'I have set thee,' says the Creator to
Adam, 'in the midst of the world, that thou mayst the more easily
behold and see all that is therein. I created thee a being neither
heavenly nor earthly, neither mortal nor immortal only, that thou
mightest be free to shape and to overcome thyself. Thou mayst sink into
a beast, and be born anew to the divine likeness. The brutes bring from
their mother's body what they will carry with them as long as they
live; the higher spirits are from the beginning, or soon after, what
they will be for ever. To thee alone is given a growth and a
development depending on thine own free will. Thou bearest in thee the
germs of a universal life.'
Part Five
SOCIETY AND FESTIVALS
Equality of Classes
Every period of civilization which forms a complete and consistent
whole manifests itself not only in political life, in religion, art,
and science, but also sets its characteristic stamp on social life.
Thus the Middle Ages had their courtly and aristocratic manners and
etiquette, differing but little in the various countries of Europe, as
well as their peculiar forms of middle-class life.
Italian customs at the time of the Renaissance offer in these respects
the sharpest contrasts to medievalism. The foundation on which they
rest is wholly different. Social intercourse in its highest and most
perfect form now ignored all distinctions of caste, and was based
simply on the existence of an educated class as we now understand the
word.
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