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Stephen Crane

I stood upon a high place,

And saw, below, many devils

Running, leaping,

And carousing in sin.

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adjective

Engaged in or ready for action; characterized by energetic work, thought, or speech.

The students were very active in class discussions, asking many thoughtful questions.

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Phocion 21

43 lines
Arthur Hugh Clough·1819–1861
henes and Hyperides should be delivered up to him; thatthey should retain their ancient form of government, thefranchise being determined by a property qualification; thatthey should receive a garrison into Munychia, and pay a certainsum for the cost of the war. As things stood, these terms werejudged tolerable by the rest of the ambassadors; Xenocratesonly said, that if Antipater considered the Athenians slaves, hewas treating them fairly; but if free, severely. Phocion pressedhim only to spare them the garrison, and used many argumentsand entreaties. Antipater replied, “‘ Phocion, we are ready to~ do you any favour, which will not bring ruin both on ourselves» andonyou.” Others report it differently; that Antipater asked» Phocion, supposing he remitted the garrison to the Athenians,» would he, Phocion, stand surety for the city’s observing the_ terms and attempting no revolution? And when he hesitated,» and did not at once reply, Callimedon, the Carabus, a hot| partisan and professed enemy of free states, cried out, ‘‘ And if_ he should talk so idly, Antipater, will you be so much abused as+ to believe him and not carry out your own purpose?” So the’ Athenians received the garrison, and Menyllus for the governor,- a fair-dealing man, and one of Phocion’s acquaintance._ But the proceeding seemed sufficiently imperious and arbitrary,~ indeed rather a spiteful and insulting ostentation of power, than_ that the possession of the fortress would be of any great import-ance. The resentment felt upon it was heightened by the time_ it happened in, for the garrison was brought in on the twentieth_ of the month of Boédromion, just at the time of the great festival,- when they carry forth Iacchus with solemn pomp from the cityto Eleusis; so that the solemnity being disturbed, many beganto call to mind instances, both ancient and modern, of divineinterventions and intimations. For in old time, upon the occa-_ sions of their happiest successes, the presence of the shapes andvoices of the mystic ceremonies had been vouchsafed to them,striking terror and amazement into their enemies ;. but now, atthe very season of their celebration, the gods themselves stood-witnesses of the saddest oppressions of Greece, the most holy- time being profaned, and their greatest jubilee made the unlucky| date of their most extreme calamity. Not many years before,| they had a warning from the oracle at Dodona, that they should| carefully guard the summits of Diana, lest haply strangers should| seize them. And about this very time, when they dyed the| ribbons and garlands with which they adorn the couches and| cars of the procession, instead of a purple, they received only a