Page:A history of Hungarian literature.djvu/43

Rh night in bed. Quintus Curtius' History of Alexander the Great or the works of Livy may be found under his pillow." His conversation and his frequent quotations showed how well read he was in the Roman authors, especially in Virgil, while Queen Beatrice was equally well versed in them.

It is only natural that the men who were engaged in bringing to light and spreading this classical culture should be highly esteemed. Nearly all the monarchs had famous scholars living at their Courts; one prince invited them because of his real interest; another, perhaps, merely because it was the fashion. These scholars used to wander from country to country, as famous actors do nowadays, their contracts with their hosts, the Kings, being for a year or two only, and they were handsomely paid for their visit. When the term expired they left for some other Court. Matthias had a large number of philosophers, cardinals, physicians, orators, philologists, brilliant conversationalists, famous astronomers, astrologers banished from their own country, and chiromancers at the court; in a word, the most as well as the least valuable classes of that singular, yet great age. In 1471, King Matthias wrote to a famous Roman humanist: "Scholars, how happy are you! You strive not after blood-stained glory nor monarchs' crowns, but for the laurels of poetry and virtue. You are even able to compel us to forget the tumult of war."

Let us cast a glance at the polite society of the period, and enter one of the halls in the palace of Buda. It is furnished with all the luxury and artistic taste of the Renaissance. On the walls are wondrous tapestries interwoven with gold, alternating with frescoes representing scenes from Hungarian history. Nature lends her beauty