Saturday, December 09, 2023
Those Old Times Have Taken Hold Upon Me
George Gissing (1857-1903), The Unclassed, Chapter IV ("Christmas in Two Homes," Julian Casti speaking):
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"You will think it strange, but I don't so much long for the modern Italy, for the beautiful scenery and climate, not even for the Italy of Raphael, or Dante. I think most of classical Italy. I am no scholar, but I love the Latin writers, and can forget myself for hours, working through Livy or Tacitus. I want to see the ruins of Rome; I want to see the Tiber, the Clitumnus, the Aufidius, the Alban Hills, Lake Trasimenus—a thousand places! It is strange how those old times have taken hold upon me. The mere names in Roman history make my blood warm."
