Story of Civilization ~ Will & Ariel Durant

[Frybabe]

"I want to know what were the steps by which
man passed from barbarism to civilization (Voltaire)"

What are our origins? Where are we now? Where are we headed? Share your thoughts with us!

  Volume Five (The Renaissance)

       
"Four elements constitute Civilization -- economic provision, political organization, moral traditions, and the pursuit of knowledge and the arts. "
  
"I shall proceed as rapidly as time and circumstances will permit, hoping that a few of my contemporaries will care to grow old with me while learning. "
        
"These volumes may help some of our children to understand and enjoy the infinite riches of their inheritance."
        
"Civilization begins where chaos and insecurity ends."

SAVONAROLA AND THE REPUBLIC

The Prophet
The Statesman
Literature: The Martyr
Architecture and Sculpture: The Republic and the Medici
Art Under the Revolution

In this volume the  term "Renaissance" refers only to Italy. Will Durant studies the growth of industry, the rise of banking families like the Medici, the conflicts of labor and capital and considers the reasons why Italy was the first nation, and Florence the first city in Italy, to feel the awakening of the modern mind. He follows the cultural flowering from Florence to Milan, Mantua, Ferrata, Verona and Venice, Padua and Parma, Bologna, Rimini, Urbino, Perugia, Siena, and Naples.  

In each city of Italy we witness a colorful pageant of princes, queeens, dukes, or doges -- of poets, historians, scientists, and philosophers -- of painters, sculptors, engravers, illuminators, potters, and architects -- of industry, education, manners, morals, crime, and dress -- of women and love and marriage -- of epidemics, famines, earthquakes, and death.

Dr. Durant draws vivid vignettes -- of Petrarch, Boccaccio, Cosimo de' Medici, Fra Angelico, Donatello, Beatrice and Isabella d'Este, Leonardo da Vinci, Piero della Francesca, Signorelli, Perugino, Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione, Aldus Manutius, Correggio, Alexander VI, Caesar and Lucrezia Borgia, Julius II, Leo X, Raphael, and Michelangelo.

The Renaissance, by recalling classic culture, ended the thousand year rule of the Oriental mind in Europe.

This volume, then, is about YOU. Join our group daily and listen to what Durant and the rest of us are saying. Better yet, share with us your opinions.

SeniorLearn Contact: JoanK & Discussion Facilitator: Trevor
 

Frybabe: Trevor, I am happy to see your post. I echo Justin's hope that the discussion will continue.

As much publicity as the Borgia's have received off and on through the years via books and TV, I still learned something from your post today. I did not know that the Borgia's were Spanish. I always regarded them as Italian. Also, I didn't remember the gap between Alfonso's death and Rodrigo's election to Pope. Mostly I remember the intrigues surrounding Lucrezia, Caesare and their father.

[Brian]

Robby - - -  I add my thanks for your devotion to our group over the years, and wish you all the best for the future.

Trevor - - -  I believe that we can, as a group, continue learning from The Story of Civilization, and am delighted that you are prepared to lead us with posting pages from the book.

To the Group - - -  Let's get behind Trevor, who is willing and capable, and see if we can finish the mammoth task which Robby set us many years ago.

Brian.

[JoanK]

HOORAY FOR TREVOR!!

AND ZILLIONS OF HOORAYS FOR ROBBIE, our fearless leader for so many years! Robby, don't tell us you don't have time to participate along with us-- we need your comments -- even occasionally.

[3kings(Trevor)]

                                         The Story of Civilization.  V    
                                                  The Renaissance  
                                               Chap. XV   Page 382

                                                 Calixtus III  1455-8

The disunion of Italy determined the papal election that followed: the factions, unable to agree on an Italian, chose a Spanish cardinal, Alfoso Borgia, who took the name of Calixtus III. He was already seventy seven; he could be depended upon to die soon, and allow the Cardinals another and perhaps more profitable choice. A specialist in canon law and diplomacy, he had a legalistic mind, and cared little for the classical scholarship that had enamoured Nicholas. The humanists who had no indigenous root in Rome, languished during his pontificate, except that Valla, now quite reformed, was still a papal secretary.

Calixtus was a good man, who loved his relatives. Ten months after his coronation he raised to the cardinalate two of his nephews - Luis Juan de Mila and Rodrigo Borgia - and Don Jayme of Portugal, respectively twenty-five, twenty-four, and twenty-three years of age. Rodrigo ( the future Alexander VI) had the additional handicap of being carelessly candid about his mistresses; howerver, Calixtus gave him (1457) the most lucrative post in the papal court - that of Vice-chancellor; in the same year he made him also commander in chief of the papal troops.

So began, or grew the nepotism by which Pope after Pope gave church offices to his nephews or other relatives, who were sometimes his sons. To the anger of the Italians, Calixtus surrounded himself with men of his own country; Rome was now ruled by Calatans. The Pope had reasons: he was a foreigner in Rome; the nobles and republicans were plotting against him; he wished to have near him men whom he knew, and who could protect him from intrigue while he attended to his prime interest - a crusade.

Moreover, the Pope was resolved to have friends in a College of Cardinals perpetually stuggling to make the papacy a constitutional as well as an elective monarchy, subject in all its decisions to the cardinals as a senate or privy council. The popes opposed and overcame this movement precisely as the Kings fought and defeated the nobles. In each case absolute monarchy won; but perhaps the replacment of a local with a national economy, and the growth of international relations in scope and compexity, required, for the time a centralization of leadership and authority.

Calixtus wore out his last energies in a vain attempt to stir Europe to resist the Turks. When he died Rome celebrated the end of its rule by "barbarians." When Cardinal Piccolomini was named his successor Rome rejoiced as it had not rejoiced over any pope during the preceding two hundred years.

I had thought that the idea of a Universal Church would have supplanted nationalism. But clearly not so, and the need for armed troops in a Christian Church shocks me deeply. ~ Trevor  
 
 

[JoanP]

Trevor, this is wonderful news!  Look at the joy you have brought here.  Certainly Robby will be delighted.  We'll write to him and let him know of your loyalty and committment.  Thank you all so much!  

Carry on - just as you have for all these years~

[Robby]

Wonderful, Trevor!  I felt badly on seeing this discussion begin to die.  No one in this world is indispensable, most certainly including me.  There are only 6 1/2 more volumes to go   I will stop in to make comments from time to time.  Thank you for becoming DL.

An added thought.  Back when I had more time I would write BookBytes to be published once monthly and occasionally semi-monthly.  This turned out to be successful in bringing "new blood" into the discussion.  But recently I never found time to do that and slacked off.  I do believe it would help.

Robby

[JoanP]

Robby, you found out the good news before we had a chance to write to you!  More good news that you will be stopping in to comment from time to time.  Can't ask for more than that.
A good idea to advertise in the monthly Book Bytes...will ask JoanK,  our liaison,  to bring news about this discussion to the monthly newsletter, hopefully bringing in new participants.

When reading Trevor's post #1043 on the need for armed troops in the Christian Church, I couldn't help but think of the colorfully clad Papal Guard at the Vatican - weren't they brought in during this period?  Are they still armed today?

[JoanK]

Does anyone remember if this was the first Borgia pope? There wind up being a lot of them, if I remember.

[Frybabe]

From what I've found, it looks like Alfonso was the first Borgia pope, Rodrigo was the second. There were a several Cardinals. One Borgia joined the Jesuit order and ended up becoming a saint. What a history that family had.

[JoanK]

And I'm sure we'll hear more of them!

[3kings(Trevor)]

The Papal troops mentioned by Durant seem to have been a fore-runner group of those we know today as the Swiss Guards. The Swiss seem to have formed a definite group about 1480's at the time of Sixtus IV., some 20 years after the time of Calixtus III. ++Trevor.

[JoanK]

I wonder why the Swiss?

[Emily]

Thank you Robby for leading this discussion for almost nine years. That must be some kind of record for the discussion of one author's books online.

Good wishes for all your pursuits, and I hope you will drop in occasionally to comment.

Emily

[3kings(Trevor)]

This is a section taken from Wikipedia.

Swiss Guards is the name given to the Swiss soldiers who have served as bodyguards, ceremonial guards, and palace guards at foreign European courts since the late 15th century. In contemporary usage, it refers to the Pontifical Swiss Guard of Vatican City. They have a high reputation for discipline and loyalty to their employers. Apart from household and guard units regular Swiss mercenary regiments have served as line troops in various armies; notably those of France, Spain and Naples up to the 19th century.

Various units of Swiss Guards existed for hundreds of years. The earliest such unit was the Swiss Hundred Guard (Cent-Garde) at the French court (1497 – 1830). This small force was complemented in 1567 by a Swiss Guards regiment. The Papal Swiss Guard in the Vatican was founded in 1506 and is the only Swiss Guard that still exists. In the 18th century several other Swiss Guards existed for periods in various European courts.

The institution reflects the situation of Switzerland at the time. Unlike the present, Switzerland was a poor country whose young men often sought their fortunes abroad.

[JoanK]

That's fascinating! I had no idea.

[Emily]

Trevor, thank you for taking the lead to continue this discussion.

When I went to the archives and looked at the beginning of this discussion on Nov. 3, 2001, you were there on Nov. 5th. This Nov. 3rd will mark nine years of SOC, and you have played a large part in its continuation.

Bravo!

Emily

[Emily]

The uniform of the Swiss guards created mostly during the Renaissance and still worn today is not only colorful, but heavy. Here is what Wiki said about the uniform.

The tailors of the uniforms work inside the Swiss Guard barracks. The uniform weighs 8 pounds (4 kg), and may be the heaviest uniform in use by any standing army today. The Renaissance style makes them one of the most complicated to construct. A single uniform requires 154 pieces and takes nearly 32 hours and 3 fittings to complete

During this late Renaissance style, the Spanish were already sailing to the Americas and exploring in their search for gold and treasure. In paintings these explorers are depicted as wearing the same style of dress and headwear.

When Hernando de Soto marched through here where I now live in Tennessee, he probably still had on his uniform. By the time he died near the Mississippi, he was clothed in skins like the natives. There is an historical marker near my mother's farm that marks part of his journey.

De Soto's men portrayed him as a god to the natives, and perhaps his colorful uniform and helmet with a plume helped them sell the idea of deity. When De Soto died they kept it a secret from the natives. It would be hard to explain the death of a god.

The Swiss guard certainly stand out in all their colorful uniforms and plumage, but as protectors of the Vatican, they look like sitting ducks. It seems to me a man with a simple drab long cassock with a 38 or Tec 9 underneath would be more protection.

Emily

[mabel1015j]

Emily - love the James Bond "picture of guns under cossacks.

3 cheers for Trevor!!    .........Jean

[JoanK]

Emily: "When Hernando de Soto marched through here where I now live in Tennessee, he probably still had on his uniform. By the time he died near the Mississippi, he was clothed in skins like the natives."

So DeSoto "went native"?

[mabel1015j]

 

[Frybabe]

http://lettersfromrome.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/swiss-guard.jpg

You certainly wouldn't get lost in a crowd wearing that uniform. Looking at this picture, it does look heavy. Wonder what material is used. Heavy linen? Light wool?

[mabel1015j]

It looks like something that has a sheen, doesn't it? Is it the uniform that makes them a tourist attraction? I suppose that's why they keep them even tho they are uncomfortable......Jean

[JoanK]

He doesn't look too happy about it, does he? I'll bet it's as hot as the dickens.

[3kings(Trevor)]

                           Durant’s  SoC Volume V
                                           Page 391
                                     
                                      PAUL  II   1464 -71

The lives of great men oft remind us that a man’s character can be formed after his demise. If a ruler coddles the chroniclers about him they may lift him to posthumous sanctity; if he offends them they may broil his corpse on a spit of venom or roast him to darkest infamy in a pot of ink.Paul II quarreled with Platina; Platina wrote the biography upon which most estimates of Paul depend, and handed him down to posterity as a monster of vanity, pomp, and greed.

There is some truth in the indictment, though not more than might be found in any biography untempered with Charity. Pietro Barbo, Cardinal of San Marco, was proud of his handsome appearance, as nearly all men are. When elected pope he proposed, probably in humor, to be called Formosus --good-looking; he allowed himself to be dissuaded, and took the title of Paul II.Simple in his private life, yet knowing the hypnotic effect of magnificence, he kept a luxurious court, and entertained his friends and guests with costly hospitality.

On entering the conclave that elected him he, like the other Cardinals, had pledged himself, if chosen, to wage war against the Turks, to summon a general council, to limit the number to twenty-four and the number of papal relatives among them to one, to create no man a cardinal under thirty years of age, and to consult the cardinals on all important appointments. Paul, elected, repudiated these capitulations as nullifying time-honored traditions and powers. He consoled the cardinals by raising their yearly revenue to a minimum of 4000 florins ($ ?) He himself, coming of a mercantile family, relished the security of florins, ducats, scudi, and gems that held a fortune in a ray of light. He wore a tiara that outweighed a palace in worth.

As cardinal he had kept the goldsmiths busy with  orders for jewels, medals, and cameos; these, and costly relics of classic art he had collected in the sumptuous Palazzo San Marco which he had built for himself at the foot of the Capitol.*   With all his acquisitiveness he stooped to no simony, repressed the sale of indulgences, and governed Rome with justice if not with mercy.

He is worst remembered for his quarrel with the Roman humanists. Some of these were secretaries to the pope or the cardinals; most of them filled less dignified positions as abbreviatores -- writers of briefs, or keepers of records, for the Curia. Whether as a measure of economy, or to rid the Collegiium Abbreviatorum of the fifty-eight Sienese whom Pius II had appointed to it, Paul disbanded the whole group, gave its work to other departments, and left some seventy humanists jobless or reduced to less lucrative posts.

The most eloquent of these dismissed humanists was Bartolommeo de’ Sacchi, who took the latin name Platina from his native Piadena near Cremona. He appealed to the Pope to re-employ the dismissed men; when Paul refused he wrote him a threating letter. Paul had him arrested, and kept him for four months in Sant’ Angelo, bound with heavy chains. Cardinal Gongaza secured his release; but Platina, Paul thought, would bear watching.


*Pius IV presented it to Venice; hence its later  name of Palazzo Venezia. It was the official headquarters of Benito Mussolini during the Fascist regime.


It is clear that these guys spent little time preaching or spreading the word of God among the flock. Acquiring wealth and exercising political power filled their days.

[JoanK]

"If a ruler coddles the chroniclers about him they may lift him to posthumous sanctity; if he offends them they may broil his corpse on a spit of venom or roast him to darkest infamy in a pot of ink."

The Durants' prose hasn't lost it's touch. I like to think of Paul II and his heavy tiera struggling in a pot of ink!

[mabel1015j]

Interesting. I never connected the word abbreviation w/ the word "brief." DAH!

If this is Paul's reputation, i wonder why John Paul decided to use the name? Maybe i can do a little research and find out.

I like Durant's bits of honesty and humor - of the last pope "He was already seventy seven; he could be depended upon to die soon" made me laugh,  and in this section he avows that ".......was proud of his handsome appearance, as nearly all men are." That's not often acknowledged by males, altho we all know it's fact to some extent for all human beings.

Jean

[Emily]

Joan, I like your analogy of the Pope, tiara, and ink.

I think it was Tommy Lasorda who said, "Never argue with people who buy ink by the gallon."

I agree with Trevor, these people were not interested in their only mission (from their god - so they tell us), they wanted worldly things and got them in spades. The Pope was living the life of the despot, no matter how benevolent. To rule without mercy dismisses any good he may have done.

Isn't 'mercy' part of the Christian creed? I remember little about justice, and more about 'mercy' from reading their testament. It has been a long time, and my memory is not as good as it once was. Perhaps a rereading is in order for Pope Paul's shenanigans.

Emily 

[Emily]

From the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew-Chapter five-verse seven, "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy."

There seems to be little hope for justice for those who follow him. In verse eleven: "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake."

Verse 12: "Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you" Jesus Christ

Justice or mercy was not expected in this speech. He can only promise those persecuted a place in the mythological heaven.

Durant writes that Pope Paul ruled with justice but without mercy, so he doesn't seem to be following the rules of the founder of the institution he runs.

Emily

 

[mabel1015j]

I believe there is also something about it being harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven then to pass thru the eye of a needle? Of course, these guys had the advantage that hardly anyone else could read the Bible, so there weren't many too challenge them...........that doesn't explain today's televangelists and megachurch/mercedes-driving ministers -their congregants CAN read.........Jean

[Emily]

Jean, it is true they can now read the story, but most don't know the history of how these myths came to power. Religion is purposely not taught as part of history, it could never stand any light shed upon its origins, and those who originated the idea, and most importantly what they actually wrote down as facts which is easily disputed.

When I read claims of myths, fairytales, gods, goddesses, ghosts, devils, angels, demons, and the claim of anything 'supernatural' and by definition of the occult, the first thing I want to know is the history of those making the claim.

Their history belies their myths, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all melt like the wicked witch of the west in the Wizard of Oz when put to the test of archeology and history, not to mention common sense.

Their gods like the hundred of thousands of other gods I've read about over the years all melt upon exposure to knowledge of the world and our place in it. Of all those gods, the Arab created gods of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, are the least appealing, and most appalling.

I prefer the glacier god in South America worshipped by the people living at its base. The glacier god begins to ejaculate every spring and continues on through the summer to provide the natives with life saving water for their crops. I cannot remember their name or the name they gave their god, but they applied a human trait to him, and he seemed harmless enough, though he has grown old and has receded back up the mountain.

Like everything else gods usually have a short shelf life in the sphere of eternity.

Emily   

[mabel1015j]

I thought about the commonality of myths just yesterday. I found a website titled "free library" and downloaded a book by 19th century intellectual Margaret Fuller. She's very tough to read, using that 19th century habit of loooong sentences and flowery statements, but she's worth plowing through..........she mentioned, in a list of powerful woman, Semiramis, who I had not heard of. So I went looking for her. Her myth is from ancient Assyria and her story is that as an orphaned infant, she was placed by a river and was discovered by a wealthy woman who raised her as her own. Sound familiar?.........Jean

[Emily]

Jean, yes I recognize the story. No good myth was left behind.

I spent the day cleaning out my files, and as usual did more reading than throwing away. I did find the name of the glacier god. It was in Peru and its name was Qoyllur Rit'i. The people living at the base of the glacier were the Quechua natives of the area. They believe that when Qoyllur Rit'i stops sending down his semen to fertilize their crops the world will end. The glacier has receded so far that they no longer dance at midnight on the glacier paying homage to the glacier god. They use the word apus for god.

We had better get back to the Renaissance. Perhaps I can tie in the Quechua indians to the period we are now discussing about Rome and the Pope. During this time the Spanish were given permission by the Pope to convert and enslave any populations they encountered in their quest for riches. They sailed into Peru and conquered the natives including the Quechua. They converted to Catholicism, but never gave up their own gods either.

A convoluted form of Christianity.

Emily

[winsummm]

most of my kowlege of myths comes from a course I took in GREEK and Roman mythology but as I listen to   the discussion here and elsewhere I am struck by the relationship that they all have to bits and pieces of human behavior. They seem to be an attempt to understand the what and why of the things we consistently do that are relevant to living with each other and the world.  Early psychology.

claire

[mabel1015j]

Very much so Claire. When you get right down to it, all of history is the story of dealing with those human behaviors.

[3kings(Trevor)]

The Story of Civilization
Volume V   P392


The leader of the humanists in Rome was Iulio Pomponio Leto, allegedly the natural son of Prince Sanseverino of Salerno. Coming to Rome in youth, he attached himself to Valla as a diciple, and succeeded him as professor of Latin in the University. He became so enamoured of pagan literature that he lived and had his being not in the Rome of Nicholas V or Paul II, but in that of the Catos or the Caesars. He was the first to edit the agricultural classics of Varro and Columella, and he sedulously followed their percepts in tending his vineyard.

He remained content in learned poverty, spent half his time among the historic ruins, wept at their spoliation and desolation, Latinized his name to Pomponius Laetus, and walked to his classroom in ancient Roman dress. Hardly any hall could hold the crowd that gathered at dawn to hear his lectures; some students came at midnight to secure a place. He despized the Christian religion, denounced its preachers as hypocrites, and trained his followers in the Stoic rather than the Christian morality. His home was a museum of Roman antiquities, a meeting place for students and teachers of Roman Lore.

 About 1460 he organized them into a Roman Academy, whose  members took pagan names, gave such names to their children in baptism, exchanged the Christian faith for a religious worship of the genius of Rome, performed Latin comedies and celebrated the anniversary of Rome’s foundation with pagan ceremonies in which the officiating members were termed sacerdotes, and Laetus was called pontifex maximus. Some enthusiastic members dreamed of restoring the Roman Republic.

Early in 1468 a citizen laid before the papal police a charge that the academy was plotting to depose and arrest the Pope. Certain cardinals supported the charge, and assured the pontiff that a rumor in Rome was predicting his early death. Paul ordered the arrest of Lateus, Platina, and other leaders of the Academy. Pomponius wrote humble apologies and professions of orthodoxy; after due chastening he was released , and resumed his lecturing, but with such careful conformity that when he died (1498) forty bishops attended his funeral. Platina was tortured to elicit evidence of a conspiracy; no such evidence was anywhere found, but Platina, despite a dozen letters of apology, was kept in prison for a year.

Paul decreed the dissolution of the Academy as a nest of heresy, and forbade the teaching of pagan literature in the schools of Rome. His successor allowed the Academy to reopen reformed, and gave the penitent Platina charge of the Vatican Library. There Platina found the materials for his graphic and elegant biographies of the popes; and when he came to Paul II he took his revenge. His indictment might with more justice have been reserved for Sixtus IV.

[mabel1015j]

An institution with too much power! ......Jean

[JoanK]

He sounds like quite a character! Perhaps, one needed to go to such extremes to contradict the prevailing ideas.

[Frybabe]

Yes, a character indeed. He sounds very theatrical. I would have liked him just for his interest in ancient Rome alone. I don't think I would have gone so far as to want to restore the Roman Republic though.

[Gumtree]

That extract is just fascinating. So why don't I know about this guy.  Marvellous word picture of him. He was obviously too charismatic for his own good - love the idea of his living among  'a museum of Roman antiquities' -

[Emily]

A recent article in the NYT discussed 'Rome crumbling in the 'old city' while new building goes on outside the walls.

We will need Claire and Justin to describe the new art gallery and its art in this article. Having seen the sculpture of ancient Greece and Rome, I find the new installation mind boggling in its ugliness. The concept alludes me.

Rome needs a Lateus and Platina now, but they seem to have been replaced by immigrants needing large apartment buildings, with no thought of ancient Rome or its history.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/arts/design/07abroad.html?_r=1&src=un&feedurl=http://json8.nytimes.com/pages/arts/index.jsonp&pagewanted=all

Emily