Excerpt from The Renaissance: Savonarola, Cesare Borgia, Julius II., Leo X., Michael Angelo<br><br>But what is that strange sight yonder? The sand and the water and the froth and the pebbles are disappearing fast before our eyes, but Some firm rocks, which no one has ever yet seen, or even suspected, are left standing in lonely majesty between the receding waves. They seem to be firmly established, and like everything firm and self-centred, they are respected by the waves and the sands, which are flowing round them as if in awe and veneration, nay, which seem to flee from them as fast as they can as if frightened by a bad conscience. And well might they have a bad conscience, for while the flood was reigning, they had hidden from every body's view these mighty rocks, pretending they were not there, they had danced merrily over them, roaring out Of their myriad throats: they, the little pebbles, and the microscopic sands, and the babbling waves. But they could only hide for a time those mighty rocks, they could not move them - and now, when the ebb has set in, these rocks spring into everybody's Sight, and grave and erect they stand above their surroundings, smiling grimly at the tiny pebbles and the loquacious waters at their feet. Away with you, ye ephemeral Waters, away with you-and make room for the eternal rocks!<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.