The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy. Jacob Burckhardt

on the Church 465 The preachers of repentance 466 Girolamo Savonarola 473 Pagan elements in popular belief 479 Faith in reliques 481 Mariolatry 483 Oscillations in public opinion 485 Epidemic religious revivals 485 Their regulation by the police at Ferrara 487 CHAPTER III. RELIGION AND THE SPIRIT OF THE RENAISSANCE. Inevitable subjectivity 490 Worldliness 492 Tolerance of Mohammedanism 492 Equivalence of all religions 494 Influence of antiquity 495 The so-called Epicureans 496 The doctrine of free will 497 The pious Humanists 499 The less pronounced Humanists 499 Codrus Urceus 500 The beginnings of religious criticism 501 Fatalism of the Humanists 503 Their pagan exterior 504 CHAPTER IV. MIXTURE OF ANCIENT AND MODERN SUPERSTITIONS. Astrology 507 Its extension and influence 508 Its opponents in Italy 515 Pico’s opposition and influence 516 Various superstitions 518 Superstition of the Humanists 519 Ghosts of the departed 522 Belief in dæmons 523 The Italian witch 524 Witches’ nest at Norcia 526 Influence and limits of Northern witchcraft 528 Witchcraft of the prostitutes 529 The magicians and enchanters 530 The dæmons on the way to Rome 531 Special forms of magic: the Telesmata 533 Magic at the laying of foundation-stones 534 The necromancer in poetry 535 Benvenuto Cellini’s tale 536 Decline of magic 537 Special branches of the superstition 538 CHAPTER V. GENERAL DISINTEGRATION OF BELIEF. Last confession of Boscoli 543 Religious disorder and general scepticism 543 Controversy as to immortality 545 The pagan heaven 545 The Homeric life to come 546 Evaporation of Christian doctrine 547 Italian Thei 548

PART I. THE STATE AS A WORK OF ART.

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CHAPTER I.

       INTRODUCTION.

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THIS work bears the title of an essay in the strictest sense of the word. No one is more conscious than the writer with what limited means and strength he has addressed himself to a task so arduous. And even if he could look with greater confidence upon his own researches, he would hardly thereby feel more assured of the approval of competent