Life is extinct.

Nothing is left for science but, scalpel in hand, to lay bare the secret causes of dissolution.

Each anatomist has his own opinion to deliver upon the nature of the malady.
Each records the facts revealed by the autopsy according to his own impressions.
The literary qualities of these historians are very different, and seem to be derived from essential differences in their characters.

Pitti is by far the most brilliant in style, concentrated in expression to the point of epigram, and weighty in judgment.

Nardi, though deficient in some of the most attractive characteristics of the historian, is invaluable for sincerity of intention and painstaking accuracy.