§ 64. PROGRESS AND PATRONS OF CLASSICAL STUDIES. 579
Dante, Petrarca and Boccaccio led the way to a recognition of the worth of man's natural endowment by depicting the passions of his heart. To them also it belonged to have an ardent love for nature and to reproduce it in description. Thus Petrarca described the mountains and the gulfs of the sea as well as Rome, Naples and other Italian places where he loved to be.^ His description of his delight in ascending a mountain near Vaucluse, it has been suggested, was the first of its kind in literature. In these respects, the appreciation of man and the world, they stood at the opening of the new era.
§ 64. Progress and Patrons of Classical Studies in the 15th Century.
The enthusiasm for classical studies and the monuments of antiquity reached its high pitch in Italy in the middle and TatteFEalf of the IStft'^fijQfujyT Many distinguished classical students appeared, none of whom, however, approached in literary eminence the three Italian literati of the preceding century. Admirable as was their zeal in promoting an acquaintance with the writers of Greece and Rome, they were in danger of becoming mere pedants and imitators of the past. The whole field of ancient literature was searched, poetry and philosophy, letters and works of geography and history. Italy seemed to be bent on setting aside all other studies for the ancient classics. Cicero was taken as the supreme model of style, and his age was referred to as " that immortal and almost heavenly age." ^
The services of the Italian Humanists in reviving an interest in ancient literature and philosophy were, however, quite enough to give distinction to their era, though their own writings have ceased to be read. One new feature of abiding significance was developed in the 15th century, the scien^ce oFTTterarj and historical criticism. This was opened Jjy Salutato,jI. 1406, who contended that Seneca could not have
Church, Pastor, I. 6 sqq., lays stress upon the gracious treatment Petrarca and Boccaccio received from popes and the repentance of their latter years.
1 See Burckhardt-Geiger, II. 18 sqq,
2 Burckhardt-Geiger, I. 277.
580 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
been the author of the tragedies ascribed to him, and culminated in Laurentius Valla and the doubts that scholar cast upon the authorship of the Apostles' Creed and the Donation of Constantine. The Fall of Constantinople in 1453, with which the middle of the century was signalized, cannot be regarded as more than an incident in the history of the spread of Greek letters in the West, which w^ould have been accomplished had the city remained under the Greek emperors.
To the discovery and copying of manuscripts, led by such men as Poggio or the monk Nicolas of Treves, who in 1429 brought to Rome 12 hitherto unpublished comedies of Plautus, were added the foundation of princely libraries in Florence, Home, Urbino and other cities. Numerous were the translations of Greek authors made into Latin, and more numerous the translations from both languages into Italian. By the recovery of a lost or half-forgotten literature, the Italian Renaissance laid the modern world under a heavy debt. But in its restless literary activity, it went still further, imitating the literary forms received from antiquity. Orations became a marked feature of the time, pompous and stately. The envoys of princes were called orators and receptions, given to such envoys, were opened with classical addresses. Orations were also delivered at the reception of relics, at funerals and marriages — the epithalamials — and even at the consecration of bishops. At a betrothal, Filelfo opened his address with the words, "Aristotle, the peripatetic teacher." The orations of this Latinist, most eminent in his day, are pronounced by Geiger a disgusting mixture of classic and biblical quotations.^ Not seldom these ornate productions were extended to two or three hours. Pius II.'s fame for oratory helped him to the papal throne.
All forms of classic pqetry^were reviyed — from the epic to~theepIgi^m, frora"tragedy to satire. Petrarca's Africa^ an epic on Scipio, and Boccaccio's Theseid led the way. Attempts were even made to continue or restore ancient literary works. Maffeo Vegio, under Martin V., composed a 13th book of Virgil, Bruni restored the second decade of Livy.
1 I. 261 sq.