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Excerpt from Florence Its History, the Medici, the Humanists, Letters, Arts
Italy in the thirteenth century carried on and brought to its crowning point the work of civilization which France in the twelfth century had started by means of the crusades, the establishment of communal franchises, and the foundation of the University Of Paris. The symbol created by the genius Of Lucre tius, where the successive labor Of generations is rep resented by running-men passing their torches from hand to hand, had never been realized with so much grandeur; the sacred torches had fallen from French hands, and had been picked up by Italy, in whose grasp they emitted a light which dazzled the whole world.
Rome, notwithstanding the Barbarian invasion, the schism, and the exile Of the Papacy, still retained the recollection Of her glorious past, brought even more vividly before her by the superb monuments which had withstood the ravages Of time and Of man. But even Rome, like the rest of Italy, acknowledged the superiority of Florence comparable to Athens itself, and all the cities Of Italy did homage to her genius.
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