Letters of Ciceroby Marcus Tullius CiceroTranslated by E. S. ShuckburghTHE letters of Cicero are of a very varied character. They range from the most informal communications with members of his family to serious and elaborate compositions which are practically treatises in epistolary form. A very large proportion of them were obviously written out of the mood of the moment, with no thought of the possibility of publication; and in these the style is comparatively relaxed and colloquial. Others, addressed to public characters, are practically of the same nature as his speeches, discussions of 　

THE RAVENTHE RAVENTHE RAVENTHE RAVENTHE RAVENEdgar Allan Poe1- Page 2-THE RAVENTHE RAVENTHE RAVENTHE RAVENOnce upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Overmany a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore While I nodded,nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently...　

THE MONKEY AND THE JELLY-FISHChildren must often have wondered why jelly-fishes have noshells, like so many of the creatures that are washed up everyday on the beach. In old times this was not so; the jelly-fishhad as hard a shell as any of them, but he lost it through hisown fault, as may be seen in this story.The sea-queen Otohime, whom you read of in the story ofUraschimatoro, grew suddenly very ill. The swiftest messengerswere sent hurrying to fetch the best doctors from every countryunder the sea, but it was all of no use; the queen grew rapidlyworse instead of better. Everyone had al　

History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 17by Thomas CarlyleTHE SEVEN-YEARS WAR: FIRST CAMPAIGN.1756-1757.Chapter I.WHAT FRIEDRICH HAD READ IN THE MENZEL DOCUMENTS.The ill-informed world, entirely unaware of what Friedrich had been studying and ascertaining, to his bitter sorrow, for four years past, was extremely astonished at the part he took in those French- English troubles; extremely provoked at his breaking out again into a Third Silesian War, greater than all the others, and kindling all Europe in such a way. The ill-informed world rang violently, then and long after, with a Controversy, "　

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hoodby Howard PylePREFACEFROM THE AUTHOR TO THE READERYou who so plod amid serious things that you feel it shame to giveyourself up even for a few short moments to mirth and joyousnessin the land of Fancy; you who think that life hath nought to do withinnocent laughter that can harm no one; these pages are not for you.Clap to the leaves and go no farther than this, for I tell you plainlythat if you go farther you will be scandalized by seeing good,sober folks of real history so frisk and caper in gay colors and motleythat you would not know them but for the names　

CHITRACHITRABY RABINDRANATH TAGOREA PLAY IN ONE ACT1- Page 2-CHITRAPREFACETHIS lyrical drama was written about twenty-five years ago. It isbased on the following story from the Mahabharata.In the course of his wanderings, in fulfilment of a vow of penance,Arjuna came to Manipur. There he saw Chitrangada, the beautiful...　

The Symposiumby XenophonTranslation by H. G. DakynsXenophon the Athenian was born 431 B.C. He was a pupil of Socrates. He marched with the Spartans, and was exiled from Athens. Sparta gave him land and property in Scillus, where he lived for many years before having to move once more, to settle in Corinth. He died in 354 B.C.The Symposium records the discussion of Socrates and company at a dinner given by Callias for the youth Autolycus. Dakyns believed that Plato knew of this work, and that it influenced him to some degree when he wrote his own "Symposium."THE SYMPOSIUM...　

Deruesby Alexandre Dumas, PereOne September afternoon in 1751, towards half-past five, about a score of small boys, chattering, pushing, and tumbling over one another like a covey of partridges, issued from one of the religious schools of Chartres. The joy of the little troop just escaped from a long and wearisome captivity was doubly great: a slight accident to one of the teachers had caused the class to be dismissed half an hour earlier than usual, and in consequence of the extra work thrown on the teaching staff the brother whose duty it was to see all the scholars safe home was compelled　

History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 16By Thomas CarlyleBOOK XVI.THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE.1746-1756.Chapter I.SANS-SOUCI.Friedrich has now climbed the heights, and sees himself on the upper table-land of Victory and Success; his desperate life-and- death struggles triumphantly ended. What may be ahead, nobody knows; but here is fair outlook that his enemies and Austria itself have had enough of him. No wringing of his Silesia from this "bad Man." Not to be overset, this one, by never such exertions; oversets US, on the contrary, plunges us heels-over-head into the ditch, so often as we like to 　

CHAPTER XIWho Stole the Tarts?The King and Queen of Hearts were seated on their throne whenthey arrived, with a great crowd assembled about themall sortsof little birds and beasts, as well as the whole pack of cards:the Knave was standing before them, in chains, with a soldier oneach side to guard him; and near the King was the White Rabbit,with a trumpet in one hand, and a scroll of parchment in theother. In the very middle of the court was a table, with a largedish of tarts upon it: they looked so good, that it made Alice...　

Many a blond, northern moonrise,like a muted reflection, will softlyremind me and remind me again and again.It will be my bride, my alter ego.An incentive to find myself. I myselfam the moonrise of the south.　　-Paul Klee, The Tunisian Diaries　　Prologue　　It was just past midday, not long before the third summons to prayer, that Ammar ibn Khairan passed through the Gate of the Bells and entered the palace of Al-Fontina in Silvenes to kill the last of the khalifs of Al-Rassan.　　Passing into the Court of Lions he came to the three sets of double doors and paused before those that led to the garde　

　　Even before the events in the supermarket, Jim Ironheart should have known trouble was ing. During the night he dreamed of being pursued across a field by a flock of large blackbirds that shrieked around him in a turbulent flapping of wings and tore at him with hooked beaks as precisely honed as surgical scalpels. When he woke and was unable to breathe, he shuffled onto the balcony in his pajama bottoms to get some fresh air.　At nine-thirty in the morning, the temperature, already ninety degrees, only contributed to the sense of suffocation with which he had awakened.　A long shower and a sh　

　　CHAPTER I　　SECRET PAPER-WORK　　THE TWO thirty-eights roared simultaneously.　The walls of the underground room took the crash of sound and batted it to and fro between them until there was silence. James Bond watched the smoke being sucked from each end of the room towards the central Ventaxia fan. The memory in his right hand of how he had drawn and fired with one sweep from the left made him confident. He broke the chamber sideways out of the Colt Detective Special and waited, his gun pointing at the floor, while the Instructor walked the twenty yards towards him through the half-light of t　

　　　　　　PERRY MASON-fighting attorney, who preferred being paid off as a sheep to being double-crossed like a lamb　　DELLA STREET-who was a faithful Girl Friday (also Sunday and Monday, if not quite always)　　EVA GRIFFIN-well groomed and well heeled, who was a phony　　HARRISON BURKE-Congressman, whose Duty to the People was to keep them from knowing he was mixed up in murder　　FRANK LOCKE-editor of Spicy Bits, who was Southern, but no gentleman　　PAUL DRAKE-who turned up some interesting information on Georgia peaches and sons of same　　SIDNEY DRUMM-who put himself out on a limb of the tree Perry Mas　

Ali PachaBy Alexander Dumas, pereCHAPTER IThe beginning of the nineteenth century was a time of audacious enterprises and strange vicissitudes of fortune. Whilst Western Europe in turn submitted and struggled against a sub-lieutenant who made himself an emperor, who at his pleasure made kings and destroyed kingdoms, the ancient eastern part of the Continent; like mummies which preserve but the semblance of life, was gradually tumbling to pieces, and getting parcelled out amongst bold adventurers who skirmished over its ruins. Without mentioning local revolts which produced only short-lived 　

THE NIXY[15][15] From the German. Kletke.There was once upon a time a miller who was very well off, andhad as much money and as many goods as he knew what to do with.But sorrow comes in the night, and the miller all of a suddenbecame so poor that at last he could hardly call the mill inwhich he sat his own. He wandered about all day full of despairand misery, and when he lay down at night he could get no rest,but lay awake all night sunk in sorrowful thoughts.One morning he rose up before dawn and went outside, for hethought his heart would be lighter in the open air. As he...