按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
when the Spanish infantry were confronted by German battalions; who
follow the same tactics as the Swiss; when the Spaniards; by agility of
body and with the aid of their shields; got in under the pikes of the
Germans and stood out of danger; able to attack; while the Germans stood
helpless; and; if the cavalry had not dashed up; all would have been
over with them。 It is possible; therefore; knowing the defects of both
these infantries; to invent a new one; which will resist cavalry and not
be afraid of infantry; this need not create a new order of arms; but a
variation upon the old。 And these are the kind of improvements which
confer reputation and power upon a new prince。
This opportunity; therefore; ought not to be allowed to pass for letting
Italy at last see her liberator appear。 Nor can one express the love
with which he would be received in all those provinces which have
suffered so much from these foreign scourings; with what thirst for
revenge; with what stubborn faith; with what devotion; with what tears。
What door would be closed to him? Who would refuse obedience to him?
What envy would hinder him? What Italian would refuse him homage? To all
of us this barbarous dominion stinks。 Let; therefore; your illustrious
house take up this charge with that courage and hope with which all just
enterprises are undertaken; so that under its standard our native
country may be ennobled; and under its auspices may be verified that
saying of Petrarch:
Virtu contro al Furore
Prendera l'arme; e fia il batter corto:
Che l'antico valore
Negli italici cuor non e ancor morto。 '1'
1。 Virtue against fury shall advance the fight;
And it i' th' bat soon shall put to flight;
For the old Roman; valour is not dead;
Nor in th' Italians' breasts extinguished。
THE END