On Special As Well As On
General Grounds, I Have A Grudge Against This Mass Of Ugly Masonry.
I Had
Learnt from Lenormant that at a certain spot, Fontanella, by
the shore of the Little Sea, were observable great ancient
Heaps of
murex shells - the murex precious for its purple, that of Tarentum
yielding in glory only to the purple of Tyre. I hoped to see these
shells, perhaps to carry one away. But Fontanella had vanished,
swallowed up, with all remnants of antiquity, by the graceless
Arsenal. It matters to no one save the few fantastics who hold a
memory of the ancient world dearer than any mechanic triumph of
to-day. If only one could believe that the Arsenal signified
substantial good to Italy! Too plainly it means nothing but the
exhaustion of her people in the service of a base ideal.
The confines of this new town being so vague, much trouble is given
to that noble institution, the dazio. Scattered far and wide in a
dusty wilderness, stand the little huts of the officers, vigilant on
every road or by-way to wring the wretched soldi from toilsome
hands. As became their service, I found these gentry anything but
amiable; they had commonly an air of ennui, and regarded a
stranger with surly suspicion.
When I was back again among the high new houses, my eye, wandering
in search of any smallest point of interest, fell on a fresh-painted
inscription: -
"ALLA MAGNA GRAECIA. STABILIMENTO
IDROELETTROPATICO."
was well meant.
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