ABSTRACT
The category of the Renaissance in historical thought is an ambiguous one. There are as many interpretations of the period as there are patterns of history or social, political, and cultural ideals. The idea of a rebirth of the arts, or of letters and learning, goes back to the fourteenth century and was part of the consciousness of the very first generation of Renaissance humanists and artists. Humanists read the ancients as guides to the ambiguities of action and thought as they are experienced in daily life, but they also discovered, edited, and glossed more ancient texts for men to study and use as guides. The influence of the humanistic movement, through their literary and scholarly activity, spread far beyond humanistic circles proper and their particular schools and academies. The ancient education declined but the term humanitas persisted throughout the Middle Ages, even though Cicero would never have been able to recognize it with its new meaning.
