And when Nero had thus obtained the government, he got Britannicus to be so poisoned, that the multitude should not perceive it; although he publicly put his own mother to death not long afterward, making her this requital, not only for being born of her, but for bringing it so about by her contrivances that he obtained the Roman empire.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus

By puerility we mean a pedantic habit of mind, which by over-elaboration ends in frigidity.
— from On the Sublime by active 1st century Longinus

Late in the morning I waked, first; and observing my lover slept profoundly, softly disengaged myself from his arms, scarcely daring to breathe, for fear of shortening his repose; my cap, my hair, my shift, were all in disorder, from the rufflings I had undergone; and I took this opportunity to adjust and set them as well as I could: whilst, every now and then, looking at the sleeping youth, with inconceivable fondness and delight, and reflecting on all the pain he had put me to, tacitly owned that the pleasure had overpaid me for my sufferings.
— from Memoirs of Fanny Hill A New and Genuine Edition from the Original Text (London, 1749) by John Cleland

And all they fell upon their knees, and prayed him of mercy, and that he would save his life; and, Sir, they all said, it were fairer of him to take homage and fealty, and let him hold his lands of you than for to slay him; by his death ye shall have none advantage, and his misdeeds that be done may not be undone; and therefore he shall make amends to all parties, and we all will become your men and do you homage and fealty.
— from Le Morte d'Arthur: Volume 1 by Malory, Thomas, Sir

More than once I have joined in serious consultation, when the subject has been discussed, and there have been times when a word from me would have placed hundreds of my fellow-bondsmen in an attitude of defiance.
— from Twelve Years a Slave Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New-York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, from a Cotton Plantation near the Red River in Louisiana by Solomon Northup

If the manner is light, I can only say, in the words of Touchstone, that it is "an ill-favoured thing, sir, but my own; a poor humour of mine, sir."
— from Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney

Roman received me so graciously that I was emboldened to kiss her and place her on my knee.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

Grushnitski placed himself opposite me and, at a given signal, began to raise his pistol.
— from A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Iurevich Lermontov

Millions of men, renouncing their human feelings and reason, had to go from west to east to slay their fellows, just as some centuries previously hordes of men had come from the east to the west, slaying their fellows.
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

The woman sprang up, and hastily began to arrange some bread and flitch in a tin pail, and to pour her own measure of ale into a bottle.
— from Life in the Iron-Mills; Or, The Korl Woman by Rebecca Harding Davis

D. O. M. "Isabella Andreina, Patavina, Mulier magnâ virtute prædita, Honestatis Ornamentum, maritalisque Pudicitiæ Decus, Ore facunda, Mente fœcunda, religiosa, pia, Musis amica, et Artis scenicæ Caput, hic Resurrectionem expectat.
— from A Decade of Italian Women, vol. 2 (of 2) by Thomas Adolphus Trollope

Though I am glad, with all my heart, that I am not so; for it would never please me to be forced to the attendance that that would require, and leave my wife and family to themselves, as I must do in such a case; thinking myself now in the best place that ever man was in to please his own mind in, and, therefore, I will take care to preserve it.
— from Diary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 57: September 1667 by Samuel Pepys

Mr. Bynes' daughter Annie, she who came in the brig "Nancy" with Mr. Carlton, married a Mr. Harris, their daughter married Mr. Hansell, and his granddaughter, the beautiful golden haired Leila, a noted belle and beauty, of Atlanta, Georgia, married a Mr. Llewelynn P. Hillyer, of Macon, Georgia, the great grandson of Kitty Carlton.
— from Revolutionary Reader: Reminiscences and Indian Legends by Sophie Lee Foster

The Divine Child was there in the earth, keeping away all evil things by its presence, and he could not doubt that the saints who were with Mary, or perchance his own mother's purified spirit, had called the image there to save him from the fiend.
— from A Rainy June, and Other Stories by Ouida

It had all left Adair with a profound hatred of marriage, and a still profounder hatred of rich fathers-in-law.
— from Infatuation by Lloyd Osbourne

Poor old Prince Luigi knew that he couldn’t possibly hold out much longer—not a hundred thousand francs to the good, I am told.
— from My Lady Nobody: A Novel by Maarten Maartens

Their exertions might, perhaps, have obtained me a more comfortable lodging, but there were other matters far beyond their power to remedy: among these may be noticed the myriads of cock-roaches, (or blatta gigantea ,) which at night crawled about the bed; offending not only by the very unpleasant sensations produced by their claws, but by their peculiarly nauseous scent.
— from The East India Vade-Mecum, Volume 1 (of 2) or, complete guide to gentlemen intended for the civil, military, or naval service of the East India Company. by Thomas Williamson

In the midst of his interesting peregrinations he observed Mrs. Carr gazing out of her deck cabin window, looking, he thought, pale, but sweetly pretty, and rather cross.
— from Dawn by H. Rider (Henry Rider) Haggard