CHARACTER OF THE REVIVAL. 93 



not a literary movement only that was its outer form 

 but a much deeper movement which obtained vital sway 

 over the West : " the learned were lost in admiration, not 

 alone for the ancient writers, but for the entire fabric of 

 the society of antiquity," for its manners, for its opinions, 

 its institutions, its arts, its philosophy, its science. No- 

 period in history was ever so encouraging-, so brilliant, so 

 lofty, so beneficent, and so commanding as that age which 

 spread enlightenment in every direction. Such was the 

 work of the Revival. One of the most direct results bearing 

 on science, which the capture of Constantinople and the 

 invention of the printing-press brought about, was the study 

 of PLATO AND ARISTOTLE. For the first time in Europe 

 both these philosophers were seen in their own works, and 

 both were at last understood. The effect of this study was 

 that the unadulterated Plato overcame the Platonism of the 

 Alexandrians, whilst the unadulterated Aristotle extinguished 

 the " base Aristotelian doctrines of the schools/' so that 

 their real philosophy and science, speaking for themselves, 

 gave a strong impetus to the sciences which were already 

 taking deep root at the time. 



Before completing the outline of the scientific advance 

 made during this eventful era, it will not be inappropriate 

 to clear up a perplexing point of history. 



In viewing the universal progress accelerated in Western 

 Europe by the migration of the learned men of Constanti- 

 nople to Italy, it may seem a mystery that accession to- 

 Greek knowledge should not have been gained at a far 

 earlier period than the XVth century. If Greek learning 

 was to be so beneficial, what reason was there for its being 

 confined in the East for so many ages ? Were the Greeks 

 averse to sharing a part of the treasure they possessed with 

 any of the nations of the West ? It could not be so, since 

 they flocked to Italy as early as the XlVth century bringing 

 ancient manuscripts. Was the West so shrouded in igno- 

 rance as to be unaware of the existence of an intellectual 

 world at Constantinople ? Or, was it so blinded by barbaric 

 pride as to despise that mental culture ? Neither alternative 

 could have been the case after the Crusades, since the 



