But sir, please do go on with your story. But to let you know who I am, and where I come from: Let me tell you how I get a living: But as tends to happen, I got off on the wrong foot and was disappointed in my hope of making a killing: Seeing him looking like this, though as I say I knew him extremely well, it was with some hesitation that I went up to him. Why are you looking like this? What have they done to you? And here are you, looking like a ghost and putting us all to shame. But he, keeping his head covered, cried: I got him oil Page 3 and towels and with much effort scrubbed off the horrible filth he was encrusted with; and then when he had been thoroughly put to rights by which time I was worn out myself and was hard put to it to hold him up , I took him back to my inn, put him to bed to recover, gave him a good dinner and a relaxing glass or two of wine, and chatted to him to calm him down.
Not far from Larissa, where I was planning to see the show on my way through, I was waylaid in a wild and watery glen by a gang of bandits - absolute monsters - and robbed of everything I had, though in the end I escaped with my life. Reduced to this desperate state, I took shelter at an inn kept by a woman called Meroe, not at all bad-looking for her age.
She welcomed me more than kindly, treating me first to a good dinner, free gratis and for nothing, and then to a share of her bed - she really was on heat. Even the rags which the robbers had generously left me to cover myself with, even those I made over to her, along with the pittance I earned as a porter while I was still fit enough for the work.
There are lots I could tell you about.
But let me tell you what she did in full view of a crowd of eyewitnesses. An innkeeper, who was a neighbour and therefore a trade rival, she changed into a frog; and now the poor old chap swims around in a barrel of his own wine and greets his old customers with a polite croak as he squats there in the lees. Just so Meroe sacrificed into a trench to the powers of darkness she told me all this the other day when she was drunk , and shut up the whole population in their houses by silent supernatural force.
So she was appeased and let them all off, except for the man who had convened the public meeting. Him she whisked off at dead of night, with his whole house - walls, foundations, the ground it stood on - still shut up, a hundred miles Page 5 away to another town which was situated on the top of a rocky and waterless mountain. And since the houses there were too closely packed to allow room for another one, she simply dumped it outside the town gates and decamped.
So I closed the door and shot the bolts firmly, and also wedged my bed hard up against the hinges and lay down on it. At first my fear kept me awake for a time, but then about midnight I dropped off. My bed, which was only a cot, with a foot missing and riddled with worm, was overturned by this violent shock, and I was hurled out of it and rolled on to the floor with the bed upside down on top of me and hiding me.
Grovelling there in the dirt I was able from under the protection of my resourceful bed to get a sideways view of what was happening. I saw two elderly women, one carrying a lighted lamp, the other a sponge and a naked sword. So arrayed, they stood on either side of Socrates, who was still sound asleep. The one with the sword spoke first: Then said the amiable Panthia: This I saw with my own eyes. At this he let out through the wound in his throat, which the violent stroke of the sword had totally severed, an inarticulate whistling sound, and gave up the ghost. As for me, I remained where I was, grovelling on the floor, fainting, naked, cold and drenched in piss, just like a new-born child - or rather half dead, a posthumous survivor of myself, an absolutely certain candidate for crucifixion.
I can hear them now. A man murdered before your eyes, and not a peep out of you? Why should their cruelty have spared a witness who could inform against them? So, you escaped Death; now go back to him! The best plan then seemed to be to get clear surreptitiously before dawn and to take the road, though I had no very clear idea where to go.
So I shouldered my luggage and tried to undo the bolts; but the upright and conscientious door, which earlier had unbarred itself so readily, now only opened with much 15 reluctance and after many turnings of the key. Open the front door. I want to be off early. So I went back to my room to mull over the form my suicide was to take. But when I kicked the support away, so that the rope, tightened round my throat by my weight, should cut off the function of my breathing - at that moment the rotten old rope broke, and I fell from where I was standing on to Socrates, 17 Page 8 who lay nearby, and rolled with him on to the floor.
And precisely at that very same moment the porter burst abruptly in, shouting: Embarrassed and on the spur of the moment I cracked some stupid joke to divert his attention to another subject. Then, slapping him on the back, I said: I think I need something to eat to put the life back in me. He was eating greedily, but as I watched him, I saw that his face was becoming drawn and waxy pale, and his strength seemed to be ebbing away. What increased my alarm was that there was almost nobody about. Who was going to believe that one of a pair of companions had been done in without foul play on the part of the other?
Meanwhile Socrates, having made short work of the food, became desperately thirsty, as well he might, having wolfed down the best part of a first-rate cheese. Not far from the plane tree there flowed a gentle stream, its current so slow that it looked like a placid pool, all silver and glass. He had hardly touched the surface with his lips when the wound in his throat gaped wide open to the bottom and the sponge shot out, followed by a little blood. His lifeless body nearly pitched headlong into the water, but I managed to get hold of one foot and drag him laboriously up the bank.
There, after mourning him as best I could in the circumstances, I covered my unfortunate friend with the sandy soil to rest there for ever by the river. Then, panic-stricken and in fear of my life, I made my escape through remote and pathless wildernesses; and like a man with murder on his conscience I left country and home to embrace voluntary exile.
And now I have remarried and live in Aetolia. His companion, who from the start had remained stubbornly incredulous and would have no truck with what he told us, broke out: He has a wife to share his miserable existence, but his whole household consists of one slave-girl, and he always dresses like a beggar. I proceeded to bang on it and shout, and at last a girl appeared.
Adira à Kobo e comece já hoje a ler digitalmente
You must be aware that the only pledges we accept here are gold and silver. Presently she reappeared and unbolted it, saying: When I modestly hesitated, he pulled me down by the tunic, saying: Seeing some fine fish offered for sale I asked the price, which was a hundred sesterces; I demurred, and got them for eighty. I was just leaving when I met Pytheas, a fellow student at Athens.
Recognizing me with delight after such a long time he rushed at me and embraced and kissed me affectionately. But what are you doing here so far from home? My congratulations - for I see you with attendants and fasces and everything about you that befits a magistrate. But Pytheas, looking at my basket and shaking up the fish Page 12 to get a better sight of them, asked: I showed him an old man sitting in a corner, and he began to upbraid him sharply in his inspectorial capacity. Then, pleased with this display of severity, my friend Pytheas sent me on my way with the words: The maid Photis now appeared, saying: This message produced Milo himself.
Taking me by the arm he tried gently to make me accompany him; and when I hesitated and put up a mild resistance, he said: Yielding reluctantly to his persistence I was led to that couch of his and sat down. Then he questioned me about the reasons for my journey. I told him all that. Then it was my home town, its leading men, the governor himself, that were the subjects of minute inquiries. Finally, realizing that, on top of the stresses and strains of my journey, the additional fatigue of this long conversation was making me nod off in the middle of my sentences and that I was so worn out that I was muttering disconnected words that made no sense, he at last let me go to bed.
So, not before time, I escaped from this tiresome old man and the interrogation plus starvation that was his idea of entertainment; and weighed down, not with food but Page 13 sleep, having dined solely on conversation, I went back to my room and surrendered myself to the repose that I was longing for. Page 14 BOOK 2 In quest of witchcraft - meeting with Byrrhena - warned against his hostess the witch Pamphile - makes love to the maid Photis instead - dinner with Byrrhena - Theluphron's story - promises to contribute to the Festival of Laughter - encounters and slays three desperate robbers 1 The moment the sun put the darkness to flight and ushered in a new day, I woke up and arose at once.
I imagined that everything everywhere had been changed by some infernal spell into a different shape - I thought the very stones I stumbled against must be petrified human beings, I thought the birds I heard singing and the trees growing around the city walls had acquired their feathers and leaves in the same way, and I thought the fountains were liquefied human bodies. I expected statues and pictures to start walking, walls to speak, oxen and other cattle to utter prophecies, and oracles to issue suddenly from the very sky or from the bright sun.
While wandering from house to house like some reveller out on the town, I found myself unexpectedly in the provision market. There I saw a woman passing by with a train of attendants, and hurried to overtake her. From her gold-mounted jewellery and the gold embroidery on her dress it was clear that she was a person of some consequence.
But she looked at me and said: Both of us are descended from Plutarch, and we had the same wet- nurse and grew up together in the bond of sisterhood. The only difference between us is one of rank: There was a magnificent entrance-hall, with a column at each of its four corners supporting a statue of Victory. Each of these, wings outspread, appeared to hover without alighting on the unstable foothold of her rolling ball, which her dewy feet just brushed, not standing fixed but seemingly poised in flight.
In the exact centre of the hall stood a Diana in Parian marble. It was a brilliant tour de force of sculpture: To right and left she was flanked by hounds, also of marble. Behind the goddess there arose a rock in the shape of a grotto, with moss and grass and leaves and branches, vines here and shrubs there, a whole plantation in stone. From inside the grotto the statue was reflected back in all its brilliance by the polished marble. Round the edge of the rock there hung grapes and other fruits so cunningly modelled that art had outdone nature in making them seem real.
From the middle of the foliage there peered out a figure of Actaeon in stone with his prurient gaze fixed on the goddess, the transformation into a stag already begun; one could see both him and his reflection in the spring as he waited for Diana to take her bath.
See a Problem?
When they had gone she turned to me, saying: Do, I implore you by Diana there, do be warned by me: Never lower your guard. By merely breathing on twigs or pebbles or any kind of small object she can plunge the light of the starry heavens above us into the depths of Tartarus and primeval chaos. The moment she sees a handsome young man, she becomes possessed by his charms and has no eyes or thoughts for anything else.
She lavishes endearments on him, moves in on his heart, and binds him in everlasting bonds of insatiable love. Never mind childish fears, get to grips with the thing bravely. Why, when you went to bed last night, how sociably she took you to your room, how sweetly she helped you into bed, how lovingly she tucked you up and kissed your forehead! You could see from her face how reluctant she was to leave you; and she kept stopping to look back at you.
Leaves of Grass
I found neither Milo nor his wife at home, but only my dear Photis. She was getting dinner ready: She was wearing a neat linen tunic, with a bright red waistband seductively gathered up high under her breasts. Her pretty hands were engaged in stirring the pot with a brisk circular movement, to which her whole body kept time in a sinuous response, while her hips and supple spine swayed in a delightful undulating rhythm.
I stood in amazement, my attention riveted, admiring the sight; and something else stood to attention as well. But I lingered there to drink in every detail of her appearance. There are good and positive reasons for this preference. The hair is the dominant part of the body: The rest of the body achieves its effect Page 18 through brightly coloured clothes, the hair through its natural sheen.
In fact most women, when they want to show off their personal attractions, discard their clothes altogether and remove all covering, eager to display their beauty naked, and reckoning that rosy skin will please better than gold fabric. Then there is the fascination of its colour and sheen: Her luxuriant tresses were carelessly flung back, hanging down her neck and over her shoulders; where they just touched the upper edge of her tunic she had gently looped them up and gathered the ends together into a knot on the top of her head. By now Page 19 her passion was beginning to match and rival my own; her mouth opened wide, and her perfumed breath and the ambrosial thrust of her tongue as it met mine revealed her answering desire.
Midday arrived, and there came from Byrrhena a welcoming present in the shape of a fat piglet, five pullets, and a flagon of vintage wine. When one embarks for Cythera the only provisions one needs for a wakeful voyage are plenty of oil in the lamp and wine in the cup. However, I kept encouraging myself by glancing over my shoulder at Photis, who was waiting on us. When evening began to fall, Pamphile looked at the lamp and said: Milo laughed at this, saying: When I asked him how this trip of mine would turn out he told me all sorts of different things, all equally marvellous: He came here too and uttered a great many prophecies to a great many people.
He did quite well, indeed he made a very tidy thing out of it, but then he unfortunately came into collision with Fortune in her most perverse, or rather adverse, mood. He was issuing his predictions one day in the middle of a dense crowd of bystanders when a businessman called Cerdo came up wanting to know the best day for a journey. He got his answer, and had taken out his purse, produced his money and counted out a hundred denarii as the fee for the prophecy, when a fashionable young man came up quietly behind Diophanes and twitched his cloak.
When he turned round he found himself embraced and affectionately kissed. He kissed the young man back and asked him to sit down beside him; and being taken completely aback by this sudden arrival forgot the business he was engaged in.
- Gestion & Management : Commencez avec les meilleurs professeurs (Mention) (French Edition).
- Life of Frederick Courtenay Selous, D.S.O., Capt. 25th Royal Fusiliers by Millais - Free Ebook?
- Full text of "Apuleius The Golden Ass - Penguin Classics".
- Inscrivez-vous sur Kobo et commencez la lecture numérique dès aujourd'hui.
The ship we were on was so battered by storms and winds from every quarter that she lost both her rudders and was driven on to the further shore, which she just made before sinking. We lost all our possessions and had to swim for our lives. Then everything that charitable strangers and kind friends had contributed was taken from us by a gang of robbers; and when my only brother Arignotus tried to resist their violence, he was murdered before my eyes. Only then did Diophanes come to his senses and realize what he had lost through his lack of forethought, seeing all us bystanders doubled up with laughter.
In the end I said to him bluntly: I only hope that what he plunders from the public he again bestows in equal shares on land and sea.
Life of Frederick Courtenay Selous, D.S.O., Capt. 25th Royal Fusiliers by Millais
Beds had been made up on the ground for the slaves some way from the door, to keep them from overhearing the sounds of our lovemaking. By my bed was a table with all the nicest left-overs from dinner, good-sized cups already half full of wine only waiting to be diluted, and the flagon standing by opened and all ready to pour - just what was needed to prepare lovers for the duels to come. She kissed me lovingly, garlanded me, and scattered blossoms over me; then she took a cup of wine and pouring warm water into it offered it to me.
Before I had quite finished it she gently took it from me and drank what was left in a most bewitching manner, sipping in minute instalments and gazing at me as she did so. A second and a third cup passed back and forth between us, followed by several others, until at last I was well under the influence. Lifting my tunic for a moment I showed Photis that my love could brook no more delay. But if you really want to please me, let your hair down when you come to bed so that it flows in waves all over us. Attack head on, if you call yourself a man; no quarter given; die in the breach.
In encounters of this kind we passed the whole night until dawn without a wink of sleep, from time to time resorting to the wine cup to reinvigorate ourselves, stimulate our desire and renew our pleasure. That was the pattern for many subsequent nights. One day Byrrhena insisted that I should have dinner with her, and though I made all sorts of excuses she would not take no for an answer. So I had to go to Photis and as it were take the auspices from her. She was reluctant to let me out of her sight, but kindly granted me a short furlough from our campaign of love. You can see murdered men lying in the open street, and the provincial police are stationed too far away to save the city from these killings.
My trusty sword will be strapped to my side, so I shall be carrying the wherewithal to protect my life. I found a large company there and, as you would expect in the house of such a great lady, the pick of local society. The sumptuous tables were of polished citron-wood and ivory, and the generous wine cups were all alike valuable in their different styles of beauty. Some were of glass skilfully decorated in relief, some of flawless crystal, some of shining silver or gleaming gold or amber hollowed out with wonderful art, Page 23 and there were gems to drink from - you name it, it was there, possible or not.
Great numbers of footmen in splendid liveries were defdy serving one ample course after another, while boy slaves, curly-haired and prettily dressed, kept on offering vintage wine in cups fashioned from whole gemstones. Now the lamps had been brought in, and the convivial talk reached a crescendo, with hearty laughter and witty quips and pleasantries flying back and forth.
At this point Byrrhena asked me: The man of leisure can relax here, while the man of affairs will find all the bustle of Rome; and the visitor of limited means can enjoy rural seclusion. But I really dread the dark and inescapable haunts of the magic arts. Somebody we know had a similar experience which left him mutilated and totally disfigured. He was put out by this unwelcome attention and muttering indignantly got up to go. Then I wanted to visit this part of your famous Page 24 province, and so after touring all over Thessaly I came in an evil hour to Larissa. My money was running low, and I was looking round the town in search of some remedy for my poverty, when I saw in the public square a tall old man.
He was standing on a stone and loudly announcing that if anybody was willing to watch a corpse, he would negotiate a price. They can take on the forms of birds or dogs or mice or even flies. Then they lull the watchers to sleep with their infernal enchantments. Oh, I nearly forgot: You see before you a man of iron, who never sleeps, sharper-eyed than Lynceus or Argus, eyes all over him.
The house to which he brought me had its front door closed, and he ushered me in through a small back door, then into a shuttered room where he showed me in the gloom a weeping woman in deep mourning. Looking at me, she said: There was the body draped in snow-white linen, and when seven witnesses had been brought in she uncovered it herself.
After weeping over it for some time she invoked the good faith of those present and proceeded to call off meticulously every feature of the body while one of the witnesses carefully wrote down a formal inventory. I ask you, fellow citizens, to note and attest this. You would do better to remember where you are and look sad and tearful. Dusk came, and darkness fell, and time wore on until it was the dead of night. My fear was at its height when there suddenly glided in a weasel which stood in front of me and fixed me with a piercing stare.
I was alarmed at seeing this tiny animal so bold. Will you get out? Indeed I needed somebody to mount guard over me, since I might just as well have been elsewhere. With my heart in my mouth I rushed over to the body with the lamp, uncovered its face and checked off all the features: Then after examining every detail by the light of the lamp she turned and called her steward Philodespotus.
Having ordered him to pay over the fee immediately to their trusty watchman, which was done then and there, she added: One punched me on the jaw, another thumped me across the shoulders, and a third jabbed me viciously in the ribs; they kicked me, they pulled out my hair, they tore my clothes. So, bloodied and ripped apart like another Pentheus or Orpheus, I was thrown out of the house.
At this point I saw that the final lamentations and last goodbyes had been uttered, and the corpse had now left the house. As was traditional for a member of an aristocratic family, it was being given a public funeral. The procession was passing through the city square when there appeared an old man in black, weeping and tearing his handsome white hair.
Seizing the bier with both hands he cried loudly, his voice choked by sobs: I charge you, as you are true men and loyal subjects, to avenge a murdered fellow citizen and punish this wicked woman as she deserves for her horrible crime. The crowd began to turn ugly, the probability of the thing leading them to believe his accusation. They called for fire, and started picking up stones and egging on the street- urchins to kill her.
She burst into tears which were obviously rehearsed , and by all that she held sacred called on the gods to Page 27 witness that she denied this awful crime. We have here in Zatchlas of Egypt a prophet of the first rank. He has already agreed with me a large fee to bring back the soul of the deceased from the Underworld for a short while and restore his body to life.
Grant him a brief enjoyment of the sun and let a little light into those eyes which are closed for ever. We do not seek to resist Fate or to deny Earth what is rightfully hers; we beg only for a short spell of life so that we may find consolation in vengeance.
- INSCRIPTIONS.?
- Similar Books!
- Rethinking Chaucerian Beasts (The New Middle Ages);
- Democracy Hijacked: How Foreign Nations are Using Our Own Political System Against Us!
Then turning eastwards he silently invoked the majesty of the rising sun, arousing among the witnesses of this impressive performance excited expectations of a great miracle. Leave me, I beg you, leave me to my rest. With another deep groan he said: He performed his duties with the utmost alertness, so that the hags who were waiting to plunder my corpse, though they changed themselves into all sorts of shapes to achieve their purpose, failed to outwit his vigilance.
At last they wrapped a cloud of sleep round him, and while he was buried in deep oblivion they kept calling me by name, until my numbed limbs and chilled body made reluctant efforts to obey their magic summons. But at this point he heard his own name, which is the same as mine, and being in fact alive, though sleeping like the dead, got up without knowing what he was doing and like a lifeless ghost walked mechanically over to the door.
Though it had been carefully bolted, there was a hole in it, and through that they cut off first his nose and then his ears; so he suffered the mutilation that was meant for me. Then, so as not to give the game away, they made shapes of his missing ears and nose in wax and fitted them exactly in place. And there he stands, poor devil, paid not for his work but for his disfigurement. I took hold of my nose, and it came off; I tried my ears, and so did they. Everybody was pointing at me, turning round to look at me, and there was a roar of laughter.
While they were calling for the traditional toast to the god of Laughter, Byrrhena turned to me. It would be nice if you could provide some witty diversion in honour of the god that would enhance our celebration of his great power. But no sooner were we in the street than the torch on which we were relying was blown out by a gust of wind, leaving us hardly able to see our way in the sudden darkness and stubbing out toes on the stones in our fatigue as we continued on our homeward course, holding on to each other as we went.
We were nearly there when suddenly there appeared three strapping fellows who hurled themselves violently at our front door. Our arrival, so far from deterring them, made them redouble their attacks in competition with each other. Both of us, I in particular, naturally took it that they were robbers of the most savage description, and I at once drew from under my cloak the sword I had brought with me for just such an emergency.
Without wasting time I charged into the thick of them, and taking on each in turn as he confronted me I buried it in him to the hilt, until at length, riddled with many gaping wounds, they expired at my feet. When the battle was over, Photis, who had been woken up by the noise, opened the door, and panting and sweating I dragged myself into the house, where, as exhausted as if I had slaughtered Geryon himself rather than three robbers, I fell into bed and passed out.
Page 30 BOOK 3 Tried for murder - all a joke which he does not appreciate - Photis explains - watches Pamphile change herself into an owl and tries to follow suit - is turned into an ass instead - inhospitable reception in the stable - frustrated in attempt to break the spell - carried off by robbers 1 Rosy-fingered Dawn was just launching her crimson-caparisoned team heavenwards when I started up from my peaceful sleep to find that night had given place to day. My mind was in turmoil as I recollected my exploits of the night before. Squatting on the bed with my feet drawn up and my hands clasped on my knees I dissolved into a flood of tears.
I imagined the square, the court, the verdict, the executioner. So this was the triumphant journey so confidently predicted by Diophanes the Chaldean! Immediately it was opened, and in they rushed, filling the whole house with magistrates and their attendants and a motley crowd of other people. We were hardly outside the door when the whole town turned out to follow us in a dense throng.
I was trudging along despondently with my head bowed downwards to the ground - to hell, rather - but what I saw out of the corner of my eye totally astonished me. At length, when we had passed through every street and I had been led in procession round every corner of the city, like one of those victims that are paraded from place to place before being sacrificed to expiate some threatening portent, we came to the square, and I found myself at the bar of the court.
The magistrates had taken their places up on the bench, and the clerk of the court was proclaiming silence, when suddenly there was a general demand for this important trial to be adjourned to the theatre - everybody shouting that this huge mob was dangerous and that people would be crushed in it.
At once the whole lot of them rushed off and in no time at all had completely filled the auditorium.
STARTING FROM PAUMANOK.
People were packed into the passageways like Page 31 sardines and were all over the roof; some were clinging to columns or hanging on to statues; some could be half glimpsed peering through windows or the coffering of the ceiling. Nobody was paying the slightest attention to his safety; everybody was madly eager to see. The officers of the court led me like some sort of sacrificial victim out across the stage and placed me in the middle of the orchestra.
Now once more the stentorian voice of the clerk was heard calling on the prosecutor. An elderly man came forward; but first, to time his speech, a jar was filled with water; this had holes like a filter, through which the water ran off drop by drop. He then addressed the people: It concerns the peace of our whole community and will constitute a weighty precedent.
It is therefore the solemn duty of each and every one of you to see to it, for the honour of the city, that this wicked killer does not escape punishment for the butchery, the series of bloody murders, that he has committed. I would not have you think that I am actuated by private hostility or personal anger. I am the commander of the night watch, and to this day I believe no one has been able to find fault with my alertness and attention to duty.
Let me then put you in possession of the facts and tell you exactly what happened last night. It was past midnight, and I was making my rounds from house to house in the city, paying careful attention to every detail, when I saw this bloodthirsty young fellow with drawn sword, dealing death and destruction all around him. Already three - yes, three - victims of his savagery were breathing their last, weltering in gore, at his feet.
Overcome, as well he might be, by the guilt of his terrible crime, he at once took to his heels and under the cover of darkness slipped into a house where he hid for the rest of the night. But in the morning, thanks be to divine Providence, which never suffers the wrongdoer to escape justice, before he could evade me by some secret byway I cornered him and have had him brought before this august and solemn tribunal. He stands before you, a criminal polluted by repeated murders, caught red-handed, a foreigner. Be firm therefore and condemn this interloper for a crime which even if committed by a fellow citizen you would punish with severity.
The clerk then told me, if I had anything to say in reply, to begin. At Page 32 last, however, some heaven-sent impulse emboldened me to answer: But if in your kindness you will grant me a short hearing, I shall have no trouble in proving that it is not my fault that I stand here in peril of my life, but that it is because of the unforeseen consequences of an outburst of justifiable indignation that I am subjected to this false and odious accusation.
They were competing with each other to force the front door by tearing it off its hinges, and as they wrenched violently at the bolts, which were firmly shot, they were already debating among themselves how to dispose of the occupants. One of them, the largest and the most violent, was encouraging the others thus: Banish all hesitation, all cowardice from your hearts; let slaughter with drawn sword stalk the house. But, savages and brutes that they were, though they saw me sword in hand, so far from making off they boldly stood their ground. First their commander and standard-bearer charged me with all his strength, and grabbing me by the hair with both hands and bending me backwards was going to brain me with a stone; but while he was shouting for somebody to give him one, I ran him through with certain aim and left him for dead.
Then the second, who was clinging to my legs like a limpet, I accounted for by a nicely judged thrust between the shoulders; and the third, as he ran headlong at me, I transfixed through the chest. For I have never before had even the most trivial brush with the law; I have always been highly respected in my own city and reckoned an unblemished character the greatest of all blessings. I am at a loss to understand why I am now arraigned like this as a criminal for the just vengeance which I was impelled to take on these abandoned ruffians. Can anybody show that they were personal enemies of mine, or indeed that I had ever set eyes on them before?
Or if greed for gain might plausibly have induced me to commit so heinous a crime, where are the profits from it? Produce them - if you can. Then, when I thought their sympathies had been aroused and their pity stirred by my tears, I called the eyes of the Sun and of Justice to witness, and was just committing myself and my fate to divine Providence, when I happened to look up and found that everybody in sight was helpless with laughter, and that my excellent host and second father Milo was absolutely doubled up.
Seeing this I said to myself: So much for conscience! Here am I, having killed to save my host and on trial for my life; and he, so far from taking my part and comforting me, actually mocks me in my extremity. Weeping, clad in black, she was carrying a small child in her arms; and she was followed by an old woman swathed in dirty rags and like her in tears. Both were waving olive branches. They embraced the bier where the bodies of the dead men lay covered and set up a howl of mourning and lamentation. However, one other matter still concerns us: We cannot be expected to believe that a single individual killed those Page 34 three strong men.
I enjoyed following the adventures of the Young Boatman of Pine Point. Apr 12, Aaron rated it liked it. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. A good book if somewhat stilted. The only character that uses contractions is "likely mentally deficient. Hal Johnson rated it really liked it Jul 30, Jorgiana rated it it was amazing Nov 07, Griffin rated it it was amazing May 11, Sue Squires rated it liked it May 30, Gord rated it really liked it Dec 03, Blue marked it as to-read Aug 14, Joey Woolfardis added it Jul 04, There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Under the Red Robe. The House Of The Wolf: A Gentleman of France. Behind a Mask; or, a Woman's Power. The Erie Train Boy. A Story of American Life. Ben, the Luggage Boy; or, Among the Wharves. Falling in with Fortune Illustrated Edition. A Boy's Fortune Illustrated Edition. Ragged Dick and Struggling Upward. The Boyhood and Manhood of Abraham Lincoln. Joe the Hotel Boy Illustrated Edition. Julius, the Street Boy. A Debt of Honor. The Young Adventurer Illustrated Edition.