Excerpt from The History of Nations This volume aims to provide for English-speaking readers a con nected account of Italian history, convenient in form and accurate in contents, covering the period from 44 B. C. To the present day. The vast majority of people have neither time nor inclination to study the many separate volumes dealing with parts of this long period, and yet would like to have some knowledge of it. It is believed that this single book, which contains the essence of the best that has been written on Italian history, will supply a long-felt want. The editor's purpose, then, is to give a resume of this history, based on recognized authorities and diligently corrected and brought up to date by comparison with the latest and best writers. For the Roman Empire Merivale's History of Rome has been the founda tion. It is unnecessary to comment on the value of Merivale's work, which is everywhere regarded as a standard. For Italian history Since 476 A. D., Bosco's Italian History has been the foun dation. It is one of the most satisfactory digests of the very com plicated history of the peninsula during the centuries of disunion down to the present time. It has passed through several Italian editions, being considered in Italy a standard authority. Yet being a digest only, it compressed unduly the medieval period, - which is one of the most fascinating in all Italian history, - and so recourse has been made here to the excellent chapters by Hallam on Italy in the Middle Ages, from his famous volume on the history of medieval Europe. Throughout, quotations from stand ard authorities have been freely made, which are acknowledged in foot-notes, and will suggest to the reader further sources than those given in the bibliography. Finally, the chapter on the Renais sance and the chapter on contemporary Italy have been written specially for this volume. A bibliography is appended, and while of course making no pretense to be anything but a bare outline, it. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.