ページの画像
PDF
ePub

SELECTIONS FOR COMPOSITION

AND TRANSLATION,

IN PROSE AND VERSE,

FOR THE USE OF THE HIGHER CLASSES IN

CHELTENHAM COLLEGE.

Fifth Series.

BY

THE REV. W. DOBSON, M. A.,

PRINCIPAL.

LONDON:

SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., STATIONERS' HALL COURT.

CHELTENHAM :

JOHN LOVESY, PROMENADE.

LOVESY, PRINTER,

PROMENADE, CHELTENHAM.

SELECTIONS FOR COMPOSITION.

MONDAY, August 9.

Into English Prose.

SCRIBIT se Appium a Dolabella accusatum moleste ferre, certe tamen sperare fore ut absolvatur, in eoque periculo omnia ei officia promittit, 1. Deinde legationes, Appii laudandi causa ex provincia missas, a se impeditas non esse multis verbis demonstrat, 2. Narrationem de iis quæ pro Appii dignitate egerit, et acturus sit subjungit, 3. Eumque mox censorem futurum esse sperat, 4.

M. T. CICERO APPIO PULCHRO, S. D.

Quum est ad nos allatum de temeritate eorum, qui tibi negotium facesserent, etsi graviter primo nuntio commotus sum, quod nihil tam præter opinionem meam accidere potuit: tamen, ut me collegi, cetera mihi facillima videbantur, quod et in te ipso maximam spem, et in tuis magnam habebam; multaque mihi veniebant in mentem, quam ob rem istum laborem tibi etiam honori putarem fore. Illud plane moleste tuli quod certissimum et justissimum triumphum hoc invidorum consilio esse tibi ereptum videbam. Quod tu si tanti facies, quanti ego semper judicavi faciendum esse: facies sapienter, et ages victor ex inimicorum dolore triumphum justissimum. Ego enim plane video fore, nervis, opibus, sapientia tua, vehementer ut inimicos tuos pœniteat intemperantiæ suæ. De me tibi sic, contestans omnes deos, promitto, atque confirmo, me pro tua dignitate (sic enim malo dicere, quam pro salute) in hac provincia, cui tu præfuisti, rogando deprecatoris, laborando propinqui, auctoritate cari hominis (ut spero) apud civitates, gravitate imperatoris

suscepturum officia atque partes. Omnia volo a me et postules, et exspectes; vincam meis officiis cogitationes tuas. Q. Servilius perbreves mihi a te literas reddidit, quæ mihi tamen nimis longæ visæ sunt. Injuriam enim mihi fieri putabam, quum rogabar. Nollem accidisset tempus, in quo perspicere posses, quanti te, quanti Pompeium, quem unum ex omnibus facio, ut debeo, plurimi, quanti Brutum facerem; quamquam in consuetudine quotidiana perspexisses, sicut perspicies; sed, quoniam accidit, si quid a me prætermissum erit, commissum facinus, et admissum dedecus confitebor. Pomptinius, qui a te tractatus est præstanti, ac singulari fide, cujus tui beneficii sum ego testis, præstat tibi memoriam, benivolentiamque, quam debet; qui, quum maximis rebus suis coactus a me invitissimo decessisset, tamen ut vidit interesse tua, conscendens jam navem, Epheso Laodiceam revertit. Talia te quum studia videam habiturum esse innumerabilia, plane dubitare non possum, quin tibi amplitudo ista sollicitudo futura sit. Si vero efficis, ut censores creentur, et si ita gesseris censuram, ut et debes, et potes: non tibi solum, sed tuis omnibus video in perpetuum summo te præsidio futurum.

Cicero to Appius.

WEDNESDAY, August 11.

Into Latin Elegiacs.

The sun had chased the winter's snow,
And kindly loosed the frost-bound soil;
The melting streams began to flow,
And plowmen urged their annual toil.

'Twas then, amid the vernal throng,
Whom nature wakes to mirth and love,
A blackbird rais'd his am'rous song,
And thus it echoed through the grove:

O fairest of the feathered train,

For whom I sing, for whom I burn,
Attend with pity to my strain,

And grant my love a kind return.

See, see, the winter's storms are flown,
And zephyrs gently fan the air;
Let us the genial influence own,
Let us the vernal pastime share.

Anonymous.

FRIDAY, August 13.

Into Latin Prose.

And as society is in its own nature an instrument of happiness, so is it made much more so by the indigencies and infirmities of men. Man, of all creatures in the world, is least qualified to live alone, because there is no creature that has so many necessities to be relieved. And this I take to be one of the great arts of Providence, to secure mutual amity, and the reciprocation of good turns in the world, it being the nature of indigency, like common danger, to endear men to one another, and make them herd together like fellow-sailors in a storm. And this indeed is the true case of mankind; we all sail in one bottom, and in a rough sea, and stand in need of one another's help at every turn, both for the necessities and refreshments of life. And therefore I am very far from commending the undertaking of those Ascetics, that out of a pretence of keeping themselves unspotted from the world, take up their quarters in deserts, and utterly abandon all human society. This is, in short, to say no more of it, to put themselves into an incapacity either of doing any good to the world, or of receiving any from it; and certainly that can be no desirable state. No, this eremetical way of living is utterly inconsistent with the circumstances and inclinations of human nature; he must be a god, self-sufficient and independent, that is fit for this state of absolute and perfect solitude, and in this rigorous sense, it is not good for man (though in Paradise itself) to be alone.-Norris.

MONDAY, August 16.

Into Latin Hexameters.

Let other lands the potent blessings boast
Of more exalting suns: let Asia's woods,

« 前へ次へ »