Famous Men of Ancient Times

Оглавление

Goodrich Samuel Griswold. Famous Men of Ancient Times

PREFACE

MOHAMMED

BELISARIUS

ATTILA, KING OF THE HUNS

NERO

LUCIUS ANNÆUS SENECA

VIRGIL

CICERO

CAIUS JULIUS CÆSAR

HANNIBAL

ALEXANDER, KING OF MACEDON

ARISTOTLE

DEMOSTHENES

APELLES

DIOGENES

PLATO

SOCRATES

ALCIBIADES

DEMOCRITUS

PERICLES

ARISTIDES

ÆSOP

SOLON

LYCURGUS

HOMER

CONFUCIUS

Отрывок из книги

This individual, who has exercised a greater influence upon the opinions of mankind than any other human being, save, perhaps, the Chinese philosopher Confucius, was born at Mecca, in Arabia, A. D. 570. He was the only son of Abdallah, of the noble line of Hashem and tribe of Koreish – descendants of Ishmael the reputed progenitor of the Arabian race.

The Koreishites were not only a commercial people, and rich by virtue of their operations in trade, but they were the hereditary guardians of the Caaba, or Kaaba, a heathen temple at Mecca. The custody of this sacred place, together with all the priestly offices, belonged to the ancestors of Mohammed.

.....

This ready obedience dissipated the suspicions of the emperor, and he made ample and prompt reparation for his unfounded jealousy. Medals were struck by his orders, bearing on one side the effigy of the emperor, and on the other that of the victorious general, encircled by the inscription, Belisarius, the glory of the Romans. Beside this, the honors of a triumph were decreed him, the first ever witnessed in the Eastern capital.

The ceremony was in the highest degree imposing. The triumphal procession marched from the house of Belisarius to the hippodrome,2 filled with exulting thousands, where Justinian and Theodora sat enthroned. Among the Vandal captives, Gelimer was distinguished by the purple of a sovereign. He shed no tears, but frequently repeated the words of Solomon, "Vanity of vanities: all is vanity." When he reached the imperial throne, and was commanded to cast aside the ensigns of royalty, Belisarius hastened to do the same, to show him that he was to undergo no insult as a prisoner, but only to yield the customary homage of a subject. We may pause for a moment to reflect upon the caprices of fortune, which had raised a comedian, in the person of Theodora, to see the successor of Genseric and Scipio prostrate as slaves before her footstool.

.....