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William H. Herndon, Jesse William Weik, Herndon's Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life, Etiam in minimis major, The History and Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln by William H. Herndon, for twenty years his friend and Jesse William Weik, Chapter 14. (search)
st his inclination to superstition. He held most firmly to the doctrine of fatalism all his life. His wife, after his death, told me what I already knew, that his only philosophy was, what is to be will be, and no prayers of ours can reverse the decree. He always contended that he was doomed to a sad fate, and he repeatedly said to me when we were alone in our office: I am sure I shall meet with some terrible end. In proof of his strong leaning towards fatalism he once quoted the case of Brutus and Caesar, arguing that the former was forced by laws and conditions over which he had no control to kill the latter, and, vice versa, that the latter was specially created to be disposed of by the former. This superstitious view of life ran through his being like the thin blue vein through the whitest marble, giving the eye rest from the weariness of continued unvarying color. I have heard him frequently quote the couplet, There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how
John G. Nicolay, A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln, condensed from Nicolay and Hayes' Abraham Lincoln: A History, Chapter 37. (search)
omac. Arriving on the Virginia side, they lived the lives of hunted animals for two or three days longer, finding to their horror that they were received by the strongest Confederates with more of annoyance than enthusiasm, though none, indeed, offered to betray them. Booth had by this time seen the comments of the newspapers on his work, and bitterer than death or bodily suffering was the blow to his vanity. He confided his feelings of wrong to his diary, comparing himself favorably with Brutus and Tell, and complaining: I am abandoned, with the curse of Cain upon me, when, if the world knew my heart, that one blow would have made me great. On the night of April 25, he and Herold were surrounded by a party under Lieutenant E. P. Doherty, as they lay sleeping in a barn belonging to one Garrett, in Caroline County, Virginia, on the road to Bowling Green. When called upon to surrender, Booth refused. A parley took place, after which Doherty told him he would fire the barn. At th
Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Poetry and Incidents., Volume 2. (ed. Frank Moore), chapter 222 (search)
81. a vision in the Forum. by Thomas Buchanan read. I stood within the Forum, and I saw The great triumphal temples, marble white, Spring into splendor, without stain or flaw, A world-wide wonder and the land's delight. Then came the great Deliverer, and his way Was arched with banners and o'erstrewn with flowers, And jubilant clarions proudly seemed to say, “United Italy once more is ours!” “United Italy!” I cried, and thrust My voice amid the tumult of the rest, When suddenly pale Brutus from the dust Arose, and pointed to the blushing West. The gladness died within me, for behold, I saw a vision on the sunset shore: A lovely woman, made by anger bold, In maniac rage her starry mantle tore. Sweet Peace, affrighted at her brow of ire, Sped wildly far, and broke her olive wand, While Discord entered with her scourge of fire, And flaming War made bare his bloody brand. And Liberty, with sad averted head, Fled from her presence, weeping as she flew; While crowned Tyranny rus
Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 8. (ed. Frank Moore), chapter 43 (search)
the time we reached the top of Nobby Mountain, within seven miles of New-Creek, the weather became so intolerable that we turned back, and coming on through Romney, thence through gorges and over mountains of ice, toiling for several days, we reached the valley. The object of the expedition was, I believe, to get cattle. Six hundred of these and about three hundred horses, thirty wagons, and three hundred and twenty mules — not to mention about one hundred Yankees — were the fruits of this expedition. When it is remembered what natural obstacles were encountered and overcome, what a Siberian icebergian spell of weather reigned during the whole trip, it will be a matter of surprise that the trip was made at all, without considering the importance of its results. Dr. Johnson said: The wonder is not that bears dance so well, but that they dance at all. So it may truly be said of this expedition, that the wonder is not that it was done so well, but that it was done at all. Brutus
Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 1. (ed. Frank Moore), chapter 39 (search)
n of the President-elect, even at the cost of his life. The characters and pursuits of the conspirators were various. Some of them were impelled by a fanatical zeal which they termed patriotism, and they justified their acts by the example of Brutus, in ridding his country of a tyrant. One of them was accustomed to recite passages put into the mouth of the character of Brutus, in Shakspeare's play of Julius Caesar. Others were stimulated by the offer of pecuniary reward. These, it was obsBrutus, in Shakspeare's play of Julius Caesar. Others were stimulated by the offer of pecuniary reward. These, it was observed, staid away from their usual places of work for several weeks prior to the intended assault. Although their circumstances had previously rendered them dependent on their daily labor for support, they were during this time abundantly supplied with money, which they squandered in bar-rooms and disreputable places. After the discovery of the plot, a strict watch was kept by the agents of detection over the movements of the conspirators, and efficient measures were adopted to guard against
Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 1. (ed. Frank Moore), chapter 77 (search)
mmand the public peace. This is a great commercial city--one of the modern wonders of the earth. With all the great elements that surround her, with her commercial renown, with her architectural magnificence, with her enterprise and energy, she is capable of exercising a mighty power for good in silencing the angry waves of agitation. (Cheers.) While I would prosecute this war in a manner becoming a civilized and a Christian people, I would do so in no vindictive spirit. I would do it as Brutus set the signet to the death-warrant of his son--Justice is satisfied, and Rome is free. (Cheers.) I love my country; I love this Union. It was the first vision of my early years; it is the last ambition of my public life. Upon its altar I have surrendered my choicest hopes. I had fondly hoped that in approaching age it was to beguile my solitary hours, and I will stand by it as long as there is a Union to stand by--(cheers)--and when the ship of the Union shall crack and groan, when the
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), B. (search)
ier-pigeons is very ancient. On a temple-wall in Egypt there is a sculpture of the time of Rameses II. （1297 B. C.), representing that monarch proceeding in regal state to assume the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt; and in the procession a priest is seen releasing from a basket four carrier-pigeons, to announce the tidings to distant points. Ovid relates that Taurosthenes announced to his father in Aegeria, by a pigeon stained purple, that he had obtained the prize at the Olympic games. Brutus used pigeons for communicating with the inhabitants of Modena, during its siege by Mare Antony. When Ptolemais in Syria was invested by the French and Venetians, and was about to surrender, a carrierpigeon, bearing a message from the Sultan, was captured; the missive containing promises of assistance was removed, and one substituted in which the Sultan expressed no hope of being able to assist them. The surrender was immediate. Pigeons were of great use to the Dutch during the siege of L
Elias Nason, The Life and Times of Charles Sumner: His Boyhood, Education and Public Career., Chapter 17: (search)
idered that the declared object of this violence is the acquisition of foreign territory, being half an island in the Caribbean Sea; and, still further, that this violence has been employed, first, to prop and maintain a weak ruler, himself a usurper, upholding him in power that he might sell his country; and, secondly, it has been employed to menace the Black Republic of Hayti. He denounced Baez as a usurper who would sell his country, and said that the treaty was a violation of the Constitution of the United States, as well as of that of San Domingo. On the ensuing day Mr. Howe replied to Mr. Sumner, defending Baez; and he insinuated, in conclusion, that Mr. Sumner, Judaslike, was trying to stab the Republican party in the back. Replying to Mr. Howe, Carl Schurz in a very brilliant speech said, Mr. Sumner had plunged his dagger not into the Republican party, but into Caesarism; and we cannot forget that the world has agreed to pronounce Brutus the noblest Roman of them all.
Allan Pinkerton, The spy in the rebellion; being a true history of the spy system of the United States Army during the late rebellion, revealing many secrets of the war hitherto not made public, compiled from official reports prepared for President Lincoln , General McClellan and the Provost-Marshal-General ., Chapter 3: (search)
husiastic rhapsodies. His sleep became tormented with dreams in which he saw himself the martyr to a glorious cause and the savior of his country. At such times he would address himself to Howard, in the most extravagant language. I am destined to die, said he one day, shrouded with glory. I shall immortalize myself by plunging a knife into Lincoln's heart. Howard endeavored to calm his transports, but without avail. Raising himself to his full height, he exclaimed: Rome had her Brutus, why should not we? I swear to you, Howard, if it falls to me I will kill Lincoln before he reaches the Washington depot, not that I love Lincoln less, but my country more. As the day drew nearer for the arrival of the President, he became more nervous and excited, and would more frequently indulge in extravagant expressions, which would have been regarded as absurd, but for the fact that he was but one of a large number of fanatics, who seriously entertained the same ideas of murder, an
Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Book and heart: essays on literature and life, Chapter 4: a world outside of science (search)
the lesson of Darwin's limitations may be scarcely less valuable than that of his achievements. By his strength he revolutionized the world of science. By his weakness he gave evidence that there is a world outside of science. We cannot, on the one side, deny that Darwin represented the highest type of scientific mind. Nor can we, on the other, deny the value and validity of what he ignored. Of the studies that became extinguished in him, we can say, as Tacitus said when the images of Brutus and Cassius were not carried in the procession: Eo magis praefulgebant quia non visebantur; or, as Emerson yet more tersely translates it, They glared through their absences. It would be easy to multiply testimonies from high scientific authority to this limitation and narrowing of the purely scientific mind. One such recent testimony may be found in an important report of the head of the chemical department of Harvard University, Prof. Josiah P. Cooke; and another in that very remarkable
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