Military life in Italy : sketches - Societa italiana di storia militare

THE ITALIAN ARMY DURING THE CHOLERA OF
1867.
for
EVERY time I think how much the army
did and suffered
the country during the cholera of 1867, and feel again that
lively sense of admiration and gratitude which was aroused in
me during those days by the news of every fresh act of charity
and courage, I am seized by the doubt that the greater part of
those actions has been forgotten by the majority, that many of
them have never been known, that all, or nearly all, have been
too vaguely mentioned to be as thoroughly appreciated and
praised as they deserve. Perhaps the recollection of all those
grand actions has been fused by the nation into one single
idea the army did much good ; just as after a victorious battle
the movements and glory of one hundred thousand soldiers is
expressed and exalted in the name of some general. And I
am strengthened in this belief when I consider that the
country, which is only a spectator, and can, and generally
does, notice many things, having been,
in the case of the
cholera, both actor and victim at the same time in the terrible
drama, quite naturally paid little attention to the many passing
deeds (although the army was generous), the effects of which
were trivial and almost unnoticeable in comparison to the
vastness of the evils by which it was so greatly tried. Now
there is no one who does not understand how the feeling of
372