There was then, we are told, nobody in Florence who
could not read; even the donkeymen sang the verses of Dante; the best
Italian manuscripts which we possess belonged originally to Florentine
artisans; the publication of a popular encyclopedia, like the 'Tesoro'
of Brunetto Latini, was then possible; and all this was founded on d
strength and soundness of character due to the universal participation
in public affairs, to commerce and travel, and to the systematic
reprobation of idleness. The Florentines, it is urged, were at that
time respected and influential throughout the whole world, and were
called in that year, not without reason, by Pope Boniface VIII, 'the
fifth element.' The rapid progress of humanism after the year 1400
paralysed native impulses. Henceforth men looked only to antiquity for
the solution of every problem, and consequently allowed literature to
turn into mere quotation. Nay, the very fall of civil freedom is partly
ascribed to all this, since the new learning rested on obedience to
authority, sacrificed municipal rights to Roman law, and thereby both
sought and found the favour of the despots.
These charges will occupy us now and then at a later stage of our
inquiry, when we shall attempt to reduce them to their true value, and
to weigh the losses against the gains of this movement.
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