389, 390), in which he almost cynically exposes the inconvenience of self-respect and delicacy.

The situation of two friends, who agree that honor is a nuisance and share their wives in common, is a favorite of the Novelists.
An important consideration, affecting the whole question of Italian immorality, is this.

Whereas the northern races had hitherto remained in a state of comparative poverty and barbarism, distributed through villages and country districts, the people of Italy had enjoyed centuries of wealth and civilization in great cities.

Their towns were the centers of luxurious life.

The superfluous income of the rich was spent in pleasure, nor had modern decorum taught them to conceal the vices of advanced culture beneath the cloak of propriety.