ad their fortunes, the literature of the Jews never entirely
eschewed the consideration of subjects of general interest. This
receives curious confirmation from the re-introduction of Solomon
Gabirol's peculiar views into Jewish religious philosophy, by way of
Christian scholasticism, as formulated especially by Thomas Aquinas, the
_Doctor angelicus_.

The Renaissance and the humanistic movement also reveal Jewish
influences at work. The spirit of liberty abroad in the earth passed
through the halls of Israel, clearing the path thenceforth to be trodden
by men. Again the learned were compelled to engage the good offices of
the Jews, the custodians of biblical antiquity. The invention of the
printing press acted as a wonderful stimulus to the development of
Jewish literature. The first products of the new machine were Hebrew
works issued in Italy and Spain. Among the promoters of the Renaissance,
and one of the most thorough students of religio-philosophical systems,
was Elias del Medigo, the friend of Pico della Mirandola, and the umpire
chosen by the quarrelling factions in the University of Padua. John
Reuchlin, chief of the humanists, was taught Hebrew by Obadiah Sforno,
a _savant_ of profound scholarship, who dedicated his "Commentary on
Ecclesiastes" to Henry II. of France. Abraham de Balmes was a teacher at
the universities of Padua and Salerno, and physician in ordinary to
Cardinal Dominico Grimani. The Kabbala was made accessible to the heroes
of the Renaissance by Jochanan Alemanno, of Mantua, and there is pathos
in the urgency with which Reuchlin entreats Jacob Margoles, rabbi of
Nuremberg, to send him Kabbalistic writings in addition to those in his
possession. Reuchlin's good offices to the Jews--his defense of them
against the attacks of obscurantists--are a matter of general knowledge.
Among the teachers of the humanists who revealed to them the treasures
of biblical literature the most prominent was Elias Levita, the
introducer, through his disciples Sebastian Muenster and Paul Fagius, of
Hebrew studies into Germany. He may be accounted a true humanist, a
genuine exponent of the Renaissance. His Jewish coadjutors were Judah
Abrabanel (Leo Hebraeus), whose chief work was _Dialoghi di Amore_, an
exposition of the Neoplatonism then current in Italy; Jacob Mantino,
physician to Pope Paul III.; Bonet di Lattes, known as a writer on
astronomical subjects, and the inventor of an astronomical instrument;
and a nu