86 Timekri. 



only, which was not to be governed by rules of morality. To illustrate 

 hjs meaning as clearly, as possible, he chose Cesare Borgia as his Ideal 

 Prince, the height of cynicism when we remember that Borgia was one of 

 the most unscrupulous scoundrels the world has ever seen. 



But the discovery of man was most evident in the great revival of learn- 

 ing which spread over the world. Barbarian invasions of the dark ages had 

 broken Italy's literary traditions, and the ascetic religion of the Middle 

 Ages was inimical to the revival of classical literature. The Church was 

 out of sympathy with what it called the work of pagans, which told of 

 heathen myths, encouraged interest in romance, beauty of form and secu- 

 lar subjects. And although the Church did much valuable wojk in scho- 

 lastic theology and law, the classics were deliberately neglected and the 

 result was an incredible depth of ignorance. Greek and Hebrew were 

 practically unknown in the West, and even Latin had degenerated into a 

 very debased dialect. But the intellectual activity and stimulating in- 

 fluence of the Renaissance altered all this, and the revival of learning 

 meant the free and unfettered study of all that appealed to men, the assi- 

 miliation of the literary beauties of all the classical writers, and in par- 

 ticular the study of Greek with its thought and culture. Such study was 

 known as " literas humaniores " and those who followed it came to be 

 known as Humanists, and the homb of Humanism was Italy, and its three 

 great aims were to master the Greek language, to enter into the life and 

 thought of the civilization of ancient Greece and Borne, and lastly to be 

 able to write as well as the best authors of classical times A moment's 

 thought will show that to attain these three aims, moderation was neces- 

 sary — exaggeration in any form would make the movement ridiculous. It 

 is unfortunate that in its later stages, Humanism did degenerate into 

 exaggeration, and the first aim led to a craze for collecting anything old, 

 the second was responsible for much affectation, such as the assumption 

 of ancient Boman titles and names, and the third produced imbecilities of 

 speech in an age known as " the golden age of speechification." To give 

 you one instance, a learned Humanist thought it tit to show his powers 

 of rhetoric in starting his address to a learned society by apostrophising 

 the president's nose : " perfect nose, imperial nose, divine nose, nose to 

 be blessed among all noses." 



The scholarship of the Italian Renaissance may be divided into three 

 periods : (1) the age of passionate desire when men like Petrarch and 

 Boccacio stimulated in others the desire for knowledge ; (2) the age of 

 collecting and formation of libraries ; (3) the age of criticism and founda- 

 tion of Academies. In the first period the classical authors were not well 

 known ; -many of them had not yet been discovered, and the Greek 

 authors were known only in Latin translations. The movement 

 therefore depended mainly on individuals who knew Greek and could be 

 persuaded to come and teach it. Petrarch has been called " the Father of 

 Humanism." He was the first great man who attempted to learn the 

 Greek language aud to encourage others to follow him. The foundation 

 stone was laid by Ohrysoloras who came from Constantinople on a mission 



