CALPURNIA. 
II 
for, though they seek to vary their every-day 
diet of nuts and berries by an occasional 
meal of mutton, they prefer to hunt tame 
and helpless flocks. Eagles and coyotes, 
no doubt, capture an unprotected lamb at 
times, or some unfortunate beset in deep, 
soft snow, but these cases are Httle more 
than accidents. So, also, a few perish in 
long-continued snow-storms, though, in all 
my mountaineering, I have not found more 
than five or six that seemed to have met 
their fate in this way. A little band of three 
were discovered snow-bound in Bloody 
Canon a few years ago, and were killed 
with an ax by some travelers who chanced 
to be crossing the range in winter. 
Man, being the most powerful, is the 
most dangerous enemy of all, but even 
from him our brave mountain-dweller has 
little to fear in the remote solitudes of the 
Alps. The golden plains of the Sacramento 
and San Joaquin were lately thronged with 
bands of elk and antelope, but, being fer- ^ 
tile and accessible, they were required for 
human pastures. So also are the magnificent 
feeding-grounds of the deer — hill, valley, 
forest, and meadow, but it will be long 
ere man will care to take the highland 
castles of the sheep. And when we con- 
sider here how rapidly entire species of 
noble animals, such as the elk, moose, 
and buffalo, are being pushed to the very 
verge of extinction, all lovers of wildness 
will rejoice with me in the rocky secu- 
rity of Ovis Montana, the bravest inhabi- 
tant of the California Alps. / 
CALPURNIA. 
I. 
PRELUDE. 
Hot ^was the noon and heavy. A pitiless, quivering brightness 
Hung in the motionless air; and o'er the abodes of the Caesars 
Broke the fierce breath of the sun from the fathomless deeps of the heavens. 
Tiber, the ancient, had shrunk in his bed, and, with sluggish pulsations. 
Languished his tawny blood in his veins as he crept 'neath the arches, — 
Crept 'neath the walls of the city of Mars to the happy Campagna. 
Gray was the grass on his banks, and the far-spreading crowns of the palm-trees 
Hung with a nerveless droop. Among the rank-growing rushes 
Stirred no murmuring breeze; and, hid in the gloom of the ilex, 
Moped the voiceless birds. Beneath the arcades of the temples 
Brooded the spirit of silence ; around the sculptured altars 
Drowsed in the wide and tenantless space the heavy-eyed augurs. 
Waiting in vain for the worshipers' tread and the prayers of the faithful, 
Offering votive gifts on the shrines of the lofty Immortals. 
Lo ! without, on the Forum the stately fagades and the columns. 
Lifted their snowy shapes against the deep blue of the ether, 
• Grave, and placid, and pure, like the thought of a god of Olympus 
Swiftly congealed to stone in its large primeval perfection. 
Soundless and white was the noon ; and, under the resonant arches. 
Rose in trembling wavelets the air from the sun-smitten pavements, 
And a bright lizard, perchance, that noiselessly slid o'er the marble. 
Flashed his golden-brown throat, and a hound slunk by in the shadow, 
Sadly, with lolling tongue. Thus, desolate, silent, and weary. 
Slept the great city at noon, the city of Mars and the Caesars. 
