Land and sea, starry
sky and planetary system, were fixed upon the chart. Man himself, the
animals, the planets, organic and inorganic life, the small things of
the earth gave up their secrets. Inventions utilized all classes of
products, commerce flourished, free cities were builded, universities
arose, learning spread itself on the pages of newly invented books of
print, and, perhaps, greatest of all, the arts arose on strong wings
of life to the very highest altitude.
For the moral side of the Renaissance intellect it had its tastes and
refinements, as shown in its high quality of art; but it also had its
polluting and degrading features, as shown in its political and social
life. Religion was visibly weakening though the ecclesiastical still
held strong. People were forgetting the faith of the early days, and
taking up with the material things about them. They were glorifying
the human and exalting the natural. The story of Greece was being
repeated in Italy. And out of this new worship came jewels of rarity
and beauty, but out of it also came faithlessness, corruption, vice.
Pages:
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146