All crimes shall cease, and ancient fraud shall fail; Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend, 4 Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers: 1 Astræa, the daughter of Themis, goddess of Justice, is said to have come down from heaven to distribute justice and teach the principles of integrity to men. But when she saw that men had no reverence for what was holy, she left them, and fled back to heaven. In this new age she will return. See also Isa. ix. 7. 2 Lebanon. The mountains of Lebanon bound Palestine on the north. They consist of the chains of Libanus and anti-Libanus. 3 Sharon, a valley on the coast of Palestine, between Mount Carmel and the town of Jaffa. It was famous for its fertility and excellent pasturage. No sigh, no murmur, the wide world shall hear; As the good shepherd tends his fleecy care, 1 Adamantine, that cannot be broken. 2 See 2 Pet. ii. 4., and Jude, ver. 6. 3" He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young." Isa. xl. 11. 4 Isa. ix. 6.: "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given," &c. 5 "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.". Isa. ii. 4. 6 Falchion, a bent sword. "And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks."- Isa. ii. 4. 7 "For in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert; and the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water.". - Isa. xxxv. 6, 7. 8 I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, and the myrtle, and the oiltree: I will set in the desert the firtree, and the pine, and the box-tree together."- İsa. xli. 19. To leafless shrubs the flowering palms succeed, The lambs with wolves shall grace the verdant mead, And seeds of gold in Ophir's mountains glow. said to delight in shadowy woods and the chase of the swift stag. The archetype of Diana is the shining moon, who, cold and chaste, scatters her modest silver light over mountain tops and forest glades. But lost, dissolved in thy superior rays, O'erflow thy courts: the Light Himself1 shall shine The seas shall waste, the skies in smoke decay, Caius Julius Cæsar was born B. c. 100. He possessed great energy of character, whilst his personal accomplishments and courage, his talents for war, and his capacity for civil affairs, render him one of the most remarkable men of any age. His victories and his great popularity roused the envy of some noble Romans, who conspired to put him to death. This event took place on the ides (15th) of March, B. c. 44, in the Senate-house. Brutus and Cassius were the two principal conspirators. Cæsar's refusal to remit a sentence which had been passed on one Publius Cimber was the signal for his death. Casca stabs him first; Brutus gives the last blow; and Cæsar falls at the foot of Pompey's statue. Marc Antony, a friend of Cæsar, in addressing the people, speaks so as not to appear the enemy of Brutus and his associates; but at the same time, by reading Cæsar's will, and enumerating his good qualities, he so ingratiates himself as to awaken in the people an ardent desire to avenge Cæsar's death. Brutus and Cassius are therefore obliged to fly from Rome. Two years after the death of Cæsar, Brutus and Cassius, on the one side, and Marc Antony and Octavius on the other, met at Philippi, in Macedonia. The battle was fiercely contested, but ended in the total rout of the exiles; and Cassius, unwilling to survive his defeat, fell upon his own sword. Brutus was defeated in a second battle, upon which he killed himself, in the 44th year of his age. Rome-the Forum — a throng of citizens — Antony and others with Cæsar's body. 2 Pleb. Peace! let us hear what Antony can say. Ant. You, gentle Romans All. Peace, oh! let us hear him. Ant. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears I come to bury Cæsar, not to praise him. He hath brought many captives home to Rome, When that the poor have cried, Cæsar hath wept - I thrice presented him a kingly crown', Was this ambition? Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; 1 Marcus Junius Brutus was born at Rome B. C. 86. He was about fifteen years younger than Cæsar. "On the festival of the Lupercalia, Antonius, then his colleague in the consulate, ran up to him as he was seated in state on the Rostra, and placed a diadem on his head. A few hired voices applauded. Cæsar re jected it, and a general shout of approbation ensued. The offer was repeated, with the same effect." The Lupercal was a spot at the foot of Mount Aventine, where games were annually celebrated, commemorative of the founder of Rome. These games were called Lupercalia. |