of medieval thought, and after them Italian literature
entered upon a new movement.

Petrarch was the father of the revival of ancient literature. Not only
was he himself a profound student of it, but he suggested to Boccaccio
that line of study which governed the entire intellectual life of the
author of the "Decameron." With the application of Boccaccio to the
translation of Homer into Latin we perceive a singular illustration of
the trend of the classic devotion of the time. Despite the fact that the
"Divina Commedia" had magnificently demonstrated the beauty of Italian
as a literary medium, fourteenth century scholars regarded the language
with contempt. Pride in their connection with historic Rome, as well as
the environment of places associated with his personality, made Virgil
their literary deity. The ancient language of the eternal city and of
the "AEneid" was for them the only suitable literary instrument. That
they played upon it as amateurs seems never to have occurred to them.
The study of Greek which followed the activities of Petrarch was at
first confined to a narrow circle and it never spread far beyond the
limits of university walls. But the study of Greek thought and ideals,
as obtained from the ancient works, speedily found its way through the
entire society of cultivated Italians. The people had their own poets
and their own songs, but the aristocracy, which was highly cultivated,
plunged into the contemplation of Grecian art. The influence of all this
on Italian literature was deep and significant.

But there were other significant facts in the history of this era. Italy
was not yet a nation. She had no central point of fixture and no system
of radiation. She was divided into a group of small centers, each with
its own dominating forces. Naples was unlike Rome; Florence was unlike
Venice; Milan was different from all. Each had its characteristics, yet
all had points of similarity. All were steeped in the immorality of the
age, and all embarked with equal enthusiasm in the pursuit of classic
learning. The strange combination of physical vice with intellectual
appetite produced throughout Italy what Symonds has happily called an
"esthetic sensuality." The Italian's intellectual pursuits satisfied a
craving quite sensuous in its nature.

It is not at all astonishing that in these conditions we find no
national epic and no national drama, but a gradual growth of a poetry
saturated with physical reali