The Italians, again, use the same word for "disgrace" and
"misfortune." I once heard an Italian lady speak of a young friend whom
she described as endowed with every virtue under heaven, "ma," she
exclaimed, "povero disgraziato, ha ammazzato suo zio." ("Poor
unfortunate fellow, he has murdered his uncle.")
On mentioning this, which I heard when taken to Italy as a boy by my
father, the person to whom I told it showed no surprise. He said that he
had been driven for two or three years in a certain city by a young
Sicilian cabdriver of prepossessing manners and appearance, but then lost
sight of him. On asking what had become of him, he was told that he was
in prison for having shot at his father with intent to kill him--happily
without serious result. Some years later my informant again found
himself warmly accosted by the prepossessing young cabdriver. "Ah, caro
signore," he exclaimed, "sono cinque anni che non lo vedo--tre anni di
militare, e due anni di disgrazia," &c. ("My dear sir, it is five years
since I saw you--three years of military service, and two of
misfortune")--during which last the poor fellow had been in prison. Of
moral sense he showed not so much as a trace.
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