The NEH "Timeless Classics" booklist includes The King Must Die by Mary Renault in the suggestions for seventh and eighth graders. Because I have a personal interest in ancient cultures, I read it looking for passages that might be of stylistic interest for this site. My sense is that the 338 pages may overwhelm many middle school students and that some of the themes may be too mature for them, but that is for individual teachers and parents to decide.  The selected passages can provide an excellent review of the use of semicolons, even if the students do not read the novel. Perhaps the best way to use these passages is to give students the punctuation exercises and then have the students discuss how their versions compare to Renault's. My guess is that the punctuation exercises will frustrate students, but that very frustration should reinforce in their minds the importance of punctuation.

Selection # 1 -- The King's Explanation to Theseus

     The semicolon between the two main clauses in the first sentence emphasizes the contrast between the blindness of animals and the god-given knowledge of men. I would also invite discussion of the colon after "sign." The rules for the use of the colon and semicolon are flexible, but I have never seen a textbook that suggests following a colon with a subordinate clause. In the text, however, the "that" after the colon serves no function other than that of a subordinating conjunction. In the analysis key for Level Three, I explained the "that" clause as a delayed subject, but since "this," "sign," and the clause all refer to the same thing, one could also consider the subordinate clause as an appositive to "sign." Note, however, that the colon serves the normal function of a colon -- what comes after it is a more detailed, more specific version of "sign."
     The theme of humans being the only species that knows that it will die is fairly common in literature, perhaps because it is a very important idea. ["Moira" means fate or destiny.] Most of the sentences in this passage consist of two or more short, relatively simple main clauses. The brevity and simplicity of the style reinforces the meaning: This is the way life is -- it is just that simple. Another interesting point for discussion in this passage is the difference between people who are happy living "unknown, like the stall-fed ox" and those who choose "short life with glory, and to walk with the god." Note that the king does not present the short life of criminal fame as an option. Perhaps, in those days, and in that culture, it was not one.
    Totally ellipsed verbs are not very common so I would also direct students' attention to the example in the next to last sentence -- "And the custom changes, Theseus, but this token never *changes*."

Selection # 2 -- Theseus Returns to Eleusis

     The semicolons in the final sentence of this selection are governed by a stylistic convention -- a semicolon separates main clauses in which the verb in the second clause is ellipsed. The ellipsed verb is usually replaced by a comma -- "Mary loves roses; Sara, lilies." Renault pushes this convention by eliding two subjects and their verbs in a series of three main clauses. Note that without the semicolons, there would be a subject/verb agreement error -- "There was ... sunlight, ... shadow..., and a woman ...."
     An interesting topic of discussion might be Renault's reason(s) for not using semicolons in the first two sentences in this passage, but using them in the third. Why, in other words, is the text not punctuated as:

     As I rode under the gate-tower black with people, the gates groaned open; and the watchman blew his horn. The flags of the Great Court stretched before me; and between the high walls my horse-hoofs echoed. Upon the roof, the Palace people were thick as winter bees, but they were quiet, and no bright cloths hung from the windows.

Selection # 3 -- Crete

     The first sentence of the final selection includes the other primary function of semicolons -- separating items in a series, some of which themselves include commas. As a bonus, it also includes a colon that introduces this series. The syntax in this series can be explained in two different ways. Some people may view it as a series of nouns that function as appositives to "rite." Each noun in the series represents a part of that rite -- "priests and pristesses; pedestals, a boy; vases, [and] oils." Other readers, however, may view the sentence as focused on a series of noun absolutes. In this view "rite scrambled" is a noun absolute that functions as the direct object of "saw." The "scrambled" is then modifies by a series of noun absolutes that follow the colon:

priests and priestesses *being* in their daily clothes . . .
pedestals bearing lamps . . .
a boy holding the ... censer . . .
vases ... laid . . . [and]
holy oils *being* in pots . . . .