Page:Ferrier Works vol 2 1888 LECTURES IN GREEK PHILOSOPHY.pdf/362

Rh in vogue consisted of portions of Aristotle (chiefly his logical treatises), served up in crude Latin translations. At this time the knowledge of the Greek language had died out, or very nearly so, in Europe, and was not recovered until the downfall of Constantinople, which was captured by the Turks in 1453. This event had a most auspicious effect on the interests of learning in the West. The downfall of Constantinople dispersed over Europe a multitude of learned men who possessed Greek MSS., and who were skilled in the Greek tongue. The study of Greek literature began to be vigorously prosecuted in Europe. Plato attracted a large share of attention. This happened in the fifteenth century of our era; and Italy was the country over which the light of the renovated learning first broke. Here Plato was enthusiastically studied. Marsilius Ficinus translated and commented on his works. Under the auspices of this learned Florentine, Platonism enjoyed a second revival. The enthusiasm spread to other countries, and from that day down to the present the authority of the Platonic writings has never ceased to influence the course of speculation, and to tell even on the general literature of all civilised communities, although it has operated more powerfully and been felt more vividly at one time than it has at another. During the eighteenth century, for example, the influence of Plato had declined. But in the present age the close study of his writings has again revived in our own country, in France, and in Germany.