' It was written under the gloomy
impressions left by the sack of Rome, which seems to the writer, not
only the direct cause of untold misery to the men of learning, but, as
it were, the fulfilment of an evil destiny which had long pursued them.
Pierio is here led by a simple and, on the whole, just feeling. He does
not introduce a special power, which plagued the men of genius on
account of their genius, but he states facts, in which an unlucky
chance often wears the aspect of fatality. Not wishing to write a
tragedy or to refer events to the conflict of higher powers, he is
content to lay before us the scenes of everyday life. We are introduced
to men who, in times of trouble, lose first their incomes and then
their places; to others who, in trying to get two appointments, miss
both; to unsociable misers who carry about their money sewn into their
clothes, and die mad when they are robbed of it; to others, who accept
well-paid offices, and then sicken with a melancholy longing for their
lost freedom. We read how some died young of a plague or fever, and how
the writings which had cost them so much toil were burnt with their bed
and clothes; how others lived in terror of the murderous threats of
their colleagues; how one was slain by a covetous servant, and another
caught by highwaymen on a journey, and left to pine in a dungeon,
because unable to pay his ransom.
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