No wonder, then, that in the midst of all this anarchy and confusion Roman civilization almost died out. What the barbarians had spared, the church itself tried to destroy. Having finally triumphed over pagan Rome, it fought pagan civilization; the early Christian fathers looked upon art and literature as the work of demons; the clergy were forbidden to read the classic writers except for grammatical purposes, the subject matter being deemed poisonous to the souls of Christians. Even so great a man as Pope Gregory despised classical antiquity. During the long period when Italy was the prey of Saracen and Hun, when pestilence and famine stalked gauntly through the desolated land, civilization sank to its lowest point. Superstition and asceticism held full sway in religion; men sought relief from the sufferings of the life that now is in the contemplation of a new and happier state in the life to come. Hence arose the widespread conviction that God is best pleased with those who despise this life, with all its beauty and pleasure, its pride and glory, its pomp and power. In spite of this apparent death, however, a spark of life still existed. Through all this dolorous period, schools could be found, in which a half-barbarous Latin was rudely taught, as being the language of the church. There never was a time when Latin authors were not read to some extent in school and monastery. With the eleventh century a change for the better began in the intellectual, as well as in the political life of Italy. The rise of cities, the crusades, even the unholy contest between pope and emperor gave new impulse to the minds of all, and led to the beginning of a new era. The defeat of the German emperors, through papal intrigue, added to the power of the free cities, which were thus made independent of trans-Alpine over-lordship, and now began to enter upon that long career of prosperity and intellectual conquest which is the wonder of the student of the history of medieval Italy. This intellectual movement of the eleventh century, which gave a new and strong impulse to the study of philosophy and theology, resulted in a rich literature in these departments of learning. Peter Damian, the right hand of Gregory VII. in his war with the emperors, became a leader in the study of philosophy and wrote many celebrated works. Other Italian philosophers and theologians--Lanfranc, Anselm, and Peter Lombard--taught in foreign schools. In the thirteenth century Italy produced two of the greatest of the medieval philosophers, St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bonaventura. Later the newly founded University of Bologna became the center of an eager study of law, which resulted in the writing of many books on jurisprudence.