Oh, beauteous little pigeon, / Say whither art thou flying? / And whence hast gained the perfume / That from thy wings diffusing / Tincturest the air thou breathest? A translation of the Greek lyric poet Anacreon’s poem “Pigeon”.

Yet the success of Trajan, however transient, was rapid and specious. The degenerate Parthians, broken by intestine discord, fled before his arms.

But the ultradespotic Peter, in his zeal for drastic reforms, abolished both the Zemsky Sobor and the Patriarchate (vide “The M.P. for Russia,” vol. ii., page 352). And I must add, in passing, that by these measures Peter the Great became almost hated by the Slavophil party, whose motto was “ Greek Orthodoxy, Monarchy, and Nationalism.”

They stole my idea for a biodegradable, disposable garbage de-odorizer.