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mere man, reflect always on what thou art. They whom thou shalt not molest, will be thy true friends; the strongest friendships being contracted between equals; and they are esteemed equals who have not tried their strength against each other. But do not suppose that those whom thou conquerest can love thee.'

Publius Scipio's Speech.

1. THAT you may not be unapprised, soldiers, of what sort of enemies you are about to encounter, or what is to be feared from them, I tell you they are the very same, whom, in a former war, you vanquished both by land and sea; the same from whom you took Sicily and Sardinia; and who have been these twenty years your tributaries. You will not, I presume, march against these men with only that courage with which you are wont to face other enemies; but with a certain anger and indignation, such as you would feel if you saw your slaves on a sudden rise up in arms against you.

2. But you have heard, perhaps, that, though they are few in number, they are men of stout hearts and robust bodies ; heroes of such strength and vigour, as nothing is able to resist. Mere effigies, nay, shadows of men! wretches, emaciated with hunger and benumbed with cold! bruised and battered to pieces among the rocks and craggy cliffs! their weapons broken, and their horses weak and foundered! Such are the cavalry, and such the infantry, with which you are going to contend: not enemies, but the fragments of enemies. There is nothing which I more apprehend, than that it will be thought Hannibal was vanquished by the Alps before we had any conflict with him. I need not be in any fear that you should suspect me of saying these things merely to encourage you, while inwardly I have different sentiments.

3. Have I ever shown any inclination to avoid a contest with this tremendous Hannibal ? and have I now met with him only by accident and unawares? or am I come on purpose to challenge him to a combat? I would gladly try whether the earth, within these twenty years, has brought forth a new kind of Carthagenians, or whether they be the same sort of men who fought at the gates, and whom at Eryx you suffered to redeem themselves at eighteen denarii per head Whether this Han

nibal, for labours and journeys, be as he would be thought, the rival of Hercules; or whether he be what his father left him, a tributary, a vassal, a slave to the Roman people. Did not

the consciousness of his wicked deed at Saguntum torment him and make him desperate, he would have some regard, if not to his conquered country, yet surely to his own family, to his father's memory, to the treaty written with Amilcar's own hand.

4. We might have starved them in Eryx; we might have passed into Africa with our victorious fleet, and in a few days have destroyed Carthage. At their humble supplication we pardoned them. We released them when they were closely shut up without a possibility of escaping. We made peace with them when they were conquered When they were distressed by the African war, we considered them, and treated them as a people under our protection. And what is the return they make us for all these favours? Under the conduct of a hair-brained young man, they come hither to overturn our state, and lay waste our country. I could wish, indeed, that it were not so; and that the war we are now engaged in, concerned our glory only, and not our preservation. But the contest at present is not for the possession of Sicily and Sardinia, but of Italy itself.

5. Nor is there behind us another army, which, if we should not prove the conquerors, may make head against our victorious enemies. There are no more Alps for them to pass, which might give us leisure to raise new forces. No, soldiers; here you must take your stand, as if you were just now before the walls of Rome. Let every one reflect, that he is now to defend, not his own person only, but his wife, his children, his helpless infants. Yet, let not private considerations alone possess our minds. Let us remember that the eyes of the senate and people of Rome are upon us; and that, as our force and courage shall now prove, such will be the fortune of that city, and of the Roman empire.

The studious youth should always keep in mind,
That the same words, not rightly understood,
Will false ideas convey, instead of truth:

And such wrong sentiments, when once embrac'd,
Will cost much pains and labour to destroy.

With honour, truth will bear you through the world,
Ensure a kind reception with mankind,
And tranquillize your life in joy and peace:
While falsehood poisons ev'ry thought and deed,
Produces scorn and hate, from GoD and man,
And leaves you hopeless, overwhelm'd in wo.
Then learn aright, at first, nor deviate
In error's slippery, and destructive paths.

Canute and his Courtiers.

Flattery reproved.

Canute. Is it true, my friends, as you have often told me, that I am the greatest of monarchs?

Offa. It is true, my liege; you are the most powerful of all kings.
Oswald. We are all your slaves; we kiss the dust of your feet.

Of. Not only we, but even the elements are your slaves. The land obeys you from shore to shore; and the sea obeys you.

Can. Does the sea, with its loud boisterous waves, obey me? Will that terrible element be still at my bidding?

Of. Yes, the sea is yours; it was made to bear your ships upon its bosom, and to pour the treasures of the world at your royal feet. It is boisterous to your enemies, but it knows you to be its sovereign.

Can. Is not the tide coming up?

Os. Yes, my liege; you may perceive the swell already.

Can. Bring me a chair then; set it here upon the sands.
Of. Where the tide is coming up, my gracious lord?

Can. Yes, set it just here.

Os. (Aside)-I wonder what he is going to do.

Of. (Aside)-Surely he is not such a fool as to believe us !

Can. O mighty ocean! thou art my subject; my courtiers tell me so; and it is thy duty to obey me. Thus, then, I stretch my sceptre over thee, and command thee to retire. Roll back thy swelling waves, nor let them presume to wet the feet of me, thy royal master.

Os. (Aside)-I believe the sea will pay very little regard to his royal commands.

Of. See how fast the tide rises!

Os. The next wave will come up to the chair. It is folly to stay, we shall be covered with salt water.

Can. Well, does the sea obey my commands? If it be my subject, it is a very rebellious subject. See how it swells, and dashes the angry foam and salt spray over my sacred person! Vile sycophants! did you think! was the dupe of your base lies? that I believed your abject flatteries? Know, there is but one Being whom the sea will obey. He is sovereign of heaven and earth, King of kings, and Lord of lords. It is only He who can say to the ocean, thus far shalt thou go, but no farther, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.' A king is but a man: and a man is but a worm. Shall a worm assume the power of the great God, and think the elements will obey him? May kings learn to be humble from my example, and courtiers learn truth from your disgrace!.

The two Robbers.

We often condemn in others what we practise ourselves.

(Alexander the Great in his tent. A man with a fierce countenance, chained and fettered, brought before him.)

Alexander. WHAT, art thou the Thracian robber, of whose exploits I have heard so much?

Robber. I am a Thracian, and a soldier.

Alex. A soldier!—a thief, plunderer, an assassin! the pest of the country! I could honour thy courage, but I must detest and punish thy

crimes.

Rob. What have I done, of which you can complain?

Alex. Hast thou not set at defiance my authority; violated the public peace; and passed thy life in injuring the persons and properties of thy fellow-subjects?

Rob. Alexander! I am your captive-I must hear what you please to say, and endure what you please to inflict. But my soul is unconquered; and if I reply at all to your reproaches, I will reply like a free man.

Alex. Speak freely. Far be it from me to take the advantage of my power, to silence those with whom I deign to converse.

Rob. I must then answer your question by another. How have you passed your life?

Alex. Like a hero. Ask Fame, and she will tell you. Among the brave, I have been the bravest; among sovereigns, the noblest; among conquerors, the mightiest.

Rob. And does not fame speak of me too? Was there ever a bolder captain of a more valiant band? Was there ever-But I scorn to boast. You yourself know that I have not been easily subdued.

Alex. Still what are you but a robber-a base, dishonest robber?

Rob. And what is a conqueror? Have not you, too, gone about the earth like an evil genius, blasting the fair fruits of peace and industry; plundering, ravaging, killing, without law, without justice, merely to gratify an insatiable lust for dominion? All that I have done to a single district with a hundred followers, you have done to whole nations with a hundred thousand. If I have stripped individuals, you have ruined kings and princes. If I have burned a few hamlets, you have desolated the most flourishing kingdoms, and cities of the earth. What is then the difference, but that as you were born a king, and I a private man, you liave been able to become a mightier robber than I?

Alex. But if I have taken like a king, I have given like a king. If I have subverted empires, I have founded greater. I have cherished arts, commerce, and philosophy.

Rob. I too, have freely given to the poor, what I took from the rich. I have established order and discipline among the most ferocious of mankind; and have stretched out my protecting arm over the oppressed. I know, indeed, little of the philosophy you talk of; but I believe neither you nor I shall ever atone to the world for the mischiefs we have done it. Alex. Leave me; Take off his chains, and use him well. Are we then so much alike? Alexander too, a robber? Let me reflect.

A Family Conversation on the Slavery of the Negroes. Augusta. My dear papa, you once informed me, that in the West-Indies, all the laborious operations were performed by negro slaves. Are those islands inhabited by negroes? I thought those people were natives

of Africa.

Father. You are right, my dear; they are, indeed, natives of Africa; but they have been snatched by the hand of violence, from their country, friends, and connexions. I am ashamed to confess, that many ships are annually sent from different parts of Europe and America, to the coast of Guinea, to procure slaves from that unhappy country, for the use of the West-India islands, where they are sold to the planters of sugar planta

tions; and afterwards employed in the hardest and most servile occupa. tions; and pass the rest of their lives in slavery and wretchedness.

Sophia. How much my heart feels for them! How agonising must it be, to be separated from one's near relations! parents, perhaps divided from their children for ever; husbands from their wives; brothers and sisters obliged to bid each other a final farewell! But why do the kings of the African states suffer their subjects to be so cruelly treated? Mother. Many causes have operated to induce the African princes to become assistants in this infamous traffic; and instead of being the defenders of their harmless people, they have frequently betrayed them to their most cruel enemies. The Europeans have corrupted these ignorant rulers, by presents of rum, and other spirituous liquors, of which they are immoderately fond. They have fomented jealousies, and excited wars, amongst them, merely for the sake of obtaining the prisoners of war for slaves. Frequently they use no ceremony, but go on shore in the aight, set fire to a neighbouring village, and seize upon all the unhappy victims who run out to escape the flames.

Cecilia. What hardened hearts do the captains of those ships possess ! They must have become extremely cruel, before they would undertake such an employment.

Mo. There is reason to believe that most of them, by the habits of such a life, are become deaf to the voice of pity: we must, however, compassionate the situation of those, whose parents have early bred them to this profession, before they were of an age to choose a different employinent. But to resume the subject of the negroes. What I have related, is only the beginning of their sorrows. When they are put on board the ships, they are crowded together in the hold, where many of them die for want of air and room. There have been frequent instances of their throwing themselves into the sea, when they could find an opportunity, and seeking in death a refuge from their calamity. As soon as they arrive in the West-Indies, they are carried to a public market, where they are sold to the highest bidder, like horses at our fairs. Their future lot depends uch upon the disposition of the master, into whose hands they happen te fall; for, among the overseers of sugar-plantations, there are some men of feeling and humanity: but too generally the treatment of the poor negroes is very severe. Accustomed to an easy, indolent life, in the luxuPious and plentiful country of Africa, they find great hardship from the transition to a life of severe labour, without any mixture of indulgence to soften it. Deprived of the hope of amending their condition, by any course of conduct they can pursue, they frequently abandon themselves to despair; and die, in what is called the seasoning, which is, becoming inured by length of time to their situation. They who have less sensibility and stronger constitutions, survive their complicated misery but a few years; for it is generally acknowledged, that they seldom attain the full period of human life.

Aug. Humanity shudders at your account! But I have heard a gentlenan, who had lived many years abroad, say, that negroes were not much superiour to the brutes; and that they were so stupid and stubborn, that nothing but stripes and severity could have any influence over them.

Fa. That gentleman was most probably interested in misleading those with whom he conversed. People, who reason in that manner, do not consider the disadvantages which the poor negroes suffer from want of culti sation. Loading an ignorant savage life in their own country, they can,

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