University of Virginia Library

“It is the production of a republican, a philosopher, a patriot, and a philanthropist,
and should be made a class book in our schools and colleges.
We earnestly commend it to American youth of all classes. We have seen
nothing in it that can offend any religious sect, political party, profession,
occupation or calling. It is patriotic throughout.”

“Citizen of a Republic, by Ansaldo Ceba, one of the most illustrious of
the stern and heroic republicans who flourished in the times of the Medici.
He was a person who figured in troubled times—the sixteenth century;
when the spirit of learning and freedom had just begun to triumph over the
powers of darkness and despotism. His convictions were strong, and he
wrote with a solemn earnestness of purpose. Taking the side of virtue,
and at the same time of liberty, his counsels are peculiarly adapted to the
young men of this country. It is, in short, a dissertation on moral and social
education, conceived in a broad and lofty feeling of human responsibility
and progressiveness.”

“Ansaldo Ceba has been always considered as one of the ablest of Italian
writers on government, and the work now published is the most important
which he has given to the world. If we regard only our conception of the
word `Republic,' we shall find his title a misnomer; but the book itself is
full of a thoroughly republican sentiment, and inculcates the democratic
virtues. It is, indeed, a noble composition, replete with learning, thought,
and the purest classification.”