But when the senate knew that Claudius was brought into the camp by the soldiers, they sent to him those of their body which had the best character for their virtues, that they might inform him that he ought to do nothing by violence, in order to gain the government; that he who was a single person, one either already or hereafter to be a member of their body, ought to yield to the senate, which consisted of so great a number; that he ought to let the law take place in the disposal of all that related to the public order, and to remember how greatly the former tyrants had afflicted their city, and what dangers both he and they had escaped under Caius; and that he ought not to hate the heavy burden of tyranny, when the injury is done by others, while he did himself willfully treat his country after a mad and insolent manner; that if he would comply with them, and demonstrate that his firm resolution was to live quietly and virtuously, he would have the greatest honors decreed to him that a free people could bestow; and by subjecting himself to the law, would obtain this branch of commendation, that he acted like a man of virtue, both as a ruler and a subject; but that if he would act foolishly, and learn no wisdom by Caius's death, they would not permit him to go on; that a great part of the army was got together for them, with plenty of weapons, and a great number of slaves, which they could make use of; that good hope was a great matter in such cases, as was also good fortune; and that the gods would never assist any others but those that undertook to act with virtue and goodness, who can be no other than such as fight for the liberty of their country.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus

They had both—even Mrs. Arbuthnot, lured for once away from perfect candour by the realization of the great saving of trouble and criticism an imperfect explanation would produce—they had both thought it would be a good plan to give out, each to her own circle, their circles being luckily distinct, that each was going to stay with a friend who had a house in Italy.
— from The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim

SHAKE LURK, a false paper carried by an impostor, giving an account of a “dreadful shipwreck.”
— from A Dictionary of Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words Used at the Present Day in the Streets of London; the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; the Houses of Parliament; the Dens of St. Giles; and the Palaces of St. James. by John Camden Hotten

The use of a piano in the orchestra (apart from pianoforte concertos) belongs almost entirely to the Russian school.
— from Principles of Orchestration, with Musical Examples Drawn from His Own Works by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov

It is also a most favourable circumstance for the production of distinct breeds, that male and female pigeons can be easily mated for life; and thus different breeds can be kept together in the same aviary.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, 6th Edition by Charles Darwin

153 For a final purpose cannot be commanded by any law of Reason without this latter at the same time promising, however uncertainly, its attainableness; and thus justifying our belief in the special conditions under which alone our Reason can think it as attainable.
— from Kant's Critique of Judgement by Immanuel Kant

On the farther side under the railway bridge Bloom appears, flushed, panting, cramming bread and chocolate into a sidepocket.
— from Ulysses by James Joyce

; the whole church, the partition betwixt the nuns’ church and parish church being taken down, remaineth now to the parish, and is a fair parish church, but wanteth such a steeple as Sir Thomas Gresham promised to have built, in recompense of [155] ground in their church filled up with his monument.
— from The Survey of London by John Stow

And by-and-by the yellow florets disappear, and are succeeded, each, by a feathery pappus, connected by a slender stalk with a seed, and serving as a wing to bear the seed away when the ripening time arrives.
— from The Chautauquan, Vol. 04, January 1884 A Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Promotion of True Culture. Organ of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle. by Chautauqua Institution

So, when Virgil is mentioned, we are not to understand the person of a famous poet called by that name; but only certain sheets of paper bound up in leather, containing in print the works of the said poet: and so of the rest.
— from The Battle of the Books, and other Short Pieces by Jonathan Swift

Violators of this decree shall be punished as follows: Princes, counts, barons, knights, clients, and all others of noble rank, shall suffer the penalties of perjury, and shall lose the fiefs which they hold of the emperor or any other lord, and all their other possessions; citizens and corporations shall also suffer the penalty for perjury, shall be deprived of all the rights, liberties, privileges, and graces which they have received from the empire, and shall incur the ban of the empire against their persons and property.
— from A Source Book for Mediæval History Selected Documents illustrating the History of Europe in the Middle Age by Oliver J. (Oliver Joseph) Thatcher

The aqueous solution is bitter, astringent, and of a fine purple colour; by cooling, it becomes milky and red.
— from The Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature and the Arts, July-December, 1827 by Various

Sixty per cent of the stands in the market halls are rented by the month and forty per cent by the day.
— from A Terminal Market System: New York's Most Urgent Need Some Observations, Comments, and Comparisons of European Markets by Madeleine Black

"I gained a few pounds, certainly, but I got to hate the very sight of it."
— from Juggernaut by Alice Campbell