DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63221#0067
THE SCHOLARS OF THE RENAISSANCE 41
before Bembo’s day there had been a handful of men—a
scanty advance-guard—in France.
Tho first of its members had been students of the dead
languages. Greek and Hebrew were considered the tongues
of heresy; they were hated and forbidden by the Sorbonne,
which practically permitted nothing but ecclesiastical Latin.
The knowledge of Greek meant a knowledge of the New
Testament, and led to an undesirable study of the Scriptures.
Preachers declaimed against it in their sermons. “A new
language has been discovered”—so said a monk from the
pulpit—“ It is called Greek. Beware of it with caution.
It is a language which gives birth to every heresy.” As
for an acquaintance with Hebrew, it implied a possible
return to Judaism and must be fought tooth and nail. The
mal-treatment of the Jews in those days was persistent,
especially in Germany, where the Dominicans of Cologne
persecuted them. The courageous German Scholar, Reuchlin,
happily a friend of Maximilian’s, made himself their Apolo-
gist and saved many from the flames. He had long been
a deeply versed reader of the Kabala and the Talmud.
Hebrew philosophy, he said, was higher than the Greek
and anterior to it. One of his disciples 1 went beyond him
and maintained that he found both St. Paul and Plato
in them. Reuchlin was practically the founder of the
rising school of Hebraists which had such a following in
France, and figured not unfrequently in the records of
religious tolerance as well as in those of learning. Postel,
Vatable, Paul Paradis, were its first French pupils of
Pico della Mirandola.
before Bembo’s day there had been a handful of men—a
scanty advance-guard—in France.
Tho first of its members had been students of the dead
languages. Greek and Hebrew were considered the tongues
of heresy; they were hated and forbidden by the Sorbonne,
which practically permitted nothing but ecclesiastical Latin.
The knowledge of Greek meant a knowledge of the New
Testament, and led to an undesirable study of the Scriptures.
Preachers declaimed against it in their sermons. “A new
language has been discovered”—so said a monk from the
pulpit—“ It is called Greek. Beware of it with caution.
It is a language which gives birth to every heresy.” As
for an acquaintance with Hebrew, it implied a possible
return to Judaism and must be fought tooth and nail. The
mal-treatment of the Jews in those days was persistent,
especially in Germany, where the Dominicans of Cologne
persecuted them. The courageous German Scholar, Reuchlin,
happily a friend of Maximilian’s, made himself their Apolo-
gist and saved many from the flames. He had long been
a deeply versed reader of the Kabala and the Talmud.
Hebrew philosophy, he said, was higher than the Greek
and anterior to it. One of his disciples 1 went beyond him
and maintained that he found both St. Paul and Plato
in them. Reuchlin was practically the founder of the
rising school of Hebraists which had such a following in
France, and figured not unfrequently in the records of
religious tolerance as well as in those of learning. Postel,
Vatable, Paul Paradis, were its first French pupils of
Pico della Mirandola.