In the whole world, wherever the vault of heaven turns, there is no land so well adorned with all that wins Nature’s crown as Italy, the ruler and second mother of the world, with her men and women, her generals and soldiers, her slaves, her pre-eminence in arts and crafts, her wealth of brilliant talent.
– Pliny the Elder
Natural History, Book XXXVII, Chapter 77. Also quoted in Pompeii by Robert Harris.