relate the great events which have transpired at Rome since his exile. The old general answered his request in these words: - "Our woes were at their height. Romulus, a terror to the Sabines, and hated by his own nation, made the people groan under the weight of an iron sceptre. He was no longer a conqueror followed by victory, whose only slaughters were the enemies of the state; he had become a fierce tyrant, whose political barbarity bowed the people to keep them in bounds, and for the most trifling reasons shed patrician blood. Such are the consequences of the first step in crime: as soon as the mind is tainted with this, all virtue abandons it, and it becomes a prey to every vice. "Meanwhile, the gods, enraged at us that the death of Tatius was not avenged, demonstrated their justice by the most awful plague. Pestilence desolated our dwellings. Never was contagion announced with more direful symptoms. A devouring fever consumed the breast and bowels; the inflamed and bloodshot eyes of the patients scarcely moved in their orbits; the mouth was ulcerated, and exhaled a poisonous infection; the tongue, coated and swollen, cleaved to the palate, and stopped respiration; the nerves were rigid, the limbs quivered, and the chill of death, which by degrees was creeping over the sufferer, could scarcely keep off the burning heat with which the very bones seemed to be consuming. "The plague raged till the houses could not contain the victims; the streets, the public places and temples were filled. A multitude of half-naked, dying wanderers might be seen, flying from their homes and household gods, crying for water. They plunged into the Tiber— - into the fountains into the marshy grounds; they would listen to nothing, but drank without quenching thirst, and expired in the water. The sweet ties of friendship, the sentiments of natural affection, were all forgotten, all unheeded. The son, distracted with grief, refused to embrace his father. Brothers shunned each other, and feared the contagion. The dying mother, far from her husband, a prey to the convulsions of death, her eyes frightfully rolling and teeth gnashing, with rigid arms wards off the helpless infant, who cries and reaches his tiny hands towards her, to press her dried breasts. Woe, woe is the only sentiment which is known. Infancy, manhood, and old age, all perish, all fall together. The flaming funeral piles burned constantly, and were renewed without cessation. But the funeral piles could not suffice for the dead, and parties contended for them. They who had built them were obliged to fight, that a deceased parent might here find place upon them. "Romulus, who regretted the loss of his soldiers, and to appease the gods, ordered a solemn sacrifice at the Palatine marsh. All his people, or rather the feeble relics of them, repaired thither. The sacrificators, priests, and citizens, pale and emaciated, came forward with tottering steps to the altar. The soldier, without his cuirass, advanced slowly, resting upon his javelin for a staff: scarcely could he lift his eyes to the eagle of his battalion. The old men and women, leaning on canes, led their children by the hand. Young and old, sick and convalescent, all mope on, rather than march. No one had strength to raise his voice, and this puissant Roman people, the terror of Italy, resembled a troop of spectres which a Thessalian magician had evoked from Tartarus. "The libations were made, and the victims sacrificed. The high priest consulted the entrails, and shuddered as he looked upon them. He mounted the sacred tripod, but trembled to announce the truth which he felt commissioned to reveal. His eyes glistened and his mouth foamed. He stretched forth his arms, threw back his head, and, his hair standing erect with fright, raised the laurel which crowned him. But it was in vain that he struggled against a god; the deity both terrified and subdued him. Compelled to yield to his goadings, the trembling pontiff then pronounced these words: People, a frightful crime, which has gone unpunished, has brought upon your heads the wrath of the immortals. So long as this transgression remains unexpiated, so long as the guilty party shall live, do not hope that the gods will be appeased. Pestilence shall desolate your dwellings and ravage your walls so long as the blood of the good "He was proceeding when Romulus cast upon him a look of terror which stopped his speech. But at this moment, the heavens were obscured, the sun ceased to shine, and thick darkness covered the earth. A hundred thunders were heard, and it seemed as if the elements were waging war upon each other, and all nature was passing away in chaos. "The affrighted people fell on their knees, lifted their prayers, and expected death. But in a few moments the winds ceased, the darkness was dissipated, the sun shone forth through a cloudless sky, and the azure of heaven was again visible. Tranquillity was restored to the ele ments, and to the hearts of the people. The Romans looked upon each other, and found they were all there. Romulus only had disappeared. His guards, his courtiers |