Alexandria advertiser and commercial intelligencer. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1800-1803, 1801-11-17
FROM THE BALANCE.

HiRory prefents melancholy picture Of
man.--Heis either the hammer or 0nvil
he is either Uniting or fmit,en oppreis
ing or oppreGed. On the one side you be.
hold the iron hard Of defpotifm preH;ne
down the yanals and ufng them as beat:
Of burden. You Zee the privileged fla.
,ording it over the many, eating The fruit
of their labor, and rioting in their mifery
and tears. With horror you turn from
the difmal fpeetacle and, on the Other
hand, behold a cation rifing indignant,
breaking its Chains and declaring itfel free,
The benevolent heart exults but alas
II foon finds location to droop and Gcken
Factions ariie demagogues lift aloft ,hei,
gigantic heads and found their pharifaica
trumpet the cool voice of reaion is little
heard and lefs minded; cunning and VIC
lence prevail over wifdom and honei(y, and
the people, dupcd by crafty appeals to
their pailions and avarice, are caught, like
filly filhes in net. In the mean time the
mott deierving characters are hifed off the
itase. Venerable patriots, fage civilians
and brave generals, who had devoted them
ielves TO the intereh of their country and
grown grey in its fervice, are loaded with
public icorn, and, in infances not a few,
are made to fufer conffcation of ehate.
imprisonment, banilhment, and even death
itielf.
So it was in the free Rates of Judea,
Greece and Rome. In pernGng the an
nails OF the latter, we find Camillus, in
voking the gods, to witness the ingrati,ude
OF his country. We fee Cariolenus, ano-
ther patriot and benefattor of the republic
bidding adieu to his mother, wife and
children, and driven into perpetual banifh-
ment. We behold Scipio, one of the wi
feft and bravef Of generals, who had re.
pulled and fubdued the invaders of his
country and greatly extended the Roman
power, both in Alta and Africa as we'll as
Europe we behold him fripped of his
honors, nandered and perfecuted by men,
who envied his greatness, and neglected
and abandoned by the people, in whole fer.
vice he had employed his brilliant talents
and confused his life. Such ingra,i,ude
gives more painful wound than ierpent's
tooth. The foul of Scipio was 70 deeply
ftung by it, that he retired Indignantly
from Rome to Linternum and directed his
domeisics to bury him there; alledging an
unwillingnefs to be inferred in country.
where he had been ufed with fuch bafe and
black ingratitude. Cicero, the famous
orator, itatefman and patriot, bitterly ex-
perienced the urthankful requitals of the
republic, which he had faithfully ferved
and even fayed from ruin. Through bis
paternal care and vigilance, Rome was
delivered from the horrid confpiracy of
Catalina and his vile aecomplices, who
had planned and were nearly executing
general maGacre and conAagration. While
The danger and deliyerance were frefh in
their minds, the Roman people paid TO
Cicero homage, that was out little ihort
OF alteration. They Gluted him as the
father of bis country; they proclaimed
him their deliverer and faviour. Mothers
loured their biedings upon his head
while clafping to their breans the infants,
that were refcued by him from DEATH
The whole body of the Senate and the
knights conducted him through the ftreets
in triumph and, in the mean time, the
freets were illuminated, that the women
and children at the windows and tops of
the houfes might fee him pats.