Chapter 29

Duller and duller, hoarser and hoarser, more and more painful grew the groan of the bull as it mingled with the whistling breath from the breast of the giant. The head of the beast turned more and more, and from his jaws came a long, foaming tongue. 25

A moment more, and to the ears of spectators sitting nearer came as it were the crack of breaking bones; then the beast rolled on the earth with his neck twisted in death.

The giant removed in a twinkle the ropes from the horns of the bull, and, raising the maiden, began to breathe 30 hurriedly. His face became pale, his hair stuck together from sweat, his shoulders and arms seemed flooded with water. For a moment he stood as if only half conscious; then he raised his eyes and looked at the spectators.

The amphitheater had gone wild.

The walls of the building were trembling from the roar of tens of thousands of people. Since the beginning of spectacles 5 there was no memory of such excitement. Those who were sitting on the highest rows came down, crowding in the passages between benches to look more nearly at the strong man. Everywhere were heard cries for mercy, passionate and persistent, which soon turned into one 10 unbroken thunder. That giant had become dear to those people enamored of physical strength; he was the first personage in Rome.

He understood that the multitudes were striving to grant him his life and restore him his freedom, but clearly his 15 thought was not on himself alone. He looked around awhile; then approached Cæsar's podium, and holding the body of the maiden on his outstretched arms, raised his eyes with entreaty, as if to say,

"Have mercy on her! Save the maiden. I did that for 20 her sake!"

The spectators understood perfectly what he wanted. At sight of the unconscious maiden, who near the enormous Lygian seemed a child, emotion seized the multitude of senators and knights. Her slender form, as white as if 25 chiseled from alabaster, her fainting, the dreadful danger from which the giant had freed her, and finally her beauty and attachment had moved every heart. Some thought the man a father begging mercy for his child. Pity burst forth suddenly, like a flame. They had had blood, death, 30 and torture in sufficiency. Voices choked with tears began to entreat mercy for both.

Meanwhile, Ursus, holding the girl in his arms, moved around the arena, and with his eyes and with motions begged her life for her. Now Vinicius started up from his seat, sprang over the barrier which separated the front places from the arena, and, running to Lygia, covered her naked 5 body with his toga.

Then he tore apart the tunic on his breast, laid bare the scars left by wounds received in the Armenian war, and stretched out his hands to the audience.

Then the enthusiasm of the multitude passed everything 10 seen in a circus before. The crowd stamped and howled. Voices calling for mercy grew simply terrible. People not only took the part of the athlete, but rose in defense of the soldier, the maiden, their love. Thousands of spectators turned to Cæsar with flashes of anger in their eyes and with 15 clinched fists.

But Cæsar halted and hesitated. Against Vinicius he had no hatred indeed, and the death of Lygia did not concern him; but he preferred to see the body of the maiden rent by the horns of the bull or torn by the claws of beasts. 20 His cruelty, his deformed imagination and deformed desires, found a kind of delight in such spectacles. And now the people wanted to rob him. Hence anger appeared on his bloated face. Self-love also would not let him yield to the wish of the multitude, and still he did not dare to oppose 25 it, through his inborn cowardice.

So he gazed around to see if, among the Augustans at least, he could not find fingers turned down in sign of death. But Petronius held up his hand, and looked almost challengingly into Nero's face. Vestinius, superstitious but 30 inclined to enthusiasm, a man who feared ghosts but not the living, gave a sign for mercy also.

Then Nero turned to the place where command over the pretorians was held by the stern Subrius Flavius, hitherto devoted with whole soul to him, and saw something unusual. The face of the old tribune was stern, but covered with tears, and he was holding his hand up in sign of mercy. 5

Now rage began to possess the multitude. Dust rose from beneath the stamping feet, and filled the amphitheater. In the midst of shouts were heard cries: "Ahenobarbus! Matricide! Incendiary!"

Nero was alarmed. The people were absolute lords in the 10 Circus. He wanted their favor on his side against the senate and the patricians, and especially after the burning of Rome he strove by all means to win it, and turn their anger against the Christians. He understood, besides, that to oppose longer was simply dangerous. A disturbance 15 begun in the Circus might seize the whole city, and have results incalculable. And seeing everywhere frowning brows, moved faces, and eyes fixed on him, he gave the sign for mercy.

--_Quo Vadis._

1. At about what time is this story laid? Where? Compare its setting with that of "The Lists at Ashby," page 363.

2. Who are the chief characters? What was the general situation with respect to the Christians?

3. Did Ursus know what he was to confront when he entered the arena? Why did he expect to be crucified?

4. Relate what took place in the arena.

5. Explain: podium, Hercules, colossus, superhuman, barbarian; line 13, page 407; lines 8-9, page 412.

6. Sienkiewicz (sh[)e]n-ky[=a]´v[vi]ch) is a famous Polish novelist (1846-1916). His best known novel is _Quo Vadis_ ("Whither goest thou?").

(From Jeremiah Curtin's translation of _Quo Vadis_, copyrighted by Little, Brown & Company.)

POLONIUS'S ADVICE TO HIS SON

BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Memorize a goodly passage from this, and interpret the meaning of your selection to the class.

There; my blessing with thee! And these few precepts in thy memory See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue, Nor any unproportion'd thought his act. Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. 5 Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel; But do not dull thy palm with entertainment Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg'd comrade. Beware Of entrance to a quarrel, but, being in, 10 Bear 't that the opposed may beware of thee. Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice; Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy; 15 For the apparel oft proclaims the man, And they in France of the best rank and station Are most select and generous, chief in that. Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, 20 And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. This above all; to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.

--_Hamlet._

1. Spend at least one recitation discussing the life and works of Shakespeare. Bring to class some interesting accounts of him or his plays.

MERCY

BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Antonio, a merchant-shipper of Venice, has met with financial losses. Shylock, his grasping creditor and competitor, demands in court the fulfillment of Antonio's bond, which states that Antonio has forfeited a pound of his own flesh to Shylock. Portia, a young woman who plays the part of attorney for Antonio, makes the following appeal to Shylock for mercy.

The quality of mercy is not strain'd; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes 5 The throned monarch better than his crown; His scepter shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this scepter'd sway; 10 It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God's When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, Though justice be thy plea, consider this,-- 15 That, in the course of justice, none of us Should see salvation; we do pray for mercy, And that same prayer doth teach us all to render The deeds of mercy.

--_The Merchant of Venice._

1. Read this extract line by line, and interpret its meaning. Then read the whole of it aloud as Portia spoke it.

GOOD BOOKS YOU SHOULD KNOW

The following list of book titles suggests some good library browsing for you. Try reading one good book a week outside of school hours. Aside from the immediate pleasure and knowledge derived, you will thus establish an invaluable habit and set up for yourself standards of literary judgment.

Alcott's _Eight Cousins_ Aldrich's _Story of a Bad Boy_ Baldwin's _Discovery of the Old Northwest_ Baldwin's _Fifty Famous Rides and Riders_ Baldwin's _Old Greek Stories_ Brown's _Rab and his Friends_ Bunyan's _Pilgrim's Progress_ Burnett's _Secret Garden_ Burroughs's _Bird Stories_ Burroughs's _Squirrels and Other Fur-Bearers_ Clemens's _Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_ Clemens's _Adventures of Tom Sawyer_ Clemens's _Prince and the Pauper_ Clemens's _Roughing It_ Cooke's _Stories of the Old Dominion_ Cooper's _Deerslayer_ Cooper's _Pathfinder_ Cooper's _Spy_ Dana's _Two Years before the Mast_ Dickens's _Child's History of England_ Dickens's _Christmas Carol_ Dickens's _Cricket on the Hearth_ Dickens's _Nicholas Nickleby_ Dickens's _Pickwick Papers_ Garland's _Boy Life on the Prairie_ Guerber's _Myths and Legends of the Middle Ages_ Hill's _On the Trail of Washington_ Holland's _Historic Boyhoods_ Holland's _Historic Girlhoods_ Howells's _Stories of Ohio_ Hughes's _Tom Brown at Rugby_ Irving's _Sketch Book_ Kipling's _Captains Courageous_ Kipling's _Jungle Books_ Lamb's _Tales from Shakespeare_ London's _Call of the Wild_ Longfellow's _Courtship of Miles Standish_ Lucas's _Slowcoach_ Mabie's _Book of Christmas_ Mabie's _Book of Old English Ballads_ Mabie's _Famous Stories Every Child should Know_ Marden's _Stories from Life_ Ollivant's _Bob, Son of Battle_ Pyle's _Men of Iron_ Roosevelt's _Stories of the Great West_ Scott's _Ivanhoe_ Scott's _Quentin Durward_ Seton's _Trail of the Sandhill Stag_ Stevenson's _Kidnapped_ Stevenson's _Master of Ballantrae_ Stevenson's _Travels with a Donkey_ Stockton's _Stories of New Jersey_ Swift's _Gulliver's Travels_ Tarkington's _Penrod_ Thompson's _Stories of Indiana_ Warner's _Being a Boy_ Whitehead's _Standard Bearer_ Wiggin's _Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm_ Yonge's _Book of Golden Deeds_

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Transcriber's Notes:

Obvious punctuation errors repaired.

Page 15, "occured" changed to "occurred" (Lincoln's assasination occurred)

Diacritical marks are denoted by:

Characters with a breve by [)e] Characters with a macron by [=e] Characters with a caron by [vi] Chacacters with an oe-ligature by [oe]

End of Project Gutenberg's Story Hour Readings: Seventh Year, by E.C. Hartwell