Many errors had been committed, but much suffering had also been endured; the people, whose whole youth capable of arms had for ten years hardly laid aside shield or sword, might excuse many faults.

The living of different nations side by side in peace and amity upon the whole--although maintaining an attitude of mutual antagonism--which appears to be the aim of modern phases of national life, was a thing foreign to antiquity.

In ancient times it was necessary to be either anvil or hammer; and in the final struggle between the victors victory remained with the Romans.

Whether they would have the judgment to use it rightly--to attach the Latin nation by still closer bonds to Rome, gradually to Latinize Italy, to rule their dependents in the provinces as subjects and not to abuse them as slaves, to reform the constitution, to reinvigorate and to enlarge the tottering middle class--many a one might ask.

If they should know how to use it, Italy might hope to see happy times, in which prosperity based on personal exertion under favourable circumstances, and the most decisive political supremacy over the then civilized world, would impart a just self-reliance to every member of the great whole, furnish a worthy aim for every ambition, and open a career for every talent.