"Woe. . ."

"This kind of thing must end! As, I have abolished strikes, I intend absolutely to stop periodical attempts upon my life. . . , You know that I do not utter words in vain. . . ."

Thus spoke Premier Mussolini six weeks ago when the anarchist Gino Lucetti flung a bomb at him in Rome and missed him (TIME, Sept. 20). Last week II Duce visited Bologna. Amid a teeming throng he opened the new athletic Stadium Littoriale. As he rode away a youth darted from the crowd and fired point blank at Signor Mussolini. The bullet ripped away a piece of cloth from the Premier's coat, pierced the sash of the Grand Cordon of the Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus which he wore, grazed the sleeve of the Mayor of Bologna who sat at his side.

Those near him declared that the expression of the Duce's face did not change. He sat quite still while the mob closed in upon his would-be assassin. Strong hands strangled the youth. Fourteen knives plunged into his flesh. Stripped, beaten to a pulp, dead, his body, unrecognizable, was eventually recovered by the police.

Benito Mussolini waited quietly until the mob thinned sufficiently for his car to proceed. As he drove away the cheering rose to a roar: "Long live the Duce! .... Death to his enemies! .... Woe to him who touches the Savior of Italy. . . ."

The silent immobility of the Premier suggested to observers that he has at last grown tired of saving the lives of those who seek his own.

He saved the life of the Socialist Tito Zaniboni, caught in the act of preparing to shoot him (TIME, Nov. 16, 1925) by crying to the angry mob: "Fascists, you will take no revenge because I wish it! You will obey!"

He saved the life of the insane Englishwoman, Miss Violet Gibson, who thrust a revolver at his face and actually shot away the tip of his nose (TIME, April 19) by ordering the crowd which would have lynched her to disperse peaceably.

Last week he sat silent, let Fascists take for him his revenge.

Immediately afterward Secretary General Augusto Turati of the Fascist Party issued a proclamation: "The first gesture of justice has been accomplished. Now the accomplices of this youth must be sought out and punished."