Plutarch's Lives

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Applegate and Company, 1860 - 748 pages
 

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Page 279 - Hide, blushing Glory, hide Pultowa's day: The vanquish'd hero leaves his broken bands, And shows his miseries in distant lands; Condemn'da needy supplicant to wait, While ladies interpose, and slaves debate. But did not Chance at length her error mend? Did no subverted empire mark his end? Did rival monarchs give the fatal wound? Or hostile millions press him to the ground? His fall was destin'd to a barren strand, A petty fortress, and a dubious hand; He left the name, at which the world grew pale...
Page 360 - ... his pen ; some having been enfranchised for teaching their masters what they remembered of his poems, and others having got refreshments, when they were wandering about after the battle, for singing a few of his verses. Nor is this to be wondered at, since they tell us that when a ship from Caunus, which happened to be pursued by pirates, was going to take shelter in one of their ports, the Sicilians at first refused to admit her ; upon asking the crew whether they knew any of the verses of Euripides,...
Page 53 - They had, indeed, assumed great liberty and power on account of the frequent expeditions of their husbands, during which they were left sole mistresses at home, and so gained an undue deference and improper titles ; but, notwithstanding this, he took all possible care of them. He ordered the virgins to exercise themselves in running, wrestling, and throwing quoits and darts...
Page 53 - ... be the same; and that, thus fortified by exercise, they might the better support the pangs of childbirth, and be delivered with safety. In order to take away the excessive tenderness and delicacy of the sex, the consequence of a recluse life, he accustomed the virgins occasionally to be seen naked as well as the young men, and to dance and sing in their presence on certain festivals.
Page 67 - Ambustus was sent ambassador to their camp with proposals of peace in favour of the besieged, but receiving a harsh answer he thought himself released from his character of ambassador, and rashly taking up arms for the Clusians, challenged the bravest man in the Gaulish army. He proved victorious, indeed, in the combat, for he killed his adversary, and carried off his spoils; but the...
Page 56 - The adopters of favorites also shared both in the honor and disgrace of their boys : and one of them is said to have been mulcted by the magistrates, because the boy whom he had taken into his affections let some ungenerous word or cry escape him as he was fighting. This love was so honorable and in so much esteem, that the virgins too had their lovers amongst the most virtuous matrons.
Page 55 - Plato tells us, no better qualified than a common slave. The Spartan children were not in that manner, under tutors purchased or hired with money, nor were the parents at liberty to educate them as they pleased: but as soon as they were seven years old, Lycurgus ordered them to be enrolled in companies, where they were all kept under the same order and discipline, and had their exercises and recreations in common.
Page 359 - Athenians, on their return home, went to Euripides, and thanked him in the most respectful manner for their obligations to his pen...
Page 131 - Pericles, at his return to Athens, after the reduction of Samos, celebrated, in a splendid manner, the obsequies of his countrymen who fell in that war, and pronounced himself the funeral oration, usual on such occasions. — This gained him great applause; and when he came down from the rostrum, the women paid their respects to him, and presented him with crowns and chaplets, like a champion just returned victorious from the lists. Only Elpinice addressed him in terms quite different...
Page xv - Who can enough admire the affectionate attachment of Plutarch, who thus concludes his enumeration of the advantages of a great city to men of letters? " As to myself, I live in a little town; and I choose to live there, lest it should become still less."— Vit.

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