THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



141 



Photograph from Alice Rohe 



A VIEW OE SAN LEO FROM SAN MARINO 



When Leo and Marino, Dalmatian stone-cutters, had completed their self-appointed task 

 of caring for the spiritual and physical well-being of the Christian slaves who were recon- 

 structing the walls of the city of Rimini, they sought peace and solitude on two neighboring 

 heights now called San Leo and San Marino. 



public, whose greatest length is 9 miles, 

 is completely surrounded by Italy, who 

 respects its autonomy, as have rulers of 

 the past, with a few fleeting exceptions, 

 since the pious Dalmatian stone-cutter 

 left the mountain to his followers, "free 

 from every other man." 



Today is the time when the rights of 

 little nations are commanding a good deal 

 of the world's attention. Their claims 

 before humanity have been forced by 

 tyranny and the horrors of war. San 

 Marino, littlest nation of them all, is of 

 interest because of its very freedom, its 

 persistent maintenance of its hereditary 

 liberty. 



The tradition of its safety, its internal 

 peace, in contrast to San Leo, is ingenu- 

 ously expressed in the ancient belief that 

 whenever an evil and avaricious spirit, 

 covetous of dominion, entered a citizen, 

 that citizen, through some occult power, 

 was disposed of. Disturbers of the pub- 



lic peace did not last long. Saint Ma- 

 rino, you see, watched over his Republic. 

 Whatever be the reason for the perpetual 

 peace, the veneration of the saint is 

 boundless. Today, with the same sin- 

 cerity and reverence as of old, the silver 

 bust containing the head of Marino is car- 

 ried throughout the Republic to bless it. 



A REPUBLIC WHOSE IDEAL HAS BEEN 

 MAINTAINED 



That this little Republic, which today 

 has 11,000 inhabitants and an area of 38 

 square miles, has maintained its indepen- 

 dence, its ideal of liberty, in the midst 

 of strife and bloodshed, of changing 

 social conditions, for sixteen centuries, 

 adds dignity to the unwavering belief of 

 the trusting ones in the never-ceasing 

 protection of the saintly founder. 



The position of the mountain, far from 

 the great Roman roads, the Via Flaminia 

 and Via TEmilia ; sufficiently distant from 



