ABSTRACT
The humanists came to appreciate ancient ethics by delving in the classical rhetoricians. In the course of this work they developed a critical philology. They had also a voracious appetite for the literary remains of antiquity. Scholars like Petrarch, Poggio, Valla and Politian attained a practical expertise in ancient language, style, handwriting and erudition. In the case of Valla this was combined with a philosophical interest in grammar which he had learned from classical rhetoric and legal sources.
