I prefer to explain that by the fatigue of intellectual labor and worry acting on a brain predisposed for melancholia and overtasked from infancy.

But it does account for the moral martyrdom he suffered, and the internal perplexity to which he was habitually subject.
[Footnote 83: Carducci, in his essay _Dello Svolgimento della Letteratura Nazionale_, and Quinet, in his _Revolutions d'ltalie_.] When Tasso first saw the light, the Italians had rejected the Reformation and consented to stifle free thought.

The culture of the Renaissance had been condemned; the Spanish hegemony had been accepted.
Of this new attitude the concordat between Charles and Clement, the Tridentine Council, the Inquisition and the Company of Jesus were external signs.

But these potent agencies had not accomplished their work in Tasso's lifetime.

He was rent in twain because he could not react against them as Bruno did, and could not identify himself with them as Loyola was doing.