Dorian
CHAPTER ONE. Dorian Trent was going to town to buy himself a pair of shoes. He had some other errands to perform for himself and his mother, but the reason for his going to town was the imperative need of shoes. It was Friday afternoon. The coming Sunday he must appear decently shod, so his mother had told him, at the same time hinting at some other than the Sunday reason. He now had the money, three big, jingling silver dollars in his pocket. Dorian whistled cheerfully as he trudged along the road. It was a scant three miles to town, and he would rather walk that short distance than to be bothered with a horse. When he took Old Nig, he had to keep to the main-traveled road straight into town, then tie him to a post--and worry about him all the time; but afoot and alone, he could move along as easily as he pleased, linger on the canal bank or cut cross-lots through the fields to the river, cross it on the footbridge, then go on to town by the lower meadows. The road was dusty that afternoon, and the sun was hot. It would be
insisted that he must first, if that was his wish, resign the command of
his army, come to Rome, and present himself as a candidate in the
character of a private citizen. This the constitution of the state very
properly required. In answer to this requisition, Caesar rejoined, that,
if Pompey would lay down his military commands, he would do so too; if
not, it was unjust to require it of him. The services, he added, which
he had performed for his country, demanded some recompense, which,
moreover, they ought to be willing to award, even if, in order to do it,
it were necessary to relax somewhat in his favor the strictness of
ordinary rules. To a large part of the people of the city these demands
of Caesar appeared reasonable. They were clamorous to have them allowed.
The partisans of Pompey, with the stern and inflexible Cato at their
head, deemed them wholly inadmissible, and contended with the most
determined violence against them. The whole city was filled with the
excitement of this struggle, into which all the active and turbulent
spirits of the capital plunged with the most furious zeal, while the
more considerate and thoughtful of the population, remembering the days
of Marius and Sylla, trembled at the impending danger. Pompey himself
had no fear. He urged the Senate to resist to the utmost all of Caesar's
claims, saying, if Caesar should be so presumptuous as to attempt to
march to Rome, he could raise troops enough by stamping with his foot to
put him down.
[Sidenote: Debates in the Senate.]
[Sidenote: Tumult and confusion.]
[Sidenote: Panic at Rome.]
CHAPTER ONE. Dorian Trent was going to town to buy himself a pair of shoes. He had some other errands to perform for himself and his mother, but the reason for his going to town was the imperative need of shoes. It was Friday afternoon. The coming Sunday he must appear decently shod, so his mother had told him, at the same time hinting at some other than the Sunday reason. He now had the money, three big, jingling silver dollars in his pocket. Dorian whistled cheerfully as he trudged along the road. It was a scant three miles to town, and he would rather walk that short distance than to be bothered with a horse. When he took Old Nig, he had to keep to the main-traveled road straight into town, then tie him to a post--and worry about him all the time; but afoot and alone, he could move along as easily as he pleased, linger on the canal bank or cut cross-lots through the fields to the river, cross it on the footbridge, then go on to town by the lower meadows. The road was dusty that afternoon, and the sun was hot. It would be