1 province, and permission had to be asked before they could pass through that region. This Cæsar refused,

being eager for an opportunity to make war on the Gauls, and so increase his own reputation at Rome. The baffled 2 Helvetians then bethought them of the only other route, that, viz., through the land of the Sequani. Having taken this they were pursued, attacked, and defeated by Cæsar, who compelled them to resettle in their original country.

1Nostra, or else omit. 2 Eû spe dejecti.

49. Une Cause Célèbre.

Dr. Strato was a slave of Sassia, and committed a theft and murder of the following nature:-There was a cabinet in the house, in which he knew that there was a considerable 2 sum in gold and silver. This he resolved to obtain, and in order to divert suspicion from himself he first killed two of his fellow-slaves while asleep, and threw them into the fish-pond. Then he cut out the bottom of the cabinet, and carried off 150,000 sesterces and five pounds of gold. One of the slaves, a mere boy, was his accomplice. Next day the theft became known, and, as was to be expected, all suspicion fell on the slaves, who were missing. The cutting out of the bottom of the cabinet was observed, and some began to ask how it had been possible to do it. One of Sassia's friends happened to remember that at an auction he had recently seen sold among other nick-nacks a small curved saw. It seemed to him that the round hole could have been cut with this tool. 4 On enquiry, it was found that this saw had come into the possession of Strato. When once suspicion was aroused, and Strato was openly accused of the theft, the boy, who had been his accomplice, was in great alarm, and made a clean breast to his mistress. The men were found in the fishpond, and some of the money in Strato's shop. He was crucified. 1 Armarium (hence Scotch aumry.) 2 Satis grandis. 3 Res minuto. • Illud circumsecari potuisse (concrete). - CICERO, Rh. Bk. ii. 2.

50. Idioms.

If we were allowed to get rid of all our troubles on condition of accepting those of some other person whom we now deem happy, we would doubtless find that the exchange, so far from conducing to our happiness, had merely changed the cause of our misery, and given us an evil harder to endure, because less familiar to us. If Balbus had been but content to be respected for his learning, in

which he had few equals, not to speak of superiors, he would now be living; but, in an evil hour, he was induced to aspire to be prætor, and, after canvassing hard for a month, he was elected by a large majority over his richer rival Caius. But he had run deeply into debt, in the hope that when his year of office was over, he would be appointed to some lucrative post, from which he would be able to amass sufficient to pay his debts and provide for his future career. Instead, however, of being thus advanced, he was passed over, and men of noble family, though of far inferior ability, were appointed to such posts as were vacant. Disgusted with the ingratitude of those for whom he had sacrificed self-respect, and harassed by his creditors, he became weary of life, and at last died by his own hand.

51. Idioms.

Instead of wasting his youth in idleness, Balbus attended the lectures of Philo and of all the best philosophers then in Rome, not because he thought that philosophy was the best means of attaining to high position in the State, but because he saw no immediate opportunity for action, and was willing to disarm 2 suspicion by seeming to be fonder of such pursuits than of politics. If he had known what was even then being done by the Patricians he would have hastened to join them; but he thought they were for the time without hope, and without leaders, and so compelled to observe a masterly inactivity. 4 In this way three years passed, and meanwhile his father had died and left him an immense fortune. He suddenly found himself courted by the noblest in the city, and urged to put himself at the head of the party. For a while he pretended to have no desire to enter the troubled arena 5 of politics. Literature and Art, he said, were the only pursuits left for noble Romans. He was going to Athens and Alexandria to study for two years, and when he returned he would be better able to judge whether there was any chance of restoring the liberties of his country.

1 One verb. 2 N.B.-Metaphor (see under suspitio). 3 Moderari respublica. Cunctatio callida. 5 Take care of metaphor.

52. Cartismandua.

Caractacus was treacherously betrayed to the Romans by Cartismandua, Queen of the Brigantes, and sent to Rome to grace the triumph of Claudius. She became the ally and friend of Rome, and doubtless thus came to despise the simple laws of her own people,