The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-05-23


i of separating the theatre and
the Church came with the growth
of comedies. These had been at
first mere interludes between
religious or serious plays, and were
at first called "Interludes," or
later, "Farces" from farcire, to fill
i'm.
The humor is at first of the rough
excretory sort so dear to Radicals,
but in the comedies produced IN
Italy during the Renaissance the
humor was sharpened with wit, and
the acting was improved by the
development Of professional actors;
the name for this theater,
Commedia dell Arte, meant that
the actors were artists, that they
guaranteed a happy ending, and
that their skill could be relied upon
to improvise dialouge e the author
would give them merely a scenario.
Some of these Italian actors def
nitely created parts that we're to
remain in various comedies for CEN
turtles, like Scaramouche and Pull
cinella tPolichinelle, Punch; No
liere was to inherit these charac-
ters. and much Of their traditional
dialogue.
Nothing could have been more
characteristic of the eXuberancc and
fertility of the Renaissance than this
secularized comedy. the source and
inspiration Of modern comedy in al
most every country of Europe. And
yet the very independence OF the
church which the Commedia dell
Arte showed, the satirical nature OF
its wit, the earthly character OF Its
humor, its appeal to the simpler
classes of the population rather
than to the aristocracy or the higher
in the passing OF tn psecieciRE- u
in the passing of the specific Re-
Nuisance spirit One by one the
conditions we're created which were
to put ali end to Italy's greatest age.
Il
THE COMMERCIAL REVOLUTION
DUT the greatest cause of all was
ID the loss of Italy's supremacy
in finance and trade. In 1883 the
Turks took Constantinople, and bit
by bit conquered the maritime en-
pire of Venice; in 1916 they took
Damascus and Cairo. and made
themselves masters of both land
and sea routes between Europe and
the east.
At once the nations of the west
began to seek other means of reach
ing the Orient. Portugal and Spain
had already made such efforts, IN
the hope of diyerting trade from
Italy; and it was they who under
took the most audaCious ventures
in the opening Of new routes.
The voyages of Columbus we're
but a small part Of the PENINSULA
enterprise and perhaps the motive
of the most famous Of discoverers
was not merely to find a new way
to the Indies. but to open new mar
kets to Spanish trade and conquer
new regions for the Catholic faith.
But when in 1899, Vasco da Cana
sailed around Africa to India, the
motive was simple and obvious;
italy was to be displaced as the
main port of exit for European
shipments to the East.
Strange to say, the. end was at
tanned, but not as Spain and Por-
tugal had planned, and with no
permanent good to the Peninsular.
1t was in America, rather than in
the indies" that these nations
we're to find their transient wealth
and glory; and the prize was to be
snatched from them within a CEN
tury after its conquest.
But although France, Holland
an England soon dominated Spain
and Portugal in the exploitation of
the new continent, the effect on
Italy was as her enemies had in
tended: the currents of trade ceased
to flow mainly over the Alps to Ital-
ian ports.
They passed by Sicily, or along
the Atlantic coast. or across the
ocean, in the ships of the north
Atlanticm nations; and the wealth
of both the Americas and the East
flowed into the Golfers of Spain
and Portugal, then of France and
Holland and England.
4
THE financial center of the world
Il migrated from Florence to
Madrid, Paris, Amsterdam and Lon
don. the Fuggers of Germany re-
placed the Medici of Italy, and the
italian Renaissance was deprived of
its economic base in one Of those