This only could have silenced the critical
intellect of the Italians.
The belief in a Divine government of the world was in many minds
destroyed by the spectacle of so much injustice and misery. Others,
like Dante, surrendered at all events this life to the caprices of
chance, and if they nevertheless retained a sturdy faith, it was
because they held that the higher destiny of man would be accomplished
in the life to come. But when the belief in immortality began to waver,
then Fatalism got the upper hand, or sometimes the latter came first
and had the former as its consequence.
The gap thus opened was in the first place filled by the astrology of
antiquity, or even of the Arabs. From the relation of the planets among
themselves and to the signs of the zodiac. future events and the course
of whole lives were inferred, and the most weighty decisions were taken
in consequence. In many cases the line of action thus adopted at the
suggestion of the stars may not have been more immoral than that which
would otherwise have been followed. But too often the decision must
have been made at the cost of honour and conscience. It is profoundly
instructive to observe how powerless culture and enlightenment were
against this delusion; since the latter had its support in the ardent
imagination of the people, in the passionate wish to penetrate and
determine the future.
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