power,--and also, alas! imperial degradation. Imperial Rome represents
persecution of religion which does not recognize Caesar as a god and the
assimilation of religions which do not hesitate to add a god to those they
adore. Rome, too, symbolizes the tendency to unity which survives and
inspires the life of the nations of Europe, if not of the world,--a
tendency altogether manifest in the last gigantic struggle through which
mankind has just passed. Rome, finally, stands for Law, for the most
marvelous social machine ever devised by human brains. But Rome is all
that, and more than that, through Horace, Sulla, Cato, Caesar, Cicero,
Nero, Caracalla and Justinian.

The confusion of the Middle Ages has some points of light, always around a
man. The great Frederic Barbarossa stands for Germany, as does William Tell
for Switzerland, as Ivan the Great for Russia, as the Cid for Spain, as
King Arthur for England and Charlemagne for France.

The modern peoples, those who only lately have begun to live as nations,
have their heroes, who perhaps do not seem so great to us as the old
heroes, because they have not been magnified by time; but, if compared with
men of the past, many of them are as great, if not, in some cases, greater.
The countries of America are at present forming this tradition about their
illustrious ancestors. And, if they want to live the strong life of the
nations destined to last and to be powerful and respected, they must
persevere in the work of building up around their fathers the frame-work of
their national consciousness. Washington every day appears nobler to us,
because every day we understand better what is the meaning of his sacrifice
and his work; every day we learn to appreciate more the value of the
inheritance he left to us when he gave us a free country where we can
think and speak and work, untrammeled by the whims and caprices of foreign
masters. And the nations to the south of us are also building their