Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-08-14
D'ANNUNZIO ON THE
RED FURROW OF WAR
Glorifes in Vivid Language the
Mystic Law of Blood, the An
cient Law of Iron, the Liy-
ing Law of Rome
AN INTERVIEW BY
INEZ MILHoLLAND BoISsEvAIN

1NEZ MILHOLLAND B0ISSEVA1N
I mo ME d'Annunsio at the zenith of hi
a i power, appears a tragic figure. From m!
, viewpoint he has failed utterly to rise (
: the occasion His public conduct appeart
bombastic and ignoble
So Il was with a mixture Of feelings that
approached him; with the reverence OF
, many years and contempt born in the last
few months.
find him amazing, unlike anything had
expected Instead Of a cynic. I see a man
Of the utmost capacity for faith instead Of
an aggressive, ! see a man of tmidity and
gentleness and of profound sensibilites; hon
est naive, spontaneous, childlke-that is my
impression Of d'Annunzo. | would trust
him absolutely, and trust him to act with
tenderness, wisdom and consideration. Cen
erous he Is and courageous. with a courage
OF perfect emotional sincerity. Had his in
tellectual development kept pace with his
imagination. he might have been giant
among men.
His point of view is so antipathetc to
me that hardly trusted myself to repro
duce It. l asked him, therefore, after an in
tervew Of three hours, TO express It himself
in his own words and imagery for a part
of his wItchery lies in his words, which are
! sheer music,
This 10 his stntcmcnt-and his explana-
tion. He tells me that for thirty years he
has preached war as the means of regenerat-
ing the spirit Of his people and reviving the
glorcs, the greatness and the unity of the
past. That is the trouble He is STEPPED in
the spirit of the past-surrounded with an
ttquities and dead things; EMBODIED in mys-
ticism and numbinF belief in fatality. He
believes that he is about to die, and that the
future Of his people and his world holds
nothing for him.
The Inexorable Law of Blood
Here is what dAnnunzio says:
There is in all human history a law of
blood-ineXorable inevitable All truth to
he fruitful should he written with blood all
unity to be lasting must be cemented with
blood We Latins cannot forget that Rome,
purified, arose from the red furrow of mur-
der with her doors the color of the skies
If our war is just if our war is holy, 1t
is because the morrow will celebrate the real |
birth of the nation of the Mediterranean In |
fresh blood. Great Italy will be born from
the mystic furrow, according to the living
law Of Rome, recognized as livirg not only
in brute force but in spirit
Up to the eve of the war, the old cn-lupt
advisers persuaded the Italian people that
they should not seek glory in conquest but
in acquisition, They tried to subordinate all
moral values to petty and immediate in
terests
1t has been my joy and pride to re-es-
tablish in the conscience of the people this
wholesome truth that the nation is in fact
of spiritual nature and that the idea of
sacrifice is at the root of this very spirit
uality.
We know today, after four weeks of war.
what manner of individual excels in the
nation and through what effort the nation
herself excels in renewing and creating life
through destruction.
We begin to seize again this Roman art
Of power-"facere ct patti ortla" The hour
to act and to suffer has come for Italy, and
never before this hour was the admonition
so appropriate for her of our great poet and
prophet:
Now, ah now, we must learn through
anguish marching forward fighting against
The most atrocious destiny without recoiling.
Now 1t is necessary to realize what the
children of Italy, united, really are, and to
show it to the world"
italy in truth, after 50 years of misfor-
tunes, errors and efforts, badly governed by
and incapable old men, who
were the dead embers of the little fire of the
Z
the world what she was in reality I even
dare to say that she did not know what she
was, l even dare to add-if 25 years of soli-
-ary meditation and uninterrupted vigilance
gives me the right even dare to add to
me last warning verses, the final word
humble but proud of your rude singer be-
cause up till now except myself no one has
'ecognized what these children, united,
'eally were.
One day men will have the courage to
write true history of our wars for inde-
1endence, so interviewer with lights and
shadows! Notwithstanding so much heroic
'rdor' Notwithstanding so many sublime
lanes, the perfect minglng of souls and of
blood was not attained. A veritable ma
ional consciousness was not formed
Rebirth of a Nation
In accepting the risks of the war, in
hrowing themselves with all their Ardor
nto the turmoil the Italian people know
hat more important than the territorial
unity to be attained they will ind real unity
# consciousness and virtue
They know also that their task. in truth
S much more arduous than that of bringing
bout the death throes Of the two-headed
'ulture For Italy, as well as for France
or our distant brothers in Daeia Trajan, as
veil as for all nations of Mediterranean
ulture' it is necessary to fight a supreme
ght against the imminent menace Of servi-
ude and determination.
This war is not simple conflict of inter-
SITS vague and scattered. It is much deeper
nd, | will say, almost more dlvine-wipine
ut the night OF time and the development OF