* * * * *
And love, young men, love and venerate the ideal. The ideal is the word
of God. High above every country, high above humanity, is the country of
the spirit, the city of the soul, in which all are brethren who believe
in the inviolability of thought and in the dignity of our immortal soul;
and the baptism of this fraternity is martyrdom. From that high sphere
spring the principles which alone can redeem the peoples. Arise for the
sake of these, and not from impatience of suffering or dread of evil.
Anger, pride, ambition, and the desire of material prosperity, are
common alike to the peoples and their oppressors, and even should you
conquer with these to-day, you would fall again to-morrow; but
principles belong to the peoples alone, and their oppressors can find no
arms to oppose them. Adore enthusiasm, the dreams of the virgin soul,
and the visions of early youth, for they are a perfume of paradise which
the soul retains in issuing from the hands of its Creator. Respect,
above all things, your conscience; have upon your lips the truth
implanted by God in your hearts, and, while laboring in harmony, even
with those who differ from you, in all that tends to the emancipation of
our soil, yet ever bear your own banner erect and boldly promulgate your
own faith. GIUSEPPE MAZZINI.