A distinction is, however, made by Croce between the knowledge required for a practical act, such as the disposing of a regiment of infantry for a review, and that of the philosopher or the artist. The one is an intuition, the other is a conception, and to make the ground of a volition you want both, for the combination is _historical_ knowledge. There, obviously enough, Croce reveals himself a true son of Machiavelli, Vico, and de Sanctis. The Florentine secretary had been hinting as much when he insisted on the necessity of our knowing the _actual truth about things_ (since _human things are always moving_), in order to govern _in harmony with the times_. This _historical_ knowledge is not an idea that will surprise after all that has been said about the constant tendency of Italy’s best thinkers to test the practicability of any concept on the concrete ground of history. To them, the natural realm of action being history, it was manifest that any knowledge or theory is liable to be acted upon only in so far as it is historical; and such knowledge becomes, under the name of condition of fact, the ground of Croce’s conception of the necessity and liberty of man’s will. To the generally accepted ideas of means and end Croce was to bring a most radical change. First he proceeds to prove that what is known as the end, the purpose, or the aim is not to be distinguished from the will. When I wash my hands my purpose is obviously that I should have them clean; but then it is equally obvious that this means that I want them to be clean. Turning to the means, the washing of my hands in order to have them clean, supposes a condition of fact which means the availableness of soap and water, for I could not will to wash my hands if I had neither soap nor water. These material means are known by me to be available when I make up my mind to wash my hands in order to get them clean. So that purpose and means are all included in my act of will, which is nothing more nor less than the actual act of washing my hands. If the situation of fact did not include soap and water I could at best _wish_ to wash them, never _will_ to do so. What is consequently to be rejected once for all is the idea of a definite plan that would not allow the taking into consideration of the continual variation of the means. Thus the men of the Risorgimento had to vary their purpose and to reconsider the means to attain it after and before each campaign, having to take as their actual will only that the realisation of which was in harmony with the then actual situation of fact. So that we can say that their real will, the will which created modern Italy, was exclusively that general will which was individualised in their many splendid deeds of heroism or renunciations of their former plans or ideals; these had been formed without the historical knowledge which alone could make them realise what was the situation of fact.