concern with the decay of matter does not reflect a religious delight in the spiritual world but a true materialism, an excessive attachment to the fleeting character of beauty" (Herlihy 347; emphasis added). This sensibility was to find its highest expression in Italy, chiefly in Florence, Venice, Rome, and Milan. In this connection, Boccaccio's description of the plague in Florence, which cites such classical physicians Galen, Hippocrates, and Aesculapius, may be taken as representative: "Nor were these dead honored with tears, candles or mourners. It had come to such a pass that men who died were shown no more concern than dead goats today" (Cited by Herlihy 357). Kirchner considers Boccaccio as one of the Italian humanists who devoted himself to "propagation of the heritage of Ancient Times" (260). Humanism in the Italian mode stressed secularism, "as opposed to transcendental questions and problems of the 'other world'" (Kirchner 260). Thompson cites Mirandola's "Oration on the Dignity of Man" as "an excellent reflection of the aspirations of Renaissance humanism" (Thompson 276). Although Mirandola appears to have been a man of faith, he also appeals to the philosophical authority of pagan scholarship: "But indeed not only the Mosaic and Christian mysteries but also the theology of the ancients show us the benefits and value of the liberal arts . . . for he who knows himself [not God!] in himself knows all things" (Thompson 283-5).
According to Clark, the environment of Florence was particularly distinguished by "liberal materialism" in the first century of the Renaissance. However, by the end of the fifteenth century, what Clark refers to as "robust civic humanism" of Florence as a city-state had been supplanted by ducal political rule of the Medici family. As a practical matter in respect of the arts, this meant that while the ordinary citizens of Florence had little say in their own governance, those who ruled (i.e., the Med...