Probably in all European history there is no prince who,
in proportion to the few striking events of his life, has received such
manifold homage. The poets had access to him chiefly about noon, when
the musicians had ceased playing; but one of the best among them tells
us how they also pursued him when he walked in his garden or withdrew
to the privacy of his chamber, and if they failed to catch him there,
would try to win him with a mendicant ode or elegy, filled, as usual,
with the whole population of Olympus. For Leo, prodigal of his money,
and disliking to be surrounded by any but cheerful faces, displayed a
generosity in his gifts which was fabulously exaggerated in the hard
times that followed. His reorganization of the Sapienza has been
already spoken of. In order not to underrate Leo's influence on hu-
manism we must guard against being misled by the toy-work that was
mixed up with it, and must not allow ourselves to be deceived by the
apparent irony with which he himself sometimes treated these matters.
Our judgement must rather dwell on the countless spiritual
possibilities which are included in the word 'stimulus,' and which,
though they cannot be measured as a whole, can still, on closer study,
be actually followed out in particular cases. Whatever influence in
Europe the Italian humanists have had since 1520 depends in some way or
other on the impulse which was given by Leo.
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