of Minerva, the goddess will restore to his heart that tranquillity which he so much needed.

He advances-day declines, and he had scarcely entered the wood when he hears plaintive cries. He thinks that he recognizes this dying voice, and with sword in hand, he flies towards the place from whence issue these dolorous sounds. What a spectacle bursts upon his vision! Tatius, dying under the poniards of four assassins! Numa utters a cry, and swift as thought he buries his sword in two of the cowards. The others fled with fear, leaving Numa alone with the good king. Tatius was stricken, and his blood flowed freely; the hapless old man had but a moment to live. Numa embraced him, crying aloud; he examines his wounds, tears his own clothes to stanch the blood, supports the good king, and would carry him back to Rome.

"Stop, stop, my son," said Tatius to him; " your cares are useless. My wounds are mortal. I feel that I must die. Thanks to the gods that I may breathe out my last sigh in your arms. Numa, I die by the blows of Romulus. I recognized the murderers. They are of the number of his Celeres; and in smiting me, they said that this was the first fruit of the peace which I had procured for the Romans. Your love of Hersilia, and your alliance with my assassin, prevent you from avenging my death; but I expect of you a greater favor. I have a daughter, Numa. This unfortunate, has no longer a parent

no one to lean upon but you alone. The nobility of her race, and her right to the throne of the Sabines, render her criminal in the eyes of Romulus. If you will not defend her, she must perish. Swear to me, then, O my dear son, to watch over the life of my daughter,

to be her protector, her supporter, and her brother. Alas! I had hoped that she might have given you another name. From the first moment I saw you, I formed the design of giving you Tatia, and placing you on my throne; of watching between you, with no other dignity than that of your father. Sweet illusion, too soon destroyed, but which would still have rendered my lot tranquil, if it continued to hang over me. Ah, at least, do not refuse my prayer. Take pity upon a dying old man, who was your parent, your friend, the friend of Tullus and your father. Numa, I embrace your knees; be the defender of my daughter, promise me to save her days, to watch this orphan, to

"I swear to you," interrupted Numa, bursting in tears, "and I call to witness the manes of my mother and of Tullus to confirm my oath, that I will become the spouse of Tatia, that I will live and die for her, that I will share her dangers, and forever detest the family of your murderer."

"I was sure of it," replied Tatius, with transports of joy. "Embrace me, virtuous young man ; I count upon your faith. I die content.”

He spoke, embraced Numa, and expired. Numa swooned upon his body.

BOOK VII.

Numa brings back to Rome the body of Tatius. - Despair of Tatia. — Numa would perform the oath which he has made to his king. Romulus forbids him. Hersilia comes to find Numa. Her tears and menaces do not move him. - Funeral of the good king. - Revolt of the Sabines. - Barbarous precaution of Romulus. - Numa devotes himself to his own people. He is banished from Rome, and meets Leo.

ness.

NIGHT had already spread its veil of darkness over the face of nature, before Numa was restored to consciousThe appearance of the bloody corpse of Tatius chilled him with a new horror, and recalled to his mind the oath which he had made. Without repenting, and without complaining, his first inquiry was, "What is my duty towards the good king?" Fearing that the body might be snatched away, if he left it for a moment, he takes it upon his shoulders, and bears it slowly to the town. When he reached the outer guards, he called the Sabine soldiers, gave to them his cherished burden, and charged them to bear it respectfully to the palace of Tatia. Then with rapid pace he precedes them, to prepare the hapless princess for the frightful news which she is about to receive.

Alas! the pious Tatia, troubled at the absence of her father, seemed to have a presentiment of the misery which awaited her. Sitting alone, by the light of a lamp, and sewing a purple robe for the best of kings, hundred times did she drop her work, to consider with

a

sighs the hours which were passed since she had seen Tatius. A thousand fatal presages flitted before her mental vision to frighten her. A secret terror chilled her soul. Her hand dropped her work, and in sorrow, her eyes were fixed upon the ground.

Suddenly, Numa appeared before her. The grief depicted in his countenance, his tears, his garments stained with blood, all conspired to increase her fears. Trembling, she rises, and dares not to interrogate him. "Daughter of Tatius," said the hero, in broken accents, "this day you want all that strength of mind, that unalterable patience, which your heart is accustomed to exercise. I come to inflict a dreadful blow; but know, that to sustain the evils of this sad life, the immortals have given us virtue and friendship."

As he finished these words, the Sabines arrived, bearing the corse of their king. Tatia uttered a shriek, and fell senseless upon the body of her father. They crowd around and recall her to life. She opens her wandering eyes, and fixes them on Tatius, sees his large wounds, and is not able to shed a tear. Her tongue cleaved to her mouth; she uttered no word of complaint. A dreadful load oppressed her breast, and, like a statue, she could neither complain nor breathe.

Numa, frightened at her mute grief, ordered the body of Tatius to be removed. Then Tatia uttered piercing cries, and poured forth a torrent of tears. This was the hope of Numa. Certain that her tears would solace her, he left the princess in the hands of the women, and gave orders that the body of the king be washed in perfumed liquors, and laid out upon a purple bed. He placed guards around the palace of Tatius, and after acquitting himself

of these sad duties, he makes ready for the most grievous of all to announce to Romulus that he cannot be his sonin-law.

What emotions agitated his breast as he walked towards the king's palace! He is about to renounce forever her whom he adores; whom no one can take from him but himself. He is going to renounce her voluntarily to tell her of it to pass before her eyes as a perfidious breaker of his vows -to bear all the grief of this sacrifice, and the shame of appearing inconstant. This frightful idea shakes his virtue, but his virtue resumes the empire. The shades of Tullus and Tatius are at his side; they support him; they cry out to him that this dolorous sacrifice is necessary; that he will find only opprobrium in an alliance with the murderer of his king, the enemy of his family; in a union founded on perjury, and commenced under such frightful auspices.

Numa enters the palace of Romulus. He finds the monarch at his table, surrounded by his courtiers. Dark care was painted on his brow; inquietude and chagrin were depicted in his countenance the first and just punishment of crime. Romulus was already advised of the assassination of Tatius, and feared that he might be suspected. Tormented by this fear more than by remorse, he kept a thoughtful silence, which his courtiers imitated. Hersilia stands before the king, and seeks to dissipate his troubles by the chords of her lyre. She sung the victory of the father of the gods over the Titans.

Numa presents himself before Romulus, but not without a shudder. The appearance of the assassin of Tatius excites in him a horror which he cannot suppress. Nevertheless, he makes an effort, and drops his eyes, as