. Military and religious life in the Middle Ages and at the period of the Renaissance. d the limitsof the Roman Empire. St. Jerome,just before the Middle Ages, wrote,We daily receive troops of monksfrom India, Persia, and fearful austerities of the firstascetics in the East seem, at first sight, excessive, but they are jus-tified by their results, and may be explained by the state of society atthat epoch. A gross sensualism was generally prevalent, and people livedonly for pleasure. The slaves, after having accomplished the work necessaryfor the existence of the free men, further
. Military and religious life in the Middle Ages and at the period of the Renaissance. d the limitsof the Roman Empire. St. Jerome,just before the Middle Ages, wrote,We daily receive troops of monksfrom India, Persia, and fearful austerities of the firstascetics in the East seem, at first sight, excessive, but they are jus-tified by their results, and may be explained by the state of society atthat epoch. A gross sensualism was generally prevalent, and people livedonly for pleasure. The slaves, after having accomplished the work necessaryfor the existence of the free men, further assisted in satiating the disorderedappetites of this society, which had exhausted all the refinements of sensualityand luxury. The old world, absorbed in the worship of material things, had no tastefor the culture of the mind, and in order to arouse it from its intellectualtorpor, it became necessary to impress the senses and the imagination byexcessive austerities. Greedy of novelty and anything emotional, thepeople flocked to visit those wonderful anchorites, who made a study of. 300 THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS. martyrdom, some shutting themselves up in a den where they could neitherstand upright nor lie down ; others lying motionless day and night upon anarrow plank, upon the top of a column, exposed to all weathers; all ofthem refusing meat, drink, and sleep, or only taking just enough to keepbody and soul together. These men, who only thought of their body as atarget for torture, in order to give themselves up exclusively to penitentiarypractices and the contemplation of a future life, attracted general tender-hearted for others as they were pitiless for themselves, they tookan interest in all suffering, they consoled the sorrowful, they prayed for therecovery of the sick at the request of the relatives. Their goodness foundthem a way to many hearts, and, with the eloquent force of example, theyinculcated upon the crowds the vanity of sensual pleasures, they taught
Size: 1462px × 1709px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., booksubjectcostume, booksubjectmiddleages, booksubjectmilitaryar
