Another new doctrine taught was that there was goodness in man and his works even previous to the Christian era, and that a study of the writings of all who have contributed to human progress is essential to culture, and of value to mankind. This was an argument for the revival of the study of Greek, which had for centuries been neglected. Indeed, Gibbon tells us that in the time of Petrarch, "No more than ten votaries of Homer could be enumerated in all Italy."
Again, it was held that the gates of learning must be opened to all and not limited to the clergy, the recluse, and the sage. Intellectual culture must be offered to all men, to make them better and happier, and is not to be confined to the few for the purpose of increasing their power and widening the breach between the classes. The Renaissance made learning popular, it created a passion for culture, it aroused and stimulated widespread desire for greater enlightenment. Some of the leaders in the movement, however, merited opposition because of their efforts to introduce not only the beauties of pagan art and literature, but likewise some of their licentiousness.
We may now turn our attention to a more detailed history of this revival and its effect upon different peoples, and to a brief study of some of its great leaders.
=Humanism in Italy.=--Italy was the first to catch the impulse of humanism. Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio in the fourteenth century inspired men with their new ideas, and set in motion influences which were attended with results often far from good. They revived the study of Latin and Greek classics, extracted manuscripts from their hidden archives, incited in society a passion for learning, and created a popular literature in their own vernacular. They implanted a love of freedom of thought in the Italian masses. Their enthusiasm for the new learning attracted scholars from Germany, France, and other countries, who spread the influence in their own lands.
The effect of humanism upon the Italian mind and life was pernicious in the extreme. It led to infidelity, to immorality, and to a return to many pagan practices. This was owing to two chief causes. First, the evil influence of many leaders of the Church, and second, the passionate nature of the Italian people. Karl Schmidt says, "Humanism, but not morality, ruled in the Vatican." Brother Azarias, in speaking of this period, says:[50] "The clergy loved their own ease too well; they were too great pleasure-seekers and gold-coveters to attend to their flocks with that pastoral spirit of simplicity and good faith that is to be witnessed in the Church to-day. The bishops were no better. They looked for emoluments and court favor. Even the better class of ecclesiastics gave themselves up to the intellectual luxury of admiring Plato and imitating Cicero. While a general laxity of morals in all orders of religious life--among priest and monk, pope and cardinal--was bringing odium on the Church, and weakening her hold upon the people--especially upon the Teutonic races--the seeds of regeneration were germinating in her own body. She was even then the mother of sanctity.... The Catholic hierarchy at last realized that with themselves should begin the reformation they would see established; they therefore pronounced the most withering denunciations upon the clerical and religious abuses of the day."