Chapter 29 of Saronia: A Romance of Ancient Ephesus is here in full — 209 sentences across 42 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXIX
Chapter 29 of Saronia: A Romance of Ancient Ephesus is here in full — 209 sentences across 42 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE HOROSCOPE Nika was pale and worn, and scarcely spoke. 'What ails thee, dearest wife?' said Varro. 'Naught,' replied she; 'tired only. All night long have I watched through the storm. I knew by the signal-fires thou wert off the harbour mouth.
Chapter 29 of Saronia: A Romance of Ancient Ephesus is here in full — 209 sentences across 42 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/41 · 5 reading units · Lines 1–5
These definitions explain words found in the current reading and keep every example grounded in its original sentence.
Oxford-style entry order: headword, part of speech, US IPA, concise definition, contextual example, and audio.
plural of “ail” — aromatic bulb used as seasoning
From this reading “'What ails thee, dearest wife?' said Varro.”
a beloved person; used as terms of endearment
From this reading “'What ails thee, dearest wife?' said Varro.”
secretly shelter (as of fugitives or criminals)
From this reading “I knew by the signal-fires thou wert off the harbour mouth.”
a prediction of someone's future based on the relative positions of the planets
From this reading “THE HOROSCOPE Nika was pale and worn, and scarcely spoke.”
a quantity of no importance
From this reading “'Naught,' replied she; 'tired only.”
behave violently, as if in state of a great anger
From this reading “All night long have I watched through the storm.”
an old form of “were”, used with “thou”
From this reading “I knew by the signal-fires thou wert off the harbour mouth.”
Damaged or thinned by continuous use.
From this reading “THE HOROSCOPE Nika was pale and worn, and scarcely spoke.”
English keeps certain words together, and knowing the pair is worth more than knowing each word alone. Every partnership below was counted across our whole published library, and earns its place by appearing far more often than two unrelated words of the same frequency would.
Shown as this reading writes them, with the form the library counts, what kind of pairing it is, and how often it occurs.
In this reading “All night long have I watched through the storm.”
Every word in these five lines is listed here, and every one of them can be played on its own.
Dictionary details are shown only when verified; these are not licensed Oxford entries.
plural of “ail” — aromatic bulb used as seasoning
From this reading 'What ails thee, dearest wife?' said Varro.
(quantifier) used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
From this reading All night long have I watched through the storm.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading THE HOROSCOPE Nika was pale and worn, and scarcely spoke.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading I knew by the signal-fires thou wert off the harbour mouth.
a beloved person; used as terms of endearment
From this reading 'What ails thee, dearest wife?' said Varro.
secretly shelter (as of fugitives or criminals)
From this reading I knew by the signal-fires thou wert off the harbour mouth.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading All night long have I watched through the storm.
a prediction of someone's future based on the relative positions of the planets
From this reading THE HOROSCOPE Nika was pale and worn, and scarcely spoke.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading All night long have I watched through the storm.
inflected form of “know” — be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information; possess knowledge or information about
From this reading I knew by the signal-fires thou wert off the harbour mouth.
primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified
From this reading All night long have I watched through the storm.
the opening through which food is taken in and vocalizations emerge
From this reading I knew by the signal-fires thou wert off the harbour mouth.
a quantity of no importance
From this reading 'Naught,' replied she; 'tired only.
the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
From this reading All night long have I watched through the storm.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading THE HOROSCOPE Nika was pale and worn, and scarcely spoke.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading I knew by the signal-fires thou wert off the harbour mouth.
and nothing more
From this reading 'Naught,' replied she; 'tired only.
very light colored; highly diluted with white
From this reading THE HOROSCOPE Nika was pale and worn, and scarcely spoke.
inflected form of “reply” — react verbally
From this reading 'Naught,' replied she; 'tired only.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading 'What ails thee, dearest wife?' said Varro.
only a very short time before
From this reading THE HOROSCOPE Nika was pale and worn, and scarcely spoke.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading 'Naught,' replied she; 'tired only.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading I knew by the signal-fires thou wert off the harbour mouth.
support consisting of a radial member of a wheel joining the hub to the rim
From this reading THE HOROSCOPE Nika was pale and worn, and scarcely spoke.
behave violently, as if in state of a great anger
From this reading All night long have I watched through the storm.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE HOROSCOPE Nika was pale and worn, and scarcely spoke.
an old word for “you”, as the object, speaking to one person
From this reading 'What ails thee, dearest wife?' said Varro.
an old word for “you”, as the subject, speaking to one person
From this reading I knew by the signal-fires thou wert off the harbour mouth.
from one end or side of something to the other
From this reading All night long have I watched through the storm.
depleted of strength or energy
From this reading 'Naught,' replied she; 'tired only.
Roman scholar (116-27 BC)
From this reading 'What ails thee, dearest wife?' said Varro.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading THE HOROSCOPE Nika was pale and worn, and scarcely spoke.
past form of “watch” — look attentively
From this reading All night long have I watched through the storm.
an old form of “were”, used with “thou”
From this reading I knew by the signal-fires thou wert off the harbour mouth.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading 'What ails thee, dearest wife?' said Varro.
a married woman; a man's partner in marriage
From this reading 'What ails thee, dearest wife?' said Varro.
Damaged or thinned by continuous use.
From this reading THE HOROSCOPE Nika was pale and worn, and scarcely spoke.
Chapter 29 of Saronia: A Romance of Ancient Ephesus by Richard Short holds 209 sentences, grouped into 42 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the source edition, unabridged, and the chapter records which sentences cover which part of the work so that nothing is dropped. Every word can be tapped for its pronunciation and dictionary entry.
Chapter 29 holds 209 sentences of Saronia: A Romance of Ancient Ephesus, unabridged, divided into 42 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 29 of Saronia: A Romance of Ancient Ephesus by Richard Short exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 209 sentences, grouped into 42 sections of at most 5 sentences so that a reader can take the chapter in steady, finishable pieces. The chapter also stores a coverage record mapping every one of its sentences to a part of the work, which is how the edition demonstrates that no line was dropped.
Work through the 42 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 42 sections in this chapter is short enough to read once, hear once, and then re-read with the vocabulary in view. Tapping a word plays it alone and opens its dictionary entry with IPA, part of speech and meaning, so the reader is never forced to guess a pronunciation from spelling. Working section by section keeps a long chapter from becoming an undifferentiated wall of text, which is the usual reason a reader abandons a work of this period.
Yes — every sentence and every individual word in chapter 29 can be played aloud in United States English.
Audio covers the whole chapter: any sentence can be played, and any single word within it can be played on its own. The voice uses United States English. For a work of this period that matters, because spelling is an unreliable guide to pronunciation for vocabulary that has fallen out of daily use, and a learner who guesses wrong tends to keep the error. Hearing the word in its own sentence, and then alone, settles it.
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Yes. All 5578 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #26700 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #26700, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 464 minutes of reading across 1116 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Saronia: A Romance of Ancient Ephesus section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 40 chapters of Saronia: A Romance of Ancient Ephesus to begin.
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Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in Saronia: A Romance of Ancient Ephesus, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
