NEBUCHADNEZZAR.

THERE was a king that much might,
Who Nabugodonosor hight.
To his empire and to his laws,
As who saith, all in thilke dawes
Were obeisant, and tribute bear,
As tho' God of earth he were:
Till that the high king of kings
Which seeth and knoweth all things,
Whose eye may nothing asterte,
The privates of man's heart
They speken and sound in his ear
As though they loud winds were,
He took vengeance of his pride.

GOWER: Confessio Amantis.

NESTOR TO HECTOR. Nestor. I have, thou gallant Trojan, seen thee oft, Laboring for destiny, make cruel way

Through ranks of Greekish youth: and I have seen thee, As hot as Perseus, spur thy Phrygian steed, Despising many forfeits and subduements,

When thou hast hung thy advanced sword i' the air, Not letting it decline on the declined:

That I have said to some my stand

ers-by,

Lo, Jupiter is yonder, dealing life! And I have seen thee pause, and take thy breath

When that a ring of Greeks have hemmed thee in,

Like an Olympian wrestling: This have I seen

But this thy countenance, still locked in steel,

I never saw till now.

Let an old man embrace thee: And, worthy warrior, welcome to our tents.

SHAKSPEARE.

CORIOLANUS.

Cominius. I shall lack voice; the deeds of Coriolanus

Should not be uttered feebly. — It is held,

That valor is the chiefest virtue, and

Most dignifies the haver: if it be, The man I speak of cannot in the world

Be singly counterpoised. At sixteen years,

When Tarquin made a head for
Rome, he fought
Beyond the mark of others: our
then dictator,

Whom with all praise I point at, saw him fight

When with his Amazonian chin he drove

The bristled lips before him: he bestrid

An o'erpressed Roman, and in the consul's view

Slew three opposers: Tarquin's self he met,

And struck him on his knee: in that