THE MEDIAEVAL ATTITUDE 



enced by the absorption of the Christians in the idea 

 that the study of natural phenomena was not only a 

 matter of little import, but was to be avoided as like- 

 ly to turn attention from the religious life which had 

 come to be dependent upon a separation from the 

 world and a preparation for an immortal existence. 

 In the period of the Christian Roman Empire, phi- 

 losophy is engrossed with the reconciliation of the 

 dogmas of Catholicism with Greek thought. There is 

 but one name, that of Ptolemy (a.d. 128-168) which 

 means anything in science. 



The end of the ancient culture can be placed as 

 coincident with the successful inroads of the bar- 

 barians about the year 500. The intellectual life of 

 Europe faded to the merest glow, and the effort of 

 Charlemagne, in 800, to suppress anarchy and to re- 

 store the solidarity of the Roman Empire could not 

 prevent the two following centuries from sinking 

 into a state of apathy and despair, which has signifi- 

 cantly given to them the title of the Dark Ages. 



With the year 1000 there began a real revival of 

 thought and hope which found its expression in the 

 religious life and in art. At its height, in the twelfth 

 and thirteenth centuries, the beauty and mysticism 

 of this movement can be typified by the life of St. 

 Francis of Assisi. And, suffering no eclipse in its on- 

 ward sweep towards a new culture and civilization, 

 Europe, led by Italy, burst into that full flower of 

 the Renaissance which has made the fifteenth and 



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