Pius II.

is almost an anachronism.

The disappointment which the learned world experienced when they discovered that the new Pope, from whom so much had been expected, declined to play the part of their Maecenas, may be gathered from the epigrams of Filelfo upon his death[1]:-- Gaudeat orator, Musae gaudete Latinae; Sustulit e medio quod Deus ipse Pium.
Ut bene consuluit doctis Deus omnibus aeque, Quos Pius in cunctos se tulit usque gravem.
Nunc sperare licet.

Nobis Deus optime Quintum Reddito Nicoleon Eugeniumve patrem.
and again:-- Hac sibi quam vivus construxit clauditur arca Corpore; nam Stygios mens habet atra lacus.
Pius himself was not unconscious of the discrepancy between his old and his new self.

_AEneam rejicite, Pium recipite_, he exclaims in a celebrated passage of his Retractation, where he declares his heartfelt sorrow for the irrevocable words of light and vain romance that he had scattered in his careless youth.