Page:The National Idea in Italian Literature.djvu/51

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tion the altar upon which the festival of Greater Italy will, in days to come, be celebrated (3).

The victory of Vittorio Veneto crowned and completed the work of the Risorgimento. We may remember how Swinburne, looking back upon the past gifts of Italy to the world and looking forward to the fulfilment of Mazzini's prophecy of the third Rome, wrote in the Song of the Standard:—

"Out of thine hands hast thou fed us with pasture of colour and song;
  Glory and beauty by birthright to thee as thy garments belong;
  Out of thine hands thou shalt give us as surely deliverance from wrong.

"Out of thine eyes thou hast shed on us love as a lamp in our night,
  Wisdom a lodestar to ships, and remembrance a flame-coloured light;
  Out of thine eyes thou shalt show us as surely the sun-dawn of right.

"Turn to us, speak to us, Italy, mother, but once and a word,
  None shall not follow thee, none shall not serve thee, not one that has heard;
  Twice hast thou spoken a message, and time is athirst for the third."

With what sublime heroism, with what immense sacrifices (too often so inadequately recognised by her allies and associates), Italy has contributed—in measure out of all proportion to her resources—in saving the civilisation of Europe and giving us deliverance from wrong, the events of these terrible

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