S. Baring-Gould

“ Jupiter Capitolinus had been injured and lost his nose.
A priest with the help of a torch, was melting the wax and fastening it on again, whilst the guard of the temple kept off the rabble.
The currents of human beings, driven by diverse passions, jostled, broke across each other, resolved themselves into swirls of living men and women carried off their feet.
The litter of the lady Duilia and her daughter tossed like a boat in a whirlpool, and the widow shrieked with terror. ”

“ Then Elymas cast off the last veil.
For a moment all was darkness. The red light in the crystal had expired. In stillness and suspense, not without fear, all waited, all standing save Helena, who had recovered from her trance, and she paused expectant on her couch.
Then a minute spark appeared in the crystal, of the purest white light, that grew, rapidly sending out wave on wave of brilliance, so intense, so splendid, so daz zling, that the magician, unable to endure the effulgence, turned and threw himself into a corner, and wrapped his head about with his mantle. ”

“ THE SWORD OF CORBULO. Eboracus was able to open a way for the litter through the crowd, now clustered on the bank of the dyke, watching as the workmen threw down earth and stones, and buried deep that portion of the wall in which was the vault where the unhappy Abbess Cornelia was buried alive. And now the populace broke forth in sighs and tears, and in murmurings low expressed at the injustice committed in sentencing a woman without allowing her to know that she had been accused, and of saying a word in her own defence. ”

“ No! matter was not evil. Matter, indeed, without life was not even like the statue—for that was a copy of what lived, and failed just in this, that it fell short of life. Domitia felt as though she were touching the edge of a great verity, but had not set her foot upon it. Then she considered what Euphrosyne had said to her, and she to her slave. Wherever the path of duty lay, there violets bloomed and verbena scented the air. Was not life itself, devoid of the knowledge of its purport, and its obligations and its destiny, like matter uninformed by Life? ”

“ No sooner was Domitia there, than she ran to the altar of the Goddess on which burned the perpetual fire, within a domed Temple, and clasped it. Cornelia had followed her, and looked at her with surprise.
“I claim the protection of the Goddess,” said Domitia. “I will not return to the palace! I will be free from him.”
Cornelia became grave.
“If your Goddess has any might, any grace, she will protect me. Do you fear? Have you lost your rights? I claim them.”
“Be it so,” said the Abbess. “None have appealed to the Goddess in vain, none taken sanctuary with her, who have been rejected. ”

“ I thank the Immortals, divorce is easily obtained in Rome—with money, influence in Rome—to the end of time, my dear.”
“I do not desire to be divorced—I will not be divorced. I love Lucius and he loves me.”
“You are a child—just away from your dolls, and know nothing of life.”
“But, mother, there are laws. I will throw myself on the protection of the Senate.”
Longa Duilia laughed aloud. “Silly fool! laws bind the subjects and the weak, not princes and the strong. Make your mind up to accept what has happened. It is the work of destiny.” ”

“ I have brought misfortune on Lucius Lamia, I have caused the death of that harmless actor Paris, I have been the occasion of Cornelia being—buried alive—watching the expiring of the one lamp. Ye Gods! Ye Gods! I shall go mad—and of Celer also.—He——”
She held her face, rocked herself on the seat and sobbed as if her heart would break.
“Yes,” said the old lady, roused to anger at her daughter’s lack of appreciation of the splendor of her position. “Yes, child, and mischief you will work on every one, if you continue in the same course. Do men say that the Augustus is morose? ”

“ Others lose themselves by disregarding the favors extended by the Immortals.”
“I deny that any such offer was made me,” said the general in a tone of annoyance.
“What!” exclaimed Longa Duilia, “art thou so blind as not to see what is obvious to every other eye, that the Roman people are impatient at having a buffoon, a mimic, a fiddler wearing the purple?”
“Nevertheless, he wears it, by favor of the gods.”
“For how long? Domitius, believe me. In the heart of every Roman citizen rage is simmering, and the wound of injured pride rankles. He has insulted the majesty of eternal Rome. ”

“ In every army, in the breast of every soldier, rebellion springs up. Every general is uneasy and looks at the face of every other and asks, Who will draw the sword and make an end of this? O Morals! it makes me mad to see you alone quiescent.”
“When the Gods will a change, then the change will be granted.”
“You speak like a philosopher and not a man of action. If you do not draw, others will forestall you, and then—instead of my being up at the top—I shall be down in Nowhere.”
“Never will I be a traitor to Rome, and go against my oath.” ”

“ But then—for the artisan, the herdsman, the slave, Push can’t be a principle of life to such as they.”
“My child, how odd you are! What need we consider them? They may have their own motives, I can’t tell; I never was a herdsman nor a slave—never did any useful work in my life. As to a slave, of course Push is a motive—he pushes to gain his freedom.”
“And when he has got that?”
“Then he strives to accumulate a fortune.”
“And then?”
“Then he will have a statue or a bust of himself sculptured, and when he gets old, erect a splendid mausoleum.” ”

“ Her charm was like that of her aunt, Cæsonia, in grace of form, in changefulness and sweetness of expression, and in the brimming intellect that flashed out of her violet eyes. And now as she played with the kid, her every movement formed an artist’s study, and the simple joy that shone out of her face, and the affection wherewith she glanced at intervals at her father, invested her with a spiritual charm, impossible to be achieved by sculptor with his chisel or by painter with his brush.
The eyes of Domitius Corbulo followed his child, wherever she went, whatever she did. ”