{"id":"01KG8AKRMJMX6FH6CXQGP4T5GQ","cid":"bafkreihm7ozjuzffpl7pjyudvflpcbw64p3yv226t6jwq26inu5vgc4kfq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":5926,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:09.927Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","start_line":5865,"text":"of Kolumbo, no inconsiderable part of which was embraced by Vivenza,\r\nwas the last island discovered in the Archipelago.\r\n\r\nIn good round truth, and as if an impartialist from Arcturus spoke it,\r\nVivenza was a noble land. Like a young tropic tree she stood, laden\r\ndown with greenness, myriad blossoms, and the ripened fruit\r\nthick-hanging from one bough. She was promising as the morning.\r\n\r\nOr Vivenza might be likened to St. John, feeding on locusts and wild\r\nhoney, and with prophetic voice, crying to the nations from the\r\nwilderness. Or, child-like, standing among the old robed kings and\r\nemperors of the Archipelago, Vivenza seemed a young Messiah, to whose\r\ndiscourse the bearded Rabbis bowed.\r\n\r\nSo seemed Vivenza in its better aspect. Nevertheless, Vivenza was a\r\nbraggadocio in Mardi; the only brave one ever known. As an army of\r\nspurred and crested roosters, her people chanticleered at the\r\nresplendent rising of their sun. For shame, Vivenza! Whence thy\r\nundoubted valor? Did ye not bring it with ye from the bold old shores\r\nof Dominora, where there is a fullness of it left? What isle but\r\nDominora could have supplied thee with that stiff spine of thine?— That\r\nheart of boldest beat? Oh, Vivenza! know that true grandeur is too big\r\nfor a boast; and nations, as well as men, may be too clever to be\r\ngreat.\r\n\r\nBut what more of King Bello? Notwithstanding his territorial\r\nacquisitiveness, and aversion to relinquishing stolen nations, he was\r\nyet a glorious old king; rather choleric—a word and a blow—but of a\r\nright royal heart. Rail at him as they might, at bottom, all the isles\r\nwere proud of him. And almost in spite of his rapacity, upon the whole,\r\nperhaps, they were the better for his deeds. For if sometimes he did\r\nevil with no very virtuous intentions, he had fifty, ways of\r\naccomplishing good with the best; and a thousand ways of doing good\r\nwithout meaning it. According to an ancient oracle, the hump-backed\r\nmonarch was but one of the most conspicuous pieces on a board, where\r\nthe gods played for their own entertainment.\r\n\r\nBut here it must not be omitted, that of late, King Bello had somewhat\r\nabated his efforts to extend his dominions. Various causes were\r\nassigned. Some thought it arose from the fact that already he found his\r\nterritories too extensive for one scepter to rule; that his more remote\r\ncolonies largely contributed to his tribulations, without\r\ncorrespondingly contributing to his revenues. Others affirmed that his\r\nhump was getting too mighty for him to carry; others still, that the\r\nnations were waving too strong for him. With prophetic solemnity,\r\nhead-shaking sages averred that he was growing older and older had\r\npassed his grand climacteric; and though it was a hale old age with\r\nhim, yet it was not his lusty youth; that though he was daily getting\r\nrounder, and rounder in girth, and more florid of face, that these,\r\nhowbeit, were rather the symptoms of a morbid obesity, than of a\r\nhealthful robustness. These wise ones predicted that very soon poor\r\nBello would go off in an apoplexy.\r\n\r\nBut in Vivenza there were certain blusterers, who often thus prated:\r\n“The Hump-back’s hour is come; at last the old teamster will be gored\r\nby the nations he’s yoked; his game is done,—let him show his hand and\r\nthrow up his scepter; he cumbers Mardi,—let him be cut down and burned;\r\nhe stands in the way of his betters,—let him sheer to one side; he has\r\nshut up many eyes, and now himself grows blind; he hath committed\r\nhorrible atrocities during his long career, the old sinner! —now, let\r\nhim quickly say his prayers and be beheaded.”\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJSXQTZPWX11M50TBJN7B","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKRMJRWFPRT28H1Z0F463","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKRMJC9J002MVKGVHRXDY","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.994Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:23.893Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}