88 Timehri. 



Aldus died in 1515, having printed all the greater Greek classics and 

 some of the Latin with critically edited texts. Shortly after his death 

 the study of Greek began to decline in Italy, and it is therefore to him 

 that we owe the security of the great Greek authors from destruction. 



Teaching thus became an important function of the Humanist and it 

 is not easy to exaggerate the influence of Italian students, the aim of the 

 true Humanist educator being to secure the harmonious development of 

 mind, body and character. The movement was a great one, and produced 

 great permanent results. The debt owed to its leaders for the restoration 

 of the classics is incalculable and from that time a model was set before 

 man, which has affected modern literature, and added to the wealth of 

 modern languages. Learning was popularised and made broader and 

 deeper, and a liberal form of education was founded. It is quite impos- 

 sible in a limited time to trace the Renaissance through all the countries 

 of Europe, but even a short sketch would not be complete without some 

 mention of those countries outside of Italy, which were deeply influenced 

 by it. But before turning to those countries however, one man must be 

 named whose cosmopolitanism prevented his being regarded as belonging 

 to any one nation : Erasmus, born at Rotterdam, living successively at 

 Oxford, Paris, in Italy and Cambridge, and dying at Bale. To him 

 Humanism was a means for the propagation of truth. The literary 

 conceits and striving after effects and form, which marred Italian Human- 

 ism, seemed to him a shallow thing. He was a brilliant writer of Latin 

 and could not tolerate unsound scholarship and uncritical history. In 

 his biblical criticism, he was fearless and independent. He published the 

 first Greek Testament in 1516, and its dedication was accepted by Leo X. 

 To educate men up to sound learning and honest argument was the object 

 of his life. Apersona grata wherever he went, he did more than anyone 

 else to spread the best influences through modern countries. 



In Spain and Holland few great Humanists were produced. The 

 opposition of the Jesuits and the rigour of the Inquisition prevented 

 Humanism getting a hold in Spain. In the Netherlands, several scholars 

 appeared, the best known of whom were Heinsius and Hugo Grotius, the 

 author of the first treatise on international law, whose name is of particu- 

 lar interest to us here in the form of De Groot. But constant religious 

 struggles and the prolonged revolt against Spain left little time for the 

 humane studies. 



In France the effect was rather to assimilate than to imitate and 

 revive the thought of the ancients. It produced a new development in 

 national art and literature rather than a reproduction of that of the Greeks 

 and Romans. The revival of learning however influenced her deeply, and 

 gave a great stimulus to art and letters, and in its native literature France 

 is quite distinguished. 



In England the new learning took longer than elsewhere to get a 

 hold, and for some time it was considered necessary to go personally to 

 Italy in order to learn Greek. Though England had many distinguished 



