ITALY: No. 2 Virgil

Gorgeous pageants, tempestuous rejoicings in every city of the land, honored Italy's No. 1 Virgil (Publius Virgilius Maro) on the 2,000th anniversary of his birth (TIME, May 5). Last week Italy faced the new year with a new No. 2 Virgil.

Sponsored by wealthy Fascist patrons— Poet Virgilio Fiorentino has just produced an epic of 20,000 verses "priced at 12,980 lire ($675) the set, handsomely bound and illustrated." Title: Twenty-Seven Songs of the Fascist Revolution. At the rate of one song (volume) per month, the 27 volumes will appear during the next three...

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