"Come back, come back, Horatius!" Loud cried the Fathers all; "Back, Lartius! back, Herminius! Back, ere the ruin fall!"

Back darted Spurius Lartius;
Herminius darted back;

And, as they passed, beneath their feet
They felt the timbers crack.
But when they turned their faces,

And on the farther shore

Saw brave Horatius stand alone,

They would have crossed once more.

But, with a crash like thunder,

Fell every loosened beam,

And, like a dam, the mighty wreck
Lay right athwart the stream;
And a long shout of triumph
Rose from the walls of Rome,

As to the highest turret-tops
Was splashed the yellow foam.

Alone stood brave Horatius,

But constant still in mind; Thrice thirty thousand foes before, And the broad flood behind.

"Down with him!" cried false Sextus,
With a smile on his pale face.
"Now yield thee!" cried Lars Porsena
"Now yield thee to our grace."

Round turned he, as not deigning
Those craven ranks to see;
Naught spake he to Lars Porsena,
To Sextus naught spake he;
But he saw on Palatinus

The white porch of his home;

And he spake to the noble river

66

That rolls by the towers of Rome ;

"O Tiber! Father Tiber!

To whom the Roman's pray!
A Roman's life, a Roman's arms,
Take thou in charge this day!
So he spake, and, speaking, sheathed
The good sword by his side,
And, with his harness on his back,
Plunged headlong in the tide.

No sound of joy or sorrow

Was heard from either bank; But friends and foes, in dumb surprise, With parted lips and straining eyes, Stood gazing where he sank;

And when above the surges

They saw his crest appear,

All Rome sent forth a rapturous cry,
And even the ranks of Tuscany
Could scarce forbear to cheer.

"Out on him!" quoth false Sextus;
"Will not the villain drown?
But for this stay, ere close of day

We should have sacked the town!"
"Heaven help him!" quoth Lars Porsena,
"And bring him safe to shore ;
For such a gallant feat of arms
Was never seen before."

And now the ground he touches,
Now on dry earth he stands;
Now round him throng the Fathers,
press his gory hands;

To

And now, with shouts and clapping,
And noise of weeping loud,
He enters through the River Gate,
Borne by the joyous crowd.

-T. B. MACAULAY.

From "Horatius."

THE GODS OF ANCIENT GREECE

LONG, long ago, there lived, in the land which we call Greece, a race of brave men and beautiful women. They thought their own land the best and the fairest in the world; and as they watched the sunsets and the rising of the moon and all the other beautiful things that nature showed them, they were filled with awe and wonder. So they said, "There must be some mighty people living above us, who rule the sun and the moon and the stars and the oceans and the rivers and the woods. They are great and happy and good, and they live forever; and from them come all our joys and sorrows. Let us worship them and sing of them." And they called these mighty people gods and goddesses.

JUPITER.

In the central part of Greece there stood a lofty mountain called Olympus. Its sides were covered