Part 120 (1/2)

? Corneille has a drama on the same subject, called _Les Horaces_ (1639).

=Roman des Romans= (_Le_), a series of prose romances connected with Am'adis, of Gaul. So called by Gilbert Saunier.

=Romans= (_Last of the_), Rienzi, the tribune (1310-1354).

Charles James Fox (1749-1806).

Horace Walpole, _Ultimus Romanorum_ (1717-1797).

Caius Ca.s.sius was so called by Brutus.

The last of all the Romans, fare thee well!

It is impossible that ever Rome Should breed thy fellow.

Shakespeare, _Julius Caesar_, act v. sc. 3. (1607).

_Romans_ (_Most Learned of the_), Marcus Terentius Varro (B.C. 116-28).

=Romance of the Rose=, a poetical allegory, begun by Guillaume di Lorris in the latter part of the thirteenth century, and continued by Jean de Meung in the former half of the fourteenth century. The poet dreams that Dame Idleness conducts him to the palace of Pleasure, where he meets Love, whose attendant maidens are Sweet-looks, Courtesy, Youth, Joy, and Competence, by whom he is conducted to a bed of roses. He singles out one, when an arrow from Love's bow stretches him fainting on the ground, and he is carried off. When he comes to himself, he resolves, if possible, to find his rose, and Welcome promises to aid him; Shyness, Fear, and Slander obstruct him; and Reason advises him to give up the quest. Pity and Kindness show him the object of his search; but Jealousy seizes Welcome, and locks her in Fear Castle. Here the original poem ends. The sequel, somewhat longer than the twenty-four books of Homer's _Iliad_, takes up the tale from this point.

=Roma'no=, the old monk who took pity on Roderick in his flight (viii.), and went with him for refuge to a small hermitage on the sea-coast, where they remained for twelve months, when the old monk died.--Southey, _Roderick, The Last of the Goths_, i., ii. (1841).

=Rome Does= (_Do as_). The saying originated with Saint Ambrose (fourth century). It arose from the following diversity in the observance of Sat.u.r.day:--The Milanese make it a feast, the Romans a fast. St. Ambrose, being asked what should be done in such a case, replied, ”In matters of indifference, it is better to be guided by the general usage. When I am at Milan, I do not fast on Sat.u.r.days, but when I am at Rome, I do as they do at Rome.”

=Rome Saved by Geese.= When the Gauls invaded Rome, a detachment in single file scaled the hill on which the capitol stood, so silently that the foremost man reached the summit without being challenged; but while striding over the rampart, some sacred geese were disturbed, and by their cackle aroused the guard. Marcus Manlius rushed to the wall, and hustled the Gaul over, thus saving the capitol.

A somewhat parallel case occurred in Ireland in the battle of Glinsaly, in Donegal. A party of the Irish would have surprised the Protestants if some wrens had not disturbed the guards by the noise they made in hopping about the drums and pecking on the parchment heads.--Aubrey, _Miscellanies_, 45.

=Ro'meo=, a son of Mon'tague (3 _syl._), in love with Juliet, the daughter of Cap'ulet; but between the houses of Montague and Capulet there existed a deadly feud. As the families were irreconcilable, Juliet took a sleeping draught, that she might get away from her parents and elope with Romeo. Romeo, thinking her to be dead, killed himself; and when Juliet awoke and found her lover dead, she also killed herself.--Shakespeare, _Romeo and Juliet_ (1598).

=Romeo and Juliet=, a tragedy by Shakespeare (1598). The tale is taken from _Rhomeo and Julietta_, a novel by Boisteau, in French, borrowed from an Italian story by Bandello (1554).

In 1562 Arthur Brooke produced the same tale in verse, called _The Tragicall History of Romeus and Juliet_. In 1567 Painter published a prose translation of Boisteau's novel.

=Romola=, superb woman, high-spirited, pure and single of heart, the idol and co-laborer of her scholarly father. She wrecks her life by the marriage with the fascinating Greek, t.i.to Melema.--George Eliot, _Romola_.

=Romp= (_The_), a comic opera altered from Bickerstaff's _Love in the City_. Priscilla Tomboy is ”the romp,” and the plot is given under that name.

A splendid portrait of Mrs. Jordan, in her character of ”The Romp,”

hung over the mantelpiece in the dining-room [_of Adolphus Fitzclarence_].--Lord W. P. Lennox, _Celebrities, etc._, i. 11.