social renovation, made way for the Renaissance,
which scattered abroad in profusion the prolific and
brilliant creations of Art, Science, and Literature."

This author to some extent discredits himself, however,
p. 455, where he remarks:

"Long before the invasions of the Barbarians
the histories written by Greek and Latin authors
concerning the annals of the ancient peoples had
been falling into disfavor. Even the best of them
were little read, for the Christians felt but slight
interest in these pagan narratives, and that is why
works relating to the history of antiquity were already
so scarce."

Another authority writing on the same subject discusses
it from a different standpoint, remarking:

"As in the middle ages invention busied itself
with instruments of torture, and as in our days it
is taken up almost as much with the destructive engines
of war as with the productive arts of peace,
so in those early ages it applied itself to the fabrication
of idols, to the mechanism and theatrical
contrivances for mysteries and religious ceremonies.
There was then no desire to communicate
discoveries, science was a sort of freemasonry,
and silence was effectually secured by priestly
anathemas; men of science were as jealous of one