clusions I then reached. But there is a great deal more
that I would like to add in order to make the book
fully worthy of its subject. The Mazzini here depicted,
especially in the first part, is the inflexible Mazzini
whose doctrine has achieved its final form. The real
and more fascinating Mazzini is missing: the Mazzini
who, throughout the tragic experiences of his youth, is
still seeking himself; then the Mazzini who forces
himself, in the desolation of defeat, to re-elaborate his
own faith; and finally the Mazzini who gains contact
once more with reality in his years of maturity, streng-
thened but at the same time misled by preconceptions
irrevocably fixed, and, contending desperately with a
hostile world, succeeds in imposing his own political
ideal of a united Italy upon it, only to see all his
religious and social philosophy come to nothing. I do
not know whether I shall ever have time or strength
to carry out the design that I have in mind. But this at
least I know: that if I could have my way with this
early work of mine, I would re-write it from beginning
to end.

In the meantime the book is always in demand, and
may well continue to serve the purpose of those who
wish to find in a condensed form all that is essential to
Mazzini's thought; even if the best of Mazzini, his life,
is absent from its pages.

Florence, February 1925

G. SALVEMINI

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