The wardens of the country were sixty in number, and the wardens of the city will be three, and will divide the twelve parts of the city into three; like the former, they shall have care of the ways, and of the different high roads which lead out of the country into the city, and of the buildings, that they may be all made according to law;—also of the waters, which the guardians of the supply preserve and convey to them, care being taken that they may reach the fountains pure and abundant, and be both an ornament and a benefit to the city.
— from Laws by Plato

Up, and by and by, about eight o’clock, come Rear-Admiral Kempthorne and seven Captains more, by the Duke of York’s order, as we expected, to hold the Court-martiall about the loss of “The Defyance;” and so presently we by boat to “The Charles,” which lies over against Upnor Castle, and there we fell to the business; and there I did manage the business, the Duke of York having, by special order, directed them to take the assistance of Commissioner Middleton and me, forasmuch as there might be need of advice in what relates to the government of the ships in harbour.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

335 ; do the gods use them as messengers, or interpreters, or are they deceived by? 335 , etc.; we must reject the worship of, 338 ; are there any good, to whom the guardianship of the soul may be committed?
— from The City of God, Volume II by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

If that severe doom of [71] Synesius be true, it is a greater offence to steal dead men's labours, than their clothes, what shall become of most writers?
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

The rebel ranks were broken; when the mother and grandmother of the Syrian prince, who, according to their eastern custom, had attended the army, threw themselves from their covered chariots, and, by exciting the compassion of the soldiers, endeavored to animate their drooping courage.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

Some writers say*, that she was the good man's natural daughter; but that, to prevent a public scandal, he gave out that she was his niece by his sister, who upon her death-bed had charged him with her education.
— from Letters of Abelard and Heloise To which is prefix'd a particular account of their lives, amours, and misfortunes by Héloïse

Some slaveholders thought it an advantage to let Mr. Covey have the government of their slaves a year or two, almost free of charge, for the sake of the excellent training such slaves got under his happy management!
— from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass

The exile is a Yaksha or attendant of Kubera, the god of wealth, who for neglect of his duty has been banished to the groves on the slopes of Rāmagiri in Central India.
— from A History of Sanskrit Literature by Arthur Anthony Macdonell

Eight hundred years took them back to the days of Charlemagne, in whose time it would have been somewhat difficult to detect a germ of their States-General and States-Provincial.
— from History of the United Netherlands from the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce — Complete (1584-1609) by John Lothrop Motley

If we are hard pressed I will light a port fire, and you had better land with twenty of your men, leaving five to take care of the ship and work a gun or two should they try to take us in flank."
— from A Roving Commission; Or, Through the Black Insurrection at Hayti by G. A. (George Alfred) Henty

“If your desire,” I said, “is to get rid of me—” “Now, don’t be an old goose,” said Ethelbertha; “I only want to get rid of you for a little while, just long enough to forget there are one or two corners about you that are not perfect, just long enough to let me remember what a dear fellow you are in other respects, and to look forward to your return, as I used to look forward to your coming in the old days when I did not see you so often as to become, perhaps, a little indifferent to you, as one grows indifferent to the glory of the sun, just because he is there every day.”
— from Three Men on the Bummel by Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka) Jerome

Meantime it began to pour in torrents, the deck swam with water, and before we got out to sea the wind had risen and the sea was very rough.
— from The Story of My Life, volumes 1-3 by Augustus J. C. (Augustus John Cuthbert) Hare

Yes, I have heard her tell of the miracles which were performed at the tomb of Father John Power, and, I feel that if ever the afflicted were healed of their infirmities on any part of this earth, they were, at the grave of that saintly priest.
— from Rossa's Recollections, 1838 to 1898 Childhood, boyhood, manhood; customs, habits and manners of the Irish people; Erinach and Sassenach; Catholic and protestant; Englishman and Irishman; English religion; Irish plunder; social life and prison life; the Fenian movement; Travels in Ireland, England, Scotland and America by Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa

There was no music, no shouting, not even the sound of voices; but tramp, tramp, tramp, in endless multitude, the heavy feet went by; and now and then, where the light yet streamed out of the window of some house, I could see the glitter of the steel barrels of rifles; and here and there I caught a glimpse of men on horseback, officers apparently, but dressed in the rough garb of workmen.
— from Cæsar's Column: A Story of the Twentieth Century by Ignatius Donnelly

From what he says here, however, and in some other sermons, and from corresponding evidence which might be adduced, we are forced to conclude that the well-known description which Kirkton has given of the state of religion in Scotland in those days, (Hist. of Ch. of Scot.
— from The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning by Hugh Binning

For the other class, the first necessity is a retreat of consciousness from the periphery, where it touches the world of appearance, to the centre, the Unity of Spirit or ‘Ground of the Soul,’ where human personality buds forth from the Essential World.
— from Ruysbroeck by Evelyn Underhill

Smile o'er each pitiful token, Leaving the sorrow for me; Drink deep of life's fond illusion, Gaze on the storm-cloud and flee Swiftly, through strife and confusion, Leaving the burden to me.
— from The Lost Despatch by Natalie Sumner Lincoln