Note 513 — LIBRO SECONDO. DAL RITORNO ALLA VITA PRIVATA ED AGLI STUDI SINO ALLA MORTE DEL MACHIAVELLI. (1513-1527) (continued 2)

«The full grandeur of his indomitable will, his large and patient statemanship, the loftiness of aim which lifts him out of his age, had still to be disclosed. But there never was a moment from his boyhood when he was not among the greatest of men.... His vengeance had no touch of human pity. William tore out the eyes of the prisoners he had taken, cut off their hands and feet, and flung them into the town. At the close of his greatest victory he refused Harold's body a grave.» J. R. Green, A short history of the English People. London, Macmillan, 1878, a pag. 71-72.