The
correspondence of that period is full of references to personal
relations of this kind. The feeling of the instructed classes set
strongly and almost exclusively in this direction.
But it is now time to speak of humanism at the Italian courts. The
natural alliance between the despot and the scholar, each relying
solely on his personal talent, has already been touched upon; that the
latter should avowedly prefer the princely courts to the free cities,
was only to be expected from the higher pay which they there received.
At a time when the great Alfonso of Aragon seemed likely to become
master of all Italy, AEneas Sylvius wrote to another citizen of Siena:
'I had rather that Italy attained peace under his rule than under that
of the free cities, for kingly generosity rewards excellence of every
kind'. Too much stress has latterly been laid on the unworthy side of
this relation, and the mercenary flattery to which it gave rise, just
as formerly the eulogies of the humanists led to a too favourable
judgement on their patrons. Taking all things together, it is greatly
to the honour of the latter that they felt bound to place themselves at
the head of the culture of their age and country, one-sided though this
culture was. In some of the popes, the fearlessness of the consequences
to which the new learning might lead strikes us as something truly, but
unconsciously, imposing.
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