Which renaissance idea does this passage support? i sometimes find some things said or written by the ancients, nay, even by the heathens, nay, by the poets themselves, so chastely, so holily, and so divinely, that i cannot persuade myself but that when they wrote them they were divinely inspired; and perhaps the spirit of christ diffuses itself farther than we imagine; and that there are more saints than we have in our catalogue. . and on the contrary, when i read some of our modern authors, treating of politics, economics, and ethics, good god! how cold they are in comparison of these? 3 —desiderius erasmus