ur Paganismus, ut
sunt inter Christianos qui titulo paene duntaxat Christum
agnoscunt, ceterum intus Gentilitatem spirant'--Letter 207
(quoted by Milman in his Quarterly article on Erasmus). Ascham
and Melanchthon passed similar judgments upon the Italian
scholars. The nations of the north had the Italians at a
disadvantage, for they entered into their labors, and all the
dangerous work of sympathy with the ancient world, upon which
modern scholarship was based, had been done in Italy before
Germany and England came into the field.

Few things are more difficult than to estimate the exact condition of a
people at any given period with regard to morality and religion. And
this difficulty is increased tenfold when the age presents such rapid
transitions and such bewildering complexities as mark the Renaissance.
Yet we cannot omit to notice the attitude of the Italians at large in
relation to the Church, and to determine in some degree the character of
their national morality. Against the corruption of Rome one cry of
hatred and contempt arises from a crowd of witnesses. Dante's fiery
denunciations, Jacopone's threats, the fierce invectives of Petrarch,
and the thundering prophecies of Joachim lead the chorus. Boccaccio
follows with his scathing irony. 'Send the most obstinate Jew to Rome,'
he says, 'and the profligacy of the Papal Court will not fail to convert
him to the faith that can resist such obloquy.'[1] Another glaring
scandal was the condition of the convents. All novelists combine in
painting the depravity of the religious houses as a patent fact in
social life. Boccaccio, Sacchetti, Bandello, and Masuccio may be
mentioned in particular for their familiar delineation of a profligacy
which was interwoven with the national existence.[2] The comic poets
take the same course, and delight in ridiculing the gross manners of the
clergy. Nor do the ecclesiasties spare themselves. Poggio, the author
of the _Facetiae_, held benefices and places at the Papal Court. Bandello
was a Dominican and nephew of the General of his order. Folengo was a
Benedictine. Bibbiena became a cardinal. Berni received a Canonry in the
Cathedral of Florence. Such was the open and acknowledged immorality of
the priests in Rome that more than one Papal edict was issued forbidding
them to keep houses of bad repute or to act as panders.[3] Among the
aphorisms of Pius II. is recorded the saying that if there were