into the Revival of Greek Literature in Italy. 391 



neglected folios of FICINUS, of ERASMUS, of POLITIAN, of Bu- 

 D^EUS, of the SCALIGEIIS, of CASAUBON, and their fellow-labourers 

 in the same field, compose a mine in the present day almost un- 

 worked, yet full of the richest ore. But it is out of this very 

 circumstance, the voluminousness and the value of the materials, 

 that the embarrassments of the undertaking arise ; and the mind 

 which had courageously sketched out the plan of the edifice, may 

 find, when it comes to struggle with the difficulties of execution, 

 how wide is the difference between the reveries of literary ambi- 

 tion, and the realities of literary labour. 



When we glance over the various branches of this great sub- 

 ject, there is perhaps no one division which is more interesting 

 and important than the revival of the Greek language, and with 

 it the Greek literature in Italy, during the latter part of the 

 fourteenth century. For more than seven hundred years it had 

 been almost wholly lost ; and in the ages which elapsed between 

 the fall of the Western Empire, in the close of the fifth, and the 

 incursions of the Turks upon Europe in the fourteenth century, 

 not only Italy, but Greece itself had been covered by successive 

 swarms of barbarians. To trace the causes which led to the re- 

 vival of the language and literature of Greece, after the dark 

 ages, and to give some account of the lives and writings of 

 the eminent scholars to whom we owe their restoration, is the 

 object of the following historical enquiry ; But, before imme- 

 diately proceeding to this subject, there are two preliminary 

 questions, upon which it will be necessary to give a short intro- 

 ductory disquisition. These are, I. What was the brightest pe- 

 riod of the Grecian language and literature in its own soil, and 

 to what extent does it appear to have been cultivated in Italy, 

 after Greece had become a part of the Roman Empire ? II. What 

 were the effects produced by the inundation of the barbarous 



VOL. x. P. ii. 3 D 



