Chersonese

“ If you hear that Philip is in the Chersonese, you resolve to make an expedition there; if he is at Thermopylae, you send one there; and wherever else he may be, you run up and down in his steps. It is he that leads your forces. You have never of yourselves come to any salutary decision in regard to the war. No single event do you ever discern before it occurs—before you have heard that something has happened or is happening. ”

“ Upon this great mass of rock the palace of the Chersonese had been built, its walls of yellow marble rising sheer from the slope of the stone. Here and there towers peered above the many roofs of the miniature city. Rusudan had heard from the Greek slave-girls, who seemed to know everything, that the rock under them had been honeycombed by the waters of other ages, and passages descended into its depths—passages that led to store=houses and other chambers where the torturers of the emperor kept their instruments. ”

“ It is folly to sacrifice what is our own, and then pretend to be anxious for the interests of others--to neglect the present, and alarm others in regard to the future. I do not propose this. I say that we must send money to the forces in the Chersonese, and do all that they ask of us; that we must make preparation ourselves, while we summon, convene, instruct, and warn the rest of the Hellenes. That is the policy for a city with a reputation such as yours. ”

“ Other cities had the Mongols taken in just such fashion, in the darkness.
“If he sees the signal he will return. But if he is taken by the emperor's men—” Arslan groaned and clutched his belt, trying to reason out what he should do.
The Mongols, after lighting the fires, would rest an hour, to make sure the signal was seen. In less than another hour they would be in the Chersonese. Arslan wondered how long the fires had been going before he saw them. ”

“ All this part of the coast is sterile and desert: a wall of rock extended before us, and seemed to shut us out from the peninsula so often conquered and ravaged by warlike and commercial nations. Richly endowed by nature, the Tauris, Chersonese, or Crimea, has always been coveted by the people of Europe and Asia. Pastoral nations have contended for possession of its mountains; commercial nations for its ports and its renowned Bosphorus; warlike peoples have pitched their tents amid its magnificent valleys ”

“ Hugh smiled, because he knew that Subotai had been questioning captives, that he longed to take the city of the emperor.
“Once,” he said, “Subotai Bahadur told me the strength of a wall is not in the thickness of its stone but in the men that defend it. I know the emperor and his hired soldiery.”
Once more curiosity quenched the anger of the Mongol.
“Speak!”
“There is a way to carry the wall that bars the Chersonese from the land—aye, though the wall be high as four lances—and to ride in among the Greeks before they can flee in their galleys. ”

“ But the whole of this territory was not included in the new province of Asia. The Chersonese was annexed to the province of Macedonia, [543] a small district of Caria known as the Peraea and situated opposite the island of Rhodes, became or remained the property of the latter state; in the same neighbourhood the port and town of Telmissus, which had been given to Eumenes after the defeat of Antiochus, were restored to the Lycian confederation. ”

“ Little rivulets flash out in foam among the dark foliage, and mingle their musical warble with the deep bass of the torrent, and there are twilight depths of leafy shade into which the sunshine never penetrates, damp and cool, in which the music of the water is all too sweet, and the loveliness too entrancing, creating that sadness hardly "akin to pain" which is latent in all intense enjoyment. ”

“ It is not wholly fanciful to talk of the White Czar: for Russia even destruction has a deathly softness as of snow. Her ideas are often innocent and even childish; like the idea of Peace. The phrase Holy Alliance was a beautiful truth for the Czar, though only a blasphemous jest for his rascally allies, Metternich and Castlereagh. Austria, though she had lately fallen to a somewhat treasonable toying with heathens and heretics of Turkey and Prussia, still retained something of the old Catholic comfort for the soul. ”

“ The Cherusci, who inhabited a part of the land between the Weser and the Elbe, including the Hartz Mountains, were the most powerful of the tribes conquered by Tiberius. They had no permanent class of nobles, as none of the early Germans seem to have had, but certain families were distinguished for their abilities and their character, or the services which they had rendered to their people in war. ”

“ As far back as 1778 the great Empress Catherine had colonised Kherson with peasants from the Suabian land, who brought with them their religion, their pastors, and their industrious, sober ways. For many years national prejudices and the barriers of language kept Russians and Germans apart from each other. But sooner or later true life begins to tell. Men may even doubt the divine inspiration of the Scriptures, but they are seldom found doubting the divine inspiration of consistency of life, unselfishness of spirit, and true brotherly service. ”

“ I have said above that the great Cheruscan is more truly one of our national heroes than Caractacus is. It may be added that an Englishman is entitled to claim a closer degree of relationship with Arminius than can be claimed by any German of modern Germany. The proof of this depends on the proof of four facts: first, that the Cherusci were Old Saxons, or Saxons of the interior of Germany; secondly, that the Anglo-Saxons, or Saxons of the coast of Germany, were more closely akin than other German tribes were to the Cheruscan Saxons ”

“ Such a phenomenon as the existence of manly feeling in one city, when mankind everywhere else slept contented in a state of political degradation, deserved attentive consideration. ... Cherson retained its position as an independent State until the reign of Theophilus [Byzantine emperor A. D. 829-842] , who compelled it to receive a governor from Constantinople; but, even under the Byzantine government, it continued to defend its municipal institutions, and, instead of slavishly soliciting the imperial favour, and adopting Byzantine manners, it boasted of its constitution and self government. ”

“ The villages, indeed, were almost little countries by themselves, having scant relationship with each other, save at the Folk-Moot—which, even now, was not an old thing, but which gave to us a form and saved much bloodshed—though ties of blood were strong and, among themselves, though so separated and each clinging to his clan or village, the Cherusci dwelt in rude brotherly accord. It is but fair to say as much of those of other tribes often our feudal enemies. Of vices, we had but two, the lust for fighting and the vast drinking of strong mead to glorious drunkenness. ”

“ A vigorous offensive on the Eastern front is also in harmony with the Pangermanist plan, which for twenty-five years has looked forward to the seizure by Germany of Riga, Little Russia, and Odessa. And a German success in the south of Russia would be big with economic, naval, military, and moral consequences of world-import. The Germans would become masters of the rich and boundless wheat-lands of Little Russia, which, from the midst of their food-problems, they watch with greedy eyes. ”

“ For a city's wealth consists, I imagine, in allies, confidence, loyalty--and of all these you are bankrupt. 67 And because you are indifferent to these advantages, and let them drift away from you, he has become prosperous and powerful, and formidable to all, Hellenes and foreigners alike; while you are deserted and humbled, with a splendid profusion of commodities in your market, and a contemptible lack of all those things with which you should have been provided. ”

“ In 1838 they were removed by the U. S. government to the west of the Mississippi, into what is now Indian Territory, and the portion of the tribe that now remains have a civilized government and a written language. For numbers, etc., see Indians and their Agencies.
Cherusci. One of the most celebrated of all the German tribes at the time of Cæsar. Being excited to hostilities by the tyranny and rapacity of the Romans, they entered into a confederation with the neighboring tribes, and, under their leader Arminius, defeated a Roman army at Teutoburg Forest, in A.D. 9. ”

“ The German soldiers by the innumerable sentry-boxes looked strangely like German toys, and the clean-cut battlements of the castle, gilt by the sunshine, looked the more like gilt gingerbread. For it was brilliant weather. The sky was as Prussian a blue as Potsdam itself could require, but it was yet more like that lavish and glowing use of the colour which a child extracts from a shilling paint-box. Even the grey-ribbed trees looked young, for the pointed buds on them were still pink, and in a pattern against the strong blue looked like innumerable childish figures. ”

“ With the beginning of the "fifties," a new force enters into Russian literature. The old conditions of life were falling to pieces under the strong attack of industrial and commercial changes. Chernishevsky had said about his country, "We are a backward people, and in this lies our hope. We must bless our fate that we have not lived the same life as Europe. ”

“ She did not get excited, but she fell rather into a bucolic frame of mind, looking with delight at all the particulars of the poor estate of the Lopukhófs', and finding that that was the way to live; that men ought not to live otherwise; that only in moderate circumstances is true happiness possible, and she even announced to Serge that she would go with him to live in Switzerland, where they would have a little house amid the fields and mountains, on the shore of a lake, loving each other, fishing, taking care of their garden. ”

“ One hid himself away so quickly that he could not be found; another feigned indisposition; another was dragged into the presence coupled with Prince Romodanovski; Cherchugov complained of Romodanovski, and Prince Pojarski also took offence, and upbraided Cherchugov for dishonouring his rank by his alliance with Romodanovski. The Tsar ordered Cherchugov to be beaten, and determined to avoid such annoyances in future by choosing his bodyguard from among the lesser nobles, who could not plead the privileges of their ancestors. ”

“ Véra Pavlovna took the letter with an air of perplexity which depicted itself in her face. The envelope bore the city stamp.
"He is then at Moscow!" she whispered,—and she hastily broke open the letter and turned pale.
"It is not possible! . . . . . . I did not read it right. . . . . . . The letter does not say that!" she cried, letting her arms fall by her sides.
Again she began to read. This time her eyes fixed themselves on the fatal paper, and those beautiful clear eyes became dimmer and dimmer. ”

“ Granting for a moment that Germany were victorious, Russia, after a frightful reign of anarchy, would be forced to submit once more to the yoke of autocracy. As for the peoples of Western Europe, reduced to worse than slavery, they could only renounce their dearest ideals—the ideals for which they have shed their blood for centuries. ”

“ If the Russians move in time, and in earnest, there will be an end of our hopes and of our armies in Germany: three such mill-stones as Russia, France, and Austria, must, sooner or later, in the course of the year, grind his Prussian Majesty down to a mere MARGRAVE of Brandenburg. But I have always some hopes of a change under a 'Gunarchy'— [Derived from the Greek word 'Iuvn' a woman, and means female government] —where whim and humor commonly prevail, reason very seldom, and then only by a lucky mistake. ”

“ A comparison being made between certain types of Russian and English characters, Chesterton went on to say,
“The Russians in their writings are always brooding over fate or some silly thing. For the most part the English gentry are fine, sensible fellows, although, of course, there are some bounders amongst them. You will now find not a few Catholics among them, although for many years the only Catholics were either English aristocrats or Irish paupers.” ”

“ Cheremenieff resumed his place by my side.
"Sometime," he said in a low tone, "I shall visit America. I am now studying English, and making great progress. Would you" (putting on a beseeching look) "would you welcome me if I came to your country?"
"We are probably the most hospitable nation in the world," I responded sagely. "But you are very young: you will have plenty of time to travel in the future."
He did not look pleased at this.
"If you would make up your mind to stay in Russia for a few years, I assure you we could make you happy" (with an air of stern determination) . ”

“ The Greek city of Cherson, situated on the extreme verge of ancient civilisation, escaped for ages from the impoverishment and demoralisation into which the Hellenic race was precipitated by the Roman system of concentrating all power in the capital of the empire. Cherson was governed for centuries by its own elective magistrates, and it was not until towards the middle of the ninth century that the emperor Theophilus destroyed its independence. ”

“ A country like Russia has far more inherent capacity for producing revolution in revolutionists than any country of the type of England or America. Communities highly civilised and largely urban tend to a thing which is now called evolution, the most cautious and the most conservative of all social influences. The loyal Russian obeys the Czar because he remembers the Czar and the Czar's importance. The disloyal Russian frets against the Czar because he also remembers the Czar, and makes a note of the necessity of knifing him. ”