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The World’s Famous Orations, Vol. 7
Garibaldi
To His Soldiers*
(1860)
To arms, then, all of you! all of you! And the oppressors and the mighty shall disappear like dust. You, too, women, cast away all the cowards from your embraces; they will give you only cowards for children, and you who are the daughters of the land of beauty must bear children who are noble and brave. Let timid doctrinaires depart from among us to carry their servility and their miserable fears elsewhere. This people is its own master. It wishes to be the brother of other peoples, but to look on the insolent with a proud glance, not to grovel before them imploring its own freedom. It will no longer follow in the trail of men whose hearts are foul. No! No! No!
Providence has presented Italy with Victor Emmanuel. Every Italian should rally round him. By the side of Victor Emmanuel every quarrel should be forgotten, all rancor depart. Once more I repeat my battle-cry: "To arms, all—all of you!" If March, 1861, does not find one million of Italians in arms, then alas for liberty, alas for the life of Italy. Ah, no, far be from me a thought which I loathe like poison. March of 1861, or if need be February, will find us all at our post—Italians of Calatafimi, Palermo, Ancona, the Volturno, Castelfidardo, and Isernia, and with us every man of this landwho is not a coward or a slave. Let all of us rally round the glorious hero of Palestro2 and give the last blow to the crumbling edifice of tyranny. Receive, then, my gallant young volunteers, at the honored conclusion of ten battles, one word of farewell from me.3
I utter this word with deepest affection and from the very bottom of my heart. To-day I am obliged to retire, but for a few days only. The hour of battle will find me with you again, by the side of the champions of Italian liberty. Let those only return to their homes who are called by the imperative duties which they owe to their families, and those who by their glorious wounds have deserved the credit of their country. These, indeed, will serve Italy in their homes by their counsel, by the very aspect of the sears which adorn their youthful brows. Apart from these, let all others remain to guard our glorious banners. We shall meet again before long to march together to the redemption of our brothers who are still slaves of the stranger. We shall meet again before long to march to new triumphs.
* Delivered late in 1860 on his departure from Naples after having relinquished into the hands of Victor Emmanuel his dictatorship over the Neapolitan provinces. Given here as reported in the London Times.
2 A village of Northern Italy where in 1859, between the Battles of Montebello and Magenta, the Sardinians, under Victor Emmanuel, and aided by the French, defeated the army of Austria.
3 Francis II. was besieged at his stronghold of Gaeta early in 1861, and on February 13 surrendered to Victor Emmanuel.
Chicago: Giuseppe Garibaldi, The World’s Famous Orations, Vol. 7 in The World’s Famous Orations, ed. William Jennings Bryan (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, December, 1906), 231–232. Original Sources, accessed November 21, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=M5CN22QE9AU38ZV.
MLA: Garibaldi, Giuseppe. The World’s Famous Orations, Vol. 7, in The World’s Famous Orations, edited by William Jennings Bryan, Vol. 7, New York, Funk and Wagnalls, December, 1906, pp. 231–232. Original Sources. 21 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=M5CN22QE9AU38ZV.
Harvard: Garibaldi, G, The World’s Famous Orations, Vol. 7. cited in December, 1906, The World’s Famous Orations, ed. , Funk and Wagnalls, New York, pp.231–232. Original Sources, retrieved 21 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=M5CN22QE9AU38ZV.
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