"La neve al sol si disigilla." [Footnote 159]
[Footnote 159: "The snow dissolves before the sun.">[
I do not think we shall lose by the exchange when, having finished Milton, we read Virgil together. That great man seems to me indeed
"The light and honor of the other poets,"
as our Dante says. We shall reap from this reading the great advantage of being able to compare the principal episodes of the AEneid with the best passages of other poems. I assure you I do not regret the time I give to my little studies; if I had to commence them again, I should apply myself only with more diligence and attention. I owe to them the best pleasures that I have known; above all, I owe to them community of intellectual life with you. [Footnote 160]
[Footnote 160: I would for a moment call the reader's attention to this sentiment. Such should, indeed, be the chief end of the studies of every Christian woman—community of intellectual life with her husband, community of intellectual life with her sons.]
Now that I do not take lessons, and that, consequently, I have no more leisure, I know no more lively pleasure than to shut myself up in my little room with my books and my pen; and even during those hours which I ought and which I am determined to devote to needlework, I love still to think of what I have read and to beguile the time by these pleasant memories. Having had some time for study to-day, I resumed the reading of Muratori, taking the history of the wars of Odoacer and Theodoric. The subject is a familiar one, but I return to it always willingly, because I think the history of the middle ages even more important for us to know than ancient history. And then what joy of soul to see the church, in all places and in the most barbarous ages, the mother and guardian of civilization, the friend and consoler of the vanquished, the last bulwark of the oppressed against the unbridled pretensions of power!
Poor Italy! how she has suffered! What carnage! How much blood shed in vain! How many tears!
January 1, 1857.
Let us pray God, let us pray him with our whole heart to-day, Gaetano, to bless our union, our souls, our actions, our thoughts, our life. May he deign to preserve long those who are dear to us, to shield us from great misfortunes, and, above all, never to withdraw his grace from us! Such are the prayers that we will offer together, united in heart, though separated by distance. God will see the sincerity of our desires, and he will grant them.