DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61893#0192
164 CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. IV.
should have been honored with the appellation
of another Rome, considered as the bulwark and
pride of Italy, and celebrated by orators and
poets as the second fated seat of independence
and empire.
Una Italum regina, altae pulcherrima Romae
2Emula, quae terris, quae dominaris aquis !
Tu tibi vel reges cives facis; O decus! O lux
Ausoniae, per quam libera turba sumus;
Per quam barbaries nobis non imperat, et Sol
Exoriens nostro clarius orbe micat!
Act. Syn. Sannaz. lib. iii. Eleg. 1, 95.
The literary fame of Venice was unequal, it
must be confessed, to its military renown : per-
haps because the government, as is usually the
case in free countries, left talents and genius to
their own activity and intrinsic powers; yet the
ardor of individuals who either did not, or could
not take a share in public administration, led
many to seek distinction in the new career which
the revival of letters opened to their ambition.
Many eminent scholars had visited, and some
had settled in the Republic, and to their labors
we owe many an interesting publication on some
or other branch of classic erudition. But it
would be difficult to say whether the exertions
of any individual however splendid his talents,
or even the labors of any particular association,
should have been honored with the appellation
of another Rome, considered as the bulwark and
pride of Italy, and celebrated by orators and
poets as the second fated seat of independence
and empire.
Una Italum regina, altae pulcherrima Romae
2Emula, quae terris, quae dominaris aquis !
Tu tibi vel reges cives facis; O decus! O lux
Ausoniae, per quam libera turba sumus;
Per quam barbaries nobis non imperat, et Sol
Exoriens nostro clarius orbe micat!
Act. Syn. Sannaz. lib. iii. Eleg. 1, 95.
The literary fame of Venice was unequal, it
must be confessed, to its military renown : per-
haps because the government, as is usually the
case in free countries, left talents and genius to
their own activity and intrinsic powers; yet the
ardor of individuals who either did not, or could
not take a share in public administration, led
many to seek distinction in the new career which
the revival of letters opened to their ambition.
Many eminent scholars had visited, and some
had settled in the Republic, and to their labors
we owe many an interesting publication on some
or other branch of classic erudition. But it
would be difficult to say whether the exertions
of any individual however splendid his talents,
or even the labors of any particular association,