New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-03-19
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
RENAISSANCE IN ITALY ny joins AnnlNG i1nSS :

The publishers advertisement when apUoHi' -
zach of these volumes announces that VIC VA ~ 10
three volumes of Mr. Symonds's history Va '"0
pono;ssapce in italy, are now before the pubic ID
nm American edition correspondents e''N'''
with the English edition, except tha' TIC ANY
l,ror has an index" The two volumes before lis
Soon IN correspond to two OF the London edition.
which like them, tell the story OF tie age VI tu'
Despots and of the Revival Of Learning. lar' W.
contained, We suppose, IN third Nolomc' az" "'
voted to the very interesting subject OF the h''N'
of the Fine ATtS, is not yet IN our HANDS, an" per
hans Its publication here awaits that OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
which as the author himself tells u.s. is required to
Md to these three volumes those which he mas pIo-
eeted on Italian Literature 1t Is 10 he hoped that
No announcement will be lacking to Mr.. Symonds
or 20 his nnhlishers for his work is thus far one OF
very great interest and value.
The story which Nh SymOnds undertakes to tell
is that of the passing of the human mind out oil JUS
gloomy Imprisonment in the DARK Ages INTO the
light and warmth which was shed upon the Woiid
oy the sun of humanity" Many persons we are
snre meet with the old phrases humane letters
and he hath the humanites,' without knowing
their origin and their real significance. when Tue
Roman Empire was broken mp and divided among
The Northern barbarians the darkness of ignorance
and superstition descended upon tie Western Woilu
in a cloud thai doepened density a. centuries
"
little spark OF light, the Roman Church, which d'd
not illuminate, but merely made darkness visible.
Religion destroyed humanity. Man lived either as
nm ascetic or as II coarse and brutal sinner. Inc
beauty of the world, OF man ana OF Womdn'
he knew not at all, or else knew IL ana en-
loved II grossly coaTsely and in way that ne IeIt
was damnation unless the Church aOsolved hm OF
the sim Ignorance, blind faith, abstinence, notti-
cation of the bOdytnesc were the rules OF n g"0IH
life c. a good one and those who ana not i've Oy
these rules ran riot IN violence, In sensuaty ana IN
sacrilege All OF nearly all, however, we've eqdIlI
ignorant; and all or nearly all equally bind IL
their religious faith. Theie was no power recog'
MED but that OF the strong hand or that OF tne
priest In the midst of all this ObscUIiy and con-
fusion the barbar0uS people who had seized upon
the Western Empire gradually forming the
nations and the languages OF the modern European
world. Italy, France. Spain, Germany and England
came into beng as nations possessing ana giving
character to certain great countries over ali these
feudalism and ascetcIsm. acting in concert IOr
related purposes, cast the blanket OF the darn
independent thought was unknown; the literature
of the past that of Greece and Rome was un-
known; the world. beyond what lay between the
German Ocean and the Mediterranean sea, was
unknown; the celestial regions were unknown;
man was unknown to himself-he knew neither
his power nor his beauty. Strange 10 say, the art
Of that period while il shows in mlssaIs ana III
ecclesiastical structures some OF the most beautiful
forms and combinations OF coiors that exist pre-
sents us the human face and figure in shapes which
combine In an equal degree the hdeOus ana the
ridiculous. Ii is the issue from this condition OF
the world which Is called the Renaissance French
for new birth; and the chef characteristic OF
this period was the recognition of man lhtclIec-
tual power and physical beauty, the literature
- q o,,I I-l M pf which
came thus to know himself was called the Iitera-
tnre of humanity its professors were called HUI
Inanists; it was humane learning; and hence he
hath the humanities " meant that man was more
or less a Latin or even & Greek scholar.
The revival of learning, however, which was
begun in the time of Petrarch, about the middle OF
the fourteenth century and which was largely, if
not chiefly due to his efforts and influence, was no
mere renewal of interest in classic literature 1t
was the beginning of the emancipation of human
reason from the thraldom of ignorance and eccles-
astlcal tyranny The Roman Church indeed held
its own in what NAV be called matters external
and its power was little if at all impaired as regards
The mass of mankind but within the pale OF pro
feSsed orthodoxy there were men whose contact
with the minds Of the great writer's of Greece and
Rome had charged their own with the magnetic
electricity of thought, and they became human
lists and Independent thinkers. The first mani
festaton OF the Renaissance. however, was greed
for old manuscripts. 1t could not have been other
wise And this desire was at first indiscrimlnate
ANY old Latin Ms. of the classic age regarded
with reverence, almost worshipped like fetish
Greek was a sealed language to the clerks of this
early period of the revival; but Greek manuscripts
were coveted. Petrarch hiDiSelf had a copy of
Homer of which lie could not read one line but
over which he pored in rapt and puzzled admira-
ton Nor was such enthusiasm confined to the
clerkly class or to the stronger sex. Inc eager
desire for culture in the antique classics perVaded
all classes. Churchmen and noblemon, soldiers OF
fortune and peasants, noble ladies, and even the
anonymas' of the period, became classical SUI
dents if not classical scholars.
Regarding this emancipation OF the human mind
from our modern point of view and considering the
wide diffusion Of the new knowledge 1t might
naturally lie supposed that the tendency of the
times would have been strongly liberal and toward
freedom But il was not so. There was strong
and even almost q furious passion for freedom.
But at that time and in Italy, freedom meant not
the liberty OF the individual within the law, not
the equality of men before the law, but the inde-
pcndence of the municipality. town was free
which was not tributary 10 another town or prov
ince, or governed by a despot ;-such = despot
being sometimes a semibaIbarous nObleman from
the surrounding country; sometimes successful
soldier of fortune who had put himself at the head
of a company of free lances. The municipal indie
pendeuce which constituted Italian freedom
meant the control of the Affairs of the municipality
in tue interests If few ruling families and rich
burglers For this even there was a constant
struggle against the despots from without and on
the other hand, an alternating submission to the
despots within. And at no time were these
struggles more constant or fercer than in this very
ppc of the revival of learning and the emancipation
of the human mind. Nor Is there anything more
remarkable in the history Of this period although