Excerpt from The Spenser Epoch, Vol. 2: 1500-1600 The Influence of the Classics. - The history of the Renascence in Europe begins with two facts: the invention of printing, about 1450, and the capture of Constantinople, with its consequent dispersal of Greek scholars and Greek manu scripts, in 1453. These two forces interact, for the invention of printing set the printers hunting for materials for their presses, and the discovery of the classics stimulated the art of printing. The result was the general diffusion of ...
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Excerpt from The Spenser Epoch, Vol. 2: 1500-1600 The Influence of the Classics. - The history of the Renascence in Europe begins with two facts: the invention of printing, about 1450, and the capture of Constantinople, with its consequent dispersal of Greek scholars and Greek manu scripts, in 1453. These two forces interact, for the invention of printing set the printers hunting for materials for their presses, and the discovery of the classics stimulated the art of printing. The result was the general diffusion of the classics in Europe. Europe went mad about the classics. Rich men vied with one another for the purchase of manuscripts; Princesses, as we shall see, set the fashion for Plato. These classics were not merely what they are to many of us, dead languages, to be read with all due allowances for the ignorance of their authors, who had the misfortune to live before the discovery of electricity and Adam Smith. They were the repositories of learning, the models of style. To quote Cicero was to clinch an argument. As we shall see in Ascham, and Lyly, and Sidney, there was no appeal beyond the classics. Aristotle and Pliny told them facts of natural history which Europe had forgotten. Even Xenophon's Cyw pcedia was a text-book of education. The world had now got back to the point at which Seneca left off, and had made an immense step forward in getting there. The physician could read his Galen, the lawyer his Justinian, the priest his New Testament. And now, under this flood of illumination, the intellect of Europe awoke. One result was the spread of the Reformation. The monasteries had professed a monopoly of learning, and now they were tried on the charge of deliberate obscurantism. Men saw what they had been allowed to forget. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at ... This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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Add this copy of The Spenser Epoch, Vol 2 15001600 Classic Reprint to cart. $20.14, new condition, Sold by Paperbackshop rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Bensenville, IL, UNITED STATES, published 2018 by Forgotten Books.
Add this copy of The Spenser Epoch, Vol 2 15001600 Classic Reprint to cart. $30.56, new condition, Sold by Paperbackshop rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Bensenville, IL, UNITED STATES, published 2018 by Forgotten Books.
Add this copy of The Spenser Epoch, Vol. 2: 1500-1600 (Classic Reprint) to cart. $55.97, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2018 by Forgotten Books.