him ten would be enough. To which the princeTM replied: "Though they might be enough for him to receive, yet they were not enough for himself to bestow."

XXVI. DEFEAT OF VARUS.- Creasy.

1. FATIGUE and discouragement now began" to betray themselves in the Roman ranks. Their line became less steady; baggage-wagons were abandoned from the impossibility" of forcing them along; and, as this happened, many soldiers left1 their ranks and crowded round the wagons to secure the most valuable portions" of their property; each busy about his own affairs," and purposely slow in hearing the word of command from2 his officers. Arminius now gave the signal for a general' attack. The fierce shouts of the Germans pealed' through the gloom" of the forests, and in thronging multitudes1 they assailed the flanks of the invaders," pouring in clouds of darts on the encumbered legionaries, as they struggled up the glens or floundered in the morasses.

2. Arminius, with a chosen band of personal retainers round him, cheered on his countrymen" by voice and example. He and his men" aimed their weapons" particularly at the horses of the RomanTM cavalry, The wounded animals, slipping about in the mire and their own blood, threw their riders, and plunged among the ranks of the legions, disordering° all round them.

3. The bulk of the Roman army fought steadily and stubbornly, frequently repelling the masses of the assailants, but gradually losing the compactness of 1 Lesson 22, 3. b.

2 Lesson 15, a.

3 Lesson 22, 2.

their array. At last, in a series of desperate attacks the column was pierced through and through, two of the eagles captured, and the Roman host, which on the yester morning had marched forth in such pride" and might, now broken up into confused' fragments," either fell fighting beneath the overpowering numbers of the enemy or1 perished in the swamps and woods in unavailing efforts" at flight.

3

k

4 partim.

XXVII. SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. - Arnold. MARCELLUS brought1 up his ships against the seawall of Achradina, and endeavored by a constant discharge of stones and arrows to clear the walls of their defenders, so that his men might apply their ladders, and mount to the assault. These ladders rested on two ships, lashed together broadside to broadside, and worked as one by their outside oars. But Archimedes had supplied the ramparts with an artillery so powerful, that it overwhelmed the Romans before they could get within the range which their missiles" could reach :" and when they came closer, they found that all the lower part of the wall was loopholed'; and their men were struck down with fatal aim by an enemy whom they could not see, and who shot his arrows" in perfect security." ff If they still persevered, and attempted" to fix their ladders, on a sudden enormous stones or huge masses of lead were dropped upon them, by which their ladders were crushed to pieces, and their ships were almost sunk. At other times, machines like cranes were 1 Lesson 22, 3. b. 2 jungere. 3 Result-clause with applicare. 5 Lit. "aimed at from a hidden [place]." 6 pondus.

4 teli conjectus.

q

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.

7 affligo (y).

BATTLE OF METAURUS.- Arnold.

I. 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; it¶¶ had 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 2 pro se quisque (h). * Compress the two clauses, making battle a modifier. 4 in subsidiis.

Lesson 17, h.

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 throngingo around them, and overwhelmingj 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. 1 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 seen" 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, or10 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." 8 mos et instituta.

9 magis magisque.

10 alii. . . alii.

XXIX.

INUNDATIONS OF THE TIBER. Gibbon.

1. FROM her situation,' Rome" is exposed to the danger" of frequent inundations. Without exceptingh the Tiber, the rivers that descendi from either side of the Apennines have a short and irregular course: ao 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.