So well had they used me that I paid what
they asked, and, not knowing what money remained over, I left their
town by the southern gate, crossed the railway and took the road.
My way lay under the flank of that mountain whereby the Luccans cannot
see Pisa, or the Pisans cannot see Lucca - it is all one to me, I shall
not live in either town, God willing; and if they are so eager to
squint at one another, in Heaven's name, cannot they be at the pains
to walk round the end of the hill? It is this laziness which is the
ruin of many; but not of pilgrims, for here was I off to cross the
plain of Arno in one night, and reach by morning the mouth and gate of
that valley of the Elsa, which same is a very manifest proof of how
Rome was intended to be the end and centre of all roads, the chief
city of the world, and the Popes' residence - as, indeed, it plainly is
to this day, for all the world to deny at their peril, spiritual,
geographical, historical, sociological, economic, and philosophical.
For if some such primeval and predestinarian quality were not inherent
in the City, how, think you, would the valley of the Serchio - the hot,
droughty, and baking Garfagnana - lead down pointing straight to Rome;
and how would that same line, prolonged across the plain, find fitting
it exactly beyond that plain this vale of the Elsa, itself leading up
directly towards Rome?
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 313 of 361
Words from 84701 to 84964
of 97758
