He was the Pope who in
granting permission to print the newly found Tacitus, could say that
the great writers were a rule of life and a consolation in misfortune;
that helping learned men and obtaining excellent books had ever been
one of his highest aims; and that he now thanked heaven that he could
benefit the human race by furthering the publication of this book.
The sack of Rome in the year 1527 scattered the scholars no less than
the artists in every direction, and spread the fame of the great
departed Maecenas to the farthest boundaries of Italy.
Among the secular princes of the fifteenth century, none displayed such
enthusiasm for antiquity as Alfonso the Great of Aragon, King of
Naples. It appears that his zeal was thoroughly unaffected, and that
the monuments and writings of the ancient world made upon him from the
time of his arrival in Italy, an impression deep and powerful enough to
reshape his life. With strange readiness he surrendered the stubborn
Aragon to his brother, and devoted himself wholly to his new
possessions. He had in his service, either successively or together,
George of Trebizond, the younger Chrysoloras, Lorenzo Valla,
Bartolommeo Facio and Antonio Panormita, of whom the two latter were
his historians; Panormita daily instructed the King and his court in
Livy, even during military expeditions.
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