ITALY: Six Months of Tribute

When the 2,000th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth rolls round ( 1634 years hence) most Anglo-Saxons may have all but forgotten him, though Germans will surely stage tremendous demonstrations for "Unser Shakespeare."† But Italy does not have to wait to celebrate the 2,000th birthday of her bard. From toe to top of the boot-shaped Peninsula, last week, prefects of provinces and podestas (mayors) proclaimed the beginning of "six months of tribute" to Virgil.

Just 2,000 years ago come October 15, was born on a farm near Mantua, Publius Vergilius Maro, greatest Roman poet, suave...

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