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diff --git a/41924-8.txt b/41924-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index ad8fd81..0000000 --- a/41924-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,14414 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Renaissance in Italy, Volume 2 (of 7), by -John Addington Symonds - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Renaissance in Italy, Volume 2 (of 7) - The Revival of Learning - -Author: John Addington Symonds - -Release Date: January 26, 2013 [EBook #41924] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RENAISSANCE IN ITALY, VOLUME 2 *** - - - - -Produced by Ted Garvin, Linda Cantoni, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - -[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 THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RENAISSANCE IN ITALY, VOLUME 2 *** - -***** This file should be named 41924-8.txt or 41924-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/9/2/41924/ - -Produced by Ted Garvin, Linda Cantoni, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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