་ the dew-drops on the corslet of the Roman sentinel, and tipped the dark waters of the Vulturnus' with a wavy, tremulous light. No sound was heard, save the last sob of some retiring wave, telling its story to the smooth pebbles of the beach; and then all was still as the breast when the spirit has departed. In the deep recesses of the amphitheater, a band of gladiators were assembled; their muscles still knotted with the agony of conflict, the foam upon their lips, the scowl of battle yet lingering on their brows; when Spar'tacus, starting fōrth from amid the throng, thus addressed them : 3 3. "Ye call me chief; and ye do well to call him chief who, for twelve long years, has met upon the arēna every shape of man or beast the broad empire of Rome could furnish, and who never yět lowered his arm. If there be one among you who can say, that ever, in public fight or private brawl, my actions did belie my tongue, let him stand forth, and say it. If there be three in all your company dare face me on the bloody sands, let them come on. 4. "And yet I was not always thus, a hired butcher, a savage chief of still more savage men! My ancestors came from old Sparta, and settled among the vine-clad rocks and citron groves of Syrasella. My early life ran quiet as the brooks by which I sported; and when, at noon, I gathered the sheep beneath the shade, and played upon the shepherd's flute, there was a friend, the son of a neighbor, to join me in the pastime. We led our flocks to the same pasture, and partook together our rustic meal. 5. "One evening, after the sheep were folded, and we were all seated beneath the myrtle which shaded our cottage, my 3 1 Vul tur' nus, now Volturno (vol tår′ no), a river of Naples.Glåd' i å tor, a sword-player; a prize-fighter.- SPAR' TA CUs, a celebrated gladiator, a Thracian by birth, who having escaped from Capuă along with some of his companions, was soon followed by other gladiators, and by slaves, robbers, pirates, and other desperate men. After having defeated four of the consular armies of Rome, he was met and completely routed by the pretor CRASSUS, having lost not less than 40,000 of his followers. SPARTACUS behaved with great valor; and when he fell, it was upon a heap of Romans whom he had sacrificed to his fury (B. c. 71). SPARTACUS TO THE GLADIATORS AT CAPUA. 428 grandsire, an old man, was telling of Marathon' and Leuctra ;2 and how, in ancient times, a little band of Spartans, in a defile of the mountains, had withstood a whole army. I did not then know what war was; but my cheeks burned, I knew not why, and I clasped the knees of that venerable man, until my mother, parting the hair from off my forehead, kissed my throbbing temples, and både me go to rest, and think no more of those old tales and savage wars. That very night, the Romans landed on our coast. I saw the breast that had nourished me trampled by the hoof of the war-horse; the bleeding body of my father flung amidst the blazing rafters of our dwelling! 6. "To-day I killed a man in the arena; and, when I broke his helmet-clasps, behold! he was my friend. He knew me, smiled faintly, gasped, and died;-the same sweet smile upon his lips that I had marked, when, in adventurous boyhood, we scaled the lofty cliff to pluck the first ripe grapes, and bear them home in childish triumph. I told the pretor that the dead man had been my friend, generous and brave; and I begged that I might bear away the body, to burn it on a funeral pile, and mourn over its ashes. Ay !3 upon my knees, amid the Just and blood of the arena, I begged that poor boon, while all the assembled maids and mātrons, and the holy virgins they call Vestals, and the rabble, shouted in derision, deeming it rare sport, forsooth, to see Rome's fiercest gladiator turn pale and tremble at sight of that piece of bleeding clay! And the pretor drew back as I were pollution, and sternly said, 'Let the carrion rot; there are no noble men but Romans!' so, fellow-gladiators, must you, and so must I, die like dogs. 7. "O Rome! Rome! thou hast been a tender nurse to me. Ay! thou hast given, to that poor, gentle, timid shepherd lad, who never knew a harsher tone than a flute-note, muscles of iron and a heart of flint: taught him to drive the swōrd through plaited mail and links of rugged brass, and warm it in the mărrōw of his foe :—to gaze into the glaring eye-balls of the fierce And 1 Mår' a thon, a plain of Greece, not many miles from Athens, bounded S. by Mount Pentelicus, renowned for the victory of MILTIADES over the army of XERXES, B. c. 490.-2 Leuctra (luk' tra), a maritime village, now called Leftro, in Morea, a peninsula, the S. portion of the kingdom of Greece.—3 Ay (åe). 3 Numidiän lion, even as a boy upon a laughing girl! And he shall pay thee back, until the yellow Tiber is red as frothing wine, and in its deepest ooze thy life-blood lies curdled! 8. "Ye stand here now like giants, as ye are! The strength of brass is in your toughened sinews; but to-morrow some Roman Adōnis, breathing sweet per'fume from his curly-locks, shall with his lily fingers pat your red brawn, and bet his sĕsterces' upon your blood. Hark! hear ye yon lion roaring in his den? 'Tis three days since he tasted flesh; but to-morrow he shall break his fast upon yours,-and a dainty meal for him ye will be! 9. "If ye are beasts, then stand here like fat oxen, waiting for the butcher's knife! If ye are men,-follow me! Strike down yon guard, gain the mountain passes, and there do bloody work, as did your sires at Old Thermopyla ! Is Sparta dead? Is the old Grecian spirit frozen in your veins, that you do crouch and cower like a belabored hound beneath his master's lash? O comrades! warriors! Thracians !-if we must fight, let us fight for ourselves! If we must slaughter, let us slaughter our oppressors! If we must die, let it be under the clear sky, by the bright waters, in noble, honorable battle!" E. KELLOGG. 185. THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE. ALF a league, half a league, 1. HALF Half a league onward, All in the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. "Forward, the Light Brigade! Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. 1 ADO' NIS, in mythology, a youth famed for his beauty, the son of CINYRAS.-2 Ses' terce, a Roman coin, about four cents.- Thermopylæ (ther mop' e le), a famous pass of Greece, about five miles long, and originally from 50 to 60 yards in width. It is hemmed in on one side by precipitous rocks of from 400 to 600 feet in height, and on the other side by the sea and an impassable morass. Here LEONIDAS and his 300 Spartans died in defending Greece against the invasion of XERXES, B. c. 489.- League, a distance of three miles. THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE. 2. "Forward, the Light Brigade !" Theirs but to do and die, 3. Cannon to right of them, Volley'd and thunder'd; Rode the six hundred. 1. Flash'd all their sabers bare, All the world wonder'd: Plunged in the battery-smoke Reel'd from the saber-stroke, Shatter'd and sunder'd. Then they rode back-but not, Not the six hundred. 5. Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon behind them Volley'd and thunder'd; While horse and hero fell, Came through the jaws of Death, 425 Back from the mouth of Hell, 6. When can their glōry fade? Noble six hundred ! ALFRED TENNYSON. side Spartans 1. Ꭱ 186. RING OUT, WILD BELLS. Ring, happy bells, across the snow: 4. Ring out a slowly dying cause, And ancient forms of party strife; But ring the fuller minstrel in. 6. Ring out false pride in place and blood, B. C. 489.— Ring in the common love of good. |