Page:A history of Hungarian literature.djvu/39

Rh de Majano sculpture. In his great plans he generally counted upon two weaknesses in human nature, vanity and love of money. He lavished appreciative words as well as gold upon those whom he wished to impress. The age of the Renaissance was the age of rhetoric, and Matthias was a true representative of it in that respect. If his plans required it he used refined rhetoric and artistic periphrases, to which his perfect courtesy lent effect. Polished manners were a new thing in his day, though they had been generally adopted by the Italian nobility. But in spite of his suave methods Matthias sometimes found his politeness thrown away and his plans threatened with failure, and then his vehement nature would burst out with uncontrollable fury. "He got into a passion," says an Italian ambassador, "like a raging lion." When the king was angry it seemed as though "flames burst from his eyes and mouth and nostrils."

But above all, it was his great love for art that made Matthias so thorough a representative of the Renaissance. He endeavoured to transplant the new culture into Hungary. He invited the most prominent humanists and the best artists from Italy, and when they could not come themselves he brought their works, at least, to his country.

He collected antique treasures and founded a fine library, the so-called Corvina library. He adorned his palace in Buda with choice Italian works of art; he commissioned statues, pictures, books, and furniture from Italy, and especially from Florence, the home of the new art. Outside Italy no man in Europe was a better judge of works of art and of literature. His liking for the new ideas may be explained by three circumstances: in the