CHAPTER I. VOL. I. ROME. Lascaris.- Foundation of the Greek Gymnasium.-Literary state of Crete.-Theodore Ducas sent from that Island to the Gymnasium.-His Education completed, he prepares to travel over Europe.-Objects of his Curiosity.— He travels, and returns to Rome.-Passes the close of his life in Writing his Narrative. Literary History and Character of Marcus Musurus.-General Remarks on the State of Letters and Art previously to the Sixteenth Century. Character of Pope Leo X.-His fondness for Classical Literature. Inequality of his Patronage.- His love of Buffoons.- His other Amusements.- Literature at Rome.-General Papal Patronage of Letters. - The Literary Circle of Leo. - Cardinal Bembo. - Cardinal Sadoleto.- Molza. - Berni.- Beroaldo.- Castiglione.— Bibbiena.-Govio. - Valeriano.-The Vatican Library. -Its Keepers and Librarians.- Acciajuoli.- Aleandro and others. The University of Rome.-The Roman Academy. B CHAPTER I. ROME. THEODORE LASCARIS, a member of a family which had once enjoyed imperial dignity, was one of those unhappy Greeks who, after the capture of Constantinople by the Turkish barbarians, fled to Italy. The friendship of his countryman, the Cardinal Bessarion, enabled him to educate his son John at the University of Padua; and the young man, so eminent were his abilities, was honoured with the protection of Lorenzo the Magnificent. That illustrious friend of letters entrusted him with the charge of preserving and enlarging the Medicean library at Florence; and, in the course of this honourable connection, sent him twice into Greece, in order to collect such of its literary treasures as were overlooked or despised by the barbarous conqueror. Each time John Lascaris returned to Florence, fraught with the learning of the ancient world. Two hundred was the number of manuscripts which he gathered in his second journey into Mount Athos, and other sacred recesses, whereto the Greeks had retired, when the Turkish power menaced Constantinople. Lorenzo died during the second voyage of his literary agent. Lascaris remained in lettered solitude for some years; but, though the invasion of Italy by the French did not divert him from his studies, yet the intreaties of Charles VIII. induced him to remove to Paris. His residence in France was neither long, nor, in a literary sense, important. Louis XII., the successor of Charles VIII., appointed him his ambassador at Venice. Lascaris kept his abode in that city after the dissolution of its friendship with the monarch whom he had represented, and occupied himself in the pleasing task of communicating to the Venetians the language and literature of his native country. He always preserved the regard of the Medicean family; and, when the Cardinal Giovanni, son of his patron Lorenzo, became Pope Leo X., Lascaris repaired to Rome, in order to give life and action to a well-concerted scheme for invigorating the prevailing taste for ancient literature. J The learned Marcus Musurus, a native of Crete, and who, at the commencement of Leo's pontificate, was a professor at Venice, was directed by Pietro Bembo, the Papal secretary, to send to Rome ten or more young Greeks, of noble birth, and minds capable of literary cultivation. It was intended that they should be placed under the care of Lascaris, as their master in classical letters; for his acquaintance with Latin was considerable, and his perfect command over the most copious of all languages had been displayed in his editions of the Greek Anthology, the hymns of Callimachus, and many of the tragedies of Euripides. Lascaris was commanded by the Pope to educate his pupils with a view to their ability of teaching the Greek language to the Italians. The editing of Greek authors was also another object of the College. The house of the Cardinal of Sion, on the Quirinal, was purchased by Leo for these interesting purposes. Musurus, when the commission was received by him, turned his eyes to Crete, not only from love to country, but as being the most literary of all the places which, at that time, contained the remains of Greece. There were schools and libraries in Candia, and the other cities of the island; and, while learning was the ornament of every Greek |