After so much wrangling between classical and romantic champions, he had transferred the contest to new ground and introduced a fresh principle into the discussion.

This principle was, in effect, that of common sense, good taste and instinct.
Tasso meant to say: there is no vital discord between classical and romantic art; both have excellences, and it is possible to find defects in both; pedantic adherence to antique precedent must end in frigid failure under the present conditions of intellectual culture; yet it cannot be denied that the cycle of Renaissance poetry was closed by Ariosto; let us therefore attempt creation in a liberal spirit, trained by both these influences.

He could not, however, when he put this theory forward in elaborate prose, abstain from propositions, distinctions, deductions, and conclusions, all of which were discutable, and each of which his critics and his honor held him bound to follow.

In short, while planning and producing the _Gerusalemme_, he was involved in controversies on the very essence of his art.

These controversies had been started by himself and he could not do otherwise than maintain the position he had chosen.