'l792' society of Arcadia. 237 



car<JlnaIs, grandmasters of miLtary orders, the sena- 

 tor ot Rome, viceroys, am^bafsadors of princes or 

 republics, and the nephews of popes actually reign- 

 ing. 



The deduction of colonies was one of the strong- 

 est instruments the Romans made use of, even from 

 the times of Romulus, to form and to maintain the 

 happinefs and splendour of their wise common- 

 wealth, and their powerful empire. By easily admit- 

 ting strangers to the privilege of Roman citizens, 

 and by sending citizens from Rome, among fox-eign 

 nations, Rome did, in a manner, form one people 

 of the many nations fhe conquered, and gradually, 

 conveyed to them her manners, and her laws ; and 

 establifhed by her prudence, what fhe had acquired 

 by her valour. Akliough I do not pretend to 

 comparf with the real dominion of the Roman re- 

 public, the affairs of our literary afsembly, vvhich 

 are only imaginary, yet, I may say, that by the same 

 means which ancient Rome^made use of to make 

 all the nations become Romans, our Arcadia iias at- 

 tained to make one body of all the literati, at least 

 the Italians, to the purpose of propagating t-hat good 

 taste in writing, which had been adopted by the 

 Arcadians, and which at that period wag not to be 

 found among others ; and in order that Italy fliould 

 /recover the pofstfsion of thinking justly, and of 

 writing according to the rules and the models of her 

 own best authors. The means to attain this, have 

 been an easy reception of any person that dis- 

 covered a genius capable of fhining some day or 

 other in the sciences or belles lettres s and in deduc- 



