03-20-2008, 10:59 PM
http://www.tertullian.org/articles/clar ... arance.htm
Here's another good paper on the disappearance and reappearance of Classical literature during the Renaissance period, published 1921. The string connecting the Renaissance to the Classical period is of extremely tenuous and impossible nature. Some of the most cherished writers, e.g. Tacitus, survive in only one manuscript, which was rescued from oblivion by a humanist attention before itself being obliterated as well. There's only one complete Quintillian that was discovered, which was stored away in a dusty attic in a monastery, rotting, and as Poggio writes, carelessly thrown underneath an enormous pile of books, that evidently being judged its importance. There are even stories that an entire Livy was discovered! But no one would believe the guy, and his house burned down soon after.
Here's another good paper on the disappearance and reappearance of Classical literature during the Renaissance period, published 1921. The string connecting the Renaissance to the Classical period is of extremely tenuous and impossible nature. Some of the most cherished writers, e.g. Tacitus, survive in only one manuscript, which was rescued from oblivion by a humanist attention before itself being obliterated as well. There's only one complete Quintillian that was discovered, which was stored away in a dusty attic in a monastery, rotting, and as Poggio writes, carelessly thrown underneath an enormous pile of books, that evidently being judged its importance. There are even stories that an entire Livy was discovered! But no one would believe the guy, and his house burned down soon after.
Multi viri et feminae philosophiam antiquam conservant.
James S.
James S.
