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,3 destroyed all the buildings that were situate below the hills of Rome. According to the variety of the ground, the same 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 on 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; nor did the use compensate' 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 (). 5 Insert "stagnant water," as the actual agent (h). 6 Personify more directly: "spurning the curb." 7 Co-ordinate clauses with et . . . et (compare h). 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 accessible1 to the attacks of the river. 12 Lesson 15, a. 13 With adverb (e). 14 Lit. "sufficiently safe" (cc). 1. THE pestilence continuing during both this and the following year, in which1 Caius Sulpicius Paticus 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 wisdom 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 correspondents to such language, yet regulating their d 3 instituere. 5 imitari (with relative). 4 is ipse. motions by the measures of the music,' exhibited,da in the Tuscan manner, something8 far from ungraceful. The younger citizens" soon began to imitate these; throwing out, at the same time, among each other, ludicrous expressions' in coarse verses, and with' gestures adapted to the words: this kind of performancej then being received with approbation," in the course of frequent practice gained much improvement.9 The native performers were called10 Histrioncs, from the Tuscan word Hister, signifying a player; and they did not, as formerly, pronounce1 in dialogue,12 without regard to order,13 verses like the Fescennine, artless14 and unpolished, but represented comic" medleys, composed15 in regular" metre, with the several parts of the performance properly adjusted to the music; the delivery of the words and the gesticulation being performed in concert with the music. 3. Several years after this," Livius, who was the first that ventured to lay aside17 medleys, and to weave a story into a regular" plot, being also, as all were at that time, the actor of his own pieces; and, having broken his voice by 18 being obliged to repeat" them too often, after requesting the indulgence of the public," placed a boy before the musician to chant, while he himself performed 19 the gesticulations. And this" he executed" with much freer20 action, because disengaged from attention to the management of his voice.21 7 tibicen (cc). 6 saltare ad. 8 motus: as the verb is a general one, the color is put in the noun. nomen indere (dd). 9 excitari. 10 11 Lit. "because a player was called by a Tuscan word " (h). 12 alternis. 16 Lit. "the song being adjusted (describere) to the musician, and the movement corresponding " (¿). 17 Simple abl. with ab. 20 vigens. 18 Lesson 22, 2. 19 Lit. "acted the song." 21 Lit. "because the use of the voice did not hinder" (cc, ll, i). Hence originated' the practice' of the chanting being performed by another to the gesticulation of the actors, whose voices were eased of all but the dialogue. When, by this regulation, the scenic" business was directed22 to other" objects" than laughter and intemperate mirth, and the amusement was by degrees converted into an art, the younger citizens leaving to professed" actors the exhibition' of plays began, according to the ancient practice, to throw out alternately ludicrous jests,' comprised23 in verse, which thence" got the name of exodia, or interludes, and were collected24 principally out of the Atellan' farces. 22 avocare (cc). 23 intexo. 24 conserere. XXXI. THE FIRE OF LONDON. 1. WHILE the war continued without any decisive success on either side, a calamity happened in London, which threwee the people into great consternation. Fire, breaking out in a baker's house near the bridge, spread2 itself on all sides with such rapidity, that no efforts could extinguish it, till it laid in ashes a considerable part of the city. The inhabitants, without being able to provide effectually for their relief, were reduced to be spectators" of their own ruin ; and3 were pursued from street to street by the flames, which unexpectedly gathered round them. Three days and nights did the fire advance; and it was only" by the blowing-up of houses that it was at last extinguished. The king and duke used their utmost endeavors to stop the progress of the flames; but all their industry" was unsuccessful. About four hundred streets and thirteen thousand houses were reduced to ashes.i 1 Lesson 23, 2. c. 2 pervagari. 3 ut qui. 5 Lesson 22, 3. b (v). 4 adhibere (acc.). 2. The causes of this calamity were evident. The narrow streets of London," the houses built entirely of wood, the dry season, and a violent east wind which blew, these were so many concurring" circumstances, which rendered it easy to assign the reason of the destruction that ensued.J But the people were not satisfied with this obvious account.' Prompted by blind rage, some ascribed the guilt to the republicans, others to the catholics, though it is not easy to conceive the burning of London could serve the purposes of either party. e X 3. The conflagration was so universal, and the people so astonished, that from the beginning they hardly stirred to quench it; so that there was nothing heard or seen but cryings out and lamentation, running about like distracted creatures, without at all attempting to save even their goods. Such a strange consternation there was upon them, as it burned,ce both in breadth and length, the churches, public halls, hospitals, monuments, and ornaments, leaping after a prodigious manner from house to house, and street to street, at great distances one from the other; for the heat, with a long set of fair and warm weather, had even ignited the air, and prepared the materials to conceive the fire, which devoured, after an incredible manner, houses, furniture, and every thing. 4. Oh the miserable and calamitous spectacle! such as haply the world' had not seen since the foundation of it. God grantdd my eyes may never behold the like. The noise and cracking of the impetuous flames, the shrieking of women and children, the hurry" of people, the fall" of houses and churches, 6 manum vertere (cc). 7 Lesson 22, 2. 8 Pluperfect. |