Page:The Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages.djvu/126

 108 THE CLASSICAL HERITAGE [chap. in Christian writings to the consideration of those which were more deeply Christianized; and in this and the following chapters topics are considered wherein pagan elements have been either trans- formed or discarded. From the antique to the medi- gsval attitude toward love and other emotions the change is fundamental ; while in the rise of monasti- cism there is a complete elimination of pagan princi- ples and the evolution of a Christian system. I. Philosophy and Dogma With Christians, the love of knowledge would bear relation to their views of literature and philosophy. Deep aversion might be felt toward the sinful and idolatrous pagan literature ; yet the impossibility of forbidding it was evident, when Christianity was spreading among educated men. There was no other means of getting that education which distinguished a Roman from a barbarian. In their conflict with the heathen world. Christians could not condemn them- selves to inferiority in intellectual equipment.^ The Fathers lamented that pagan literature was the only means of culture ; yet the fact remained. And cul- tured Christian taste recognized the unfitness of Chris- tian writings for use as models in the place of Cicero and Virgil. Even Tertullian had to admit the neces- sity of studying pagan literature,^ yet he would forbid 1 Cf. Augustine, De doctrina Christiana, IV, 2, 3. 2 See, e.g., De Idolatria, 10. An interesting account of modes of education in the Roman Empire, and of Christian diflBculties in this regard, is given .in Boissier, Fin du Paganisme, Vol. I, Livres 2 and 3.