Valerius. A Roman Story

“My dear master,” said he, making a sort of start after he had come in, “I was afraid you would be angry with me for not coming to you sooner, but now I perceive you have been a...

“Dear friends,” said she, “the moments you have to be with me are numbered; what avails it that they should be spent in words that can have no effect? I have been baptized in th...

Alas! I said I to myself, of what tidings am I doomed ever to be the messenger!—but she was alone; and how could I shrink from any pain that might perhaps alleviate hers? I took...

I found it was out of the question to disapprove of any of the schemes of Sabinus; so, having saluted the hostess, and flung my purse to her children, (who, by the way, still re...

What though the liquid serpent of the deep Between lie coil’d in many a glittering ring: Not unobserved of your pale eyes we weep, Nor to deaf ears this doleful chant we sing; S...

“Fear not,” answered Aurelius: “have I not told you already oftentimes, that strength of heart goes not with bone and sinew, and that my gentle child is prepared for all things?...

Our party were immediately separated one from another. I saw the priest lifted on a mule and hurried away towards the city, with a horseman on each hand of him. The fiery Cotili...

“Come now, good Master,” quoth he, “you are taller than I, pluck me a branch from the nearest tree, and I think you shall confess I make a decent Soothsayer.” In this it was eas...

Sabinus restrained himself till they were beyond the reach of his voice; but he then made himself ample amends. “Ha!” said he, “is this to be the end? Most pensive ghost of Lebe...

“To me,” said the slave modestly, “it still seems, that by the rushing shower of atoms which moves every where through space, the mind is soothed, as by the sound of a great riv...

On this the painter, leaving Sextus, advanced to her side, and after a pause of some moments, spent in contemplating alternately his own work and the original, said, with a cour...

It appeared to me, from the beginning, that my friend Sabinus witnessed, not without some feelings of displeasure, the excessive attentions which Rubellia lavished on young Sext...

“Yes, Caius,” said the father—“this child of God will be your wife, and ye will both serve the Lord many days, amidst the quiet valleys of your far off island.—Nay, daughter, do...

I had walked by the side of my young friend, and behind the Stoic, (who, I think, was expressing, in his pompous fashion, much admiration of the singing of Rubellia,) along one...

I assured him he should not want any comfort my presence could afford him; although not without, at the same time, expressing my astonishment that he should consider it at all p...

“Most noble lady!” replied the Stoic, “you know not how much you have delighted me; from the first moment, indeed, that my eyes rested upon the countenance of your heroic friend...

A feeling of the same sort seemed to pervade many more in the assembly; and I heard a continual whispering among those around me, as if there was a general anxiety to learn some...

I, for my part, when I heard the name of the visiter, began to understand somewhat of the channel through which my kinsman had been informed about what had passed at the Suburba...

“Soldiers,” said the old man, in a voice of perfect calmness, “for what reason are you come?”—“We come,” said my companion, “by command of the Centurion, to inform you of things...

Here a freedman attended us, who informed us that Capito had retired into a sequestered part of the grounds with some friends from the city; but that if we chose we could easily...

I found him in a small upper chamber, lighted by a single silver lamp suspended from the roof, enjoying, as it appeared, repose and relaxation after the exertions of the day. He...

But as they afterwards related to me—for I myself was not indeed sufficiently attentive to it—Trajan, who had as yet, during all the occurrences of the day, preserved unmoved th...

By this time, the increasing darkness of the chamber had warned me that we ought to be thinking of our return. I had more than once looked towards Sextus, but he refused to meet...

Since you are desirous, my friends, that I should relate to you, at length and in order, the things which happened to me during my journey to Rome, notwithstanding the pain whic...