wicked men, according to the custom of tyrants; and drew from you, instead of your consent, your indignation. But, after he had possessed himself of the sorereignty, howsoever acquired, did he use it in a manner becoming a king, in imitation of his predecessors, the whole tenor of whose words and actions tended to aggrandize the city, and leave it more flourishing to posterity than they themselves had received it? What man in his senses can say this, when he sees in how miserable and cruel a manner we have all been treated!

I shall say nothing of the calamities we, who are patricians, suffer, which even our enemies could not hear without tears; since, from a numerous body, we are reduced to a few; from splendour to obscurity; and from afluent prosperity, to poverty, and extreme want. Of all those illustrious men, those formidable warriors, and great statesmen, by whose means our city once flou rished, some are put to death, and others banished. But what is your condition, plebeians? Has not Tarquinius taken away your laws? Has he not abolished your meetings, on account of religion and sacrifices? Has he not put an end to your elections of magistrates, to your right of voting, and to your assemblies for the affairs of the public? Does he not force you, like slaves purchased with money, to labour in a shameful manner, to cut stones, saw timber, carry burthens, and waste your strength in deep pits and subterraneous caverns, without allowing you the least respite from your miseries? What, then, will be the end of our calamities? How long shall we submit to these things? And when shall we recover our native liberty? When Tarquinius dies? To be sure! Shall we be in a better condition then? Shall we not be in a worse? for, instead of one Tarqui nius, we shall have three; all far morè abominable than their father. Since he, who, from a private man, became a tyrant, and began late to be wicked, is a perfect master in all tyrannical mischief; what kind of men may we expect these will prove, who are sprung from him; whose race is wicked, whose education is wicked, and who never had an opportunity of seeing or hearing any action that had the appearance of liberty or moderation? To this end, therefore, you may not guess at their accursed natures, but know with certainty what kind of

whelps the tyranny of Tarquinius nurses up for your destruction, behold the action of one of them, the eldest of the three,

This lady is the daughter of Spurius Lucretius, whom the tyrant, when he went to the war, appointed governor of the city; and the wife of Tarquinius Collatinus, a relation of the tyrant's, who has undergone many hardships for their sakes. This lady, who desired to preserve her virtue, and loved her husband, as becomes a good wife, Sextus being last night entertained at her house, as a relation, and Collatinus then absent, and in the camp, could not escape the ungovernable insolence of the ty ranny; but, like a captive, under the power of necessity, submitted to those things that ought not to be offered to a woman of free condition. Resenting this usage, and looking upon the abuse as intolerable, she acquainted her father, and the rest of her relations, with the ne- cessity she had been reduced to; and having intreated and conjured them all, in the most earnest manner, to revenge the indignity she had suffered, she drew the dagger she had concealed in her bosom, and, in her father's sight, citizens, plunged it in her own bowels! O thou admirable woman! great are the praises you deserve for your generous resolution! You are gone you are dead; you were unable to bear the tyrannical insult, and despised all the pleasures of life, to avoid being any -longer exposed to the like abuse. After this, Lucretia, when you, who were formed a woman, haye shewn the resolution of a brave mun, shall we, who were born men, shew less courage than women? To you, after you were deprived of your spotless chastity, through force, by the tyranny of one night, death appeared more amiable, and to promise greater happiness than life; and shall not we adopt the same sentiments, whom Tarquinius, not by a tyranny of one day only, but of twenty-five years, has deprived of all the pleasures of life, in depriving us of our liberty? We cannot live under these miseries, citizens; we, who are the descendants of those men who thought themselves worthy to give laws to others, and exposed themselves to many dangers for the sake of power and fame: so that we have all no other choice, than that of life, with liberty, or of death with glory. For the opportunity we wished for now 'presents itself: Tarqui

nius is absent from the city, the patricians are the authors of the enterprise, and no want of any thing, if we enter upon the action with alacrity; not of men, money, arms, generals, nor of any other military preparation; for the city is full of all these. Consider, then, what a shame it would be for us, who aim at giving laws to the Volsci, the Sabines, and several other nations, to suffer ourselves to be the slaves of others; and to undertake many wars, to gratify the ambition of Tarquinius, and not one to recover our own liberty.

What support, therefore, what assistance can we promise ourselves in this enterprise? This remains to be explained. Our first support is derived from a depen dance upon the gods, whose religion, temples, and altars, Tarquinius pollutes with hands stained with blood, and defiled with all the crimes he has committed against his subjects, every time he begins the sacrifices and libation. The next flows from our dependance upon our selves, who are neither few in number, nor unskilled in war. Besides these advantages, we may expect the as-> sistance of our allies; who, while they are not called upon by us, think it improper to enter into our affairs; but, if they see us acting the part of brave men, will cheerfully assist us in the war: for tyranny is odious to all who desire to be free. But, if any of you are afraid, lest the citizens who are in the camp with Tarquinius, should assist him, and make war upon us, they have no reason for that fear: for the tyranny is grievous to them also; and the desire of liberty is implanted by nature in the minds of all men, and every pretence for a change is sufficient for those who are compelled to bear hardships; and if you, by your votes, order them to assist their country, neither fear, nor favour, nor any other motives, that compel or persuade men to commit injustice, will retain them with the tyrants. But if the love of tyranny is rooted in any of them, through an evil disposition, or a corrupt education, as they certainly are not many, we will apply, even to these men, motives of so great force, as to transform them from wicked to good citi.. zens: for we have here their children, wives, and parents, as hostages, which are dearer to every man than his own life: by engaging to restore these to them, if they will desert the tyrant, and by passing a vote for the

impunity of the crimes they have been guilty of, we shall easily prevail upon them to join us. March, therefore, citizens, with confidence, and hopes of success, to this action, the most glorious you were ever engaged in. To your assistance, therefore, O gods of our ancestors! the propitious guardians of this land;-to yours, O genii! to whom the care of our fathers was allotted ;--and to yours, O Rome! the most favoured by the gods of all other cities, in which we received our birth and educa tion, we dedicate our counsels, our words, our actions, and our lives; ready to suffer every thing that heaven and fate shall decree. But I foresee that glorious enter. prise will be crowned with success. May all here pre sent, emboldened with the same confidence, and united in the same sentiments, both preserve you, and be pre served by you!

XL. From the funeral Oration of Lysias, in praise of the Athenians, who fell in assisting the Corin thians, during their war with Lacedaemon.

Ir it were within the reach of eloquence to do justice to the merit of those who lie here interred, the state, doubtless, would be blameable in allowing to the orators only a few days for their preparation. But since it is altogether impossible to compose a discourse adequate to so glorious a theme, I must rather admire the pene tration of our magistrates, who by assigning a short time for the execution of a task which could never be completely accomplished, have thus endeavoured to save the reputation of the speakers, and to cover them from a multitude of reproaches. It is my ambition, therefore, to rival, not the glory which your warriors have acquired, but the eloquence with which your orators have displayed it. The actions of the former afford a subject of pane gyric which all the praises of the latter can never fully exhaust; in every age, over seas and land, wherever mankind, subject to calamity and affliction, stand in nced of tender sympathy and generous assistance, the virtues of the humane and the brave will be admired; their exploits will be recorded, and their name and glory will

remain. But before I endeavour to do justice to such as have lately aspired at so distinguished a renown, I must, according to custom, relate the ancient dangers of our forefathers, not drawing my information from writ ten record, but from venerable traditionary fame, treasured in the heart and memory of every good citizen. It is the duty of all mankind to be mindful of our ances tors, to celebrate them with odes, to extol them with panegyrics, to honour them especially on such occasions as the present, that by praising the actions of the dead they may excite the virtues of the living.

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But it is difficult for one speaker to do justice to so extensive a subject, or properly to describe in one day the accumulated glory of ages. For what time, what orator, or what panegyric is sufficient to display the vir tue of those who lie interred here? By the most daring and splendid attempts, and with infinite fatigue and dan ger, they acquired liberty to Greece, and preeminence. for Athens. During seventy years in which, they continued masters of the sea, the fruits of their superiority were most conspicuous. No seditions in the Grecian cities; no attempts on the liberty of their allies; no state, I may say no individual, was allowed to domineer over his neighbour, but all were compelled to enjoy equal freedom and independence. They pursued no narrow, scheme for augmenting their relative strength, but invigo rating the absolute and common, strength of Greece, displayed it before the tyrant of Asia, now no longer intoxicated, with, his plans of ambition, but resigning part of his dominions, and trembling for the remainder. During all this period, no Persian vessel appeared in our Seas; no. tyrant reigned in Greece, no city was enslaved by the barbarians. Such was the moderation or respect with which the virtue of the Athenians inspired their neighbours; and, sp, well did their justice deserve that superiority which their valour had acquired.

Even their misfortunes afford additional evidence of their merit. The loss of the Athenian fleet in the Helles pont, whether through the fault of the commanders, or by a fatality of circumstances, was equally felt over all