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diff --git a/41924-0.txt b/41924-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e04f3a2 --- /dev/null +++ b/41924-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14025 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41924 *** + +[Transcriber's Note: This e-book was prepared from a 1960 G.P. +Putnam's Sons reprint of the 1900 edition of _The Revival of +Learning_, originally published by Smith, Elder, & Co., London, as +Volume II of John Addington Symonds's _Renaissance in Italy_ series. + +Obvious printer errors have been corrected without note; other errors +are indicated by a [Transcriber's Note]. Older spellings of Italian +names (e.g. "Lionardo" for "Leonardo") have been retained as they +appear in the original.] + + + + +_JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS_ + + +_The Revival of Learning_ + + + At tibi fortassis, si, quod mens sperat et optat, + Es post me victura diu, meliora supersunt + Secula; non omnes veniet lethaeus in annos + Iste sopor; poterunt, discussis forte tenebris, + Ad purum priscumque jubar remeare nepotes. + Tunc Helicona novâ revirentem stirpe videbis, + Tunc lauros frondere sacras; tunc alta resurgent + Ingenia atque animi dociles, quibus ardor honesti + Pieridum studii veterem geminabit amorem. + + PETRARCHÆ _Africa_, _lib. ix_ + + + + +PREFACE[1] + +[Footnote 1: To the original edition of this volume.] + + +This volume on the 'Revival of Learning' follows that on the 'Age of +the Despots,' published in 1875, and precedes that on the 'Fine Arts,' +which is now also offered to the public. In dealing with the 'Revival +of Learning' and the 'Fine Arts,' I have tried to remember that I had +not so much to write again the history of these subjects, as to treat +their relation to the 'Renaissance in Italy.' In other words, I have +regarded each section of my theme as subordinate to the general +culture of a great historical period. The volume on 'Italian +Literature,' still in contemplation, is intended to complete the work. + +While handling the theme of the Italian Renaissance, I have selected +such points, and emphasised such details, as I felt to be important +for the biography of a nation at the most brilliant epoch of its +intellectual activity. The historian of culture sacrifices much that +the historian of politics will judge essential, and calls attention to +matters that the general reader may sometimes find superfluous. He +must submit to bear the reproach of having done at once too little and +too much. He must be content to traverse at one time well-worn ground, +and at another to engage in dry or abstruse inquiries. He must not +shrink from seeming to affect the fame of a compiler; nor, unless his +powers be of the highest, can he hope altogether to avoid repetitions +wearisome alike to reader and to writer. His main object is to paint +the portrait of national genius identical through all varieties of +manifestation; and in proportion as he has preserved this point of +view with firmness, he may hope to have succeeded. + +For the History of the Revival of Learning I have had continual +recourse to Tiraboschi's 'Storia della Letteratura Italiana.' That +work is still the basis of all researches bearing on the subject. I +owe besides particular obligations to Vespasiano's 'Vite di Uomini +Illustri,' to Comparetti's 'Virgilio nel Medio Evo,' to Rosmini's +'Vita di Filelfo,' 'Vita di Vittorino da Feltre,' and 'Vita di Guarino +da Verona,' to Shepherd's 'Life of Poggio Bracciolini,' to +Dennistoun's 'Dukes of Urbino,' to Schultze's 'Gemistos Plethon,' to +Didot's 'Alde Manuce,' to Von Reumont's 'Lorenzo de' Medici,' to +Burckhardt's 'Cultur der Renaissance in Italien,' to Voigt's +'Wiederbelebung des classischen Alterthums,' and to Gregorovius's +'Geschichte der Stadt Rom.' To Voigt and Burckhardt, having perforce +traversed the same ground that they have done, I feel that I have been +in a special sense indebted. At the same time I have made it my +invariable practice, as the notes to this volume will show, to found +my own opinions on the study of original sources. To mention in +detail all the editions of the works of humanists and scholars I have +consulted, would be superfluous. + +To me it has been a labour of love to record even the bare names of +those Italian worthies who recovered for us in the fourteenth and +fifteenth centuries 'the everlasting consolations' of the Greek and +Latin classics. The thought that I was tracing the history of an +achievement fruitful of the weightiest results for modern civilisation +has sustained me in a task that has been sometimes tedious. The +collective greatness of the Revival has reconciled my mind to many +trivialities of detail. The prosaic minutiæ of obscure biographies and +long-forgotten literary labours have been glorified by what appears to +me the poetry and the romance of the whole theme. It lies not in my +province or my power to offer my readers any adequate apology for such +defects as my own want of skill in exposition, or the difficulty of +transfiguring with vital light and heat a subject so remote from +present interests, may have occasioned. I must leave this volume in +their hands, hoping that some at least may be animated by the same +feeling of gratitude toward those past workers in the field of +learning which has supported me. + +CLIFTON: _March 1877_. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER I + + THE MEN OF THE RENAISSANCE + + PAGE + + Formation of Conscious Personality in Italy -- Aristocracy of + Intellect -- Self-culture as an Aim -- Want of National Architecture + -- Want of National Drama -- Eminence of Sculpture and Painting -- + Peculiar Capacity for Literature -- Scholarship -- Men of Many-sided + Genius -- Their Relation to the Age -- Conflict between Mediæval + Tradition and Humanism -- Petrarch -- The Meaning of the Revival begun + by him -- Cosmopolitan Philosophy -- Toleration -- An Intellectual + Empire -- Worldliness -- Confusion of Impulses and Inspirations -- + Copernicus and Columbus -- Christianity and the Classics -- Italian + Incapacity for Religious Reformation -- Free Thought takes the form of + License -- Harmonies attempted between Christianity and Antique + Philosophy -- Florentine Academy -- Physical Qualities of the Italians + -- Portraits of Two Periods -- Physical Exercises -- Determination of + the Race to Scholarship -- Ancient Memories of Rome -- The Cult of + Antiquity -- Desire of Fame -- Fame to be found in Literature -- The + Cult of Intellect -- The Cult of Character -- Preoccupation with + Personal Details -- Biography -- Ideal Sketches -- Posthumous Glory -- + Enthusiasm for Erudition -- Piero de' Pazzi -- Florence and Athens -- + Paganism -- Real Value of Italian Humanism -- Pico on the Dignity of + Man 1 + + CHAPTER II + + FIRST PERIOD OF HUMANISM + + Importance of the Revival of Learning -- Mediæval Romance -- The + Legend of Faustus -- Its Value for the Renaissance -- The Devotion of + Italy to Study -- Italian Predisposition for this Labour -- + Scholarship in the Dark Ages -- Double Attitude assumed by the Church + -- Piety for Virgil -- Meagre Acquaintance with the Latin Classics -- + No Greek Learning -- The Spiritual Conditions of the Middle Ages + adverse to Pure Literature -- Italy no Exception to the rest of Europe + -- Dante and Petrarch -- Definition of Humanism -- Petrarch's + Conception of it -- His Æsthetical Temperament -- His Cult for Cicero, + Zeal in Collecting Manuscripts, Sense of the Importance of Greek + Studies -- Warfare against Pedantry and Superstition -- Ideal of + Poetry and Rhetoric -- Critique of Jurists and Schoolmen -- S. + Augustine -- Petrarch's Vanity -- Thirst for Fame -- Discord between + his Life and his Profession -- His Literary Temperament -- Visionary + Patriotism -- His Influence -- His Successors -- Boccaccio and Greek + Studies -- Translation of Homer -- Philosophy of Literature -- + Sensuousness of Boccaccio's Inspiration -- Giovanni da Ravenna -- The + Wandering Professor -- His Pupils in Latin Scholarship -- Luigi + Marsigli -- The Convent of S. Spirito -- Humanism in Politics -- + Coluccio de' Salutati -- Gasparino da Barzizza -- Improved Style in + Letter-writing -- Revival of Greek Learning -- Manuel Chrysoloras -- + His Pupils -- Lionardo Bruni -- Value of Greek for the Renaissance 37 + + CHAPTER III + + FIRST PERIOD OF HUMANISM + + Condition of the Universities in Italy -- Bologna -- High Schools + founded from it -- Naples under Frederick II. -- Under the House of + Anjou -- Ferrara -- Piacenza -- Perugia -- Rome -- Pisa -- Florence -- + Imperial and Papal Charters -- Foreign Students -- Professorial Staff + -- Subjects taught in the High Schools -- Place assigned to Humanism + -- Pay of the Professors of Eloquence -- Francesco Filelfo -- The + Humanists less powerful at the Universities -- Method of Humanistic + Teaching -- The Book Market before Printing -- Mediæval Libraries -- + Cost of Manuscripts -- 'Stationarii' and 'Peciarii' -- Negligence of + Copyists -- Discovery of Classical Codices -- Boccaccio at Monte + Cassino -- Poggio at Constance -- Convent of S. Gallen -- Bruni's + Letter to Poggio -- Manuscripts Discovered by Poggio -- Nicholas of + Treves -- Collection of Greek Manuscripts -- Aurispa, Filelfo, and + Guarino -- The Ruins of Rome -- Their Influence on Humanism -- Dante + and Villani -- Rienzi -- His Idealistic Patriotism -- Vanity -- + Political Incompetence -- Petrarch's Relations with Rienzi -- Injury + to Monuments in Rome -- Poggio's Roman Topography -- Sentimental + Feeling for the Ruins of Antiquity -- Ciriac of Ancona 83 + + CHAPTER IV + + SECOND PERIOD OF HUMANISM + + Intricacy of the Subject -- Division into Four Periods -- Place of + Florence -- Social Conditions favourable to Culture -- Palla degli + Strozzi -- His Encouragement of Greek Studies -- Plan of a Public + Library -- His Exile -- Cosimo de' Medici -- His Patronage of Learning + -- Political Character -- Love of Building -- Generosity to Students + -- Foundation of Libraries -- Vespasiano and Thomas of Sarzana -- + Niccolo de' Niccoli -- His Collection of Codices -- Description of his + Mode of Life -- His Fame as a Latinist -- Lionardo Bruni -- His + Biography -- Translations from the Greek -- Latin Treatises and + Histories -- His Burial in Santa Croce -- Carlo Aretino -- Fame as a + Lecturer -- The Florentine Chancery -- Matteo Palmieri -- Giannozzo + Manetti -- His Hebrew Studies -- His Public Career -- His Eloquence -- + Manetti ruined by the Medici -- His Life in Exile at Naples -- + Estimate of his Talents -- Ambrogio Traversari -- Study of Greek + Fathers -- General of the Camaldolese Order -- Humanism and + Monasticism -- The Council of Florence -- Florentine Opinion about the + Greeks -- Gemistos Plethon -- His Life -- His Philosophy -- His + Influence at Florence -- Cosimo de' Medici and the Florentine Academy + -- Study of Plato -- Plethon's Writings -- Platonists and + Aristotelians in Italy and Greece -- Bessarion -- His Patronage of + Greek Refugees in Rome -- Humanism in the Smaller Republics -- In + Venice 115 + + CHAPTER V + + SECOND PERIOD OF HUMANISM + + Transition from Florence to Rome -- Vicissitudes of Learning at the + Papal Court -- Diplomatic Humanists -- Protonotaries -- Apostolic + Scribes -- Ecclesiastical Sophists -- Immorality and Artificiality of + Scholarship in Rome -- Poggio and Bruni, Secretaries -- Eugenius IV. + -- His Patronage of Scholars -- Flavio Biondo -- Solid Erudition -- + Nicholas V. -- His Private History -- Nature of his Talents -- His + unexpected Elevation to the Roman See -- Jubilation of the Humanists + -- His Protection of Learned Men in Rome -- A Workshop of Erudition -- + A Factory of Translations -- High Sums paid for Literary Labour -- + Poggio Fiorentino -- His Early Life -- His Journeys -- His Eminence as + a Man of Letters -- His attitude towards Ecclesiastics -- His + Invectives -- Humanistic Gladiators -- Poggio and Filelfo -- Poggio + and Guarino -- Poggio and Valla -- Poggio and Perotti -- Poggio and + Georgios Trapezuntios -- Literary Scandals -- Poggio's Collections of + Antiquities -- Chancellor of Florence -- Cardinal Bessarion -- His + Library -- Theological Studies -- Apology for Plato -- The Greeks in + Italy -- Humanism at Naples -- Want of Culture in Southern Italy -- + Learning an Exotic -- Alfonso the Magnificent -- Scholars in the Camp + -- Literary Dialogues at Naples -- Antonio Beccadelli -- The + 'Hermaphroditus' -- Lorenzo Valla -- The Epicurean -- The Critic -- + The Opponent of the Church -- Bartolommeo Fazio -- Giannantonio + Porcello -- Court of Milan -- Filippo Maria Visconti -- Decembrio's + Description of his Master -- Francesco Filelfo -- His Early Life -- + Visit to Constantinople -- Place at Court -- Marriage -- Return to + Italy -- Venice -- Bologna -- His Pretensions as a Professor -- + Florence -- Feuds with the Florentines -- Immersion in Politics -- + Siena -- Settles at Milan -- His Fame -- Private Life and Public + Interests -- Overtures to Rome -- Filelfo under the Sforza Tyranny -- + Literary Brigandage -- Death at Florence -- Filelfo as the + Representative of a Class -- Vittorino da Feltre -- Early Education -- + Scheme of Training Youths as Scholars -- Residence at Padua -- + Residence at Mantua -- His School of Princes -- Liberality to Poor + Students -- Details of his Life and System -- Court of Ferrara -- + Guarino da Verona -- House Tutor of Lionello d'Este -- Giovanni + Aurispa -- Smaller Courts -- Carpi -- Mirandola -- Rimini and the + Malatesta Tyrants -- Cesena -- Pesaro -- Urbino and Duke Frederick -- + Vespasiano da Bisticci 155 + + CHAPTER VI + + THIRD PERIOD OF HUMANISM + + Improvement in Taste and Criticism -- Coteries and Academies -- + Revival of Italian Literature -- Printing -- Florence, the Capital of + Learning -- Lorenzo de' Medici and his Circle -- Public Policy of + Lorenzo -- Literary Patronage -- Variety of his Gifts -- Meetings of + the Platonic Society -- Marsilio Ficino -- His Education for Platonic + Studies -- Translations of Plato and the Neoplatonists -- Harmony + between Plato and Christianity -- Giovanni Pico -- His First + Appearance in Florence -- His Theses proposed at Rome -- Censure of + the Church -- His Study of the Cabbala -- Large Conception of Learning + -- Occult Science -- Cristoforo Landino -- Professor of Fine + Literature -- Virgilian Studies -- Camaldolese Disputations -- Leo + Battista Alberti -- His Versatility -- Bartolommeo Scala -- Obscure + Origin -- Chancellor of Florence -- Angelo Poliziano -- Early Life -- + Translation of Homer -- The 'Homericus Juvenis' -- True Genius in + Poliziano -- Command of Latin and Greek -- Resuscitation of Antiquity + in his own Person -- His Professorial Work -- The 'Miscellanea' -- + Relation to Medici -- Roman Scholarship in this Period -- Pius II. -- + Pomponius Lætus -- His Academy and Mode of Life -- Persecution under + Paul II. -- Humanism at Naples -- Pontanus -- His Academy -- His + Writings -- Academies established in all Towns of Italy -- + Introduction of Printing -- Sweynheim and Pannartz -- The Early + Venetian Press -- Florence -- Cennini -- Alopa's Homer -- Change in + Scholarship effected by Printing -- The Life of Aldo Manuzio -- The + Princely House of Pio at Carpi -- Greek Books before Aldo -- The + Aldine Press at Venice -- History of its Activity -- Aldo and Erasmus + -- Aldo and the Greek Refugees -- Aldo's Death -- His Family and + Successors -- The Neacademia -- The Salvation of Greek Literature 224 + + CHAPTER VII + + FOURTH PERIOD OF HUMANISM + + Fall of the Humanists -- Scholarship permeates Society -- A New Ideal + of Life and Manners -- Latinisation of Names -- Classical Periphrases + -- Latin Epics on Christian Themes -- Paganism -- The Court of Leo X. + -- Honours of the Church given to Scholars -- Ecclesiastical Men of + the World -- Mæcenases at Rome -- Papal and Imperial Rome -- Moral + Corruption -- Social Refinement -- The Roman Academy -- Pietro Bembo + -- His Life at Ferrara -- At Urbino -- Comes to Rome -- Employed by + Leo -- Retirement to Padua -- His Dictatorship of Letters -- Jacopo + Sadoleto -- A Graver Genius than Bembo -- Paulus Jovius -- Latin + Stylist -- His Histories -- Baldassare Castiglione -- Life at Urbino + and Rome -- The Courtly Scholar -- His Diplomatic Missions -- Alberto + Pio -- Gian Francesco Pico della Mirandola -- The Vicissitudes of his + Life -- Jerome Aleander -- Oriental Studies -- The Library of the + Vatican -- His Mission to Germany -- Inghirami, Beroaldo, and + Acciaiuoli -- The Roman University -- John Lascaris -- Study of + Antiquities -- Origin of the 'Corpus Inscriptionum' -- Topographical + Studies -- Formation of the Vatican Sculpture Gallery -- Discovery of + the Laocoon -- Feeling for Statues in Renaissance Italy -- Venetian + Envoys in the Belvedere -- Raphael's Plan for Excavating Ancient Rome + -- His Letter to Leo -- Effect of Antiquarian Researches on the Arts + -- Intellectual Supremacy of Rome in this Period -- The Fall -- Adrian + VI. -- The Sack of Rome -- Valeriano's Description of the Sufferings + of Scholars 284 + + CHAPTER VIII + + LATIN POETRY + + Special Causes for the Practice of Latin Versification in Italy -- The + Want of an Italian Language -- Multitudes of Poetasters -- Beccadelli + -- Alberti's 'Philodoxus' -- Poliziano -- The 'Sylvæ' -- 'Nutricia,' + 'Rusticus,' 'Manto,' 'Ambra' -- Minor Poems -- Pontano -- Sannazzaro + -- Elegies and Epigrams -- Christian Epics -- Vida's 'Christiad' -- + Vida's 'Poetica' -- Fracastoro -- The 'Syphilis' -- _Barocco_ + Flatteries -- Bembo -- Immoral Elegies -- Imitations of Ovid and + Tibullus -- The 'Benacus' -- Epitaphs -- Navagero -- Epigrams and + Eclogues -- Molsa -- Poem on his own Death -- Castiglione -- 'Alcon' + and 'Lycidas' -- Verses of Society -- The Apotheosis of the Popes -- + Poem on the Ariadne of the Vatican -- Sadoleto's Verses on the Laocoon + -- Flaminio -- His Life -- Love of the Country -- Learned Friends -- + Scholar-Poets of Lombardy -- Extinction of Learning in Florence -- + Decay of Italian Erudition 324 + + CHAPTER IX + + CONCLUSION + + General Survey -- The Part played in the Revival by the Chief Cities + -- Preoccupation with Scholarship in spite of War and Conquest -- + Place of the Humanists in Society -- Distributors of Praise and Blame + -- Flattery and Libels -- Comparison with the Sophists -- The Form + preferred to the Matter of Literature -- Ideal of Culture as an end in + itself -- Suspicion of Zealous Churchmen -- Intrusion of Humanism into + the Church -- Irreligion of the Humanists -- Gyraldi's 'Progymnasma' + -- Ariosto -- Bohemian Life -- Personal Immorality -- Want of Fixed + Principles -- Professional Vanity -- Literary Pride -- Estimate of + Humanistic Literature -- Study of Style -- Influence of Cicero -- + Valla's 'Elegantiæ' -- Stylistic Puerilities -- Value attached to + Rhetoric -- 'Oratore' -- Moral Essays -- Epistolography -- Histories + -- Critical and Antiquarian Studies -- Large Appreciation of Antiquity + -- Liberal Spirit -- Poggio and Jerome of Prague -- Humanistic Type of + Education -- Its Diffusion through Europe -- Future Prospects -- Decay + of Learning in Italy 372 + + + + +RENAISSANCE IN ITALY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE MEN OF THE RENAISSANCE + + Formation of Conscious Personality in Italy -- Aristocracy + of Intellect -- Self-culture as an Aim -- Want of National + Architecture -- Want of National Drama -- Eminence of + Sculpture and Painting -- Peculiar Capacity for Literature + -- Scholarship -- Men of Many-sided Genius -- Their Relation + to the Age -- Conflict between Mediæval Tradition and + Humanism -- Petrarch -- The Meaning of the Revival begun by + him -- Cosmopolitan Philosophy -- Toleration -- An + Intellectual Empire -- Worldliness -- Confusion of Impulses + and Inspirations -- Copernicus and Columbus -- Christianity + and the Classics -- Italian Incapacity for Religious + Reformation -- Free Thought takes the form of License -- + Harmonies attempted between Christianity and Antique + Philosophy -- Florentine Academy -- Physical Qualities of + the Italians -- Portraits of Two Periods -- Physical + Exercises -- Determination of the Race to Scholarship -- + Ancient Memories of Rome -- The Cult of Antiquity -- Desire + of Fame -- Fame to be found in Literature -- The Cult of + Intellect -- The Cult of Character -- Preoccupation with + Personal Details -- Biography -- Ideal Sketches -- + Posthumous Glory -- Enthusiasm for Erudition -- Piero de' + Pazzi -- Florence and Athens -- Paganism -- Real Value of + Italian Humanism -- Pico on the Dignity of Man. + + +The conditions, political, social, moral, and religious, described in +the first volume of this work, produced among the Italians a type of +character nowhere else observable in Europe. This character, highly +self-conscious and mentally mature, was needed for the intellectual +movement of the Renaissance. Italy had proved herself incapable of +forming an united nation, or of securing the principle of federal +coherence; of maintaining a powerful military system, or of holding +her own against the French and Spaniards. For these defects her +Communes and her Despots, the Papacy and the kingdom of Naples, the +theories of the mediæval doctrinaires and the enthusiasm of the +humanists, were alike responsible; though the larger share belongs to +Rome, resolutely hostile to the monarchical principle, and zealous, by +espousing the Guelf faction, to maintain the discord of the nation. At +the same time the very causes of political disunion were favourable to +the intellectual growth of the Italians. Each State, whether +republican or despotic, had, during the last years of the Middle Ages, +formed a mixed society of nobles, merchants, and artisans, enclosed +within the circuit of the city walls, and strongly marked by the +peculiar complexion of their native place. Every town was a centre of +activity and industry, eagerly competing with its neighbours, proud of +its local characteristics, anxious to confer distinction on citizens +who rose to eminence by genius or practical ability. Party strife in +the republics, while it disturbed their internal repose, sharpened the +intellect and strengthened the personality of the burghers. Exile and +proscription, the common climax of civic warfare, made them still more +self-determined and self-reliant by driving each man back upon his own +resources. The despots, again, through the illegal tenure of their +authority, were forced to the utmost possible development of +individual character: since all their fortunes depended on their +qualities as men. The plots and counter-plots of subjects eager for a +change of government, and of neighbours anxious to encroach upon their +territory, kept the atmosphere of their Courts in a continual state of +agitation. One type of ability was fostered by the diplomatic +relations of the several cities, yielding employment to a multitude of +secretaries and ambassadors; another by the system of Condottiere +warfare, offering a brilliant career to ambitious adventurers. In all +departments open to a man of talent birth was of less importance than +natural gifts; for the social barriers and grades of feudalism had +either never existed in Italy, or had been shaken and confounded +during the struggles of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The +ranks of the tyrants were filled with sons of Popes and captains risen +from the proletariat. The ruling class in the republics consisted of +men self-made by commerce; and here the name at least of Popolo was +sovereign. It followed that men were universally rated at what they +proved themselves to be; and thus an aristocracy of genius and +character grew up in Italy at a period when the rest of Europe +presented but rare specimens of individuals emergent from the common +herd. As in ancient Greece, the nation was of less importance than the +city, and within the city personal ability carried overwhelming +weight. The Italian history of the Renaissance resumes itself in the +biography of men greater than their race, of mental despots, who +absorbed its forces in themselves. + +The intellectual and moral milieu created by multitudes of +self-centred, cultivated personalities was necessary for the evolution +of that spirit of intelligence, subtle, penetrative, and elastic, that +formed the motive force of the Renaissance. The work achieved by Italy +for the world in that age was less the work of a nation than that of +men of power, less the collective and spontaneous triumph of a +puissant people than the aggregate of individual efforts animated by +one soul of free activity, a common striving after fame. This is +noticeable at the very outset. The Italians had no national Epic: +their Divine Comedy is the poem of the individual man. Petrarch erects +self-culture to the rank of an ideal, and proposes to move the world +from the standpoint of his study, darting his spirit's light through +all the void circumference, and making thought a power. + +The success and the failure of the Italians are alike referable to +their political subdivisions, and to this strong development of their +personality. We have already seen how they fell short of national +unity and of military greatness. Even in the realm of art and +literature the same conditions were potent. Some of the chief +productions of humanity seem to require the co-operation of whole +peoples working sympathetically to a common end. Foremost among these +are architecture and the drama. The most splendid triumphs of modern +architecture in the French and English Gothic were achieved by the +half-unconscious striving of the national genius through several +centuries. The names of the builders of the cathedrals are unknown: +the cathedrals themselves bear less the stamp of individual thought +than of popular instinct; their fame belongs to the race that made +them, to the spirit of the times that gave them birth. It is not in +architecture, therefore, that we expect the Italians, divided into +small and rival States, and distinguished by salient subjectivity, to +show their strength. Men like Niccola Pisano, Arnolfo del Cambio, +Alberti, Brunelleschi, and Bramante were gifted with an individuality +too paramount for the creation of more than mighty experiments in +architecture. They bowed to no tradition, but followed the dictates of +their own inventive impulse, selecting the types that suited them, and +dealing freely with the forms they found around them. Instead of +seeking to carry on toward its accomplishment a style, not made, but +felt and comprehended by their genius, they were eager to produce new +and characteristic masterpieces--signs and symbols of their own +peculiar quality of mind. Italy is full of splendid but imperfect +monuments of personal ability, works of beauty displaying no unbroken +genealogy of unknown craftsmen, but attesting the skill of famous +artists. For the practical architect her palaces and churches may, +for this reason, be less instructive and less attractive than the +public buildings of France. Yet for the student of national and +personal characteristics, who loves to trace the physiognomy of a +people in its edifices, to discover the mind of the artist in his +work, their interest is unrivalled. In each city the specific _genius +loci_ meets us face to face: from each town-hall or cathedral the soul +of a great man leans forth to greet our own. These advantages +compensate for frequent extravagances, for audacities savouring of +ignorance, and for awkwardness in the adoption and modification of +incongruous styles. Moreover, it must always be remembered that in +Italy the architect could not forget the monuments of Roman and +Byzantine art around him. Classic models had to be suited to the +requirements of modern life and Christian ritual; and when the Germans +brought their Gothic from beyond the Alps, it suffered from its +adaptation to a southern climate. The result was that Italy arrived at +no great national tradition in architecture, and that free scope was +offered to the whims and freaks of individual designers. When at +length, at the end of the sixteenth century, the Italians attained to +uniformity of taste, it was by the sacrifice of their originality. The +pedantry of the classical revival did more harm to architecture than +to letters, and pseudo-Roman purism superseded the genial caprices of +the previous centuries. + +If architecture may be said to have suffered in Italy from the +supremacy of local characteristics and personal genius, overruling +tradition and thwarting the evolution of a national style, the case +was quite different with the other arts. Painting and sculpture demand +the highest independence in the artist, and are susceptible of a far +more many-sided treatment than architecture. They cannot be the common +product of a people, but require the conscious application of a +special ability to the task of translating thought and feeling into +form. As painters, the Italians hold the first rank among civilised +nations of the modern and the ancient world; and their inferiority as +sculptors to the Greeks is mainly due to their mastery over painting, +the essentially romantic art. The sensibilities of the new age craved +a more emotional and agitated expression than is proper to sculpture. +As early as the days of Ghiberti and Donatello it became clear that +the Italian sculptors were following the methods of the sister art in +their designs, while Michael Angelo alone had force enough to make +marble the vehicle of thoughts that properly belong to painting or to +music. The converse probably held good with the Greeks. What remains +of their work in fresco and mosaic seems to show that they were +satisfied with groups and figures modelled upon bas-reliefs and +statues; just as the Florentines carved pictures, with architecture +and landscape, in stone. More need not here be said upon this topic, +since the achievements of the Italians in painting and in sculpture +will form a main part of my history. + +As regards literature, the subdivision of Italy into numerous small +States and the energetic self-assertion of the individual were +distinctly favourable. Though the want of a great public, such as can +alone be found in the capital of a free, united nation, may be +reckoned among the many reasons which prevented the Italians from +developing the drama, yet the rivalry of town with town and of burgher +with burgher, Court life with its varied opportunities for the display +of talent, and municipal life with its restless competition in +commerce and public affairs, encouraged the activity of students, +historians, statisticians, critics, and poets. Culture, in the highest +and widest sense of the word, was what Renaissance Italy obtained and +gave to Europe; and this culture implies a full-formed personality in +the men who seek it. It was the highly perfected individuality of the +Italians that made them first emerge from mediæval bondage and become +the apostles of humanism for the modern world. It may be regretted +that their force was expended upon the diffusion of learning and the +purification of style, instead of being concentrated on the creation +of national masterpieces. We seek in vain for Dante's equal among the +poets of the Renaissance. The 'Orlando Furioso' is but a poor second +to the 'Divina Commedia;' and all those works of scholarship, which +seemed to our ancestors the _ne plus ultra_ of refinement, are now +relegated to the lumber-room of erudition that has been superseded, or +of literary ingenuity that has lost its point. Now that the boon of +culture, so hardly won by the students of the fifteenth and sixteenth +centuries, has become the common heritage of Europe, it is not always +easy to explain the mental grandeur of the Italians in that age. Yet +we should fail to recognise their merit, if we did not comprehend +that, precisely by this absorption of their genius in the task of the +Revival, they conferred the most enduring benefits upon humanity. What +the modern world would have been, if the Italian nation had not +devoted its energies to the restoration of liberal learning, cannot +even be imagined. The history of that devotion will form the principal +subject of my present volume. + +The comprehensive and many-sided natures, frequent in Renaissance +Italy, were specially adapted for the dissemination of the new spirit. +The appearance of such men as Leo Battista Alberti, Lionardo da Vinci, +Lorenzo de' Medici, Brunelleschi and Buonarroti, Poliziano and Pico +della Mirandola, upon the stage of the Renaissance is not the least +fascinating of its phenomena. We can only find their parallels by +returning to the age of Pericles. But the problem for the Florentines +differed from that which the Athenians had before them. In Greece, the +morning-land of civilisation, men of genius, each perfect in his own +capacity, were needed. Standards had to be created for the future +guidance of the world in all the realms of art and thought. We are +therefore less struck with the versatility than with the concentration +of Pheidias, Pindar, Sophocles, Socrates. Italy, on the other hand, +had for her task the reabsorption of a bygone culture. It was her +vocation to resuscitate antiquity, to gather up afresh the products of +the classic past, and so to blend them with the mediæval spirit as to +generate what is specifically modern. It was indispensable that the +men by whom this work was accomplished should be no less distinguished +for largeness of intelligence, variety of acquirements, quickness of +sympathy, and sensitive susceptibility, than for the complete +development of some one faculty. The great characters of the Greek age +were what Hegel calls plastic, penetrated through and through with a +specific quality. Those of the Italian age were comprehensive and +encyclopædic; the intensity of their force in any one sphere is less +remarkable than its suitableness to all. They were of a nature to +synthesise, interpret, reproduce, and mould afresh--like Mr. +Browning's Cleon, with the addition of the consciousness of young and +potent energy within them. It consequently happens that, except in the +sphere of the Fine Arts, we are tempted to underrate the heroes of the +Renaissance. The impression they leave upon our minds at any one point +is slight in comparison with the estimate we form of them when we +consider each man as a whole. Nor can we point to monumental and +colossal works in proof of their creative faculty. + +The biographies of universal geniuses like Leo Battista Alberti or +Lionardi [Transcriber's Note: Lionardo] da Vinci, so multiform in +their capacity and so creative in their intuitions, prompt us to ask +what is the connection between the spirit of an age and the men in +whom it is incorporated. Not without reason are we forced to personify +the Renaissance as something external to its greatest characters. +There is an intellectual strength outside them in the century, a +heritage of power prepared for them at birth. The atmosphere in which +they breathe is so charged with mental vitality that the least +stirring of their special energy brings them into relation with forces +mightier than are the property of single natures. In feebler periods +of retrospect and criticism we can but wonder at the combination of +faculties so varied, and at miracles so easily accomplished. These +times of clairvoyance and of intellectual magnetism, when individuals +of genius appear to move like vibrios in a life-sustaining fluid +specially adapted to their needs, are rare in the history of the +world; nor has our science yet arrived at analysing their causes. They +are not on that account the less real. To explain them by the +hypothesis of a _Weltgeist_, the collective spirit of humanity +proceeding in its evolution through successive phases, and making its +advance from stage to stage by alternations of energy and repose, is +simply to restore, in other terms, a mystery that finds its final and +efficient cause in God.[2] + +[Footnote 2: The analogy of the individual might be quoted. We are +aware within ourselves of times when thought is fertile and insight +clear, times of conception and projection, followed by seasons of slow +digestion, assimilation, and formation, when the creative faculty +stagnates, and the whole force of the intellect is absorbed in +mastering through years what it took minutes to divine.] + +Gifted with the powerful individuality I am attempting to describe, +the men of the Renaissance received their earliest education in the +religion of the Middle Ages, their second in the schools of Greece and +Rome. It was the many-sided struggle of personal character with +time-honoured tradition on the one hand, and with new ideals on the +other, that lent so much of inconsistency and contradiction to their +aims. Dante remained within the pale of mediæval thoughts, and gave +them full poetical expression. To him, in a truer sense than to any +other poet, belongs the double glory of immortalising in verse the +centuries behind him, while he inaugurated the new age. The 'Vita +Nuova' and the 'Divina Commedia' are modern, in so far as the one is +the first complete analysis of personal emotion, and the other is the +epic of the soul conceived as concrete personality. But the form and +colour, the material and structure, the warp of thought and the woof +of fancy, are not modern. Petrarch opens a new era. He is not +satisfied with the body of mediæval beliefs and intellectual +conceptions. Antiquity presents a more fascinating ideal to his +spirit, and he feels the subjectivity within him strong enough to +assimilate what suits it in the present and the past. The Revival of +Learning, begun by Petrarch, was no mere renewal of interest in +classic literature. It was the emancipation of the reason in a race of +men, intolerant of control, ready to criticise accepted canons of +conduct, enthusiastic in admiration of antique liberty, freshly +awakened to the sense of beauty, and anxious above all things to +secure for themselves free scope in spheres outside the region of +authority. Men so vigorous and independent felt the joy of +exploration. There was no problem they feared to face, no formula they +were not eager to recast according to their new convictions. This +liberty of judgment did not of necessity lead to lawlessness; nor in +any case did it produce that insurgence against Catholic orthodoxy +which marked the German Reformation. Yet it lent a characteristic +quality to thought and action. Men were, and dared to be, themselves +for good or evil without too much regard for what their neighbours +thought of them. At the same time they were tolerant. The culture of +the Renaissance implied a philosophical acceptance of variety in +fashion, faith, and conduct; and this toleration was no doubt one +reason why Italian scepticism took the form of cynicism, not of +religious revolution. Contact with Islam in the south and east, +diplomatic relations with the Turks, familiarity with the mixed races +of Spain, and commerce with the nations of the north, had widened the +sympathies of the Italians, and taught them to regard humanity as one +large family. The liberal spirits of the Renaissance might have quoted +Marcus Aurelius with slight alteration: 'I will not say, dear City of +St. Peter, but, dear City of Man!' And just as their moral and +religious sensibilities were blunted, so patriotism with them ceased +to be an instinct. Instead of patriotism, the Italians were inflamed +with the zeal of cosmopolitan culture. + +In proportion as Italy lost year by year the hope of becoming an +united nation, in proportion as the military instincts died in her, +and the political instincts were extinguished by despotism, in +precisely the same ratio did she evermore acquire a deeper sense of +her intellectual vocation. What was world-embracing in the spirit of +the mediæval Church passed by transmutation into the humanism of the +fifteenth century. As though aware of the hopelessness of being +Italians in the same sense as the natives of Spain were Spaniards, or +the natives of France were Frenchmen, the giants of the Renaissance +did their utmost to efface their nationality in order that they might +the more effectually restore the cosmopolitan ideal of the human +family. To this end both artists and scholars, the depositaries of the +real Italian greatness at this epoch, laboured; the artists by +creating an ideal of beauty with a message and a meaning for all +Europe, the scholars by recovering for Europe the burghership of Greek +and Roman civilisation. In spite of the invasions and convulsions that +ruined Italy between the years 1494 and 1527, the painters and the +humanists proceeded with their task, as though the fate of Italy +concerned them not, as though the destinies of the modern world +depended on their activity. After Venice had been desolated by the +armies of the League of Cambray, Aldus Manutius presented the +peace-gift of Plato to the foes of his adopted city; and when the +Lutherans broke into Parmegiano's workshop at Rome, even they were +awed by the tranquil majesty of the Virgin on his easel. Stories like +these remind us that Renaissance Italy met her doom of servitude and +degradation in the spirit of ancient Hellas, repeating as they do the +tales told of Archimedes in his study, and of Paulus Æmilius face to +face with the Zeus of Pheidias. + +As patriotism gave way to cosmopolitan enthusiasm, and toleration took +the place of earnestness, in like manner the conflict of mediæval +tradition with revived Paganism in the minds of these self-reliant +men, trained to indulgence by their large commerce with the world, and +familiarised with impiety by the ever-present pageant of an +anti-Christian Church, led, as I have hinted, to recklessness and +worldly vices, rather than to reformed religion. Contented with +themselves and their surroundings, they felt none of the unsatisfied +cravings after the infinite, none of the mysterious intuitions and +ascetic raptures, the self-abasements and transfigurations, stigmata +and beatific visions, of the Middle Ages. The plenitude of life within +them seemed to justify their instincts and their impulses, however +varied and discordant these might be. The sonorous current of the +world around them drowned the voice of conscience, the suggestion of +religious scruples. It is only thus we can explain to ourselves the +attitude of such men as Sixtus and Alexander, serenely vicious in +extreme old age. The gratification of their egotism was so complete as +to exclude self-judgment by the rules and standards they +professionally applied; their personality was too exacting to admit of +hesitation when their instincts were concerned; in common with their +age they had lost sight of all but mundane aims and interests. Three +aphorisms, severally attributed to three representative Italians, may +be quoted in illustration of these remarks. 'You follow infinite +objects; I follow the finite;' said Cosimo de' Medici; 'you place your +ladders in the heavens; I on earth, that I may not seek so high or +fall so low.' 'If we are not ourselves pious,' said Julius II., 'why +should we prevent other people from being so?' 'Let us enjoy the +Papacy,' said Leo X., 'now that God has given it to us.' + +It was only under the influence of some external terror--a plague, a +desolating war, an imminent peril to the nation--that the religious +sense, deadened by worldliness and selfish philosophy, made itself +felt. At such seasons whole cities rushed headlong into fierce +revivalism, while men of violent or profligate lives saw visions, and +betook themselves to penance. Cellini's Memoirs are, on this point, a +valuable mirror of the age in which he lived. It is clear that his +ecstasies of devotion in the dungeons of S. Angelo were as sincere as +the fiery impulses he obeyed with so much complacency. Passionate and +worldly as men of Cellini's stamp might be, they could not shake off +the associations that bound them to the past. The energy of their +intense individuality took turn by turn the form and colour of ascetic +piety and Pagan sensuality; and at times these strong contrasts of +emotion seemed bordering upon insanity. Ungovernable natures, swayed +by no fixed principle, and bent on moulding the world of thought +afresh to suit their own desires, became the puppets of astrological +superstition, the playthings of mad lust. Much that appears +unaccountable and contradictory in the Renaissance may be referred to +this imperfect blending of ecclesiastical tradition and idealised +Paganism in natures potent enough to be original and wilful, but not +yet tamed from semi-savagery into acquiescence by experience. +Experience came to the Italians in servitude beneath the heel of +Spain. + +The confusion of influences, classical and mediæval, Christian and +Pagan, in that age is not the least extraordinary of its phenomena. +Even the new thoughts that illuminated the minds of great discoverers, +seemed to them like reflections from antiquity; and while they were +opening fresh worlds, their hearts were turned toward the Holy Land +of the Crusades. Columbus and Copernicus, the two men who did more +than any others to revolutionise the mental attitude of humanity, +appealed to their contemporaries on the strength of texts from +Aristotle and Philolaus. Conscious that the guesses of the Greek +cosmographers had stimulated in themselves that curiosity whereby they +made the motion of the earth a certainty, and found a way across the +waves to a new continent, these mighty spirits forgot how slight in +reality was their debt to the inert speculators of the classic age. +The truth was that in them throbbed a force of enterprise and +conquering discovery, a spirit of exploration resolute and hardy, +denied to the ancients. + +How far this new and fruitful temper of the modern mind was due to +Christianity, is a problem for the deepest speculation. The conception +of a God who had made no part of His world in vain, of a Christ who +had bought with His blood the whole seed of Adam, and who imposed the +preaching of the faith upon His followers as a duty, wrought +powerfully on Columbus. The Crusades, again, had familiarised the +nations with distant objects and ideal quests; while chivalry was +essentially antagonistic to positive and selfish aims. The spirit of +mankind had marched a long stage during the Middle Ages. It was not +possible now to conceive of God as a tranquil thinking upon thought, +with Aristotle. There was no Augustus to set arbitrary limits to the +empire of the world in the interest of a conquering nation, or to make +the two words _orbs_ and _urbs_ synonymous. When Strabo hazarded the +opinion that there might be populous islands in the other hemisphere, +he added, with the sublime indifference of a Roman, 'But these +speculations have nothing in common with practical geography; and if +such islands exist, they cannot support peoples of like origin with +us.' Such language was impossible for a man educated in the Christian +faith, and imbued with the instincts of romanticism. Therefore, though +the study of Strabo and Ptolemy at Pavia impressed Columbus with the +certainty of the new route across the ocean, he owed the courage that +sustained him to the conviction that God was leading him to a great +end. 'When I first undertook to start for the discovery of the +Indies,' he says in his will, 'I intended to beg the King and Queen to +devote the whole of the money that might be drawn from these realms to +Jerusalem.' The religious yearning of the mediæval pilgrim added +fervour to the conviction of the student, who, by reasoning on antique +texts, guessed the greatest secret of which the world has record. At +the same time there was something more in Columbus than either +antiquity or mediævalism could provide. The modern spirit is distinct +from both; and though, in the Renaissance, creation wore the garb of +imitation, and the new forces used the organs they were destined to +outlive and destroy, yet we must allow to native personality the +lion's share in such achievement as that of Columbus. It is the +variety of spiritual elements in combination and solution, which he +illustrates, that makes the psychology of the Renaissance at once so +fascinating and so difficult to analyse. + +While so much liberty of thought prevailed in Italy, it may be +wondered why the Renaissance, eminently fertile in the domains of art +and culture, bore but meagre fruit in those of religion and +philosophy. The German Reformation was the Renaissance of +Christianity; and in this the Italians had no share, though it should +be remembered that, without their previous labours in the field of +scholarship, the band who led the Reformation could hardly have given +that high intellectual character to the movement which made it a new +starting-point in the history of the reason. To expect from Italy the +ethical regeneration of the modern world would be to misapprehend her +true vocation; art and erudition were sufficient to engage her +spiritual energies. The Church again, though by no means adverse to +laxity in morals, was jealous of heterodoxy. So long as freethinkers +confined their audacity to such matters as form the topic of Poggio's +'Facetiæ,' Beccadelli's 'Hermaphroditus,' or La Casa's 'Capitolo del +Forno,' the Roman Curia looked on and smiled approvingly. The most +obscene books to be found in any literature escaped the Papal censure, +and Aretino, notorious for ribaldry, aspired not wholly without reason +to the scarlet of a cardinal. But even in the fifteenth century the +taint of heresy was dangerous, and this peril was magnified when the +Lutheran schism had roused the Papacy to a sense of its position. +Under the patronage, therefore, of ecclesiastics, in the depraved +atmosphere of Rome, the free thought of the Italians turned to +licentiousness; this suited the temper of the people, fascinated by +Paganism and little inclined to raise debate upon matters of no +practical utility. Those who reflected on religious topics kept their +own counsel. How purely political were the views of profound thinkers +in Italy upon all Church questions may be gathered from the +observations of Guicciardini and Machiavelli; how little the most +earnest antagonist of ungodly ecclesiastics dreamed of disturbing the +Catholic Church system is clear in the biography of Savonarola.[3] The +first satire of Ariosto may be indicated as an epitome of the opinions +entertained by sound and liberal intellects in Italy upon the relation +of Papal Rome to the nation. There is not a trace in it of Teutonic +revolt against authority, of pious yearning for a purer faith. The +standpoint of the critic, though solid and sincere, is worldly. + +[Footnote 3: See Vol. I., _Age of Despots_, pp. 239, 350-356, 415-420, +where I have endeavoured to treat these topics more at length.] + +True to culture as their main preoccupation, the Italian thinkers +sought to philosophise faith by bringing Christianity into harmony +with antique speculation, and forming for themselves a theism that +should embrace the systems of the Platonists and Stoics, the Hebrew +Cabbala and the Sermon on the Mount. There is much that strikes us as +both crude and pedantic, at the same time infantine and pompous, in +the systems elaborated by those pioneers of modern eclecticism. They +lack the vigorous simplicity that gave its force to Luther's +intuition, the sublime unity of Spinoza's deductions. The dross of +erudition mingles with the pure gold of personal conviction; while +Pagan phrases, ill suited to express Christian notions, lend an air of +unreality to the sincerest efforts after rational theology. The +Platonic Academy of Florence was the centre of this search after the +faith of culture, whereof the real merit was originality, and the true +force lay in the conviction that humanity is one and indivisible. Its +apostles were Pico della Mirandola and Ficino. It found lyrical +expression in verses like the following, translated by me from the +Greek hexameters of Poliziano:-- + + O Father, Lord enthroned on gold, that dwellest in high heaven, + O King of all things, deathless God, Thou Pan supreme, celestial! + That seest all, and movest all, and all with might sustainest, + Older than oldest time, of all first, last, and without ending! + The firmament of blessed souls, of stars the heavenly splendour, + The giant sun himself, the moon that in her circle shineth, + And streams and fountains, earth and sea, are things of Thy creating, + Thou givest life to all; all these Thou with Thy Spirit fillest. + The powers of earth, and powers of heaven, and they in pain infernal + Who pine below the roots of earth, all these obey Thy bidding. + Behold, I call upon Thee now, Thy creature on earth dwelling, + Poor, short of life, O God, of clay a mean unworthy mortal, + Repenting sorely of my sins, and tears of sorrow shedding. + O God, immortal Father, hear! I cry to Thee; be gracious, + And from my breast of this vain world the soul-enslaving passion, + The demon's wiles, the wilful lust, that damns the impious, banish! + Wash throughly all my heart with Thy pure Spirit's rain abundant, + That I may love Thee, Lord, alone, Thee, King of kings, for ever. + +This is but a poor substitute for the Lord's Prayer. Hell and +purgatory are out of place in its theism. [Greek: Chrysothronos] and +[Greek: aitheri naiôn] are tawdry epithets for 'Our Father which art +in heaven.' Yet it is precisely in these contradictions and confusions +that we trace the sincerity of the Renaissance spirit, seeking to fuse +together the vitality of the old faith and the forms of novel culture, +worshipping a Deity created in the image of its own mind, composite +and incoherent. + +Physically, the Italians of the Renaissance were equal to any task +they chose to set themselves. No mistake is greater than to suppose +that, because the summer climate of Italy is hotter than our own, +therefore her children must be languid, pleasure-loving, and relaxed. +Twelve months spent in Tuscany would suffice to dissipate illusions +about the enervating Italian air, even if the history of ancient Rome +were not a proof that the hardiest race of combatants and conquerors +the world has ever seen were nurtured between Soracte and the sea. +After the downfall of the Empire, what remained of native vigour in +the Latin cities found a refuge in the lagoons of Venice and other +natural strongholds. Walled towns in general retained a Roman +population. The primitive Italic races still existed in the valleys of +the Apennines, while the Ligurians held the Genoese Riviera; nor were +the Etruscans extinct in Tuscany. It is true that Rome had fused these +races into a people using the same language. Yet the ethnologist will +hardly allow that the differences noticeable between the several +districts of Italy were not connected with original varieties of +stock. To the people, as Rome had made it, fresh blood was added by +the Goths, Lombards, and Germans descending from the North. Greeks, +Arabs, Normans, and, in course of time, Franks influenced the South. +During the Middle Ages a new and mighty breed of men sprang into being +by the combination of these diverse elements, each district deriving +specific quality from the varying proportions in which the chief +constituents were mingled. It is noticeable that where the +Roman-Etruscan blood was purest probably from mixture, in the valley +of the Arno, the modern Italian genius found its home. Florence and +her sister cities formed the language and the arts of Italy. To this +race, in conjunction with the natives of Lombardy and Central Italy, +was committed the civilisation of Europe in the fifteenth century. It +was only south of Rome, where the brutalising traditions of the Roman +_latifundia_ had never yielded to the burgh-creating impulse of the +Middle Ages, that the Italians were unfit for their great duty. On +these southern states the Empire of the East, Saracen marauders and +Norman conquerors, the French and the Spanish dynasties, had +successively exercised a pernicious influence; nor did the imperial +policy of Frederick II. remain long enough in operation to effect a +radical improvement in the people. Even at Naples culture was always +an exotic. Elsewhere throughout the peninsula the Italians of the new +age were a noble nation, gifted with physical, emotional, and mental +faculties in splendid harmony. In some districts, notably in Florence, +circumstance and climate had been singularly favourable to the +production of such glorious human beings as the world has rarely seen. +Beauty of person, strength of body, and civility of manners were +combined in the men of that favoured region with intellectual +endowments of the highest order: nor were these gifts of nature +confined to a caste apart; the whole population formed an aristocracy +of genius. + +In order to comprehend the greatness of this Italian type in the +Renaissance, it is only needful to study the picture galleries of +Florence or of Venice with special attention to the portraits they +contain. When we compare those senators and sages with the subjects of +Dürer's and of Cranach's art, we feel the physical superiority of the +Italians. In like manner a comparison of the men of the fifteenth +century with those of the sixteenth shows how much of that physical +grandeur had been lost. It is easy to wander astray while weaving +subtle theories on this path of criticism. Yet it cannot be a mere +accident that Vandyck's portrait of the Cardinal de' Bentivogli in the +Pitti Palace differs as it does from that of the Cardinal Ippolito de' +Medici by Pontormo or by Titian. The Medici is an Italian of the +Renaissance, with his imperious originality and defiance of +convention. He has refused to be portrayed as an ecclesiastic. Titian +has painted him in Hungarian costume of dark red velvet, moustached, +and sworded like a soldier; in Pontormo's picture he wears a suit of +mail, and rests his left hand on a large white hound. The Bentivoglio +is an Italian of the type produced by the Counter-Reformation. His +delicate lace ruffs, the coquetry of his scarlet robes, and the fine +keen cut of his diplomatic features betray a new spirit.[4] Surely the +physical qualities of a race change with the changes in their thought +and feeling. The beauty of Tasso is more feminine and melancholy than +that of Ariosto, in whom the liberal genius of the Renaissance was yet +alive. Among the scowling swordsmen of the seventeenth century you +cannot find a face like Giorgione's Gattamelata;[5] the nobles who +bear themselves so proudly on the canvases of Vandyck at Genoa lack +the urbanity of Raphael's Castiglione; Moroni's black-robed students +are more pinched and withered than the Pico of the Uffizzi. It will +not do to strain such points. It is enough to suggest them. What +remains, however, for certain is that the Italians of the fifteenth +century--and among these must be included those who lived through the +first half of the sixteenth--had physical force and character +corresponding to their robust individuality. Until quite late in the +Renaissance so much survived of feudal customs even in Italy that +riding, the handling of the lance and sword, and all athletic +exercises formed a part of education no less indispensable than mental +training. Great cities had open places set apart for tournaments and +games; in Tuscan burghs the _palio_ was run on feast days, and May +mornings saw the prentice lads of Florence tilting beneath the smiles +of girls who danced at nightfall on the square of Santa Trinità. +Bloody battles in the streets were frequent. The least provocation +caused a man to draw his dagger. Combats _a steccato chiuso_ were +among the pastimes to which a Pope might lend his countenance. Skill +in swordsmanship was therefore a necessity. For the rest, we learn +from Castiglione that the perfect gentleman was bound to be an +accomplished dancer, a bold rider, a skilled wrestler, a swift runner, +to shoot well at the mark, to hurl the javelin and the quoit with +grace, and to play at tennis and _pallone_. In addition he ought to +affect some one athletic exercise in such perfection as to beat +professors of the same on their own ground. Cesare Borgia took pride +in felling an ox at a single blow, and exhibited his marksman's +cunning by shooting condemned criminals in a courtyard of the Vatican. + +[Footnote 4: It would be easy to multiply these contrasts, comprising, +for example, the Cardinals Inghirami and Bibbiena and the Leo of +Raphael with the Farnesi portraits at Modena or the grave faces of +Moroni's patrons at Bergamo.] + +[Footnote 5: Portrait in the Uffizzi, ascribed to Giorgione, but more +probably by some pupil of Mantegna.] + +That such men should have devoted their energies to intellectual +culture at a time when English nobles could barely read or write, and +when the chivalry of France regarded learning with disdain, was a +proof of their rich natural endowments. Nor was the determination of +the race to scholarship in any sense an accident. Throughout the +length and breadth of Italy, memories of ancient greatness spurred her +children on to emulation. Ghosts of Roman patriots and poets seemed +hovering round their graves, and calling on posterity to give them +life again. If we cannot bring back Greece and Rome, at least let us +make Florence a second Athens, and restore the Muses to Ausonian +vales. That was the cry. It was while gazing on the ruins of Rome that +Villani felt impelled to write his chronicle. Pavia honoured Boethius +like a saint. Mantua struck coins with the head of Virgil, and Naples +pointed out his tomb. Padua boasted of Livy, and Como of the Plinies. +'Sulmona,' cried Boccaccio, 'mourns because she holds not Ovid's dust; +and Parma is glad that Cassius rests within her walls.' Such reverence +for the great men of antiquity endured throughout the Middle Ages, +creating myths that swayed the fancy, and forming in the popular +consciousness a presentiment of the approaching age. There is +something pathetic in the survival of old Roman titles, in the freak +of the legend-making imagination that gave to Orlando the style of +Roman senator, in the outburst of enthusiasm for Rienzi when he called +himself Tribunus Populi Romani. With the Renaissance itself this +affection for the past became a passion. Pius II. amnestied the people +of Arpino because they were fellow-citizens of Cicero. Alfonso of +Naples received as a most precious gift from Venice a bone supposed to +be the leg of Livy. All the patricians of Italy invented classical +pedigrees; and even Paul II., because he was called Barbo, claimed +descent from the Ahenobarbi. Such instances might be multiplied +indefinitely. It is, however, more to the purpose here to notice that +in Italy this adoration of the antique world was common to all +classes; not students alone, but the people at large regarded the dead +grandeur of the classic age as their especial heritage. To resuscitate +that buried glory, and to reunite themselves with the past, was the +earnest aim of the Italians as a nation. A conviction prevailed that +the modern world could never be so radiant as the old. This found its +expression in the saying that Rome's chief ornaments were her ruins; +in the belief that Julia's corpse, discovered in the Appian Way, +surpassed all living maidens; in Matarazzo's observation that Astorre +Baglioni's body was worthy of an ancient Roman. In their admiration +for antiquity, scholars were blind to the specific glories of the +modern genius. Lionardo Bruni, for example, exclaimed that 'the +ancient Greeks by far excelled us Italians in humanity and gentleness +of heart.' Yet what Greek poem can be compared for tenderness with +Dante's 'Vita Nuova,' with the 'Canzoniere' of Petrarch, or with the +tale of Griselda in Boccaccio? _Gentilezza di cuore_ was the most +characteristic product of chivalry, and the fourth Æneid is the only +classic masterpiece of pure romantic pathos. This humility of +discipleship was not, however, strong enough to check emulation. On +the contrary, the yearning towards antiquity acted like a potent +stimulus on personal endeavour, generating an acute desire for fame, a +burning aspiration to be numbered with the mighty men of old. When +Virgil introduced Dante to the company of Homer and his peers, the +rank of _sesto tra cotanto senno_ rewarded him for all his labour in +the rhyme that made him thin through half a lifetime. Petrarch, who +exceeded Dante in the thirst for literary honour, turned from the men +of his generation to converse in long epistles with the buried saints +of Latin culture. For men of less ambition it was enough to feel that +they could raise their souls through study to communion with the +stately spirits of antiquity, passing like Machiavelli from trivial +affairs into their closet, where they donned their reading robes and +shook hands across the centuries with Cicero or Livy. It was the +universal object of the humanists to gain a consciousness of self +distinguished from the vulgar herd, and to achieve this by joining the +great company of bards and sages, whose glory could not perish. + +Whoever felt within himself the stirring of the spirit under any +form, sought earnestly for fame; and in this way a new social +atmosphere, unknown to the nations of the Middle Ages, was formed in +Italy. A large and liberal acceptance, recognising ability of all +kinds, irrespective of rank or piety or martial prowess, displaced the +narrower judgments of the Church and feudalism. Giotto, the peasant's +son, ranked higher in esteem than Cimabue, the Florentine citizen, +because his work of art was worthier. Petrarch had his place in no +official capacity, but as an honoured equal, at the marriage feasts of +princes. Poliziano corresponded with kings, promising immortality as a +more than regal favour. Pomponius Lætus could afford to repel the +advances of the Sanseverini, feeling that erudition ranked him higher +than his princely kinsmen. It was not wealth or policy alone that +raised the Medici among the Despots so far above the Baglioni of +Perugia or the Petrucci of Siena. They owed this distinction rather to +their comprehension of the craving of their age for culture. Thus +though birth commanded respect for its own sake, a new standard of +eminence had been established, and personal merit was the passport +which carried the meanest into the most illustrious company. Men of +all conditions and all qualifications met upon the common ground of +intellectual intercourse. The subjects they discussed may be gathered +from the introductions to Firenzuola's novels, from Bembo's 'Asolani' +and Castiglione's 'Cortegiano,' from Guicciardini's 'Dialogue on +Florence,' or from the 'Camaldolese Discourses' of Landino. Society of +this kind existed nowhere else in Europe. To Italy belongs the proud +priority of having invented the art of polite conversation, and +anticipated the French _salon_ after an original and urbane fashion of +her own. + +Under these conditions a genuine cultus of intellect sprang up in +Italy. Princes and people shared a common impulse to worship the +mental superiority of men who had no claim to notice but their +genius. It was in the spirit of this hero-worship that the terrible +Gismondo Pandolfo Malatesta transferred to Rimini the bones of Pletho, +and wrote his impassioned epitaph upon the sarcophagus outside +Alberti's church. The biographies of the humanists abound in stories +of singular honours paid to men of parts, not only by princes who +rejoiced in their society, but also by cities receiving them with +public acclamation. And, as it often happens that a parody reveals the +nature of the art it travesties, such light is thrown upon our subject +by the vile Pietro Aretino, who, because he was a man of talent and +unscrupulous in its employment, held kings and potentates beneath his +satyr's hoof. It is not, however, needful to go thus far afield for +instances. Some lines of our own poet Webster exactly describe the +Catholicity of the Renaissance, which first obtained in Italy for men +of marked abilities, and afterwards to some extent prevailed at large +in Europe:-- + + Virtue is ever sowing of her seeds: + In the trenches for the soldier; in the wakeful study + For the scholar; in the furrows of the sea + For men of our profession: of all which + Arise and spring up honour. + +The virtue here described bears the Italian sense of _virtù_, the +Latin _virtus_, the Greek [Greek: aretê], that which makes a man. It +might display itself in a thousand ways; but all alike brought honour, +and honour every man was bound to seek. The standard whereby the +Italians judged this virtue was æsthetical rather than moral. They +were too dazzled by brilliant achievement to test it in the crucible +of ethics. This is the true key to Machiavelli's critique of +Castruccio Castracane, Gianpaolo Baglioni, Cesare Borgia, and Piero +Soderini. In common with his race, he was fascinated by character, and +attached undue importance to the force that made men seek success even +through crime. + +The thirst for glory and the worship of ability stimulated the +Italians, earlier than any other nation, to commemorate what seemed to +them noteworthy in their own lives and in those of their +contemporaries. Dante, within the pale of mediævalism, led the way in +both of these directions. His 'Vita Nuova' is a chapter of +autobiography restrained within the limits of consummate art. His +portraits of S. Francis and S. Dominic (not to mention other +medallions and cameos of predecessors or contemporaries--Farinata, for +example, or Boniface VIII.) record the special qualities whereby those +heroes of the faith were distinguished from the herd of men around +them. Boccaccio's 'Life of Dante' is a further step in the direction +of purely modern biography. Then follow the collections of Filippo +Villani, Giovanni Cavalcanti, Vespasiano, Platina, Decembrio, +Beccadelli, Caracciolo, and Paolo Giovio. Vasari's 'Lives of the +Painters' are unique in their attempt to embrace within a single work +whatever struck their author as most characteristic in the career of +one particular class of men. For historical precision the portraits +composed by Machiavelli, Guicciardini, Varchi, Pitti, and many of the +minor annalists leave nothing to be desired. Such autobiographies as +those of Petrarch, Cellini, Cardano, and Cornaro are models in their +kind; whether their object were simply self-glorification, or whether +a scientific and didactic purpose underlay the chronicle of a +lifetime, the result is equally vivid and interesting. Hero-worship +prompted Gian Francesco Pico to compose the 'Life of Savonarola,' and +Condivi to write that of Michael Angelo. Scorn and hatred impelled +Platina to transmit the outline of Paul II. to posterity in a +caricature, the irony of which is so restrained that it might pass for +sincerity. Machiavelli's 'Biography of Castruccio' is a political +romance indited with a philosophical intention. What motive, beyond +admiration, produced the anonymous 'Memoir of Alberti,' so terse in +its portraiture, so tranquil in style, we do not know; but this too, +like Prendilacqua's 'Life of Vittorino da Feltre,' is a masterpiece of +natural delineation. For these biographies the works of Plutarch and +Suetonius served no doubt as models. Yet this does not make the +preoccupation of the Italians with the phenomena of personality the +less remarkable. + +Another phase of the same impulse led to special treatises upon ideal +characters. The picture of the perfect householder was drawn by +Alberti, that of the courtier by Castiglione, that of the prince by +Machiavelli. Da Vinci discoursed upon the physical proportions of the +human form. Firenzuola and Luigini analysed the beauty of women; +Piccolomini undertook to describe the manners of a well-bred lady; and +La Casa laid down rules for polite behaviour in society. The names of +treatises of this description might easily be multiplied. Enough, +however, has been said to show the tendency of the Italian intellect +to occupy itself with salient qualities, whether exhibited in +individuals or idealised and abstracted by the reflective fancy. The +whole of this literature implies an intense self-consciousness in the +nation, an ardent interest in men as men, because of the specific +virtue to be found in each. The spirit, therefore, in which these +authors of the Renaissance approached their task was wholly different +from that which induced the mediæval annalist to register the miracles +of saints, to chronicle the princes of some dynasty or the abbots of a +convent. Nor had it much in common with the mythologising enthusiasm +of romantic poets. The desire for edification and the fire of fancy +had yielded to an impulse more strictly scientific, to a curiosity +more positive. + +The attention directed in literature and social intercourse upon great +men implied a corresponding thirst for posthumous glory as a +subjective quality of the Renaissance character. To perpetuate a name +and fame was the most fervent passion, shared alike by artists and +princes, by men of letters and by generals. It was not enough for a +man to show forth the vigour that was in him, or to win the applause +of his contemporaries. He must go beyond and wrest something permanent +for himself from the ideal world that will survive our transient +endeavours. When Alfonso the Magnanimous employed Fazio to compose his +chronicle, when Francesco Sforza paid Filelfo for his verses by the +dozen, when Cosimo de' Medici regretted that he had not spent more +wealth on building, when Bartolommeo Colleoni decreed the erection of +his chapel at Bergamo, and his statue on the public square of Venice, +these men, so different in all things else, were striving, each after +his own fashion, to buy an immortality his own achievements in the +field or Senate might not win. Dante, here as elsewhere the first to +utter the word of the modern age, has given expression to this thirst +for lasting recollection in his lines about the planet Mercury:[6]-- + + Questa picciola stella si correda + De' buoni spirti, che son stati attivi, + Perchè onore e fama gli succeda. + +[Footnote 6: _Paradiso_, vi. 112.] + +At the same time Dante, imbued with the mystic spirit of the Middle +Ages, felt an antagonism between worldly ambition and the ideal of the +Christian life. There are other passages, where fame is mentioned by +him as a fleeting breath, a flower that blooms and fades.[7] In truth, +the passionate desire for glory was part of the Renaissance +worldliness, caught from communion with the classic past, and +connected with that vivid apprehension of human life which gave its +vigour to an age of reawakened impulses and positive ambitions. This +world was so much with them, so much to them, that these men would not +lose their grasp of it in death, or willingly exchange it for a +paradise of hopes beyond. + +[Footnote 7: Notably _Purg._ xi. 100-117.] + +The enthusiasm for antiquity coloured this desire for fame by forcing +on the Italians the conviction that in culture was the real title to +eternity. How could they have entered into the spiritual kingdom of +the Greeks and Romans, if it had not been for MSS. and works of art? +It became the fashion therefore, to seek immortality through +literature. The study of the classics was not then confined to men of +a peculiar bent. On all alike, even on women, there weighed the one +belief that to be a scholar was the surest way of saving something +from the wreck that is the doom of human deeds.[8] Only at rare +intervals, and in rare natures of the type of Michael Angelo, did the +Christian ideal resume its sway. Tired with the radiance of art or +learning, they turned to the Cross of Christ, and laid their secular +achievements down as vain and worthless. The time, however, had not +yet come when a disgust of culture and an exhaustion of the intellect +should make asceticism and monastic ecstasy acceptable once more. That +belonged to the age of Spanish tyranny, and what is called the +Counter-Reformation. For the real Renaissance Leo's memorable +_imprimatur_, granted to the editors of Tacitus, struck the true +key-note; while Sappho's solemn lines of warning to a friend careless +of literature might be paraphrased to speak the feeling of +Poliziano:-- + + Lo, thou shalt die, + And lie + Dumb in the silent tomb; + Nor of thy name + Shall there be any fame + In ages yet to be or years to come: + For of the rose + That on Pieria blows + Thou hast no share; + But in sad Hades' house, + Unknown, inglorious, + Mid the dim shades that wander there, + Shalt thou flit forth and haunt the filmy air. + +[Footnote 8: A curious echo of this Italian conviction may be traced +in Fletcher's _Elder Brother_.] + +These words found no uncertain echo in Renaissance Italy, where lads +with long dark hair and liquid eyes left their loves to listen to a +pedant's lectures, where Niccolo de' Niccoli wooed Piero de' Pazzi +from a life of pleasure by the promise of a spiritual kingdom in the +world of books. Piero was 'a man born with thy face and throat, Lyric +Apollo!' His only object was to enjoy--_darsi buon tempo_, as the +phrase of Florence hath it. Yet these words of the student: 'Seeing +thou art the son of such a man, and of comely person, it is a shame +thou dost not give thyself to learn Latin, the which would be unto +thee a great ornament; and if thou dost not learn it, thou wilt be +nought esteemed; the flower of youth once passed, thou wilt find +thyself without virtue'--these words carried such weight, and sank so +deeply into the young man's heart, that, smitten with the love of +learning, he forsook his boon companions, engaged Pontano as +house-tutor at a salary of one hundred golden florins, and spent his +leisure time in learning Livy and the 'Æneid' by heart.[9] What he +sought he gained; his name is still recorded, now that not only the +bloom of youth, but life itself has passed away, and he has slept for +nearly four centuries in Florentine earth. Yet we, no less wearied of +erudition than Faust was, when he held the cup of laudanum in his hand +and heard the Easter voices singing, may well ask ourselves what Piero +carried with him to the grave more than Sardanapalus, over whom the +Greeks inscribed their bitter epitaphs. Disenchanted and disillusioned +as we are by those four centuries of learning, the musical lament of +Dido and the stately periods of Latin prose are little better, +considered as spiritual sustenance, to us than the husks that the +swine did eat. How can we picture to ourselves the conditions of an +age when scholarship was an evangel, forcing the Levis of Florence by +the persuasion of its irresistible beauty to forsake the tables of the +money-changers, tempting young men of great possessions to sell all +and give to the Muses, making of Lucrezia Borgia herself the Magdalen +of polite literature? Fortunately for the civilisation of the modern +world, the men of the Renaissance, untroubled by a surfeit of +knowledge, made none of these reflections. It was an age of sincere +faith in the goodness and the glory of the intellect revealed by art +and letters. When we read Vespasiano's account of the grey-haired +Niccolo accosting the young Pazzi on the steps of the Bargello, our +mind turns instinctively to an earlier dayspring of the reason in +ancient Greece; we think of the charm exercised by Socrates over +Critias and Alcibiades: and had an Aristophanes appeared in Italy, we +fancy how he might have criticised this seduction of the youth from +citizenship and arms to tranquil contemplations and the cosmopolitan +interests of culture. + +[Footnote 9: Vespasiano, _Vita di Piero de' Pazzi_. Compare the +beautiful letter of Æneas Sylvius Piccolomini to his nephew (_Ep. +Lib._ i. 4). He reminds the young man that fair as youth is, and +delightful as are the pleasures of the May of life, learning is more +fair and knowledge more delightful. 'Non enim Lucifer aut Hesperus tam +pulcher est quam sapientia quæ studiis acquiritur litterarum.'] + +It is not without real reason that these Hellenic parallels confront +us in the study of Italian Renaissance. Florence borrowed her light +from Athens, as the moon shines with rays reflected from the sun. The +Revival was the silver age of that old golden age of Greece. In a +literal, not a merely metaphorical sense, the fifteenth century +witnessed a new birth of the classic spirit. And what, let us ask +ourselves, since here at last is the burning point of our inquiry, +what was the true note of this spirit, in so far as its recovery +concerned the Italian race? Superficial observers will speak of the +Paganism of the Renaissance, its unblushing license, its worldliness, +its self-satisfied sensuality, as though that were all, as though +these qualities were not inherent in human nature, ready at any +moment to emerge when the strain of nobler enthusiasm is relaxed, or +the self-preservative instincts of society are enfeebled. There is +indeed a truth in this rough and ready answer, which requires to be +stated on the threshold. The contact of the modern with the ancient +world did encourage a profligate and godless mode of living in men who +preferred Petronius to S. Paul, and yearned less after Galilee than +Corinth. The humanists were distinguished even above the Roman clergy +for open disorder in their lives. They developed filthy speaking as a +special branch of rhetoric, and professed the science of recondite and +obsolete obscenity. It was just this fashion of the learned classes +that made Erasmus mistrust the importation of scholarship into the +North. 'One scruple still besets my mind,' he wrote, 'lest under the +cloak of revived literature Paganism should strive to raise its head, +there being among Christians men who, while they recognise the name of +Christ, breathe in their hearts the spirit of the Gentiles.' +Christianity, especially in Italy, where the spectacle of the Holy See +inspired disgust, had been prostituted to the vilest service by the +Church.[10] Faith was associated with folly, superstition, ignorance, +intolerance, and cruelty. The manners of the clergy were in flagrant +discord with the Gospel, and Antichrist found fitter incarnation in +Roderigo Borgia than in Nero. While the essence of religion was thus +sacrificed by its professors, there appeared upon the horizon of the +modern world, like some bright blazing star, the ideal of that Pagan +civilisation against which in its decadence the ascendant force of +Christianity had striven. It was not unnatural that a reaction in +favour of Paganism, now that the Church had been found wanting, should +ensue, or that the passions of humanity should justify their +self-indulgence by appealing to the precedents of Greece and Rome. +Good and bad were mingled in the classical tradition. Vices, +loathsome enough in a Pope who had instituted the censure of the +press, seemed venial when combined with the manliness of Hadrian or +the refined charm of Catullus. Sin itself lost half its evil coming +from the new-found Holy Land of culture. Still this so-called Paganism +of the Renaissance, real as it was, had but a superficial connection +with classical studies. The corruption of the Church and the political +degeneracy of the commonwealths had quite as much to do with it as the +return to heathen standards. Nor could the Renaissance have been the +great world-historical era it truly was, if such demoralisation had +been a part and parcel of its essence. Crimes and vices are not the +hotbed of arts and literature: lustful priests and cruel despots were +not necessary to the painting of Raphael or the poetry of Ariosto. The +faults of the Italians in the age of the Renaissance were neither +productive of their high achievements, nor conversely were they +generated by the motion of the intellect toward antique forms of +culture. The historian notes synchronisms, whereof he is not bound to +prove the interdependence, and between which he may feel there is no +causal link. + +[Footnote 10: It is enough to refer to Luther's _Table Talk_ upon the +state of Rome in Leo's reign.] + +It does not, moreover, appear that the demoralisation of Italian +society, however this may have been brought about, produced either +physical or intellectual degeneration in the people. Commercial +prosperity, indeed, had rendered them inferior in brute strength to +their semi-barbarous neighbours; while the cosmopolitan interests of +culture had destroyed the energy of national instincts. But it would +be wrong to charge their neopaganism alone with results whereof the +causes were so complex. + +Meanwhile, what gave its deep importance to the classical revival, was +the emancipation of the reason, consequent upon the discovery that the +best gifts of the spirit had been enjoyed by the nations of antiquity. +An ideal of existence distinct from that imposed upon the Middle Ages +by the Church, was revealed in all its secular attractiveness. Fresh +value was given to the desires and aims, enjoyments and activities of +man, considered as a noble member of the universal life, and not as a +diseased excrescence on the world he helped to spoil. Instead of the +cloistral service of the 'Imitatio Christi,' that conception of +communion, through knowledge, with God manifested in His works and in +the soul of man, which forms the indestructible religion of science +and the reason, was already generated. The intellect, after lying +spell-bound during a long night, when thoughts were as dreams and +movement as somnambulism, resumed its activity, interrogated nature, +and enjoyed the pleasures of unimpeded energy. Without ceasing to be +Christians (for the moral principles of Christianity are the +inalienable possession of the human race), the men of the Revival +dared once again to exercise their thought as boldly as the Greeks and +Romans had done before them. More than this, they were now able, as it +were, by the resuscitation of a lost faculty, to do so freely and +clear-sightedly. The touch upon them of the classic spirit was like +the finger of a deity giving life to the dead. + +That more and nobler use was not made of the new light which dawned +upon the world in the Revival; that the humanists abandoned the high +standpoint of Petrarch for a lower and more literary level; that +society assimilated the Hedonism more readily than the Stoicism of the +ancients; that scholars occupied themselves with the form rather than +the matter of the classics; that all these shortcomings in their +several degrees prevented the Italians from leading the intellectual +movement of the sixteenth century in religion and philosophy, as they +had previously led the mind of Europe in discovery and literature--is +deeply to be lamented by those who are jealous for their honour. For +the rest, no words can be found more worthy to express their high +conception of man, regarded as a free yet responsible personality, +sent into the world to mould his own nature, and by this power of +self-determination severed from both brutes and angels, than the +following passage from Pico della Mirandola's 'Oration on the Dignity +of Man.' It combines antique liberty of thought with Christian faith +in a style distinctive of the Renaissance at its best; nor is its note +of mediæval cosmology uncharacteristic of an age that divined as yet +more than it firmly grasped the realities of modern science. Here, if +anywhere, may be hailed the Epiphany of the modern spirit, +contraposing God and man in a relation inconceivable to the ancients, +unapprehended in its fulness by the Middle Ages. 'Then the Supreme +Maker decreed that unto Man, on whom He could bestow nought singular, +should belong in common whatsoever had been given, to His other +creatures. Therefore He took man, made in His own individual image, +and having placed him in the centre of the world, spake to him thus: +"Neither a fixed abode, nor a form in thine own likeness, nor any gift +peculiar to thyself alone, have we given thee, O Adam, in order that +what abode, what likeness, what gifts thou shalt choose, may be thine +to have and to possess. The nature allotted to all other creatures, +within laws appointed by ourselves, restrains them. Thou, restrained +by no narrow bounds, according to thy own free will, in whose power I +have placed thee, shalt define thy nature for thyself. I have set thee +midmost the world, that thence thou mightest the more conveniently +survey whatsoever is in the world. Nor have we made thee either +heavenly or earthly, mortal or immortal, to the end that thou, being, +as it were, thy own free maker and moulder, shouldst fashion thyself +in what form may like thee best. Thou shalt have power to decline unto +the lower or brute creatures. Thou shalt have power to be reborn unto +the higher, or divine, according to the sentence of thy intellect." +Thus to Man, at his birth, the Father gave seeds of all variety and +germs of every form of life.' + +Out of thoughts like these, if Italy could only have been free, if her +society could have been uncorrupted, if her Church could have returned +to the essential truths of Christianity, might have sprung, as from a +seed, the noblest growth of human science. But _dis aliter visum est_. +The prologue to this history of culture--the long account taken of +selfish tyrants, vicious clergy, and incapable republics, in my 'Age +of the Despots'--is intended to make it clear why the conditions under +which the Revival began in Italy rendered its accomplishment +imperfect. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +FIRST PERIOD OF HUMANISM + + Importance of the Revival of Learning -- Mediæval Romance -- + The Legend of Faustus -- Its Value for the Renaissance -- + The Devotion of Italy to Study -- Italian Predisposition for + this Labour -- Scholarship in the Dark Ages -- Double + Attitude assumed by the Church -- Piety for Virgil -- Meagre + Acquaintance with the Latin Classics -- No Greek Learning -- + The Spiritual Conditions of the Middle Ages adverse to Pure + Literature -- Italy no exception to the rest of Europe -- + Dante and Petrarch -- Definition of Humanism -- Petrarch's + Conception of it -- His Æsthetical Temperament -- His Cult + for Cicero, Zeal in collecting Manuscripts, Sense of the + Importance of Greek Studies -- Warfare against Pedantry and + Superstition -- Ideal of Poetry and Rhetoric -- Critique of + Jurists and Schoolmen -- S. Augustine -- Petrarch's Vanity + -- Thirst for Fame -- Discord between his Life and his + Profession -- His Literary Temperament -- Visionary + Patriotism -- His Influence -- His Successors -- Boccaccio + and Greek Studies -- Translation of Homer -- Philosophy of + Literature -- Sensuousness of Boccaccio's Inspiration -- + Giovanni da Ravenna -- The Wandering Professor -- His Pupils + in Latin Scholarship -- Luigi Marsigli -- The Convent of S. + Spirito -- Humanism in Politics -- Coluccio de' Salutati -- + Gasparino da Barzizza -- Improved Style in Letter-writing -- + Revival of Greek Learning -- Manuel Chrysoloras -- His + Pupils -- Lionardo Bruni -- Value of Greek for the + Renaissance. + + +I have already observed that it would be inaccurate to identify the +whole movement of the Renaissance with the process whereby the +European nations recovered and appropriated the masterpieces of Greek +and Latin literature. At the same time this reconquest of the classic +world of thought was by far the most important achievement of the +fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It absorbed nearly the whole mental +energy of the Italians, and determined in a great measure the quality +of all their intellectual production in the period I have undertaken +to illustrate. Through their activity in the field of scholarship the +proper starting-point was given to the modern intellect. The +revelation of what men were and what they wrought under the influence +of other faiths and other impulses, in distant ages with a different +ideal for their aim, not only widened the narrow horizon of the Middle +Ages, but it also restored self-confidence to the reason of humanity. +Research and criticism began to take the place of scholastic +speculation. Positive knowledge was substituted for the intuitive +guesses of idealists and dreamers. The interests of this world +received their due share of attention, and the _litteræ humaniores_ of +the student usurped upon the _divinarum rerum cognitio_ of +theologians. + +All through the Middle Ages uneasy and imperfect memories of Greece +and Rome had haunted Europe. Alexander, the great conqueror; Hector, +the noble knight and lover; Helen, who set Troy town on fire; Virgil, +the magician; Dame Venus lingering about the hill of Hörsel--these +phantoms, whereof the positive historic truth was lost, remained to +sway the soul and stimulate desire in myth and saga. Deprived of +actual knowledge, imagination transformed what it remembered of the +classic age into romance. The fascination exercised by these dreams of +a half-forgotten past over the mediæval fancy expressed itself in the +legend of Doctor Faustus. That legend tells us what the men upon the +eve of the Revival longed for, and what they dreaded, when they turned +their minds towards the past. The secret of enjoyment and the source +of strength possessed by the ancients, allured them; but they believed +that they could only recover this lost treasure by the suicide of +their soul. So great was the temptation that Faustus paid the price. +After imbibing all the knowledge of his age, he sold himself to the +Devil, in order that his thirst for experience might be quenched, his +grasp upon the world be strengthened, and the ennui of his inactivity +be soothed. His first use of this dearly-bought power was to make +blind Homer sing to him. Amphion tunes his harp in concert with +Mephistopheles. Alexander rises from the dead at his behest, with all +his legionaries; and Helen is given to him for a bride. Faustus is +therefore a parable of the impotent yearnings of the spirit in the +Middle Ages--its passionate aspiration, its conscience-stricken +desire, its fettered curiosity amid the cramping limits of imperfect +knowledge and irrational dogmatism. That for which Faustus sold his +soul, the freedom he acquired by magic, the sense of beauty he +gratified through visions, the knowledge he gained by interrogation of +demons, was yielded to the world without price at the time of the +Renaissance. Homer, no longer by the intervention of a fiend, but by +the labour of the scholar, sang to the new age. The pomp of the +empires of the old world was restored in the pages of historians. The +indestructible beauty of Greek art, whereof Helen was an emblem, +became, through the discovery of classic poetry and sculpture, the +possession of the modern world. Mediævalism took this Helen to wife, +and their offspring, the Euphorion of Goethe's drama, is the spirit of +the modern world. But how was this effected? By long and toilsome +study, by the accumulation of MSS., by the acquisition of dead +languages, by the solitary labour of grammarians, by the lectures of +itinerant professors, by the scribe, by the printing press, by the +self-devotion of magnificent Italy to erudition. In this way the +Renaissance realised the dream of the Middle Ages, and the genius of +the Italians wrought by solid toil what the myth-making imagination of +the Germans had projected in a poem. + +It is impossible to exaggerate the benefit conferred upon Europe by +the Italians at this epoch. The culture of the classics had to be +reappropriated before the movement of the modern mind could begin: +before the nations could start upon a new career of progress, the +chasm between the old and new world had to be bridged over. This task +of reappropriation the Italians undertook alone, and achieved at the +sacrifice of their literary independence and their political freedom. +The history of Renaissance literature in Italy is the history of a +national genius deviating from the course of self-development into the +channels of scholarship and antiquarian research. The language created +by Dante as a thing of power, polished by Petrarch as a thing of +beauty, trained by Boccaccio as the instrument of melodious prose, was +abandoned even by the Tuscans in the fifteenth century for revived +Latin and newly-discovered Greek. Patent acquisition took the place of +proud inventiveness; laborious imitation of classical authors +suppressed originality of style. The force of mind which in the +fourteenth century had produced a 'Divine Comedy' and a 'Decameron,' +in the fifteenth was expended upon the interpretation of codices, the +settlement of texts, the translation of Greek books into Latin, the +study of antiquities, the composition of commentaries, encyclopædias, +dictionaries, ephemerides. While we regret this change from creative +to acquisitive literature, we must bear in mind that those scholars +who ought to have been poets accomplished nothing less than the +civilisation, or, to use their own phrase, the humanisation, of the +modern world.[11] At the critical moment when the Eastern Empire was +being shattered by the Turks, and when the other European nations were +as yet unfit for culture, Italy saved the arts and sciences of Greece +and Rome, and interpreted the spirit of the classics. Devoting herself +to what appears the slavish work of compilation and collection, she +transmitted an inestimable treasure to the human race; and though for +a time the beautiful Italian tongue was superseded by a jargon of dead +languages, yet the literature of the Renaissance yielded in the end +the poetry of Ariosto, the political philosophy of Machiavelli, the +histories of Guicciardini and Varchi. Meanwhile the whole of Europe +had received the staple of its intellectual education. + +[Footnote 11: Poliziano, Pontano, Sannazzaro, and Bembo divided their +powers between scholarship and poetry, to the injury of the latter.] + +It is necessary to repeat the observation that this absorption of +energy in the task of scholarship was no less natural to the Italians +than necessary for the world at large. The Italians were not a new +nation like the Franks and Germans. Nothing is more remarkable in the +mediæval history of Italy than the sense, shared alike by poets and +jurists, by the leaders of popular insurrections and the moulders of +philosophic thought, that the centre of national vitality existed in +the Roman Empire. It was this determination to look backward rather +than forward, to trust the past rather than the present, that +neutralised the forces of the Lombard League, and prevented the +communes from asserting their independence face to face with +foreigners who claimed to be the representatives of Cæsar. The +Italians, unlike any other European people, sacrificed the reality of +political freedom for the idea of majesty and glory, to be recovered +by the restitution of the Empire. Guelf and Ghibelline coincided in +this delusion, that Rome, whether Papal or Imperial, was destined +still to place the old Italic stock upon the throne of civilised +humanity. When the three great authors of the thirteenth century +appeared, each in turn cast his eyes to ancient Rome as the true +source of national greatness. The language of modern Italy was known +to be a scion of the Latin speech, and the Italians called themselves +_Latini_. The attempt to conform their literature to the Roman type +was therefore felt to be but a return to its true standard; the +'Æneid' of Virgil was their _Nibelungen-Lied_. Thus the humanistic +enthusiasm of the fifteenth century assumed an almost patriotic +character. In it, moreover, the doctrine that had ruled the Middle +Ages, interrupting political cohesion without acquiring the +consistency of fact, attained at last its proper sphere of +development. The ideal of Dante in the 'De Monarchiâ' had proved a +baseless dream; no emperor was destined to take his seat in Rome and +sway the world. But the ideal of Petrarch was realised; the scholars, +animated by his impulse, reacquired the birthright of culture which +belonged of old to Italy, and made her empress of the intellect for +Europe. Not political but spiritual supremacy was the real heritage of +these new Romans. + +As an introduction to the history of the Revival, and in order that +the work to be performed by the Italian students may be accurately +measured, it will be necessary to touch briefly upon the state of +scholarship during the dark ages. To underrate the achievement of that +period, especially in logic, theology, and law, is only too easy, +seeing that a new direction was given to the mind of Europe by the +Renaissance, and that we have moved continuously on other lines to +other objects since the opening of the fifteenth century. Mediæval +thought was both acute and strenuous in its own region of activity. +What it lacked was material outside the speculative sphere to feed +upon. Culture, in our sense of the word, did not exist, and the +intellect was forced to deal subtly with a very limited class of +conceptions. + +Long before the fall of the Roman Empire it became clear that both +fine arts and literature were gradually declining. Sculpture in the +age of Constantine had lost distinction of style; and though the +practice of verse survived as a rhetorical exercise, no works of +original genius were produced. Ausonius and Claudian, just before the +division of the Empire and the irruption of the barbarian races, +uttered the last swan's note of classic poetry. Meanwhile true taste +and criticism were extinct.[12] The Church, while battling with +Paganism, recognised her deadliest foes in literature. Not only were +the Greek and Latin masterpieces the stronghold of a mythology that +had to be erased from the popular mind; not only was their morality +antagonistic to the principles of Christian ethics: in addition to +these grounds for hatred and mistrust, the classics idealised a form +of human life which the new faith regarded as worthless. What was +culture in comparison with the salvation of the soul? Why should time +be spent upon the dreams of poets, when every minute might be well +employed in pondering the precepts of the Gospels? What was the use of +making this life refined and agreeable by study, when it formed but an +insignificant prelude to an eternity wherein mere mundane learning +would be valueless? Why raise questions about man's condition on this +earth, when the creeds had to be defined and expounded, when the +nature of God and the relation of the human soul to its Creator had to +be established? It was easy to pass from this state of mind to the +belief that learning in itself was impious.[13] 'Let us shun the lying +fables of the poets,' cries Gregory of Tours, 'and forego the wisdom +of sages at enmity with God, lest we incur the doom of endless death +by sentence of our Lord.' Even Augustine deplored his time spent in +reading Virgil, weeping over Dido's death by love, when all the while +he was himself both morally and spiritually dead. Alcuin regretted +that in his boyhood he had preferred Virgil to the legends of the +Saints, and stigmatised the eloquence of the Latin writers by the +epithet of wanton. Such phrases as _poetarum figmenta, gentilium +figmenta sive deliramenta_ (the fictions or mad ravings of Pagan +poets) are commonly employed by Christian authors of the Lives of +Saints, in order to mark the inferiority of Virgil and Ovid to their +own more edifying compositions. Relying on their spiritual +pretensions, the monkish scribes gloried in ignorance and paraded want +of grammar as a sign of grace. 'I warn the curious reader,' writes a +certain Wolfhard in the 'Life of S. Walpurgis,' 'not to mind the mass +of barbarisms in this little work; I bid him ponder what he finds upon +these pages, and seek the pearl within the dung-heap.' Gregory the +Great goes further, and defies the pedantry of pedagogues. 'The place +of prepositions and the cases of the nouns I utterly despise, since I +deem it unfit to confine the words of the celestial oracle within the +rules of Donatus.' 'Let philosophers and impure scholars of Donatus,' +writes a fanatic of Cordova, 'ply their windy problems with the +barking of dogs, the grunting of swine, snarling with skinned throat +and teeth; let the foaming and bespittled grammarians belch, while we +remain evangelical servants of Christ, true followers of rustic +teachers.' Thus the opposition of the Church to Paganism, the +conviction that Christianity was alien to culture, and the absorption +of intellectual interest in theological questions contributed to +destroy what had remained of sound scholarship in the last years of +the Empire. The task of the Church, moreover, in the Middle Ages was +not so much to keep learning alive as to moralise the savage races who +held Europe at their pleasure. Pure Latinity, even if it could have +been instilled into the nations of the North, was of less moment than +elementary discipline in manners and religion. It must not be +forgotten that the literature of ancient Rome was artificial in its +best days, confined to a select few, and dependent on the capital for +its support. After the dismemberment of the Empire the whole of Europe +was thrown open to the action of spiritual powers who had to use +unlettered barbarians for their ministers and missionaries. To submit +this vast field to classic culture at the same time that Christianity +was being propagated, would have been beyond the strength of the +Church, even had she chosen to undertake this task, and had the vital +forces of antiquity not been exhausted. + +[Footnote 12: For the low state of criticism, even in a good age, see +Aulus Gellius, lib. xiv. cap. vi. He describes the lecture of a +rhetor, _quispiam linguæ Latinæ literator_, on a passage in the +seventh Æneid. The man's explanation of the word _bidentes_ proves an +almost more than mediæval puerility and ignorance.] + +[Footnote 13: Most of the following quotations will be found in +Comparetti, _Virgilio nel Medio Evo_, vol. i., a work of sound +scholarship and refined taste upon the place of Virgil in the Middle +Ages.] + +At this point an inevitable reaction, illustrating the compromise +thrust upon the Church by her peculiar position, made itself apparent. +In proportion as the dangers of Paganism decreased, the clergy, on +whom devolved the double duty of civilising as well as moralising +society, began to feel the need of arresting the advance of ignorance. +Knowledge of Latin was required for ecclesiastical uses, for the +interpretation of Scripture, for the study of the Fathers, and for the +establishment of a common language among many divers nationalities. A +middle course between the fanaticism which regarded classical +literature as worthless and impure, and the worldliness that might +have been encouraged by enthusiasm for the ancients, had therefore to +be steered. Grammar was taught in the schools, and where grammar was +taught, it was impossible to exclude Virgil and some other Latin +authors. A conflict in the monkish mind was the unavoidable +consequence. Since the classics alone communicated sound learning, the +study of them formed a necessary part of education; and yet these +authors were unbaptized Pagans, doomed to everlasting death because of +their impiety and immorality. Poets who had hitherto been regarded as +deadly foes, were now accepted as auxiliaries in the battle of the +Church against barbarism. While copying the elegies of Ovid, the +compassionate scribe sought to place them in a favourable light, and +to render them edifying at the cost of contradicting their plain +meaning.[14] Virgil was credited with allegorical significance; and +the strong sympathy he roused in those who felt the beauty of his +style, produced a belief that, if not quite, he was almost a +Christian. The piety and pity for Virgil as a gentle soul who had just +missed the salvation offered by Christ, found expression in the +service for S. Paul's Day used at Mantua:[15]-- + + Ad Maronis mausoleum + Ductus, fudit super eum + Piæ rorem lacrymæ; + Quem te, inquit, reddidissem + Si te vivum invenissem, + Poetarum maxime! + +[Footnote 14: _Hoc est quod pueri tangar amore minus_, for example, +was altered into _Hoc est quod pueri tangar amore nihil_; for +_lusisset amores_ was substituted _dampnasset amores_, and so forth.] + +[Footnote 15: The hymn quoted above in the text refers to a legend of +S. Paul having visited the tomb of Virgil at Naples:-- + + 'When to Maro's tomb they brought him + Tender grief and pity wrought him + To bedew the stone with tears; + What a saint I might have crowned thee, + Had I only living found thee, + Poet first and without peers!'] + +Meanwhile the utter confusion consequent upon the downfall of the +Roman Empire and the irruption of the Germanic races was causing, by +the mere brute force of circumstance, a gradual extinction of +scholarship too powerful to be arrested. The teaching of grammar for +ecclesiastical purposes was insufficient to check the influence of +many causes leading to this overthrow of learning. It was impossible +to communicate more than a mere tincture of knowledge to students +separated from the classical tradition, for whom the antecedent +history of Rome was a dead letter. The meaning of Latin words derived +from the Greek was lost. Smaragdus, a grammarian, mistook _Eunuchus +Comoedia_ and _Orestes Tragoedia_, mentioned by Donatus, for the +names of authors. Remigius of Auxerre explained _poema_ by _positio_, +and _emblema_ by _habundantia_. Homer and Virgil were supposed to have +been friends and contemporaries, while the Latin epitome of the +'Iliad,' bearing the name of Pindar, was fathered on the Theban +lyrist. Theological notions, grotesque and childish beyond +description, found their way into etymology and grammar. The three +persons of the Trinity were discovered in the verb, and mystic numbers +in the parts of speech. Thus analytical studies like that of language +came to be regarded as an open field for the exercise of the +mythologising fancy; and etymology was reduced to a system of +ingenious punning. _Voluntas_ and _voluptas_ were distinguished, for +example, as pertaining to the nature of _Deus_ and _diabolus_ +respectively; and, in order to make the list complete, _voluntas_ was +invented as an attribute of _homo_. It is clear that on this path of +verbal quibbling the intellect had lost tact, taste, and common sense +together. + +When the minds of the learned were possessed by these absurdities to +the exclusion of sound method, we cannot wonder that antiquity +survived but as a strange and shadowy dream in popular imagination. +Virgil, the only classic who retained distinct and living personality, +passed from poet to philosopher, from philosopher to Sibyl, from Sibyl +to magician, by successive stages of transmutation, as the truth about +him grew more dim and the faculty to apprehend him weakened. Forming +the staple of education in the schools of the grammarians, and +metamorphosed by the vulgar consciousness into a wizard,[16] he waited +on the extreme verge of the dark ages to take Dante by the hand, and +lead him, as the type of human reason, through the realms of Hell and +Purgatory. + +[Footnote 16: The common use of the word _grammarie_ for occult +science in our ballads illustrates this phase of popular opinion. So +does the legend of Friar Bacon. See Thoms, _Early English Prose +Romances_.] + +With regard to the actual knowledge of Latin literature possessed in +the Middle Ages, it may be said in brief that Virgil was continually +studied, and that a certain familiarity with Ovid, Lucan, Horace, +Juvenal, and Statius was never lost. Among the prose-writers, +portions of Cicero were used in education; but the compilations of +Boethius, Priscian, Donatus, and Cassiodorus were more widely used. In +the twelfth century the study of Roman law was revived, and the +scholastic habit of thought found scope for subtlety in the discussion +of cases and composition of glosses. The general knowledge and +intellectual sympathy required for comprehension of the genuine +classics were, however, wanting; and thus it happened that their place +was taken by epitomes and abstracts, and by the formal digests of the +Western Empire in its decadence. This lifeless literature was better +suited to the meagre intellectual conditions of the Middle Ages than +the masterpieces of the Augustan and Silver periods. + +Of Greek there was absolutely no tradition left.[17] When the names of +Greek poets or philosophers are cited by mediæval authors, it is at +second hand from Latin sources; and the Aristotelian logic of the +schoolmen came through Latin translations made by Jews from Arabian +MSS. Occasionally it might happen that a Western scholar acquired +Greek at Constantinople or in the south of Italy, where it was spoken; +but this did not imply Hellenic culture, nor did such knowledge form a +part and parcel of his erudition. Greek was hardly less lost to Europe +then than Sanskrit in the first half of the eighteenth century. + +[Footnote 17: Didot, in his _Life of Aldus_, tries to make out that +Greek learning survived in Ireland longer than elsewhere.] + +The meagreness of mediæval learning was, however, a less serious +obstacle to culture than the habit of mind, partly engendered by +Christianity and partly idiosyncratic to the new races, which +prevented students from appreciating the true spirit of the classics. +While mysticism and allegory ruled supreme, the clearly-defined +humanity of the Greeks and Romans could not fail to be misapprehended. +The little that was known of them reached students through a hazy and +distorting medium. Poems like Virgil's fourth Eclogue were prized for +what the author had not meant when he was writing them; while his real +interests were utterly neglected. Against this mental misconception, +this original obliquity of vision, this radical lie in the intellect, +the restorers of learning had to fight at least as energetically as +against brute ignorance and dulness. It was not enough to multiply +books and to discover codices; they had to teach men how to read them, +to explain their inspiration, to defend them against prejudice, to +protect them from false methods of interpretation. To purge the mind +of fancy and fable, to prove that poetry apart from its supposed +prophetic meaning was delightful for its own sake, and that the +history of the antique nations, in spite of Paganism, could be used +for profit and instruction, was the first step to be taken by these +pioneers of modern culture. They had, in short, to create a new mental +sensibility by establishing the truth that pure literature directly +contributes to the dignity and happiness of human beings. The +achievement of this revolution in thought was the great performance of +the Italians in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. + +During the dark ages Italy had in no sense enjoyed superiority of +culture over the rest of Europe. On the contrary, the first abortive +attempt at a revival of learning was due to Charlemagne at Aix, the +second to the Emperor Frederick in Apulia and Sicily; and while the +Romance nations had lost the classical tradition, it was still to some +extent preserved by the Moslem dynasties. The more we study the +history of mediæval learning, the more we recognise the debt of +civilised humanity to the Arabs for their conservation and +transmission of Greek thought in altered form to Europe. Yet, though +the Italians came comparatively late into the field, their action was +decisive. Neither Charlemagne nor Frederick, neither the philosophy of +the Arabian sages nor the precocious literature of Provence, succeeded +in effecting for the education of the modern intellect that which +Dante and Petrarch performed--the one by the production of a +monumental work of art in poetry, the other by the communication of a +new enthusiasm for antiquity to students. + +Dante does not belong in any strict sense to the history of the +Revival of Learning. The 'Divine Comedy' closes the Middle Ages and +preserves their spirit. It stands before the vestibule of modern +literature like a solitary mountain at the entrance of a country rich +in all varieties of landscape. In order to become acquainted with its +grandeur, we must leave the fields and forests that we know, ascend +the heights, and use ourselves to an austerer climate. In spite of +this isolation, Dante's influence was powerful upon succeeding +generations. The modern mind first found in him its scope, and +recognised its freedom; first dared and did what placed it on a level +with antiquity in art. Many ideas, moreover, destined to play an +important part in the coming age, received from him their germinal +expression. It may thus be truly said that Dante initiated the +movement of the modern intellect in its entirety, though he did not +lead the Revival considered as a separate moment in this evolution. +That service was reserved for Petrarch. + +There are spots upon the central watershed of Europe where, in the +stillness of a summer afternoon, the traveller may listen to the +murmurs of two streams--the one hurrying down to form the Rhine, the +other to contribute to the Danube or the Po. Born within hearing of +each other's voices, and nourished by the self-same clouds that rest +upon the crags around them, they are henceforth destined to an +ever-widening separation. While the one sweeps onward to the Northern +seas, the other will reach the shores of Italy or Greece and mingle +with the Mediterranean. To these two streamlets we might compare Dante +and Petrarch, both of whom sprang from Florence, both of whom were +nurtured in the learning of the schools and in the lore of chivalrous +love. Yet how different was their mission! Petrarch marks the rising +of that great river of intellectual energy which flowed southward to +recover the culture of the ancient world. The current of Dante's +genius took the contrary direction. Borne upon its mighty flood, we +visit the lands and cities of the Middle Ages, floating toward +infinities divined and made the heritage of human nature by the +mediæval spirit. + +In speaking of Petrarch here, it is necessary to concentrate attention +upon his claims to be considered as the apostle of scholarship, the +inaugurator of the humanistic impulse of the fifteenth century. We +have nothing to do with his Italian poetry. The _Rime_ dedicated to +Madonna Laura have eclipsed the fame of the Latin epic, philosophical +discourses, epistles, orations, invectives, and dissertations, which +made Petrarch the Voltaire of his own age, and on which he thought his +immortality would rest. Yet it is with these latter products of his +genius, not with the _Canzoniere_, that we are now concerned; nor can +it be too emphatically asserted that his originality was even more +eminently displayed in the revelation of humanism to the modern world +than in the verses that impressed their character upon Italian +literature. To have foreseen a whole new phase of European culture, to +have interpreted its spirit, and determined by his own activity the +course it should pursue, is in truth a higher title to fame than the +composition of even the most perfect sonnets. The artist, however, has +this advantage over the pioneer of intellectual progress, that his +delicate creations are indestructible, and that his work cannot be +merged in that of a continuator. Therefore Petrarch lives and will +live in the memory of millions as the poet of Laura, while only +students know how much the world owes to his humanistic ardour. + +As I cannot dispense with the word Humanism in this portion of my +work, it may be well to fix the sense I shall attach to it.[18] The +essence of humanism consisted in a new and vital perception of the +dignity of man as a rational being apart from theological +determinations, and in the further perception that classic literature +alone displayed human nature in the plenitude of intellectual and +moral freedom. It was partly a reaction against ecclesiastical +despotism, partly an attempt to find the point of unity for all that +had been thought and done by man, within the mind restored to +consciousness of its own sovereign faculty. Hence the single-hearted +devotion to the literature of Greece and Rome that marks the whole +Renaissance era. Hence the watchword of that age, the _Litteræ +Humaniores_. Hence the passion for antiquity, possessing thoughtful +men, and substituting a new authority for the traditions of the +Church. Hence the so-called Paganism of centuries bent upon absorbing +and assimilating a spirit no less life-giving from their point of view +than Christianity itself. Hence the persistent effort of philosophers +to find the meeting-point of two divergent inspirations. Hence, too, +the ultimate antagonism between the humanists, or professors of the +new wisdom, and those uncompromising Christians who, like S. Paul, +preferred to remain fools for Christ's sake. + +[Footnote 18: The word Humanism has a German sound, and is in fact +modern. Yet the generic phrase _umanità_ for humanistic culture, and +the name _umanista_ for a professor of humane studies, are both pure +Italian. Ariosto, in his seventh satire, line 25, writes-- + + 'Senza quel vizio son pochi umanisti.'] + +Humanism in this, the widest, sense of the word was possessed by +Petrarch intuitively. It belonged to his nature as much as music to +Mozart; so that he seemed sent into the world to raise, by the pure +exercise of innate faculties, a standard for succeeding workers. +Physically and æsthetically, by the fineness of his ear for verbal +harmonies, and by the exquisiteness of his sensibilities, he was +fitted to divine what it took centuries to verify. While still a boy, +long before he could grasp the meaning of classical Latin, he used to +read the prose of Cicero aloud, delighting in the sonorous cadence and +balanced periods of the master's style.[19] Nor were the moral +qualities of industry and perseverance, needed to supplement these +natural gifts, defective. In his maturity he spared no pains to +collect the manuscripts of Cicero, sometimes transcribing them with +his own hand, sometimes employing copyists, sending and journeying to +distant parts of Europe where he heard a fragment of his favourite +author might be found.[20] His greatest literary disappointment was +the loss of a treatise by Cicero on Glory, a theme exceedingly +significant for the Renaissance, which he lent to his tutor +Convennevole, and which the old man pawned.[21] Though he could not +read Greek, he welcomed with profoundest reverence the codices of +Homer and Plato sent to him from Constantinople, and exhorted +Boccaccio to dedicate his genius to the translation of the sovran poet +into Latin.[22] In this susceptibility to the melodies of rhetorical +prose, in this special cult of Cicero, in the passion for collecting +manuscripts, and in the intuition that the future of scholarship +depended upon the resuscitation of Greek studies, Petrarch initiated +the four most important momenta of the classical Renaissance. He, +again, was the first to understand the value of public libraries;[23] +the first to accumulate coins and inscriptions, as the sources of +accurate historical information; the first to preach the duty of +preserving ancient monuments. It would seem as though, by the instinct +of genius, he foresaw the future for at least three centuries, and +comprehended the highest uses whereof scholarship is capable. + +[Footnote 19: See the interesting letter to Luca di Penna, _De Libris +Ciceronis_, p. 946, and compare _De Ignorantiâ sui ipsius_, &c. p. +1044. These references, as well as those which follow under the +general sign _Ibid._, are made to the edition of Petrarch's collected +works, Basle, 1581.] + +[Footnote 20: _Ibid._ p. 948. Cf. the fine letter on the duty of +collecting and preserving codices (_Fam. Epist._ lib. iii. 18, p. +619). 'Aurum, argentum, gemmæ, purpurea vestis, marmorea domus, cultus +ager, pictæ tabulæ, phaleratus sonipes, cæteraque id genus mutam +habent et superficiariam voluptatem: libri medullitus delectant, +colloquuntur, consulunt, et vivâ quâdam nobis atque argutâ +familiaritate junguntur.'] + +[Footnote 21: _De Libris Ciceronis_, p. 949. Cf. his _Epistle to +Varro_ for an account of a lost MS. of that author. _Ibid._ p. 708.] + +[Footnote 22: _Ibid._ p. 948. Cf. _De Ignorantiâ_, pp. 1053, 1054. +See, too, the letter to Nicolaus Syocerus of Constantinople, _Epist. +Var._ xx. p. 998, thanking him for the Homer and the Plato, in which +Petrarch gives an account of his slender Greek studies. 'Homerus tuus +apud me mutus, immo vero ego apud illum surdus sum. Gaudeo tamen vel +aspectu solo, et sæpe illum amplexus et suspirans dico.... Plato +philosophorum princeps ... nunc tandem tuo munere Philosophorum +principi Poetarum princeps asserit. Quis tantis non gaudeat et +glorietur hospitibus?... Græcos spectare, et si nihil aliud, certe +juvat.' The letter urging Boccaccio to translate Homer--'an tuo +studio, meâ impensâ fieri possit, ut Homerus integer bibliothecæ huic, +ubi pridem Græcus habitat, tandem Latinus accedat'--will be found +[Transcriber's Note: original missing 'in'] _Ep. Rer. Sen._ lib. iii. +5, p. 775. In another letter, _Ep. Rer. Sen._ lib. vi. 2, p. 807, he +thanks Boccaccio for the Latin version.] + +[Footnote 23: _De Remediis utriusque Fortunæ_, p. 43. A plea for +public as against private collections of useful books. 'Multos in +vinculis tenes,' &c.] + +So far the outside only of Petrarch's instinct for humanism has been +touched. How fully he possessed its large and liberal spirit is shown +by the untiring war he carried on against formalism, tradition, +pedantry, and superstition. Whatever might impede the free play of the +intellect aroused his bitterest hatred. Against the narrow views of +scholastic theologians, against the futile preoccupations of the +Middle-Age materialists, against the lawyers and physicians and +astrologers in vogue, he declared inexorable hostility.[24] These +men, by their puerilities and falsities, obstructed the natural action +of the mind; therefore Petrarch attacked them. At the same time he +recognised the liberators of the reason by a kind of tact. Though he +could not interpret the sixteen dialogues of Plato he possessed in +Greek, he perceived intuitively that Plato, as opposed to Aristotle, +would become the saint of liberal philosophy, surveyed by him as in a +Pisgah-view. His enthusiasm for Cicero and Virgil was twofold; in both +respects he proved how capable he was of moulding the taste and +directing the mental force of his successors. As an artist, he +discerned in their style the harmonies of sound and the proprieties of +diction, whereby Latin might once again become the language of fine +thoughts and delicate emotions. As a champion of intellectual +independence, he saw that, studying their large discourse of all +things which the reason and imagination can appropriate, the thinkers +of the modern age might shake off scholastic fetters, and enter into +the inheritance of spiritual freedom. Poetry and rhetoric he regarded +not merely as the fine arts of literature, but as two chief +instruments whereby the man of genius arrives at self-expression, +perpetuates the qualities of his own soul, and impresses his character +upon the age. Since this realisation of the individual in a high and +puissant work of art appeared to him the noblest aim of man on earth, +it followed that the inspired speech of the poet and the eloquence of +the orator became for Petrarch the summit of ambition, the two-peaked +Parnassus he struggled through his lifetime to ascend.[25] The ideal +was literary; but literature implied for Petrarch more than words and +phrases. It was not enough to make melodious verse, or to move an +audience with well-sounding periods. The hexameters of the epic and +the paragraphs of the oration had to contain solid thought, to be the +genuine outcome of the poet's or the rhetorician's soul. The writer +was bound to be a preacher, to discover truth, and make the truths he +found agreeable to the world.[26] His life, moreover, ought to be in +perfect harmony with all he sought to teach.[27] Upon the purity of +his enthusiasm, the sincerity of his inspiration, depended the future +well-being of the world for which he laboured.[28] Thus for this one +man at least the art of letters was a priesthood; and the earnestness +of his vocation made him fit to be the master of succeeding ages. It +is not easy for us to appreciate the boldness and sincerity of these +conceptions. Many of them, since the days of Petrarch, have been +overstrained and made ridiculous by false pretensions. Besides, the +whole point of view has been appropriated; and men invariably +undervalue what they feel they cannot lose. It is only by comparing +Petrarch's own philosophy of literature with the dulness of the +schoolmen in their decadence, and with the stylistic shallowness of +subsequent scholars, that we come to comprehend how luminous and novel +was the thesis he supported. + +[Footnote 24: See the four books of Invectives, _Contra Medicum +quendam_, and the treatise _De sui ipsius et aliorum Ignorantiâ_. Page +1038 of the last dissertation contains a curious list of frivolous +questions discussed by the Averrhoists. Cf. the letter on the +decadence of true learning, _Ep. Var._ 31, p. 1020; the letter to a +friend exhorting him to combat Averrhoism, _Epist. sine titulo_, 18, +p. 731; two letters on physicians, _Epist. Rerum Senilium_, lib. xii. +1 and 2, pp. 897-914; a letter to Francesco Bruno on the lies of the +astrologers, _Epist. Rer. Sen._ lib. i. 6, p. 747; a letter to +Boccaccio on the same theme, _Epist. Rer. Sen._ lib. iii. 1, p. 765; +another on physicians to Boccaccio, _Epist. Rer. Sen._ lib. v. 4, p. +796. Cf. the Critique of Alchemy, _De Remediis utriusque Fortunæ_, p. +93.] + +[Footnote 25: In comparing the orator and the poet, Petrarch gives the +palm to the former. He thought the perfect rhetorician, capable of +expressing sound philosophy with clearness, was rarer than the poet. +See _De Remediis utriusque Fortunæ_, lib. ii. dial. 102, p. 192.] + +[Footnote 26: See, among other passages, _Inv. contra Medicum_, lib. +i. p. 1092. 'Poetæ studium est veritatem veram pulchris velaminibus +adornare.' Cf. p. 905, the paragraph beginning 'Officium est ejus +fingere,' &c.] + +[Footnote 27: See the preface to the _Epistolæ Familiares_, p. 570. +'Scribendi enim mihi vivendique unus (ut auguror) finis erit.'] + +[Footnote 28: For his lofty conception of poetry see the two letters +to Boccaccio and Benvenuto da Imola, pp. 740, 941. _Epist. Rerum +Senilium_, lib. i. 4, lib. xiv. 11.] + +Having thus conceived of literature, Petrarch obtained a standard for +estimating the barren culture of his century. He taxed the +disputations of the doctors with lifeless repetition unmeaning +verbiage. Schoolman after schoolman had been occupied with formal +trifles. The erudition of the jurist and the theologian revealed +nothing fruitful for the heart or intellect; and everything was +valueless that did not come straight from a man's soul, speaking to +the soul of one who heard him. At the same time he read the Fathers +and the Scriptures in a new light. Augustine, some few of whose +sentences had been used as links in the catena of dogmatic orthodoxy, +seemed to Petrarch no longer a mere master of theology, but a man +conversing with him across the chasm of eight centuries. In the +'Confessions,' 'running over with a fount of tears,' the poet of +Vaucluse divined a kindred nature; one who used exalted eloquence for +the expression of vital thoughts and passionate emotions; one, +moreover, who had reached the height of human happiness in union with +God.[29] Not less real was the grasp he laid upon the prophets and +apostles of the Bible. All words that bore a message to his heart were +words of authority and power. The _ipse dixit_ of an Aristotle or a +Seraphic doctor had for him no weight, unless it came home to him as a +man.[30] Even Cicero and Seneca, the saints of philosophical +antiquity, he dared to criticise for practising less wisdom than they +preached.[31] + +[Footnote 29: The references to Augustine as a 'divine genius,' equal +to Cicero in eloquence, superior to the classics in his knowledge of +Christ, are too frequent for citation. See, however, _Fam. Epist._ +lib. ii. 9, p. 601; the letter to Boccaccio, _Variarum_, 22, p. 1001; +and _Fam. Epist._ lib. iv. 9, p. 635. The phrase describing the +_Confessions_, quoted in my text, is from Petrarch's letter to his +brother Gerard, _Epist. Var._ 27, p. 1012, 'Scatentes lachrymis +Confessionum libros.'] + +[Footnote 30: 'Sum sectarum negligens, veri appetens.' _Epist. Rer. +Sen._ lib. i. 5, p. 745. 'Nam apud Horatium Flaccum, nullius jurare in +verba magistri, puer valde didiceram.' _Epist. Fam._ lib. iv. 10, p. +637.] + +[Footnote 31: See the letters addressed to Cicero and Seneca, pp. 705, +706.] + +While regarding Petrarch as the first and, in some respects, the +greatest of the humanists, we are bound to recognise the faults as +well as the good qualities he shared with them. To dwell on these in +detail would be a thankless task, were it not for the conviction that +his personality impressed itself too strongly on the fourteenth +century to escape our criticism. We cannot afford to leave even the +foibles of the man who gave a pattern to his generation unstudied. +Foremost among these may be reckoned his vanity, his eagerness to +grasp the poet's crown, his appetite for flattery, his restless change +from place to place in search of new admirers, his self-complacent +garrulity. This vanity was perhaps inseparable from the position he +assumed upon the threshold of the modern world. It was hardly possible +that the prophet of a new phase of culture should not look down with +contempt upon the uneducated masses, and believe that learning raised +a man into a demigod. Study of the classics taught him to despise his +age and yearn for immortality; but the assurance of the honours that +he sought, could only come to him upon the lips of his contemporaries. +In conflict with the dulness and the darkness of preceding centuries, +he felt the need of a new motive, unrecognised by the Church and +banished from the cloister. That motive was the thirst for fame, the +craving to make his personality eternal in the minds of men. Meanwhile +he was alone in a dim wilderness of transitory interests and sordid +aims, where human life was shadowy, and where, when death arrived, +there would remain no memory of what had been. The gloom of this +present in contrast with the glory of the past he studied, and the +glory of the future he desired, confirmed his egotism. His name and +fame depended on his self-assertion. To achieve renown by writing, to +wrest for himself even in his lifetime a firm place among the +immortals, became his feverish spur to action. He was conscious how +deep a hold the passion for celebrity had taken on his nature; and not +unfrequently he speaks of it as a disease.[32] The Christian within +him wrestled vigorously with the renascent Pagan. Religion taught him +to renounce what ambition prompted him to grasp. Yet he continued to +deceive himself. While penning dissertations on the worthlessness of +praise and the futility of fame, he trimmed his sails to catch the +breeze of popular applause; and as his reputation widened, his desires +grew ever stronger. The last years of his life were spent in writing +epistles to the great men of the past, in whom alone he recognised his +equals, and to posterity, in whom he hoped to meet at last with judges +worthy of him. + +[Footnote 32: 'Ægritudo' is a phrase that constantly recurs in his +epistles to indicate a restless, craving habit of the soul. See, too, +the whole second book of the _De Contemptu Mundi_.] + +This almost morbid vanity, peculiar to Petrarch's temperament and +encouraged by the circumstances of his life, introduced a division +between his practice and his profession. He was never tired of +praising solitude, and many years of his manhood he spent in actual +retirement at Vaucluse.[33] Yet he only loved seclusion as a contrast +to the society of Courts, and would have been most miserable if the +world, taking him at his own estimate, had left him in peace. No one +wrote more eloquently about equal friendship, or professed a stronger +zeal for candid criticism. Yet he admitted few but professed admirers +to his intimacy, and regarded his literary antagonists as personal +detractors. The same sensitive egotism led him to depreciate the fame +of Dante, in whom he cannot but have recognised a poet in the highest +sense superior to himself.[34] Again, while he complained of celebrity +as an obstacle to studious employment, he showed the most acute +interest when the details of his life were called in question.[35] +Nothing, if we took his philosophic treatises for record, would have +pleased him better than to live unnoticed. His letters make it +manifest that he believed the eyes of the whole world were fixed upon +him, and that he courted this attention of the public with a greedy +appetite. + +[Footnote 33: See the treatise _De Vitâ Solitariâ_, pp. 223-292, and +the letters on 'Vaucluse,' pp. 691-697.] + +[Footnote 34: See the discussion of this point in Baldelli's _Vita del +Boccaccio_, pp. 130-135.] + +[Footnote 35: Compare the chapter in the dissertation _De Remediis_ on +troublesome notoriety, p. 177, with the letter on his reception at +Arezzo, p. 918, the letter to Nerius Morandus on the false news of his +death, p. 776, and the letter to Boccaccio on his detractors, p. 749.] + +These qualities and contradictions mark Petrarch as a man of letters, +not of action. He belonged essentially to the _genus irritabile +vatum_, for whom the sphere of thoughts expressed on paper is more +vivid than the world of facts. We may trace a corresponding weakness +in his chief enthusiasms. Unable to distinguish between the realities +of existence and the dreamland of his study, he hailed in Rienzi the +restorer of old Rome, while he stigmatised his friends the Colonnesi +as barbarian intruders.[36] The Rome he read of in the pages of Livy, +seemed to the imagination of this visionary still alive and powerful; +nor did he feel the absurdity of addressing the mediæval rabble of the +Romans in phrases high-flown for a Gracchus.[37] While he courted the +intimacy of the Correggi, and lived as a house-guest with the +Visconti, he denounced these princes as tyrants, and appealed to the +Emperor to take the reins and bring all Italy beneath his yoke.[38] +Herein, it may be urged, Petrarch did but share a delusion common to +his age. This is true; but the point to notice is the contradiction +between his theories and the habits of his life. He was not a partisan +on the Ghibelline side, but a believer in impossible ideals. His +patriotism was no less literary than his temperament. The same +tendency to measure all things by a student's standard made him +exaggerate mere verbal eloquence. Words, according to his view, were +power. Cicero held the highest place in his esteem, because his +declamation was most copious. Aristotle, in spite of his profound +philosophy, was censured for his lack of rhetoric.[39] Throughout the +studied works of Petrarch we can trace this vice of a stylistic ideal. +Though he never writes without some solid germ of thought, he loves to +play with phrases, producing an effect of unreality, and seeming +emulous of casuistical adroitness.[40] + +[Footnote 36: See the _Epistles to Rienzi_, pp. 677, 535.] + +[Footnote 37: Epistle to the Roman people, beginning 'Apud te +invictissime domitorque terrarum popule meus,' p. 712.] + +[Footnote 38: Epistle to Charles IV., _De Pacificandâ Italiâ_, p. 531. +This contradiction struck even his most ardent admirers with painful +surprise. See Boccaccio quoted in Baldelli's _Life_, p. 115.] + +[Footnote 39: _Rerum memorandarum_, lib. ii. p. 415.] + +[Footnote 40: This is particularly noticeable in the miscellaneous +collection of essays called _De Remediis utriusque Fortunæ_, where +opposite views on a wide variety of topics are expressed with great +dexterity.] + +The foregoing analysis was necessary because Petrarch became, as it +were, a model for his followers in the field of scholarship. Italian +humanism never lost the powerful impress of his genius, and the value +of his influence can only be appreciated when the time arrives for +summing up the total achievement of the Revival.[41] It remains to be +regretted that the weaknesses of his character, his personal +pretension and literary idealism, were more easily imitated than his +strength. Petrarch's egotism differed widely from the insolent conceit +of Filelfo and the pedantic boasts of Alciato. Nor did his enthusiasm +for antiquity degenerate, like theirs, into a mere uncritical and +servile worship. His humanism was both loftier and larger. He never +forgot that Christianity was an advance upon Paganism, and that the +accomplished man of letters must acquire the culture of the ancients +without losing the virtues or sacrificing the hopes of a Christian. If +only the humanists of the Renaissance could have preserved this point +of view intact, they would have avoided the worst evils of the age, +and have secured a nobler liberation of the modern reason. Petrarch +created for himself a creed compounded of Roman Stoicism and Christian +doctrine, adapting the precepts of the Gospels and the teaching of the +Fathers, together with the ethics of Cicero and Seneca, to his own +needs. Herein he showed the freedom of his genius, and led the way for +the most brilliant thinkers of the coming centuries. The fault of his +successors was a tendency to recede from this high vantage-ground, to +accept the customary creed with cynical facility, while they inclined +in secret to a laxity adopted from their study of the classics. By +separating himself from tradition, without displaying an arrogant +spirit of revolt against authority, Petrarch established the principle +that men must guide their own souls by the double lights of culture +and of conscience. His followers were too ready to make culture all in +all, and lost thereby the opportunity of grounding a rational +philosophy of life upon a solid basis for the modern world. Petrarch +made it his sincere aim to be both morally and intellectually his +highest self; and if he often failed in practice--if he succumbed to +carnal frailty while he praised sobriety--if he sought for notoriety +while professing indifference to fame--if he mistook dreams for +realities and words for facts--still the ideal he proposed to himself +and eloquently preached to his contemporaries, was a new and lofty +one. After the lapse of five centuries, few as yet have passed beyond +it. Even Goethe, for example, can claim no superiority of humanism +above Petrarch, except by right of his participation in the scientific +spirit. + +[Footnote 41: See the last chapter of this volume.] + +We are therefore justified in hailing Petrarch as the Columbus of a +new spiritual hemisphere, the discoverer of modern culture. That he +knew no Greek, that his Latin verse was lifeless and his prose style +far from pure, that his contributions to history and ethics have been +superseded, and that his epistles are now only read by antiquaries, +cannot impair his claim to this title. From him the inspiration +needed to quicken curiosity and stimulate a zeal for knowledge +proceeded. But for his intervention in the fourteenth century, it is +possible that the Revival of Learning, and all that it implies, might +have been delayed until too late. Petrarch died in 1374. The Greek +Empire was destroyed in 1453. Between those dates Italy recovered the +Greek classics; but whether the Italians would have undertaken this +labour if no Petrarch had preached the attractiveness of liberal +studies, or if no school of disciples had been formed by him in +Florence, remains more than doubtful. We are brought thus to recognise +in him one of those heroes concerning whose relation to the spirit of +the ages Hegel has discoursed in his 'Philosophy of History.' +Petrarch, by anticipating the tendencies of the Revival, created the +intellectual milieu required for its evolution.[42] Yet we are not +therefore justified in saying that he was not himself the product of +already existing spiritual forces in his century. The vast influence +he immediately exercised, while Dante, though gifted with a far more +powerful individuality, remained comparatively inoperative, proves +that the age was specially prepared to receive his inspiration. + +[Footnote 42: The lines from the _Africa_ used as a motto for this +volume are a prophecy of the Renaissance.] + +What remains to be said about the first period of Italian humanism is +almost wholly concerned with men who either immediately or indirectly +felt the influence of Petrarch's genius.[43] His shadow stretches over +the whole age. Incited by his brilliant renown, Boccaccio, while still +a young man, began to read the classical authors, bemoaning the years +he had wasted in commerce and the study of the law to please his +father. From what the poet of the 'Decameron' has himself told us +about the origin of his literary enthusiasm, it appears that +Petrarch's example was decisive in determining his course. There is, +however, another tale, reported by his fellow-citizen Villani, so +characteristic of the age that to omit it in this place would be to +sacrifice one of the most attractive legends in the history of +literature.[44] 'After wandering through many lands, now here, now +there, for a long space of time, when he had reached at last his +twenty-eighth year, Boccaccio, at his father's bidding, took up his +abode at Naples in the Pergola. There it chanced one day that he +walked forth alone for pleasure, and came to the place where Virgil's +dust lies buried. At the sight of this sepulchre, he fell into long +musing admiration of the man whose bones it covered, brooding with +meditative soul upon the poet's fame, until his thoughts found vent in +lamentations over his own envious fortunes, whereby he was compelled +against his will to give himself to things of commerce that he +loathed. A sudden love of the Pierian Muses smote his heart, and +turning homeward, he abandoned trade, devoting himself with fervent +study to poetry; wherein very shortly, aided alike by his noble genius +and his burning desire, he made marvellous progress. This when his +father noted, and perceived the heavenly inspiration was more powerful +within his son than the paternal will, he at last consented to his +studies, and helped him as best he could, although at first he tried +to make him turn his talents to the canon law.' + +[Footnote 43: It is very significant of Petrarch's influence that his +contemporaries ranked him higher, even as a sonnet-writer, than Dante. +See _Coluccio de' Salutati's Letters_, part ii. p. 57.] + +[Footnote 44: Filippo Villani, _Vite d'Uomini Illustri Fiorentini_, +Firenze, 1826, p. 9.] + +The hero-worship of Boccaccio, not only for the august Virgil, but +also for Dante, the master of his youth and the idol of his mature +age, is the most amiable trait in a character which, by its geniality +and sweetness, cannot fail to win affection.[45] When circumstances +brought him into personal relations with Petrarch, he transferred the +whole homage of his ardent soul to the only man alive who seemed to +him a fit inheritor of ancient fame.[46] Petrarch became the director +of his conscience, the master of his studies, the moulder of his +thoughts upon the weightiest matters of literary philosophy. The +friendship established between the poet of Vaucluse and the lover of +Fiammetta lasted through more than twenty years, and was only broken +by the death of the former. Throughout this long space of time +Boccaccio retained the attitude of a humble scholar, while in his +published works, the 'Genealogiâ Deorum' and the 'Comento sopra i +Primi Sedici Capitoli dell' "Inferno" di Dante,' he uniformly spoke of +Petrarch as his father and his teacher, the wonder of the century, a +heavenly poet better fitted to be numbered with the giants of the past +than with the pygmies of a barren age. The fame enjoyed by Petrarch, +the honours showered upon him by kings and princes, his own vanity, +and even the discrepancies between his habits and his theories, +produced no bitterness in Boccaccio's more modest nature. It was +enough for the pupil to use his talents for the propagation of his +master's views; and thus the influence of Petrarch was communicated to +Florence, where Boccaccio continued to reside.[47] + +[Footnote 45: With his own hand Boccaccio transcribed the _Divine +Comedy_, and sent the MS. to Petrarch, who in his reply wrote +thus:--'Inseris nominatim hanc hujus officii tui escusationem, quod +tibi adolescentulo primus studiorum dux, prima fax fuerit.' Baldelli, +p. 133. The enthusiasm of Boccaccio for Dante contrasts favourably +with Petrarch's grudging egotism.] + +[Footnote 46: Boccaccio was present at Naples when Petrarch disputed +before King Robert for his title to the poet's crown (_Gen. Deor._ +xiv. 22); but he first became intimate with him as a friend during +Petrarch's visit to Florence in 1350.] + +[Footnote 47: Salutato, writing to Francesco da Brossano, describes +his conversations with Boccaccio thus:--'Nihil aliud quam de Francisco +(_i.e._ Petrarcha) conferebamus. In cujus laudationem adeo libenter +sermones usurpabat, ut nihil avidius nihilque copiosius enarraret. Et +eo magis quia tali orationis generi me prospiciebat intentum. +Sufficiebat enim nobis Petrarcha solus, et omni posteritati sufficiet +in moralitate sermonis, in eloquentiæ soliditate atque dulcedine, in +lepore prosarum et in concinnitate metrorum.' _Epist. Fam._ p. 45.] + +In obedience to Petrarch's advice, Boccaccio in middle life applied +himself to learning Greek. Petrarch had never acquired a real +knowledge of the language, though he received a few lessons at Avignon +from Barlaam, a Calabrian, who had settled in Byzantium, and who +sought to advance his fortunes in Italy and Greece by alternate acts +of apostasy, and afterwards at Venice from Leontius Pilatus.[48] The +opportunities of Greek study enjoyed by Boccaccio were also very +meagre, and his mastery of the idiom was superficial. Yet he advanced +considerably beyond the point reached by any of his predecessors, so +that he deserves to be named as the first Grecian of the modern world. +Leontius Pilatus, a Southern Italian and a pupil of Barlaam, who, like +his teacher, had removed to Byzantium and renounced the Latin faith, +arrived at Venice on his way to Avignon in 1360. Boccaccio induced him +to visit Florence, received him into his own house, and caused him to +be appointed Greek Professor in the University. Then he set himself to +work in earnest on the text of Homer. The ignorance of the teacher +was, however, scarcely less than that of his pupil. While Leontius +possessed a fair knowledge of Byzantine Greek, his command of Latin +was very limited, and his natural stupidity was only equalled by his +impudent pretensions. Of classical usages he seems to have known +nothing. The imbecility of his master could scarcely have escaped the +notice of Boccaccio. Indeed, both he and Petrarch have described +Leontius as a sordid cynic with a filthy beard and tangled hair, +morose in his temper and disgusting in his personal habits, who +concealed a bovine ignorance beneath a lion's hide of ostentation. It +was, however, necessary to make the best of him; for Greek in Northern +Italy could nowhere else be gained, and Boccaccio had not thought, it +seems, of journeying to Byzantium in search of what he wanted.[49] +Boccaccio, accordingly, drank the muddy stream of pseudo-learning and +lies that flowed from this man's lips, with insatiable avidity. The +nonsense administered to him by way of satisfying his thirst for +knowledge may best be understood from the following etymologies. +[Greek: Achilleus] was derived from [Greek: a] and [Greek: chilos], +'without fodder.'[50] The names of the Muses gave rise to these +extraordinary explanations:[51]--Melpomene is derived from _Melempio +comene_, which signifies _facente stare la meditazione_; Thalia is the +same as _Tithonlia_ or _pognente cosa che germini_; Polyhymnia, +through _Polium neemen_, is the same as _cosa che faccia molta +memoria_; Erato becomes _Euruncomenon_ or _trovatore del simile_, and +Terpsichore is described as _dilettante ammaestramento_. + +[Footnote 48: _Epist. Rer. Sen._, lib. xi. 9, p. 887; lib. vi. 1, p. +806; lib. v. 4, p. 801.] + +[Footnote 49: Petrarch's letter to Ugone di San Severino, _Epist. Rer. +Sen._ lib. xi. 9, p. 887, deserves to be read, since it proves that +Italian scholars despaired at this time of gaining Greek learning from +Constantinople. They were rather inclined to seek it in Calabria. +'Græciam, ut olim ditissimam, sic nunc omnis longe inopem disciplinæ +... quod desperat apud Græcos, non diffidit apud Calabros inveniri +posse.'] + +[Footnote 50: _De Gen. Deor._ xv. 6, 7.] + +[Footnote 51: _Comento sopra Dante, Opp. Volg._ vol. x. p. 127. After +allowing for the difficulty of writing Greek, pronounced by an +Italian, in Italian letters, and also for the errors of the copyist +and printer, it is clear that a Greek scholar who thought Melpomene +was one 'who gives fixity to meditation,' Thalia one 'who plants the +capacity of growth,' Polyhymnia she 'who strengthens and expands +memory,' Erato 'the discoverer of similarity,' and Terpsichore +'delightful instruction,' was on a comically wrong track.] + +Such was the bathos reached by erudition in Byzantium. Yet Boccaccio +made what use he could of his contemptible materials. At the dictation +of Leontius he wrote out the 'Iliad' and 'Odyssey' in Latin; and this +was the first translation made of Homer for modern readers. The +manuscript, despatched to Petrarch, was, as we have seen already, +greeted with enthusiasm.[52] This moment in the history of scholarship +is so memorable that I may be excused for borrowing Baldelli's +extract from an ancient copy of Boccaccio's autograph.[53] Lycaon +addresses his last prayer to Achilles:-- + + Genu deprecor te Achilles: tu autem venerare et me miserere. + Vada Servus. Jove genite venerabilis. + Penes enim te primo gustavi Cereris farinam, + Die illo, quando me cepisti in bene facto viridario; + Et me transtulisti procul ferens patreque amicisque + Lemnon ad gloriosam. Hecatombium autem honorem inveni, + Nunc autem læsus ter tot ferens. Dies autem mihi est + Hæc duodecima, quando ad Ilion veni + Multa passus. Nunc iterum me in tuis manibus posuit + Fatum destructibile. Debeo odio esse Jovi patri, + Qui me tibi iterum dedit, medio cuique, me mater + Genuit Lathoi, filia Altai senis. + +[Footnote 52: See above, p. 53, note 4.] + +[Footnote 53: _Vita del Boccaccio_, p. 264. The autograph was probably +burned with other books of Boccaccio, and some of the unintelligible +passages in the above quotation may be due to the ignorance of the +copyist.] + +Only by keeping firmly in mind that such men as Petrarch and +Boccaccio, the two chief masters of Italian literature, prized this +wretched stuff as an inestimable treasure, can we justly conceive how +utterly Greek had been lost, and what an effort it required to restore +it to the modern world. + +Indefatigable industry was Boccaccio's great merit as a student. He +transcribed the whole of Terence with his own hands, and showed a real +sense of the advantage to be gained by a critical comparison of texts. +In his mythological, geographical, and historical collections he +bequeathed to posterity a curious mass of miscellaneous knowledge, +forming, as it were, the first dictionaries of biography and antiquity +for modern scholars.[54] Far from sharing the originality of +Petrarch's humanistic ideal, he remained at best a laborious +chronicler of facts and anecdotes. The author of the 'Decameron,' so +richly gifted with humour, pathos, and poetic fancy, when he wrapped +his student's robe around him, became a painstaking pioneer of +antiquarian research. + +[Footnote 54: _De Genealogiâ Deorum_; _De Casibus Virorum ac Feminarum +Illustrium_; _De Claris Muliebribus_; _De Montibus, Silvis, Fontibus_, +&c.] + +One very important part of Petrarch's programme was eloquently +supported by Boccaccio. The fourteenth and fifteenth books of the +'Genealogiâ Deorum' form what may be termed the first defence of +poesy, composed in honour of his own art by a poet of the modern +world. In them Boccaccio expounds a theory already sketched in outline +by Petrarch. We have seen that the worst obstacle to humanistic +culture lay, not so much in ignorance, as in misconceptions based upon +prejudice and scruple. The notion of fine literature as an elevating +and purifying influence had been lost. To restore it was the object of +these earliest humanists. By poetry, contends Boccaccio, we must +understand whatever of weighty in argument, deep in doctrine, and +vivid in imagination the man of genius may produce with conscious art +in prose and verse. Poetry is instruction conveyed through allegory +and fiction. Theology itself, he reasons, is a form of poetry; even +the Holy Ghost may be called a Poet, inasmuch as He used the vehicle +of symbol in the visions of the prophets and the Revelation of S. +John.[55] To such strained arguments was the apostle of culture driven +in order to persuade his hearers, and to drag literature from the +Avernus of mediæval neglect. We must not, however, imagine that +Boccaccio was himself superior to a point of view so puerile. Allegory +appeared to him a necessary condition of art: only a madman could deny +the hidden meaning of the 'Georgics' and the 'Æneid;'[56] while the +verses of Dante and of Petrarch owed their value to the Christian +mysteries they shrouded. The poet, according to this mediæval +philosophy of literature, was a sage and teacher wrapping up his +august meanings in delightful fictions.[57] Though the common herd +despised him as a liar and a falsehood-fabricator, he was, in truth, a +prophet uttering his dark speech in parables. How foolish, therefore, +reasons the apologist, are the enemies of poetry--sophistical +dialecticians and avaricious jurists, who have never trodden the +Phoebean hill, and who scorn the springs of Helicon because they do +not flow with gold! Far worse is the condition of those monks and +hypocrites who accuse the divine art of immorality and grossness, +instead of reading between the lines and seeking the sense conveyed to +the understanding under veils of allegory. Truly, proceeds Boccaccio, +we do well to shun the errors of Pagans; nor can it be denied that +poets of antiquity have written verse abhorrent to the Christian +spirit. But, Jesus Christ be praised, the faith has triumphed. Strong +in the doctrines of the Gospel and the Church, the student may safely +approach the masterpieces of classic literature without fearing the +seductions of the Siren. + +[Footnote 55: 'La teologia e la poesia quasi una cosa si possono dire +... la teologia niuna altra cosa è che una poesia d'Iddio.' _Vita di +Dante_, p. 59. Cf. _Comento sopra Dante_, loc. cit. p. 45. The +explanation of the Muses referred to above is governed by the same +determination to find philosophy in poetry.] + +[Footnote 56: See Petrarch's letter 'De quibusdam fictionibus +Virgilii.' _Ep. Rer. Sen._ lib. iv. 4, p. 785.] + +[Footnote 57: See the privilege granted to Petrarch by the Roman +senator in 1343, _Petr. Opp._ tom. iii. p. 6.] + +This argument, forming the gist of the 'Apology for Poetry' in the +'Genealogiâ Deorum,' is repeated in the 'Comment upon Dante.' It is +doubly interesting, both as showing the popular opinion of poetry and +the prejudices Boccaccio thought it needful to attack, and also as +containing a full exposition of the allegorising theories with which +humanism started. For some time after Boccaccio's death the paragraphs +condensed above supplied the champions of culture with weapons to be +used against their ecclesiastical and scholastic antagonists; nor was +it until humanism had triumphed, that the allegorical interpretation +of the ancients was finally abandoned. + +Independently of his contributions to learning, Boccaccio occupies a +prominent place in the history of the Revival through the new spirit +he introduced into the vulgar literature. He was the first who +frankly sought to justify the pleasures of the carnal life, whose +temperament, unburdened by asceticism, found a congenial element in +amorous legends of antiquity. The romances of Boccaccio, with their +beautiful gardens and sunny skies, fair women and luxurious lovers, +formed a transition from the chivalry of the early Italian poets to +the sensuality of Beccadelli and Pontano. He prepared the nation for +literary and artistic Paganism by unconsciously divesting thought and +feeling of their spiritual elevation. Dante had made the whole world +one in Christ. Petrarch put humanity to school in the lecture-room of +Roman sages and in the councils of the Church. A terrestrial paradise +of sensual delight, where all things were desirable and delicate, +contented the poet of the 'Fiammetta' and 'Filostrato.' To the +beatific vision of the 'Divine Comedy,' to the 'Trionfo della Morte,' +succeeded the 'Visione Amorosa'--a review of human life, in which +Boccaccio begins by invoking Dame Venus and ends with earthly love, +_Il Sior di tutta pace_. + +The name given to Boccaccio by contemporaries, _Giovanni della +Tranquillità_, sufficiently indicates his peaceful temperament. He +was, in fact, the scholar, working in his study, and contributing to +the erudition of his age by writings. Another of Petrarch's disciples, +Giovanni Malpaghino, called from his birthplace Giovanni da Ravenna, +exercised a more active personal influence over the destinies of +scholarship. While still a youth he had been employed by Petrarch as +secretary and amanuensis. His general ability, clear handwriting, and +enthusiasm for learning first recommended him to the poet, who made +use of him for copying manuscripts and arranging his familiar letters. +In the course of this work John of Ravenna became himself a learned +man, acquiring a finer sense of Latinity than was possessed by any +other scholar of his time. Something, too, of the sacred fire he +caught from Petrarch, so that in his manhood the very faults of his +nature became instrumental in diffusing throughout Italy the passion +for antiquity. He could not long content himself with being even +Petrarch's scribe. Irresistible restlessness impelled him to seek +adventures in the outer world, to mix with men and gain the glory he +was always reading of. Petrarch, incapable of comprehending that any +honour was greater than that of being his satellite, treated this +ambitious pupil like a wilful child. A quarrel ensued. Giovanni left +his benefactor's house and went forth to try his fortunes. Without +repeating the vicissitudes of his career in detail, it is enough to +mention that want and misery soon drove him back to Petrarch; that +once more the vagrant impulse came upon him, and that for a season he +filled the post of chancellor in the little principality of +Carrara.[58] The one thing, however, which he could not endure, was +the routine of fixed employment. Therefore we find that he abandoned +the Court of the Malaspini, and betook himself to the more congenial +work of a wandering professor. His prodigious memory, by enabling him +to retain, word for word, the text of authors he had read, proved of +invaluable service to him in this career. His passionate poetic temper +made him apt to raise enthusiasm in young souls for literary studies. +Giovanni da Ravenna was in fact the first of those vagabond humanists +with whom we shall be occupied in the next chapters, and of whom +Filelfo was the most illustrious example. Florence, Padua, Venice, and +many other cities of Italy received the Latinist, whose reputation now +increased with every year. In each of these towns in succession he +lectured upon Cicero and the Roman poets, pouring forth the knowledge +he had acquired in Petrarch's study, and transmitting to his audience +the inspiration he had received from his master. The school thus +formed was compared a century later to the Trojan horse, whence issued +a band of heroes destined to possess the capital of classic learning. +As a writer, he produced little that is worth more than a passing +notice. His real merit consisted, as Lionardo Bruni witnessed, in his +faculty of arousing a passion for pure literature, and especially for +the study of Cicero. Among his most illustrious pupils may be +mentioned Francesco Barbaro, Palla degli Strozzi, Roberto de' Rossi, +Francesco Filelfo, Carlo Marsuppini, Poggio Bracciolini, Lionardo +Bruni, Guarino da Verona, Vittorino da Feltre, Ambrogio Traversari, +Ognibene da Vicenza, and Pier Paolo Vergerio. This list, as will +appear from the sequel of my work, includes nearly all those scholars +who devoted their energies to erudition at Venice, Florence, Rome, +Mantua, Ferrara, and Perugia in the fifteenth century. Giovanni da +Ravenna deserves, therefore, to be honoured as the link between the +age of Petrarch and the age of Poggio, as the vessel chosen for +communicating the sacred fire of humanism to the Courts and Republics +of Italy. None but a wanderer, _vagus quidam_, as Petrarch, half in +scorn and half in sorrow, called his protégé, could so effectually +have carried on the work of propagation.[59] + +[Footnote 58: De Sade, in his _Memoirs of Petrarch_, gives an +interesting account of this romantic episode in his life. See too +Petrarch, _Epist. Rer. Sen._ lib. v. 6 and 7, pp. 802-806.] + +[Footnote 59: _Epist. Rer. Sen._ lib. xiv. 14, p. 942.] + +The name of the next student claiming our attention as a disciple of +Petrarch, brings us once more back to Florence. Luigi Marsigli was a +monk of the Augustine Order of S. Spirito. Petrarch, noticing his +distinguished abilities, had exhorted him to make a special study of +theology, and to enter the lists as a champion of Christianity against +the Averrhoists.[60] Under the name of Averrhoists in the fourteenth +century were ranged all freethinkers who questioned the fundamental +doctrines of the Church, doubted the immortality of the soul, and +employed their ingenuity in a dialectic at least as trivial as that +of the schoolmen, but directed to a very different end.[61] Petrarch +disliked their want of liberal culture as much as he abhorred their +affectation of impiety. The stupid materialism they professed, their +gross flippancy, and the idle pretence of natural science upon which +they piqued themselves, were regarded by him as so many obstacles to +his own ideal of humanism. He only saw in them another set of +scholastic wranglers, worse than the theologians, inasmuch as they had +cast off Christ. Against Averrhoes, 'the raging hound who barked at +all things sacred and Divine,' Petrarch therefore sought to stimulate +the young Marsigli. Marsigli, however, while he shared Petrarch's +respect for humane culture, seems to have sympathised with the +audacity and freedom of his proposed antagonists. The Convent of S. +Spirito became under his influence the centre of a learned society, +who met there regularly for disputations. The theme chosen for +discussion was posted up upon the wall of the debating-room, +metaphysical and ethical subjects forming the most frequent matter of +inquiry.[62] Among the members of the circle who sharpened their wits +in this species of dialectic, we find Coluccio de' Salutati, Roberto +de' Rossi, Niccolo de' Niccoli, and Giannozzo Manetti. The influence +of Marsigli in forming their character was undoubtedly powerful. +Poggio, in his funeral oration upon Niccolo de' Niccoli, tells us that +'the house of Marsigli was frequented by distinguished youths, who set +themselves to imitate his life and habits; it was, moreover, the +resort of the best and noblest burghers of this city, who flowed +together from all quarters to him as to some oracle of more than human +wisdom.'[63] His intellectual acuteness, solid erudition, and winning +eloquence were displayed in moral disquisitions upon Virgil, Cicero, +and Seneca. In this way he had the merit of combining the dialectic +method and the bold spirit of the Averrhoists with the sound learning +and polite culture of the newly-discovered humanities. The Convent of +S. Spirito has to be mentioned as the first of those many private +academies to which the free thought and the scholarship of Italy were +afterwards destined to owe so much. + +[Footnote 60: _Epist. sine titulo_, xviii. p. 732.] + +[Footnote 61: See the exhaustive work of Renan, _Averroès et +l'Averroïsme_.] + +[Footnote 62: See Manetti's _Life_, Mur. xx. col. 531. Other +references will be found in Vespasiano's _Lives_. Boccaccio's library +was preserved in this convent.] + +[Footnote 63: _Poggii Opera_, p. 271.] + +It is my object in this chapter to show how humanistic scholarship, +starting from Petrarch, penetrated every department of study, and +began to permeate the intellectual life of the Italians. We have now +to notice its intrusion into the sphere of politics. Petrarch died in +1374, Boccaccio in 1375. The latter date is also that of Coluccio de' +Salutati's entrance upon the duties of Florentine Chancellor. +Salutato, the friend of Boccaccio and the disciple of Marsigli, the +professed worshipper of Petrarch and the translator of Dante into +Latin verse, was destined to exercise an important influence in his +own department as a stylist. Before he was called to act as secretary +to the Signory of Florence in his forty-sixth year, he had already +acquired the learning and imbibed the spirit of his age. He was known +as a diligent collector of manuscripts and promoter of Greek studies, +as a writer on mythology and morals, as an orator and miscellaneous +author.[64] His talents had now to be concentrated on the weightier +business of the Florentine Republic; but his study of antiquity +caused him to conceive his duties and the political relations of the +State he served, in a new light. During the wars carried on with +Gregory XI. and the Visconti, his pen was never idle. For the first +time he introduced into public documents the gravity of style and +melody of phrase he had learned in the school of classic rhetoricians. +The effect produced by this literary statesman, as elegant in +authorship as he was subtle in the conduct of affairs, can only be +estimated at its proper value when we remember that the Italians were +now ripe to receive the influence of rhetoric, and only too ready to +attribute weight to verbal ingenuity. Gian Galeazzo Visconti is said +to have declared that Salutato had done him more harm by his style +than a troop of paid mercenaries.[65] The epistles, despatches, +protocols, and manifestoes composed by their Chancellor for the +Florentine priors, were distributed throughout Italy. Read and copied +by the secretaries of other states, they formed the models of a new +State eloquence.[66] Elegant Latinity became a necessary condition of +public documents, and Ciceronian phrases were henceforth reckoned +among the indispensable engines of a diplomatic armoury. Offices of +trust in the Papal Curia, the courts of the Despots, and the +chanceries of the republics were thus thrown open to professional +humanists. In the next age we shall find that neither princes, popes, +nor priors could do without the services of trained stylists. + +[Footnote 64: Salutato's familiar letters, _Lini Coluci Pieri Salutati +Epistolarum Pars Secunda, Florentiæ_, MDCCXXXXI., are a valuable +source of information respecting scholarship at the close of the +fourteenth century. See especially his letter to Benvenuto da Imola on +the death of Petrarch (p. 32), his letter to the same about Petrarch's +_Africa_ (p. 41), another letter about the preservation of the +_Africa_ (p. 79), a letter to Petrarch's nephew Francesco da Brossano +on the death of Boccaccio (p. 44), and a letter to a certain Comes +Magnificus on the literary and philosophical genius of Petrarch (p. +49).] + +[Footnote 65: 'Galeacius Mediolanensium Princeps crebro auditus est +dicere non tam sibi mille Florentinorum equites quam Colucii scripta +nocere.' _Pii Secundi Europæ Commentarii_, p. 454.] + +[Footnote 66: 'Costui fu de' migliori dittatori di pistole al mondo, +perocchè molti quando ne potevano avere, ne toglieano copie; si +piaceano a tutti gl'intendenti: e nelle corte di Re e di signori del +mondo, e anchora de' cherici era di lui in questa arte maggiore fama +che di alcuno altro uomo.' From the Chronicle of Luca da Scarparia. +These epistles were collected and printed by Josephus Rigaccius, +Bibliopola Florentinus Celeberrimus, in 1741. Among the letters +written for the Signory of Florence, that of congratulation to Gian +Galeazzo Visconti on his murder of Bernabo (p. 16), that to the French +Cardinals (p. 18), to Sir John Hawkwood, or Domino Joanni Aucud (p. +107), to the Marquis of Moravia (p. 110), and to the Romans (p. 141) +deserve to be read.] + +While concentrating attention upon this chief contribution of Salutato +to Italian scholarship, I must not omit to notice, however briefly, +the patronage he exercised at Florence. Both Poggio Bracciolini and +Lionardo Bruni owed their advancement to his interest.[67] Giacomo da +Scarparia, the first Florentine who visited Byzantium with a view to +learning Greek, received from him the warmest encouragement, together +with a commission for the purchase of manuscripts. To his activity in +concert with Palla degli Strozzi was due the establishment of a Greek +chair in the University of Florence. Nor was this zeal confined to the +living. He composed the Lives of Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, +translated a portion of the 'Divine Comedy' into Latin for its wider +circulation through the learned world, and caused the 'Africa' of +Petrarch to be published.[68] When the illustrious Chancellor died, in +the year 1406, at the age of seventy-six, he was honoured with a +public funeral; the poet's crown was placed upon his brow, a +panegyrical oration was recited, and a monument was erected to him in +the Duomo.[69] + +[Footnote 67: See the letter of Lionardo Bruni, quoted in _Lini Coluci +Pieri Salutati Epistolæ_, p. xv. Coluccio's own letter recommending +Lionardo to Innocent VII., ib. p. 5, and his numerous familiar letters +to Poggio, ib. pp. 13, 173, &c.] + +[Footnote 68: 'Certe cogitabam revidere librum, et si quid, ut +scribis, vel absonum, vel contra metrorum regulam intolerabile +deprehendissem, curiosius elimare et sicut Naso finxit in Æneida, +singulos libros paucis versiculis quasi in argumenti formam brevissime +resumere, et exinde pluribus sumptis exemplis, et per me ipsum +correctis et diligenter revisis, unum ad Bononiense gymnasium, unum +Parisiis, unum in Angliam cum meâ epistolâ de libri laudibus +destinare, et unum in Florentiâ ponere in loco celebri,' &c. +_Epistolæ_, part ii. p. 80.] + +[Footnote 69: Among the other _laureati_ who filled the post of +Florentine Chancellor may be mentioned Dante's tutor, Brunetto Latini, +Lionardo Bruni, Carlo Marsuppini, Poggio Bracciolini, and Benedetto +Accolti, of whom more hereafter.] + +What Salutato accomplished for the style of public documents, +Gasparino da Barzizza effected for familiar correspondence. After +teaching during several years at Venice and Padua, he was summoned to +Milan in 1418 by Filippo Maria Visconti, who ordered him to open a +school in that capital. Gasparino made a special study of Cicero's +Letters, and caused his pupils to imitate them as closely as possible, +forming in this way an art of fluent letter-writing known afterwards +as the _ars familiariter scribendi_. Epistolography in general, +considered as a branch of elegant literature, occupied all the +scholars of the Renaissance, and had the advantage of establishing a +link of union between learned men in different parts of Italy. We +therefore recognise in Gasparino the initiator, after Petrarch, of a +highly important branch of Italian culture. This, when it reached +maturity, culminated in the affectations of the Ciceronian purists. It +must be understood that neither Salutato nor Gasparino attained to +real polish or freedom of style. Compared even with the Latinity of +Poggio, theirs is heavy and uncouth; while that of Poggio seems +barbarous by the side of Poliziano's, and Poliziano in turn yields the +palm of mere correctness to Bembo. It was only by degrees that the +taste of the Italians formed itself, and that facility was acquired in +writing a lost language. The fact that mediæval Latin was still used +in legal documents, in conversation, in the offices of the Church, and +in the theological works which formed the staple of all libraries, +impeded the recovery of a classic style. When the Italians had finally +learned how to polish prose, it was easy to hand on the art to other +nations; while to sneer at their pedantry, as Erasmus did, was no +matter of great difficulty. By that time their scrupulous and anxious +preoccupation with purity of phrase threatened danger to the interests +of liberal learning. + +Hitherto, with the exception only of Boccaccio's Greek studies, I have +had to trace the rise of Latin letters and to call particular +attention to the cult of Cicero in Italy. It is now necessary to +mention the advent of a man who played a part in the revival of +learning only second to that of Petrarch. Manuel Chrysoloras, a +Byzantine of noble birth, came to Italy during the Pontificate of +Boniface IX., charged by the Emperor Palæologus with the mission of +attempting to arm the states of Christendom against the Turk. Like all +the Greeks who visited Western Europe, Chrysoloras first alighted in +Venice; but the Republic of the Lagoons neither understood the secret +nor felt the need of retaining these birds of passage. After a few +months they almost invariably passed on to Florence--the real centre +of the intellectual life of Italy. As soon as it was known that +Chrysoloras, who enjoyed the fame of being the most accomplished and +eloquent Hellenist of his age, had arrived with his companion, +Demetrios Kydonios, in Venice, two noble Florentines, Roberto de' +Rossi and Giacomo d'Angelo da Scarparia, set forth to visit him. The +residence of the Greek ambassadors in Italy on this occasion was but +brief; they found that, politically, they could effect nothing. But +Giacomo da Scarparia journeyed in their society to Byzantium; while +Roberto de' Rossi returned to Florence, full of the impression which +the erudite philosophers had left upon him. The report he made to his +fellow-citizens awoke a passionate desire in Palla degli Strozzi and +Niccolo de' Niccoli to bring Chrysoloras in person to Florence. Their +urgent appeals to the Signory resulted in an invitation whereby +Chrysoloras in 1396 was induced to fill the Greek chair in the +university. A yearly stipend of 150 golden florins, raised afterwards +to 250, was voted for his maintenance. This engagement secured the +future of Greek erudition in Europe. The merit of having brought the +affair to a successful issue belongs principally to Palla degli +Strozzi, of whom Vespasiano wrote: 'There being in Florence exceeding +good knowledge of Latin letters, but of Greek none, he resolved that +this defect should be remedied, and therefore did all he could to make +Manuel Grisolora visit Italy, using all his influence thereto and +paying a large portion of the expense incurred.'[70] We must not, +however, omit the share which Coluccio Salutato,[71] by his influence +with the Signory, and Niccolo de' Niccoli, by the interest he exerted +with the Uffiziali dello Studio, may also claim. Among the audience of +this the first true teacher of Greek at Florence were numbered Palla +degli Strozzi, Roberto de' Rossi, Poggio Bracciolini, Lionardo Bruni, +Francesco Barbaro, Giannozzo Manetti, Carlo Marsuppini, and Ambrogio +Traversari--some of them young men of eighteen, others old and +grey-haired, nearly all of them the scholars in Latinity of Giovanni +da Ravenna. Nor was Florence the only town to receive the learning of +Chrysoloras. He opened schools at Rome, at Padua, at Milan, and at +Venice; so that his influence as a wandering professor was at least +equal to that exercised by Giovanni da Ravenna. + +[Footnote 70: _Vite d'Uomini Illustri_, p. 271.] + +[Footnote 71: Cf. the letter quoted by Voigt (p. 130) to Giacomo da +Scarparia, which shows Coluccio's enthusiasm for Greek.] + +The impulse communicated to the study of antiquity by Chrysoloras, and +the noble enthusiasm of his scholars for pure literature, may best be +understood from a passage in the 'Commentaries' of Lionardo Bruni, +whereof the following is a compressed translation:[72]--'Letters at +this period grew mightily in Italy, seeing that the knowledge of +Greek, intermitted for seven centuries, revived. Chrysoloras of +Byzantium, a man of noble birth and well skilled in Greek literature, +brought to us Greek learning. I at that time was following the civil +law, though not ill-versed in other studies; for by nature I loved +learning with ardour, nor had I given slight pains to dialectic and +to rhetoric. Therefore, at the coming of Chrysoloras, I was made to +halt in my choice of lives, seeing that I held it wrong to desert law, +and yet I reckoned it a crime to omit so great an occasion of learning +the Greek literature; and oftentimes I reasoned with myself after this +manner:--Can it be that thou, when thou mayest gaze on Homer, Plato, +and Demosthenes, together with other poets, philosophers, and orators, +concerning whom so great and so wonderful things are said, and mayest +converse with them, and receive their admirable doctrine--can it be +that thou wilt desert thyself and neglect the opportunity divinely +offered thee? Through seven hundred years no one in all Italy has been +master of Greek letters; and yet we acknowledge that all science is +derived from them. Of civil law, indeed, there are in every city +scores of doctors; but should this single and unique teacher of Greek +be removed, thou wilt find no one to instruct thee. Conquered at last +by these reasonings, I delivered myself over to Chrysoloras with such +passion that what I had received from him by day in hours of waking, +occupied my mind at night in hours of sleep.' + +[Footnote 72: Mur. xix. 920.] + +The earnestness of this paragraph is characteristic of the whole +period. The scholars who assembled in the lecture-rooms of +Chrysoloras, felt that the Greek texts, whereof he alone supplied the +key, contained those elements of spiritual freedom and intellectual +culture without which the civilisation of the modern world would be +impossible. Nor were they mistaken in what was then a guess rather +than a certainty. The study of Greek implied the birth of criticism, +comparison, research. Systems based on ignorance and superstition were +destined to give way before it. The study of Greek opened +philosophical horizons far beyond the dream-world of the churchmen and +the monks; it stimulated the germs of science, suggested new +astronomical hypotheses, and indirectly led to the discovery of +America. The study of Greek resuscitated a sense of the beautiful in +art and literature. It subjected the creeds of Christianity, the +language of the Gospels, the doctrine of S. Paul, to analysis, and +commenced a new era for Biblical inquiry. If it be true, as a writer +no less sober in his philosophy than eloquent in his language has +lately asserted, that, 'except the blind forces of nature, nothing +moves in this world which is not Greek in its origin,' we are +justified in regarding the point of contact between the Greek teacher +Chrysoloras and his Florentine pupils as one of the most momentous +crises in the history of civilisation. Indirectly, the Italian +intellect had hitherto felt Hellenic influence through Latin +literature. It was now about to receive that influence immediately +from actual study of the masterpieces of the Attic authors. The world +was no longer to be kept in ignorance of those 'eternal consolations' +of the human race. No longer could the scribe omit Greek quotations from +his Latin text with the dogged snarl of obtuse self-satisfaction--_Græca +sunt, ergo non legenda_. The motto had rather to be changed into a cry +of warning for ecclesiastical authority upon the verge of +dissolution--_Græca sunt, ergo periculosa_: since the reawakening +faith in human reason, the reawakening belief in the dignity of man, +the desire for beauty, the liberty, audacity, and passion of the +Renaissance, received from Greek studies their strongest and most +vital impulse. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +FIRST PERIOD OF HUMANISM + + Condition of the Universities in Italy -- Bologna -- High + Schools founded from it -- Naples under Frederick II. -- + Under the House of Anjou -- Ferrara -- Piacenza -- Perugia + -- Rome -- Pisa -- Florence -- Imperial and Papal Charters + -- Foreign Students -- Professorial Staff -- Subjects taught + in the High Schools -- Place assigned to Humanism -- Pay of + the Professors of Eloquence -- Francesco Filelfo -- The + Humanists less powerful at the Universities -- Method of + Humanistic Teaching -- The Book Market before Printing -- + Mediæval Libraries -- Cost of Manuscripts -- _Stationarii_ + and _Peciarii_ -- Negligence of Copyists -- Discovery of + Classical Codices -- Boccaccio at Monte Cassino -- Poggio at + Constance -- Convent of S. Gallen -- Bruni's Letter to + Poggio -- Manuscripts discovered by Poggio -- Nicholas of + Treves -- Collection of Greek Manuscripts -- Aurispa, + Filelfo, and Guarino -- The Ruins of Rome -- Their Influence + on Humanism -- Dante and Villani -- Rienzi -- His Idealistic + Patriotism -- Vanity -- Political Incompetence -- Petrarch's + Relations with Rienzi -- Injury to Monuments in Rome -- + Poggio's Roman Topography -- Sentimental Feeling for the + Ruins of Antiquity -- Ciriac of Ancona. + + +Having so far traced the quickening of a new sense for antiquity among +the Italians, it will be well at this point to consider the external +resources of Humanism before continuing the history of the Revival in +the fifteenth century. The condition of the universities, the state of +the book trade before the invention of printing, and the discovery of +manuscripts claim separate attention; nor may it be out of place to +inquire what stimulus the enthusiasm for classical studies received +from the ruins of Rome. A review of these topics will help to explain +the circumstances under which the pioneers of culture had to labour, +and the nature of the crusade they instituted against ignorance in +every part of Europe. + +The oldest and most frequented university in Italy, that of Bologna, +is represented as having flourished in the twelfth century.[73] Its +prosperity in early times depended greatly on the personal conduct of +the principal professors, who, when they were not satisfied with their +entertainment, were in the habit of seceding with their pupils to +other cities. Thus high schools were opened from time to time in +Modena, Reggio, and elsewhere by teachers who broke the oaths that +bound them to reside in Bologna, and fixed their centre of education +in a rival town. To make such temporary changes was not difficult in +an age when what we have to call an university, consisted of masters +and scholars, without college buildings, without libraries, without +endowments, and without scientific apparatus. The technical name for +such institutions seems to have been _studium scholarium_, Italianised +into _studio_ or _studio pubblico_.[74] Among the more permanent +results of these secessions may be mentioned the establishment of the +high school at Vicenza by translation from Bologna in 1204, and the +opening of a school at Arezzo under similar circumstances in 1215; the +great University of Padua first saw the light in consequence of +political discords forcing the professors to quit Bologna for a +season.[75] + +[Footnote 73: Tiraboschi, _Storia della Letteratura Italiana_, vol. +iv. p. 42 _et seq._, vol. v. p. 60 _et seq._ Large quarto, Modena, +1787.] + +[Footnote 74: See Muratori, vol. viii. 15, 75, 372. Matteo Villani, +lib. i. cap. 8.] + +[Footnote 75: 'Hoc anno translatum est Studium Scholarium de Bononiâ +Paduam.' Mur. viii. 372.] + +The first half of the thirteenth century witnessed the foundation of +these _studi_ in considerable numbers. That of Vercelli was opened in +1228, the municipality providing two certified copyists for the +convenience of students who might wish to purchase text-books.[76] In +1224 the Emperor Frederick II., to whom the south of Italy owed a +precocious eminence in literature, established the University of +Naples by an Imperial diploma.[77] With a view to rendering it the +chief seat of learning in his dominions, he forbade the subjects of +the Regno to frequent other schools, and suppressed the University of +Bologna by letters general. Thereupon Bologna joined the Lombard +League, defied the emperor, and refused to close the schools, which +numbered at that period about ten thousand students of various +nationalities. In 1227 Frederick revoked his edict, and Bologna +remained thenceforward unmolested. Political and internal +vicissitudes, affecting all the Italian universities at this period, +interrupted the prosperity of that of Naples. In the middle of the +thirteenth century Salerno proved a dangerous rival; but when the +House of Anjou was established in the kingdom of the Sicilies, special +privileges were granted, restoring the high school of the capital to +the first rank. Charles I. created a separate court of jurisdiction +for its management. This consisted of a judge and three assessors, one +for the control of foreigners, another for the subjects of the Regno, +and the third for Italians from other states. + +[Footnote 76: They were called 'Exemplatores.' See Tiraboschi, vol. +iv. lib. i cap. 2.] + +[Footnote 77: Muratori, vii. p. 997. Amari, _Storia dei Mussulmani di +Sicilia_, vol. iii. p. 706.] + +In 1264 we find a public school in operation at Ferrara. By its +charter the professors were exempt from military service. The +University of Piacenza came into existence a little earlier. Innocent +IV. established it in 1248, with privileges similar to those of Paris +and Bologna. An important group of _studi pubblici_ owed their origin +to Papal or Imperial charters in the first half of the fourteenth +century. That of Perugia was founded in 1307 by a Bull of Clement V. +That of Rome dated from 1303, in which year Boniface VIII. gave it a +constitution by a special edict; but the translation of the Papal See +to Avignon caused it to fall into premature decadence. The University +of Pisa had already existed for some years, when it received a charter +in 1343 from Clement VI. That of Florence was first founded in +1321.[78] In 1348 a place for its public buildings was assigned +between the Duomo and the Palazzo Pubblico, on the site of what was +afterwards known as the Collegium Eugenianum. A council of eight +burghers was appointed for its management, and a yearly sum was set +apart for its maintenance. In 1349 Clement VI. gave it the same +privileges as the University of Bologna, while in 1364 it received an +Imperial diploma from Charles IV. The same emperor granted charters to +Siena in 1357, to Arezzo in 1356, and to Lucca in 1369. In 1362 +Galeazzo Visconti obtained a charter for his University of Pavia from +Charles IV., with the privileges of Paris, Oxford, and Bologna. + +[Footnote 78: See Von Reumont, _Lorenzo de' Medici_, vol. i. p. 521.] + +It will be observed that the majority of the _studi pubblici_ obtained +charters either from the Pope or the emperor, or from both, less for +the sake of any immediate benefit to be derived from Papal or Imperial +patronage, than because supreme authority in Italy was still referred +to one or other of these heads. It was a great object with each city +to increase its wealth by attracting foreigners as residents, and to +retain the native youth within its precincts. The municipalities, +therefore, accorded immunities from taxation and military service to +_bona fide_ students, prohibited their burghers from seeking rival +places of learning, and in some cases allowed the university +authorities to exercise a special jurisdiction over the motley +multitude of scholars from all countries. How miscellaneous the +concourse in some of the high schools used to be, may be gathered from +the reports extracted by Tiraboschi from their registers. At Vicenza, +for example, in 1209 we find the names of Bohemians, Poles, +Frenchmen, Burgundians, Germans, and Spaniards, as well as of Italians +of divers towns. The rectors of this _studio_ in 1205 included an +Englishman, a Provençal, a German, and a Cremonese. The list of +illustrious students at Bologna between 1265 and 1294 show men of all +the European nationalities, proving that the foreigners attracted by +the university must have formed no inconsiderable element in the whole +population.[79] This will account for the prominent part played by the +students from time to time in the political history of Bologna.[80] + +[Footnote 79: In 1320 there were at least 15,000 students in Bologna.] + +[Footnote 80: See Sismondi, vol. iii. p. 349.] + +The importance attached by great cities to their universities as a +source of strength, may be gathered from the chapter in Matteo +Villani's Chronicle describing the foundation of the _studio pubblico_ +in Florence.[81] He expressly mentions that the Signory were induced +to take this step in consequence of the depopulation inflicted by the +Black Death of 1348. By drawing residents to Florence from other +States, they hoped to increase the number of the inhabitants, and to +restore the decayed fame and splendour of the commonwealth.[82] At the +same time they thought that serious studies might put an end to the +demoralisation produced in all classes by the plague. With this object +in view, they engaged the best teachers, and did not hesitate to +devote a yearly sum of 2,500 golden florins to the maintenance of +their high school. Bologna, which owed even more than Florence to its +university, is said to have lavished as much as half of its revenue, +about 20,000 ducats, on the pay of professors and other incidental +expenses. The actual cost incurred by cities through their schools +cannot, however, be accurately estimated, since it varied from year to +year according to the engagements made with special teachers. At +Pavia, for example, in 1400, the university supported in Canon Law +several eminent doctors, in Civil Law thirteen, in Medicine five, in +Philosophy three, in Astrology one, in Greek one, and in Eloquence +one.[83] Whether this staff was maintained after the lapse of another +twenty years we do not know for certain. + +[Footnote 81: Lib. i. cap. 8.] + +[Footnote 82: 'Volendo attrarre gente alla nostra città, e dilatarla +in onore, e dare materia a' suoi cittadini d'essere scienziati e +virtudiosi.'] + +[Footnote 83: Cf. Corio, p. 290. He gives the names of the professors +who attended at the funeral of Gian Galeazzo Visconti.] + +The subjects taught in the high schools were Canon and Civil Law, +Medicine, and Theology. These faculties, important for the +professional education of the public, formed the staple of the +academical curriculum. Chairs of Rhetoric, Philosophy, and Astronomy +were added according to occasion, the last sometimes including the +study of judicial astrology. If we inquire how the humanists or +professors of classic literature were related to the universities, we +find that, at first at any rate, they always occupied a second rank. +The permanent teaching remained in the hands of jurists, who enjoyed +life engagements at a high rate of pay, while the Latinists and +Grecians could only aspire to the temporary occupation of the Chair of +Rhetoric, with salaries considerably lower than those of lawyers or +physicians. The cause of this inferiority is easily explained. It was +natural that important and remunerative branches of learning like law +and medicine should attract a greater number of students than pure +literature, and that their professors should be better paid than the +teachers of eloquence. Padua, Bologna, and Pavia in particular +retained their legal speciality throughout the period of the +Renaissance, and remained but little open to humanistic influences. At +Padua we find from Sanudo's Diary[84] that an eminent jurist received +a stipend of 1,000 ducats. A Doctor of Medicine at the same +university, in 1491, received a similar stipend, together with the +right of private practice. At Bologna the famous jurist Abbas Siculus +(Niccolo de' Tudeschi) drew 800 scudi yearly; at Padua Giovanni da +Imola in 1406, and Paolo da Castro in 1430, drew a sum of 600 +ducats.[85] About the same time (1453) Lauro Quirino, who professed +rhetoric at Padua, was paid at the rate of only forty ducats yearly, +while Lorenzo Valla, at Pavia, filled the Chair of Eloquence with an +annual stipend of fifty sequins. The disparity between the +remuneration of jurists and that of humanists was not so great at all +the universities. Florence in especial formed a notable exception. +From the date of its commencement the Florentine _studio_ was partial +to literature; and it is worth remarking that when Lorenzo de' Medici +transferred the high school to Pisa, he retained at Florence the +professors of the liberal sciences and _belles-lettres_. The great +reputation of eminent rhetoricians, again, often secured for them +temporary engagements at a high rate. Thus we gather from Rosmini's +'Life of Filelfo' that this humanist received from Venice the offer of +500 sequins yearly as remuneration for his professorial services. +Bologna proposed an annual stipend of 450 sequins when he undertook to +lecture upon eloquence and moral philosophy. At Florence his income +amounted to 350 golden florins, secured for three years, and +subsequently raised to 450. With Siena he stipulated for 350 golden +florins for two years. At Milan his Chair of Eloquence was endowed +with 500 golden florins, and this salary was afterwards increased to +700. Nicholas V. offered him an annual income of 600 ducats if he +would devote himself to the translation of Greek books into Latin, +while Sixtus IV. tried to bring him to Rome by proposing 600 Roman +florins as the stipend of the Chair of Rhetoric. + +[Footnote 84: Mur. xxii. 990.] + +[Footnote 85: See Voigt, p. 447.] + +The fact, however, remains that while the special study of antiquity +preoccupied the minds of the Italians, and attracted all the finer +intellects among the youth ambitious of distinction, its professors +never succeeded in taking complete possession of the universities. +Their position there was always that of wandering stars and resident +aliens. This accounts in some measure for the bitter hostility and +scorn which they displayed against the teachers of theology and law +and medicine. The real home of the humanists was in the Courts of +princes, the palaces of the cultivated burghers, the Roman Curia, and +the chanceries of the republics. As secretaries, house tutors, +readers, Court poets, historiographers, public orators, and companions +they were indispensable. We shall therefore find that the private +academies formed by the literati and their patrons, the schools of +princes established at Mantua and Ferrara, and the residences of great +nobles play a more important part in the history of humanism than do +the universities. At the same time the spirit of the new culture +diffused by the humanists so thoroughly permeated the whole +intellectual activity of the Italians, that in course of time the +special studies of the high schools assumed a more literary and +liberal form. The classics then supplied the starting-point for +juristic and medical disquisitions. Poliziano was seen lecturing upon +the Pandects of Justinian, while Pomponazzi made the Chair of +Philosophy at Padua subservient to the exposition of materialism. This +triumph of humanism, like its triumph in the Church, was effected less +by immediate working on the universities than by a gradual and +indirect determination of the whole race towards the study of +antiquity. + +In picturing to ourselves the method pursued by the humanists in the +instruction of their classes, we must divest our minds of all +associations with the practice of modern professors. Very few of the +students whom the master saw before him, possessed more than meagre +portions of the text of Virgil or of Cicero; they had no notes, +grammars, lexicons, or dictionaries of antiquities and mythology, to +help them. It was therefore necessary for the lecturer to dictate +quotations, to repeat parallel passages at full length, to explain +geographical and historical allusions, to analyse the structure of +sentences in detail, to provide copious illustrations of grammatical +usage, to trace the stages by which a word acquired its meaning in a +special context, to command a full vocabulary of synonyms, to give +rules for orthography, and to have the whole Pantheon at his fingers' +ends. In addition to this he was expected to comment upon the meaning +of his author, to interpret his philosophy, to point out the beauties +of his style, to introduce appropriate moral disquisition on his +doctrine, to sketch his biography, and to give some account of his +relation to the history of his country and to his predecessors in the +field of letters. In short, the professor of rhetoric had to be a +grammarian, a philologer, an historian, a stylist, and a sage in one. +He was obliged to pretend at least to an encyclopædic knowledge of the +classics, and to retain whole volumes in his memory. All these +requirements, which seem to have been satisfied by such men as Filelfo +and Poliziano, made the profession of eloquence--for so the varied +subject matter of humanism was often called--a very different business +from that which occupies a lecturer of the present century. Scores of +students, old and young, with nothing but pen and paper on the desks +before them, sat patiently recording what the lecturer said. At the +end of his discourses on the 'Georgics' or the 'Verrines,' each of +them carried away a compendious volume, containing a transcript of the +author's text, together with a miscellaneous mass of notes, critical, +explanatory, ethical, æsthetical, historical, and biographical. In +other words, a book had been dictated, and as many scores of copies as +there were attentive pupils had been made.[86] The language used was +Latin. No dialect of Italian could have been intelligible to the +students of different nationalities who crowded the lecture-rooms. The +elementary education in grammar requisite for following a professorial +course of lectures had been previously provided by the teachers of the +Latin schools, which depended for maintenance partly on the State[87] +and partly on private enterprise. The Church does not seem to have +undertaken the management of these primary boys' schools. + +[Footnote 86: Many of the earliest printed editions of the Latin poets +give an exact notion of what such lectures must have been. The text is +embedded in an all-embracing commentary.] + +[Footnote 87: Cf. Villani's Statistics of Florence, and Corio's of +Milan.] + +Since this was the nature of academical instruction in the humanities +before the age of printing, it followed that the professor had a +direct interest in frequently shifting his scene of operations. More +than a certain number of such books as I have just attempted to +describe could not be carried in his head. After he had dictated his +work on the 'Georgics' at Florence, he was naturally anxious to move +to Milan and to do the same. A new audience gave new value to his +lectures, and another edition, as it were, of his book was put in +circulation. In the correspondence which passed between professors and +the rectors of the high schools previously to an engagement, we +sometimes find that the former undertake to explain particular authors +during their proposed residence. On these authors they had no doubt +bestowed the best years of their lives, making them the vehicle for +all the miscellaneous learning they possessed, and grounding their +fame upon the beauty, clearness, and copiousness of their +exposition.[88] + +[Footnote 88: For humorous but vivid pictures of a professor's +lecture-room, see the macaronic poems of Odassi and Fossa quoted by me +in vol. v. of this work.] + +Having described the conditions under which professorial teaching was +conducted in the fifteenth century, it is now of some importance to +form a notion of the state of the book market and the diffusion of +MSS. before the invention of printing. Difficult as it is to speak +with accuracy on these topics some facts must be collected, seeing +that the high price and comparative rarity of books contributed in a +very important degree to determine the character of the instruction +provided by the humanists. + +Scarcity of books was at first a chief impediment to the study of +antiquity. Popes and princes and even great religious institutions +possessed far fewer books than many farmers of the present age. The +library belonging to the Cathedral Church of S. Martino at Lucca in +the ninth century contained only nineteen volumes of abridgments from +ecclesiastical commentaries. The Cathedral of Novara in 1212 could +boast copies of Boethius, Priscian, the 'Code of Justinian,' the +'Decretals,' and the 'Etymology' of Isidorus, besides a Bible and some +devotional treatises.[89] This slender stock passed for great riches. +Each of the precious volumes in such a collection was an epitome of +mediæval art. Its pages were composed of fine vellum adorned with +pictures.[90] The initial letters displayed elaborate flourishes and +exquisitely illuminated groups of figures. The scribe took pains to +render his caligraphy perfect, and to ornament the margins with +crimson, gold, and blue. Then he handed the parchment sheets to the +binder, who encased them in rich settings of velvet or carved ivory +and wood, embossed with gold and precious stones. The edges were gilt +and stamped with patterns. The clasps were of wrought silver, chased +with niello. The price of such masterpieces was enormous. Borso +d'Este, in 1464, gave eight gold ducats to Gherardo Ghislieri of +Bologna for an illuminated Lancellotto, and in 1469 he bought a +Josephus and Quintus Curtius for forty ducats.[91] His great Bible in +two volumes is said to have cost 1,375 sequins. Rinaldo degli Albizzi +notes in his Memoirs that he paid eleven golden florins for a Bible at +Arezzo in 1406. Of these MSS. the greater part were manufactured in +the cloisters, and it was here too that the martyrdom of ancient +authors took place. Lucretius and Livy gave place to chronicles, +antiphonaries, and homilies. Parchment was extremely dear, and the +scrolls which nobody could read might be scraped and washed. +Accordingly, the copyist erased the learning of the ancients, and +filled the fair blank space he gained with litanies. At the same time +it is but just to the monks to add that palimpsests have occasionally +been found in which ecclesiastical works have yielded place to copies +of the Latin poets used in elementary education.[92] + +[Footnote 89: See Cantù, _Storia della Letteratura Italiana_, p. 105, +note.] + +[Footnote 90: 'Hodie Scriptores non sunt Scriptores sed Pictores,' +quoted by Tiraboschi, vol. iv. lib. i. cap. 4.] + +[Footnote 91: See Cantù, loc. cit. p. 104.] + +[Footnote 92: See Comparetti, vol. i. p. 114.] + +Another obstacle to the diffusion of learning was the incompetence of +the copyists. It is true that at the great universities _stationarii_, +who supplied the text-books in use to students, were certified and +subjected to the control of special censors called _peciarii_. Yet +their number was not large, and when they quitted the routine to which +they were accustomed their incapacity betrayed itself by numerous +errors.[93] Petrarch's invective against the professional copyists +shows the depth to which the art had sunk. 'Who,' he exclaims, 'will +discover a cure for the ignorance and vile sloth of these copyists, +who spoil everything and turn it to nonsense? If Cicero, Livy, and +other illustrious ancients were to return to life, do you think they +would understand their own works? There is no check upon these +copyists, selected without examination or test of their capacity. +Workmen, husbandmen, weavers, artisans, are not indulged in the same +liberty.'[94] Coluccio Salutato repeats the same complaint, averring +that the copies of Dante and Petrarch no more correspond to the +originals than bad statues to the men they pretend to represent. At +the same time the copyists formed a necessary and flourishing class of +craftsmen. They were well paid. Ambrogio Traversari told his friend +Giustiniani in 1430 that he could recommend him a good scribe at the +pay of thirty golden florins a year and his keep. Under these +circumstances it was usual for even the most eminent scholars, like +Petrarch, Boccaccio, and Poggio, to make their own copies of MSS. +Niccolo de' Niccoli transcribed nearly the whole of the codices that +formed the nucleus of the Library of the Mark. Sometimes they sold +them or made advantageous changes. Poggio, for example, sold two +volumes of S. Jerome's 'Letters' to Lionello d'Este for 100 golden +florins. Beccadelli bought a Livy from him for 120 golden florins, +having parted with a farm to defray the expense. It is clear that the +first step toward the revival of learning implied three things: +first, the collection of MSS. wherever they could be saved from the +indolence of the monks; secondly, the formation of libraries for their +preservation; and, thirdly, the invention of an art whereby they might +be multiplied cheaply, conveniently, and accurately. + +[Footnote 93: In Milan, in the fourteenth century, when the population +was estimated at about 200,000, the town could boast of only fifty +copyists. Tirab. loc. cit. cap. 4.] + +[Footnote 94: _De Remediis utriusque Fortunæ_, lib. i. dial. 43, p. +42. The passage condensed above is so valuable for a right +understanding of the humanistic feeling about manuscripts that I shall +transcribe portions of the original:--'Libri innumerabiles sunt mihi. +Et errores innumeri, quidam ab impiis, alii ab indoctis editi. Illi +quidem religioni ac pietati et divinis literis, hi naturæ ac justitiæ +moribusque et liberalibus disciplinis seu historiæ rerumque gestarum +fidei, omnes autem vero adversi; inque omnibus, et præsertim primis +ubi majoribus agitur de rebus, et vera falsis immixta sunt, +perdifficilis ac periculosa discretio est ... scriptorum inscitiæ +inertiæque, corrumpenti omnia miscentique ... ignavissima ætas hæc +culinæ solicita, literarum negligens, et coquos examinans non +scriptores. Quisquis itaque pingere aliquid in membranis, manuque +calamum versare didicerit, scriptor habebitur, doctrinæ omnis ignarus, +expers ingenii, artis egens ... nunc confusis exemplaribus et +exemplis, unum scribere polliciti, sic aliud scribunt ut quod ipse +dictaveris, non agnoscas ... accedunt et scriptores nullâ frenati +lege, nullo probati examine, nullo judicio electi; non fabris, non +agricolis, non textoribus, non ulli fere artium tanta licentia est, +cum sit in aliis leve periculum, in hâc grave; sine delectu tamen +scribendum ruunt omnes, et cuncta vastantibus certa sunt pretia.'] + +The labour involved in the collection of classical manuscripts had to +be performed by a few enthusiastic scholars, who received no help from +the universities and their academical scribes, and who met with no +sympathy in the monasteries they were bent on ransacking. The new +culture demanded wholly new machinery; and new runners in the +torch-race of civilisation sprang into existence. The high schools +were contented with their summaries and glosses. The monks performed +at best the work of earthworms, who unwittingly preserve fragments of +Greek architecture from corrosion by heaping mounds of mould and +rubbish round them. Meanwhile the humanists went forth with the +instinct of explorers to release the captives and awake the dead. From +the convent libraries of Italy, from the museums of Constantinople, +from the abbeys of Germany and Switzerland and France, the slumbering +spirits of the ancients had to be evoked. The chivalry of learning, +banded together for this service, might be likened to Crusaders. As +the Franks deemed themselves thrice blest if they returned with relics +from Jerusalem, so these new Knights of the Holy Ghost, seeking not +the sepulchre of a risen God, but the tombs wherein the genius of the +ancient world awaited resurrection, felt holy transports when a brown, +begrimed, and crabbed copy of some Greek or Latin author rewarded +their patient quest. Days and nights they spent in carefully +transcribing it, comparing their own MS. with the original, +multiplying facsimiles, and sending them abroad with free hands to +students who in their turn took copies, till the treasure-trove became +the common property of all who could appreciate its value. This work +of discovery began with Petrarch. I have already alluded to the +journeys he undertook in the hope of collecting the lost MSS. of +Cicero. It was carried on by Boccaccio. The account given by Benvenuto +da Imola of Boccaccio's visit to Monte Cassino brings vividly before +us both the ardour of these first explorers and the apathy of the +Benedictines (who have sometimes been called the saviours of learning) +with regard to the treasures of their own libraries:[95]--'With a view +to the clearer understanding of this text ('Paradiso,' xxii. 74), I +will relate what my revered teacher, Boccaccio of Certaldo, humorously +told me. He said that when he was in Apulia, attracted by the +celebrity of the convent, he paid a visit to Monte Cassino, whereof +Dante speaks. Desirous of seeing the collection of books, which he +understood to be a very choice one, he modestly asked a monk--for he +was always most courteous in manners--to open the library, as a +favour, for him. The monk answered stiffly, pointing to a steep +staircase, "Go up; it is open." Boccaccio went up gladly; but he found +that the place which held so great a treasure, was without or +[Transcriber's Note: should be 'a'] door or key. He entered, and saw +grass sprouting on the windows, and all the books and benches thick +with dust. In his astonishment he began to open and turn the leaves of +first one tome and then another, and found many and divers volumes of +ancient and foreign works. Some of them had lost several sheets; +others were snipped and pared all round the text, and mutilated in +various ways. At length, lamenting that the toil and study of so many +illustrious men should have passed into the hands of most abandoned +wretches, he departed with tears and sighs. Coming to the cloister, he +asked a monk whom he met, why those valuable books had been so +disgracefully mangled. He answered that the monks, seeking to gain a +few _soldi_, were in the habit of cutting off sheets and making +psalters, which they sold to boys. The margins too they manufactured +into charms, and sold to women. So then, O man of study, go to and +rack your brains; make books that you may come to this!' + +[Footnote 95: 'Commentary on the _Divine Comedy_,' ap. Muratori, +_Antiq. Ital._ vol. i. p. 1296.] + +What Italy contained of ancient codices soon saw the light. The visit +of Poggio Bracciolini to Constance (1414) opened up for Italian +scholars the stores that lay neglected in transalpine monasteries. +Poggio's office of Apostolic Secretary obliged him to attend the +Council of Constance for the purpose of framing reports and composing +diplomatic documents. At the same time he had ample leisure on his +hands, and this he spent in exploring the libraries of Swiss and +Suabian convents. The treasures he unearthed at Reichenau, Weingarten, +and above all S. Gallen, restored to Italy many lost masterpieces of +Latin literature, and supplied students with full texts of authors who +had hitherto been known in mutilated copies. The account he gave of +his visit to S. Gallen in a Latin letter to a friend is justly +celebrated.[96] After describing the wretched state in which the +'Institutions' of Quintilian had previously existed,[97] he proceeds +as follows:--'I verily believe that, if we had not come to the rescue, +he [Quintilian] must speedily have perished; for it cannot be imagined +that a man magnificent, polished, elegant, urbane, and witty could +much longer have endured the squalor of the prison-house in which I +found him, the savagery of his jailers, the forlorn filth of the +place. He was indeed right sad to look upon, and ragged, like a +condemned criminal, with rough beard and matted hair, protesting by +his countenance and garb against the injustice of his sentence. He +seemed to be stretching out his hands, calling upon the Romans, +demanding to be saved from so unmerited a doom. Hard indeed it was +for him to bear, that he who had preserved the lives of many by his +eloquence and aid, should now find no redresser of his wrongs, no +saviour from the unjust punishment awaiting him. But as it often +happens, to quote Terence, that what you dare not wish for comes to +you by chance, so a good fortune for him, but far more for ourselves, +led us, while wasting our time in idleness at Constance, to take a +fancy for visiting the place where he was held in prison. The +monastery of S. Gallen lies at the distance of some twenty miles from +that city. Thither, then, partly for the sake of amusement and partly +of finding books, whereof we heard there was a large collection in the +convent, we directed our steps. In the middle of a well-stocked +library, too large to catalogue at present, we discovered Quintilian, +safe as yet and sound, though covered with dust and filthy with +neglect and age. The books, you must know, were not housed according +to their worth, but were lying in a most foul and obscure dungeon at +the very bottom of a tower, a place into which condemned criminals +would hardly have been thrust; and I am firmly persuaded that if +anyone would but explore those _ergastula_ of the barbarians wherein +they incarcerate such men, we should meet with like good fortune in +the case of many whose funeral orations have long ago been pronounced. +Besides Quintilian, we exhumed the three first books and a half of the +fourth book of the "Argonautica" of Flaccus, and the "Commentaries" of +Asconius Pedianus upon eight orations of Cicero.' Poggio, immediately +after this discovery, set himself to work at transcribing the +Quintilian, a labour accomplished in the brief space of thirty-two +days. The MS. was then despatched to Lionardo Bruni, who received it +with ecstatic welcome, as appears from this congratulatory epistle +addressed to Poggio:-- + +'The republic of letters has reason to rejoice not only in the works +you have discovered, but also in those you have still to find. What a +glory for you it is to have brought to light by your exertions the +writings of the most distinguished authors! Posterity will not forget +that MSS. which were bewailed as lost beyond the possibility of +restoration, have been recovered, thanks to you. As Camillus was +called the second founder of Rome, so may you receive the title of the +second author of the works you have restored to the world. Through you +we now possess Quintilian entire; before we only boasted of the half +of him, and that defective and corrupt in text. O precious +acquisition! O unexpected joy! And shall I, then, in truth be able to +read the whole of that Quintilian which, mutilated and deformed as it +has hitherto appeared, has formed my solace? I conjure you send it me +at once, that at least I may set eyes on it before I die.' + +[Footnote 96: Mur. xx. 160.] + +[Footnote 97: Petrarch in 1350 found a bad copy at Florence. Poggio +describes it thus:--'Is vero apud nos antea, Italos dico, ita +laceratus erat, ita circumcisus culpâ, ut opinor, temporum, ut nulla +forma, nullus habitus hominis in eo recognosceretur.'] + +In addition to the authors named above, Poggio discovered and copied +with his own hand MSS. of Lucretius and Columella. Silius Italicus, +Manillas, and Vitruvius owed their resurrection to his industry. At +Langres he found a copy of Cicero's oration for Cæcina; at Monte +Cassino a MS. of Frontinus. Ammianus Marcellinus, Nonius Marcellus, +Probus, Flavius Caper, and Eutyches are also to be ranked among the +captives freed by him from slavery. In exploring foreign convents +where he suspected that ancient authors might lie buried, he spared +neither trouble nor expense. 'No severity of winter cold, no snow, no +length of journey, no roughness of roads, prevented him from bringing +the monuments of literature to light,' wrote Francesco Barbaro.[98] +Nor did he recoil from theft, if theft seemed necessary to secure a +precious codex. In a letter to Ambrogio Traversari he relates his +negotiations with a monk for the fraudulent abduction of an Ammianus +and a Livy from a convent library in Hersfeld.[99] Not unfrequently +his most golden anticipations with regard to literary treasures were +deceived, as when a Dane appeared at the Court of Martin V. bragging +of a complete Livy to be found in a Cistercian convent near Röskilde. +This man protested he had seen the MS., and described the characters +in which it was written with some minuteness. At Poggio's instance the +Cardinal Orsini sent off a special messenger to seek for this, which +would have been the very phoenix of MSS. to the Latinists of that +period, while Cosimo de' Medici put his agents at Lübeck to work for +the same purpose. All their efforts were in vain, however. The Livy +could not be discovered, and the Dane passed for a liar, in spite of +the corroboration his story received from another traveller.[100] +Poggio himself, who would willingly have ransacked Europe for a MS., +was jealous of money spent on any other object. In his treatise 'De +Infelicitate Principum' he complains that 'these exalted personages +[popes and princes] spend their days and their wealth in pleasure, in +unworthy pursuits, in pestiferous and destructive wars. So great is +their mental torpor that nothing can rouse them to search after the +works of excellent writers, by whose wisdom and learning mankind are +taught the way to true happiness.' This lamentation, written probably +under the unfavourable impression produced upon his mind by the Papal +Court, where as yet the spirit of humanism had hardly penetrated, must +not be taken in any strict sense. Never was there a time in the +world's history when money was spent more freely upon the collection +and preservation of MSS., and when a more complete machinery was put +in motion for the sake of securing literary treasures. Prince vied +with prince, and eminent burgher with burgher, in buying books. The +commercial correspondents of the Medici and other great Florentine +houses, whose banks and discount offices extended over Europe and the +Levant, were instructed to purchase relics of antiquity without +regard for cost, and to forward them to Florence. The most acceptable +present that could be sent to a king was a copy of a Roman historian. +The best credentials which a young Greek arriving from Byzantium could +use to gain the patronage of men like Palla degli Strozzi was a +fragment of some ancient; the merchandise ensuring the largest profit +to a speculator who had special knowledge in such matters was old +parchment covered with crabbed characters. + +[Footnote 98: Mur. xx. 169. Cf. the Elegy of Landino quoted in the +notes to Roscoe's _Lorenzo_, p. 388.] + +[Footnote 99: Voigt, p. 138.] + +[Footnote 100: See Voigt, p. 139, for this story.] + +The history of the foundation of libraries will form part of the next +chapter. For the present it is requisite to mention some of Poggio's +fellow-workmen in the labour of collection. Among these a certain +Nicholas of Treves, employed to receive monies due to the Papal Curia +in Germany, deserves a place, seeing that in 1429 he sent the most +complete extant copy of Plautus to Rome. Bartolommeo da Montepulciano, +following the lead of Poggio, pursued investigations while at +Constance, and discovered the lost writings of Vegetius and Pompeius +Festus. In 1409 Lionardo Bruni chanced upon a good MS. of Cicero's +letters at Pistoja, and about the year 1425 a magnificent capture of +Cicero's rhetorical treatises was made at Lodi in the Duomo by +Gherardo Landriani. The extant works of Tacitus, so ardently desired, +were not collected earlier than the reign of Leo. + +While Poggio was releasing the Latin authors from their northern +prisons, and sending them to walk like princes through the Courts and +capitals of Italy, three other scholars devoted no less energy to the +collection of Greek MSS. Giovanni Aurispa, on his return from +Byzantium in 1423, brought with him 238 codices, while Guarino of +Verona and Francesco Filelfo both arrived in Italy heavily laden. +There is an old story that Guarino lost a part of his cargo at sea, +and landed with hair whitened by the grief this misfortune cost him. +Considering the special advantages enjoyed by these three scholars, +who were pupils of the learned Manuel Chrysoloras, and before whose +eager curiosity the libraries of Byzantium remained open through +nearly half a century previous to the fall of the Greek Empire, we +have good reason to believe that the greater part of Attic and +Alexandrian literature known to the later Greeks was transferred to +Italy. The avidity shown by the Florentines for codices and copies, +the opportunities afforded by their mercantile connection with +Constantinople, and the obvious interest which the Court of Byzantium +at that crisis had in gratifying their taste for such acquisitions, +contribute to render it unlikely that any of the more important and +illustrious authors were destroyed in the taking of the city by the +Turk.[101] It is probable that causes similar to those which slowly +wrought the ruin of Latin literature in the West--the apathy of an +uncultured public, the rancorous animosity of a superstitious clergy, +and the decay of students as a class--had long before the age of the +Renaissance ruined beyond the possibility of recovery those +masterpieces whereof we still deplore the loss.[102] The preservation +of Neoplatonic and Patristic literature in comparative completeness, +while so much that was more valuable perished, may be ascribed to the +theological content of these writings. + +[Footnote 101: See the emphatic language about Palla degli Strozzi, +Cosimo de' Medici, and Niccolo de' Niccoli, in Vespasiano's _Lives_. +Islam, moreover, as is proved by Pletho's Life, was at that period +more erudite than Hellas.] + +[Footnote 102: I have touched upon this subject elsewhere. See +_Studies of Greek Poets_, second series, pp. 304-307. In order to form +a conception of the utter decline of Byzantine learning after Photius, +it is needful to read the passages in Petrarch's letters, where even +Calabria is compared favourably with Constantinople. In a state of +ignorance so absolute as he describes, it is possible that treasures +existed unknown to professed students, and therefore undiscovered by +Filelfo and his fellow-workers. The testimony of Demetrius +Chalcondylas, quoted by Didot, _Alde Manuce_, p. xiv., goes to show +that the Greeks attributed their losses in large measure to the malice +of the priests.] + +Not to render some account of the effect produced upon the minds of +scholars in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries by the sight of +Roman ruins in decay, would be to omit an important branch of the +subject I have undertaken. Yet this part of the inquiry leads us into +a region somewhat different from that hitherto traversed in the +present chapter, since it properly belongs to the history of +enthusiasm. No small portion of the motive impulse that determined the +Revival was derived from the admiration, curiosity, and awe excited by +the very stones of ancient Rome. During the Middle Ages the right +point of view for studying the architectural works of the Romans had +been lost. History yielded ever more and more to legend, until at last +it was believed that demons and magicians had suspended those gigantic +vaults in air. Telesmatic virtues were attributed to figures carved on +temple-fronts and friezes, while the great name of Virgil attached +itself to what remained unhurt of Latin art in Rome and Naples.[103] +The Rome of the _Mirabilia_ was supposed to be the handiwork of fiends +constrained by poets of the bygone age with spells of power to move +hell from its centre. This transference of interest from the real to +the fanciful, from the substantial to the visionary, was +characteristic of the whole attitude assumed by the mind in the Middle +Ages. History, literature, and art alike submitted to the alchemy of +the imagination.[104] At the same time the very grossness of these +fables testified to the profound impression produced by the ruins of +the Eternal City, and to the haunting magic of a memory surviving +degradation and decay. When the Anglo-Saxon pilgrims returned from +Rome in the eighth century, the fascination of the great works they +had seen expressed itself in a memorable prophecy.[105] 'As long as +the Coliseum stands, Rome shall stand; when the Coliseum falls, Rome +will fall; when Rome falls, the world will fall.' + +[Footnote 103: The details of Virgil's romance occupy the first half +of Comparetti's second volume on _Virgil in the Middle Ages_. For the +English version of this legend see Thoms.] + +[Footnote 104: See above, pp. 38-49.] + +[Footnote 105: Gibbon, ch. lxxi.] + +About the year 1300 a new historic sense appears to have arisen in +Italy. Instead of dreams and legends, the positive facts of the past +began to have once more their value. This change might be compared to +the discovery we make upon the borderland of sleep and waking, when +what we fancied was a figure draped in white by our bedside turns out +to be the wall with moonlight shining on it. Giovanni Villani, when he +gazed upon the baths and amphitheatres of Rome, was not moved to think +of the fiends who raised them, but of the buried grandeur of the Roman +commonwealth.[106] What Rome once was, Florence may one day become, +was the reflection that impelled him to write the chronicle of his +native town. Dante, who with Villani witnessed the Jubilee of 1300, +cried that the very stones of Rome were sacred. 'Whoso robs her, or +despoils her, with blasphemy of act offendeth God, who only for His +own use made her holy.'[107] The city was to him the outward symbol +and terrestrial station of that God-appointed Monarchy for ruling all +the peoples of the earth in peace. His most enthusiastic speculations, +as well as the practical policy set forth in his epistles, attached +themselves to Rome as a reality; nor did he ever tire of bidding +German emperors return and fix their throne upon the bank of Tiber. We +know now that this idealism was a delusion, no less incapable of +realisation than it was pernicious to the liberties of the Italians. +It haunted the imagination of the race, however, until at last, as I +have said above, the proper vent was found in humanism. + +[Footnote 106: Vol. I., _Age of the Despots_, p. 200.] + +[Footnote 107: _Purg._ xxxiii. 58.] + +The same passion for Rome took different form in the mind of another +and less noble patriot. It impelled Rienzi to conceive the plan of +rehabilitating the Republic. The Popes were far away at Avignon. The +emperors seemed to have forgotten Italy. Yet Rome remained, and the +mere name of Rome was Empire. Why should not the _Senatus Populusque +Romanus_, whose initials still survived in uncial letters upon blocks +of travertine and marble, be restored to place and power? Wandering +among those spacious vaults, and lingering beneath the triumphal +arches, where the marks of chariot-wheels were traced upon the massive +paved work of the Roman ways, the young enthusiast conceived that even +he might live to be the Tribune of that people, born invincible, and +called by destiny to rule the world. With what energy he devoted +himself to studying the histories of Livy, Sallust, and Valerius +Maximus; how he strove to master the meaning of inscriptions found +among the wrecks of Rome; with what eloquence he moved his +fellow-citizens to sympathy--are familiar matters not only to +scholars, but to readers of romance. His vision of the restored +Republic seemed for a moment destined to become reality. The Romans +placed the power of life and death, of revenues and armies, in the +hands of the seer, who had stirred them by his rhetoric. Rienzi took +rank among the potentates of Italy. Even the Papal Court acknowledged +him. + +What followed proved the political incapacity of the new dictator, his +want of critical insight into the ideal he had set before himself. +There is something both pathetic and ridiculous in the vanity +displayed by this barber's son exalted to a place among the princes. Not +satisfied with calling himself Tribune and Knight, the style he affected +in his correspondence with Clement VI. ran as follows:--'Candidatus, +Spiritus Sancti Miles, Nicolaus Severus et Clemens, Liberator Urbis, +Zelator Italiæ, Amator Orbis, et Tribunus Augustus.' Like Icarus, he +spread these waxen wings to the sun's noontide blaze. The same +extravagant confusion of things sacred and profane, classical and +mediæval, marked the pageantry of his State ceremonials in Rome. On +August 15, 1347, in celebration of his election to the Tribunate, he +assumed six crowns--of ivy, myrtle, laurel, oak, olive, and gilt +silver. His arms were blazoned with the keys of Peter and the letters +S.P.Q.R. His senatorial sceptre was surmounted, not with the eagle or +the wolf of Romulus, but with a golden ball and cross enclosing the +relic of a saint. The poetic fancy could not have suggested a more +striking allegory to illustrate an undiscriminating reverence for the +Imperial and Pontifical prestige of Rome, than was presented in this +tragic farce of actual history. Not in this way, by a mixture of +Christian and Pagan titles, by emblematic pomp, by heraldry and +declamation, could the old Republic be brought to life again. The very +attempt to do so proved how far the mind of man, awaking from the long +sleep of the Middle Ages, was removed from the severe simplicity that +gave its strength to ancient Rome. Along those giddy parapets of fame +we watch Rienzi walking through his months of glory like a somnambule +sustained by an internal dream. That he should fall was inevitable. +With him expired the Utopia of a Roman commonwealth, to be from time +to time revived as an ineffectual fancy in the brains of a few +visionaries.[108] + +[Footnote 108: Stefano Porcari, for example. See Vol. I., _Age of the +Despots_, pp. 296, 302.] + +The relations of Petrarch to Rienzi offer matter for curious +reflection, while they illustrate the part played by the enthusiasm +for ancient Rome in the early history of humanism. Petrarch and Rienzi +had been friends and correspondents before the emergence of the latter +into public notice; and when the Tribune seemed about to satisfy the +dearest desire of the poet's heart by re-establishing the Roman +commonwealth, Petrarch addressed him with an animated letter of +congratulation and encouragement.[109] In his charmed eyes he seemed +a hero, _vir magnanimus_, worthy of the ancient world, a new Romulus, +a third Brutus, a Camillus. The Roman burghers, that scum and sediment +of countless races, barbarised by the lingering miseries of the Middle +Ages, needed nothing, it appeared, but words and wishes to make them +once again _cives Romani_, no longer clamorous for bread and games, +but ready to reconquer all their ancestors had lost.[110] 'Where,' +cried Petrarch, 'can the empire of the world be found, except in Rome? +Who can dispute the Roman right? What force can stand against the name +of Romans?' Neither the patriot nor the scholar discerned that the +revival they were destined to inaugurate was intellectual. Though the +spirit of the times refused a political Renaissance, refused to Italy +the maintenance of even such freedom as she then possessed, far more +refused a resuscitation of ancient Rome's imperial sway, yet both +Rienzi and Petrarch persisted in believing that, because they glowed +with fervour for the past, because they could read inscriptions, +because they expressed their desires eloquently, the world's great age +was certain to begin anew. It was a capital fault of the Renaissance +to imagine that words could work wonders, that a rhetorician's +_stylus_ might become the wand of Prospero. Seeming passed for being +in morals, politics, and all affairs of life. I have already touched +on this as a capital defect in Petrarch's character; but it was a +weakness inherent not only in him and in the age he inaugurated, but +one, moreover, that has influenced the whole history of the Italians +for evil. Sounding phrases like the _barbaros expellere_ of Julius +II., like the _va fuori d'Italia_ of Garibaldian hymns, from time to +time have roused the nation to feverish enthusiasm, too soon succeeded +by dejected apathy. When the inefficiency of Rienzi was proved, all +that remained for Petrarch was to warn and scold. + +[Footnote 109: _De Capessendâ Libertate_, _Hortatoria_, p. 535.] + +[Footnote 110: See Petrarch's _Epistle to the Roman People_, p. 712.] + +The interest excited in Petrarch by the sight of Rome's ruins was +important for his humanistic ideal. They stirred him as a moralist, an +antiquarian, and a man who owed his mental vigour to the past. He +tells how often he used to climb above the huge vaults of the Baths of +Diocletian in company with his friend Giovanni Colonna.[111] Seated +there among the flowering shrubs and scented herbs that clothed decay +with loveliness, they held discourse concerning the great men of old, +and deplored the mutability of all things human. Whatever the poet had +read of Roman grandeur was brought back to his mind with vivid meaning +during his long solitary walks. He never doubted that he knew for +certain where Evander's palace stood, and where the cave of Cacus +opened on the Tiber. The difficulties of modern antiquarian research +had not been yet suggested, and his fancy was free to map out the +topography of the seven hills as pleased him best. Yet he complained +that nowhere was less known about Rome than in Rome itself.[112] This +ignorance he judged the most fatal obstacle to the resurrection of the +city.[113] The palaces where dwelt those heroes of the past, had +fallen into ruins; the temples of the gods were desecrated; the +triumphal arches were crumbling; the very walls had yielded to decay. +None of the Romans cared to arrest destruction; they even robbed the +marble columns and entablatures in order to deck Naples with the +spoils.[114] The last remnants of the city would soon, he exclaimed, +be levelled with the ground. Time has been unable to destroy them; but +man was ruining what Time had spared.[115] + +[Footnote 111: _Epist. Fam._ lib. ii. 14, p. 605; lib. vi. 2, p. 657.] + +[Footnote 112: 'Qui enim hodie magis ignari rerum Romanarum sunt, quam +Romani Cives? Invitus dico, nusquam minus Roma cognoscitur quam Romæ.' +_Epist. Fam._ lib. ii. 14, p. 658.] + +[Footnote 113: 'Quis enim dubitare potest, quin illico surrectura sit +si coeperit se Roma cognoscere?' _Ibid._] + +[Footnote 114: 'Vi vel senio collapsa palatia, quæ quondam ingentes +tenuere viri, diruptos arcus triumphales ... indignum de vestris +marmoreis columnis, de liminibus templorum, ad quæ nuper ex toto orbe +concursus devotissimus fiebat, de imaginibus sepulchrorum, sub quibus +patrum vestrorum venerabilis cinis erat, ut reliquas sileam, desidiosa +Neapolis adornatur.' _Ibid._ p. 536.] + +[Footnote 115: + + 'Quanta quod integræ fuit olim gloria Romæ, + Reliquiæ testantur adhuc, quas longior ætas + Frangere non valuit, non vis, aut ira cruenti + Hostis, ab egregiis franguntur civibus heu, heu.' + + Petr. _Epist. Metr._ lib. ii. p. 98.] + +There is no doubt that, shortly before the date of Petrarch's visits +to Rome, the city had suffered grievously in its monuments. We know, +for instance, that the best preserved of the theatres, baths, and +tombs formed the residences and fortresses of nobles in the Middle +Ages; and when we read that in 1258 the senator Brancaleone found it +necessary to destroy one hundred and forty of these fortified +dwellings, we obtain a standard for measuring the injury that must +have ensued to precious works of classic architecture. The ruins, +moreover, as Petrarch hinted, had been used as quarries. What was +worse, the burghers burned the marbles, rich, perhaps, with +inscriptions and carved bas-reliefs, for lime. We shall shortly see +what Poggio relates upon this topic. For the present it will suffice +to quote an epigram of Pius II., written some time after the revival +of enthusiasm for antiquity:-- + + Oblectat me, Roma, tuas spectare ruinas, + Ex cujus lapsu gloria prisca patet. + Sed tuus hic populus muris defossa vetustis + Calcis in obsequium marmora dura coquit. + Impia ter centum si sic gens egerit annos, + Nullum hic indicium nobilitatis erit.[116] + +[Footnote 116: It delights me to contemplate thy ruins, Rome, the +witness amid desolation to thy pristine grandeur. But thy people burn +thy marbles for lime, and three centuries of this sacrilege will +destroy all sign of thy nobleness.' Compare a letter from Alberto +degli Alberti to Giovanni de' Medici, quoted by Fabroni, _Cosmi Vita_, +Adnot. 86. The real pride of Rome was still her ruins. Nicolo and Ugo +da Este journeyed in 1396 to Rome, 'per vedere quelle magnificenze +antiche che al presente si possono vedere in Roma.' Murat. xxiv. +845.] + +Poggio Bracciolini opens a new epoch in Roman topography. The ruins +that had moved the superstitious wonder of the Middle Ages, that had +excited Rienzi to patriotic enthusiasm, and Petrarch to reflections on +the instability of human things, were now for the first time studied +in a truly antiquarian spirit. Poggio read them like a book, comparing +the testimony they rendered with that of Livy, Vitruvius, and +Frontinus, and seeking to compile a catalogue of the existing +fragments of old Rome. The first section of his treatise 'De Varietate +Fortunæ,' forms by far the most important source of information we +possess relating to the state of Rome in the fifteenth century.[117] +It appears that the Baths of Caracalla and Diocletian could still +boast of columns and marble incrustations, but that within Poggio's +own recollection the marbles had been stripped from Cæcilia Metella's +tomb, and the so-called Temple of Concord had been pillaged.[118] +Among the ruins ascribed to the period of the Republic are mentioned a +bridge, an arch, a tomb, a temple, a building on the Capitol, and the +pyramid of Cestius.[119] Besides these, Poggio enumerates, as +referable chiefly to the Imperial age, eleven temples, seven _thermæ_, +the Arches of Titus, Severus, and Constantine, parts of the Arches of +Trajan, Faustina, and Gallienus, the Coliseum, the Theatres of Pompey +and Marcellus, the Circus Agonalis and Circus Maximus, the Columns of +Trajan and Antonine, the two horses ascribed to Pheidias and +Praxiteles, together with other marble statues, one bronze equestrian +statue, and the mausoleums of Augustus and Hadrian. + +[Footnote 117: My references are made to the Paris edition of 1723. +The first book is sometimes cited under the title of _Urbis Romæ +Descriptio_.] + +[Footnote 118: 'Juxta viam Appiam, ad secundum lapidem, integrum vidi +sepulchrum L. Cæciliæ Metellæ, opus egregium, et id ipsum tot sæculis +intactum, ad calcem postea majori ex parte exterminatum' (p. 19). +'Capitolio contigua forum versus superest porticus ædis Concordiæ, +quam, cum primum ad urbem accessi, vidi fere integram, opere marmoreo +admodum specioso; Romani postmodum, ad calcem ædem totam et porticûs +partem, disjectis columnis, sunt demoliti.' _Ibid._] + +[Footnote 119: Pp. 8, 9.] + +We have to regret that Poggio's description was subservient and +introductory to a rhetorical dissertation. Had he applied himself to +the task of tabulating more minutely what he had observed, his work +would have been infinitely precious to the archæologist. No one knew +more about the Roman buildings than he did. No one felt the impression +of their majesty in desolation more profoundly. The mighty city +appeared to him, he said, like the corpse of a giant, like a queen in +slavery. The sight of her magnificence, despoiled and shorn of +ornaments as she had been, moved him daily to deeper admiration. It +was his custom to lead strangers from point to point among the ruins, +in order to enjoy the effect produced upon fresh minds by their +stupendous evidence of strength and greatness in decay. + +The pathos of this former empress of the world exposed to insult and +indignity had not been first felt by Poggio. Petrarch described her as +an aged matron with grey hair and pale cheeks, whose torn and sordid +raiment ill accorded with the nobleness of her demeanour.[120] Fazio +degli Uberti personified her as a majestic woman, wrapped around with +rags, who pointed out to him the ruins of her city, 'to the end that +he might understand how fair she was in years of old.'[121] + +[Footnote 120: _De Pacificandâ Italiâ, Ad Carolum Quartum_, p. 531.] + +[Footnote 121: In the _Dittamondo_, about 1360.] + +In this way a sentimental feeling for the relics of the past grew up +and flourished side by side with the archæological interest they +excited. The literature of the Renaissance abounds in matter that +might be used in illustration of this remark,[122] while nothing was +commoner in art than to paint for backgrounds broken arches and +decayed buildings, 'whose ruins are even pitied.' The double impulse +of romantic sentiment and antiquarian curiosity, set going in this age +of the Revival, contributed no little to the development of +architecture, sculpture, and painting. In the section of my work which +deals with the fine arts in Italy will be found the proper sequel to +this subject. Meanwhile the history of antiquarian research in Rome +itself will be resumed in another chapter of this volume. + +[Footnote 122: Such, for example, as Boccaccio's description of the +ruins of Baiæ in the _Fiammetta_, Sannazzaro's lines on the ruins of +Cumæ, Æneas Sylvius Piccolomini's notes on ancient sites in Italy.] + +Among the representative men of the first period of the Revival must +be mentioned an enthusiast who devoted his whole life to topographical +studies and to the copying of classical inscriptions. Ciriaco de' +Pizzicolli was born about 1404 at Ancona, and from this town he took +the name he bears among the learned. Like many other pioneers of +erudition, he was educated for commerce, and had slender opportunities +for acquiring the dead languages in his youth. His manhood was spent +in restless journeying, at first undertaken for the purposes of trade, +but afterwards for the sole object of discovery. Smitten with the zeal +for classical antiquity, he made himself a tolerable Latin scholar, +and gained a fair knowledge of Greek. In the course of his long +wanderings he ransacked every part of Italy, Greece, and the Greek +islands, collecting medals, gems, and fragments of sculpture, buying +manuscripts, transcribing records, and amassing a miscellaneous store +of archæological information. The enthusiasm that possessed him was so +untempered by sobriety that it excited the suspicion of +contemporaries. Some regarded him as a man of genuine learning; others +spoke of him as a flighty, boastful, and untrustworthy fanatic.[123] +The mistakes he made in copying inscriptions depreciated the general +value of his labours, while he was even accused of having passed off +fabrications on the credulity of the public. The question of his +alleged forgeries has been discussed at length by Tiraboschi.[124] To +settle it at this distance of time is both unimportant and impossible. +While we may well believe that Ciriac was a conceited enthusiast, +accepting as genuine what he ought to have rejected, and interpreting +according to his fancy rather than the letter of his text, his life +retains real value for the student of the Revival. In him the +curiosity of the new age reached its acme of expansiveness. The +passion for discovery pursued him from shore to shore, and the vision +of the past, to be reconquered by the energy of the present, haunted +his imagination till the moment of his death. When asked what object +he had set his heart upon in those perpetual journeyings, he answered, +'I go to awake the dead.' That word, the motto for the first age of +the Revival, explains the fanaticism of Ciriac, and is a sufficient +title to fame. + +[Footnote 123: Filippo Maria Visconti is said to have denounced him as +an impostor. Ambrogio Traversari mentions his coins and gems with +mistrust. Poggio describes him as a conceited fellow with no claim to +erudition. On the other hand, he gained the confidence of Eugenius +IV., and received the panegyrics of Filelfo, Barbaro, Bruni, and +others. See Tiraboschi, vol. vi. lib. i. cap. 5.] + +[Footnote 124: In the place just cited. The temptation, at this epoch +of discovery, when criticism was at a low ebb, and curiosity was +frantic, to pass off forgeries upon the learned world must have been +very great. The most curious example of this literary deception is +afforded by Annius of Viterbo, who, in 1498, published seventeen books +of spurious histories, pretending to be the lost works of Manetho, +Berosus, Fabius Pictor, Archilochus, Cato, &c. Whether he was himself +an impostor or a dupe is doubtful. A few of his contemporaries +denounced the histories as patent fabrications. The majority accepted +them as genuine. Their worthlessness has long been undisputed. See +Tiraboschi, vol. vi. lib. iii. cap. 1.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +SECOND PERIOD OF HUMANISM + + Intricacy of the Subject -- Division into Four Periods -- + Place of Florence -- Social Conditions favourable to Culture + -- Palla degli Strozzi -- His Encouragement of Greek Studies + -- Plan of a Public Library -- His Exile -- Cosimo de' + Medici -- His Patronage of Learning -- Political Character + -- Love of Building -- Generosity to Students -- Foundation + of Libraries -- Vespasiano and Thomas of Sarzana -- Niccolo + de' Niccoli -- His Collection of Codices -- Description of + his Mode of Life -- His Fame as a Latinist -- Lionardo Bruni + -- His Biography -- Translations from the Greek -- Latin + Treatises and Histories -- His Burial in Santa Croce -- + Carlo Aretino -- Fame as a Lecturer -- The Florentine + Chancery -- Matteo Palmieri -- Giannozzo Manetti -- His + Hebrew Studies -- His Public Career -- His Eloquence -- + Manetti ruined by the Medici -- His Life in Exile at Naples + -- Estimate of his Talents -- Ambrogio Traversari -- Study + of Greek Fathers -- General of the Camaldolese Order -- + Humanism and Monasticism -- The Council of Florence -- + Florentine Opinion about the Greeks -- Gemistus Pletho -- + His Life -- His Philosophy -- His Influence at Florence -- + Cosimo de' Medici and the Florentine Academy -- Study of + Plato -- Pletho's Writings -- Platonists and Aristotelians + in Italy and Greece -- Bessarion -- His Patronage of Greek + Refugees in Rome -- Humanism in the Smaller Republics -- In + Venice. + + +The great difficulty with which a critic desirous of rendering a +succinct account of this phase of Italian culture has to deal, is the +variety and complexity of the subject. It is easy to perceive the +unity of the humanistic movement, and to regard the scholars of the +fifteenth century as a literary community with well-defined relations +to each other. Yet when we attempt to trace the growth of scholarship +in all its branches, the peculiar conditions of political and social +life in Italy present almost insuperable obstacles to any continuity +of treatment. The republics, the principalities, and the Church have +each their separate existence. Venice, Florence, Naples, Milan, Rome, +Ferrara, form distinct and independent centres, imposing their own +specialities upon the intellectual activity of citizens and aliens. +The humanists, meanwhile, to some extent efface these local +differences, spreading a network of common culture over cities and +societies divided by all else but interest in learning. To these +combinations and permutations, arising from the contact of the +scholars with their patrons in the several States of Italy, is due the +intricacy of the history of the Revival. The same men of eminence +appear by turns in each of the chief Courts and commonwealths, passing +with bewildering rapidity from north to south and back again, in one +place demanding attention under one head of the subject, in another +presenting new yet not less important topics for investigation. What +Filippo Maria Visconti, for instance, required from Filelfo had but +little in common with the claims made on him by Nicholas V., while his +activity as a satirist and partisan at Florence differed from his +labour as a lecturer at Siena. Again, the biography of each humanist +to some extent involves that of all his contemporaries. The coteries +of Rome are influenced by the cliques of Naples; the quarrels of +Lorenzo Valla ramify into the squabbles of Guarino; political +animosity combines with literary jealousy in the disputes of Poggio +with Filelfo. While some of the most eminent professors remain +stationary in their native or adopted towns, others move to and fro +with the speed of comets. From time to time, at Rome or elsewhere, a +patron rises, who assembles all the wandering stars around himself. +His death disperses the group; or accidents rouse jealousy among them, +and cause secessions from the circle. Then fresh combinations have to +be considered. In no one city can we trace firm chronological +progression, or discover the fixed local character which justifies our +dividing the history of Italian painting by its schools. To avoid +repetition, and to preserve an even current of narration amid so much +that is shifting, is almost impossible. + +Some method may be introduced by sketching briefly at the outset the +principal periods through which the humanistic movement passed. Though +to a certain extent arbitrary, these periods mark distinct moments in +an evolution uniform in spite of its complexity. + +The first, starting with Petrarch, and including the lives and labours +of those men he personally influenced, has been traced in a preceding +chapter. This was the age of inspiration and discovery, when the +enthusiasm for antiquity was generated and the remnants of the +classics were accumulated. The second may be described as the age of +arrangement and translation. The first great libraries were founded in +this period; the study of Greek was pursued in earnest, and the Greek +authors were rendered into Latin. Round Cosimo de' Medici at Florence, +Alfonso the Magnanimous at Naples, and Nicholas V. in Rome the leaders +of the Renaissance at this time converge. The third is the age of +academies. The literary republic, formed during the first and second +periods, now gathers into coteries, whereof the Platonic Academy at +Florence, that of Pontanus at Naples, that of Pomponius Lætus in Rome, +and that of Aldus Manutius at Venice are the most important. +Scholarship begins to exhibit a marked improvement in all that +concerns style and taste. At the same time Italian erudition reaches +its maximum in Poliziano. Externally this third period is +distinguished by the rapid spread of printing and the consequent +downfall of the humanists as a class. In the fourth period we notice a +gradual decline of learning; æsthetic and stylistic scholarship begins +to claim exclusive attention. This is the age of the purists, over +whom Bembo exercises the sway of a dictator, while the Court of Leo X. +furnishes the most brilliant assemblage of literati in Europe. +Erudition, properly so called, is now upon the point of being +transplanted beyond the Alps, and the Revival of Learning closes for +the historian of Italy. + +Although the essential feature of this subject is variety, and though +each city of Italy contributed its quota to the sum of culture, +attention has now to be directed in a special sense on Florence. +Nothing is more obvious to the student who has mastered the first +difficulties caused by the intricacy of Italian history, than the fact +that all the mental force of the nation was generated in Tuscany, and +radiated thence, as from a centre of vital heat and light, over the +rest of the peninsula. This is true of the fine arts no less than of +Italian poetry, of the revival of learning as well as of the origin of +science. From the republics of Tuscany, and from Florence in +particular, proceeded the impulse and the energy which led to fruitful +results in all of these departments. In proportion as Florence +continued to absorb the neighbouring free States into herself, her +intellectual pre-eminence became the more unquestionable. Arezzo, +Volterra, Cortona, Montepulciano, Prato, and Pistoja were but rivulets +feeding the stream of Florentine industry. + +What caused this superiority of the Tuscans is a problem as difficult +to solve as the similar problem with respect to Athens among the +states of Greece. Something may no doubt be attributed to ethnology, +and something to climate. Much, again, was due to the purity of a +dialect which retained more of native energy and literary capacity, +and which had suffered less from barbarian admixtures than the +dialects of northern or of southern Italy. The conquest of the +Lombards passed the Tuscans by, nor did feudal institutions take the +same root in the valley of the Arno which they struck in the kingdom +of Naples. The cities of Tuscany were therefore less exposed to +foreign influences than the rest of Italy. While they pursued their +course of internal growth in comparative tranquillity, they were +better fitted for reviving the past glories of Latin civilisation +upon its native soil. The free institutions of the Florentine +commonwealth must also be taken into account. + +In Florence, if anywhere in Italy, existed the conditions under which +a republic of letters and of culture could be formed. The aristocracy +of Naples indulged the semi-savage tastes of territorial _seigneurs_; +the nobles of Rome delighted in feats of arms and shared their wealth +with retinues of _bravi_; the great families of Umbria, Romagna, and +the March followed the profession of _condottieri_; the Lombards were +downtrodden by their Despots and deprived of individual freedom; the +Genoese developed into little better than traders and sea-robbers; the +Sienese, divided by the factions of their _Monti_, had small leisure +or common public feeling left for study. Florence meanwhile could +boast a population of burghers noble by taste and culture, owing less +to ancestry than to personal eminence, devoting their energies to +civic ambition worthy of the Romans, and to mental activity which +reminds us of the ancient Greeks. Between the people and this +aristocracy of wealth and intellect there was at Florence no division +like that which separated the Venetian _gentiluomini_ from the +_cittadini_. The so-called _nobili_ and _popolani_ did not, as in +Venice, form a caste apart, bound to the service of a tyrannous +state-system. The very mobility which proved the ultimate source of +disruption and of ruin to the commonwealth, aided the intellectual +development of Florence. Stagnation and oppression were alike unknown. +Here, therefore, and here alone, was created a public capable +instinctively of comprehending what is beautiful in art and humane in +letters, a race of craftsmen and of scholars who knew that their +labours could not fail to be appreciated, and a class of patrons who +sought no better bestowal of their wealth than on those arts and +sciences which dignify the life of man. The Florentines, moreover, as +a nation, were animated with the strongest sense of the greatness and +the splendour of Florence. Like the Athenians of old, they had no +warmer passion than their love for their city. However much we may +deplore the rancorous dissensions which from time to time split up the +commonwealth into parties, the remorseless foreign policy which +destroyed Pisa, the political meanness of the Medici, and the base +egotism of the _ottimati_, the fact remains that, æsthetically and +intellectually, Florence was 'a city glorious,' a realised ideal of +culture and humanity for all the rest of Italy, and, through Italian +influence in general, for modern Europe and for us. + +What makes the part played by Florence in the history of learning the +more remarkable is, that the chiefs of the political factions were at +the same time the leaders of intellectual progress. Rinaldo degli +Albizzi and Cosimo de' Medici, while opposed as antagonists in a duel +to the death upon the stage of the republic, vied with each other in +the patronage they extended to men of letters. Rinaldo was himself no +mean scholar; and he chose one of the greatest men of the age, Tommaso +da Sarzana, to be tutor to his children. Of Palla degli Strozzi's +services in the cause of Greek learning I have already spoken in the +second chapter of this volume. Beside the invitation which he caused +to be sent to Manuel Chrysoloras, he employed his wealth and influence +in providing books necessary for the prosecution of Hellenic studies. +'Messer Palla,' says Vespasiano, 'sent to Greece for countless +volumes, all at his own cost. The "Cosmography" of Ptolemy, together +with the picture made to illustrate it, the "Lives" of Plutarch, the +works of Plato, and very many other writings of philosophers, he got +from Constantinople. The "Politics" of Aristotle were not in Italy +until Messer Palla sent for them; and when Messer Lionardo of Arezzo +translated them, he had the copy from his hands.'[125] In the same +spirit of practical generosity Palla degli Strozzi devoted his +leisure and his energies to the improvement of the _studio pubblico_ +at Florence, giving it that character of humane culture which it +retained throughout the age of the Renaissance.[126] To him, again, +belongs the glory of having first collected books for the express +purpose of founding a public library. This project had occupied the +mind of Petrarch, and its utility had been recognised by Coluccio de' +Salutati,[127] but no one had as yet arisen to accomplish it. 'Being +passionately fond of literature, Messer Palla always kept copyists in +his own house and outside it, of the best who were in Florence, both +for Greek and Latin books; and all the books he could find he +purchased, on all subjects, being minded to found a most noble library +in Santa Trinità, and to erect there a most beautiful building for the +purpose. He wished that it should be open to the public, and he chose +Santa Trinità because it was in the centre of Florence, a site of +great convenience to everybody. His disasters supervened, and what he +had designed he could not execute.'[128] + +[Footnote 125: Vespasiano, p. 272.] + +[Footnote 126: Vespasiano, p. 273.] + +[Footnote 127: See Voigt, p. 202.] + +[Footnote 128: Vespasiano, p. 275.] + +The calamities alluded to by Vespasiano may be briefly told. Palla +degli Strozzi, better fitted by nature for study than for party +warfare, was one of the richest of the merchant princes of Florence. +In the _catasto_ of 1427 his property was valued at one-fifth more +than that returned by Giovanni, then the chief of the Medicean family; +and the extraordinary tax (_gravezza_) imposed upon it reached the sum +of 800 florins.[129] During the conflict for power carried on between +the Albizzi and the Medici he strove to preserve a neutral attitude; +but after Cosimo's return from exile, in 1434, the presence of so +powerful and rich a leader in the State seemed dangerous to the +Medicean party. It was their policy to annihilate all greatness but +their own, and to reduce the Florentines to slavery by creating a body +of dependents and allies whose interests should be bound up with +their own supremacy.[130] Palla degli Strozzi was accordingly banished +to Padua for ten years, nor, at the expiration of this period, was he +suffered to return to Florence. He died in exile, separated from his +children, who shared the same fate in other parts of Italy, while +Florence lost the services of the most enlightened of her sons.[131] +Amid the many tribulations of his latter years Palla continued to +derive comfort from study. John Argyropoulos was his guest at Padua, +where the collection of books and the cultivation of Greek learning +went on with no less vigour than at Florence. + +[Footnote 129: _Ibid._ p. 276.] + +[Footnote 130: See Von Reumont, vol. i. pp. 147-153, for the cruel +treatment of the Albizzi and other leading citizens.] + +[Footnote 131: See Vespasiano, pp. 283-287.] + +The work begun by Palla degli Strozzi at Florence was ably continued +by his enemy Cosimo de' Medici. Though the historian cannot respect +this man, whose mean and selfish ambition undermined the liberties of +his native city, there is no doubt that he deserves the credit of a +prudent and munificent Mæcenas. No Italian of his epoch combined zeal +for learning and generosity in all that could advance the interests of +arts and letters, more characteristically, with political corruption +and cynical egotism. Early in life Cosimo entered his father's house +of business, and developed a rare faculty for finance. This faculty he +afterwards employed in the administration of the State, as well as in +the augmentation of the riches of his family by trade. As he gained +political importance, he made it his prime object to place out monies +in the hands of needy citizens, and to involve the public affairs of +Florence with his own commerce by means of loans and other expedients. +He not only attached individuals by debts and obligations to his +person, but he also rendered it difficult to control the State +expenditure without regard to his private bank. Few men have better +understood the value of money in the acquisition of power, or the +advantage of so using it that jealousy should not be roused by +personal display. 'Envy,' he remarked, 'is a plant you must not +water.' Accordingly, while he spent large sums on public works, he +declined Brunelleschi's sumptuous project for a palace, on the score +that such a dwelling was more fitted for a prince than a citizen. In +his habits he was temperate and simple. Games of hazard he abhorred, +and found his recreation in the company of learned men. Sometimes, but +rarely, he played at chess. Contemporaries recorded how, like an +ancient Roman, he rose early in the morning to prune his own pear +trees and to plant his vines. In all things he preferred the reality +to the display of power and riches. While wielding the supreme +authority of Florence, he seemed intent upon the dull work of the +counting-house. Other men were put forward in the execution of designs +that he had planned; and this policy of ruling the State by cat's-paws +was followed so consistently, that at the end of his life his +influence was threatened by the very instruments he had created. At +the same time he exercised virtual despotism with a pitiless tenacity +unsurpassed by the Visconti. The cruelty with which he pushed the +Albizzi to their ruin, prolonged the exile of Palla degli Strozzi, +reduced Giannozzo Manetti to beggary, and oppressed his rivals in +general with forced loans--using taxation like a poignard, to quote a +phrase from Guicciardini--is enough to show that only prudence caused +him to refrain from violence.[132] A cold and calculating policy, +far-sighted, covert, and secretive, governed all the measures he took +for fastening his family on Florence. The result was that the roots of +the Medici, while they seemed to take hold slowly, struck deep; you +might fancy they were nowhere, just because they had left no part +unpenetrated. The Republic, like Gulliver in Liliput, was tied down by +a thousand threads, each almost imperceptible, but so varied in +quality and so subtly interwoven that to escape from the network was +impossible. + +[Footnote 132: Manetti's obligations to the commune were raised by +arbitrary impositions to the enormous sum of 135,000 golden florins. +He was broken in his trade and forced to live on charity in exile.] + +Much of the influence acquired by Cosimo, and transmitted to his +descendants, was due to sympathy with the intellectual movement of the +age. He had received a solid education; and though he was not a Greek +scholar, his mind was open to the interests which in the fifteenth +century absorbed the Florentines. He collected manuscripts, gems, +coins, and inscriptions, employing the resources of his banking house +and engaging his commercial agents in this work. Painters and +sculptors, no less than scholars and copyists, found in him a liberal +patron. At the death of his son Piero the treasures of the Casa +Medici, not counting plate and costly furniture, were valued at 30,000 +golden florins.[133] The sums of money spent by him in building were +enormous. It was reckoned that, one year with another, he disbursed +from 15,000 to 18,000 golden florins annually in edifices for the +public use.[134] Of these the most important were the Convent of S. +Marco, which altogether cost about 70,000 florins; S. Lorenzo, which +cost another 40,000; and the Abbey of Fiesole. On his own palace he +expended 60,000 florins, while the building of his villas at Careggi +and Cafaggiuolo implied a further large expenditure. Not a shilling of +this money was wasted; for while Cosimo avoided the reproach of +personal extravagance, he gave work to multitudes of labourers, who +received their wages regularly every Saturday at his office. To this +free use of wealth in the employment of artisans may be ascribed the +popularity of the Medici with the lower classes, which was more than +once so useful to them at a perilous turn of fortune. + +[Footnote 133: See Von Reumont, vol. ii. p. 175.] + +[Footnote 134: Vespasiano, p. 257.] + +Comprehending the conditions under which tyranny might be successfully +practised in the fifteenth century, Cosimo attached great value to +this generosity. He used, in later life, to regret that 'he had not +begun to spend money upon public works ten years earlier than he +did.'[135] Every costly building that bore his name, each library he +opened to the public, and all the donations lavished upon scholars +served the double purpose of cementing the despotism of his house and +of gratifying his personal enthusiasm for culture. Superstition +mingled with these motives of the tyrant and the dilettante. Knowing +that much of his wealth had been ill-gotten, he besought the Pope, +Eugenius, to indicate a proper way of restitution. Eugenius advised +him to spend 10,000 florins on the Convent of S. Marco. Thereupon +Cosimo laid out considerably more than four times that sum, adding the +famous Marcian Library, and treating the new foundation of the +Osservanza, one of the Pope's favourite crotchets, with more than +princely liberality.[136] + +[Footnote 135: Vespasiano, p. 257.] + +[Footnote 136: _Ibid._ p. 252. Cosimo ordered his clerks to honour all +drafts presented with the signature of one of the chief brethren of +the convent. 'Aveva ordinato al banco, che tutti i danari, che gli +fussino tratti per polizza d'uno religioso de primi del convento, gli +pagasse, e mettessegli a suo conto, e fussino che somma si +volessino.'] + +Of his generosity to men of letters the most striking details are +recorded. When Niccolo de' Niccoli ruined himself by buying books, +Cosimo opened for him an unlimited credit with the Medicean bank. The +cashiers received orders to honour the old scholar's drafts; and in +this way Niccolo drew 500 ducats for his private needs.[137] Tommaso +Parentucelli was treated with no less magnificence. As Bishop of +Bologna, soon after his patron Albergati's death, he found himself +with very meagre revenues and no immediate prospect of preferment. Yet +the expenses of his station were considerable, and he had occasion to +request a loan from the Medici. Cosimo issued a circular letter to his +correspondents, engaging them to supply Tommaso with what sums of +money he might want.[138] When the Bishop of Bologna assumed the +tiara, with the name of Nicholas V., he rewarded Cosimo by making him +his banker; and the Jubilee bringing 100,000 ducats into the Papal +treasury, the obligation was repaid a hundredfold.[139] + +[Footnote 137: Vespasiano, pp. 264, 475.] + +[Footnote 138: Vespasiano, pp. 29, 264.] + +[Footnote 139: _Ibid._ pp. 34, 265.] + +The chief benefit conferred by Cosimo de' Medici on learning was the +accumulation and the housing of large public libraries. During his +exile (Oct. 3, 1433--Oct. 1, 1434) he built the Library of S. Giorgio +Maggiore at Venice, and after his return to Florence he formed three +separate collections of MSS. While the hall of the Library of S. Marco +was in process of construction, Niccolo de' Niccoli died, in 1437, +bequeathing his 800 MSS., valued at 6,000 golden florins, to sixteen +trustees. Among these were Cosimo and Lorenzo de' Medici, Ambrogio +Traversari, Lionardo Bruni, Carlo Marsuppini, Poggio Bracciolini, +Giannozzo Manetti, and Franco Sacchetti. At the same time the estate +of Niccolo was compromised by heavy debts. These debts Cosimo +cancelled, obtaining in exchange the right to dispose of the library. +In 1441 the hall of the convent was finished. Four hundred of +Niccolo's MSS. were placed there, with this inscription upon each: _Ex +hereditate doctissimi viri Nicolai de Nicolis de Florentiâ._ Tommaso +Parentucelli made a catalogue at Cosimo's request, in which he not +only noted the titles of Niccoli's books, but also marked the names of +others wanting to complete the collection. This catalogue afterwards +served as a guide to the founders of the libraries of Fiesole, Urbino, and +Pesaro, and was, says Vespasiano, indispensable to book-collectors.[140] +Of the remaining 400 volumes Cosimo kept some for his own (the +Medicean) library, and some he gave to friends. At the same time he +spared no pains in adding to the Marcian collection. His agents +received instructions to buy codices, while Vespasiano and Fra +Giuliano Lapaccini were employed in copying rare MSS. As soon as +Cosimo had finished building the Abbey of Fiesole, he set about +providing this also with a library suited to the wants of learned +ecclesiastics. Of the method he pursued, Vespasiano, who acted as his +agent, has transmitted the following account:[141]--'One day, when I +was in his room, he said to me, "What plan can you recommend for the +formation of this library?" I answered that to buy the books would be +impossible, since they could not be purchased. "What, then, do you +propose?" he added. I told him that they must be copied. He then asked +if I would undertake the business. I replied that I was willing. He +bade me begin at my leisure, saying that he left all to me; and for +the monies wanted day by day, he ordered that Don Arcangelo, at that +time prior of the monastery, should draw cheques upon his bank, which +should be honoured. After beginning the collection, since it was his +will that it should be finished with all speed possible, and money was +not lacking, I soon engaged forty-five copyists, and in twenty-two +months provided two hundred volumes, following the admirable list +furnished by Pope Nicholas V.' The two libraries thus formed by Cosimo +for the Convents of S. Marco and Fiesole, together with his own +private collections, constitute the oldest portion of the present +Laurentian Library. On the title-pages of many venerable MSS. may +still be read inscriptions, testifying to the munificence of the +Medici, and calling upon pious students to remember the souls of their +benefactors in their prayers[142]--_Orato itaque lector ut gloria et +divitiæ sint in domo ejus justitia ejus et maneat in sæculum sæculi._ + +[Footnote 140: See Vespasiano's _Life of Nicholas V._ p. 26.] + +[Footnote 141: _Vita di Cosimo_, p. 254.] + +[Footnote 142: See Von Reumont, vol. i. p. 578.] + +Cosimo's zeal for learning was not confined to the building of +libraries or to book-collecting. His palace formed the centre of a +literary and philosophical society, which united all the wits of +Florence and the visitors who crowded to the capital of culture. +Vespasiano expressly states that 'he was always the father and +benefactor of those who showed any excellence.'[143] Distinguished by +versatility of tastes and comprehensive intellect, he formed his own +opinion of the men of eminence with whom he came in contact, and +conversed with each upon his special subject. 'When giving audience to +a scholar, he discoursed concerning letters; in the company of +theologians he showed his acquaintance with theology, a branch of +learning always studied by him with delight. So also with regard to +philosophy. Astrologers found him well versed in their science, for he +somewhat lent faith to astrology and employed it on certain private +occasions. Musicians in like manner perceived his mastery of music, +wherein he much delighted. The same was true about sculpture and +painting; both of these arts he understood completely, and showed +great favour to all worthy craftsmen. In architecture he was a +consummate judge, for without his opinion and advice no building was +begun or carried to completion.'[144] + +[Footnote 143: _Vita di Cosimo_, p. 266.] + +[Footnote 144: Condensed from Vespasiano, p. 258.] + +The discernment of character, possessed by Cosimo in a very high +degree, not only enabled him to extend enlightened patronage to arts +and letters, but also to provide for the future needs of erudition. +Stimulated by the presence of the Greeks who crowded Florence during +the sitting of the Council in 1438, he formed a plan for encouraging +Hellenic studies. It was he who founded the Platonic Academy, and +educated Marsilio Ficino, the son of his physician, for the special +purpose of interpreting Greek philosophy. Ficino, in a letter to +Lorenzo de' Medici, observes that during twelve years he had +conversed with Cosimo on matters of philosophy, and always found him +as acute in reasoning as he was prudent and powerful in action. 'I owe +to Plato much, to Cosimo no less. He realised for me the virtues of +which Plato gave me the conception.' Thus the man whose political +cynicism is enshrined in such apophthegms as these:--'A few ells of +scarlet would fill Florence with citizens;' 'You cannot govern a State +with paternosters;' 'Better the city ruined than the city lost to +us'--must, by his relations to scholars and his enthusiasm for +culture, still command our admiration and respect. + +Among the friends of Cosimo, to whose personal influence at Florence +the Revival of Learning owed a vigorous impulse, Niccolo de' Niccoli +claims our earliest attention.[145] The part he took in promoting +Greek studies has been already noticed, and we have seen that his +private library formed the nucleus of the Marcian collection. Of the +eight hundred volumes bequeathed to his executors, the majority had +been transcribed by his own hand; for he was assiduous in this labour, +and plumed himself upon his skill in cursive as well as printed +character.[146] His whole fortune was expended long before his death +in buying manuscripts or procuring copies from a distance. 'If he +heard of any book in Greek or Latin not to be had in Florence, he +spared no cost in getting it; the number of the Latin books which +Florence owes entirely to his generosity cannot be reckoned.'[147] +Great, therefore, must have been the transports of delight with which +he welcomed on one occasion a manuscript containing seven tragedies +of Sophocles, six of Æschylus, and the 'Argonautica' of Apollonius +Rhodius.[148] Nor was he only eager in collecting for his own use. He +lent his books so freely that, at the moment of his death, two hundred +volumes were out on loan;[149] and, when it seemed that Boccaccio's +library would perish from neglect, at his own cost he provided +substantial wooden cases for it in the Convent of S. Spirito. We must +not, however, conclude that Niccolo was a mere copyist and collector. +On the contrary, he made a point of collating the several MSS. of an +author on whose text he was engaged, removed obvious errors, and +suggested emendations, helping thus to lay the foundations of modern +criticism. His judgment in matters of style was so highly valued that +it was usual for scholars to submit their essays to his eyes before +they ventured upon publication. Thus Lionardo Bruni sent him his 'Life +of Cicero,' calling him 'the censor of the Latin tongue.'[150] +Notwithstanding his fine sense of language, Niccolo never appeared +before the world of letters as an author. His enemies made the most of +this reluctance, averring that he knew his own ineptitude, while his +friends referred his silence to an exquisite fastidiousness of +taste.[151] It may have been that he remembered the Tacitean epigram +on Galba--_omnium consensu capax imperii nisi imperâsset_--and applied +it to himself. Certainly his reserve, in an age noteworthy for +arrogant display, has tended to confer on him distinction. The +position he occupied at Florence was that of a literary dictator. All +who needed his assistance and advice were received with urbanity. He +threw his house open to young men of parts, engaged in disputations +with the curious, and provided the ill-educated with teachers. +Foreigners from all parts of Italy and Europe paid him visits: 'the +strangers who came to Florence at that time, if they missed the +opportunity of seeing him at home, thought they had not been in +Florence.'[152] The house where he lived was worthy of his refined +taste and cultivated judgment; for he had formed a museum of +antiquities--inscriptions, marbles, coins, vases, and engraved gems. +There he not only received students and strangers, but conversed with +sculptors and painters, discussing their inventions as freely as he +criticised the essays of the scholars. It is probable that the +classicism of Brunelleschi and Donatello, both of whom were among his +intimate friends, may be due in part at least to his discourses on the +manner of the ancients.[153] Pliny, we know, was one of his favourite +authors; for, having heard that a complete codex of the 'Natural +Histories' existed at Lübeck, he left no stone unturned till it had +been transferred to Florence.[154] + +[Footnote 145: What follows I have based on Vespasiano's Life of +Niccolo. Poggio's Funeral Oration, and his letter to Carlo Aretino on +the death of his friend Niccolo, are to the same effect. _Poggii +Opera_, pp. 270, 342.] + +[Footnote 146: Vespasiano, p. 471. 'Le scriveva di sua mano o di +lettera corsiva o formata, che dell'una lettera e dell'altra era +bellissimo scrittore.'] + +[Footnote 147: _Ibid._ p. 473.] + +[Footnote 148: See a letter of Ambrogio Traversari, quoted by Voigt, +p. 155.] + +[Footnote 149: Vespasiano, p. 476. Poggio, p. 271.] + +[Footnote 150: Vespasiano, pp. 473, 478.] + +[Footnote 151: _Ibid._ p. 478. Poggio, p. 343.] + +[Footnote 152: Vespasiano, p. 477.] + +[Footnote 153: _Ibid._ p. 479.] + +[Footnote 154: _Ibid._ p. 474.] + +Vespasiano's account of his personal habits presents so vivid a +picture that I cannot refrain from translating it at length:--'First +of all, he was of a most fair presence; lively, for a smile was ever +on his lips; and very pleasant in his talk. He wore clothes of the +fairest crimson cloth, down to the ground. He never married, in order +that he might not be impeded in his studies. A housekeeper provided +for his daily needs. He was above all men the most cleanly in eating, +as also in all other things. When he sat at table, he ate from fair +antique vases; and, in like manner, all his table was covered with +porcelain and other vessels of great beauty. The cup from which he +drank was of crystal or of some other precious stone. To see him at +table--a perfect model of the men of old--was of a truth a charming +sight. He always willed that the napkins set before him should be of +the whitest, as well as all the linen. Some might wonder at the many +vases he possessed, to whom I answer that things of that sort were +neither so highly valued then, nor so much regarded, as they have +since become; and Niccolo having friends everywhere, anyone who wished +to do him a pleasure would send him marble statues, or antique vases, +carvings, inscriptions, pictures from the hands of distinguished +masters, and mosaic tablets. He had a most beautiful map, on which all +the parts and cities of the world were marked; others of Italy and +Spain, all painted. Florence could not show a house more full of +ornaments than his, or one that had in it a greater number of graceful +objects; so that all who went there found innumerable things of worth +to please varieties of taste.' What distinguished Niccolo was the +combination of refinement and humane breeding with open-handed +generosity and devotion to the cause of culture. He knew how to bring +forward men of promise, and to place them in positions of eminence. +Yet, in return for benefits conferred, he exacted more compliance than +could be expected from the haughty and unbending temper of +distinguished scholars. Opposition and contradiction roused his +jealousy and barbed his caustic speech with sarcasm. Chrysoloras and +Guarino, Aurispa and Filelfo, after visiting Florence at his +invitation, found the city unendurable through the opposition raised +by Niccolo against them. + +Among the men of ability who adorned Florence at this period, no one +stands forth with a more distinguished personality than Lionardo +Bruni. In his boyhood at Arezzo, where his parents occupied a humble +position, he used, as he tells us in his 'Commentaries,'[155] to gaze +on Petrarch's portrait, fervently desiring that he might win like +laurels in the field of scholarship. At first, however, being poor and +of no reputation, he was forced to apply his talents to the study of +the law. From these uncongenial labours the patronage of Salutato and +the influence of Chrysoloras[156] saved him. Having begun to write +for the public, his fame as a Latinist soon spread so wide that he was +appointed Apostolic Secretary to the Roman Curia. After sharing the +ill fortunes of John XXIII. at Constance, and serving under Martin V. +at Florence, he was appointed to the Chancery of the Republic in 1427, +a post which he occupied until his death in 1443. His biography, +therefore, illustrates all that has been said concerning the +employment of humanists in high offices of Church and State. His +diplomatic letters were regarded as models in that kind of +composition, and his public speeches, carefully prepared beforehand, +were compared with those of Pericles. Florence was crowded with the +copyists who multiplied his MSS., dispersing them all over Europe; and +when he walked abroad, a numerous train of scholars and of foreigners +attended him.[157] He moved with gravity and majesty of person, +wearing the red robes of a Florentine burgher, using few words, but +paying marked courtesy to men of wealth. Among the compositions which +secured his reputation should first be mentioned the Latin 'History of +Florence,' a work unique in its kind at that time in Italy.[158] The +grateful Republic rewarded their chancellor by bestowing upon him the +citizenship of Florence, and by exempting the author and his children +from taxation. The high value at which Bruni rated his own Latin +scholarship is proved by his daring to restore the second Decade of +Livy in a compilation entitled 'De Primo Bello Punico.' His mediæval +erudition was exercised in the history of the Gothic invasion of +Italy, while his more elegant style found ample scope in Latin Lives +of Cicero and Aristotle, in a book of Commentaries on his own times, +and in ten volumes of Collected Letters. These original works were +possibly of less importance than Bruni's translations from the Greek, +which passed in his own age for models of sound scholarship as well +as pure Latinity. The erudition of the fifteenth century had to thank +his industry for critical renderings of Aristotle's 'Ethics,' +'Politics,' and 'Economics.'[159] The 'Politics' were dedicated to the +Earl of Worcester, and the autograph was sent to England. Some delay +in the acknowledgment of so magnificent a tribute of respect caused +the haughty scholar to transfer the honour of his dedication to +Eugenius IV. He cancelled his first preface, substituted a new one, +and received the praise and thanks he sought, in plenty from his +Holiness.[160] Of Plato Bruni translated the 'Phædo,' 'Crito,' and +'Apology,' the 'Phædrus' and the 'Gorgias,' together with the +'Epistles.' To these versions must be added six Lives of Plutarch and +two Orations of Demosthenes. Nor have we thus by any means exhausted +the list of Bruni's Latin compositions, which included controversial +writings, invectives, moral essays, orations, and tracts on literary +or antiquarian topics. If we consider that, in the midst of these +severe labours, and under the pressure of his public engagements, he +still found time to compose Italian Lives of Dante and Petrarch, we +shall understand the admiration universally expressed by his +contemporaries for his comprehensive talents, and share their +gratitude for services so numerous in the cause of learning. When +Messer Lionardo died in 1443, the priors decreed him a public funeral, +'after the manner of the ancients.' His corpse was clothed in dark +silk, and on his breast was laid a copy of the Florentine History. +Thus attired, he passed in state to S. Croce, where Giannozzo Manetti, +in the presence of the Signory, the foreign ambassadors, and the Court +of Pope Eugenius, pronounced a funeral oration, and placed the laurel +crown upon his head.[161] The monument beneath which Messer +Lionardo's bones repose is an excellent specimen of Florentine +sepulchral statuary, executed by Bernardo Rossellino. + +[Footnote 155: Muratori, xix. p. 917. 'Erat in ipso cubiculo picta +Francisci Petrarchæ imago, quam ego quotidie aspiciens, incredibili +ardore studiorum ejus incendebar.'] + +[Footnote 156: See above, pp. 77, 80.] + +[Footnote 157: See Vespasiano, p. 436.] + +[Footnote 158: See Vol. I., _Age of Despots_, pp. 216-218.] + +[Footnote 159: These last were then thought genuine.] + +[Footnote 160: Vespasiano, p. 436.] + +[Footnote 161: _Ibid._ _Vita di Manetti_, p. 452. Manetti was himself +a prior at this time.] + +Facing Bruni's tomb in S. Croce is that of Carlo Aretino, wrought with +subtler art and in a richer style by Desiderio da Settignano. Messer +Carlo, who succeeded Bruni in the Chancery of the Republic, shared +during his lifetime, as well as in the public honours paid him at his +death, very similar fortunes. His family name was Marsuppini, and he +was born of a good family in Arezzo. Having come to Florence while a +youth to study Greek, he fell under the notice of Niccolo de' Niccoli, +who introduced him to the Medicean family, and procured him an +engagement at a high salary from the Uffiziali dello Studio. At the +time when he began to lecture, Eugenius was holding his Court at +Florence. The cardinals and nephews of the Pope, attended by foreign +ambassadors, and followed by the apostolic secretaries, mingled with +burghers of Florence and students from a distance round the desk of +the young scholar. Carlo's reading was known to be extensive, and his +memory was celebrated as prodigious. Yet on the occasion of this first +lecture he far surpassed all that was expected of him. 'Before a crowd +of learned men,' says Vespasiano, 'he gave a great proof of his +memory, for neither Greeks nor Romans had an author from whom he did +not quote.'[162] Filelfo, who was also lecturing in Florence at the +time, had the mortification of seeing the larger portion of his +audience transfer themselves to Marsuppini. This wound to his vanity +he never forgave. Through the influence of Lorenzo de' Medici +(Cosimo's younger brother), Carlo Marsuppini was first made Apostolic +Secretary, and then promoted to the Chancery of Florence. He was grave +in manner, taciturn in speech, and much given to melancholy. His +contemporaries regarded him as a man of no religion, and he was said +to have died without confession or communion.[163] This did not +prevent his being buried in S. Croce with ceremonies similar to those +decreed for Messer Lionardo. Matteo Palmieri pronounced the funeral +oration, and placed the laurel on his brows. Marsuppini's +contributions to scholarship were chiefly in verse; among these his +translations of the 'Batrachomyomachia' and the first book of the +'Iliad' were highly valued. + +[Footnote 162: _Vita di Carlo d'Arezzo_, p. 440.] + +[Footnote 163: See Tiraboschi, tom. vi. p. 1094.] + +Matteo Palmieri, who pronounced the funeral oration of Messer Carlo +Aretino, sprang from an honourable Florentine stock, and by his own +abilities rose to a station of considerable public influence. He is +principally famous as the author of a mystical poem called 'Città di +Vita,' which, though it was condemned for its heretical opinions, +obtained from Ficinus for its author the title of _Poeta Theologicus_. +To discuss the circumstances under which this allegory in the style of +Dante was composed, the secresy in which it was involved until the +poet's death, and the relation of Palmieri's views to heresies in +vogue at Florence, belongs to a future section of my work.[164] He +claims a passing notice here among the humanists who acquired high +place and honour by the credit of his eloquence and style. + +[Footnote 164: See Vespasiano, p. 500. Tiraboschi, vol. vi. p. 678. +App. iii. to vol. v. of this work.] + +Giannozzo Manetti belonged to an illustrious house, and in his youth, +like other well-born Florentines, was trained for mercantile +affairs.[165] At the age of five-and-twenty he threw off the parental +control, and gave himself entirely to letters. So obstinate was his +industry in the acquisition of knowledge, that he allowed himself only +five hours of sleep, and spent the rest of his life in study. During +nine whole years he never crossed the Arno, but remained within the +walls of his house and garden, which communicated with the Convent of +S. Spirito. Being passionately fond of disputation, he sought his +chief amusement there in the debating society founded by Marsigli. +Ambrogio Traversari was his master in Greek. Latin he had no +difficulty in acquiring, and soon gained such facility in its exercise +that even Lionardo Bruni is said to have envied his fluency. He was +not, however, contented with these languages, and in order to perfect +himself in Hebrew he kept a Jew in his own house.[166] When he had +acquired sufficient familiarity with Hebrew, he turned the arms +supplied him by his tutors against their heresies, basing his +arguments upon such interpretations of texts as his superior philology +suggested to him. The great work of his literary leisure was a +polemical discourse 'Contra Judæos et Gentes,' for, unlike Marsuppini, +he placed his erudition solely at the service of the Christian faith. +Another fruit of his Hebrew studies was a new translation of the +Psalms from the original. + +[Footnote 165: The sources for Manetti's Life are Vespasiano and an +anonymous Latin biography in Muratori. Besides the small Life of +Vespasiano in his _Vite d'Uomini Illustri_, I have had recourse to his +_Comentario della Vita di Gianozo Manetti_, Turin, 1862.] + +[Footnote 166: 'Tenne in casa dua Greci et uno Ebreo che s'era fatto +Cristiano, et non voleva che il Greco parlasse con lui se non in +greco, et il simile il Ebreo in ebreo.'--_Comentario_, p. 11.] + +Manetti was far from being a mere student. During the best years of +his life he was continually employed as ambassador to the Republic at +Venice, Naples, Rome, and other Courts of Italy. He administered the +government of Pescia, Pistoja, and Scarparia in times of great +difficulty, winning a singular reputation for probity and justice. On +all occasions of state his eloquence made him indispensable to the +Signory, while the lists of his writings include numerous speeches +upon varied topics addressed to potentates and princes throughout +Italy.[167] There is a curious story related in his Life, which +illustrates the importance attached at this time to public speaking. +After the coronation of the Emperor Frederick III., the Florentines +sent fifteen ambassadors, including Manetti, attended by the +Chancellor Carlo Aretino, to congratulate him. Manetti was a Colleague +of the Signory, and on him would therefore have naturally fallen the +fulfilment of the task, had not this honour been conferred, by private +machinations of the Medicean family, on Carlo. The Chancellor duly +delivered a prepared oration, which was answered by Æneas Sylvius in +the name of the Emperor. Some topics raised in this reply required +rejoinder from the Florentines; but Messer Carlo declared himself +unable to speak without previous study. To be forced to hold their +tongues before the Emperor and all his suite was a bitter humiliation +to the men of Florence. How could they return home and confess that +the rhetoric of their Chancellor had been silenced by a witty +secretary? In their sore distress they besought Manetti to help them; +whereupon he rose and delivered an extempore oration. 'When it was +finished,' says Vespasiano,[168] 'all competent judges who understood +Latin, and could follow it, declared that Messer Giannozzi's extempore +speech was superior to that which Messer Carlo had prepared.' + +[Footnote 167: 'Se ignuna cosa difficile o cura disperata, la davano a +Messer Gianozo.'--_Ibid._ p. 22.] + +[Footnote 168: _Vita di Gianozo Manetti_, p. 462. Compare Burckhardt, +p. 182. There is another story, told in the _Comentario_, of Manetti's +speaking before Alfonso at Naples. The King remained so quiet that he +did not even brush the flies from his face. P. 30.] + +The Latin Life of Manetti contains innumerable instances of the +miracles wrought by his rhetoric.[169] Yet we should err if we +imagined that the speeches pronounced upon solemn occasions, by even +such illustrious orators as Manetti or Pius II., were marked by any of +the nobler qualities of eloquence.[170] They consist of commonplaces +freely interspersed with historical examples and voluminous +quotations. Without charm, without originality, they survive as +monuments of the enthusiasm of that age for classic erudition, and of +the patience with which popes and princes lent their ears for two or +three hours at a stretch to the self-complacent mouthings of a pompous +pedant. + +[Footnote 169: Muratori, vol. xx.] + +[Footnote 170: For Pius II.'s reputation see Burckhardt, p. 182.] + +Giannozzo Manetti became at last so great a power in Florence that he +excited the jealousy of the Medicean party. They ruined him by the +imposition of extravagant taxes, and he was obliged to end his life an +exile from his native land.[171] Florence never behaved worse to a +more blameless citizen; for Manetti, by his cheerful acceptance of +public burdens, by his prudence in the discharge of weighty offices, +by the piety and sobriety of his private life, by his vast +acquirements, and by the single-hearted zeal with which he burned for +learning, had proved himself the model of such men as might have saved +the State, if safety had been possible. He retired to the Court of +Nicholas V., who had previously named him Apostolic Secretary; and on +the death of that Pope he sought a final refuge with Alfonso at +Naples.[172] There he devoted himself entirely to literature, +translating the whole of the New Testament and the ethical treatises +of Aristotle into Latin, and carrying his great controversial work +against the Jews and Gentiles onwards to completion. + +[Footnote 171: Vespasiano, p. 465. Muratori, xx. 600.] + +[Footnote 172: Alfonso gave him a pension of 900 scudi. He wrote a +history of his life and deeds.] + +Few men deserve a higher place on the muster-roll of Italian worthies +than Manetti. He was free from many vices of the Renaissance; his +piety and morality remaining untainted by the contact with antiquity. +Nor did he sink the citizen in the student. His learning was varied +and profound. Instead of applying himself to Greek and Latin +scholarship alone, he mastered Hebrew, and sought to acquire a +comprehensive grasp of all the knowledge of the ancient world. At the +same time he lived in constant sympathy with his age, sharing its +delight in rhetorical displays and wordy disputations, and furthering +the diffusion of knowledge by his toil as a translator. It may well be +wondered how it happens that a man in many points akin to Pico should +have fallen so far short of him in fame. The explanation lies in this: +Manetti was deficient in all that elevates mere learning to the rank +of art. His Latin style was tedious; his thoughts were commonplace. +When the influence of his voice and person passed away, nothing +remained to prove his eloquence but ill-digested facts and ill-applied +citations. Still the work which he effected in his day was good, and +the place he held was honourable. Posterity may be grateful to him as +one of the most active pioneers of modern culture. + +A man of different stamp and calling claims attention next. Ambrogio +Traversari was far from sharing the neopagan impulse of the classical +revival; yet he owed political influence and a high place among the +leaders of his age to humanistic enthusiasm. Born in Romagna, and +admitted while yet a child into the Convent degli Angeli at Florence, +he gave early signs of his capacity for literature. At a time when +knowledge of Greek was still a rare title to distinction,[173] +Ambrogio mastered the elements of the language and studied the Greek +Fathers in the original. His cell became the meeting-place of learned +men, where Cosimo and Lorenzo de' Medici, the stately Bruni and the +sombre Marsuppini, joined with caustic Niccoli and lively Poggio in +earnest conversation. His voluminous correspondence connected him with +students in all parts of Italy; nor was there any important discovery +of MSS. or plan for library or university in which he did not take his +part among the first. + +[Footnote 173: Niccolo de' Niccoli, it must be remembered, was not a +Grecian. Ambrogio used to insert the Greek words into his transcripts +of Latin codices.] + +It seemed as though he were destined to pursue a peaceful student's +life among his books; and for this career nature had marked out the +little, meagre, lively, and laborious man. To be eminent in +scholarship, however, and to avoid the burdens of celebrity, was +impossible in that age. Eugenius IV., while resident in Florence, was +so impressed with his literary eminence and strength of character that +he made him General of the Camaldolese Order in 1431; and from this +time forward Traversari's life was divided between public duties, for +which he was scarcely fitted, and private studies that absorbed his +deepest interests. He presented the curious spectacle of a monk +distracted between the scruples of the cloister and the wider claims +of humanism, who showed one mind to his Order and another to his +literary friends. He made a point of never citing heathen poets in his +writings, as though the verses of Homer or of Virgil were inconsistent +with the sobriety of a Christian; yet his anxiety to round his style +with Ciceronian phrases, and to bequeath models of pure Latinity in +his epistles to posterity, proved how much he valued literary graces. +Having vowed to consecrate his talents to the services of +ecclesiastical learning, he undertook the translation of Diogenes +Laertius, at Cosimo's request, with reluctance, and performed the task +with bitter self-bemoaning. In his person we witness the conflict of +the humanistic spirit with ecclesiastical tradition--a conflict in +which the former was destined to achieve a complete and memorable +victory. + +These men--Niccoli, Bruni, Marsuppini, Manetti, and Traversari--formed +the literary oligarchy who surrounded Cosimo de' Medici, and through +their industry and influence restored the studies of antiquity at +Florence. While they were carrying on the work of revival, each in his +own sphere, with impassioned energy, a combination of external +circumstances gave fresh impulse to their activity. Eugenius IV., +having been expelled from Rome in 1434, had fixed his headquarters in +Florence, whither in 1438 he transferred the Council which had first +been opened at Ferrara for negotiating the union of the Greek and +Latin Churches. The Emperor of the East, John Palæologus, surrounded +by his theologians and scribes, together with the Pope of Rome, on +whom a train of cardinals and secretaries attended, now took up their +quarters in the city of the Medici. A temporary building at Santa +Maria Novella was erected for the sessions of the Council, and for +several months Florence entertained as guests the chiefs of the two +great sections of Christendom. Unimportant as were the results, both +political and ecclesiastical, of this Council, the meeting of the +Eastern and the Western powers in conclave vividly impressed the +imagination of the Florentines, and communicated a more than transient +impulse to their intellectual energies. Italy was on the eve of +becoming not only the depositary of Greek learning, but also the sole +interpreter of the Greek spirit to the modern world. Fifteen years +after the closing of the Council, the thread which had connected +Byzantium with Athens through an unbroken series of historical +traditions, was snapped; already it was beginning to be felt in Europe +that nothing but the ghost of Greek culture survived upon the shores +of the Bosphorus, and that if the genius of antiquity was to +illuminate the modern world, the light must dawn in Italy.[174] + +[Footnote 174: See the emphatic words of Poliziano, quoted by Voigt, +p. 189, on the revival of extinct Hellenism by the Florentines, and on +their fluent command of the Attic idiom.] + +The feelings with which the Florentines regarded their Greek guests +were strangely mingled. While honouring them as the last scions of the +noblest nation of the past, as the authentic teachers of Hellenic +learning and the masters of the Attic tongue, they despised their +empty vanity, their facile apostasy, their trivial pedantry, their +personal absurdities. The long beards, trailing mantles, painted +eyebrows, and fantastic headgear of the Byzantine sophists moved the +laughter of the common folk, accustomed to the grave and simple +_lucco_ of their own burghers. In vain did Vespasiano tell them that +this costume descended from august antiquity through fifteen centuries +of unchanged fashion.[175] The more educated citizens, again, soon +discovered that the erudition of these strangers was but shallow, and +that their magnificent pretensions reduced themselves to the power of +speaking the emasculated Greek, which formed their mother tongue, with +fluency. The truth is that, however necessary the Byzantines were at +the very outset of the Revival of Learning, Greek studies owed less to +their traditional lore than to the curiosity of Italian scholars. The +beggarly elements of grammar, caligraphy, and bibliographical +knowledge were supplied by the Greeks; but it was not Chrysoloras +even, nor yet Argyropoulos, so much as Ficino and Aldo, Palla degli +Strozzi and Cosimo de' Medici, who opened the literature of Athens to +the comprehension of the modern world. + +[Footnote 175: See the curious passage in the _Vita di Eugenio IV., +Papa_, p. 14.] + +Some exceptions must be made to these remarks; for it is not certain +that, without guidance, the Florentines would have made that rapid +progress in philosophical studies which contrasts so singularly with +their comparative neglect of the Attic dramatists. Gemistos Plethon in +particular stands forth as a man who combined real knowledge with +natural eloquence, and who materially affected the whole course of the +Renaissance by directing the intelligence of the Florentines to Plato. +Inasmuch as Plethon's residence in Italy during the session of the +Council formed a decisive epoch in the Revival of Learning, to pass +him by without some detailed notice would be to omit one of the most +interesting episodes in the history of the fifteenth century. At the +same time, his biography so well illustrates the state of thought in +the Greek Empire at the moment of its fall, as well as the +speculations which interested philosophic intellects at that period +in Italy, that I trust the following digression will be judged +excusable. + +Georgios Gemistos was born of noble parents at Byzantium about the +year 1355.[176] During a long lifetime, chiefly spent in the Morea, he +witnessed all the miseries that racked his country through its +lingering agony of a hundred years, and died at last in 1450, just +before the final downfall of the Greek Empire. Of his early life +little is known beyond the fact that he left Constantinople as a young +man in order to study philosophy at Brusa. Brusa and Adrianopolis, at +that time the two Western seats of the Mahommedan power, out-rivalled +Byzantium in culture, while the mental vigour of the Mussulmans was +far in advance of that of their effete neighbours. The young Greek, +who seems already to have lost his faith in Christianity, was +attracted to the Moslem Court by Elissaios, a sage of Jewish birth. +From this teacher he learned what then passed for the doctrines of +Zoroaster. After quitting Brusa, Gemistos settled at Mistra in the +Peloponnese, upon the site of ancient Sparta, where with some +interruptions he continued to reside until his death. The Greek +Emperor was still nominally lord of the Morea, though the conquests of +Frankish Crusaders and the incursions of the Turks had rendered his +rule feeble. Gemistos, who enjoyed the confidence of the Imperial +House, was made a judge at Mistra, and thus obtained clear insight +into the causes of the decadence of the Hellenic race upon its ancient +soil. The picture he draws of the anarchy and immorality of the +peninsula is frightful. He also professed philosophy, and at the age +of thirty-three became a teacher of repute. The views he formed +concerning the corruption of the Greek Church and the degradation of +the Greek people, combined with his philosophical opinions, inspired +him with the visionary ambition of reforming the creed, the ethics, +and the political conditions of Hellas on a Pagan basis. There is +something ludicrous as well as sad in the spectacle of this sophist, +nourishing the vain fancy that he might coin a complete religious +system, which should supersede Christianity and restore vigour to the +decayed body of the Greek Empire. In the dotage of Hellenism Gemistos +discovered no new principle of vitality, but returned to the +speculative mysticism of the Neoplatonists. Their attempt at a Pagan +revival had failed long ago in Alexandria, while force still remained +to the Greek race, and while the Christian Church was still +comparatively ill-assured. To propose it as a panacea in the year 1400 +for the evils of the Empire threatened by the Turks was mere +childishness. Perhaps it is doing the sage injustice to treat his +system seriously. Charity prompts us to regard it as a plaything +invented for the amusement of his leisure hours. Yet nothing can be +graver than his own language and that of his disciples. + +[Footnote 176: I owe the greater part of the facts presented in this +sketch of Gemistos to Fritz Schultze's _Geschichte der Philosophie der +Renaissance_, vol. i.] + +The work in which he embodied his doctrine was called 'The +Laws'--[Greek: hê tôn nomôn syngraphê], or simply [Greek: nomoi]. It +comprised a metaphysical system, the outlines of a new religion, an +elaborate psychology and theory of ethics, and a scheme of political +administration. According to his notions, there is one Supreme God, +Zeus, the absolute and eternal reality, existing as homogeneous and +undiscriminated Being, Will, Activity, and Power. Zeus begets +everlasting Ideas, or Gods of the second order; and these gods, to +whom Gemistos gave the name of Greek divinities, constitute a +hierarchy corresponding to the abstract notions of his logic. With the +object of harmonising the double series of immortal and mortal +existences they are subdivided, by a singularly clumsy contrivance, +into genuine and spurious children of Zeus. First among the genuine +sons stands Poseidon, the idea of ideas, the logical _summum genus_, +who includes within himself the intellectual universe potentially. +Next in rank is Hera, the female deity, created immediately by Zeus, +but by a second act, and therefore inferior to Poseidon. These two are +the primordial authors of the world as it exists. After them come +three series, each of five deities, whereof the first set, including +Apollo, Artemis, Hephæstus, Dionysus, and Athena, represent the most +general categories. The second set, among whom we find Atlas and +Pluto, are the ideas of immortal substance existing for ever in the +world of living beings. The third, which reckons among others Hecate +and Hestia, are the ideas of immortal substance existing for ever in +the inanimate world. Next in the descending order come the spurious +offspring of Zeus, or Titans, two of whom, Cronos and Aphrodite, are +the ideas respectively of form and matter in things subject to decay +and dissolution; while Koré, Pan, and Demeter are the specific ideas +of men, beasts, and plants. Hitherto we have been recording the +genealogy of divine beings subject to no laws of time or change, who +are, in fact, pure thoughts or logical entities. We arrive in the last +place at deities of the third degree, the genuine and the spurious +children, no longer of Zeus, but of Poseidon, chieftain of the second +order of the hierarchy. The planets and the fixed stars constitute the +higher of these inferior powers, while the dæmons fill the lowest +class of all. At the very bottom of the scale, below the gods of every +quality, stand men, beasts, plants, and the inorganic world. + +It will be perceived that this scheme is bastard Neoplatonism--a +mystical fusion of Greek mythology and Greek logic, whereby the +products of speculative analysis are hypostasised as divine persons. +Of many difficulties patent in his doctrine Gemistos offered no +solution. How, for example, can we ascribe to Zeus the procreation of +spurious as well as genuine offspring? It is possible that the +philosopher, if questioned on such topics, would have fallen back on +the convenient theory of progressively diminished efficacy in the +creative act; for though he guards against adopting the hypothesis of +emanation, it is clear, from the simile of multiplied reflections in a +series of mirrors, which he uses to explain the genealogy of gods, +that some such conception modified his views. To point out the insults +offered to the ancient myths, whereof he made such liberal and +arbitrary use, or to insist upon the folly of the whole conceit, +considered as the substance of a creed which should regenerate the +world, would be superfluous; nothing can be more grotesque, for +instance, than the personification of identity and self-determining +motion under the titles of Apollo and Dionysus, nor any confusion more +fatal than the attribution of sex to categories of the understanding. +The sole merit of the system consists in the classification of +notions, the conception of an intellectual hierarchy, descending by +interdependent stages from the primordial cause through pure ideas to +their copies and material manifestations in the world of things. +Dreams of this kind have always haunted the metaphysical imagination, +giving rise to hybrids between poetry and logic; and the system of +Gemistos may fairly take rank among a hundred similar attempts between +the days of Plato and of Hegel. + +Such as it was, his metaphysic supplied Gemistos with the basis of a +cult, a psychology, a theory of ethics, and a political programme. He +founded a sect, and was called by his esoteric followers 'the +mystagogue of sublime and celestial dogmas.'[177] They believed that +the soul of Plato had been reincarnated in their master, and that the +new creed, professed by him, would supersede the faiths existing in +the world. Among the most distinguished of these neophytes was the +famous Bessarion, who adopted so much at any rate of his teacher's +doctrine as rendered him indifferent to the points at issue between +the Greek and Latin Churches, when a cardinal's hat was offered as the +price of his apostasy. Bessarion, however, was too much a man of the +world to dream that Gemistos would triumph over Christ and +Mahomet.[178] While using the language of the mystic, and recording +his conviction that Plato's soul, released from the body of Gemistos, +had joined the choir of the Olympian deities,[179] it is probable that +he was only playing, after the fashion of his age, with speculations +that amused his fancy though they took no serious hold upon his life. +It was a period, we must remember, when scholars affected the manners +of the antique world, Latinised their names, and adopted fantastic +titles in their academies and learned clubs. At no time of the world's +history has this kind of masquerading attained to so much earnestness +of rather more than half-belief. The attitude assumed by Gemistos and +his disciples is, therefore, not without its value for illustrating +the intellectual conditions of the earlier Renaissance. Practical +religion had but little energy among the educated classes. The +interests of the Church were more political than spiritual. Science +had not yet asserted her real rights in any sphere of thought. Art and +literature, invigorated by the passion for antiquity, meanwhile +absorbed the genius of the Italians; and through a dim æsthetic haze +the waning lights of Hellas mingled with the dayspring of the modern +world. + +[Footnote 177: See Schultze, p. 53.] + +[Footnote 178: See Schultze, p. 77, note.] + +[Footnote 179: _Ibid._ p. 107.] + +The most important event of Gemistos's life was the journey which he +took to Italy in the train of John Palæologus in 1438. Secretly +disliking Christianity in general, and the Latin form of it in +particular, he had endeavoured to dissuade the emperor from attending +the Council. Now he found himself elected as one of the six champions +of the cause of the Greek Church. For the subtle Greek intellect in +that dotage of a doomed civilisation, no greater interest survived +than could be found in dialectic; and to dispute about the _filioque_ +of the Christian creed was fair sport, when no chance offered itself +of forcing rationalistic Paganism down the throat of popes and +cardinals. Therefore it is probable that Gemistos did not find his +position at the Council peculiarly irksome, even though he had to +listen to reasonings about purgatory and the procession of the Holy +Ghost, and to suggest arguments in favour of the Eastern dogma, while +in his inmost soul he equally despised the combatants on either side. + +The effect he produced outside the Council was far more flattering +than the part he had to play within the walls of Santa Maria Novella. +Instead of power-loving ecclesiastics and pig-headed theologians, +anxious only to extend their privileges and establish their supremacy, +he found a multitude of sympathetic and enthusiastic listeners. The +Florentines were just then in the first flush of their passion for +Greek study. Plato, worshipped as an unknown god, whose rising would +dispel the mists of scholastic theology, was upon the lips of every +student. Men were thirsting for the philosophy that had the charm of +poetry, that delighted the imagination while it fortified the +understanding, and that lent its glamour to the dreams and yearnings +of a youthful age. What they wanted, Gemistos possessed in abundance. +From the treasures of a memory stored with Platonic, Pythagorean, and +Alexandrian mysticism he poured forth copious streams of +indiscriminate erudition. The ears of his audience were open; their +intellects were far from critical. They accepted the gold and dross of +his discourse alike as purest metal. Hanging upon the lips of the +eloquent, grave, beautiful old man, who knew so much that they desired +to learn, they called him Socrates and Plato in their ecstasy. It was +during this visit to Florence that he adopted the name of Plethon, +which, while it played upon Gemistos, had in it the ring of his great +master's surname.[180] The devotion of his Greek disciples bore no +comparison with the popularity he acquired among Italians; and he had +the satisfaction of being sure that the seed of Platonic philosophy +sown by him would spring up in the rich soil of those powerful and +eager minds. Cosimo de' Medici, convinced of the importance of +Platonic studies by his conversations with Gemistos, founded the +famous Florentine Academy, and designated the young Marsilio Ficino +for the special task of translating and explaining the Platonic +writings.[181] When we call to mind the influence which the Platonic +Academy of Florence, through Ficino and Pico della Mirandola, exerted +over the whole thought of Italy, and, through Reuchlin and his pupil +Melanchthon, over that of Germany, we are able to estimate the impulse +given by Gemistos to the movement of the fifteenth century. It may be +added that Platonic studies in Italy never recovered from the impress +of Neoplatonic mysticism which proceeded from his mind. + +[Footnote 180: [Greek: Gemistos] and [Greek: gemizô], [Greek: Plêthôn] +and [Greek: plêthô]. Both mean to be full. Plato, however, is said to +have been called [Greek: Platôn], because of his broad shoulders or +his breadth of eloquence.] + +[Footnote 181: See the translation of Plotinus by Ficino, quoted by +Schultze, p. 76: 'Magnus Cosmus, Senatûs consulto patriæ pater, quo +tempore concilium inter Græcos atque Latinos sub Eugenio pontifice +Florentiæ tractabatur, philosophum Græcum nomine Gemistum, cognomine +Plethonem quasi Platonem alterum, de mysteriis Platonicis disputantem +frequenter audivit. E cujus ore ferventi sic afflatus est protinus, +sic animatus, ut inde Academiam quandam altâ mente conceperit, hanc +opportuno primum tempore pariturus.'] + +While resident in Florence he published two treatises on Fate and on +the differences between Plato and Aristotle. The former was an +anti-Christian work, in so far as it denied the freedom of arbitrary +activity to God as well as men. The latter raised a controversy in +Italy and Greece, which long survived its author, exercising the +scholars of the Renaissance to some purpose on the texts and doctrines +of the chief great thinkers of antiquity. Gemistos attacked Aristotle +in general for atheism and irreligious morality, while he proved that +the Platonic system, as interpreted by him, was deeply theological. +Without entering into the details of a dispute that continued to rage +for many years, and aroused the bitterest feelings on both sides, it +is enough to observe that Aristotle had for centuries been regarded as +the pillar of orthodoxy in the Latin Church, while Plato supplied +eclectic thinkers with a fair cloak for rationalistic speculations and +theistic heresies. The opponents of Aristotle were undermining the +foundations of the time-honoured scholastic fabric. The opponents of +Plato accused his votaries of drowning the Christianity they pretended +to maintain, in a vague ocean of heretical mysticism. It is indeed +difficult to understand how Ficino, who worshipped Plato no less +fervently than Christ, could avoid reducing Christianity to the level +of Paganism, while he attempted to demonstrate that the Platonic +system contained the essence of the Christian faith. This was, in +fact, nothing less than abandoning the exclusive pretensions of +revealed religion and the authority of the Church. + +Before the year 1441 Gemistos had returned to Mistra, where he +continued to exercise his magistracy. His old age was embittered by +the fierce attacks directed by Gennadios,[182] afterwards Patriarch of +Constantinople, against the esoteric doctrines of the [Greek: Nomoi]. +Gennadios accused him roundly of Paganism, continuing his polemic +against the book long after the death of its author. That event +happened in 1450. Gemistos was buried at Mistra; but five years later +Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, moved by ardent love of learning and by +veneration for the philosopher, exhumed his bones, and transferred +them to the Church of S. Francesco at Rimini, which Leo Alberti had +but recently built for him.[183] + +[Footnote 182: Schultze, p. 92. His secular name was Georgios +Scholarios.] + +[Footnote 183: See Vol. I., _Age of the Despots_, pp. 134, 135, and +_Sketches in Italy and Greece_, article 'Rimini.'] + +Of Bessarion I shall have to speak elsewhere; but, in order to +complete the review of Greek studies in Florence at this epoch, +mention must now be made of two Greeks who filled the chair of the +University with distinguished success. + +That John Argyropoulos, a native of Byzantium, visited Italy before +the fall of the Greek Empire, appears from Vespasiano's account of his +residence with Palla Strozzi at Padua during the first years of his +exile.[184] In 1456 Cosimo called him to Florence, secured him good +appointments from the _studio pubblico_, and installed him as public +and private teacher of Greek language and philosophy. Argyropoulos +laboured at Florence for a space of fifteen years, counting the most +distinguished citizens among his pupils. From Florence he removed to +Rome, where Reuchlin heard him lecture upon Thucydides in the +pontificate of Sixtus IV. Reuchlin's scholarship, if we may trust +Melanchthon, was rated at so high a value by this master that, on his +departure from Rome, he exclaimed, 'Now hath Greece flown beyond the +Alps!' A more commanding personage than Argyropoulos was Georgios +Trapezuntios, who came to Italy as early as 1420, and professed Greek +at Venice, Florence, Rome, and other cities. His temper was proud, +choleric, and quarrelsome; but the history of his disputes belongs to +the next chapter, which will treat of Rome. I may here mention that, +during the residence of the Papal Court at Florence, he gave +instruction both public and private,[185] without, however, entering +into intimacy with the Medicean circle. After Manuel Chrysoloras, it +can be said with certainty that the revival of Hellenism in the +fifteenth century at Florence was due to the three men of whom I have +been speaking--Georgios Gemistos, Joannes Argyropoulos, and Georgios +Trapezuntios. Of the labours of the last in Rome, as well as of +Theodoros Gaza, Demetrius Chalcondylas, Andronicus Callistus and the +Lascari, is not yet time to speak in detail. Each deserves a separate +commemoration, since to their joint activity in teaching, Europe owes +Greek scholarship.[186] + +[Footnote 184: _Vita di Palla di Noferi Strozzi_, p. 284.] + +[Footnote 185: See Vespasiano, p. 486.] + +[Footnote 186: See long lists in Tiraboschi, vol. vi. pp. 812, +822-837, of foreign and Italian Grecians.] + +Before passing from Florence to Rome, which at this time formed the +second centre of Italian humanism, something should be said about the +state of learning in the other republics. The causes that decided the +pre-eminence of Florence have been already touched upon. It is enough +to observe here that, while the Universities of Bologna, Siena, and +Perugia engaged professors of eloquence at high salaries, the literary +enthusiasm of those cities was in no way comparable to that of +Florence. Their culture depended on the illustrious visitors who fixed +their residence from time to time within their walls. Genoa remained +almost dead to learning. At Venice the study of the classics engaged +the attention of a few nobles, without permeating the upper classes or +giving a decided tone to society at large. Though the illustrious +Greek refugees made it their custom to halt for a season at Venice, +while nearly all Italian teachers of note lectured there on short +engagements, it is none the less true that the Venetians were backward +to encourage literature. They opened no public libraries, made no +efforts to retain the services of scholars for the State, and regarded +the pretensions of the humanists with cold contempt. In letters, as in +the fine arts, Venice waited till the rest of Italy had blossomed. +Bembo succeeded to Poliziano, as Titian to Raphael. Much good, +however, was done by men like the Giustiniani and Paolo Zane, who +furnished young students with the means of visiting Constantinople, +and who provided them with professorial chairs on their return. The +_gentiluomini_ could also count among their number Francesco Barbaro, +no less distinguished by his knowledge of both learned languages than +by the correspondence he maintained with all the scholars of his time. +While yet a young man, he had imbibed the Florentine spirit in the +house of Cosimo de' Medici. On his return to Venice he studied under +the best masters, and soon attained such excellence of style that +Poggio compared his treatise on marriage to the 'De Officiis' of +Cicero. The Republic of Venice, however, demanded more of patriotic +service from her high-born citizens than the commonwealth of Florence; +and Barbaro had to spend his life in the discharge of grave State +duties, finding little leisure for the cultivation of his literary +talents. It remained for him to win the fame of a Mæcenas, who, had he +chosen, might have disputed laurels with the ablest of the scholars he +protected. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +SECOND PERIOD OF HUMANISM + + Transition from Florence to Rome -- Vicissitudes of Learning + at the Papal Court -- Diplomatic Humanists -- Protonotaries + -- Apostolic Scribes -- Ecclesiastical Sophists -- + Immorality and Artificiality of Scholarship in Rome -- + Poggio and Bruni, Secretaries -- Eugenius IV. -- His + Patronage of Scholars -- Flavio Biondo -- Solid Erudition -- + Nicholas V. -- His Private History -- Nature of his Talents + -- His unexpected Elevation to the Roman See -- Jubilation + of the Humanists -- His Protection of Learned Men in Rome -- + A Workshop of Erudition -- A Factory of Translations -- High + Sums paid for Literary Labour -- Poggio Fiorentino -- His + Early Life -- His Journeys -- His Eminence as a Man of + Letters -- His Attitude toward Ecclesiastics -- His + Invectives -- Humanistic Gladiators -- Poggio and Filelfo -- + Poggio and Guarino -- Poggio and Valla -- Poggio and Perotti + -- Poggio and Georgius Trapezuntios -- Literary Scandals -- + Poggio's Collections of Antiquities -- Chancellor of + Florence -- Cardinal Bessarion -- His Library -- Theological + Studies -- Apology for Plato -- The Greeks in Italy -- + Humanism at Naples -- Want of Culture in Southern Italy -- + Learning an Exotic -- Alfonso the Magnificent -- Scholars in + the Camp -- Literary Dialogues at Naples -- Antonio + Beccadelli -- 'The Hermaphroditus' -- Lorenzo Valla -- The + Epicurean -- The Critic -- The Opponent of the Church -- + Bartolommeo Fazio -- Giannantonio Porcello -- Court of Milan + -- Filippo Maria Visconti -- Decembrio's Description of his + Master -- Francesco Filelfo -- His Early Life -- Visit to + Constantinople -- Place at Court -- Marriage -- Return to + Italy -- Venice -- Bologna -- His Pretensions as a Professor + -- Florence -- Feuds with the Florentines -- Immersion in + Politics -- Siena -- Settles at Milan -- His Fame -- Private + Life and Public Interests -- Overtures to Rome -- Filelfo + under the Sforza Tyranny -- Literary Brigandage -- Death at + Florence -- Filelfo as the Representative of a Class -- + Vittorino da Feltre -- Early Education -- Scheme of Training + Youths as Scholars -- Residence at Padua -- Residence at + Mantua -- His School of Princes -- Liberality to Poor + Students -- Details of his Life and System -- Court of + Ferrara -- Guarino da Verona -- House Tutor of Lionello + d'Este -- Giovanni Aurispa -- Smaller Courts -- Carpi -- + Mirandola -- Rimini and the Malatesta Tyrants -- Cesena -- + Pesaro -- Urbino and Duke Frederick -- Vespasiano da + Bisticci. + + +In passing from Florence to Rome, we are struck with the fact that +neither in letters nor in art had the Papal city any real life of her +own. Her intellectual enthusiasms were imported; her activity varied +with the personal interests of successive Popes. Stimulated by the +munificence of one Holy Father, starved by the niggardliness of +another; petted and caressed by Nicholas V., watched with jealous +mistrust by Paul II.; thrust into the background by Alexander, and +brought into the light by Leo--learning was subjected to rude +vicissitudes at Rome. Very few of the scholars who shed lustre on the +reigns of liberal Pontiffs were Romans, nor did the nobles of the +Papal States affect the fame of patrons. We have, therefore, in +dealing with humanism at Rome, to bear in mind that it flourished +fitfully, precariously, as an exotic, its growth being alternately +checked and encouraged at the pleasure of the priest in office. + +In spite of these variable conditions, one class of humanists never +failed at Rome. During the period of schisms and councils, when Pope +and Antipope were waging wordy warfare in the Courts of congregated +Christendom, it was impossible to dispense with the services of +practised writers and accomplished orators. As composers of diplomatic +despatches, letters, bulls, and protocols; as disseminators of squibs +and invectives; as redactors of state papers; as pleaders, legates, +ambassadors, and private secretaries--scholars swarmed around the +person of the Pontiff. Their official titles varied, some being called +Secretaries to the Chancery, others Apostolic Scriptors, others again +Protonotaries; while their duties were divided between the regular +business of the Curia and the miscellaneous transactions that arose +from special emergencies of the Papal See. Their services were well +rewarded. In addition to about 700 florins of pay and perquisites, +they, for the most part, entered into minor orders and held benefices. +Men of acute intellect and finished style, who had absorbed the +culture of their age, and could by rhetoric enforce what arguments +they chose to wield, found, therefore, a good market for their talents +at the Court of Rome. They soon became a separate and influential +class, divided from the nobility by their birth and foreign +connections, and from the churchmen by their secular status and avowed +impiety, yet mingling in society with both and trusting to their +talents to support their dignity. At the Council of Basle the +protonotaries even claimed to take precedence of the bishops on +occasions of high ceremony, arguing, from the nature of their office +and the rarity of their acquirements, that they had a better right +than priests to approach the person of the Sovereign Pontiff. Poggio +and Bruni, Losco, Aurispa, and Biondo raised their voices in this +quarrel, which proved how indispensable the mundane needs of the +Papacy had rendered these free-lances of literature. Through them the +spirit of humanism, antagonistic to the spirit of the Church, +possessed itself of the Eternal City; and much of the flagrant +immorality which marked Rome during the Renaissance may be ascribed to +the influence of paganising scholars, freed from the restrictions of +family and local opinion, indifferent to religion, and less absorbed +in study for its own sake than in the profits to be gained by the +exercise of a practised pen. There was a real discord between the +principles which the Church professed, and the new culture that +flourished on a heathen soil. While merely secular interests blinded +the Popes to the perils which might spring from fostering this +discord, humanistic enthusiasm had so thoroughly penetrated Italy that +to exclude it from Rome was impossible. Neopagan scholarship added, +therefore, lustre to the Papal Court, as one among the many splendours +of that worldly period which raised the See of Rome to eminence above +the States of Italy. The light it shed, however, had no vital heat. +Learning was always an article of artificial luxury at Rome, not, as +at Florence, part of the nation's life; and when the gilded pomp of +Leo dwindled down to Clement's abject misery and utter ruin, it was +found that such encouragement as Popes had given to literature had +been a source of weakness and decay. We may still be sincerely +thankful that the Pontiffs took the line they did; for had they placed +themselves in a position of antagonism to the humanistic movement, +instead of utilising and approving of it, the free development of +Italian scholarship might have sustained a dangerous check. + +It was from Florence that Rome received her intellectual stimulus. The +connection began in 1402, when Boniface IX. appointed Poggio to the +post of Apostolic Secretary, which he held for fifty years. In 1405 +Lionardo Bruni obtained the same office from Innocent VII. The +powerful personality of these men, in whom the energies of the +humanistic revival were concentrated, impressed the Roman Curia with a +stamp it never lost. Good Latinity became a _sine qua non_ in the +Papal Chancery; and when Gregory XII. named Antonio Losco of Verona +one of his secretaries, it was natural that this distinguished +scholar, following the Florentine example of Coluccio Salutato, should +compose a book of forms in Ciceronian style for the use of his +office.[187] During the insignificant pontificate of Martin V., while +the Curia resided in exile at Florence, the chain which was binding +Rome to the city of Italian culture continued to gain strength. The +result of all the discords which rent the Church in the first half of +the fifteenth century was to Italianise the Papal See; nor did +anything contribute to this end more powerfully than the Florentine +traditions of three successive Popes--Martin V., Eugenius IV., and +Nicholas V. + +[Footnote 187: See Facius, _De Viris Illustribus_, p. 3, quoted by +Voigt, p. 278.] + +Eugenius was a Venetian of good family, who inherited considerable +wealth from his father. Having realised his fortune, he bestowed +20,000 ducats on charitable institutions and took orders in the +Church.[188] In 1431 he was raised to the Papacy; but the disturbed +state of Rome obliged him to quit the Vatican in mean disguise, and to +seek safety by flight from Ostia. He spent the greater portion of his +life in Tuscany, occupied less with humanistic interests than with the +reformation of monastic orders and the conduct of ecclesiastical +affairs in the Councils of Basle and Florence. Though he did not share +the passion of his age for learning, the patronage which he extended +to scholars was substantial and important. Giovanni Aurispa received +from him the title of Apostolic Secretary, and was appointed +interpreter between the Greeks and Italians at the Council of the two +Churches. Even the paganising Carlo Marsuppini was enrolled upon the +list of Papal secretaries, while Filelfo and Piero Candido Decembrio, +who added lustre at this epoch to the Court of Milan, were invited by +Eugenius with highly flattering promises. The value of these meagre +statements consists in this, that even a Pope, whose personal +proclivities were monastic rather than humanistic, felt the necessity +of borrowing all the strength he could obtain from men of letters in +an age when learning itself was power. More closely attached to his +Court than those who have been mentioned, were Maffeo Begio, the poet, +and Flavio Biondo, one of the soundest and most conscientious students +of the time.[189] + +[Footnote 188: See Vespasiano, p. 6.] + +[Footnote 189: He was born at Forli in 1388, and died in 1463, the +father of five sons.] + +Though Biondo had but little Greek, and could boast of no beauty of +style, his immense erudition raised him to high rank among Italian +scholars. The work he undertook was to illustrate the antiquities of +Italy in a series of historical, topographical, and archæological +studies. His 'Roma Instaurata,' 'Roma Triumphans,' and 'Italia +Illustrata,' three bulky encyclopædias of information concerning +ancient manners, laws, sites, monuments, and races, may justly be said +to have formed the basis of all subsequent dictionaries of Roman +antiquities. Another product of his industry was entitled 'Historiarum +ab Inclinatione Romanorum.' Three decades and a portion of the fourth +were written, when death put a stop to the completion of this gigantic +task. In estimating the value of Biondo's contributions to history, we +must remember that he had no previous compilations whereon to base his +own researches. The vast stores of knowledge he collected and digested +were derived from original sources. He grasped the whole of Latin +literature, both classical and mediæval, arranged the results of his +comprehensive reading into sections, and furnished the learned world +with tabulated materials for the study of Roman institutions in the +State, the camp, the law courts, private life, and religious +ceremonial. Obstinate indeed must have been the industry of the +scholar, who, in addition to these classical researches, undertook to +narrate the dissolution of antique society and to present a faithful +picture of Italy in the dark ages. Biondo's 'History of the Decline +and Fall of the Roman Empire,' conceived in an age devoted to +stylistic niceties and absorbed by the attractions of renascent +Hellenism, inspires our strongest admiration. Yet its author failed in +his lifetime to win the distinction he deserved. Though he held the +office of Apostolic Secretary under four Popes, his marriage stopped +the way to ecclesiastical preferment, while his incapacity to use the +arts of the stylist, the sophist, the flatterer, and the translator, +lost him the favour his more solid qualities had at first procured. +Eugenius could appreciate a man of his stamp better than Nicholas V., +whose special tastes inclined to elegant humanism rather than to +ponderous erudition. + +The lives of all the humanists illustrate the honours and the wealth +secured by learning for her votaries in the Renaissance. No example, +however, is so striking as that furnished by the biography of Nicholas +V. Tommaso Parentucelli was born at Pisa in 1398. While he was still +an infant his parents, in spite of their poverty and humble station, +which might have been expected to shield them from political tyranny, +were exiled to Sarzana;[190] and at the age of nine he lost his father +at that place. Sarzana has consequently gained the credit of giving +birth to the first great Pope of the Renaissance period. The young +Tommaso found means, though extremely poor, to visit the University of +Bologna, where he studied theology and made himself a master in the +seven liberal arts. After six years' residence at Bologna, his total +destitution, combined, perhaps, with a desire for more instruction in +elegant scholarship than the university afforded, led him to seek work +in Florence. He must have already acquired some reputation, since +Rinaldo degli Albizzi received him as house-tutor to his children for +one year, at the expiration of which time he entered the service of +Palla degli Strozzi in a similar capacity. The money thus obtained +enabled him to return to Bologna, and to take his degree as Doctor of +Theology at the age of twenty-two. He was now fully launched in life. +The education he had received at Bologna qualified him for office in +the church, while his two years' residence at Florence had rendered +him familiar with men of polite learning and of gentle breeding. +Niccolo degli Albergati, Archbishop of Bologna, became his patron, and +appointed him controller of his household. Albergati was one of the +cardinals of Eugenius IV., a man of considerable capacity, and alive +to the intellectual interests of his age. When he followed the Papal +Court to Florence, Tommaso attended him, and here began the period +which was destined to influence his subsequent career. Inspired with +a passionate devotion to books for their own sake, and gifted with +ardent curiosity and all-embracing receptivity of intellect, the young +scholar found himself plunged into a society of which literature +formed the most absorbing occupation. He soon became familiar with +Cosimo de' Medici, and no meetings of the learned were complete +without him. A glimpse may be obtained of the literary circle he +frequented at this time from a picturesque passage in Vespasiano.[191] +'It was the wont of Messer Lionardo d'Arezzo, Messer Giannozzo +Manetti, Messer Poggio, Messer Carlo d'Arezzo, Messer Giovanni +Aurispa, Maestro Gasparo da Bologna, and many other men of learning to +congregate every morning and evening at the side of the Palazzo, where +they entered into discussions and disputes on various subjects. As +soon, then, as Maestro Tommaso had attended the Cardinal to the +Palazzo, he joined them, mounted on a mule, with two servants on foot; +and generally he was attired in blue, and his servants in long dresses +of a darker colour. At that time the pomp of the Court of Rome was not +by any means what it is nowadays. In the place I have named he was +always to be found, conversing and disputing, since he was a most +impassioned debater.' + +[Footnote 190: So Vespasiano relates the cause of their removal from +Pisa. P. 20.] + +[Footnote 191: P. 23.] + +Tommaso was not a man of genius; his talents were better suited for +collecting and digesting what he read, than for original research and +composition. He had a vast memory, and was an indefatigable student, +not only perusing but annotating all the books he purchased. Pius II. +used to say of him that what he did not know, must lie outside the +sphere of human knowledge. In speech he was fluent, and in disputation +eager; but he never ranked among the ornate orators and stylists of +the age. His wide acquaintance with all branches of literature, and +his faculty for classification, rendered him useful to Cosimo de' +Medici, who employed him on the catalogue of the Marcian Library. +From Cosimo in return, Tommaso caught the spirit which sustained him +in his coming days of greatness. Already, at this early period, while +living almost on the bounty of the Medici, he never lost an +opportunity of accumulating books, and would even borrow money to +secure a precious MS.[192] He used to say that, if ever he acquired +wealth, he would expend it in book-buying and building--a resolution +to which he adhered when he rose to the Pontificate. + +[Footnote 192: Vespasiano, p. 27.] + +Soon after the death of Albergati in 1443, Eugenius promoted Tommaso +to the see of Bologna; a cardinal's hat followed within a few months; +and in 1447 he was elected Pope of Rome. So sudden an elevation from +obscurity and poverty to the highest place in Christendom has rarely +happened; nor is it even now easy to understand what combinations of +unsuccessful intrigues among the princes of the Church enabled this +little, ugly, bright-eyed, restless-minded scholar to creep into S. +Peter's seat. Perhaps the simplest explanation is the best. The times +were somewhat adverse to the Papacy, nor was the tiara quite as much +an object of secular ambition as it afterwards became. Humanism +meanwhile exercised strong fascination over every class in Italy, and +it would seem that Tommaso Parentucelli had nothing but his reputation +for learning to thank for his advancement. 'Who in Florence would have +thought that a poor bell-ringer of a priest would be made Pope, to the +confusion of the proud?' This was his own complacent exclamation to +Vespasiano, who had gone to kiss his old friend's feet, and found him +seated on a throne with twenty torches blazing round him.[193] + +[Footnote 193: _Ibid._ p. 33.] + +The rejoicings with which the humanists hailed the elevation of one of +their own number to the Papal throne may be readily imagined; nor were +their golden expectations, founded on a previous knowledge of his +liberality in all things that pertained to learning, destined to be +disappointed. Nicholas V., to quote the words of Vespasiano, who knew +him well, 'was a foe to ceremonies and vain flatteries, open and +candid, without knowing how to feign; avarice he never harboured, for +he was always spending beyond his means.'[194] His revenues were +devoted to maintaining a splendid Court, rebuilding the fortifications +and palaces of Rome, and showering wealth on men of letters. In the +protection extended by this Pope to literature we may notice that he +did not attempt to restore the _studio pubblico_ of Rome, and that he +showed a decided preference for works of solid learning and +translations. His tastes led him to delight in critical and +grammatical treatises, and his curiosity impelled him to get Latin +versions made of the Greek authors. It is possible that he did nothing +for the Roman university because he considered Florence sufficient for +the humanistic needs of Italy, and his own Alma Mater for the graver +studies of the three professions. Still this neglect is noticeable in +the case of a Pontiff whose one public aim was to restore Rome to the +rank of a metropolis, and whose chief private interest was study. + +[Footnote 194: Vespasiano, pp. 25, 27.] + +The most permanent benefit conferred by him on Roman studies was the +foundation of the Vatican Library, on which he spent about 40,000 +scudi forming a collection of some 5,000 volumes.[195] He employed the +best scribes, and obtained the rarest books; nor was there anyone in +Italy better qualified than himself to superintend the choice and +arrangement of such a library. It had been his intention to place it +in S. Peter's and to throw it open to the public; but he died before +this plan was matured. It remained for Sixtus IV. to carry out his +project. + +[Footnote 195: _Ibid._ p. 38.] + +During the pontificate of Nicholas Rome became a vast workshop of +erudition, a factory of translations from Greek into Latin. These +were done for the most part by Greeks who had an imperfect knowledge +of Latin, and by Italians who had not complete mastery of Greek. The +work achieved was unequal and of no great permanent value; yet for the +time being it served a purpose of utility, nor could the requirements +of the age have been so fully satisfied by any other method. Nearly +all the eminent scholars at that time in Italy were engaged in this +labour. How liberally they were rewarded may be gathered from the +following details. Lorenzo Valla obtained 500 scudi for his version of +Thucydides; Guarino received the larger sum of 1,500 scudi for Strabo; +Perotti 500 ducats for Polybius; while Manetti was pensioned at the +rate of 600 scudi per annum to enable him to carry on his sacred +studies. Nicholas delighted in Greek history. Accordingly, Appian was +translated by Piero Candido Decembrio, Diodorus Siculus and the +'Cyropædia' of Xenophon by Poggio,[196] Herodotus by Valla. Valla and +Decembrio were both engaged upon the 'Iliad' in Latin prose; but the +dearest wish of Nicholas in his last years was to see the poems of +Homer in the verse of Filelfo. Nor were the Greeks then resident in +Italy neglected. To Georgios Trapezuntios the Pope entrusted the +'Physics,' 'Problems,' and 'Metaphysics' of Aristotle. The same +scholar tried his hand at the 'Laws' of Plato, and, in concert with +Decembrio, produced a version of the 'Republic.' Gregorios Tifernas +undertook the 'Ethics' of Aristotle, and Theodorus Gaza the 'History +of Animals.' To this list should be added the Greek Fathers, +Theophrastus, Ptolemy, and minor works which it would be tedious to +enumerate.[197] + +[Footnote 196: The latter was intended for Alfonso of Naples.] + +[Footnote 197: Tiraboschi is the authority for these details.] + +The profuse liberality of Nicholas brought him thus into relation with +the whole learned world of Italy. Among the humanists who resided at +his Court in Rome, mention must be made of Lorenzo Valla, who was +appointed Apostolic Scriptor in 1447, and who opened a school of +eloquence in 1450. Piero Candido Decembrio obtained the post of +secretary and overseer of the Abbreviators.[198] Giovanni Tortello, of +Arezzo, the author of a useful book on the orthography of Greek words, +superintended the Pope's library. Piero da Noceto, whose tomb in the +cathedral at Lucca is one of Matteo da Civitale's masterpieces, was +private secretary and comptroller of the Pope's affairs. Of the circle +gathered round Bessarion I shall have occasion to speak later on. Our +present attention must be concentrated on a man who, more even than +Nicholas himself, might claim the right to give his own name to this +age of learning. + +[Footnote 198: The more complete notices which Valla and Decembrio +deserve will be given in the history of scholarship at Naples and at +Milan.] + +Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini is better known in the annals of +literature as Poggio Fiorentino, though he was not made a burgher of +Florence until late in life. Born in 1380 at Terranova, a village of +the Florentine _contado_, he owed his education to Florence. In Latin +he was the pupil of John of Ravenna, and in Greek of Manuel +Chrysoloras. During his youth he supported himself by copying MSS. for +the Florentine market. Coluccio Salutato and Niccolo de' Niccoli +befriended the young student, who entered as early as the year 1402 or +1403 into the Papal Chancery.[199] Though Poggio's life for the +following half-century was spent in the service of the Roman Curia, he +refused to take orders in the Church, and remained at heart a +humanist. With the Florentine circle of scholars he maintained an +unremitting correspondence, sending them notices of his discoveries in +the convents of Switzerland and Germany, receiving from them literary +gossip in return, joining in their disputes, and more than once +engaging in fierce verbal duels to befriend his Medicean allies. His +duties and his tastes alike made him a frequent traveller, and not the +least of the benefits conferred by him upon posterity are his pictures +of foreign manners. At the Council of Constance, for example, he saw +and heard Jerome of Prague, in whom he admired the firmness and +intrepid spirit of a Cato.[200] At Baden in Switzerland he noticed the +custom, strange to Italian eyes, of men and women bathing together, +eating, drinking, and playing at chess or cards upon floating tables +in the water, while visitors looked down upon them from galleries +above, as they now do at Leukerbad.[201] In England he observed that +the gentry preferred residence in their country houses and secluded +parks to the town life then, as now, fashionable in Italy, and +commented upon the vast wealth and boorish habits of the great +ecclesiastics.[202] Concerning his discoveries of MSS. I have had +already occasion to write; nor need I here repeat what I have said +about his antiquarian researches among the ruins of ancient Rome. +Poggio was a man of wide sympathies, active curiosity, and varied +interests--no mere bookworm, but one whose eyes and mind were open to +the world around him. + +[Footnote 199: Of his debt to Niccolo de' Niccoli Poggio speaks with +great warmth of feeling in a letter on his death addressed to Carlo +Aretino: 'Quem enim patrem habui cui plus debuerim quam Nicolao? Hic +mihi parens ab adolescentiâ, hic postmodum amicus, hic studiorum +meorum adjutor atque hortator fuit, hic consilio, libris, opibus +semper me ut filium et amicum fovit atque adjuvit.'--_Poggii Opera, +Basileæ, ex ædibus Henrici Petri_, MDXXXVIII. p. 342. To this edition +of Poggio's works my future references are made.] + +[Footnote 200: 'Stabat impavidus, intrepidus, mortem non contemnens +solum sed appetens ut alterum Catonem dixeris.'--_Opp. Omnia_, p. 301. +This most interesting letter, addressed to Lionardo Bruni, is +translated by Shepherd, _Life of Poggio Bracciolini_, pp. 78-88.] + +[Footnote 201: _Opera Omnia_, p. 297. See Shepherd, pp. 67-76, for a +translation of this letter to Niccolo de' Niccoli.] + +[Footnote 202: Cardinal Beaufort had invited him to England.] + +In literature he embraced the whole range of contemporary studies, +making his mark as a public orator, a writer of rhetorical treatises +and dialogues, a panegyrist of the dead, a violent impeacher and +impugner of the living, a translator from the Greek, an elegant +epistolographer, a grave historian, and a facetious compiler of +anecdotes and epigrams. He possessed a style at once easy and pointed, +correct in diction and varied in cadence, equally adapted for serious +discourse and witty trifling, and not less formidable in abuse than +delicate in flattery. This at least was the impression which his +copious and facile Latin, always fluent and yet always full of sense, +produced on his contemporaries. For us its finest flights of rhetoric +have lost their charm, and its best turns of phrase their point. So +impossible is it that the fashionable style of one age should retain +its magic for posterity, unless it be truly classical in form, or +weighted with sound thought, or animated with high inspiration. Just +these qualities were missed by Poggio and his compeers. Setting no +more serious aim before them than the imitation of Livy and Cicero, +Seneca and Cæsar, they fell far short of their originals; nor had they +matter to make up for their defect of elegance. Poggio's treatises 'De +Nobilitate,' 'De Varietate Fortunæ,' 'De Miseriâ Humanæ Conditionis,' +'De Infelicitate Principum,' 'An Seni sit Uxor ducenda,' 'Historia +Disceptiva Convivialis,' and so forth, were as interesting to Italy in +the fifteenth century as Voltaire's occasional essays to our more +immediate ancestors. His controversial writings passed for models of +destructive eloquence, his satires on the clergy for masterpieces of +sarcastic humour, his Florentine history for a supreme achievement in +the noblest Latin manner. Yet the whole of this miscellaneous +literature seems coarse and ineffective to the modern taste. We read +it, not without repugnance, in order to obtain an insight into the +spirit of the author's age. + +Two important points in Poggio's biography will serve to illustrate +the social circumstances of the humanists. The first is the attitude +adopted by him toward the churchmen, with whom he passed the best +years of his life in close intimacy; the second, his fierce warfare +waged with rivals and opponents in the field of scholarship. Though +Poggio served the Church for half a century, no one exposed the vices +of the clergy with more ruthless sarcasm, or turned the follies of the +monks to ridicule with more relentless scorn. After reading his +'Dialogue against the Hypocrites,' his 'Invective against Felix the +Antipope,' and his 'Facetiæ,' it is difficult to understand how a +satirist who knew the weak points of the Church so intimately, and +exposed them so freely, could have held high station and been honoured +in the Papal Curia. They confirm in the highest degree all that has +been written in the previous volume about the division between +religion and morality in Italy, the cynical self-satisfaction of the +clergy, and the secular indifference of the Papacy, proving at the +same time the proudly independent position which the talents of the +humanists had won for them at Rome. At the end of the 'Facetiæ'--a +collection of grossly indecent and not always very witty +stories--Poggio refers to the meetings with which he and his comrades +entertained themselves after the serious business of the day was +over.[203] Their place of resort was in the precincts of the Lateran, +where they had established a club which took the name of 'Bugiale,' or +Lie Factory.[204] Apostolic secretaries, writers to the Chancery, +protonotaries, and Papal scribes here met together after laying down +the pens they had employed in drafting Bulls and dispensations, +encyclical letters and diplomatic missives. To make puns, tell +scandalous stories, and invent amusing plots for novelettes was the +chief amusement of these Roman wits. Their most stinging shafts of +satire were reserved for monks and priests; but they spared no class +or profession, and made free with the names of living persons.[205] +Against the higher clergy it might not have been safe to utter even +the truth, except in strictest privacy, seeing that preferment had to +be expected from the Sacred College and the Holy Father. The mendicant +orders and the country parsons, therefore, bore the brunt of their +attack, while the whole tone of their discourse made it clear how +little they respected the religion and the institutions of the Church. +Such fragments of these conversations as Poggio thought fit to +preserve, together with anecdotes borrowed from the 'Cent Nouvelles +nouvelles' and other sources, he committed to Latin, and printed in +the later years of his life. The title given to the book was +'Facetiarum Liber.' It ran speedily through numerous editions, and was +read all over Europe with the same eagerness that the 'Epistolæ +Obscurorum Virorum' afterwards excited. Underneath its ribaldry and +nonsense, however, there lay no serious intention. The satires on the +clergy were contemptuous and flippant, arguing more liking on the part +of their author for scurrilous jests than any earnest wish to prove +the degradation of monasticism. Not a word of censure from the Vatican +can I find recorded against this marvellous production of a Papal +secretary's pen. Here, by way of illustration, it may be mentioned +that Filelfo, on his way through Rome to Naples, placed his +satires--the most nauseous compositions that coarse spite and filthy +fancy ever spawned--in the hands of Nicholas V. The Pope retained them +for nine days, read them, returned them with thanks, and rewarded +their author with a purse of 500 ducats. + +[Footnote 203: _Poggi Florentini Facetiarum Libellus Unicus_, Londini, +1798, vol. i. p. 282.] + +[Footnote 204: 'Mendaciorum veluti officina' is Poggio's own +explanation of the phrase.] + +[Footnote 205: 'Ibi parcebatur nemini, in lacessendo ea quæ non +probabantur a nobis.'] + +The 'Dialogue against the Hypocrites' contains less of mere +scurrility and more that bears with real weight on the vices of the +clergy. Begging friars, preachers, confessors, and aspirants to the +fame of holiness are cited by name and scourged with pitiless +impartiality, while the worldly ambition of the Roman churchmen is +unmasked. The 'Fratres Observantiæ,' who flourished under Pope +Eugenius, receive stern castigation at the hands of Carlo Aretino. +Shepherd remarks, not without justice, on this dialogue that, had the +author 'ventured to advance the sentiments which it contains in the +days of Eugenius, he would in all probability have expiated his +temerity by the forfeit of his life.[206] Nicholas V., who appreciated +the pungency of its satiric style, instead of resenting its free +speech, directed his friend Poggio's pen against his rival Felix. +Raised to the Papacy by the Council of Basle in 1439, Amadeus, the +ex-Duke of Savoy, still persisted in his Papal title after the +election of Nicholas; and though the Sovereign of the Vatican could +well afford to scorn the hermit of Ripaille, he thought it prudent to +discharge the heavy guns of humanistic eloquence against the Antipope. +A ponderous invective was the result, wherein Poggio described the +unfortunate Felix as 'another Cerberus,' 'a rapacious wolf,' 'a golden +calf,' 'a perverter of the faith and foe to true religion,' 'a high +priest of malignity,' 'a roaring lion'--stigmatising the Council to +whom he owed his election as 'that sink of iniquity the Synagogue of +Basle,' 'a monstrous birth,' 'conventicle of reprobates,' 'tumultuary +band of debauched men,' 'apostates, fornicators, ravishers, deserters, +men convicted of most shameful crimes, blasphemers, rebels against +God.'[207] To such amenities of controversial rhetoric did even Popes +descend, substituting sound and fury for sense, and trusting to +vituperation in the absence of more valid arguments. + +[Footnote 206: _Life of Poggio_, p. 423.] + +[Footnote 207: _Opera Omnia_, pp. 155-164.] + +Poggio, next to Filelfo, was the most formidable gladiator in that age +of literary duellists. 'In his invectives he displayed such +vehemence,' writes Vespasiano,[208] 'that the whole world was afraid +of him.' Even Alfonso of Naples found it prudent to avert his anger by +a timely present of 600 ducats, when Poggio complained of his +remissness in acknowledging the version of Xenophon's 'Cyropædia,'[209] +and hinted at the same time that a scholar's pen was powerful enough +to punish kings for their ingratitude. The overtures, again, made to +Poggio by Filippo Maria Visconti, and the consideration he received +from Cosimo de' Medici, testified to the desire of princes for the +goodwill of a spiteful and unscrupulous pamphleteer.[210] The most +celebrated of Poggio's feuds with men of letters began when Filelfo +assailed the character of Cosimo, and satirised the whole society of +Florence in 1433. The full history of Filelfo's animosity against the +Florentines belongs to the biography of that famous scholar. It is +enough here to mention that he ridiculed Cosimo under the name of +Mundus, described Poggio as Bambalio, Carlo Aretino as Codrus, and +Niccolo de' Niccoli as Outis,[211] accusing them of literary +imbecility, and ascribing to them all the crimes and vices that +disgrace humanity. Poggio girded up his loins for the combat, and, in +reply to Filelfo's ponderous hexameters, discharged a bulky invective +in prose against the common adversary. This was answered by more +satires, Poggio replying with new invectives. The quarrel lasted over +many years; when, having heaped upon each other all the insults it is +possible for the most corrupt imagination to conceive, they joined +hands and rested from the contest.[212] To sully these pages with +translations of Poggio's rank abuse would be impossible. I must +content myself with referring readers, who are anxious to gain a more +detailed acquaintance with the literary warfare of that age, to the +excerpts preserved by Shepherd and Rosmini.[213] Suffice it to say +that he poured a torrent of the filthiest calumnies upon Filelfo's +wife and mother, that he accused Filelfo himself of the basest vice in +youth and the most flagrant debauchery in manhood, that he represented +him as a public thief, a professed cut-purse, a blasphemous atheist, +soiled with sordid immoralities of every kind, and driven by his +exposed felonies from town to town in search of shelter for his hated +head. Filelfo replied in the same strain. All the resources of the +Latin language were exhausted by the combatants in their endeavours to +befoul each other's character, and the lowest depths of human nature +were explored to find fresh accusations. The learned world of Italy +stood by applauding, while the valiant antagonists, like gladiators of +the Roman arena, plied their diverse weapons, the one discharging +darts of verse, the other wielding a heavy club of prose.[214] +Unhappily, there was enough of scandalous material in both their lives +to give some colour to their accusations. Yet the virulence with which +they lied against each other defeated its own object. Raking that +literary dunghill, it is now impossible to distinguish the true from +the false; all proportion is lost in the mass of overcharged and +indiscriminate scurrility. That such encounters should have been +enjoyed and applauded by polite society is one of the strangest signs +of the times; and that the duellists themselves should have imagined +they were treading in the steps of Cicero and Demosthenes is even more +astounding. + +[Footnote 208: P. 422.] + +[Footnote 209: _Ibid._ p. 423.] + +[Footnote 210: See the correspondence between Filippo Maria and +Poggio, _Opp._ pp. 333-358. Letter to Cosimo, p. 339.] + +[Footnote 211: 'The World, the Stammering Simpleton, the Execrable +Poet, and the Nobody.' See _Auree Francisci Philelphi Poete +Oratorisque Celeberrimi Satyre_. Paris, 1508. Passim.] + +[Footnote 212: _Opp. Omn._ pp. 164-187. The first invective is the +most venomous, and deserves to be read in the original. The last, +entitled 'Invectiva Excusatoria et Reconciliatoria,' is amusing from +its tone of sulky and sated exhaustion.] + +[Footnote 213: _Life of Poggio_, pp. 263-272, 354. _Vita di Filelfo._] + +[Footnote 214: The language of the arena was used by these literary +combatants. Thus Valla, in the exordium of his _Antidote_, describes +his weapon of attack in this sentence:--'Hæc est mea fusana, +quandoquidem gladiator a gladiatore fieri cogor, et ea duplex et +utraque tridens,' p. 9.] + +The dispute with Filelfo was rather personal than literary. Another +duel into which Poggio entered with Guarino turned upon the respective +merits of Scipio and Julius Cæsar. Poggio had occasion to explain, in +correspondence with a certain Scipione Ferrarese, his reasons for +preferring the character of Scipio Africanus. Guarino, with a view to +pleasing his pupil Lionello d'Este, a professed admirer of Cæsar, took +up the cudgels in defence of the dictator,[215] and treated Poggio, +whom he called Cæsaromastix, with supreme contempt. Poggio replied in +a letter to the noble Venetian scholar Francesco Barbaro.[216] Hard +words were exchanged on both sides, and the antagonists were only +reconciled on the occasion of Poggio's marriage in 1435. Rome, +however, was the theatre of his most celebrated exploits as a +disputant. It chanced one day that he discovered a copy of his own +epistles annotated by a Spanish nobleman who was a pupil of Lorenzo +Valla.[217] Poggio's Latinity was not spared in the marginal +strictures penned by the young student; and the fiery scholar, flying +to the conclusion that the master, not the pupil, had dictated them, +discharged his usual missile, a furious invective, against Valla. Thus +attacked, the author of the 'Elegantiæ' responded in a similar +composition, entitled 'Antidotum in Poggium,' and dedicated to +Nicholas V.[218] Poggio followed with another invective; nor did the +quarrel end till he had added five of these disgusting compositions to +his previous achievements in the same style, and had drawn a young +Latinist of promise, Niccolo Perotti, into the disgraceful fray.[219] +What makes the termination of the squabble truly comic is that +Filelfo, himself the worst offender in this way, was moved at last to +write a serious letter of admonishment to the contending parties, +exhorting them to consult their own dignity and to lay down arms.[220] +Concerning the invectives and antidotes by which this war was carried +on Tiraboschi writes, 'Perhaps they are the most infamous libels that +have ever seen the light; there is no sort of vituperation which the +antagonists do not vomit forth against each other, no obscenity and +roguery of which they are not mutually accused.' + +[Footnote 215: See Rosmini, _Vita di Guarino da Verona_, vol. ii. p. +96.] + +[Footnote 216: _Poggii Opera_, p. 365.] + +[Footnote 217: 'Adolescens quidam auditor meus,' says Valla in the +_Antidotum_, p. 2. The story is told at length, p. 151. I quote from +the Cologne edition of 1527: 'Laurentii Vallæ viri clarissimi in +Pogium Florentinum antidoti libri quatuor: in eundem alii duo libelli +in dialogo conscripti.'] + +[Footnote 218: See Shepherd's _Poggio_, pp. 470, 471, for specimens of +the scurrility on both sides.] + +[Footnote 219: The invectives against Valla fill from p. 188 to p. 251 +of Poggio's collected works. Part of them is devoted to a defence of +his own Latinity, and to a critique of Valla's _Elegantiæ_. But by far +the larger part consists of vehement incriminations. Heresy, theft, +lying, forgery, cowardice, filthy living of the most odious +description, drunkenness, and insane vanity--such are the accusations, +supported with a terrible array of apparent evidence. As in the case +of Filelfo, Poggio does not spare his antagonist's father and mother, +but heaps the vilest abuse upon everyone connected with him. Valla's +_Antidote_ is written in a more tempered spirit and a purer Latin +style.] + +[Footnote 220: Shepherd, _Life of Poggio_, p. 474.] + +The inconceivably slight occasions upon which these learned men rushed +into the arena, and flung dirt upon one another, may be imagined when +we find Lorenzo Valla at feud on the one side with Georgios +Trapezuntios because the one preferred Cicero and the other +Quintilian, and on the other with Benedetto Morando because that +scholar doubted whether Lucius and Aruns were the grandsons of +Tarquinius Priscus. Sometimes private incidents aroused their wrath, +as in the curious rupture between Lionardo Bruni and Niccolo de' +Niccoli at Florence. The story, since it is characteristic of the +time, may be briefly told. Niccolo had stolen his brother's mistress +Benvenuta, and made her his concubine.[221] His relatives, indignant +at the domestic scandal, insulted Benvenuta in the street, and Niccolo +bemoaned himself to all his friends. Lionardo, to whom he applied for +sympathy, very properly observed that a student ought to be better +occupied than with the misfortunes of a kitchen wench. This tart reply +roused Niccolo's bile, and set his caustic tongue wagging against his +old friend; whereupon Lionardo Bruni launched a fierce invective _in +nebulonem maledicum_ against him, and the learned society of Florence +indulged in a free fight on both sides. + +[Footnote 221: Ambrogio Traversari, General of the Camaldolese Order, +called her 'fidelissima foemina.'] + +Such quarrels were not always confined to words. There is no doubt +that the dagger was employed against Filelfo by the Medicean party, +while it now and then happened that the literary gladiators came to +actual fisticuffs. A scene of this sort occurred at Rome in public. +Georgios Trapezuntios complained that the credit of Poggio's +translations from Diodorus and Xenophon really belonged to him, since +he had done the work of them. Poggio shrieked out, 'You lie in your +throat!' Georgios retorted with a box on Poggio's ears. Then Poggio +came to close quarters, catching his adversary by the hair; and the +two professors pommelled each other till their respective pupils +parted them.[222] Such anecdotes might be multiplied indefinitely. Nor +would it be unprofitable to give some account of the vehement warfare +waged in Italy between the Platonists and Aristotelians, were it not +that enough has already been said to illustrate the acrimonious temper +of the times. + +[Footnote 222: Tiraboschi, vol. vi. lib. ii. cap. 2, sect. 15.] + +The animosity displayed by scholars in these disputes may be taken as +a proof of their enthusiasm for their studies. Men have always +quarrelled about politics, because politics furnish matter of profound +interest to everyone. Theology, for a similar reason, never fails to +rouse the deepest rancours, hatreds, and hostilities of which the +human breast is capable. Science, as we know from the annals of our +days, sets the upholders of antagonistic theories by the ears; and at +times when politics have been dull, theology dormant, and science +undemonstrative, even music has been found sufficient to excite a +nation. In the fifteenth century scholarship was all-absorbing. It +corresponded to science in our age, since it engaged the talents of +the strongest workers and supplied the sources of progressive +intellectual discovery. Moreover, it included both philosophy and +theology, and formed the most attractive topic in all conversation. No +wonder, therefore, that the limpid fountains of classical erudition +were troubled by the piques and jealousies of students. + +It is pleasant to turn from Poggio's wrangling to more honourable +passages in his biography. Since the year 1434 he had owned a farm not +far from Florence. Here he built a country residence, vying, if not in +splendour, at least in elegance, with the villas of the Florentine +burghers. He called it his Valdarniana, and adorned it with the +fragments of antique sculpture, inscriptions, and coins, collected by +him partly in person on the Roman Campagna and partly by purchase from +Greece. In the following year (1435) Poggio, then a man of fifty-five, +married a girl of eighteen, named Vaggia, of the noble Buondelmonte +blood. In forming this connection he had to separate from a mistress +who had borne him fourteen children, four of them then living. His +biographer, Shepherd, indulges in some sentimental reflections upon +the pain this leave-taking must have cost him. Yet the impartial +critic will hardly be brought to pity Poggio, seeing that he cancelled +the brief whereby he had previously legitimised his natural children, +and responded with raptures to the congratulations of friends upon his +new engagement. He had already been admitted to the burghership of +Florence, and exempted from its taxes in consideration of his literary +services; so that, on the death of his friend Carlo Aretino, in 1453, +no one was found more fitting for the post of Chancellor to the +Republic. As an increase of dignity, Poggio fulfilled the office of +Prior, and sat among the Signory. The 'History of the Florentine +Republic,' written in continuation of Lionardo Aretino's, occupied the +closing years of his life. He left it still unfinished in the year +1459, when he died, and was buried in the Church of Santa Croce. I +cannot find that his funeral was accompanied by the peculiar honours +voted in the case of his two predecessors. The Florentines, however, +erected his statue on the façade of Santa Maria del Fiore, and placed +his picture by Antonio dal Pollajuolo in the hall of the Proconsolo. +The fate of this statue, a work of Donatello's, was not a little +curious. On the occasion of some alterations in 1560, it was removed +from its first station, and set up as one among the Twelve Apostles in +another part of the cathedral. + +Any survey of the Court of Nicholas V. would be incomplete without +some notice of the Cardinal Bessarion. Early in life he rose to high +station in the Greek Church, and attended the Council of Florence as +Archbishop of Nicea. Eugenius IV., by making him a cardinal in 1439, +converted him to the Latin faith; and, as it so happened, he missed +the Papacy almost by an accident thirty-two years later.[223] His +palace at Rome became the meeting-place of scholars of all +nations,[224] where refugee Greeks in particular were sure of finding +hearty welcome. In obedience to the reigning passion for +book-collecting, he got together a considerable library of Greek and +Latin authors, the number of which Vespasiano estimated at 600 +volumes, while Platina reckoned their total cost at 30,000 scudi. In +1468 he offered this collection to the Church of S. Mark at Venice. +The Republic accepted his gift, but showed no alacrity to build the +library. It was not until the next century that Bessarion's books +were finally housed according to their dignity.[225] The Cardinal's +own studies lay in the direction of theological philosophy. We have +already seen that in his youth he was a pupil of Gemistos, and he now +appears as the defender of Plato. Georgios Trapezuntios had published +a treatise in the year 1458, in which, on the pretence of upholding +Aristotle, he vilified Plato's moral character, accused him of having +ruined Greece, and maintained that Mahomet was a far better +legislator. Bessarion replied by the oration 'In Calumniatorem +Platonis,' vindicating the morality of the philosopher and supporting +him against Aristotle. This book was printed by Sweynheim and Pannartz +in the infancy of the Roman press. Theodoros Gaza,[226] who, on his +settlement in Rome in 1450, had been received into Bessarion's +household, entered the lists with a critique of Gemistos; to which +Bessarion replied: and so the warfare begun by Gennadios at Byzantium +was continued by the Greek exiles at Rome. The titles of the works +issued in this contest, among which we find 'De Naturâ et Arte,' +'Utrum Natura Consilio Agat,' 'Comparationes Philosophorum Aristotelis +et Platonis,' sufficiently indicate the extent of ground traversed. +The chief result was the rousing of Italian scholars to weightier +points of issue in philosophy than had at first been raised by +mystical Neoplatonists and pedantic Peripatetics. + +[Footnote 223: Vespasiano, p. 146.] + +[Footnote 224: See Platina's panegyric, quoted by Tiraboschi, vol. vi. +lib. i. cap. 3, 22. Platina and Perotti were among his Italian +_protégés_.] + +[Footnote 225: A striking instance of the want of literary enthusiasm +at Venice.] + +[Footnote 226: He first came to Italy in 1430, professed Greek at +Ferrara from 1441 to 1450, and died in Campania about 1478. He +translated many works of Aristotle. His own book on Grammar was +printed by Aldus in 1495.] + +Among the Greeks protected by Bessarion, passing notice may be made of +Andronicus Callistus, whose lectures found less favour at Rome than +they afterwards obtained at Florence, where he had the great Poliziano +for his pupil. He was one of the first of the Greeks to seek fortune +in France.[227] Nor must Demetrius Chalcondylas be omitted, who fled +from Byzantium to Rome about the year 1447, and afterwards professed +Greek in the University of Perugia. A letter written by one of his +pupils, Gian Antonio Campano,[228] gives such an agreeable impression +of the effect he produced in the city of the Baglioni, that I will +translate a portion of it. 'A Greek has just arrived, who has begun to +teach me with great pains, and I to listen to his precepts with +incredible pleasure, because he is a Greek, because he is Athenian, +and because he is Demetrius. It seems to me that in him is figured all +the wisdom, the civility, and the elegance of those so famous and +illustrious ancients. Merely seeing him, you fancy you are looking on +Plato; far more when you hear him speak.' It was a young man of +twenty-three who wrote this, the companion, probably, of such +magnificent youths as Signorelli loved to paint and Matarazzo to +describe.[229] It is interesting to compare this letter with the +panegyric passed upon Ognibene da Lonigo five years after his death by +Bartolommeo Pagello in an oration delivered at Vicenza. The young men +of Vicenza, said the rhetorician, left their dice, their duels, their +wine cups, and their loves to listen to this humanist; his learning +wrought a reformation in the morals of the town.[230] Such were the +fascinations of scholarship in the fifteenth century. + +[Footnote 227: Raffaello Volaterrano, quoted by Tiraboschi, vol. vi. +lib. iii. cap. 2, 16.] + +[Footnote 228: See Tiraboschi, vol. vi. lib. iii. cap. 2, 17.] + +[Footnote 229: See my _Sketches in Italy and Greece_, article +'Perugia.'] + +[Footnote 230: Tiraboschi, vol. vi. lib. iii. cap. 5, 46.] + +The Greeks hitherto mentioned quitted their country before the capture +of Constantinople. It is, therefore, wrong to ascribe to that event +the importation of Hellenic studies into Italy. Their Italian pupils +carried on the work they had begun, with wider powers and nobler +energy. All the great Grecians of the third age of humanism are +Italians. Florence received learning from Byzantium at the very moment +when the Greek Empire was about to be extinguished, and spread it far +and wide through Europe, herself achieving by far the largest and most +arduous portion of the task. + +In passing down to Naples, we find a marked change in the external +conditions under which literature flourished. Men of learning at the +Courts of Italy occupied a position different from that of their +brethren in the Papal Chancery. They had to suit their habits to the +customs of the Court and camp, to place their talents at the service +of their patron's pleasure, to entertain him in his hours of idleness, +to frame compliments and panegyrics, and to repay his bounty by the +celebration of his deeds in histories and poems. Their footing was +less official, more subject to the temper and caprices of the reigning +sovereign, than at Rome; while the peculiar advantages, both political +and social, which, even under the sway of the Medicean family, made +Florence a real republic of letters, existed in no other town of +Italy. + +At Naples there was no such thing as native culture. The semi-feudal +nobility of the South were addicted to field sports, feats of arms, +and idleness. The people of the country were sunk in barbarism. In the +cities there was no middle class analogous to that of the more +northerly republics. Nevertheless, the kingdom of the Two Sicilies +played an important part in the development of Italian literature. +While the Mussulmans held sway at Palermo, Sicily was the most refined +and enlightened state of Southern Europe. Under the Norman dynasty +this Arabic civilisation began to influence North Italy, and during +the reign of Frederick II. Naples bade fair to become the city of +illumination for the modern world. The failure of Frederick's attempt +to restore life to arts and letters in the thirteenth century belongs +to the history of his warfare with the Church. What his courtiers +effected for the earliest poetry of the Italians is told by Dante in +the treatise 'De Vulgari Eloquio.' For our present purpose it is +enough to notice that the zeal for knowledge planted by the Arabs, +tolerated by the Normans, and fostered by the House of Hohenstauffen +in the south of Italy, was an exotic which took no deep root in the +people. No national poem was produced in the golden age of Frederick's +brief supremacy; no stories are told of Neapolitan carters and boatmen +reciting the sonnets of his courtiers. As culture began, so it +continued to exist at Naples--flourishing at intervals in close +connection with the sovereign's taste, and owing to local influences +not life and vigour, but colour and complexion, suavity and softness, +caught from the surrounding beauties of the sea and shore. + +Each of the dynasties which held the throne of the Two Sicilies could +boast a patron of literature. Robert of Anjou was proud to call +himself the friend of Petrarch, and Boccaccio found the flame of +inspiration at his Court.[231] In the second age of humanism, with +which we are now occupied, Alfonso of Aragon deserved the praise +bestowed on him by Vespasiano of being, next to Nicholas V., the most +munificent promoter of learning.[232] His love of letters was genuine. +After making all deductions for the flattery of official +historiographers, it is clear that Alfonso found his most enduring +satisfaction in the company of students, listening to their debates on +points of scholarship, attending their public lectures, employing them +in the perusal of ancient poets and historians, insisting on their +presence in his camp, and freely supplying them with money for the +purchase of books and for their maintenance while engaged in works of +erudition. Vespasiano relates that Beccadelli's daily readings to his +master were not interrupted during the campaign of 1443, when Alfonso +took the field against Francesco Sforza's armies in the March.[233] +The Neapolitan captains might be seen gathered round their monarch, +listening to the scholar's exposition of Livy, instead of wasting +their leisure at games of hazard. Beccadelli himself professes to have +cured an illness of Alfonso's in three days by reading aloud to him +Curtius's Life of Alexander, while Lorenzo Valla describes the +concourse of students to his table during the recitations of Virgil or +of Terence.[234] Courtiers with no taste for scholarship were excluded +from these literary meetings; but free access was given to poor youths +who sought to profit by the learning of the lecturers. The king, +meantime, sat at meat, now and then handing fruits or confectionery to +refresh the reader when his voice seemed failing. His passion for the +antique assumed the romantic character common in that age. When the +Venetians sent him one of the recently discovered bones of Livy, he +received it like the relic of a saint; nor could the fears of his +physicians prevent him from opening and reading the MS. of Livy +forwarded from Florence by Cosimo de' Medici, who was then suspected +of wishing to poison him. On his military excursions he never +neglected the famous sites of antiquity, saluting the _genius loci_ +with pious thanks at Ovid's birthplace, and expressly forbidding his +engineers to trespass on the site of Cicero's villa at Gaeta.[235] +Alfonso was no less assiduous than his contemporaries in the +collection of books. The Palace library at Naples was his favourite +place of recreation; here Giannozzo Manetti found him among his +scholars on the famous occasion when the king sat through a long +congratulatory oration like a brazen statue, without so much as +brushing away the flies that settled on his face. His MSS. were +dispersed when Charles VIII. occupied Naples, and what became of them +is doubtful.[236] + +[Footnote 231: I may refer to Petrarch's Letters passim, and to the +solemn peroration of the _Africa_.] + +[Footnote 232: See Vol. I., _Age of the Despots_, pp. 445, 446.] + +[Footnote 233: _Vita di Alfonso_, p. 59. _Vita di Manetti_, p. 451.] + +[Footnote 234: See Tiraboschi, vol. vi. lib. i. cap. 2, 17.] + +[Footnote 235: Pontano, _De Principe_, and Panormita, _De Dictis et +Factis Alphonsi Regis_, furnish these anecdotes.] + +[Footnote 236: The MS. of Livy referred to above is now in the library +at Holkham; see Roscoe's _Lorenzo_, p. 389.] + +Among the humanists who stood nearest to the person of this monarch, +Antonio Beccadelli, called from his birthplace Il Panormita, deserves +the first place. Born at Palermo in 1394, he received his education at +Siena, where he was a fellow-student with Æneas Sylvius Piccolomini. +The city of Siena, _molles Senæ_, as the poet himself called it, was +notorious throughout Italy for luxury of living. Here, therefore, it +may be presumed that Beccadelli in his youth enjoyed the experiences +which he afterwards celebrated in 'Hermaphroditus.'[237] Nothing is +more striking in that amazing collection of elegies than the frankness +of their author, the free and liberal delight with which he dwells on +shameless sensualities, and the pride with which he publishes his own +name to the world. Dedicated to Cosimo de' Medici, welcomed with +applause by the grey-headed Guarino da Verona,[238] extolled to the +skies by Antonio Losco, eagerly sought after by Bartolommeo, Bishop of +Milan--this book, which Strato and Martial might have blushed to own, +passed from copyist to copyist, from hand to hand. Among the learned +it found no serious adversaries. Poggio, indeed, gently reminded the +poet that even the elegance of its Latinity and the heat of its +author's youth were hardly sufficient excuses for its wantonness.[239] +Yet the almost unanimous verdict of students was favourable. Its open +animalism, as free from satire as from concealment, took the world by +storm; while the facile elegance of fluent verse with which the sins +of Sodom and Gomorrha were described placed it, in the opinion of +scholars, on a level with Catullus.[240] When the Emperor Sigismund +crowned Beccadelli poet at Siena in 1433, he only added the weight of +Imperial approval to the verdict of the lettered public. + +[Footnote 237: Published at Paris in 1791 among _Quinque illustrium +Poetarum Lusus in Venerem_, and again at Coburg in 1824, with +annotations by F.G. Forberg.] + +[Footnote 238: A man of about sixty-three, and father of twelve +legitimate children.] + +[Footnote 239: _Poggii Opera_, pp. 349-354.] + +[Footnote 240: Poggio, while professing to condemn the scandals of +these poems, writes thus:--'Delectatus sum mehercle varietate rerum et +elegantiâ versuum, simulque admiratus sum res adeo impudicas, adeo +ineptas, tam venuste, tam composite, a te dici, atque ita multa +exprimi turpiuscula ut non enarrari sed agi videantur, nec ficta a te +jocandi causâ, ut existimo, sed acta existimari possint.'--_Poggii +Opera_, p. 349.] + +The Church could not, however, tolerate the scandal. Ever since the +days of Petrarch and Boccaccio, monks had regarded the study of +antique poetry with suspicion. Now their worst fears were realised. +Beccadelli had proved that the vices of renascent Paganism were not +only corrupting Italian society in secret, but that a young scholar of +genius could openly proclaim his participation in the shame, abjure +the first principles of Christian morality, and appeal with confidence +to princes and humanists for sympathy. The Minorite Friars denounced +the 'Hermaphroditus' from their pulpits, and burned it, together with +portraits of the poet, on the public squares of Bologna, Milan, and +Ferrara.[241] Eugenius IV. proscribed the reading of it under penalty +of excommunication. Dignitaries of the Church, who found it in the +hands of their secretaries, did not scruple to tear it to pieces, as a +book forbidden by the Pope and contrary to sound morality.[242] Yet +all this made but little difference to Beccadelli's reputation.[243] +He lectured with honour at Bologna and Pavia, received a stipend of +800 scudi from the Visconti, and in 1435 was summoned to the Court of +Naples. Alfonso raised him to the rank of noble, and continually +employed him near his person, enjoying his wit, and taking special +delight in his readings of classic authors. As official +historiographer, Beccadelli committed to writing the memorable deeds +and sayings of his royal master.[244] As ambassador and orator, he +represented the King at foreign Courts. As tutor to the Crown Prince, +Ferdinand, he prepared a sovereign for the State of Naples. This +favour lasted till the year 1471, when he died, old, rich, and +respected, in his lovely villa by the Bay of Naples. A more signal +instance of the value attached in this age to pure scholarship, +irrespective of moral considerations, and apart from profound +learning--since Beccadelli was, after all, only an elegant +Latinist--cannot be adduced. The 'Hermaphroditus,' therefore, deserves +a prominent place in the history of Renaissance manners. + +[Footnote 241: Especially Bernardino da Siena, Roberto da Lecce, and +Alberto da Sarteano. See the note to p. 353 of Vol. I., _Age of the +Despots_.] + +[Footnote 242: See Vespasiano, _Vita di Giuliano Cesarini_, p. 134.] + +[Footnote 243: A curious letter from Guarino to Beccadelli (Rosmini's +_Vita di Guarino_, vol. ii. p. 44, and notes, p. 171) describes the +enthusiastic reception given in public to an impostor who pretended to +be the author of _Hermaphroditus_.] + +[Footnote 244: _De Dictis et Factis Alphonsi Regis Memorabilibus._ +Æneas Sylvius wrote a commentary on this work, in the preface to which +he says, 'Legere potui, quod feci, corrigere vero non potui; nam quid +est quod manu tuâ emissum correctione indigeat?'--_Opp. Omnia_, p. +472. This proves Beccadelli's reputation as a stylist.] + +Those among us who have had the curiosity to study Beccadelli's +'Hermaphroditus' will find sufficient food for reflection upon his +post of confidence and honour at the Court of Alfonso.[245] Yet the +position of Lorenzo Valla at the same Court is even more remarkable. +While Beccadelli urged the levity of youth in extenuation of his +heathenism, and spoke with late regret of his past follies,[246] Valla +showed the steady front of a deliberate critic, hostile at all points +to the traditions and the morals of the Church. The parents of this +remarkable man were natives of Piacenza, though, having probably been +born at Rome, he assumed to himself the attribute of Roman.[247] +Before he fixed his residence at Naples, he had already won +distinction by a 'Dialogue on Pleasure,' in which he contrasted the +principles of the Stoics and Epicureans, making it clear, in spite of +cautious reservation, that he upheld the rights of the flesh in +opposition to the teaching of philosophies and Churches. The virtue of +virginity, so strongly prized by Christian saints, was treated by him +as a violence to nature's laws, an intolerable torment inflicted upon +man as God has made him.[248] + +[Footnote 245: What the biographers, especially Vespasiano, relate of +Alfonso's ceremonious piety and love of theological reading makes the +contrast between him and his Court poet truly astounding.] + +[Footnote 246: + + 'Hic fæces varias Veneris moresque profanos, + Quos natura fugit, me docuisse pudet.'] + +[Footnote 247: 'Romam, in quâ natus sum ... ego sum ortus Romæ +oriundus a Placentiâ.'] + +[Footnote 248: The naïve surprise with which Vespasiano records the +fact of virginity (see especially the Lives of Ambrogio Traversari and +the Cardinal Portogallo) shows how rare the virtue was, and what +mysterious honour it conferred upon men who were reputed to be +chaste.] + +The attack opened by Valla upon the hypocrisies and false doctrines of +monasticism was both powerful and novel. Humanistic freedom of +thought, after assuming the form of witty persiflage in Poggio's +anecdotes and appearing as pure Paganism in Beccadelli's poems, now +put on the sterner mask of common sense and criticism in Lorenzo +Valla. The arms which he assumed in his first encounter with Church +doctrine, he never laid aside. To the end of his life Valla remained +the steady champion of unbiassed criticism, the living incarnation of +that 'verneinender Geist' to which the reason of the modern world has +owed its motive force. + +Before leaving Rome at the age of twenty-four, Valla tried to get the +post of Apostolic Secretary, but without success. It is probable that +his youth told less against him than his reputation for plain speech +and fearlessness. In 1431 we hear of him at Pavia, where, according to +the slanders of his enemies,[249] he forged a will and underwent +public penance at the order of the Bishop. This, however, is just one +of those stories on which the general character of the invectives that +contain it, throws uncertainty. Far more to our purpose is the fact +that at this period he became the supreme authority on points of Latin +style in Italy by the publication of his 'Elegantiæ.' True to his own +genius, Valla displayed in this masterly treatise the qualities that +gave him a place unique among the scholars of his day. The forms of +correct Latinity which other men had picked out as they best could by +close adherence to antique models, he subjected to critical analysis, +establishing the art of style on scientific principles. + +[Footnote 249: Poggio and Fazio are the authorities for this +incident.] + +When Alfonso invited Valla to Naples in 1437, giving him the post of +private secretary, together with the poet's crown, he must have known +the nature of the man who was to play so prominent a part in the +history of free thought. It is not improbable that the feud between +the House of Aragon and the Papal See, which arose from Alfonso's +imperfect title to the throne of Naples, and was embittered by the +intrigues of the Church, disposed the King to look with favour on the +uncompromising antagonist of Papacy. At all events, Valla's treatise +on 'Constantine's Donation,' which appeared in 1440, assumed the +character of a political pamphlet.[250] The exordium contained fierce +personal abuse of Eugenius IV. and Cardinal Vitelleschi. The body of +the tract destroyed the fabric of lies which had imposed upon the +Christian world for centuries. The peroration ended with a menace. +Worse chastisement was in store for a worldly and simoniacal +priesthood, if the Popes refused to forego their usurped +temporalities, and to confess the sham that criticism had unmasked. +War to the death was thus declared between Valla and Rome. The storm +his treatise excited, raged at first so wildly that Valla thought it +prudent to take flight. He crossed the sea to Barcelona, and remained +there a short while, until, being assured of Alfonso's protection, he +once more returned to Naples. From beneath the shield of his royal +patron, he now continued to shoot arrow after arrow at his enemies, +affirming that the letter of Christ to Abgarus, reported by Eusebius, +was a palpable forgery, exposing the bad Latin style of the Vulgate, +accusing S. Augustine of heresy on the subject of predestination, and +denying the authenticity of the Apostles' Creed. That a simple +humanist, trusting only to his learning, should have dared to attack +the strong places of orthodoxy--its temporalities, its favourite code +of ethics, its creed, and its patristic authorities--may well excite +our admiration. With the stones of criticism and the sling of +rhetoric, this David went up against the Goliath of the Church; and +though he could not slay the Philistine, he planted in his forehead +the first of those many missiles with which the battery of the reason +has assailed tyrannical tradition in the modern world. + +[Footnote 250: _De falso Creditâ et Ementitâ Constantini Donatione._] + +The friars, whom Valla attacked with frigid scorn, and whose empire +over the minds of men he was engaged in undermining, could not be +expected to leave him quiet. Sermons from all the pulpits of Italy +were launched at the heretic and heathen; the people were taught to +loathe him as a monster of iniquity; and finally a Court of +Inquisition was opened, at the bar of which he was summoned to attend. +To the interrogatories of the inquisitors Valla replied that 'he +believed as Mother Church believed: it was quite true that she _knew_ +nothing: yet he believed as she believed.' That was all they could +extract from the disdainful scholar, who, after openly defying them, +walked away to the king and besought him to suspend the sitting of the +Court. Alfonso told the monks that they must leave his secretary +alone, and the process was dropped. + +On the death of Eugenius, Nicholas V. summoned Valla to Rome, not to +answer for his heresies and insults at the Papal bar, but to receive +the post of Apostolic Writer, with magnificent appointments. The entry +of Valla into the Roman Curia, though marked by no external ceremony, +was the triumph of humanism over orthodoxy and tradition. We need not +suppose that Nicholas was seeking to bribe a dangerous antagonist to +silence. He simply wanted to attach an illustrious scholar to his +Court, and to engage him in the labour of translation from the Greek. +To heresy and scepticism he showed the indifference of a tolerant and +enlightened spirit; with the friars who hated Valla the Pope in Rome +had nothing whatsoever in common. The attitude assumed by Nicholas on +this occasion illustrates the benefit which learning in the +Renaissance derived from the worldliness of the Papacy. It was not +until the schism of the Teutonic Churches, and the intrusion of the +Spaniards into Italy, that the Court of Rome consistently adopted a +policy of persecution and repression. + +A large portion of Valla's biography is absorbed by the history of his +quarrels with Poggio, Georgios Trapezuntios, and other men of mark. +Enough has already been said about these literary feuds; nor need I +allude to them again, except for the purpose of bringing a third +Court-scholar of Alfonso's into notice. Bartolommeo Fazio, a native of +La Spezzia, occupied the position of historiographer at Naples. In +addition to his annals of the life of Alfonso, he compiled a book on +celebrated men, and won the reputation of being the neatest Latinist +in prose of his age. Fazio ventured to criticise the style of Valla, +in whose works he professed to have detected five hundred faults of +language. Eight books of invectives and recriminations were exchanged +between them; and when both died in 1457, this epigram was composed in +celebration of their animosity:-- + + Ne vel in Elysiis sine vindice Valla susurret, + Facius haud multos post obit ipse dies. + +The amusement afforded to Roman emperors by fights in the arena, and +to feudal nobles by the squabbles of their fools, seems to have been +extracted by Italian patrons from the duels of well-matched humanists. +What personal jealousies, what anxious competition for the princely +favour, such warfare concealed may be readily imagined; nor is it +improbable that Fazio's attack on Valli was prompted by the covert +spite of Beccadelli. Scarcely less close to the person of Alfonso than +the students with whom we have been occupied, stood Giannantonio +Porcello, a native of Naples. He was distinguished by his command of +versification: the fluency with which he poured fourth Latin elegiacs +and hexameters approached that of an improvisatore of the Molo. +Alfonso sent him to the camp of the Venetians during the war waged by +their general Piccinino in 1452-3 with Sforza. Porcello, who shared +the tent of Piccinino on this occasion, wrote a Latin history of the +campaign in the style of Livy, with moral reflections, speeches, and +all the apparatus of Roman rhetoric. Piccinino figured as Scipio +Æmilianus; Sforza as Hannibal. The work was dedicated to Alfonso.[251] + +[Footnote 251: It is printed in Muratori, vol. xx.] + +With the exception of Lorenzo Valla,[252] the scholars of the Court of +Naples were stylists and poets rather than men of erudition. Freedom +both of speculation and of morals marked society in Southern Italy, +where the protection of a powerful monarch at war with the Church, and +the license of a luxurious capital, released the humanists from such +slight restraints as public opinion and conventional decorum placed on +them in Rome and Florence. + +[Footnote 252: The protection extended to Manetti and to Filelfo +ought, however, to be here mentioned. Nearly all the contemporary +scholars of Italy dedicated works to Alfonso.] + +Owing to the marked diversity exhibited by the different states of +Italy, the forms assumed by art and literature are never exactly the +same in any two cities. If the natives of the Two Sicilies were not +themselves addicted to severe scholarship, the lighter kinds of +writing flourished there abundantly, and Naples gave her own peculiar +character to literature. This was not the case with Milan. Yet Milan, +during the reigns of the last Visconti and the first Sforza, claims +attention, owing to the accident of Filelfo's residence at the Ducal +Court. Filippo Maria Visconti was one of the most repulsive tyrants +who have ever disgraced a civilised country. Shut up within his palace +walls among astrologers, minions, and monks, carefully protected from +the public eye, and watched by double sets of mutually suspicious +bodyguards, it was impossible that he should extend the free +encouragement to learned men which we admire at Naples. Around despots +of the stamp of the Visconti there must of necessity reign the +solitude and silence of a desert, where arts and letters cannot +flourish, though Pactolus be poured forth to feed their roots. The +history of humanism at Milan has, therefore, less to do with the city +or the Ducal circle than with the private labours of students allured +to Lombardy by promise of high pay. + +Piero Candido Decembrio began life as Filippo Maria's secretary. To +his vigorous pen the student of Italian history owes the minutest and +most vivid sketch now extant of the habits and the vices of a tyrant. +This remains the best title of Decembrio to recollection, though his +works, original and translated, if we may trust his epitaph in S. +Ambrogio, amounted to 127 books when he died in 1447. Contemporary +with Decembrio, Gasparino da Barzizza, of whom mention has already +been made,[253] occupied the place of Court orator and letter-writer. +This office he transmitted to his son, Guiniforte, who was also +employed in the education of Francesco Sforza's children. None of +these men, however, shed much splendour upon Milan; they were simply +the instruments of ducal luxury, part of a prince's parade, at an +epoch when even warlike sovereigns sought to crowd their Courts with +pedagogues and rhetoricians. + +[Footnote 253: Above, p. 78.] + +With Filelfo the case was different. His singular abilities rendered +him independent of local patronage, and drew universal attention to +any place where he might choose to fix his residence. Of all the +humanists he was the most restless in his humour and erratic in his +movements. Still Milan, during a long period of his life, formed his +headquarters; to Milan he returned when fortune frowned on him +elsewhere; and with Milan his name will always be connected. + +Francesco Filelfo was born in 1398 at Tolentino, in the March of +Ancona. He studied grammar, rhetoric, and Latin literature at Padua, +where he was appointed professor at the early age of eighteen. In 1417 +he received an invitation to teach eloquence and moral philosophy at +Venice. Here he remained two years, deriving much advantage from the +society of Guarino da Verona and Vittorino da Feltre, and forming +useful connections with the Venetian nobility. Young as he was, +Filelfo had already made his mark, and won the consideration which +attaches to men of decided character and extraordinary powers. The +proof of this is that, after being admitted citizen of Venice by +public decree, he was appointed Secretary to the Baily (_Bailo_, or +Consul-General) of Constantinople through the interest of his friend +Lionardo Giustiniani. Giustiniani having also provided him with money +for his voyage, Filelfo set off in 1419 for the capital of Greek +learning. Of the three Italian teachers--Guarino, Aurispa, and +Filelfo--who made this journey for the express purpose of acquiring +the Greek language and collecting Greek books, Filelfo was by far the +most distinguished. The history, therefore, of his adventures may be +taken as a specimen of what befell them all. The time spent at sea +between Venice and Byzantium was five months; Filelfo did not arrive +till the year 1420 was already well advanced. He put himself at once +under the tuition of John Chrysoloras, the brother of Manuel, whose +influence at the Imperial Court brought Filelfo into favour with John +Palæologus. The young Italian student, having speedily acquired +familiarity with the Greek tongue, received the titles of Secretary +and Counsellor, and executed some important diplomatic missions for +his Imperial master. We hear, for instance, of his being sent to +Sigismund, the German Emperor, at Buda, and of his reciting an +Epithalamial Oration at Cracow on the marriage of King Ladislaus. The +Venetian Baily, again, despatched him to the Court of Amurath II., in +order to negotiate terms of treaty between the Republic and the Turk. + +The confidence extended alike by his Venetian and Greek patrons to +Filelfo may well have inclined Chrysoloras to look with favour on the +affection which now sprang up between the Italian stranger and his +daughter Theodora. Theodora was but fourteen years of age; yet her +youth probably suggested no impediment to marriage in the +semi-Oriental society of the Greek capital. That she was connected by +blood with the Imperial family made the alliance honourable to +Filelfo; still there is no sufficient reason to conclude for certain +that the match was so unequal as to justify the malignant suggestions +thrown out at a later date by Poggio.[254] Of ancient blood there was +enough and to spare at Constantinople; but wealth was wanting, while +the talent which rendered Filelfo serviceable to great states and +empires was itself sufficient guarantee for Theodora's maintenance in +a becoming station. + +[Footnote 254: 'Itaque Chrysoloras, moerore confectus, compulsus +precibus, malo coactus, filiam tibi nuptui dedit a te corruptam, quæ +si extitisset integra, ne pilum quidem tibi abrasum ab illius natibus +ostendisset. An tu illam unquam duxisses uxorem si virginitatem per te +servare potuisset? Tibi pater illam dedisset profugo, ignobili, +impuro? Primariis suæ civitatis viris servabatur virgo, non tibi, +insulsæ pecudi et asello bipedali, quem ille domi alebat tanquam canem +aliquem solent senio et ætate confectum.'--_Poggii Opp._ p. 167. This +is just one of the tales with which the invectives of that day abound, +and with which it is almost impossible to deal. It may be true; for +certainly Filelfo, by his immorality and grossness in after-life, +justified the worst calumnies that his enemies could invent. Yet there +is little but Poggio's word to prove it, while Rosmini has shown that +Filelfo's position at Byzantium was very different from what his foe +suggests. Tiraboschi accepts the charge as 'not proven;' but he +clearly leans in private against Filelfo, moved by the following +passage from a letter of Ambrogio Traversari:--'Nuper a Guarino accepi +litteras, quibus vehementer in fortunam invehitur quod filiam Joannis +Chrysoloræ clarissimi viri is acceperit, exterus, qui quantum libet +homo bono ingenio, longe tamen illis nuptiis impar esset, queriturque +substomachans uxorem Chrysoloræ venalem habuisse pudicitiam, +moechumque ante habuisse quam socerum.' Vol. vi. lib. iii. cap. v. +21. All that can be said now is that Filelfo's own morality and the +corruption of Byzantine society render a story believed by Guarino and +Traversari, and openly told by Poggio, not improbable.] + +Not long after their marriage Filelfo received an offer of the Chair +of Eloquence at Venice, with a stipend of 500 sequins. In 1427, +tempted by the prospect of good pay and growing fame, he landed with +his wife, their infant son, four female slaves, and two men servants +on the quay before S. Mark's.[255] The object of his journey to +Constantinople had been amply attained. After an absence of seven and +a half years, he returned to his native country with Greek learning, +increased reputation, and a large supply of Greek books.[256] His +proud boast, frequently repeated in after-life, that no man living +but himself had mastered the whole literature of the ancients in both +languages, that no one else could wield the prose of Cicero, the verse +of Horace and of Virgil, and the Greek of Homer and of Xenophon with +equal versatility, was not altogether an empty vaunt.[257] We may +indeed smile at his pretension to have surpassed Virgil because he was +an orator, and Cicero because he was a poet, and both of them together +because he could write Greek as well as Latin.[258] We know that his +Latin hexameters are such as not only Virgil but Cicero would have +scorned to own, that his Latin orations would have been hissed before +the Roman rostra, and that his Greek style is at the same time tame +and tumid. Neither he nor his contemporaries were sufficiently +critical to comprehend the force of these objections. They only saw +that he possessed the keys to all the learning of the ancient world, +and that, besides unlocking those treasures for modern students, he +was also competent to give to current thoughts a form that aped the +classic masterpieces each in its own kind. Taken at their lowest +valuation, the claims of Filelfo, well founded in fact, mark him out +as the most universal scholar of his age. A genius he was not: for +while his perceptions were coarse, his intellect was receptive rather +than originative. Of deep thought, true taste, penetrative criticism, +or delicate fancy he knew nothing. The unimaginable bloom of style is +nowhere to be found upon his work. Yet a man of his stamp was needed +at that epoch to act as a focus for the streams of light which flooded +Italy from divers sources, to collect them in himself, and to bequeath +to students of a happier age the ideal of comprehensive scholarship +which Poliziano and Erasmus realised. + +[Footnote 255: This retinue shows that Filelfo was at least able to +support a large household.] + +[Footnote 256: The catalogue of his library, communicated by him in a +letter to Ambrogio Traversari, shows so clearly what the most +indefatigable student and omnivorous reader of the age, to whom all +the museums and bookshops of Byzantium must have been open, could then +collect, that I will transcribe it:--'Qui mihi nostri in Italiam libri +gesti sunt, horum nomina ad te scribo: alios autem nonnullos per +primas ex Byzantio Venetorum naves opperior. Hi autem sunt Plotinus, +Ælianus, Aristides, Dionysius Halicarnasseus, Strabo Geographus, +Hermogenes, Aristotelis Rhetorice, Dionysius Halicarnasseus de Numeris +et Characteribus, Herodotus, Dio Chrysostomus, Appollonius Pergæus, +Thucydides, Plutarchi Moralia, Proclus in Platonem, Philo Judæus, +Ethica Aristotelis, Ejus magna Moralia et Eudemia, et Oeconomica et +Politica, quædam Theophrasti Opuscula, Homeri Ilias, Odyssea, +Philostrati de Vitâ Appollonii, Orationes Libanii, et aliqui Sermones +Luciani, Pindarus, Aratus, Euripidis Tragoediæ Septem, Theocritus, +Hesiodus, Suidas, Phalaridis, Hippocratis, Platonis et multorum ex +veteribus Philosophis Epistolæ, Demosthenes, Æschinis Orationes et +Epistolæ, Pleraque Xenophontis Opera, Una Lysiæ Oratio, Orphei +Argonautica et Hymni, Callimachus, Aristoteles de Historiis Animalium, +Physica, et Metaphysica, et de Animâ, de Partibus Animalium, et alia +quædam, Polybius, Nonnulli Sermones Chrysostomi, Dionysiaca, et alii +Poetæ plurimi. Habes qui mihi sint, et his utere æque ac tuis.'] + +[Footnote 257: 'Unum Philelphus audet affirmare, vel insaniente +Candido, neminem esse hâc tempestate, nec fuisse unquam apud Latinos, +quantum constat ex omni hominum memoriâ, qui præter se unum idem unus +tenuerit exercuitque et Græcam pariter et Latinam orationem in omni +dicendi genere et prosâ et versu. Tu si quidem habeas alterum, memora. +Quid taces, homo miserrime?' Letter to Piero Candido Decembrio. Cf. +what P.C. Decembrio wrote to Poggio in 1453:--'Dixit (_i.e._ +Philelphus) enim neminem litteras scire præter ipsum, alios +semilatinos et semigræcos esse, se autem principatum inter stultos +obtinere.' Rosmini, vol. iii. p. 150.] + +[Footnote 258: + + 'Quod si Virgilius superat me carminis ullis + Laudibus, orator ille ego sum melior. + Sin Tulli eloquio præstat facundia nostro, + Versibus ille meis cedit ubique minor. + Adde quod et linguâ possum hæc præstare Pelasgâ + Et Latiâ. Talem quem mihi des alium?' + +Lib. ix., _De Jocis et Seriis_. _Elegy to Alessandro Sforza._ Reported +by Rosmini, vol. iii. p. 149. One specimen of these boasts may stand +for thousands.] + +Filelfo's reception at Venice by no means corresponded to the promises +by which he had been tempted, or to the value which he set on his own +services. The plague was in the city; the nobles had taken flight to +their country houses; and there was no one to attend his lectures. He +therefore very readily accepted an offer sent him from Bologna, and +early in the year 1428 we find him settled in that city as professor +of eloquence and moral philosophy, with a stipend of 450 sequins. He +was not destined to remain there long, however, for the disturbed +state of the town rendered teaching impossible; and when flattering +proposals arrived from the Florentines, he set off in haste and +transferred his whole family across the Apennines from Imola.[259] The +delight which he experienced in viewing the architectural monuments +of Florence, and the enthusiasm he aroused by his stupendous learning +in an audience of unprecedented variety and multitude, are expressed +with almost childish emphasis in his correspondence. 'The whole +State,' he writes,[260] 'is turned to look at me. All men love and +honour me, and praise me to the skies. My name is on every lip. Not +only the leaders of the city, but women also of the noblest birth make +way for me, paying me so much respect that I am ashamed of their +worship. My audience numbers every day four hundred persons, mostly +men advanced in years and of the dignity of senators.' These were the +halcyon days of Filelfo's residence at Florence,[261] when he was +still enjoying the friendship of learned men, receiving new +engagements from the University with augmentations of pay,[262] and +when as yet he had not won the hatred of the Medicean faction. His +industry at this epoch was amazing. He began the day by reading and +explaining the 'Tusculans' and rhetorical treatises of Cicero; then he +proceeded to Livy or Homer; after a brief rest at midday he resumed +his labours with Terence and a Greek author, Thucydides or Xenophon. +On holidays he read Dante to an audience assembled in the Duomo, +bestowing these lectures as a free gift on the people of Florence. +Amid these public labours, the weight of which may be estimated by +remembering what was required of professors in the fifteenth +century,[263] Filelfo still found leisure for private work. He +translated two speeches of Lysias, the 'Rhetoric' of Aristotle, two +Lives of Plutarch, and Xenophon's panegyrics of Agesilaus and the +Spartan institutions. + +[Footnote 259: The invitation came from Niccoli, Lionardo Bruni, +Ambrogio Traversari, and Palla Strozzi.] + +[Footnote 260: Quoted by Cantù, p. 128.] + +[Footnote 261: He stayed there from 1429 till the autumn of 1434.] + +[Footnote 262: Engagement renewed October 17, 1431, for two years, +with stipend of 350 sequins; again, in 1433, with stipend of 450 +sequins.] + +[Footnote 263: See above, pp. 90, 91.] + +At the same time he had abundant energy for the prosecution of the +feuds in which he soon found himself engaged with the Florentine +scholars. So great was the arrogance displayed by Filelfo, his +meanness in private life, and his imprudence in public,[264] that even +the men who had invited him became his bitter foes. Niccolo de' +Niccoli, always jealous of superiority, and apt to take offence, was +the first with whom he quarrelled; then followed Carlo Marsuppini and +Ambrogio Traversari, until at last the whole of the Medicean party +were inflamed against him. Filelfo on his side spared neither satires +nor slanders; and when the political crisis, which for a time +depressed the Medicean faction, was impending, he declared himself the +public opponent of Cosimo. Already in the spring of 1433 he had been +stabbed in the face while walking to the University one morning by +Filippo, a cut-throat from Casale; nor does there seem any reason to +doubt that, as Filelfo himself firmly believed, the man was paid to +kill him by the Medici. When the same bravo afterwards followed him to +Siena,[265] Filelfo hired a Greek, by name Antonio Maria, to retaliate +upon his foes in Florence. It is not probable that a merely literary +quarrel would have run to these extremities. Even the foulness of +Poggio's invectives and the fury of Filelfo's satires fail to account +for the intervention of assassins. We know, however, that Filelfo had +not confined himself to calumnies and criticisms of his literary +rivals. During Cosimo's imprisonment he urged the Signory in open +terms to take his life; when he was living in exile at Venice, he +pursued him with abominable slanders; and now, on Cosimo's return, +though himself expelled from the city as a rebel and a proscript, he +kept stirring up the burghers of Florence and the Courts of Italy +against the tyrant.[266] + +[Footnote 264: See Rosmini, vol. i. pp. 43, 48.] + +[Footnote 265: _Ibid._ vol. i. p. 83, for the trial, torture, and +confession of this bravo.] + +[Footnote 266: The original source of information concerning Filelfo's +quarrels with the Florentines is his Satires, divided into ten books +or decades, each consisting of ten satires or hecatostichæ of one +hundred verses each. In the copy of this book, printed at Paris, 1508, +by Robert and John Gourmont, these virulent libels are called 'Divinum +Francisci Philelphi Poetæ Christiani Satyrarum Opus.' As their motto +the publishers give these sentences:--'Finis laus Deo, Spes mea +Jesus.' For the abuse of the Medicean circle see Dec. i. Hec. 5; Dec. +i. Hec. 6; Dec. ii. Hec. 1, 3, 7; Dec. iii. Hec. 10; Dec. vi. 10; Dec. +viii. 5. For Filelfo's attack on Cosimo during his imprisonment, see +Dec. iv. Hec. 1. For his invective against Cosimo on his return from +exile, see Dec. iv. Hec. 9. For an appeal to Filippo Maria Visconti +against Cosimo, see Dec. v. Hec. 1. For a similar appeal to Eugenius +IV., see Dec. v. Hec. 2. For the episode of the assassin Filippo, see +Dec. v. Hec. 6. A political attack on Cosimo addressed to Rinaldo +Albizzi is contained in Dec. v. Hec. 8. A furious denunciation of +Cosimo's tyranny, in Dec. v. Hec. 9. Palla degli Strozzi, as an +opponent of Cosimo, is praised in Dec. iii. 1; Dec. vi. 4. In Dec. +vii. 8, Filelfo promises to moderate his fury. In addition to these +sources see the MS. invectives mentioned in Rosmini, vol. i. p. 47.] + +The occasion of Filelfo's removal to Siena was this:--When his +position at Florence had become untenable, he received an invitation +from Antonio Petrucci to lecture for two years, with a stipend of 350 +florins. Filelfo replied that he preferred small pay and quiet to a +larger income among the swords and poisons of his envious rivals. +Accordingly he took up his abode at Siena for four years in the +Piccolomini Palace. Like many greater and more admirable men, he had a +restless disposition, always pleased with what is new, yet always +grumbling when the taste of bitter mounted to his lips. The most +honourable invitations now began to shower upon him. The Council of +Basle, the Venetian Senate, the Emperor of the East, Eugenius IV., the +Universities of Perugia and Bologna, and the Duke of Milan applied for +his services. It was not, however, until the year 1439 that his love +of change, combined with the allurements of higher pay, induced him to +close with the offers of the Senate of Bologna. Once more, then, he +crossed the Apennines, and once more, after a brief sojourn of a few +months, he again quitted Bologna, and transferred himself to Milan. +His reception by Filippo Maria Visconti was most flattering. Placing a +diamond ring upon his finger, the Duke welcomed him among the nobles +of his Court on New Year's Day in 1440. Thus began Filelfo's +connection with the Lombard capital, which, though often interrupted, +was never wholly broken till his death. + +The munificence of the Visconti exceeded that of any of Filelfo's +patrons,[267] while the mode of life at Milan exactly suited his +vainglorious temperament. He loved to throw his money about among +lords, to appear at high Court festivals, and to take the lead on +ceremonial occasions in his rank of orator. There was, moreover, no +rival strong enough to threaten the blasting of his popularity.[268] +We find him, during his residence at Milan, continually engaged in the +exercise of rhetoric. Public and private incidents of the most various +character employed his skill, nor is there any doubt that his large +professorial income was considerably increased by presents received +from patrons and employers.[269] In addition to the labours of his +chair, he engaged in various literary works. His Satires and Odes were +gradually growing into ponderous volumes.[270] Other fugitive pieces +in prose he put together under the title of 'Convivia Mediolanensia.' +Meanwhile he carried on an active correspondence, both familiar and +hortatory, with the scholars and the princes of his day.[271] There +was no branch of letters with which, sustained by sublime +self-approval, he was not willing and eager to meddle. As he had +professed Dante at Florence, so here at Milan, by ducal command, he +undertook to comment upon Petrarch, and actually composed a poem on S. +John the Baptist in _terza rima_. There is something ludicrous in the +thought of this Visconti, would-be Herod as in truth he was, +commissioning Filelfo, the outrageous Pagan, to versify the life of +Christ's forerunner. If Filelfo despised anything more than sacred +history, it was the Italian language; and if there was a task for +which he was unfitted, it was the composition of poetry. + +[Footnote 267: His professorial stipend was soon raised from 500 to +700 golden florins.] + +[Footnote 268: Vespasiano says that the concourse of people to Carlo +Aretino's lectures was the first cause of Filelfo's feuds at +Florence.] + +[Footnote 269: Here are the dates of some of these displays:-- + +1440. Funeral oration on Stefano Federigo Todeschini. + +1441. Epithalamial on the Marriage of Giovanni Marliani. + +1442. Discourse on Duties of a Magistrate. + +1446. Panegyric of Filippo Maria Visconti, and oration on the Election +of Jacopo Borromeo to the See of Pavia. + +1450. Oration of Welcome to Francesco Sforza. + +1455. Epithalamial on the Marriage of Tristano Sforza to Beatrice +d'Este. + +1458. Epithalamials for Antonio Crivelli and Teodoro Piatti. + +1459. Oration to Pius II. on his Crusade. + +1460. Oration on the Election of the Bishop of Como. + +1464. Funeral oration for the Senator Filippo Borromeo. + +1466. Ditto for Francesco Sforza. + +It is probable that all of these were not recited; but all were +conceived in the lumbering and pedantic style that passed for +eloquence at that period. With regard to rewards received on these +occasions, note the gift of a silver basin from Jacopo Antonio +Marcello in return for a consolatory epistle. Rosmini, vol. ii. p. +127. Cf. p. 197.] + +[Footnote 270: The Satires, collected into ten decades, each satire +consisting of 100 lines, were dedicated to Alfonso of Naples in 1451. +Printed at Milan, 1446. The Odes, entitled _De Seriis et Jocis_, were +finished in 1465, and dedicated partly to Malatesta Novello of Cesena, +partly to Alessandro Sforza. There were ten books, each book +containing 1,000 lines. Never printed. Rosmini, who inspected the +MSS., reports that their obscenity exceeds description, and is only +equalled by the vulgarity of the author's fancy and the coarseness of +his style. In addition to these unpublished Latin poems, Filelfo +collected three books of Greek elegies and epigrams, amounting to +2,400 verses. It is significant that he measured his poetry by lines, +and trained his jog-trot muse to paces of 100 verses.] + +[Footnote 271: The Epistle to Ladislaus of Hungary on his victories +over the Turks, for instance.] + +During the second year of his Milanese residence Filelfo lost his wife +Theodora. He speedily married again, choosing for his bride a +beautiful young lady of good family in Milan. Her name was Orsina +Osnaga. Since I have touched upon this matter of Filelfo's private +life, it may be well to add that when he lost his second wife, he +took in wedlock for the third time Laura Magiolini. By each of his +marriages he acquired no inconsiderable property, and all his brides +belonged to highly distinguished families. The best thing that can be +said about Filelfo as a man is, that he was undoubtedly attached to +his wives and to the numerous children they bore him.[272] This +feeling did not, however, protect him from numerous infidelities, or +save his fortune from the burden of illegitimate children.[273] It is +even doubtful whether credence should not be accorded to suggestions +of worse debauchery, repeated with every appearance of belief by his +enemies, and on his side but imperfectly refuted. Filelfo was, in +truth, a man of great physical vigour, whose energies the mere labour +of the student was insufficient to exhaust. Loves and hatreds, +domestic sympathies and turbulent passions, absorbed a portion of his +superfluous force; nor was he at any time restrained by scruples of +religion or morality. What was good for Greeks and Romans was good for +him. It is also to be noted that the innate sense of delicacy which +sometimes forms the safeguard of excessive temperaments was altogether +alien to his nature. + +[Footnote 272: He had twelve sons and twelve daughters. They did not +all live.] + +[Footnote 273: A curious sign of current feeling is that Filelfo +frequently boasted of being [Greek: triorchês]. See Rosmini, i. p. 15, +and the verse quoted, _ib._ p. 113. He mentioned two natural children +in his will and had many more. Rosmini, vol. iii. p. 78.] + +During the disasters that befell the State of Milan on the death of +Filippo Maria, Filelfo at first espoused the cause of the burghers. A +letter to the Florentines is extant, in which he exhorts them to aid +their sister commonwealth at the extreme hour of her peril. It was not +natural, however, that a humanist, who had no zeal for freedom, and +whose personal interests led him to desire a settled government at any +price, should continue staunch to a republic so unnerved as that of +Milan. When Carlo Gonzaga played the Milanese false by admitting the +troops of Francesco Sforza, Filelfo was the first to welcome the new +monarch with a set oration. He professed great admiration for the +general who, by careful management and double-dealing, had placed +himself at the head of the third state in the peninsula. Yet his +correspondence at this period proves that his mind was uneasy, and +that he desired a change. In an impudent letter addressed to Nicholas +V., he solicited ecclesiastical preferment, suggesting that the +promise of a bishop's mitre would secure his splendid talents for the +service of the Papacy.[274] However desirous the Pope might be to +engage Filelfo for his translation factory at Rome, the price demanded +was too great. He could not recognise a vocation so clearly inspired +by mercenary motives; and to receive into the high places of the +Church, at his own request, a man accused of many vices, who had twice +been married, would have established a dangerous precedent. Filelfo, +receiving neither substantial encouragement nor a flat refusal, turned +his thoughts to matrimony for the third time, and addressed a prayer +on this occasion to Dame Venus, in which he besought the mother of +Priapus to befriend her votary. The intelligent student of the +Renaissance will not fail to notice the state of mind implied by the +juxtaposition of this letter to the Holy Father and this ode to Venus. + +[Footnote 274: Rosmini, vol. ii. p. 54. It may be remembered that +Pietro Aretino hinted he should like to be a cardinal.] + +Filelfo was now fain to content himself with the patronage of +Francesco Sforza, a prince who had no natural turn for literature, but +who was wise enough to know that a _parvenu_ could least of all afford +to neglect the ruling fashions of his age. The letters he wrote at +this period abound in impudent demands for money, querulous outcries +over the poverty to which the first scholar of the century was +condemned, and violent menaces of retaliation if his salary remained +in arrears.[275] Not only Francesco Sforza, but all the patrons upon +whom Filelfo thought he had a claim, were assailed with reptile +lamentations and more reptile menaces. Alessandro Sforza, Lodovico +Gonzaga, and three Popes in succession may be mentioned among the more +distinguished princes who suffered from this literary brigandage.[276] +Not without strict justice did a contemporary describe him in the +following severe terms:--'He is calumnious, envious, vain, and so +greedy of gold that he metes out praise or blame according to the +gifts he gets, both despicable as proceeding from a tainted +source.'[277] Filelfo's rapacity is truly disgusting when we remember +that he received far more than any equally distinguished student of +his age. Not the illiberality of patrons, but his own luxurious +habits, reduced him to beggary. All the while that he was screaming in +bad Latin verse, he lived expensively, indulging ostentatious tastes, +and finding money for unclean indulgences. In order to confirm his +claim on the Duke of Milan's generosity, he began a gigantic Latin +epic upon the life of Sforza. Without plan, a mere versified +chronicle, encumbered with foolish mythological machinery, and loaded +with fulsome flatteries, this leaden Sforziad crawled on until 12,800 +lines had been written. Only the first eight books of it were +published in MS., nor were these ever printed.[278] + +[Footnote 275: As a specimen of Filelfo's Grub Street style of +begging, I transcribe the following elegy (Rosmini, vol. ii. p. +285):-- + + 'Hæc autem altisone dum carmina celsius effert + Defecisse suo sentit ab ore tubam, + Nam quia magnifici data non est copia nummi + Cogitur huic uti carmine raucidulo. + Quod neque mireris; vocem pretiosa canoram + Esca dat, et potus excitat ingenium. + Ingenium spurco suevit languescere vino, + Humida mugitum reddere rapa solet.' + +Francesco Sforza's anxiety to retain Filelfo in his service is +expressed in a letter to his treasurer (_ib._ p. 295):--'Noi per niuno +modo el vogliamo perdere, la qual cosa seguirebbe quando gli paresse +essere deluso, e non potesse seguitare per manchamento delli dicti 250 +fiorini la nobilissima opera per lui in nostra gloria comenzata nè +suplire agli altri suoi bisogni.' The _tuba_ and the _nobilissima +opera_ both refer to Filelfo's Sforziad.] + +[Footnote 276: I may call particular attention to Filelfo's behaviour +with regard to Pius II.--the free pension of 200 florins granted +(Rosmini, vol. ii. p. 106), the menaces because it is not paid (_ib._ +p. 115), the scurrilous epigrams on the Pope's death (_ib._ p. 321), +the abusive letter addressed to Paul II. (_ib._ p. 136), the sentence +of imprisonment for calumny issued against him and his son Mario +(_ib._ p. 140), the final palinode in which he basely praises the Pope +whom he had basely abused (_ib._ p. 146). The whole series of +transactions is disgraceful.] + +[Footnote 277: Letter of Gregorio Lollio to the Cardinal of Pavia, +reported by Rosmini (vol. ii. p. 147).] + +[Footnote 278: The whole poem ran to sixteen books. Therefore, +according to Filelfo's art of poetry, the first eight contained 6,400 +verses.] + +By fair means and by foul, Filelfo had managed to secure a splendid +reputation throughout Italy. His journey to Naples in 1453 resembled a +triumphal progress. Nicholas V. entertained him with distinction, read +his infamous satires, presented him with a purse of 500 ducats, and +offered him a yearly stipend of 600 if he would dedicate his talents +to translation. Alfonso dubbed him knight, and placed the poet's +laurel on his brow with his own royal hands. As he passed through +their capitals, the princes received him like an equal. At Ferrara he +enjoyed the hospitalities of Duke Borso, at Mantua the friendship of +the Marchese Lodovico Gonzaga; the terrible Gismondo Pandolfo +Malatesta welcomed him in Rimini, and the General Jacopo Piccinino in +his camp at Fossombrone. Nor was this fame confined to Italy. On the +fall of Constantinople he addressed a letter to the Sultan, beseeching +him to release his mother-in-law and her two daughters from captivity; +the humanist's eloquence obtained this favour from the Turkish +conqueror, who refused to accept a ransom for the relatives of so +illustrious an orator.[279] + +[Footnote 279: See Rosmini, vol. ii. p. 90. The Greek epistle which he +sent is printed, _ib._ p. 305.] + +Until the death of Francesco Sforza Milan continued to be the city of +Filelfo's choice. After that event he turned his thoughts to Rome. +Pius II., Paul II., and Sixtus IV., in succession, had testified their +regard for him, either by moderate presents, sufficient to excite his +cupidity and check his slanderous temper, or by negotiations which +came to nothing. At last, in 1474, he received from Rome the offer of +a professorial chair, with a stipend of 600 florins, and the promise +of the first vacant post in the Apostolic Chancery. + +The old man of seventy-seven years once more journeyed across the +plains of Lombardy, ascended the Apennines, passed through +Florence,[280] and began his lectures with the 'Tusculans' of Cicero, +on the twelfth day of January, 1475, in Rome. The marks of favour with +which Sixtus had received him were highly honourable. Filelfo was +permitted to sit in the Pope's presence, and on Christmas Day he stood +among the ambassadors while Sixtus celebrated mass. The vigorous old +scholar at first felt that all his previous life had been a tedious +prologue to this blissful play. Soon, however, a cloud arose on the +horizon. The Pope's treasurer, Milliardo Cicala, was remiss in +payments. Filelfo retaliated by describing Cicala's vices in the most +lurid colours to Sixtus.[281] Though his style and eloquence were +always vulgar, the concentrated fury and impassioned hatred of these +invectives cannot fail to impress the imagination. Such a picture of +the dissolute and grasping treasurer, painted by Filelfo and sent to +Sixtus, has a sinister humour which might recommend itself to the +audience of an infernal comedy. It is only necessary to have some +knowledge of the three men in order to perceive its force. Nor did +Sixtus himself long continue in Filelfo's graces. Frequent journeys +prove how unsettled he became; at last he left Rome in 1476, never to +return. When the Pazzi Conjuration failed at Florence, Filelfo wrote +to congratulate Lorenzo de' Medici on his escape, and undertook the +task of composing a history of the whole intrigue. Two long and +violent letters addressed to Sixtus, accusing him of participation in +the conspiracy, and heaping on him charges of vice, were the result of +this determination.[282] These epistles were dated from Milan, whither +Filelfo had retired in 1476, to find his third wife dead of the +plague, and buried on the eve of his arrival. His sorrow on this +occasion was genuine; nor is it likely that he derived much comfort +from a curious epistle addressed to him by Paolo Morosini, who, +himself a husband and father, attempted to console the septuagenarian +professor by elaborate abuse of matrimony.[283] To such ridiculous +vagaries did the rhetorical spirit of humanism lead its votaries. + +[Footnote 280: He had long since made peace with the Medici.] + +[Footnote 281: See the original letters in Rosmini, vol. ii. pp. +411-419.] + +[Footnote 282: Rosmini, vol. ii. p. 261, note.] + +[Footnote 283: _Ib._ p. 248.] + +Filelfo's last journey was undertaken in 1481. Ill at ease, and sore +of heart, the veteran of scholarship still longed for further +triumphs. All his wishes for some time past had been set on ending his +days at Florence, near the person of Lorenzo de' Medici; and when an +invitation to the Chair of Greek Literature arrived, it found him +eager to set forth. He was so poor, however, that the Duke's +secretary, Jacopo Antiquari, had to lend him money for the +journey.[284] He just managed to reach Florence, where he died of +dysentery a fortnight after his arrival, at the age of eighty-three. +The Florentines buried him in the Church of the Annunziata. + +[Footnote 284: I cannot allow this mention of Antiquari's name to pass +without a note upon his life and services to letters. He was born and +educated at Perugia, entered the service of the Papal Legate Battista +Savelli as secretary at Bologna, and afterwards received the post of +secretary and diplomatic writer to the Sforza family at Milan. The +Duke Galeazzo Maria was his first master. At Milan he played the part +of an amiable and refined Mæcenas, while he carried on a +correspondence in Latin--still delightful to read--with Poliziano and +all the greatest scholars of his age. His biography, written at some +length, with valuable miscellaneous appendices by Vermiglioli, was +published at Perugia in 1819.] + +The sketch which I have given of Filelfo's life, abounds in details +beyond the just proportions of the present chapter. This is due partly +to the copiousness and the excellence of the authorities collected by +Rosmini in his exhaustive biography, but more to the undoubted fact +that Filelfo ranks as the typical humanist of his age. The +universality of his acquirements and the impression they made upon +contemporaries, his enormous physical vigour and incessant mental +activity, the vehemence with which he prosecuted his literary warfares +and the restlessness that drove him from capital to capital in Italy, +are themselves enough to mark him out as the representative hero of +the second period of humanism. Not less characteristic were the +quality and the form of his literary work--ridiculously over-valued +then, and now perhaps too readily depreciated. There is something +pathetic in the certainty of everlasting fame that sustained the +student through so many years of unremitting labour. It makes us +wonder whether the achievements of the human intellect, in science and +discovery, acceptable as these may be to their own time, are not, +equally with Filelfo's triumph of scholarship, foredoomed to speedy +obscuration. Nothing is imperishable but high thought, to which art +has communicated the indestructible form of beauty. + +The 'Age of the Despots'[285] contains a promise of further details +concerning Vittorino da Feltre, to redeem which the time has now come. +His father's name was Bruto de' Rambaldoni; but having been born at +Feltre in the year 1378, he took from his birthplace the surname by +which he is best known. + +[Footnote 285: Pp. 138, 139.] + +Like the majority of his contemporaries, Vittorino studied Latin under +John of Ravenna and rhetoric under Gasparino da Barzizza. His poverty +compelled him at the same time to support himself by taking pupils; +this drudgery, however, was so unremunerative that, when he wanted to +attend the mathematical lectures of Biagio Pelacane, he had to pay +that avaricious and eccentric teacher by personal service. As Haydn +got his much-desired instruction from Porpora by playing the part of +valet,[286] so Vittorino became the scullery boy of Pelacane,[287] in +order that he might acquire geometry. These early studies were carried +on at Padua, from which town he appears to have moved about the year +1417 to Venice. Here he entered into friendship with Guarino da +Verona, and having learned Greek, returned to his old university as +professor of rhetoric.[288] The bias of Vittorino's genius inclined +toward private teaching, and it is this by which he is distinguished +among contemporary humanists. Accordingly we find that, as soon as he +was settled in Padua, he opened a school for a fixed number of young +men, selected without regard to rank or wealth. From the richer pupils +he required fees proportioned to their means; from the poor he exacted +nothing: thus the wealthy were made to support the needy, while the +teacher obtained for himself the noble satisfaction of relieving +aspirants after knowledge from the pressure of want and privation. +Other gain than this he never thought of. Only genuine students were +allowed to remain in Vittorino's school; the moral rule was strict, +and high thinking and plain living were expected from all his pupils. +This generous devotion to the cause of learning for its own sake +contrasts strongly with the self-seeking and vainglory of other +humanists. When Filelfo was urged on one occasion to open a school for +promising young men, of noble birth, he asked disdainfully whether his +friends expected him to take rank as a licensed victualler.[289] He +was unable to comprehend the possibility of doing anything that would +not reflect lustre on himself or place him in the light of popular +applause. + +[Footnote 286: Grove's _Dictionary of Music and Musicians_, vol. i. p. +704 b.] + +[Footnote 287: 'Usque ad mundandam supellectilem quæ sumpto cibo +lavare consuerit.'--Rosmini, _Vita di Vittorino_, p. 38, note.] + +[Footnote 288: In 1422 apparently.] + +[Footnote 289: _Locandiere._ Rosmini, vol. i. p. 67.] + +Vittorino found it difficult to govern his school at Padua as strictly +as he wished. The public Gymnasium was ill-ordered, and great license +of life was permitted to its students. He therefore removed to Venice +in 1423, where he continued his work as private tutor. By this time, +however, he had acquired considerable reputation as an educator, to +whose care the youth of both sexes might be entrusted with implicit +confidence--no small testimony to his goodness in that age of +ungoverned passions and indescribable vices. The Marchese Gian +Francesco Gonzaga was looking out for a master for his children, and +his choice fell on Vittorino. The admiration of antiquity was no mere +matter of fashion with this prince. He loved history for its own sake, +and professed a special reverence for the Roman Camillus. His +practical good sense made him understand that, if he wished his sons +and daughters to become thoroughly educated, not only in the +humanities and mathematics, but also in the republican virtues of the +ancients, which then formed the ideal of life in Italy, he must be +willing to commit them wholly to the charge of their appointed +governor. Vittorino, who would have undertaken the duty on no other +condition, obtained full control of the young princes and their +servants. An appointment of twenty sequins per month was assigned to +him, together with a general order on the treasury of Mantua. A villa, +called Casa Zojosa, which we may translate Joyous Gard, was allotted +to the new household, and there Vittorino established himself as +master in 1425. He had much to do before this dwelling could be +converted from the pleasure house of a mediæval sovereign into the +semi-monastic resort of earnest students. Through its open galleries +and painted banquet chambers the young Gonzaghi lounged with favourite +friends selected from the Mantuan nobility. The tables groaned under +gold and silver plate, while perfumed lacqueys handed round rich wines +and highly seasoned dishes, and the garden alleys echoed to the sound +of lute and viol. Without making any brusque or sudden reformation, +Vittorino managed, by degrees, and on various pretexts, to dismiss the +more dangerous friends and servants of his pupils. A strict +house-porter was engaged, with orders to exclude suspicious visitors. +Plain clothes, simple habits, and frugal meals became the rule of the +household, Vittorino contriving to render these changes no less +agreeable than salutary to his pupils. When complaints arose from the +former companions of the princes and their parents, he laid his plan +of training clearly before the Marquis, who had the good sense to +approve of all that he had done. + +The eldest of Gian Francesco's children, Lodovico, was a youth of lazy +habits, inclined to gluttony, and already too fat for his age. The +next, Carlo, had outgrown his strength, and needed more substantial +food. Vittorino devised systems of diet and physical training suited +to their several temperaments, making it his one object to increase +their vigour, and by multiplying sources of rational enjoyment to +dispose them to the energetic exercise of their faculties. He by no +means neglected what we call athletics. Indeed, it was a fundamental +axiom of his method that a robust body could alone harbour a healthy +mind. Boys who sat poring over books, or haunted solitary places, lost +in dreaming, found no favour in his eyes. To exercises in the +gymnasium or the riding-school he preferred games in the open air; +hunting and fishing, wrestling and fencing, running and jumping, were +practised by his pupils in the park outside their palace. To harden +them against severities of heat and cold, to render them temperate in +food and drink, to train their voices, and to improve their carriage +was his first care. Since he could not himself superintend their +education in all its branches, he engaged a subordinate staff of +tutors; grammarians, logicians, mathematicians, painters, and masters +of riding, dancing, singing, swimming, fencing, began to crowd the +halls of Joyous Gard. Each had his own allotted task to perform, while +Vittorino surveyed the whole scheme. 'Perhaps,' says Rosmini,[290] +'the only sciences that were not taught in this academy were civil and +canon law and natural physics.' + +[Footnote 290: P. 111.] + +It must not be imagined that so extensive an apparatus existed solely +for the young Gonzaghi. Noble youths from all the Courts of Italy, and +students from remote parts of Europe, sought admittance to Vittorino's +school. The more promising of these pupils, who were fitted by their +rank and disposition to associate with his princely charges, the +master housed under his own roof; while for the rest he provided +suitable lodgings near at hand. Many were the poor students who thus +owed to his generosity participation in the most refined and +scientific culture their century afforded.[291] While paying this +tribute to Vittorino da Feltre, we must remember the honour that is +also due to Gian Francesco Gonzaga. Had this prince not been endowed +with true liberality of soul and freedom from petty prejudice, +Vittorino could never have developed a system based upon pure +democratic principles, which even now may rank as an unrivalled +educational ideal. If the master, again, was able to provide for sixty +poor scholars at a time--teaching, feeding, clothing, and furnishing +them with costly books, his friend the Marquis must, we feel sure, +have supplied his purse with extra funds for charitable purposes.[292] + +[Footnote 291: Sixty poor scholars were taught, fed, clothed, and +provided with implements of study at his cost. He also subsidised +their families in distress. Rosmini, _Vita di Vittorino_, pp. 165, +166.] + +[Footnote 292: Rosmini, _Vita di Vittorino_, p. 165. Vespasiano, p. +492, tells a story which illustrates these relations between Vittorino +and the Marquis. Cf., too, p. 494.] + +The numerous biographers of Vittorino have transmitted many details in +illustration of his method of teaching. He used to read the classic +authors aloud, prefixing biographical notices by way of introduction, +and explaining the matter, as well as the language of his text, as he +proceeded. Sometimes he made his pupils read, correcting their +pronunciation, and obliging them to mark the meaning by emphasis. He +relied much on learning by heart and repetition, as the surest means +of forming a good style. Gifted with a finer instinct for language +than the majority of his contemporaries, he was careful that his +pupils should distinguish between different types of literary +excellence, not confounding Cicero with Seneca or Virgil with Lucan, +but striving to appreciate the special qualities of each. With a view +to the acquisition of pure principles of taste, he confined them at +first to Virgil and Homer, Cicero and Demosthenes. These four authors +he regarded as the supreme masters of expression. Ovid was too +luxuriant, Juvenal too coarse, to serve as guides for tiros. Horace +and Persius among the satirists, Terence among the comic poets, might +be safely studied. In spite of Seneca's weight as a philosophic +essayist, Vittorino censured the affectations of his rhetoric; and +while he praised the beauty of the Latin elegists, he judged them +ill-suited for the training of the young. Criticism of this kind, +though it may sound to us obvious and superficial, was extremely rare +in the fifteenth century, when scholars were too apt to neglect +differences of style in ancient authors, and to ignore the ethics of +their works. The refinement which distinguished Vittorino, made him +prefer the graces of a chastened manner to the sounding phrases of +emphatic declamation. His pupils were taught to see that they had +something to say first, and then to say it with simplicity and +elegance. + +This purity of taste was no mere matter of æsthetic sensibility with +Vittorino. Habits which brutalise the mind or debase the body, however +sanctioned by the usage of the times, met with little toleration in +his presence. Swearing, obscene language, vulgar joking, and angry +altercation were severely punished. Personal morality and the +observance of religious exercises he exacted from his pupils. Lying +was a heinous offence. Those who proved intractable upon these points +were excluded from his school. Of the rest Vespasiano writes with +emphasis that 'his house was a sanctuary of manners, deeds, and +words.'[293] + +[Footnote 293: P. 492.] + +Concerning the noble Italian youths who were educated with the Gonzaga +family at Mantua, enough has been said in another place.[294] Appended +to Rosmini's copious biography will be found, by those who are curious +to read such details, the notices of forty more or less distinguished +pupils.[295] Beside the two sons of Gian Francesco Gonzaga already +mentioned, Vittorino educated three other children of his +master--Gianlucido, Alessandro, and Cecilia.[296] Wholly dedicated to +the cares of teaching, and more anxious to survive in the good fame of +his scholars than to secure the immortality of literature, Vittorino +bequeathed no writings to posterity. He lived to a hale and hearty old +age; and when he died, in 1446, it was found that the illustrious +scholar, after enjoying for so many years the liberality of his +princely patron, had not accumulated enough money to pay for his own +funeral. Whatever he possessed, he spent in charity during his +lifetime, trusting to the kindness of his friends to bury him when +dead. Few lives of which there is any record in history, are so +perfectly praiseworthy as Vittorino's; few men have more nobly +realised the idea of living for the highest objects of their age; few +have succeeded in keeping themselves so wholly unspotted by the vices +of the world around them. + +[Footnote 294: Vol. I., _Age of the Despots_, p. 138.] + +[Footnote 295: Pp. 249-476.] + +[Footnote 296: See Rosmini, p. 183, and Vespasiano, p. 493, for the +record of her virtues, her learning, and her refusal to wed the +infamous Oddo da Montefeltro.] + +By the patronage extended to Vittorino da Feltre the Court of Mantua +took rank among the high schools of humanism in Italy. Ferrara won a +similar distinction through the liberality of the House of Este. What +has already been said about Milan applies, however, in a less degree +to Ferrara. The arts and letters, though they flourished with +exceeding brilliance beneath the patrons of Boiardo, Ariosto, and +Tasso, were but accessories to a splendid and voluptuous Court life. +Literature was little better than an exotic, cultivated for its rarity +and beauty by the princes of the Este family. + +The golden age of culture at Ferrara began in 1402, when Niccolo III. +reopened the university. Twenty-seven years later Guarino da Verona +made it one of the five chief seats of Southern learning. The life of +this eminent scholar in many points resembles that of Filelfo, though +their characters were very different. Guarino was born of respectable +parents at Verona in 1370. He studied Latin in the school of Giovanni +da Ravenna, and while still a lad of eighteen travelled to +Constantinople at the cost of a noble Venetian, Paolo Zane, in order +to learn Greek. After a residence of five years in Greece he returned +to Venice, and began to lecture to crowded audiences.[297] Like all +the humanists, he seems to have preferred temporary to permanent +engagements--passing from Venice to Verona, from Trent to Padua, from +Bologna to Florence, and everywhere acquiring that substantial +reputation as a teacher to which he owed the invitation of Niccolo +d'Este in 1429. He was now a man of nearly sixty, master of the two +languages, and well acquainted with the method of instruction. The +Marquis of Ferrara engaged him as tutor to his illegitimate son +Lionello, heir apparent to his throne. For seven years Guarino devoted +himself wholly to the education of this youth, who passed for one of +the best scholars of his age. Granting that the reputation for +learning was lightly conferred on princes by their literary parasites, +it seems certain that Lionello derived more than a mere smattering in +culture from his tutor. Amid the pleasures of the chase, to which he +was passionately devoted, and the distractions of the gayest Court in +Italy, he found time to correspond on topics of scholarship with +Poggio, Filelfo, Decembrio, and Francesco Barbaro. His conversation +turned habitually upon the fashionable themes of antique ethics, and +his favourite companions were men of polite education. It is no wonder +that the humanists, who saw in him a future Augustus, deplored his +early death with unfeigned sorrow, though we, who can only judge him +by the general standard of his family, may be permitted to reserve our +opinion. The profile portrait of Lionello, now preserved in the +National Gallery, does not, at any rate, prepossess us very strongly +in his favour. + +[Footnote 297: See his Life by Rosmini, p. 11, for his brilliant +reception at Venice.] + +Guarino, like his friend Vittorino, was celebrated for the method of +his teaching and for the exact order of his discipline.[298] Students +flocked from all the cities of Italy to his lecture-room; for, as soon +as his tutorial engagements with the prince permitted, he received a +public appointment as professor of eloquence from the Ferrarese +Consiglio de' Savi. In this post he laboured for many years, +maintaining his reputation as a student and filling the universities +of Italy with his pupils. A sentence describing his manner of life in +extreme old age might be used to illustrate the enthusiasm which +sustained the vital energy of scholars in that generation:--'His +memory is marvellous, and his habit of reading is so indefatigable, +that he scarcely takes the time to eat, to sleep, or to go abroad; and +yet his limbs and senses have the vigour of youth.[299] Guarino was +one of the few humanists whose moral character won equal respect with +his learning. When he died at the age of ninety, the father of six +boys and seven girls by his wife Taddea Cendrata of Verona, it was +possible to say with truth that he had realised the ideal of a +temperate scholar's life. Yet this incomparable teacher of youth +undertook the defence of Beccadelli's obscene verses: this anchorite +of humanism penned virulent invectives with the worst of his +contemporaries.[300] Such contrasts were common enough in the +fifteenth century. + +[Footnote 298: See the details collected by Rosmini, _Vita di +Guarino_, pp. 79-87.] + +[Footnote 299: Timoteo Maffei, quoted by Tiraboschi, vol. vi. lib. +iii. cap. 5, 8.] + +[Footnote 300: He carried on literary feuds with Niccolo de' Niccoli, +Poggio, Filelfo, and Georgios Trapezuntios.] + +The name of Giovanni Aurispa must not be omitted in connection with +Ferrara. Born in 1369 at Noto in Sicily, he lived to a great age, and +died in 1459. He too travelled in early youth to Constantinople, and +returned, laden with MSS. and learning, to profess the humanities in +Italy. His life forms, therefore, a close parallel with that of both +Guarino and Filelfo. Aurispa, however, was gifted with a less +unresting temper than Filelfo; nor did he achieve the same +professorial success as Guarino. In his school at Ferrara he enjoyed +the calmer pleasures of a student's life, 'devoted,' as Filelfo +phrased it, 'to the placid Muses.'[301] + +[Footnote 301: 'Placidis Aurispa Camoenis Deditus,' _Sat._, dec. i. +hec. 5. Valla, _Antid. in Pogium_, p. 7, describes him as 'virum +suavissimum et ab omni contentione remotissimum.'] + +To give an account of all the minor Courts, where humanism flourished +under the patronage of petty princes, would be tedious and +unprofitable. It is enough to notice that the universities, in this +age of indefatigable energy, kept forming scholars, eager to make +their way as secretaries and tutors, while the nobles competed for the +honour and the profit to be derived from the service of illustrious +wits and ready pens. The seeds of classic culture were thus sown in +every little city that could boast its castle. Carpi, for example, was +preparing the ground where Aldus and Musurus flourished. At Forli the +Ordelaffi, doomed to extinction at no distant period, gave protection +to Codrus Urceus.[302] Mirandola was growing fit to be the birthplace +of the mighty Pico. Alessandro and Costanzo Sforza were adorning their +lordship of Pesaro with a library that rivalled those of Rome and +Florence.[303] In the fortress of Rimini, Sigismondo Pandolfo +Malatesta conversed with men of learning whenever his intrigues and +his military duties gave him leisure. The desperate and godless +tyrant, whose passions bordered upon madness, and whose name was a +byeword for all the vices that disgrace humanity, curbed his temper +before petty witlings like Porcellio, and carved a record of his +burning love for learning on the temple raised to celebrate his fame +in Rimini. To the same passion for scholarship in his brother, +Malatesta Novello, the tiny burgh of Cesena owed the foundation of a +library, not only well supplied with books, but endowed with a yearly +income of 300 golden florins for its maintenance. The money spent on +scholarship at these minor Courts was gained, for the most part, in +military service--the wealth of Florentine and Venetian citizens, of +Milanese despots, and ambitious Popes flowing through the hands of +professional war-captains into the pockets of booksellers and +students. It consequently happened that the impulse given at this time +to learning in the lesser cities was but temporary. With the fall of +the Malatesti and the Sforza family, for instance, erudition died at +Rimini and Pesaro. + +[Footnote 302: Cf. Tiraboschi, vi. lib. iii. cap. 5, 58.] + +[Footnote 303: Vespasiano, pp. 113-117, gives an interesting account +of these lettered and warlike princes.] + +This might have been the case at Urbino also, if the House of +Montefeltro had not succeeded, by wise conduct and prudent marriages, +in resisting the encroachments of the Church, and transmitting its +duchy to the Della Rovere family. As it was, Urbino retained for three +generations the stamp of culture and refinement impressed upon it by +the good Duke Frederick. Of his famous library, Vespasiano, who was +employed in its formation, has given us minute and interesting +details.[304] During more than fourteen years the Duke kept thirty or +forty copyists continually employed in transcribing Greek and Latin +MSS. Not only the classics in both languages, but the ecclesiastical +and mediæval authors, the Italian poets, and the works of contemporary +humanists found a place in his collection. The cost of the whole was +estimated at considerably over 30,000 ducats. Each volume was bound in +crimson, with silver clasps; the leaves were of vellum, exquisitely +adorned with miniatures; nor could you find a printed book in the +whole library, for the Duke would have been ashamed to own one. +Vespasiano's admiration for these delicately finished MSS. and the +contempt he expresses for the new art of printing are highly +characteristic.[305] Enough has been already said by me elsewhere +about Federigo da Montefeltro and his patronage of learning.[306] The +Queen's collection at Windsor contains a curious picture, attributed +to Melozza da Forli, of which I may be allowed to speak in this place, +since it possesses more than usual interest for the student of +humanism at the Italian Courts. In a large rectangular hall, lighted +from above by windows in a dome, the Duke of Urbino is seated, wearing +the robes and badges of the Garter, and resting his left hand on a +folio. His son Guidobaldo, a boy of about eleven years of age, or +little more, stands at the Duke's knee, dressed in yellow damask +trimmed with pearls. Behind them, on a raised bench with a desk before +it, sit three men, one attired in the red suit of a prelate, the +second in black ecclesiastical attire, and the third in secular +costume. At a door, opening on a passage, stand servants and lesser +courtiers. The whole company are listening attentively to a +grey-haired, black-robed humanist, seated in a sort of pulpit opposite +to the Duke and his son. A large book, bound in crimson, with silver +clasps is open on the desk before him; and by the movement of his +mouth it is clear that he is reading aloud passages from some +classical or ecclesiastical author, and explaining them for the +benefit of his illustrious audience. To identify the scholar and the +three men behind Federigo would not be impossible, if the exact date +of this curious work could be ascertained; for they are clearly +portraits. I like to fancy that in the layman we may perhaps recognise +the excellent Vespasiano. Such conjectures are, however, hazardous; +meanwhile the picture has intrinsic value as the unique +representation, so far as I know, of a scene of frequent occurrence in +the Courts of Italy, where listening to lectures formed a part of +every day's occupation. + +[Footnote 304: See pp. 94-99.] + +[Footnote 305: P. 99.] + +[Footnote 306: Vol. I., _Age of the Despots_, pp. 136-142.] + +This is the proper place to speak of Vespasiano da Bisticci, on whose +'Lives of Illustrious Men' I have had occasion to draw so copiously. +Peculiar interest attaches to him as the last of mediæval scribes, and +at the same time the first of modern booksellers.[307] Besides being +the agent of Cosimo de' Medici, Nicholas V., and Frederick of Urbino, +Vespasiano supplied the foreign markets, sending MSS. by order to +Hungary, Portugal, Germany, and England. The extent of his trade +rendered him the largest employer of copyists in Europe at the moment +when this industry was about to be superseded, and when scholars were +already inquiring for news about the art that saved expense and +shortened the labour of the student.[308] Vespasiano, who was born in +1421 at Florence, lived until 1498; so that after having helped to +form the three greatest collections of MSS. in Italy, he witnessed the +triumph of printing, and might have even handled the Musæus issued +from the Aldine Press in 1493. Vespasiano was no mere tradesman. His +knowledge of the books he sold was accurate; continual study enabled +him to overlook the copyists, and to vouch for the exactitude of their +transcripts.[309] At the same time his occupation brought him into +close intimacy with the chief scholars of the age, so that the new +culture reached him by conversation and familiar correspondence. As a +biographer Vespasiano possessed rare merit. Personally acquainted with +the men of whom he wrote, he drew their characters with praiseworthy +succinctness and simplicity. There is no panegyrical emphasis, no +calumnious innuendo, in his sketches. It may even be said that they +suffer from reservation of opinion and suppression of facts. +Vespasiano's hatred of vice and love of virtue were so genuine that, +in his eagerness to honour men of letters and their patrons, he +softened down harsh outlines and passed over all that is condemnable +in silence. He was less anxious to paint character in the style of +Tacitus or Guicciardini, than to relate what he knew about the +progress of learning in his age. The ethical intention in his work is +obvious. The qualities he loves to celebrate are piety, chastity, +generosity, devotion to the cause of liberal culture, and high-souled +patriotism. Of the vices that added a lurid lustre to the age in which +he lived, of the political rancours that divided the cities into +hostile parties, and of the imperfections in the characters of eminent +men, we hear nothing from Vespasiano. It is pleasant to conclude this +chapter with an expression of gratitude to a man so blameless in his +life, so charitable in his judgments, and so trustworthy in his record +of contemporary history. + +[Footnote 307: In the register of his death he is described as +Vespasiano, Cartolaro.] + +[Footnote 308: See Rosmini, _Vita di Filelfo_, vol. ii. p. 201. 'I +have made up my mind to buy some of those codices they are now making +without any trouble, and without the pen, but with certain so-called +types, and which seem to be the work of a skilled and exact scribe. +Tell me, then, at what price are sold the _Natural History_ of Pliny, +the three Decades of Livy, and Aulus Gellius.' Letter to Nicodemo +Tranchedino, sent from Siena to Rome, dated July 25, 1470.] + +[Footnote 309: See this passage from a panegyric quoted by Angelo +Mai:--'Tu profecto in hoc nostro deteriori sæculo hebraicæ, græcæ +atque latinæ linguarum, omnium voluminum dignorum memoratu notitiam, +eorumque auctores memoriæ tradidisti.'--_Vite di Uomini Illustri_, +preface, p. xxiii.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THIRD PERIOD OF HUMANISM + + Improvement in Taste and Criticism -- Coteries and Academies + -- Revival of Italian Literature -- Printing -- Florence, + the Capital of Learning -- Lorenzo de' Medici and his Circle + -- Public Policy of Lorenzo -- Literary Patronage -- Variety + of his Gifts -- Meetings of the Platonic Society -- Marsilio + Ficino -- His Education for Platonic Studies -- Translations + of Plato and the Neoplatonists -- Harmony between Plato and + Christianity -- Giovanni Pico -- His First Appearance in + Florence -- His Theses proposed at Rome -- Censure of the + Church -- His Study of the Cabbala -- Large Conception of + Learning -- Occult Science -- Cristoforo Landino -- + Professor of Fine Literature -- Virgilian Studies -- + Camaldolese Disputations -- Leo Battista Alberti -- His + Versatility -- Bartolommeo Scala -- Obscure Origin -- + Chancellor of Florence -- Angelo Poliziano -- Early Life -- + Translation of Homer -- The 'Homericus Juvenis' -- True + Genius in Poliziano -- Command of Latin and Greek -- + Resuscitation of Antiquity in his own Person -- His + Professorial Work -- The 'Miscellanea' -- Relation to Medici + -- Roman Scholarship in this Period -- Pius II. -- Pomponius + Lætus -- His Academy and Mode of Life -- Persecution under + Paul II. -- Humanism at Naples -- Pontanus -- His Academy -- + His Writings -- Academies established in all Towns of Italy + -- Introduction of Printing -- Sweynheim and Pannartz -- The + Early Venetian Press -- Florence -- Cennini -- Alopa's Homer + -- Change in Scholarship effected by Printing -- The Life of + Aldo Manuzio -- The Princely House of Pio at Carpi -- Greek + Books before Aldo -- The Aldine Press at Venice -- History + of its Activity -- Aldo and Erasmus -- Aldo and the Greek + Refugees -- Aldo's Death -- His family and Successors -- The + Neacademia -- The Salvation of Greek Literature. + + +In the four preceding chapters I have sketched the rise and progress +of Italian humanism with more minuteness than need be now employed +upon the history of its further development. By the scholars of the +first and second period the whole domain of ancient literature was +reconquered; the classics were restored in their integrity to the +modern world. Petrarch first inflamed the enthusiasm without which so +great a work could not have been accomplished, his immediate +successors mastered the Greek language, and explored every province of +antiquity. Much still remained, however, to be achieved by a new +generation of students: for as yet criticism was but in its cradle; +the graces of style were but little understood; indiscriminate +erudition passed for scholarship, and crude verbiage for eloquence. +The humanists of the third age, still burning with the zeal that +animated Petrarch, and profiting by the labours of their predecessors, +ascended to a higher level of culture. It is their glory to have +purified the coarse and tumid style of mediæval Latinists, to have +introduced the methods of comparative and æsthetic criticism, and to +have distinguished the characteristics of the authors and the periods +they studied. + +The salient features of this third age of humanism may be briefly +stated. Having done their work by sowing the seeds of culture +broadcast, the vagrant professors of the second period begin to +disappear, and the republic of letters tends to crystallise round men +of eminence in coteries and learned circles. This, therefore, is the +age of the academies. Secondly, it is noticeable that Italian +literature, almost totally abandoned in the first fervour of +enthusiasm for antiquity, now receives nearly as much attention as the +classics. Since the revival of Italian in the golden age of the +Renaissance will form the subject of my final volume, the names of +Lorenzo de' Medici and Poliziano at Florence, of Boiardo at Ferrara, +and of Sannazzaro at Naples may here suffice to indicate the points of +contact between scholarship and the national literature. A century had +been employed in the acquisition of humanistic culture; when acquired, +it bore fruit, not only in more elegant scholarship, but also in new +forms of poetry and prose for the people. A third marked feature of +the period is the establishment of the printing press. The energy +wherewith in little more than fifty years the texts of the classic +authors were rendered indestructible by accident or time, and placed +within the reach of students throughout Europe, demands particular +attention in this chapter. + +Florence is still the capital of learning. The most brilliant +humanists, gathered round the person of Lorenzo de' Medici, give laws +to the rest of Italy, determining by their tastes and studies the tone +of intellectual society. Lorenzo is himself in so deep and true a +sense the master spirit of this circle, that to describe his position +in the republic will hardly be considered a digression. + +Before his death in 1464 Cosimo de' Medici had succeeded in rendering +his family necessary to the State of Florence. Though thwarted by +ambitious rivals and hampered by the intrigues of the party he had +formed to rule the commonwealth, Cosimo contrived so to complicate the +public finances with his own banking business, and so to bind the +leading burghers to himself by various obligations, that, while he in +no way affected the style of a despot, Florence belonged to his house +more surely than Bologna to the Bentivogli. For the continuation of +this authority, based on intrigue and cemented by corruption, it was +absolutely needful that the spirit of Cosimo should survive in his +successors. A single false move, by unmasking the tyranny so carefully +veiled, by offending the republican vanities of the Florentines, or by +employing force where everything had hitherto been gained by craft, +would at this epoch have destroyed the prospects of the Medicean +family. So true it is that the history of this age in Italy is not the +history of commonwealths so much as the history of individualities, of +men. The principles reduced to rule by Machiavelli in his essay on the +Prince may be studied in the lives of fifteenth-century adventurers, +who, like Cesare Borgia, discerned the necessity of using violence for +special ends, or, like the Medici, perceived that sovereignty could +be better grasped by a hand gloved with velvet than mailed in steel. +The Medici of both branches displayed through eight successive +generations, in their general line of policy, in the disasters that +attended their divergence from it, and in the means they used to +rehabilitate their influence, the action of what Balzac calls _l'homme +politique_, with striking clearness to the philosophic student. + +Both the son and grandson of Cosimo well understood the part they had +to play, and played it so ably that even the errors of the younger +Piero, the genius of Savonarola, and the failure of the elder Medicean +line were insufficient to check the gradual subjugation of the +commonwealth he had initiated. Lorenzo's father, Piero, called by the +Florentines _Il Gottoso_, suffered much from ill-health, and was +unable to take the lead in politics.[310] Yet the powers entrusted to +his father were confirmed for him. The elections remained in the hands +of the Medicean party, and the _balia_ appointed in their favour +continued to control the State. The dangerous conspiracy against +Piero's life, engaged in by Luca Pitti and Diotisalvi Neroni, proved +that his enemies regarded the chief of the Medici as the leader of the +republic. It was due to the prudent action of the young Lorenzo that +this conspiracy failed; and the Medici were even strengthened by the +downfall of their foes. From the tone of the congratulations addressed +on this occasion by the ruling powers of Italy to Piero and Lorenzo, +we may conclude that they were already reckoned as princes outside +Florence, though they still maintained a burgherlike simplicity of +life within the city walls. + +[Footnote 310: It may be useful to add a skeleton pedigree of the +Medici in this place:-- + + Cosimo, Pater Patriæ + | + Piero, Il Gottoso + | + +-------------------+ + | | + Lorenzo Giuliano + | | + +------------+ Giulio, Clement VII. + | | + Piero, Giovanni, + the exile Leo X.] + +In the marriage of his son Lorenzo to Clarice degli Orsini, of the +princely Roman house, Piero gave signs of a departure from the +cautious policy of Cosimo. Foreign alliances were regarded with +suspicion by the Florentines, and Pandolfini's advice to his sons, +that they should avoid familiarity with territorial magnates, exactly +represented the spirit of the republic.[311] In like manner, the +education of both Lorenzo and Giuliano, their intercourse with royal +guests, and the prominent places assigned them on occasions of +ceremony, indicated an advance toward despotism. It was concordant +with the manners of the age that one family should play the part of +host for the republic. The discharge of this duty by the Medici +aroused no jealousy among the burghers; yet it enabled the ambitious +house to place themselves in an unique position, and, while seeming to +remain mere citizens, to take a step in the direction of sovereignty. + +[Footnote 311: See Vol. I., _Age of the Despots_, p. 190.] + +On the death of Piero, in 1469, the chief men of the Medicean party +waited upon Lorenzo, and, after offering their condolences, besought +him to succeed his father in the presidency of the State. The feeling +prevailed among the leaders of the city that it was impossible, under +the existing conditions of Italian politics, to carry on the +commonwealth without a titular head. Lorenzo, then in his +twenty-second year, entered thus upon the political career in the +course of which he not only maintained a balance of power in Italy, +but also remodelled the internal government of Florence in the +interests of his family, and further strengthened their position by +establishing connections with the Papal See. While bending all the +faculties of his powerful and subtle intellect to the one end of +consolidating a tyranny, Lorenzo was far too wise to assume the +bearing of a despot. He conversed familiarly with the citizens, +encouraged artists and scholars to address him on terms of equality, +and was careful to adopt no titles. His personal temperament made the +task of being in effect a sovereign, while he acted like a citizen, +comparatively easy, his chief difficulties arose from the necessity +under which he laboured, like his grandfather Cosimo, of governing +through a party composed of men distinguished by birth and ability, +and powerful by wealth and connections. To keep this party in good +temper, to flatter its members with the show of influence, and to gain +their concurrence for the alterations he introduced into the State +machinery of Florence, was the problem of his life. By creating a body +of clients, bound to himself by diverse interests and obligations, he +succeeded in bridling the Medicean party and excluding from offices of +trust all dangerous and disaffected persons. The goodwill of the city +at large was secured by the prosperity at home and peace abroad which +marked the last fourteen years of his administration, while the +splendour of his foreign alliances contributed in no small measure to +his popularity. The Florentines were proud of a citizen who brought +them into the first rank of Italian Powers, and who refrained from +assuming the style of sovereign. Thus Lorenzo solved the most +difficult of political problems--that of using a close oligarchy for +the maintenance of despotism in a free and jealous commonwealth. None +of his rivals retained power enough to withhold the sceptre from his +sons when they should seek to grasp it. + +The roots of the Medici clung to no one part of Florence in +particular. They seemed superficial; yet they crept beneath the ground +in all directions. Intertwined as they were with every interest both +public and private in the city, to cut them out implied the excision +of some vital member. This was the secret of their power in the next +generation, when, banished and reduced to bastards, the Medici +returned from two exiles, survived the perils of the siege and +Alessandro's murder, and finally assumed the Ducal crown in the person +of the last scion of their younger branch. The policy, so persistently +pursued for generations, so powerfully applied by Lorenzo, might be +compared to the attack of an octopus, which fastens on its victim by a +multitude of tiny tentacles, and waits till he is drained of strength +before it shoots its beak into a vital spot. + +In one point Lorenzo was inferior to his grandfather. He had no +commercial talent. After suffering the banking business of the Medici +to fall into disorder, he became virtually bankrupt, while his +personal expenditure kept continually increasing. In order to retrieve +his fortunes it was necessary for him to gain complete disposal of the +public purse. This was the real object of the constitutional +revolution of 1480, whereby his Privy Council assumed the active +functions of the State. Had Lorenzo been as great in finance as in the +management of men, the way might have been smoothed for his son Piero +in the disastrous year of 1494. + +If Lorenzo neglected the pursuit of wealth, whereby Cosimo had raised +himself from insignificance to the dictatorship of Florence, he +surpassed his grandfather in the use he made of literary patronage. It +is not paradoxical to affirm that in his policy we can trace the +subordination of a genuine love of arts and letters to statecraft. The +new culture was one of the instruments that helped to build his +despotism. Through his thorough and enthusiastic participation in the +intellectual interests of his age, he put himself into close sympathy +with the Florentines, who were glad to acknowledge for their leader by +far the ablest of the men of parts in Italy. According as we choose +our point of view, we may regard him either as a tyrant, involving his +country in debt and dangerous wars, corrupting the morals and +enfeebling the spirit of the people, and systematically enslaving the +Athens of the modern world for the sake of founding a petty +principality; or else as the most liberal-minded noble of his epoch, +born to play the first part in the Florentine republic, and careful to +use his wealth and influence for the advancement of his +fellow-citizens in culture, learning, arts, amenities of life. +Savonarola and the Florentine historians adopt the former of these two +opinions. Sismondi, in his passion for liberty, arrays against Lorenzo +the political assassinations he permitted, the enervation of Florence, +the national debt incurred by the republic, the exhausting wars with +Sixtus carried on in his defence. His panegyrists, on the contrary, +love to paint him as the pacificator of Italy, the restorer of +Florentine poetry, the profound critic, and the generous patron. The +truth lies in the combination of these two apparently contradictory +judgments. Lorenzo was the representative man of his nation at a +moment when political institutions were everywhere inclining to +despotism, and when the spiritual life of the Italians found its +noblest expression in art and literature. The principality of Florence +was thrust upon him by the policy of Cosimo, by the vote of the chief +citizens, and by the example of the sister republics, all of whom, +with the exception of Venice, submitted to the sway of rulers. Had he +wished, he might have found it difficult to preserve the commonwealth +in its integrity. Few but doctrinaires believed in a _governo misto_; +only aristocrats desired a _governo stretto_; all but democrats +dreaded a _governo largo_. And yet a new constitution must have been +framed after one of these types, and the Florentines must have been +educated to use it with discretion, before Lorenzo could have resigned +his office of dictator with any prospect of freedom for the city in +his charge. Such unselfish patriotism, in the face of such +overwhelming difficulties, and in antagonism to the whole tendency of +the age, was not to be expected from an oligarch of the Renaissance, +born in the purple, and used from infancy to intrigue. + +Lorenzo was a man of marvellous variety and range of mental power. He +possessed one of those rare natures, fitted to comprehend all +knowledge and to sympathise with the most diverse forms of life. While +he never for one moment relaxed his grasp on politics, among +philosophers he passed for a sage, among men of letters for an +original and graceful poet, among scholars for a Grecian sensitive to +every nicety of Attic idiom, among artists for an amateur gifted with +refined discernment and consummate taste. Pleasure-seekers knew in him +the libertine, who jousted with the boldest, danced and masqueraded +with the merriest, sought adventures in the streets at night, and +joined the people in their May-day games and Carnival festivities. The +pious extolled him as an author of devotional lauds and mystery plays, +a profound theologian, a critic of sermons. He was no less famous for +his jokes and repartees than for his pithy apophthegms and maxims, as +good a judge of cattle as of statues, as much at home in the bosom of +his family as in the riot of an orgy, as ready to discourse on Plato +as to plan a campaign or to plot the death of a dangerous citizen. An +apologist may always plead that Lorenzo was the epitome of his +nation's most distinguished qualities, that the versatility of the +Renaissance found in him its fullest incarnation. It was the duty of +Italy in the fifteenth century not to establish religious or +constitutional liberty, but to resuscitate culture. Before the +disastrous wars of invasion had begun, it might well have seemed even +to patriots as though Florence needed a Mæcenas more than a Camillus. +Therefore the prince who in his own person combined all +accomplishments, who knew by sympathy and counsel how to stimulate the +genius of men superior to himself in special arts and sciences, who +spent his fortune lavishly on works of public usefulness, whose +palace formed the rallying-point of wit and learning, whose council +chamber was the school of statesmen, who expressed his age in every +word and every act, in his vices and his virtues, his crimes and +generous deeds, cannot be fairly judged by an abstract standard of +republican morality. It is nevertheless true that Lorenzo enfeebled +and enslaved Florence. At his death he left her socially more +dissolute, politically weaker, intellectually more like himself, than +he had found her. He had not the greatness to rise above the spirit of +his century, or to make himself the Pericles instead of the +Pisistratus of his republic. In other words, he was adequate, not +superior, to Renaissance Italy. + +This, then, was the man round whom the greatest scholars of the third +period assembled, at whose table sat Angelo Poliziano, Cristoforo +Landino, Marsilio Ficino, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Leo Battista +Alberti, Michael Angelo Buonarroti, Luigi Pulci. The mere enumeration +of these names suffices to awake a crowd of memories in the mind of +those to whom Italian art and poetry are dear. Lorenzo's villas, where +this brilliant circle met for grave discourse or social converse, +heightening the sober pleasures of Italian country life with all that +wit and learning could produce of delicate and rare, have been so +often sung by poets and celebrated by historians that Careggi, +Caffagiolo, and Poggio a Cajano are no less familiar to us than the +studious shades of Academe. 'In a villa overhanging the towers of +Florence,' writes the austere Hallam, moved to more than usual +eloquence by the spirit-stirring beauty of his theme, 'on the steep +slope of that lofty hill crowned by the mother city, the ancient +Fiesole, in gardens which Tully might have envied, with Ficino, +Landino, and Politian at his side, he delighted his hours of leisure +with the beautiful visions of Platonic philosophy, for which the +summer stillness of an Italian sky appears the most congenial +accompaniment.' As we climb the steep slope of Fiesole, or linger +beneath the rose-trees that shed their petals from Careggi's garden +walls, once more in our imagination 'the world's great age begins +anew;' once more the blossoms of that marvellous spring unclose. While +the sun goes down beneath the mountains of Carrara, and the Apennines +grow purple-golden, and Florence sleeps beside the silvery Arno, and +the large Italian stars come forth above, we remember how those mighty +master spirits watched the sphering of new planets in the spiritual +skies. Savonarola in his cell below once more sits brooding over the +servility of Florence, the corruption of a godless Church. Michael +Angelo, seated between Ficino and Poliziano, with the voices of the +prophets vibrating in his memory, and with the music of Plato sounding +in his ears, rests chin on hand and elbow upon knee, like his own +Jeremiah, lost in contemplation, whereof the after-fruit shall be the +Sistine Chapel and the Medicean tombs. Then, when the strain of +thought, 'unsphering Plato from his skies,' begins to weary, Pulci +breaks the silence with a brand-new canto of Morgante, or a singing +boy is bidden to tune his mandoline to Messer Angelo's last-made +_ballata_. + +There is no difficulty in explaining Plato's power upon the thinkers +of the fifteenth century. Among philosophers Plato shines like a +morning star--[Greek: outh' hesperos oute eôos ontô thaumastos]--an +auroral luminary, charming and compelling the attention of the world +when man is on the verge of new discoveries. That he should have +enslaved the finest intellects at a time when the sense of beauty was +so keenly stimulated, and when the stirrings of fresh life were so +intense, is nothing more than natural. To philosophise and humanise +the religious sentiments that had become the property of monks and +pardon-mongers; to establish a concordat between the Paganism that +entranced the world, and the Catholic faith whereof the world was not +yet weary; to satisfy the new-born sense of a divine and hitherto +unapprehended mystery in heaven and earth; to dignify with a semblance +of truth the dreams of magic and astrology that passed for +science--all this the men of the Renaissance passionately craved. Who +could render better help than Plato and the Neoplatonists, whose charm +of style and high-flown mysticism suited the ambitious immaturity of +undeveloped thought? For the interpretation of Platonic doctrine a +hierophant was needed. Marsilio Ficino had been set apart from +earliest youth for this purpose--selected in the wisdom of Cosimo de' +Medici, prepared by special processes of study, and consecrated to the +service of the one philosopher.[312] + +[Footnote 312: Marsilio Ficino, the son of Cosimo's physician, was +born at Figline in 1433.] + +When Marsilio was a youth of eighteen, he entered the Medicean +household, and began to learn Greek, in order that he might qualify +himself for translating Plato into Latin. His health was delicate, his +sensibilities acute; the temper of his intellect, inclined to +mysticism and theology, fitted him for the arduous task of unifying +religion with philosophy. It would be unfair to class him with the +paganising humanists, who sought to justify their unbelief or want of +morals by the authority of the classics. Ficino remained throughout +his life an earnest Christian. At the age of forty, not without +serious reflection and mature resolve, he took orders, and faithfully +performed the duties of his cure. Antiquity he judged by the standard +of the Christian creed. If he asserted that Socrates and Plato +witnessed, together with the evangelists, to the truth of revelation, +or that the same spirit inspired the laws of Moses and the Greek +philosopher--this, as he conceived it, was in effect little else than +extending the catena of authority backward from the Christian fathers +to the sages of the ancient world. The Church, by admitting the +sibyls into the company of the prophets, virtually sanctioned the +canonisation of Plato; while the comprehensive survey of history as an +uninterrupted whole, which since the days of Petrarch had +distinguished the nobler type of humanism, rendered Ficino's +philosophical religion not unacceptable even to the orthodox. The +speculative mystics of the fifteenth century failed, however, to +perceive that by recognising inspiration in the classic authors, they +were silently denying the unique value of revelation; and that by +seeking the religious tradition far and wide, they called in question +the peculiar divinity of Christ. Savonarola saw this clearly; +therefore he denounced the Platonists as heretics, who vainly babbled +about things they did not understand. The permanent value of their +speculations, crude and uncritical as they may now appear, consists in +the large claim made for human reason as against bibliolatry and +Church authority. + +Ficino was forty-four years of age when he finished the translation of +Plato's works into Latin. Five more years elapsed before the first +edition was printed in 1482 at Filippo Valori's expense. It may here +be mentioned incidentally that, by this help, the aristocracy of +Florence materially contributed to the diffusion of culture. A genuine +philosopher in his lack of ambition and his freedom from avarice, +Ficino was too poor to publish his own works; and what is true of him, +applies to many most distinguished authors of the age. Great literary +undertakings involved in that century the substantial assistance of +wealthy men, whose liberality was rewarded by a notice in the colophon +or on the title-page.[313] When, for instance, the first edition of +Homer was issued from the press by Lorenzo Alopa in 1488, two brothers +of the Nerli family, Bernardo and Neri, defrayed the expense.[314] +The Plato was soon followed by a Life of the philosopher, and a +treatise on the 'Platonic Doctrine of Immortality.' The latter work is +interesting as a repertory of the theories discussed by the Medicean +circle at their festivals in honour of Plato's birthday. It has, +however, no intrinsic value for the critic or philosopher, being in +effect nothing better than a jumble of citations culled from antique +mystics and combined with cruder modern guesses. In 1486 the +translation of Plotinus was accomplished, and in 1491 a voluminous +commentary had been added; both were published one month after +Lorenzo's death in 1492. A version of Dionysius the Areopagite, whose +treatise on the 'Hierarchies,' though rejected by Lorenzo Valla, was +accepted as genuine by Ficino, closed the long list of his +translations from the Greek. The importance of Ficino's contributions +to philosophy consists in the impulse he communicated to Platonic +studies. That he did not comprehend Plato, or distinguish his +philosophy from that of the Alexandrian mystics, is clear in every +sentence of his writings. The age was uncritical, nor had scholars +learned the necessity of understanding an author's relation to the +history of thought in general before they attempted to explain him. +Thus they were satisfied to read Plato by the reflected light of +Plotinus and Gemistos Plethon, and to assimilate such portions only of +his teaching as accorded with their own theology. The doctrine of +planetary influences, and the myths invented to express the nature of +the soul--in other words, the consciously poetic thoughts of +Plato--seemed of more value to Ficino than the theory of ideas, +wherein the deepest problems are presented in a logical shape to the +understanding. The Middle Ages had plied dialectic to satiety; the +Renaissance dwelt with passion upon vague and misty thoughts that +gave a scope to its imagination. No dreams of poet or of mystic could +surpass reality in the age of Lionardo da Vinci and Christopher +Columbus. + +[Footnote 313: Thus Ficino's edition of Plotinus, printed at Lorenzo +de' Medici's expense, and published one month after his death, bears +this notice:--'Magnifici sumptu Laurentii patriæ servatoris.'] + +[Footnote 314: See, however, Didot's _Alde Manuce_, p. 4, where +Giovanni Acciaiuoli is credited with this generosity.] + +If Plato has been studied more exactly of late years, he has never +been loved better or more devotedly worshipped than by the Florentine +Academy. Who builds a shrine and burns a lamp before his statue now? +Who crowns his bust with laurels, or celebrates his birthday and his +deathday with solemn festivals and pompous panegyrics? Who meet at +stated intervals to read his words, and probe his hidden meaning, +feeding his altar-flame with frankincense of their most precious +thoughts? It was by outward signs like these, then full of fair +significance, now puerile and void of import, that the pageant-loving +men of the Renaissance testified their debt of gratitude to Plato. Of +one of these birthday feasts Ficino has given a lively picture in his +letter to Jacopo Bracciolini ('Prolegomena ad Platonis Symposium'). +After partaking of a banquet, the text of the 'Symposium' was +delivered over to discussion. Giovanni Cavalcanti interpreted the +speeches of Phædrus and Pausanias, Landino that of Aristophanes; Carlo +Marsuppini undertook the part of Agathon, while Tommaso Benci +explained the esoteric meaning of Diotima. Was there anyone, we +wonder, to act Alcibiades; or did Lorenzo, perhaps, sit drinking till +day flooded the meadows of Valdarno, passing round a two-handled +goblet, and raising subtle questions about comedy and tragedy? + +Among the academicians who frequented Lorenzo's palace at Florence +there appeared, in 1484, a young man of princely birth and fascinating +beauty. 'Nature,' wrote Poliziano, 'seemed to have showered on this +man, or hero, all her gifts. He was tall and finely moulded; from his +face a something of divinity shone forth. Acute, and gifted with +prodigious memory, in his studies he was indefatigable, in his style +perspicuous and eloquent. You could not say whether his talents or his +moral qualities conferred on him the greater lustre. Familiar with all +branches of philosophy, and the master of many languages, he stood on +high above the reach of praise.' This was Giovanni Pico della +Mirandola, whose portrait in the Uffizzi Gallery, with its long brown +hair and penetrating grey eyes, compels attention even from those who +know not whom it is supposed to figure. He was little more than twenty +when he came to Florence. His personal attractions, noble manners, +splendid style of life, and varied accomplishments made him the idol +of Florentine society; and for a time he gave himself, in part at +least, to love and the amusements of his age.[315] But Pico was not +born for pleasure. By no man was the sublime ideal of humanity, +superior to physical enjoyments and dignified by intellectual energy, +that triumph of the thought of the Renaissance, more completely +realised.[316] There is even reason to regret that, together with the +follies of youth, he put aside the collection of his Latin poems, +which Poliziano praised, and took no pains to preserve those Italian +verses, the loss whereof we deplore no less than that of Lionardo's. +While Pico continued to live as became a Count of Mirandola, he +personally inclined each year to graver and more abstruse studies and +to greater austerity, until at last the prince was merged in the +philosopher, the man of letters in the mystic. + +[Footnote 315: See Von Reumont, vol. ii. p. 108.] + +[Footnote 316: Fine expression was given to this conception of life by +Aldus in the dedication to Alberto Pio of vols. ii., iii., iv. of +Aristotle:--'Es nam tu mihi optimus testis an potiores Herculis +ærumnas credam, sævosque labores, et Venere, et coenis et plumis +Sardanapali. Natus nam homo est ad laborem et ad agendum semper +aliquid viro dignum, non ad voluptatem quæ belluarum est et pecudum.' +The last sentence is a translation of Ulysses' speech in the +_Inferno_-- + + 'Considerate la vostra semenza, + Fatti non foste a viver come bruti, + Ma per seguir virtude e conoscenza.' + +Cf. Aldus's preface to Lascaris' Grammar; Renouard, vol. i. p. 7; and +again _Alde Manuce_, p. 143, for similar passages.] + +Pico's abilities displayed themselves in earliest boyhood. His mother, +a niece of the great Boiardo, noticed his rare aptitude for study, and +sent him at the age of fourteen to Bologna. There he mastered not only +the humanities, but also what was taught of mathematics, logic, +philosophy, and Oriental languages. He afterwards continued his +education at Paris, the headquarters of scholastic theology. Pico's +powerful memory must have served him in good stead: it is recorded +that a single reading fixed the language and the matter of the texts +he studied, on his mind for ever. Nor was this faculty for retaining +knowledge accompanied by any sluggishness of mental power. To what +extent he relied upon his powers of debate as well as on his vast +stores of erudition, was proved by the publication of the famous nine +hundred theses at Rome in 1486. These questions seem to have been +constructed in defence of the Platonic mysticism, which already had +begun to absorb his attention. The philosophers and theologians who +were challenged to contend with him in argument had the whole list +offered to their choice. Pico was prepared to maintain each and all of +his positions without further preparation. Ecclesiastical prudence, +however, prevented the champions of orthodoxy from descending into the +arena. They found it safer to prefer a charge of heresy against Pico, +whose theses were condemned in a brief of Innocent VIII., dated August +5, 1486. It was not until June 18, 1493, that he was finally purged +from the ban of heterodoxy by a brief of Alexander VI. During that +long interval he suffered much uneasiness of mind, for even his robust +intelligence quailed before the thought of dying under Papal +interdiction. That a man so pure in his life and so earnest in his +piety should have been stigmatised as a heretic, and then pardoned, +by two such Popes, is one of the curious anomalies of that age. + +To harmonise the Christian and classical tradition was a problem which +Manetti had crudely attempted. Pico approached it in a more +philosophical spirit, and resolved to devote his whole life to the +task. The antagonism between sacred and profane literature appeared +more glaring to Renaissance scholars than to us, inasmuch as they +attached more serious value to the teaching of the latter as a rule of +life. Yet Pico was not intent so much on merely reconciling hostile +systems of thought, or on confuting the errors of the Jews and +Gentiles. He had conceived the great idea of the unity of knowledge; +and having acquired the _omne scibile_ of his century, he sought to +seize the soul of truth that animates all systems. Not the classics +nor the Scriptures alone, but the writings of the schoolmen, the +glosses of Arabic philosophers, and the more obscure products of +Hebrew erudition had for him their solid value. Estimating authors at +the worth of their matter, and despising the trivial questions raised +by shallow wits among style-mongering students, he freed himself from +the worst fault of humanism, and conceived of learning in a liberal +spirit. The best proof of this wide acceptance of all literature +conducive to sound thinking, is given in a letter to Ermolao +Barbaro.[317] After courteously adverting to the Ciceronian elegance +of his correspondent's style he continues, 'And that I meantime should +have lost in the studies of Thomas Aquinas, John Scotus, Albertus +Magnus, and Averrhoes the best years of my life--those long, laborious +vigils wherein I might perchance have made myself of some avail in +polite scholarship! The thought occurred to me, by way of consolation, +if some of them could come to life again, whether men so powerful in +argument might not find sound pleas for their own cause; whether one +among them, more eloquent than Paul, might not defend, in terms as +free as possible from barbarism, their barbarous style, speaking +perchance after this fashion: We have lived illustrious, friend +Ermolao, and to posterity shall live, not in the schools of the +grammarians and teaching-places of young minds, but in the company of +the philosophers, conclaves of sages, where the questions for debate +are not concerning the mother of Andromache or the sons of Niobe and +such light trifles, but of things human and divine; in the +contemplation, investigation, and analysis whereof we have been so +subtle, searching, and eager that we may sometimes have seemed to be +too scrupulous and captious, if indeed it be possible to be too +curious or fastidious in seeking after truth. Let him who accuses us +of dulness, prove by experience whether we barbarians have not the god +of eloquence in our hearts rather than on our lips; whether, if the +faculty of ornamented speech be lacking, we have wanted wisdom: and to +trick out wisdom with ornaments may be more a crime than to show it in +uncultured rudeness.' + +[Footnote 317: Dated Florence, 1485; in the Aldine edition of +Poliziano's Letters, book ix.] + +During the period of his Platonic studies at Florence chance brought +Pico into contact with a Jew who had a copy of the Cabbala for sale. +Into this jungle of abstruse learning Pico plunged with all the ardour +of his powerful intellect. Asiatic fancies, Alexandrian myths, +Christian doctrines, Hebrew traditions, are so wonderfully blended in +that labyrinthine commentary that Pico believed he had discovered the +key to his great problem, the quintessence of all truth. It seemed to +him that the science of the Greek and the faith of the Christian could +only be understood in the light of the Cabbala. He purchased the MS., +devoted his whole attention to its study, and projected a mighty work +to prove the harmony of philosophies in Christianity, and to explain +the Christian doctrine by the esoteric teaching of the Jews.[318] +Pico's view of the connection between philosophy, theology, and +religion is plainly stated in the following sentence from a letter to +Aldus Manutius (February 11, 1491):--'Philosophia veritatem quærit, +theologia invenit, religio possidet' ('Philosophy seeks truth, +theology discovers it, religion hath it'). Death overtook him before +the book intended to demonstrate these positions, and by so doing to +establish the concord of all earnest and truth-seeking systems, could +be written. He died at the age of thirty-one, on the very day when +Charles VIII. made his entry into Florence. + +[Footnote 318: In the introduction to Pico's _Apologia_ may be read +the account he gives of the codex of the pseudo-Esdras purchased by +him.] + +While accepting the Cabbala it was impossible for Pico to reject +magic. He showed his good sense, however, by an energetic attack upon +the so-called science of judicial astrology. Strictly speaking, the +spirit of humanism was opposed to this folly. Petrarch had long ago +condemned it, together with the charlatans who used its jargon to +impose upon the world; yet, in spite of humanism, the folly not only +persisted, but seemed to increase with the spread of rational +knowledge. The universities founded Chairs of Astrology, Popes +consulted the stars on occasions of importance, nor did the Despots +dare to act without the advice of their soothsayers. These men not +unfrequently accompanied the greatest generals on their campaigns. +Their services were bought by the republics; citizens employed them +for the casting of horoscopes, the building of houses, the position of +shops, the fit moment for journeys, the reception of guests into their +families, and the date of weddings. To take a serious step in life +without the approval of an astrologer had come to be regarded as +perilous. Even Ficino believed in horoscopes and planetary influences; +so did Cardan at a later date. It may be remembered that Catherine de' +Medici allowed the Florentine Ruggieri to share her secret counsels +during the reigns of three kings, and that Paul III. always obtained +the sanction of his star-gazer before he held a consistory. In +proportion as religion grew less real, and the complex dangers of a +corrupt society increased, astrology gained in importance. It was not, +therefore, a waste of eloquence, as Poliziano complained, when Pico +directed his attack against this delusion, accusing it of debasing the +intellect and opening the way for immorality of all kinds.[319] + +[Footnote 319: Poliziano's Greek epigram addressed to Pico on this +matter may be quoted from the _Carmina Quinque Poetarum_, p. 412:-- + + [Greek: kai tout' astrologois epimemphomai êeroleschais, + hotti sophous Pikou moi phthoneous' oarous. + kai gar ho endykeôs toutôn ton lêron elenchôn + mounaxei en agrô dêron hekas poleôs. + Pike ti soi kai toutois? ou s' epeoiken agyrtais + antarai tên sên eutychea graphida].] + +Since Pico's keen intellect discerned the shallowness of astrological +pretensions, it is the more to be deplored that he fell a victim to +the hybrid mysticism and magical nonsense of the Cabbala. We have here +another proof that criticism was as yet in its infancy. It was easier +for men of genius in the Renaissance to win lofty vantage-ground for +contemplation, to divine the unity of human achievements, and to +comprehend the greatness of the destiny of man, than to accept the +learning of the past at a simple historical valuation. What fascinated +their imagination passed with them too easily for true and proved. Yet +all they needed was time for the digestion and assimilation of the +stores of knowledge they had gained. If the Counter-Reformation had +not checked the further growth of Italian science, the spirit that +lived in Pico would certainly have produced a school of philosophy +second to none that Europe has brought forth. Of this Pico's own short +treatise on the 'Dignity of Man,' as I have said already, is +sufficient warrant. + +As Pico was the youngest so was Cristoforo Landino the oldest member +of the Medicean circle. He was born at Florence in 1424, nine years +before Ficino, with whom he shared the duties of instructing Lorenzo +in his boyhood. Landino obtained the Chair of Rhetoric and Poetry in +1457, and continued till his death in 1504 to profess Latin literature +at Florence. While Ficino and Pico represented the study of +philosophy, he devoted himself exclusively to scholarship, annotating +Horace and Virgil, and translating Pliny's 'Natural Histories.' A +marked feature in Landino's professorial labours was the attention he +paid to the Italian poets. In 1460 he began to lecture on Petrarch, +and in 1481 he published an edition of Dante with voluminous +commentaries. The copy of this work, printed upon parchment, +splendidly bound, and fastened with niello clasps, which Landino +presented with a set oration to the Signory of Florence, may still be +seen in the Magliabecchian library. The author was rewarded with a +house in Borgo alla Collina, the ancient residence of his family. + +Though the name of Cristoforo Landino is now best known in connection +with his Dantesque studies, one of his Latin works, the 'Camaldolese +Discussions,'[320] will always retain peculiar interest for the +student of Florentine humanism. This treatise is composed in imitation +of the Ciceronian rather than the Platonic dialogues; the 'Tusculans' +may be said to have furnished Landino with his model. He begins by +telling how he left his villa in the Casentino, accompanied by his +brother, to pay a visit to the hill-set sanctuary of S. Romualdo.[321] +There he met with Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici, attended by noble +youths of Florence--Piero and Donato Acciaiuoli, Alamanno Rinuccini, +Marco Parenti, and Antonio Canigiani--all of whom had quitted Florence +to enjoy the rest of summer coolness among the firs and chestnuts of +the Apennines. The party thus formed was completed by the arrival of +Leo Battista Alberti and Marsilio Ficino. The conversation maintained +from day to day by these close friends and ardent scholars forms the +substance of the dialogue. Seated on the turf beside a fountain, near +the spot where Romualdo was bidden in his trance to exchange the black +robes of the Benedictine Order for the snow-white livery of angels, +they not unnaturally began to compare the active life that they had +left at Florence with the contemplative life of philosophers and +saints. Alberti led the conversation by a panegyric of the [Greek: +bios theôrêtikos], maintaining the Platonic thesis with a wealth of +illustration and a charm of eloquence peculiar to himself. Lorenzo +took up the argument in favour of the [Greek: bios praktikos]. If +Alberti proved that solitude and meditation are the nurses of great +spirits, that man by communing with nature enters into full possession +of his mental kingdom, Lorenzo pointed out that this completion of +self-culture only finds its use and value in the commerce of the +world. The philosopher must descend from his altitude and mix with +men, in order to exercise the faculties matured by contemplation. Thus +far the artist and the statesman are supposed to hold debate on +Goethe's celebrated distich-- + + Es bildet ein Talent sich in der Stille, + Sich ein Charakter in dem Strom der Welt. + +[Footnote 320: _Disputationum Camaldulensium_ lib. iv., dedicated to +Frederick of Urbino.] + +[Footnote 321: The legend of the foundation of this Order is well +known through Sacchi's picture in the Vatican.] + +The audience decided, in the spirit of the German poet, that a +fully-formed man, the possessor of both character and talent, must +submit himself to each method of training. Thus ended the first day's +discussion. During the three following days Alberti led the +conversation to Virgil's poetry, demonstrating its allegorical +significance, and connecting its hidden philosophy with that of +Plato. It is clear that in this part of his work Landino was +presenting the substance of his own Virgilian studies. The whole book, +like Castiglione's 'Courtier,' supplies a fair sample of the topics on +which social conversation turned among refined and cultivated men. The +tincture of Platonism is specially characteristic of the Medicean +circle. + +The distinguished place allotted in this dialogue to Leo Battista +Alberti proves the singular regard in which this most remarkable man +was held at Florence, where, however, he but seldom resided. His name +will always be coupled with that of Lionardo da Vinci; for though +Lionardo, arriving at a happier moment, has eclipsed Alberti's fame, +yet both of them were cast in the same mould. Alberti, indeed, might +serve as the very type of those many-sided, precocious, and +comprehensive men of genius who only existed in the age of the +Renaissance. Physical strength and dexterity were given to him at +birth in measure equal to his mental faculties. It is recorded that he +could jump standing over an upright man, pierce the strongest armour +with his arrows, and so deftly fling a coin that it touched the +highest point of a church or palace roof. The wildest horses are said +to have trembled under him, as though brutes felt, like men, the +magnetism of his personality. His insight into every branch of +knowledge seemed intuitive, and his command of the arts was innate. At +the age of twenty he composed the comedy of 'Philodoxius,' which +passed for an antique, and was published by the Aldi as the work of +Lepidus Comicus in 1588. Of music, though he had not made it a special +study, he was a thorough master, composing melodies that gave delight +to scientific judges. He painted pictures, and wrote three books on +painting; practised architecture and compiled ten books on building. +Of his books, chiefly portraits, nothing remains; but the Church of S. +Andrea at Mantua, the Palazzo Rucellai at Florence, and the +remodelled Church of S. Francesco at Rimini attest his greatness as an +architect. The façade of the latter building is more thoroughly +classical than any other monument of the earlier Renaissance. As a +transcript from Roman antiquity it ranks with the Palazzo della +Ragione of Palladio at Vincenza. While still a young man, Alberti, +overtaxed, in all probability, by the prodigious activity of his +mental and bodily forces, suffered from an illness that resulted in a +partial loss of memory. The humanistic and legal studies on which he +was engaged had to be abandoned; yet, nothing daunted, he now turned +his plastic genius to philosophy and mathematics, rightly judging that +they make less demand upon the passive than the active vigour of the +mind. It is believed that he anticipated some modern discoveries in +optics, and he certainly advanced the science of perspective. Like his +compeer Lionardo, he devoted attention to mechanics, and devised +machinery for raising sunken ships. Like Lionardo, again, he was never +tired of interrogating nature, conducting curious experiments, and +watching her more secret operations. As a physiognomist and diviner, +he acquired a reputation bordering on wizardry. It was as though his +exquisite sensibilities and keenness of attention had gifted him with +second sight. The depth of his sympathy with the outer world is proved +by an assertion of his anonymous biographer that, when he saw the +cornfields and vineyards of autumn, tears gathered to his eyes. All +living creatures that had beauty won his love, and even in old persons +he discovered a charm appropriate to old age. Foreigners, travellers, +and workmen skilled in various crafts formed his favourite company, +for in the acquisition of varied knowledge he was indefatigable. In +general society his wisdom and his wit, the eloquence of his discourse +and the brilliance of his improvisation, rendered him most +fascinating. Collections of maxims culled from his table talk were +made, whereof the anonymous biography contains a fair selection. At +the same time we are told that, in the midst of sparkling sallies or +close arguments, he would suddenly subside into reverie, and sit at +table lost in silent contemplation. Alberti was one of the earliest +writers of pure Italian prose at the period of its revival; but this +part of his intellectual activity belongs to the history of Italian +literature, and need not be touched on here. It is enough to have +glanced thus briefly at one of the most attractive, sympathy-compelling +figures of the fifteenth century. + +In order to complete the picture of the Florentine circle, we have in +the last place to notice two men raised by the Medici from the ranks +of the people. 'I came to the republic, bare of all things, a mere +beggar, of the lowest birth, without money, rank, connections, or +kindred. Cosimo, the father of his country, raised me up, by receiving +me into his family.' So wrote Bartolommeo Scala,[322] the miller's +son, who lived to be the Chancellor of Florence. The splendour of that +office had been considerably diminished since the days when Bruni, +Marsuppini, and Poggio held it; nor could Scala, as a student, bear +comparison with those men. His Latin history of the first crusade was +rather a large than a great work, of which no notice would be taken if +Tasso had not used it in the composition of his epic. Honours and +riches, however, were accumulated on the Chancellor in such profusion +that he grew arrogant, and taunted the great Poliziano with +inferiority. The feud between these men was not confined to +literature. Scala's daughter, a far better scholar than himself, +attracted Poliziano's notice, and Greek epigrams were exchanged +between them. The dictator of Italian letters now sought the hand of +the fair Alessandra, who was rich not only in learning but in world's +gear also. When she gave herself to Michael Marullus Tarcagnota, a +Greek, his anger knew no bounds; instead of penning amatory he now +composed satiric epigrams, abusing Marullus in Latin no less than he +had praised Alessandra in Greek.[323] + +[Footnote 322: Born at Colle in 1430.] + +[Footnote 323: The following verses on Alessandra are so curious a +specimen of Poliziano's Greek style that I transcribe them here +(_Carmina Quinque Illustrium Poetarum_, p. 304):-- + + [Greek: heurêch' heurêch' hên thelon, hên ezêteon aiei, + hên êtoun ton erôth', hên kai oneiropoloun; + parthenikên hês kallos akêraton, hês hoge kosmos + ouk eiê technês all' aphelous physeôs; + parthenikên glôttêsin ep' amphoterêsi komôsan, + exochon ente chorois exochon ente lyra; + hês peri sôphrosynê t' eiê charitessi th' hamilla, + tê kai tê tautên antimethelkomenais. + heurêk' oud' ophelos, kai gar molis eis eniauton + oistrounti phlogerôs estin hapax ideein]. + +The satires on Mabilius (so he called Marullus) are too filthy to be +quoted. They may be read in the collection cited above, pp. 275-280.] + +Angelo Poliziano was born in 1454. His name, so famous in Italian +literature, is a Latinised version of his birthplace, Montepulciano. +His father, Benedetto Ambrogini, was a man of some consequence, but of +small means, who fell a victim to the enmity of private foes among his +fellow-citizens, leaving his widow and five young children almost +wholly unprovided for.[324] This accounts for the obscurity that long +enveloped the history of Poliziano's childhood, and also for the +doubts expressed about the surname of his family. At the age of ten he +came to study in the University of Florence, where he profited by the +teaching of Landino, Argyropoulos, Andronicos Kallistos, and Ficino. +The precocity of his genius displayed itself in Latin poems and Greek +epigrams composed while he was yet a boy. At thirteen years of age he +published Latin letters; at seventeen he distributed Greek poems among +the learned men of Florence; at eighteen he edited Catullus, with the +boast that he had shown more zeal than any other student in the +correction and illustration of the ancients. As early as the year +1470 he had not only conceived the ambitious determination to +translate Homer into Latin verse, but had already begun upon the +second Iliad. The first book was known to scholars in Marsuppini's +Latin version. Poliziano carried his own translation as far as the end +of the fifth book, gaining for himself the proud title of _Homericus +juvenis_; further than this, for reasons unexplained, he never +advanced, so that the last wish of Nicholas V., the chief desire of +fifteenth-century scholarship--a Latin Iliad in hexameters--remained +still unaccomplished. + +[Footnote 324: See Carducci, preface to _Le Stanze_, Florence, 1863, +and Isidoro del Lungo in _Arch. Stor._ series iii. vol. ii.] + +The fame of this great undertaking attracted universal attention to +Poliziano. It is probable that Ficino first introduced him to Lorenzo +de' Medici, who received the young student into his own household, and +made himself responsible for his future fortunes. 'The liberality of +Lorenzo de' Medici, that great and wise man,' wrote Poliziano in after +years, 'raised me from the obscure and humble station where my birth +had placed me, to that degree of dignity and distinction I now enjoy, +with no other recommendation than my literary abilities.' Before he +had reached the age of thirty, Poliziano professed the Greek and Latin +literatures in the University of Florence, and received the care of +Lorenzo's children. If Lorenzo represents the statecraft of his age, +Poliziano is no less emphatically the representative of its highest +achievements in scholarship. He was the first Italian to combine +perfect mastery over Latin and a correct sense of Greek with a +splendid genius for his native literature. Filelfo boasted that he +could write both classic languages with equal ease, and exercised his +prosy muse in _terza rima_. But Filelfo had no fire of poetry, no +sense of style. Poliziano, on the contrary, was a born poet, a _sacer +vates_ in the truest sense of the word. I shall have to speak +elsewhere of his Italian verses: those who have studied them know that +the 'Orfeo,' the 'Stanze,' and the 'Rime' justify Poliziano's claim to +the middle place of honour between Petrarch and Ariosto. Italian +poetry took a new direction from his genius, and everything he penned +was fruitful of results for the succeeding generation. Of his Latin +poetry, in like manner, I propose to treat at greater length in the +following chapter. + +The spirit of Roman literature lived again in Poliziano. If he cannot +be compared with the Augustan authors, he will pass muster at least +with the poets of the silver age. Neither Statius nor Ausonius +produced more musical hexameters, or expressed their feeling for +natural beauty in phrases marked with more spontaneous grace. Of his +Greek elegiacs only a few specimens survive. These, in spite of +certain licenses not justified by pure Greek prosody, might claim a +place in the 'Anthology,' among the epigrams of Agathias and Paulus +Silentiarius.[325] The Doric couplets on two beautiful boys, and the +love sonnet to the youth Chrysocomus, read like extracts from the +[Greek: Mousa paidikê].[326] What is remarkable about the Greek and +Latin poetry of Poliziano is that the flavour of the author's Italian +style transpires in them. They are no mere imitations of the classics. +The 'roseate fluency' of the 'Rime' reappears in these _prolusiones_, +making it manifest that the three languages were used with equal +facility, and that on each of them the poet set the seal of his own +genius. + +[Footnote 325: Julius Cæsar Scaliger wrote thus about them in the +_Hypercriticus_:--'Græcis vero, quæ puerum se conscripsisse dicit, +ætatem minus prudenter apposuit suam; tam enim bona sunt ut ne virum +quidem Latina æque bene scripsisse putem.'] + +[Footnote 326: _Quinque Illustrium Poetarum Carmina_, pp. 299, 301. +These epigrams, as well as two on pp. 303, 307, are significant in +their illustration of the poet's morality. Giovio's account of +Poliziano's death was certainly accepted by contemporaries:--'_Ferunt +eum ingenui adolescentis insano amore percitum facile in letalem +morbum incidisse._' The whole _Elogium_, however, is a covert libel, +like many of Giovio's sketches.] + +What has been said about his verse, applies with no less force to his +prose composition. Poliziano wrote Latin, as though it were a living +language, not culling phrases from Cicero or reproducing the periods +of Livy, but trusting to his instinct and his ear, with the facility +of conscious power. The humanism of the first and second periods +attained to the freedom of fine art in Poliziano. Through him, as +through a lens, the rays of previous culture were transmitted in a +column of pure light. He realised what the Italians had been striving +after--the new birth of antiquity in a living man of the modern world. +By way of modifying this high panegyric, it may be conceded that +Poliziano had the defects of his qualities. Using Latin with the +freedom of a master, he was not careful to purge his style of obsolete +words and far-fetched phrases, or to maintain the diction of one +period in each composition. His fluency betrayed him into verbiage, +and his descriptions are often more diffuse than vigorous. Nor will he +bear comparison with some more modern scholars on the point of +accuracy. The merit, however, remains to him of having been the most +copious and least slavish interpreter of the ancient to the modern +world. His very imperfections, when judged by the standard of Bembo, +place him above the purists, inasmuch as he possessed the power and +courage to express himself in his own idiom, instead of treading +cautiously in none but Ciceronian or Virgilian footprints. + +As a professor, none of the humanists achieved more brilliant +successes than Poliziano. Among his pupils could be numbered the chief +students of Europe. Not to mention Italians, it will suffice to record +the names of Reuchlin, Grocin, Linacre, and the Portuguese Tessiras, +who carried each to his own country the culture they had gained in +Florence. The first appearance of Poliziano in the lecture-room was +not calculated to win admiration. Ill-formed, with eyes that had +something of a squint in them, and a nose of disproportionate size, he +seemed more fit to be a solitary scholar than the Orpheus of the +classic literature.[327] Yet no sooner had he opened his lips and +begun to speak, with the exquisite and varied intonations of a +singularly beautiful voice, than his listeners were chained to their +seats. The ungainliness of the teacher was forgotten; charmed through +their ears and their intellect, they eagerly drank in his eloquence, +applauding the improvisations wherewith he illustrated the spirit and +intention of his authors, and silently absorbing the vast and +well-ordered stores of knowledge he so prodigally scattered. It would +not be profitable to narrate here at any length what is known about +the topics of these lectures. Poliziano not only covered the whole +ground of classic literature during the years of his professorship, +but also published the notes of courses upon Ovid, Suetonius, Statius, +the younger Pliny, the writers of Augustan histories, and Quintilian. +Some of his best Latin poems were written by way of preface to the +authors he explained in public. Virgil was celebrated in the 'Manto,' +and Homer in the 'Ambra;' the 'Rusticus' served as prelude to the +'Georgics,' while the 'Nutricia' formed an introduction to the study +of ancient and modern poetry. Nor did he confine his attention to fine +literature. The curious prælection in prose called 'Lamia' was +intended as a prelude to the prior 'Analytics' of Aristotle. Among his +translations must be mentioned Epictetus, Herodian, Hippocrates, +Galen, Plutarch's 'Eroticus,' and the 'Charmides' of Plato. His +greatest achievement, however, was the edition of the 'Pandects' of +Justinian from the famous MS. of which Florence had robbed Pisa, as +the Pisans had previously taken it from Amalfi. It must not be +forgotten that all these undertakings involved severe labours of +correction and criticism. MSS. had to be compared and texts settled, +when as yet the apparatus for this higher form of scholarship was +miserably scanty. Though students before Poliziano had understood the +necessity of collating codices, determining their relative ages, and +tracing them, if possible, to their authoritative sources, he was the +first to do this systematically and with judgment. To emendation he +only had recourse when the text seemed hopeless. His work upon the +'Pandects' alone implies the expenditure of enormous toil. + +[Footnote 327: 'Erat distortis sæpe moribus, uti facie nequaquam +ingenuâ et liberali ab enormi præsertim naso, subluscoque oculo +perabsurdâ.' Giovio, _Elogia_. Cf. Poliziano's own verses to Mabilius, +beginning:-- + + Quod nasum mihi, quod reflexa colla + Demens objicis. + + _Carmina Quinque Poetarum_, p. 277.] + +The results of Poliziano's more fugitive studies, and some notes of +conversations on literary topics with Lorenzo, were published in 1489 +under the title of 'Miscellanea.'[328] The form was borrowed from the +'Noctes Atticæ' of Aulus Gellius; in matter this collection +anticipated the genial criticisms of Erasmus. The excitement caused by +its appearance is vividly depicted in the following letter of Jacopus +Antiquarius, secretary to the Duke of Milan:[329]--'Going lately, +according to my custom, into one of the public offices, I found a +number of the young clerks neglecting their prince's business, and +lost in the study of a book which had been distributed in sheets among +them. When I asked what new book had appeared, they answered, +Politian's "Miscellanies." I mounted their desk, sat down among them, +and began to read with equal eagerness. But, as I could not spend much +time there, I sent at once to the bookseller's stall for a copy of the +work.' By this time Poliziano's fame had eclipsed that of all his +contemporaries. He corresponded familiarly with native and foreign +princes, and held a kind of court at Florence among men of learning +who came from all parts of Italy to converse with him. This +popularity grew even burdensome, or at any rate he affected to find it +so. 'Does a man want a motto for his sword's hilt or a posy for a +ring,' he writes,[330] 'an inscription for his bedroom or a device for +his plate, or even for his pots and pans, he runs like all the world +to Politian. There is hardly a wall I have not besmeared, like a +snail, with the effusions of my brain. One teazes me for catches and +drinking-songs, another for a grave discourse, a third for a serenade, +a fourth for a Carnival ballad.' In executing these commissions he is +said to have shown great courtesy; nor did they probably cost him much +trouble, for in all his work he was no less rapid than elegant. He +boasted that he had dictated the translation of Herodian while walking +up and down his room, within the space of a day or two; and the chief +fault of his verses is their fluency. + +[Footnote 328: The first words of the dedication run as follows:--'Cum +tibi superioribus diebus Laurenti Medices, nostra hæc Miscellanea +_inter equitandum_ recitaremus.'] + +[Footnote 329: _Angeli Politiani Epistolæ_, lib. iii. ed. Ald. 1498. +The letter is dated Nov. 1488.] + +[Footnote 330: In a letter to Hieronymus Donatus, dated Florence, May +1480, _Angeli Politiani Epistolæ_, lib. ii.] + +It still remains to speak of Poliziano's personal relations to the +Medicean family. When he first entered the household of Lorenzo, he +undertook the tuition of his patron's sons, and continued to +superintend their education until their mother Clarice saw reason to +mistrust his personal influence. There were, no doubt, many points in +the great scholar's character that justified her thinking him unfit to +be the constant companion of young men. Whatever may be the truth +about the cause of his last illness, enough remains of his Greek and +Italian verses to prove that his morality was lax, and his conception +of life rather Pagan than Christian.[331] Clarice contrived that he +should not remain under the same roof with her children; and though +his friendly intercourse with the Medicean family continued +uninterrupted, it would seem that after 1480 he only gave lessons in +the classics to his former pupils. + +[Footnote 331: The well-known scandal about Poliziano's death is +traceable to the _Elogia_ of Paulus Jovius--very suspicious authority. +See above, p. 252, note 2.] + +Poliziano, proud as he was of his attainments, lacked the nobler +quality of self-respect. He condescended to flatter Lorenzo, and to +beg for presents, in phrases that remind us of Filelfo's prosiest +epigrams.[332] That a scholar should vaunt his own achievements[333] +and extol his patron to the skies, that he should ask for money and +set off his panegyrics against payment, seemed not derogatory to a man +of genius in the fifteenth century. Yet these habits of literary +mendicancy and toad-eating proved a most pernicious influence. Italian +literature never lost the superlatives and exaggerations imported by +the humanists, and Pietro Aretino may be called the lineal descendant +of Filelfo and Poliziano. + +[Footnote 332: The most curious of these elegiac poems are given in +_Carmina Quinque Illustrium Poetarum_, p. 234. It is possible that +their language ought not to be taken literally, and that they +concealed a joke now lost.] + +[Footnote 333: Poliziano's letter to Matthias Corvinus is a good +example of his self-laudation.] + +It must be allowed that to overpraise Lorenzo from a scholar's point +of view would have been difficult, while the affection that bound the +student to his patron was genuine. Poliziano, who watched Lorenzo in +his last moments, described the scene of his death in a letter marked +by touching sorrow which he addressed to Antiquari, and proved by the +Latin monody which he composed and left unfinished, that grief for his +dead master could inspire his muse with loftier strains than any +expectation of future favours while he lived had done. + +Two years after Lorenzo's death Poliziano died himself, dishonoured +and suspected by the Piagnoni. Savonarola had swept the Carnival +chariots and masks and gimcracks of Lorenzo's holiday reign into the +dust-heap. Instead of _rispetti_ and _ballate_, the refrain of +Misereres filled the city, and the Dominican's prophecy of blood and +ruin drowned with its thundrous reverberations the scholarlike +disquisitions of Greek professors. Poliziano's lament for Lorenzo was +therefore, as it were, a prophecy of his own fate: + + Quis dabit capiti meo + Aquam? quis oculis meis + Fontem lachrymarum dabit? + Ut nocte fleam, + Ut luce fleam. + Sic turtur viduus solet, + Sic cygnus moriens solet, + Sic luscinia conqueri. + +'Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I +might weep day and night! So mourns the widowed turtle dove; so mourns +the dying swan; so mourns the nightingale.' Into these passionate +words of wailing, unique in the literature of humanism by their form +alike and feeling, breaks the threnody of the abandoned scholar. 'Ah, +woe! Ah, woe is me! O grief! O grief! Lightning hath struck our laurel +tree, our laurel dear to all the Muses and the dances of the Nymphs, +beneath whose spreading boughs the God of Song himself more sweetly +harped and sang. Now all around is dumb; now all is mute, and there is +none to hear. Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of +tears!' + +This at least of grace the gods allowed Poliziano, that he should die +in the same year as his friend Pico della Mirandola, a few weeks +before the deluge prophesied by Savonarola burst over Italy. Upon his +tomb in S. Marco a burlesque epitaph was inscribed-- + + Politianus + in hoc tumulo jacet + Angelus unum + qui caput et linguas + res nova tres habuit. + Obiit an. MCCCCLXXXXIV + Sep. XXIV. Ætatis + XL.[334] + +[Footnote 334: 'Poliziano lies in this grave, the angel who had one +head and, what is new, three tongues. He died September 24, 1494, aged +40.'] + +Bembo, who succeeded him in the dictatorship of Italian letters, +composed a not unworthy elegy upon the man whom he justly +apostrophised as 'Poliziano, master of the Ausonian lyre.' + +The fortunes of Roman scholarship kept varying with the personal +tastes of each successive Pope. Calixtus III. differed wholly from his +predecessor, Nicholas V. Learned in theology and mediæval science, he +was dead to the interests of humanistic literature. Vespasiano assures +us that, when he entered the Vatican library and saw its Greek and +Latin authors in their red and silver bindings, instead of praising +the munificence of Nicholas, he exclaimed, 'Vedi in che egli ha +consumato la robba della Chiesa di Dio!'[335] Æneas Sylvius +Piccolomini ranked high among the humanists. As an orator, courtier, +state secretary, and man of letters, he shared the general qualities +of the class to which he belonged. While a fellow-student of +Beccadelli at Siena, he freely enjoyed the pleasures of youth, and +thought it no harm to compose novels in the style of Longus and +Achilles Tatius. These stories, together with his familiar letters, +histories, cosmographical treatises, rhetorical disquisitions, +apophthegms, and commentaries, written in a fluent and picturesque +Latin style, distinguished him for wit and talent from the merely +laborious students of his age.[336] A change, however, came over him +when he assumed the title of Pius II. with the tiara.[337] Learning in +Italy owed but little to his patronage, and though he strengthened +the position of the humanists at Rome by founding the College of +Abbreviators, he was more eager to defend Christendom against the Turk +than to make his See the capital of culture. For this it would be +narrow-minded to blame Pius. The experience of European politics had +extended his view beyond the narrower circle of Italian interests; and +there is something noble as well as piteous in his attempt to lead the +forlorn hope of a cosmopolitan cause. Paul II. was chiefly famous for +his persecution of the Roman Platonists;[338] and Sixtus IV., though +he deserves to be remembered as the Pontiff who opened the Vatican +library to the public, plays no prominent part in the history of +scholarship. Tiraboschi may be consulted for his refusal to pay the +professors of the Roman Sapienza. Of Innocent VIII. nothing need be +said; nor will any student of history expect to find it recorded that +Alexander VI. wasted money on the patronage of learning. To the +Borgia, indeed, the world owes that curse of Catholicism, that +continued crime of high treason against truth and liberal culture, the +subjection of the press to ecclesiastical control. + +[Footnote 335: 'Behold whereon he spent the substance of the Church of +God!' Vespasiano adds that he gave away several hundred volumes to one +of the cardinals, whose servants sold them for an old song. Vesp. p. +216. Assemani, the historian of the Vatican Library, on the contrary, +asserts that Calixtus spent 40,000 ducats on books. It is not likely, +however, that Vespasiano was wholly in error about a matter he +understood so well, and had so much at heart.] + +[Footnote 336: See the Basle edition of his collected works, 1571.] + +[Footnote 337: See Vol. I., _Age of the Despots_, p. 299.] + +[Footnote 338: Vol. I., _Age of the Despots_, pp. 302-303.] + +Under these Popes humanism had to flourish, as it best could, in the +society of private individuals. Accordingly, we find the Roman +scholars forming among themselves academies and learned circles. Of +these the most eminent took its name from its founder, Julius +Pomponius Lætus. He was a bastard of the princely House of the +Sanseverini, to whom, when he became famous and they were anxious for +his friendship, he penned the celebrated epistle: '_Pomponius Lætus +cognatis et propinquis suis salutem. Quod petitis fieri non potest. +Valete._'[339] Pomponius derived his scholarship from Valla, and +devoted all his energies to Latin literature, refusing, it is even +said, to learn Greek, lest it should distract him from his favourite +studies. He made it the object of his most serious endeavours not only +to restore a knowledge of the ancients, but also to assimilate his +life and manners to their standard. Men praised in him a second Cato +for sobriety of conduct, frugal diet, and rural industry. He tilled +his own ground after the methods of Varro and Columella, went +a-fishing and a-fowling on holidays, and ate his sparing meal like a +Roman Stoic beneath the spreading branches of an oak on the Campagna. +The grand mansions of the prelates had no attractions for him. He +preferred his own modest house upon the Esquiline, his garden on the +Quirinal. It was here that his favourite scholars conversed with him +at leisure; and to these retreats of the philosopher came strangers of +importance, eager to behold a Roman living in all points like an +antique sage. The high school of Rome owed much to his indefatigable +industry. Through a long series of years he lectured upon the chief +Latin authors, examining their text with critical accuracy, and +preparing new editions of their works. Before daybreak he would light +his lantern, take his staff, and wend his way from the Esquiline to +the lecture-room, where, however early the hour and however inclement +the season, he was sure to find an overflowing audience. Yet it was +not as a professor that Pomponius Lætus acquired his great celebrity, +and left a lasting impress on the society of Rome. This he did by +forming an academy for the avowed purpose of prosecuting the study of +Latin antiquities and promoting the adoption of antique customs into +modern life. The members assumed classical names, exchanging their +Italian patronymics for fancy titles like Callimachus Experiens, +Asclepiades, Glaucus, Volscus, and Petrejus. They yearly kept the +birthday feast of Rome, celebrating the Palilia with Pagan +solemnities, playing comedies of Plautus, and striving to revive the +humours of the old Atellan farces. Of this circle Pontanus and +Sannazzaro, Platina, Sabellicus and Molza, Janus Parrhasius, and the +future Paul III. were proud to call themselves the members. It is only +from the language in which such men refer to Lætus that we gain a due +notion of his influence; for he left but little behind him as an +author, and used himself to boast that, like Socrates and Christ, he +hoped to be remembered through his pupils. In the year 1468 this Roman +academy acquired fresh celebrity by the persecution of Paul II., who +partly suspected a political object in its meetings, and partly +resented the open heathenism of its leaders. I need not here repeat +the tale of his crusade against the scholars. It is enough to mention +that Lætus was imprisoned for a short while, and that in prison he +wrote an apology for his life, defending himself against a charge of +misplaced passion for a young Venetian pupil, and professing the +sincerity of his belief in Christianity. After his release from the +Castle of S. Angelo he was obliged to discontinue the meetings of his +academy, which were not resumed until the reign of Sixtus. Pomponius +Lætus lived on into the Papacy of Alexander, and died in 1498 at the +age of seventy. His corpse was crowned with a laurel wreath in the +Church of Araceli. Forty bishops, together with the foreign +ambassadors in Rome and the representatives of the Borgia, who were +specially deputed for that purpose, witnessed the ceremony and +listened to the funeral oration. Lætus had desired that his body +should be placed in a sarcophagus upon the Appian Way. This wish was +not complied with. He was conveyed from Araceli to S. Salvatore in +Lauro, and there buried like a Christian. + +[Footnote 339: 'P.L. to his kinsmen and relatives, greeting. What you +ask cannot be. Farewell.'] + +While the academy of Pomponius Lætus flourished at Rome, that of +Naples was no less active under the presidency of Jovianus Pontanus. +It appears to have originated in social gatherings assembled by +Beccadelli, and to have held its meetings in a building called after +its founder the _Porticus Antonianus_. When death had broken up the +brilliant circle surrounding Alfonso the Magnanimous, Pontanus assumed +the leadership of learned men in Naples, and gave the formality of a +club to what had previously been a mere reunion of cultivated +scholars. The members Latinised their names; many of them became +better known by their assumed titles than by their Italian cognomens. +Sannazzaro, for instance, acquired a wide celebrity as Accius +Syncerus. Pontanus was himself a native of Cereto in the Spoletano. +Born in 1426, he settled in his early manhood at Naples, where +Beccadelli introduced him to his royal patrons. During the reigns of +Ferdinand I., Alfonso II., and Ferdinand II. Pontanus held the post of +secretary, tutor, and ambassador, accompanying his masters on their +military expeditions and negotiating their affairs at the Papal Court. +When Charles VIII. entered Naples as a conqueror, Pontanus greeted him +with a panegyrical oration, proving himself more courtly and +self-seeking than loyal to the princes he had served so long. +Guicciardini observes that this act of ingratitude stained the fair +fame of Pontanus. Yet it may be pleaded in his defence that no +moralist of the period had more boldly denounced the crimes and vices +of Italian princes; and it is possible that Pontanus really hoped +Charles might inaugurate a better age for Naples. + +He was distinguished among the scholars of his time for the purity of +his Latin style; to him belongs the merit of having written verse that +might compete with good models of antiquity. His hexameters on stars +and meteors, called 'Urania,' won the enthusiastic praise of his own +generation, and subsequently served as model to Fracastoro for his own +didactic poem. His amatory elegiacs have an exuberance of colouring +and sensuous force of phrase that seem peculiarly appropriate to the +Bay of Naples, where they were inspired. As a prose-writer it is +particularly by his moral treatises that Pontanus deserves to be +remembered. Unlike the mass of contemporary dialogues on ethical +subjects, they abound in illustrations drawn from recent history, so +that even now they may be advantageously consulted by students anxious +to gather characteristic details and to form a just opinion of +Renaissance morality. Throughout his writings Pontanus shows himself +to have been an original and vigorous thinker, a complete master of +Latin scholarship, unwilling to abide contented with bare imitation, +and bent upon expressing the facts of modern life, the actualities of +personal emotion, in a style of accurate Latinity. When he died in +1503, he left at Naples one of the most flourishing schools of +neopagan poets to be found in Italy; Lilius Gyraldus employs the old +metaphor of the Trojan horse to describe the number and the vigour of +the scholars who issued from it. + +In the Church of Monte Oliveto at Naples there may be seen a group in +terra cotta painted to imitate life. Alfonso II., Pontanus, and +Sannazzaro are kneeling in adoration before the body of the dead +Christ. Pontanus, who represents Nicodemus, is a stern, hard-featured, +long-faced man, of powerful bone and fibrous sinews, built for serious +labour in the study or the field. Sannazzaro, who stands for Joseph of +Arimathea, is bald, fat-faced, with bushy eyebrows and a heavy cast of +countenance. The physical characteristics of these men and their act +of faith are in curious contradiction with the conception we form of +them after reading the 'Elegies' and the 'Arcadia.' + +The Roman Academy of Pomponius Læetus and the Neapolitan Academy of +Pontanus continued to exist after the death of their founders, while +similar institutions sprang up in every town of Italy. To speak of +these in detail would be quite impossible. With the commencement of +the sixteenth century they lost their classical character, and assumed +fantastic Italian titles. Thus the Roman coterie of wits and scholars +called itself _I Vignaiuoli_. The members, among whom were Berni, La +Casa, Firenzuola, Mauro, Molza, assumed titles like _L'Agreste_, _Il +Mosto_, _Il Cotogno_, and so forth. The Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici +founded a club in Rome for the study of Vitruvius. It met twice in the +week, and was known as _Le Virtù_. At Bologna the _Viridario_ devoted +its energies to the correction of printed texts; the _Sitibondi_ +studied law, the _Desti_ cultivated extinct chivalry. Besides these, +the one town of Bologna produced _Sonnacchiosi_, _Oziosi_, _Desiosi_, +_Storditi_, _Confusi_, _Politici_, _Instabili_, _Gelati_, _Umorosi_. +As the century advanced, academies multiplied in Italy, and their +titles became more absurd. Ravenna had its _Informi_, Faenza its +_Smarriti_, Macerata its _Catenati_, Fabriano its _Disuniti_, Perugia +its _Insensati_, Urbino its _Assorditi_, Naples its _Sereni_, +_Ardenti_, and _Incogniti_--and so on _ad infinitum_. At Florence the +Platonic Academy continued to flourish under the auspices of the +Rucellai family, in whose gardens assembled the company described by +Filippo de' Nerli,[340] until the year 1522, when it was suppressed on +the occasion of the conspiracy against Giulio de' Medici. Duke Cosimo +revived it under the name of the Florentine Academy in 1540, when its +labours were wholly devoted to Petrarch and the Italian language. In +1572 appeared the famous academy called _Della Crusca_, the only one +among these later societies which acquired an European reputation. + +[Footnote 340: See Vol. I., _Age of the Despots_, p. 220, note.] + +Those who are curious to follow the history of the academies, may be +referred to the comprehensive notices of Tiraboschi. From the date of +their Italianisation they cease to belong to the history of humanism; +what justifies the mention of them here is the fact that they owed +their first existence to the scholars of the third period. The worst +faults of Italian erudition--pedantry and stylistic affectations--were +perpetuated by coteries worshipping Petrarch and peddling with the +idlest of all literary problems, where so great a writer as Annibale +Caro thought it in good taste to write a dissertation on the nose of a +president, and where the industry of sensible men was absorbed in the +concoction of sonnets by the myriad and childish puns on their own +titles. During the following age of political stagnation and +ecclesiastical oppression the academies were the playthings of a +nation fast degenerating into intellectual hebetude. Not without +amazement do we read the eulogies pronounced by Milton on the 'learned +and affable meeting of frequent academies, and the procurement of wise +and artful recitations, sweetened with eloquent and graceful +incitements to the love and practice of justice, temperance, and +fortitude.' What he had observed with admiration in Italy, he would +fain have seen imitated in England, undeterred apparently by the +impotence and sterility of academic dissertations.[341] + +[Footnote 341: See the _Reason of Church Government urged against +Prelaty_, and the _Ready and Easy Way to Establish a Free +Commonwealth_.] + +It remains to speak of the establishment of printing in Italy, an +event no less important for the preservation and diffusion of +classical learning than the previous discovery of MSS. had been +indispensable for its revival. What has to be said about the erudite +society of Venice may appropriately be introduced in this connection; +while the final honours of the third period will be seen to belong of +right to one of Italy's most noble-minded scholars, Aldus Manutius. + +In 1462 Adolph of Nassau pillaged Maintz and dispersed its printers +over Europe. Three years later two Germans, by name Sweynheim and +Pannartz, who had worked under Fust, set up a press in Subbiaco, a +little village of the Sabine mountains. Here, in October 1465, the +first edition of Lactantius saw the light. The German printers soon +afterwards removed from Subbiaco, and settled, under the protection of +the Massimi, in Rome, where they continued to issue Latin authors +from their press.[342] In 1646 John of Spires established himself at +Venice. He was soon afterwards joined by his brother Vindelino (so the +Italians write the name) and by Nicholas Jenson, the Frenchman. +Florence had no press till 1471, when Bernardo Cennini printed the +commentary of Servius on Virgil's 'Bucolics.' The 'Georgics' and +'Æneid' appeared in the following year. To Cennini, however, belongs +the honour of having been the first Italian to cast his own type. Like +many other illustrious artificers, he was by trade a goldsmith; in his +address to the reader he styles himself _aurifex omnium judicio +præstantissimus_, adding, with reference to the typography, _expressis +ante calide caracteribus ac deinde fusis literis volumen hoc primum +impresserunt_. The last sentence of the address should also be quoted: +_Florentinis ingeniis nil ardui est_. Other printers opened workshops +in Florence within the course of a few years--John of Maintz in 1472, +Nicholas of Breslau in 1477, Antonio Miscomini in 1481, and Lorenzo +Alopa of Venice, who gave Homer with Greek type to the world in 1488. +Still, Florence had been anticipated by many other cities; for when +once the new art took root in Italy, it spread like wild fire. +Omitting smaller places from the calculation, it has been reckoned +that, before the year 1500, 4,987 books were printed in Italy, of +which 298 are claimed by Bologna, 300 by Florence, 629 by Milan, 929 +by Rome, and 2,835 by Venice. The disproportion between the activity +of Florence and of Venice in the book trade deserves to be noticed, +though how it should be explained I hardly know. Fifty towns and +numbers of insignificant burghs--Pinerolo, Savona, Pieve di Sacco, +Cividale, Soncino, Chivasso, Scandiano, for example--could boast of +local presses. Ambulant printers established their machinery for half +a year or so in a remote village, printed what came to hand there, and +moved on. + +[Footnote 342: From a memorial presented by these printers to Sixtus +IV. in 1472 we ascertain some facts about their industry. They had at +that date printed in all 12,495 volumes. It was their custom to issue +265 copies each edition; the double of that number for Virgil, +Cicero's separate works, and theological books in request. Cantù, +_Lett. It._ p. 112. See Cantù, p. 110, for details of the earliest +Latin books.] + +While scholars rejoiced in the art that, to quote the word of one of +them, 'had saved the labour of their aching joints,' the copyists +complained that their occupation would be taken from them. The whistle +of the locomotive at the beginning of this century was not more +afflicting to stage-coachmen than the creaking of the wooden printing +press to those poor scribes. Yet, however quickly a labour-saving +invention may spread, there is generally time for the superseded +industry to die an easy death, and for artisans to find employment in +the new trade. Vespasiano, who during twenty-six years survived the +first book printed in Florence, could even afford to despise the +press.[343] The great nobles, on whose patronage he depended, did not +suddenly transfer their custom from the scribe to the compositor; nor +was it to be expected that so essentially a democratic art as printing +should find immediate favour with the aristocracy. A prince with a +library of MSS. worth 40,000 ducats hated the machine that put an +equal number of more readable volumes within the reach of moderate +competency. Moreover, a certain suspicion of subversiveness and +license clung about the press. This was to some extent justified by +fact, since the press was destined to be the most formidable engine of +the modern reason. Ecclesiastics, again, questioned whether the +promiscuous multiplication of books were pious; and Alexander VI. +stretched his hand out to coerce the printer's devil. To check the +spread of printing would, however, have overtaxed the powers of any +human tyranny. All that the Church could do was to place its +productions under episcopal control. + +[Footnote 343: See above, p. 220.] + +Though the copyists of MSS. were thrown out of work by the printing +press, it gave important stimulus to other industries in Italy. The +paper mills of Fabriano and of Colle in the Val d'Elsa became valuable +properties;[344] compositors and readers began to form a separate +class of artisans, while needy scholars found a market for their +talents in the houses of the publishers. When we consider the amount +of literary work that had to be performed before Greek, Latin, and +Hebrew texts could be prepared for the press, the difficulty of +procuring correct copies of authoritative codices, and the scrupulous +attention expended upon proof sheets, we are able to understand that +men who lived by learning found the new art profitable. + +[Footnote 344: It is supposed that the earliest paper factory +established in Italy was at Fabriano. Colle, a little town near +Volterra, made paper from a remote period; by a deed, dated March 6, +1377, now preserved in the Florentine Archivio Diplomatico, one Colo +da Colle rented a fall of water there _et gualcheriam ad faciendas +cartas_ for twenty years. Both places are still celebrated for their +paper mills.] + +Instead of having previous editions to work upon, the publishers were +obliged, in the first instance, to collect MSS. For this purpose they +either travelled themselves from city to city, or employed competent +amanuenses. Next, it was necessary to study the philosophers, poets, +historians, mathematicians, and mystics, whose works they intended to +print, in order that no mistake in the sense of the words should be +made. Orthography and punctuation had to be fixed; and between many +readings only one could be adopted. Giving a first edition to the +world involved far more anxiety on these points than the reproduction +of a book already often printed. No one man could accomplish such +tasks alone. Therefore we find that scores of learned men were +associated together for the purpose, living under the same roof, +revising the copy for the compositor, overlooking the men at work, +reading the text aloud, and correcting the proofs with a vigilance +that is but little needed nowadays. All this labour, moreover, was +accomplished without the aid of grammars, lexicons, and other aids. +Truly we may say without exaggeration that the Aldi of Venice and the +Stephani of Paris are more worthy of commemoration for services +rendered through scholarship to humanity than those modern castigators +of ancient texts, the Porsons and the Lachmanns, whose names are on +every lip. The enthusiasm of discovery, and the rich field for +original industry offered to those early editors, may be reckoned as +compensation for their otherwise overwhelming toil. + +Teobaldo Mannucci, better known as Aldo Manuzio, was born in 1450 at +Sermoneta, near Velletri. After residing as a client in the princely +house of Carpi, he added the name Pio to his patronymic, and signed +his publications with the full description, _Aldus Pius Manutius +Romanus et Philhellen_, [Greek: Aldos ho Manoutios Rômaios kai +Philellên]. He studied Latin at Rome under Gasparino da Verona, and +Greek at Ferrara under Guarino da Verona, to whom he dedicated his +Theocritus in 1495. Having qualified himself for undertaking the work +of tutor or professor, according to the custom of the century, and +having made friends with many of the principal Italian scholars, he +went in 1482 to reside at Mirandola with his old friend and fellow +student, Giovanni Pico. There he stayed two years, enjoying the +society of the Phoenix of his age, and continuing his Greek studies +in concert with Emmanuel Adramyttenos, a learned Cretan. Before Pico +removed to Florence he procured for Aldo the post of tutor to his +nephews Alberto and Lionello Pio. Carpi had owned the family of Pio +for its masters since the thirteenth century, when they rose to power, +like many of the Lombard nobles, by adroit use of Imperial +privileges.[345] This little city, placed midway between Correggio, +Mirandola, and Modena, is so insignificant that its name has been +omitted from the index to Murray's handbook; nor is there indeed much +but the memory of Aldo and Alberto Pio, and a church built by +Baldassare Peruzzi, to recommend it to the notice of a traveller. +Under the tuition of Aldo the two young princes became excellent +scholars. Alberto in particular proved, by his aptitude for +philosophical studies, that he had inherited from his mother, the +sister of Giovanni Pico, something of the spirit of Mirandola. When +Aldus published his great edition of Aristotle, he inscribed it to his +former pupil with a Greek dedication, in which he styled him [Greek: +tô tôn ontôn erastê]. There can be no doubt that Alberto's knowledge +of Greek language and philosophy was far more thorough than that of +many more belauded princes of the age. Yet he had but little +opportunity for the quiet prosecution of classical studies, or for the +patronage of learned men at Carpi. Driven from his patrimony by the +Imperialists, he died at Paris in 1530, after a life spent in foreign +service and diplomatic offices of trust. The bronze monument for his +tomb may still be seen[346] in the Gallery of the Louvre. The princely +scholar, clad in rich Renaissance armour, is reclining with his head +supported by his right hand; the left holds an open book. The attitude +of melancholy meditation, the ornamental but useless cuirass, and the +volume open while the scabbard of the sword is shut, add to the +portrait of this prince in exile the value of an allegory. Such +symbols suited the genius of Italy during the age of foreign invaders. + +[Footnote 345: Sansovino, in his _Famiglie Illustri_, after giving a +fabulous pedigree of the Pio family, dates their signorial importance +from the reign of Frederick II.] + +[Footnote 346: Executed for the Church of the Cordeliers by Paulus +Pontius.] + +To Alberto Pio the world owes a debt of gratitude, inasmuch as he +supplied Aldo with the funds necessary for starting his printing +press, and gave him lands at Carpi, where his family were educated. +When Aldo conceived the ambitious project of printing the whole +literature of Greece, four Italian towns could already claim the +honours of Greek publications. Milan takes the lead. In 1476 the +Grammar of Lascaris was printed there by Dionysius Paravisini, with +the aid of Demetrius of Crete.[347] In 1480 Esop and Theocritus +appeared, with no publisher's name. In 1486 two Cretans, Alexander and +Laonicenus, edited a Greek psalter. In 1493 Isocrates, prepared by +Demetrius Chalcondylas, was issued by Henry the German and Sebastian +of Pontremolo. Next comes Venice, where, as early as 1484, the +'Erotemata' of Chrysoloras had been produced by a certain Peregrinus +Bononiensis. Vicenza followed in 1488 with a reprint of Lascaris's +Grammar due to Leonard Achates of Basle, and in 1490 with a reprint of +the 'Erotemata.' Florence, as we have already seen, gave Homer to the +world in 1488. Demetrius Chalcondylas revised the text; Demetrius the +Cretan supplied the models for the types; Alopa of Venice was the +publisher. It will be remarked that, with the exception of Homer and +Theocritus, no true classic of the first magnitude had appeared before +the foundation of the Aldine Press. I may also add that the Milanese +Isocrates was really contemporaneous with the Musæus, Galeomyomachia, +and Psalter issued by Aldo as precursors of his Greek library--[Greek: +Prodromoi tês Hellênikês bibliothêkês]. This fact makes his +thirty-three first editions of all the greatest and most voluminous +Greek authors between 1494 and 1515 all the more remarkable. + +[Footnote 347: Poliziano's epigram addressed to these earliest Greek +printers may be quoted here: + + Qui colis Aonidas, Grajos quoque volve libellos; + Namque illas genuit Græcia, non Latium. + En Paravisinus quantâ hos Dionysius arte + Imprimit, en quanto cernitis ingenio! + Te quoque, Demetri, ponto circumsona Crete + Tanti operis nobis edidit artificem. + Turce, quid insultas? tu Græca volumina perdis; + Hi pariunt: hydræ nunc age colla seca!] + +It was at Carpi in 1490 that Aldo finally matured his project of +establishing a Greek press. His patrons desired him to found it in +their castle of Novi; but Aldo judged rightly that at Venice he would +be more secure from the disturbances of warfare, as well as more +conveniently situated for engaging the assistance of Greek scholars +and compositors. Accordingly, he took a house, and settled near S. +Agostino. This house speedily became a Greek colony. It may be +inferred from Aldo's directions to the printers that his trade was +carried on almost entirely by Greeks, and that Greek was the language +of his household. The instructions to the binders as to the order of +the sheets and mode of stitching were given in Greek; and many curious +Greek phrases appear to have sprung up to meet the exigencies of the +new industry. Thus we find [Greek: hina hellênisti syndethêsetai] for +'Greek stitching,' and [Greek: kattiterinê cheiri] for 'the type;' +while Aldo himself is described as [Greek: epheuretê toutôn grammatôn +charaktêros hôs eirêtai]. The prefaces, almost always composed in +Greek, prove that this language was read currently in Italy, since +Aldo relied on numerous purchasers of his large and costly issues. The +Greek type, for the casting of which he provided machinery in his own +house, was formed upon the model supplied by Marcus Musurus, a Cretan, +who had taken Latin orders and settled at Carpi, and from whom Aldo +received important assistance in the preparation of editions for the +press. The compositors, in like manner, were mostly Cretans. We hear +of one of them, by name Aristoboulos Apostolios, while John +Gregoropoulos, another Cretan, the brother-in-law of Musurus, +performed the part of reader. The ink used by Aldo was made in his own +house, where he had, besides, a subordinate establishment for binding. +The paper, excelled by none that has been since produced, came from +the mills of Fabriano. It may easily be imagined that this beehive of +Greek industry often numbered over thirty persons, not including the +craftsmen employed in lesser offices by the day. + +The superintendence of this large establishment, added to the +anxieties attending the production of so many books as yet not edited, +sorely taxed the health and powers of Aldo. For years together he +seems to have had no minute he could call his own. Continual demands +were made by visitors and strangers upon his hours of leisure; and in +order to secure time for the conduct of his business, he was forced to +placard his door with a prohibitory notice.[348] Besides the more +ordinary interruptions, to which every man of eminence is subjected, +he had to struggle with peculiar difficulties due to the novelty of +his undertaking. The prefaces to many of his publications contain +allusions to strikes among his workmen,[349] to the piracies of rival +booksellers,[350] to the difficulty of procuring authentic MSS.,[351] +and to the interruptions caused by war. Twice was the work of printing +suspended, first in 1506, and then again in 1510. For two whole years +at the latter period the industries of Venice were paralysed by the +allied forces of the League of Cambray. The dedication of the first +edition of Plato, 1513, to Leo X. concludes with a prayer, splendid in +the earnestness and simplicity of its eloquence, wherein Aldo compares +the miseries of warfare and the woes of Italy with the sublime and +peaceful objects of the student. All the terrible experiences of that +wasteful campaign, from the effects of which the Republic of Venice +never wholly recovered, seem to find expression in the passionate but +reverent, address of the great printer to the scholar Pope. For two +years previously the press of Aldo had been idle, while the French +were deluging Brescia with blood, and the plains of Ravenna were +heaped with dead Italians, Spaniards, Gauls, and Germans, met in +passionate but fruitless conflict by the Ronco. Now, from the midst of +her desolated palaces and silenced lagoons, Venice stretched forth to +Europe the peace-gift of Plato. The student who had toiled to make it +perfect, appealed before Christ and His vicar, from the arms that +brutalise to the arts that humanise the nations. + +[Footnote 348: See Didot's _Alde Manuce_, p. 417, the passage +beginning 'Vix credas.' In the Latin preface to the _Thesaurus +Cornucopiæ et Horti Adonidis_, 1495, Aldo complains that he has not +been able to rest for one hour during seven years.] + +[Footnote 349: 'Tot illico oborta sunt impedimenta malorumque invidiâ +et domesticorum [Greek: kai tais tôn kataratôn kai drapeteuontôn +doulôn epiboulais].' Preface to the _Poetæ Christiani Veteres_, 1501. +Again in the 'monitum' of the same, 'quater jam in ædibus nostris ab +operariis et stipendiariis in me conspiratum et duce malorum omnium +matre avaritiâ quos Deo adjuvante sic fregi ut valde omnes poeniteat +suæ perfidiæ.'] + +[Footnote 350: The French publishers of Lyons, the Giunti of Rome, and +Soncino of Fano, were particularly troublesome. Didot has extracted +some curious information about their tricks as well as Aldo's exposure +of them. Pp. 167, 482-486.] + +[Footnote 351: See especially the preface to Aristotle, vol. i. 1495; +vol. v. 1498.] + +In the midst of these occupations, disappointments, and distractions, +Aldo, sustained by the enthusiasm of his great undertaking, never +flagged. Some of his prefaces, after setting forth the impediments he +had to combat, burst into a cry of triumph. What joy, he exclaims, it +is to see these volumes of the ancients rescued from book-buriers +([Greek: bibliotaphoi]) and given freely to the world![352] No man +could have been more generously anxious than he was to serve the cause +of scholarship by the widest possible diffusion of books at a moderate +price. No artist was ever more scrupulously bent on giving the best +possible form, the utmost accuracy, to every detail of his work. When +we consider the beauty of the Aldine volumes, and the critical +excellence of their texts, we may fairly be astonished at their +prices. The Musæus was sold for something under one shilling of our +money, the Theocritus for something under two shillings. The five +volumes which contained the whole of Aristotle, might be purchased for +a sum not certainly exceeding 8_l._ Each volume of the pocket series, +headed in 1501 by the 8vo. Virgil, and comprising Greek, Latin, and +Italian authors, fetched about two shillings. For this library the +celebrated Italic type, known as Aldine, was adapted from the +handwriting of Petrarch, and cut by Francesco da Bologna.[353] It +appears that, as his trade increased, Aldo formed a company, who +shared the risks and profits of the business.[354] Yet the expenses of +publishing were so heavy, the insecurity of the book market so great, +and the privileges of copyright granted by the Pope or the Venetian +Senate so imperfect,[355] that Aldo, after giving his life to this +work, and bequeathing to the world Greek literature, died +comparatively poor. Erasmus, always somewhat snarling, accused him of +avarice; yet it was his liberality to his collaborators, his +openhandedness in buying the expensive apparatus for critical +editions, that forced him to be economical. + +[Footnote 352: See Preface to _Thesaurus Cornucopiæ_, quoted by Didot, +p. 80; and cf. pp. 210, 221, 521, for further hints about selfish +bibliomaniacs, who tried to hoard their treasures from the public and +refused them to the press. Aldo, as a genuine lover of free learning, +and also as a publisher, detests this class of men.] + +[Footnote 353: See Pannizzi's tract on 'Francesco da Bologna,' +published by Pickering, 1873. He was probably Francia the painter.] + +[Footnote 354: In a letter to Marcello Virgilio Adriani, the teacher +of Machiavelli, he mentions some books 'Cum aliis quibusdam communes,' +as distinguished from others which were his private property. Didot, +p. 233.] + +[Footnote 355: On the subject of patents, privileges, and monopolies +see Didot, pp. 79, 166, 189, 371, 479-481.] + +The first editions of Greek books published by Aldo deserve to be +separately noticed. In 1493, or earlier, appeared the 'Hero and +Leander' of Musæus, a poem that passed, in that uncritical age, for +the work of Homer's mythical predecessor.[356] In 1495 the first +volume of Aristotle saw the light, accompanied by numerous Greek +epigrams and a Greek letter of Scipione Fortiguerra, who deplores in +it the deaths of Pico, Poliziano, and Ermolao Barbaro. The remaining +four volumes followed in 1497 and 1498. In the latter of these years +Aldo, aided by his friend Musurus, produced nine comedies of +Aristophanes; the MSS. of the 'Lysistrata' and 'Thesmophoriazusæ' were +afterwards discovered at Urbino, and published by Giunta in 1515. In +1502, Thucydides, Sophocles, and Herodotus appeared, followed in 1503 +by Xenophon's 'Hellenics' and Euripides,[357] and in 1504 by +Demosthenes. After this occurs a lull, occasioned in part by the +disturbances ensuing on the League of Blois. In 1508 the list is +recontinued with the Greek orators; while 1509 has to show the minor +works of Plutarch. Then follows another stoppage due to war. In 1513 +Plato was published, and in 1514 Pindar, Hesychius, and Athenæus. + +[Footnote 356: [Greek: Mousaion ton palaiotaton poiêtên êthelêsa +prooimiazein tô te Aristotelei kai tôn sophôn tois heterois autika di' +emou entypêsomenois]. This [Greek: prodromos], or precursor, appeared +without a date; but it must have come out earlier than 1494.] + +[Footnote 357: John Lascaris had edited four plays of Euripides for +Alopa in 1496. This Aldine edition contained eighteen, one of which, +the _Hercules Furens_, turned up while vol. ii. was in the press. The +_Electra_, not discovered till later on, was printed at Rome, 1545.] + +From the preceding account I have omitted the notice of minor editions +as well as reprints. In order to complete the history of the Aldine +issue of Greek books, it should be mentioned that Aldo's successors +continued his work by giving Pausanias, Strabo, Æschylus, Galen, +Hippocrates, and Longinus to the world; so that when the Estiennes of +Paris came to glean in the field of the Italian publishers, they only +found Anacreon, Maximus Tyrius, and Diodorus Siculus as yet unedited. + +We must not forget that, while the Greek authors were being printed +thus assiduously by Aldo, he continued to send forth Latin and Italian +publications from his press. Thus we find that the 'Etna' and the +'Asolani' of Bembo, the collected writings of Poliziano, the +'Hypnerotomachia Poliphili,' the 'Divine Comedy,' the 'Cose Volgari' +of Petrarch, the 'Poetæ Christiani Veteres,' including Prudentius, +the poems of Pontanus, the letters of the younger Pliny, the 'Arcadia' +of Sannazzaro, Quintilian, Valerius Maximus, and the 'Adagia' of +Erasmus were printed, either in first editions or with a beauty of +type and paper never reached before, between the years 1495 and 1514. + +The great Dutch scholar who made an epoch in the history of learning, +and transferred the sovereignty of letters to the north of Europe, +paid a visit in 1508 to the house of Aldo, where he personally +superintended the re-impression of his 'Proverbs.'[358] We have a +lively picture of the printing of this celebrated book in Aldo's +workshop. 'Together we attacked the work,' says Erasmus, 'I writing, +while Aldo gave my copy to the press.' In one corner of the room sat +the scholar at his desk, with the thin keen face so well portrayed by +Holbein, improvising new paragraphs, and making additions to his +previous collections in the brilliant Latin style that no one else +could write. Aldo took the MS. from his hand, and passed it on to the +compositors, revising the proofs as they came fresh from the press, or +conferring with his reader Seraphinus.[359] Erasmus had already gained +the reputation of a dangerous freethinker and opponent to the Church. +As years advanced, and the Reformation spread in Northern Europe, he +became more and more odious to ecclesiastical authority. The spirit of +revolt was incarnate in this Voltaire of the sixteenth century, nor +could the clergy raise other arms than those of persecution against so +radiant a champion of pure reason. All reprints of the 'Adagia' were +therefore forbidden by the bishops. Paulus Manutius had to quote it on +his catalogues as the work of _Batavus quidam homo_. To such an +extent were liberal studies now gagged and downtrodden by the tyrants +of the Counter-Reformation in that Italy which for two previous +centuries had been the champion of free culture for Europe. + +[Footnote 358: The _Adagia_ were first printed in 1500 at Paris by +John Philippi. After the Aldine edition eleven were issued between +1509 and 1520 by Matthew Schürer, ten by Froben between 1513 and 1539, +while seven or eight others appeared in various parts of Germany.] + +[Footnote 359: See the passage quoted by Didot, pp. 297-299.] + +Before concluding the biography of Aldo Manuzio it may be well to give +some account of the more illustrious assistants and collaborators whom +he gathered around him in his academy at Venice.[360] The New Academy, +or Aldine Academy of Hellenists, was founded in 1500 for the special +purpose of promoting Greek studies and furthering the publication of +Greek authors. Its rules were written in Greek; the members were +obliged to speak Greek; their official titles were Greek; and their +names were Grecised. Thus Scipione Fortiguerra, of Pistoja, who +prepared the text of Demosthenes for Aldo, styled himself +Carteromachos: and Alessandro Bondini, the Venetian physician who +worked upon the edition of Aristotle, bore the name of Agathemeros.[361] +The most distinguished Greeks at that time resident in Italy could be +counted among the Neacademicians. John Lascaris, of Imperial blood, +the teacher of Hellenism in France under three kings, was an honorary +member. To this great scholar Aldo dedicated his first edition of +Sophocles. Marcus Musurus occupied a post of more practical +importance.[362] We have seen that his handwriting formed the model of +Aldo's Greek type. To his scholarship the editions of Aristophanes, +Plato, Pindar, Hesychius, Athenæus, and Pausanias owed their critical +accuracy; while, in concert with Nicolaos Blastos and Zacharias +Calliergi, two Cretan printers settled in Venice, he published the +first Latin and Greek lexicon.[363] It will be observed that the +Cretans play a prominent part in this Venetian revival of Greek +learning. Aristoboulos Apostolios, Joannes Gregoropoulos, Joannes +Rhosos, and Demetrius Doucas, all of them natives of Crete, were +members of the Neacademy. The first as a compositor, the second as a +reader, the third as a scribe, the fourth as editor of the Greek +Orators, rendered Aldo effective assistance. Among Italians, Pietro +Bembo, Aleander, and Alberto Pio occupied positions of honorary +distinction rather than of active industry. Those who worked in +earnest for the Aldine press were chiefly Venetians. Girolamo Avanzi, +professor of philosophy at Padua, revised the texts of Catullus, +Seneca, and Ausonius. Andrea Navagero, the noble Venetian poet, +corrected Lucretius, Ovid, Terence, Quintilian, Horace, and Virgil. +Giambattista Egnazio performed the same service for Valerius Maximus, +the Letters of Pliny, Lactantius, Tertullian, Aulus Gellius, and other +Latin authors. To mention all the eminent Venetians who played their +part in this Academy would be tedious; yet the two names of Marino +Sanudo, the famous diarist, and of Marco Antonio Coccio, called +Sabellicus, the historian of the Republic, cannot be omitted. Of +northern foreigners the most illustrious was Erasmus; to Englishmen +the most interesting is Thomas Linacre. Born in 1460 at Canterbury, he +travelled into Italy, and studied at Florence under Poliziano and +Chalcondylas. On his return to England he founded the Greek Chair at +Oxford, and died in London in the year 1524. His translation into +Latin of the 'Sphere' of Proclus was published by Aldus in 1499. To +him and to Grocin belongs the credit of having sought to plant the +culture of Italy in the universities of England. + +[Footnote 360: Didot, pp. 147-151, 436-470, gives ample details +concerning the foundation, constitution, and members of the Aldine +Academy.] + +[Footnote 361: We may compare the name of Melanchthon.] + +[Footnote 362: A native of Rotino, in Crete (b. 1470, d. at Rome +1517). He acquired Latin so thoroughly that Erasmus wrote of him: +'Latinæ linguæ usque ad miraculum doctus, quod vix ulli Græco contigit +præter Theodorum Gazam et Joannem Lascarem.' John Lascaris was his +master.] + +[Footnote 363: _Etymologicon Magnum_, 1499. Didot, pp. 544-578, may be +consulted for information about this Greek press. Musurus boasts in +his encomiastic verses that the work was accomplished entirely by +Cretans. [Greek: analômasi Blastou ponô kai dexiotêti Kalliergou] in +the colophon.] + +During a severe illness in the year 1498 Aldo vowed to take holy +orders if he should recover. From this obligation he subsequently +obtained release by a brief of Alexander VI., and in the following +year he married Maria, daughter of Andrea Torresano, of Asola. Andrea, +some years earlier, had bought the press established by Nicholas +Jenson in Venice, so that Aldo's marriage to his daughter combined the +interests of two important firms. Henceforth the names of Aldus and of +Asolanus were associated on the title-pages of the Aldine +publications. When Aldo died in 1514 (1515 new style), he left three +sons--Manutio, in orders at Asola; Antonio, a bookseller at +Bologna;[364] and Paolo Manuzio. The last of these sons, born at +Venice in 1512, was educated by his grandfather Andrea till the year +of the old man's death (1529). He carried on the press at Venice and +at Rome, separating in the year 1540 from his uncles the Asolani, and +bequeathing his business to his son named Aldo. This grandson of Aldo +Manuzio, called by Scaliger a 'wretched and slow wit, the mimic of his +father,' began his career by printing, at the age of eleven, a +treatise on the 'Eleganze della Lingua Toscana e Latina.' He married +Francesca Lucrezia Giunta, of the famous house of printers, and died, +without surviving issue, at Rome in 1597. Thus the industry of Aldo +was continued through two generations till the close of the sixteenth +century. The device of the dolphin and the anchor, intended to +symbolise quickness of execution combined with firmness of +deliberation, and the motto _Festina lente_, which Sir Thomas Browne +has rendered by 'Celerity contempered with cunctation,' though changed +to suit varieties of taste from time to time, were never altogether +abandoned by the Aldines.[365] As years went on, however, their +publications became of less importance, and the beauty of their books +degenerated. + +[Footnote 364: There is some discrepancy about this Antonio between +Renouard and Didot.] + +[Footnote 365: 'Sum ipse mihi optimus testis me semper habere comites, +ut oportere aiunt, delphinum et anchoram; nam et dedimus multa +cunctando, et damus assidue.' Preface to the _Astronomici_, dedicated +to Duke Guidobaldo of Urbino, 1499. The observations of Erasmus on the +motto deserve to be read with attention. See Didot, p. 299.] + +In tracing the history of Aldo's enterprise, I have been carried +beyond the limits of the period included in this chapter. Yet I knew +not how to describe the activity of the press in Italy better than by +concentrating attention upon the greatest publisher who ever lived. +Aldo Manuzio was no mere bookseller or printer. His learning won the +hearty praises of ripe scholars, nor did any student of the age +express more nobly and with fuller conviction his deep sense of the +dignity conferred by learning on the soul of man.[366] That he was +amiable in private life is proved by the intimate relations he +maintained with humanists, than whom even poets are not a more +irritable race of men.[367] To his fellow-workers he was uniformly +generous in pecuniary matters, free from jealousy, and prodigal of +praise. Seeking even less than his due share of credit, he desired +that the great work of his life should pass for the common achievement +of himself and his learned associates. Therefore he called his Greek +library the fruits of the Neacademia, though no man could have known +better than he did that his own genius was the life and spirit of the +undertaking. His stores of MSS. were as open to the instruction of +scholars as his printed books were given liberally to the public.[368] +'Aldo,' writes Erasmus, 'had nothing in his treasury but what he +readily communicated.' Those who read the estimate of his services to +learning made by eminent contemporaries, will find the language of +Nicholas Leonicenus, Erasmus, and Anton Francesco Doni not +exaggerated.[369] But, in order to comprehend their true value, we +must bear in mind that until the year 1516, when Froben printed the +Greek Testament at Basle, none but insignificant Greek reprints had +appeared in Northern Europe.[370] Finally, what makes the place of +Aldus in the history of Italian humanism all-important is the fact +that, after about 1520, Greek studies began to decline in Italy all +together. As though exhausted by the enormous energy wherewith +Florence had acquired and Venice had disseminated Greek culture, the +Italians relapsed into apathy. Posterity may be thankful that their +pupils, Grocin and Linacre, Reuchlin and Erasmus, the Stephani and +Budæus, had by this time transplanted erudition beyond the Alps, while +Aldo had secured the literature of ancient Greece against the +possibility of destruction. + +[Footnote 366: See the passages from his letters and prefaces quoted +and referred to on p. 239, above, note 2.] + +[Footnote 367: The prospect of his visit to Milan in 1509 called forth +these pretty April verses from Antiquari:-- + + Aldus venit en, Aldus ecce venit! + Nunc, O nunc, juvenes, ubique in urbe + Flores spargite. Vere namque primo + Aldus venit en, Aldus ecce venit.] + +[Footnote 368: See above, p. 275, for his hatred of the [Greek: +bibliotaphoi]. He was the very opposite of Henri Estienne the younger, +who closed his library against his son-in-law Casaubon.] + +[Footnote 369: Didot, pp. 89, 299, 423.] + +[Footnote 370: _Priscian_, at Erfurt, 1501; _Alphabet_, +_Batrachomyomachia_, Musæus, Theocritus, Grammar of Chrysoloras, +Hesiod's _Works and Days_, Paris, 1507; Aristotle on _Divination by +Dreams_, Cracow, 1529; Lucian, [Greek: peri dipsadôn], Oxford, 1521, +are among the earliest Greek books printed out of Italy. The grammars +of the Greek humanists were frequently reprinted in the first quarter +of the sixteenth century in Germany.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +FOURTH PERIOD OF HUMANISM + + Fall of the Humanists -- Scholarship permeates Society -- A + New Ideal of Life and Manners -- Latinisation of Names -- + Classical Periphrases -- Latin Epics on Christian Themes -- + Paganism -- The Court of Leo X. -- Honours of the Church + given to Scholars -- Ecclesiastical Men of the World -- + Mæcenases at Rome -- Papal and Imperial Rome -- Moral + Corruption -- Social Refinement -- The Roman Academy -- + Pietro Bembo -- His Life at Ferrara -- At Urbino -- Comes to + Rome -- Employed by Leo -- Retirement to Padua -- His + Dictatorship of Letters -- Jacopo Sadoleto -- A Graver + Genius than Bembo -- Paulus Jovius -- Latin Stylist -- His + Histories -- Baldassare Castiglione -- Life at Urbino and + Rome -- The Courtly Scholar -- His Diplomatic Missions -- + Alberto Pio -- Gian Francesco Pico della Mirandola -- The + Vicissitudes of his Life -- Jerome Aleander -- Oriental + Studies -- The Library of the Vatican -- His Mission to + Germany -- Inghirami, Beroaldo, and Acciaiuoli -- The Roman + University -- John Lascaris -- Study of Antiquities -- + Origin of the 'Corpus Inscriptionum' -- Topographical + Studies -- Formation of the Vatican Sculpture Gallery -- + Discovery of the Laocoon -- Feeling for Statues in + Renaissance Italy -- Venetian Envoys in the Belvedere -- + Raphael's Plan for excavating Ancient Rome -- His Letter to + Leo -- Effect of Antiquarian Researches on the Arts -- + Intellectual Supremacy of Rome in this Period -- The Fall -- + Adrian VI. -- The Sack of Rome -- Valeriano's Description of + the Sufferings of Scholars. + + +What is known as the Revival of Learning was accomplished before the +close of the fifteenth century, and about this time humanism began to +lose credit. The professional scholars who had domineered in Italy +during the last hundred years, were now regarded with suspicion as +pretentious sophists, or as empty-pated pedants. Their place was taken +by men of the world, refined courtiers, and polite stylists who +piqued themselves on general culture. This revolution in public +opinion was the result of various causes which I shall attempt to set +forth in another chapter. It is enough for my present purpose to +observe that the learning possessed at first by a few teachers, +acquired with effort, and communicated with condescension, had now +become the common property of cultivated men. In proportion as a +knowledge of the classic authors diffused itself over a wider area, +the mere reputation of sound scholarship ceased to form a valid title +to celebrity. It was necessary that the man of letters, educated by +antiquity, should give proof of his genius by some originality of +mind. The age of acquisition had ended; the age of application had +begun. To this result the revived interest in Italian literature +powerfully contributed. Writers were no longer, like Bruni and Poggio, +ashamed of their _cose volgari_. On the contrary, the most splendid +productions of the first half of the sixteenth century, the Histories +of Guicciardini and Machiavelli, the Epic of Ariosto, the 'Cortegiano' +of Castiglione, and the burlesque poems of Berni were penned in +powerful and delicate Italian. To what extent the influence of Lorenzo +de' Medici, who was always more partial to vernacular literature than +to scholarship, determined the change in question, is a matter for +opinion. That Florence led the way by her great writers of Italian +poetry and prose admits of no doubt. + +At the same time the erudition of the fifteenth century had steeped +the whole Italian nation. Humanism penetrated every sphere of +intellectual activity, and gave a colour to all social customs. The +arts of painting and of sculpture felt its influence. A new style of +architecture, formed upon the model of Roman monuments, sprang up. +Science took a special bias from the classics, and philosophy was so +strongly permeated by antique doctrines that the Revival of Learning +may be justly said to have checked the spontaneity of the Italian +intellect. There was not enough time for students to absorb antiquity +and pass beyond it, before the mortmain of the Church and the Spaniard +was laid upon the fairest provinces of thought. To trace the course of +Italian philosophy, is, however, no part of my scheme in this volume. +The Aristotelian and Platonic controversies on the nature of the soul, +the materialism of Pietro Pomponazzo, the gradual emergence of +powerful thinkers like Bruno and Campanella, the theological +rationalism of Aonio Paleario, and the final suppression of free +thought by the Church, belong to the history of the Counter-Reformation. +To the same sad chapter of Italian history must be relegated the +labours of the earliest mathematicians, astronomers, and +cosmographers, who, poring over the texts of Ptolemy and Euclid, +anticipated Copernicus, impelled Columbus to his enterprise, and led +the way for Galileo. The infamy of having rendered science and +philosophy abortive in Italy, when its early show of blossom was so +promising, falls upon the Popes and princes of the last half of the +sixteenth century. The narrative of their emergence from the studies +of the humanists must form the prelude to a future work treating of +Farnesi and Caraffas, Inquisitors and Jesuits. Only by showing the +growth which might have been, can we demonstrate the atrophy that was. + +It remains in this chapter to describe the fourth period of humanism, +when Italy, still permeated with the spirit of the classical revival, +laid down laws of social breeding for the nations of the North. Few +things are more difficult than to set forth without exaggeration, and +yet with sufficient force, the so-called Paganism of Renaissance +Italy. At first sight, and from certain points of view, it seems as +though the exclusive study of the classics had wrought a thorough +metamorphosis of morality and manners. When, on reflection, this +appearance is seen to be illusory, we incline, perhaps, to the +contrary conclusion that scholarship only set a kind of fashion +without taking deep hold even on the imagination of the people. A +more complete acquaintance with the period makes it clear that the +imitation of the ancients in thought, sentiment, and language was no +mere affectation, and that, however partial its influences may have +been, they were not superficial. In the first volume of this work I +tried to show to what extent the patriotism of tyrannicides and the +profligacy of courtiers were alike related to the prevailing study of +the ancient world. It was no small matter that the vices and the +virtues, the worldliness and the enthusiasm, of that many-featured +age, together with its supreme achievements in art, its ripest +productions in literature, should have gradually assumed a classic +form. The standards of moral and æsthetic taste were paganised, though +the nation at large remained unchanged in Catholicity. It was +precisely this discord between the professed religion of the people +and the heathenism of its ideal that inspired Savonarola with his +prophecy. + +Classical style being the requirement of the age, it followed that +everything was sacrificed to this. In christening their children the +great families abandoned the saints of the calendar and chose names +from mythology. Ettorre, Achille, Atalanta, Pentesilea, Lucrezia, +Porzia, Alessandro, Annibale, Laomedonte, Fedro, Ippolito, and many +other antique titles became fashionable. Those who were able to do so +turned their baptismal names into Latin or Greek equivalents. Janus or +Jovianus passed for Giovanni, Pierius for Pietro, Aonius for Antonio, +Lucius Grassus for Luca Grasso; the German prelate John Goritz was +known as Corycius,[371] and the Roman professor Gianpaolo Parisio as +Janus Parrhasius. Writers who undertook to treat of modern or +religious themes, were driven by their zeal for purism to the +strangest expedients of language. God, in the Latin of the sixteenth +century, is _Jupiter Optimus Maximus_; Providence becomes _Fatum_; the +saints are _Divi_, and their statues _simulacra sancta Deorum_. Our +Lady of Loreto is changed into _Dea Lauretana_, Peter and Paul into +_Dii tutelares Romæ_, the souls of the just into _Manes pii_, and the +Pope's excommunication into _Diræ_. The Holy Father himself takes the +style of _Pontifex Maximus_; his tiara, by a wild confusion of ideas, +is described as _infula Romulea_. Nuns are Vestals, and cardinals +Augurs. For the festivals of the Church periphrases were found, +whereof the following may be cited as a fair specimen:[372] '_Verum +accidit ut eo ipso die, quo domum ejus accesseram, ipse piæ rei caussâ +septem sacrosancta Divûm pulvinaria supplicaturus inviserit; erant +enim lustrici dies, quos unoquoque anno quadragenos purificatione +consecravit nostra pietas._' + +[Footnote 371: + + Namque sub Oebaliæ memini me turribus altis + Qua niger humectat flaventia culta Galesus + _Corycium_ vidisse _senem_.--Virg. _Georg._ lib. iv. 125.] + +[Footnote 372: From the exordium to Valeriano's treatise _De +Infelicitate Literatorum_.] + +It need hardly be added that, when the obligations of Latinity had +reached this point, to read Cicero was of far more importance than to +study the Fathers of the Church. Bembo, it is well known, advised +Sadoleto to 'avoid the Epistles of S. Paul, lest his barbarous style +should spoil your taste: _Omitte has nugas, non enim decent gravem +virum tales ineptiæ_.' The extent, however, to which formal purism in +Latinity was carried, may be best observed in the 'Christiad' of Vida, +and the poem 'De Partu Virginis' of Sannazzaro.[373] Sannazzaro not +only invokes the muses of Helicon to sing the birth of Christ, but he +also makes Proteus prophesy his advent to the river-god of Jordan. The +archangel discovers Mary--described by the poet as _spes fida +Deorum_--intent on reading nothing less humanistic than the Sibyls; +and after she has received his message, the spirits of the patriarchs +are said to shout because they will escape from Tartarus and Acheron +and the hideous baying of the triple-throated hound. + +[Footnote 373: Lilius Gyraldus, in his dialogue 'De Poetis Nostri +Temporis,' _Opp._ vol. ii. p. 384, mentions a critic who was so stupid +as to _desiderare in Pontano et si deis placet in Sanazario +Christianam elocutionem, hoc est barbaram_!] + +It might be reasonably urged against Milton that in the 'Paradise +Regained' he somewhat impairs the religious grandeur of his subject by +investing it with the forms of the classical epic. If he has erred in +this direction, it is as nothing compared with the pseudo-Pagan +travesty of Vida. God the Father in the 'Christiad' is spoken of as +_Superum Pater nimbipotens_ and _Regnator Olympi_--titles which had +their real significance in Latin mythology, being transferred with +frigid formalism to a Deity whose essence is spiritual, and whose cult +has no admixture of nature worship. Jesus is invariably described as +_Heros_; this absurdity reaches its climax in the following phrase +about the bad thief on the cross:-- + + Ipse etiam verbis morientem heroa superbis + Stringebat. + +The machinery whereby the Jews are brought to will the death of Christ +is no less ridiculous. Instead of attempting to set religious or +ethical motives into play, Vida introduces a gang of Gorgons, Harpies, +Centaurs, Hydras, and the like. The bread of the Last Supper appears +under the disguise of _sinceram Cererem_. The wine mingled with gall, +offered to our Lord upon the cross, is _corrupti pocula Bacchi_. The +only excuse for these grotesque compromises between the Biblical +subject-matter and its mythological expression is, that in any other +way it would have been impossible to give the form of pure Latinity to +the verse. The poet failed to comprehend that he was producing a +masterpiece of _barocco_ mannerism, spoiling at once the style he +sought to use and the theme he undertook to illustrate. It was enough +for him to fit the Roman toga to his saints and Pharisees, and to +tickle the taste of a learned audience by allusions that reminded them +of Virgil. The same bathos was reached by Bembo when he invented the +paraphrase of 'heavenly zephyr' for the Holy Ghost, and described the +Venetian Council bidding a Pope _uti fidat diis immortalibus, quorum +vices in terrâ gerit_. It is not the profanity of these phrases so +much as their æsthetic emptiness, the discord between the meaning +intended to be conveyed and the literary form, that strikes a modern +critic. + +When the same poets break out into honest Paganism, in the frank +verses written by Bembo for Priapus, in Beccadelli's epigrams, or in +the elegies of Acon and Iolas, we feel that they are more artistically +justified. The following lines, for instance, from Vida's 'Poetics,' +have a true ring and beauty of their own. He is addressing Virgil as a +saint:-- + + Te colimus, tibi serta damus, tibi thura, tibi aras, + Et tibi rite sacrum semper dicemus honorem. + +Or again-- + + Nos aspice præsens, + Pectoribusque tuos castis infunde calores + Adveniens pater, atque animis te te insere nostris. + +There is no confusion here between the feeling and the language chosen +to express it. The sentiment, if somewhat artificial and unreal, is at +least adequate to the form. + +I have entered at some length into the illustration of puristic +Latinisms, because they seem to represent the culminating point of +classic studies, in so far as these affected taste in general, and +also because they are specially characteristic of the period of which +I have now to treat. It was at Rome, among the great ecclesiastics, +that these Pagan fashions principally flourished. Eminence of all +kinds found a home with Leo X., assuming the purple of the prelate and +the scarlet of the cardinal at his indulgent hands. The genius of the +Renaissance seemed to have followed this first Medicean Pope from +Florence. Though Leo was a man of merely pleasure-loving and receptive +temperament, who left no lasting impress on his age, he knew at least +how to appreciate ability, and found the height of his enjoyment in +the arts and letters he enthusiastically patronised. This sybarite of +intellectual and sensual luxury gave his name to what is called the +golden age of Italian literature, chiefly because he attracted the +best wits to Rome and received the flatteries of men whose work +survived them. + +History presents few spectacles more striking than that of Rome in the +pontificate of Leo. While the Papacy has become a secular sovereignty, +learning and arts have assumed the sacerdotal habit, and the boldest +immoralities of a society comparable to that of the ancient Empire +flourish in the petty Courts of ecclesiastical princes. The capital of +Christendom is full of priests; but the priests are men of pleasure +and the world--elegant Latinists and florid rhetoricians, raised to +posts of eminence by reason of their brilliant gifts. We have seen +already how the humanists made their way into the Roman Curia as +writers and abbreviators, and how liberally Nicholas V. rewarded +learning. Yet, however indispensable the scholars of the fifteenth +century became, they rarely rose above the rank of Apostolic +secretaries; while few of the professional humanists cared to take +orders in the Church. They were satisfied with official emoluments and +semi-secular benefices. All this was now altered. The most +distinguished men of letters made the Church their profession. +Sadoleto, Bembo, and Aleander, who began their career under Leo, +received the hats of cardinals from Paul III. Paulus Jovius was +consecrated Bishop of Nocera by Clement VII., and retired to Como in +disgust because he failed to get the scarlet in 1549. Marcus Musurus, +created Bishop of Malvasia, is said to have died of disappointment +when he saw the same dignity beyond his reach. Vida, the Latin poet, +obtained the see of Alba in Piedmont, and Giberti, the accomplished +stylist, that of Verona, from Clement VII. All these men had made +their mark at Leo's Court, who set the example, followed by his +Medicean successor, of rewarding mundane talents and accomplishments +with ecclesiastical distinctions. The question, seriously entertained, +of admitting Raphael to the Sacred College proves to what extent the +highest honours of the Church had come to be esteemed as prizes, and +justifies to some extent Pietro Aretino's arrogant offer to sell his +services to the Papacy in exchange for a cardinal's hat. + +The biographies of these favourites of fortune offer strong points of +similarity. Whether born of noble families, like Bembo, or raised from +comparative obscurity, like Bibbiena, they early in life attached +themselves to some distinguished prince,[374] or entered the service +of a great ecclesiastic. Their literary talents, social +accomplishments, successes with women, and diplomatic service at the +centres of Italian politics brought them still further into notice. +Thus Sadoleto's Latin poem on the Laocoon, Bibbiena's 'Calandra,' +Inghirami's acting of the part of Phædra in Seneca's 'Hippolytus,' and +Bembo's friendship with Lucrezia Borgia might be cited as +turning-points in the early history of these illustrious prelates. +Having thus acquired position by their personal gifts, they travelled +to Rome in the suite of their respective patrons, and obtained office +at the hands of Leo. Sadoleto and Bembo became his secretaries. +Inghirami superintended the Vatican Library.[375] Bibbiena's versatile +abilities were divided between the duties of State minister and master +of the revels. As they had built their fortunes by the help of eminent +protectors, they now in their turn took the rank of patrons. In +addition to the Vatican, Rome displayed a multitude of petty Courts +and minor circles. Each cardinal and each ambassador held a +jurisdiction independent of the Pope, and not unfrequently in +opposition to the ruling power. To found academies, to gather clever +men around them, and to play the part of Mæcenas was the ambition of +these subordinate princes. During the pontificate of Leo the Cardinals +Riario, Giulio de' Medici, Bibbiena, Petrucci, Farnese, Alidosi, and +Gonzaga, not to mention others, entertained their own following of +flatterers and poets, who danced attendance at their levees, +accompanied them in public, and earned a meagre pittance by +compliments and dedications. Some of these priestly patrons affected +the arts, others the sciences; others again, and these the majority, +bestowed their favours upon literature. Ippolito de' Medici is said to +have maintained a retinue of three hundred poets, among whom are +mentioned the elegant Molza and the learned Valeriano. The fashion +thus set by Leo and the Sacred College was followed by all the eminent +men in Rome. The banker Agostino Chigi made himself a name not only by +his patronage of painters, but also by the private Greek press founded +in his house.[376] Baldassare Turini devoted himself to the arts of +building and of decoration. Baldassare Castiglione, as ambassador from +Mantua and Ferrara, and Alberto Pio, as prince of Carpi and ambassador +from France, dispensed the hospitality of their palaces to scholars, +among whom they held no inconsiderable rank on their own merits. + +[Footnote 374: See Vol. I., _Age of the Despots_, p. 145.] + +[Footnote 375: He held this post under Julius II.] + +[Footnote 376: The first Greek book printed in Rome, an edition of +Pindar by Cornelius Benignius, 1515, issued from Chigi's press under +the superintendence of Zacharias Kalliergos of Crete. Concerning this +printer see Didot, _Alde Manuce_, pp. 544-578.] + +Libraries, collections of statues and of pictures, frescoes painted +from mythological subjects, garden-houses planned upon the antique +model, Latin inscriptions, busts of the emperors, baths and banquet +chambers decorated in the manner of the Roman ruins--on such objects +the wealth of the Church was being prodigally spent. Posterity has +reason to deplore the non-appearance of a satirist in this Papal +society, so curiously similar to that of Imperial Rome. Horace would, +indeed, have found ample materials for humorous delineation, whether +he had chosen to deride the needy clients leaving their lodgings +before daybreak to crowd a prelate's antechamber, or the parasites on +whom coarse practical jokes were played in the Pope's presence, or the +flatterers who praised their master's mock virtues in hour-long +declamations. Fouler vices than vanity, hypocrisy, and servility +supplied fit subjects for invectives no less fiery than the second and +the sixth of Juvenal. At Rome virtuous women had no place; but Phryne +lived again in the person of Imperia, and dignitaries of the Church +thought it no shame to parade their preference for Giton.[377] In the +absence of a Horace or a Juvenal, we have to content ourselves with +Bandello and other novelists, and with one precious epistle of Ariosto +describing the difficulty of conducting business at the Papal Court +except by way of backstairs influence and antechamber intrigue. + +[Footnote 377: The epitaph of Bella Imperia proves that the title of +Hetæra was thought honourable: 'Imperia, Cortisana Romana, quæ digna +tanto nomine, raræ inter homines formæ specimen dedit. Vixit a. xxvi. +d. xii. Obiit MDXI., die XV. Aug.' Berni's _Capitolo sopra un Garzone_ +may be referred to for the second half of the sentence.] + +To over-estimate the moral corruption of Rome at the beginning of the +sixteenth century is almost impossible. To over-rate the real value of +a literature that culminated in the subtleties of rhetoric and style +is easy. Nor is it difficult to mistake, as many critics have done, +the sunset of the fine arts for their meridian splendour. Yet, while +we recognise the enervation of society in worse than heathen vices, +and justly regard Rome as the hostelry of alien arts and letters +rather than the mother city of great men, we cannot blind our eyes to +the varied lights and colours of that Court, unique in modern history. +The culture toward which Italian society had long been tending, was +here completed. The stamp of universality had been given to the fine +arts and to literature by the only potentate who at that moment +claimed allegiance from united Christendom. As the eloquent historian +of the town of Rome observes, 'the richest intellectual life here +blossomed in a swamp of vices.' It was not the life of great poetry: +that had perished long ago with Dante. It was not the life of genuine +science: that was destined to be born with Galileo. It was not the +life of comprehensive scholarship: that slept in the grave of +Poliziano. It was not even the life of progressive art; for Raphael +died in this age, and though Michael Angelo survived it, his genius +had no successors. But it was the life of culture, rendering the +rudest and most vicious sensitive to softening influences, and +preparing for more powerful nations the possibilities of great +achievements. + +Amid political debility and moral corruption an ideal of refinement, +adopted from antiquity, and assimilated to modern modes of living, had +been formed. This was the most perfect bloom of the Renaissance, +destined to survive the decay of humanism, and to be for subsequent +civilisation what chivalry was for the Middle Ages. Through the +continued effort of patricians and of scholars to acquire the tone of +classic culture, something like antique urbanity had reappeared at +Florence and in Rome; while several general tions [Transcriber's Note: +likely 'generations'] devoted to polite studies had produced a race +distinguished above all things for its intellectual delicacy. The +effect of this æsthetic atmosphere upon visitors from the North was +singularly varied. Luther, who came to see the City of the Saints, +found in Rome the sink of all abominations, the very lair of +Antichrist. The _comitas_ and the _facetiæ_ of the prelates were to +him the object of unmitigated loathing. Erasmus, on the contrary, +wrote from London that nothing but Lethe could efface his memory of +that radiant city--its freedom of discourse, its light, its libraries, +its honeyed converse of most learned scholars, its large style of +life, and all those works of art that made of Rome the theatre of +nations. The Italians themselves, lessoned by the tragedy of 1527, +looked back with no less mingled feelings upon Leo's Rome. La Casa +mentions the _nimia humanitatis suavitas_--the excess of sweetness in +all that makes society humane--as a characteristic of the past age. +That excessive sweetness of civility, the final product of the arts +and scholarship of Italy, when diffused through Europe and tempered to +the taste of sterner nationalities, became the politeness of France +under Louis XIV., the _bel air_ of Queen Anne's courtiers. + +The Roman Academy still continued to be active, meeting at the palaces +of more than one great prelate. The gardens of Angelo Colocci, Leo's +secretary, a friend of John Lascaris, and himself no inconsiderable +stylist, formed its headquarters. Sometimes the poet Blosius Palladius +received the associates in his villa by the Tiber; sometimes they +enjoyed the hospitality of Egidius Canisius, General of the Augustine +Order; at one time they sought the house of Sadoleto on the Quirinal; +at another they feasted in the vineyard of John Goritz, the Corycius +Senex. The festivals of this learned society, to judge by the +descriptions of its members, were distinguished by antique simplicity +and good taste, contrasting powerfully with the banquets of mere +mundane prelates.[378] When Agostino Chigi entertained the +Academicians in the Villa Farnesina, he chastened his magnificence to +suit the spirit of their founder, Lætus, and omitted those displays +of vulgar pomp that marked his wedding banquet.[379] + +[Footnote 378: See Tiraboschi, vii. 1, lib. i. c. 2.] + +[Footnote 379: See Vol. I., _Age of the Despots_, p. 342.] + +The muster-roll of the Academy brings the most eminent wits of Rome +before us. First and foremost stands Pietro Bembo, the man of letters, +who, like Petrarch, Poggio, and Poliziano, may be chosen as the +fullest representative of his own age of culture. His father, Bernardo +Bembo, was a Venetian of noble birth and education. To his generous +enthusiasm for Italian literature Ravenna owes the tomb of Dante. +Pietro was born at Florence in 1470, and received his early education +in that city. Therefore the Tuscans claim his much-praised purity of +diction for their gift. He afterwards studied Greek at Messina under +Constantine Lascaris, and learned philosophy from Pomponazzo at Padua. +When his master's treatise on the 'Immortality of the Soul' was +condemned by the Lateran Council, Bembo used his influence +successfully in his behalf. Though he denied the demonstrability of +the doctrine, and maintained that Aristotle gave it no support, +Pomponazzo was only censured, instead of being burned like Bruno. This +good fortune was due, however, less to his pupil's advocacy than to +the nonchalance of Leo. Having completed his academical studies in +1498, Bembo joined his father at the brilliant Court of the Estensi. +When Lucrezia Borgia entered Ferrara in 1502 she was still in the +zenith of her beauty. Her father, Alexander, grew daily more powerful +in Rome; while her brother held the central States of Italy within his +grasp. The greatness of the Borgias reflected honour on the bride of +Alfonso d'Este; and though the princes of Ferrara at first received +her with reluctance, they were soon won over by her grace. Between the +princess and the courtly scholar a friendship speedily sprang up, +which strengthened with years and was maintained by correspondence at +a distance. To Lucrezia Bembo dedicated 'Gli Asolani,' a dialogue in +the Italian tongue upon Platonic love,[380] by far the freest and most +genial of his writings. The collection of his Latin poems contains an +epigram upon a golden serpent clasped above her wrist, and an elegy in +which he praises her singing, dancing, playing, and recitation:-- + + Quicquid agis, quicquid loqueris, delectat: et omnes + Præcedunt Charites, subsequiturque decor. + +[Footnote 380: Written 1504. First printed by Aldo, 1505.] + +This liaison, famous in the annals of Italian literature, gave Bembo a +distinguished place in the great world. A touching memento of +it--Lucrezia's letters and a tress of her long yellow hair--is still +preserved at Milan in the Ambrosian Library. + +From Ferrara Bembo passed to Urbino in 1506, where Guidobaldo da +Montefeltre had gathered round him the brilliant group described in +the 'Cortegiano.' The climax of that treatise, our most precious +source of information on Court life in Italy, makes it clear that +Bembo played the first part in a circle distinguished above all others +at that time for refinement and wit. Many cities might boast of a +larger and more splendid concourse of noble visitors; but none +competed with Urbino for the polish of its manners and the breeding of +its courtiers. In his dialogue in praise of Guidobaldo, Bembo paid a +magnificent tribute to the prince from whose society he learned so +much, and in whose service he remained till the Duke's death.[381] +Giuliano de' Medici, with whom he lived on terms of intimacy at +Urbino, took him to Rome in 1512. The reign of Leo was about to shed +new lustre on the Medicean exiles. His victorious exclamation to his +brother,'_Godiamoci il Papato poichè Dio ce l'ha dato_,' had a ring of +promise in it for their numerous friends and clients. Even without +the recommendation of Giuliano, it is not likely that Leo would have +overlooked a man so wholly after his own heart as Bembo. The qualities +he most admired--smooth manners, a handsome person, wit in +conversation, and thorough mastery of Latin style, without pretension +to deep learning or much earnestness of purpose--were incarnate in the +courtly Venetian. Bembo was precisely the man to make Leo's life +agreeable by flattering his superficial tastes and subordinating the +faculties of a highly cultivated mind to frivolous, if intellectual, +amusements. The churchman who warned Sadoleto against spoiling his +style by study of the Bible, the prosaist who passed his compositions +through sixteen portfolios, revising them at each remove, the +versifier who penned a hymn to S. Stephen and a monologue for Priapus +with equal elegance, was cast in the same mould as the pleasure-loving +Pontiff. For eight years he lived at Rome, honoured by the Medici and +loved by all who knew him. His duties as secretary to Leo, shared by +his old friend and fellow-student Sadoleto, were not onerous; while +the society of the capital afforded opportunity for the display of his +most brilliant gifts. In 1520, wearied by nearly thirty years of +continual Court life, and broken down in health by severe sickness, +Bembo retired to Padua. The collection of a library and museum, +horticulture, correspondence, and the cultivation of his studied +Ciceronian style now occupied his leisure through nineteen most +disastrous years for Italy. The learned courtiers of that age liked +thus to play the Roman in their villas, quoting Horace and Virgil on +the charms of rustic life, and fancying they caught the spirit of +Cincinnatus while they strolled about the farm. Bembo's Paduan retreat +became the rendezvous of all the ablest men in Italy, the centre of a +fluctuating society of highest culture. Paul III. recalled him to +Rome, and made him cardinal in 1539. When he died in 1547 he was +buried not far from Leo in the Church of the Minerva. A fair slab of +marble marks his grave. + +[Footnote 381: 'De Guido Ubaldo Feretrio deque Elisabetha Gonzaga +Urbini Ducibus.'] + +Bembo succeeded Poliziano in the dictatorship of Italian letters. Like +Poliziano, he was both a scholar and a writer of Italian; but he was +far from possessing the comprehensive understanding or the genius of +his predecessor. Of all the 'apes of Cicero' scoffed at by Erasmus, he +stood first and foremost. His exclusive devotion to one favourite +author made his Latin stiff and mannered. Tuscan critics again have +complained that his Italian style lacks nerve and idiom. He wrote like +an alien, not one to the manner born. In his dread of not writing +correctly, he ended by expressing tame thoughts with frigid formality. +Even a foreigner can see that he used Italian, as he used Latin, +without yielding to natural impulse, and with the constant effort to +attain a fixed ideal. The mark of the file may be observed on every +period. Raciness and spontaneity are words that have no meaning when +applied to him. The decadence of Italian prose composition into +laboured mannerism and meticulous propriety should be traced in a +great measure to his influence. Yet Bembo deserves credit for having +braved the opinion of the learned by his cultivation of the vulgar +tongue; and on this point some verses from a Latin poem to Ercole +Strozzi deserve quotation in a note.[382] + +[Footnote 382: + + Nam pol quâ proavusque avusque linguâ + Sunt olim meus et tuus loquuti, + Nostræ quâque loquuntur et sorores + Et matertera nunc et ipsa mater, + Nos nescire loqui magis pudendum est, + Qui Graiæ damus et damus Latinæ + Studi tempora duplicemque curam, + Quam Graiâ simul et simul Latinâ. + Hac uti ut valeas tibi videndum est, + Ne dum marmoreas remotâ in orâ + Sumtu construis et labore villas, + Domi te calamo tegas palustri. + + _Carmina Quinque Illustrium Poetarum_, p. 25.] + +Jacopo Sadoleto's career was not dissimilar to that of his friend +Bembo, though the two men offer many points of difference in character +and turn of mind. Born at Modena in 1477, he studied Latin at Ferrara, +and Greek at Rome, where he settled in the reign of Alexander VI. His +copy of hexameters on the newly-discovered statue of Laocoon made him +famous. Frigid and laboured as these verses may appear to us, who read +them like a prize exercise, they had the merit of originality when +first produced. Leo made the poet his secretary and Bishop of +Carpentras. Sadoleto passed a good portion of his life in the duties +of his see, composing moral treatises, annotating the Psalms, and +publishing a 'Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans.'[383] Though +strongly tinctured with Ciceronian purism, his taste was more austere +than Bembo's. Nature had given him an intellect adapted to grave +studies, sincerity of purpose, and true piety. Living in the dawn of +the Reformation, Sadoleto was deeply conscious of the perils of the +Church; nor did he escape the suspicion of sharing the new +heresy.[384] His celebrated letter to Clement VII., after the sack of +Rome in 1527, shows that he viewed this disaster as a punishment +inflicted on the godless capital of Christendom. In 1536 Paul III. +recalled him to Rome, and made him cardinal. He died in 1547, and was +buried in S. Pietro in Vincoli. Sadoleto's correspondence may be +reckoned among the most valuable materials for the literary annals of +this period. + +[Footnote 383: His most famous essays bore these titles: _De Liberis +Instituendis_ and _De Laudibus Philosophiæ_.] + +[Footnote 384: His _Commentary on the Romans_ was placed upon the +Index.] + +Next to Sadoleto a place must be found for the grave and studious +Egidio Canisio. He was born at Viterbo in 1470, and was therefore an +exact contemporary of Bembo. His powers of Latin oratory gained him +the fame of a great speaker, and the address with which he opened the +Lateran Council in 1512 was committed to the press in that year. +Egidius was already General of the Augustine Order. Five years later +he received the red hat of a cardinal, and in 1518 he represented the +Holy See as Legate at the Court of Spain. He died in 1532, leaving a +vast mass of miscellaneous works on theology, philosophy, Biblical +criticism, and universal history. Few of these have been printed. It +is said that, besides Greek and Latin, he was a master of Hebrew and +Chaldee, Turkish, Persian, and Arabic. + +A more brilliant figure is presented by the witty but unscrupulous +historian Paulus Jovius. He was born at Como in 1483, and came at the +age of thirty-three to Rome, with the beginning of his comprehensive +History already written.[385] Leo, who delighted in listening to +recitations of new literary works, declared that nothing had been +penned more perfect since the days of Livy. This high praise induced +Jovius to fix his residence at Rome, where Clement VII. made him +Bishop of Nocera in 1528. After spending twenty-one years in the +expectation, continually frustrated, of being received in the Sacred +College, he retired to Como, and died at Florence in 1552. Jovius was +the cleverest of all the Latinists produced by the Italians. His style +is fluent, sparkling with anecdote, highly picturesque in its +descriptive passages, and adorned by characteristic details. In +addition to the histories, he produced a series of biographies of +great and varied value, some of which are libels, others panegyrics, +while all are marked by acute observation and mastery of the matter in +hand. He was wont to say that he could use a golden or a silver pen at +will: the golden was exercised upon the Life of Leo; the silver, +dipped in ironic gall, upon the Life of Hadrian. The sketches of +eminent men, known by the name of 'Elogia,' were composed in +illustration of a picture gallery of portraits collected in his villa. +They include not only Italians, but Greeks, Germans, French and +English worthies, dead and living notabilities of every kind.[386] If +Brantôme had chosen Latin instead of French, he would have made a book +not altogether unlike this of Jovius. The versatility of the author +was further illustrated by a Latin treatise on Roman fishes, and by an +Italian essay on mottoes and devices.[387] + +[Footnote 385: Like the History of Guicciardini, it opens with the +year 1494. It is carried down to 1547. A portion of the first decade +was lost in the sack of Rome, and never rewritten by the author. +Printed at Florence, 1550.] + +[Footnote 386: _Elogia Virorum literis illustrium, quotquot vel +nostrâ, vel avorum memoriâ vixere_, and _Elogia Virorum bellicâ +virtute illustrium_, Basel, 1557.] + +[Footnote 387: _De Piscibus Romanis_, Rome, 1524. _Ragionamento sopra +i Motti e Disegni d'Arme e d'Amore._] + +Among the celebrities of the Roman Academy a place apart must be +reserved for Baldassare Castiglione; for though his biography belongs +to the political even more than to the literary annals of the period, +few men represent the age of Leo in its culture with more dignity and +grace combined. He was born in 1478 at Casatico, in the Duchy of +Mantua; his father's family held the county of Castiglione, and his +mother was a Gonzaga. In his youth he received an education framed +upon the system set in vogue by Vittorino and Guarino, and became the +living illustration of those varied accomplishments which he described +in the 'Cortegiano.' His scholarship was sound and elegant; as a +writer of Latin verse he distinguished himself among the best men of +his generation. Sensitive to the beauty of the arts, he proved an +excellent critic of modern painting and of antique sculpture, and +assisted Raphael in the composition of his famous letter to Leo on the +exploration of old Rome. At the same time he did not neglect the +athletic exercises which formed an indispensable branch of an Italian +nobleman's training. Cultivated at all points, he early devoted his +abilities to the service of princes; for at this period in Italy +there was no sphere for such a character outside the Courts. After +spending some time at Milan and Naples, Castiglione removed to Rome, +where Julius II. discerned the use that might be made of him in +furthering the interests of his nephew Francesco Maria della Rovere. +Federigo da Montefeltre, Duke of Urbino, had died in 1482, leaving his +son Guidobaldo in possession of his fiefs and titles; but it was known +that this prince could have no heirs. In him the male line of the +Montefeltri ended. His sister Giovanna had been married to Giovanni +della Rovere, a brother of the Pope, and Julius hoped that their son +Francesco Maria might be declared successor to the Duchy of Urbino. +Castiglione therefore attached himself to the person of Guidobaldo, +with the special purpose of making himself necessary to the princes of +Urbino and furthering the claims of Francesco, then a boy of about +fifteen. Of his residence at Urbino, and of the polished splendour of +Guidobaldo's Court, he has left an ever-memorable record in his +'Cortegiano,' that mirror of gentle breeding for the sixteenth century +in Europe. Guidobaldo received the Count of Castiglione with marked +favour, made him captain of fifty men at arms, and employed him in +several offices of trust. Not the least important of these was the +mission to England, undertaken in 1506 by Castiglione as Guidobaldo's +proxy for receiving from Henry VII. the investiture of the Garter. +After the death of Guidobaldo, Francesco Maria della Rovere was +proclaimed Duke of Urbino, and Castiglione continued to enjoy his +confidence until the year 1517, when Leo succeeded in placing his +nephew Lorenzo de' Medici upon the Ducal throne. + +Castiglione was now deprived of what had become the necessity of his +life, a post of honour in the Court of a reigning sovereign. He +therefore transferred his allegiance to his natural lord, the Marquis +of Mantua, who appointed him ambassador at Rome. The first and most +brilliant period of the courtier's life was passed at Urbino; the +second, less fruitful in literary achievements, embraced his residence +among the wits of Leo's circle. At Rome Castiglione adapted himself to +the customs of the papal society, penning Latin elegiacs, consorting +with artists, and exercising the pleasant patronage of a refined +Mæcenas. His friendship with Raphael is not the least interesting +episode in this chapter of his biography. Substantial records of it +still remain in the epitaph composed by the courtly scholar on the +painter, and in Castiglione's portrait now preserved in the Louvre +collection. That picture represents the very model of an Italian +nobleman as culture and Court life had made him--tranquil, with grave +open eyes, and a mouth as well suited for urbane discourse as gentle +merriment. The owner of this face was not born to lead armies or to +control unruly multitudes, but to pass his time in the _loggie_ of +princes--self-contained and qualified to win favour without the +sacrifice of personal dignity. It forms a strong contrast to earlier +and later portraits--to that of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, for +example, and to the Spanish grandees of the next century. Castiglione +was still in Rome during the pontificate of Clement VII., who, +recognizing his great ability as a diplomatist, sent him to Charles V. +At Madrid the Pope's nuncio was unable to avert the disaster of 1527, +and Castiglione had the bitter mortification of hearing at a distance +how the Rome he knew and loved so well, had been ravaged by the +brigands of Germany and Spain. It is clear, however, from the +diplomatic correspondence of that memorable moment, and from the +letter addressed by Clement to Castiglione's mother in 1529, that he +never lost the confidence of his master; in spite of his failure to +negotiate between them, he was respected alike by the Pope and the +Emperor. He died at Toledo two years after the sack of Rome, worn out, +it is said, by disappointment and regret. Not only in his book of the +'Courtier,' but also in his life, Castiglione illustrated the best +qualities of an Italian gentleman, moulded by the political and social +conditions of the sixteenth century into a refined scholar and a +courtly diplomatist. + +Of Alberto Pio, whose life in some respects may be compared with +Castiglione's, I have had occasion to speak in the last chapter. His +first cousin, Gian Francesco Pico della Mirandola, demands more than +passing notice. By no prince of that troubled period were the cruel +vicissitudes of Italian politics more painfully experienced. Few of +the scholars could boast of wider learning and a nobler spirit. He was +born in 1470, and succeeded his father, Galeotto, in the lordship of +Mirandola. In 1502 his brother Lodovico expelled him from his capital. +Julius II. restored him. After being dispossessed a second time by +Trivulzi, general of the French forces, he was once more reinstated, +but only for a brief period. His nephew, Galeazzo, murdered him in +1533 before the crucifix, together with his heir, Alberto. In the +intervals of his unquiet and unhappy life, Gian Francesco Pico devoted +himself to studies not unlike those of his more famous uncle.[388] +Early in his youth he had conceived the strongest admiration for +Savonarola; and the work by which he is best known to posterity is a +Life of his great master. Savonarola's principles continued to rule +his thought and conduct through life. During the pontificate of Leo he +composed a long address to the Lateran Council upon the reformation of +the Church,[389] and dared to entertain the friendship of Reuchlin and +Willibad Pirkheimer. His residence in Rome, and the dedication of his +treatise on 'Divine Love' to Leo, justify our ranking him with the +Roman scholars. + +[Footnote 388: The titles of his philosophical works--_De Studio +divinæ et humanæ philosophiæ_, _De amore Divino_, _Examen vanitatis +doctrinæ gentium et veritatis Christianæ disciplinæ_, _De rerum +prænotione_--show how closely he followed in the footsteps of Giovanni +Pico.] + +[Footnote 389: _Joannis Francisci Pici Mirandolæ et Concordiæ Comitis +Oratio ad Leon X. et Concilium Lateranense de reformandis Ecclesiæ +moribus._] + +If Gian Francesco Pico and Sadoleto bring us close upon the threshold +of the German Reformation, we cross it in the company of Aleander. +Jerome Aleander was born at Motta, in the Marches of Treviso, in the +year 1480. His studies, more comprehensive than those of the stylists, +included theology, philosophy, and science, together with the Oriental +languages, in addition to the indispensable Greek and Latin culture. +Before he reached the age of thirty he travelled to Paris, and +professed Hebrew and the humanities at the University. French +scholarship may be said to date from the impulse given to these +subjects by Aleander, who rose to such fame that he was made Rector of +the University. After leaving Paris, he spent some time in Germany, +and came first to Rome in 1516 in the train of Erard van der Mark, +Bishop of Lüttich. Here Leo appointed him librarian of the Vatican. +The rest of Aleander's life was spent in the service of the Church. +Despatched as _nuntius_ to Germany by Leo in 1520, he vainly +attempted, as all students of the Reformation know, to quench the fire +of Luther's kindling. When he returned to Italy, Clement VII. gave him +the archbishopric of Brindisi, and Paul III. raised him to the scarlet +in 1538. He died in 1542, leaving in France the memory of his +unrivalled learning, in Germany the fame of an intolerant persecutor, +in Italy the reputation of a stanch though unsuccessful champion of +the Church. + +Aleander's three predecessors in the Vatican Library--Tommaso +Inghirami of Siena, Filippo Beroaldo of Bologna, and Zanobio +Acciaiuoli of Florence--made their mark in Roman society by erudition +rather than by authorship.[390] Inghirami's eloquence won the +admiration of contemporaries, who called him the second Cicero; as a +writer he had no celebrity.[391] A fortunate find of MSS. at Bobbio +earned for him the post of Vatican librarian. Leo, like all the +members of the Medicean family, was bent upon the rediscovery of +buried classics. But the world had been already ransacked, and, though +he employed agents for this purpose in the East as well as Europe, +only one great treasure came to light. Gian Angelo Arcimboldi +disinterred the first five books of Tacitus's 'Annals' at Corvey, and +sold them to the Pope for 500 golden florins. Filippo Beroaldo, who +was entrusted with the task of editing this precious codex, received +the librarianship as his reward. Leo's privilege granted to the +printers of Beroaldo's edition expresses in truly noble language the +highest ideal of humanism, and reflects real credit on his patronage +of letters.[392] Of Acciaiuoli there is not much to say. His knowledge +of Hebrew and the classic languages gained for him a reputation for +singular learning. In his capacity as librarian he began to catalogue +the documents of the 'Secreta Bibliotheca,' founded by Sixtus IV. It +is worthy of notice that Acciaiuoli is the only Florentine whom we +have had occasion to mention among the learned courtiers of Leo. +Florence, always foremost in the van of culture, had shaken off at +this period the traditions of strict humanism. Her greatest writers, +Guicciardini, Machiavelli, Varchi, Segni, and Giannotti, exchanged the +Latin language for their mother speech, and sought for honour in +fields removed from verbal scholarship or Ciceronian niceties of +phrase. + +[Footnote 390: Inghirami, made librarian 1510, died 1516. Beroaldo +held the office two years, and died 1518. Acciaiuoli held it only for +a few months. Aleander succeeded him in 1519.] + +[Footnote 391: '_Linguâ verius quam calamo celebrem ... dictus sui +seculi Cicero_,' says Erasmus. '_Affluentissimum eloquentiæ flumen_' +is Valeriano's phrase.] + +[Footnote 392: See Burckhardt, p. 174. Roscoe's _Life of Leo X._ vol. +i. p. 357.] + +The Roman Sapienza never held the same rank as the Universities of +Padua or Bologna; nor could it compete as an academy of culture with +the High Schools of Florence and Ferrara. The Popes of the +Renaissance, occupied with nepotism and political aggrandisement, had +but small care for the interests of education. Nor did Rome, always +overcrowded by foreigners, require the students who brought custom and +prestige to minor cities.[393] Leo X. resolved, as far as he was able, +to raise the studies of his capital from the decadence into which they +had fallen. In 1513 he reformed the statutes of the University, +increased the appointments of the professors, and founded several new +chairs. Yet, though scholars no less respectable than Janus Parrhasius +of Cosenza, Tommaso Inghirami, and Filippo Beroaldo were numbered +among the teachers, the Sapienza failed to take firm root in +Rome:--the most flourishing school of humanism at this period was +Ferrara, governed by Leoniceno, Celio Calcagnini, and Lilius Gyraldus. +To Hellenistic studies, just now upon the point of decadence in Italy, +Leo gave encouragement by the establishment of a Greek press, and by +the foundation of the Gymnasium Caballini Montis, where Joannes +Lascaris and Marcus Musurus lectured. Musurus we have already learned +to know as the inmate of Alberto Pio's palace at Carpi, and as Aldo's +most efficient helper. Soon after his elevation to the Papacy, Leo +invited the venerable Lascaris to Rome; but he did not long retain the +services of so illustrious a Hellenist. Lascaris, who had taught Greek +in Paris during the reign of Charles VIII., and who had long served +Louis XII. as ambassador at Venice, was induced by Francis I. to +superintend the library at Fontainebleau in 1518. He once more visited +Rome during the pontificate of Clement, and died there at the age of +ninety--the last of the Greek exiles who transplanted Hellas into +Latium. Between the visit of Manuel Chrysoloras in 1398 and the death +of John Lascaris in 1535 more than a century had elapsed, in the +course of which Italy,[394] after acquiring Greek literature and +committing its chief treasures to the press, had seen her learning +pass beyond the Alps and flourish with new vigour on a northern soil. +The epitaph composed by Lascaris for his own tomb in Santa Agata +touchingly expresses the grief of an exile for his country's +servitude, together with the gratitude of one who found a new home in +an alien land:-- + + [Greek: Laskaris allodapê gaiê enikattheto, gaiên + outi liên xeinên ô xene memphomenos. + eureto meilichiên, all' achthetai eiper Achaiois + oud' eti choun cheuei patris eleutherion]. + +[Footnote 393: See above, p. 86.] + +[Footnote 394: Cf. Giovio, close of the _Elogia_.] + +Any account of erudite society in Rome would be incomplete without +some notice of its antiquaries. While the Pope and his cardinals were +bent on collecting statues, coins, vases, and inscriptions, it was +natural that the scholars should devote themselves to their +illustration. Much of this industry was carried on by the +academicians, who discussed difficult readings and exchanged opinions +at their meetings. Treatises on Roman antiquities, topographical +essays, and commentaries on Vitruvius and Frontinus abounded. Amid a +multitude of minor works it will be enough to mention the cyclopædias +of Andrea Fulvio and Bartolommeo Marliano, the comprehensive +collection of inscriptions by Mazochi, and Valeriano's dissertation on +the hieroglyphics of the Roman obelisks.[395] The greater number of +these compositions were published by Jacopo Mazochi, bookseller to the +Roman Academy, and himself no mean scholar. Together with his +coadjutor, Francesco Albertini, he undertook what he describes as 'the +Herculean labour' of saving inscribed tablets from the lime-kiln and +the mason's hammer. Built into the walls of houses, embedded in church +pavements, mingled with the rubbish of the Forum, unearthed by the +mattock or the plough in vineyard and cornfield, these records of old +history encumbered Rome. To decipher them as best he could, arrange +them by the regions where they had been found, and incorporate his own +readings with the previous collections of Ciriaco and Fra +Giocondo,[396] was the object of Mazochi. His work formed the nucleus +of the ponderous collection known as the _Corpus Inscriptionum_. + +[Footnote 395: _Andreas Fulvius Sabinus Antiquarius, Antiquitates +Urbis Romæ_, 1527. _Bartholomæus Marlianus, Eques D. Petri, Urbis Romæ +Topographia_, 1534. _Jacobus Mazochius, Epigrammata antiquæ urbis +Romæ_, 1521. _Johannis Pierii Valeriani Hieroglyphica seu de Sacris +Ægyptiorum_, &c., in his collected works, Ven. 1604.] + +[Footnote 396: The architect of Verona who first edited Vitruvius, and +was employed by Lorenzo de' Medici in collecting inscriptions for him +at Rome.] + +This is the proper occasion for resuming what has to be said about the +Roman ruins, and the feeling for them shown in the Renaissance period. +We have already listened to Poggio's lamentations over their gradual +decay through wanton injury and lapse of time.[397] Pius II., who had +a strong taste for topographical studies, endeavoured to protect the +Roman monuments from depredation by a Bull in 1462. But his successors +were less scrupulous. Even the scholarly Nicholas V. had shown more +zeal for building modern Rome afresh than true regard for the imperial +city. He levelled large portions of the wall of Servius Tullius, and +quarried the Temple of Peace for his own edifices. In his days Blondus +wrote that his life was embittered by the wholesale waste of ancient +reliques. That Paul II. should have used the stone wall of the +Coliseum for the Palace of S. Marco; that Sixtus IV. should have +pulled down the circular Temple of Hercules, and destroyed the oldest +bridge across the Tiber to make cannon balls; that Innocent VIII. +should have empowered his architects to take what antique masonry they +pleased--excites in us no wonder; these Popes were acting according to +the spirit that was in them. Nor can it be denied that for some of +their acts of Vandalism the excuse of utility or even of necessity +might have been pleaded. It is, however, singular that no steps were +taken to preserve in Rome the bas-reliefs and sculptures of the +monuments thus overthrown. Everyone who chose laid hands upon them. +Poggio scraped together what he could; Pomponius Lætus formed a +museum; Lorenzo de' Medici and the Rucellai employed agents to select +and ship to Florence choicer fragments. At last the impulse to collect +possessed the Popes themselves. The Capitol Museum dates from 1471. +The pretty statue of the boy pulling a thorn from his foot, the group +of the lion clinging to a horse, the urn of Agrippina, and the bronze +Hercules from the Forum Boarium formed the nucleus of this collection. +Soon afterwards the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius was unearthed +and placed where it now stands. The Vatican Museum was founded in +1523, when Julius II. erected the Apollo on a marble basis near the +entrance to the gardens of the Belvedere. It had been discovered some +years earlier at Porto d'Anzo, and was bought by Giuliano della Rovere +before he was made Pope. The Laocoon came to light in 1506 among the +ruins of the Baths of Titus in the vineyard of Felix de Fredis. How +Giuliano di San Gallo and Michael Angelo heard of it, and walked +abroad to see it disinterred, may still be read in the letter of +Francesco, nephew of the former. Julius bought this group for six +hundred golden crowns, and placed it in the Vatican. He also purchased +the statue of the sleeping Ariadne, which then passed for +Cleopatra,[398] together with the torso of Hercules, found near the +Palazzo Pio, and the statue of Commodus dug up in the Campo Fiore. Leo +X. further enriched the collection by the reclining statues of the +Nile and Tiber, found among the ruins of the Iseum near S. Stefano in +Caco, and the so-called Antinous discovered in the Baths of Trajan. + +[Footnote 397: See above, p. 111.] + +[Footnote 398: See Castiglione's verses.] + +The feeling of professed scholars for these masterpieces of classic +art appears in Sadoleto's and Castiglione's poems, while a passage of +Ghiberti's Commentary expresses the enthusiasm of technical sculptors. +After describing an Hermaphrodite he saw in Rome, the Florentine +sculptor adds: 'To express the perfection of learning, mastery, and +art displayed in it is beyond the power of language. Its more +exquisite beauties could not be discovered by the sight, but only by +the touch of the hand passed over it.' Of another classic marble at +Padua he says: 'This statue, when the Christian faith triumphed, was +hidden in that place by some gentle soul, who, seeing it so perfect, +fashioned with art so wonderful, and with such power of genius, and +being moved to reverent pity, caused a sepulchre of bricks to be +built, and there within buried the statue, and covered it with a broad +slab of stone, that it might not in any way be injured. It has very +many sweet beauties, which the eyes alone can comprehend not, either +by strong or tempered light; only the hand by touching finds them +out.'[399] Meanwhile a genuine sentiment for the truth and beauty of +antique art passed downwards from the educated classes to the people. +Like all powerful emotions that affect the popular imagination at +epochs of imperfect knowledge and high sensibility, it took the form +of fable. The beautiful myth of Julia's Corpse is our most precious +witness to this moment in the history of the Revival.[400] At the same +time the real intention of classic statuary was better understood. +Donatello had not worked in vain for a public, finely tempered to +receive æsthetic influences, and cultivated by two centuries of native +art. The horsemen of Monte Cavallo ceased to be philosophers. Menander +and Poseidippus were no longer reckoned among the saints. In the age +of Leo, Carlo Malatesta could not have thrown Virgil's statue into the +Mincio;[401] nor would the republic of Siena have buried their antique +Venus by stealth in the Florentine territory, hoping thereby to +transfer to their foes the curse of heathenism.[402] The effect +produced on less impressionable natures by the Belvedere statues +transpires in a curious document penned by a Venetian ambassador to +Rome in 1523.[403] It is so valuable for illustrating the average +culture of the Italians at that epoch, that I may allow myself the +pleasure of rendering a full account of it. + +[Footnote 399: _Terzo Commentario del Ghiberti, Frammenti Inediti_, in +Le Monnier's Vasari, vol. i. pp. xi.-xiii. I have paraphrased rather +than translated the original, which is touching by reason of its +naïveté.] + +[Footnote 400: See Vol. I., _Age of the Despots_, p. 17.] + +[Footnote 401: See Rosmini's _Vittorino da Feltre_, p. 63, note.] + +[Footnote 402: See Ghiberti's _Commentario_, in Le Monnier's Vasari, +vol. i. p. xiv.] + +[Footnote 403: Alberi, _Relazioni Venete_, serie ii. vol. iii. p. 114, +&c.] + +Adrian VI., soon after his accession, had walled up eleven of the +twelve doors, leading to the Belvedere. The Venetian envoys, however, +received permission to visit this portion of the Vatican palace, and +the single entrance was unlocked for them. After describing the beauty +of the gardens, their cypresses and orangeries, the greenness of their +lawns and the stately order of their paved avenues, the writer of the +report arrives at the statues. 'In the midst of the garden are two +very large men of marble, facing one another, twice the size of life, +who lie in the attitude of sleep. One of these is the Tiber, the other +the Nile, figures of vast antiquity; and from beneath them issue two +fair fountains. On the first entrance into the garden, on the left +hand, there is a kind of little chapel let into the wall, where, on a +pedestal of marble, stands the Apollo, famous throughout the world, a +statue of incomparable beauty and dignity, of life size and of finest +marble. Somewhat farther on, in a similar alcove and raised on a like +pedestal to the height of an altar from the ground, opposite a well of +most perfect fashion, is the Laocoon, celebrated throughout the world, +a statue of the highest excellence, of size like a natural man, with +hairy beard, all naked. The sinews, veins, and proper muscles in each +part are seen as well as in a living body; breath alone is wanting. He +is in a posture between sitting and standing, with his two sons, one +on either hand, both, together with himself, twined by the serpents, +as Virgil says. And herein is seen so great merit of the artist, that +better could not be; the languishing and dying are manifest to sight, +and one of the boys on the right side is most tightly clipped by the +snake twice girdled round him; one of the coils crossing his breasts +and squeezing his heart, so that he is on the point of dying. The +other boy on the left side is also girdled round by another serpent. +While he seeks to drag the raging worm from his leg with his little +arm, and cannot help himself at all, he raises his face, all tearful, +crying to his father, and holding him with his other hand by the left +arm. And seeing his unhappy father more deadly struck than he is, the +double grief of this child is clear to view, the one for his own +coming death, the other for his father's helplessness; and he so +faints withal, that nothing remains for him but to breathe his last. +It is impossible that human art can arrive at producing so great and +so natural a masterpiece. Every part is perfect, except that Laocoon's +right arm is wanting. He seems about forty years of age, and resembles +Messer Girolamo Marcello of S. Tommaso; the two boys look eight and +nine respectively. Not far distant, and similarly placed, is a very +beautiful Venus of natural size, naked, with a little drapery on her +shoulder, that covers a portion of the waist; as very fair a figure as +can be imagined by the mind; but the excellence of the Laocoon makes +one forget this and the Apollo, who before was so famous.' + +A systematic plan for exploring the monuments of old Rome, excavating +its ruins, and bringing its buried treasures of statuary to light was +furnished by Raphael in 1518. Leo had made him master of the works at +S. Peter's and general superintendent of antiquities.[404] For some +time previously he had been studying Vitruvius in the Italian +translation prepared for his use by Fabio Calvi of Ravenna. How +enthusiastically he followed in the traces of the ancients, the +arabesques of the Loggie, imitated from the frescoes of the Baths of +Titus, amply prove. He now, not long before his death, laid down a +ground-plan of the city, divided into fourteen regions, and set forth +his project in a memorable letter to the Pope. This epistle, written +in choice old Italian, has more than once been printed: it will be +found in Passavant's Life of the painter. Raphael begins by describing +the abandonment and desolation of the city, and by characterising its +several styles of architecture--classical, Lombard, Gothic, and +modern.[405] Some phrases that occur in this exordium deserve to be +cited for the light they cast upon the passion which inspired those +early excavators. 'Considerando la divinitate di quelli animi antichi +... vedendo quasi il cadavere di quest'alma nobile cittate, che è +stata regia del mondo, così miseramente lacerato ... quanti pontefici +hanno permesso le ruine et disfacimenti delli templi antichi, delle +statue, delli archi et altri edificii, gloria delli lor fondatori! +Quanti hanno comportato che solamente per pigliare terra pozzolana si +siano scavati i fondamenti! Onde in poco tempo li edificii sono venuti +a terra. Quanta calcina si è fatta di statue e d'altri ornamenti +antichi! che ardirei dire che tutta questa nova Roma, che hor si vede, +quanto grande ch'ella vi sia, quanto bella, quanto ornata di pallazzi, +di chiese et di altri edificii, sia fabricata di calcina fatta di +marmi antichi.'[406] He then observes that during his twelve years' +residence in Rome the Meta in the Via Alexandrina, the arches at the +entrance to the Baths of Diocletian and the Temple of Ceres in the Via +Sacra, part of the Foro Transitorio, and the larger portion of the +Basilica del Foro have been destroyed. Therefore he prays Leo to +arrest this work of the new Vandals, and, by pursuing a +well-considered scheme of operations, to lay bare and to protect what +still remains of antique monuments in the Eternal City. + +[Footnote 404: By a brief dated Aug. 27, 1515.] + +[Footnote 405: It may be observed that he calls the round-arched +buildings of the Middle Ages Gothic; the pointed style German.] + +[Footnote 406: 'When we reflect upon the divinity of those intellects +of the old world ... when we see the corpse of this noble city, mother +and queen of the world, so piteously mangled ... how many Pontiffs +have allowed the ruin and defacement of ancient temples, statues, +arches, and other buildings, the glory of their founders! How many +have suffered their foundations to be undermined for the mere sake of +quarrying _pozzolana_, whereby in a short time the buildings +themselves have fallen to earth! How much lime has been made of +statues and other antique decorations! I should not hesitate to say +that the whole of this new Rome which now meets the eye, great as it +is, and fair, and beautified with palaces and churches and other +buildings, has been cemented with lime made from antique marbles.'] + +Raphael's own death followed close upon the execution of the first +part of a Roman map designed by him. Great interest had been excited +in the world of letters by his undertaking; and its failure through +his untimely end aroused the keenest disappointment. The epigrams +quoted below in a footnote express these feelings with more depth of +emotion than scholarly elegance.[407] How Raphael's design would have +been carried out it is impossible to guess. Archæological zeal is +impotent to stay the march of time, except by sacrifice of much that +neglect alone makes venerable; and it may fairly be questioned whether +it is wise to lay the hand of the restorer on these relics of the +past. We at least, who during the last few years have seen the +Coliseum and the Baths of Caracalla stripped of their romantic +vegetation, the Palatine ruins fortified with modern masonry, and the +dubious guesses of antiquaries placarded upon sign-posts for the +instruction of Sunday visitors, may feel, perhaps, that a worse fate +than slow decay or ruthless mutilation was still in store for the +majestic corpse of ancient Rome. Nothing, in truth, is less sublime or +more pitiful than a dismantled brick wall, robbed of its marbles and +mosaics, naked of the covering of herbs that nature gave it, patched +with plaster, propped with stonework, bound by girders, and smeared +over with the trail of worse than snails or blindworms--pedants bent +on restoration. + +[Footnote 407: + + Tot proceres Romam, tam longa struxerat ætas, + Totque hostes et tot sæcula diruerant; + Nunc Romam in Româ quærit reperitque Raphael; + Quærere magni hominis, sed reperire Dei est. + + Celio Calcagnini. + + Quod lacerum corpus medicâ sanaverit arte, + Hippolytum Stygiis et revocarit aquis, + Ad Stygias ipse est raptus Epidaurius undas; + Sic pretium vitæ mors fuit artifici. + Tu quoque dum toto laniatam corpore Romam + Componis miro, Raphael, ingenio, + Atque urbis lacerum ferro, igne, armisque cadaver + Ad vitam antiquum jam revocasque decus, + Movisti Superum invidiam; indignataque mors est + Te dudum extinctis reddere posse animam, + Et quod longa dies paullatim aboleverat, hoc te + Mortali spretâ lege parare iterum. + Sic miser heu primâ cadis intercepte juventâ: + Debere et morti nostraque nosque mones. + + Baldassare Castiglione.] + +The immediate and most important consequence of these antiquarian +pursuits was the adoption of classic forms by architects and artists. +Fresco-painters imitated the newly-discovered _grotteschi_ in their +arabesques.[408] Sculptors abandoned Christian subjects for antique +mythology, or gave the attributes of heroes to the saints of the +Catholic Church. The principles of Vitruvius were applied as strictly +as possible to modern buildings, and the free decoration of the +earlier Renaissance yielded to what passed for purely classic +ornaments. It would be incorrect to maintain that this reproduction of +antiquity in art only dated from the age of Leo. Alberti and +Brunelleschi, Bramante and Michellozzo, had, each in his own way, +striven to assimilate to modern use the style of Roman architecture. +Donatello and Michael Angelo at Florence had carved statues in the +classic manner; nor are the arabesques of Signorelli at Orvieto, of +Perugino at Perugia, less fanciful than those of Raphael in the +Loggie. What really happened was that the imitation of the ancients +grew more puristic and precise through the formation of a common taste +that imposed itself with the weight of authority on artists. Giulio +Romano's Palazzo del Te at Mantua may be cited as the most perfect +production of this epoch, combining, as it does, all forms of antique +decoration and construction with the vivid individuality of genius. +Giulio Romano comprehended the antique, and followed it with the +enthusiasm of a neophyte. But his very defects prevented him from +falling into the frigid formalism of Palladio. + +[Footnote 408: See Benvenuto Cellini, i. 31.] + +The causes of Roman pre-eminence in this last age of humanism are not +far to seek. By the policy of Alexander and Julius the Papal See had +become the chief power in Italy. Venice never publicly encouraged +literature, nor was the ambition of her nobles fixed on anything so +much as the aggrandisement of the Republic. In the beginning of the +sixteenth century their energy was needed no longer for the extension +of Venetian rule, but for its preservation under the attack of Europe +leagued against the city of the sea. Florence, divided between the +parties of the Piagnoni and the Ottimati, reserved her failing vigour +for the great struggle of 1529. The Medici, after absorbing what +remained of mental force into their own circle, had transferred the +Florentine traditions of culture with Giovanni and Giulio to Rome. At +Naples the Aragonese dynasty had been already shaken to its foundation +by the conspiracy of the Barons and by the conquest of Charles VIII. +Ferdinand the Catholic and Louis XII. were now intent upon dividing +the southern provinces of Italy between them. Little opportunity was +left, if inclination had remained, for patronising men of letters at a +Court suspicious of its aristocracy and terrified by foreign +interference. Milan, first among the towns of Lombardy, was doomed to +bear the brunt of French, and Swiss, and German armies. To maintain +the semblance of their dukedom taxed the weakness of the Sforzas to +the utmost, while the people groaned beneath the fiendish cruelty of +Spanish governors. The smaller principalities had been destroyed by +Cesare Borgia and Julius. Ferrara, Mantua and Urbino, at the beginning +of the century, alone continued the traditions of the previous age. +Rome, meanwhile, however insecure the Papal rule might be, still +ranked among the Powers of Europe, pursuing a policy on equal terms +with France and Spain. In Rome money abounded; nor had the sacred city +of Christendom felt as yet the scourge of war, that broke the spirit +of the Northern capitals. It was but natural, therefore, that the +political and intellectual energies of the Italians should find their +centre here. + +Sad times, however, were in store for Rome. When Leo's successor read +the Latin letters of the Apostolic secretaries, he cried, '_Sunt +litteræ unius poetæ_;' and after walking through the Belvedere +Gallery, he gave vent to his feelings in the famous exclamation, +'_Sunt idola antiquorum_.' The humanists had nothing to expect from +such a master. The election of Giulio de' Medici restored the hope +that Rome might once more be as it had been beneath the sway of Leo. +Yet for Clement VII. was reserved the final bitterness of utter ruin. +In the fourth year of his papacy happened the catastrophe that closed +one period of Italian history, and opened a new era for Rome and for +the nation. The tale of the sack has been already told.[409] A fitting +conclusion for this chapter may be found in Valeriano's discourse upon +its consequences to the literary society assembled by the Medici at +the Papal Court. + +[Footnote 409: Vol. I., _Age of Despots_, App. V.] + +Valeriano's dialogue 'De Literatorum Infelicitate' opens with a +description of Rome in the pontificate of Leo.[410] Never since the +downfall of the Empire, he says, had letters flourished so freely or +had men of learning found more generous patronage. Of that brilliant +company Valeriano was himself an ornament. The friend of Egidius and +the favourite of Leo, he spent his time in the composition of Latin +poems, panegyrical and satiric, and in the exploration of antiquities. +Afterwards he became the protonotary of Clement, and supervised the +education of the Medicean bastards Alessandro and Ippolito. His good +fortune carried him to Piacenza in the fatal year of 1527. On his +return to Rome after the siege, he looked in vain for his old comrades +and associates. 'Good God!' he exclaims in the dialogue before us, +'when first I began to inquire for the philosophers, orators, poets, +and professors of Greek and Latin literature, whose names were written +on my tablets, how great, how horrible a tragedy was offered to me! Of +all those lettered men whom I had hoped to see, how many had perished +miserably, carried off by the most cruel of all fates, overwhelmed by +undeserved calamities: some dead of plague, some brought to a slow end +by penury in exile, others slaughtered by a foeman's sword, others +worn out by daily tortures; some, again, and these of all the most +unhappy, driven by anguish to self-murder.' John Goritz, captured by +his countrymen, had ransomed himself with the sacrifice of all his +wealth, and now was dying of despair at Verona. Colocci had seen his +house, with its museums and MSS., burned before his eyes. Angelo Cesi, +maltreated by the Spanish soldiers on a sick bed, died of his injuries +before the year was out. Marone, the brilliant improvisatore, +stripped of everything and deprived of his poems, the accumulated +compositions of years spent in Leo's service, breathed his last in a +miserable tavern. Marco Fabio Calvi, Raphael's friend and teacher, +succumbed to sickness in a hospital. Julianus Camers, maddened by the +sight of the torments inflicted on his servants, had thrown himself +from a window in his house, and was killed. Baldus, the professor, +after watching his commentary upon Pliny used to light the camp fires +of the soldiery, had died himself of hunger. Casanova, the poet, fell +a victim to the plague. Paolo Bombasi, another poet, was murdered in +the streets of Rome. Cristoforo Marcello had been tortured by the +Spaniards. Exposed naked on a tree, his nails were daily drawn from +his fingers by these human fiends; he only escaped their clutches to +die of his injuries at Gaeta. Laomedon Tardolus and John Bonifacius +Victor suffered similar indignities and torments. Francesco Fortunio +and John Valdes slew themselves. To enumerate all the scholars who +succumbed to fear, plague, famine, torture, and imprisonment in this +fatal year; to relate how numbers left Rome, robbed of everything, to +wander over Italy, and die of hunger by the wayside, or of fever in +low hovels; to describe the losses of their MSS., their madness, +beggary, mysterious disappearances, and deaths by hands of servants or +of brigands on the high roads, would occupy more space than I have +left at my command. The ghastly muster roll is told with terrible +concision by Valeriano, who adds divers examples, unconnected with the +sack, of early deaths by over-study, lingering illnesses, murders by +poison or the knife, and accidents of every kind, attributable more or +less directly to the shifting career of students at that time in +Italy. + +[Footnote 410: Printed at Venice, 1620.] + +Though the wars in Lombardy proved scarcely less fatal to men of +letters than the siege of Rome, those disasters fell singly and at +intervals. The ever-memorable stage of the Eternal City was reserved +for the crowning tragedy of arts and letters. Whatever vicious seeds +had been sown in Italy by the humanists had blossomed and borne fruit +in Rome; and there the Nemesis of pride and insolence, and godlessness +of evil living, fell upon them like a bolt from heaven. In essays, +epistles, and funeral orations they amply recognised the justice of +their punishment. A phrase of Hieronymus Niger's in a letter to +Sadoleto--'Rome, that is the sink of all things shameful and +abominable'--might serve as the epitome of their conscience-stricken +Jeremiads.[411] All Italy re-echoed with these lamentations; and +though Clement VII. and Paul III. did their best to repiece the ruins +of Leo's golden house of fame, the note of despair and anguish uttered +by the scholars in 1527 was never destined to be drowned by chorus +hymeneal or triumphal chant again. What remained of humanism among the +Italians assumed a different form, adapted to the new rule of the +Spaniards and the new attitude of the Church. To the age of the +Humanists succeeded the age of the Inquisitors and Jesuits. + +[Footnote 411: 'Quod Romæ, hoc est in sentinâ omnium rerum atrocium et +pudendarum deprehensi fuerimus.' Quoted by Gregorovius, _Stadt Rom_, +vol. viii. p. 598, note 3.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +LATIN POETRY + + Special Causes for the Practice of Latin Versification in + Italy -- The Want of an Italian Language -- Multitudes of + Poetasters -- Beccadelli -- Alberti's 'Philodoxus' -- + Poliziano -- The 'Sylvæ' -- 'Nutricia', 'Rusticus', 'Manto', + 'Ambra' -- Minor Poems -- Pontano -- Sannazzaro -- Elegies + and Epigrams -- Christian Epics -- Vida's 'Christiad' -- + Vida's 'Poetica' -- Fracastoro -- The 'Syphilis' -- + _Barocco_ Flatteries -- Bembo -- Immoral Elegies -- + Imitations of Ovid and Tibullus -- The 'Benacus' -- Epitaphs + -- Navagero -- Epigrams and Eclogues -- Molsa -- Poem on his + own Death -- Castiglione -- 'Alcon' and 'Lycidas' -- Verses + of Society -- The Apotheosis of the Popes -- Poem on the + Ariadne of the Vatican -- Sadoleto's Verses on the Laocoon + -- Flaminio -- His Life -- Love of the Country -- Learned + Friends -- Scholar-Poets of Lombardy -- Extinction of + Learning in Florence -- Decay of Italian Erudition. + + +The history of this last period of the Revival would be incomplete +without a survey of its Latin poetry. I shall have failed to convey a +right notion of the tendencies of humanism, if I have not shown that +the Italians were seeking not merely to acquire a knowledge of ancient +literature, but also to effect a resuscitation of antiquity in their +own writings. Regarding themselves as the heirs of Rome, separated +from the brilliant period of Latin civilisation by ten centuries of +ignorance, they strove with all their might to seize the thread of +culture at the very point where the poets of the Silver Age had +dropped it. In the opinion of Northern races it might seem unnatural +or unpatriotic to woo the Muses in a dead language; but for Italians +the Camoenæ had not died; on the hills of Latium, where they fell +asleep, they might awake again. Every familiar sight and sound +recalled 'the rich Virgilian rustic measure' of the 'Georgics' and +'Bucolics.' Nature had not changed, nor did the poets feel the +influence of Christianity so deeply as to find no meaning in the +mythic phraseology of Fauns and Nymphs. + +Latin, again, was far less a language of the past for the Italians +than for other European nations. What risk the Tuscan dialect ran, +when Dante wrote the first lines of the 'Divine Comedy' in Latin, and +when Petrarch assumed the laurel crown by right of his 'Africa', is +known to every student. The serious efforts of the greatest writers +were for centuries devoted to Latin composition, because they believed +that the nation, in the modern as in the ancient world, might freely +use the speech of Cicero and Virgil. Their _volgari cose_ they +despised as trifles, not having calculated the impotence of scholars +or of kings to turn the streams of language from their natural +courses. Nor was this blindness so inexplicable as it seems to us at +first sight. Italy possessed no common dialect; Dante's 'Italiano +Illustre,' or 'Cortegiano', was even less native to the race at large, +less universal in its use, than Latin.[412] Fashioned from the Tuscan +for literary purposes, selected from the vocabulary of cultivated +persons, stripped of vernacular idioms, and studied in the works of a +few standard authors, it was itself, upon the soil that gave it birth, +a product of high art and conscious culture. The necessity felt soon +after Dante's death for translating the 'Divine Comedy' into Latin, +sufficiently proves that a Latin poem gained a larger audience than +the masterpiece of Italian literature. While the singer of a dialect, +however noble, appealed to his own fellow-citizens, the Latin poet +gave his verses _urbi et orbi_. If another proof of the artificiality +of Italian were needed, we should find it in the fact that the phrases +of Petrarch are not less obsolete now than in the fourteenth century. +The English require a glossary for Chaucer, and even Elizabethan +usages are out of date; in other words, the language of the people has +outgrown the style of its first poets. But Italian has undergone no +process of transformation and regeneration according to the laws of +organic growth, since it first started. The different districts still +use different dialects, while writers in all parts of the peninsula +have conformed their style as far as possible to early Tuscan models. +It may be questioned whether united Italy, having for the first time +gained the necessary conditions of national concentration, is not now +at last about to enter on a new phase of growth in literature, which, +after many years, will make the style of the first authors more +archaic than it seems at present. + +[Footnote 412: Cf. Filelfo, quoted in a note to the next chapter, who +says,'Tuscan is hardly known to all Italians, while Latin is spread +far and wide throughout the whole world.'] + +The foregoing observations were requisite in order to explain why the +cultivation of Latin poetry was no mere play-work to Italian scholars. +The peculiar direction given by Petrarch to classical studies at the +outset must also be taken into account. We have seen that he regarded +rhetoric and poetry as the two chief aims of humanism. To be either a +poet or an orator was the object of all students who had slaked their +thirst at the Castalian springs of ancient learning. Philology and +poetry, accordingly, went hand in hand through the periods of the +Revival; and to this first impulse we are perhaps justified in tracing +back the prominence assigned to Latin verse in our own school studies. + +Poetry being thus regarded as a necessary branch of scholarship, it +followed that few men distinguished for their learning abstained from +versification. Pedants who could do no more than make prosaic elegiacs +scan, and scholars respectable for their acquirements, but destitute +of inspiration, were reckoned among the _sacri vates_. It would be a +weariful--nay, hopeless--task to pass all the Latin versifiers of the +Renaissance in review. Their name is legion; even to count them would +be the same as to number the stars--_ad una ad una annoverar le +stelle_. It may be considered fortunate that perhaps the larger masses +of their productions still remain in manuscript, partly because they +preceded the age of printing, and partly, no doubt, because the good +sense of the age rejected them. What has been printed, however, +exceeds in bulk the 'Corpus Poetarum Latinorum,' and presents so many +varieties that to deal with more than a selection is impossible.[413] + +[Footnote 413: I purpose in this chapter to use the _Delitiæ Poetarum +Italorum_, two parts divided into 4 vols., 1608; _Carmina Quinque +Illustrium Poetarum_, Bergomi, 1753; _Poemata Selecta Italorum_, +Oxonii, 1808; and _Selecta Poemata Italorum_, accurante A. Pope, +Londini, 1740.] + +The poetasters of the first two periods need not be taken into +account. Struggling with a language imperfectly assimilated, and with +the rules of a prosody as yet but little understood, it was as much as +they could do to express themselves at all in metre. Elegance of +composition was out of the question when a writer could neither set +forth modern thoughts with ease nor imitate the classic style with +accuracy. What he lost in force by the use of a dead language, he did +not gain in polish; nor was the taste of the age schooled to +appreciate the niceties of antique diction. Beccadelli alone, by a +certain limpid fluency, attained to a degree of moderate excellence; +and how much he owed to his choice of subject may be questioned. The +obscenity of his themes, and the impudence required for their +expression, may have acted as a stimulus to his not otherwise +distinguished genius. There is, moreover, no stern conflict to be +fought with phrases when the author's topic is mere animalism. The +rest of his contemporaries, Filelfo included, did no more than smooth +the way for their successors by practising the technicalities of +verse and exciting emulation. To surpass their rude achievements was +not difficult, while the fame they enjoyed aroused the ambition of +younger rivals. Exception to this sweeping verdict may be made in +favour of Alberti, whose Latin play, called 'Philodoxus,' was a +brilliant piece of literary workmanship.[414] Not only did it impose +on contemporaries as a genuine classic, but, even when judged by +modern standards, it shows real familiarity with the language of Latin +comedy and rare skill in its employment. + +[Footnote 414: Bonucci's edition of Alberti's works, vol. i. Alberti's +own preface, in the form of a dedicatory letter to Lionello d'Este, +describes how he came to write this comedy, and how it was passed off +upon contemporaries as an original play by Lepidus Comicus. _Ib._ pp. +cxxi.-cxxiii.] + +Poliziano is the first Latin poet who compels attention in the +fifteenth century; nor was he surpassed, in fertility of conception +and mastery of metre, by any of his numerous successors. With all his +faults of style and crudities of diction, Poliziano, in my opinion, +deserves the chief place among original poets of revived Latin +literature. Bembo wrote more elegantly, Navagero more classically, +Amalteo with a grace more winning. Yet these versifiers owe their +celebrity to excellence of imitation. Poliziano possessed a manner of +his own, and made a dead language utter thoughts familiar to the age +in which he lived. He did not merely traverse the old ground of the +elegy, the epigram, the satire, and the idyll. Striking out a new path +for himself, and aiming at instruction, he poured forth torrents of +hexameters, rough perhaps and over-fluent, yet marked by intellectual +energy and copious fancy, in illustration of a modern student's +learning. This freedom of handling is shown to best advantage in his +'Sylvæ.'[415] + +[Footnote 415: See above, p. 254, for the purpose fulfilled by the +_Sylvæ_.] + +The 'Nutricia' forms an introduction to the history of poetry in +general, and carries on its vigorous stream the weight of universal +erudition. From it we learn how the most accomplished scholar of his +century judged and distinguished the whole body of fine literature +possessed by his contemporaries. On the emergence of humanity from +barbarism, writes Poliziano, poetry was given to men as a consolation +for the miseries of life and as an instrument of culture; their first +nurse in the cradle of civilisation was the Muse:-- + + Musa quies hominum, divomque æterna voluptas.[416] + +[Footnote 416: 'Of men the solace, and of gods the everlasting joy.'] + +After characterising the Pagan oracles, the mythical bards of Hellas, +and the poet-prophets of the Jewish race, with brief but telling +touches, Poliziano addresses himself in the following lines to the +delineation of the two chief epic-singers:-- + + ... etenim ut stellas fugere undique cælo, + Aurea cum radios Hyperionis exeruit fax, + Cernimus, et tenuem velut evanescere lunam; + Sic veterum illustres flagranti obscurat honores + Lampade Mæonides: unum quem dia canentem + Facta virum, et sævas æquantem pectine pugnas, + Obstupuit, prorsusque parem confessus Apollo est. + Proximus huic autem, vel ni veneranda senectus + Obstiterit, fortasse prior, canit arma virumque + Vergilius, cui rure sacro, cui gramine pastor + Ascræus, Siculusque simul cessere volentes.[417] + +[Footnote 417: 'As from the heavens we see the stars on all sides +fleeing, when the golden torch of the sun-god rises, and the +diminished moon appears to fade; so with his burning lamp Mæonides +obscures the honours of the earlier bards. Him alone, while he sang +the divine deeds of heroes, and with his lyre arrayed fierce wars, +Apollo, wonder-struck, confessed his equal. Close at his side, or +higher even, but for the veneration due to age, Vergil entones the +song of arms and the hero--Vergil, to whom from holy tilth and pasture +land both Ascra's and Sicilia's shepherds yield their sway with +willing homage.'--_Quinque Illustrium Poetarum Carmina_, p. 167.] + +Then follows the enumeration of lesser Greek and Roman epopoeists. +After them the lyrists and elegiac poets, among whom Pindar is +celebrated in the following magniloquent paragraph:-- + + Aërios procul in tractus, et nubila supra + Pindarus it Dircæus olor, cui nectare blandæ + Os tenerum libâstis apes, dum fessa levaret + Membra quiete puer mollem spirantia somnum; + Sed Tanagræa suo mox jure poetria risit, + Irrita qui toto sereret figmenta canistro; + Tum certare auso palmam intercepit opimam + Æoliis prælata modis atque illice formâ. + Ille Agathocleâ subnisus voce coronas + Dixit Olympiacas, et quâ victoribus Isthmos + Fronde comam, Delphique tegant, Nemeæaque tesqua + Lunigenam mentita feram; tum numina divum + Virtutesque, virosque undanti pectore torrens + Provexit, sparsitque pios ad funera questus. + Frugibus hunc libisque virum Cirrhæus ab arâ + Phoebus, et accubitu mensæ dignatus honoro est: + Panaque pastores solis videre sub antris + Pindarico tacitas mulcentem carmine silvas. + Inde senem pueri gremio cervice repostâ + Infusum, et dulci laxantem corda sopore, + Protinus ad manes, et odoro gramine pictum + Elysium tacitâ rapuit Proserpina dextrâ. + Quin etiam hostiles longo post tempore flammæ, + Quæ septemgeminas populabant undique Thebas, + Expavere domum tanti tamen urere vatis, + Et sua posteritas medios quoque tuta per enses + Sensit inexhaustâ cinerem juvenescere famâ.[418] + +[Footnote 418: 'Far off into the tracts of air and high above the +clouds soars Pindar, the Dircæan swan, whose tender mouth ye gentle +bees with nectar fed, while the boy gave rest to weary limbs that +breathed soft slumber. But him the maid of Tanagra derided, what time +she told him that he sowed his myths from the whole sack to waste; and +when he dared contend with her in song, she bore away the victor's +palm, triumphant by Æolian moods, and by her seductive beauty too. He +with his mighty voice, trained in the school of Agathocles, sang the +crowns of Olympia and the garlands wherewith the Isthmus and Delphi, +and the Nemean wastes that falsely claimed the moon-born monster, +shade the athlete's brows. Then, like a torrent, with swelling soul, +he passed to celebrate the powers and virtues of the gods and heroes, +and poured forth pious lamentations for the dead. Him Phoebus, lord +of Cirrha, honoured with food and drink from his altar, and made him +guest-fellow at his own board: shepherds too saw Pan in lonely caverns +charming the woods with a Pindaric song. At last, when he was old, and +lay with his neck reclined upon the bosom of the boy he loved, +soothing his soul in sleep, Proserpina with still right hand +approached and took him straight to join the shades and pace Elysium's +fragrant meads. Nay, more: long afterwards, the foeman's flames, which +laid seven-gated Thebes in ruins far and wide, these names dared not +to burn so great a poet's house; and his descendants, safe 'mid a +thousand swords, learned that his ashes still were young through fame +that lives for aye.'--_Carmina_, &c. p. 173.] + +Sappho is described in the following lines:-- + + lyricis jam nona poetis + Æolis accedit Sappho, quæ flumina propter + Pierias legit ungue rosas, unde implicet audax + Serta Cupido sibi, niveam quæ pectine blando + Cyrinnem, Megaramque simul, cumque Atthide pulchram + Cantat Anactorien, et crinigeram Telesippen; + Et te conspicuum recidivo flore juventæ + Miratur revocatque, Phaon, seu munera vectæ + Puppe tuâ Veneris, seu sic facit herba potentem: + Sed tandem Ambracias temeraria saltat in undas.[419] + +[Footnote 419: 'Ninth among lyric bards, Æolian Sappho joins the crew; +she who by flowing water plucks Pieria's rose for venturous Love to +twine in wreaths for his own brow; who with her dulcet lyre sings fair +Cyrinna's charms, and Megara, and Atthis and sweet Anactoria, and +Telesippa of the flowing hair. And thee, too, Phaon, beautiful in +youth's rathe flower, on thee she gazes, thee she calls again; such +power to thee gave Venus for her freightage in thy skiff, or else the +herb of love. Yet at the last, not wisely bold, she leaps into the +Ambracian waves.' _Ib._ &c. p. 175.] + +Having disposed of the lyrists, Poliziano proceeds to the dramatic +poets. His brief notice of the three Attic tragedians is worthy of +quotation, if only because it proves what we should suspect from other +indications, that the best scholars of the earlier Renaissance paid +them little attention. The facts mentioned in the following lines seem +to be derived from the gossip of Athenæus:-- + + Æschylus aëriæ casu testudinis ictus, + Quemque senem meritæ rapuerunt gaudia palmæ, + Quemque tegit rabidis lacerum pia Pella molossis.[420] + +[Footnote 420: 'Æschylus, smitten by a tortoise falling from the air +above his head, and he whose triumph, justly won in old age, killed +him with excess of joy, and he whose body, torn by raging hounds, the +reverent earth of Pella hides.'--_Carmina_, &c. p. 176.] + +Nor are his observations on the comic dramatists less meagre.[421] The +Roman poets having been passed in the same rapid review, Poliziano +salutes the founders of Italian literature in the following fine +passage:-- + + Nec tamen aligerum fraudarim hoc munere Dantem, + Per Styga, per stellas, mediique per ardua montis + Pulchra Beatricis sub virginis ora volantem: + Quique Cupidineum repetit Petrarcha triumphum: + Et qui bis quinis centum argumenta diebus + Pingit, et obscuri qui semina monstrat amoris: + Unde tibi immensæ veniunt præconia laudis, + Ingeniis opibusque potens Florentia mater.[422] + +[Footnote 421: _Ib._ p. 177.] + +[Footnote 422: 'Nor yet of this meed of honour would I cheat +wing-bearing Dante, who flew through hell, through the starry heavens, +and o'er the intermediate hill of purgatory beneath the beauteous +brows of Beatrice; and Petrarch too, who tells again the tale of +Cupid's triumph; or him who in ten days portrays a hundred stories, +and lays bare the seeds of hidden love: from whom unmeasured fame and +name are thine, by wit and wealth twice potent, Florence, mother of +great sons!'--_Ib._ p. 178.] + +The transition to Lorenzo at this point is natural. A solemn +peroration in praise of the Medicean prince, himself a poet, whose +studies formed the recreation of severer labours, ends the +composition. This is written in Poliziano's best style, and, though it +is too long to quote, six lines may be selected as indicating the +theme of the argument:-- + + Quodque alii studiumque vocant durumque laborem, + Hic tibi ludus erit; fessus civilibus actis + Huc is emeritas acuens ad carmina vires: + Felix ingenio, felix cui pectore tantas + Instaurare vices, cui fas tam magna capaci + Alternare animo, et varias ita nectere curas.[423] + +[Footnote 423: 'What other men call study and hard toil, that for thee +shall be pastime; wearied with deeds of state, to this thou hast +recourse, and dost address the vigour of thy well-worn powers to song: +blest in thy mental gifts, blest to be able thus to play so many +parts, to vary thus the great cares of thy all-embracing mind, and +weave so many divers duties into one.'--_Carmina_, &c. p. 179.] + +We possess the whole of Poliziano in the 'Nutricia.' It displays the +energy of intellect that carried him on bounding verse through the +intricacies of a subject difficult by reason of its scope and +magnitude. All his haste is here, his inability to polish or select, +his lava-stream of language hurrying the dross of prose and scoriæ of +erudition along a burning tide of song. His memory held, as it were, +in solution all the matter of antique literature; and when he wrote, +he poured details forth in torrents, combining them with critical +remarks, for the double purpose of instruction and panegyric. Taken at +the lowest valuation by students to whom his copious stores of +knowledge are familiar, the vivid and continuous melody of his leaping +hexameters places the 'Nutricia' above the lucubrations of more +fastidious Latinists. We must also remember that, when it was recited +from the professorial Chair of Rhetoric at Florence, the magnetism of +Poliziano's voice and manner supplied just that touch of charm the +poem lacks for modern readers; nor was the matter so hackneyed at the +end of the fifteenth century as it is now. Lilius Gyraldus, subjecting +the 'Sylvæ' to criticism at a time when Latin poetry had been +artistically polished by the best wits of the age of Leo, passed upon +them a judgment which may even now be quoted as final.[424] +'Poliziano's learning was marvellous, his genius fervent and +well-trained, his reading extensive and uninterrupted; yet he appears +to have composed his verses with more heat than art, using too little +judgment both in the selection of his materials and in the correction +of his style. When, however, you read his 'Sylvæ,' the impression left +upon your mind will be such that for the moment you will lack +nothing.' + +[Footnote 424: 'Dialogus de Poetis nostri Temporis.' _Opp._ vol. ii. +p. 388. Edition of Basle, 1580.] + +The second poem of the 'Sylvæ,' entitled 'Rusticus,' forms an +induction to the study of bucolic poets, principally Hesiod and +Virgil. It is distinguished by more originality and play of fancy than +the 'Nutricia;' some of its delineations of landscape and sketches of +country life compete not unfavourably with similar passages in the +author's 'Stanze.' To dwell upon these beauties in detail, and to +compare Poliziano, the Latin poet, with Poliziano, the Italian, would +be a pleasant task. Yet I must confine myself to quoting the last, and +in some respects the least imaginative, lines, for the sake of their +historical interest. Careggi and Florence, Lorenzo and his circle of +literary friends, rise before us in these verses:-- + + Talia Fesuleo lentus meditabar in antro, + Rure suburbano Medicum, quâ mons sacer urbem + Mæoniam, longique volumina despicit Arni: + Quâ bonus hospitium felix placidamque quietem + Indulget Laurens, Laurens haud ultima Phoebi + Gloria, jactatis Laurens fida anchora Musis; + Qui si certa magis permiserit otia nobis, + Afflabor majore Deo, nec jam ardua tantum + Silva meas voces, montanaque saxa loquentur, + Sed tu, si qua fides, tu nostrum forsitan olim, + O mea blanda altrix, non aspernabere carmen, + Quamvis magnorum genitrix Florentia vatum, + Doctaque me triplici recinet facundia linguâ.[425] + +[Footnote 425: 'On themes like these I spent my hours of leisure in +the grottoes of Fiesole, at the Medicean villa, where the holy hill +looks down upon the Mæonian city, and surveys the windings of the +distant Arno. There good Lorenzo gives his friends a happy home and +rest from cares; Lorenzo, not the last of Phoebus' glorious band; +Lorenzo, the firm anchor of the Muses tempest-tost. If only he but +grant me greater ease, the inspiration of a mightier god will raise my +soul; nor shall the lofty woods alone and mountain rocks resound my +words; but thou--such faith have I--thou too shalt sometime hear, kind +nurse of mine, nor haply scorn my song, thou, Florence, mother of +imperial bards, and learned eloquence in three great tongues shall +give me fame.' _Carmina_, &c. p. 196.] + +The third canto of the 'Sylvæ' is called 'Manto.' It relates the birth +of Virgil, to whom the Muses gave their several gifts, while the +Sibyl of Mantua foretold his future course of life and all the glories +he should gain by song. The poem concludes with a rhetorical eulogy of +Rome's chief bard, so characteristic of Renaissance enthusiasm for +Virgil that to omit a portion of it from these pages would be to +sacrifice one of the most striking examples of Italian taste in +scholarship:-- + + At manet æternum, et seros excurrit in annos + Vatis opus, dumque in tacito vaga sidera mundo + Fulgebunt, dum sol nigris orietur ab Indis, + Prævia luciferis aderit dum curribus Eos, + Dum ver tristis hiems, autumnum proferet æstas, + Dumque fluet spirans refluetque reciproca Tethys, + Dum mixta alternas capient elementa figuras, + Semper erit magni decus immortale Maronis, + Semper inexhaustis ibunt hæc flumina venis, + Semper ab his docti ducentur fontibus haustus, + Semper odoratos fundent hæc gramina flores, + Unde piæ libetis apes, unde inclyta nectat + Serta comis triplici juvenalis Gratia dextrâ.[426] + +[Footnote 426: 'Nay, but for everlasting lives our poet's work, +abides, and goes forth toward the ages late in time. So long as in the +silent firmament the stars shall shine; so long as day shall rise from +sun-burned Ind; so long as Phosphor runs before the wheels of light; +so long as gloomy winter leads to spring, and summer to autumn; while +breathing ocean ebbs and flows by turns, and the mixed elements put on +their changing shapes--so long, for ever, shall endure great Maro's +fame, for ever shall flow these rivers from his unexhausted fount, for +ever shall draughts of learning be drawn from these rills, for ever +shall these meadows yield their perfumed flowers, to pasture holy bees, +and give the youthful Graces garlands for their hair.'--_Carmina_, &c. +p. 207.] + +Not less ingenious than the poem itself is the elegiac introduction. +Poliziano feigns that when the Minyæ came to Cheiron's cave on +Pelion, and supped with him, Orpheus sang a divine melody, and then +the young Achilles took the lyre, and with rude fingers praised the +poet's song. The Minyæ smiled, but Orpheus was touched by the +boy-hero's praises. Even so will Maro haply take delight in mine:-- + + Finis erat dapibus; citharam pius excitat Orpheus, + Et movet ad doctas verba canora manus. + Conticuere viri, tenuere silentia venti, + Vosque retro cursum mox tenuistis aquæ. + Jam volucres fessis pendere sub æthera pennis, + Jamque truces videas ora tenere feras. + Decurrunt scopulis auritæ ad carmina quercus, + Nudaque Peliacus culmina motat apex. + Et jam materno permulserat omnia cantu, + Cum tacuit, querulam deposuitque fidem. + Occupat hanc audax, digitosque affringit Achilles, + Indoctumque rudi personat ore puer. + Materiam quæris? laudabat carmina blandi + Hospitis, et tantæ murmura magna lyræ. + Riserunt Minyæ: sed enim tibi dicitur, Orpheu, + Hæc pueri pietas grata fuisse nimis. + Me quoque nunc magni nomen celebrare Maronis, + Si qua fides vero est, gaudet et ipse Maro.[427] + +[Footnote 427: 'Supper was over; Orpheus awakes the lyre, and sings a +melody to suit the tune he plays. The men were silent; the winds +hushed; the rivers held their waters back to hear; the birds hung +motionless in air; and the wild beasts grew calm. From the cliffs the +oaks run down with listening ears, and the top of Pelion nods his +barren head. And now the bard had soothed the whole world with his +mother's song; when he ceased from singing and put down the thrilling +lyre. This bold Achilles seizes; he runs his fingers o'er the strings, +and chaunts an untaught lay, the simple boy. What was his theme? you +ask. He praised the singing of the gentle guest, the mighty murmurs of +that lyre divine. The Minyæ laughed; but yet, so runs the tale, even +all too sweet, Orpheus, to thee was the boy's homage. Just so my +praise of mighty Maro's name, if faith be not a dream, gives joy to +Maro's self.'--_Carmina_, &c. p. 197.] + +The fourth poem, bearing the name of 'Ambra,' forms a similar +induction to the study of Homer. The youth of Homer is narrated, and +how Achilles appeared to him, blinding him with the vision of his +heroic beauty, and giving him the wand of Teiresias. Then follow +descriptions of both 'Iliad' and 'Odyssey,' and a passage of +high-flown panegyric; the whole ending with these lines on Lorenzo's +villa of Cajano:-- + + Et nos ergo illi gratâ pietate dicamus + Hanc de Pierio contextam flore coronam, + Quam mihi Cajanas inter pulcherrima nymphas + Ambra dedit patriæ lectam de gramine ripæ; + Ambra mei Laurentis amor, quem corniger Umbro, + Umbro senex genuit domino gratissimus Arno, + Umbro suo tandem non erepturus ab alveo.[428] + +[Footnote 428: 'We also, therefore, with glad homage dedicate to him +this garland twined of Pieria's flowers, which Ambra, loveliest of +Cajano's nymphs, gave to me, culled from meadows on her father's +shores; Ambra, the love of my Lorenzo, whom Umbrone, the horned +stream, begat--Umbrone, dearest to his master Arno, Umbrone, who now +henceforth will never break his banks again.'--_Carmina_, &c. p. 224.] + +Taking into consideration the purpose fulfilled by Poliziano's 'Sylvæ' +in his professorial career, it is impossible to deny their merit. The +erudition is borne with ease; it does not clog or overload the poet's +impulse. The flattery of Lorenzo is neither fulsome nor unmerited. The +verse flows strongly and majestically, though more variety of cadence +in the hexameter may be desired. The language, in spite of repetitions +and ill-chosen archaisms, is rich and varied; it has at least the +charm of being the poet's own, not culled with scrupulous anxiety from +one or two illustrious sources. Some of the pictures are delicately +sketched, while the whole style produces the effect of eloquent and +fervid improvisation. For fulness and rapidity of utterance, copious +fancy, and wealth of illustration, these four poems will bear +comparison with Roman work of the Silver Age. The Florentines who +crowded Poliziano's lecture-room must have felt as in the days of the +Empire, when Statius declaimed his periods to a Roman audience, and +the patrician critics clapped applause.[429] + +[Footnote 429: Cf. Juvenal, _Satire_, i. 9-14; vii. 81-87. Persius, +_Satire_, i. 79-82. And cf. Petronius Arbiter for a detailed picture +of these Roman recitations.] + +Among Poliziano's minor poems it is enough to mention the elegiac +couplets on some violets sent him by his mistress, the verses +descriptive of a beautiful girl, and the lamentation for the wife of +Sismondo della Stufa.[430] They illustrate the delicacy of his style +and the freedom of his fancy in the treatment of occasional themes, +and are far superior to his epigrams and epitaphs.[431] The numerous +encomiastic elegies addressed to Lorenzo de' Medici and other patrons +are wholly without value. Poliziano was a genuine poet. He needed the +inspiration of true feeling or of lively fancy; on a tame occasion he +degenerated into frigid baldness. Yet the satires on Mabilius, where +spite and jealousy have stirred his genius, are striking for their +volubility and pungency. A Roman imitator of Catullus in his brutal +mood could not have produced abuse more flexible and nauseous. Taken +altogether, Poliziano's Latin compositions display the qualities of +fluency and abundance that characterise his Italian verses, though +they have not the exquisite polish of the 'Giostra.' Their final merit +consists in their spontaneity. No stylist of the age of Leo knew how +to use the language of classic Rome with so much ease. + +[Footnote 430: _Carmina Quinque_, &c. pp. 250, 272, 276.] + +[Footnote 431: The epitaphs on Giotto, Lippo Lippi, the fair +Simonetta, and others, are only valuable for their historic interest, +such as that is.] + +Jovianus Pontanus deserves a high place among the writers of Latin +verse, whether we regard his didactic poems on astronomy and the +cultivation of the orange, his epigrams, or the amorous elegies that, +for their grace, may be compared almost with Ovid.[432] Even during +his lifetime Pontanus became a classic, and after his death he was +imitated by the most ambitious versifiers of the late Renaissance.[433] +The beauty of South Italian landscape--Sorrento's orange gardens and +Baiæ's waters--passed into the fancy of the Neapolitan poets, and gave +colour to their language. Nor was Pontanus, in spite of his severe +studies and gravely-tempered mind, dead to the seductions of this +siren. What we admire in Sannazzaro's 'Arcadia' assumes the form of +pure Latinity in his love poems.[434] Their style is penetrated with +the feeling for physical beauty, Pagan and untempered by an +afterthought of Christianity. Their vigorous and glowing sensuality +finds no just analogue except in some Venetian paintings. It was not, +however, by his lighter verses so much as by the five books called 'De +Stellis' or 'Urania' that Pontanus won the admiration of Italian +scholars. In this long series of hexameters he contrived to set forth +the whole astronomical science of his age, touching upon the mythology +of the celestial signs, describing the zodiac, discussing the motion +of the heavens, raising the question of planetary influences, and +characterising the different regions of the globe by their relation to +the sun's path across the sky. He seems to have taken the +'Metamorphoses' of Ovid for his model of versification; and though we +miss the variety of Ovid's treatment, great ingenuity is displayed in +adorning so difficult a subject with poetical episodes.[435] Personal +interest is added to the conclusion of 'Urania' by the lamentation +poured forth for his daughter Lucia by the poet:-- + + Ornabam tibi serta domi; Syriumque liquorem + Ad thalamos geminæ, geminæ, tua cura, sorores + Fundebant. Quid pro sertis Syrioque liquore + Liquisti? Sine sole dies, sine sidere noctes, + Insomnes noctes.[436] + +[Footnote 432: I shall quote from his _Collected Poems_, Aldus, 1513.] + +[Footnote 433: See the Elegy of Sannazzaro on the writings of +Pontanus, _Poemata Selecta_, pp. 1-4, and Fracastoro's _Syphilis_, ib. +p. 72.] + +[Footnote 434: _Delitiæ Poetarum Italorum_, pt. ii. pp. 668-712. +Specimens may also be read in the _Poemata Selecta Italorum_, pp. +1-24.] + +[Footnote 435: See, for instance, the tale of Hylas, lib. v. p. 103; +the tale of Cola Pesce, lib. iv. p. 79; the council of the gods, lib. +i. p. 18; the planet Venus, lib. i. p. 5.] + +[Footnote 436: Lib. v. pp. 105-108. 'For thee I hung the house with +wreaths; and thy twin sisters poured forth Syrian perfumes at the +marriage chamber. What for our garlands and our perfumes hast thou +left? Days without light, nights without a star, long sleepless +nights.'] + +Lucia died before her marriage-day, and her grey-headed father went +mourning for her, fooled by memory, vainly seeking the joy that could +not come again. Had she become, he asks, a star in heaven, and did the +blessed gods and heroines enjoy her splendour? No voice replied when +he called into the darkness, nor did new constellations beam on him +with brightness from his daughter's eyes. All through the wakeful +night he mourned, but when dawn went forth he marked a novel lustre on +the sea and in the sky. Lucia had been added to the nymphs of morning. +She smiled upon her father as she fled before the wheels of day; and +now the sun himself arose, and in his light her light was swallowed: +Hyperion scaled the heights of heaven with more than his own glory. +With this apotheosis of his daughter, so curiously Pagan in feeling, +and yet so far from classical in taste, the poem might have ended, had +not Pontano reserved its final honours for himself. To Lucia, now made +a goddess, he addresses his prayers that she should keep his name and +fame alive on earth when he is dead:-- + + Fama ipsa assistens tumulo cum vestibus aureis, + Ore ingens, ac voce ingens, ingentibus alis, + Per populos late ingenti mea nomina plausu + Vulgabit, titulosque feret per sæcula nostros; + Plaudentesque meis resonabunt laudibus auræ, + Vivet et extento celeber Jovianus in ævo.[437] + +[Footnote 437: 'Fame herself, seated by my tomb with golden raiment, +mighty-mouthed, mighty-voiced, with mighty wings, shall spread abroad +among the people my names with mighty sound of praise, and carry +through the centuries my titles, and with my glory shall resound +applauding airs of heaven; renowned through everlasting ages Jovian +shall live.'] + +Sannazzaro's own elegies on the joys of love and country life, the +descriptions of his boyhood at Salerno, the praises of his Villa +Mergillina, and his meditations among the ruins of Cumæ, are marked by +the same characteristics. Nothing quite so full of sensual enjoyment, +so soft, and so voluptuous can be found in the poems of the Florentine +and Roman scholars. They deserve study, if only as illustrating the +luxurious tone of literature at Naples. It was not by these lighter +effusions, however, that Sannazzaro won his fame. The epic on the +birth of Christ cost him twenty years of labour; and when it was +finished, the learned world of Italy welcomed it as a model of correct +and polished writing. At the same time the critics seem to have felt, +what cannot fail to strike a modern reader, that the difficulties of +treating such a theme in the Virgilian manner, and the patience of the +stylist, had rendered it a masterpiece of ingenuity rather than a work +of genius.[438] Sannazzaro's epigrams, composed in the spirit of +bitterest hostility towards the Borgia family, were not less famous +than his epic. Alfonso of Aragon took the poet with him during his +campaign against the Papal force in the Abruzzi; and these satires, +hastily written in the tent and by the camp-fire, formed the amusement +of his officers. From the soldiers of Alfonso they speedily passed, on +the lips of courtiers and scholars, through all the cities of Italy; +nor is it easy to say how much of Lucrezia Borgia's legend may not be +traceable to their brief but envenomed couplets. What had been the +scandal of the camp acquired consistency in lines too pungent to be +forgotten and too witty to remain unquoted.[439] As a specimen of +Sannazzaro's style, the epigram on Venice may here be cited:-- + + Viderat Hadriacis Venetam Neptunus in undis + Stare urbem, et toto ponere jura mari: + Nunc mihi Tarpeias quantumvis, Jupiter, arces + Objice, et illa tui moenia Martis, ait: + Si Pelago Tybrim præfers, urbem aspice utramque; + Illam homines dices, hanc posuisse deos.[440] + +[Footnote 438: 'Lilius Gyraldus,' loc. cit. p. 384, writes about this +epic, 'in quibus, ut sic dicam, statarius poeta videri potest. Non +enim verborum volubilitate fertur, sed limatius quoddam scribendi +genus consectatur, et limâ indies atterit, ut de illo non ineleganter +dictum illud Apellis de Protogene Pontanus usurpare solitus esset, eum +manum de tabulâ tollere nescire.'] + +[Footnote 439: See _Delitiæ Poetarum Italorum_, second part, pp. +713-761. The following couplet on the death of Cesare Borgia is +celebrated:-- + + Aut nihil aut Cæsar vult dici Borgia; quidni? + Cum simul et Cæsar possit et esse nihil.] + +[Footnote 440: 'When Neptune beheld Venice stationed in the Adriatic +waters, and giving laws to all the ocean, "Now taunt me, Jupiter, with +the Tarpeian rock and those walls of thy son Mars!" he cried. "If thou +preferrest Tiber to the sea, look on both cities; thou wilt say the +one was built by men, the other by gods."'] + +I have already touched upon the Virgilianism of Sannazzaro's 'Partus +Virginis.'[441] What the cold churches of Palladio are to Christian +architecture, this frigid epic is to Christian poetry. Leo X. +delighted to recognise the Gospel narrative beneath a fancy dress of +mythological inventions, and to witness the triumph of classical +scholarship in the holy places of the mediæval faith. To fuse the +traditions of Biblical and secular antiquity was, as I have often +said, the dream of the Renaissance. What Pico and Ficino attempted in +philosophical treatises, the poets sought to effect by form. Religion, +attiring herself in classic drapery, threw off the cobwebs of the +Catacombs, and acquired the right of _petites entrées_ at the Vatican. +It did not signify that she had sacrificed her majesty to fashion, or +that her tunic _à la mode antique_ was badly made. Her rouge and +spangles enchanted the scholarly Pontiff, who forthwith ordered Vida +to compose the 'Christiad,' and gave him a benefice at Frascati in +order that he might enjoy a poet's ease. Vida's epic, like +Sannazzaro's, was not finished during the lifetime of Leo. Both the +'Christiad' and the 'Partus Virginis' reflected lustre on the age of +Clement. + +[Footnote 441: See above, p. 288.] + +Vida won his first laurels in the field of didactic poetry. Virgilian +exercises on the breeding of silkworms and the game of chess displayed +his faculty for investing familiar subjects with the graces of a +polished style.[442] Such poems, whether written in Latin, or, like +the 'Api' of Rucellai, in Italian, gratified the taste of the +Renaissance, always appreciative of form independent of the matter it +invested. For a modern student Vida's metrical treatise in three books +on the 'Art of Poetry' has greater interest; since it illustrates the +final outcome of classic studies in the age of Leo. The 'Poetica' is +addressed to Francis, Dauphin of France, in his Spanish prison:[443]-- + + Primus ades, Francisce; sacras ne despice Musas, + Regia progenies, cui regum debita sceptra + Gallorum, cum firma annis accesserit ætas. + Hæc tibi parva ferunt jam nunc solatia dulces; + Dum procul a patriâ raptum, amplexuque tuorum, + Ah dolor! Hispanis sors impia detinet oris, + Henrico cum fratre; patris sic fata tulerunt + Magnanimi, dum fortunâ luctatur iniquâ. + Parce tamen, puer, o lacrymis; fata aspera forsan + Mitescent, aderitque dies lætissima tandem + Post triste exilium patriis cum redditus oris + Lætitiam ingentem populorum, omnesque per urbes + Accipies plausus, et lætas undique voces; + Votaque pro reditu persolvent debita matres. + Interea te Pierides comitentur; in altos + Jam te Parnassi mecum aude attollere lucos.[444] + +[Footnote 442: _Bombycum; Libri duo. Scacchia, Ludus; Liber unus._ +Pope's _Poemata Italorum_, vol. i. pp. 103-130; pp. 190-210. The +former poem is addressed to Isabella Gonzaga, née d'Este.] + +[Footnote 443: _Poemata Selecta_, pp. 207-266. It will be remembered +that Francis I., after Pavia, gave his two sons as hostages to Charles +V.] + +[Footnote 444: 'Thou, Francis, art the first to answer to my call. +Scorn not the sacred Muses, scion of a royal line, to whom the sceptre +of the kings of Gallia in due season of maturity will pass. Their +sweetness even now shall yield thee some slight solace, exiled from +home and fatherland by fate impiteous on the Spanish shore, thee and +thy brother Henry. So the fortunes of thy mighty-hearted father +willed, condemned to strive against unequal doom. Yet spare thy tears: +perchance hard fate will soften, and a day of supreme joy will come at +last, when, after thy sad exile, once more given to thy nation, thou +shalt behold thy country's gladness, and hear the shouts of all her +cities and the ringing songs of happiness, and mothers shall perform +their vows for thy return. Meanwhile let the maidens of Pieria attend +thee; and, with me for guide, ascend into the groves of high +Parnassus.'] + +After this dedication Vida describes the solace to be found in poetry, +and adds some precepts on the preparation of the student's mind.[445] +A rapid review of the history of poetry--the decline of Greek +inspiration after Homer, and of Latin after Virgil; the qualities of +the Silver Age, and the Revival of letters under the Medici at +Florence--serves to show how narrow the standard of Italian culture +had become between the period of Poliziano, who embraced so much in +his sketch of literature, and that of Vida, who confined himself to so +little. The criticism is not unjust; but it proves that the refinement +of taste by scholarship had resulted in restricting students to one or +two models, whom they followed with servility.[446] Having thus +established his general view of the poetic art, Vida proceeds to +sketch a plan of education. The qualities and duties of a tutor are +described; and here we may notice how far Vittorino's and Guarino's +methods had created an ideal of training for Italy. The preceptor must +above all things avoid violence, and aim at winning the affections of +his pupil; it would be well for him to associate several youths in the +same course of study, so as to arouse their emulation. He must not +neglect their games, and must always be careful to suit his method to +the different talents of his charges. When the special studies to be +followed are discussed, Vida points out that Cicero is the best school +of Latin style. He recommends the early practice of bucolic verse, and +inculcates the necessity of treating youthful essays with indulgence. +These topics are touched with more or less felicity of phrase and +illustration; and though the subject-matter is sufficiently trite, the +good sense and kindly feeling of the writer win respect. The first +book concludes with a peroration on the dignity and sanctity of poets, +a theme the humanists were never weary of embroidering.[447] The +second describes the qualities of a good poem, as these were conceived +by the refined but formal taste of the sixteenth century. It should +begin quietly, and manage to excite without satisfying the curiosity +of the reader. Vain displays of learning are to be avoided. Episodes +and similes must occur at proper intervals; and a frugal seasoning of +humour will be found agreeable. All repetitions should be shunned, and +great care should be taken to vary the narrative with picturesque +descriptions. Rhetoric, again, is not unworthy of attention, when the +poet seeks to place convenient and specious arguments in the mouths of +his personages. + +[Footnote 445: + + tibi digna supellex + Verborum rerumque paranda est, proque videnda + Instant multa prius, quorum vatum indiget usus. + + _Poemata Selecta_, p. 209.] + +[Footnote 446: After mentioning the glories of Virgil, Vida adds:-- + + Sperare nefas sit vatibus ultra. + Nulla mora, ex illo in pejus ruere omnia visa, + Degenerare animi, atque retro res lapsa referri. + Hic namque ingenio confisus posthabet artem; + Ille furit strepitu, tenditque æquare tubarum + Voce sonos, versusque tonat sine more per omnes; + Dant alii cantus vacuos, et inania verba + Incassum, solâ capti dulcedine vocis. + +_Poemata Selecta_, p. 213. Cf. the advice (p. 214) to follow none but +Virgil:-- + + Ergo ipsum ante alios animo venerare Maronem, + Atque unum sequere, utque potes, vestigia serva.] + +[Footnote 447: + + Dona deûm Musæ: vulgus procul este profanum. + +_Poemata Selecta_, p. 224; and again, _ib._ p. 226:-- + + Tu Jovis ambrosiis das nos accumbere mensis; + Tu nos diis æquas superis, &c.] + +It is difficult in a summary to do justice to this portion of Vida's +poem. His description of the ideal epic is indeed nothing more or less +than a refined analysis of the 'Æneid;' and students desirous of +learning what the Italians of the sixteenth century admired in Virgil +will do well to study its acute and sober criticism. A panegyric of +Leo closes the second book. From this peroration some lines upon the +woes of Italy may be read with profit, as proving that the nation, +conscious of its own decline, was contented to accept the primacy of +culture in exchange for independence:-- + + Dii Romæ indigetes, Trojæ tuque auctor, Apollo + Unde genus nostrum coeli se tollit ad astra, + Hanc saltem auferri laudem prohibete Latinis: + Artibus emineat semper, studiisque Minervæ, + Italia, et gentes doceat pulcherrima Roma; + Quandoguidem armorum penitus fortuna recessit, + Tanta Italos inter crevit discordia reges; + Ipsi nos inter sacros distringimus enses, + Nec patriam pudet externis aperire tyrannis.[448] + +[Footnote 448: 'Ye native gods of Rome! and thou, Apollo, Troy's +founder! by whom our race is raised to heaven! let not at least this +glory be withdrawn from Latium's children: may Italy for ever hold the +heights of art and learning, and most beauteous Rome instruct the +nations; albeit all success in arms be lost, so great hath grown the +discord of Italia's princes. Yea, one against the other, we draw +bloody swords, nor feel we any shame in calling foreign tyrants into +our own land.'--_Poemata Selecta_, p. 245.] + +The third book treats of style and diction. To be clear and varied, to +command metaphor and allusion, to choose phrases coloured by mythology +and fancy, to suit the language to the subject, to vary the metrical +cadence with the thought and feeling, and to be assiduous in the use +of the file are mentioned as indispensable to excellence. A peroration +on Virgil, sonorous and impassioned, closes the whole poem, which, +rightly understood, is a monument erected to the fame of the Roman +bard by the piety of his Italian pupil. The final lines are justly +famous:-- + + O decus Italiæ! lux o clarissima vatum! + Te colimus, tibi serta damus, tibi thura, tibi aras; + Et tibi rite sacrum semper dicemus honorem + Carminibus memores. Salve, sanctissime vates! + Laudibus augeri tua gloria nil potis ultra, + Et nostræ nil vocis eget; nos aspice præsens, + Pectoribusque tuos castis infunde calores + Adveniens, pater, atque animis te te insere nostris.[449] + +[Footnote 449: 'Hail, light of Italy, thou brightest of the bards! +Thee we worship, thee we adore with wreaths, with frankincense, with +altars; to thee, as duty bids, for everlasting will we chaunt our holy +hymns. Hail, consecrated bard! No increase to thy glory flows from +praise, nor needs it voice of ours. Be near, and look upon thy +votaries; come, father, and infuse thy fervour into our chaste hearts, +and plant thyself within our souls.'--_Poemata Selecta_, p. 266.] + +Vida's own intellect was clear, and his style perspicuous; but his +genius was mediocre. His power lay in the disposition of materials and +in illustration. A precise taste, formed on Cicero and Virgil, and +exercised with judgment in a narrow sphere, satisfied his critical +requirements. Virgil with him was first and last, and midst and +without end. In a word, he shows what a scholar of sound parts and +rhetorical aptitude could achieve by the study and imitation of a +single author. + +Since I have begun to speak of didactic poems, I may take this +opportunity of noticing Fracastoro, who seems to have chosen Pontanus +for his model, and, while emulating both Lucretius and Virgil, to have +fallen short of Vida's elegance. His work is less remarkable for +purity of diction than for massiveness of intellect, gravity of +matter, and constructive ability. Jeronimo Fracastoro was born in 1483 +at Verona, where he spent the greater portion of his life, enjoying +high reputation as a physician, philosopher, astronomer, and poet. +During his youth he studied under Pomponazzo at Padua. The strong +tincture of materialistic science he there received, continued through +life to colour his thought. Among modern Pagans none is more +completely bare of Christianity than Fracastoro. As is well known, he +chose the new and terrible disease of the Renaissance for his theme, +and gave a name to it that still is current. To speak of Fracastoro's +'Syphilis,' dedicated to Bembo, hailed with acclamation by all Italy, +preferred by Sannazzaro to his own epic, and praised by Julius Cæsar +Scaliger as a 'divine poem,' is not easy now. The plague it celebrates +appeared at Naples in 1495, and spread like wildfire over Europe, +assuming at first the form of an epidemic sparing neither Pope nor +king, and stirring less disgust than dread among its victims.[450] +Whether the laws of its propagation were rightly understood in the +sixteenth century is a question for physicians to decide. No one +appears to have suspected that it differed in specific character from +other pestilent disorders; and it is clear, both from contemporary +chronicles and from Fracastoro's poem, that the _mal franzese_, as it +was popularly called, suggested to the people of that age associations +different from those that have since gathered round it. At the same +time more formidable and less loathsome, it was a not more unworthy +subject for verse than the plague at Athens described by Lucretius. +Treating the disease, therefore, as a curse common to his generation, +the scientific poet dared to set forth its symptoms, to prescribe +remedies, to discuss the question of its origin, and to use it as an +illustration of antagonistic forces, pernicious and beneficent, in the +economy of nature. To philosophise his repulsive subject-matter was +the author's ambition. His contemporaries admired the poetic graces +with which he had contrived to adorn it. + +[Footnote 450: See Vol. I., _Age of the Despots_, p. 433, note.] + +The exordium of the first book states the problem. Whence came this +new scourge of humanity? Not, surely, from America, though it is there +indigenous. Its diffusion after the disasters of 1494 was too rapid to +admit of this hypothesis.[451] To the corruption of the atmosphere +must be referred the general invasion of the plague.[452] The theory +of infected and putrescent air is stated in a long Lucretian passage, +followed by a scientific account of the symptoms of syphilis. At this +point the poet diversifies his argument by an episode, narrating the +sad death of a young man born on the banks of the Oglio, and leading +by gradual transitions to a peroration on the wars and woes of +Italy.[453] Over all the poets of this age the miseries of their +country hung like a cloud, and, touch the lyre as they may at the +beginning of their song, it is certain ere the ending to give forth a +dolorous groan. In the second book Fracastoro enters on the subject of +remedies. He lays stress on choice of air, abundant exercise, +avoidance of wine and heating diet, blood-letting, abstinence from +sensual pleasures, fomentations, herbs, and divers minute rules of +health. By attention to these matters the disease may be, if not +shunned, at least mitigated. The sovereign remedy of quicksilver +demanded fuller illustration; therefore the poet introduces the +legendary episode of the shepherd Ilceus, conducted by the nymph +Liparë to the sulphur founts and lakes of mercury beneath Mount Etna. +Ilceus bathed, and was renewed in health. The rigorously didactic +intention of Fracastoro is proved by the recipe for a mercurial +ointment and the description of salivation that wind up this +book.[454] The third opens with an allusion to the discovery of +America, and a celebration of the tree Hyacus (Guaiacum). It is +noticeable that, with such an opportunity for singing the praises of +Columbus, Fracastoro passed him by, nor cared to claim for Italy a +share in the greatest achievement of the century. Mingling myth with +history, he next proceeds to tell how the Spaniards arrived in the +West Indies, and shot birds sacred to the Sun,[455] one of which spoke +with human voice, predicting the evils that would fall upon the crew +for their impiety. Not the least of these was to be a strange and +terrible disease. The natives of the islands flocked to meet the +strangers, and some of them were tettered with a ghastly eruption. +This leads to the episodical legend of the shepherd Syphilus, who +dared to deride the Sun-god, and of the king Alcithous, who accepted +divine honours in his stead. The Sun, to requite the insolence of +Syphilus, afflicted him with a dreadful sickness. It yielded to no +cure until the nymph Ammericë initiated him in the proper lustral +rites, and led him to the tree Hyacus. The poem ends with a panegyric +of Guaiacum. + +[Footnote 451: + + quoniam in primis ostendere multos + Possumus, attactu qui nullius hanc tamen ipsam + Sponte suâ sensere luem, primique tulere. + + _Poemata Selecta_, p. 67.] + +[Footnote 452: + + Quumque animadvertas, tam vastæ semina labis + Esse nec in terræ gremio, nec in æquore posse, + Haud dubie tecum statuas reputesque necesse est, + Principium sedemque mali consistere in ipso + Aëre, qui terras circum diffunditur omnes. + + _Ibid._ p. 69.] + +[Footnote 453: _Ibid._ pp. 79, 80.] + +[Footnote 454: _Ibid._ pp. 95, 96.] + +[Footnote 455: These phrases he finds for a fowling-piece:-- + + Cava terrificis horrentia bombis + Aera, et flammiferum tormenta imitantia fulmen. + + _Poemata Selecta_, p. 101.] + +I have sketched the subject of the 'Syphilis' in outline because of +its importance not only for the neo-Latin literature of the +Renaissance, but also for the history of medical opinion. As a +didactic poem, it is constructed with considerable art; the style, +though prosaic, is forcible, and the meaning is always precise. +Falling short of classic elegance, Fracastoro may still be said to +have fulfilled the requirements of Vida, and to have added something +male and vigorous peculiar to himself. His adulatory verses to +Alessandro Farnese, Paul III., and Julius III. might be quoted as +curious examples of fulsome flattery conveyed in a _barocco_ style. +They combine Papal cant with Pagan mannerism, Virgilian and Biblical +phraseology, masculine gravity of diction and far-fetched conceits, in +a strange amalgam, as awkward as it is ridiculous.[456] + +[Footnote 456: Cf. the passage about Alessandro Farnese's journeys-- + + Matre deâ comitante et iter monstrante nepoti-- + +and the reformation in Germany. _Poemata Selecta_, p. 125. The whole +idyll addressed to Julius III., _ib._ pp. 130-135, is inconceivably +uncouth.] + +Another group of Latin versifiers, with Bembo at their head, +cultivated the elegy, the idyll, and the ode. The authors of their +predilection were Catullus, Propertius, and Tibullus. Abandoning the +attempt to mould Christian or modern material into classic form, they +frankly selected Pagan motives, and adhered in spirit as well as style +to their models. Two elegiac poems of Bembo's, the 'Priapus' and the +'Faunus ad Nympeum Flumen,' may be cited as flagrant specimens of +sixteenth-century licentiousness.[457] Polished language and almost +faultless versification are wasted upon themes of rank obscenity. The +'Priapus,' translated and amplified in Italian _ottava rima_, gained a +popular celebrity beyond the learned circles for whom it was +originally written. We may trace its influence in many infamous +Capitoli of the burlesque poets. Bembo excelled in elegiac verse. In a +poem entitled 'De Amicâ a Viro Servatâ,' he treated a characteristically +Italian subject with something of Ovid's graceful humour.[458] A lover +complains of living near his mistress, closely watched by her jealous +husband. Here, as elsewhere, the morality is less to be admired than +the versification; and that the latter, in spite of Bembo's scrupulous +attention to metre, is not perfect, may be gathered from this line:-- + + Tunc quos nunc habeo et quos sum olim habiturus amicos. + +[Footnote 457: _Carmina Quinque Illustrium Poetarum_, pp. 4 and 9-11.] + +[Footnote 458: _Ib._ pp. 18-23.] + +After reading hexameters so constructed we are tempted to shut the +book with a groan, wondering how it was that a Pope's secretary and a +prince of the Church should have thought it worth his while to compose +a poem so injurious to his reputation as a moralist, or to preserve in +it a verse so little favourable to his fame as a Latinist. More +beautiful, because more true to classic inspiration, is the elegy of +'Galatea.'[459] The idyllic incidents suggest a series of pretty +pictures for bas-reliefs or decorative frescoes in the manner of +Albano. Bembo's masterpiece, however, in the elegiac metre, is a poem +with 'De Galeso et Maximo' for its title.[460] It was composed, as the +epigraph informs us, at the command of a great man at Rome; but +whether that great man was also the greatest in Rome, and whether +Maximus was another name for Leo, is matter of conjecture. The boy +Galesus had wronged Maximus, his master. When reproved, he offered no +excuses, called no witnesses, uttered no prayers to Heaven, indulged +in no asseverations of innocence, shed no tears:-- + + Nil horum aggreditur; sed tantum ingrata loquentis + Implicitus collo dulce pependit onus. + Nec mora, cunctanti roseis tot pressa labellis + Oscula coelitibus invidiosa dedit, + Arida quot levibus florescit messis aristis, + Excita quot vernis floribus halat humus. + Maxime, quid dubitas? Si te piget, ipse tuo me + Pone loco: hæc dubitem non ego ferre mala.[461] + +[Footnote 459: _Carmina Quinque Illustrium Poetarum_, p. 7.] + +[Footnote 460: _Ib._ p. 23.] + +[Footnote 461: + + None of these things he tried; but only ran, + And clasped with his sweet arms the angry man; + Hung on his neck, rained kisses forth that Heaven + Envied from those red lips to mortals given; + In number like ripe ears of ruddy corn, + Or flowers beneath the breath of April born. + Still doubting, Maximus? Change place with me: + Gladly I'd bear such infidelity.] + +Bembo's talent lay in compositions of this kind. His verses, to quote +the phrase of Gyraldus, were uniformly 'sweet, soft, and delicate.' +When he attempted work involving more sustained effort of the +intellect and greater variety of treatment, he was not so successful. +His hexameter poem 'Benacus,' a description of the Lago di Garda, +dedicated to Gian Matteo Giberti, reads like an imitation of Catullus +without the Roman poet's grace of style or wealth of fancy.[462] Among +Bembo's most perfect compositions may be reckoned his epitaphs on +celebrated contemporaries. The following written for Poliziano, +deserves quotation.[463] Not only is the death of the scholar, +following close upon that of his patron, happily touched, but the last +line pays a proper tribute to Poliziano as an Italian poet:-- + + Duceret extincto cum mors Laurente triumphum, + Lætaque pullatis inveheretur equis, + Respicit insano ferientem pollice chordas, + Viscera singultu concutiente, virum. + Mirata est, tenuitque jugum; furit ipse, pioque + Laurentem cunctos flagitat ore Deos: + Miscebat precibus lacrymas, lacrymisque dolorem; + Verba ministrabat liberiora dolor. + Risit, et antiquæ non immemor illa querelæ, + Orphei Tartareæ cum patuere viæ, + Hic etiam infernas tentat rescindere leges, + Fertque suas, dixit, in mea jura manus. + Protinus et flentem percussit dura poetam, + Rupit et in medio pectora docta sono. + Heu sic tu raptus, sic te mala fata tulerunt, + Arbiter Ausoniæ, Politiane, lyræ.[464] + +[Footnote 462: _Carmina Quinque Illustrium Poetarum_, pp. 26-34.] + +[Footnote 463: _Ib._ p. 38.] + +[Footnote 464: 'When Lorenzo was dead, and Death went by in triumph, +drawn by her black horses, her eyes fell on one who madly struck the +chords, while sighs convulsed his breast. She turned, and stayed the +car; he storms and calls on all the gods for Lorenzo, mixing tears +with prayers, and sorrow with his tears, while sorrow suggests words +of wilder freedom. Death laughed; remembering her old grudge, when +Orpheus made his way to hell, she cried, "Lo, he too seeks to abrogate +our laws, and lays his hand upon my rights!" Nor more delay; she +struck the poet while he wept, and broke his heart-strings in the +middle of his sighs. Alas! thus wast thou taken from us, ravished by +harsh fate, Politian, master of the Italian lyre!'] + +More richly endowed for poetry than Bembo was his fellow-countryman +Andrea Navagero. Few Latin versifiers of the Renaissance combined so +much true feeling and fancy with a style more pure and natural. Some +of his little compositions, half elegy, half idyll, have the grace and +freedom of the Greek Anthology.[465] There is a simple beauty in their +motives, while the workmanship reminds us of chiselling in smooth waxy +marble; unlike the Roman epigrammatists, Navagero avoided pointed +terminations.[466] The picture of Narcissus dead and transformed to a +flower, in the elegy of 'Acon,' might be quoted as a fair specimen of +his manner:-- + + Magna Parens, quæ cuncta leves producis in auras, + Totaque diverso germine picta nites; + Quæ passim arboribus, passim surgentibus herbis, + Sufficis omnifero larga alimenta sinu; + Excipe languentem puerum, moribundaque membra, + Æternumque tuâ fac, Dea, vivat ope. + Vivet, et ille vetus Zephyro redeunte quotannis + In niveo candor flore perennis erit.[467] + +[Footnote 465: Notice especially 'Thyrsidis vota Veneri,' 'Invitatio +ad amoenum fontem,' 'Leucippem amicam spe præmiorum invitat,' 'Vota +Veneri ut amantibus faveat,' and 'In Almonem.'--_Carmina_, &c. pp. 52, +53, 54, 55.] + +[Footnote 466: Paolo Giovio noticed this; in his _Elogia_ he writes, +'_Epigrammata non falsis aculeatisque finibus, sed tenerâ illâ et +prædulci priscâ suavitate claudebat._'] + +[Footnote 467: 'Mighty mother, thou who bringest all things forth to +breathe the liquid air, who shinest in thy painted robe of diverse +budding lives, thou who from thy teeming bosom givest nourishment to +trees and sprouting herbs in every region of the earth, take to +thyself the fainting boy, cherish his dying limbs, and make him live +for ever by thy aid. Yes, he shall live; and that white loveliness of +his, each year as spring returns, shall blossom in a snowy +flower.'--_Carmina_, &c. p. 57.] + +The warnings addressed to his mistress in her country rambles, to +beware of rustic gods, and the whole eclogue of 'Iolas,' are written +in a rich and facile style, that makes us wonder whether some poet of +the Græco-Roman period did not live again in Navagero.[468] Only here +and there, as in the case of all this neo-Latin writing, an awkward +word or a defective cadence breaks the spell, and reminds us that it +was an artificial thing. A few lines forming the exordium to an +unfinished poem on Italy may be inserted here for their intrinsic +interest:-- + + Salve, cura Deûm, mundi felicior ora, + Formosæ Veneris dulces salvete recessus: + Ut vos post tantos animi mentisque labores + Aspicio, lustroque libens! ut munere vestro + Sollicitas toto depello e pectore curas![469] + +[Footnote 468: 'Ad Gelliam rusticantem,' _Carmina_, &c. pp. 64-66. +'Iolas,' _ib._ pp. 66-68.] + +[Footnote 469: 'Hail, darling of the gods, thou happiest spot of +earth! hail chosen haunt of beauty's queen! What joy I feel to see you +thus again, and tread your shores after so many toils endured in mind +and soul! How from my heart by your free gift I cast all anxious +cares!'--_Carmina_, &c. p. 84.] + +Navagero, we are told, composed these verses on his return from a +legation to Spain. Born in 1483, he spent his youth and early manhood +in assiduous study. Excessive application undermined his health, and +Giovio relates that he began to suffer from _atra bilis_, or the +melancholy of scholars. The Venetian Senate had engaged him to compose +the history of the Republic in Latin; this work was already begun when +illness forced him to abandon it. He was afterwards employed in an +unsuccessful mission to Charles V. and in diplomatic business at the +Court of France. He died at Blois of fever, contracted in one of his +hurried journeys. He was only forty-six when he perished, bequeathing +to immediate posterity the fame of a poet at least equal to the +ancients. In that age of affectation and effort the natural flow of +Navagero's verse, sensuous without coarseness and highly coloured +without abuse of epithets, raised a chorus of applause that may strike +the modern student as excessive. The memorial poems written on his +death praise the purity of sentiment and taste which made him burn a +copy of Martial yearly to the chaste Muses.[470] One friend calls +upon the Nereids to build his tomb by the silent waters of the +lagoons, and bids the Faun of Italy lament with broken reeds.[471] +Another prophesies that his golden poems will last as many years as +there are flowers in spring, or grapes in autumn, or storms upon the +sea, or stars in heaven, or kisses in Catullus, or atoms in the +universe of Lucretius.[472] + +[Footnote 470: See the Hendecasyllabics of Johannes Matthæus, +_Carmina_, &c. p. 86.] + +[Footnote 471: Basilius Zanchius, _Carmina_, &c. p. 85.] + +[Footnote 472: M. Antonius Flaminius, _ib._ p. 85.] + +A place very close to Navagero might be claimed for Francesco Maria +Molsa, a nobleman of Modena, who enjoyed great fame at Rome for his +Latin and Italian poetry. After a wild life of pleasure he died at the +age of forty-one, worn out with love and smitten by the plague of the +Renaissance. The sweetest of his elegies celebrate the charms of +Faustina Mancini, his favourite mistress. In spite of what Italians +would call their _morbidezza_, it is impossible not to feel some +contempt for the polished fluency, the sensual relaxation, of these +soulless verses. A poem addressed to his friends upon his sick bed, +within sight of certain death, combines the author's melody of cadence +with a certain sobriety of thought and tender dignity of feeling.[473] +It is, perhaps, of all his compositions the worthiest to live. The +following couplets describe the place which he would choose for his +sepulchre:-- + + Non operosa peto titulos mihi marmora ponant, + Nostra sed accipiat fictilis ossa cadus; + Exceptet gremio quæ mox placidissima tellus, + Immites possint ne nocuisse feræ. + Rivulus hæc circum dissectus obambulet, unda + Clivoso qualis tramite ducta sonat; + Exiguis stet cæsa notis super ossa sepulta, + Nomen et his servet parva tabella meum: + Hic jacet ante annos crudeli tabe peremptus + Molsa; ter injecto pulvere, pastor, abi. + Forsitan in putrem longo post tempore glebam + Vertar, et hæc flores induet urna novos; + Populus aut potius abruptis artubus alba + Formosâ exsurgam conspicienda comâ. + Scilicet huc diti pecoris comitata magistro + Conveniet festo pulchra puella die; + Quæ molles ductet choreas, et veste recinctâ + Ad certos nôrit membra movere modos.[474] + +[Footnote 473: _Poemata Selecta_, pp. 203-206. An elegy written by +Janus Etruscus, Pope's _Poemata Italorum_, vol. ii. p. 25, on a +similar theme, though very inferior to Molsa's, may be compared with +it.] + +[Footnote 474: 'I ask for no monument of wrought marble to proclaim my +titles: let a vase of baked clay receive these bones. Let earth, +quietest of resting-places, take them to herself, and save them from +the injury of ravening wolves. And let a running stream divide its +waters round my grave, drawn with the sound of music from a +mountain-flank. A little tablet carved with simple letters will be +enough to mark the spot, and to preserve my name: "Here lies Molsa, +slain before his day by wasting sickness: cast dust upon him thrice, +and go thy way, gentle shepherd." It may be that after many years I +shall turn to yielding clay, and my tomb shall deck herself with +flowers; or, better, from my limbs shall spring a white poplar, and in +its beauteous foliage I shall rise into the light of heaven. To this +place will come, I hope, some lovely maid attended by the master of +the flock; and she shall dance above my bones and move her feet to +rhythmic music.'] + +The Paganism of the Renaissance, exchanging Christian rites for old +mythologies, and classic in the very tomb, has rarely found sweeter +expression than in this death song. We trace in it besides a note of +modern feeling, the romantic sense of community with nature in the +immortality of trees and flowers.[475] + +[Footnote 475: For the picture of the girl dancing on the lover's +grave, cf. Omar Khayyam. Cf. too Walt Whitman's metaphor for +grass--'the beautiful uncut hair of graves.'] + +Castiglione cannot claim comparison with Navagero for sensuous charm +and easy flow of verse. Nor has he those touches of genuine poetry +which raise Molsa above the level of a fluent versifier. His Latin +exercises, however, offer much that is interesting to a student of +Renaissance literature; while the depth of feeling and the earnestness +of thought in his clear and powerful hexameters surpass the best +efforts of Bembo's artificial muse. When we read the idyll entitled +'Alcon,' a lamentation for the friend whom he had loved in youth-- + + Alcon deliciæ Musarum et Apollinis, Alcon + Pars animæ, cordis pars Alcon maxima nostri--[476] + +we are impelled to question how far Milton owed the form of 'Lycidas' +to these Italian imitations of the Græco-Roman style. What seemed +false in tone to Johnson, what still renders that elegy the +stumbling-block of taste to immature and unsympathetic students, is +the highly artificial form given to natural feeling. Grief clothes +herself in metaphors, and, abstaining from the direct expression of +poignant emotion, dwells on thoughts and images that have a beauty of +their own for solace. Nor is it in this quality of art alone that +'Lycidas' reminds us of Renaissance Latin verse. The curious blending +of allusions to Church and State with pastoral images is no less +characteristic of the Italian manner. As in 'Lycidas,' so also in +these lines from Castiglione's 'Alcon,' the truth of sorrow transpires +through a thin veil of bucolic romance:-- + + Heu miserande puer, fatis surrepte malignis! + Non ego te posthac, pastorum adstante coronâ, + Victorem aspiciam volucri certare sagittâ; + Aut jaculo, aut durâ socios superare palæstrâ. + Non tecum posthac molli resupinus in umbrâ + Effugiam longos æstivo tempore soles: + Non tua vicinos mulcebit fistula montes, + Docta nec umbrosæ resonabunt carmina valles: + Non tua corticibus toties inscripta Lycoris, + Atque ignis Galatea meus nos jam simul ambos + Audierint ambæ nostros cantare furores. + Nos etenim a teneris simul usque huc viximus annis, + Frigora pertulimusque æstus noctesque diesque, + Communique simul sunt parta armenta labore. + Rura mea hæc tecum communia; viximus una: + Te moriente igitur curnam mihi vita relicta est? + Heu male me ira Deûm patriis abduxit ab oris, + Ne manibus premerem morientia lumina amicis.[477] + +[Footnote 476: 'Alcon, the darling of Phoebus and the Muses; Alcon, +a part of my own soul; Alcon, the greatest part of my own +heart.'--_Carmina Quinque Poetarum_, p. 89.] + +[Footnote 477: 'Alas! poor youth, withdrawn from us by fate malign. +Never again shall I behold thee, while the shepherds stand around, win +prizes with thy flying shafts or spear, or wrestle for the crown; +never again with thee reclining in the shade shall I all through a +summer's day avoid the sun. No more shall thy pipe soothe the +neighbouring hills, the vales repeat thy artful songs. No more shall +thy Lycoris, whose name inscribed by thee the woods remember, and my +Galatea hear us both together chaunt our loves. For we like brothers +lived our lives till now from infancy: heat and cold, days and nights, +we bore; our herds were reared with toil and care together. These +fields of mine were also thine: we lived one common life. Why, then, +when thou must die, am I still left to live? Alas! in evil hour the +wrath of Heaven withdrew me from my native land, nor suffered me to +close thy lids with a friend's hands!'--_Carmina_, &c. p. 91.] + +Castiglione's most polished exercises are written on fictitious +subjects in elegiac metre. Thus he feigns a letter from his wife, in +the style of the 'Heroidum Epistolæ,' praying him to beware of Rome's +temptations, and to keep his heart for her.[478] Again he warns his +mistress to avoid the perils of the sea-beach, where the Tritons +roam:-- + + Os informe illis, rictus, oculique minaces, + Asperaque anguineo cortice membra rigent: + Barba impexa, ingens, algâ limoque virenti + Oblita, oletque gravi lurida odore coma.[479] + +[Footnote 478: _Ib._ p. 100.] + +[Footnote 479: 'Hideous is their face, their grinning mouth, their +threatening eyes, and their rough limbs are stiff with snaky scales; +their beard hangs long and wide, uncombed, tangled with sea-weed and +green ooze, and their dusky hair smells rank of brine.'--_Ib._ p. +103.] + +In these couplets we seem to read a transcript from some fresco of +Mantegna or Julio Romano. Two long elegies are devoted to the theme of +marine monsters, and the tale of Hippolytus is introduced to clinch +the poet's argument. Among Castiglione's poems of compliment, forming +a pleasant illustration to his book of the 'Courtier,' may be +mentioned the lines on 'Elisabetta Gonzaga singing.'[480] Nor can I +omit the most original of his elegies, written, or at least conceived, +in the camp of Julius before Mirandola.[481] Walking by night in the +trenches under the beleaguered walls, Castiglione meets the ghost of +Lodovico Pico, who utters a lamentation over the wrongs inflicted on +his city and his race. The roar of cannon cuts short this monologue, +and the spectre vanishes into darkness with a groan. During his long +threnody the prince of Mirandola apostrophises the warlike Pope in +these couplets:-- + + O Pater, O Pastor populorum, O maxime mundi + Arbiter, humanum qui genus omne regis; + Justitiæ pacisque dator placidæque quietis, + Credita cui soli est vita salusque hominum; + Quem Deus ipse Erebi fecit Coelique potentem, + Ut nutu pateant utraque regna tuo![482] + +[Footnote 480: 'De Elisabetta Gonzaga canente,' _Carmina_, &c. p. 97. +Cf. Bembo's 'Ad Lucretiam Borgiam,' _ib._ p. 14, on a similar theme.] + +[Footnote 481: _Ib._ p. 95.] + +[Footnote 482: 'O father, O shepherd of the nations, O great master of +the world who rulest all the human race, giver of justice, peace, and +tranquil ease; thou to whom alone is committed the life and salvation +of men, whom God Himself made lord of hell and heaven, that either +realm might open at thy nod.'] + +When the spiritual authority of the Popes came thus to be expressed in +Latin verse, it was impossible not to treat them as deities. The +temptation to apply to them the language of Roman religion was too +great; the double opportunity of flattering their vanity as Pontiffs, +and their ears as scholars, was too attractive to be missed. In +another place Castiglione used the following phrases about Leo:-- + + Nec culpanda tua est mora, nam præcepta Deorum + Non fas, nec tutum est spernere velle homini: + Esse tamen fertur clementia tanta Leonis + Ut facili humanas audiat ore preces.[483] + +[Footnote 483: 'I do not blame thee for delaying thy return, since +neither is it safe nor right for man to set at naught a God's command; +and yet so great is Leo's kindness said to be that he inclines a ready +ear to human prayers.'--_Ib._ p. 102.] + +Navagero called Julius II. _novus ex alto demissus Olympo Deus_ (a new +God sent down from heaven to earth), and declared that the people of +Italy, in thanksgiving for his liberation of their country from the +barbarians, would pay him yearly honours with prayer and praise:-- + + Ergo omnes, veluti et Phoebo Panique, quotannis + Pastores certis statuent tibi sacra diebus, + Magne Pater; nostrisque diu cantabere silvis. + Te rupes, te saxa, cavæ te, Maxime Juli, + Convalles, nemorumque frequens iterabit imago. + At vero nostris quæcumque in saltibus usquam + Quercus erit, ut quæque suos dant tempora flores, + Semper erit variis ramos innexa coronis; + Inscriptumque geret felici nomine truncum. + Tum quoties pastum expellet, pastasve reducet + Nostrum aliquis pecudes; toties id mente revolvens + Ut liceat, factum esse tuo, Pater optime, ductu; + Nullus erit, qui non libet tibi lacte recenti, + Nullus erit qui non teneros tibi nutriat agnos. + Quin audire preces nisi dedignabere agrestes, + Tu nostra ante Deos in vota vocaberis omnes. + Ipse ego bina tibi solenni altaria ritu, + Et geminos sacrâ e quercu lauroque virenti + Vicino lucos Nanceli in litore ponam.[484] + +[Footnote 484: 'Therefore shall all our shepherds pay thee divine +honours, as to Pan or Phoebus, on fixed days, great Father; and long +shalt thou be celebrated in our forests. Thy praise, Julius the Great, +the cliffs, the rocks, the hollow valleys, and the woodland echoes +shall repeat. Wherever in our groves an oak tree stands, as spring and +summer bring the flowers, its branches shall be hung with wreaths, its +trunk shall be inscribed with thy auspicious name. As often as our +shepherds drive the flocks afield, or bring them pastured home, each +one, remembering that he does this under thy protection, shall pour +libations of new milk forth to thee, and rear thee tender lambs for +sacrifice. Nay, if thou spurn not rustic prayers, before all gods +shall we invoke thee in our supplications. I myself will build and +dedicate to thee two altars, and will plant twin groves of sacred oak +and laurel evergreen for thee.'--_Carmina_, &c. pp. 58, 59.] + +It will be remembered that the oak was the ensign of the Della Rovere +family, so that when the poets exalted Julius to Olympus, they were +not in want of a tree sacred to the new deity. To trace this Pagan +flattery of the Popes through all its forms would be a tedious +business. It will be enough to quote Poliziano's 'Sapphics' to +Innocent VIII.:-- + + Roma cui paret dominusque Tibris, + Qui vicem summi geris hic Tonantis, + Qui potes magnum reserare et idem + Claudere coelum.[485] + +[Footnote 485: 'Thou whom Rome obeys, and royal Tiber, who wieldest +upon earth the Thunderer's power, whose it is to lock and open the +gates of heaven.'--_Ib._ p. 260.] + +A more quaint confusion of Latin mythology and mediæval superstition, +more glibly and trippingly conveyed in flimsy verse, can hardly be +imagined; and yet even this, I think, is beaten by the ponderous +conceits of Fracastoro, who, through the mouth of the goat-footed Pan, +saluted Julius III. as the mountain of salvation, playing on his name +Del Monte:-- + + Hoc in Monte Dei pecudes pascentur et agni, + Graminis æterni pingues et velleris aurei; + Exsilient et aquæ vivæ, quibus ubera capræ + Grandia distendant, distendant ubera vaccæ.[486] + +[Footnote 486: 'In this mountain of the Lord shall flocks and herds +feed, fat with eternal pastures and golden-fleeced. Living waters too +shall leap forth, wherewith the goats shall swell their udders, and +the kine likewise.'--_Poemata Selecta_, p. 132.] + +The mountain soon becomes a shepherd, and the shepherd not only rules +the people, and feeds the sheep of God, but chains the monsters of the +Reformation to a rock in Caucasus, and gives peace and plenty to +Italy:-- + + Æternis illum numeris ad sidera tollent, + Heroemque, deumque, salutiferumque vocabunt.[487] + +[Footnote 487: 'Him with immortal verse the poets shall exalt to +heaven, and call him hero, god, and saviour.'--_Ib._ p. 133.] + +Returning to Castiglione: I have already spoken of his epitaph on +Raphael and his description of the newly-discovered 'Ariadne.'[488] +The latter exercise in rhetoric competes with Sadoleto's laboured +hexameters on the Laocoon. These verses, frigid as a prize poem in our +estimation, moved Bembo to enthusiasm. When they appeared he wrote to +Sadoleto, 'I have read your poem on Laocoon a hundred times. O +wonder-working bard! Not only have you made for us, as it were, a +second statue to match that masterpiece; but you have engraved upon my +mind the very statue itself.' This panegyric stirs a smile when we +compare it with Sadoleto's own prolusion, the fruit of a grave +intellect and cultivated taste rather than of genius and +inspiration.[489] + +[Footnote 488: See above, pp. 312, 317.] + +[Footnote 489: See _Carmina Quinque Poetarum_, pp. 318-336.] + +Time would fail to tell of all the later Latin poets--of La Casa's +polished lyrics in the style of Horace, of Amalteo's waxen eclogues, +of Aonio Paleario's fantastic hexameters upon the 'Immortality of the +Soul,'[490] of Strozzi's elegies, of Ariosto's epigrams, and +Calcagnini's learned muse. When I repeat that every educated man wrote +Latin verses in that century, and that all who could committed their +productions to the press, enough has been said to prove the +impossibility of dealing more than superficially with so vast a mass +of meritorious mediocrity. + +[Footnote 490: A didactic poem in three books; Pope's _Poemata +Italorum_, vol. i. pp. 211-270. The description of the Resurrection, +the Last Judgment, and the entrance of the blessed into Paradise, +forming the conclusion of the last book, is an excellent specimen of +_barocco_ style and bathos. Virgil had written, '_Ite domum pasti, si +quis pudor, ite juvenci!_' Paleario makes the Judge address the damned +souls thus: '_Ite domum in tristem, si quis pudor, ite ruentes_,' &c. +How close Milton's path lay to the worst faults in poetry, and how +wonderfully he escaped, may well be calculated by the study of such +verse as this.] + +One name remains to be rescued from the decent obscurity of the +'Delitiæ Poetarum Italorum.' Marcantonio Flaminio was born at +Seravalle in 1498. He came, while yet a young man, to the Court of Leo +armed with Latin poetry for his credentials. No better claim on +patronage from Pope or cardinal could be preferred in that age of +twanging lyres. At Rome Flaminio lived in the service of Alessandro +Farnese, whose hospitality he afterwards repaid with verses honourable +alike to poet and patron by their freedom from vulgar flattery. The +atmosphere of a Court, however, was uncongenial to Flaminio. Fond of +country life, addicted to serious studies, sober in his tastes, and +cheerful in his spirits, pious, and unaffectedly unambitious, he +avoided the stream of the great world and lived retired. Community of +interests brought him into close connection with the Cardinals Pole +and Contarini, from whom he caught so much of the Reformation spirit +as a philosophical Italian could assimilate; but it was not in his +modest and quiet nature to raise the cry of revolt against +authority.[491] The most distinguished wits and scholars of the age +were among his intimate friends. Both his poems and his correspondence +reflect an agreeable light upon the literary society of the late +Renaissance. The Latin verses, with which we are at present occupied, +breathe genuine piety, healthful simplicity, and moral purity, in +strong contrast with the neopaganism of the Roman circle. These +qualities suit the robust style, clear, terse, and nervous, he knew +how to use. It is pleasant to close the series of Italian Latinists +with one who combined the best art of his century with the temper of a +republican and the spirit of a Christian. + +[Footnote 491: This epigram on Savonarola shows Flaminio's sympathy +with the preachers of pure doctrine:-- + + Dum fera flamma tuos, Hieronyme, pascitur artus, + Relligio, sacras dilaniata comas, + Flevit, et o, dixit, crudeles parcite flammæ, + Parcite, sunt isto viscera nostra rogo.] + +The most prominent quality of Flaminio as a poet is love of the +country. Three little compositions describing his own farm are +animated with the enthusiasm of genuine affection.[492] We feel that +no mere reminiscence of Catullus makes him write-- + + Jam vos revisam, jam juvabit arbores + Manu paternâ consitas + Videre, jam libebit in cubiculo + Molles inire somnulos.[493] + +[Footnote 492: 'Ad Agellum suum.'--_Poemata Selecta_, pp. 155, 156, +177.] + +[Footnote 493: 'Now shall I see you once again; now shall I have the +joy of gazing on the trees my father planted, and falling into gentle +slumber in his little room.'] + +Nor is it an idle prayer he addresses to the Muses in these lines:-- + + At vos, o Heliconiæ puellæ, + Queis fontes et amoena rura cordi, + Si carâ mihi luce cariores + Estis, jam miserescite obsecrantis, + Meque, urbis strepitu tumultuosæ + Ereptum, in placido locate agello.[494] + +[Footnote 494: 'Maidens of Helicon, who love the fountains and the +pleasant fields, as you are dearer to me than the dear light, have +pity now upon your suppliant, take me from the tumult of the noisy +town, and place me in my tranquil farm.'] + +He is never tired of contrasting the pleasures of the country with the +noise and weariness of Rome:-- + + Ipse miser tumultuosâ + Urbe detinear; tibi benignus + Dedit Jupiter in remoto agello + Latentem placidâ frui quiete, + Inter Socraticos libros, et inter + Nymphas et Satyros, nihil profani + Curantem populi leves honores.[495] + +[Footnote 495: 'I, poor wretch, am prisoned in the noisy town. Kind +Jupiter allows you, secluded in your distant farm, to take the joys of +peace among Socratic books, among the nymphs and satyrs, unheeding the +light honours of the vulgar crowd.'--'Ad Honoratum Fascitellum,' +_Poemata Selecta_, p. 178.] + +Flaminio's thought of the country is always connected with the +thought of study. The picture of a tranquil scholar's life among the +fields, diversified by sport and simple pleasures of the rustic folk, +gives freshness to his hendecasyllables, whether addressed to his +patron Alessandro Farnese, or to his friends Galeazzo Florimonte and +Francesco Torriani:[496]-- + + Inde ocellos + Ut primum sopor incubans gravabit, + Jucundissime amice, te sub antrum + Ducam, quod croceis tegunt corymbis + Serpentes hederæ, imminensque laurus + Suaviter foliis susurrat: at tu + Ne febrim metuas gravedinemve; + Est enim locus innocens: ubi ergo + Hic satis requieveris, legentur + Lusus Virgilii, et Syracusani + Vatis, quo nihil est magis venustum, + Nihil dulcius, ut mihi videtur. + Cum se fregerit æstus, in virenti + Convalle spatiabimur; sequetur + Brevis coena; redibis inde ad urbem.[497] + +[Footnote 496: _Poemata Selecta_, pp. 153, 169, 173.] + +[Footnote 497: 'Then, when sleep descends upon your eyes, best friend +of mine, I'll lead you to a cave o'ercurtained by the wandering ivy's +yellow bunches, whereby the sheltering laurel murmurs with her gently +waving leaves. Fear no fever or dull headache. The place is safe. So +when you are rested, we will read the rustic songs of Virgil or +Theocritus; sweet and more charming verse I know not; and after the +day's heat is past, we will stroll in some green valley. A light +supper follows, and then you shall return to town.'--_Ib._ p. 174.] + +One of Flaminio's best poems is written from his friend Stefano +Sauli's villa near Genoa.[498] It describes how he spends his time +between the philosophy of Aristotle and the verses of Catullus, while +Sauli at his side devotes himself to Cicero. The fall of evening lures +them from their study to the sea-beach: perched upon a water-girded +rock, they angle with long reeds for fishes, or watch the white sails +on the purple waves. The same theme is repeated in a copy of +hexameters addressed to Sauli.[499] Flaminio had fallen ill of fever +at Rome. To quit the city was his cure:-- + + Scilicet ut Romæ corruptas fugimus auras, + Et riguos patriæ montes saltusque salubres + Venimus, effoetos venit quoque robur in artus: + Diffugit macies, diffugit corpore pallor; + Et somnus vigiles irrepsit blandus ocellos, + Quem neque desiliens crepitanti rivulus undâ, + Nec Lethea mihi duxere papavera quondam.[500] + +[Footnote 498: 'Ad Christophorum Longolium,' _Ib._] + +[Footnote 499: _Poemata Selecta_, p. 163.] + +[Footnote 500: 'No sooner had I left Rome's tainted air for the clear +streams and healthful forests of my native land, than strength +returned into my wasted limbs; my body lost the pallor and emaciation +of disease, and sweet sleep crept upon my wakeful eyes, such as no +waters falling with a tinkling sound or Lethe's poppies had induced +before.'] + +Sauli, for his part, is congratulated on having exchanged the cares of +Church and State for Ciceronian studies among his laurel groves and +gleaming orange gardens. + +Flaminio's intimate relations with the ablest men of the century, +those especially who were engaged in grave and Christian studies, add +extrinsic interest to his fugitive pieces. In one poem he alludes to +the weak health of Cardinal Pole;[501] in another he compares Plato's +description of the ideal republic with Contarini's work upon the +magistrates and commonwealth of Venice:-- + + Descripsit ille maximus quondam Plato + Longis suorum ambagibus voluminum, + Quis civitatis optimus foret status: + Sed hunc ab ipsâ sæculorum origine + Nec ulla vidit, nec videbit civitas. + At Contarenus optimam rempublicam + Parvi libelli disputationibus + Illam probavit esse, plus millesima + Quam cernit æstas Adriatico in mari + Florere pace, litteris, pecuniâ.[502] + +[Footnote 501: _Poemata Selecta_, p. 162.] + +[Footnote 502: 'Plato, the greatest of sages, once described in his +long volumes the best form of a State; but this from the beginning of +the world till now hath never yet been seen, nor will it afterwards be +seen in any city. Contarini in his little book has proved that the +best commonwealth is that which now for more than a thousand years has +flourished in the Adriatic with peace, letters, and wealth.'--_Poemata +Selecta_, p. 162.] + +When Vittoria Colonna died, Flaminio wrote a lamentation on the loss +he had sustained, and on the extinction of so great a light for Italy. +These verses are remarkable for their sobriety and strength:-- + + Cui mens candida, candidique mores, + Virtus vivida, comitasque sancta, + Coeleste ingenium, eruditioque + Rara, nectare dulciora verba, + Summa nobilitas, decora vultûs + Majestas, opulenta sed bonorum + Et res et domus usque aperta ad usus.[503] + +[Footnote 503: 'Ad Hieronymum Turrianum,' _ib._ p. 168. 'Her mind was +pure, her manners pure; her virtue lively, her courtesy without a +taint of earth; her intellect was heavenly, her learning rare; her +words sweeter than nectar; her nobility the highest; her features +beautiful in their majesty; her wealth liberally open to the use of +good men.'] + +The same firm and delicate touch in the delineation of character gives +value to the lines written on his father's death:-- + + Vixisti, genitor, bene ac beate, + Nec pauper, neque dives, eruditus + Satis, et satis eloquens, valente + Semper corpore, mente sanâ, amicis + Jucundus, pietate singulari. + Nunc lustris bene sexdecim peractis + Ad divûm proficisceris beatas + Oras; i, genitor, tuumque natum + Olympi cito siste tecum in arce.[504] + +[Footnote 504: 'Well and happily hast thou lived, my father; neither +poor nor rich; learned enough and eloquent enough; of vigorous body +and of healthy mind; pleasant to thy friends, and in thy piety +unrivalled. Now, after sixteen lustres finished, thou goest to the +regions of the blest. Go, father, and soon greet thy son, to stay with +thee in heaven's high seat.'--'Ad Patrem morientem,' _Poemata +Selecta_, p. 157.] + +At the risk of extending this notice of Flaminio's poetry beyond due +limits, I must quote from a copy of verses sent to Alessandro +Farnese, together with a volume containing the Latin _prolusiones_ of +the North Italian scholars:-- + + Hos tibi lepidissimos poetas + Dono, tempora quos tulere nostra, + Fortunata nimis, nimis beata + Nostra tempora, quæ suos Catullos, + Tibullos, et Horatios, suosque + Marones genuere. Quis putasset, + Post tot sæcula tam tenebricosa, + Et tot Ausoniæ graves ruinas, + Tanta lumina tempore uno in una + Tam brevi regione Transpadanâ + Oriri potuisse? quæ vel ipsa + Sola barbarie queant fugatâ + Suum reddere litteris Latinis + Splendorem, veteremque dignitatem.[505] + +[Footnote 505: _Poemata Selecta_, p. 166. 'These most graceful poets I +give you, the offspring of our too, too happy times, which have +produced their Catullus and their Horace, their Tibullus and their +Maro. Who could have thought, after so many ages of such darkness, and +all the ruin that has weighed on Italy, that so many lights could have +arisen at one epoch in one little region of the land above the Po? +They alone are enough to put to flight the gloom of barbarism, and to +restore its antique glory and own splendour to Latin literature.' +After this he goes on to add that these poets will confer eternal +lustre on Italy. Not only the northern nations of Europe, but America +also has begun to study Latin; and races in another hemisphere will +take their culture from these pages. The Cardinal is finally reminded +that immortality of fame awaits him in their praises.] + +There is the whole of humanism in this passage--the belief in the +unity of Italian civilisation, the conviction that the Middle Ages +were but an interruption of historic continuity, the confidence in the +restoration of classic literature, and the firm hope that Latin would +never cease to be the language of culture. Flaminio says nothing, +unless parenthetically, about the real woes of his country. The +tyranny of the Spaniard and the violence of the German are reckoned +with the old wrongs of the Goth and the Vandal in one phrase--'_tot +graves ruinas_.' He does not touch upon the dismemberment of Italy +into mutually jealous and suspicious States: for him the Italian +nation, even in a dream, has no existence. He is satisfied with a +literary ideal. Too fortunate, too blessed, are these days of ours, in +spite of Florence extinguished, Rome sacked, Milan devastated, Venice +curbed, because, forsooth, Bembo and Fracastoro have made a pinchbeck +age of poetry. Here lay the incurable weakness of the humanistic +movement. The vanity of the scholar, determined to seek the present in +the past, building the walls of Troy anew with borrowed music, and +singing in falsetto while Rome was burning--this blindness to the +actual situation of Italy was scarcely less pernicious, scarcely less +a sign of incapacity for civil life than the selfishness of the +Despots or the egotism of the Papacy. Italy was foredoomed to lose her +place among the nations at the very moment when she was recovering +culture for the modern world; and when that culture was recovered +through her industry and genius, not she, but the races of the North, +began to profit by the acquisition--not her imitations of the Latin +Muse, but the new languages of Europe were destined to prevail and +lead the age. + +Another point for observation is that the centre of humanistic studies +has shifted.[506] Florence, disillusioned, drained of strength, and +sucked dry by the tyrants, holds her tongue. The schools of Naples and +of Rome are silent. Lombardy is now the mother of poets, who draw +their inspiration no longer from Valdarno or the myrtle groves of +Posilippo, but from the blue waves of Garda.[507] The university where +science still flourishes is Padua. The best professors of the +classics, Celio Calcagnini and Lilius Gyraldus, teach at Ferrara. +Bembo, the dictator of letters for his century, Navagero, the sweetest +versifier, Contarini, the most sober student, are Venetians. Stefano +Sauli, the author of a Ciceronian treatise on the Christian hero, is a +patrician of Genoa. Sadoleto and Molsa are Modenese. Verona claims +Fracastoro and the Torriani. Imola is the mother city of Flaminio. +Castiglione and Capilupo are natives of Mantua; Amalteo and Vida of +Forli and Cremona; Bonfadio and Archio of Lake Garda. If we seek the +causes of this change, we find them partly in the circumstance that +Venice at this period was free, while Ferrara still retained her +independence under native princes; partly also in the fact that +Florence had already overtaxed her intellectual energies. Like a +creeping paralysis, the extinction of liberty and spiritual force was +gradually invading all the members of the Italian community. The +Revival of Learning came to an end, as far as Italy was concerned, in +these Transpadane poets. + +[Footnote 506: 'Tam brevi regione Transpadanâ.'] + +[Footnote 507: Cf. Bembo's _Benacus_, Bonfadio's _Gazani Vici +Descriptio_, Fracastoro's _Ad Franciscum Turrianum Veronensem_, &c.] + +To trace the history of philosophic thought, set in motion by the +Renaissance and stamped out by the Counter-Reformation, and to +describe the aftergrowth of art and literature encouraged by the +Catholic reaction, must form the subject of a separate inquiry. + +I hope, if I have time and strength, after the completion of my work +on the Renaissance, to trace this sequel in a volume on 'Italy and the +Council of Trent.' To this chapter of Italian history will also belong +the philosophy of the sixteenth century, the poetry of Tasso, the +painting of the Bolognese masters, and the new music of Palestrina. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +CONCLUSION + + General Survey -- The Part played in the Revival by the + Chief Cities -- Preoccupation with Scholarship in spite of + War and Conquest -- Place of the Humanists in Society -- + Distributors of Praise and Blame -- Flattery and Libels -- + Comparison with the Sophists -- The Form preferred to the + Matter of Literature -- Ideal of Culture as an end in itself + -- Suspicion of Zealous Churchmen -- Intrusion of Humanism + into the Church -- Irreligion of the Humanists -- Gyraldi's + 'Progymnasma' -- Ariosto -- Bohemian Life -- Personal + Immorality -- Want of Fixed Principles -- Professional + Vanity -- Literary Pride -- Estimate of Humanistic + Literature -- Study of Style -- Influence of Cicero -- + Valla's 'Elegantiæ' -- Stylistic Puerilities -- Value + attached to Rhetoric -- 'Oratore' -- Moral Essays -- + Epistolography -- Historics -- Critical and Antiquarian + Studies -- Large Appreciation of Antiquity -- Liberal Spirit + -- Poggio and Jerome of Prague -- Humanistic Type of + Education -- Its Diffusion through Europe -- Future + Prospects -- Decay of Learning in Italy. + + +In tracing the history of the Revival, we have seen how the impulse, +first communicated by Petrarch, was continued by Boccaccio and his +immediate successors. We have watched the enthusiasm for antiquity +strike root in Florence, spread to Rome, and penetrate the Courts of +Italy. One city after another receives the light and hands it on, +until the whole cycle of study has been traversed and the vigour of +the nation is exhausted. Florence discovers manuscripts, founds +libraries, learns Greek, and leads the movement of the fifteenth +century. Naples criticises; Rome translates; Mantua and Ferrara form a +system of education; Venice commits the literature of the classics to +the press. By the combined and successive activity of the chief +Italian centres, not only is the culture of antiquity regained; it is +also appropriated in all its various branches, discussed and +illustrated, placed beyond the reach of accident, and delivered over +in its integrity to Europe. The work thus performed by the Italians +was begun in peace; but it had to be continued under the pressure of +wars and national disasters unparalleled in the history of any other +modern people. Not for a single moment did the students relax their +energy. In the midst of foreign armies, deafened by the roar of cannon +and the tumult of sacked towns, exiled from their homes, robbed of +their books, deprived of their subsistence, they advanced to their end +with the irresistible obstinacy of insects. The drums and tramplings of +successive conquests and invasions by four warlike nations--Frenchmen, +Spaniards, Germans, Swiss--could not disturb them. Drop by drop, Italy +was being drained of blood; from the first the only question was which +of her assailants should possess the beauty of her corpse. Yet the +student, intent upon his manuscripts, paid but little heed. So +non-existent was the sense of nationality in Italy that the Italians +did not know they were being slowly murdered. When the agony was over, +and the ruin was accomplished, they congratulated themselves on being +still the depositaries of polite literature. Nations that are nations, +seek to inspire fear, or at least respect. The Italians were contented +with admiration, and looked confidently to the world for gratitude. +The task of two toilsome, glorious centuries had been accomplished. +The chasm between Rome and the Renaissance was bridged over, and a +plain way was built for the progressive human spirit. Italy, +downtrodden in the mire of blood and ruins, should still lead the van +and teach the peoples. It was a sublime delusion, the last phase of an +impulse so powerful in its origin that to prophesy an ending was +impossible. Yet how delusive was the expectation is proved by the +immediate history of Italy, enslaved and decadent, outstripped by the +nations she had taught, and scorned by the world that owed her +veneration. + +The humanists, who were the organ of this intellectual movement, +formed, as we have seen, a literary commonwealth, diffused through all +the Courts and cities of Italy. As the secretaries of Popes and +princes, as the chancellors of republics, as orators on all occasions +of public and private ceremony, they occupied important posts of +influence, and had the opportunity of leavening society with their +opinions. Furthermore, we have learned to know them in their capacity +of professors at the universities, of house-tutors in the service of +noblemen, and of authors. Closely connected among themselves by their +feuds no less than by their friendships, and working to one common end +of scholarship, it was inevitable that these men, after the enthusiasm +for antiquity had once become the fashion, should take the lead and +mould the genius of the nation. Their epistles, invectives, treatises, +and panegyrics, formed the study of an audience that embraced all +cultivated minds in Italy. Thus the current literature of humanism +played the same part in the fifteenth century as journalism in the +nineteenth, and the humanists had the same kind of coherence in +relation to the public as the _quatrième état_ of modern times. The +respect they inspired as the arbiters of praise and blame, was only +equalled by their vast pretensions. Eugenius IV., living at the period +of their highest influence, is reported to have said that they were as +much to be feared for their malice as to be loved for their learning. +While they claimed the power of conferring an immortality of honour or +dishonour, no one dared to call their credit with posterity in +question. Nothing seemed more dreadful than the fate reserved for Paul +II. in the pages of Platina; and even so robust a ruler as Francesco +Sforza sought to buy the praises of Filelfo. Flattery in all its +branches, fulsome and delicate, wholesale and allusive, was developed +by them as an art whereby to gain their living. The official history +of this period is rendered almost worthless by its sustained note of +panegyrical laudation. Our ears are deafened with the eulogies of +petty patrons transformed into Mæcenases, of carpet knights compared +to Leonidas, of tyrants equalled with Augustus, and of generals who +never looked on bloodshed tricked out as Hannibals or Scipios. As a +pendant to panegyric, the art of abuse reached its climax in the +invectives whereby the scholars sought to hand their comrades down to +all time 'immortally immerded,' or to vilify the public enemies of +their employers. As in the case of praise, so also in the case of +blame, it is impossible to attach importance to the writings of the +humanists. Their vaulting ambition to depreciate each other overleaped +itself. All their literature of defamation serves now only to throw +light on the general impurity of an age in which such monstrous +charges carried weight. Unluckily, this double vice of humanism struck +deep roots into Italian literature. Without the scholars of the +fifteenth century, it is hardly possible that such a brigand as Pietro +Aretino, who levied black mail from princes at the point of his +venomous quill, or such an unprincipled biographer as Paolo Giovio, +who boasted that he wrote with a golden or a silver pen, as pleased +him best, could have existed. Bullying and fawning tainted the very +source of history, and a false ideal of the writer's function was +established by the practice of men like Poggio. + +It is obvious and easy to compare the humanists of the Renaissance +with the sophists of antiquity. Whether we think of the rivals of +Socrates at Athens, or of the Greek rhetoricians of the Roman +period,[508] the parallel is tolerably close. From certain points of +view the Italian scholars remind us of the former class; from others, +again, they recall the latter. The essence of sophism is the +substitution of semblance for reality, indifference to truth provided +a fair show be made, combined with verbal ingenuity and practice in +the art of exposition. The sophist feels no need of forming opinions +on a sound basis, or of adhering to principles. Regarding thought as +the subject-matter of literary treatment, he is chiefly concerned with +giving it a fair and plausible investiture in language. Instead of +recognising that he must live up to the standard he professes, he +takes delight in expressing with force the contrary of what he acts. +The discord between his philosophy and his conduct awakes no shame in +him, because it is the highest triumph of his art to persuade by +eloquence and to dazzle by rhetoric. Phrases and sentences supply the +place of feelings and convictions. Sonorous cadences and harmonies of +language are always ready to conceal the want of substance in his +matter or the flimsiness of his argument. At the same time the +sophist's enthusiasm for a certain form of culture, and his belief in +the sophistic method, may be genuine. + +[Footnote 508: 'Græculi esurientes.' Lives written by Philostratus.] + +The literature of the Revival is full of such sophism. Men who lived +loose lives, were never tired of repeating the commonplaces of the +Ciceronian ethics, praising simplicity and self-control with the pen +they used for reproducing the scandals of Martial, mingling impudent +demands for money and flatteries of debauched despots with panegyrics +of Pætus Thrasea and eulogies of Cincinnatus. Conversely, students of +eminent sobriety, like Guarino da Verona, thought it no harm to +welcome Beccadelli's 'Hermaphroditus' with admiration; while the +excellent Nicholas V. spent nine days in perusing the filthy satires +of Filelfo. It was enough that the form was elegant, according to +their standards of taste, the Latinity copious and sound:--the +subject-matter raised no scruples. + +This vice of regarding only the exterior of literature produced a +fatal weakness in the dissertations of the age. If a humanist wanted +to moralise the mutability of fortune or the disadvantages of +matrimony, he did not take the trouble to think, or the pains to +borrow illustrations from his own experience. He strung together +quotations and classical instances, expending his labour on the polish +of the style, and fancying he had proved something by piquancy +displayed in handling old material. When he undertook history, the +same fault was apparent. Instead of seeking to set forth the real +conditions of his native city, to describe its political vicissitudes +and constitutional development, or to paint the characters of its +great men, he prepared imaginary speeches and avoided topics incapable +of expression in pure Latin. The result was that whole libraries of +ethical disquisitions and historical treatises, bequeathed with proud +confidence by their authors to the admiration of posterity, are now +reposing in unhonoured dust, ransacked at rare intervals by weary +students with restless fingers in search of such meagre scraps of +information as even a humanist could not succeed in excluding. + +The humanists resembled the sophists again in their profession to +teach wisdom for pay. What philosophy was for the early Greeks, +classic culture was for Italy in the Renaissance; and this the +scholars sold. Antiquity lay before them like an open book. From their +seat among the learned they doled out the new lore of life to eager +pupils. And as the more sober-minded of the Athenians regarded the +educational practice of the sophists with suspicion, so the humanists +came to be dreaded as the corrupters of youth. The peculiar turn they +gave to mental training, by diverting attention from patriotic duties +to literary pleasures, by denationalising the interests of students, +and by distracting serious thought from affairs of the present to +interests of the past, tended to confirm the political debility of the +Italians; nor can it be doubted that the substitution of Pagan for +Christian ideals intensified the demoralisation of the age. Many +arguments used by Aristophanes and Xenophon might be repeated against +these sophists of the Renaissance.[509] + +[Footnote 509: Aristoph., _Clouds_, Speeches of Dikaios Logos; Xen., +_On Hunting_, chap. xiii.] + +On this point it is worth observing that, though humanism took the +Papal Court by storm and installed itself in pomp and pride within the +Vatican, the lower clergy and the leaders of religious revivals, in no +mere spirit of blind prejudice, but with solid force of argument, +denounced it. S. Bernardino and Savonarola were only two among many +who preached against the humanists from the pulpit. And yet, while we +admit that the influences of the Revival injured morality, and gave a +cosmopolitan direction to energies that ought to have been +concentrated on the preservation of national existence, we are unable +to join with these ecclesiastical antagonists in their crusade. +Humanism was a necessary moment in the evolution of the modern world; +and whatever were its errors, however weakening it may have been to +Italy, this phase had to be passed through, this nation had to suffer +for the general good. + +The intrusion of the humanists into the Papal Curia was a victory of +the purely secular spirit. It is remarkable how very few scholars took +orders except with a view of holding minor benefices. They remained +virtual laymen, drawing the emoluments of their cures at a distance. +If Filelfo, after the death of his second wife, proposed to enter the +Church, he did so because in his enormous vanity he hoped to gain the +scarlet hat, and thought this worth the sacrifice of independence. The +only great monastic _litteratus_ was Ambrogio, General of the +Camaldolese Order. Maffeo Vegio is the single instance I can remember +of a poet-philologer who assumed the cowl. These statements, it will +be understood, refer chiefly to the second or aggressive period of +the Revival. Classic erudition was so common in the fourth that to be +without a humanistic tincture was, even among churchmen, the exception +rather than the rule. In the age of Leo, moreover, the humanists as a +class had ceased to exist, merged in the general culture of the +nation. Their successors were for the most part cardinals and bishops, +elevated to high rank for literary merit. This change, however, really +indicated the complete triumph of an ideal that for a moment had +succeeded in paganising the Papacy, and substituting its own standard +of excellence for ecclesiastical tradition. + +This external separation between the humanists and the Church +corresponded to their deep internal irreligiousness. If contemporary +testimony be needed to support this assertion, I may quote freely from +Lilius Gyraldus, Battista Mantovano, and Ariosto, not to mention the +invectives that record so vast a mass of almost incredible +licentiousness. A rhetorical treatise, addressed to Gian Francesco +Pico by Lilius Gyraldus, himself an eminent professor at Ferrara, +acquaints us with the opinion formed in Italy, after a century's +experience, of the vices and discordant lives of scholars.[510] 'I +call God and men to witness,' he writes, 'whether it be possible to +find men more affected by immoderate disturbances of soul, by such +emotions as the Greeks called [Greek: pathê], or by such desires as +they named [Greek: hormai], more easily influenced, driven about, and +drawn in all directions. No class of human beings are more subject to +anger, more puffed up with vanity, more arrogant, more insolent, more +proud, conceited, idle-minded, inconsequent, opinionated, changeable, +obstinate; some of them ready to believe the most incredible nonsense, +others sceptical about notorious truths, some full of doubt and +suspicion, others void of reasonable circumspection. None are of a +less free spirit, and that for the very reason I have touched before, +because they think themselves so far more powerful. They all of them, +indeed, pretend to omniscience, fancy themselves superior to +everything, and rate themselves as gods, while we unlearned little men +are made of clay and mud, as they maintain.' Having for some space +discoursed concerning their mad ways of life, Gyraldus proceeds to +arraign the humanists in detail for vicious passions, want of economy, +impiety, gluttony, intemperance, sloth, and incontinence.[511] This +invective reads like a paradoxical thesis supported for the sake of +novelty by a clever rhetorician; and, indeed, it might pass for such +were it not for the confirmation it receives in Ariosto's seventh +satire addressed to Pietro Bembo.[512] The poet, anxious to find a +tutor for his son, dares not commit the young man to the care of a +humanist. His picture of their personal immorality, impiety, pride, +and gluttony acquires weight from the well-known tolerance of the +satirist, and from his genial parsimony of expression. To cite further +testimony from the personal confessions of Pacificus Maximus would +hardly strengthen the argument, though students may be referred to his +poems for details.[513] + +[Footnote 510: _Progymnasma adversus Literatos._ _Op. Omn._, Basle, +1582, vol. ii.] + +[Footnote 511: 'Pudet me, Pice, pigetque id de literatis afferre quod +omnium tamen est in ore, nullos esse cum omnium vitiorum etiam +nefandissimorum genere inquinatos magis, tum iis præcipue, quæ præter +naturam dicuntur,' &c.--_Progymnasma adversus Literatos_, p. 431.] + +[Footnote 512: Lines 22-129.] + +[Footnote 513: _Quinque Illustrium Poetarum Lusus in Venerem_, +Parisiis, 1791, p. 107.] + +The alternations of fortune to which the humanists were +exposed--living at one time in the lap of luxury, caressed and petted; +then cast forth to wander in almost total indigence, neglected and +derided--encouraged a Bohemian recklessness injurious to good manners. +Their frequent change of place told upon their character in the same +way, by exposing them to fresh temptations and withdrawing them from +censure. They had no country but the dreamland of antiquity, no laws +beyond the law of taste and inclination. They acknowledged no +authority superior to their own exalted judgment; they bowed to no +tribunal but that of posterity and the past. Thus they lived within +their own conceits, outside of custom and opinion; nor was the world, +at any rate before the period of their downfall, scrupulous to count +their errors or correct their vices. + +Far more important, however, than these circumstances was their +passion for a Pagan ideal. The study of the classics and the effort to +assimilate the spirit of the ancients, undermined their Christianity +without substituting the religion or the ethics of the old world. They +ceased to fear God; but they did not acquire either the self-restraint +of the Greek or the patriotic virtues of the Roman. Thus exposed +without defence or safeguard, they adopted the perilous attitude of +men whose regulative principle was literary taste, who had left the +ground of faith and popular convention for the shoals and shallows of +an irrecoverable past. On this sea they wandered, with no guidance but +the promptings of undisciplined self. It is not, therefore, a marvel +that, while professing Stoicism, they wallowed in sensuality, openly +affected the worst habits of Pagan society, and devoted their +ingenuity to the explanation of foulness that might have been passed +by in silence. Licentiousness became a special branch of humanistic +literature. Under the thin mask of humane refinement leered the +untamed savage; and an age that boasted not unreasonably of its mental +progress, was at the same time notorious for the vices that disgrace +mankind. These disorders of the scholars, hidden for a time beneath a +learned language, ended by contaminating the genius of the nation. The +vernacular _Capitoli_ of Florence say plainly what Beccadelli, Poggio, +and Bembo piqued themselves on veiling. + +Another notable defect of the humanists, equally inseparable from the +position they assumed in Italy, was their personal and professional +vanity. Battista Mantovano, writing on the calamities of the age in +which he lived, reckons them among the most eminent examples of pride +in his catalogue of the deadly sins. Regarding themselves as +resuscitators of a glorious past and founders of a new civility, they +were not satisfied with asserting their real merits in the sphere of +scholarship. They went further, and claimed to rank as sages, +political philosophers, writers of deathless histories, and singers of +immortal verse. The most miserable poetasters got crowned with +laurels. The most trivial thinkers passed verdict upon statecraft. +Mistaking mere cultivation for genius, they believed that, because +they had perused the authors of antiquity and could imitate Ovid at a +respectful distance, their fame would endure for all ages. On the +strength of this confidence they gave themselves inconceivable airs, +looking down from the height of their attainment on the profane crowd. +To understand that, after all, antiquity was a school wherein to train +the modern intellect for genuine production, was not given to this +epoch of discovery. Posterity has sadly belied their expectations. Of +all their treatises and commentaries, poems and translations, how few +are now remembered; how rarely are their names upon the lips of even +professed students! The debt of gratitude we owe them is indeed great, +and should be amply paid by our respectful memory of all they wrought +for us with labour in the field of learning. Yet Filelfo would turn +with passionate disappointment in his grave, if he could know that men +of wider scope and sounder erudition appreciate his writings solely as +shed leaves that fertilised the soil of literature. + +Before turning, as is natural at this point, to form an estimate of +the humanists in their capacity of authors, it will be right briefly +to qualify the condemnation passed upon their characters. Taken as a +class, they deserve the hardest words that have been said of them. +Yet it must not be forgotten that they numbered in their ranks such +men as Ambrogio Traversari, Tommaso da Sarzana, Guarino, Jacopo +Antiquari, Vittorino da Feltre, Pomponius Lætus, Ficino, Pico, Fabio +Calvi, and Aldus Manutius. The bare enumeration of these names will +suffice for those who have read the preceding chapters. Piety, +sobriety of morals, self-devotion to public interests, the purest +literary enthusiasm, the most lofty aspirations, fairness of judgment, +and generosity of feeling distinguish these men, and some others who +might be mentioned, from the majority of their fellows. Nor, again, is +it fair to charge the humanists alone with vices common to their age. +The picture I ventured to draw of Papal and despotic manners in a +previous volume, shows that a too strict standard cannot be applied to +scholars, holding less responsible positions than their patrons, and +professing a far looser code of conduct. Much, too, of their +inordinate vanity may be ascribed to the infatuation of the people. +Such scenes as the reception of the supposed author of 'Hermaphroditus' +in Vicenza were enough to turn the heads of even stronger men.[514] + +[Footnote 514: See above, p. 185, note 4.] + +It is difficult to appraise humanistic literature at a just value, +seeing that by far the larger mass of it, after serving a purpose of +temporary utility, is now forgotten. Not itself, but its effect, is +what we have to estimate; and the ultimate product of the whole +movement was the creation of a new capacity for cultivation. To have +restored to Europe the knowledge of the classics, and to have +recovered the style of the ancients, so as to use Latin prose and +verse with freedom at a time when Latin formed an universal medium of +culture, is the first real merit of the humanists. Nothing can rob +them of this glory; however much we may be forced to feel that their +critical labours have been superseded, that their dissertations are +dull, that their poems at the worst fall far below the level of an +Oxford prize exercise, and at the best supply a decent appendix to the +'Corpus Poetarum.' Nor can we defraud them of the fame of having +striven to realise Petrarch's ideal.[515] That ideal, only partially +attained at any single point, developed in one direction by Milton, in +another by Goethe, still guides, and will long guide, the efforts of +the modern intellect. + +[Footnote 515: See above, Chapter II.] + +The most salient characteristic of this literature was study of style. +The beginners of the humanistic movement were conscious that what +separated them more than anything else from their Roman ancestors, was +want of elegance in diction. They used the same language; but they +used it clumsily. They could think the same thoughts, but they had +lost the art of expressing them with propriety. To restore style was +therefore a prime object. Exaggerating its importance, they neglected +the matter for the form, and ended by producing a literature of +imitation. The ideal they proposed in composition included limpidity +of language, simplicity in the structure of sentences however lengthy, +choiceness of phrase, and a copious vocabulary. To be intelligible was +the first requisite; to be attractive the second. Having mastered +elementary difficulties, they proceeded to fix the rules for +decorative writing. Cicero had said that nothing was so ugly or so +common but that rhetoric could lend it charm. This unfortunate dictum, +implying that style, as separate from matter, is valuable in and for +itself, led the Italians astray. To form commonplace books of phrases +culled from the 'Tusculans' and the 'Orations,' to choose some trivial +theme for treatment, and to make it the occasion for verbal display, +became their business. In the coteries of Rome and Florence scholars +measured one another by their ingenuity--in other words, by their +aptness for producing Ciceronian and Virgilian centos. Few indeed, +like Pico, raised their voices against such trifling, or protested +that what a man thought and felt was at least as important as his +power of clothing it in rhetoric. + +The appearance of Valla's 'Elegantiæ' marked an epoch in the evolution +of this stylistic art. It reached its climax in the work of Bembo. +What the humanists intended, they achieved. Purity and perspicuity of +language were made conditions of all literature that claimed +attention; nor is it, perhaps, too much to say that Racine, Pascal, +and Voltaire owe something of their magic to the training of these +worn-out pedagogues. Yet the immediate effect in Italy, when +Machiavelli's vigour had passed out of the nation, and the stylistic +tradition survived, was deplorable. Nothing strikes a northern student +of the post-Renaissance authors more than the empty smoothness of +their writing, their faculty of saying nothing with a vast expenditure +of phrase, their dread of homely details, and the triviality of the +subjects they chose for illustration. When a man of wit like Annibale +Caro could rise to praise the nose of the president before a learned +academy in periods of this ineptitude--'Naso perfetto, naso +principale, naso divino, naso che benedetto sia fra tutti i nasi; e +benedetta sia quella mamma che vi fece così nasuto, e benedette tutte +quelle cose che voi annusate!'[516]--we trace no more than a burlesque +of humanistic seeking after style. It must, however, be admitted that +it is not easy for a less artistic nation to do the Italians justice +in this respect. They derived an æsthetic pleasure from refinements of +speech and subtle flavours of expression, while they remained no less +conscious than we are that the workmanship surpassed the matter. The +proper analogue to their rhetoric may be found in the exquisite but +too unmeaning arabesques in marble and in wood, which belong to Cinque +Cento architecture. Viewed as the playthings of skilled artists, these +are not without their value; and we are apt, perhaps, unduly to +depreciate them, because we lack the sense for their particular form +of beauty. + +[Footnote 516: 'Perfect nose, imperial nose, divine nose, nose to be +blessed among all noses; and blessed be the breasts that made you with +a nose so lordly, and blessed be all those things you put your nose +to!' The above is quoted from Cantù's _Storia della Letteratura +Italiana_. I have not seen the actual address.] + +If the most marked feature of humanistic literature was the creation +of a Latin style, the supreme dictators were Cicero in prose and +Virgil in verse. That Cicero should have fascinated the Italians in an +age when art was dominant, when richness of decoration, rhetorical +fluency, and pomp of phrase appealed to the liveliest instincts of a +splendour-loving, sensitive, declamatory race, is natural. The +Renaissance found exactly what it wanted in the manner of the most +obviously eloquent of Latin authors, himself a rhetorician among +philosophers, an orator among statesmen, the weakness of whose +character was akin to that which lay at the root of fifteenth-century +society. To be the 'apes of Cicero,' in all the branches of literature +he had cultivated, was regarded by the humanists as a religious +duty.[517] Though they had no place in the senate, the pulpit, or the +law court, they were fain to imitate his oratory. Therefore public +addresses to ambassadors, to magistrates on assuming office, and to +Popes on their election; epithalamial and funeral discourses; +panegyrics and congratulations--sounded far and wide through Italy. +The fifteenth century was the golden age of speechification. A man was +measured by the amount of fluent Latinity he could pour forth; +copiousness of quotations secured applause; and readiness to answer on +the spur of the moment in smooth Ciceronian phrases, was reckoned +among the qualities that led to posts of trust in Church and State. +On the other hand, a failure of words on any ceremonial occasion +passed for one of the great calamities of life. The common name for an +envoy, _oratore_, sufficiently indicates the public importance +attached to rhetoric. It formed a necessary part of the parade which +the Renaissance loved, and, more than that, a part of its diplomatic +machinery. To compose orations that could never be recited was a +fashionable exercise; and since the 'Verrines' and the 'Philippics' +existed, no occasion was lost for reproducing something of their +spirit in the invectives whereof so much has been already said. The +emptiness of all this oratory, separated from the solid concerns of +life, and void of actual value, tended to increase the sophistic +character of literature. Eloquence, which ought to owe its force to +passionate emotion or to gravity of meaning, degenerated into a mere +play of words; and to such an extent was verbal cleverness +over-estimated, that a scholar could ascribe the fame of Julius Cæsar +to his 'Commentaries' rather than his victories.[518] It does not seem +to have occurred to him that Pompey would have been glad if Cæsar had +always wielded his pen, and that Brutus would hardly have stabbed a +friendly man of letters. When we read a genuine humanistic speech, we +find that it is principally composed of trite tales and citations. To +play upon the texts of antiquity, as a pianist upon the keys of his +instrument, was no small part of eloquence; and the music sounded +pleasant in ears greedy of the very titles of old writings. Vespasiano +mentions that Carlo Aretino owed his early fame at Florence to one +lecture, introducing references to all the classic authors. + +[Footnote 517: The phrase is eulogistically used by F. Villani in his +_Life of Coluccio Salutato_.] + +[Footnote 518: See Muratori, vol. xx. 442, 453.] + +The style affected for moral dissertation was in like manner +Ciceronian. The dialogue in particular became fashionable; and since +it was dangerous to introduce matter unsuited to Tully's phrases, +these disquisitions are usually devoid of local colouring and +contemporary interest. Few have such value as attaches to the opening +of Poggio's essay on Fortune, to Valeriano's treatise on the +misfortunes of the learned, or to Gyraldi's attack upon the humanists. + +Another important branch of literature, modelled upon Ciceronian +masterpieces, was letter-writing. The epistolography of the humanists +might form a separate branch of study, if we cared to trace its +history through several stages, and to sift the stores at our +disposal. Petrarch, after discovering the familiar letters of the +Roman orator, first gave an impulse to this kind of composition. In +his old age he tells how he was laughed at in his youth for assuming +the Latin style of _thou_ together with the Roman form of +superscription.[519] I have already touched upon the currency it +gained through the practice of Coluccio Salutato and the teaching of +Gasparino da Barzizza.[520] In course of time books of formulæ and +polite letter-writers were compiled, enabling novices to adopt the +Ciceronian mannerism with safety.[521] The Papal Curia sanctioned a +set of precedents for the guidance of its secretaries, while the +epistles of eminent chancellors served as models for the despatches of +republican governments. + +[Footnote 519: _Epist. Rer. Senil._ xv. 1. 'Styli hujus per Italiam +non auctor quidem, sed instaurator ipse mihi videor, quo cum uti +inciperem, adolescens a coætaneis irridebar, qui in hoc ipso certatim +me postea sunt secuti.'] + +[Footnote 520: See above, pp. 76-78.] + +[Footnote 521: Gian Maria Filelfo, son of the celebrated professor, +published an _Epistolarium_ of this kind.] + +The private letters of scholars were useful in keeping up +communication between the several centres of culture in Italy. From +these sources too we now derive much interesting information +respecting the social life of the humanists. They seem to have avoided +political, theological, and practical topics, cultivating a style of +urbane compliment, exchanging opinions about books, asking small +favours, acknowledging obligations, recommending friends to +favourable notice, occasionally describing their mode of life, +discussing the qualities of their patrons with cautious reserve, but +seeking above all things to display grace of diction and elegant +humour rather than erudition. The fact that these Latin epistles were +invariably intended for circulation and ultimate publication, renders +it useless to seek for insight from them into strictly private +matters.[522] For the historian the most valuable collections of +Renaissance letters are composed in Italian, and are not usually the +work of scholars, but of agents, spies, and envoys. Compared with the +reports of the Venetian ambassadors, the correspondence of the +humanists is unimportant. In addition to familiar letters, it not +unfrequently happened, however, that epistles upon topics of public +interest were indited by students. Intended by their diffusion to +affect opinion, and addressed to influential friends or patrons, these +compositions assumed the form of pamphlets. Of this kind were the +letters on the Eastern question sent by Filelfo to Charles VII. of +France, to the Emperor, to Matthias Corvinus, to the Dukes of Burgundy +and Urbino, and to the Doge of Venice. The immortality expected by the +humanists from their epistles, has hardly fallen to their lot; though +much of Poliziano's, Pico's, Antiquari's, and Piccolomini's +correspondence is still delightful and instructive reading. The masses +extant in MS. exceed what has been printed; while the printed volumes, +with some rare exceptions, among which may be mentioned Poliziano's +letter to Antiquari on the death of Lorenzo, are only used by +students.[523] + +[Footnote 522: Francesco Filelfo, quoted in Rosmini's Life, vol. ii. +pp. 304, 282, 448, writes, 'Le cose che non voglio sieno copiate, le +scrivo sempre alla grossolana.' 'Hoc autem scribendi more utimur iis +in rebus quarum memoriam nolumus transferre ad posteros. Et ethrusca +quidem lingua vix toti Italiæ nota est, at latina oratio longe ac late +per universum orbem est diffusa.' ('Matters I do not wish to have +copied I always write off in the vulgar. This style I use for such +things as I do not care to transmit to posterity. Tuscan, to be sure, +is hardly known to all Italians, while Latin is spread far and wide +through the whole world.')] + +[Footnote 523: See Voigt, pp. 421, 422, for an account of Filelfo's, +Traversari's, Barbaro's, and Bruni's letters.] + +Since Cicero had left no specimen of history, the humanists were +driven to follow other masters in this branch of literature. Livy was +the author of their predilection. Cæsar supplied them with a model for +the composition of commentaries, and Sallust for concise monographs. +Suetonius was followed in such minute studies of character as +Decembrio's 'Life of Filippo Maria Visconti.' I do not find that +Tacitus had any thoroughgoing imitators; the magniloquence of +rhetoric, rather than the pungency of sarcasm, suited the taste of the +age. The faults of the humanistic histories have been already pointed +out.[524] + +[Footnote 524: See Vol. I., _Age of the Despots_, pp. 216, 217, and +above, p. 377.] + +The services of the humanists, as commentators, translators, critics +of texts, compilers of grammars and dictionaries of all kinds, +collectors of miscellaneous information, and writers on antiquities, +still remain to be remembered. Their industry in this field was quite +different from the labour they devoted to the perfecting of style. +Whatever we may think of them as men of letters, we are bound to give +their erudition almost unqualified praise. Not, indeed, that their +learning any more than their literature was final. It too has been +superseded; but it formed the basis of a sounder method, and rendered +the attainment of more certain knowledge possible. It is not too much +to say that modern culture, so far as it is derived from antiquity, +owes everything to the indefatigable energy of the humanists. Before +the age of printing, scholars had to store their memories with +encyclopædic information, while the very want of a critical method, by +preventing them from exactly discerning the good and the bad, enabled +them to take a broader and more comprehensive view of classical +literature than is now at any rate common. Antiquity as a whole--not +the authors merely of the Attic age or the Augustan--claimed their +admiration; and though they devoted special study to Cicero and Virgil +for the purposes of style, they eagerly accepted every Greek or Latin +composition from the earliest to the latest. To this omnivorous +appetite of the elder scholars we are perhaps indebted for the +preservation of many fragments which a more delicate taste would have +rejected. Certainly we owe to them the conception of the classics in +their totality, as forming the proper source of culture for the human +race. The purism of Vida and Bembo, though it sprang from more refined +perceptions, was in some respects a retrogression from the wide and +liberal erudition of their predecessors. Discipleship under Virgil may +make a versifier; but he who would fain comprehend the Latin genius +must know the poets of Rome from Ennius to Claudian. + +Finally we have to render the tribute due to the humanists for their +diffusion of a liberal spirit. Sustained by the enthusiasm of +antiquity, they first ventured to take a standpoint outside +catholicity; and though they made but bad use of this spiritual +freedom, inclining to levity and godlessness instead of fighting the +battle of the reason, yet their large and human survey of the world +was in itself invigorating. Poggio at the Council of Constance +regarded Jerome of Prague not as a heretic, not as a fanatic, but as a +Stoic. In other words, he was capable of divesting his mind of +temporary associations and conventional prejudices, and of discerning +the true character of the man who suffered heroically for his +opinions. This instance illustrates the general tone and temper of the +humanists. Their study of antiquity freed them from the scholastic +pedantries of theologians, and from the professional conceits of +jurists and physicians. There is nothing great and noble in human +nature that might not, we fancy, have grown and thriven under their +direction, if the circumstances of Italy had been more favourable to +high aspirations. As it was, the light was early quenched and clouded +by base vapours of a sensual, enslaved, and priest-corrupted society. +The vital force of the Revival passed into the Reformation; the +humanists, degraded and demoralised, were superseded. Still it was +they who created the new atmosphere of culture, wherein whatever is +luminous in art, literature, science, criticism, and religion has +since flourished. Though we may perceive that they obeyed a false +authority--that of the classics, and worshipped a false idol--style, +yet modern liberty must render them the meed of thanks for this. When +we consider that before the sixteenth century had closed, they had +imbued the whole Italian nation with their views, forming a new +literature, directing every kind of mental activity, and producing a +new social tone, and furthermore that Italy in the sixteenth century +impressed her spirit on the rest of Europe, we have a right to hail +the humanists as the schoolmasters of modern civilisation. + +As schoolmasters in a stricter sense of the term, it is not easy to +exaggerate the influence exercised by Italian students. They first +conceived and framed the education that has now prevailed through +Europe for four centuries, moulding the youth of divers nations by one +common discipline, and establishing an intellectual concord for all +peoples. In spite of changes in government and creed, in spite of +differences caused by race and language, we have maintained an +uniformity of culture through the simultaneous prosecution of classic +studies on the lines laid down for teachers by the scholars of the +fifteenth century. The system of our universities and public schools +is in truth no other than that devised by Vittorino and Guarino. Thus +humanism in modern Europe has continued the work performed during the +Middle Ages by the Church, uniting in one confederation of spiritual +activity nations widely separated by all that tends to keep the human +families apart. + +Until quite recently in England, the _litteræ humaniores_ were +accepted as the soundest training for careers in Church and State, for +the learned professions, and for the private duties of gentlemen. If +the old ideal is yielding at last to theories of a wider education +based on science and on modern languages, that is due partly to the +extension of useful knowledge, and partly to the absorption of classic +literature into the modern consciousness. The sum of what a cultivated +man should know, in order to maintain a place among the pioneers of +progress, is so vast, that learners, distracted by a variety of +subjects, resent the expenditure of precious time on Greek and Latin. +Teachers, on the other hand, through long familiarity with humane +studies, have fallen into the languor of routine. Besides, as +knowledge in each new department increases, the necessity of +specialising with a view to adopting a professional career, makes +itself continually felt with greater urgency. It may therefore be +plausibly argued that we have outgrown the conditions of humanism, and +that a new stage in the history of education has been reached. Have +not the ancients done as much for us as they can do? Are not our minds +permeated with their thoughts? Do not the masterpieces of modern +literature hold in solution the best that can be got from them for +future uses? + +These questions can perhaps be met by the counter-question whether the +arts and letters of the Greeks and Romans will not always hold their +own, not only in the formation of pure taste, but also in the +discipline of character and the training of the intelligence. Just as +well might we cease to study the sacred books of the Jews, because we +have incorporated their ethics into our conscience, and possess their +religion in our liturgy. No transmission of a spirit at second or +third hand can be the same as its immediate contact; nor can we +afford, however full our mental life may be, to lose the vivid sense +of what men were and what they wrought in ages far removed from us, +especially when those men were our superiors in certain spheres. +Again, it may be doubted whether we should understand the masterpieces +of modern literature, when we came to be separated from the sources of +their inspiration. If Olympus connoted less than Asgard, or Hercules +were no more familiar to our minds than Rustem, or the horses of the +Sun stood at the same distance from us as the cows of Indra--if, in +fact, we abandoned Greek as much as we have abandoned Scandinavian, +Persian, and Sanskrit mythology, would not some of the most brilliant +images of our own poets fade into leaden greyness, like clouds that +have lost the flush of living light upon them? + +It is therefore not improbable that for many years to come the higher +culture of the race will still be grounded upon humanism: true though +it be that the first enthusiasm for antiquity shall never be restored, +nor the classics yield that vital nourishment they offered in the +spring-time of the modern era. For average students, who have no +special vocation for literature and no æesthetic tastes, it may well +happen that new methods of teaching the classics will have to be +invented. Why should they not be read in English versions, and the +time expended upon Greek and Latin grammar be thus saved? The practice +of Greek and Latin versification has been virtually doomed already; +nor is there any reason why Latin prose should form a necessary part +of education in an age that has ceased to publish its thoughts in a +now completely dead language. Our actual relation to the ancients, +again, justifies some change. We know far more about them now than in +the period of the Renaissance; but they are no longer all in all for +civilised humanity, eager to reconstitute the realm of thought, and +find its nobler self anew in the image of a glorious past, +reconquered and inalienable. The very culture created by the study of +antiquity through the last four centuries stands between them and our +apprehension, so that they seem at the same moment more distinct from +us and more a part of our familiar selves. + +When we seek the causes which produced the decay of learning in Italy +about the middle of the sixteenth century, we are first led to observe +that the type of scholarship inaugurated by Petrarch had been fully +developed. Nothing new remained to be worked out upon the lines laid +down by him. Meanwhile the forces of the nation, both creative and +receptive, were exhausted in the old fields of humanism. The reading +public had been glutted with epistles, invectives, poems, orations, +histories of antiquities, and disquisitions of all kinds. The matter +of the ancient literatures had been absorbed, if superficially, at +least entirely, and their forms had been reproduced with wearisome +reiteration. The Paganism that had so long ruled as a fashion, was now +passing out of vogue, because of its inadequacy to meet the deeper +wants and satisfy the aspirations of the modern world. The humanists, +moreover, as a class, had fallen into disrepute through faults and +vices whereof enough has been already said. Nothing short of the new +impulse which a new genius, equal at least in power to Petrarch, might +have communicated, could have given a fresh direction to the declining +enthusiasm for antiquity. But for this display of energy the Italians +were not prepared. As in the ascent of some high peak, the traveller, +after surmounting pine woods and Alpine pastures, comes upon bare +grassy slopes that form an intermediate region between the basements +of the mountain and the snowfields overhead, so the humanists had +accomplished the first stage of learning. But it requires a fresh +start and the employment of other faculties to scale the final +heights; and for this the force was wanting. Erasmus, at the opening +of the century, had, indeed, initiated a second age of scholarship. +The more exact methods of criticism and comparison were already about +to be instituted by the French, the Germans, and the Dutch. It was too +much, however, to expect that the Italians, who had expended their +vigour in recovering the classics and reviving a passion for +knowledge, should compete upon the ground of modern erudition with +these fresh and untried races. + +What they might have done, if circumstances had been less +unfavourable, and if the way of progress had been free before them, +cannot be conjectured. As it was, all things contributed to the +decline of intellectual energy in Italy. The distracting wars of half +a century told more heavily upon the literati, who depended for their +very existence upon the liberality of patrons, than on any other +section of the people. What miseries they endured in Lombardy may be +gathered from the prefaces and epistles of Aldus Manutius; while the +blow inflicted on them by the sack of Rome is vividly described by +Valeriano.[525] When comparative peace was restored, liberty had been +extinguished. Florence, the stronghold of liberal learning, was +enslaved. Scholarship no less than art suffered from the loss of +political independence. Rome, terror-stricken by the Reformation, +turned with rage against the very studies she had helped to stimulate. +The engines of the Inquisition, wielded with all the mercilessness of +panic by men who had the sombre cruelty of Spain to back them up, +destroyed the germs of life in science and philosophy. + +[Footnote 525: See above, p. 321.] + +To some extent, again, the Italian scholars had prepared their own +suicide by tending more and more to subtleties of taste and +affectations of refinement. The purism of the sixteenth century was +itself a sort of etiolation, and the puerilities of the academies +distracted even able men from serious studies. It was one of the +inevitable drawbacks of humanism that the new culture separated men of +letters from the nation. Dante and the wool-carders of the fourteenth +century understood each other; there was then no thick veil of +erudition between the teacher and the taught. But neither Bembo nor +Pomponazzi had anything to say that could be comprehended by the +common folk. Therefore scholarship was left in mournful isolation; +suspected, when it passed from trifles to grave speculations, by the +Church; viewed with indifference by the people; unsustained by any +sympathy, and, what was worse, without a programme or a watchword. The +thinkers, whose biography belongs to the history of the +Counter-Reformation in Italy, were all solitary men, voices crying in +the wilderness with none to listen, bound together by no common bond, +unnoticed by the nation, extinguished singly on the scaffold by an +ever-watchful league of tyrants spiritual and political. + +Before the end of the sixteenth century Greek had almost ceased to be +studied in Italy. This was the sign of intellectual death. All that +was virile in humanism fled beyond the Alps. This transference of +intellectual supremacy from Italy to Germany was speedily +accomplished. 'When I was a boy,' said Erasmus,[526] 'sound letters +had begun to revive among the Italians; but by reason of the printer's +art being as yet undiscovered or known to few, no books had reached +us, and in the deep tranquillity of dulness there reigned a set of men +who taught in all our towns the most illiterate learning. Rodolph +Agricola was the first to bring to us from Italy some breath of a +superior culture.' Again, he says of Italy, 'In that land, where even +the very walls are both more learned and more eloquent than men with +us; so that what here seems beautifully said, and elegant and full of +charm, cannot be held for aught but clumsy, stupid, and uncultivated +there.' Less than half a century after Erasmus had gained the right to +hold the balance thus between the nations of the North and South--that +is, in 1540 or thereabouts--Paolo Giovio, at the close of his 'Elogia +Literaria,' while speaking of the Germans, felt obliged to confess +that 'not only Latin letters, to our disgrace, but Greek and Hebrew +also have passed into their territory by a fatal simultaneous +migration.' + +[Footnote 526: See the passages quoted by Tiraboschi, vol. vi. lib. +iii. cap. v. 71.] + +Thus Italy, after receiving the lamp of learning from the dying hands +of Hellas, in the days of her own freedom, now, in the time of her +adversity and ruin, gave it to the nations of the North. Her work was +ended. Three centuries of increasing decrepitude, within our recent +memory at length most happily surmounted, were before her. Can +history, we wonder, furnish a spectacle more pathetic than that of the +protagonist of spiritual liberty falling uneasily asleep beneath the +footstool of the Spaniard and the churchman, while the races who had +trampled her to death went on rejoicing in the light and culture she +had won by centuries of toil? This is the tragic aspect of the subject +which has occupied us through the present volume. At the conclusion of +the whole matter it is, however, more profitable to remember, not the +intellectual death of Italy, but what she wrought in that bright +period of her vigour. She was the divinely appointed birthplace of the +modern spirit, the workshop of knowledge for all Europe, our mistress +in the arts and sciences, the Alma Mater of our student years, the +well-spring of mental freedom and activity after ages of stagnation. +If greater philosophers have since been produced by Germany and France +and England, greater scholars, greater men of science, greater poets +even, and greater pioneers of progress in the lands divined by +Christopher Columbus beyond the seas--this must not blind us to the +truth that at the very outset of the era in which we live and play +our parts, Italy embraced all philosophy, all scholarship, all +science, all art, all discovery, alone. Such is the Lampadephoria, or +torch-race, of the nations. Greece stretches forth her hand to Italy; +Italy consigns the sacred fire to Northern Europe; the people of the +North pass on the flame to America, to India, and the Australasian +isles. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Renaissance in Italy, Volume 2 (of 7), by +John Addington Symonds + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41924 *** |