thrust out over the wall; and the end" of the lever, with an iron grapple affixed to it, was" lowered upon the ships. As soon as the grapple had taken hold, the other end of the lever was lowered by heavy weights, and the ship raised out of the water, till" it was made almost to stand upon its stern; then the grapple was suddenly let go, and the ship dropped into the sea with a violence which either upset it, or filled it with water. With equal power was the assault on the land side" repelled, till Marcellus in despair" put a stop to his attacks; and it was resolved merely to blockade the town, and to wait for the effect of famine upon the crowded population' within."

XXVIII.

1 affligo (y).

BATTLE OF METAURUS. Arnold.

1. FROM the moment that Nero's march" from the south" had been heard of at Rome,' intense' anxiety possessed the whole city. Every day the senate satda from sunrise to sunset; and not a senator was absent: every" day the forum was crowded from morning" till evening, as each hour might bring some great tidings ;" and every man2 wished to be among the first to hear them. A doubtful rumor arose, that a great battle had been fought," and a great victory won3 only two days before: two horsemen of Narnia had ridden" off from the field to carry the news to their home; ita hạd been heard and published in the camp of the reserve1 army, which was lying at Narnia to cover the approach" to Rome. But men dared not lightly believe what they so much wished to be true; and how, they Lesson 17, h. 2 pro se quisque (h). * Compress the two clauses, making battle a modifier. 4 in subsidiis.

said," could a battle fought in the extremity" of Umbria be heard of only two days after at Rome? Soon, however, it was known that a letter had arrived from L. Manlius Acidinus himself, who commanded the army at Narnia: the horsemen had certainly arrived there from the field of battle, and brought tidings" of a glorious victory." The letter was read first in the senate, and then in the forumda from the rostra;dd but some still refused to believe :5 fugitives from a battlefield might carry idle tales of victory to hide their own shame; till the account came directly from the consuls, it was rash to credit it.

2. At last, word" was brought that officers of high rank in the consul's army were on their way" to Rome; that they bores a despatch from Livius and Nero. Then the whole city poured out of the walls to meet them, eager to anticipate the moment which was to confirm all their hopes. For two miles, as far as the Milvian bridge over the Tiber, the crowd formed an uninterrupted mass; and when the officers appeared, they could scarcely make their way to the city," the multitude thronging° around them, and overwhelmingi them and their attendants with eager questions." As each man learned the joyful answers," he made haste to tell them" to others: "The enemy's army is destroyed; the general slain; our own legions and both. the consuls are safe." So the crowd" re-entered the city; and the three officers, all men of noble names," L. Veturius Philo, P. Licinius Varus, and Q. Metellus, still followed by the thronging" multitude, at last. reached the senate-house.

5 With fides.

6 It is more strictly Latin to name the office (legati); but here it may be paraphrased. 7 Romanas; on account of indir. discourse.

3. The people pressed after them into the senatehouse itself: but even at such a moment the senate forgot not its accustomed order; the crowd was forced back; and the consul's despatch was first read to the senators alone. Immediately afterwards the officers came out into the forum : there L. Veturius again read the despatch; and, as its contents" were short, he himself related the particulars of what he had seen3 and done. The interest of his hearers grew more intense with every word;9 till at last the whole multitude" broke out in a universal" cheer, and then rushed from the forum in all directions to carry the news to their wives and children at home, or1o ran to the temples to pourdd out their gratitude to the gods. The senate ordered a thanksgiving of three days; the prætor announceddd it in the forum; and for three days every temple was crowded; and the Roman wives and mothers,dd in their gayest dresses, took" their children with them, and poured forth their thanks to all the gods for this great deliverance."

1. FROM her situation, Rome" is exposed to the danger" of frequent inundations. Without exceptingh the Tiber, the rivers" that descend from either side of the Apennines have a short and irregular course: a shallow stream' in the summer heats; an irregular torrent,1 when it is swollen in the spring or winter, by the fall of the rain, or the melting of the snows. When the current is repelled from the sea by adverse2 1 This clause requires a verb in Latin to express precisely the picture alluded to (cf. h). 2 Lesson 22, 3. b.

winds, when the ordinary bed is inadequate to the height of the waters, they rise above the banks, and overspread, without limit or control, the plains and cities of the adjacent country. Soon after the triumph" of the first Punic war, the Tiber was increased by unusual rains; and the inundation, surpassing all former measure-of-time-and-place, destroyed all the buildings that were situate below the hills of Rome. According to the variety of the ground, the samea mischief was produced by different means; and the edifices were either swept away by the sudden impulse, or dissolved and undermined by the long continuance of the flood.

2. Under the reign" of Augustus, the same calamity was renewed; the lawless river overturned the palaces and temples on1 its banks; and, after the labors of the emperor in cleansing and widening the bed, that was encumbered with ruins, the vigilance of his successors was exercised by similar dangers and designs. The project of diverting into new channels the Tiber itself, or some of the dependent' streams, was long opposed by superstition and by local interests ;cc nor did the use compensate1 the toil and cost of the tardy and imperfect execution.f The servitude 10 of rivers is the noblest and most important victory which man has obtained over the licentiousness of nature; and ifa such were the ravages11 of the Tiber under a firm and 3 By memoria. 4 Insert "the river," as the actual agent (1⁄2).

5 Insert "stagnant water," as the actual agent (1⁄2). 6 Personify more directly: "spurning the curb."

7 Co-ordinate clauses with et . . . et (compare 1⁄2).

8 Lit. "as much care as possible was taken against a similar danger." 9 privatus.

10 Divide the clause for greater precision: "as in other . . . so," &c. (see dd, ff). 11 Make precise with a verb, and append the

result in an adverbial phrase.

active government," what could oppose, or who can enumerate, the injuries of 12 the city after the fall of the Western empire? A remedy" was produced by the evil itself: the accumulation of rubbish and the earth that has been washed down from the hills is supposed to have elevated the plain of Rome, fourteen or fifteen feet perhaps, above the ancient level; and the modern13 city is less accessible14 to the attacks of the river.

12 Lesson 15, a.

13 With adverb (e). 14 Lit. "sufficiently safe" (cc).

ff

1. THE pestilence continuing during both this and the following year, in which1 Caius Sulpicius Pæticus and Caius Licinius Stolo were consuls, nothing memorable' was transacted; only that, for the purpose of soliciting the favor of the gods, the lectisternium was performed the third time since the building of the city. But as the disorder received1 no alleviation, either from human wisdoms or divine aid, the strength of the people's minds became almost overpowered by superstition, and it is said that, on this occasion," among other devices for appeasing the wrath of heaven, scenic plays were introduced,3 a new thing to a warlike people; for hitherto there had been only the shows of the circus. However, this kind of performance1 was, as in general all beginnings are, but a trifling matter, and even that borrowed' from abroad. 2. Actors were sent for from Etruria, who, though without any poetical language, or any gestures correspondent to such language, yet regulating their

d

3 instituere. 5 imitari (with relative).

4 is ipse.