PREFACE
A SPEECH DELIVERED AT A LECTURE IN THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW-YORK
During the great historical movement known to us as the Renaissance, there appeared in one country after another men gifted with universal minds—men possessed of such extraordinary intellectual power that no domain of human knowledge seemed to be beyond their grasp. From Leonardo Da Vinci in Italy to Erasmus in Holland we find such a flowering of genius as has never been equalled in the history of the world.
Recently the question has been brought forward: Did the Renaissance so utterly exhaust the intellectual vitality of men that succeeding centuries have only been able to offer feeble imitations of its awe-inspiring minds? Are there no great men in modern times? When these -questions aroused discussion in the public press a few years ago, when even great men seemed to feel that modern life was not propitious for the unfolding of such extraordinary intellectual attainments, my thoughts reverted at once to Nicolae Iorga, that master intellect.
Whether we are willing to admit it or not, the fact still remains that Nicolae Iorga is one of the most outstanding intellectual figures—if not, as I am firmly convinced, the outstanding personality—of the modern world. Indeed, if Nicolae Iorga hailed from a large country, instead of a small one, there is no doubt that he would have been acclaimed
