Calendar: 1885-1886 Page 660

g52 GENERAL LITERATURE AND SCIENCE mea contemptus quotiens ad limina curres cum tibi singultu fortia uerba cadeut et tremulus maestis orietur fletibus horror et timor informem ducet in ore notam et quaecumque uoles ugient tibi uerba querenti nec poteris qui sis aut ubi nosse miser turn graue seruitium nostrae cogere puellae discere et exclusum quid sit abire domum nec iam pallorem totiens mirabere nostrum aut cur sim toto corpore nullus ego Propertius For Latin Prose Amasis general of the army finding he could not succeed by force resolved to reduce the city by fraud and to that end contrived this stratagem He opened broad trench in the night which he covered with slight planks of wood and by spreading surface of earth upon the timber rendered that part equal to the adjoining ground Early the next morning he demanded conference with the Barcaeans which they readily accepted because they were desirous to come to an accommodation and accordingly treaty was concluded on both sides and confirmed by oath on that spot of ground which was undermined importing That the agreement should continue in force as long as the earth on which they stood should remain in the present condition that the Barcaeans should pay competent tribute to the king and that the Persians should innovate nothing in Barca Under the faith of this treaty the Barcaeans opening their gates went frequently out of the city and received all the Persians who desired to be admitted But during this inter- course the Persians entered the place with all their forces after they had broken down the covering of the trench they had made which they did to free themselves from the obligation of the oath they had taken to the Barcaeans and supposed that upon the alteration they had made in that place they had likewise dissolved the force of their engagement Isaac Littlebury