DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0093
introduction.] ON ITALY IN AFTER AGES. xcm
modern Europe can boast. Certainly no other region of Italy
has produced such a galaxy of brilliant intellects. I leave it to
philosophers to determine if there be anything in the climate
or natural features of the land to render it thus intellectually
prolific. But much may be owing to the natural superiority of
the race, which, in spite of the revolutions of ages, remains
essentially the same, and preserves a distinctive character;8
just as many traits of the ancient Greek, Gaul, German, and
Spaniard may be recognised in their modern descendants.
The roots of bygone moral, as well as physical, culture, are not
easily eradicated. The wild vine and olive mark many a desert
tract to have been once subject to cultivation. And thus
ancient civilization will long maintain its traces even in a
degenerate soil, and will often germinate afresh on experiencing
congenial influences,—
" The wheat three thousand years interred
Will still its harvest bear."
How else comes it that while the Roman of to-day preserves
much of the rudeness of former times—while the Neapolitan
in his craft and wiliness betrays his Greek origin—the Tuscan
is still the most lively in intellect and imagination, the most
highly endowed with a taste for art and literature ? May it not
be to the deep-seated influences of early civilization that he owes
that superior polish and blandness of manner, which entitle
Tuscany pre-eminently to the distinction claimed for it of being
" a rare land of courtesy" ?
8 Mieali (Ant. Pop. Ital. I. p. 101 ; between the ancient Etruscans and the
III. p. 11, maintains the analogy, in phy- modern inhabitants of Tuscany,
siognomy and craniologieal development,
modern Europe can boast. Certainly no other region of Italy
has produced such a galaxy of brilliant intellects. I leave it to
philosophers to determine if there be anything in the climate
or natural features of the land to render it thus intellectually
prolific. But much may be owing to the natural superiority of
the race, which, in spite of the revolutions of ages, remains
essentially the same, and preserves a distinctive character;8
just as many traits of the ancient Greek, Gaul, German, and
Spaniard may be recognised in their modern descendants.
The roots of bygone moral, as well as physical, culture, are not
easily eradicated. The wild vine and olive mark many a desert
tract to have been once subject to cultivation. And thus
ancient civilization will long maintain its traces even in a
degenerate soil, and will often germinate afresh on experiencing
congenial influences,—
" The wheat three thousand years interred
Will still its harvest bear."
How else comes it that while the Roman of to-day preserves
much of the rudeness of former times—while the Neapolitan
in his craft and wiliness betrays his Greek origin—the Tuscan
is still the most lively in intellect and imagination, the most
highly endowed with a taste for art and literature ? May it not
be to the deep-seated influences of early civilization that he owes
that superior polish and blandness of manner, which entitle
Tuscany pre-eminently to the distinction claimed for it of being
" a rare land of courtesy" ?
8 Mieali (Ant. Pop. Ital. I. p. 101 ; between the ancient Etruscans and the
III. p. 11, maintains the analogy, in phy- modern inhabitants of Tuscany,
siognomy and craniologieal development,