Cassius, because in the agrarian donation he sought popularity among the allies, and was therefore lowered in the estimation of his countrymen, in order that by another donation he might conciliate their affections, ordered that the money received for the Sicilian corn should be refunded to the people.
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy

"When they have no leaves and look gray and brown and dry, how can you tell whether they are dead or alive?" inquired Mary.
— from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Then, without circumlocution or apology, first pronounced the word “Standish,” and placing the unknown engine, already described, to his mouth, from which he drew a high, shrill sound, that was followed by an octave below, from his own voice, he commenced singing the following words, in full, sweet, and melodious tones, that set the music, the poetry, and even the uneasy motion of his ill-trained beast at defiance; “How good it is, O see, And how it pleaseth well, Together e'en in unity, For brethren so to dwell.
— from The Last of the Mohicans; A narrative of 1757 by James Fenimore Cooper

When he took his leave, late in the evening, from the mujlis of our elders, I would buttonhole and drag him to our school room.
— from My Reminiscences by Rabindranath Tagore

He was the first, amongst so many valiant men of the army, to run to the relief of Alcibiades, oppressed with the enemy, to shield him with his own body, and disengage him from the crowd by absolute force of arms.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

Above all, arithmetic stirs up him who is by nature sleepy and dull, and makes him quick to learn, retentive, shrewd, and aided by art divine he makes progress quite beyond his natural powers (compare Republic).
— from Laws by Plato

This was not a boast, but a hope, at once bold and devoutly humble, that he might bring the Muse (but lately come to Italy from her cloudy Grecian mountains), not to the capital, the palatia Romana, but to his own little I country’; to his father’s fields, ‘sloping down to the river and to the old beech trees with broken tops.’
— from My Antonia by Willa Cather

The gadgets either stopped functioning or ceased to function properly and the false face became a dissolving, hideous caricature; that bore little or no resemblance to the human countenance in repose, or even to the human countenance convulsed with sudden shock.
— from Space Station 1 by Frank Belknap Long

[79] mentioned to a friend of my own the following anecdote:—"What you say of the bishop may be very true" (they were riding past his grounds at the time, which had turned the conversation upon his character and public claims): "but to us " (Lord Holland meant to the Whig party) "he was truly honourable and faithful; insomuch that my uncle" (meaning, of course, Charles Fox) "had agreed with Lord Grenville to make him Archbishop of York, sede vacante ;—all was settled; and, had we staid in [Pg 199] power a little longer, he would, beyond a doubt, have had that dignity."
— from The Collected Writing of Thomas De Quincey, Vol. II by Thomas De Quincey

The former was forced over on his back, and despite his utmost exertions, was unable to remove his assailant’s hand from his mouth.
— from Young Auctioneers; Or, The Polishing of a Rolling Stone by Edward Stratemeyer

One evening, plumb tuckered out—it had been a dreadful hard hot day, and the bread wouldn't raise and the churning had gone wrong, and I was all irritated and jerky—well, that evening I made mention to dad of this wanting to run of mine.
— from The Night-Born by Jack London

"Guly," said the elder of the two, suddenly throwing his right arm around the slight figure of his brother, and drawing him closer to him, "tell me what makes you silent and thoughtful at this moment, when the scene of our future action lies before us, and our destination is gained.
— from The Brother Clerks A Tale of New-Orleans by Mary Ashley Townsend

There being a delay, he chid the headsman, 'I prithee, let me see it!'
— from Sir Walter Ralegh: A Biography by W. (William) Stebbing

IMG A neighbor had come with a boat, and dragged him ashore, and he had taken off his wet clothes, hung them on the fence to dry, put on some dry clothes, and he was smoking his pipe and wringing the water out of his wet pants, when the red-headed boy came out to inquire into the marine disaster.
— from Peck's Uncle Ike and The Red Headed Boy 1899 by George W. (George Wilbur) Peck

They bound his hands behind his back, and drove him before them on foot as he was, half-dead with fatigue and sickness.
— from Lords of the World: A story of the fall of Carthage and Corinth by Alfred John Church

They were the words of wisdom, for before many hours had passed Vane was delirious and fighting to get out of bed and defend himself against an enemy always attacking him with a stick.
— from The Weathercock: Being the Adventures of a Boy with a Bias by George Manville Fenn

His sons were now growing up—Albert was nearly eighteen, and Peter, though a year younger, looked a full-grown man, with his immense build and dark hairy skin.
— from Sussex Gorse: The Story of a Fight by Sheila Kaye-Smith