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find myfelf obliged to folicit your affiftance, Fathers, for the fervices done you by my ancestors, not for any I have been able to render you in my own perfon. Jugurtha has put it out of my power to deferve any thing at your hands, and has forced me to be burden fome before I could be useful to you. And yet, if I had no plea but my undeferved mifery, who, from a powerful prince, the defcendant of a race of illuftrious monarchs, find myself, without any fault of my own, destitute of every fupport, and reduced to the neceffity of begging foreign affiftance against an enemy who has feized my throne and kingdom; if my unequalled diftreffes were all I had to plead, it would become the greatnefs of the Roman commonwealth, the arbitrefs of the world, to protect the injured, and to check the triumph of daring wickedness over helpless innocence. But, to provoke your vengeance to the utmoft, Jugurtha has driven me from the very dominions which the Senate and people of Rome gave to my ancestors, and from which my grandfather and my father, under your umbrage, expelled Syphax and the Carthaginians. Thus, Fathers, your kindness to our family is defeated; and Jugurtha, in injuring me, throws contempt on you.

O wretched prince! Ocruel reverfe of fortune! O father Micipfa! is this the confequence of your generofity, that he whom your goodness raised to an equality with your own children, should be the murderer of your children? Muft then the royal houfe of Numidia always be a scene of havock and blood? While Carthage remained, we fuffered, as was to be expected, all forts of hardships from their hoftile attacks; our enemy near; our only powerful ally, the Roman commonwealth, at a diftance; while we were fo circumftanced we were always in arms, and in action. When that fcourge of Africa was no more, we congratulated ourselves on the profpect of eftablished peace. But instead of peace, behold the kingdom of Numidia drenched with royal blood, and the only furviving fon of its late king flying from an adopted murderer, and feeking that fafety in foreign parts, which he cannot command in his own kingdom.

Whither-O whither fhall I fly? If I return to the royal palace of my anceftors, my father's throne is seized by the murderer of my brother. What can I there expect, but that Jugurtha should haften to imbrue in my blood thofe hands which are now reeking with my brother's? If I were to fly for refuge or for affistance to any other courts, from what prince can I hope for protection, if the Roman commonwealth gives me up? from my own family or friends I have no expectations. My royal father is no more: he is beyond the reach of violence, and out of hearing of the complaints of his unhappy fon. Were my brother alive, our mutual fympathy would be fome alleviation: but he is hurried out of life in his early youth, by the very hand which should have been the laft to injure any of the royal family of Numidia. The bloody Jugurtha has butchered all whom he fufpected to be in my interest. Some have been deftroved by the lingering torment of the crofs; others have been given a prey to wild beafts, and their anguish made the fport of men more cruel than wild beafts. If there be any yet alive, they are fhut up in dungeons, there to drag out a life more intolerable than death itself.

Look down, illuftrious fenators of Rome! from that height of power to which you are raifed, on the unexampled diftreffes of a prince, who is, by the cruelty of a wicked intruder, become an outcast from all mankind. Let not the crafty infinuations of him who returns murder for adoption, prejudice your judgment. Do not liften to the wretch who has butchered the fon and relations of a king, who gave him power to fit on the fame throne with his own fons.-I have been informed that he labours by his emiffaries to prevent your determining any thing against him in his abfence, pretending that I magnify my diftrefs, and might for him have flaid in peace in my own kingdom. But, if ever the time comes when the due vengeance from above fhall overtake him, he will then diffemble as I do. Then he who now, hardened in wickedness, triumphs over those whom his violence has laid low, will in his turn feel diftrefs, and fuffer for his im

pious ingratitude to my father, and his blood-thirfty cruelty to my brother.

O murdered, butchered brother! O deareft to my heart-now gone for ever from my fight!-But why fhould I lament his death? He is indeed deprived of the bleffed light of heaven, of life, and kingdom, at once, by the very perfon who ought to have been the first to hazard his own life in defence of any one of Micipfa's family; but as things are, my brother is not fo much deprived of thefe comforts, as delivered from terror, from flight, from exile, and the endless train of miferies which render life to me a burden. He lies full low, gored with wounds, and feftering in his own blood; but he lies in peace: he feels none of the miferies which rend my foul with agony and diftraction, whilft I am fet up a fpectacle to all mankind of the uncertainty of human affairs. So far from having it in my power to revenge his death, I am not mafter of the means of fecuring my own life: fo far from being in a condition to defend my kingdom from the violence of the ufurper, I am obliged to apply for foreign protection for my own perfon.

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Fathers! Senators of Rome! the arbiters of the world!-to you I fly for refuge from the murderous fury of Jugurtha. By your affection for your children, by your love for your country, by your own virtues, by the majefty of the Roman commonwealth, by all that is facred, and all that is dear to you-deliver a wretched prince from undeferved, unprovoked injury; and fave the kingdom of Numidia, which is your own property, from being the prey of violence, ufurpation, and cru. elty. Salluft.

$27. Speech of CANULEIUS, a Roman Tribune, to the Confuls; in which he demands that the Plebeians be may admitted into the Confulship, and that the Law prohibiting Patricians and Plebeians from intermarrying may be re. pealed.

What an infult upon us is this! If we are not fo rich as the patricians, are we not citizens of Rome as well as they? inhabitants of the fame country? mem

bers of the fame community? The nations bordering upon Rome, and even ftrangers more remote, are admitted not only to marriages with us, but to what is of much greater importance, the freedom of the city. Are we, because we are commoners, to be worse treated than ftrangers?-And, when we demand that the people may be free to befstow their offices and dignities on whom they pleafe, do we afk any thing unreasonable or new? do we claim more than their original inherent right? What occafion, then, for all this uproar, as if the univerfe were falling to ruin i-They were juft going to lay violent hands upon me in the fenate-house.

What! muft this empire then be unavoidably overturned? muft Rome of neceffity fink at once, if a plebeian, worthy of the office, fhould be raised to the confulfhip? The patricians, I am perfuaded, if they could, would deprive you of the common light. It certainly offends them that you breathe, that you fpeak, that you have the shapes of men. Nay, but to make a commoner a conful, would be, fay they, a moft enormous thing. Numa Pompilius, however, without being fo much as a Roman citizen, was made king of Rome: the elder Tarquin, by birth not even an Italian, was nevertheless placed upon the throne Servius Tullius, the fon of a captive woman (nobody knows who his father was) obtained the kingdom as the reward of his wifdom and virtue. In those days no man in whom virtue fhone confpicuous was rejected, or defpifed on account of his race and defcent. And did the ftate profper lefs for that? were not thefe ftrangers the very best of all our kings? And, fup. pofing now that a plebeian fhould have their talents and merit, must not he be fuffered to govern us?

:

But, "we find that, upon the aboli"tion of the regal power, no commoner

was chofen to the confulate." And

what of that? before Numa's time there were no pontiffs in Rome. Before Servius Tullius's days there was no Cenfus, no divifion of the people into claffes and centuries. Who ever heard of confuls before the expulfion of Tarquin the Proud? Dictators, we all

know

know, are of modern invention; and fo are the offices of tribunes, ædiles, quæftors. Within these ten years we have made decemvirs, and we have unmade them. Is nothing to be done but what has been done before? That very law forbidding marriages of patricians with plebeians, is not that a new thing? was there any fuch law before the decemvirs enacted it? and a molt fhameful one it is in a free eftate. Such marriages, it feems, will taint the pure blood of the nobility! why, if they think fo, let them take care to match their fifters and daughters with men of their own fort. No plebeian will do violence to the daughter of a patrician; thofe are exploits for our prime nobles. There is no need to fear, that we fhall force any body into a contract of marriage. But, to make an exprefs law to prohibit marriages of patricians with plebeians, what is this but to fhew the utmoft contempt of us, and to declare one part of the community to be impure and unclean ?

They talk to us of the confufion there will be in families, if this ftatute fhould be repealed. I wonder they do not make a law against a commoner's living near a nobleman, or going the fame road that he is going, or being prefent at the fame feat, or appearing in the fame market-place: they might as well pretend that these things make confufion in families, as that intermarriages will do it. Does not every one know, that the child will be ranked according to the quality of his father, let him. be a patrician or a plebeian? In fhort, it is manifeft enough, that we have nothing in view but to be treated as men and citizens; nor can they who oppofe our demand have any motive to do it, but the love of domineering. I would fain know of you, confuls and patricians, is the fovereign power in the peo. ple of Rome, or in you? I hope you will allow that the people can, at their pleasure, either make a law or repeal one. And will you then, as foon as any law is propofed to them, pretend to lift them immediately for the war, and hinder them from giving their fuffrages, by leading them into the field?

Hear me, confuls:-whether the news of the war you talk of be true, or whe. ther it be only a falfe rumour, fpread abroad for nothing but a colour to fend the people out of the city, I declare, as tribune, that this people, who have already fo often fpilt their blood in our country's caufe, are again ready to arm for its defence and its glory, if they may be restored to their natural rights, and you will no longer treat us like ftrangers in our own country: but, if you account us unworthy of your alliance by intermarriages; if you will not fuffer the entrance to the chief offices in the ftate to be open to all perfons of merit indifferently, but will confine your choice of magiftrates to the fenate alone

talk of wars as much as ever you pleafe; paint, in your ordinary dif courfes, the league and power of our enemies ten times more dreadful than you do now-I declare that this people, whom you fo much defpife, and to whom you are nevertheless indebted for all your victories, fhall never more inlift themselves; not a man of them shall take arms; not a man of them fhall expofe his life for imperious lords, with whom he can neither fhare the dignities of the ftate, nor in private life have any alliance by marriage. Hooke.

928. Speech of DEMOSTHENES to the ATHENIANS, exciting them to profecute the War against PHILIP with Vigour.

Athenians!

Had this affembly been called together on an unufual occafion, I fhould have waited to hear the opinions of others before I had offered my own; and if what they propofed had feemed to me judicious, I thould have been filent; if otherwife, I should have given my reafons for differing from thofe who had spoken before me. But as the fubject of our prefent deliberations has been often treated by others, I hope I fhall be excufed, though I rife up firft to offer my opinion. Had the fchemes formerly propofed been fuccefsful, there had been no occafion for the prefent confultation.

First then, my countrymen, let me intreat you not to look upon the ftate of our affairs

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affairs as defperate, though it be unpromifing: for, as on one hand, to compare the prefent with times paft, matters have indeed a very gloomy afpect; fo, on the other, if we extend our views to future times, I have good hopes that the diftreffes we are now under will prove of greater advantage to us than if we had never fallen into them. If it be afked, what probability there is of this? I anfwer, I hope it will appear that it is our egregious misbehaviour alone that has brought as into thefe difadvantageous circumstances; from which follows the neceffity of altering our conduct, and the profpect of bettering our circumftances by doing so.

If we had nothing to accufe ourselves of, and yet found our affairs in their prefent diforderly condition, we should not have room left even for the hope of recovering ourselves. But, my countrymen, it is known to you, partly by your own remembrance, and partly by infor mation from others, how gloriously the Lacedæmonian war was fuftained, in which we engaged in defence of our own rights, against an enemy powerful and formidable; in the whole conduct of which war nothing happened unworthy the dignity of the Athenian ftate; and this within these few years paft. My intention, in recalling to your memory this part of our hiftory, is to fhew you that you have no reason to fear any enemy, if your operations be wifely planned, and vigorously executed.

The enemy has indeed gained confiderable advantages, by treaty as well as by conqueft; for it is to be expected, that princes and ftates will court the alliance of those who feem powerful enough to protect both themfelves and their confederates, But, my countrymen, though you have of late been too fupinely negligent of what concerned you so nearly, if you will, even now, refolve to exert yourselves unanimously, each according to his refpective abilities and circumstances, the rich by contributing liberally towards the expence of the war, and the reft by prefenting themselves to be inrolled to make up the deficiencies of the army and navy; if, in fhort, you will at last refume your

own character, and act like yourselves→→→→ it is not yet too late, with the help of Heaven, to recover what you have loft, and to inflict the juft vengeance on your infolent enemy.

But when will you, my countrymen, when will you rouze from your indolence, and bethink yourselves of what is to be done? When you are forced to it by fome fatal difafter? when irresistible neceffity drives you ?What think ye of the difgraces which are already come upon you? is not the patt fufficient to ftimulate your activity? or do ye wait for fomewhat yet to come, more forcible and urgent?-How long will you amufe yourfelves with enquiring of one another after news as you ramble idly about the streets? what news fo strange ever came to Athens, as that a Macedonian fhould fubdue this ftate, and lord it over Greece? Again, you afk one another "What, is Philip "dead?"" No," it is answered ; "but he is very ill." How foolish this curiofity! What is it to you whether Philip is fick or well? fuppofe he were dead, your inactivity would foon raise up against yourfelves another Philip in his ftead; for it is not his ftrength that has made him what he is, but your indolence, which has of late been fuch, that you seem neither in a condition to take any advantage of the enemy, nor to keep it, if it were gained by others for you.

Wisdom directs, that the conductors of a war always anticipate the operations of the enemy, inftead of waiting to fee what steps he fhall take; whereas you, Athenians, though you be matters of all that is neceffary for war, as shipping, cavalry, infantry, and funds, have not the fpirit to make the proper use of your advantages, but fuffer the enemy to dictate to you every motion you are to make. If you hear that Philip is in the Cherfonefus, you order troops to be fent thither; if at Pyla, forces are to be detached to fecure that poft. Whereever he makes an attack, there you ftand upon your defence; you attend him in all his motions, as foldiers do their general: but you never think of ftriking out of yourfelves any bold and effectual fcheme for bringing him to

reafon,

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reafon, by being before-hand with him. A pitiful manner of carrying on war at any time; but, in the critical circumftances you are now in, utterly rui

nous.

O fhame to the Athenian name! We undertook this war against Philip in order to obtain redrefs of grievances, and to force him to indemnify us for the injuries he had done us; and we have conducted it fo fuccefsfully, that we fhall by and by think ourselves happy if we efcape being defeated and ruined. For, who can think that a prince of his restless and ambitious temper will not improve the opportunities and advantages which our indolence and timidity prefent him? will he give over his defigns against us, without being obliged to it? and who will oblige him? who will reftrain his fury? fhall we wait for affiftance from fome unknown country? In the name of all that is facred, and all that is dear to us, let us make an attempt with what forces we can raife, if we should not be able to raise as many as we would with let us do fomewhat to curb this infolent tyrant of his purfaits. Let us not trifle away the time in hearing the ineffectual wranglings of orators, while the enemy is ftrengthening himself and we are declining, and our allies growing more and more cold to our intereft, and more apprehenfive of the confequences of continuing on our fide.

Demeft. Orat.

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While appearances of danger daily increased, and the tempeft which had been fo long a gathering was ready to break forth in all its violence against the proteftant church, Luther was faved by a feasonable death from feeling or beholding its deftructive rage. Having gone, though in a declining ftate of health, and during a rigorous feafon, to his native city of Eifleben, in order to compofe, by his authority, a diffenfion among the counts of Mansfield, he was feized with a violent inflammation in his ftomach, which in a few days put an end to his life, in the fixty-third year of his age.- -As he was raifed up by Providence to be the author of one

of the greatest and most interesting re volutions recorded in hiftory, there is not any perfon, perhaps, whofe charac ter has been drawn with fuch oppofite colours. In his own age, one party, ftruck with horror and inflamed with rage, when they faw with what a daring hand he overturned every thing which they held to be facred, or valued as beneficial, imputed to him not only all the defects and vices of a man, but the qualities of a dæmon. The other warmed with admiration and gratitude, which they thought he merited, as the reftorer of light and liberty to the Chriftian church, afcribed to him perfections above the condition of humanity, and viewed all his actions with a veneration bordering on that which should be paid only to those who are guided by the immediate inspiration of Heaven. It is his own conduct, not the undistin guishing cenfure, nor the exaggerated praife of his contemporaries, which ought to regulate the opinions of the prefent age concerning him. Zeal for what he regarded as truth, undaunted intrepidity to maintain it, abilities both natural and acquired to defend it, and unwearied induftry to propagate it, are virtues which fhine fo confpicuously in every part of his behaviour, that even his enemies must allow him to have pof. feffed them in an eminent degree. To thefe may be added, with equal juftice, fuch purity, and even aufterity of manners, as became one who affumed the character of a reformer; fuch fanctity of life as fuited the doctrine which he delivered; and fuch perfect difinterestednefs as affords no flight prefumption of his fincerity. Superior to all felfish confiderations, a ftranger to the elegancies of life, and defpifing its pleasures, he left the honours and emoluments of the church to his difciples; remaining fatisfied himfelf in his original state of profeffor in the university, and paftor to the town of Wittemberg, with the moderate appointments annexed to thefe offices. His extraordinary qualities were alloyed with no inconfiderable mixture of human frailty, and human paffions. Thefe, however, were of fuch a nature, that they cannot be imputed to malevolence or corruption of heart, but feem to have taken their rife from

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