United States or Nauru ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The whitewash of the walls, and the prints thereon of the actors in their mime-robes, and stage postures, actors as far back as their own lost Augustan era, when the stage was a real living influence on the manners and the age! There was Betterton, in wig and gown, as Cato, moralizing on the soul's eternity, and halting between Plato and the dagger.
Florus, who wrote after the twelve Cæsars, in the time of Trajan and of Adrian, whose rapid summary of Roman events can hardly be called a history, tells us, in a few words, how Catiline's conspiracy was crushed by the authority of Cicero and Cato in opposition to that of Cæsar.
There is no question that the Roman governors although certainly but few of them pushed their conscientiousness, like Cato, to the verge of being niggardly and ridiculous made in many cases a powerful impression on the subjects, more especially on the frivolous and unstable Greeks, by their old- fashioned piety, by the reverential stillness prevailing at their repasts, by their comparatively upright administration of office and of justice, especially by their proper severity towards the worst bloodsuckers of the provincials the Roman revenue-farmers and bankers and in general by the gravity and dignity of their deportment.
The slave made no answer and Cato was again at the book, but after a short interval, as if he were in no haste or hurry, and was merely looking for his sword, he bade the slave bring it.
But Cato would by no means permit him to do any such thing; "For as to myself," said he, "if I would be preserved by Caesar's favor, I should myself go to him; but I would not be beholden to a tyrant, for his acts of tyranny. For it is but usurpation in him to save, as their rightful lord, the lives of men over whom he has no title to reign.
Invite a wise man to a feast and he'll spoil the company, either with morose silence or troublesome disputes. Take him out to dance, and you'll swear "a cow would have done it better." Bring him to the theatre, and his very looks are enough to spoil all, till like Cato he take an occasion of withdrawing rather than put off his supercilious gravity.
I confess to a good deal of tolerance in this respect, and, when I live in Number 21, have plenty of stoicism to spare for the griefs of the dwellers in No. 23. Indeed, I agreed with our young Cato heartily in what he said about Statues. We must have an Act for the Suppression, either of Great Men, or else of Sculptors.
At length, after many fits of apprehension, the poet yielded to the urgency of his political friends, who hoped that the public would discover some analogy between the followers of Caesar and the Tories, between Sempronius and the apostate Whigs, between Cato, struggling to the last for the liberties of Rome, and the band of patriots who still stood firm around Halifax and Wharton.
As a collector of books, a lover of ornamental gardening and parks stocked with animals, and a friend to all the arts and sciences, Lucullus was of all the luxurious Romans the most magnificent and the most refined. He left a son by Servilia, whose name was probably Lucius. This son joined the party of Cato and M. Brutus.
As he spoke, Darlington reappeared, and, leaving his key at the office, went out through the revolving doorway, and jumped into a hansom. "Where to, sir?" asked the cabman. "The Abbey," said Darlington. "They're off!" whispered Holmes, with a laugh. "And now for Mr. Cato."
Word Of The Day