THE PROBLEM OF KNOWLEDGE 283 



There was no way out save that the keen barbarian 

 whet his appetite upon the rich banquet spread 

 before him. But there was equally no way out so 

 far as the continuity of civilization was concerned 

 save that the very fullness and richness of this 

 banquet set limits to the appetite, and finally, when 

 assimilated and digested, it be transformed into the 

 flesh and blood, the muscles and sinew of him who 

 sat at the feast. Thus the barbarian ceased to be 

 a barbarian and a new civilization arose. 



But the time came when the work of absorption 

 was fairly complete. The northern barbarians 

 had eaten the food and drunk the wine of Grasco- 

 Roman civilization. The authoritative truth em 

 bodied in medieval state and church succeeded, in 

 principle, in disciplining the untrained masses. 

 Its very success issued its own death warrant. To 

 say that it had succeeded means that the new 

 people had finally eaten their way into the heart 

 of the ideas offered them, had got from them 

 what they wanted, and were henceforth prepared 

 to go their own way and make their own living. 

 Here a new rhythm of the movement of thought 

 and action begins to show itself. 



The beginning of this change in the swing of 

 thought and action forms the transition from the 

 Middle Ages to the modern times. It is the epoch 

 of the Renaissance. The individual comes to a 

 new birth and asserts his own individuality and 



