Add to all of this the fact that Lorenzo Valla, schooled in the humanities in Latin and Greek, was able to translate and later prove false the document, the Donation of Constantine, that alleged to have passed down the control of the Western Roman Empire to the papacy, removing any legal claim the popes had to political power. They educate the children of the great families, producing generations of leaders raised in the humanist tradition. Most importantly, they eloquently express the basic philosophy of the times - a philosophy of human potential and realistic observation that will lead to the beauty of Renaissance art, the beginnings of modern science, and indeed the beginnings of modern life. Think about the far-reaching consequences of all of this in art, music, politics, science, etc. It took more than a revival of antiquity to make the Italian Renaissance . . .
Money is the root of all civilization.
We Italians have chanced to doubt the teachings of the Church and see the clergy as mere mortals like ourselves. The Italian Renaissance . Walker, Paul Robert. The Italian Renaissance .