"
"Brother," said Jack, "your cavalry are routed and your infantry
outflanked."
"If you are determined to be a conqueror, let it be by the pen rather
than by the sword--or, what do you say to oratory? It is not easier,
perhaps, but, at all events, eloquence is not denied to ordinary
mortals. You will not then, to be sure, rank with the Hannibals, the
Tamerlanes, or the Caesars; but you may attain a place with
Demosthenes, who was more dreaded by Philip of Macedon than an army of
soldiers."
"Or Cicero," remarked Becker, "who preserved his country from the
rapacity of Cataline."
"Or Peter the Hermit," remarked Frank, "who by his eloquence roused
Europe against the Saracens."
"Or Bossuet," added Wolston, "and then you may venture to assert in
the face of kings that _God alone is Great_, should they, like Louis
XIV., assume the sun as an emblem, and adopt such a silly scroll as
'_Nec pluribus impar_.'"
"Bossuet, Peter the Hermit, Cicero, and Demosthenes, are not so bad,
after all, as a last resource," remarked Mrs. Wolston, "and I would
recommend you to enrol yourself in that list of conquerors, Master
Fritz."
"The more especially," observed Jack, "as you have no impediment in
your voice, and would not have to undergo a course of pebbles like
Demosthenes."
"So far as that goes, Jack," replied Fritz, "you would possess a like
advantage for the profession as myself; but I will take time to
reflect.
Pages:
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187