LIBRARY OF THE WORLD'S BEST LITERATURE ANCIENT AND MODERN CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER EDITOR HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE LUCIA GILBERT RUNKLE GEORGE HENRY WARNER ASSOCIATE EDITORS Connoisseur Edition Vol. XVI. NEW YORK THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY Connoisseur Edition LIMITED TO FIVE HUNDRED COPIES IN HALF RUSSIA No. .......... Copyright, 1896, by R. S. PEALE AND J. A. HILL All rights reserved THE ADVISORY COUNCIL CRAWFORD H. TOY, A. M., LL. D., Professor of Hebrew, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. THOMAS R. LOUNSBURY, LL. D., L. H. D., Professor of English in the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, New Haven, Conn. WILLIAM M. SLOANE, Ph. D., L. H. D., Professor of History and Political Science, Princeton University, Princeton, N. J. BRANDER MATTHEWS, A. M., LL. B., Professor of Literature, Columbia University, New York City. JAMES B. ANGELL, LL. D., President of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. WILLARD FISKE, A. M., Ph. D., Late Professor of the Germanic and Scandinavian Languages and Literatures, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. EDWARD S. HOLDEN, A. M., LL. D., Director of the Lick Observatory, and Astronomer, University of California, Berkeley, Cal. ALCÉE FORTIER, LIT. D., Professor of the Romance Languages, Tulane University, New Orleans, La. WILLIAM P. TRENT, M. A., Dean of the Department of Arts and Sciences, and Professor of English and History, University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn. PAUL SHOREY, Ph. D., Professor of Greek and Latin Literature, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill. WILLIAM T. HARRIS, LL. D., United States Commissioner of Education, Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. MAURICE FRANCIS EGAN, A. M., LL. D., Professor of Literature in the Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C. [Pg v] TABLE OF CONTENTS VOL. XVI   LIVED PAGE Aulus Gellius Second Century A.D. 6253 From 'Attic Nights': Origin, and Plan of the Book; The Vestal Virgins; The Secrets of the Senate; Plutarch and his Slave; Discussion on One of Solon's Laws; The Nature of Sight; Earliest Libraries; Realistic Acting; The Athlete's End    Gesta Romanorum   6261 Theodosius the Emperoure  Moralite  Ancelmus the Emperour  Moralite  How an Anchoress was Tempted by the Devil    Edward Gibbon 1737-1794 6271 BY W. E. H. LECKY Zenobia  Foundation of Constantinople  Character of Constantine  Death of Julian  Fall of Rome  Silk  Mahomet's Death and Character  The Alexandrian Library  Final Ruin of Rome  All from the 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'    William Schwenck Gilbert 1836- 6333[Pg vi] Captain Reece  The Yarn of the Nancy Bell  The Bishop of Rum-ti-foo  Gentle Alice Brown  The Captain and the Mermaids  All from the 'Bab Ballads'    Richard Watson Gilder 1844- 6347 Two Songs from 'The New Day'  "Rose-Dark the Solemn Sunset"