marcus aurelius on the capitoline hill
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Marcus Aurelius on the Capitoline HillAuthor(s): James S. Ackerman
Reviewed work(s):Source: Renaissance News, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Summer, 1957), pp. 69-75Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Renaissance Society of AmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2857501 .
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tonio Cocco
of
abstaining
rom further
playwriting
was
still
being
observed
by
Piccolomini
in
I568
(69).
Since
at
this time he
was
in
need of the Medici
patronage,
Piccolomini
would have committed
a
seriousblunder
n
refusing
Francesco
he
first favor
he
had ever asked
andin
denying
ever having written a comedy for Cosimo I, a deed
which would
have
endeared
him
to the Medici
family.
The statements ound
in
Piccolomini's
printed
works,
the corres-
pondence
with
the
Medici
family,
and
especially
he letter
to
Span-
nocchi,
prove
that he did not
write
the
Ortensio.
The real
authorsof
the
piece
were
the membersof the
Accademia
degl'Intronati
s
is
stated
on the title
page
and also
by
Piccolomini
himself.
Specifically,
he let-
terto Spannocchinforms usthatthe Ortensiowasfirstperformedon
January
26,
1561,
instead of
October
I560
(as suggested
by
Sanesi).
It also
invalidates
Sanesi'sand
Rossi's conclusion
that
Piccolomini
played
the
limited role of
counselling
the
Intronati.
n
saying
'non
mi
sono
trovatone
a
comporla,
ne a
censurarla,
e a volerla
comprovare',
Piccolomini disavows
even this
responsibility
which was
officially
his
as
a
'censore'of the
Academy.16
PENNSYLVANIA
STATE
UNIVERSITY
write the
comedy
which he had
recently
requested
(see
above).
16
Another work
erroneously
attributed to
Piccolomini
by
early biographers
is
the
tragedy
entitled
La
Conversione
di
S.
Cipriano.
The
real
author
was
Giovanni Fazio da
Urbino
(see
Salvioli,
Bibliografia
universale
del teatrodrammatico
taliano, Venezia,
I903,
I,
878).
The first edition
of this
tragedy,
which
appeared
in
Urbino
in
1626,
bears the
words
StorditoAccademico nsensato
n
the
place
of Fazio's name.
It is
clear that the false
attribution arose
when
early
biographers
confused the Stordito Accademico Insensato
with
Piccolomini,
whose academic
pseudonym
was
Stordito
ntronato.
Marcus
Aurelius
on the
Capitoline
Hill
by
JAMES
S. ACKERMAN
IN
A
RECENT
book,
Dante
poeta
veltro
(Florence,
I953),
Leo-
nardoOlschki
discussed
he statuesof Castorand Pollux
that stand
at the top of the rampleadingonto the Capitolinehill in Rome. He
showed
that
these
representations
f the Dioscures were
brought
to
the heart of
the
Renaissance
city
not
merely
as works of
art,
but
as
symbols: symbols
of
heavenly protection (they
are the Geminiof
the
tonio Cocco
of
abstaining
rom further
playwriting
was
still
being
observed
by
Piccolomini
in
I568
(69).
Since
at
this time he
was
in
need of the Medici
patronage,
Piccolomini
would have committed
a
seriousblunder
n
refusing
Francesco
he
first favor
he
had ever asked
andin
denying
ever having written a comedy for Cosimo I, a deed
which would
have
endeared
him
to the Medici
family.
The statements ound
in
Piccolomini's
printed
works,
the corres-
pondence
with
the
Medici
family,
and
especially
he letter
to
Span-
nocchi,
prove
that he did not
write
the
Ortensio.
The real
authorsof
the
piece
were
the membersof the
Accademia
degl'Intronati
s
is
stated
on the title
page
and also
by
Piccolomini
himself.
Specifically,
he let-
terto Spannocchinforms usthatthe Ortensiowasfirstperformedon
January
26,
1561,
instead of
October
I560
(as suggested
by
Sanesi).
It also
invalidates
Sanesi'sand
Rossi's conclusion
that
Piccolomini
played
the
limited role of
counselling
the
Intronati.
n
saying
'non
mi
sono
trovatone
a
comporla,
ne a
censurarla,
e a volerla
comprovare',
Piccolomini disavows
even this
responsibility
which was
officially
his
as
a
'censore'of the
Academy.16
PENNSYLVANIA
STATE
UNIVERSITY
write the
comedy
which he had
recently
requested
(see
above).
16
Another work
erroneously
attributed to
Piccolomini
by
early biographers
is
the
tragedy
entitled
La
Conversione
di
S.
Cipriano.
The
real
author
was
Giovanni Fazio da
Urbino
(see
Salvioli,
Bibliografia
universale
del teatrodrammatico
taliano, Venezia,
I903,
I,
878).
The first edition
of this
tragedy,
which
appeared
in
Urbino
in
1626,
bears the
words
StorditoAccademico nsensato
n
the
place
of Fazio's name.
It is
clear that the false
attribution arose
when
early
biographers
confused the Stordito Accademico Insensato
with
Piccolomini,
whose academic
pseudonym
was
Stordito
ntronato.
Marcus
Aurelius
on the
Capitoline
Hill
by
JAMES
S. ACKERMAN
IN
A
RECENT
book,
Dante
poeta
veltro
(Florence,
I953),
Leo-
nardoOlschki
discussed
he statuesof Castorand Pollux
that stand
at the top of the rampleadingonto the Capitolinehill in Rome. He
showed
that
these
representations
f the Dioscures were
brought
to
the heart of
the
Renaissance
city
not
merely
as works of
art,
but
as
symbols: symbols
of
heavenly protection (they
are the Geminiof
the
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Zodiac)
and
of
Liberty (to
Dante
they
stood for
popular
resistanceo
tyranny),
n
which
roles
they
had been
the
guardians
of
Rome
since
ancient
times.
In
addition,
Olschki discovered
an
attribute
appended
for
political
reasons
by
a
sixteenth-century
Pontiff,
Clement
VII,
hat
made the twins
respectively
he
Pope
and the
Emperor-co-rulers
of
the modern
Roman
Empire.
If
the
sculpture
at the
gateway
to the
wonderfulRenaissance
square
on the
Capitol
s
chosen
with
such deliberate
symbolic
ntention,
then
other
statues
on
the
hill
probably
were
placed
there for
good
reasons.
Particularly
his must be
true
of the bronze
equestrian
monument
of
Marcus
Aurelius,
brought
to the
hill
in
1538
and
placed
n the center
of the ovalpiazza on the axis of the entire architecturalcomposition.
Its
presence
here
is a
puzzle: given
the
significance
of the
Dioscures,
why
did
Pope
Paul
in
(Clement'ssuccessor)
put
an
imperial
portrait
in
the
place
of honor?
Why
was this
particular
portrait
so
desirable
that it had to be stolen from
the
Chapter
of
St.
John
in
the
Lateran,
which had
held
title
to it for
over
a
millennium?
Finally,
why,
when
Michelangelo
Buonarrotiwas commissioned o
design
the
square,
he
buildings,
and even
an
elegant
base
for the
new
acquisition,
was
he
not alsorequired o executea statuehimself;a monument not to pa-
gan,
but to
Christian
Rome?
Contemporary
reporters
do
not
quite
answer
these
questions
be-
cause
they
areconfused about the
identity
of
the
rider.
Antiquarians
and
guides
assureus
that
they
know
him to be Marcus
Aurelius,
but
add
that
the
public
is confused on
the
subject.
Bernardo
Gamucci's
guidebook
of
1565
is
typical:
... nel mezo rinchiugono come in un centro quella famosa statua equestre di Marco
Aurelio condottavi dalla Chiesa
di san
Giovanni Laterano
al
tempo
di Paolo
terzo
Pont.
Ott.
Max.
laquale
e'
chiamata
da'
volgari
de' nostri
tempi
il
gran
Villano.
Alcuni
credono che
questa
statua sia di
Settimio
Severo,
altri
dicono di Lucio
Vero;
il
che a
me non
pare,
per
non
s'assomigliare
in
alcuna
parte
al
vero
ritratto
delle
loro
medaglie.
The
emperors
were
already
mentioned
by
Fulvius
n
I527,
and later
AntoninusPius is added
as
well.
In
1536
the German ravelerFichard
speaks
of
them, too,
but
adds,
'itaque
nescitur
cuius-es
ist
ein
sehr
sch6nstuck'.
But the humanists
who
argued
over which Antonine
emperor
is
represented
were
too learned or their
contemporaries.
Even the
mis-
takes
they
correctedwere
such
good
mistakes
hat
only
rival archaeol-
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ogists
could have made them.
Evidently
the
'vulgar'
did not
listen,
but
preferred
a folk
legend ('gran
Villano')
that denied the
figure any
imperial
dentity.
Nor did the humanists
manage
to convince the ed-
ucated
classes,
because
documents
in
which
the statue
is
mentioned
seldom
identify
it
correctly.
I found a
variety
of
opinions expressed
just
in
the
year
that
the
monument came to
the
Capitol.
One
record,
a
decreeof
complaint
from
the Lateran
Chapter,
names
the
Emperor
correctly;
anotherrecords he advice of
Michelangelo
for the 'refor-
matione statue
M. Antonii'.
A
more
common
error s
represented
y
entries
of
1538
n
two
diaries,
hat of Cola
Colleine,
who
says,
'lo ca-
vallo
di Costantino
u messo
nella
piazza
di
Campidoglio',
and
that
of
Blasio di Martinelli,who mentions 'locumCapitoliinoviterexplana-
tum cum
aequo
(sic)
aereoConstantini
x
Laterano ranslato'.
Of
course,
the
attempts
to
identify
the statue
did not
begin
at
the
time
of
its arrival
on
the
Capitoline
hill.
This was
one
of the few
mas-
terpieces
of
Roman
art
that had been on
view
throughout
the Middle
Ages,
and recordsof
many
centuries
how
that
Romans seldom were
satisfied o leave the rider without a name.
I
cannot tell the
intricate
and
fascinating
history
of
these
legends
here,
but
perhaps
I
can indi-
cate
sketchily
the distantbackgroundof the RenaissancesourcesI
have
quoted by outlining
the
origins
and
suggesting
the causes
of
three
major
traditions,
hose
identifying
the statue
as
Constantine,
as
the
'gran
Villano',
and
as an
Antonine
Emperor.
Conlstantine
This
identification
may
be traced
back
to the tenth
century
and
is
possibly
Carolingian
n
origin.
The
choice
of Constantine
provided
a
name thatwas famousenough to be generallyknown, one that was
Christian,
and
one
that
recalled he time
when
Constantinople
was
a
satelliteof
Rome
and not
a
rival.
In
the Middle
Ages,
however,
the
statuewas not
principally
a
portrait
or a
monument,
but
a
symbol
for
Roman
Law. Traitorsand
criminals
were executed before
it,
or
even
hung
from
the
neck of the horse.
In
its
dual
role as
a
reminder
of the
power
of
the
Emperor
and of
the
protection
of
Roman
Law the
stat-
ue
expressed
he concern
of
Carolingian
and
post-Carolingian
Rome
for the revival of ancient
glories:
Renovatio.
I think that the
original
impetus
for
the
Constantine
legend
was
just
romantic or
nostalgic,
and that
t
was some
time before
t
began
to
gatherpolitical
overtones
resulting
rom
controversy
between
Popes
and
Emperors.
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Gran
Villano
By
the
mid-twelfth
century
a rival
legend
had
arisen-with
a
pur-
pose.
The authors of the earliest
manuscripts
of
the
Mirabilia
Urbis
Ronae not
only
offer
a
new
attributionbut take
pains
to
refutethe old
one: 'LateranisstquidamcaballusaereusquediciturConstantini, ed
ita
non
est;
quia
quicumque
voluerit veritatem
cognoscere
hoc
perle-
gat.'
Then
follows
an
elaborate egend
set
'in
the time of
the consuls
and senators'.Rome
is
besieged
by
a
powerful
oriental
king,
and
the
city
is
powerless
to defend itself.
An
'armiger'
of
great
beauty
and
virtue
appears
before the Senate
claiming
that
he
can rout
the
enemy,
and
the Senate
agrees
o
give
him a limitless
reward
f
he
is
successful.
Leaving
the
Roman forceswithin
the
city walls,
he
goes
out alone to
find
a
certain
grove
of
trees that
the
besieging
king
visits
nightly
to
relieve himself.
He
is able
to
locate
this
by
hearing
a
cuckoo,
whose
nightly
song
is set off
by
the
visitors o the
grove.
Approaching
n
dis-
guise,
the
hero
captures
he
king,
and succeeds
n
carrying
him back
into the
city
before the retainers an
stop
him. He thenleads the
Ro-
man
army
out to
slaughter
and
capture
he
besiegers.
n
appreciation
of
thisfeat the
Senate
rewards he hero
with
a
great
fortune and with
our equestrianstatue,memorializinghim with his right arm out-
stretched o
seize the
king,
the
cuckoo
sitting
on
the horse's
head
(the
bound
top-knot
of the mane does
resemble
a
bird),
and the
king
un-
derfoot,
represented
s a
'dwarf',
with
his arms
tied behind
his
back
(the
bound
captive, originally
a featureof the
monument,
was lost
in
the laterMiddle
Ages).
Master
Gregorius,
who
repeats
this
story
in
about
I200,
tells
us
that,
while the Constantine
legend
is
still
adheredto
by
the
people,
the
'Clericsand
Cardinalsof the
Roman Curia'
support
his version.
Even
without
Gregory'shelp
we
can
see
the
story
as a
clever
work of
papalpropaganda.
t
unmistakably
akes
place
in
Republican
Rome;
the folk-hero-a
poor
but honest soldier-overcomes
a
king
who
is
debased
both
in
stature
and
in
the
circumstances f his
capture.
The
story
succeeds
both in
extolling
the virtues of ancient Rome
and
its
populace
and
in
playing
down the
concept
of
Empire
and
Emperor.
I am not familiarenoughwith the historyof the twelfth century pa-
pacy
to
suggest
what
party
or
Pope
first
may
have found this
legend
useful,
but
it
is
too
pointedly
political
to
pass
as
a
simple
tale such
as
guides
love to
repeat.
Without
entirely
vanquishing
he Constantine
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legend,
this
Guelph story,
if
I
may
call it
that,
persists
nto
the
six-
teenth
century.
Surely
the
early
Renaissance ssociated he statue
with
this
folk
hero,
becausethe common soldierswho achieved
glory
in
the
quattrocento
ere memorialized
in
equestrianportraits
modeled
on that of MarcusAurelius.Donatello'sGattemelata,Ucello'sHawk-
wood,
Castagno's
Niccolo
da
Tolentino,
Verrocchio's
Colleoni,
and
Leonardo'sG.
G.
Trivulzio
all
were
mercenary
oldiersof
great
brav-
ery
who
vanquished
rulersand achieved richesand fame.
The
rulers
themselves
rarelyappeared
n
horseback.
MarcusAurelius
The
identificationof the
statue
with
figures
other
than
Constantine
and the anonymoushero did not commence until the fifteenth cen-
tury.
Humanism
approached
he
problem
in
a
scientificrather han a
symbolic
fashion,
and
starting
with attributions
o
Commodus and
Septimus
Severus,
scholars
gradually
nearedthe
mark
by
Gamucci's
method,
arriving
at
the
proper
answer
n about
I470.
But the
Renaissance
was
not
archaeological
o the core. Even
the
antiquarians
f the sixteenth
century
had to
admit,
when
they
had
ar-
rived at the
right
answer,
that the
old romancesstill
remained
popu-
lar. It
appears
hat the MarcusAureliusdid not come to the
Capito-
line
merely
as
a
great
bronze statue of
a
given
ruler-it came
also
as
Constantine,
emperor
and
symbol
of Roman
Law,
and
finally
as the
'Villano':
folk-hero,
anti-imperialist,
he
symbol
of
the
liberty
of
Roman
citizensas
maintained
by
their
governor,
the
Pope.
So
perhaps
o the
sixteenth-century
isitor
the
central
figure
on
the
Capitoline
square
and the
twin
Dioscuresat its entrance
meant much
the samething-Liberty securedby the harmoniousrule of the Pope
and
Emperor.
Round
about
n
every
direction
were statues
hat
com-
pleted
the
symbolic
poem.
At the
rear,
he
GoddessRoma
(Michelan-
gelo
had
planned
a
Jupiter
n
her
place)
flanked
by
the
Nile and the
Tiber-rivers
of the East and
West;
and on the
forward
railing,
tro-
phies thought
to
be
Republican,
statuesof Constantineand
Constan-
tius,
and
mileposts
from
the
Via
Appia
bearing
spheressymbolizing
universal
ule.
The
story
would be
incomplete
without an
attempt
to
explainwhy
Michelangeloplaced
the
statue
on an
ovoid mound
rising
from a
ring
of
steps
that borders
he
piazza
and decoratedwith
a
twelve-pointed
stellated
pattern.
It has been
called
a
segment
of the
terrestrial
globe
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anda
representation
f
the
Caput
Mundi
(the
medieval
designation
or
the
Capitol),
which s
plausible
without
being
convincing.
have
no
proven
answer,
but
I
detectboth
an
antique
nd
a
medieval ource.
The former
may
be
a
Roman
shield,
which
would
explain
both
its
ovalshape nd hefact hat t is raised atherhan lat.Theportrait n
the
shield-imagoclipeata-was
an
imperialprerogative
n
ancient
timesandwastransferred
o
Christ.
Themedieval
ource
s
one of the
cosmological
iagrams
schemata)
n
St.
Isidor'sDe natura
erumhat
symbolizes
he concordance f the
lunar
cycle
with other
temporal
inferencesf thenumber
welve,
particularly
onths,Hours,
and he
Zodiac.1
t differsrom
Michelangelo's
istinctive
tar
formed
y
in-
tersectingrcs ather hantriangles)nlyin being nscribedwithina
circle nstead
f an
oval.
So
the
Marcus urelius
ecomes he
Roman
heroelevated
upon
he
symbol
of the cosmos:
ts
varied raditions re
merged
nto a
testimony
o the restoration f
Roman
dignity
and
pre-eminence
nder
he
Church.
If
each
age
is
typifiedby
the
symbolism
ppended
o the bronze
horseman,
hen
the modern
period
mustbe
characterized
y
a
story
at
once
hemostmaterialisticnd
hemost
pessimistic
f all
time.
It
is
toldbythegreatRomanhumorist,G.G.Belli:
CAMPIDOJJO
Ecchesce
ar
Campidojjo,
indove Tito
Venne a mmercato
tanta
ggente
abbrea.
Questa
se
chiama
la
Rupa Tarpea
Dova
Creopatra
bbutto
ggiu
er
marito.
Marcurelio
sta 11 ttutto vestito
Senza
pavura
un cazzo de
tropea.
E un
giorno,
disce er zor abbate
Fea,
C'ha da esse
oro
infinamente
a
un
dito.
E ssi ttu
gguardi
er culo
der cavallo
E la
faccia
dell'omo,
quarche
innizzio
Gia vvederai de
scappa
ffora
er
giallo.
1
owe
the
discovery
of this
diagram
to
Prof.
Harry
Bober,
who
is
preparing
a book
on the schemata.
[74]
-
8/9/2019 Marcus Aurelius on the Capitoline Hill
8/8
Quanno
e
ppoi
tutta
d'oro,
addio
Donizzio:
Se va
a
ffa
fotte
puro
er
piedistallo,
Che
amanca
poco
ar
giorno
der
giudizzio.2
UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
2
'Here's the
Campidoglio,
where
Titus sold
so
many Jews
at market.
This
is
called
the
Tarpeian
Rock,
from
which
Cleopatra
threw
down her husband. Marcus Aurelius
stays
there all dressed
up
without fear
of
storms. And
one
day,
says
Abbot
Fea,
it
will
all
become
gold,
down to the last
finger
[some
of
the
original gilding
of
the bronze
is
preserved,
ed.].
And if
you
examine
the
horse's
arse and the
man's
face,
you
can al-
ready
see
some
sign
that
the
yellow
is
bursting
out.
And
when
it is
all
gold,
that's
the
end: even the
pedestal
will come
crashing
down,
andJudgment Day
will be close.'
Marvell's
Bermudas'
nd
he
Puritan
Paradise
by
ROSALIE
L. COLIE
IT
IS often difficult o remember
hat
Andrew
Marvell he
poet
wasalso
a
polemical
uritan nd
practical olitician,
o littledo
his
survivingpoemsreflecthispublicactivity.Leastof all, one would
think,
could
his Garden
poems,
where his
private
ntentions eem
most
highly
developed
nd his
general
Neoplatonism
most
sharply
particularized,
ield
up any
reference
o hisPuritanife.But
whenwe
examine is
'Bermudas',
ne
of Marvell'subtlest horter
poems
and
strikingly
loseto 'The Garden'
n
both
ts
imagery
and ts
implica-
tions
of
paradise,
e
cannot ail to realize
ts
background
f
English
expansionntothe New Worldand of thereligiousdrives hatsent
Englishmen
ut from heir sland
ntoharsherlimates
n
the
expecta-
tion of some sort of
practical
Eden. Marvell's
song
is
the
song
of
praise
of his mariners
o
the God
that ed
them
'through
he
watry
Maze' o another
sland,
ong
hidden
rom their
knowledge
and
far
kinder han
England
tself.
The last twelve lines of
the
poem carry
very
strong
suggestions
f
the
'colonizing
activities
f
the
English
Puritans':1
1
For a
study
of
this
subject,
see Arthur
Percival
Newton,
The
Colonizing
Activities
of
the
English
Puritans
(New
Haven and
London,
I914)
and
Louis
B.
Wright, Religion
and
Empire.
The
Alliancebetween
iety
andCommercen
English
Expansion.
558-1625
(Chapel
Hill,
1943).
Quanno
e
ppoi
tutta
d'oro,
addio
Donizzio:
Se va
a
ffa
fotte
puro
er
piedistallo,
Che
amanca
poco
ar
giorno
der
giudizzio.2
UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
2
'Here's the
Campidoglio,
where
Titus sold
so
many Jews
at market.
This
is
called
the
Tarpeian
Rock,
from
which
Cleopatra
threw
down her husband. Marcus Aurelius
stays
there all dressed
up
without fear
of
storms. And
one
day,
says
Abbot
Fea,
it
will
all
become
gold,
down to the last
finger
[some
of
the
original gilding
of
the bronze
is
preserved,
ed.].
And if
you
examine
the
horse's
arse and the
man's
face,
you
can al-
ready
see
some
sign
that
the
yellow
is
bursting
out.
And
when
it is
all
gold,
that's
the
end: even the
pedestal
will come
crashing
down,
andJudgment Day
will be close.'
Marvell's
Bermudas'
nd
he
Puritan
Paradise
by
ROSALIE
L. COLIE
IT
IS often difficult o remember
hat
Andrew
Marvell he
poet
wasalso
a
polemical
uritan nd
practical olitician,
o littledo
his
survivingpoemsreflecthispublicactivity.Leastof all, one would
think,
could
his Garden
poems,
where his
private
ntentions eem
most
highly
developed
nd his
general
Neoplatonism
most
sharply
particularized,
ield
up any
reference
o hisPuritanife.But
whenwe
examine is
'Bermudas',
ne
of Marvell'subtlest horter
poems
and
strikingly
loseto 'The Garden'
n
both
ts
imagery
and ts
implica-
tions
of
paradise,
e
cannot ail to realize
ts
background
f
English
expansionntothe New Worldand of thereligiousdrives hatsent
Englishmen
ut from heir sland
ntoharsherlimates
n
the
expecta-
tion of some sort of
practical
Eden. Marvell's
song
is
the
song
of
praise
of his mariners
o
the God
that ed
them
'through
he
watry
Maze' o another
sland,
ong
hidden
rom their
knowledge
and
far
kinder han
England
tself.
The last twelve lines of
the
poem carry
very
strong
suggestions
f
the
'colonizing
activities
f
the
English
Puritans':1
1
For a
study
of
this
subject,
see Arthur
Percival
Newton,
The
Colonizing
Activities
of
the
English
Puritans
(New
Haven and
London,
I914)
and
Louis
B.
Wright, Religion
and
Empire.
The
Alliancebetween
iety
andCommercen
English
Expansion.
558-1625
(Chapel
Hill,
1943).
[75]75]