THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



513 



Like Nebuchadnezzar at Jerusalem, the Ro- 

 man conqueror chose and carried off "men of 

 valor," "the craftsmen and smiths," but left 

 behind "the poorest sort of the people of the 

 land." For centuries at Rome the school 

 teachers were always slaves, their office desig- 

 nated by a Greek title. The proudest families 

 of Italy have no need to blush that the blood 

 of Roman slaves courses in their veins. 



From each of the innumerable invasions 

 from the north many permanent settlers re- 

 mained. 



Foreign interference and domination fills the 

 story of Italy through the Middle Ages and 

 far into modern times, relieved by isolated, 

 brilliant efforts of City States at self-govern- 

 ment and order. Discouragement pervaded all 

 classes of society. 



And yet, while swinging between despotism 

 and anarchy, Italy evolved the most beautiful 

 of modern languages, a rich and varied litera- 

 ture, and the loftiest expression of art. Fur- 

 thermore, she rendered the world her debtor 

 for inventions and discoveries of the highest 

 rank and for precious contributions to the hu- 

 manities and inductive science. 



Moreover, from her ancient capital, as the 

 spiritual center of the Roman Church, was 

 radiating the sole humanizing influence in an 

 age of universal turbulence and lawlessness. 



One shrinks from the attempt to name a few 

 of the greatest Italians. It is well-nigh impos- 

 sible to select from so numerous a host. There 

 is "not a department of human knowledge from 

 which Italy has not extracted glory ; no art 

 that she has not adorned" — Virgil, Marcus 

 Aurelius, Dante, Tasso, Columbus, Raphael, 

 Michel Angelo, Da Vinci, Galileo, Canova, 

 Savonarola, Torricelli, Galvani, Volta, Marconi. 



In 1870 long-disappointed dreams were real- 

 ized and Italy was reunited. She has since 

 lived under a constitutional system which re- 

 sembles that of England more than does the 

 system of any other country on the continent. 



No mere consideration of material gain in 

 territory and population nerved the Italian arm 

 in the last war, but the burning desire that 

 Tyrolian and Friulian kindred should enjoy the 

 freedom and good government which the eman- 

 cipated in the mother country had won. 



Italy in 1917 had about 37,000,000 inhabitants 

 and an area of over 110,000 miles. Since then 

 the Italians have conquered the enemy and the 

 Alps, and their brethren, formerly under a for- 

 eign yoke, have been redeemed. Historical 

 causes have produced many differences of dia- 

 lect, which are gradually disappearing. The 

 Tuscan of Florence is the purest Italian. 



Sicily and Sardinia are of nearly equal size, 

 about 10,000 square miles ; but Sicily, with al- 

 most 3,000,000 inhabitants, is four times the 

 more populous. 

 _ The three islands — Sicily, Sardinia, and Cor- 

 sica — the latter a department of France, have 

 had an existence as chequered as the mainland. 



In Sardinia, the least disturbed by invasion, 

 there is very small intermixture of foreign 



blood. The Sardinians are the shortest of the 

 Italians. Hence Sergi infers they are descend- 

 ants of an early pigmy race from central Africa. 



Corsica and Sicily have been submerged by 

 every wave of Mediterranean invasion and 

 have changed masters many times. Corsica is 

 content as part of France, but in early race 

 and modern language resembles Italy more 

 than do Sicily and Sardinia. All were early 

 inhabited by Greek colonists. The Greeks main- 

 tain that the Bonapartes were of Greek origin, 

 originally called Kalemerida, of which Buona- 

 parte is the literal translation. 



The islanders are sober, courteous, proud, 

 implacable, and have high sense of honor. 

 Physically they are strong and hardy. 



the: MAivTESE 



Before the ascendancy of the Greeks and 

 Romans the Phoenician language was supreme 

 in the Mediterranean. In every colony, except 

 one, which the Phoenicians founded, their lan- 

 guage has been superseded and forgotten. But 

 Malta, though a British possession, is still, as 

 it was called by Diodorus Siculus, who lived 

 in the time of Christ, "a colony of the Phoeni- 

 cians." 



One-seventh of the Maltese understand Ital- 

 ian, which is the language of the law courts. 

 One-tenth can speak English, the use of which 

 is increasing. Practically all of them speak 

 daily the lingua Maltese, once considered "Un 

 arabe corrompu mele d'italien," now recognized 

 as not Arab at all, but a Phoenician dialect. 

 This unique survival of an elsewhere extinct 

 language surpasses in interest all the many 

 memorable invasions and sieges which Malta 

 has known. 



The civil population of the three islands — 

 Malta, Gozo, Comino — was 223,741 in 1917. 

 Though the aristocracy are partly Norman, 

 Italian, or Spanish, the people have been little 

 affected by foreign influence. They are of an 

 alert _ and well-proportioned figure, with ex- 

 pressive and usually attractive faces, in general 

 lighter than the southern Italians. They are 

 industrious and frugal and are devoted to their 

 families and the Roman Catholic Church.' 



The rocky and barren islands afford scant 

 sustenance, so the men are forced to seek em- 

 ployment throughout the Levant, bringing their 

 earnings home after each absence. They claim 

 that Hannibal was born in Malta. At any rate 

 they could attempt converse with him or with 

 Queen Dido or Hiram of Tyre, should those 

 ancient personages return to earth. 



THE RACES OF THE IBERIAN 

 PENINSULA 



Geography does not account for the exist- 

 ence of two peoples side by side, absolutely 

 distinct, yet in most respects similar, with no 

 apparent cause for separation. Nature, from 

 the Pyrenees to Gibraltar, from the Mediter- 

 ranean to the Atlantic, indicates common na- 



