Mentana

Let's begin with a letter.

Seneca, an old man by now, is writing to his friend Lucilius from his estate at Nomentum, out in the countryside, not far from Rome.

He tells him he has fled the city because he felt the first signs of a fever coming on and he confides something very personal.

He didn't leave for his own sake, but for his wife's, Paulina.

The hill town was hotly defended, but the volunteers finally took it.

From there, after a short stay, Garibaldi moved his army, now numbering 15,000 men, on towards the Ponte della Mentana, some four and a half miles from Rome.

It is said that an agreement had been made by which the papal governor of the castle of Sant'Angelo was to surrender his post for a sum of money, and that this sum was raised by Garibaldi's English friends, but through treachery was not properly used.

This occasioned some delay, and by that time French troops had been landed and were marching to the aid of their allies, the papal guards.

And then, if these my volunteers, champions of liberty and Italian unity, wish to have Rome as the capital of Italy, fulfilling the vote of Parliament and of the nation, they must not put down their arms until Italy shall have acquired liberty of conscience and worship, built upon the ruin of Jesuitism, and until the soldiers of tyrants shall be banished from our land.

The French had now joined the papal army, and the Italian troops were massing in Garibaldi's rear.

On November third he started towards Tivoli, but had to fall back on Mentana, and there occurred the battle which decided the fate of the expedition.

The volunteers fought with the greatest courage and enthusiasm, but their arms were no match for the new chassepot of the French.