When thou art hard to be stirred up and awaked out of thy sleep, admonish thyself and call to mind, that, to perform actions tending to the common good is that which thine own proper constitution, and that which the nature of man do require.
— from Meditations by Emperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius

Winter was now at hand; but dispersing the fleet, which had retired to Corinth and the Crissaean Gulf, Cnemus, Brasidas, and the other Peloponnesian captains allowed themselves to be persuaded by the Megarians to make an attempt upon Piraeus, the port of Athens, which from her decided superiority at sea had been naturally left unguarded and open.
— from The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

The other, Pierre Carnier, a trifle older, but thin and lively, answered: “Well, my boy, I have grown old without noticing it in the least.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant

Pop. 156,143.— Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle , a congress held in 1818, by which the army of the allies in France was withdrawn after France had paid the contribution imposed at the peace of 1815, and by which independence was restored to France.—A treaty of peace concluded at this city, 2nd May, 1668, as a result of the Triple Alliance, put an end to the war carried on against Spain by Louis XIV in 1667, after the death of his father-in-law, Philip IV, in support of his claims to a great part of the Spanish Netherlands, which he urged in the name of his queen, the infanta Maria Theresa.
— from The New Gresham Encyclopedia. A to Amide Vol. 1 Part 1 by Various

Uno para enamorarlas, One day to seduce them, otro para conseguirlas, another to reduce them, otro para abanDoñarlas, another one to leave them, dos para sustituirlas, two days to replace them, y una hora para olvidarlas.
— from Don Juan Tenorio by José Zorrilla

In June, Casanova composed for the theater of Princess Clari, at Teplitz, a piece entitled: ‘Le Polemoscope ou la Calomnie demasquee par la presence d’esprit, tragicomedie en trois actes’.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

It mortified him to discover that such things formed part of his internal economy, for he had supposed himself to resemble the strong and successful men of history and finance, who march straight forward to their purpose, looking neither behind nor to either side, careless alike of the downtrodden and the overthrown who mark their onward path, conquering and to conquer.
— from A Rich Man's Relatives (Vol. 3 of 3) by Robert Cleland

"THE ONLY PUBLIC CONVEYANCE AT THE STATION."
— from St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 5, July 1878, No. 9 by Various

Steam being admitted below the piston through S′ , and at the same time the steam above it being drawn away to the condenser through the open passage C and the tube G , the piston ascends.
— from The Steam Engine Explained and Illustrated (Seventh Edition) With an Account of Its Invention and Progressive Improvement, and Its Application to Navigation and Railways; Including Also a Memoir of Watt by Dionysius Lardner

Some seem to believe that our politics can afford to be petty because, in a time of peace, the stakes of our debates appear small.
— from U.S. Presidential Inaugural Addresses by United States. Presidents

Madame Guibal on the other hand walked about the shop for hours without ever buying anything, happy and satisfied in simply feasting her eyes; Madame de Boves, short of money and always tortured by some immoderate desire, nourished a feeling of rancour against the goods she could not carry away with her; Madame Bourdelais, with the sharp eyes of a careful and practical housewife, made straight for the bargains, availing herself of the big establishments with such skill that she saved a lot of money; and lastly, Henriette, having very elegant tastes, only purchased certain articles there, such as gloves, hosiery, and her coarser linen.
— from The Ladies' Paradise by Émile Zola

The latter two were practising on their own private courts and the former were staying with friends and resting preparatory to the battle to be fought perhaps on the morrow.
— from The Meadow-Brook Girls on the Tennis Courts; Or, Winning Out in the Big Tournament by Janet Aldridge

Before him, in the hollow at his feet, on which the morning rays dwelt lovingly, streaming in through the deep valley to the right over the city walls, lay the long street of the Carinæ, the noblest and most sumptuous of Rome, adorned with many residences of the patrician order, and among others, those of Pompey, Cæsar, and the great Latin orator.
— from The Roman Traitor, Vol. 1 by Henry William Herbert

One party, under Mr. Dean, pulled in pile after pile of boughs from up on the snow-covered hillside, while the other party cut and trimmed and laid them in.
— from Buffalo Roost A Story of a Young Men's Christian Association Boys' Department by Frank H. (Frank Howbert) Cheley

The town had no other defense, and was surrounded only by an old wall, almost exactly similar to that of Paris, consequently at the end of three days it was taken; but the Emperor preferred not to enter, and still resided at Champ-Martin, with the exception of one day when he came incognito and in disguise, to visit the queen's palace and the principal districts.
— from Complete Project Gutenberg Collection of Memoirs of Napoleon by Various