"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."
Friedrich Nietzsche
It is easy to go down into Hell; night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide; but to climb back again, to retrace one's steps to the upper air - there's the rub, the task
Vergil
Perhaps nothing could have prevented the event, but, alas it did happen.
Brothers come into this world bound to each other. They are doomed to be locked in a constant struggle for their entire lives. As is our struggle.
We have been in hiding for many months now. The days seem long, nights are drawn out and I have not seen the sun for many days. Most of us have migrated, made our way out of the cities of Italy and into other nations. Still, we are not safe.
But all is not lost. With Leonardo DaVinci still alive and well somewhere along the Mediterranean I know our kind still lives. The ancient city of Rome still stands strong, as did Romulus in that long ago epoch. Our enemies have done nothing but given us an incentive to attack, this time harder.
Nothing will keep us from victory and our goal: to unite all the city-states of Italy into one country. Although I am not seen, I will be heard and although I am not in the middle of this war, I shall draw blood.
Now I put down my pen and pray this letter finds you. Respond to me with great haste, with every heart-beat I will be hoping that you will join us again.
Si vales, valeo,
Alphonse Hobbes