• Three of the Decii, father, son, and grandson, sacrificed their lives in battle at different times for their country. The Fabii also rendered signal services to the state, but are chiefly known in history through one of their number, Quinctius Maximus, surnamed Cunctator, or the Delayer, from whom we have “the Fabian policy.” ↩
• The hill of Fiesole, overlooking Florence, where Dante was born. Fiesole was destroyed by the Romans for giving refuge to Catiline and his fellow conspirators. ↩
• The birth of Christ. Milton, “Hymn on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity,” 3, 4:⁠— “But he, her fears to cease, Sent down the meek-eyed Peace: She, crowned with olive-green, came softly sliding Down through the turning sphere, His ready harbinger, With turtle wing the amorous clouds dividing; And, waving wide her myrtle wand, She strikes a universal peace through sea and land. “No war or battle’s sound Was heard the world around: The idle spear and shield were high up hung; The hooked chariot stood Unstained with hostile blood; The trumpet spake not to the armèd throng; And kings sat still with awful eye, As if they surely knew their sovran Lord was by.” ↩
• Durazzo in Macedonia, and Pharsalia in Thessaly. ↩