And Chalcidus (of the second century), in his "Comments on the Times of Plato," speaks of "a star which presaged neither disease nor death, but the descent of a God amongst men, and which is attested by Chaldean astronomers, who immediately hastened to adore the newborn deity, and present him gifts.
— from The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors; Or, Christianity Before Christ by Kersey Graves

One hit the door post; another went against the door; the pointed shaft of another struck the wall; and as soon as they had avoided all the spears of the suitors Ulysses said to his own men, "My friends, I should say we too had better let drive into the middle of them, or they will crown all the harm they have done us by killing us outright.
— from The Odyssey Rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original by Homer

53 His addresses to the eastern throne were respectful and ambiguous: he celebrated, in pompous style, the harmony of the two republics, applauded his own government as the perfect similitude of a sole and undivided empire, and claimed above the kings of the earth the same preeminence which he modestly allowed to the person or rank of Anastasius.
— 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

In her nervous agitation, she unconsciously opened a book of her father's that lay upon the table,—the words that caught her eye in it, seemed almost made for her present state of acute self-abasement:— 'Je ne voudrois pas reprendre mon cœur en ceste sorte: meurs de honte, aveugle, impudent,
— from North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

"No, father; I cannot underwrite Article Four (leave alone the rest), taking it 'in the literal and grammatical sense' as required by the Declaration; and, therefore, I can't be a parson in the present state of affairs," said Angel.
— from Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman by Thomas Hardy

Now it is clear enough that those determining principles of the will which alone make maxims properly moral and give them a moral worth, namely, the direct conception of the law and the objective necessity of obeying it as our duty, must be regarded as the proper springs of actions, since otherwise legality of actions might be produced, but not morality of character.
— from The Critique of Practical Reason by Immanuel Kant

That morning he tried and passed sentence on a soothsayer sent from Germany, who being consulted about the lightning that had lately (494) happened, predicted from it a change of government.
— from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete by Suetonius

Our litter presently stopped outside a stately palace.
— from He by Walter Herries Pollock

Afterwards, desiring to put something on a small table, he pushed it and the table forwards, undesignedly.
— from The Life of Charles Dickens, Vol. I-III, Complete by John Forster

St. Paul speaking of Antichrist, says, Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness.
— from Twenty-four Discourses On Some of the Important and Interesting Truths, Duties, and Institutions, of the Gospel, and the General Excellency of the Christian Religion; Calculated for the People of God of Every Communion, Particularly for the Benefit of Pious Families, and the Instruction of All in the Things Which Concern Their Salvation by Nathan Perkins

The sailor, who was struggling and being whirled around and bobbing like a cork, his oilskins partially spreading out and sustaining him, kept drifting further and further away.
— from And Judas Iscariot Together with other evangelistic addresses by J. Wilbur (John Wilbur) Chapman

But we were actually tired of fishing, and looked on complacently with the pitying superiority of accomplished success at the patient anglers, trying their best to kill a few inoffensive finny creatures off the bridge, across the St. Sebastian River, or bringing triumphantly {92} home in the native’s “dug out” the proceeds of a day’s hard work on the bay.
— from Florida and the Game Water-Birds of the Atlantic Coast and the Lakes of the United States With a full account of the sporting along our sea-shores and inland waters, and remarks on breech-loaders and hammerless guns by Robert Barnwell Roosevelt

If to retain a sense of humour is still to possess something of a soul, then the fat man was not entirely lost.
— from Boy Woodburn: A Story of the Sussex Downs by Alfred Ollivant

As we drew near the room, we heard, to our astonishment, the plaintive sound of a spinet.
— from Twenty Years' Experience as a Ghost Hunter by Elliott O'Donnell