Ant.

Wert thou to proffer what I do not ask,—

Thy poor assistance, I would scorn it now.

Act as thou wilt; I'll bury him myself;

Let me perform but that, and death is welcome.
I'll do the pious deed, and lay me down.
By my dear brother; loving and beloved,
We'll rest together: to the powers below
'Tis fit we pay obedience; longer there
We must remain, than we can breathe on earth;
There I shall dwell forever; thou, meantime,
What the gods hold most precious mayst despise.
Ism. I reverence the gods; but, in defiance
Of laws, and unassisted, to do this,

Ism.

I beg thee, do not!

Ant.

Alas!

Tremble for thyself,

Oh, do not tell thy purpose,

I shall ne'er betray thee.

I'd have it known; and I shall hate thee more

For thy concealment, than if loud to all

Thou wouldst proclaim the deed.

Too daring, and ill-suited to thy fate.

Ant. I know my duty, and I'll pay it there

Where 'twill be best accepted.

Ism.

Couldst thou do it;

When I know that,

But 'tis not in thy power.

Ant.

It will be time enough to quit my purpose.

Ism. It cannot be; 'tis folly to attempt it.

Ant. Go on, and I shall hate thee: our dead brother,

He too shall hate thee as his bitterest foe.

Go, leave me here to suffer for my rashness;
Whate'er befalls, it cannot be so dreadful
As not to die with honor.

Since thou wilt have it so; and know, Ismene
Pities thy weakness, but admires thy virtue.

[Exeunt.

SOPHOCLES.

NYDIA AND IONE*

(A room in the house of Ione.

Ione seated.

Enter Nydia.

Nydia delivers Glaucus's message of love.)

Nydia. I may give these flowers to none but thee. This will, perhaps, explain why he who sent me chose so unworthy a messenger to Ione.

Ione.

utter.

ence.

[Gives to Ione a lettter from Glaucus. "Glaucus to Ione sends more than he dares to For five days I have been banished from thy presDeign to see me, to listen to me, and after that exclude me if thou wilt. I meant not so soon to say I loved. But those words rush to my heart-they will have way. We met first at the shrine of Pallas; shall we not meet before a softer and a more ancient altar?

I send these flowers by one her own sake, if not for mine.

whom thou wilt receive for She, like us, is a stranger.

Less happy than we, she is blind and a slave. I ask permission to place her with thee. She is skilled in music, and is a very Chloris to the flowers. She thinks thou wilt love her if thou dost not, send her back to me.

Let me be bold, Ione. Can it be that Arbaces hath wronged me to thee? I think it, for I left him with thee. * Adapted from "The Last Days of Pompeii."

Since then, thou hast not admitted me.

Believe nothing

that he can say.

Farewell.

GLAUCUS."

Wilt thou sit while I write an answer to this letter?

What is thy name, fair girl?

Nydia. They call me Nydia.
Ione. Your country?

Nydia. The land of Olympus-Thessaly.

Ione. Thou shalt be to me a friend, as thou art already a countrywoman. Meanwhile, I beseech thee, stand not on these cold marbles. Now I can leave thee for an instant.

[Exit Ione.

(Re-enter Ione.)

Nydia. You have written to Glaucus?

Ione. I have.

Nydia. And will he thank the messenger who gives him thy letter? The lightest word of coldness from thee will sadden him-the lightest kindness rejoice. If it be the last, let me take thy answer back. I will return this evening.

Ione. Glaucus is amiable in thy eyes?

Nydia. Noble Ione, Glaucus has been that to me which neither fortune nor the gods have been-a friend!

Ione. Why should I blush to say that Glaucus is worthy of thy gratitude? Go, my Nydia-take to him thyself this letter-but return again. Nydia, I have no sister, wilt thou be one to me?

Nydia. One favor, fair Ione. They tell me thou art beautiful beyond the loveliness of earth. I cannot see. Wilt thou suffer me to pass my hand over thy face?

is my sole criterion of beauty.

That

I know now that thou art beautiful, and I can picture thee to my darkness forever.

LORD LYTTON.

DIVISION III

INTERPRETIVE READING OR SPEAKING THAT
APPEALS TO THE WILL.

The steps in Division III. appeal not only to the understanding and the emotions, but also to the will of the audience. The purpose of oratory is to mold thought, and to persuade men to a course of action. An orator must exert his own will, and must move the wills of others.

The steps in this division are as follows:

I. Directness.

II. Vigor or strength.

III. Seriousness.

IV. Alliance with the audience.

V. Persuasion.

Chapter I

Directness

Take an easy, dignified position. Gain the attention of your audience by speaking directly to them, not at them, in natural conversational tones. Think of the audience as a unit rather than as individuals. This will overcome the

tendency to pivot the head and body.

Speak extemporaneously when alone, and, when possible, before an audience. But do not speak unless you have something to say. Say what you have to say simply and directly.

TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE*

If I stood here to-night to tell you the story of Napoleon, I should take it from the lips of Frenchmen, who find no language rich enough to paint the great captain of the nineteenth century. Were I here to tell you the story of Washington, I should take it from your hearts,-you, who think no marble white enough on which to carve the name of the Father of his Country. I am to tell you the story of a negro, who has left hardly one written line. I am to glean it from the reluctant testimony of Britons, Frenchmen, Spaniardsmen who despised him as a negro and a slave, and hated him because he had beaten them in many a battle.

Cromwell manufactured his own army; Napoleon, at the age of twenty-seven,-was placed at the head of the best troops Europe ever saw. Cromwell never saw an army till he was forty; this man never saw a soldier till he was fifty. Cromwell manufactured his own army-out of what? Englishmen, the best blood in Europe. Out of the middle class of Englishmen, the best blood of the island. And with it he conquered what? Englishmen, their equals. This man manufactured his army out of what? Out of what you call the despicable race of negroes, debased, demoralized by two hundred years of slavery, one hundred thousand of them imported into the island within four years, unable to speak a dialect intelligible even to each other. Yet out of this mixed, and, as you say, despicable mass, he forged a thunderbolt and hurled it at what? At the proudest blood in Europe, the Spaniard, and sent him home conquered; at the most warlike blood in Europe, the French, and put them under his feet; at the pluckiest blood in Europe, the English, and they skulked home to Jamaica.

*By permission of the publishers, Messrs. Lee & Shepard.