96

LIFE OF LEO THE TENTH.

[CH. XIV.

accordingly executed in marble by Domenico Amio, a disciple of Sansovini, and placed in the Capitol, with the following inscription:

Leo X. dissolves the council of the Lateran-Commencement of the ReformationThe earlier promoters of literature arraign the misconduct of the clergy-DantePetrarca-Boccaccio and others expose the clergy to ridicule--Accusations against the clergy justly founded-Attempts made to restrain the freedom of publication-Effects of the revival of classical literature on the established religionAnd of the study of the Platonic philosophy-Restraints imposed by the church on philosophical studies-General spirit of inquiry-Promulgation of indul gences-Impolicy of this measure-Luther opposes the sale of indulgencesThey are defended by Tetzel-By Eccius-And by Prierio-Leo inclines to temperate measures-The emperor Maximilian calls on the pope to interfereLeo cites Luther to appear at Rome-Luther obtains a hearing in GermanyHe repairs to Augsburg-Interview between Luther and the cardinal of GaetaLuther appeals to Leo X.-Papal decree against the opinions of Luther-He appeals from Leo. X. to a general council-Two circumstances which contributed to the success of Luther-I. He combines his cause with that of the promoters of learning.-II. He offers to submit his doctrines to the test of reason and scripture.

Leo dissolves

the council of

the Lateran.

1517. t. 42.

Pont. V.

THE Council of the Lateran, which commenced under the pontificate of Julius II., having now sat for nearly five years, approached the termination of its labours. Were we to insinuate that the motive of Julius in convoking this assembly, was that it might operate as his justification, in refusing to submit to the adverse decrees of the council of Pisa, we might incur the imputation, although we should now escape the penalties

of heresy. It may, however, with confidence be asserted, that this council was chiefly intended to counteract the proceedings of the Conciliabulum, and in this respect its triumph was complete; the cardinal Carvajal, who had been the leader of the refractory ecclesiastics, having not only made his submission in the seventh session of the council of Lateran, but having accepted the humiliating honour of performing divine service on its final dissolution, which took place on the sixteenth day of March, 1517. On this occasion a solemn excommunication was denounced against all persons who should presume to comment upon, or interpret its transactions, without the special license of the holy see.1

Commence

The peace of the church thus restored, by the labours of the council, was not, however, destined to remain ment of the Re- long undisturbed. Scarcely had the assembly formation. separated, before the new opinions and refractory conduct of Martin Luther, a monk of the Augustine order, at Wittemberg, attracted the notice of the Roman court, and led the way to that schism, which has now for nearly three centuries divided the Christian world, and introduced new causes of alienation, discord, and persecution, among the professors of that religion which was intended to inculcate universal peace, charity, and good-will.

Early pro

rature arraign

In the fourteenth century, when the human mind began to be emancipated from its long thraldom, one of the moters of lite- first indications of liberty appeared in the bold and the misconduct presumptuous manner in which the fathers and of the clergy. promoters of literature penetrated into the recesses, and arraigned the conduct of the Roman pontiffs and chief dignitaries of the church. Whatever might have been the crimes of the priesthood, the voice of censure had hitherto been effectually suppressed; and their transactions, like those of the ancient heroes, were buried in eternal silence for want of due celebration. The hardy genius of Dante shrunk not, however, from the dangerous task; and after having met with pope Anastasius in the depths of hell, it is no wonder that he represents the church as sunk under 1 S. S. Concil. tom. xiv. p. 335.

Dante.

Petrarca.

the weight of her crimes, and polluted with mire and filth." The milder spirit of Petrarca appears upon this subject to be roused to a yet higher pitch of indignation. In one of his sonnets he assimilates the papal court to Babylon, and declares that he has quitted it for ever, as a place equally deprived of virtue and of shame, the residence. of misery and the mother of error; and in another he seems to have exhausted on this theme every epithet of reproach and abhorrence which his native language could afford. If the genius and character of these two great men secured them whilst living from the effects of ecclesiastical resentment, the increasing celebrity which their works acquired after their death, gave additional weight to the opinions which they had so freely expressed. Even the populace, under the sanction of such authority, began to open their eyes to the abuses of the church, and to doubt of that infallibility which had before been as willingly conceded as it was arrogantly assumed.

scio and the clergy to ri

others expose

Whilst these and similar productions were calculated to bring the church into odium and disgrace, those of the celebrated Boccaccio were at least equally calculated to expose the priesthood to ridicule and contempt. The debaucheries of the religious of both sexes, form the most general theme of his very

dicule.

* Inferno, cant. xi. v. vi. &c,; also the whole nineteenth canto, where Dante finds Nicholas III. (Orsini) in hell, planted with his heels upwards, waiting till Boniface VIII. arrives, who is to take his place; and who is to be again relieved, in due time, by Clement V. Un pastor senza legge." Count Bossi, like a faithful son of the church, reminds me that "I have too often confounded together the church and the clergy; that the censures and invectives I have cited are merely personal, and affect only the characters of individuals in the highest stations of the church, and not the church itself. That it is possible the ministers may be vicious, and exposed to censure, or even to contempt, without derogating from the sanctity of religion, and the respect due to the church." Vide Ital. Ed. vol. vi. p. 88. My reply is, that as the visible church is seen only in its ministers, so the bringing of these into contempt has generally been justly thought to bring the Roman church itself into contempt; and on this idea the Protestant writers have sometimes endeavoured to maintain charges against the Roman pontiffs, without attending to the extenuations or exculpations of which the subject in some cases admits.

a Vide the sonnets of Petrarca, beginning,

and

"Dell' empia Babilonia ond' è fuggita,

"Fiamma dal ciel su le tue treccie piova,"

printed in some editions of his works. Should it be contended, that these sonnets relate only to the papal court at Avignon, it will not invalidate the purpose for which they are here cited.

popular and entertaining work. That Boccaccio was the most dangerous adversary of the papal power, cannot, indeed, be doubted. What we violently abhor, we may still justly dread; but that which we have learnt to despise ceases to be an object of terror. To Boccaccio succeeded several writers, whose works, considered in other points of view, are of little importance; but which, as contributing to sap the foundations of the Roman power, and to weaken in the minds of the people the influence and authority of the holy see, have greatly contributed to the emancipation of the human race. Such are the "Facetia" of Poggio, and the writings of Burchiello, Pulci, and Franco. To some of these works the newly invented art of printing gave a more general circulation. Of the "Facetiæ," upwards of ten editions were printed in the last thirty years of the fifteenth century. They were also published at Antwerp and Leipsic; an evident proof, in that early state of the art of printing, that the work had obtained great celebrity, not only in Italy, but throughout the whole extent of Christendom.*

If the foregoing instances of a rising spirit of opposition to the Roman see were not sufficient to shew the decided hostility which already subsisted between literature and superstition, it would be easy to

Accusations against the clergy justly founded.

multiply them from the works of other writers; but it must not be supposed that the animadversions, or the ridicule, of all the learned men of the time could have brought the priesthood into contempt, if its members had not by their own misconduct afforded substantial grounds for such imputations. That a very general relaxation not only of ecclesiastical discipline, but of the morals and manners of

4 The French translator has increased the number of editions of the fifteenth century to twenty, for which he has been reproved by Count Bossi, who asserts, that it would scarcely be possible to find the ten editions which I have mentioned. Ital. Ed. vol. vi. p. 90. On the contrary, Henke, on the authority of Panzer, asserts, that there were above twenty editions up to the year 1500. Germ. Ed. vol. ii. p. 333. The latter author adds, that some wits in England composed satires upon the clergy still earlier than in Italy. "Towards the end of the twelfth century lived Walther Mapes and Nigel Wireker, whose bitter sallies were learnt by heart. The "Speculum Stultorum" of the latter was printed more than six times up to the year 1500. But Germany, above all, in the last five years preceding the Reformation, was very fruitful in compositions of this kind. Hemmerlin, Murner, Brandt, Kaisersperg, and others, were favourite and much read authors." Germ. Ed. vol. ii. p. 333.*