THE CONCLUSION.

AFTER the death of Alexander, his generals divide against one another, not considering that each should take his portion of the spoil. Alexander did not designate any suc cessor; he left a son under age, a wife in pregnancy, and a natural brother of a feeble and timid character, all of whom, even to Olympias his mother, were exterminated. In short, after twenty-three years bloody wars, the empire of Alexander was divided into four great monarchies, to wit, Fgypt, Macedonia, Syria and Thrace, which last was soon after subdivided into several little states.

In the space of about two hundred and fifty years these states were successively ruined by a power whom Greece and Asia were then far from fearing and they became at last nothing more than mere provinces of the Roman Republic.

That part of Syria which lay beyond the Euphrates was the only region which did not suf fer the general invasion. It forms a separate kingdom under the name of Parthia.

The rape of the Sabine virgins in the first year of Rome.

(Rom. Hist. Titus L. book 1.)

ROMULUS, at the head of a troop of freebooters lays the foundation of Rome, A. C. 753, and to secure more numerous population he opens an asylum for fugitives, slaves and even malefactors.

The city at its birth contained three thousand citizens, to whom she soon bestowed a regular government. Romulus was designated by the title of king. A council called a Senate prepared the laws, and the people when assembled admitted or rejected them.

But Rome promised but a short duration for want of women. Read now the stratagem used by Romulus to procure them.

Jam res Romana adeò erat valida, ut cuilibet finitimarum civitatum bello par esset; sed penuriâ mulierum, hominis ætatem duratura

ex injuriâ postmodùm gratiam ortam : eòque melioribus usuras viris, quod annixurus prose quisque sit, ut quùm suam vicem functus offi cio sit, parentum etiam, patriæque expleat desiderium. Antecedebant blanditiæ virorum factum purgantium, cupiditate atque amore: quæ maxime ad muliebre ingenium efficaces preces sunt.

NARRATION II.

(Rom. Hist. Titus L. book 1.)

THIS act of violence was the signal for a war, by which each would have been exterminated. In the midst of their carnage they become reconciled.

Principes utrimque pugnam ciebant; ab Sabinis Mettius Curtius, ab Romanis Hostus Hostilius. Hic rem romanam iniquo loco ad prima signa animo atque audaciâ sustinebat. Ut Hostus cecidit, confestìm romana inclinatur acies: fusaque est ad veterem portam Palatii. Romulus et ipse turbâ fugientium actus, arma ad cælum tollens: Jupiter, tuis, inquit, jussus avibus hic in Palatino prima urbi fundamenta jeci. Arcem jam scelere emptam Sabini habent. Indè huc armati superatâ mediâ valle tendunt. At tu, pater Deûm hominumque, hinc saltem arce hostes: deme terrorem Romanis, fugamque fædam siste. Hic ego tibi templum Statori Jovi, quod monu

mentum sit posteris, tuâ præsenti ope servatam urbem esse, voveo. Hæc precatus, veluti sensisset auditas preces, Hinc, inquit, Romani, Jupiter optimus maximus resistere atque iterare pugnam jubet. Restitêre Romani, tanquam cælesti voce jussi. Ipse ad primores Romulus provolat. Mettius Curtius ab Sabinis princeps ab arce decucurrerat, et effusos egerat Romanos, toto quantum foro spatium est. Nec procul jam a portâ Palatii erat, clamitans: Vicimus perfidos hospites, imbelles hostes. Jam sciunt longè aliud esse virgines rapere, aliud pugnare cum viris. In eum hæc gloriantem cum globo ferocissimorum juvenum Romulus impetum facit. Ex equo tum forte Mettius pugnabat: eo pelli facilius fuit : pulsum Romani persequuntur. Et alia romana acies audaciâ regis accensa, fundit Sabinos. Mettius in paludem sese, strepitu sequentium trepidante equo, conjecit: adverteratque ea res etiam Sabinos, tanti periculo viri. Et ille quidem annuentibus ac vocantibus suis, favore multorum addito animo, evadit. Romani, Sabinique in medià convalle duorum montium redintegrant prælium; sed res Romana erat superior.

Tum Sabinæ mulieres, quarum ex injuriâ bellum ortum erat, crinibus passis, scissâque veste, victo malis muliebri pavore, ausæ se inter tela volantia inferre: ex transverso impetu facto, dirimere infestas acies, dirimere iras:

hinc patres, hinc viros orantes: Ne se sanguine nefando soceri generique respergerent: ne parricidio macularent partus suos, nepotum illi, liberûm hi progeniem. Si affinitatis inter vos, si connubii piget, in nos vertite iras: nos causa belli, nos vulnerum ac cædium viris ac parentibus sumus. Meliùs peribimus, quàm sine alteris vestrûm viduæ, aut orbæ vivemus. Movet res tum multitudinem, tum duces. Silentium et repentina fit quies. Indè ad fœdus faciendum duces prodeunt: nec pacem modò, sed et civitatem unam ex duabus faciunt, regnum consociant, imperium omne conferunt Romam. Ita geminatâ urbe, ut Sabinis tamen aliquid daretur, Quirites à Curibus appellati. Monumentum ejus pugnæ, ubi primum ex profunda emersus palude equus Curtium in vado statuit, Curtium lacum appellârunt. Ex bello tam tristi læta repentè pax, cariores Sabinas viris ac parentibus, et antè omnes Romulo ipsi fecit.

NARRATION III.

The battle of the Horatii and the Curiatii, year of Rome 85, and A. C. 667.

(Rom. Hist. Titus L. book 1.)

ROMULUS, after reigning thirty-seven years, suddenly disappears in the raging of a tempest whilst he is reviewing his army. The Senators, to whose