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FROM THE LIBRARY OF
ROBERT MARK WENLEY
PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOFIX
1690 - 1929
GIMTO 1 HIS CHILDRIV
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ERASMUS
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سونت سنستسلاممشبان ت خت
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DESIDERIUS ERASMUS
KELIOTYP

ERASMUS
HIS LIFE AND CHARACTER
- AS SHOWN IN HIS
CORRESPONDENCE AND WORKS
BY
.
ROBERT BLACKLEY DRUMMOND, B.A.
withy Portrait
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. I.
LONDON
SMITH, ELDER, & Co., 15 WATERLOO PLACE
1873
All rights reserved
gt-wenlly Life
· 3-7-34 .
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ViA
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PREFACE.
AN ATTEMPT to do over again that which has been
already done, is naturally thought to require some justi-
fication, and the justification almost inevitably takes the
form of a disparagement of previous labourers in the
same field-a disparagement which sometimes brings a
severe but just retribution on the head of the new comer.
The present writer is fortunately spared from taking any
such invidious task upon his own shoulders. The stan-
dard lives of Erasmus in English are those of Butler and
Jortin, the former of which Dean Milman, in his essay on
Erasmus, has pronounced to be “a neat and terse, but
meagre and unsatisfactory abstract” of Burigni's work.
Of Jortin's life, the same authority, after admitting that
“it contains much lively and pleasant remark, much
amusing anecdote, many observations of excellent sense,
conveyed in a style singularly terse, clever, and some-
times of the finest cutting sarcasm,” remarks farther,
“but never was a book so ill-composed; it consists of
many rambling parts, without arrangement, without
PREFACE.
order, without proportion ; it is no more than an ab-
stract and summary of the letters of Erasmus, inter-
spersed with explanatory or critical comments, and
copious patches from other books." This is all very
true; and yet it may be owned that, notwithstanding
these defects, Jortin's work really makes the reader ac-
quainted with Erasmus, which, after all, is the greatest
merit a biography can possess. Other objections to it,
as a book for the general reader, besides the undigested
character of its contents, are that more than a third of it
is in Latin; that, to say nothing of an occasional coarse-
ness which unfits it for the drawing-room, the somewhat
faded appearance of the paper and printing offends the eye
accustomed to the sharp clear type of our own day; and
lastly, that it is now comparatively rare.
Since Butler there has been no complete life of Eras-
mus in English, though Dean Milman's admirable sketch
touches on most of the important points in his history,
and judges fairly his character and position. If Mr.
Seebohn's account of him, in his “Oxford Reformers,"
had embraced his whole life, although my estimate of
him is somewhat different, I might have felt that my
own labours had been anticipated. Other sketches,
more or less partial, it is unnecessary to refer to; and I
mention ny own in the “Theological Review” (Nos. 18,
21, 23, and 30), only in order to thank the proprietors of
that journal for their permission to make use of them in
the present work.
Of foreign lives a brief but judicious estimate will be
PREFACE.
vii
found in the essay by the late Dean Milman already re-
ferred to, and I have no need to criticise them. I will
only say that I have found advantage in consulting those
of Müller, Hess, and Burigni. The large work, in two
volumes, by M. H. Durand de Laur, entitled “Érasme,
Précurseur et Initiateur de l'Esprit moderne," came
under my eye only when my own was on the point of
completion.
After all, Erasmus will ever remain his own biographer.
To know the man, to understand his character, there is
no better way than to read his works, and especially the
two volumes of his Epistles. . I have merely dipped my
small cup into those abundant streams, and am not with-
out hope that, whatever may be the defects of the work
which I now venture to offer to the public, the transla-
tions which it contains from the letters and other writings
of Erasmus may recommend it to those to whom the
ponderous folios of Le Clerc are inaccessible, and that
thus it may be the means of extending the interest in a
man whose life has valuable lessons for our own times,
and who indeed may be said, in many respects, to belong
: to this age rather than to his own.
ROBERT B. DRUMMOND.
February 25, 1873.
*** The Edition of Erasmus referred to in the following pages as
Er. Op. is that of Le Clerc, in which also will be found the sketches of his
liſe by himself and his friend Beatus Rhenanus.
CONTENTS
or
THE FIRST VOLUME.
CHAPTER I.
State of Learning in the latter Half of the Fifteenth Century-Parent-
age of Erasmus-Early Education Death of his parents School
at Bolduc-Forced into a monastery—Takes the Vows–Friendship
with Hermam-Early Compositions--Admires Laurentius Valla-
Anecdote of the Convent Deliverance
.
.
.
.
.
.
..
. .
I
CHAPTER II.
Erasmus at Cambray—The University of Paris Montaigu-Takes
Pupils—Mountjoy—Grey-The Lady de Vere-Erasmus in Diffi-
culties—Visits the Castle of Tornenhens-In Paris again-Vow to
St. Geneviève—A Battle Royal-Satire on the Scotists .
31
CHAPTER III.
Erasmus Visits England–Oxford-Linacre-Grocyn-Latimer-More
- WolseyJohn ColetConversation on Cain's Sacrifice-Discus-
sion with Colet-Letter to Fisher-Colet's Proposal-Erasmus in
London—Introduced to Prince Henry_Leaves England .. .
VOL. I.
65
2
x
.
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
1
.
1
CHAPTER IV:
Misadventure at Dover Letters of Erasmus—To the Provost of Bur-
gundy-To Battus—To Tutor-To Battus again—To the Lady de
Vere— Erasmus wants Money to go to Italy—Teaches Battus how to
beg—Studies Greek-The "Enchiridion"-John Vitrarius, the Monk
of St. Omer–Erasmus at Louvain-Panegyric on Philip of Bür-
gundy-Letter to Colet-In England again ...
91
CHAPTER V.
Second Visit of Erasmus to England–Degree at Cambridge— Trans-
lations from Lucian-Acquaintance with Ursewick-Fox-Ruthall
Warham - Fisher-More - Portrait of More--Departure from
England . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
. CHAPTER VI.
Inducements to visit Italy-Erasmus in Paris-Letter to Colet-To
Linacre—To Wentford-Crosses the Alps-Turin—Adventure at
Bologna—Paul Bombasius–Arrival at Venice-Aleander-Alex-
ander, Archbishop of St. Andrew's--Richard Pace-Erasinus at
Rome–Visit to Grimani-Returns to England . . . . 159
CHAPTER VII.
The Praise of Folly-Its origin and character-Analysis of the Work
-Folly the Cause of Mirth-Satire on War-Hunting—Superstition
-The Divines—The Monks—The Preachers—The Cardinals and
Popes— Popularity of the Work-Attacked by Dorpius Erasmus's
Reply . . . . . . . . . . . 184
CHAPTER VIII.
Erasmus at Cambridge-Ammonius of Lucca—Letter from Warham-
The "De Copia”_Correspondence with Colet–The Cruelty of the
School-room-Advice to a Courtier-Public Affairs—Correspon-
dence with Ammonius–Pilgrimage to Walsingham-To the Tomb
of Becket_Erasmus condemns War-Meeting with Cardinal Canossa 206
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
xi
CHAPTER IX.
Letter to Ammonius Erasmus refuses to return to Steyn—Adventure
near Ghent—Visits Strasburg-Schelestadt-Basle-Acquaintance
with Froben-Zasius—Zwingle - Ecolampadius-- Pirckheimer-
The Christian Prince—John Reuchlin-Letters to Raphael and
Grimani—To Pope Leo X. . . . . . .
. 248
CHAPTER X.
The “Adages” --History of the Work-First Edition Discussion
· with Polydore VirgilAldine Edition-Reprinted by Froben-Defi-
nition of a Proverb-Examples-Erasmus rails at Kings and Priests
-The Sileni of Alcibiades—The Scarabæus
. . . 271
CHAPTER XI.
Laurentius Valla's Annotations on the New Testament Erasmus edits
the New Testament-Wrath of the Monks-Controversy with
Faber-Latomus-Lee-Stunica--Caranza—Edition of St. Jerome
-Spurious Works -- Jerome's Life by Erasmus -- Dedication to
Warham · · · · · · · · · · · 307
CHAPTER XII.
Erasmus at Bruges—Meeting with More—Invited to Ingoldstadt-
Letter to Fisher-John Watson-Erasmus nearly made a Bishop-
Invited to Paris-Budæus-Correspondence with him-Louvain-
Atensis—Vives-College of Busleiden—Hutten-Death of Ammo-
nius–Of Colet–English Dwelling-houses-Letter to Laurinus-
To Beatus— Writings of Erasmus—The Complaint of Peace—The
Paraphrase of the New Testament . . . . . . 361
Erratum.
Vol. i. p. 68, line 8 from bottom, for 66 Thomas” read “William"
Latimer.
ER A S M US:
HIS LIFE AND CHARACTER.
CHAPTER I.
STATE OF LEARNING IN THE LATTER HALF OF THE FIFTEENTH
CENTURY-PARENTAGE OF ERASMUS—EARLY EDUCATION-DEATH
OF HIS PARENTS SCHOOL AT BOLDUC-FORCED INTO A MONAS-
TERY-TAKES THE VOWS-FRIENDSHIP WITH HERMANN-EARLY
COMPOSITIONS — ADMIRES LAURENTIUS VALLA - ANECDOTE OF
THE CONVENT-DELIVERANCE.
In the middle of the fifteenth century the greater part
of Europe was still wrapped in the darkness of the
mediæval period, and scarcely a ray of the light which
Italy had for some time enjoyed had yet found its way
across the Alps. Such learning as there was, in the
absence or scarcity of books, was necessarily confined
to a few, while the mass of the people lived in the
densest ignorance. The physical sciences scarcely
existed, except in the spurious forms of alchemy and
astrology, which, being conducted by false methods,
and directed to impossible ends, contributed little to
any real knowledge of nature. The physician, whose
mind was strangely infected with fanciful notions about
VOL. I.
STATE OF THE WORLD
the influence of the stars and the atmosphere, and
whose chief authorities were Galen and Aristotle,
possessed few resources against the terrible plagues
which every now and then swept through Europe,
carrying off thousands of victims, and finding no
obstacle in the overcrowded cities and houses built in
disregard of every sanitary law. He could talk much
of humours and fluids, but of the true constitution of
the human frame, or the laws of organic life, he knew
little or nothing. Belief in witchcraft, in denioniacal
possession, in the horrors of incubi and succubi, in the
magic power attached to the relics of saints, was
universal, and the causes of unusual events were freely
sought in supernatural agency, rather than in the pro-
cesses of the natural world. Religion, too long divorced
from practical conduct, consisted of a mass of lifeless
ceremonies, while swarms of ignorant and fanatical
monks wandered about, living upon the passions and
superstitions of the multitude, but doing little service, it
is to be feared, to God or man. The Bible, known even
to the learned only in the Latin version, was otherwise
a sealed book, being absolutely forbidden to the laity ;
1
Italy itself, where classical studies had been pursued
with ardour since the beginning of the century, the
light which shone so brightly at the luxurious courts of
Florence, Ferrara, or Naples, was by no means gene-
rally diffused. The Church had long reached the
climax of her power, and needed only the continuance
of the ancient ignorance in order to make her sway
perpetual. The great schoolmen, who, applying their
subtle logic to the resolution of the deepest questions
AT THE BIRTH OF ERASMUS.
3
which can engage human thought, had done so much
to maintain the intellectual activity of a time not yet
ripe for more practical inquiries, had passed away ; but
the controversies they had raised remained behind, and
their works, written in barbarous Latin, exercised the
minds of the ingenuous youth at the universities, to the
exclusion of the study of the classical models and
the pursuit of physical science. Greek was only just
beginning to be taught in the University of Paris, and
printing, quite a recent invention, had still some time
to wait before its influence could be widely felt. It
was in this state of the world that Erasmus of Rotter-
dam was born. The story of his life, which it is my
purpose to narrate, will show what part he bore in
that great conflict, the issues of which, for his own age,
were the triumph of letters and the Protestant Reforma-
tion, and of which the ultimate issue-still in the future
-is the entire emancipation of the human mind from
every form of intellectual and spiritual bondage.
Desiderius Erasmus, as he afterwards called himself,
was born at Rotterdam, on the night of the 27th of
October, in or about the year 1467.1 His real name
1 As we have the express testi-
mony of Beatus Rhenanus, his in-
timate friend, that the year of
Erasmus' birth is uncertain, and as
Erasmus himself confesses this un-
certainty more than once, it might
seem useless to inquire further. See
the Life, by Rhenanus, ex Ep.
ded. in fronte Operum Origenis, ab
Erasmo recognitorum : -" De anno
quo natus est apud Batavos nobis
non constat, de die constat, qui fuit
ad quintum Calend. Novembres,”
Also Er. Op. ii. 508, A.: "Nam
ipse nunc annum quinquagesimum
secundum, aut ad summum tertium
ago.” As this was written before
the 28th of October, in 1519, it
gives us 1466 or 1467 as the year of
Erasmus' birth, and in other pas-
sages of his works he himself points
to the earlier of these two dates.
His epitaph in Basle also gives 1466.
On the other hand, 1467 is the date
inscribed on the pedestal of the
statue at Rotterdam, but whether
:: GERARD AND MARGARET.
was Gerard, but as Gerard in the Dutch language means
The Beloved, he followed the fashion of the times, and
adopted its Greek equivalent “Erasmus,” to which the
Latin word “Desiderius," of similar import, was pre-
fixed. Such names were not always formed with strict
regard to philological law. For an old Roman, Deside-
rius would have been an impossible form, though the
name was not unknown to mediæval Latinity, and Eras-
mus was afterwards aware that the Greek word he
· wanted was “Erasmius," not “Erasmus," and accord-
ingly the name was given in its correct form to his
godson, the son of Froben, the printer of Basle. He
was equally unfortunate in the epithet “Roterodamus,"
which he usually appended as indicative of his birth-
place. It ought to have been “Roterodamensis." He
was the son of one Gerard, a native of Tergouw, and of
Margaret, the daughter of a physician of Zevenbergen,
in Brabant. Gerard belonged to a respectable family,
and had received such culture as the times afforded ;
and as he is said to have been a man of mirthful tem-
perament and fond of a joke, it must have been from
the magistrates of that city followed
any independent or more certain
evidence may be doubted. The
different opinions that have been
adopted vary from 1464 to 1469.
The curious reader will find most of
them in Burigni's note, or in Bayle.
M. Ch. Ruelens, in his prefatory
notice to the fac-simile of the Silva
Carminum, adopts 1469.
• As to the day of Erasmus' birth,
there is a trifling discrepancy be-
tween the statement of Rhenanus,
as quoted above, to the effect that
he was born on the 28th of October,
and the Compendium Vita, which
gives October 27 ( natus est
Roterodami in vigilia Simonis et
Judæ Apostolorum"); but this
need present no difficulty if we sup-
pose that the event actually took
place at the point where the two
days meet, or, in other words, not
far on either side of midnight.
That Erasmus was born at Rotter-
dam has never been doubted, except
by the people of Tergouw, who have
attempted to claim him as their own.
See note in Burigni, vol. i. pp. 8
and 9, and Bayle, art. Rotterdam.
THE PARENTS OF ERASMUS.
.
5 ..
him rather than, as in the case of many celebrated men,
from his mother, that Erasmus inherited some of his
most remarkable traits. He was the youngest but one
of ten brothers, and had been destined by his parents,
Elias and Catherine, for the priesthood, those worthy
people supposing that out of so large a number they
owed at least one to God (such would seem to have
been their own language); and if they forbade their son's
marriage, they may be held in some degree responsible
for the circumstance that their famous grandchild had
to bear through life the mark of illegitimacy. For
Gerard and Margaret, though there was the fullest
intention of marriage on both sides, were never legally
united. They, however, regarded their mutual obliga-
tions as inviolable, and remained faithful to the troth
which they had secretly plighted before heaven. The
young Gerard, or Erasmus, was their last, but not their
only child. He had a brother, nearly three years older
than himself, named Peter, after the maternal grand-
father. What had become of this little Peter, or in
whose charge he might be when the anxious mother
fled to Rotterdam, in the hope of concealing the birth
of a second infant, we are not informed; but doubtless
he had found a welcome from the same good grand-
mother who was now willing to receive the new-born
Gerard into her home. It would seem as if, after the
birth of his first child, the elder Gerard had obtained
the forgiveness of his parents by some kind of promise
that his fault should not be repeated ; for Margaret's
pregnancy for the second time was followed by a burst
of displeasure from the relatives on both sides, which
led to his suddenly leaving home with the determination
never to return. Having despatched to his parents and
6
GERARD'S DISAPPEARANCE AND RETURN.
brothers a letter containing a drawing of two clasped
hands, with the words “Farewell; I shall never see you
more," he proceeded to Rome, where he maintained
himself by copying manuscripts, that art, in which he
possessed rare skill, not being yet superseded by the
printing press. In this way he became a good classical
scholar, and at the same time he applied himself to the
study of law, intending probably to make that his
future profession. Meantime the infant came into the
world, and was taken home by its grandmother, whose
heart must have relented towards Margaret also, and
given her a shelter under the same roof. How long
Gerard remained at Rome we are not exactly informed,
but it was apparently after no long interval that an
incident occurred which induced him to change his
plan in life, and comply with the wishes of his friends.
News reached him from home that the girl to whom
he had attached himself was dead. Overwhelmed
with grief, for his love for Margaret was fervent and
unwavering, he now resolved on taking the fatal step
which would render marriage impossible and all love for
woman a sin. He gave himself up to religion, and
submitted to ordination. Returning home some time
afterwards, what was his astonishment and dismay to
meet Margaret alive and well. The old people, in fact,
had intentionally deceived him, in the hope that he
would be induced to become a priest; and as their
story produced the desired effect, it was no doubt art-
fully told. Strange power of superstition to make
these people not only deliberately resolve that their son
should sacrifice his natural affections on the altar of a
mistaken piety, but fancy they were doing God service
in carrying out their purpose by means of a wicked false-
ERASMUS AT SCHOOL.
hood! Margaret never married.'. She remained true to
her first love, and both parents watched faithfully over
the early years of the children of their unfortunate union.
At four years old the little Gerard was sent to
school with Peter Winckel, afterwards his guardian.
There is a local tradition ? that he was dull and slow at
learning, and it is said that Dutch Vrows whose sons
were more than commonly thick-headed used to com-
fort themselves with the name of Erasmus ;-a very
unlikely story, it must be confessed, first, because,
according to the popular notion, stupidity is the normal
condition of Dutch men, and still more, it may be
presumed, of Dutch children ; and secondly, because
even were it otherwise, no amount of dulness would be
likely to be remembered in the case of a child just
learning to read and write. And Erasmus cannot have
remained very long at the school in Tergouw; for we
learn that, while still a mere child, he was taken to
Utrecht, to fill a place in the choir in the cathedral of
that city. At the age of nine he went to Deventer, a
thriving town on the Yssel, now, and perhaps then also,
celebrated for its gingerbread (Deventer Koek), but
more honourably known at that time as the seat of a
somewhat celebrated school belonging to the “ Brothers
of the Common Life.” This fraternity, not bound by
2 See BAYLE, who denies its au-
thenticity, and conjectures that it
must have arisen from a misunder-
standing of the Compend.: Vit. -
"primis annis minimum proficiebat
in literis illis inamænis, quibus natus
non erat”-where, however, “ina.
mcenis" clearly refers to the bar-
barous lesson-books of the times,
and not, as Bayle supposes, to music,
orsome other exercise of singing-boys.
M. Ch. Ruelens conjectures that the
reference is to the vulgar tongue.
3 The Dutch seem to have been
always proverbial for their stupidity.
In the Praise of Folly, Erasmus
makes Folly speak of “Hollandi
mei”—my Dutchmen.
8
THE BROTHERS OF THE COMMON LIFE.
indissoluble vows, differing from the mendicant orders
in the fact that they did not beg, but, on the contrary,
maintained themselves by manual labour, having at
least a partial community of goods, and distinguished
generally by their strict lives and fervent devotion, were
among the earliest promoters of the revival of letters in
Germany and the Low Countries, where they had many
schools for the education of youth. That of Deventer,
planned by Gerard Groot, and founded in the year
1400, seems to have been the first; and there Erasmus
learned Latin and Greek as well as it could be taught
through the barbarous handbooks then in use. The
Latin taught to the junior forms at least was the impure
Latinity of the Middle Ages. The great authors of
Greece and Rome were now easily accessible to the
learned, but the manuscript copies and printed editions
were as yet too rare to admit of their being thumbed
by school-boys, for whom, moreover, it has always been
thought necessary to make learning as disagreeable as
possible. Printing in Greek had scarcely begun. There had
not yet been published an edition of any Greek author.
There was no such thing as a Greek grammar ; that of
Constantine Lascar was printed at Milan in 1476, but it
was probably some time before it became known on
this side the Alps. There was no such thing as a Greek
lexicon: the very imperfect one of Craston appeared in
1480, after Erasmus had left Deventer.5 Accordingly, it
is not wonderful that our student was unable, when grown
up and with his mind enriched with all the learning of
Greece and Rome, to look back on these first years of
his school life with much satisfaction. The studies, he
says, were barbarous, “Heavens !” he exclaims in one
* HALLAM : Lit. Hist. i. p. 111. 6 HALLAM : ubi supra, p. 171.
HEGIUS AND AGRICOLA.
of his essays, “what an age was that when, with a
mighty show of learning, the stanzas of John à Garland
used to be dunned into young men, accompanied by tire-
some and laboured criticisms; when a great part of our
time was wasted in composing, repeating, or learning
the silliest verses !” 6 In the end, however, he had no
reason to be dissatisfied with his progress; for before
leaving school, which he did at the age of thirteen, he
had the plays of Terence at his fingers' ends; or, accord-
ing to another statement, the whole of Terence and
Horace by heart. He had, besides, during the last year
or two of his stay at Deventer, the advantage of occa-
sional instruction in Greek from Alexander Hegius, the
head master, who had himself learned that language
from Rodolph Agricola, one of the principal restorers of
learning in Germany.7 Erasmus, indeed, does not give
his master credit for any thorough knowledge of the
Greek language, contenting himself with the somewhat
doubtful praise that he was "not altogether ignorant of
it;” 8 but this was said from the vantage-ground of very
profound learning, and Hegius, in having any acquaint-
ance with Greek, had the merit of knowing what at the
time was known to very few. While at Deventer, it was
the good fortune of Erasmus, as he esteemed it, to see
Agricola, and no doubt he looked on that great scholar,
6 Er. Op. i. 514, F.
only on holy days, when Hegius
7 “Mihi admodum adhuc puero lectured to the whole school, that
contigit uti præceptore. . . Alex. Erasmus had the opportunity of
andro Hegio Westphalo, qui ludum hearing him, and there is no reason
aliquando celebrem oppidi Daventri- to suppose that he learned much
ensis moderabatur, in quo nos olim Greek before he began to study it
admodum pueri utriusque linguæ for himself in maturer years.
prima didicimus elementa."- Er. 8“Sed ne hic quidem Græcarum
Op. ii. 167, A. According, how- literarum omnino ignarus est."-Er.
ever, to the Comp. Vit., it was Op. iii. 1798, B.
IO
DEATH OF MARGARET,
then just returned from Italy, with wondering eyes.
There is a story how Agricola, having asked to see the
exercises written by the pupils of his friend Hegius,
found that of Erasmus the best of all, and was particu-
larly struck by the purity of the style, the aptness of
the illustrations, and the ability displayed in the com-
position; and how he looked into his face, saying, “You
will one day be a great man.” 9 Another similar story
tells much the same thing of John Sintheimius, or
Zinthius, one of the best masters of the school, who is
also said to have foretold the future eminence of his
pupil. “Go on, Erasmus," said he, kissing him; "here-
after you will reach the highest pinnacle of learning.” 10
His studies at Deventer, however, were rudely inter-
rupted, though not perhaps before he had learned all
that the school could teach, by an outbreak of the
plague. His mother, who had accompanied her son in
order to watch over him, was one of the victims, and all
the inmates of the house in which Erasmus lived were
carried away. He of course returned to Tergouw.11
During this period of his life we may picture Erasmus
as a quiet, thoughtful boy of delicate make, with the
yellow hair and blue eyes of his country, fonder of his
book or a discussion, grave or merry, with his school-
mates, than of their rougher sports; very precocious,
and with abundance of that contempt which sharp boys
always have for dullards ; serious too, and disposed to
a grave observance of all the little forms which religious
parents taught their children in those days. Among
9 VAL. ANDREAS : Bibl. Belg.
10 BEAT. RHEN. : Ep. Car. Cæs.
11 For the particulars of the
parentage and childhood of Erasmus
see the Camp. Vit. and the other
sketches collected by Le Clerc : also
the Epistle of Baudius in Er. Op.
iii. 1916.
AND OF GERARD.
II
the Familiar Colloquies at least there is a charming
dialogue, called “Youthful Piety," which describes a
boy of this kind, and tells how, before he rises in the
morning, he makes the sign of the cross, with his thumb,
on his forehead and chest; how, on his way to school,
he looks into the church in order to salute Jesus and all
the saints, and especially the Holy Virgin; how careful
he is to say grace before and after each meal ; and how,
on going to bed, after having said his prayers, he places
himself on his right side, with his arms folded across,
so as to defend his breast with a figure of the cross, his
right hand touching the left shoulder, and his left the
right. Much of this, no doubt, may be fancy, but it is
easy to believe that Erasmus has introduced some
features from his own early recollections.
It was not long before Gerard followed Margaret to
the grave, leaving his sons to the care of three guar-
dians. Of the next few years of Erasınus' life we are
fortunate in possessing an account from his own hands,
in a letter which he wrote to the apostolic secretary
with a view of procuring from Pope Leo X. a release
from his monastic vows.12 According to this letter, his
father had left behind him a small property, part of
which, however, was plundered by the relatives who
stood by the bedside of the dying man, while of the
remainder, which would still have been sufficient to
secure the best education for the two boys, a consider-
able part was lost through the negligence of those to
whose care it had been entrusted. Indeed, Gerard had
been unfortunate in the selection of guardians for his
sons. One of them was a merchant, and took very
12 Erasmus Rot. Lamberto Grunnio, Scribæ Apostolico.--Er. Op. ii.
1821, sqq.
12.
ERASMUS AND HIS BROTHER
little trouble in the matter. The second before long
died suddenly of the plague. The third-Peter Winckel,
the schoolmaster of the place—seems to have been a
mixture of the fanatic and the hypocrite. He was one
of a class of persons, too numerous at that time, who
made it a business of their lives to work upon the feel-
ings of innocent boys and girls, to prevail upon them to
enter the monasteries, using for this purpose all kinds
of allurements, but taking care to select for their vic-
tims those who were likely to bring wealth to the
Church. Upright and pious in the eyes of the world,
he was at heart thoroughly selfish, a miser, and without
any taste for literature. Erasmus and his brother were
now ripe for the university ; they were good gramma-
rians and had gone through most of the logic ; but the
opportunity of sacrificing two such victims was not to
be lost by the schoolmaster, who actually used to boast
how many youths he had dedicated each year to the
male and female saints who presided over the different
monastic orders. So, fearing to send his wards where
they might imbibe a worldly spirit and be encouraged
to reject the yoke he was preparing for them, he resolved
that they should go back to school. No wonder if
Erasmus was disgusted. He had learned all that
Deventer could teach him, and, young as he was, was.
looking forward with delight to the opportunities for
more extended study which a university would afford.
The school to which he was now consigned, at Bolduc
in Brabant, though belonging to the same fraternity,
had not the celebrity of Deventer. It is no wonder if
Erasmus, looking back at the two years which he lost
there, and anxious also to represent his own case in the
strongest colours, did not give these places of education
SENT BACK TO SCHOOL.
13
the best of characters. They were nothing more, in
his estimation, than a kind of nursery from which the
different orders of monks were replenished ; and as that
was the object which the “brethren" had in view, they
paid more attention to disciplining their pupils—or
taming them, as they called it—by blows and threats,
than to the culture of their minds. The teachers, he
adds, were chosen without regard to literary qualifica-
tions. Their libraries were for the most part destitute
of classical works. The greater part of the day was
spent in manual labour and prayers; and the result of
all this was, that nowhere else were boys turned out
worse taught or worse mannered. When Erasmus
entered the school at Bolduc, he knew more than his
teachers, one of whom, he says, was a prodigy of igno-
rance and conceit. Another, named Romboldus, was
a kindly man, and took a strong fancy to him. He
wished to prevail upon him to join the order, which he
might have done without committing himself for life,
as the vows were not perpetual. But Erasmus had no
taste for it. Romboldus exhorted, entreated him ; he
bribed him with presents; he hugged and kissed him ;
but without effect. The boy answered, with more
wisdom than belonged to his years, that he knew neither
the kind of life he was asked to adopt nor his own mind,
but that when he was older he would consider the
matter.
In consequence of the plague having broken out in
the school where they were, the two brothers were com-
pelled to return home. Meantime their small property
had been further impaired by the neglect, if not by the
actual dishonesty, of their guardians. This circum-
stance made it peculiarly convenient to carry out the
YYY
US
A MONASTIC LIFE PROPOSED,
scheme which Winckel already had in view for them,
the monasteries indeed furnishing, at that time, only too
ready a means of disposing of young men who were
likely otherwise to prove troublesome to their friends ;
and to a monastery, accordingly, it was determined
they should be sent at once. Erasmus, however, had
seen quite enough to suspect that the monastic life
would not suit him, and resolved to resist. His first
step was to secure an ally in his elder brother, who,
being of a much weaker character, would have yielded,
not, as he admitted, from religious motives, but from
fear. “What a fool you are," urged Erasmus, “if for
fear of men, who, at any rate, will not venture to strike
you, you commit yourself to a kind of life of which you
know nothing, and from which, once you have entered
upon it, there is no retreat !” At length it was agreed
that the question of the monastery should be deferred,
and that in the meantime three or four years should be
spent in study, Peter stipulating only that his brother
would act as spokesman. A few days after, the guardian
arrived, and with many professions of affection an-
nounced that he had been fortunate enough to find a
place for them among the Canons Regular, of the order
of St. Augustine, in their principal college of Sion,
near Delft. Erasmus thanked him for his kindness, but
added that he and his brother thought themselves too
young and inexperienced to bind themselves to any
particular plan of life. They had never been inside a
monastery. They could not even guess what sort of
a creature a monk was. They thought it far better to
spend some years first in study, and then it would be
time enough to consider the proposal. On receiving
this answer, for which he was quite unprepared, Winckel
BUT RESPECTFULLY DECLINED.
fairly lost control of himself. He became frantic with
rage. Though naturally of a gentle disposition, or
appearing to be so, he could scarcely hold his hands.
“So then," he cried, “ I've thrown away my pains in
begging such a capital place for you! You are a
good-for-nothing fellow. I renounce my charge : see
and provide yourself with the means of livelihood." He
added that he would not even be responsible to those
from whom he had been buying their food, and that
their property was all gone. His threats drew tears
from Erasmus, but could not move him from his pur-
pose. Finding this to be the case, Winckel now called
to his aid his brother guardian, a man of extraordinary
suavity of temper. Quite a different method of persua-
sion was adopted. . The boys were invited into the
summer-house and desired to sit down; wine was called
for ; and after a friendly chat, the subject was again
introduced. A charming picture was painted of monastic
happiness; the ambition of the young men was appealed
to; entreaties even were not spared. The elder brother
gave way, and, notwithstanding the promises he had
repeatedly made to stand firm, bent his neck to the
yoke. Luckily for him, his constitution was as strong
as his wit was heavy, and if there was nothing in his
character to qualify him for a religious life according
to any just notions of what it ought to be, he was much
better adapted to consort with the ordinary monks of
the time—to endure the dull routine of monastic life,
and join in the heavy drinking-bouts by which its
monotony was relieved—than the light-witted, eager
student, Erasmus. He afterwards gave himself up to
dissipation, and died unlamented by his brother, who
found it difficult to trace in him any marks of a common
'16
BEAUTIFUL PICTURES
parentage.13 Erasmus, on the contrary, was of a delicate
frame, and had been suffering for more than a year
from a quartan fever. He was now just fifteen, and
thus young and weakened by disease, he was plied with
arguments and representations by all sorts of persons
whom his guardian had stirred up to take his side in
the contest. One drew a lovely picture of the peace
and harmony of the monastic life, picking out exclu-
13 In the letter to Grunnius, Eras- facts. I might agree with Hess
mus, describing his brother under (Erasmus von Roterdam, vol. i. p.
the name of Antonius, as he calls. 26, note) that Antonius was really
himself Florentius, gives him no a school-fellow of Erasmus, whom
very good character :-“Atque illi he represents as a brother, did we
quidem pulchre cessit res. Erat not possess, a letter inscribed,
enim ut ingenio tardus, ita corpore “Erasmus Domino Petro germano
robustus, attentus ad rem, ibi vafer suo” (Er, Op. iii. 1859). Besides,
et callidus, pecuniarum furax, in a letter written from Basle in
strenuus compotor, nec scortator 1527, Erasmus refers to the death
ignavus ; in summa adeo minori of his brother in words which agree
dissimilis, ut supposititius videri pos- sufficiently with the bad character
set. Nec enim unquam aliud fuit given of Antonius :-"Fratris ger-
germano quam malus genius. Non mani mortem moderatissime tuli "
ita multo post, hoc munus gessit (Er. Op. iii. 1053, E). How Hess
inter suos sodales, quod Iscariotes can quote these words—unless he
inter Apostolos. Is tamen ubi vidit proposed to read "tulissem ”-and
fratrem misere illaqueatum, tactus at the same time deny the existence
conscientiæstimulis deplorabat, quod of the brother, I cannot understand.
eum in nassam protractum perdi- We find, too, from a letter of P.
disset. Audis Judæ confessionem, Merula, prefixed to vol. iii. of Le
et utinam ad illius exemplum sese Clerc's Erasmus, that William Her-
suspendisset, antequam facinus hoc mann dedicated a poem on the
tam impium admitteret.” The whole Praise of Friendship to Peter Gerard
letter is written in a somewhat ex- of Rotterdam, brother of Erasmus,
travagant tone, as if the object were “virum tum perhumanum, tum
to prevail with the Pope by putting eruditissimum: ” a fact which proves
him in a good humour, and showing either the worthlessness of dedica-
him what a clever fellow Erasmus tions, or that Peter, the son of
was, rather than by convincing his Gerard, was not so black as his
reason by a temperate statement of brother painted him. .
OF MONASTIC HAPPINESS.
17
sively the agreeable features. Another dwelt very
pathetically on the dangers of this world, as if, says
Erasmus sarcastically, the monks were out of the world ;
which, however, they would no doubt have us believe,
since they paint themselves as safe in a stout ship, and
all the rest of mankind as tossed about on the waves
and ready to perish unless they reach out to them a
pole or a rope. Another described the tortures of the
infernal regions, as if, he again adds, there was no way
to hell from the monasteries. Another tried to frighten
him with inonkish stories—for instance, of a traveller
who sat down on the back of a dragon, mistaking it for
the trunk of a tree: the dragon awoke, turned back his
head, and devoured the traveller : moral, thus the world
eats up its children ;-or of a man who had left a
monkish society, resisting all entreaties to remain, and
been in consequence torn in pieces by a lion. Even at
the age of fifteen, Erasmus was not likely to be much
affected by stories such as these. Others tried a different
sort, which perhaps were not any more to his taste;
how there was a monk with whom Christ used to con-
verse for some hours every day; how Catherine of
Sienna enjoyed such intimacy with Christ her betrothed,
that they used to walk up and down her bed-chamber
and repeat prayers together by the hour. Unable to
hold out continually against the pertinacity, rather than
the arguments, of those about him, he at last began to
waver. Just then he happened to visit another monas-
tery belonging to the order to which he had been
already recommended, that of Steyn, not far from
Tergouw, and there he fell in with an old friend named
Cornelius Werden, who had been brought up with him
from childhood, had probably been a fellow-chorister with
VOL. I.
WI
VIT
yan
18
WEARIED OUT BY IMPORTUNITIES,
LI
him at Utrecht, and had shared the same bed-room at
Deventer. Cornelius had taken the hood, not from
motives of piety, but for the sake of the ease and self-
indulgence of the monastic life, and also because his
parents were poor. He was some years older than
Erasmus, but being dull and backward in his studies,
and yet not, it would seem, without ambition to im-
prove, he thought how useful his old companion might
be made if he could once more have him at his side.
For this end, therefore, he exerted all his eloquence. He
described the peace, the harmony, the freedom of the
monastery. It was a society of angels. There he
would have an abundance of books and ample leisure
for study. Induced by these representations and by a
revived affection for the friend of his childhood, but
still more because he was quite wearied out by the
importunities of his guardians, who continued to threaten
him with poverty and even starvation unless he would
“renounce the world,” as they phrased it, the poor
youth at last took the leap, and became an inmate of
the Augustinian house of Steyn. Still he did not
abandon hope. A year must pass before he could be
required to assume the dress of the order, and another
before he took those vows which were to bind him to it
for ever. He clung to the fond but delusive ex-
pectation, as it proved to be, that some happy chance
would occur within that period to restore him to
his liberty. Meantime, every indulgence was allowed
him in order to reconcile him as far as possible to
his new situation. The fasts were not strictly exacted,
nor was he compelled to attend the midnight services.
He had the society of companions of his own age. No
-one' reproved, no onę gave him advice ; every one
ERASMUS BEGINS TO WAVER.
TA
:
19
1 TT
smiled upon him. His studies, too, made rapid pro-
gress. Sometimes he read to his friend a whole play
of Terence in a single night, and within a few months
they went together through several of the leading
classical authors. These midnight lessons no doubt
told upon his health, and, combined with what he had
already endured and with the unwholesome situation
of the monastery, may have laid the foundation of the
diseases from which he suffered all his life ; 'their effect,
however, was unperceived or neglected at the time.
And now the hour had arrived when the odious monkish
dress must be put on. The guardians were summoned,
Threats were once more resorted to. Cornelius, not
wishing to lose so valuable a teacher, added his
entreaties. Erasmus continued to resist, but, notwith-
standing his protestations, he was compelled to submit
and receive the Augustinian gown and hood. Another
year went by not unpleasantly, the monks pursuing
their former policy of showing their captive as much
indulgence as was consistent with the rules of the
house ; but Erasmus only became more convinced than
ever that he was unfitted both mentally and physically
for a monastic life. He saw here no honour paid to learn-
ing ; but, on the contrary, a disposition to extinguish
eminent genius, and give the superiority to mere brute
force. The prospect of spending his days among those
coarse-grained men, and submitting to all their weari-
some ceremonies, in a place where he would be obliged
to pursue his studies in secret, though he might get
drunk as openly as he pleased, was intolerable to him.
Besides, with his delicate constitution, how was he to
endure the fasts and watches which the superstition of
the monks probably led them to observe with sufficient
1
20
TOO LATE TO RETREAT.
fidelity ? His health required that he should eat often
and in small quantities. He had the greatest dislike
for fish, and even the smell of it gave him a headache.
He could not go to sleep until late in the evening-the
result, no doubt, of his own late studies—and if once
disturbed, it was some hours before sleep would again
visit him. But what could such considerations avail
him now that he had actually “put his head into the
noose ?” The holy fathers saw that they had caught a
prize, and they were resolved not to let it go. They
represented these weaknesses as a device of Satan to
undermine the faith of the young probationer, and
assured him that if he would bravely overcome them,
everything else would be easy and pleasant. They
urged upon him that it would be a sin before Heaven,
now refuse to take the vows. It was too late to retreat;
he had put his hand to the plough, and he must not
look back: the assumption of the dress was itself a
silent profession. They threatened him with the wrath
of St. Augustine, who would assuredly avenge the
insult offered him. They told him horrible stories,
which even to Erasmus at the early age he then was
may have sounded less absurd than they would to any
schoolboy of our own day-how one man who had
similarly gone back had fallen into an incurable
disease, another had been killed by lightning, a third
had died of the bite of a viper. Finally, they denounced
him as an apostate. “Where will you go?" they cried.
“ You will never be able to come into the presence of
good men ; you will be execrated by monks and hated
by the world.” Nothing influenced him so much as the
dread of shame. Besides, the force of circumstances
ERASMUS A MONK.
21
was against him. He found himself quite helpless,
without a friend to take his part. He did not know if
he had a penny in the world. He had fought a hard
battle, but for the present at least he was overcome. The
fatal words were pronounced, and Erasmus was a monk.
Such is the spirited account which Erasmus himself
has left-I have done little more than translate and
abridge it-of his long resistance to the yoke of monas-
ticism. It may seem surprising that a mere boy should
have displayed so much wisdom, but it must be remem-
bered he was a boy of extraordinary acuteness. Still
one cannot help perceiving that he has made the most of
his case. Possibly, subsequent experience was permitted
to colour his narrative. Possibly his resistance was
scarcely so determined, or his feelings so strong, as he
chose afterwards to represent them. However that may
be, the next half-dozen years of his life were spent in the
monastery of Steyn, not without profit ; perhaps also,-
notwithstanding his dislike of the discipline which, now
that he was caught, was strictly enforced, -not without
some degree of inward satisfaction. One congenial
spirit at least he met with here in William Hermann,
with whom he formed a lifelong friendship. Both were
animated by the same zeal for literature. They studied
together, spending every spare hour by day or by night
in reading the Latin classics. And such was their
ardour that they even excited, it is said, some literary
enthusiasm in the lazy, drunken herd in whose society
their lot was cast. Erasmus, however, did not alto-
gether escape the temptations incident to monastic life.
Drunkenness he always detested ; and perhaps no merit
can be ascribed to him for avoiding a sin to which he
had no inclination, and for which he was constitution-
EARLY EFFORTS AT VERSE..
ally unfit. But he confesses that he was at one time
* inclined to great vices,” 14 adding, that “if there had
been over him a superior of a truly Christian character,
and not one full of Jewish superstitions, he might have
been brought to yield excellent fruit." What those
great vices were, and how far his language implies that
he had yielded to temptation, the reader may be left to
decide. At all events, allowance should be made for a
strong expression ; and if the monks were really as bad as
Erasmus describes them, the example he was compelled
daily to witness may fairly be pleaded on his behalf.
During his residence in the monastery, Erasmus, as
a young man full of classical enthusiasm, and anxious.
to use every means of improving his taste, naturally
began to exercise his pen in various directions, and, like
other young authors, at first devoted himself chiefly to
the cultivation of the Muse; so much so, indeed, that it
was with some reluctance, he tells us, that he afterwards
turned to prose composition. According to his own
account, he left no species of verse unattempted. A
bucolic poem in imitation of Virgil, which was not
published till after his death, was written at Deventer
when he was not yet fourteen, and already gave evi-
dence of imagination and command of language.15 It
was probably in Steyn that he wrote, among other
similar effusions, a Sapphic ode in praise of the
archangel Michael,16 of which he tells an amusing
14 6 Nec diffiteor me ad magna
vitia fuisse propensum.”—Patri Ser.
vatio Erasmus.
16 D. Erasmi Roterodami Bucoli-
con, lectu digniss. Cum scholiis
Alardi Æmstelredami, cujus studio
nunc primum et repertum et æditum
est. Coloniæ ex. off. Heronis
Alopecii, An. 1539. Er. Op. viii,
561. For the title I am indebted
to M. Ch. Ruelens, in his pre-
liminary notice to the Silva Car-
mirum, p. 18.
16 Er. Op. v. 1321.
A HANDSOME PRESENT!
anecdote. The poem was written at the request of a
certain important personage, priest of a church dedi-
cated to S. Michael ; but, although its style had been
purposely restrained from any very daring flights of
poetry, this gentleman was afraid to put it up on the
walls of his church because he considered it so poetical.
that it was in danger of being mistaken for Greek! So,
after all his trouble, the poem was sent back to the
author, and with it, as compensation for the time he had
spent upon it, the price of a bottle of wine. For this
most liberal gift he returned his best thanks, but begged,
however, to decline it, on the ground that it was much
too handsome a present for such an humble person as
hiinself.17 His intimacy with Hermann, who was himself
a poet of considerable merit, and afterwards became
known to the world by a collection of odes and some
other works, no doubt encouraged Erasmus in his efforts
to excel in verse composition, and there remains to us
an ode in honour of spring, composed in alternate
couplets by the two friends as they strolled through the
fields in the neighbourhood of the convent. We have
also three satires by Erasmus, which he left in the
hands of Hermann on his departure from Steyn, and
which were printed several years afterwards at Tergouw,
no doubt without the consent of the author.18
Fortunately Erasmus did not confine himself to
attempts at verse composition. He was already laying
the foundation of that brilliant prose style which, when
17. Cat. Luc.
18 Herasmi Roterodami Silva
Carminum antehac nunquam im-
pressorum. Gouda, 1513. The
edition of M. Ch. Ruelens, of
which only one hundred copies
were printed, is a photo-lithographic
fac-simile of the original. The
poems in this volume have not been
preserved by Le Clerc.
24
ESSAY ON CONTEMPT OF THE WORLD.
II.
it became the vehicle of his great learning or his biting.
wit, was to make his name famous throughout Europe.
Among youthful compositions in prose we have still
a “Funeral Oration on Bertha de Heyen, a most excel-
lent widow," to whom he had been frequently indebted
for advice and consolation, as well as for more substan-
tial assistance, and who had treated him with as much
kindness as her own children.19 But the most remark-
able of these productions is the treatise on "Contempt
of the World." 20 This essay, which attracted consider-
able attention during his lifetime, was written as an
exercise when the author was barely twenty. It is
interesting as showing how thoroughly his mind was
imbued with the works of the great Roman writers, and
how perfectly he had already formed his style by the
study of the best models. It is clear that by this time
he had Ovid, Virgil, and Juvenal at his fingers' ends, as
well as Terence and Horace, and Cicero must have
been a daily and nightly companion. This composition
is interesting, too, as showing that Erasmus, when he
pleased, could plead the cause of 'monasticism against
“the world," and dwell eloquently upon the advantages
it conferred. It would be rash, however, to infer from
this that he was altogether reconciled to his situation
though the quiet of the monastery and the opportunities
it afforded for study may probably have been some
compensation for its restraints—or that he had not yet
conceived his enmity to the system. As a rhetorician
he would naturally wish to be able, when occasion
required, to make the worse appear the better reason,
and to support his adversary's side no less strongly than
his own. Besides, he was not writing in his own name,
19 Er. Op. viii. 552, E. 20 De Contemtu Mundi. Er. Op. v. 1239, sqq.
THE DANGERS OF “POETRY."
but in the name of a friend who had requested him to
compose an address to a nephew whom he wished to
persuade to take the hood. Nor, after all, does he
conclude without some strong words against the monas-
teries. He ends with a vigorous passage, which may or
may not have belonged to the essay in its original
form, stating that many of them are mere schools of
irreligion, in which it is impossible to live a pure or
upright life ; and finally reminds his reader that it will
matter little whether he be a monk or no, provided he
is a Christian.
The classical studies of Erasmus were naturally
looked upon with great jealousy by the brethren of his
order, who were accustomed to condemn all profane
learning under the name of "poetry," and would raise
the finger of warning against any one having a literary
reputation, crying out" Beware; that man is a poet, he is
no Christian !” 21 It was to expose such ignorant attacks,
as well as to refute the more solid objections which
might be urged by thoughtful men, that he began, when
he was not yet twenty, a work entitled, “The Anti-
barbarians," which some few years afterwards he threw
into the form of a dialogue and extended to four books.
Of these, however, only the first remains, and that not in
the original form.22 It is an eloquent defence of classical
learning; but, as we have it now, it is probably a great
improvement on the first youthful composition, having
been re-written when the author was advanced in life.
Though the work becomes tedious to the modern reader
who does not require to be convinced, he may discover
from it the kind of arguments that were employed by
21 Er. Op. ix. 1700, C.
22 Anti-barbarorum Liber Primus. Er. Op. ix. 1691, sqq.
26
LAURENTIUS VALLA.
the enemies of learning. Classical studies were con-
demned as immoral and anti-Christian. The monks
recommended that instead of resorting to the heathen
poets-and under that designation they included Cicero
and Livy no less than Virgil and Ovid--the student
should derive his Latin from the Psalter, or from the
barbarous grammars and handbooks which, under such
ridiculous names as the Pearl, the Little Gem, the
Garden of Roses, and so on, were then in favour. We
find also that they relied a good deal upon such texts
of Scripture as they could pervert to their purpose,
and especially upon St. Paul's words, “Knowledge
puffeth up." .
Besides the Latin classical authors, the works of
Laurentius Valla, and some of the other distinguished ;
Italian scholars of the beginning of the century, were at
this time read with avidity. Valla, as a denouncer of the
usurpations of the Church, as an ardent promoter of
classical learning, and as a critic of the New Testament,
has been justly recognized as a forerunner of Erasmus.23
The latter, when about eighteen, at the request of a
certain schoolmaster, perhaps Peter Winckel himself,
epitomized a work of Valla's designed to introduce the
student to the niceties of the Latin language, and in
consequence conceived the greatest admiration for the
writer as absolutely unmatched for the subtlety of his
intellect and the excellence of his memory:24 The work
shared the fate of some others of his youthful efforts,
28 See MÜLLER, pp. 121, 122,
where he draws out the parallel
with much care.
24 “Porro in elegantiarum ob-
servantiis nemini æque fidem habeo
atque Laurentio Vallensi ; cui quem
alium et ingenii acumine, et me-
moriæ tenacitate conferamus, non
habemus."-Er. Op. iii. 1794, F.
CONTROVERSY ABOUT HIM.
27
by getting into print without his knowlege or consent,
and in so corrupt a form, that in self-defence he was
compelled to re-write it only two years before his death.
His admiration for Valla involved him in a friendly
controversy with a brother monk, Cornelius Lopsen of
Tergouw, uncle to William Hermann, with whom he
for some time carried on a pretty close correspondence.25
Cornelius was a man of learning, but he probably de-
sired to make learning subservient to the interests of
the Church, and may even have dreaded the influence of
the studies to which he was devoted. So at least we
might infer from the fact that he was the author of a
poem on the life of the Virgin, and entitled the Mariad,
in no less than thirty books, which must now unhappily
(or happily, as the reader may prefer) be counted among
those works which the world has lost. The poet; as
he himself informs us, had almost broken down at the
termination of the sixth book, and as he contemplated
the vastness of his enterprise, felt inclined to abandon
it in despair. A young Canon Regular, however, of the
name of Erasmus, whom he describes as strictly reli-
gious and the most accomplished man of his time in
both verse and prose composition, encouraged him to
persevere, constantly repeating to him that line of Virgil
which tells us that labour conquers every obstacle. 26
Thus their friendship was cemented. Cornelius, reply-
ing to the praises bestowed upon Valla by Erasmus,
does not fail to quote the witty epigram of Poggius :-
Nunc postquam Manes defunctus Valla petivit,
Non audet Pluto verba Latina loqui :
Jupiter hunc superis dignatus honore fuisset,
Censorem linguæ sed timet ipse suæ.
25 Ep. ccccvii. -ccccxix. App. pp. 16, 17), has disinterred those
· 26 M. CH. RUELENS (ubi supra, particulars. He points out (p. 25,
ADMIRATION FOR ST. JEROME.
And in another letter, having called Valla “a croaking
raven,” Erasmus playfully threatens him with internecine
warfare until he abandons that phrase, and substitutes
for it the titles of "Attic muse" and "the marrow of
persuasion.” Another letter defends Valla from the
charge of having been unduly severe in his criticisms, and
claims for him the merit of having, "with vast industry,
zeal, and labour, driven back the tide of barbarism,
rescued literature from destruction, and restored to Italy
the splendour of her ancient eloquence."
The correspondence with Cornelius proves that
Erasmus had already formed that high appreciation of
St. Jerome which he carried with him through life. He
says he had found in Jerome's letters, the whole of which
he had copied out with his own fingers, and which had
supplied him with many a weapon against the assaults
of the barbarians, a proof that vulgarity is not holiness,
. nor an elegant style the same thing with impiety. 27
Thus, it will be seen, the years spent in the convent
of Steyn were by no means unprofitable. They were,
in fact, the best possible preparation both for the
university and for that great conflict with the forces of
superstition and ignorance in which the young Augus-
tinian was to bear so conspicuous a part. The time has
now almost come when the doors must be opened and
1
.
note), no less ingeniously than justly,
that Aurelius, a surname of this
Cornelius, is simply a Latinization of
van Gouda (Goud, gold), while
Aurotinus, which we find in the
first letter from Erasmus, is another
form devised by the latter.
27 “ Qui si Hieronymianas epis-
tolas recte adspicerent, intelligerent
utique rusticitatem sanctimoniam
non esse ; nec disertitudinem, im-
pietatem. Quod autem ad eas
lectitandas me invitas, habeo gra-
tissimum. Jam olim tamen eas non
modo legi, sed et quotquot sunt
propriis ipse descripsi articulis, in
quibus," etc. Er. Op. iii. 1795, E.
THE PRIOR'S PEAR-TREE.
.
the captive released ; but, meantime, there is one anec-
dote of convent life which has been frequently repeated,
and which must not be passed over here ; though
whether it has been invented for lack of better material,
or rests upon an authentic foundation, it would be
unavailing to inquire. In the garden of the monastery,
it is said, there grew a pear-tree bearing fruit of so fine
a flavour that the prior thought it too good for any
palate less refined than his own, and accordingly had
given directions that it should be strictly reserved.
It so happened, however, that Erasmus was also fond of
pears, and was in the habit of going at night to rob the
tree, which circumstance, occasioning a rapid disappear-
ance of the fruit, induced the prior to resolve on lying
in wait for the thief. So, early one morning he stationed
himself at the window of his cell, and in the dusk
detected one of the brethren in the tree feasting on the
very choicest of his pears, but was unable to distinguish
the features of Erasmus. The latter, hearing a noise,
perceived that he was observed, and made haste to
descend; but fearing lest the prior should follow him,
he resolved to spare him the trouble, and at the same
time save himself from punishment, by directing
suspicion at once to an innocent person. He retreated
at a leisurely pace, but limping as he went, and the
prior, satisfied that he had discovered the culprit in the
person of a lay-brother who was lame, forbore to pursue.
When day came the monks were assembled ; the limp-
ing brother was directly charged with the theft; the
evidence, of course, was considered conclusive, and, in
spite of his protests, the unlucky fellow was condemned
to a severe penance. 28
28 Le Clerc, in Bibl. Univ. vii. p. 140, is the only authority for this story.
RELEASE FROM THE CONVENT.
At last, after he had spent many years as an un-
willing inmate of the convent of Steyn, apparently
about the year 1491, deliverance unexpectedly arrived.
Henry à Bergis, Bishop of Cambray, was intending to
go to Rome to look for a cardinal's hat, and wished to
take with him a scholarly man as his secretary and
YS
Y12
Erasmus longed for. Nicolas Werner, the prior of the
convent, seeing how little suited he was by nature to
the monastic life, had frequently advised him to seek
some such opportunity, and now the Bishop of Cambray,
having heard of his accomplishments, was anxious that
his services should be secured. The consent of the
Bishop of Utrecht, in whose diocese Steyn was situated,
and of the general of the order, was obtained, and
Erasmus bade farewell to the convent, leaving no regret
behind save the inevitable separation from his dear
friend Hermann. The Bishop, as it turned out, did not
go to Rome, finding that he could not afford it; but he
notwithstanding took the poor scholar under his pro-
tection, and promised him a pension to enable him to
pursue his studies. This was intended to be paid,
according to the custom of the time, independently of
any services rendered. Such was the way in which
literary men were supported in those days. The posi-
tion would seem to us one of dependence; but where a
munificent patron gave freely in acknowledgment of
services so universally beneficial as those of literature,
and exacted no return but a continuance of the same
labour, there was nothing in it discreditable to either
party. Erasmus, however, was unfortunate in his first
patron : the Bishop was not wealthy, and the pension
was not regularly paid.
.
( 31 )
CHAPTER II.
ERASMUS AT CAMBRAY —THE UNIVERSITY OF PARIS -MONTAIGU —
TAKES PUPILS — MOUNTJOY - GREY - THE LADY DE VERE -
ERASMUS IN DIFFICULTIES–VISITS THE CASTLE OF TORNENHENS
-IN PARIS AGAIN-Vow to ST. GENEVIÈVE-A BATTLE ROYAL
--SATIRE ON THE SCOTISTS.
WHEN Erasmus entered the household of the Bishop
of Cambray he was a young man of some four-and-
twenty, of small but well-built and elegant person, with
a pleasant expression of countenance, and of grave
deportment, as became his profession. His blue eyes,
light brown or yellowish hair, and fair complexion
marked his German origin. His voice was thin and
weak, but his pronunciation was beautifully accurate.
The expression of his face might indicate something
of natural timidity, while the pointed nose and large
flexible mouth, which must have been much the same
then as they were afterwards when Holbein drew them,
marked the shrewd. observer and the keen humourist.
His naturally delicate constitution had not been
strengthened by the discipline of a convent or the un-
healthy influences to which it had been exposed among
the marshes of Holland; and all through life he was
subject to and easily affected by slight external changes,
as of food or climate. He was by this time, as we
"Corpusculo satis compacto et complexionis, et minimarum etiam
eleganti, sed quod esset tenerrima rerum mutatione, puta vini, cibi
32
ERASMUS ORDAINED PRIEST.
have seen, an accomplished Latin scholar, and could
already write that language probably with more ele-
gance than any of his contemporaries. Of Greek he
knew little, perhaps not more than the mere elements
of the grammar, not having resumed its study since his
boyhood. He had as yet gone through no systematic
training in theology, though we may presume that his
desultory reading in the convent library had embraced
many of the Fathers, and at all events we know he had
some acquaintance with Jerome and Augustine. Above
all, he had not yet studied the scholastic philosophy, so
essential in those days to the thoroughly equipped
theologian; and, accordingly, being disappointed for
the present in his hopes of going to Italy, he naturally
sought the nearest university, that of Paris, in order to
complete his education, the Bishop furnishing him with
funds for the journey. His want of a university train-
ing, however, was no hindrance to his taking priest's
orders; he was ordained by the Bishop of Utrecht, in
whose diocese Steyn was situated, on the 25th of April,
1492.At Cambray the sweetness of his manners and
the charms of his conversation won him many friends,
among whom are particularly mentioned James Battus,
subsequently a frequent correspondent, and Anthony à
Bergis, the Bishop's brother and Abbot of St. Bertin.
calive, facile offenderetur ... Cute
corporis et faciei candida, capillitio
in juventa sufflavo, oculis cæsiis,
vultu festivo, voce exili, lingua
pulchre explicita, cultu honesto et
gravi, qui Casareum Consiliarium,
Theologum et Sacerdotem deceret.”
Beat. Rhen. Ep. Car. Cæs.
2 VAL. ANDREAS : Bibl. Bels.
Er. Op. ix. 1573, A. The biogra-
phers of Erasmus give this date as
Feb. 25, 1492 (Müller, p. 160, &c.);
but the words of Valerius Andreas
are: “ Anno 1492, v. Kal. Maias,
die S. Marco sacro, Sacerdos factus
est.”? This would properly give
April 27, but St. Mark's day is
April 25.
THE UNIVERSITY OF PARIS.
33
The University of Paris was at this time one of the
most renowned schools in Europe. Nevertheless, very
little had been accomplished there for the revival of
letters or the promotion of liberal studies. Rhetoric-
classical writers, as well as the art of graceful com-
position-having been long almost entirely neglected,
had for some years past been respectably represented
by Robert Gaguin, the author of a history of France,
and a man not indeed of very profound learning, nor by
any means perfect as a writer of Latin, but of elevated
mind and noble character. Since 1458 there had been
a Greek chair, and the first professor, Gregory of
Tiferno, was now replaced by George Hermonymus
of Sparta, according to Erasmus, a most incompetent
teacher.3 In 1489, just two or three years before the
arrival of Erasmus in Paris, three foreigners, Faustus
Andrelinus, Jerome Balbus, and Cornelius Vitellius,
requested permission to give lessons in belles lettres,
and obtained it, with the restriction, however, sug-
gested by the jealousy of the scholastics, that it should
be for only one hour in the evening. Andrelinus, an
Italian, and the best known of the three, was a man
of loose life and boundless vanity, who, in order to
fill his class-room, undertook to give lectures on the
sphere, the canon law, and other subjects of which his
knowledge was extremely insufficient; and when he
lectured upon his proper subjects, of which he may
be supposed to have known something—he was him-
T.
,
si voluisset ; neque voluisset, si
potuisset.”—Cat. Luc.
8 “Lutetiæ tantum unus Georgius
Hermonymus Græce balbutiebat,
sed talis, ut neque potuisset docere
VOL. I.
-34
NOMINALISTS AND REALISTS.
1
been crowned Laureate at Rome-he sought to gain
applause by ill-timed jests rather than by a serious
endeavour to communicate knowledge and taste ; 4 so
that on the whole the advantages held out to the
student desirous of liberalculture were not very
great. On the other hand, the scholastic philosophy
still reigned supreme, as it had done for upwards of two
hundred years. The Nominalists, who must be regarded
as representing in that age the freer side of speculation,
having been proscribed for some time by Louis XI.,
though again permitted to teach, did not enjoy much
influence. The Realists, in their two divisions of
Thomists and Scotists—the followers of St. Thomas
Aquinas and the followers of Duns Scotus-filled the
schools, and the principal seat of the Scotist philosophy
was the College of Montaigu, in which the poverty of
4. “Nam Faustus Andrelinus alio-
qui carminibus magna cura pangen-
dis intentus, defunctorie profitebatur,
jocis quibusdam magis festivis quam
doctis, plausum rudium auditorum
captans. Gaguinus obeundis legatio-
nibus ad exteros Principes occupatus
erat, in istis studiis non ita prorsum
absolutus ; nec docebat publice.”—
Beat. Rhen. ubi supra. Crevier
(Histoire de l'Université de Paris,
vol. iv. p. 249) says that Gaguin
gave lessons in rhetoric, but he may,
no doubt, as Rhenanus says, have
ceased to lecture publicly before the
arrival of Erasmus. He was cer-
tainly looked up to as the principal
restorer of humane learning in the
University of Paris. Erasmus him-
self says, in writing to him : “ Tes-
tis abunde est hoc celebratissimum
Gymnasium urbis Parisiorum, cujus
tu, florentissime alioquin studia
primus Latinarum litterarum opibus
decorasti, pulcherrimoque incre-
mento eloquentiæ, quam unam adhuc
desiderare videbantur, adauxisti.”—
Er. Op. iii. 1818, C. Erasmus gave
Andrelinus a very bad character
after his death. “Cum Faustum
dico, multa tibi succurrunt, quæ
nolim literis committere. Qua
petulantia solitus est ille in The-
ologorum ordinem debacchari?
Quam non caste erat illius professio?
Neque cuiquam obscurum erat qualis
esset vita. Tantum malorum Galli
doctrinæ hominis condonabant, quæ
tamen ultra mediocritatem non ad-
modum erat progressa.”—Er. Op.
iii. 535, F. Conf. Bayle, and
Crevier, iv. 439.
A STERN DISCIPLINARIAN.
Erasmus compelled him for a time to seek a home.
This college, occupying, it is said, the site on which the
Library of St. Geneviève now stands, opposite the
Panthéon, was founded in the year 1314, but derived its
chief celebrity from a poor priest named John Stan-
donck, who was appointed Principal and Rector succes-
sively in 1483 and 1485, and who, having found the
college in the utmost state of dilapidation, built a chapel
and a library, and lodgings for eighty-four bursars, for
whose subsistence he also provided. Standonck had
himself in youth struggled with the extremest poverty,
maintaining himself at the university by discharging
the most menial offices in the house of St. Geneviève,
while at night-it is said, the only time he had for study
-he would mount the church-steeple, in order to read by
moonlight. Thus trained, his sympathies were naturally
with the scholar of humble means, and he saw with sorrow
that the bursaries founded for the poor were frequently
appropriated by those who were well enough able to
pay for their own education. On becoming Rector of
Montaigu, partly to remedy this abuse by deterring
wealthy young men from the college, partly, no doubt,
because he himself had faith in the good effects of
ascetic discipline, he subjected his pupils to the hardest
possible life, and to the most humiliating practices.
They were compelled to observe all the fasts of the
Church, and for any breach of discipline the punishment
was cruelly severe. They rose early and attended
frequent mass. They had to work in the kitchen, serve
in the refectory, sweep the hall, the chapel, the dormi-
tory, the stairs. At table flesh-meat was an unknown
luxury, and the supply even of bread was strictly
Ő CREVIER, vol. v. pp. 20–25.
36
THE HARDSHIPS OF A SCOTIST COLLEGE.
limited. The only approach to substantial fare was
eggs, and these were usually rotten. Quantities of
them, however, were devoured. Those who were thirsty
had to fetch bad water for themselves from the well, or
if a little wine were allowed it was such wretched stuff
as to be scarcely drinkable. The accommodation at
night was even worse : the beds were hard and damp,
the bed-rooms were on the ground without flooring,
only sprinkled over with a thin coating of plaster-of-
Paris, and some of them even in such evil neighbour-
hood that to sleep in them was certain to be followed
either by death or by some deadly disorder,6 In this
wretched place Erasmus passed some time-he could
not have endured it very long—and among such asso-
ciations it is no wonder if he did not fall in love with
the Scotist philosophy. He would no doubt have dis-
covered its barrenness without any such assistance, but
memories of rotten eggs and bad wine may have lent
a sting to the invectives which he was ever afterwards
ready to pour out upon its professors.
The effect of this bad living on the sickly frame of
the delicate student was, as may be supposed, an acces-
sion of disease, which compelled him once more to seek
shelter under the roof of the friendly Bishop.7 There
he was kindly received, and a letter, which evidently
belongs to this second visit to Cambray, gives an
interesting account of the state of his feelings. He
had been suffering severely, he informs his correspond-
ent, Arnold, perhaps More's friend, for a month and a
half from a nocturnal fever, which had well-nigh carried
him off. “There is nothing I wish for now," he con-
tinues, “but that time may be given me to devote
6 Coll. Fam., 'Ixevogáyla.
7 Compendium Vitæ.
VIS.
AN ILLIBERAL BISHOP...
37
myself entirely to God, weep over sins which I com-
mitted when I was yet without wisdom, familiarise
myself with the Holy Scriptures, and spend my time in
reading and writing. This I cannot do in the retire-
ment of a monastery. For I am the most delicate
creature in the world; my health will not bear either
watchings or fastings, or any discomforts, even at its
best. Here, where I live in such luxury, I am con-
tinually falling ill; what would become of me among
the diseases incident to the monastic life? I had
resolved this year to go to Italy, and give some months to
theology at Bologna, and there take my Doctor's degree,
then, in the year of Jubilee, visit Rome, and, having
done so, return to my brethren and settle with them.
But I fear I shall not be able to carry out this plan.8 .
He did not go to Italy at present, being prevented
by the state of his health, which made him shrink from
the fatigue of the journey, and by his poverty. The
Bishop, he complains, gave very stingily, being much
more liberal in his promises than his performances,
and so on his recovery, after paying a short visit to his
native country, he returned to Paris, 9 resolved thence-
forth to pursue his studies independently, and maintain
8 Ep. iii. The reference to the first visit to England (see Müller,
year of Jubilee, which would be p. 161; Butler, p. 43; Hess, p. 42),
1500, as near at hand, shows that relying no doubt on the fact that
the date 1490 affixed to this letter is the first letter we have from Paris
too early. It is, probably, at least bears the date 1496. But this, be-
a few years later.
sides being intrinsically improbable,
9 The biographers of Erasmus is at variance with the statement of
have generally assumed that he went Erasmus himself, that he had written
to Paris for the first time in 1496, the treatise, De Corrscribendis Epi-
thus giving him five or six years at stolis, at Paris, about thirty years
Cambray, and only one or two for ago. (See Preface in vol. i. to that
his university studies previous to his treatise.) This statement being
38
THE MOST DELIGHTFUL OF PRECEPTORS.
himself by private tuition. By this time he had
enough of friends to have no difficulty in obtaining
pupils. The University of Paris was frequented by
students from all parts of Europe, and it was no small
advantage to parents to find a scholar like Erasmus to
whose care they could entrust their sons. Such work,
though, perhaps, a little below. his ambition, suited
him admirably. His extensive reading and tenacious
memory furnished him with ample materials for literary
conversation, and all but the dullest must have felt the
contagion of his enthusiasm. Indeed, Erasmus must
have been the most delightful of preceptors. Not only
was his heart in his work, not only did he seek to make
learning as attractive as possible by investing it with
all the graces he had gathered in various fields of
literature, but he seems to have conceived strong per-
sonal attachments to the young men put under his
charge, treating them more as companions and equals
than as pupils while they were with him, and keeping
up correspondence with more than one of them after
they had returned to their homes. The first connection
which he formed of this kind, however, turned out very
unhappily. He was induced to enter the household of
an old man who had two young noblemen living with him,
and who professed an ardent love of literature and an
intention of taking holy orders. After a stay of some
months a quarrel took place, with the result that
Erasmus was turned out and obliged to seek a home
elsewhere. From that time forth the unfortunate old
made in 1522, shows that he was at
Paris as early as 1492, and I accord-
ingly assume that he went there
immediately after, perhaps before,
his ordination, and that his stay
with the Bishop of Cambray was
not prolonged much beyond a year.
AN. UNFORTUNATE OLD MAN.
39
man became the object of the most virulent abuse on
the part of his former instructor.10 He appears in several
of the letters of this period, and is described as so
hideous a monster, physically and mentally, that it is
a wonder how any one could ever have approached
him. As he had both wealth and influence he was an
object of real dread. He is nowhere mentioned by
name, but always introduced with a certain air of
mystery, and on one occasion with a request that what
is said of him may not be repeated. His offence seems
to have been that he had found fault with the conduct
of Erasmus, and circulated calumnious reports regarding
it. Probably, he was one who affected an austere piety
—he is described as a consummate hypocrite,-and com-
plained of some slight deviation from the monkish
standard of virtue. Possibly there may have been
lapses of conduct which furnished ground for serious
accusation. Or there may have been nothing more
than intense mutual dislike arising from complete in-
.
.
10 Ep. vi. xx. xxxii. I cannot
accept the conjecture of Burigni that
this old man was no other than the
Bishop of Cambray. How could
Erasmus speak of him as intending
to take orders (Er. Op. iii. 33, D),
or how could he speak of himself
as having been his preceptor
(“docuit hominem aliquot menses.”
Ib.)? Besides, there is no evidence
that Erasmus had any serious quarrel
with his patron, and we find him
afterwards writing to him in the
most friendly terms (Ep. lvi.). I am
more inclined to suspect that the
subject of Erasmus' invectives was
the noble Englishman referred to
by Beatus Rhenanus (ubi supra).-
“Quumque vitam collegiaticam
duriorem experiretur, non invitus
emigravit ad Anglum quemdam
generosum, adolescentes duos gene-
rosos secum habentem ;” and this
perfectly agrees with Ep. xx., from
which it appears that Thomas Grey
was an inmate of this old man's
house. If, however, we are to dis-
regard the particulars just referred
to, and to suppose that they are
mentioned merely as a blind to avert
suspicion from the real person, it
would seem to me more reasonable
to fix on Standonck than on the
Bishop of Cambray.
40
ERASMUS IN DESPAIR.
CD
compatibility of temper and of tastes. At all events,
reports were in circulation which gave Erasmus great
pain, and by which even friends were deceived. And
when at length a letter reached him from his old com-
panion, William Hermann of Tergouw, upbraiding him
with his conduct, his misery was complete. He replied
· asserting his innocence, but his language shows that he
was at this time-partly, no doubt, in consequence of
ill health-almost in a state of despair.
"I may, indeed, dear William, preserve my innocence
as I do, but I cannot help what people may say of me.
I care more what you think of me, you whom I value
(so may God love me) beyond any one else in the
world. What was the meaning of that letter of yours
in which you seemed to find fault with my conduct ?
Would you know, then, how Erasmus lives here? He
lives--nay, I know not if he can be said to live ; but if
so he lives in the greatest wretchedness, and quite worn
out by calamities of every kind ; surrounded by plots,
deserted by his friends, the sport of fortune. Neverthe-
scarcely believe me. You are thinking of the Erasmus
of old times, and of my liberty, and all my brilliant
easily convince you.' If you wish, then, to form a
correct idea of Erasmus, imagine no' light-headed
reveller or debauchee, but one plunged in affliction,
perpetually weeping, hateful to himself, who now neither
wishes to live nor is permitted to die ; in short, one
entirely miserable—not, however, through any fault of
his own, but from the unkindness of fortune, and cherish-
ing also the warmest possible affection for you." 11
11 Ep. xv.
A LITERARY LIFE..
41
But it was not long before he recovered his usual
good spirits. After leaving the household of the old
man, he undertook the tuition of two young country-
men of his own, named Henry and Augustine, of whom
the former soon became a special favourite. A letter
supposed to be written by Henry to his elder brother
Christian-himself a former pupil and now engaged in
business-gives a charming description of a life devoted
to the pursuit of literature. The letter is really the
composition of Erasmus himself. It represents Christian
as appearing to his brother in a dream, and asking after
his welfare. Henry, in reply, tells how fortunate he
has been in securing the companionship of so kind and
accomplished a teacher. “I have Helicon itself within
the walls of my bed-chamber," he exclaims, and then
he proceeds at some length to give an account of his
studies, not forgetting to bestow many praises upon his
preceptor. It is clear, from this letter, that Erasmus.
knew how to mingle pleasure with his instructions, and
aimed to excite in his pupils the same ardour for learn-
ing which he felt himself. During their walks among
the vineyards on the banks of the Seine, he would
entertain them with stories from the classics, or declaim
in eloquent commonplace against the meanness of busi-
ness and in praise of learning, telling them that was the
only lasting riches which fortune could neither give nor
take away, that it increased by use instead of diminish-
ing, &c.; that, in short, "without it we are not even
men." Literature was not only the business of the day,
but its sole occupation. “At dinner we talk of nothing
but books, and our suppers are made palatable with
literature. When we go to walk our conversation is still
about books, and even in our games we cannot quite
- 42
MOUNTJOY AND GREY.
forget them. We converse about them until sleep steals
over us, and then our very dreams are learned ; when we
waken in the morning we begin the day with letters.” 12
Among the pupils of Erasmus in Paris were some
young English noblemen, one of whom (William Blunt,
Lord Mountjoy) conferred upon him a pension of one
hundred crowns a year, and remained his attached
friend through life. Mountjoy had been page of honour
to Prince Henry, afterwards Henry VIII., and they had
studied history together.13 He was now a young man
of the most amiable manners and of great promise, and
so admirable a scholar that his letters were read aloud
in the University class-rooms as models of Latin compo-
sition.14
Another was Thomas Grey, son of the Marquis of
already described, and consequently ceased to be a pupil
when the quarrel took place. Erasmus, who is never
sparing of flattery, describes him in a long letter to him-
self, in which he laments his unhappy fate in being con-
demned to associate with such a monster, as a young man
of beautiful person and highly-gifted mind. 15 Another
letter shows the interest he continued to take in his
studies. He warns him to avoid immoral writers, and
to choose only the best, amongst whom he mentions
especially “Virgil, Lucan, Cicero, Lactantius, Jerome,
Sallust, Livy.” The last sentence of this letter illus-
trates the difficulties under which writing was some-
times carried on in those days: "For want of ink, I
have written with mulberry juice."'16
12 Ep. xxxii.
15 Ep. xx.
13 Er. Op. iii. 1360, A.
16 Ep. xxi.
14 CREVIER, vol. iv. p. 441.
AN ADVANTAGEOUS OFFER.
· Nor would Erasmus, however straitened for money,
consent to spend his time on those who were likely to
do no credit to his teaching. He declined most advan-
being in priest's orders, had refused a bishoprić on the
ground that he did not possess the necessary learning
for so high an office. Being in the enjoyment of an
ample fortune, he might easily have dispensed with the
revenue attached to the see; but the King would not
accept his excuses, and being informed that he must be
ready within a year, he applied to Erasmus to become
his instructor. For a short time he was an inmate of
his household, where he paid him the utmost attention,
and offered him one hundred crowns for a year's tuition,
besides a benefice within a few months, or a loan of
three hundred crowns if he wished to purchase a benefice
immediately. But to these promises Erasmus turned a
deaf ear. He was resolved not on any account to sacri-
fice either his studies or his liberty ; for, as he told
Werner, to whom he wrote giving an account of this
affair, he had not gone to the University either to teach
or to make money, but to learn. 17
During the years thus spent at Paris in classical
reading and tuition, Erasmus continued to vary the
monotony of his life by an annual visit to his own
country, and by occasional excursions elsewhere, which
were not merely prompted by his restless disposition, but
rendered necessary by the uncertain state of his health.
It would not, indeed, have been safe to remain in Paris ·
during the summer months. That terrible scourge of
17 Ep. cli. App. Knight seems. Stanley, Bishop of Ely, who was
to have been mistaken in identifying then an old man. See Seebohm,
44
THE MARCHIONESS DE VERE
those times of which we hear so often, the plague, broke
out year after year in the great centres of population,
and carried off its appointed number of victims. And
accordingly each season our student set off for Holland,
no doubt finding the sea voyage, much as he disliked it,
exceedingly beneficial, and glad to renew his intercourse
with the few friends at home who sympathized with his
labours, 18 Wherever he went he made friends among
those interested in the progress of learning, and if they
were able to show their interest by conferring substantial
favours upon students, no modesty deterred him from
making known his wants. He had probably not been
very long at. Paris before he made the acquaintance of
Gaguin, from whose learned library it is interesting to
find him borrowing a Macrobius, 19 and of Faustus
Andrelinus, with whom he was speedily on terms of
intimacy. In honour of both these men he wrote some
Latin verses of no great merit, which have been in-
cluded among his collected works. 20 At Orleans he
gained the friendship of James Tutor, an'ecclesiastical
· lawyer, with whom he stopped upon one occasion for
three months, and whom he describes as a man of
wonderful integrity and of no common learning. But
his dearest friend at this time—that is, previous to his
first visit in England in 1497 or 1498—was Battus, who
was then residing in the castle of Tornenhens, in the
island of Walcherin, the seat of Anna de Borselle, or
Bersala, Lady de Vere. The Marchioness de Vere was
the youthful widow of Philip, bastard son of the Duke
of Burgundy, 21 and Battus was tutor to her son
18 " Ob pestilentiam ibi multis
annis perpetuam, singulos annos rede-
undum est in patriam.”—Comp. Vit.
19 Ep. lxxxiv.
20 Er. Op. i. 1217, 1218.
21 BAYLE : art. Bersala.
AND JAMES BATTUS.
Adolphus and his two sisters. From Battus she had
heard what a wonderful man Erasmus was, and had
expressed a strong desire to see him. The result was
an invitation to the castle, which was eventually
accepted, and turned to good account. Her 'misfor-
tunes, however—the precise nature of them does not
appear-prevented this lady from doing as much for the
cause of letters as she desired.
The following letters, which I have re-arranged
according to the internal evidence of their chronology,
give a lively account of this journey, undertaken in the
depth of winter, and of the preparations for it :-
ERASMUS to BATTUS. 22
“ Paris, Nov. 29, 1498 [? 1496].
“ It is no secret to me, most excellent Battus, how
disappointed you are that I have not come immediately,
especially as things have turned out so much better
than either of us ventured to hope. But when you have
heard my reasons, you will cease to wonder, and you
will find that I have consulted for you no less than for
myself. I can hardly tell you how much pleasure your
letter has given me. I am already picturing to myself
the joy of our meeting ; with what freedom we shall
chat together, on what intimate terms we shall live
with the Muses! How I long to escape from this
odious slavery! Why, then, you ask, “do you
delay?' You shall see that I have not acted unad,
visedly. I had not expected the news so suddenly.
There is due me here a small sum of money—if any
sum can seem small to me. I have some agreements
with certain persons unfulfilled, which I could not
22 Ep. xxxi.
46
ERASMUS ENTREATS BATTUS
abandon without loss; I have just begun a month with
the Count; I have paid the rent of my room; I have
something on hand with Augustine ; I know not what
has become of my boy's books; I have received neither
letters nor money in his favour, and our accounts are
open to dispute. You perceive, my dear Battus, that I
cannot leave all these things without loss. . . . There is
no need that I should suggest to you, my dear Battus,
for I know your fidelity and good-will, to look after both
at the idea of a Court; and I am aware what an
awkward kind of fellow I am : but I am glad that my
lady is so well-disposed towards me. But what were
the feelings of the clerical gentleman ? Did he give
any ground for hope? Could there be anything colder ?
I would rather have had a definite sum named in your
letter, than that you should speak of a very large one.
I will not indeed urge against you Virgil's line-
Varium et mutabile semper
Femina,
for I do not reckon her a woman, but credit her with
the spirit of a man. How many are there, however, in
your neighbourhood who take an interest in our literary
pursuits? Who is there that does not hate all learning?
... There is sent me a hired horse that might be
bought for a farthing, and a sum for travelling expenses,
not merely small, but really amounting to nothing. Is
it likely, my dear James, that so cold a beginning will
turn to any warmth in the end ? When shall you have
a more honest or reasonable cause for begging on my
account than now, when I am to be summoned from this
city and from the profitable employments in which I am
here engaged ? I could not come on foot for such a
TO CONSIDER HIS DIGNITY.
47.
'TT
sum; how then could I come with two companions and
on horseback ? If, however, you do not like that the
journey should be paid for by my lady, as I think is the
case, I should object much more to your paying for it,
is that would be most unfair. What could be more
inconsistent with the description you have given of me,
than to fly off at the first beck, especially on such con-
ditions ? Who would not think me either wanting in
stability or a fool, certainly a most wretched creature ?
If I did not love you most tenderly, my dear Battus,
and so much that the happiness of meeting you will be
a compensation for any inconveniences, these things
would deter me from my purpose; but they have no
effect upon me. I only entreat you to remember my
dignity. What then, you will ask, "are your ideas
on the subject ?' I will tell you. I will make every
preparation here, collect my writings, and settle my
affairs. You will, meantime, transcribe what I send.
You will give me an accurate account of your feelings
by the boy who, I am told, is coming here to study;
then, when you have copied the Laurentius, after three
weeks or so, you will return it by the same boy-I
mean Adrian, who will both bring back Laurentius, and
with it a sum for my expenses and a letter containing
a definite invitation; a sum, remember, worthy my
acceptance. For as to coming at my own expense, I
cannot do it, because I have nothing; and it would
not be fair that I should, because I am leaving behind
me a very good means of livelihood. Besides, I wish
you would send a better horse, if possible. I don't
want a magnificent Bucephalus, but one on which a man
need not be ashamed to sit; and you know I must
have two horses, for I have determined in any case to
ERASMUS VISITS TORNENHENS.
Sol
bring my servant with me: the second one, accordingly,
I intend for the groom. You will easily persuade my
lady of this. You have the best of causes; and I know
the eloquence with which you can make the best causes
of the worst. But if she shall object to do it: how,
pray, can she give a pension, if she refuses to pay the
expense of a journey? These are the reasons why our
meetings must necessarily be deferred. . . . There is
no need for me to suggest to you what you should
say to my lady in my name. Farewell, my dear
Battus."
ERASMUS to WILLIAM, LORD MOUNTJOY.23
“ The Castle of Tornenhens, Feb. 3, 1497.
“I HAVE at length arrived in safety, in spite, as it would
seem, of the powers of heaven and hell! What a
dreadful journey! Don't talk to me of Hercules or
Ulysses; henceforth I can despise them both. - Juno,
always unfriendly to poets, fought against me. Again
she petitioned Æolus ; nor was she content with storms,
but waged war upon me with all the arms of heaven-the
bitterest cold, snow, hail, rain, mists, in short everything
you can think of in the shape of bad weather. She used
these weapons now singly and now all at once. On the
first night a sharp frost coming on suddenly after a
prolonged shower, had made the road extremely diffi-
cult; add to this an extraordinary depth of snow, then
hail, then more rain, which as soon as it touched the
ground or a tree was congealed into ice. The ground
was everywhere crusted over with ice, but this presented
no smooth surface, but rose up here and there in little
hills ending in the sharpest possible points. The trees
23 Ep. vi.
A NEW KIND OF NAVIGATION.
.
.
49
were clothed with ice, and so overloaded with it, that
some of them touched the ground with their tops, some
had their boughs torn off them, some had their trunks
snapped in the middle, while some were completely
rooted up. Some of the country-people, old men, vowed
that they had never seen anything like it before in their
lives. Meantime our horses had to go now through
heaps of deep snow, now through thorn-bushes crusted
with ice, now through furrows doubly difficult, as they
had been first hardened with frost and afterwards sharp-
ened with ice ; now over a crust covered with snow,
which was too soft to bear a horse, but hard enough to
cut his hoofs. What do you suppose were the feelings
of Erasmus in such a state of things? If the horse was
astonished the rider was equally so; and as often as the
animal pricked his ears my spirits sank; as often as he
fell down upon his knees my heart leaped up. One
moment I was overpowered with fear to think of the
fate of Bellerophon, the next I began to curse my own
rashness in trusting my life, and my learning too, to a
dumb animal. But listen to something which you might
believe was borrowed from the veracious narratives of
Lucian if it had not happened to myself, Battus being
witness.
“When the castle was in sight I found everything
crusted over with ice. And such was the violence of
the wind, that on that day one or two men were thrown'
down and lost their lives in consequence. It was
blowing, however, in my back. So I allowed myself
to be carried down the slope of the hill, sailing over the
surface of the ice, and guiding my course with a stick,
which served me for a rudder. A new kind of naviga-
tion! Almost the whole way I met no one, and no one
VOL. I.
. 4
50
ERASMUS ENTHUSIASTIC IN PRAISE OF
followed me, so furious was the storm. Not until the
fourth day, and hardly then, was the sun to be seen.
One advantage however I derived from such overwhelm-
ing calamities, that there was less reason to be afraid of
robbers; and yet I was afraid of them, as men with
money in their purse must always be. There is my.
journey, most noble youth, and if it was full of hard-
ship, everything that followed was perfectly smooth.
I arrived in safety at the house of Anna Marchioness de
Vere. How shall I describe to you the politeness, the
kindness, the liberality of this lady? I know that the
amplifications of rhetoric are looked upon with sus-
picion, especially by those who are not unpractised in the
art. But believe me, in this case, I exaggerate nothing ;
rather the reality far surpasses the power of my art.
Never has nature produced a lady more modest or wise,
fairer or more kind. And shall I say all in a single
word ? She has been as kind to me beyond my deserts
as that old man was injurious contrary to my deserts.
She has loaded me with as great obligations, though
they were called forthi by no services of mine, as he did
with insults, after he had received the greatest benefits.
What shall I say of my Battus, the simplest, most
affectionate soul in the world. Now I begin to hate
those ingrates. To think that I should have been a
slave so long to such monsters! Oh! that I should
not sooner have become acquainted with you from
whom fortune has separated me before friendship had
united us This I wrote when I was preparing to set
out for my native country ; after that I shall be with
you forthwith, and revisit my beloved Paris ; and
perhaps I may arrive before this letter. Of the pro-
posal that we should live together, however, I can write
THE MARCHIONESS DE VERE.
:
51
nothing certain. We can determine when we meet,
according to the convenience of both. Assure yourself
that the man does not live who loves you better than
your friend Erasmus. Battus also, the partner of all
my loves and hates, has an equal affection for you.
Take good care of your health, my dear William.” .
0
The next letter, dated about a week later, is from
Antwerp, and is addressed to his friend Battus. Such
of the allusions as do not explain themselves must be
left to the ingenuity of the reader :-
11
ILU
NYS
ERASMUS to JAMES BATTUS. 24
“ Antwerp, Feb. 12, 1497.
" How does my pleasant and most trusty friend,
Battus? If Lady de Vere, once your patroness, but
now mine also, is well, and if everything prospers with
her, it is as I wish and trust. I cannot tell you in
writing if I dared, and I dare not if I could, how I long
to know whether she has gone away yet, and whether
she has taken with her her dearest possessions. You
happy man, beloved by heaven, if you have steered
clear of those rocks, and can enjoy without envy
your happiness which seems to me to be complete !
The virtue of my lady, to whom I doubt not all the
gods are favourable, gives me confidence that you will.
That has happened in her case, my dear Battus, which
often does in yours, that. I begin to love and admire
more ardently when I am absent. Good heaven! her
frankness, her courtesy in one of her high rank, her
gentleness, notwithstanding her great wrongs, her cheer-
fulness in the midst of so many cares. Then her firm-
24 Ep. viii.
52
: ARRIVAL AT ANTWERP:
ness, the perfect innocence of her life, her kindness to
literary men, her affability to every one. So I am quite
sure, my dear Battus, you are the luckiest of men if
you can have her as your patroness as long as possible,
and that you will, I have no doubt, if you repay her
kindness to you as you are doing by reciprocal good
offices.
“We have arrived safely at Antwerp. Augustine
has preceded us to Paris with his companions : he
promised he would wait there for me for some days.
So that I think I must make haste, not to lose the
advantage of such good companionship. I have no
advice to give you; for I know your diligence in my.
affairs, and so great is the goodness of your most
generous mistress towards me, that I blush to think I
have been loaded with so much kindness by one to
whom I have never rendered any service. It must be
my task, however, to consider most carefully how I may
show that her kindnesses have not been altogether
thrown away upon me. I will return to you imme-
diately, if heaven will. I pray that I may find you all
safe and well, her particularly, on whom all our hope
and all our welfare depends. You need not wonder at
my writing bearing marks of haste, for I wrote this on
board when we were just about to start, and while
every one was in a great bustle about me. Farewell. My
best wishes to your mistress's son, a most amiable,
youth, and his sister, whose resemblance to her brother
and mother I think very striking. Please to greet your
friends by name, in my name.”
He did not, however, return immediately; and the
next letter will show why.
ERASMUS LOSES HIS PRAYER-BOOK.
ERASMUS to BATTUS.25
“ Paris, May 2, 1499 [? 1497].
“I HAVE already written two letters to you, one of
which I entrusted to a stranger : the other has been lost,
and it was a very long one, so I will tell you everything
às briefly as I can. I had an unfortunate journey. My
knapsack, which was tied to my saddle, fell off, and
could not be found after a long search. I had in it a
shirt, a linen nightcap, ten gold pieces which I had
taken out that I might be able to change them should
I have occasion for it, and my prayer-book. The
person I had entrusted with my money on leaving
home has squandered it disgracefully, lending part and
spending part on himself. Henry, to whose wife I had
given a loan, has gone off to Louvain, and his wife has
followed him. A third, a printer, got money in my
name during my absence for paper, he says, I had
bought, and will not return a halfpenny. I find, my
dear Battus, that a large sum has slipped away, and
has become smaller than you would believe. I sold
the horse, having kept him about fourteen days, for
five gold pieces ; he was unsound in his feet. I have
put off my journey, not merely because I have no
means for it, but principally on account of losing my
prayer-book. I live with the Count on the old terms,
in which I have shown myself not at all exacting in
order that I might feel more at liberty; he is fond of
me and pays me every attention. I am extremely
25 Ep. liii. The reference to
Faustus Andrelinus in this letter
would imply a still earlier date than
- that which I suggest, if we could
believe Crevier (vol. iv. p. 439), that
Andrelinus was obliged to fly for
his life to England in 1496. But
Ep. lxv. (see below, p. 86) shows
that Andrelinus had never been in
England as late as 1498 at least.
TREATISE ON LETTER-WRITING.
intimate with Faustus and another new poet; with
Delius I have the keenest contests. I am devoting
myself entirely to books, collecting my scattered com-
positions and preparing new ones. I allow myself no
leisure time, so far as my health permits, which I find
has been somewhat impaired by fatiguing journeys.
Such is the present state of my affairs; now I will tell
you briefly what my plans are for the future.
"I have resolved to put off my Italian journey till
August, if I can meantime provide all that such an
undertaking requires. The Count has also determined
to visit Italy himself if his mother will allow him ; but
not for another year, nor has he said a word about
taking me. I remember how finely I was before dis-
appointed in a hope of this kind ; and if I am to wait
here a year, when shall I see my dear Battus again?
I cannot tell you how my heart longs for your com-
panionship. So that it seems better to hasten my
departure as much as I can. I am remodelling my
work on the composition of letters, and when it is
finished will send it you ; it is to be dedicated to your
pupil Adolphus. ... Pray try, my dear Battus,
that we may live together at Louvain as soon as possible,
and complete what you håve begun. I am ashamed to
say how much my loss annoys me. Farewell."
The treatise on letter-writing, referred to above, was
not dedicated to Adolphus, nor was it published for
many years afterwards. In the preface to the edition
published at Basle in 1522, Erasmus says he had written
it at Paris about thirty years ago for an Englishman who
was going away upon a long journey, and that it was only
in consequence of its having appeared in England with-
ANECDOTE OF MOUNTFOY.
out his sanction that he took the trouble of revising and
publishing it. There were incorporated in it two
declamations, which he wrote for his pupil, Lord
Mountjoy, about the same time with the original
sketch, one in commendation of the married state, the
other against it. Mountjoy, when asked how he liked
the first, merrily replied, “So much that I think of
marrying immediately.” “But wait," said his preceptor,
“till you have read the other side.” “Nay," retorted
his lordship, “that I leave to you.” And he not only
kept his word, but Erasmus adds that at the time he
tells this anecdote (1524) he had had three wives and
might not improbably marry a fourth.26 For Adolphus
Erasmus wrote a brief exhortation to the pursuit of
virtue, from which it would seem that he was then, in
the year 1498, working hard at Greek, and had already
made some acquaintance with Homer in the original.
Along with this composition he sent him some prayers
which he says he had written for him at the request of
his mother and by the advice of Battus, by the diligent
use of which he might both improve his style and avoid
those “military prayers” in which courtiers delight,
and which are very unlearned and very superstitious. 27
While he was in Paris an incident occurred which
curiously illustrates the way in which Erasmus was
already beginning to look at the superstitions of his
Church. On one occasion he was laid up with a fever,
and having vowed to St. Geneviève, the patroness of
Paris, that in the event of his recovery he would write a
26 Cat. Luc.
-Ib. 1227. Obsecratio ad Virginem
27 Erasmi. Epistola de Virtute Matrem Mariam in rebus adversis,
Amplectenda.-Er. Op. v. 65, 599. per Desiderium Erasmum Rotero.
Pean Virgini Matri dicendus, com- damum.--Ib. 1233.
positus in gratiam Dominæ Veriensis.
56
VOW TO ST. GENEVIÈVE:
poem in her honour, on his restoration to health, he
proceeded to give an account of the miracle, as well.
as of another of a more public nature, in a style half-
serious, half-humorous, which could not have been
altogether satisfactory to the prior of his convent, to
whom the letter containing it was addressed. “I
recovered," he says, “not by the aid of the physician
whom I called in, but of St. Geneviève alone, a most
noble virgin, whose bones are deposited in the convent
of the Canons Regular here, and daily bristle with
prodigies. The interposition was very condescending
on her part, and very beneficial to myself. I am afraid
the rain with you must have put the fields quite under
water; at least, it has rained here for nearly three
months without ever stopping. The Seine has burst its
banks and inundated the city. St. Geneviève's coffer,
however, was carried to Notre Dame, the Bishop and
the whole university walking in solemn procession. The
Canons Regular led the way, the Abbot himself and all
his monks walking with bare feet, while four of them,
who were stripped to the skin, supported the coffer.
Ever since we have had most lovely weather.” 28
Such a way of handling the subject, however, not-
withstanding its tone of concealed irony, was probabiy
not inconsistent with some degree of faith, or half-faith,
in the power of the saint. Certainly Erasmus would
not have denied the value of her interference, though it
is probable he would not have wished always to dis-
pense with the aid of Dr. William Cop, the accom-
plished Basle physician, whose acquaintance he made
about this time. The vow to St. Geneviève--no very
difficult one for Erasmus to keep-was duly fulfilled. 29
28 Ep. cliv. App. 29 Diva Genovefæ carmen votivum.--Er. Op. v. 1335.
A DRAMATIC ENTERTAINMENT.
57
Two other letters may be inserted here, as illustra-
tive of Erasmus' life as a student in Paris. One is an
amusing description of a domestic scene. In the other
he takes his revenge on the Scotists and their “harsh
and crabbed ” philosophy.
11
1
ERASMUS to CHRISTIAN.30
: - Paris, 1497.
“ATTIC. honey, hail! I wrote nothing all yesterday,
on purpose, because I was enraged. Now, don't ask
with whom, for I tell you it was with yourself. What
had I done? Well, I was just afraid such a cunning
· fellow as I know you to be, must be laying a trap for
me. In fact I had my suspicions about that box of
yours, lest it should let out upon me a swarm of evils,
as it is said Pandora's did on Epimetheus; but when I
had opened it, I was angry with myself for my sus-
picions. “Why did you not write to-day then ?' you
will ask. I was exceedingly busy. “And what may
have been your business, pray ?' I was at a dramatic
exhibition, and a very entertaining one too. “Was it a
comedy, you will ask, 'or a tragedy?' Whichever you
please : only none of the actors were dressed for the
stage; there was but one act; the chorus had no flutes;
the players wore neither sock nor buskin, but were bare-
footed ;. there was no dancing; the stage was the
ground; the boxes were my dining-room ; as the plot
thickened there was a deal of noise, and the denoue-
ment was noisy in the extreme. “What kind of a
farce is this you are inventing for my entertainment ?'
Nay, Christian, I am reporting a fact. The exhibition
I saw was the mistress of the house, fighting valiantly
80 Ep. xix.
.
THE COUNCIL OF WAR.
with her domestic servant. The trumpet had sounded
long before the battle, that is to say, there was a
vigorous scolding match between them. In this they
came off equal, neither of them gaining a triumph. It
took place in the garden, while I looked on from the
dining-room window in silence, though not without
laughing. But hear the catastrophe. After the battle
the maid came up to my bed-room to make the beds.
While talking to her I praised her courage in having
been a match for her mistress in screaming and abuse ;
but added I was sorry she had not been as brave with
her hands as with her tongue. For the mistress, a
powerful virago, who might have been taken for a
female athlete, every now and then pounded the poor
girl's head, who was not nearly so tall as she was, with
her fists. Have you no nails,' said I, 'that you should
quietly submit to that?' She answered, with a smile,
that what she wanted was not so much spirit as strength.
'Do you think,' said I, that the issues of war depend
so much upon strength ? The great thing in every
encounter is a plan of operations. She asked what
plan I had to suggest. “When she next attacks you,
said I, 'immediately tear off her cap;' for the women of
Paris have a strange fancy for wearing black caps:
'that done, fly at her hair. As I said this in joke, I
supposed it would be so understood. However, at
supper-time up comes a stranger quite out of breath;
he was King Charles's herald, vulgarly called Gentil
Gerson. Come, my masters,' cries he, 'you shall see a
bloody spectacle. We ran with all speed, and found
mistress and maid struggling with one another on the
ground. With difficulty we parted them. How bloody
the battle had been was evident from the result. Scat-
A POET AND A MERCHANT.
59
Y
tered on the ground, here lay the cap, there a veil,
while the ground was covered with balls of hair ; so cruelly
had they mauled one another. When we sat down to
supper, the mistress told us in great wrath how boldly
the girl had behaved. “When I was going to chastise
her,' said she, that is, to pound her with the fists, she
immediately pulled my cap off my head.' I perceived
that I had not spoken in vain. "That done,' she
continued, 'the vixen brandished it in my face'—that
wasn't part of my advice; 'then,' said she, 'she pulled
out all the hair you see here !' She called heaven and
earth to witness that she had never met with so small a
girl who was at the same time so vicious. We remarked
on the chances incident to human life and the uncertain
issue of war. Meantime I congratulated myself that
the dame did not suspect that I had any hand in the
matter, otherwise I, too, should have found that she had
a tongue. But enough of fun; now for more serious
matters. You have undertaken to outdo me in two
things, writing letters and sending presents. In the
first, you clearly confess yourself beaten, having begun
to fight with me by the hands of another. Have you
the impudence to deny it? I should think not, if you
have any shame. The other contest I have not even
begun, but surrendered at once. In letters you are far
surpassed ; nay, you do not fight at all, except like
Patroclus in the arms of Achilles. In presents I am
unwilling to enter the field with you. A poet with a
merchant? Not a likely thing ! But ho, there! I
challenge you to a fairer fight. Try whether you can
first tire me with presents or I you with letters. Such
a warfare were well worthy of a poet and of a broker. If
you have any courage, put on your armour, and farewell !"
THE SLEEP OF EPIMENIDES.
SLEEP ( F EPIMENI
DES
1
ERASMUS to THOMAS GREY. 31
“Paris, 1499 [? 1497].
“ THAT I have now for some time discontinued my
old custom of writing is no ground for alarm. Though
truly
. Filled with anxious fear is love,
I have not grown cold in love. What then?' you will
say. I have unlearned the habit of writing. What
has happened that Erasmus has lost his pen?' Some-
thing wondrous strange, and yet true. I, that famous
old Theologian, have lately become a Scotist; which
thing, if you love me, pray Heaven may turn to good.
We are so buried in the dreams of your countryman
(for Scotus, contended for by many countries as Homer
once was, is claimed in particular by England), that.
methinks we should hardly waken though Stentor was
roaring in our ears. Canst thou write thus, you will
say, while sleeping so sound? Elya, Béßndɛ (Silence,
profane fellow), you have not the least notion of a
theological sleep. Many not only write when they are
asleep, but go after the girls and get drunk and
oukoPavtovoiv (play the sycophant). I find by expe-
rience that many things are possible which are incredible
to those who have not experienced them. I once
thought the sleep of Epimenides more than a fable ;
now I don't wonder at it at all, as I have myself had the
same experience. Here, I am sure enough, you will
say, “What the deuce fables art thou talking of?'
Though thou art one of the profane, who must be kept
far from the sacred shrines of theology, yet see how I
love thee, for I will unfold to thee so great a mystery.
31 Ep. lxxxv.
TT
HIS SKIN PRESERVED IN THE SORBONNE. 61
A
There was once a certain Epimenides, the man who
wrote that the Cretans are all liars, a Cretan himself,
and who yet, in that respect, told no lie. It was not
enough for him that he lived to extreme old age, but
long after his death his skin was found with the marks
of letters upon it. Some say it is preserved to this
hour in the sacred temple of Scotist theology, the
Sorbonne, and that it is esteemed of no less value there
than it was in old times in Crete, or than the Sibylline
books were at Rome. At all events, they are said to
seek responses from it whensoever their syllogisms fail
them, nor can any one get a sight of it unless he has
borne the title M. N. (Magister Noster) for fifteen whole
years. Should any other cast profane eyes upon it,
forthwith he is struck blind as a mole. That what I
say is no nonsense is proved by that very old Greek
proverb tò 'Enquavidiov dépua (the skin of Epimenides),
by which they meant anything of an abstruse nature
and inaccessible to the vulgar. He also published
theological books, for he was particularly distinguished
in the profession of theology, albeit prophet and poet
are the same. In these books he tied such syllogistic
knots that he could never untie them himself; he
collected such mysteries as he would never have been
able to understand had he not been a prophet. Once
he is said to have gone out of the city for the pur-
pose of taking a walk, because there was nothing that
pleased him at home. At length he entered a very
deep cavern, whether he was oppressed with heat, and
desired to enjoy its cool shade, or was weary and sought
repose, or because, having wandered from the path (for
even theologians sometimes wander), he was afraid of
the wild beasts which the approach of night might
EPIMENIDES
rouse from their lairs, or, what is most likely, in quest
of a suitable place for meditation. Then, as he was
biting his nails, and buried in deep thought about
instants, quiddities, and formalities, sleep crept over
him. You will not believe it, I know, if I say he did
not waken before the evening of the following day,
though even drunkards sleep longer. What will you
say, then, when I tell you that that theological sleep
was prolonged, as authors unanimously agree, to the
forty-seventh year; and they say that it is no mystery
that he did not cease to sleep either sooner or later ?
A man quite dead, you will say. On the contrary, I
think Epimenides was well off to have come to himself
at all. Most of the theologians of our time never waken,
and when they are sleeping as soundly as if they had
been dosed with mandragora, they fancy their minds
are most active. But let us return to the wakening
of Epimenides. Having rubbed his drooping eye-
lids, and not being quite sure whether he was
awake or asleep, he went out of the cave; then, when
he saw how changed was the whole face of the sur-
rounding country by so great a lapse of time, the beds
of rivers removed, woods here cut down and there
grown up, plains swelled into hills, hills sunk into plains,
while the very moss growing over the entrance to the
cavern, and the thorn-bushes in the neighbourhood,
were no longer the same, the man began to doubt
whether he was himself. He goes to the city, and here
everything is new : he recognizes neither the walls, the
streets, the money, nor the people themselves ; dress,
manners, and speech are all changed. So swift is the
revolution of human affairs. He addresses every one he
meets, 'Ho! friend, do you not think I am Epime-
REVIVED IN SCOTUS.
63
nides?' The other, supposing he has been made a
fool of, replies, ’Es kópakas, 'Look for a stranger.'
So he walks about, the laughing-stock of the town, for
some months, until he falls in with some companions,
very old men, by whom he is recognized. But come,
dear Thomas, what think you Epimenides was dream-
ing of for so many years! What else but those most
subtle subtleties of which the Scotists are now so proud ?
For that Epimenides has come to life again in Scotus I
should not hesitate to swear. What if you should see
Erasmus sitting kexnvóta (with open mouth) among those
holy Scotists, while Gryllardus delivers a prelection from
a lofty chair ? If you should see his brow contracted, his
eyes fixed, his face full of anxious thought? You would
say he was another man. They say that the mysteries
of this learning cannot be understood by one who has
any commerce whatever with the Muses or with the
Graces. If you have acquired any knowledge of polite
literature you must unlearn it; if you have drunk from
the waters of Helicon you must spew them up again.
I am doing my utmost not to say anything in pure
Latin, to abandon all grace and wit, and I think I am
succeeding : there is hope that they will at length
acknowledge Erasmus. But to what purpose is all this,
you will say. That you may not hereafter expect any-
thing from Erasmus that savours of his old studies or
habits, remembering among whom I live, among whom
I sit every day : so look out for another playmate.
But, lest you mistake me, most sweet Grey, I would
not have you interpret these things as said against
theology, for which, as you know, I have always enter-
tained the greatest respect : I only wished to have a
joke at the expense of certain theologists of the present
ERASMUS INVITED TO ENGLAND.
generation, whose brains are rotten, their language
barbarous, their apprehension dull, their learning thorny,
their manners rude, their life a mere scene of hypocrisy,
and their hearts as black as hell." 32
Erasmus had spent five or six winters at the Univer-
sity of Paris, pursuing those studies which were neces-
sary for his degree in arts, and making some acquaint-
ance, how much against the grain we have just seen,
with the scholastic divinity; he was known by various
compositions in prose and verse to' a daily increas-
looked on as one of the most rising scholars of the day,
when his friend Mountjoy proposed to him that he
should accompany him to England. The opportunity
of being presented at the English Court, and of making
the acquaintance of the learned men of that country, of
whom there was a few now beginning to be known, was
not to be lightly thrown away, even though his cherished
purpose of visiting Italy must again be deferred, and
his lordship's proposal was therefore cordially accepted.
82 For the last vigorous sentence, I am indebted to Dr. Knight.
( 65 )
CHAPTER III.
ERASMUS VISITS ENGLAND-OXFORD-LINACRE--GROCYN-LATIMER
-MORE- WOLSEY – JOHN COLET_CONVERSATION ON CAIN'S
SACRIFICE — DISCUSSION WITH COLET -- LETTER TO FISHER
COLET'S PROPOSAL – ERASMUS IN LONDON - INTRODUCED TO
PRINCE HENRY-LEAVES ENGLAND.
THE biographers of Erasmus following the dates of his
letters, which, however, are by no means to be implicitly
relied on, have generally fixed on 1497 as the year of
his first visit to England, and then make him re-visit
it, after his return to Paris in 1498. This is certainly
not improbable, but as there is no evidence in the
letters, beyond the untrustworthy dates, of two visits to
England at this time, I think it preferable to assume
that he first crossed the Channel in the summer or
autumn of 1498, and remained in this country about
a year and a half, leaving it, as we shall see, early in
1500.-
The universities were of course the principal attrac-
tions for him in England, and to Oxford accordingly he
i That Erasmus spent part of the
year 1498 in Paris is clear from the
date affixed to his treatise De Vir
tute Amplectenda (Er. Op. v.72, D.).
On the other hand, we have a letter
(Ep. xcii.) dated Paris, January 27,
1500, and written on the anniversary
of his leaving England. But as the
VOL. I.
Adages certainly belong to the year
1500, and as we know that they
were printed as soon as possible
after his return to Paris, it is clear
that for 1500 in the letter referred
to we must read 1501. This gives
us January 27, 1500, as the date of
his departure from Great Britain.
66
· STATE OF LEARNING AT OXFORD
repaired at once, carrying with him letters of recom-
mendation to Father Richard Charnock, Prior of the
Canons Regular of St. Augustine (to which order, it
will be remembered, he himself belonged) and head
of St. Mary's College. In external aspect, Oxford did
not at that time differ very widely from its present
appearance. Its noble Colleges, most of which are
older than the Reformation, were there, only fresher and
more beautiful than they are now; and yet even then
the sentiment of antiquity was not wanting for those
who remembered that the University dated—such at
least was the common belief- from the reign of King
Alfred. Its beautiful academic gardens, “studious
walks and shades," then as now invited to ineditation.
But although Oxford has retained to the present hour
so much of its mediæval character, it was yet to a con-
siderable extent peopled by another world; it was a
very different set of ideas that circulated among its
students. Monks of various orders--black Benedictines
or Augustinians and grey Franciscans—might be seen
mingling with the scarlet robes of the Doctors and the
gay colours of the Bachelors. Among those learned men
the language of Chaucer was probably seldom heard.
Corrupt Latin-at this time, however, gradually becoming
purer as the ancient classics were more studied--was
the universal medium of communication in the world
of letters, and Erasmus, who was obliged to apologize
to one of his Dutch correspondents for writing to him
in Latin on the plea of his imperfect acquaintance with
his own language, had no difficulty in making himself
understood at Oxford. The old Trivium, embracing
Grammar, Dialectics and Rhetoric, and the Quadrivium,
comprising Music, Arithmetic, Geometry, and Astro-
2y
27
IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
.
67
nomy, were believed to complete the circle of the Arts ;
but these studies were pursued not by any independent
method, but only as they were presented in wretched
mediæval handbooks or bad Latin versions of the Arabic
translations of Aristotle. The great Latin classics were
beginning to be read by more enterprising students;
but the corrupt writers of the Middle Ages still swayed
the class-rooms, aided by the grammars of Priscian,
and Boethius was preferred to Cicero and Horace. As
for Greek, it was almost unknown. Ten years before
the arrival of Erasmus, some Italians had visited Oxford
and given lectures on that language, but without any
marked success. Already, indeed, it was regarded with
some suspicion, but not yet with the dislike and hatred
which it subsequently provoked, when with the growing
'freedom of the human mind it came to be spoken of by
the adversaries of learning as the fountain of all heresies.
It need scarcely be added that at Oxford as at Paris,
the scholastic philosophy—that grand attempt to estab-
lish the theology of the Roman Church on the basis of
logic, and reconcile Aristotle with St. Augustine-still
reigned supreme. Nominalists and Realists, Thomists
and Scotists, still divided the field between them ; still
disputed with unabated enthusiasm about instants,
essences and quiddities ; still discussed with unflagging
interest whether the Deity could have taken the form
of any creature but a man, whether the Pope was
greater than St. Peter, whether the Virgin Mary was
instructed in the liberal arts. One man, indeed, was
already raising a modest protest against this so-called
2 I put the question in a form
that may be as little shocking to the
reader as possible. Erasmus states
it thus :-“ Num Deus potuerit Dia-
bolum aut Asinum assumere.”
ERASMUS AT OXFORD.
philosophy; but had its advocates understood the
signs of the times, had they foreseen that they were
about to be assailed, not with their own weapons, in the
use of which they were probably skilful enough, but
with the far more deadly shafts of endless raillery and
wit, of vast learning and indomitable industry, they
might well have trembled at the name of Erasmus.
At Oxford, Erasmus met with at least a few con-
genial spirits, interested in the same studies with him-
self, filled with the same contempt for monkish ignorance
and stupidity, and looking forward with the same hopes
to the triumph of learning. One of these was Thomas
Linacre, afterwards physician to Henry VIII., the
most painstaking of scholars, the most accurate of
grammarians, a man of very varied learning, and one
of the first to go from this country to Italy for the
purpose of acquiring a knowledge of Greek. Another was
William Grocyn, who, along with Linacre, had returned
a few years before from Italy, where both had studied
Greek at Florence under Demetrius Chalcondyles and
Politian, and who was now giving public instructions in
that language. There too was Thomas Latimer, also
an excellent Grecian, an accomplished theologian, a man
of eminent ability and of " more than virgin modesty.” 5
On this visit to England Erasmus also met, and was
at once captivated by, young Thomas More, the future
· Lord Chancellor, then a young man in his twenty-first
year,6 of the most amiable disposition and the most
winning manners, and an enthusiastic student of the
3 “ Vir exacti quidem, sed severi,
judicii."--Er. Op. iii. 250, A.
4 Ib. 294, D, E.
o Ib. 378, E.
6 It seems to be now an esta-
blished point that More was born
in February, 1478. See Appendix C.
to Seebohm's Oxford Reformers.
AUT ERASMUS AUT DIABOLUS.
69
new learning. The famous story of the first meeting
of these two great wits-how Erasmus, struck by the
conversation and the talents of the brilliant young
lawyer, exclaimed in ecstacies, “ Aut tu es Morus aut
nullus ; " to which the other retorted, "Aut tu es Erasinuts
aut diabolus "mis, I am afraid, one of those many good
stories of which it is safest to remark, se non è vero è
ben trovato. There is no doubt, however, that they
were mutually delighted with one another, and entered
into a life-long friendship. It must have been in
London that they first met, as More had been removed
from Oxford by his father, who was alarmed lest the
study of Greek should give him a distaste for the legal
pursuits for which he was destined, and possibly make
him a heretic, upwards of two years before. At Oxford
Erasmus may have seen, and, perhaps, been introduced
to, another future Chancellor of England, and a munifi-
cent patron of learning; but a man much less lovable
than More, and in every way of quite an opposite stamp
of character. Thomas Wolsey was then bursar of
Magdalen College. It does not appear, however, that
Wolsey took much notice of the foreign scholar, nor
does the latter mention him in any of the letters which
we have of his written at Oxford. But the man who
possessed most interest for Erasmus and exercised most
influence over him was Colet, afterwards Dean of St.
Paul's and founder of St. Paul's School. Of this eminent
man it will be necessary to subjoin a somewhat fuller
notice, for which we are chiefly indebted to his warm
admirer and friend, the scholar of Rotterdam.
7 Mr. Seebohm, however, seems
inclined to accept this story, and
shows that the occurrence is at any
rate not impossible. Oxford Re-
formers, p. 113.
JOHN COLET;
John Colet was born in London in the year 1466,
the eldest, and, at the time that Erasmus first made his
acquaintance, the only survivor, of a family of eleven
sons and as many daughters. His father was Sir Henry
Colet, an eminent citizen, and twice Lord Mayor, of
London. Sent to Oxford at the age of seventeen, he
went through the regular course of study, and distin-
guished himself in every branch, not only giving much
time, as was required of him, to the scholastic philosophy,
but reading Cicero with the utmost eagerness, and
making himself master of Plato and Plotinus. He was
besides an excellent mathematician. Having taken his
degree of M.A., he went abroad about the year 1493,
visiting France first and afterwards Italy. Before this,
however, he had determined to enter the Church, and
indeed already, according to the evil practice of the
times, had been presented, though he was not even in
deacon's orders, to no less than three livings and one
prebend. In Italy he devoted himself entirely to the
study of theology; and the works of the Fathers, espe-
cially Ambrose, Cyprian, Origen, and Jerome, whom he
greatly preferred to Augustine, were read with enthu-
siasm, while the works of the schoolmen, though much
less to his taste, were not neglected. Nor did the
young divine altogether despise the literature of his
own country. Colet desired to prepare himself for
preaching the gospel to the people, and as Erasmus
tells us that he polished his language by studying the
writings of those who had done for England what Dante
and Petrarch did for Italy (probably Erasmus had just
heard the name of Geoffrey Chaucer at Oxford), we
· may be sure he had taken some deep draughts from the
“well of English undefiled.” On his return to England,
HIS LECTURES ON ST. PAUL.
1
Colet again took up his residence at Oxford, and imme-
diately began a course of public and gratuitous lectures
on the Epistles of Paul. The lectures at once attracted
notice. Boldly throwing off the trammels of the scholastic
divinity and approaching the subject naturally and ra-
tionally, Colet treated the Epistles as actual memorials
of the apostle and his age, and not as a mere armoury
of theological weapons; and such freshness and interest
did he succeed in imparting to the subject, that, although
he had not yet taken any degree in theology, perhaps,
however, partly because he was known rather to despise
such degrees, the Doctors and Dons came crowding to
hear him, bringing their note-books in their hands.s
It might well be suspected that some of his audience
were led by other motives than curiosity or the desire
of profiting by his instructions. To have been in Italy
was itself a suspicious circumstance; to be opposed to
scholasticism was worse; and, besides, Colet was known
to have little respect for the University degrees in
theology. He was, moreover, not entirely innocent of
Greek, though his knowledge of that language was by
8. The reader will find a fuller in the viiith chapter of the same
and very interesting account of these Epistle he allows not marriage to be
lectures in Mr. Seebohm's Oxford lawful ; but only as a remedy contra
Reformers of 1498. That Colet's incontinentiam. ... Nor did he
theology was founded on a much think it necessary that Christians
more natural interpretation of Scrip- should marry for the begetting of
ture than that of the schoolmen is children ; for that (saith he) might
clear. But whether it had come be left to the Gentiles,—But what if
wholly under the dominion of com the Gentiles should be converted ?-
mon sense, even according to the Then (saith he) the Kingdom of God
standard of that age, the following was come; then would the world be
passage from Knight's Life of Colet Sanctus et animo et corpore; then
may perhaps render doubtful :- would the end be and God all in all,''
“In his comment on 1 Cor. vi. he &c. - Introd. p. xii.
doth scarce allow going to law; and
CHARACTER OF COLEI;.
no means extensive. It does not appear, however, that
any heresy was found in his lectures. The degree of
Doctor of Divinity was eventually conferred upon him
unsolicited, and he accepted it, says Erasmus, rather to
comply with the wishes of those who thought him
worthy of it than as having himself desired it.9
When Erasmus arrived at Oxford, the first to wel-
come him, after Father Charnock, was Colet. He was '
then thirty-one years of age, of a tall and elegant
person, the sweetest manners and the utmost purity and
simplicity of life. He told his friend, surely with some
little exaggeration, that he had been naturally of an
exceedingly proud disposition, most impatient of wrong,
with a strange propensity to love, luxury and sleep.;
fond of mirth and pleasantry, and not altogether free
from covetousness; but so strenuously had he fought
against those vices with the aid of philosophy, the study
of divinity, watching, fasting and prayer, that he had
preserved himself pure from all worldly stains. As a
student he was indefatigable, in his pleasures extremely
moderate; and it was only when he entered into con-
versation with ladies, or engaged in an encounter of
raillery with the wits of the University, that he per-
mitted his natural mirthfulness to overcome his acquired
gravity. It was seldom, however, that he went into
mixed company, and when he did he contrived to sit
beside some grave divine with whom he might converse
in Latin, so avoiding the light or worldly talk of the
dinner-table. He took particular pleasure in the society
of children, and used often to recall how Christ had
compared them with angels, and exhorted his disciples
to imitate them.10
9 Ep. ccccxxxv.
10 16.
YT
HIS CORRESPONDENCE WITH ERASMUS.
73
The first interchange of civilities between the two
scholars was by letter. Colet wrote a warm greeting to
Erasmus, telling him he had heard of him in Paris, and
had been shown a letter of his which excited his curiosity,
and gave him the impression of having been written
bý a man of great learning and wide general know-
ledge. “But,” he adds, “what particularly recommends
you to me is, that the reverend Father whose guest you
are told me yesterday that in his opinion you are a
most excellent man and endowed with singular good-
ness.” Then, after a few more complimentary phrases,
the writer concludes, as is natural, by expressing his
anxiety to do what lies in his power to make the visit
of Erasmus as agreeable to him as he feels sure it will
be advantageous to England. The reply of Erasmus is
much longer, much more elaborate, more profuse of
compliments, and with a greater affectation of modesty.
The praise of a man like Colet; he says, is of more
value to him than that of a whole host of the illiterate.
Yet so far from making him feel proud, it humiliates
him to be told he possesses those qualities which he
venerates in others, but is conscious of wanting himself.
He will not, however, find fault either with those who
so affectionately recommended him, or with Colet's
readiness to receive their recommendation, since it is
natural for a humane man to think well of strangers,
and of a kindly one to give ready credence to friends.
Accordingly he values his judgment as friendly, though
he cannot approve of it as true; not because he thinks
his, correspondent an incompetent judge, inasmuch as
he knows him to be a man of remarkable discernment,
nor suspects him of flattery, since he is not ignorant of
the simplicity of his nature, but because he was misled
74
ERASMUS DRAWS HIS OWN PORTRAIT.
by his own extraordinary candour and modesty to listen
too favourably to the praises of others. But lest his
friend should complain that he had been imposed upon
with bad goods, Erasmus volunteers a portrait of him-
self, which he says will be the more true to life in pro-
portion as he knows himself better than any one else :-
“You will find a man of small fortune, or rather none
at all; without ambition, but most ready to return
affection; with but a slight tincture of letters, it is true,
but still a most ardent admirer of them ; who has a
religious veneration for excellence in others, but has
none of his own; who may be easily surpassed in
learning by any one, but in fidelity by none : simple,
open, frank, unskilled alike to affect and to dissemble;
of small but unimpaired ability, sparing in his speech ;
in short, one from whom you have nothing to expect
but good-will.” England, he continues, has such
attractions for him chiefly on account of its abundance
of learned men, “among whom I count you by far the
first.” And then the letter concludes with a description
of Colet's style. “Nor shall I now describe, most
excellent Sir, how much I have been charmed and
delighted with your style, so smooth, so calm, so un-
affected, flowing from your well-stored mind like a
fountain of purest water, equal, uniform, clear, simple,
full of modesty, with no violations of taste, no compli-
cated or obscure sentences ; so that I cannot be wrong
in thinking I see in your letter as it wețe an image of
your mind. You say what you mean, you mean what
you say. Words born in the heart, not on the tongue,
follow the sense spontaneously, not the sense the words.
Finally, with a happy ease, you pour out without
trouble what it would cost another the utmost labour
2
A COLLEGE DINNER-PARTY.
Y
to express. But I will forbear to praise you, lest I
should offend one who has shewn me such kindness.
I know that they are most unwilling to be praised who
of all men most deserve it. Farewell.” 11
Both these letters were more artificial than any one
would think of writing now, but that was to be expected
from men writing a learned language, and conscious
that every word would be criticised. They were, how-
ever, the beginning of a friendship which ended only
with death. It was probably not long after this that
Erasmus was present at a College dinner-party-de-
scribed by him in a letter to a friend who was to have
been there-at which Colet presided, when a discussion
arose as to the cause of Cain's rejection. Colet main-
tained the fanciful notion that Cain's offence consisted
in the distrust of the Creator's goodness, and confidence
in his own industry, which he showed in becoming the
first tiller of the ground, while Abel, content with the
spontaneous produce of the earth, was a keeper of
sheep; a more rational interpretation, however, it must
be confessed, than that of the popular orthodoxy of
our own day. What view Erasmus adopted is not said ;
only he and the rest of the company opposed Colet,
who, however, was a match for them all. According to
the account of Erasmus, he was transported with enthu-
siasm, his tone changed, his eyes flashed, his face was
transfigured, he seemed like one inspired. The dis-
cussion had lasted long, and was becoming too hot to
be agreeable, when Erasmus brought it to a close in the
happiest way. Nimbly changing sides-no doubt his
friend's arguments had really convinced him-he pro-
ceeded to narrate a story which he pretended to have
11 Ep. xi. and xli.
76
DISCUSSION ON CAIN'S SACRIFICE,
YY
found in an old moth-eaten manuscript, in which he
made Cain's laborious toil, and the greediness by which
it was prompted, a part of his offence, but added thereto
a theft perpetrated on the produce of Eden by the con-
nivance of the angel that guarded its gates. Colet had
no doubt laid himself open to ridicule by seeming to
make industry a sin; but the strong point of his position
was, that Cain was rejected for something wrong in his
own conduct or motives, and not, as was probably main-
tained on the other side, for having offered a bloodless
sacrifice. And here Erasmus came effectually to his
aid. The fable is told with all its author's graces of
rhetoric, but if it has not been extended and adorned,
as is probable, for the entertainment of his correspondent
and the admiration of posterity, the hearers must have
begun to yawn before it was concluded. It produced,
however, the desired effect of restoring peace. The
God, seeing how Cain delighted in toil, resolved to give
him more than enough of it, and accordingly. sent
among his crops armies of ants, weevils, toads, cater-
pillars, mice, birds, and all sorts of destructive creatures,
to attack them in every stage of their growth. “Cain
endeavoured to appease God by an offering of fruits, but
finding that the smoke would not ascend, he perceived
that God's anger was fixed against him, and accordingly
abandoned hope." 12 The friend, for whom this account
was written was John Sixtine, of Friesland, another
scholar who had studied beyond the Alps, and who after-
wards obtained preferment in the English Church.13
On another occasion Erasmus took the part of the
scholastics against Colet, and maintained it, notwith-
12 Ep. xliv.
11
AND ON CHRIST'S AGONY IN THE GARDEN.
77
TYN
standing his great, perhaps excessive, respect for the
learning of his opponent; and this time it so happened
that the divines were on that side which would be now
generally allowed to be the side of reason and common
sense. The subject of discussion was the agony of
Christ in the garden, and the words in which he seemed
to pray that he might escape from death—“O my
Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me."
The received explanation at that time was, that "Christ
as true man, being in that hour unsupported by the aid
of his divinity, shrank from the appalling suffering which
was then at hand, through that infirmity which he had
assumed along with many other imperfections of our
nature ;” and that explanation Erasmus adopted so far
as to maintain very decidedly the presence of this
human weakness, though he was willing to allow that
there might be various meanings in the sacred text, the
Word of God being manifold. Colet, on the other
hand, argued that it was inconsistent with the great
love of Christ to pray that he might escape that death
which he had before so earnestly desired for our sakes,
and that it was absurd in the extreme to suppose that
while so many martyrs had not only met the most cruel
tortures without fear, but had welcomed them with joy,
their love conquering all sense of pain, Christ, who was
love itself, and had come into the world for no other
end than by his own death to deliver us who were
subject to death, could have shrunk either from the
shame or the pain of the cross. Accordingly, Colet
would refer the sorrow of Christ to anything rather than
fear of death; and his opinion, which he supported by
the authority of Jerome, who, he said, had alone seen
the truth on this question, was, that “our Saviour Jesus
78
ERASMUS AND COLET
.
prayed for nothing else than that his death, which he
desired should be the salvation of the whole world,
might not be ruinous to the Jews." This most un-
natural interpretation Erasmus discussed at great
length in a treatise, written in the form of a letter to
Colet, in which he set forth with great candour and
learning the arguments which had been urged on either
side in the conversation of the preceding afternoon.
His argument in this short disputation, as he calls it,
which he amplifies with any amount of rhetorical
language and illustrates with great wealth of classical
allusion, may be very briefly stated.14 Christ, in taking
upon him the nature of man, took with it also all those
imperfections which, though they are among the con-
sequences of the first sin, are not themselves sinful.
Such are hunger, thirst, fatigue and so forth, and
amongst these is the fear of death. If it is argued that
a brave man does not fear death, it may be answered
that fortitude does not consist in insensibility to danger,
but in overcoming the natural dread of approaching
evils so far as to encounter them manfully, and that
both Homer and Virgil describe their heroes as showing
all the outward signs of terror. If it is argued that Peter,
a sinful man, was possessed by so deep a love for Christ
that he lost all sense of fear and was ready to lay down
his life for his sake, and that it is therefore monstrous to
attribute to Christ the fear of death and at the same
time the most absolute love, it is ingeniously replied
that, while in us one feeling flows in upon and absorbs
another, in him each power of mind and body dis-
charged its natural function independently of all others,
14 Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami tristitia Jesu, instante supplicio cru-
Disputatiuncula de tædio, pavore, cis, etc.—Er. Op. v. 1265.
1
VI
ON CHRIST'S AGONY IN THE GARDEN.
79
TITI
YY
so that the love for mankind which made Jesus willing
to ascend the cross, and the fear of death which made
him shrink from it, existed side by side, neither feeling
intruding upon or diminishing the other. That so
many, both heathen and Christian, martyrs should have
embraced death with alacrity and even joy, is felt to be
a great difficulty, and full justice is done by Erasmus to
the argument thence in his opponent's favour; and his
answer, that the martyrs were endowed with fortitude
through another's virtue, not their own, whereas Christ
in the moment of suffering was deserted by his divinity,
is from the rational point of view less satisfactory than
most of his reasoning. Erasmus, however, is so far
from granting to Colet that his own view takes anything
from Christ's love, as to maintain that it even enhances
it. For, whereas Christ took upon him the nature of
man of his own, accord, it was his love for mankind
which prompted him to assume that very weakness
through which he shrank from death, and in this light
" the more imperfections you attribute to him (saving
those which are sinful or unworthy), the more you will
finally is carried so far as to assert that Christ had
assumed “a bodily frame than which there was never
any other more sensitive to cold, heat, fatigue, want and
pain, and a soul in all its faculties of the very keenest
position of both men, that this treatise nowhere suggests
the view which at once occurs to the mind as the
received orthodoxy of our own day-namely, that the
agony was occasioned, not by the anticipation of death,
even of a death fraught with all the significance of the
crucifixion, but by the foreknowledge that the vials of
80
COLET NOT CONVINCED.
God's wrath were about to be poured out on the
sufferer. Erasmus does indeed regard the death of
Christ as a ransom for the world ; but his language is
cautious and reverential, and as far as possible removed
from the revolting extravagances which Luther after-
wards wrote upon the same subject. “It was fitting,"
he says, " that that death should be as bitter as possible
which was paid for so many deaths, which was to wash
away the sins of the whole world.” His doctrine
appears to have been-and it was probably that of
Colet also that Christ by his life and sufferings pro-
vided "an inexhaustible treasury of merits," sufficient
not only to blot out original sin, but to leave a surplus
which might be applied to the expiation of our daily
faults. As regards the question between them, Colet
was not convinced by the arguments of his friend.' He
wrote a courteous note, thanking him for the pleasure
he had derived from his very long but most agreeable -
letter, and acknowledging the accuracy with which he
had remembered their conversation, and his learning
and eloquence. He declared, however, that he still
retained the opinion he had imbibed from Jerome, and
enclosed the first instalment of his reply. In this he
merely disputes the preliminary position of his friend,
that the Scriptures are susceptible of a variety of con-
structions, maintaining that their fruitfulness consists
not in their yielding many senses, but in their yielding
one true one. A note from the hand of Erasmus himself
intimates that the correspondence on Colet's part was
continued, but the remainder has been lost.15
The Disputatiuncula de tædio et pavore has another
than a theological interest, as indicating the progress
15 Er. Op. v. 1294, A.
PROGRESS OF ERASMUS IN GRĘEK.
81
Erasmus had at that time made in the study of Greek.
No doubt he was now busy at Greek with the assistance
of the Oxford Grecians; and Greek words here and.
there throughout the treatise show that neither he nor
his correspondent was entirely ignorant of the language ;
but two circumstances would seem to indicate that to
the writer Greek literature was still to a great extent a
terra incognita. After quoting several passages from
the Æneid in illustration of his argument that insensi-
bility to danger is no mark of a brave man, he adds,
" the same thing has been noticed by the learned in the
Homeric poetry," nor is there in the whole composition
any quotation from a Greek author. We know, how-
ever, that he had at least begun the study of Homer,
and there are also signs of some degree of familiarity
with Plato, though this need not necessarily be in the
original. But the most remarkable circumstance is,
that he seems to be quite unacquainted with the Greek
Testament; for not only does he invariably quote it in
Latin, but he actually founds an argument on the pro-
noun iste (not the exact equivalent of TOŪTO) in the
words, Transeat a me calix iste. Such is the force of
habit, that he actually forgets, and expects his opponent
to forget, that the New Testament was written in
Greek, and quotes the Vulgate as though it had all the
authority of inspiration! But, after all, this need not
have been an oversight. If Erasmus and Colet might:
have hesitated to affirm that the Vulgate was inspired,
at all events it was customary to argue from its texts as
if there were no original to appeal to beyond it. .
Notwithstanding such differences as these--which,
indeed, were only sufficient to cement their friendship-
there were at least two things in which there was com-
VOL. I.
82
ERASMUS AND ST. THOMAS AQUINAS.
plete sympathy between Erasmus and Colet. These
were dislike of the monastic system and enmity to the
schoolmen. Colet, whose mind had been more syste-
matically directed to the study of divinity than that of
Erasmus, was probably the first to revolt from the
ingenious subtleties which constituted the theology of
those days; and in this respect he would seem even to
have exercised some direct influence on the mind of his
more accomplished and less cautious friend. He used
to say, Erasmus tells us, but only in the presence of
those on whom he could rely, that he considered the
Scotists, who were vulgarly credited with extraordinary
acuteness, dull and stupid fellows; for to dissect minutely
the words and sentences of others, and criticise now this
point and now that,—that, he said, was the mark of a
barren understanding. But for some cause or other-
probably he had lost much time in reading the ponderous
folios which contain his works-he was still more severe
upon Aquinas. Upon one occasion, when Erasmus was
praising the great schoolman, especially his Aurea
Catena, which he thought was a valuable aid to the
understanding of the Bible and the Fathers, Colet
avoided expressing any opinion ; but in another con-
versation, on the renewal of the subject, fixing his eyes
upon him to discover whether he was serious in his
recommendations of Aquinas which he was now urging
with vehemence, and perceiving that he was speaking
from his heart, he exclaimed, as if he had been suddenly
inspired, “Why do you preach to me of a man like
that, who must have had boundless arrogance, else he
would not have been so rash and presumptuous as to
define all things ; and much of the spirit of the world,
else he would not have contaminated the whole doctrine
DELIGHT WITH ENGLAND,
:
83
of Christ with his own profane philosophy ?” Erasmus
was struck with his friend's enthusiasm, and forthwith
began to study the writings of Aquinas. The result
was, that the esteem in which he had hitherto held
them was soon greatly diminished.
In such friendly discussions as these, in listening to.
Colet's lectures and studying Greek under Linacre,
Erasmus spent about a year at our great English
university, which, however, he would leave, during the
holidays, for an occasional visit to London. He was
delighted with the country and with everything he saw
there, but especially with his Oxford friends, and this de-
light he expresses in the most enthusiastic style, in a letter
written from London to Robert Fisher, probably another
of the young Englishmen whose acquaintance he had
made in Paris, and who was now in Italy. “I should
have been long ago where you are," so it runs, "had not
Lord Mountjoy, just as I was ready to set out, carried
me off to England. For to what place would I not
follow a young man so accomplished, so kind and so
amiable ? God love me! I am ready to follow him
even to hell! You certainly gave me a very full and
most graphic description of him, but, trust me, he is every
day outgrowing both your description and my own good
opinion of him. But how do you like our England, you
will ask? If you think my word worth anything, dear
Robert, believe me when I say that I never liked any-
thing so much. I have found here a climate as delight-
ful as it is perfectly healthy; moreover, so much learn-
ing and culture, and that of no common kind, but
recondite, exact and ancient, Latin and Greek, that I
now hardly want to go to Italy, except to see it. When
I listen to my friend Colet, I can fancy I am listening
84
ERASMUS DECLINES COLET'S INVITATION
to Plato himself. Who but must admire Grocyn, who
is nothing short of a complete encyclopædia of know-
ledge? Did ever any one possess such taste, so acute,
polished, and searching, as Linacre? Has nature ever
produced a mind gentler, sweeter, or more richly gifted
than that of Thomas More? Why need I review the
rest of the catalogue ? It is marvellous what a thick
crop of ancient learning is springing up all through this
country-an inducement to you to hasten your return.
The Count so loves and remembers. you, that there is no
one of whom he speaks oftener or of whom he would
rather speak. Farewell. In haste." 16
Colet would gladly have persuaded Erasmus to
remain in Oxford, and with this view he urged him to
undertake a course of lectures on the Pentateuch, or
Isaiah, or some other book of the Old Testament,
similar to those which he himself was giving upon the
Pauline Epistles, and he even reproached him with a
dereliction of duty in declining the task. It was not,
however, to the mind of Erasmus just then to settle
down at Oxford, nor, much as he loved and admired
Colet, would he give up for his sake his purpose of
visiting Italy and devoting himself to the study of
Greek. He had come to England to learn rather than
to teach, and his own studies were as yet far from com-
plete. Moreover, he was no doubt conscious of possess-
ing powers which, when they attained their maturity,
would raise him to a far higher position than that of a
teacher of youth at an English university. Fortunate
is it for the world that he did not accede to the proposal.
He would, indeed, have made an admirable professor,
but, had he now settled down to professorial work, would
16 Ep. xiv.
TO SETTLE AT OXFORD.
.
85
he have had time to edit the Greek Testament and write
the other works by which he prepared the way for the
Reformation ? He might, indeed, have united with
Colet in fighting the battle of Scriptural theology
against the unprofitable subtleties of scholasticism, but
it was more to his taste to encounter the old system
openly, with all the resources of his wit, and learning,
on a field where he might win the admiration of the
world, than to undermine it by means of lectures
delivered to Oxford students; and if he had accepted
his friend's invitation, where would have been the
Encomium Moriæ ?. In truth, the thing was out of the
question. The life, the movement of the new age, was,
as it were, impersonated in Erasmus. His mind was far
too restless, his genius too ambitious to permit him to
1
filling the purpose of his life. So he excuses himself on
the plea of insufficient knowledge. “How," he asks,
“can he teach others what he does not know himself?”
Colet had begged him to try and impart some warmth
to the studies of the place during these cold winter
months; but how can he warm others when he is him-
self shivering all over ? He had never intended to
remain at Oxford, so that it is unjust to reproach him
with having abandoned what he had never undertaken.
Colet, it seems, would have been satisfied, had he at
least consented to give lectures on poetry and rhetoric;
but as the other was above his strength, so this, he
says, fell below his purpose. In short, he must presently
return to Paris, and waits only for the winter to relax
year (1500), this plan was carried out. He parted with
17 Er. Op. v. 1263, 1264.
86
...ENGLISH KISSES.
Colet, however, probably before Christmas, and pro-
ceeded to London, where he spent some weeks in visiting
his friends.
And now, leaving behind the learning of the Univer-
sity, we must follow our versatile theologian for a
moment into different scenes ; for, in London or its
neighbourhood, it would seem, by his own account, he
spent the time most merrily, the gayest of the gay,
associating with great men and courtiers, laughing,
feasting, kissing the fair, and bowing to every one.
“We have made some progress in England," he assures
Andrelinus, in a letter written in the very best of
spirits, evidently from the midst of these gaieties.
“Your old acquaintance Erasmus has become a toler-
able huntsman, no bad rider, and a most accomplished
courtier; he makes a good bow and wears a pleasant
smile; and all this in spite of nature. . . . If you knew
the wealth of Britain, you would put wings on your feet
and fly hither; or, if your gout prevented you, you
would certainly wish to be a Dædalus. For, to mention
but one thing out of a number, there are here ladies
divinely beautiful, the kindest and most fascinating
creatures in the world, far before the Muses whom you
worship. There is, besides, a custom which it would
be impossible to praise too much. Wherever you go,
every one welcomes you with a kiss, and the same on
bidding farewell. You call again, when there is more
kissing. If your friends call on you, they kiss you, and
when they take their leave kisses again go round. You
meet an acquaintance anywhere, and you are kissed till
you are tired. In short, turn where you will, there are
kisses, kisses everywhere. And if you were once to
taste them, and find how delicate and fragrant they are,
VY
ERASMUS MEETS PRÍNCE HENRY.
87.
you would certainly desire, not for ten years only, like
Solon, but till death, to be a sojourner in England.” 18
Before his departure it was the good fortune of
Erasmus to be introduced to Prince Henry, afterwards
Henry VIII., who was then, however, the Duke of York,
his elder brother, Arthur, Prince of Wales, being still
alive. He was staying with Mountjoy on his estate at
Greenwich, when More, accompanied by another young
lawyer named Arnold, came to visit him, and inviting
him to accompany them on a walk to a neighbouring
village, which he did not name, carried him away to
Eltham, where the royal children were receiving their
education. They were playing in a large hall when
Erasmus and his friends entered ; Henry, a manly little
fellow, just nine years old, was standing in the middle,
and received the visitors with princely courtesy. His
elder sister Margaret, who afterwards married James V.
of Scotland, was on one side, and Mary, then a child of
four, on the other. Arthur was not present, and
Edmund was an infant in his nurse's arms. Presently
More put into the hands of Henry a composition of his
own, and Erasmus, having nothing of the kind ready,
was not a little annoyed that he had not been fore-
warned of the purpose of their walk, and the more so
when the Prince during dinner sent him a slip of paper
challenging him to a proof of his literary powers.
Three days passed before he was able to respond; but
by that time he had produced an elaborate poem, in
alternate hexameter and iambic verse, in praise of
England, Henry VII., and the royal children. 19 The
verses are what might be expected from a man
thoroughly imbued with classical literature, but without
: : 18 Ep. Ixv.
19 Cat. Luc. .
.88
DEPARTURE FROM ENGLAND.
much genius for poetry. England is, of course,
described as the finest country in the world, and with
the finest climate. Henry is the best of kings, great in
war but inclined to peace, more patriotic than the Decii,
more pious than Numa, more eloquent than Nestor,
with ability superior to Cæsar's, and liberality greater
than that of Mæcenas, parsimonious in nothing save the.
blood of his subjects. The praise bestowed on the
young Prince is more moderate. A few graceful lines
acknowledge his love of learning, and his resemblance
to the father whose name he bore. The poem was
accompanied by a letter to the Prince, in which he was
entreated to accept an offering, which, however un-
worthy, was in its nature better and more enduring than
any of the gifts of fortune 20
Erasmus sailed from Dover on the 27th of January,
not, we may be sure, without regret at parting with his
new friends. If, indeed, apart from his studies at
Oxford, he had gained nothing by his visit to England
but the friendship of two such men as Colet and More,
his journey would have borne ample fruit. Of the latter
there will be an opportunity of speaking more at length
on the occasion of his second visit to this country. In
the meantime there was no one for whom he had conceived
a higher admiration than John Colet. The two men
resembled one another in many respects, and yet each
possessed qualities which the other wanted-a circum-
stance which, perhaps, had the effect of drawing them
still more closely together. They agreed very largely
in their opinions, their tastes, their love of learning, and
their dislike of scholastic subtleties. But if Colet found
in Erasmus far greater intellectual vigour, profounder
20 Ode Erasmi Roterodami de laudibus Britanniæ, etc. -Er. Op. i. 1215.
COLET’S ASCETICISM.
89
learning, more extensive knowledge of the world than
he could pretend to, and a biting humour which he did
not possess, Erasmus found in him, on the other hand,
a deep earnestness, a gravity and holy fervour which
were not in his own nature, and of the want of which he
may have been conscious. Colet, moreover, seems to
have been a little of the ascetic. When he went to
London he gave up suppers, and he seldom drank any-
thing but beer, or partook of more than one dish.
His friend, on the contrary, being of a sickly frame,
required pampering, and the self-denial of others is not
always the less admirable if we are unable to share in
it. There is no reason to suppose that Erasmus first
learnt from Colet that dislike of scholasticism which
ever lent vigour to his pen. Through his influence, we
have seen, his judgment underwent some modification
in regard to one of the great leaders of that philosophy
with whose worth he had previously had little acquaint-
ance. But as for the vulgar herd of theologians of his
own day, the bitter experiences of his early life, the strict
discipline and loose morality of Steyn, the damp bed-
rooms and rotten eggs of Montaigu, had taught him to
hate both their life and their doctrine. There was,
however, one respect in which his English friend would
seem to have exercised a distinct influence over his
mind. Erasmus had not, indeed, só far escaped the
influence of his age and his monastic training as to
suppose that any study could compete in importance
with theology; yet his natural tastes might, probably,
have led him to give secular learning at least an equal
place in his regard. The spirit of Colet may be traced
in the absolute devotion to divinity which he sometimes
expresses. When he writes to this friend he puts him-
1
90
COLET'S ASCETICISM.
self on the defensive, endeavouring to show that he
looks upon his excursions in profane literature as little
better than trifles of which he would gladly free himself,
or at the best as preparatory to his graver studies, and
that his whole heart is in theology.
( 91 )
CHAPTER IV.
MISADVENTURE AT DOVER-LETTERS OF ERASMUS—TO THE PROVOST
OF BURGUNDY-TO BATTUS—TO TUTOR-TO BATTUS AGAIN–To
THE LADY DE VERE-ERASMUS WANTS MONEY TO GO TO ITALY
-- TEACHES BATTUS HOW TO BEG - STUDIES GREEK — THE
“ENCHIRIDION"-JOHN VITRARIUS, THE MONK OF ST. OMER-
ERASMUS AT LOUVAIN-PANEGYRIC ON PHILIP OF BURGUNDY-
LETTER TO COLET-IN ENGLAND AGAIN.
On his departure from England Erasmus met with a
misadventure which caused him considerable annoyance
and which he did not easily forget. There was a law
at that time that no one should take more than a certain
very small quantity of coin out of the realm ; but
Erasmus, having been told by his friends Mountjoy and
More the latter, who was then a student in Lincoln's
Inn, ought certainly to have known something of the
law—that this regulation applied only to British money,
and all the little cash he possessed being French, sup-
posed he had nothing to apprehend. On his arrival at
Dover, however, he found out his mistake. The custom-
house officers relieved him of all his money save the
legal sum, which was, probably, barely sufficient for his
travelling expenses.1 In his difficulty he had recourse
to his friend Battus, with whom we find him spending a
couple of nights before proceeding to Paris,' and who,
1 Cat. Luc.
2 Ep. lxii.
92
ERASMUS HAS A NARROW ESCAPE.
no doubt, provided him with the necessary means for
continuing his journey. On his way he met with
another adventure, of which he gives a detailed narra-
tive in one of his letters, having had a narrow escape
of being robbed and murdered near Amiens. He and
a young Englishman who was travelling with him had
hired horses at a road-side inn, and soon saw reason to
suspect the groom who accompanied them. Their
alarm was increased when the innkeeper himself, on
some flimsy pretext, joined the party, and reached its
height when they found themselves compelled to sleep
in the same room with this suspicious couple. The
night, however, passed without accident, and the next
day the attempt to extort money failed, owing to the
poverty of the travellers.3
It is impossible, and, if it were possible, it would
perhaps be hardly worth while, to trace all the wander-
ings of Erasmus during the next half-dozen years. It
may suffice to say that he lived principally at Paris,
Orleans, and in the Low Countries, and spent his time
in studying Greek, running away from the plague,
dreaming of Italy, and begging hard froin his patrons
to supply him with the means of going there. We
have seen how kindly he was received at the Castle of
Tornenhens, and what a favourable impression was
made upon him by its amiable and accomplished mis-
tress, Lady de Vere. It was to this lady, failing the
Bishop of Cambray, that he now chiefly looked for
the means of carrying out his cherished scheme of
visiting Italy and taking his doctor's degree in one of
the universities of that country. The following extracts
from his letters give some account of his doings for the
8 Ep. lxxxi.
HE ENDEAVOURS TO RAISE THE WIND.
93
next year or so, and they serve also to illustrate his
character better than any words in which his biographer
could attempt to describe it. They show us Erasmus
painted by himself, and if they prove that his efforts to
extort money were by no means dignified nor even
altogether creditable, the reader will make what allow-
ance he pleases for a time in which it seemed the natural
state of things for literary men to be dependent on wealthy
patrons. It may be added that the more elaborate
letters of Erasmus were doubtless regarded both by
himself and by those to whom they were addressed as
models of Latin composition, and as having, therefore, a
distinct money value.
ERASMUS to NICHOLAS, Provost of Burgundy.4
Paris, 1498 [? 1500].
“SUCH is my regard for you that, measured by that, any
letter of mine would be short ; but I am so busy that,
measured by my occupations, any, however short, would
be extremely long. The ancients used to call poets and
men of letters allegorically swans; and not, I think,
without reason : for the feathers of the bird are not
purer than the poet's heart; both are sacred to Phæbus;
both delight immensely in limpid streams and well-
watered meadows; and both possess the gift of song.
In our days, however, it seems, both have lost their voice,
at least in this latitude, and do not regain it even when
death draws near. The reason is, I imagine, that the
swan, as the natural historians tell us, sings only while
the western breezes blow. Can we wonder, then, that
all swans should be mute just now, when there are so
many north and south winds, but no zephyrs ? For the
- 4 Ep. xxiv.
10
71
YY
94
.
ERASMUS WANTS MONEY
1
British Aquilo has taken away not only my money but
my voice, as effectually as any wolf that had seen me
first. But zephyrs breathe only at the approach of
spring. Wherefore, kind Provost, if you will be the
spring to my patroness, Lady de Vere, and she will
breathe on me as the west wind, I will be a swan to you
both, and will pour out such melody in your praise that
remotest posterity shall hear it. There is no need for
me to explain this riddle, seeing that I am writing to an
dipus, and not to a Davus. · Farewell.”
ERASMUS to JAMES BATTUS.6
: : Paris, 1499 (? 1500].
“MAY you enjoy, my dear Battus, that health which I
want. Since my return to Paris my health has been
very delicate ; the great fatigues of my winter journey
having been succeeded by constant study, so that I
have merely changed, not discontinued, my labours.
Besides, this season of the year is not only trying in
itself, but is especially unfavourable to my constitution.
For I remember, as long as I have lived in France, not
a Lent has gone by without giving me an illness.
Lately, too, having changed my residence, my new
quarters disagree with me so much that I feel unmis-
takable signs of that nocturnal fever which two years
since very nearly sent me below. I fight against it with
all the care I can and with the aid of the doctors, but
have hardly escaped; for my health is still very uncer-
tain. Should that fever again attack me all would be
over, my dear Battus, with your friend Erasmus. How-
ever, I have good hopes that I may recover, with the
5 It was a popular superstition
that a man meeting a wolf was
struck speechless, if the wolf saw
him first.
6 Ep. xxix.
TO TAKE HIS DOCTOR'S DEGREE.
95
help of St. Geneviève, whose kind aid I have more
than once experienced; especially as I have got, in
William Cop, not merely a very experienced, but also
a kind and attentive physician, and, what is very un-
common, a cultivator of the Muses. : : . I am preparing
a volume of adages, which I hope will be published
after Easter ; a work, I assure you, of some length, and
requiring infinite toil. For I have collected about eight
hundred proverbs, partly Greek and partly Latin; and
I intend to dedicate the work to your pupil Adolphus.
I am glad you are hastening to my lady, and particu-
larly that you have been invited. Nor do I doubt that
she has invited you partly on my account, for I wrote
her a history of the whole affair in bad French AC-
cordingly I must maintain myself another month on
borrowed money, until I get some good news from you ;
but for this I should have returned thither myself. I
beg of you, my dear Battus, to show your former spirit.
I know you can do anything if you will only try. But
there is one thing in your conduct that I do not like,
that ever since I wrote you an imaginary letter from
England, you think I invent everything. Yet in that
letter, which you think I wrote from my imagination,
may I die if I invented anything. So abandon that
unjust suspicion and do not suppose that I write any-
thing, especially to you, which does not come from my
heart. It is my intention, as soon as I have finished
this work, to make every effort to complete the
dialogue, and to devote this whole summer to writing
books. In autumn I shall, if possible, visit Italy, and
take my doctor's degree; see you, in whom is my hope,
that I am provided with the means. I have been giving
? The Anti-Barbarians, no doubt. See ante, p. 25.
96
ERASMUS STUDIES GREEK.
my whole mind to the study of Greek, and as soon as.
I get money I shall buy, first, Greek books, and then
clothes. Farewell, my dear Battus, and do not forget
your friend Erasmus. Once my health is mended. I
shall neglect nothing."
A,
ERASMUS to JAMES TUTOR.8
Paris, 1498 [? Vere, 1500.]
“I INTENDED going straight to you from Paris, dear
Tutor, and there is nowhere I would go more gladly. I .
had got together a little money, too, not to be a burden
on you; but hearing there was disease there also, I was
compelled to alter my course and come here. At
Antwerp I paid a visit to your excellent parents, and
found them, as I expected, very like yourself. I was in
Holland about two months, not settled, but constantly
running about and drinking, as dogs do in Egypt. For
my part, I would rather live among the Phæacians.
Our gentle friend William [Hermann ?] I found it
impossible to stimulate to study, and so I left him with
such feelings that even now I am sensible of no loss in
parting from him. I upbraided him in your name so
strongly that we almost quarrelled. If Epicurus him-
self could be born again and see their manner of life,
he would think himself a sour stoic. We sailed from
Dordrecht the day before the beginning of Lent, and
were in the greatest danger. While stopping several
days in Zierikzee on my boy's account, who had begun
to feel a little feverish after the voyage, I was near
being taken ill myself, only I fled from Zeeland, which
to me is hell, as quickly as I could. I paid my respects
to the Bishop; but, as usual, he invented new excuses
- 8 Ep. xxxv.
AT THE HOUSE OF HIS FRIEND BATTUS.
97
for not giving anything. With Lady de Vere things
were in such a state that I could neither speak to her
without danger, nor go away without grave suspicion.'
You know the affair of the Provost, who is now in
prison, while my lady is under surveillance. Accord-
ingly, being without hope in that quarter, for I think it
a wretched thing to be in suspense, I have come straight
to my friend Battus. He is the only person here that I
like. I am studying Greek, but alone, for Battus has
no time for it, and, besides, prefers Latin. I intend
casting anchor here for one or two months, and then I
shall go wherever the winds call me. You are, no
doubt, expecting to hear how kindly his Reverence has
welcomed me now that I am in the neighbourhood. I
have nothing to write about this, my dear Tutor, for the
Euripus is not affected by so many tides as this man's
mind. A little before my arrival he was so eager about
it that he despatched Lewis with all haste to Holland to
summon me, and gave me, besides, two gold pieces for the
expenses of my journey. But when I came he showed
so much coldness you would have thought it a miracle.
So I think I need not care for these fluctuating admirers.
My lady, meeting me by accident in the street, offered
me her hand, and with such a very kind look as seemed
to show that she still retained her former good-will
towards me, though I scarcely venture to hope so, so
wide-awake are the watch-dogs, which, in this case, are
the wolves also. Accordingly, Erasmus is now taking
care of himself, and is clothed in his own feathers.
With a view to visiting William, or rather to making
him a Grecian, I took a great bundle of books with me
to Haarlem, but which was greater, the expense or the
toil and danger, I do not know. At all events, both
VOL. I.
ERASMUS IN THE ARMS OF BATTUS.
were thrown away. I lost by that journey twelve
crowns and one friend. For I find I before imposed on
'myself about him ; but I shall be made wise by blows, as
boys are, and use my wisdom for myself rather than
others. That is all, my dearest Tutor, that I have to
tell you of your friend Erasmus. . . . I think of visiting
Italy this autumn, or rather I dream about it, for I see
no gleams of hope in any quarter. . . . Farewell.”
ERASMUS TO JAMES TUTOR.9
“ Tournay, 1499 [? Vere, 1500].
“THE day before writing this I had already entrusted
another messenger with a letter for you, but in case
there should be any accident, I thought it safer to add a
second by the present one, not in the same words but
with the same theme. I have spent more than six
weeks in Holland at very great expense; and never was
time so completely thrown away. My boy's illness
delayed ine again in Zeeland several days, which was
not only very wearisome, as I was in a hurry elsewhere,
but also attended with great danger to my health. For
I have never felt any climate more severe or less suited
to my constitution. Everything else, my dear Tutor, ..
has fallen out as usual with your friend Erasmus.
The Bishop of Cambray is what he has always been.
The Lady de Vere has been unfortunate, and needs to
be aided rather than burdened. I am now resting in
the arms of my friend Battus and surrounded by books;
and not altogether without you, so often is the name of
Tutor mentioned :—there is no subject on which I am
more ready to converse, or to which Battus listens more
eagerly. He loves you; he is all on fire, he longs to see
9 Ep. xxxv.
-
HIS DEVOTION TO THE GREEK MUSES.
99
you. Believe me-if you believe anything I say—I
find so much hypocrisy, and treachery in human friend-
ships—I do not mean merely common ones, but even
in the most devoted attachments — that I have no
wish to try any new ones. Battus is the only man in
whom I have found good-will as constant as it is sincere.
He is a friend I do not owe to fortune, seeing that virtue
alone recommended him; nor am I afraid that fortune
may take him from me. For why should he cease to
love me in my affliction, who began to love me when I
was in the deepest affliction? You, most learned James,
resemble him not only in your name, but in your extra-
ordinary frankness and simplicity. Accordingly, such is
my feeling towards you both, that if your faith (which
the powers of heaven avert !) should deceive me, I should
cease to have any faith in faith itself. My health, thank
heaven, is pretty good, and somewhat more steady than
it was. I have almost transferred my allegiance from
the Roman to the Greek Muses, nor shall I rest until I
have arrived at the goal of mediocrity. My heart desired
more than I can tell you to remove into your house-
hold; for I saw that, without any expense to you, I
could enjoy your society-and there does not live a
more charming man than you—and at the same time
give you the benefit of mine ; but I was deterred by the
pestilence, which drove me from Paris and sent me into
this banishment. For what is there to keep me here
but Battus alone, whom I cannot have entirely to my-
self because he is compelled to give up a great part of
his time to the slavery of a Court?... I have searched
for a Greek grammar with the greatest care, that I
might buy it and send it you; but there was not one
to be had, neither Constantine's nor Urban's....
100
THE MANNERS OF THE DUTCH.
Now I will tell you what my plans are for the future.
I sometimes think of revisiting Britain to spend a month
or two with Colet in discussing points of theology; nor
am I unaware how much advantage I might derive from
that project, only I am terrified for the dangerous rocks
on which I formerly made shipwreck. I have the same
longing to visit Italy as ever ; but, as Plautus says, 'it
is not easy to fly without wings. I am kept from
France by the plague. In Holland the climate agrees
with me, but I dislike those Epicurean revels; then look
at the people, how dirty and uncivilized they are, what a
hearty contempt they have for study, while learning is
quite unprofitable and brings the greatest odium on its
possessor: which would be my case most of all, as all
my friends seem to require, though they say nothing,
that I should return strengthened, and, as it were, fully
armed against the arrogance of the unlearned. I am
waiting, accordingly, with no fixed plan, ready to steer
wherever the favouring winds shall call me. If you can
see more clearly, or foresee more wisely, in your friend's
case than he can himself, aid me with your advice.
Whatever may happen with you which you think I
ought to know, be sure to write me. Farewell, with
kind regards to all your household."
ERASMUS to BATTUS. 10
“ Paris, 1498 [? 1500).
"THE day on which I wrote this letter I intended
setting out for Orleans. There is never wanting some
bad genius to interrupt our studies. I was indeed more
disposed to come to you, both because I should be nearer
to my own country, and because an opportunity seemed
10 Ep. xxxvi.
BATTUS TURNS COLD.
IOI
to be presented to me for aiding or at least encouraging
your studies. But many objections occurred to me as
to there being a suitable place for me to stay at; for
though I approve of that which you pointed out in
Peter's house, I have a scruple there, as you know; not
that I fear either for my continence or my character,
but lest any suspicious rumour should in consequence
reach the ears of my friend Peter. For the vulgar, as
you are aware, and particularly courtiers, hate the men
of letters, and very freely attribute to us what they do
themselves. Besides I thought there might be some
who would wonder at my going thither so often. Finally
I thought of your coldness; especially as I remembered
that your advice to me to take refuge there was
cold and timid. And I do not know that you now
care even for literature, since you have been seized with
a new kind of love, in which coaxing fosters desire,
while a surfeit occasions no disgust. You know what I :
mean. · It is no secret to me that you have becomie
more attached to William, and that you give all your
thoughts to making provision for him-a thing which I
am so far from grudging that I consider I am indebted
to you for it. But to desert me, after having laid the
foundations of my fortune-what do you call that but
to expose to destruction your own children ? My lady
provided William with a splendid outfit for his journey,
and sent me empty away, though he was returning to
his own country, while I was leaving mine; though he
was going to drinking parties and I to my books. You
will reply that the lady is rich enough to confer favours
on both. But you are not ignorant of the ways of
courtiers, you know the caprices to which women are
subject : however I am silent. However that may be,
102
ERASMUS WISHES TO LEAVE FRANCE.
if I am robbed of what was promised me, I am glad my
friend William will be the gainer. If, on the other
hand, I am mistaken in my suspicions, which I hope
may be the case, and you are the Battus you used to
be, induce my lady to fulfil her promises, and besides
to give me a living; that you may suppose is given to
yourself and not to me: for thus you will have con-
trived to have a church living without being a priest.
T
7
leave France. I wish to live in my own country. This
I see will be better for my fame and more favourable to
the preservation of my health. For my friends there
think I live away from home willingly for the sake of
freedom : those here suspect that my countrymen do
not want me, and that I live here as it were in exile.
Lastly, if there were no other reason, there is this very
weighty one, that I should see you and my friend
William very often. . . . . I have written more fully to
the Lord Provost, and have sent him a copy of my
Adages, also William's Odes, and my own foolish
verses on the Cottage of the Nativity, printed some
time ago. . . . . I intend taking my Doctor's degree if
either Mountjoy or my lady send me anything; but if
not I will give up all hope of that honour and return to
you upon any terms. I have had quite enough of France.
Farewell, most excellent Battus."
ERASMUS to BATTUS.11
“St. Omer, 1499 [? 1500).
“I SEE you are angry at my letter, which you say
11
any gall, it was not directed against you, but was rather
.11 Ep. lx.
HE HUMBLES HIMSELF TO BATTUS.
103
the effusion in your presence of a most just and proper
feeling of grief. Even if I acknowledge having sinned,
the matter is not yet simplified, seeing that there has
been no thought either of my ruined state, or of your
good fortune. For it does not become a man who is in
the deepest affliction to wish to be thought funny, much
less saucy and forward, but to be humble, especially
before one whom fortune favours and to whom you are
in debt. . . . .. Henceforth I will love my Battus as a
friend and benefactor, and as a learned man. I will
serve him as a preceptor, as my king, in whose power it
is both to destroy and to bless. I will even consent to
your beating me if hereafter you find a word in my
letters, I will not say saucy or impudent, but that is not
altogether flattering and suppliant ; such as might
become a slave who only fears the cross. I owe you
besides a debt of gratitude, my worthy patron, for
having aided my memory and reminded me of your
high station. Now I will reply to your very kind letter
in order, and I beg of you to hear me calmly. In the
first place I will abandon completely that habit of mine
of writing ‘morosely. And if you think it is not enough
to have repented of my error, I refuse no punishment,
if you will only take me back into favour, not such as I
enjoyed formerly-I am not so impudent as to ask
that;--the most I can hope is to enjoy the lowest
degree of it. That the Provost heartily wishes me well
I admit is no merit of mine. Your regard for me,
which led you to recommend me to so great a man, I
humbly acknowledge. As to your promise that you
would faithfully and zealously plead my cause to my
lady, what shall I, on my part, promise you in return
for your kindness ? What can I promise but myself?
104 . LETTER TO LADY DE VERE.
Yet I have been long in the number of your slaves.
Your sending me William's letter seemed to me much
the same as bidding me go and hang myself on the
next tree. I have been long aware that it is all over
with me since he stepped into my shoes. Why, how-
ever, should I find it so hard to bear an evil which I
have drawn down upon myself by my own folly? Now,
if you should even crucify me I will bear it, though I
think that would be more tolerable than to see William
preferred before me. This one thing I beg on my
knees—I conjure you by your own good fortune, and
by the anger of the gods against myself—do not, if you
are determined to destroy me, subject me to prolonged
suffering. . . . . In inviting me to the castle, if the
plague should drive me hence, you have restored, O
merciful Battus, my hope of life. Why should I not
throw myself prostrate and kiss your feet? I see you
wish me to be saved, you do not wish, me to perish of
hunger. För what punishment could be either more
bitter or more disgraceful ? My worthy patron, the
plague is already at the door; I long to fly to that
blessed castle, more than I long to go to heaven. But
you will pardon my timidity : I am afraid your anger
has not entirely cooled. When I am quite sure of that,
I will then leave this altar of refuge. . . . . Farewell. I
shall be hungry enough here, as I deserve to be.”
ERASMUS to ANNA BERSALA. 12
“Paris, Jan. 27, 1500 [? 1501].
“ ANCIENT literature has preserved for the admiration
of posterity the fame of three Annas—the sister of
Dido, whose surname was Perenna, and who, according
13 Ep. xcii.
THREE FAMOUS ANNAS.
105
:
to the belief of antiquity, was translated to heaven for
her extraordinary self-devotion ; the wife of Elkannah,
of whom it is praise enough to say that when an old
woman she became, by the favour of God, the mother
of Samuel, that most holy priest and incorruptible
judge ; and, lastly, the mother of the Virgin and grand-
mother of Jesus, God and man: so that she certainly
needs no trumpeting. And the first of these the Roman
Muses have consecrated to immortality. The second
derives her nobility from the Hebrew annals. The
third is adored by the piety of all Christians, and cele-
brated in the eloquent writings of Rodolphus Agricola
and Baptista of Mantua. Oh! that my pen were gifted
with the power to make known to posterity your
character, so affectionate, so pure, so chaste, that you
might be numbered as a fourth Anna with the other
three. And so it should be, were my poor abilities but
equal to your virtue. I am, indeed, inclined to believe
that that name has been given to you, as Maro says,
not without the will and consent of heaven, so many
qualities do I perceive that you have in common with
them. They were most noble ; but what can this realm
boast more illustrious than your ancestors ? They were
renowned for their piety, and your piety is most accept-
able to heaven. Their patience was sorely tried by
affliction : in that, too, you resemble them more than I
could desire, for your integrity and virgin simplicity
were, I must say, most deserving of everlasting pros-
perity. · What, however, can you do? Here is Fortune's
old game, to exalt the unworthy and bring misery on
the guiltless. But thou, my patroness,
... ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito
Quam tua te fortuna sinat.
106
ERASMUS BEGS THE LADY DE VERE
But although, on account of my extraordinary affection
for you, or rather filial love (for I owe all my welfare to.
her by whose kindness I am enabled to live among
books, without which I could not live at all), I feel
your misfortunes most acutely. Yet this consideration
affords me great comfort, that such storms are some-
times sent by kind heaven, not to crush or overwhelm,
but to give occasion for virtue to shine forth with
greater splendour. Thus did the virtue of Hercules,
Æneas, and Ulysses gain lustre. Thus was the patience
of Job proved. I am, therefore, less grieved that you
suffer these evils than rejoiced to see how well you bear
them. And you bear them with so much patience that
I, who am a man, I may almost say, born to mis-
fortunes, strengthen myself by your example (for I will
speak without reserve) more than by any derived from
ancient literature : yes, for a whole year I have been
pursuing my way with both winds and tide against
me, and under a frowning heaven. .... Your rank,
indeed, one would have thought was almost above the
caprices of Fortune, and yet she sometimes clutches at
you to humble you ; but against me she displays such
unvarying spite-in this only false to her character-
that she must be supposed to have conspired against
my studies. It occurs to me as I write—for to whom
shall I disclose my unhappiness if not to her who alone
is both able and willing to apply the cure?-I say it
occurs to me that this is the anniversary of the day on
which I made shipwreck of my little all, the earnings of
my studies, on the shore of Britain. From that day, as
I remember, Fortune has exposed me to an unvarying
succession of misfortunes until this very hour; for as
soon as the British Charybdis had thrown me up upon
FOR MONEY TO GO TO ITALY.
107
this continent, I was greeted by a fierce storm, followed
by the most fatiguing journey I ever experienced ; then
I had the knives of robbers presented at my throat;
then fever ; afterwards the plague, which, however, only
put me to flight, did not seize upon me. Add to these,
the domestic cares which life produces every day in
abundance. But I am ashamed (God love me !) that. I,
who am a man, having at my command all the resources
of learning, and armed with the precepts of philosophy,
should be thus alarmed, while you, a woman by nature,
and, by the indulgence of Fortune, born in the highest
station, and brought up in the midst of luxury, bear
your misfortunes with a spirit far from womanish;
because, too, I was resolved, in spite of the blustering
of Fortune, not to abandon the cause of literature, nor
be cast down, so long as I could look to you as the
cynosure of my eyes. For not even Fortune can take
literature from me: the little money that my leisure
demands, your wealth, which is equal to your goodwill,
can easily supply. . . . There are two things which I
find are very necessary for me : to visit Italy, in order
that the little learning I possess may derive some
authority from the celebrity of that country; and to
obtain the title of Doctor. Both things, indeed, are
mere bosh ; for, as Horace says, those who cross the
sea do not immediately change their character, nor will
the shadow of a great name make me one whit more
learned than before ; but as the times go, you must
conform to custom, since no one is thought learned-I
do not mean by the vulgar only, but even by the fore-
most literary men-unless he is styled Master, not-
withstanding the prohibition of Christ, the king of
theologians ; though, in ancient times, no one was
108
ERASMUS URGES BATTUS
deemed learned because he had purchased the title of
Doctor, but they were called doctors who, by the publi-
cation of books, had given a clear proof of their learning.
But, as I have said, it is to no purpose to act a good
part which every one would hiss. So I must put on the
lion's skin, in order that those who judge a man, not
from his books, which they do not understand, but from
his title, may be persuaded that I have some literature.
.... These are the monsters with whom I have to
contend, and to show myself another Hercules : where-
fore, if you will arm your Erasmus, that he may fight
with these portents with equal courage and authority,
not only I, but the cause of letters, will be indebted
to you.. Farewell; and think favourably of my
Muses." :
In two other letters to Battus, he becomes still more
pressing, and seems inclined to quarrel with his friend
because he has not yet procured him the means of
accomplishing his long-cherished intention of visiting
Italy. In the first,13 after complaining bitterly of a
miserable eight francs which he had just received, he
continues :-
“May I die if I ever wrote anything with such
repugnance as those flatteries which I have addressed to
my lady, to the Bishop [of Cambray], and to the Abbot
[his brother]!... A year has already passed since the
money was promised, and meantime you still put me off
with hope, telling me not to despair, and that you will
do your best for me, till I am quite sick of such phrases
so constantly dinned into my ears. Finally you deplore
my lady's misfortunes. You seem to me to be sick with
13 Ep. lii.
TO PRESS. HIS SUIT WITH THE LADY DE VERE. 109
another person's disease. She neglects her property,
and must you forsooth take it to heart? She trifles
away her time and her money with her --, and must
you growl out, “She has nothing to give away ?' One
thing I see plainly enough, that if she gives nothing on
these pretexts, she will never give anything, for great
people never want excuses of that kind. It were a
mighty matter indeed, if, when such immense sums are
going to sheer waste, she were to bestow on me a couple
of hundred francs! She has plenty to give for the keep
of those villanous cowled blackguards--you know whom
I mean—and she has nothing to maintain the indepen-
dence of one who might write books worthy of immor-
tality, if I may make that small boast about myself.
She has fallen, it is true, into many difficulties, but that
is her own fault, if she chose to take up with that hand-
some bumpkin, rather than with some person of grave
and sober character, as became both her age and her
sex. I foresee far greater inconveniences if she does
not change her mind, though I do not write this with
any feeling of enmity to her, for I love her, as I am
bound to do, seeing how kind she has been to me. But
what would it be to her fortune, I beg you to consider,
if I should receive two hundred francs? Why, if that
sum were given me, after seven hours' time she would
never miss it. All that is wanted is that the money
should be procured, if not from herself, from her banker,
so that I may get it here in Paris. You have already
written a great many letters to her upon this matter,
but you only give hints and throw out inuendoes.
Nothing could be more unavailing. You ought to have
waited for a fairly good opportunity, and then boldly
pressed home the request which you had before cau-
1
110
THE MERITS OF ERASMUS.
tiously hinted; and this is what you must still do.
May I die. if you do not prevail, once you have made
the attempt courageously.”
To judge from the next letter, 14 Battus may have
written that he found a difficulty in approaching the
subject, and Erasmus accordingly sends him, from
Orleans, whither he has removed in the meantime,
the most explicit instructions as to the best mode of
proceeding.
“Tell my lady," he says, "what a modest man I am,
and that my nature will not permit me to discover my
wants to herself. You may write, moreover, that I
am just now in the very greatest want, because this
flight to Orleans has been a great expense to me. For
I was obliged to leave those from whom I was deriving
some income. Say that the Doctor's degree cannot be
taken with more honour anywhere than in Italy, and
that Italy cannot be visited by a man in a delicate state
of health without the greatest expense, especially as it is
not possible for me, with my literary reputation, whatever
that may be worth, to live meanly. Point out how
much more honour I shall bring my lady by my learning
than the other divines whom she maintains; for they
deliver vulgar harangues, while my writings will live for
ever; they, with their ignorant platitudes, are listened
to in one or two churches, while my books will be read
by Greeks and Latins, ay, by every nation throughout
the wide world. Say that such unlearned divines may
be met with everywhere in crowds, while my equal can
scarcely be found in the course of many centuries;
unless, perchance, you are too scrupulous to tell a few
white lies for your friend. Next point out that she will
| 1* Ep. xciv. .
THE DEATH OF BATTUS.
be no poorer, if, while so much of her wealth is most
disgracefully squandered, she spends a few gold pieces
on the restoration of the corrupt text of St. Jerome and
the revival of true divinity. Having enlarged upon
these points, as your taste directs, and written at length
of my character, my intentions, my affection for my
lady, and my modesty, you can add that I have written
to say that I want two hundred francs, which would
be simply paying my next year's pension at once. This,
Battus, is by no means a pretence; for to visit Italy
with one hundred francs, part of which indeed is
already spent, I should not think safe, unless I want
again to enter into some one's service. Rather than do
that may I die first! Then how little difference it can
make to her whether she makes me a present now or
after a year, while to me it is all important? Next pre-
vail with her to procure some church living for me, in
order that, on my return, I may be able to settle down
quietly to my books. Nor be satisfied with persuading,
but give her as good a reason as you can invent why
she should promise me the first of many that she has,
if not the best, at all events a tolerable one, which I
may exchange for another whenever there shall be a
better at her disposal. I am aware that there are many
applicants for livings; but you can say that I am the
only man whom, if she compares with all others, &c.
You know how you have been accustomed to lie pro-
fusely for Erasmus."
All these urgent entreaties would seem to have
failed of their purpose; no such sum at least was forth-
coming as enabled Erasmus to prosecute his intention
of visiting Italy. A year or two afterwards we find
that he lost his friend Battus by death, while the Lady
1
112.
ERASMUS TEACHES HIMSELF GREEK.
n
S
:
de Vere contracted a marriage far below her station.15
The Bishop of Cambray, who had quite cast him off
some time before, was also removed by death; and
Erasmus wrote three Latin epitaphs upon him and one
Greek one, for which he tells his friend Hermann, he
received only six florins ; so that the Bishop, he adds,
preserved his character for stinginess even in death.16 It
is clear that Erasmus—and the retort is not unfair-
endeavoured to obtain from the dead what he had been
unable to extort from the living.
The foregoing extracts show that, notwithstanding
his unsettled life, Erasmus was all this time diligently
pursuing his study of Greek, of which he was deter-
mined to make himself a master. Finding little benefit
from the instructions of George Hermonymus of Sparta,
he became his own teacher, and in order to perfect
himself, he adopted the plan of translating from Greek
into Latin. In this way he translated a declamation of
the sophist Libanius and two others by an unknown
author, which he dedicated to the Chancellor of the Uni-
versity of Louvain, and received for them ten gold pieces,
a present which seems to have satisfied him, and after-
wards, as we shall see in due time, several pieces by
Lucian, a writer whom he particularly affected, some
of Plutarch's Moral Essays, and the Hecuba and Iphi-
genia in Aulis of Euripides. Whether, after all, he
ever became a perfect Grecian may be doubted; or
rather it is certain that while he soon acquired that
familiarity with the language which a man of his talent
and industry could not well miss, and which enabled
15 “ Battum mors ademit, vel
venenum potius. ... Dominam
Veriensem matrimonium plus quam.
servile eripuit.” – Er. Op. iii.
1837, D.
16 Er. Op. iii. 1837, C.
THE CHRISTIAN SOLDIER'S HAND-BOOK.
113
him to read and even write it with ease, he never pos-
sessed that thorough accuracy which greater advantages
or greater care might have bestowed, and which one man
at least of that age-Budæus-is said to have possessed.
Meantime other studies were not neglected. The
collection of Adages spoken of in the first letter to
Battus,17 was actually published in the year 1500 ; but
as that was but the foundation of one of the most im-
portant works of Erasmus, I reserve any further notice
of it for a future chapter. Another work demands our
attention here; a little religious treatise or handbook of
piety, which was composed under the following circum-
stances : Erasmus was on a visit, one summer, to the
Castle of Tornenhens, whither he had fled for refuge
from the plague, when he made the acquaintance of a
military man, whose company he found agreeable
enough, but whose conduct was known to be licentious
in the extreme. This man had a wife of extraordinary
piety who was extremely concerned for his salvation,
and who accordingly begged Erasmus to put down in
writing a few things such as he thought might waken in
him some sense of religion. He complied and made a
few notes, which he afterwards elaborated at leisure
while residing at Louvain. The work, when finished,
was shown to some learned friends, who expressed
their strong approbation, and it was accordingly
published. It is a work of some importance for the
biography of Erasmus, because it shows the theological
position which he took up from the very first; how
freely he treated questions touching on the most
fundamental doctrines of the Church, how thoroughly
practical he sought to make religion, and how boldly he
17 See above, p. 95.
VOL. I.
IY
1
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Y1
114
ERASMUS PLATONIC, NOT AUGUSTINIAN,
assailed what he regarded as the superstitions of his time.
This will appear sufficiently from the following review.
The Enchiridion, or, Christian Soldier's Dagger,18
as this treatise was called, is a charming little work,
written in that easy flowing style of which its author
was now a master, and combining in the most skilful
way the wisdom of the heathen sages with the teachings
of Scripture. Some might think it too much leavened
with ideas borrowed from the philosophy of Greece and
Rome, and it was probably upon that account that it
incurred the charge of being deficient in unction ; but
for all that, it is full of sound sense and practical piety.
Little stress, indeed, is laid upon those points which the
Catholic Church regarded as fundamental, and although
the Fall of Man and his Redemption by the Cross are
incidentally referred to, it is clear that the heart of the
writer is in the practical lessons which he desires to
inculcate. His idea of human nature is almost wholly
Platonic. Man, he says, consists of soul and body,
which at first acted together in perfect harmony, and
would have continued to do so, had not the serpent
sown the seeds of contention between them. Since that
time there has been perpetual warfare between the two,
the spirit striving against the flesh and the flesh against
the spirit. But the consequences of the first sin would
not seem, in the estimation of Erasmus, to have affected
the essential nature of the soul, which is still spoken of
as divine, and as retaining a consciousness of its heavenly
origin. “But that divine principle, which, bearing
18 Enchiridion Militis Chris-
tiani.--Er. Op. v. I. Enchiridion
means a handbook, or a dagger.
That the latter is the translation
intended by Erasmus is evident
from his own words : “Enchiridion,
hoc est, pugiunculum modo, quem-
dam excudimus," &c.
IN HIS VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE.
115
un
sovereign sway within us, ever counsels us to our good,
remembering the source whence it has come, admits
no baseness nor impurity." 19 The spirit, or inner man,
or the law of the mind, of which Paul speaks, is ex-
plained to be identical with the reason of the philo-
sophers; and thus it is implied throughout this treatise,
that man, so far from being utterly incapacitated for good,
as Augustine taught and as Luther was presently to
teach, does instinctively, in virtue of his higher nature,
seek those things which are above. The end of all
human effort, however, is Christ; and the way to Christ
is faith. But by Christ we are told to understand “no
unmeaning word but love, simplicity, patience, purity; in
short, whatever Christ taught.” And by faith is signified,
not that self-abandonment to a Divine Saviour, not that
trust in another's righteousness--which, according to
many, is its very essence-bụt simply belief that God's
promises and threats, as revealed in Scripture, are true;
belief that in another world sin will be punished and
virtue rewarded. In short, Erasmus clearly teaches
that the only way of salvation is that of self-denial, self-
conquest, and virtue. How far he was from being pre-
pared to accept at this time what was soon to become
the great Protestant doctrine of faith without works,
is apparent from a. passage in which, speaking of the
troubles of life, he says, “these will all be added to the
sum of thy merits if they find thee in the way of Christ.”
That he never accepted it will appear sufficiently here-
after 20
19«Anima, generis ætherii memor, originis suae, nihil sordidum, nihil
summa vi sursum nititur, et cum humile cogitat."-Ib. 14, D.
terrestri mole luctatur."--Er. Op. 20 “ Fides unica est ad Christum
V. 13, A. “At consultor ille divinus, janua. • , . Sic prorsus habeto, nihil
sublimi in arce præsidens, memor tam verum esse ... quam quæ
1
T
A
*116
ERASMUS ATTACKS THE SUPERSTITIONS
This doctrine that there was a possibility of merit on
the part of man, and that the troubles which he was
called upon to sustain in the pursuit of righteousness
would be counted to him as merits, was, of course, per-
fectly in accordance with the teaching of the Roman
Church. . Whether it is true or not, or in what sense
true, is, at least to the unprejudiced thinker, quite
another question; but it is one on which the biographer
is not called upon to give judgment. No one doubts
that the doctrine of merits gave birth to a great number
of abuses, and was involved with a great deal of super-
stition. And these abuses and that superstition, Erasmus,
here, as upon every occasion that offered, set himself to
expose. Pilgrimages, fasts, the worship of saints, respect
for relics, he does not venture to condemn; but urges
that they should be regarded merely as the means of
piety, and not as an end in themselves. “The most
acceptable worship," he says, "which you can offer to
the Virgin Mary is to endeavour to imitate her humility.
If you must adore the bones of Paul locked up in a
casket, adore also the spirit of Paul which shines forth
from his writings.” “You honour the image of Christ's
face carved in wood or stone, or painted upon canvas,
how much more religiously ought you to honour the
image of His mind expressed by the art of the Holy
Spirit in the Gospel writings.” “You gaze with mute
legis in his literis quas cæleste Nu-
men, hoc est, veritas, inspiravit,”
etc. - 16. 21, E. F. Compare the
whole passage. “Sed ut certiore
cursu queas ad felicitatem conten-
dere, hæc tibi quarta sit regula, ut
totius vitæ tuæ Christum, velut
unicum scopum præfigas, ad quem
unum omnia studia, omnes conatus,
omne otium ac negotium conferas.
Christum vero esse puta, non vocem
inanem, sed nihil aliud quam chari-
tatem, simplicitatem, patientiam,
puritatem, breviter quicquid ille
docuit.”—Ib. 25, A.
OF THE MONASTIC ORDERS.
117
wonder on a tunic or handkerchief which is said to have
belonged to Christ, and yet when you read the oracles
of Christ your eyes droop with sleep.” We shall have
ample opportunity of noticing hereafter the exposures
by Erasmus of the manners and practices of the monks,
but the following tolerably strong passage may be given
at present :—“I am ashamed to say how superstitiously
most of them observe those petty ceremonies which were
instituted by men no better than themselves, and yet
which had originally a very different purpose in view ;
how much hatred they display in exacting them from
others, how confidently they rely upon them, how rashly
they make themselves judges of other people's conduct,
how contentiously they uphold them. By these acts
of theirs they think they can merit heaven, and if it so
happens at any time that they have shown some zeal
in their performance, they fancy themselves equal to
Paul or Anthony. Then they begin to exercise a most
haughty censorship over the lives of others, following
that ignorant rule, as the comic poet calls it, of thinking
nothing right but what they do themselves. When,
however, they have grown grey in the observance of the
rules of their order, after all you shall find that they
have nothing of the temper of Christ, but are altogether
unspiritual, and steeped to the lips in certain unsocial
vices; peevish creatures to live with, and scarce sup-
portable even to themselves ; if their charity is cold
their anger is hot enough; their hatred is most obstinate,
their language most virulent; in carrying on a quarrel
they will never let themselves be beaten, and they are
ready to fight for any cause however trifling; and alto-
gether they are so far from the perfection of Christ, that
they have not even those common virtues which either
1
I18
THE NATURE OF TRUE CHARITY.
natural reason, or experience, or the precepts of the
philosophers enable the heathen to acquire; indocile,
intractable, quarrelsome, sensuous, they turn with dis-
gust from the words of Holy Writ; they never shew a
kindness to any one, but are full of foul suspicions
towards others, and vainly conceited of themselves. Is
this the result of the labours of so many years, that,
though filled with every vice, you should think yourself
the best of men ; that instead of a Christian you should
be a Jew, serving the beggarly elements only in order
that you may have glory, not in secret before God, but
openly before men ?”
Again, urging the virtue of charity, he exclaims,
“Tell me not this is charity, to be constant at church,
to prostrate yourself before the images of the saints, to
burn wax-candles, and to chant prayers. God has no
need of these things. What Paul calls charity is to
edify your neighbour, to esteem all men members of
the same body, to think all are one in Christ, to rejoice
own; to correct the erring gently, to instruct the igno-
rant, to raise the fallen, to comfort the cast-down, to
assist them that are in trouble, to succour them that are
in want : in fine, to direct all your powers, all your zeal,
all your care to this end; to do good in Christ in all to
whom you can do good, in order that, as he was neither
born, nor lived, nor died to himself, but, gave himself
wholly for our advantage, so we also may serve our
brother's needs and not our own. Were this so, there
would be no kind of life more happy or more pleasant
than that of those who have set themselves apart for
the service of religion ; which now on the contrary we
THE CORRUPTION OF THE AGE.
119
YA
find to be severe and toilsome, and filled with Jewish
superstitions, nor free from any of the vices of the outer
world; in some respects it is even more deeply stained."
Thus did Erasmus boldly expose the inner life of
the monasteries which he knew by experience so well.
Nor, probably, did the monks consider it any mitigation
if he pleaded that he attacked vices only, not men. The
good, he truly said, would be glad to be admonished in
the things which pertain to salvation. But those who
knew how well they deserved his severity, and still more
those who, without knowing it, yet deserved it, were sure
to be filled with that rage which never forgets and never
forgives. But in attacking the superstitions of the
Church, Erasmus does not by any means spare the out-
side world. He laments that as regards morals there
was never even among the heathen a more corrupt age
than that in which he lived. "But," he adds, “as to
their faith, let them look to it themselves. This at least
is most unquestionable, that faith without moral conduct
corresponding to it, is not only of no avail, but increases
the sum of damnation.” “True probity is utterly
despised; riches, no matter by what means acquired,
were never so highly esteemed as they are at present.”
“Poverty is considered the worst misfortune, and the
lowest disgrace." "Such is our way of venerating and
expressing the doctrine of Christ, that nothing is now
deemed more utterly mean and contemptible, indeed
mad, than to be truly and heartily a Christian; as if
Christ had either lived in vain upon earth, or Chris-
tianity had changed its character, or did not apply
equally to all men.” Truly, an awakening was needed
for the age of which such things could be written. No
doubt there are always moralists to lament that their
120
A SPIRITUAL SENSE TO BE LOOKED FOR
own time is the most corrupt that has ever been ; and
the complaint that wealth is the standard of virtue often
means no more than that the needy philosopher is not
asked to dinner by the rich fool, whom he professes to
despise. Nevertheless, it will not be denied that as,
regards the corruption of religion at least, and the
prevalence of superstition upon the one hand and
hypocrisy on the other, the half-century preceding the
Reformation surpassed most others.
It is worth while to remark that in the work at
present under our notice we meet with that tendency to
allegorize Scripture which always marks the first revolt
against the letter; a tendency which may be traced in
St. Paul himself in reference to the Old Testament,
and in Origen and some of the Fathers in reference to
various parts of the Bible. Erasmus warns his reader
against the literal acceptation of Scripture, exhorting
him to break the hard and bitter husk so as to reach
the sweet kernel-the spiritual sense—which is con-
cealed within, and quoting with special emphasis the
words of Christ, “It is the Spirit which quickeneth; the
flesh profiteth nothing.” He accordingly recommends
those interpreters who depart farthest from the literal
sense, the principal of whom, after Paul, are Origen,
Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine. "For I perceive,''
he adds; “ that our new-fangled theologians adhere too
closely to the letter, and employ themselves in discus-
sing captious questions of divinity, rather than in un-
ravelling the mysteries of the Word, as if that was not
true which Paul writes, that our law is spiritual.” TO
give one or two instances of the way in which this
allegorizing tendency is applied, the manna which the
children of Israel ate in the desert is said to signify the
UNDERNEATH THE LETTER OF SCRIPTURE.
121
knowledge of the ancient law; and the meaning of the
word in Hebrew, “What is this?” indicates the duty of
continual investigation. So the frequent mention in
Scripture of wells, fountains, and rivers, is designed to
commend to us the diligent search after the mysterious
meanings which lie concealed under the literal narrative.
Incidentally, Erasmus suggests a figurative interpreta-
tion for the miracle at Cana, where he says that Jesus
at the marriage-feast turned the water of the cold and
insipid letter into the wine of the spirit. Such a notion
would now be called neological. Erasmus called those
who adhered to the letter, neoteric. It is, perhaps,
unnecessary to observe that all this was, as a matter of
course, perfectly consistent with the acceptance of the
truth of Scripture as history. The spiritual significance
might as well be supposed to underlie the actual facts
as the narrative which records them.21 Only it will be
seen that the way was thus opened for doubts, which
might be applied more or less extensively, as to the
truth of the narrative as a record of actual facts; and
when Erasmus, in another passage, gives it as his
opinion that the whole account of the creation is, so
long as we look no deeper than the surface, not a whit
better than the story of Prometheus and the fire stolen
from heaven, we may feel satisfied that he did not in his
own mind believe the world to have been made precisely
in the manner described in the book of Genesis.
This excellent little work, though it failed, as may
21 This, indeed, is the express solum voces ad significandum ac-
teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas, commodet (quod etiam homo facere
from whom, probably, Erasmus potest) sed etiam res ipsas." -
derived it. “Respondeo dicendum Summa. Theol. Pars I. Quæst. I.
quod auctor sacræ Scripturæ est Art. x.
Deus, in cujus potestate est ut non
122
A REMARK BOTH WITTY AND TRUE.
be supposed, to reform the character of the person for
whose benefit it was originally composed, and though
for some time after its publication it was comparatively
neglected, eventually, as soon as its merits became
known, attracted great attention, and ran rapidly
through many editions.22 Some, as I have already
remarked, complained that it wanted unction, and, un-
doubtedly, it has not much of the oily phraseology
which that word suggests. Erasmus himself has not
hesitated to record the jesting remark of a learned
friend, that “there was more religion in the book than
the author," a remark which he allowed to be both
witty and true, pleading, however, that it was unfair to
blame him if, while sincerely desiring to lead a pious
life, he had not always succeeded in the attempt. On
the other hand, he could afford to despise those who con-
demned his work as wanting in learning, and said that
22 “ Libellus erat aliquamdiu earliest extant edition, and marks
neglectus. Mox mire cæpit esse the date when the work began to be
vendibilis, idque potissimum com- in demand. But the Enchiridion
mendatione quorundam Dominica- bears the date 1501 ; and unless
lium, quorum aliquammultos nuper there had been an edition then or
alienaviť addita Præfatio ad Paulum soon afterwards, Erasmus would
Volzium Abbatem, virum moribus, hardly have complained that it was
ut si quis alius, pure Christianis."- for some time neglected ; neither
Cat. Luc. "Ubi video toties jam would he refer to it in writing to
excusum formulis, semper velut Colet, in 1504, as a work which
novum efflagitari.” – Præf. ad Paul Colet must have known (Er. Op.
Volz. According to Brunet, the iii. 95, D.). We have besides an ex-
first edition of the Enchiridion ap- press statement of Erasmus to the
peared in a collection entitled Des. effect that the Enchiridion was first
Erasmi Lucubratiuncula. Hant- published at Louvain twenty-two
werpiæ, opera Theodori Martini, years ago (Er. Op. iii. 873, D);
1509, in 4to., which has been this statement occurring in a letter
several times reprinted at Strasburg, dated 1525, gives the year 1503 as
Basle, and elsewhere, from 1515 to the date of the original edition.
1535. This, then, I suppose, is the
T27
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JOHN VITRARIUS, THE MONK OF ST. OMER. 123
any schoolboy could have written it, because it handled
none of the Scotist questions, as if there were no learn-
ing apart from those subtleties. It was enough for him,
he adds, if it enabled men to pass their lives in Christian
peace, even though it might not prepare them for the
disputes of the Sorbonne. For his own part, he had
no wish to add one more to the already far too
numerous commentaries on the sentences, or sum-
maries, of divinity, in which every question was defined
with a minuteness which absolutely precluded the
exercise of the individual reason. Such a work as “ The
Christian Soldier's Dagger” could not be very accept-
able to the monks, and it is not strange if a fanatic
like Ignatius Loyola found it far too sober for his fiery
religion-he maintained, it seems, that the perusal of it
cooled his piety-and consequently forbade it to his
order. It is more to the purpose that it was com-
mended by a scholar like Budæus, and found favour
with the future Pope Adrian VI., who was then
Principal of the University of Louvain.23 It was
subsequently condemned by the Sorbonne as heretical ;
but was translated, nevertheless, into German, Italian,
French, Spanish, and English. The first English trans-
lation (1533) is believed to be by William Tyndale.
Among the learned men who encouraged the publi-
çation of the little treatise described above, was a
Franciscan monk, John Vitrarius, with whom Erasmus
became acquainted at St. Omer, and whose character
he has sketched as a parallel to that of Colet, “to
whom,” he adds, "he was, in my opinion, in no respect
inferior, except that, owing to the restraint of his pro-
fession, he was unable to do so much good.” We have
23 Er. Op. iii. 873, E.
I 24
JOHN VITRARIUS;
already been introduced to the English priest, let us
now make the acquaintance of the monk of St.- Omer,
another man who exercised some influence upon
Erasmus when comparatively a young man.
“He was,” he says, “about forty years old when I
first knew him; and he immediately took a fancy to me,
notwithstanding the difference in our characters. He
had great influence in the best circles, and was high in
favour with many of the nobility, being a man of tall
and graceful person, very talented, and with that
elevated tone of mind which is the essence of true
politeness. As a boy he had acquired the Scotist
learning, which he neither absolutely condemned, as it
contains some good things meanly expressed, nor, on the
other hand, did he set a high value upon it. But after
having read Ambrose, Cyprian, and Jerome, it was
astonishing how distasteful it became to him, in com-
parison with the writings of those Fathers. He admired
no author in religious literature more than Origen; and
when I expressed my surprise that he should like the
writings of a heretic, he replied with astonishing vivacity
that it was impossible to believe that a mind which had
produced so many learned works, written with so much
fervour, was not possessed by the Holy Spirit. But
although he by no means approved of the monastic life,
into which he had either entered of his own accord
when too young to know better, or had been seduced
by others--many a time has he said to me that it was
a fool's life, rather than a religious one, to sleep, waken,
and go to sleep again, to speak and be silent, to go and
come, to eat and leave off eating, all at the sound of a
bell, doing everything according to human prescriptions,
rather than according to the law of Christ; adding that
HIS LOVE OF THE SCRIPTURES.
125
1
there could be nothing more unjust than equality among
persons so very unequal, especially as men of heavenly
mind, and born for better things, were often quite lost
from having to observe so many ceremonies and human
regulations, or even through the envy of the meaner
spirits around them; yet he never advised any one to
cast off his profession, nor did he himself make any
attempt of the kind, for he was prepared to bear all
things rather than give offence to any; in this also
following the example of his favourite apostle, St. Paul.
There was, moreover, nothing so unjust which he would
not endure with the greatest cheerfulness for the sake
of preserving peace. The books of Scripture, especially
the Epistles of Paul, he had studied so carefully that no
one could be more intimately acquainted with his own
finger-nails than he was with Paul's writings. Indeed
· you had only to repeat a word or two, no matter from
what part, and he would immediately go on to the end
of the Epistle without a single mistake. He knew a
great deal of St. Ambrose off by heart; and it is
scarcely credible how much he could remember of other
orthodox Fathers—a power which he owed partly to a
naturally tenacious memory, partly to assiduous study.
Once when I asked him in a familiar conversation how.
he prepared himself when he was going to preach, he
replied that he was accustomed to open Paul, and
continue reading him until he felt his heart begin to
burn; then he stopped and prayed fervently to God,
until he was warned that it was time to begin. He did
not divide his sermons—which is done to such an extent
by the majority of preachers that one might think it was
forbidden to do otherwise—whence it happens that the
division so often becomes quite meaningless. Indeed
LIU
1
126 VITRARIUS AMBITIOUS OF MARTYRDOM.
all that careful division only takes from the warmth of
the address, and by discovering the art diminishes the
impression of the preacher's sincerity. But Vitrarius,
by never breaking the flow of his discourse, contrived to
connect the sacred Epistle with the reading of the
Gospel, so that the hearer returned home both instructed
and with an inward zeal for religion. He neither
made use of extravagant gesticulations, nor, like many
preachers, stormed and roared, but with perfect self-
possession uttered his words in such a way that you
could see they came from an ardent and simple but
sober nind : nor was he so long as to cause weariness;
he did not try to show his learning by various quota-
tions, like other preachers, who put together centos from
Scotus, Thomas, or Durandus, or from the works on
the civil and canon law, or from the philosophers or
poets, in order that the multitude may think they know
everything. His whole sermon was full of Holy Scrip-
ture, nor would he quote anything else. What he said
came from the heart; he was inspired with an incredible
zeal for drawing men to the pure philosophy of Christ.
"In labours such as these he was ambitious of the
glory of martyrdom ; and once, as I learned from his most
intimate friends, he had obtained from his superiors
permission to visit countries in which Christ is either
unknown or not worshipped in the right way, thinking
he would be happy if, in this service, he should gain the
martyr's crown. But on his way he was recalled by a
voice which seemed to come from heaven, saying,
*Return, John; thou shalt not fail of martyrdom at
home.' He obeyed the divine behest, and found it
true what the voice had spoken. There was then a
sisterhood in which the religious discipline was so com-
LT
THE WICKED NUNS ATTEMPT TO STRANGLE HIM. 127
11
pletely subverted, that it was much more of a brothel
than a convent; and yet there were among the nuns a
few who were both susceptible of reformation and
wished for it. While he was endeavouring by frequent
sermons and exhortations to bring them back to Christ,
eight of the most desperate of their number conspired,
and having kept watch for him, drew him into a secret
place, and then put their handkerchiefs round his neck
and tried to strangle him; and they would have suc-
ceeded in their impious purpose had they not by chance
been interrupted. He was already half dead, and it
was with difficulty that he recovered his breath; yet
he never made any complaint of this matter, not
even to his most intimate friends, nor did he at all
relax the efforts which he was making for the conver-
sion of those nuns; nay, he did not even look at them
more sternly than was his wont. He was acquainted
with the author of this conspiracy—he was a Dominican
divine, the Suffragan Bishop of Boulogne, a man
who openly led a wicked life-yet he never uttered
a reproach to him, though there was no class of men
whom he disliked more than those who, professing to
be the leaders and teachers of religion, alienated the
people from Christ by their character and impious
doctrine. Sometimes he would preach seven times in
one day, nor did he ever lack words and learning when
his theme was Christ. His whole life indeed was an
eloquent sermon. He was cheerful and by no means
ungenial in company; yet without the faintest spark
of levity or frivolity, still less of gluttony or intem-
perance. He would direct the conversation towards
learned subjects, and very often towards religion, espe-
cially if any one visited him, or he was making a call
.
· 128
A TRUE CHRISTIAN.
L
.
11
anywhere. Or if he was going on a journey he had
rich friends who sometimes set him on a mule or a
horse, that he might talk more comfortably, and then,
breathing more freely, this excellent man would bring
forth treasures that no gems could purchase. He sent
no one from him sad ; nay, no one ever left him without
being the better of his company and feeling a deeper
love for godliness. He was the most disinterested of
men, and never in any particular was he governed
by his appetite, by ambition, avarice, pleasure, hatred,
envy, or any other evil passion. Whatever happened
he returned thanks to God, nor did he know any greater
pleasure than to kindle men's hearts with the love of
gospel religion. Nor were his efforts vain; he had
gained many to Christ, both men and women, whose
death proved how much they differed from the common
run of Christians; for you might have seen his disciples
meeting death with the greatest cheerfulness, and on its
approach singing in a way that proved their hearts to
be touched with the spirit of God : while others, having
performed the usual ceremonies and made the customary
protestations, gave up the ghost, perhaps believing, but
perhaps not. Ghisbert, the excellent physician of that
town, one who constantly cultivated true piety, who was
present at the deathbed of many of both schools, is a
witness of this fact. He had converted also some of the
members of his own fraternity, but not many; just as
even Christ could not do many miracles in his own coun-
bring plenty of meat to the kitchen, rather than those
who win many souls to Christ. While, however, this
pure spirit—a temple truly worthy of Christ-abhorred
vice in every form, there was nothing more deeply
SCRUPLES ABOUT PRAYER.
129
repugnant to it than licentiousness, so that the faintest
allusion of an improper kind was an offence to it, while
immodest language was absolutely intolerable. He
never declaimed violently against the vices of the world,
nor revealed any confessional secret; but he would
draw such a picture of virtue, that every hearer might
discover, by the contrast, his own faults. In giving
advice he showed extraordinary wisdom, integrity, and
skill. · He did not very willingly listen to secret con-
.fessions; yet he was in this most observant of charity :
anxious and repeated confessions he openly disapproved.
For superstition and ceremonies he had little respect,
and he would eat any meat that was set before him,
but always moderately and with giving of thanks : his
dress had nothing to distinguish it from that of others.
He was accustomed sometimes to make a journey for
his health whenever he felt himself unwell. Accord-
ingly, one day, when he was saying his morning prayers
with a friend who accompanied him, he felt sick, per-
haps owing to his fast of the day before: he went into
the nearest house and took some food; on resuming the
journey he began to pray, and his companion thinking
he must begin all over again from the beginning, be-
cause he had taken food before the prayers of the first
hour were finished, he replied with energy, that they had
committed no sin, and that, on the contrary, God would
be a gainer. 'Before,' said he, we were languid and ex-
cheerfulness, and he will be pleased with our sacrifices
because they are offered by a cheerful giver.' I was then
living with Anthony à Bergis abbot of St. Bertin, and as
he did not dine till the afternoon, finding myself unable
to endure so long a fast-it was the season of Lent-..
VOL. I.
I
130 VITRARIUS CONDEMNS THE INDULGENCE,
especially as I was deeply engaged in study, I was
accustomed to take a warm drink before dinner to
sustain my stomach till dinner-time. When I asked
him if that was permissible, he looked at the lay com-
panion whom he had with him at the time to see if he
was offended, and replied, “You would commit a sin if
you were not to do so ;-if for the sake of a morsel of
food you were to discontinue your sacred studies, be-
sides injuring your health.'
• “When Pope Alexander, in order to increase his
gains, had doubled the Year of Jubilee, and the Bishop
of Tournay had purchased the indulgence at his own
risk with ready money, his commissioners made every
effort not merely to secure the Bishop against loss, but
even to bring him in a handsome return for his outlay.
The first that were invited to give their aid in this
matter were, of course, the most popular preachers.
Our friend seeing that what had formerly been given to
the poor would now be differently applied, though he did
not express his disapproval of the Pope's offer, yet said
nothing in its favour. But he did express his dis-
approval of the poor being defrauded of their customary
alms, and condemned the silly credulity of those who
thought their sins would be pardoned if they put their
money in the box. At last the commissioners offered
him one hundred florins towards building the chapel
which was then in course of erection in his convent, on
condition that if he would not recommend the Papal
indulgences, he would at least conceal his objections.
*Away,' cried he, 'with your money, ye simoniacal
priests! Think you I am one who will suppress the
truth of the Gospel for money? If that is a hindrance
to your gains, I ought to have more care for souls than
TY
AND IS SUMMONED BEFORE HIS BISHOP.
131
for your pay!' Conscience-smitten, they gave way for
the moment to the evangelical zeal of his reply ; but
meantime, quite unexpectedly, a sentence of excommu-
nication was posted up at early dawn, which, however,
was torn down by a citizen before it became much
known. He, nothing daunted by these threats, con-
tinued teaching the people and celebrating the mass with
greatcalmness, nor did he betray any fear of such an
anathema because it was threatened him for preaching
Christ. Presently he was cited to appear before his
bishop, the Bishop of Boulogne; he obeyed, and went
with only one companion, having no anxiety on his own
account. The citizens, however, had mustered a body
of horse on the road, lest he should be drawn into
some trap, for what crime will not the accursed love of
gold urge men to perpetrate ? The Bishop objected to
him some articles extracted from his sermons; but
he answered courageously, and satisfied him. A little
while after he was summoned again, when more articles
were objected; having answered these also, he asked
why his accusers were not present to accuse him at
their peril, adding that he had already come twice to
show his respect for his Bishop, but he would not come
a third time if he were similarly summoned; he had
better work to do at home. Thus he was left to him-
self, either because there was no pretext for doing him
an injury, or because they feared a .popular disturbance
-the better part of the people being much attached to
him on account of his virtue, though quite without his
seeking their favour..!
You will now ask, I am sure, what was the end
of this man? He offended not only the commis-
sioners, but also some of his brethren, not because
132
VITRARIUS REJECTS THE DEVIL'S GIFTS;
1
they could find fault with his life, but because it
was too good for their interests. All his anxiety was
for the salvation of souls ; but in making provision for
the kitchen, in extending the convent walls, and enticing
into them young men of property, he was not so active
as they would have wished. He did not, however, alto-
gether neglect these cares, especially so far as they
were necessary, though he did not pay the extravagant
attention to them which is often done. He had once
made an enemy of one Thynnus, a courtier, a man of
most immoral life, who had committed many adulteries,
and quite neglected his own wife, a lady of good birth
and the mother of several children. It so happened
that she also was seduced, whereupon he immediately.
threw her off for the first slip, though he had so often
pardoned his own lapses. The lady went from bad to
worse, and at length fell into the extreme of misery.
Vitrarius tried everything to reconcile husband and wife,
but to no purpose; and finding him quite hardened and
inflexible, whether he appealed to his respect for the
marriage tie, to his love for his and her children, or to
his conscience, seeing that he had given occasion, by so
many adulteries and by neglect, to his wife's sin, left
him as one of whom there was no hope. This man, a
little afterwards, sent a quarter of pork to the convent,
as he had been accustomed. But John, who was at
that time purveyor, had given orders to the porter not
to take anything in without calling him, and on the
arrival of the present, having been called, he said to the
servants who carried the pork, 'Take back your burden
whence you have brought it; we do not receive the
Devil's gifts!' Accordingly, though they knew very
well that his life and doctrine were full of evangelical
1
HIS DEATH AT COURTRAY.
133
piety, yet as he did not look after the interests of the
larder, he was desired to resign his office, which he did
most willingly; and there was chosen in his place one
whom I know, procured from some other monastery,
who was as different from the other as he could possibly
be; in short, he seemed to me to be one to whom no
wise man would care to trust his cabbage-garden. I
know not whether he was thrust upon them by those
who wanted to get rid of him, or whether they thought
he would prove fit for their purpose. As, however,
from the influence of his example a few others were
found who showed more zeal for promoting Christian
piety than for storing the larder, they removed him to
a convent of nuns in Courtray, where he ended his days
in peace, teaching, consoling, and exhorting, having left
behind him some books of extracts which he had made
in French from the ecclesiastical writers, and which I
doubt not corresponded to his life and conversation.
And yet I hear that he is now condemned by some who
think there is great danger if the people should read
anything save the fables of the Church histories or the
dreams of the monks. There lives still a spark of his
doctrine in the breasts of many, whom if you compare
with others, you would say that the latter were not
Christians, but Jews. In such contempt was this remark-
able man held by the members of his own order, whom
the Apostle Paul, if he had had him as a colleague,
would, I doubt not, have preferred even to Barnabas or
Timothy."
In the winter of 1503-4, Erasmus was in Louvain,
stopping at the house of John Paludanus, the orator of
the university. It was in compliance with the solicita-
tions of Paludanus that he wrote and afterwards deli-
134
PANEGYRIC ON PHILIP OF BURGUNDY.
vered, in the Ducal Hall at Brussels, on the 6th of
January, 1504, a congratulatory address to “Philip,
Prince of Burgundy, son of the Emperor Maximilian, on
his happy return from Spain."24 It was with much
reluctance that Erasmus undertook this office. . His
timid nature must have shrunk from so public a display,
and, while it was necessary that he should praise the
Prince, he feared to incur the charge of being a flatterer.
Nor did he escape this accusation. He could only
defend himself by appealing to the example of the
ancient panegyrists, who, under the pretence of eulogy,
had clearly no other object than to encourage to virtue ;
a defence which, he maintained, would justify him in the
eyes of impartial judges, even though his panegyric had
been addressed to a Phalaris or a Sardanapalus, whereas,
in truth, it was addressed to a young man in whose
character great virtues already appeared, and of whom
the best hopes might be entertained for the future.
Flattery on such an occasion is, perhaps, unavoidable,
and, at any rate, in this address Erasmus ascribes to
this young prince almost all possible virtues ; but, in
telling him all that he was of good and great, he at least
showed him what he ought to be. Ever consistent in
his hatred of war, and in the belief that it is a crime
against heaven and humanity, he did not fail to point
out that there were other and nobler paths to greatness
than that of military glory. The panegyric was pub-
lished, and dedicated to Nicholas Rutier, Bishop of
Arras. The Prince was highly pleased with it, gave a
handsome reward to the poor scholar, and wished to
prevail upon him to remain at his Court. But this
24 Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami Panegyricus Philippo Burgundionum
Principi dictus.-Er. Op. iv. 505.
LETTÉR TO COLET.
would have suited Erasmus even less than a professor's
chair. After another year or two, finding himself still
without the money he so much needed, he determined
again to visit England, where he had already some
wealthy friends not unwilling to assist his studies, and
where he might hope by his presence to acquire many
more. Meantime, the following letter was written to
Colet, partly to renew his acquaintance and congratulate
him on his appointment to the deanery of St. Paul's,
partly, as will be seen, to ask his assistance in looking
after the money he thought he ought to be getting for
some copies of the Adages.
ERASMUS to JOHN COLET.25
“Paris, 1504.
“If either our friendship, most learned Colet, had
sprung from vulgar causes, or your character had ever
seemed to have anything vulgar about it, I at least
should have some apprehension lest, owing to so long
and so wide a separation, it might not, indeed, have
quite died out; but, at any rate, grown cold. As it is,
since my admiration for your remarkable learning and
love for your piety have recommended you to me,
while I am recommended to you by your hope, perhaps,
of finding the same qualities in me, or, rather, by your
belief that I possess them, I do not think I need fear,
although we see it commonly happen, lest, being out of
25 Ep. cii. Colet, it would seem,
was appointed to the Deanery of
St. Paul's sometime in 1504, though
he did not receive the temporalities
till May, 1505 (Oxford Reformers,
p. 138). When the Doctor's de-
gree was conferred upon him we
are not informed ; but if it was at
or before his appointment, the date
of this letter may be correct, and
it otherwise agrees with the con-
tents.
· 136
ERASMUS CONGRATULATES COLET
your sight, I should be, on that account, less in your
heart. But that now for several years no letters have
come from Colet, I would fain persuade myself was
owing to your occupations or to your not knowing
exactly in what part of the world I might be-in short,
to anything rather than forgetfulness of your friend.
As, however, I have neither the right nor the wish to
expostulate with you on your silence, I the more
earnestly beg and entreat you to steal from your studies
and business a little leisure in which to address me
sometimes in writing. I wonder that none of your
commentaries on Paul and the Gospels have yet seen
the light. I am not, indeed, ignorant of your modesty,
but even that should be overcome and laid aside out of
regard for the public advantage. On the title of Doctor
and the honour of the deanery, and some other orna-
ments which I hear have been spontaneously conferred
upon your virtues, I do not congratulate you, who I know
will gain nothing from them but more labour, so much
as those on whose behalf you will bear them-so much
indeed as the honours themselves, which, methinks, are
then only worthy of the name when they are conferred
on one who deserves and yet has not sought them. I
cannot express to you, most excellent Colet, how I am
devoting myself with all my power to sacred literature,
how I loathe everything which calls me away from that,
or even retards me in the pursuit. But the unkindness
of fortune, who constantly regards me with the same
look, was to blame, that I was unable to disentangle
myself from these trifles. With this intention, accord-
ingly, I went to France, that, should I be unable to finish
them, I may somehow throw them aside. Then I shall
be free to devote myself with my whole heart to the
..
ON BEING MADE DEAN OF ST. PAUL'S.. 137
study of the Scriptures, in which I mean to spend all
the rest of my life. Yet three years ago I attempted
something on the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, and
finished, without interruption, four volumes, 26 intending
to go on had not certain matters called me away, the
chief of which was that here and there I found myself
deficient in Greek. Accordingly, for about three years,
I have been wholly occupied with Greek literature, and I
also to learn Hebrew, but deterred by the strangeness
of the language, and at the same time because neither
the life nor the genius of man is sufficient for so many
studies, I gave it up. I have read a good part of the
works of Origen, and I think I have gained something
from this teacher ; for he discovers as it were the
sources, and indicates the methods, of theological science.
“I send you a trifling literary present of some of
my shorter lucubrations; amongst which you will find
that discussion we had in England on the agony of
Christ, though so changed you will scarcely know it.
The remainder, containing your answer and my reply,
could not be found. The Enchiridion I wrote not to
display my genius or eloquence, but solely as a remedy
against the error which makes religion depend on cere-
monies, and an observance, almost more than Judaic,
of bodily acts, while strangely neglecting all that relates
to true piety. I attempted, moreover, to teach a kind
of Art of Piety, after the manner of those who have
composed rules for self-discipline; all the rest I wrote
against the grain, particularly the Pæan and the
Obsecration, works which were dedicated to the good
26 “ Quatuor volumina.” What quantity this may indicate I am unable
to say :-probably four sheets.
138
ERASMUS CONVINCED
TY
will of my friend Battus, and the kindness of Anna,
Marchioness de Vere. I had so much distaste for
the Panegyric that I do not remember having ever
done anything more completely under protest. For I
saw that this sort of thing cannot be done without
flattery. Nevertheless I used a new kind of art, to be
very free in my flatteries, and very flattering without
losing my freedom. If you want any of your lucubra-
tions printed, only send me a copy, and I will attend to
everything else and have it printed without fault. I
wrote lately, as no doubt you remember, about the
hundred copies of my Adages, which were sent into
England at my expense three years ago. Grocyn had
written to me that I might rely on his faith and
diligence to do everything to have them distributed
to my satisfaction. Nor do I doubt he has fulfilled his
promise, as he is of all Britons the most honest and
the best. You will condescend then to lend me your
aid in this matter by admonishing and urging forward
those by whom you think the business ought to be
completed. For there can be no doubt that after such a
time the books must be sold, and the money must have
come to somebody : just at present it would be of more
use to me than ever before. For I must try by some
means to have some months to myself, in order to
extricate myself from the labours which I have under-
taken in profane literature, which I was hoping would
have been this winter, had not so many hopes dis-
appointed me. Nor can this liberty, namely of a few
months, be purchased except for a considerable sum.
Wherefore I beseech you to lend me what aid you can,
now that I am extremely anxious to apply to sacred
studies, and save me from that department of literature
THAT WE ARE NOTHING WITHOUT GREEK.
139
which has quite ceased to have any charms for me. I
must not ask my friend, Count William Mountjoy ;
yet methinks he would not act amiss if he were to
render me some aid of his own goodness, either on
the ground that he has always been such a patron
of my studies, or because one of my works was
undertaken at his suggestion and inscribed to his
name-I mean the Adages. For I regret the former
edition, both because, by the fault of the printers, it is
so full of errors that one might think it had been
purposely corrupted ; and because, at the instigation of
certain persons, I precipitated a work which now at last
begins to appear to me jejune and poor since I have
studied the Greek writers. I have, therefore, determined
to mend both my own fault and that of the printers in
a second edition, and, at the same time, to benefit
students by a most useful work. But though meantime
I am engaged on a matter which is, perhaps, humbler,
yet, while I am busy in the gardens of the Greeks, I
pluck many flowers as I pass along, which will be of
use hereafter even in the study of the Holy Scriptures.
For this one thing I know by experience that in no
department of literature are we anything without Greek.
For it is one thing to conjecture, another to judge; one
thing to believe your own eyes, another to believe
other people's. Lo, to what a length my letter has
grown! But it is love, not any fault, that makes me so
talkative. Farewell, most learned and most excellent
Colet.
“I am anxious to know what has become of our
friend Sixtine; moreover, what Principal Richard Char-
nock, your dear friend, is doing. To secure safe delivery of
anything you may write or send address it to Christopher
140
ERASMUS ONCE MORE IN LONDON.
Fisher, a devoted friend of yours and patron of all
literary men, in whose family I am stopping."
No answer is extant to this letter, nor is there any-
thing more to record of Erasmus till we again meet
him in England. He left Paris apparently towards the
close of 1505, and on the first day of the new year we
find him once more in London.
( 141 )
CHAPTER V.
SECOND VISIT OF ERASMUS TO ENGLAND - DEGREE AT CAMBRIDGE
--TRANSLATIONS FROM LUCIAN—ACQUAINTANCE WITH URSEWICK
-- Fox- RUTHALL_WARHAM - FISHER- MORE — PORTRAIT OF
MORE-DEPARTURE FROM ENGLAND.
.
THE second visit of Erasmus to England was a short
one, lasting only about half a year. It was long enough,
however, to enable him to renew his intercourse with his
old friends-More, Grocyn, Linacre, and Colet, and to
acquire some new ones. It would seem, too, that he
took this opportunity of visiting Cambridge for the first
time, and that he was made bachelor of divinity of that -
university.1
I “The greatest master of the Erasmus is called "a bachelor well
antiquities of this university is pleased deserving in the said faculty of
to say no more than that Desiderius sacred theology." A statement of
Erasmus had his grace at Cambridge More's, too, seems decisive of the
in the year 1506, to commence B.D. point that Erasmus was not a D.D.
and D.D. at the same time, per- of either English University. “Jam
forming his exercise and satisfying Oxonia Cantabrigiaque tam carum
the beadles; and was afterwards habent Erasmum, quam habere
admitted the Lady Margaret's Pro debent eum, qui in utraque diu cum
fessor, circa annum 1511."-Knight, ingenti scholasticorum fruge, nec
p. 88. Probably, however, a pre- minore sua laude versatus est;
vious statement (quoted by Knight utraque eum ad se invitat, utraque
from Dr. John Caius or Keys) that · eum in suorum Theologorum nu-
he “had his grace to be bachelor merum (quoniam eo honore alibi
of divinity” (p. 86) without any est insignitus) transplantare co-
mention of D.D., is more correct; natur."-Apol. pro Moria Erasmi.
for in his doctor's diploma, which Er, Op. iii. 1896, B.C.
he obtained at Turin this same year,
142
ERASMUS A SECOND LUCIAN;
It has been already noticed that he employed him-
self occasionally in making translations from the Greek
authors, as the best way he could find of gaining fami-
liarity with that language. And these labours, as con-
stituting his literary stock in trade, and, indeed, often
his only means of livelihood, he of course endeavoured
to turn to account in the usual way. Lucian had
hitherto been his favourite, and in the light sarcasm and
pleasant humour of that writer he found much that was
congenial to his own nature. Erasmus, indeed, could
not be more severe on the monks than Lucian on the
would-be philosophers of his day, nor more successful
in turning them into ridicule; but he certainly followed
hard in his footsteps, nor can he refuse to acknowledge
a debt to the witty satirist of Samosata. While stop-
ping at the castle of Hamme, of which Mountjoy was
governor, about two years before, he had sent a trans-
lation of the “Mycillus” to Christopher Ursewick, for
many years recorder of London, and chaplain and
almoner to Henry VII., in promoting whose succession
to the throne he had done faithful service, and by whom
he was frequently entrusted with important business.
Ursewick might, had he desired it, have risen to the
highest position in Church and State, but being without
ambition, he refused the Bishopric of Norwich, and pre-
ferred a life of religious retirement at Hackney, where
he was now spending his days in peaceful seclusion.2
He had previously conferred some favours on Erasmus,
and the latter sent him this dialogue as a proof of his
gratitude. The dedication is particularly interesting,
as containing a fine estimate of Lucian. “He revived,"
says Erasmus," the wit of the old comedy, but without
2 KNIGHT's Life of Erasmus, p. 78.
HIS ESTIMATE OF HIM.
143
C
its abusiveness. It is marvellous with what graceful
dexterity he touches every subject, turning all things
into ridicule, and leaving nothing unscathed by his wit.
Never does he make even a passing allusion but he
must couple with it some sarcasm. For the philo-
sophers he entertains the most cordial hatred, and,
above all, for the Pythagoreans; the Platonists, also, he
detests for their sophisms, and the Stoics for their
intolerable pride. At these last he cuts and thrusts,
attacking them with every kind of weapon; and always
justly: for what can be more odious or less tolerable
.than wickedness when it wears the mask of virtue ?
Hence they called him blasphemer, which means an
evil speaker; and no wonder if they did so, seeing how
unmercifully he thrust at their sores. Even the gods
do not escape his satire, but are ridiculed with equal
freedom; and for this he was branded with the title of
atheist-a name, however, which was creditable rather
than otherwise, seeing that it was given him by the
impious and the superstitious. He flourished (it is
supposed) about the time of Trajan, but certainly does
not deserve to be counted among the Sophists. Such
is the grace of his style, the felicity of his invention, the
elegance of his wit, the sharpness of his satire ; so deli-
cate are his allusions, so easily does he pass from grave
to gay, from lively to severe, so amusing is he when
he is most instructive, so instructive when he is most
amusing; while he paints the manners, the passions,
the pursuits of mankind as with a pencil, making us see
them before our eyes rather than merely read of them,
that no comedy, no satire that ever was written, can be
compared with his dialogues, either for the pleasure or
for the instruction which they afford.” Such is the
144
BỊSHOP FOX.
e without a bled; nord of the writer
description which Erasmus gives of the writer whom he
himself most resembled; nor does he, on this occasion,
conclude without flinging a sarcasm at the scholastic
divines. After begging his friend to read attentively
this witty dialogue, he continues: “You have here a
cock talking with a cobbler, his master, more ludicrously
than any professional jester, and yet more wisely than
the vulgar herd of divines and philosophers in their
schools, who, with a noble disdain of more important
matters, dispute about pompous nothings.”
And now we find him forwarding the Toxaris, or
“Friendship," to Dr. Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester,
as a new year's gift, not without a pretty plain hint that
such presents are usually blessed to him that gives as
well as to him that takes. 4 Probably, Erasmus, having
only recently arrived in England, was not aware that
this Dr. Fox had done all he could to ruin his friend
More, having, as Roper tells us, “pretended great favour
towards him, and promised that, if he would be ruled
by him, he would not fail but bring him into the King's
favour again ; meaning, as it afterwards appeared, to
cause him thereby to confess his offence against the
King, whereby his highness might with the better colour
have occasion to revenge his displeasure against him."
More fortunately escaped the wiles of the crafty Bishop,
having received a hint of his purpose from his friend
Whitford, Fox's chaplain, who warned him not to follow
his master's counsel, “ for my lord,” said he, "to serve
3 Er. Op. i. 243, sqq.
4. “E priscorum usque sæculis
mos hic in hæc nostra tempora
deductus est, Amplissime Pater, ut
Calendis Januariis, principe ineuntis
anni die, munuscula quæpiam missi-
tentur, quæ nescio quid lætioris omi-
nis afferre creduntur, tum ad quos
abeunt, tum illis ad quos redeunt."
-Er. Op. i. 213-214.
THOMAS RUTHALL.
145
the King's turn, will not stick to agree to his own
father's death."5 "Erasmus, in his dedication to Fox,
takes occasion to lament the decay of friendship among
Christians, observing that “ Christianity is nothing but
true and perfect friendship, dying with Christ and living
in Christ," and ends with begging him to continue his
love and assistance as of old. Whether the patronage
of this Bishop proved very profitable may be doubted,
as we have no mention of any presents received from
him; nor indeed was the example of Henry VII.'s
court favourable to the purpose which Erasmus had
principally in view in this visit to England. The Bishop
of Winchester, however, evidently continued to take an
interest in him, for we find him complaining that he was
such a stranger with him, and so seldom came to his
house ; and on another occasion he indulged in a joke
at his expense, saying he had thought Erasmus had
received a benefice, and on being informed that he had
not, but that he was hoping for one, he asked with a
laugh if he could live on that hope.6
Probably he was more successful with Thomas Rut-
hall, Secretary to the King, who was very kind to him
afterwards as Bishop of Durham. To him he dedicated
the “Timon," observing that it might seem strange that
he should send the “Misanthropist” to a man so well
known for his extraordinary philanthropy, but it was
the only piece he had in his possession at the moment.7
He also sent him at another time, perhaps before
coming to England, three other dialogues, the “Cynic,"
the “Necyomanteia," and the “ Philopseudes,” accom-
5 ROPER's Life of More, pp. 8, 9.
6 Er. Op. iii. 113, A., 114, C.
7 This dedicatory letter is dated
VOL. I.
in Le Clerc (Er. Op. i. 255) Londini,
MD.IV., but I presume it ought to
be MD. VI.
IO
TY
ERASMUS AND GROCYN
146
V
.
panied by a letter, in which, apropos of the last-named,
he takes occasion to condemn the gloomy and super-
stitious fables which are commonly told with so much
confidence and authority, and one of which—a story,
too, whose absurdity is exposed in this very dialogue-
deceived even the sober judgment of St. Augustine.
Erasmus cannot help suspecting that the great majority
of these fables were invented by the worst of the
heretics, who merely wished to amuse themselves with
the credulity of simple people, or else to destroy the
credit of true Christian history. “What inspired
Scripture," he adds, "guarantees to us as history, in
that we must put implicit trust; but all other stories we
must receive with great caution and judgment, or else
reject them, if we desire to be free from empty confi-
dence and superstitious terror.” 8 This letter proves
that Ruthall, who is described as a man of distinguished
learning and great wisdom in the transaction of affairs,
was imbued with the more liberal tendencies of the age.
Erasmus would not have written thus to a bigot.
But by far the most important friendship which
he formed at this time was that of William War-
ham, Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor
of England, to whom he dedicated his Latin translation
of the Hecuba of Euripides, and who afterwards proved
one of his kindest and most liberal patrons. His first
impression, indeed, of this Prelate was not altogether
favourable ; for on the presentation of the Hecuba, the
Archbishop repaid the compliment with what he thought
a very insignificant present, and he and his friend
Grocyn, who had accompanied him, had a good laugh
8 Ep. cccclxxv. App. The translations of these three dialogues are not
included in Le Clerc's edition.
AT THE ARCHBISHOP'S PALACE.
147
together in the boat, as they were rowed away from the
palace at Lambeth, in trying to account for this niggard-
liness on the part of a man of such reputed generosity
and wealth. Grocyn, who would seem to have known
the ways of the world better than his friend, suggested,
what was no doubt the true explanation, that the Arch-
bishop must have suspected that he was not the first to
whom the Hecuba had been dedicated. “And how,"
asked the aggrieved scholar, “can such a suspicion have
entered his head?” “ Quia sic soletis vos," was the
reply-"Because such is the practice of you literary
men.” Determined to show that in his case at least the
suspicion was groundless, Erasmus had his Hecuba
printed as soon as he got back to Paris, and having
added to it a translation of the Iphigenia in Aulis, on
which he had employed himself at Cambridge, he dedi-
cated both to Warham, and thus secured his friendship
and patronage. “In this way," he says, “I revenged
myself for Grocyn's wit, though I had at that time no
intention of re-visiting Great Britain, nor any thought
of ever asking another favour from the Archbishop.
So great was my pride, notwithstanding my humble
fortune." 9
Warham was now about fifty-five years old, and had
recently succeeded to the primacy on the unexpected
death of Archbishop Dean. He was an Oxford man, a
doctor of the civil and canon law, and had practised as
a lawyer in the Court of Arches.10 He gained distinc-
tion by going on several important embassies, and
conducting the King's affairs with prudence and suc-
cess; and he was a favourite with Henry VII., who was
a Cat. Luc.
10 HOOK's Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury, vol. vi. p. 157.
148
ARCHBISHOP WARHAM
wise enough to know when he had found a good servant.
According to Erasmus, who was never tired of praising
Warham, and for whom, indeed, he seems to have enter-
tained the sincerest affection, he was “a theologian,
not in name, but in reality.” Notwithstanding his
many avocations," he yet found time," he continues,
" to observe most religiously the prescribed hours of
prayer, to say mass almost every day, besides attending
two or three services, to try causes, to receive embassies,
to advise with the King about any matter of importance
which might have arisen at court, to visit the churches
of his diocese in the event of anything having occurred
requiring his superintendence, besides often receiving in
his palace as many as two hundred guests; while all
the leisure he could find was given to reading." Erasmus
mentions it as a remarkable circumstance-and it throws
some light on the manners of the dignitaries of the
Church in those days—that the Archbishop gave no
part of his time to hunting, gambling, or frivolous talk,
but preferred before all such pleasures an hour's quiet
reading or conversation with some learned friend.
“Though he sometimes entertained bishops, dukes, and
counts, still his dinner was always over within an hour's
time; and although his rank required him to keep a
sumptuous table, he was himself so incredibly simple in
his tastes that he never touched the luxuries which were
set before his guests. He seldom tasted wine, but.
drank, even at the age of seventy, a very thin beer, and
even that in very small quantities. Besides, though
hardly tasting anything, he kept the whole table in good
humour by the courtesy of his looks and manners, and
his pleasant genial talk. He preserved, however, the
same perfect sobriety and composure after as before
DESCRIBED BY ERASMUS.
149.
dinner. He abstained altogether from suppers ; or, in
the case of familiar friends, in which number I was
reckoned, he would, indeed, take his seat at the table,
but touched scarcely anything : if there was nobody
with him, he would devote the usual supper-hour either
to prayers or to reading. And as he was himself full of
pleasantry, which, however, he never permitted to pass
the bounds of good sense and good-nature, he also
enjoyed the jests of his friends; only scandal and abuse
of others he detested like the poison of a serpent. Thus
did that excellent man make the days abundantly long,
of whose shortness so many complain.” 11
Thus wrote Erasmus of this eminent man, after his
death, and when no more favours were to be expected
from him. In his letters he frequently speaks of him
as his Mæcenas: and there is no doubt that his love of
learning (in which, however, he does not seem to have
been personally distinguished 12), as well as his liking for
a joke, led him to be extremely liberal to the needy
Dutch scholar. If the latter did not visit him again
before leaving London, as would follow from his own
statement, and if he was disappointed at the result of
his first visit, he afterwards became most intimate with
him, and received many proofs of his bounty. It was
most likely about the same time that he made the
acquaintance of the amiable and excellent John Fisher,
Bishop of Rochester, who eventually died so nobly, for
conscience' sake, on Tower Hill, not many days before
his friend Sir Thomas More. Fisher is described by
Erasmus as a man “not only of admirable integrity of
11 Er. Op. v. 810, 811.
12 “ Quam non vulgaris eruditio” (Er. Op. iii. 118, D), is the most
Erasmus ventures to say of him on that point.
150
INTIMACY WITH SIR THOMAS MORE.
life, but of profound learning,' and one who had ever
shown him remarkable kindness.13 And in another place
he says of him, " Either I am greatly mistaken, or he is
the only man with whom there is no one of this age
that can be compared either for integrity of life, or for
learning, or for greatness of mind ; Canterbury," he
adds, "is the only exception I can make.” 14
: Of all his English acquaintances, however, there
was none for whom he cherished such an affectionate
regard, or in whose company he took greater pleasure,
than his young friend, Thomas More. In the year 1506,
More, who had recently married, having decided not to
take monastic vows as he once intended, was living in
retirement, being then under the shadow of the royal
displeasure for his manly resistance in Parliament to
Henry VII., and was devoting all his time to literary
pursuits ; and Erasmus was often at his house in Buck-
lersbury, when they studied together their favourite
authors, or amused themselves with making epigrams
on bad kings and hypocritical monks. In this kind of
composition Erasmus tells us he was less successful than
in any other, though he used sometimes to practise it
during his walks, or sitting at table over the walnuts and
wine; nevertheless, his epigrams were collected by some
too partial friends and printed along with More's at
Basle.15 One day More suggested that they should
both write a declamation in reply to Lucian's "Tyranni-
13 Er. Op. iii. 118, B.
poribus, quorum nonnulla ab amicis
14. Ib. 102, D.
nimium mei nominis studiosis col-
15 " Nullo in genere me minus lecta sunt, et edita Basileae; quoque
exercui, . quam in Epigrammatis, magis riderentur, adjunxerunt
et tamen interdum inter ambu- Thomæ Mori Epigrammatis, in hoc
landum, aut etiam in compotatio- genere felicissimi."--Cat. Luc.
nibus lusimus aliquot, diversis tem-
MORE SKETCHED BY ERASMUS.
151
cide,” which Erasmus had translated; they did so, and
that of the latter was sent with a short dedicatory
epistle to Richard Whitford, chaplain to the Bishop of
Winchester, from whom, doubtless, it had its reward. 16
Thus did these congenial spirits pass their days,
mingling study with amusement, and many a good
laugh, to be sure, they must have had together, as any-
thing occurred to strike the humour of the one or of the
other. It was apparently at this time, when they were
both somewhat unsettled, that Erasmus enjoyed the
closest intimacy with More, though, as we shall find, he
had several opportunities afterwards of renewing their
intercourse, and it is not strange if he conceived a warm
attachment to so truly loveable a character; for so
simple, genial, amiable, and yet truly high-minded a
man as Sir Thomas More has seldom, if ever again,
been known among Englishmen. Years afterwards,
when More was a privy councillor, and high in favour
with Henry VIII., Erasmus drew his portrait in one
of the most characteristic and interesting of the many
sketches which he has left of his celebrated con-
temporaries. It is contained in a letter to Ulrich von
Hutten (1519), who had expressed a wish to have some
such description of a man of whom he had heard so
much, and, with some omissions, is as follows :-
“To begin,” he says, “with that part which is least
known to you, he cannot be called a tall man, and yet
neither is he remarkably little. But so perfect is the
symmetry of his form, that you never think whether he
is short or tall. He is of a fair complexion, his face fair
16 “Descripseram Declama-
tionem Lucianica respondentem
contra Tyrannicidam, huc provo-
cante Thoma Moro, tum studiorum
sodali.”-Ib.
152
PORTRAIT OF MORE;
if you mush och by me
rather than pale, though by no means ruddy, except
that a very faint flush overspreads it; his hair is blackish-
brown, or, if you like it better, brownish-black, his beard
thin, his eyes bluish with spots here and there, a mark
of great talent, and considered in England the sign of
an amiable temper, though our countrymen prefer black
eyes. They say there is no sort of eyes less subject to
disease. His face is a picture of his mind, and always
wears a pleasant and mirthful expression, now and then
passing into a laugh; and, truth to say, he is more
inclined to pleasantry than to gravity and dignity,
though as far as possible from folly and buffoonery.
His right shoulder has the look of being somewhat
higher than his left, especially when he is walking—the
fault not of nature but of habit, as is the case with many
of our peculiarities. In the rest of his person there is
nothing very striking except that his hands are rather.
coarse, that is to say, in comparison with the general
beauty of his person. He was always from his child-
hood very negligent of everything relating to personal
adornment. . . . His health is good rather than robust,
yet sufficient for any labours worthy of an honest
citizen; and he suffers from no diseases, or at any rate
from very few. There is reason to hope he will be long-
lived, since his father is a very old man and enjoys a
wonderfully vigorous and hearty old age. I have never
seen any one less dainty in his choice of food. Until he
was grown up he liked to drink water best-a custom
which he had from his father. But not to offend any one
in this inatter, he would deceive the company by drink-
ing beer, and that as thin as water, and often plain
water, out of a tin cup. Wine—it being the custom
then for people to invite one another to drink out of the
· HIS CHARACTER AND HABITS.
153
1
same cup-he would touch with the tips of his lips, that
he might not seem absolutely to refuse it, and at the
same time because he wished to accustom himself to
common things. He preferred plain roast beef, salt fish
and brown bread well raised, to what most people call
delicacies, though he by no means abstained from every-
thing that gives harmless pleasure even to the body.
He was always fond of everything with milk in it, and
of fruit; eggs he regards as a luxury. His voice is
neither loud nor very shrill, but penetrating, with no
softness or melody; and yet he speaks distinctly: for
although he takes pleasure in all kinds of music, he does
not seem to have been gifted by nature with a voice for
singing. His speech is wonderfully precise and articu-
late, neither too rapid nor at all hesitating. He dresses
very simply, and wears no silk or purple or gold chains,
except when it is impossible to avoid it. He is exceed-
ingly regardless of those . ceremonies by which most
people judge of good manners, and as he exacts them
from no one, he is not anxious to show them to others;
yet he understands them perfectly if he chooses to
practise them. He thinks it effeminate, however, and
unworthy of a man to spend a great part of one's time
on such trivial concerns. ...
"One might suppose he had been expressly formed
· for friendship, so sincerely does he cultivate, and so
tenaciously adhere to it. Nor is he afraid of having
too many friends, though Hesiod condemns it. In fact,
he is ready to strike up acquaintance with everybody;
and while he is thus by no means fastidious in his
choice of friends, he is ever most kind in showing them
hospitality, and most constant in retaining them. If
by chance he falls in with any one whose faults are
154
MORE'S LOVE OF FESTING;
past cure, he takes an opportunity of dismissing him
quietly, thus untying rather than rudely breaking the
bonds of friendship. But when he finds any who are
truly sincere and of congenial temperament, he is so
fond of conversing with them and telling them stories,
that you would fancy he considered this the greatest
pleasure of life ; for he has an utter abhorrence of ball,
dice, cards, and other games with which most gentle-
men beguile their hours of leisure. Moreover, while he
is inattentive to his own interest, he is most diligent in
looking after the business of his friends. In short,
whoever wants a perfect pattern of true friendship,
cannot possibly do better than take it from the example
of More. In company he possesses such rare courtesy
and sweetness of manners as would cheer any heart,
however sad, or alleviate the tedium of any situation,
however disagreeable. From his boyhood he was
always as fond of jokes as if he had come into the
world for no other purpose ; yet he never went the
length of scurrility, nor could he bear to utter an unkind
word. When a lad, he both wrote farces and acted in
them. So great is his love for pleasantry, especially if
it be sharp and really clever, that he would enjoy a
joke even at his own expense; and this led him, when
he was a young man, to amuse himself with writing
epigrams ; indeed, it was he who instigated me to write
my 'Praise of Folly,' which was as much in my way as
for a camel to dance. There is nothing, however, in
the world, not even in the most serious business, from
which he will not extract amusement. In company
with learned and sensible men he finds pleasure in
intellectual converse ; but among fools or silly people
he amuses himself with their folly, nor do the most
HIS FONDNESS FOR ANIMALS.
155
foolish people annoy him, so extraordinary is his power
of adapting himself to every character. With ladies,
and even with his wife, he does nothing but laugh and
joke. You might fancy him a second Democritus, or
rather that philosopher, the disciple of Pythagoras, who,
walking up and down the market-place with vacant
mind, calmly surveys the busy throng of buyers and
sellers. No man is less influenced by the opinion of
the world, and yet, on the other hand, there is no one
who has more common sense. One of his greatest
pleasures is to observe the form, the instincts, and the
dispositions of different animals; and there is hardly
any kind of bird which he does not keep at home,
besides other rare animals, as the ape, the fox, the
ferret, the weasel, and such like. Besides, if he hears
of any foreign, or otherwise interesting, curiosity, he at
once buys it; and every corner of his house is so filled
with these things that, wherever you turn, something or
other worth looking at attracts the eye; and so his
own pleasure is renewed as often as he sees others
pleased:"
Erasmus then proceeds at some length to sketch his
friend's life, noticing his early inclination to the priest-
hood, his lectures on St. Augustine, his two marriages,
his children, and the happiness of his home. “No
man," he continues, “was ever less greedy of filthy
lucre. He has set aside for his children what he thinks
enough for them, and the remainder he spends lavishly.
When he was living by his practice at the bar, he gave
to every one the truest and most friendly advice, look-
ing to their advantage rather than his own ; and he
would persuade many to compose their differences,
telling them that would be less expensive than going to
156
MORE IN HIS PUBLIC CHARACTER.
law. If he could not succeed in that, seeing there are
some people who delight in litigation, he would then
point out how they might have their differences settled
at the smallest possible expense. For several years he
was a judge of civil causes [Under-Sheriff] in the City
of London, where he was born—an office which, as it
has few duties connected with it (the court sits only on
Thursdays till noon), is yet esteemed one of the greatest
honour. No one ever despatched more cases, no one
ever acted with greater integrity : he often returned to
the suitors the fees due by law. . . . If difficult cases
demand a judge of special wisdom and gravity, More
decides them so as to please both parties ; and yet
never was he prevailed on to receive a bribe from any
one. Happy would it be for the world if every king
could employ such ministers of justice as More. Nor
has he, in consequence of his elevation, become too
proud to remember his humble friends; and amid the
pressure of business, he yet finds time now and then to
return to his beloved studies. Whatever power he has
in virtue of his rank, whatever influence he enjoys
through the favour of his sovereign, he uses it all for the
good of his country and for the good of his friends. At
all times he was most anxious to confer favours without
distinction, and always leaned in a marvellous degree
to the side of mercy ; and now, when he has more
power, he indulges this spirit the more freely. He:
helps some with money, protects others by his autho-
rity ; others he advances by his recommendations, while
he aids with his advice those whom he cannot otherwise
assist, and never sends any one from him dissatisfied.
You would suppose More was the public patron of all
poor men. He thinks it a great gain to himself to have
MORE AND ERASMUS COMPARED.
157
relieved the oppressed, set at liberty the embarrassed
or perplexed, or recovered the friendship of any one
who was estranged from him. No one can be more
ready to do a kindness, no one less exacting in looking
for its repayment. Now, though he is in so many
respects at the very pinnacle of good-fortune, and
entirely free from that vice."17
Such, then, was this admirable man, as he im-
pressed himself on the observant eye and retentive
memory of the scholar of Rotterdam. Except by the
same pen, it is not often that a portrait has been drawn
so elaborately worked out, so minute in its details, so
true in its colouring, so telling in its general effect, and
so accurate in every particular. It is clear that many
parts of the description apply admirably to Erasmus
himself; and this enables us to understand how it was
that these two men found one another so mutually
attractive. If More could not pretend to compare with
his friend in extent of learning, or perhaps even in
breadth of thought, he was certainly his superior, as he
was the superior of every one, in simplicity of character
and pure-minded integrity. Both, however, were full of
humour and of good-humour; both were ardent lovers
of learning ; and both were agreed that ignorance and
hypocrisy were legitimate subjects of ridicule. Both
men, moreover, were sincerely religious; and Erasmus
adds, in his letter to Hutten, that “More diligently
cultivated true piety, at the same time that he was a
complete stranger to all superstition.” On this last
point, however, he afterwards corrected himself, and
17 Ep. ccccxlvii.
158
· ERASMUS STARTS FOR ITALY,
while mentioning, to the credit of his clemency, that
during his chancellorship no one was executed for
heresy, he more truly observes that “if he inclined to
either extreme, it was to superstition rather than to
irreligion.18 In a letter to Budæus, two years after that
to Hutten, Erasmus specially commends More's three
daughters, Margaret, Elizabeth, and Cicely, and it may
be hoped that his acquaintance with these excellent
ladies led him, universal satirist as he was, to think
somewhat more highly of female capacity than would
seem to have been his wont. He tells how they each
wrote him a letter without help or correction from their
father, and how pleased he was both with the excel-
lence of the style and the good sense of the matter.
“ Believe me, Budæus, I never saw anything so admir-
able.” 19 This, however, belongs to a much later period
than that of which we are now speaking, when More had
only just married his first wife..
And now at last, by hard, earnest work, by diligent
soliciting from wealthy patrons, by careful husbanding
of his small means, Erasmus finds himself in possession
of a sufficient sum to pay for his journey to Italy, and
secure the desired Doctor's degree. Once more in the
early summer of 1506 he leaves the shores of England,
this time, we may believe, for we hear of no misadven-
ture, having taken such precautions as enabled him to
escape the harpies of the custom-house. We must now
follow him first to Paris, and then across the Alpine
snows to Turin, to Venice, to Bologna, and to Rome.
18 Er. Op. iii. 1811, A,
19 Ep. dcv.
TY
( 159 )
CHAPTER'VI.
INDUCEMENTS TO VISIT ITALY – ERASMUS IN PARIS - LETTER T
COLET-TO LINACRE-TOWENTFORD -- CROSSES THE ALPS —
TURIN— ADVENTURE AT BOLOGNA-PAUL BOMBASIUS --ARRIVAL
AT VENICE – ALEANDER - ALEXANDER, ARCHBISHOP OF ST.
ANDREWS - RICHARD PACE - ERASMUS AT ROME — VISIT TO
GRIMANI_RETURNS TO ENGLAND.
ITALY, the birthplace and the home of Latin literature,
renowned throughout the world for her antiquities, her
libraries, her arts, and her learning; the one country
where the old classical memories had never completely
died out, and where they had first recovered their
influence; the country of Cicero and Horace, of Dante
and Petrarch, of Valla, and Poggio, and Politiano, was
the promised land of the cis-Alpine scholar. To be
recognized by the Italians was his great ambition; and
after he had studied in their schools, conversed with
their learned men, and carried back to the chill regions
of the North something of their Ciceronian elegance
and Greek learning, then only could he venture to look
upon himself as better than a barbarian. Already an
Agricola, a Reuchlin, a Linacre, a Grocyn, a Colet, had
crossed the Alps, and carried back to their own
countries the fruit of their Italian studies; and although
the scholar of Rotterdam sometimes fancied he had
found in Oxford every advantage he could hope from
Italy, he was never satisfied until he, too, had visited
the acknowledged centre and source of reviving litera-
160
ERASMUS PASSES THROUGH FRANCE
ture. For the Churchman, too, Rome, the seat of the
Papal Court, could not but have its attractions; and
while the main object of Erasmus was exclusively
literary, visions of high preferment may sometimes have
floated before his mind. Indeed, even as a literary
man it was important for him to visit Rome. He knew
that he had a fierce battle to fight with the ignorance
of the monkish orders; and therefore to secure for
himself and for the cause which he represented the
friendship and favour of Popes and Cardinals, was a
matter of no inconsiderable importance.
Such may have been the feelings which inspired him
as he left the shores of England. Three letters from
Paris, where he would not, in all probability, at that
season the middle of June remain more than two or
three days en route for Italy, are sufficiently charac-
teristic to be worth translating. They will serve also
as an introduction to what follows:
TIY
ERASMUS to JOHN COLET.1
“ Paris, June 19, 1506.
“I CAN scarcely tell you with what various feelings I
have left Britain and returned to France. For I find it
by no means easy to decide whether I am more rejoiced
to see my old friends in France once more, or sorry to
leave behind my new acquaintances in England. For
this I can truly say, that there is no entire country
where I have found so many sincere, learned, kind, and
distinguished friends, adorned with every virtue, as in
the single city of London; where they were all so eager
to pay me kindness and attention, that it is impossible
for me to prefer any one before the rest, and I must
1 Ep. civ.
ON HIS WAY TO ITALY.
161
needs love all alike. It is impossible that the loss of
such friends should not grieve me: but, on the other
hand, I am comforted by my own thoughts, which
enable me to represent them to my mind as if they
were actually present, and indulge the hope of revisiting
them speedily, never again to leave them until death
shall part us. To bring this about soon and without
trouble, I rely upon your love and kindness to do what
you can along with my other friends. I cannot tell you
how pleased I am with the disposition of Baptista's
children, so modest, teachable, and diligent in learning;
by which I am led to hope that they will both fulfil
their father's expectations and repay my attention, and
hereafter do great honour to Britain. Farewell."
C
ERASMUS to THOMAS LINACRE.2
" Paris, 1506.
“I HAVE arrived in Paris, and am well in every respect,
except that on the four days' voyage I caught cold, and
was taken with a troublesome malady which just at this
moment is giving me a horrible headache. The glands
are swollen under my ears on both sides, my temples
are beating, and both my ears ringing. And meantime
there is no Linacre here to relieve me by his skill. So
much has my resolution to visit Italy already cost me.
For never in my life did I resolve on anything so firmly
as that I would on no account trust myself to the winds
and waves when it was possible for me to travel by land.
The French must think I have risen from the dead, for
a report, with some appearance of authenticity, and which
no one contradicted, had got abroad here that Eras-
mus was gone to heaven. This rumour, I imagine, grew
2 Ep. cv.
VOL. I.
Y
II
162
.
ĻETTER TO LINACRE.
YN
by some mistake out of the death of that Frenchman,
Milo, who, like myself, leaving France, had gone into
the family of Mountjoy, and a few days afterwards was
taken with the plague and died. To this mistake, how-
ever (for as to the omen I nothing regard it), I owe this
at least that I have enjoyed in my lifetime a foretaste of
what they will say of me after my death. I am so
charmed with France since my return, that it is doubt-
ful whether Britain, which has given me so many and
such excellent friends, more flatters my disposition, or
France, which for old acquaintance' sake, also, from the
liberty which I enjoy here, and lastly, from a special
favour and affection which this country has always
shown me, is ever most delightful. So that I have, in
this way, two pleasures equally great: that of thinking
of my British acquaintances, especially those whom I
may hope to see soon again, and that of revisiting my
French friends. You could not help laughing if you
knew how greedily my little Greek has been expecting
from me the dwpov (gift) which I promised in return for
his Cyprian pens; how often he reminds me of the
dwpov, how often he finds fault that it has not been
sent. In sooth, 'tis delightful thus to mock a gaping
crow. The stupid fellow does not see that I wrote in
this sense, tréutw dwpóv ti ačióv gou, (I will send thee a
gift worthy of thee,) that is, something paltry. My new
task of bringing up Baptista's children 'I hope will turn
out well. For I find them boys of excellent capacity,
modest, teachable, and already possessed of sense beyond
their years. That Clysto, their attendant, is the most
guileless, the most amiable, the kindest of men. Fare-
well, most learned and most genial preceptor; and write
oftener to me, though it be briefly, only write."
LETTER TO WENTFORD.
-
163
“ Paris, June 19, 1507 [? 1506.]
“AMONG the many very dear friends I have made in
Britain, you, my dear Roger, are one of the first to
come to my thoughts, you who have so constantly
loved me, or delighted me by your acquaintance, so
helped me by your friendly offices that to whatsoever
part of the world the fates shall carry me, I shall take
In
VIL
Roger. And I wish your fortune would afford you so
much liberty that you could accompany us into Italy ;
you would have all Erasmus whom you have already
made, if I may use the word, your own-est in many
ways. My journey turned out very well, except the
sea voyage, which was hateful. For four nights we
were at the mercy of the winds and waves, in conse-
quence of which I have been seized with a pain in the
head, which, however, I hope to get rid of soon. You
would wonder how much I am charmed with France,
which is the more delightful to me because it is so long
since I have seen it. My chief regret for England is
that I have left so many friends behind me; such
learned, upright, affectionate, kind, agreeable people,
and to whom I am indebted for so many favours.
Among them you must be put in the first rank. So
take care to continue unchanged in your love for Eras-
mus, while I, in my turn, will endeavour every day to
surpass myself in my affection for Roger. Farewell."
Baptista Boier, the father of the children referred to
in these letters, was chief physician to King Henry VII.;
and Erasmus, without being their teacher, had under-
| 8 Ep. cvi.
164
ERASMUS CROSSES THE ALPS;
taken to exercise a general superintendence over the
studies of his two sons, John and Bernard, and to accom-
pany them as far as Bologna. Their attendant, Clysto,
did not long merit the high opinion which he enter-
tained of him, but proved a quarrelsome and disagree-
able person. On the way across the Alps he fell out
with the courier of the King of England, who had been
sent with the party as their protector. From the most
violent abuse the two proceeded to blows, and even
drew their swords upon one another; but fortunately
the quarrel passed off without serious consequences, and
when it was made up in the evening over a glass of
wine as suddenly as it had commenced, Erasmus, who
had at first thrown the blame upon only one of the two,
lost all confidence in the stability of their characters,
and found that they were both equally odious to him.
This made the rest of his journey extremely unpleasant
to him, and indeed he would have broken the connec-
tion at once had it not been for his obligations to Bap-
tista, which, however, prevented him from doing so
before the end of a year. * For the present he found con-
solation, as there was now no one with whom he cared to
converse, in composing a poem on the evils of old age.5.
. If the poetical effusions of Erasmus are generally
not of much value, some exception may be made in
favour of this poem, which no one can read without
admiration; and if the glorious scenery of the Alps
failed to impress the mind of that age with a sense of
the sublime and the terrible--and no doubt it appeared
to the eyes of the present traveller and his companions,
4 Cat. Luc. Er. Op. iii. 1397, F.
6 Carmen ad Gulielmum Copum Basiliensem de senectutis incommodis.
--Er. Op. iv. 755, sqq.
AND TAKES HIS DOCTOR'S DEGREE.
165
a scene of merely wild and unpleasing desolation-it
may at least be supposed that the pure air of the upper
regions was capable of inspiring an otherwise unpro-
mising subject. We may admire here fancy, variety,
beauty, invention : whoever looks for deeper or grander
qualities will undoubtedly be disappointed. The pic-
ture too is interesting with which this poem presents
us, of the learned monk, seated on his mule, struggling
through the Alpine snow, already, though barely forty,
thinking himself an old man, his head sprinkled with grey
hairs and his chin fast becoming white ; such had been the
effects of incessant work and (in youth at least) unwhole-
some food, upon a constitution naturally delicate. The
poem was actually written in the saddle, and then copied
out at the inn where the party stopped for the night.
At Turin, where he must have remained for some
weeks, the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred
upon Erasmus by the University, on Friday, 4th of
September, 1506.7 We have seen that in pressing his
claims upon Lady de Vere he had told her that to take
such a degree was his principal object in wishing to visit
Italy. Now, however, he had either changed his mind,
or he had some reason or other for giving a different
representation of himself; for we find him writing to.
Servatius, one of the Steyn brethren and afterwards
prior of the convent, that he had taken the degree
0 “Nunc mihi jam raris sparguntur tempora canis,
Et albicare mentum
Incipiens, jam præteritis vernantibus annis,
Vita monet cadentis,
Adventare hiemem, gelidamque instare senectam."
-Er. Op. iv. 756..
7 See copy of diploma in Epistolce Familiares Des. Erasmi Roterodami
ad Bonif. Amerbachium, I.V.D. ac Prof. Basil. cum nonnullis aliis ad
Erasmum spectantibus. -Basilice, 1779.
166
JULIUS II.
OTT
contrary to his own inclinations and at the instigation of
his friends'; and that the main object of his journey was
the study of Greek. Perhaps he was afraid Servatius
might retort, “Why not take your doctor's degree in
your own country, at Louvain ?" or more probably
Servatius had a contempt for University degrees of any
kind, as we know he was one of those who could see
nothing good beyond the walls of his convent.
Italy was at this time by no means in the state in
which a lover of learning and a friend of peace would
have wished to find it. The warlike and ambitious
Julius II. was now on the Papal throne, and, in league
with the Emperor Maximilian and Louis XII. of France,
was making every effort for the recovery of the domi-
nions of the Church. On his arrival in Bologna, Erasmus
found the city threatened by an interdict, which was to
be removed only on condition of the surrender of Ben-
tivoglio and his sons, the leaders of the party opposed
to the Papacy. Julius had advanced as far as Imola,
while on the other side a French army was lying at
Modena, ready, at a word from the Pope, to move
forward and set fire to Bologna and put the inhabitants to
the sword. Under these circumstances Erasmus wisely
withdrew to Florence, but returned on hearing a report,
which turned out to be well founded, that the Ben-
tivoglios had been expelled and taken by the French.
He was back just in time to witness the Pope's trium-
phal entry into the city. On the oth of November
Julius entered Bologna, and the next day went in
triumphal procession to the cathedral of San Petronio,
. 8 “Doctoratum in sacra Theo-
logia nuper accepimus, idque plane
contra animi mei sententiam, ac preci-
bus amicorum expugnati."_“Italiam
adivimus, Græcitatis potissimum
causa."-Er. Op. ii. 1871, C, D.
ENTERS BOLOGNA IN TRIUMPH.
167
where he celebrated mass. His reception was of the
most splendid kind. The carpeted streets were spanned
by thirteen triumphal arches, greeting the Pope as "the
liberator of the city," while tapestries and pictures,
trees and flowers, and even roses—a wondrous sight at
that season of the year-adorned the houses on either
side of the way; and the incense which curled up from
the sumptuous altars which stood at intervals along the
streets, might well have seemed to be in honour of the
warlike priest, who, carried on a throne beneath a
splendid canopy of brocaded cloth of gold, formed the
centre of attraction, rather than of the God whose
minister he professed to be. That sight; the sight of
the High Priest of Christendom celebrating a triumph
with a magnificence worthy of a heathen conqueror,
made a deep and most painful impression on at least
one of the many thousands who were assembled to wit-
ness it. The monk from Rotterdam never forgot, and
never lost an opportunity of expressing his disapproval
of an act so unfitted to the character of the head of the
Christian Church.
It was at Bologna that Erasmus, by his own
account, met with an adventure which induced him to
abandon his monkish habit, and exchange it for that of
the secular clergy. The dress of his order, which, it
would seem, varied somewhat in different countries, was
either a rochet, or else a simple scapulary of white linen
over the cassock, and that surmounted by a black hood
or gown. Erasmus had obtained leave from the Bishop
of Utrecht to wear without scruple either of these
dresses, according to the custom of the country in
which he might happen to be, and, finding on his way
9 RAYNALDI Ann. Eccl. ann. 1506, § 29. Er. Op. iii. 1871 C, D.
168
ADVENTURE AT BOLOGNA.
VT
through Italy, that the dress of the canons regular was
universally the black gown with the scapulary under-
neath, and not, as at Paris, merely a black hood over a
white rochet, he at once conformed to the general
custom. Now, at Bologna it so happened that, during
an outbreak of the plague, the physicians in attendance
on patients attacked by that disease had been ordered
to wear upon the shoulder a white napkin, to warn the
passers-by from contact with them; and Erasmus, one
day pushing along the streets quite regardless whether
he touched any one, was mistaken for a physician by
some young rakes, who drew their swords upon him,
and would have attacked him had not a lady, seeing his
danger, called out that he was only a priest. Another
day he was again set upon with sticks and abuse, and
from that time forth accordingly he concealed the
scapulary, applying to the Pope for a dispensation to
wear the dress of his order or not as should seem good
to him ; a request which was readily granted, provided
only he would still wear a priest's habit. 10 Such is the
pleasant story, usually received by his biographers with
all seriousness, with which Erasmus sought to impose
on the good Father Servatius, when, some time after
having become prior of the convent, he endeavoured to
10 "Semper antehac usus sum nigra illic uti cæpi cum scapulari,”
cultu Canonicorum, et ab Episcopo &c. - Rev. Pat. Servatio Erasmus.
Trajectino, cum essem Lovanii, im- I hope I shall not be thought too
petravi, ut sine scrupulo uterer sceptical in questioning the truth of
scapulari lineo, - pro veste nigra this story. The only authority I
integra, ,et capitio nigro, pro pallio can adduce in my favour is the
nigro, juxta morem Lutetiorum. writer of the Critique de l'Apologie
Cum autem adirem Italiam, vide- d’Erasme de M. l'Abbé Marsolier,
remque toto itinere Canonicos veste who treats it as a “conte badin,”
nigra uti cum scapulari, ne quid p. 70; but this would naturally be
offenderem novitate cultus, veste the view of the enemies of Erasinus.
PAUL BOMBASIUS.
169
prevail on the wandering sheep to abandon the vain
pursuit of worldly learning, and return to his brethren
at Steyn, reproaching him at the same time, no doubt,
with having even discarded the monastic dress. If the
same story was used in seeking the dispensation from
Julius, we may be sure the Pope laughed at it rather
in a city like Bologna, wholly given up to superstition,
in which there were no less than twenty-two monasteries,
and at least one belonging to the Canons Regular, 11 a
monk dressed scrupulously according to the fashion of
the place could possibly be mistaken for a physician ;
or that a scapulary, which would appear as two narrow
strips of white beside the black gown, and retreating
under it, bears any resemblance, except in whiteness, to
a handkerchief suspended from one shoulder above the
gown of the wearer? Before all, who could believe that
Erasmus would remain a day in a city in which the
plague had broken out? However that may be, there
can be no doubt that the dispensation which he applied
for was at once granted by the Pope, if not upon any
solid grounds, in consideration of his literary merits ;-
otherwise, indeed, he would have been excommunicate -
and it was afterwards confirmed by Leo X.
By far the most distinguished among the professors
at the ancient University of Bologna at this time, and
the only man of note whose friendship Erasmus seems
to have acquired there, was Paul Bombasius, public
Professor of Greek, a man of the most varied learning
and the most engaging manners.12 He afterwards
" UGHELLUS, Italia Sacra. t. ii. . the Ciceronianus (Er. Op. i. 1010,
C. 6.
F.), and more fully in the . Adages
12 Erasmus has noticed Bomba- (I. vi. 1). See also Bayle.
sius in the most flattering terms in
170
ERASMUS GOES TO VENICE.
withdrew from the service of literature, in order to
devote himself to public affairs, and removing to Rome,
became secretary to Cardinal Pucci. We find him,
while there, many years afterwards, assisting Erasmus
in his Greek Testament, by ascertaining for him the
reading of the Vatican manuscript in one or two
passages of John's First Epistle. He eventually lost
his life during the sack of Rome, in the Pontificate of
Clement VII., having been overtaken and killed by a
party of soldiers as he was endeavouring to make his
escape to the castle of St. Angelo.
In the society of this learned man Erasmus took
great delight, discussing with him questions of criticism,
in which he derived much advantage from his nice taste,
and consulting him in reference to the important work
which he was now preparing-the new and greatly.
enlarged edition of his collection of the Adages of the
Ancients. At this work he had been labouring for the
last eight years, and it probably occupied most of the
time which he spent at Bologna. He was there rather
more than a year,13 with the exception of a short visit to
Rome in the spring of 1507, when he witnessed another
spectacle similar to that which had so shocked him on
his arrival at Bologna, when on the 28th of March, the
Pope, seated on a mule, went in triumphal procession
through the streets of his capital, celebrating his victory
over the enemies of the Church. When his work was
sufficiently advanced to permit him to think of publica-
tion, he wrote to Aldus Manutius, the celebrated printer
of Venice, to know if he would undertake to print it,
and having received a favourable reply, he packed up
his manuscripts and proceeded to Venice, where he
13 “ Egit paulo plus quam annum Bononiæ.”—Comp. Vit.
1
JEROME ALEANDER.
171
A
must have arrived towards the close of the year 1507, or
in the beginning of 1508. Aldus had never seen him
before, and on his arrival at the office, without announce-
ment, being just then occupied with correcting the press,
he kept him standing some time, supposing he was
merely one of the many visitors attracted thither by
idle curiosity ; but as soon as he learned who he was, he
welcomed him most warmly, and received him into the
house of his father-in-law, Andreas Asulanus, with whom
he himself lived.14 There Erasmus occupied the same
room, and indeed it would seem the same bed—for in
those days beds were few even in rich men's houses-
with Jerome Aleander, who was afterwards so notorious
in the history of the Reformation, and of whom Luther,
not very scrupulous in his treatment of enemies, has
drawn so black a picture, describing him, without any
good ground, as a Jew by birth, “though it is certain,"
he adds, “that he was not a Pharisee, as he did not
believe in the resurrection of the dead, but lived as if
there were no future life and without any restraint upon
his evil inclinations.” 15 When Erasmus met him he was
about twenty-eight years of age, and was an excellent
scholar, possessing, besides Greek and Latin, the rare
accomplishment of a good knowledge of Hebrew. He
is said to have had a most extraordinary memory, and
to have been able to repeat by heart anything which he
had once read. He would seem to have been very
friendly with Erasmus as long as they lived together,
and although they eventually became enemies, the latter
never forgot the agreeable hours they had spent together
over their books and their wine. Aleander did not
14 Beat. RHEN. Ep. Car. Cæs.
16 See BAYLE, and the passage from Luther which he quotes.
172
.
ALDUS MANUTIUS. *
remain much longer at Venice, as that same year he
was invited by Louis XII. to a Professor's chair in the
University of Paris.
With Aldus, Erasmus lived on terms of the plea-
santest intimacy, and the printer would sometimes play-
fully anticipate the time when they should both be old
men, saying in a trembling voice, “How do you do,
Erasmus ?” and then replying in a still more attenuated
tone-albeit Erasmus was some twenty years younger-
“If you are well, so am I.” But these moments of
relaxation were snatched with difficulty from days and
nights of incessant toil. For about nine months Erasmus
worked so hard that, as he says himself, he had scarcely
time to eat. If his enemies were to be believed, he
found time to drink;. for they said, and on the authority
of Aldus himself, that though he usually did as much
work in a day as most men would accomplish in two, he
made Aldus pay for it by indulging to excess in his
good wine, and they even alleged-but this was certainly
a calumny—that he was sometimes lying drunk while
others were at work.16 Erasmus never concealed that
16 J. Cies. SCALIGERI pro M.
Tullio Cicerone contra Desid. Eras.
mum. Roterodamum. Oratio I. To-
losci, 1620. Scaliger's evidence, of
course, is not of much value (for
who would believe mere vitupera-
tion ?); but his statement in his
second oration is so particular and
so moderate, that it may seem to
deserve some credit. “Aldum
præterea Manutium Romanum opti-
mum ac simplicissimi pudoris virum,
recuperandorum soceri sui prædiorum
causa qui sese Mantuam recepisset,
tum videre, tum audire, memini,
hæc eadem majore tui, quam tu
ipse faceres, verecundia, narrantem:
Plus operis abs te uno factum die,
quam quantum abs quovis alio bidu-
ana opera exigi consuevisset. Verum.
hoc neque sibi gratis, neque tibi in-
commode evenisse dicebat. Id enim
temporis quod ab onere superesset,
excubantibus aliis in opere, te Mo-
nembatici vini pretiosi indulgentia
reponere solitum.” This, however,
means little more than what I have
said in the text, that Erasmus liked
ALEXANDER, ARCHBISHOP OF ST. ANDREWS. 173
he enjoyed his wine, and was even particular about its
quality ; but there is certainly no evidence that he ever
drank to excess. Further particulars connected with the
publication of the Adages I reserve for another place,
where I shall give a full description of that work. At
Venice Erasmus published also a revised edition of his
translations of Hecuba and Iphigenia in Aulis, and edited
for Aldus, Terence and Plautus.
His experience at Venice was in one respect unfor-
tunate, for it was there that he was first attacked by the
stone, from which he suffered cruelly during the rest of
his life.17 The winter of this year was passed at Padua,
whither he went at the invitation of Alexander, the
youthful Archbishop of St. Andrews, and son of
James IV. of Scotland, who wished to have the benefit
of his assistance in his studies. Of this young man,
who, notwithstanding the high ecclesiastical office which
he held, was only eighteen years of age, Erasmus has
left a pleasing picture in his Adages. He was of heroic
stature and extremely handsome, as his father also
was, very dignified in his carriage, of a most gentle and
amiable temper, and so devoted to study that even at
meal-times he would have a priest to read aloud to him
some useful book. Erasmus instructed him in Greek,
and in Latin composition; and wrote for him several
a good glass of wine, and that was
not discreditable to him, especially
considering that wine of some sort
was then considered a necessary of
life even in the monasteries.
17 " Interim mihi cum calculo
malo nondum noto res erat."-Er.
Op. ii. 405 C. “Nec oblitus sum
nostræ pristina consuetudinis; nec si
velim oblivisci, sinat calculus, quem
istic primum collegi, meque subinde
repetens, Venetiae commonefacit."
-Letter to Asulanus (Basil. 15 Cal.
April, 1523), communicated to
Burigni by Cardinal Passionei, and
printed for the first time in his Vie
d'Erasme. This is not the only
place where Erasmus uses the singu-
lar, Venetia, instead of the plural, .
Vinetic.
174 ALEXANDER, ARCHBISHOP OF ST. ANDREWS.
rhetorical exercises, one of which, a consolatory dis-
course upon death, was afterwards published. He made
his own way through the books of the canonical law
and their barbarous commentators. The afternoon was
usually given to music and singing, or literary conversa-
tion; and if any time could be spared from other
employments, it was devoted to the reading of history,
of which he was especially fond. In short, all his time
was spent in study, except what was required for sleep
and religious exercises. His was a high-souled nature,
far above every vulgar passion, yet without pride. He
was extremely sensitive, but capable of great self-
control, and deeply religious without being at all super-
stitious. This amiable young man, who might have
been an honour to literature, fell, a few years afterwards,
on the fatal field of Flodden, fighting by the side of his
18 - Cæsus est una cum fortissimo
nec unquam ad iracundiam poterat
nissimus Alexander Archiepiscopus,
titulo divi Andreæ, juvenis quidem
viginti ferme natus annos ; in quo
nullam consummati viri laudem
desiderares. Mira formæ gratia,
mira dignitas, heroica proceritas,
ingenium placidissimum quidem
illud, sed tamen ad cognitionem
omnium disciplinarum acerrimum.
Nam mihi fuit cum eo quondam in
urbe Senensi domestica consuetudo:
quo tempore a nobis in Rhetorum
præceptis Græcanicisque literis exer-
cebatur," &c. " Animus sublimis,
et a sordidis istis affectibus procul
semotus ; sed ita ut nihil adesset
ferocitatis, nihil fastidii. Nihil non
sentiebat, permulta dissimulabat :
It will be observed that Erasmus
says nothing here of having been
invited by the Archbishop to Padua,
nor, indeed, does he anywhere say
that he knew him there at all. His
silence may, perhaps, throw some
doubt on the accuracy of Beatus
Rhenanus (Ep. Cæs. Car.), whom,
however, I have followed in the
text. Erasmus has noticed this
prince only once in his correspond-
ence, where he mentions that he was
so near-sighted he could not see to
read unless the book was held close
to his nose (Ep. dccclxxiv). It is
interesting to compare with the de-
scription of Alexander by Erasmus
the equally elaborate picture of his
MUSỤRUS, AND RICHARD PACE.
175
At Padua Erasmus probably attended the lectures
of Marcus Musurus, of Crete, who was then Professor
of Greek in the university, and whom he describes' as so
indefatigable in his work, that he scarcely permitted
four days in the year to pass in which he did not give a
public lecture. Musurus was a man of great learning,
and a much better Latinist than most of the Greeks
who came westwards. He afterwards taught Greek at
Venice, and eventually, having been invited to Rome
by Leo X., was created Archbishop of Malvozia in the
Morea, a dignity, however, which he did not long enjoy,
as he died almost immediately afterwards, in the year
1517.19 At Ferrara he made the acquaintance of Richard
Pace, afterwards Colet's successor as Dean of St. Paul's,
with whom he maintained a warm friendship throughout
life. He was, indeed, on one occasion very angry with
him, because, in a book which was quite unworthy of
his learning, he had several times introduced Erasmus,
and spoken of him as a needy person and one hated by
the theologians. Erasmus declared that he could not
see the wit of this, if it was meant for wit, as he was
on the best terms with all the leading divines of the day,
and had an ample income, which he might easily
increase to any extent if he chose to take a part in
public affairs ; nor, on the other hand, could he suppose
that he was in earnest. He recommended him, through
More, not again to transgress in the same way, but to
confine himself to translating Greek.20 However, the
offence was forgiven, and Erasinus heartily sympathized
UN
father by the Spanish Ambassador
at his court, Don Pedro de Puebla.
See Burton's History of Scotland,
iii. pp. 213-215.
19 See Bayle, and the passages
from Erasmus there quoted.
20 Ep. cclxxv. cclxxxvii. App.
176
ERASMUS'S SEAL-RING.
TV
TI
with him in the persecutions he underwent from Wolsey,
and wrote him an affectionate letter of congratulation
on his release from the Tower.21 From Padua Erasrnus
removed to Sienna, where he resided some months with
his pupil Alexander, and where he parted from him,
proceeding thence to Rome, which he may have reached
early in the spring of 1509. The young archbishop,
who had received a summons from his father to return
home, presented him, on his departure, with several
rings, among which was one which subsequently gave
rise to some discussion, and was made the ground of a
silly calumny against Erasmus. This was a seal-ring
engraved with the head of the god Terminus-a youth's
head with long hair, with the name inscribed below-
which its new owner continued to make use of, to the
end of his life, as his common seal, having added the
inscription, Concedo nulli. These words, of course, were
seized hold of by the enemies of Erasmus, as though he
were speaking of himself, and thereby asserting uni-
versal superiority; and in his old age he found himself
compelled to write an apology for his seal,22 his explana-
tion being that the inscription was to be read not of
· himself, but of the god Terminus, thus, Concedo nulli
Terminus, meaning that death is the great enemy
whom no one can resist. The truth was, he says, he
accepted the ring as an omen of the near approach of
death, and in order to preserve this thought in his
memory, he added the inscription and used it as his
seal.
At Rome he was warmly received by all who were
2 Ep. mxcvii.
22 Desiderii Erasmi Epistola Apologetica de Termini sui inscriptione,
Concedo nulli.--Er. Op. x. 1757, 599.
SCIPIO CARTEROMACHUS.
: 177
then most eminent in rank and learning; and though
it would seem that he remained there only a few
months, he had time, nevertheless, to form some valu-
able friendships. He was particularly intimate with
Raphael, Cardinal of St. George, and he was of course
introduced to the Cardinal de' Medici, who did not
other learned men, Scipio Carteromachus, of Pistoia,
whom he had first met at Bologna, and who is described
by Erasmus as a most accomplished scholar, but so
unostentatious that, unless pains were taken to draw
him out, he might have passed for one completely igno-
rant of letters, was then residing at Rome; and
Erasmus tells how this learned man would often call
at his lodgings of an afternoon to enjoy an hour's con-
versation, and how they frequently shared the same
table, and sometimes even the same bed.23
Another of the cardinals who showed him great
favour, but whose acquaintance he made only as he was
on the point of leaving Rome, was Dominic Grimani.
He was only once at his palace, but of this visit he has
left so graphic a description that it must not be omitted.
" I had been more than once invited to converse with
him," says Erasmus, “I think through Peter Bembo,
but so little liking had I at that time for paying my
court to the great, that I went at last for shame of
refusing, rather than from any inclination. Neither in
the court-yard nor in the entrance-hall was there a
creature to be seen : it was then the afternoon. I gave
entered the first, the second, the third room ; still' no
one to be seen, and not a door shut; I could not help
. 23 Er. Op. X. 1750, F.
VOL. I.
I 2
178
CARDINAL GRIMANI
O
wondering at the solitude. I came to the last room,
and there I found only one person, a Greek, as I thought,
a physician, with his head shaved, standing at the open
door. I asked him what the Cardinal was doing. He
told me he was inside, talking with some gentlemen ;
and as I said no more, he asked me my business. “I
would have paid my respects to him,' said I, “if it had
been convenient, but as he is engaged, I will call again.'
As I was going away I stopped at a window to look
at the view, when the Greek came back to me, and
asked whether I had any message I wished to send to
the Cardinal. “There is no need,' said I, 'to disturb
him, I will come again soon. At last he asked me my
name, and I told him. As soon as he heard it, before
I was aware, he hurried in, and presently returning,
desired me not to go, and in a few minutes I was
admitted. The Cardinal received me, not as a man of
his rank might have received one of my humble con-
dition, but as if I had been an equal. A chair was
placed for me, and for more than two hours we conversed
together, nor would he even permit me to be uncovered,
which was a wonderful condescension in a man of his
exalted rank. Among many very learned remarks, in
which he showed that he had already formed the plan,
which I hear he has since executed, of collecting a
library, he advised me not to leave Rome, a place
where men of genius were sure to find encouragement.
He invited me to come and live under his roof and
share all his fortunes, adding that the climate of Rome,
being warm and moist, would agree with my constitu-
tion, and particularly the part of the city in which he
had his palace, which, he said, was built by one of the
Popes, who had chosen that site for its healthiness.
PRESSES ERASMUS TO STAY IN ROME.
179
After a long conversation, in which we both took our
share, he sent for his nephew, who was already an arch-
bishop, and a young man of extraordinary genius. As
I offered to rise, the Cardinal would not let me, and
said, the disciple ought to stand in the presence of his
master. Then he showed me his library, consisting of
books in every language. Had I been so fortunate as
to have known him sooner, I would never have quitted
that city, where I found far more favour than I deserved ;
but I had made up my mind to go, and I had so far
committed myself that it would scarcely have been
honourable to remain. When I told him I had received
a summons from the King of England he ceased to
press me, but begged me not to doubt that his promises
were sincere, nor to judge him by the standard of other
courtiers. He let me go most unwillingly; but when
he could not detain me, seeing that I was anxious to
take my leave, he made me promise to call once again
before leaving the city. I am sorry to say, however, I
prevail with me to make me change my mind.” 24
Notwithstanding what Erasmus says here, it is not
probable that he ever seriously thought of settling at
Rome, or that his residence there was very satisfactory
to him. We are told, indeed, that he was offered the
office of penitentiary, to which a considerable emolu-
office can be held only by a cardinal, it is more pro-
bable that it was merely spoken of for him, or promised
at some future more or less remote, than that he had
34 Ep. mclxxv.
25 BEAT. RHEN. ubi supra. This fact, I believe, is nowhere mentioned
180 ERASMUS AT THE COURT OF JULIUS II. ;
actually the option of declining it. Nor was the court
of Julius II., who was just then meditating war upon
the Republic of Venice, for the recovery of the domains
of the Church, likely to be very congenial to the tastes
of the peaceful scholar. The Pope, indeed, was a
patron of literature, but, full of ambitious schemes, he
probably had not much time to bestow on the German
ecclesiastic, who seems ever to have regarded his
memory with horror. There is no evidence that Eras-
mus enjoyed any degree of personal intimacy with
Julius ; only one incident, which he has himself
recorded, would show that he was willing to do what
lay in his power to conciliate favour. At the request
of the Cardinal of St. George he wrote a treatise against
the war, to which he gave the name of Antipolemus,
but very soon afterwards, as the Pope's intentions
became more evident, he was induced to write another
in its favour. . We may well believe that in the former
he was much more in earnest than in the latter, but it
is not much to his credit that he should have consented
to write the second at all. The only excuse that can
be offered for him is that on the mere political question
he had, perhaps, really no opinion whatever ; and it
need not be doubted that the piece in favour of the
war, which, with the other, has been lost, was qualified
with earnest denunciations of war in general, which he
always cordially detested. The second oration carried
the day, Erasmus somewhat naïvely tells us, which was
nò great wonder considering it expressed the views at
which the Pope had already arrived. 26
Erasmus, who, it must be confessed, was rather fond
of regarding himself, and wished others to regard him,
26 Cat. Luc.
· INVITED TO RETURN TO ENGLAND.
181
10
as an ill-used man, would fain have us believe that in
leaving Rome he yielded to the most pressing solicita-
tions from his English friends, and went relying on pro-
mises which were never fulfilled. By his own account
-but this statement was made a great many years
afterwards-he was so taken with the simplicity, the
sobriety, the high culture, and the kindness of the
Italians, that he had quite made up his mind to settle
at Rome, and would have done so had he not been irre-
sistibly drawn back to England by the most splendid
promises.27 ' Of these promises, however, there is very
little trace except in his own letters. Mountjoy, writing.
to him from Greenwich on the 27th of May, does,
indeed, assure him that he will be welcomed at the
English court by the new king, who had already given
proof of his fondness for literature, and speaks in general
terms of the favour and the riches he may expect. He
also speaks in glowing terms of the bounty of Henry's
nature, contrasting so favourably with the niggardliness
of his father's reign. But the only definite promise he
makes is in the name of the Archbishop of Canterbury,
who, he says, will give him a benefice if he returns.
Besides, this letter is not an invitation to Erasmus, but
a reply to two letters of his which have unfortunately
been lost, but in which, it is clear from Mountjoy's
answer, he had complained that the climate of Italy did
not agree with his health, as well as of other misfor-
tunes, the nature of which can be only conjectured. 28
The truth seems to be that, finding that he was not likely
to gain anything by a longer stay in Italy, and hearing
27 “Idque adeo fecissem, nisi promissis montibus aureis in Angliam
fuissem retractus verius quam revocatus.”—Er. Op. x. 1750, E.
28 Ep. x.
182
ERASMUS LEAVES ITALY;
that the Prince of Wales, in whose good graces he
already stood high, had succeeded to the English
throne as Henry VIII., he began of his own accord
to turn his thoughts once more towards his friends in
London, and wanted only a very little encouragement
to return to them. Besides the letter from Mountjoy
just described, he had also received a very friendly one
from Henry himself, shortly before his accession, written
with his own royal fingers ; 29 a very great honour, no
doubt; but this letter, which still remains, 30 however
flattering, certainly contains no invitation to England,
and no promises, and, on the whole, it would seem that
the "golden mountains” of which Erasmus was fond
The one definite promise made to him was, as we shall
presently see, strictly fulfilled.
It may be presumed, though there is no positive
evidence of it, that Erasmus left Rome shortly after
receiving Mountjoy's letter, which indeed was accom-
panied by a note for ten pounds, five from himself and
five from Archbishop Warham, to pay the expenses of
his journey. Crossing the Alps from Como to Coire, he
proceeded by way of Lake Constance to Strasburg,
and so down the Rhine to his native Holland, whence,
after a short visit to his friends at Antwerp and
Louvain, he sailed for England.31 And thus ended his
first and only visit to Italy. The majestic scenery of
the Alps, the bright Italian sky, the arts, the antiquities
of that classic region, seem to have made but little im-
29 “Rex ipse paulo ante patris amantissimas." —Rev. Pat. Serratio
obitum, quum essem in Italia, Erasmus.
scripsit ad me suapte manu litteras 80 Ep. ccccli. App.
31 BEAT. RHEN. ubi supra.
RESULTS OF HIS JOURNEY.
183:
pression on his mind. Once only does he speak of
Venice as the most magnificent city in the world.32 . But
it was not for these things that he travelled. He had
made many friends among the learned and the great,
and in any difficulties into which he might fall hereafter
through his zeal for letters he could rely on some
powerful support. He had improved his knowledge of
Greek. He had published an important work. He had
extended his reputation as one of the most learned
men of his day, and he was now carrying back to the
barbarous lands north of the Alps all that Italy could
bestow upon the scholar. Thus for his own purposes,
and for his life's work, his journey had not been un-
profitable.
32 Er. Op. iii. 506, D.
( 184 )
CHAPTER VII.
THE PRAISE OF FOLLY—It's ORIGIN AND CHARACTER-ANALYSIS OF
THE WORK-FOLLY THE CAUSE OF MIRTH-SATIRE ON WAR-
HUNTING - SUPERSTITION — THE DIVINES — THE MONKS — THE
PREACHERS-THE CARDINALS AND POPES — POPULARITY OF THE
WORK-ATTACKED BY DORPIUS ERASMUS'S REPLY.
WHEN we next meet Erasmus he is once more in
London, and again forming part of the family circle of
his dear friend Sir Thomas More. As he was riding
across the Alpine snows this friend had been much in
his thoughts; and how odd it was, it had occurred to
him, that the wisest and wittiest man that he knew
should bear a name which in Greek signifies the Fool.
And then, no doubt, he had begun to think how many
real fools there were in the world, and what various
forms folly assumed. His own experience and reading
furnished him with abundant examples; and before his
journey was at an end, a kind of declamation, in which,
under pretence of eulogizing folly, he might turn all
classes of men into ridicule, had worked itself into some
sort of shape in his thoughts. Arrived in London, he
seized his pen, and in about a week's time had com-
pleted one of the famous satires of the world.
1 “Superioribus diebus quum me nuit me Mori cognomen tibi gentile,
ex Italia in Angliam reciperem. ... quod tam ad Moriæ vocabulum
visum est Moriæ encomion ludere. accedit, quam es ipse a re alienus."
Quæ Pallas istuc tibi misit in -Enc. Mor. Præf.
mentem ? inquies. Primum admo-
THE PRAISE OF FOLLY.
CO
• Such was the origin of the Encomium Moriæ, or
Praise of Folly, one of the best known, as it is also
one of the most characteristic, of its author's composi-
tions : and, although he himself always spoke of it as a
piece which he had merely dashed off for the amuse-
ment of his friends, and even went so far as to express
regret that he had ever written it, it really contains, in
a short compass, his whole philosophy of man-all that
he ever wrote on the abuses of his time, on the supersti-
tions of monks, and the pride of kings. Abounding in
wit and eloquence, and displaying great knowledge of
the world and keen observation of men and things,
it has also its deep and serious meanings underneath
the light satire that plays upon the surface. Naturally
it reminds us of Lucian more than any other writer, in
the contempt, mirthful rather than fierce or indignant,
which it affects to pour out upon human life and on all
human occupations. Nor does Erasmus fall greatly
short of his model. His humour is scarcely less rich,
the shafts of his ridicule are as sharp, the images which
he presents to the mind are as ludicrous, as in the
writings of that great master of satire. The idea of
the piece is ingenious and original. Folly, personified,
pronounces her own panegyric, and shows, by various
humorous examples, that mankind are indebted to her
for all the happiness they enjoy. On the whole, she
sustains this difficult part with admirable skill, except
when she now and then forgets for a moment that her
sole duty is to praise, and becomes too earnest in
her denunciations of the follies of the world. And if
the piece is fairly open to the charge of being sometimes
? Mwplaç Eyrúllov, id est Stultitie Laus : Erasmi Roterodami Decla-
matio.-Er. Op. iv. 405.
186
FOLLY, THE SOLE CAUSE OF MIRTH
a little rambling, the character of the speaker may surely
plead an ample apology.
This little work, though insignificant in bulk, yet
exercised such an influence at the time of its appear-
ance, and is so important for illustrating the genius of
its author and the sort of work he tried to do in the
world, that it will be necessary to notice it at some
length. An analysis of its contents will best explain its
character and significance.
Folly, who, as we have seen, delivers the harangue,
at once boldly introduces herself as the sole cause of
mirth in heaven and among men, who spreads joy over
every countenance, however sad before, just as the sun,
when he “shows his jolly golden face to the earth"
sheds new bloom and the freshness of youth over
nature. She then claims the right of trumpeting her
own praises, and calls upon all to prick up their asses'
ears to hear her. Having announced her name and
parentage, she declares herself to be a goddess, and,
indeed, the very chief of divinities, inasmuch as she is
the authoress of the greatest blessings to humanity.
For she not only gives life itself, but also all the
pleasures of life. Who knows not that man's childhood
is by far the most delightful period of his existence ?
And why? Because he is then most a fool. And next
to that his youth, in which folly still prevails ; while in
proportion as he retires from her dominion, and becomes
possessed, through discipline and experience, of mature
wisdom, his beauty loses its bloom, his strength declines,
his wit becomes less pungent, until at last weary old age
succeeds, which would be absolutely unbearable, unless
Folly, in pity of such grievous miseries, gave relief by
bringing on a second childhood. Nature herself has
IN HEAVEN AND AMONG MEN.
187
kindly provided for an abundant supply of folly in the
human race; for since, according to the Stoic defini-
tions, wisdom means only being guided by reason,
whereas folly, on the other hand, consists in submitting
to the government of the passions, Jupiter, wishing to
make life merry, gave man far more passion than
reason, banishing the latter into one little corner of his
person, and leaving all the rest of the body to the sway
of the former. Man, however, being designed for the
management of affairs, could not do without a small
quantity of reason; but in order to temper the evil
thus occasioned, at the suggestion of Folly woman was
introduced into the world—"a foolish, silly creature, no
doubt, but amusing and agreeable, and well adapted to
course." Woman owes all her advantages to Folly. The
great end of her existence is to please man, and this she
could not do without folly. If any one doubts it, he
has only to consider how much nonsense a man talks to
a woman whenever he wishes to enjoy the pleasures of
female society.
It is now shown that friendship, love, marriage,
success in life, are all dependent on the aid of Folly,
which blinds us to the faults of others as well as to our
own. Then comes a fine piece of satire on war, which
Erasmus always detested. “Is not war," asks Folly,
“the very source and fountain of all famous deeds ?
And what, I should be glad to learn, can be more foolish
than, for any insignificant cause, to engage in a contest
from which both parties invariably carry away more
hurt than advantage. I say 'carry away,' for no one
been set in array, all bristling with steel, and the
TTT
188
SATIRE ON WAR,
trumpets have brayed aloud, what is the use, práy, of
your wise men, who are quite exhausted with study, and
whose thin and frigid blood scarce serves them to draw
their breath ? Stout, well-fed men, are what you want,
with plenty of courage, but as little as may be of intel-
lectual power. Unless you would choose to have
Demosthenes for a soldier, who, following the advice of
Archilochus, had hardly come in sight of the enemy
when he threw away his shield and fled, as cowardly as
a soldier as he was wise as an orator. But counsel, it is
said, is very important in war. Yes, in the general, I
admit; but even then it must be military, not philo-
sophical, counsel ; with this exception, it is by parasites,
scoundrels, robbers, assassins, ploughboys, clowns,
debtors, and such like dregs of mankind, that this
glorious business is carried on, and not by candle-light
philosophers."
Wise men, Folly proceeds to argue, are quite use-
less for all the purposes of life, as is proved by the
case of Socrates, who, when he attempted to discharge
some public function, only succeeded in making himself
ridiculous. The wise are, indeed, a bad race, but it has
been observed that those who devote their lives to study
are generally unfortunate in their children, nature thus
kindly providing that this curse of wisdom may not be
propagated too far. The wise man, moreover, is the
most miserable of beings; while, on the other hand, no
one is so happy as a fool. Fools have no fear of death,
they are not tortured by conscience, they are not
terrified by the fables of hell, they are not afraid of
ghosts, they are not haunted by the apprehension of
impending evils nor distracted by the hope of future
blessings. They are so beloved by the greatest
AND ON HUNTING.
189
monarchs that some cannot even dine or pass an hour
without them. Besides, fools only are simple and truth-
telling; and what is more praiseworthy than truth?
The fool speaks out whatever is in his mind, whereas
the wise man has two tongues, with one of which he
tells the truth, with the other speaks only what the
occasion may seem to demand. But here the philo-
sophers object that madness is the greatest of all
miseries, and extraordinary folly is nearly allied to
madness. This is a great mistake. Madness, so far
from causing misery, is, on the contrary, by the delusions
to which it gives rise, generally productive of happiness.
And it may be doubted whether there is any one who
does not suffer from madness, though, where the disease
is very common, it goes by some other name.
“Such are they who despise all amusements com-
pared with hunting, and swear that that hideous blowing
of horns and baying of dogs gives them more pleasure
than anything else in the world. Their enjoyment,
however, is at its height when the game comes to be
slaughtered. Bulls and wethers a clown may butcher,
but your stag must be lanced by none but a gentleman.
Taking off his cap and dropping down on his knees,
with a knife made for the purpose (for it would never do
to perform just the same operation with a common
instrument), he most religiously cuts certain parts in a
certain order, and with certain gestures. Meantime, the
company, standing round in perfect silence, look on with
wonder and awe, as if some new sort of sacrifice was
going to be offered, although they may have seen the
sight a thousand times before. And whoever has the
good luck to taste a bit of the flesh thinks that not a
little nobility has entered into his constitution. Thus,
190
MIRACLE-MONGERS,
though by their continual slaughtering and eating of game
yet they fancy all the time they are living like kings.”
We have seen that in one of his letters from England
Erasmus claims to be a first-rate huntsman; and unless
he had been at least once in at the death, he could
scarcely have given so humorous a description of the
operation. After noticing two or three other classes
of madmen, Folly next shows off the vulgar credulity
of the time. “But that class of men," she proceeds, “is
altogether of our kidney, whose sole delight is to hear
T
can never have enough of fables about spectres, spirits,
ghosts, the place of future punishment, and a thousand
such wonders; which are all believed the more willingly
as they are remote from truth, and in the like propor-
tion tickle the ear with a more agreeable itching. Such
fables are not only wonderfully useful for relieving the
tedium of the hours, but they are also very profitable,
especially for priests and preachers. Nearly allied to
these, again, are they who have permitted the no doubt
foolish, but still agreeable, persuasion to possess them,
that should they see a wooden image or painting of
St. Christopher Polyphemus, they will not die that day,
8 It is interesting to find that less, and fearful hare torn in pieces
More agreed with Erasmus on this by a strong, fierce, and cruel
point, and that in his Utopia he dog."
assigns the business of hunting and 4 The pictures of St. Christopher
butchering to slaves. “The Uto- often more nearly resembled Virgil's
pians,” he says, “look upon hunt-,
“Monstrum horrendum, informe,
ing as one of the basest parts of a
butcher's business, for they account
ingens, cui lumen ademp-
| tum,”
it more decent to kill beasts for the
sustenance of mankind than to take than the gentle saint who carried
pleasure in seeing a weak, harm- the infant Christ.
AND TRAFFICKERS IN PARDONS.
191
or that whoever shall salute a carving of St. Barbara
will return safely from battle, or whoever meet Erasmus 5
on certain days, with certain tapers and certain prayers,
become suddenly rich. Now, forsooth, they have in-
vented a George Hercules too, like another Hippolytus.
His horse, most religiously adorned with trappings and
studs, they all but worship, and to swear by his brazen
helmet is an oath for a king. But what shall I say of
those who flatter themselves with the pleasant delusion
that they can grant pardon for sins, and who measure
the periods of purgatory, as it were, with time-pieces,
meting out centuries, years, months, days, hours, as if
by a mathematical table where there could be no possi-
bility of error ? or of those who, trusting to certain little
magic marks and prayers which some pious impostor
invented either for amusement or with a view to gain,
promise themselves wealth, honours, pleasures, abund-
ance, unfailing health, and a green old age, and in the
other world a seat next Christ himself, --which, by the
that is, not till the pleasures of this life, however much
against their will and however closely they may have
clung to them, shall nevertheless have flown-then they
would wish those heavenly joys to follow ? Here is a
man-say a merchant, or a soldier, or a judge—who
thinks that by payment of a single coin out of his
robberies, all the vileness of his life may once for all be
swept away, and imagines that so many perjuries, lusts,
fits of drunkenness, so many quarrels, impostures, per-
fidies, acts of treachery, can be redeemed as by con-
tract-ay, and so redeemed that he may now return to
a new round of crime. But could any frame of mind
Not the author, but a saint of that name.
192
ERASMUS ATTACKS ALL SORTS OF MEN,
be more foolish-I mean happier-than theirs who by
the daily recitation of those seven verses from the Psalms
promise themselves more than supreme happiness?
And these magic verses some jesting demon, who was
not, however, so cunning but he could be taken in, is
believed to have pointed out to St. Bernard, the poor
devil having been entrapped by the saint's art. And
these things, which are so foolish that I am almost
ashamed of them myself, are nevertheless regarded with
approbation, and that not merely by the vulgar, but
even by the professors of religion. ... Now, if in this
state of things any odious wise man were to rise up and
proclaim what is doubtless true,-- Thou shalt not perish
miserably if thou livest well; thy sins will be forgiven,
if to thy money thou addest hatred of thy misdeeds,
and after that tears, watching, prayers and fasts, and
changest thy whole manner of life; such and such a
saint will bless thee if thou wilt endeavour to follow his
example :-I say, if the wise man should bray out such
truths as these, behold of how great happiness he would
rob mankind, and into what confusion he would plunge
them!”
Erasmus now proceeds to attack in succession vari-
ous classes of men, including merchants, grammarians
and schoolmasters, poets and scholars, lawyers, philo-
sophers, monks, and theologians. On the two last, of
whom he knew most and who presented the greatest
number of points for attack, he is particularly severe.
“The divines perhaps it might be better to pass by,
seeing they are an extremely supercilious and irritable
race, lest, if provoked, they may rush upon me in a
6 The saint threatened that if he did not show him the verses in
question, he would read the whole book of Psalms every day.
AND ESPECIALLY THE DIVINES.
193
body, armed with 'six hundred conclusive arguments,
and force me to recant; and should I refuse they would
forthwith raise the cry of heresy. For that is the
thunder with which they terrify all who are unfortunate
enough to incur their hostility. It is true there are
none who are less willing to acknowledge themselves
dependent on my bounty ; but for all that they are
deeply in my debt, as it is I who bestow upon them that
self-love by which they are able to fancy themselves
caught up to the third heaven, and to look down on the
rest of mankind as if they were so many sheep feeding
on the ground; and indeed they pity their miserable
condition, while they are themselves protected by so
vast an array of magisterial definitions, conclusions,
corollaries, propositions explicit and implicit, and have
so many loop-holes of escape, that no chains, though
they should be forged on the anvil of Vulcan, can hold
them so fast but they will contrive to extricate them-
selves; for which purpose they are provided with a
number of fine distinctions with which they can cut all
knots more easily than the sharpest axe, and with a
vast supply of newly-invented terms and words of pro-
digious length. They are extremely ingenious too in
explaining the profoundest mysteries of divinity; as,
by what process the world was created and fashioned ;
through what channels the plague spot of original sin
was transmitted to posterity; in what manner, by
what degrees, and in how long a time, Christ was made
perfect in the Virgin's womb; how accidents can sub-
sist in the consecrated wafer without any substance in
which to inhere. But these are comparatively trivial
questions. There are others which they think worthy
of great and illuminated theologians, as they call them,
VOL. I.
13
194
SATIRE ON THE SCHOOL-MEN.
and for the discussion of which they exert all their
faculties. Such are the following, -whether the divine
generation required an instant of time for its comple-
tion; whether there is more than one filiation in Christ ;
whether the proposition, God the Father hates the Son,
is a possible one; whether God could have taken upon
him the form of a woman, of the devil, of an ass, of a
cucumber, or a flint-stone. Then, supposing he had
taken the form of a cucumber, how he could have
preached, worked miracles, or been crucified ? What
Peter would have consecrated if he had celebrated the
Whether at that time Christ could have been called a
man; and whether after the resurrection it will be
possible for us to eat and drink,7 * as we do now, to
guard against hunger and thirst. And there are a
thousand other niceties, far more subtle than these, about
notions, relations, formalities, quiddities, ecceities, which
no one can possibly see, unless indeed he be as sharp-
sighted as Lynceus, so as to discover in the thickest
darkness what in reality has no existence whatever.
“Consider next those tenets of theirs which are so
strange and absurd that the dogmas of the Stoics, which
are generally looked upon as paradoxes, seem in com-
parison quite natural and intelligible ; for example, that
it is a smaller crime to commit a thousand murders,
than for a poor cobbler to put a stitch in a shoe on the
Lord's-day; or that it were better to destroy the whole
7 It may be worth noticing that Aldus of 1515, where the reading is,
the passage which I have marked "edere aut bibere licebit ? Video,
thus *, and what follows in the Latin ridetis jamdudum tam frivolas Theo-
down to " At interim ipsi felicissime logorum argutias. At ipsi felicis-
sibi placent," &c., does not occur in sime," &c.
the oldest edition, nor in that of
SCHOLASTIC SUBTLETIES.
195
And these exceedingly subtle subtleties are made more
subtle still by the several sects of their schoolmen, the
Realists, Nominalists, Thomists, Albertists, Occamists,
Scotists, whose doctrines are more involved and intricate
than the windings of the Labyrinth; nor have I yet
named all their schools, but the principal ones only ; in
all of which there is so much learning and so much
abstruseness, that methinks the Apostles themselves
would need a new out-pouring of the Spirit before they
could engage in controversy with these new divines.
Paul no doubt had a full measure of faith ; yet wlien
he says that faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen, his definition is little in
accordance with the rules of the Masters of Arts. And
though he had an abundance of charity, yet he does
not divide or define this virtue in by any means a logi-
cal manner in his thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians,
The Apostles too were in the habit of consecrating the
Host, which they surely did most religiously ; and yet
if they were questioned as to the 'terminus a quo'
and the 'terminus ad quem,' the nature of transub-
stantiation, how the same body can be in different
places at the same time, the difference between the
attributes of the body of Christ in heaven, on the cross,
and in the sacrament of the mass ; at what moment of
time transubstantiation takes place ; whether the prayer
through which it is effected is a discreet quantity having
no permanent punctum, they would not, I fancy, have
answered with as much acumen as our Scotists now
display in their dissertations and definitions. They
were well acquainted with the mother of Jesus ; yet
which of them has demonstrated in the philosophical
196
SATIRE ON THE MONKS.
style of some of our divines, that she was preserved
immaculate from original sin ? Peter received the
power of the keys from Christ himself, who certainly
would not have trusted him had he been unworthy ;
and yet I doubt much whether he understood how it
was possible for a man who has no knowledge to have
the key of knowledge; at least he has nowhere touched
upon that subtle question. They baptized all nations ;
and yet they have nowhere taught us what is the formal,
material, efficient, and final cause of baptism; nor is
there any mention in their writings of a delible and
indelible character in that sacrament. They worshipped
indeed; but in the spirit, following no other rule but that
of the Gospel, 'God is a Spirit, and they that worship him
must worship him in spirit and in truth. But it does not
appear that it was then revealed to them that they must
adore in one and the same act Christ himself in heaven
and his image painted upon a wall, with two fingers
stretched out, his hair uncut, and a circle with three marks
on it round his head. To understand these mysteries
requires six-and-thirty years to be spent in the study
of Aristotle's physics and the doctrines of the Scotists.” *
More follows in the same strain, but we pass on to
the attack on the monkish orders.
“Next in happiness to the Divines are those who call
themselves Monks, and claim to be in a special sense
religious, though both names are utterly false ; for as to
the latter, a considerable number of them have no
religion whatever, and as to the former, the word Monk
means 'solitary,' whereas they are so thick that we meet
them at every turn. Now, I cannot conceive what state
could be more wretched than theirs, were it not that
I befriend them in so many ways. For though this
THE MENDICANT FRIARS.
197
class of men are held in such execration by everybody
that it is thought unlucky even to meet them by chance,
they are nevertheless immensely in love with them-
selves. In the first place, they think it the height of
piety to have so little taste for learning as to be unable
even to read. In the next place, when they roar out in
church, with voices. harsh as the braying of a donkey,
their daily count of Psalms, the notes of which they
follow, to be sure, but not the meaning, they fancy they
are charming the ears of the saints with the divinest
music. There are some of them, too, who make a good
profit out of dirt and mendicity, begging their bread
from door to door with a great deal of noise ; nay, they
press into all the public-houses, get into the stage-
coaches, come on board the passage-boats, to the great
loss and damage of the regular highway beggars. And
that is the way in which these most sweet men, by their
dirt, their ignorance, their brutal vulgarity, and their
impudence, imitate the Apostles — so they have the
assurance to tell us. Nothing, however, can be more
pleasant than to observe how they do everything by.
rule, as if there were certain mathematical principles
laid down for their guidance, which it would be the
height of impiety to transgress. Thus, they must be
very particular as to the number of knots with which
their sandals are tied, the colour of their girdles, the
distinctive shape of the habits of their respective orders
and the stuff of which they are made, the number of
cords of which their belts are twisted, the form and
capacity of their hoods, the breadth of their skull-caps,
the length of time they may devote to sleep. Now,
who does not see how impossible it is to preserve this:
uniformity, where there is so great a variety in the
198
ERASMUS ATTACKS THE POPE.
persons and the dispositions of men ? And yet for the
sake of these trifies they not only look down on all the
rest of the world, but they despise one another, and
though they profess to be inspired by apostolic charity,
they are ready to fill the world with confusion if a gown
be girt on the wrong way, or be a little too dark in
colour. You may see some of them so extremely
scrupulous that they will wear their outer garments
of nothing but hair-cloth, while they have the finest
material next their skin ; others, on the contrary, with
linen outside and wool inside; and yet others who
would no more touch money than they would poison,
though all the time they are free enough with wine and
women. In short, they are all animated by a marvellous
zeal for creating as much diversity as ever they can in
their rule of life; nor do they study so much to be like
Christ as to be unlike one another."
The preachers, with their gesticulations, their con-
tortions of countenance, their affected changes of voice,
are next turned into ridicule. Even the highest dig.
nitaries of the Church are made to smart under the
lash. Erasmus lectures the Cardinals on their duties, .
and finally lays hands on the supreme Pontiffs them-
selves. No situation, argues Fol.ly, could be more
wretched than that of the vicegerents of Christ, if they
endeavoured to imitate Christ's life — namely, his
poverty, toil, doctrine, his cross, his contempt for life;
which they would do if they had the smallest particle
of wisdom. As it is, however, they leave all the labour
to Peter and Paul, who have plenty of leisure for it,
while they reserve for themselves' the pleasures and the
splendours of their office. And here Erasmus found
it impossible not to remember some of the scenes he
V
.
AN ARGUMENT FOR BURNING HERETICS.
199
ST
had witnessed in Italy.' He refers to the then reigning
Pope in the boldest and most personal way, speaking
of “decrepit old men, who nevertheless put on all the
ardour of youth, and spare no expense, regard no toil,
provided they can subvert law, religion, and peace, and
turn the whole world upside down." It would be inte-
generous doctrine of religious toleration which was some
time afterwards propounded by his friend More in the
Utopia. This perhaps was hardly to be looked for in
a work so purely satirical, but in the later editions of
the “ Praise of Folly” there was inserted a story which
showed at any rate that the author was far from think-
ing the stake the most satisfactory refutation of false
doctrine, At a certain theological discussion some one
asked what authority there was in Scripture for burning
heretics, whereupon an old, sour-looking divine arose,
and answered with some warmth that it had been com-
manded by the Apostle Paul in the words, “A man that
is a heretic after the first and second admonition reject.”
As no one could perceive the force of the argument,
he at length explained that the Latin word devita (reject)
signified de vita tollenduin hæreticum (a heretic must be
put to death). Some laughed, while others thought the
argument conclusive, and he then proceeded to quote
the text “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," where
the Latin word is maleficus (an evil-doer). “Now, every
heretic is an evil-doer ;” ergo, &c. The story, it would
seem was a true one, which Erasmus had from Colet,
and the scene took place in St. Paul's Cathedral.8
8 See Erasmus's note on Tit.
iii. 10. Mr. Seebohm is, no doubt,
right in referring this occurrence to
the Convocation of 1512. Oxford
Reformers, p. 248 and notes.
200
THE "PRAISE OF FOLLY”.
The declamation concludes in truly orthodox style
with a copious citation of Scriptural texts in com-
mendation of Folly; and the free way in which Scripture
is handled, and even the most sacred names introduced,
while it shows certainly great want of taste, if not even
want of reverence, might reasonably have given offence
to persons who were neither very superstitious nor very
bigoted. The age, however, was one in which there
was hardly any reverence and a great deal of super-
stition and bigotry. Yet Erasmus afterwards became
sensible of this error, and acknowledged that he ought
at least to have forborne from introducing the name of
Christ in a humorous composition like the Moria.
Such, then, was this remarkable work-remarkable
not merely for its inherent excellences, which, however,
are such as to entitle it to a high place among compo-
sitions òf its class, but still more as being, in that
century at least, the first decisive trumpet-blast sum-
moning the friends of light and learning to gird on their
armour, and heralding the advance of that reforming
spirit with which the Papal power was destined ere long
to engage in deadly and terrible encounter. As the
work proceeded it was read to More and other congenial
friends, by whom it was received with applause.
Erasmus, if we may trust his own statement, made
apologetically many years afterwards, valued it too
slightly to think of publishing it. He had written it,
he said, when he was kept indoors for a few days by an
attack of the gravel, before his books had arrived, and
wlien, in fact, he was too ill to enter on any more
serious study: possibly, he really shrank from the
hostility which he must have foreseen it would arouse.
Any objections he may have had were, however, dis-
RECEIVED WITH IMMENSE FAVOUR.
201
regarded by the friends who encouraged him to com-
plete his undertaking. Through their agency a copy of
the work-an imperfect one-eventually found its way
to Paris and was there printed. 9 The little book was
received with immense favour, especially among people
of influence, and within a very few months went through
no less than seven editions. Kings, bishops, arch-
bishops, and cardinals, Erasmus assures one of his
correspondents, were delighted with it, and Leo X. read
it through from beginning to end. 10 It was first printed,
it would seem, in 1511.11 In 1514 Froben printed an
edition at Basle, with a commentary by Gerard Listrius,
a young physician of that city, and an intimate friend
of the author, from whom, no doubt, he received his
instructions, the object of the commentary being
evidently not merely to explain the frequent classical
9 Er. Op. ix. 3, D, E. Conf. Cat. printed at Strasburg in 1511. I
Lillc. - “Moriam lusimus apud have also seen in the Imperial
Thomam Morum, tum ex Italia Library (as it then was) in Paris a
reversi, quod opus quum mihi sic very old black-letter copy, badly
esset contemtum, ut nec editione enough printed to justify the clescrip-
dignarer (nam aderam Lutetiæ,
quum per nescio quos pessimis for- mulis depravatissime," and which
mulis depravatissime excuceretur), may probably be one of the original
exceptum est, præsertim apud
Magnates : paucos tantum mona-
chos, cosque deterrimos, ac theo
logos nonnullos morosiores offendit
libertas."
10 Er. Op. iii. 275, B.
11 The Encomium Morice, having
heen written far on in 1509, could
scarcely have been printed before
1510, and probably was not printed
until 1511. The earliest edition
which has a date is that of Schurer,
printer's name. There is, indeed,
no appearance of this edition being
derived “ab exemplo non solum
mendoso verum etiam mutilo" (Er.
Op. ix. 3, E.); but is it not possible
that this statement was merely in-
tended to reconcile the subsequent
enlargements which were made on
the original work with the contempt
in which Erasmus always professed
to hold it?
202
THE "PRAISE OF FOLLY"
allusions, but to blunt the edge of some of the more
pungent sarcasms. Aldus printed a neat edition in
1515, and it was afterwards reprinted several times by
Froben, having received some considerable additions
from the hand of the author. Every one knows the
humorous illustrations by Holbein, the originals of
which are still preserved in the public library of Basle,
and opposite one of which, representing himself, Erasmus
wrote, in Latin, “Ah! if Erasmus were still like that,
he would certainly marry.” The “ Praise of Folly” has
been translated into most European languages, and a
French version by George Haloin appeared as early as
the year 1517. For a copy of this we find Erasmus
inquiring with some curiosity ; but when he received it
he was by no means pleased with the performance, the
original, and added to it or omitted passages to suit his
taste. 12
Such a work as the “Praise of Folly” could not fail
to rouse opposition and dislike. Yet it was a consider-
able time before the monks broke silence. Probably
their dull brains did not at first apprehend the fact that
they were turned into ridicule, or they contented them-
selves with denouncing the impieties of this second
Lucian over their cups. Indeed, Erasmus himself tells us
that the Moria was not understood except by a few until
the appearance of Listrius's Commentary ; but “when,"
he adds, “it was translated into French, then even
those who couldn't read their Psalter understood it.”:13
Besides, it would be a matter of some difficulty to
attack with any chance of success a man who had
corresponded with the King of England, and who num-
12 Ep. cclxiv. cclxxxiv. 13 Ep. cclxiv.
ATTACKED BY DORPIUS.
203
bered so many of the most eminent dignitaries of the
Church among his personal friends. It was clear that
against a person of such consideration no mere vulgar
clamour would avail. The most politic course would
be to appeal to his own good feeling, to allow his
eminent merits as a scholar, and at the same time
expostulate with him gently on his faults. This was
the course which was eventually followed. The Uni-
versity of Louvain found a champion in a young divine
named Martin Dorpius, who was prevailed on to write
to Erasmus to remonstrate with him on the publication
of what he called “the unlucky Moria.” Dorpius, accord-
ingly, who was a young man of very amiable temper,
and not obstinately opposed to true learning, addressed
Erasmus, whom he had known personally at Louvain,
in a very respectful and complimentary style, telling
him how unfortunate it was for his own fame that such
a book should have appeared at the very time that he
was beginning to be held in admiration by all the most
eminent lawyers and theologians. Erasmus took the
letter in good part, and in reply assured his corre-
spondent that though he was every day receiving letters
from learned men saluting him as “the sun" and "the
moon" of Germany, and loading him with all sorts of
flattering titles, none of them gave him so much
pleasure as the expostulatory letter of his dear Dorpius.
He then entered on a long and elaborate defence of
himself, protesting that his sole object in all his works was
to do good, and that the Moria simply attempted under
another form to do the same thing which the Enchi-
ridion had aimed to accomplish in a more serious spirit.
He challenged Dorpius to name any one whose cha-
racter he had blackened or on whom he had cast the
204
ERASMUS DEFENDS
slightest aspersion. And as to his having alienated the
whole order of divines, he denied it altogether; for
since the publication of the Moria he had never met
with any hostility, except on the part of a few of that
class who hate all literature; on the contrary, were it
not that it might seem arrogant to do so, he could
name men of the highest rank in the Church, distin-
guished for their piety and learning, and some of them
even bishops, who had never received him so cordially
book than he was himself. He declared, indeed, that
he himself did not set the slightest value upon it; that
he was astonished at its success, and that he considered
none but sacred studies deserving of the name of
literature. He even condescended to say that he almost
regretted the publication of the Moria ; but his regret
was either not very sincere, or did not last very long,
for the little work continued to appear with the author's
sanction, and with several additional passages not found
in the earliest editions. 14 Dorpius, far from being paci-
fied by the very flattering letter of the illustrious
scholar, who had praised “his heavenly temper, his
singular learning, and his very acute judgment,”
returned to the attack with fresh spirit, and even, it
would seem, indulged in some heavy Dutch wit at the
expense of his antagonist. This second letter, however,
did not reach its destination ; perhaps it was never
sent; but it was shown by some literary friend to Sir
which he attacks the scholastic divinity and defends
the study of Greek and of the Scriptures.15 No breach
14 Ep. Apol. ad. Mart. Dorpium Theol.-Er. Op. ix. i.
15 Ep. dxiii. App.
THE “ PRAISE OF FOLLY.”
205
of friendship took place between Erasmus and Dorpius;
on the contrary, the latter, who had originally entered
into the contest at the instigation of others, and who
really seems to have deserved a part of the praise
which Erasmus bestowed upon him, deserted his party
and went over to the side of the enemy. He even
became such a warm supporter of the new learning,
that he was actually expelled from his college for an
oration which he had written in its defence.16
16 This interesting circumstance
is recorded in a letter of Froben's,
quoted by Hess in his Life of
Erasmus, vol. i. p. 168, note.
“ Frobenius Zuinglio.-Dorpius a
factione Theologica summa, ob
orationem editam, affectus contu-
melia, simulque ex suo ejectus
collegio, ac nunc totus agit Eras-
micum. Hanc illi ignominiam ad
meliores acutissimum addituram
calcar non dubito.—Hottingeri Hist.
Eccles. t. viii. p. 261."
.
.
:( 206 )
:
CHAPTER VIII.
ERASMUS AT CAMBRIDGE — AMMUNIUS OF LUCCA – LETTER FROM
WARHAM -- THE “DE COPIA" — CORRESPONDENCE WITH COLET
-THE CRUELTY OF THE SCHOOL-ROOM-ADVICE TO A COURTIER
- PUBLIC AFFAIRS — CORRESPONDENCE WITH AMMONIUS - Pil-
GRIMAGE TO WALSINGHAM-TO THE TOMB OF BECKET-ERASMUS
CONDEMNS WAR-MEETING WITH CARDINAL CANOSSA.
THE correspondence with Dorpius took place in the
year 1515, some four or five years after the publication
of the “Praise of Folly," and we must now, therefore, go
back to follow the fortunes of Erasmus in the meantime.
Soon after his arrival in England he was invited to
Cambridge by Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, who was
then Chancellor of the University, and to whom we find
.
prefixed to a translation of a part of a commentary on
Isaiah, ascribed to St. Basil. This was his first work
on his arrival at Cambridge, but it was never finished,
because Erasmus soon became convinced, by the in-
ternal evidence, that St. Basil was not really the
author.1
Cambridge would appear, at this time, to have been
somewhat behind her sister University. She was
scarcely so far advanced now as Oxford had been
when Erasmus went there some fourteen years ago ;
and while Grocyn, Linacre, and others were doing all
'Er. Op. viii. 483.
ERASMUS AT CAMBRIDGE.
207
they could to promote true learning, and especially the
study of Greek, at Oxford, Cambridge still remained
wholly given over to Aristotle and Scotist darkness.
By degrees, however, learning began to revive there too.
The study of mathematics was introduced, and the
great classical authors, whose names were scarcely
known before, began to be heard in the lecture-halls.2
Fisher, who was himself a very learned man, and a
warm patron of letters, was now labouring earnestly in
the.cause of reform; and at his invitation Erasmus took
up his abode in Queen's College, where his study is still
pointed out high up in the square tower overlooking the
quadrangle. .
At Cambridge Erasmus gave the first lectures in
Greek, and was appointed the Lady Margaret's Pro-
fessor of Divinity. “Hitherto,” he says, writing to a
friend in London, “I have lectured on the grammar of
Chrysoloras, but to a small number of students. I hope
to have a better attendance when I begin the grammar
of Theodore [Gaza); perhaps I may also undertake
some Divinity lectures, for that matter is just now under
consideration. The profit is too small to have any
influence with me; still, I am doing my best, in the
meantime, to promote sound scholarship, and am whiling
away a few months.” 3
Whether he drew a salary as Professor of Greek is
2. “Ante annos ferme triginta,
nihil tradebatur in schola Cantabri-
giensi præter Alexandrum, parva
logicalia, ut vocant, et vetera illa
Aristotelis dictata, Scoticasque
quæstiones. Progressu temporis
accesserunt bonæ literæ ; accessit
matheseos cognitio ; accessit novus,
aut certe novatus Aristoteles: accessit
Græcarum literarum peritia ; acces-
serunt auctores tam mulli, quorum
olim ne nomina quidem tenebantur,
nec a summatibus illis Jarchis.”—
Er. Op. iii. 130, A. This letter was
written in or after 1516.
8 Ep. cxxiii.
208
ANDREAS AMMONIUS
uncertain. By his own account, indeed, he taught
Greek and divinity for several months at Cambridge
without remuneration ; but this probably means that
he asked no fees, as we find him elsewhere telling a
correspondent that in the course of five months he had
received from some of his audience just one noble, and
that much against his will, while in the same space of
time he had spent sixty. He would certainly have a
salary as Lady Margaret's Professor-this, indeed, is
implied in the passage just quoted-though it was a
small one; and no doubt Fisher took care that he
was paid for his Greek lectures, even if there was no
endowment. +
At Cambridge we find Erasmus still restless and un-
satisfied, but working hard at his studies, complaining
bitterly of his poverty and of the expenses he was
obliged to incur, and, as usual, in mortal fear of the
plague. We have several entertaining letters written
during these years to Andreas Ammonius, a very agree-
able Italian from Lucca, whose acquaintance he had made
in London, and who shortly afterwards became Latin
secretary to Henry VIII.5 To this friend we find him
writing from Cambridge to complain that he does not
+ 6 How long Erasmus was Greek
Professor in Cambridge I know not;
it is by some made a question,
whether he was ever called so or
not, taking him only for a reader in
that language ; but I think it pretty
plain, by Rich. Croke's Oration in
praise of Greek learning, that he
was his successor in that chair,”
&c.-Kni:ht, p. 133. It is certain
that Croke calls Erasmus Professor
of Greek-"quem vos olim habuistis
Græcarum literarum professorem,
utinamque potuissetis retinere "
(Croke's oration, quoted by Hallam,
Lit. Hist. i. 294, note)-but it is
not so clear that he might not have
called the first, and, at the time,
the only teacher of Greek in the
University, a Professor, even though
there had been no formal appoint-
ment.
5 Er. Op. iii. 122, F.
SENDS ERASMUS SOME WINE.
209
like the beer of the place at all, and the wine not much.
Could he contrive to have a flagon of Greek wine, the
best he can get, sent down to him, only it must not be
too sweet? “And,” he adds, “ don't be anxious about
the money, for I will pay beforehand if you like." 6
And Ammonius does send him some wine, and will
receive nothing for it; for soon after Erasmus again
writes to thank him for a very pleasant letter which he
had received from him, in addition to some delicious
wine. “As to your being angry at my mentioning the
money, I had no doubt of your kindness, which deserves
a royal income; but I supposed you would have sent a
somewhat larger flagon, which would have lasted some
months : though this, indeed, is too large for a modest
man like myself to take without payment. ... I
wonder you keep so much at home and never take an
Outing. Should you ever think of paying another visit
to this university, you will find many ready to welcome
you, but none more so than myself. As to your advice
to me to return to London, should this depression of
spirits last, I know of nothing there that has any charm
for me except the pleasure of meeting two or three
friends. Of this, however, another time. I hear that
Julius Maximus is dead. Farewell, most excellent
Ammonius."'?
The truth was, the bad wine of Cambridge had
brought on an access of that painful disease to which
Erasmus was now a martyr. Yet when the fit was over
he was able to make a jest of it; and there is a letter
to him from Warham joking with him on the subject in
a style that scarcely befits the gravity of an archbishop,
but accompanied with a kind of medicine which Erasmus
Ep. cxviii.
7 Ep. cxvi.
VOL. I.
14
210
JESTING LETTER FROM WARHAM. :
was never loth to take. “If we wish health, Erasmus,"
says Warham," to those that are well, much more ought I..
to do so to you who are sick. Yet I presume you are now
of the Virgin. What, I should be glad to know, can be the
meaning of stones in your little body? Or what would
it be possible to build on such a rock as that ? For you.
are not engaged in building magnificent houses, I fancy,
or anything else of that kind. So, as pebbles are of no
use to you, see and relieve yourself of the superfluous
load, and pay money to have the stones carried away,
not as I am paying it every day to have them brought
to my buildings. To enable you to do this the more
readily I have given thirty angels to the son of a certain
goldsmith of London ; and I wish they could be changed
into ten legions of angels. This is a kind of medicine
which is very potent. Use it for the recovery of your
health, and I only wish I could purchase health for you
for a much larger sum. For there are a great many
valuable works you will have to edit, which you cannot
do unless you are well. Take good care of yourself,
and do not defraud me by your illness of the brilliant
hopes I have entertained of you, and of the fruit of
your learning." 8
The following letter to Colet, evidently written im-
introduces us to Henry Bullock, then a Fellow of
Queen's, and afterwards chaplain to Cardinal Wolsey,
who employed him, along with Watson and Ridley, to
confute Luther.9
8 Ep. cxxxiv. 9 KNIGHT'S Life of Erasmus, p. 142.
THE POVERTY OF CAMBRIDGE.
211
211
ERASMUS to COLET.10
" Queen's College, Cambridge,
“ August 24, 1511.
"IF you can be amused by my misfortunes, my dear
Colet, you shall have plenty of cause for laughter. For
besides my mishaps in London, my servant's horse fell
lame, the groom having changed the one Bullock had
sent; besides, I had nothing to eat the whole way. The
next day we had constant rain until dinner-time, and
after dinner lightning, thunder, and showers, and my
horse fell three times on his head. Bullock, having
consulted the stars, says he has found out that Jupiter
was angry! I am well pleased to find here the traces of
Christian poverty; so far, indeed, am I from expecting
any profits, that I have made up my mind that I must
spend here whatever I can extract from the pockets of
my patrons. There is a physician here, a countryman
of my own, who, by the help of the Quintessence, is
.. working prodigious miracles, making old men young,
and bringing the dead to life; so that I have good
hopes of growing young again, if only I can get a taste --
of the Quintessence; and should I be so fortunate, I
shan't regret having come to Cambridge. As to profit,
I see no hope of it; for what can I get from those who
have nothing, especially as I have no impudence, and
was born under the anger of Mercury: Farewell, most
excellent preceptor. As soon as I enter on the duties
of my professorship. I will tell you how I succeed, which
will give you still more amusement.
"I may venture perhaps to attack your favourite
Paul. Think of the boldness of your friend Erasmus."
. 10 Ep. cxvii.
212
ERASMUS'S TREATISE “DE COPIA.”
Just about the time Erasmus was settling at Cam-
bridge his friend Colet, now Dean of St. Paul's, was
engaged in founding, entirely at his own expense, a.
school in St. Paul's Churchyard for the free education
of 153 children; and for this school, in which he was
naturally much interested, Erasmus completed, in due
course, a work on Latin composition, which he had
sketched while residing in Italy, 11 the object of which
was to aid in the acquisition of an elegant and copious
style, and to supply the young student with an abund-
ance both of words and ideas. Hence it was entitled,
in Latin, De duplici copia verborum ac rerum. It was
sent to Colet, with a very complimentary, but not too
flattering, dedication, bearing the date April 29, 1512.12
It was evidently before this that Erasmus had
written warning Colet not to be rash in believing any
reports about Linacre, who, it seems, had written for the
new school a grammar which Colet had rejected as being
too learned for beginners. “Though it is the nature of
men," he says, “to be as fond of their writings as parents
are of their children, still I have the best reason for
believing that he entertains the most friendly feelings
towards you, and that he is not much annoyed at the
rejection of his grammar." From another sentence it
appears that Erasmus was looking out for an assistant-
master for the new school-a competent head-master
having been already found in William Lilly—but had
not yet been successful.
“I have here sometimes,” he continues, "a hard
battle for you with the Thomists and Scotists, but of
that when we meet. I have begun a translation of
11 "In Italia delinearam opus de verborum rerumque copia.” -- Er.
Op. i. 487.
12 Er. Op. i. 1.
HIS “METHOD OF STUDY.”
213
St. Basil on Isaiah, and I like the work very much.
I intend sending a specimen of it to the Bishop of
Rochester, to try whether he will reward my labour with
some little present. Oh, beggary! I know you are
laughing at me. But I hate myself; and I have
quite determined either to secure an income sufficient
to raise me above the need of begging, or to imitate.
Diogenes.” 13
This letter was accompanied by a short treatise on
“ The Method of Study,” 14 in which Erasmus enume-
rated the qualifications required in a schoolmaster, and
showed that he ought to be familiar with all that the
classical, and especially the Greek authors, can teach in
every department of knowledge. This, he admitted,
was a heavy burden to lay upon any one's shoulders ;
but his object in exacting so much from the teacher was
to lighten the labours of the pupil. He expressed a
doubt, however, whether Colet, who despised art and
method, would approve of his advice.
Colet, in reply, assured him that he thoroughly
approved of everything he had said, “and," continued
he,“ when I came to that place at the end of your letter
where you say that you could make young men mode-
rately eloquent in both languages in fewer years than it
takes those pedants to teach them to stammer, oh!
Erasmus, how I wished I could have you as a teacher in
my school! I hope, however, you will give us some aid
in teaching our instructors, as soon as you leave those
Cambridge men.
“Your papers shall be carefully preserved as you
13 Ep. cxlix.
14 De Ratione Studii. Afterwards
enlarged and dedicated to Peter
Viterius, Professor of Belles Lettres
in the University of Paris.--Er. Op.
i. 519.
214
ERASMUS ADVISED TO BEG HUMBLY; ,
request. I will take your advice about Linacre, so
kindly and wisely given. Do not leave off making
inquiries for an assistant-master, if you can find one in
Cambridge who will not be too proud to be under the
head-master. You tell me you sometimes have battles
in my behalf with those soldiers of Scotus, and I can
only say that I am glad to have such an excellent
champion. But it is an unequal and inglorious contest;
for what praise can be got by brushing away a swarm
of flies? What thanks will you deserve from me for
cutting down a set of reeds ? It is a necessary contest
rather than a glorious or a great one; but at any rate it
proves your solicitude and loving care on my behalf.
Persevere, Erasmus, in giving us Basil, since in so doing
you will give us Isaiah. You will do well, in my
opinion, to imitate Diogenes ; for if you can find plea-
sure in poverty you will be a king of kings, and by
despising money you will obtain money and fortune
too. . . . If you beg humbly I have something for you ;
but if you ask immodestly, poverty must help poverty,
to say the least, very poorly. Farewell, and pray write
me often.” 15
Two other letters of Erasmús, which will now be
understood, may be given at more length.
S
ERASMUS to COLET.16
“ Cambridge, Oct. 29, 1513 [?1511].
“I AM now quite taken up with finishing my Copia, so
that I am now a living enigma, being in the midst of
abundance (copia), and yet in the greatest want. And I
wish I could end both at the same time ; for I shall
16 Ep. iv. App.
16 Ep. cl.
HIS REPLY TO COLET.
215
YOYO
bring the Copia to a close very shortly, if only the
Muses will favour my studies more than Fortune has
my worldly interests. This, indeed, has been the reason
why I have answered your letters so briefly and care-
lessly. With the Scotists—a most invincible set, and
unsurpassed for self-conceit—I do not fight much, for I
would not waste oil upon them, or time; besides, why
should I stir up a nest of hornets ? I have nearly given
up translating St. Basil, not merely because I suspect
that it is not a genuine work, but because the Bishop of
Rochester, to whom I sent a specimen of my transla-
tion, telling him that I was desirous that Basil should
appear in Latin under his auspices and as coming from
his university, did not receive the proposal very warmly;
and, as I have learned from a friend, he suspects that I
am not translating from the Greek, but am merely
polishing up some other person's version. Strange, what
notions get into men's heads!
“For your jest about Diogenes, I am glad to find I
can give you pleasure in any way. But I am quite
serious about acting Diogenes if Fortune continue her
ill usage; not in the sense of fancying myself a king of
kings, but in that of despising life altogether: how else,
indeed, could I act Diogenes at my age and with my
health ? and what may not he despise who disregards
even life? ...
“For your offer of money I acknowledge your
former kindness to me, and return you the best thanks
I can. But I am rather annoyed at that expression of
yours, although written in jest, if you beg humbly.'
discontent with my lot proceeds entirely from human
i
216
ERASMUS
ERASMUS COMPLAINS OF HIS POVERTY,
CAINS
HIS P
VER
the best of everything. I am more surprised how you
can connect humility with immodesty ; for you say, “if
you beg humbly and ask immodestly. If you call that
humility which is opposed to arrogance, what agreement
is there between impudence and modesty? But if by
'humbly' you mean servilely and abjectly, you, my.
dear Colet, are of a very different opinion from Seneca,
who 'thinks nothing costs us so dear as that which is
bought with prayers, and that he does not act the part:
of a friend who expects from his friend that humiliating
word 'I beg.' Socrates, once conversing with some
friends, said, “I would have bought a cloak to-day if I
had had the money. “He gave too late,' says Seneca,
'who gave after hearing this. Another, having a friend
who was sick and in want, but who from shame would
not let either be known, put some money under his
pillow when he was asleep. When I used to read this
in the days of my youth, I was extremely struck with
the modesty of the one and the generosity of the other.
But pray who could be more immodest or more abject
than myself, who have lived so long in England as a
public beggar? I have received so much from the
Archbishop that it would be perfectly infamous to take
any more from him, though he were to offer it. I
asked — with sufficient effrontery, and he refused me
with still greater impudence. Even our friend Linacre
thinks me too bold, who, knowing my poor state of
health, and that I was leaving London with scarce six
angels in my pocket,—winter coming on, too,— yet
strongly advises me to spare the Archbishop and
Mountjoy, and rather to economize and learn to bear
poverty with patience. A most friendly counsel! For
this reason above all, I hate my hard fortune, because it
AND ASKS COLET FOR A PRESENT.
. 217
AL
will not permit me to be modest. While my strength
permitted, I used to conceal my poverty; now I cannot,
unless I would risk my life; though I am not yet so
hardened as to ask everything from everybody. I do
not ask others lest I should be refused ; and with what
face can I ask from you, especially as you do not
abound in this kind of wealth ? Still, since you approve
of immodesty, I will end my letter with the most im-
pudent sentence I can. I have not assurance enough to
ask you for anything, and yet I am not so proud as to
refuse a present, if such a friend as you should offer it
to me, especially in my present circumstances. Fare-
well.
“I have forgotten the brevity which I had intended ;
will make you laugh. When I spoke of the under-
master, among some of the Masters of Arts, one of
them, a man of some reputation, replied with a sneer,
boys, who could possibly manage to live anywhere
else?' I answered quietly that I thought it a very
honourable office to instruct youth in sound morals and
useful learning; that Christ did not despise the tender
years of children, and that no period of life so well
repaid kindness or yielded more abundant fruit, youth
being indeed the seed-time on which the State depends
for its future growth. I added that truly pious men
would be of the opinion that in no other way could they
serve God better than by bringing children to Christ.
"Whoever wishes to serve Christ,' said he, turning up
his nose in derision, let him enter a monastery and
take religious vows.' I answered that Paul made true
religion consist in works of charity; and that charity
218
ERASMUS REMINDS COLET
consists in doing all the good we can to our neighbours.
He treated this remark with disdain, as if it only
showed my ignorance. 'Lo,' said he, we have left
all; in this perfection consists.' He has not left all,' I
answered, 'who, when he has it in his power to do good
to a great many, refuses the office, because it is con-
sidered too humble.' And so, to prevent dispute, I left
him. There is a specimen of Scotist wisdom for you,
and a dialogue to boot!”
ERASMUS to JOHN COLET.17.
" Cambridge, July 11, 1511 [? 1512].
“You answer seriously a letter written in joke. I ought
not, perhaps, to have joked with so great a man, but
remembering your kindness rather than your greatness,
I had a fancy to amuse such an excellent friend with a
little 'Attic salt.' It will prove your good-nature to take
my nonsense in good part. You write that I am in your
debt, whether I like it or not. Certainly, my dear Colet,
'it is hard,' as Seneca says, 'to be indebted to any one
against one's will ;' but I don't know any one to whom
I would rather be indebted than yourself. And such
has been your disposition toward me always, that even
though there had been no acts of kindness, I should be
very much in your debt; but there have been so many
acts of kindness that if I did not acknowledge them I
should be very ungrateful. About your poverty I quite
believe what you say, and I am sorry for it; but my
poverty, pressing very hard upon me, compelled me to
trouble you. How unwillingly I did so you may infer
from my having been so long in asking for the fulfilment
of the promise you made long ago. I am not surprised
7 Ep. cxv.
OF A FORMER PROMISE.
219
you should have forgotten your promise, considering
how much engaged you have been ; but once, in your
garden, the conversation having turned on the Copia, when
I mentioned my'intention of dedicating the work to our
young prince, as being suitable to his years, you begged
me to dedicate it rather, as a new work, to your new
school. I answered with a smile that your school was
small sum in my hand. You laughed. Then, when I
reckoned up several items of expense, you said after a
pause that you could not give me as much as my neces-
sities required, but you would gladly give me fifteen
angels. And when you repeated it with eagerness, I
asked you if you thought that enough. You answered
still more eagerly that you would gladly pay at least
this sum; 'then,' said I, I will gladly accept it.' This
statement will, perhaps, recall the matter to your recol-
lection. I could confirm what I say by other proofs,
only I am sure you have confidence in me. There are
some who say—and they are your friends, for I hold no
communication with your enemies, nor do I care one jot
for what they say—that you are a little hard, and too
careful in the distribution of your money; and that this
comes from no close-fistedness—for it was thus I ex-
plained the statement with the approval of my informants
—but from your inability, on account of your natural
modesty, to refuse those who press you urgently, which
some, as you cannot satisfy both. Not that this has
anything to do with myself, seeing that I have always
found you exceedingly kind, though I am not a very
impudent or troublesome beggar. I have not, there-
fore, heard this from your detractors, but from those
220 THE COLLATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
1
Y
who really wish you well; still, I neither accept their
opinion nor dissent from it, except so far as to acknow-
ledge your uniform kindness to myself.
“If you can conveniently give me the rest of what
you promised, considering the present state of my affairs,
I will accept it, not as a debt, but as a free gift, which I
will repay if I can, and for which at any rate I shall be
grateful.
"I was sorry to learn from the conclusion of your
letter that you are more harassed than usual with
business. I would wish you as far removed as possible
from worldly affairs, not because I am afraid the world
may take hold of you and claim you as its own, but
because I would rather your talents, eloquence, and
learning were devoted wholly to Christ. But if you
cannot extricate yourself, nevertheless take care that
you do not become every day more deeply immersed.
It were better perchance to be conquered than to
purchase victory at so great a cost ; for mental tran-
quillity is one of the greatest of blessings, and these are
the thorns which accompany riches. Meantime, oppose
the talk of the malevolent with an upright and sincere
conscience, gather up all your powers for the service of
Christ, and the world in its many forms will have less
power to trouble you. But for me to advise you is very
like a sow teaching Minerva, or a sick man endeavouring
to prescribe for his physician. Farewell.
“I have finished the collation of the New Testament.
despatched him I shall fly to you. Thomas Lupset,
your pupil—and he is worthy of his master-is of great
use to me, as well as a great pleasure, by his daily com-
panionship, and by the assistance which he gives me in
• THE CRUELTIES OF THE SCHOOL-ROOM.
221
my critical labours. I pay him for his work by giving
him mine, which I would do more freely if he had
leisure from his studies, from which, however, I should
be sorry to take the young man. Once more, farewell.”
Erasmus, who extended his interest in education far
beyond the universities, and entertained very just and
enlightened views on that subject, many years after-
wards wrote a treatise advocating the early and liberal
education of boys, in which he embodied some of his
own experience of the schools and schoolmasters of his
time, and gave some instances of the shocking cruelties
often perpetrated by the petty tyrants of the rod.18 One
of these, though it might unhappily be paralleled from
later times, is of so revolting a nature, that without some
special object one would not wish to quote it. Another
is interesting because it illustrates the notions of the
age, those notions which Erasmus had set himself to
combat, and also because it has been supposed, though
perhaps without sufficient reason, to have been supplied
by Colet's new school. After remarking that no masters
are so cruel as those who have nothing to teach, for they
find it impossible to get through the day without.
flogging and storming at their pupils, Erasmus goes
on to say that he was intimately acquainted with a
divine of very great reputation, who never objected to
any cruelty, because he believed severe measures to be
necessary to conquer the spirit of boys and tame their
natural wildness. “Never," he continues, "did he
take dinner with his little flock, but after the meal one
or another was dragged out to be flogged, and he would
18 Declamatio de pueris ad virtutem ac literas liberaliter instituendis. —
Er. Op. i. 485. Its date is 1529.
222
FAITH IN THE ROD.
n
often exercise his severity even on those who had com-
mitted no offence simply to accustom them to blows.
I myself once stood by whenī, after dinner, as usual, he
called up a boy, I think about ten years old ; indeed he
had come fresh from his mother to the school. He
began by saying that his mother was a very pious
woman and that the boy had been particularly recom-
mended to him by her; then, in order to find an excuse
for flogging him, he began to accuse him of disorderly
conduct, though the boy was perfectly innocent, and
made a signal to the master whom he had entrusted
with the care of the school to flog him. He imme-
diately caught the boy, threw him down, and whipped
him as if he had committed sacrilege. The divine more
than once interfered, saying, “That will do, that will
do;' but the executioner, quite deaf with excitement,
went on with the punishment, until the poor boy almost
fainted. Presently the divine turned to me and said,
He had done nothing to deserve this, but it was neces-
sary that he should be humiliated,' that was the word
he used.” 19 .
In an age in which the Lord Chancellor of England
could think it right to keep his flesh in subjection by
the use of a hair-shirt and by scourging, it would be a
folly to suppose that any cruelty of disposition or want
of high principle was implied in this treatment of boys;
and that Erasmus should have so regarded it is only
another example of the triumph of his common sense
over the superstitions of his time. This faith in the rod
as an instrument of humiliation, moreover, might seem
to agree very well with Colet's ascetic notions, and it is
certainly true, as Knight observes, that it would be
19 Êr. Op. i. 505, B, C.
ERASMUS LOOKS FOR LODGINGS.
.
LY
223
difficult to apply the story to any one else. 20 On the
other hand, Erasmus tells us that Colet took particular
delight in the purity and simplicity of children, and
there is nothing in the picture he has drawn of his
character that would lead us to suspect him of undue
severity to others. Perhaps it may be well to give him
the benefit of the doubt.
In his frequent visits to London Erasmus was not
always able to obtain a home among his many wealthy
friends, and we find him accordingly negotiating with
Ammonius to secure him a lodging. “At Austin
Friars," writes the latter, “there is no one with whom
you can live. I don't know whether you would like me
to ask the blind poet; he has some disengaged bed-
rooms, I am told, which might be hired, but you would
require to furnish them. In the lodging in which I am
myself, they say all the rooms are full : besides, the table
is very poor. Near St. Paul's, as you are aware, there
is a college of some learned men, who, they say, live
sumptuously, but I think they might as well live in a
ditch. Send me word what you wish, and meantime,
should you return, you will not fail of a chamber.” 21
20 KNIGHT'S Life of Colet, p. 175.
Mr. Seebohm certainly rejects this
opinion of Knight's with very un-
necessary indignation. “This is the
story which we are told it would be
difficult to apply to any one but
Colet, as though Colet were the
only divine of reputation' inti-
mately known to Erasmus ! or as
though Erasmus would thus hold
up his friend Colet to the scorn of
the world !”- Oxford Reformer's,
p. 212. To this it is obvious to
reply that every “divine of reputa-
tion” intimately known to Erasmus
will not fit the conditions of the
case ; he must also have charge of
a school, and not as master, but
with a master in his pay; in short,
he must be exactly in the position
in which Colet was with respect to
St. Paul's, School: and, secondly,
that Erasmus does not hold up any
one to the scorn of the world, as he
mentions no names.
21 Ep. cxxviii.
224
BERNARD ANDREAS.
And to this Erasmus replies that he wants only “a
small comfortable room, well protected from the winds,
and with a bright hearth. I shall cater for myself in
my usual way. I should not wish you to say anything
on this subject at present ; still, if you can find out any-
thing, I should be glad to know whether my patron has
paid Bernard those twenty nobles : for this affair makes
me dread coming to London, as I hate nothing so much
as being dunned. Still you may treat with him for a ::
lodging if you should happen to meet him." 22
Bernard Andreas, the blind poet above mentioned,
had been Prince Arthur's tutor, and Poet Laureate
under Henry VII. He had acted very unkindly
towards Linacre, having done everything he could to
prejudice the King against him, and had thus incurred
the hostility of Erasmus. Linacre, it seems, had
written a translation of Proclus on the Sphere, which
he presented to Henry VII., but Bernard having in-
formed the King that the book had been translated
before-which was literally true, only the previous
translation was a miserable production-the King not
only took no notice of the present, but conceived
an unconquerable aversion to Linacre, whom he ever
afterwards looked upon as an impostor:23 What was
the exact nature of Erasmus's obligation to Bernard
does not appear. It has been assunied that he had
lodged with him, and that Bernard had over-charged
him for his board ; and this may possibly have been the
case. 24 What is certain is, that he owed him money
Y
22 Ep. cxli.
23 Er. Op. iii. 1263, D.
24 KNIGHT'S Life of Erasmus,
p. 118. This, however, is merely
Knight's inference from the two
passages above quoted, and these
passages rather point to an opposite
conclusion.
À CRUEL EPIGRAM.
225
which he was unable to repay, and that Mountjoy was
at length obliged to come to his help and settle the
claim. Erasmus took his revenge on Bernard by
writing an epigram on him, in which he was cruel
enough to make reference to his infirmity. At least,
although his name is not mentioned, it was no doubt
well understood that he was the subject of the follow-
ing. couplet on "a blind corrector of tragedies :".
Cur adeo, lector, crebris offendere mendis?
Qui castigavit, lumine captus erat. 25
Which may be translated, -
Complain not, reader, if some faults you find :
The reason is, the critic's eyes were blind.
Ammonius appears to have kept Erasmus pretty
well informed of what was going on in the world, and
Erasmus is frequent in his requests for the latest
political news. The following sentences, with their
somewhat ghastly jest at the expense of the unfortunate
heretics, afford us a glimpse, by no means attractive,
of the London of the sixteenth century:-
"Jupiter must be very angry with us, for it is rain-
ing day and night, and hardly ever leaves off. It has,
indeed, moderated the severity of the pestilence. But
unless the magistrates apply a remedy, a famine will
ensue, which is in no respect a lighter evil. I am not
surprised that the price of wood is raised, so many.
heretics are offered up every day, and they are still
increasing ; why, even my own brother Thomas, who
is more of a clod than a man, has founded a sect for-
sooth, and has his disciples. But let us pass to Italian
affairs," and then he proceeds to give an account of the
26 Er. Op. i. 1221, E.
VOL. I.
226
THE HOLY LEAGUE.
league recently formed at Rome between the Pope, the
King of Spain, and the Venetians.26 This was the Holy
League, formed by Julius II. towards the close of the
year 1511, for the purpose of expelling the French
from Italy.
These were indeed exciting times, and important
events were taking place, which Erasmus, among his
books at Cambridge, anxiously watched through what-
ever means of information-chiefly private correspond-
ence-the age afforded. On the 17th of November,
1511, Henry VIII. joined the league, and in the course
of the following year occurred the battle of Ravenna,
almost equally disastrous to the defeated allies and to the
French, who, though victorious, lost the flower of their
army and their brilliant young general, Gaston de
Foix; and in consequence of which the French were
ultimately compelled to abandon their conquests in
Italy and to leave the country. The year 1513, which
we are now approaching, was marked by the death of
Julius II., on the 27th of February, and the accession
of Cardinal John de' Medici, under the name of Leo X.,
to the Papal throne; by renewed attempts on the part
of Louis XII. of France to establish himself in Italy,
and recover Milan, and his signal overthrow at the
battle of Novara ; and by the brilliant successes of the
Flodden, where James IV., with the flower of the
Scottish nobility, perished.
Meantime Ammonius was trying to make his way
at Court, but not succeeding as speedily as he desired,
he was sometimes inclined to regret that he had ever
left Rome. Erasmus, however, assures him that with
26 Ep. cxxvii.
ADVICE TO A COURTIER.
227
such gifts as his he cannot fail to rise to the highest
position, and in answer to his inquiries he gives him the
following sarcastic advice :-“First of all, harden your
brow until you have lost all sense of shame. Then mix
yourself in everybody's business. Elbow aside whom-
soever you can. Neither love nor hate any one in
earnest, but let your interest be the universal standard,
and the sole end towards which all your actions are
directed. Give nothing unless you can hope to get it
back with interest, and be complaisant with everybody
in everything. i ... Have two strings to your bow.
Employ people to come about you as if they were
entreating your services. Threaten to leave, and get
everything ready for your departure. Show letters in
which you are invited with great promises, and go away
sometimes in order that your loss may be felt in your
absence.” 27
Ammonius, having at length obtained the post of
Latin secretary to the King, accompanied his master in
the short and brilliant campaign which began with the
Battle of the Spurs and ended with the capture of
Terouenne and Tournay. While thus employed he
found time to keep his friends in England supplied with
graphic pictures of camp life, at which Erasmus laughed
heartily. “But pray, my dear Ammonius," he writes,
“ remember the advice I gave you in my last, to fight at
a safe distance. Be as fierce as you please with the
pen, and run through ten thousand of the enemy in
one day. I am so delighted at our success that I have
no words to express it.” In the same letter Erasmus
gives us some hint of the studies which had occupied
him at Cambridge. “My mind," he says, “is in such a
27 Ep. cxlii.
.
228
AMMONIUS SENDS ERASMUS
glow over Jerome, whose works I am emending and
illustrating with notes, that I could fancy myself
actually inspired. I have now emended almost the
whole by the collation of a large number of old manu-
scripts. And I am doing this at my own expense,
which I assure you is no joke.” 28 And in another letter
he writes, “I am fighting as hard with the misreadings
of Seneca and Jerome, as you are with the French." 29
The following amusing letter from Ammonius, written
on his return to London, is sufficiently characteristic to
deserve translation :
ANDREAS AMMONIUS to ERASMUS. 30
“ London, Nov. 24, 1515 [? 1513].
“I GOT three letters from you in the camp, which
pleased me better even than the flight of the French.
I answered the first in true military style; but I don't
know whether you got my letter. To your last, which
was delivered to me just on my departure from France,
when we were marching back for the triumph, .I made
no reply; nevertheless I have executed your commis-
sions. For I was very particular in giving your respects
to the Abbot of St. Bertin, and I read over to him
the whole long catalogue of the friends you had met at
his house. He cheered up most wonderfully at the
name of Erasmus; indeed I can compare it to nothing
but a widowed mother hearing news of a son who had
been long absent. He laid hold of me, and, as there
were a good many people there, he drew me aside, and
made a great many most friendly inquiries about you. ·
At length he asked how you were getting on in Eng-
28 Ep. cxix. 29 Ep. cxxix. 80 Ep. clxxxvi.
A FLAGON OF WINE.
229
land, and I told him, what was the fact that your success
was far below your deserts. In one word, he seemed
full of affection towards you. I then went to see the
Master of the Rolls, and showed him what you had
' written about him. I gave him the book of Plutarch,
for which he returned thanks in two or three words;
and being very much engaged, as it seemed, he hurried
off, and I had no other opportunity of speaking
to him.
“As soon as I touched English soil I began asking
for you, and where you were. As you wrote that you
had run away from Cambridge to escape the plague,
Cambridge on account of the plague, and had gone to
some place where you were in great distress because
you could get no wine; and that, thinking the want of
wine a worse evil than the plague, you had returned to
Cambridge, and were there now. O brave comrade of
Bacchus, who would not abandon your general in the
hour of danger! Wherefore I send you, as a present
from your commander, a flagon of Cretan wine, worthy
of Jupiter himself, and made of milk and nectar, which
you shall have an opportunity of drinking in larger
quantities if you come here soon. But as to your con-
gratulations on my increased fortune, you do not act
like a friend unless you congratulate yourself at the
same time, though you do not use it as your own; and
I, in my turn, congratulate you, as well on many other
accounts as on those ten gold pieces which Durham
gave you, not so much for the value of the gift, as
because he is not wont to be so liberal except to those
of whom he is particularly fond; but as to his not
having answered a word when you spoke about me, I
230
ERASMUS WRITES TO AMMONIUS
TAT
am not surprised, and yet I know not the cause. For a
little before he left our camp he expressed some indig-
nation with me, but how he came by it I cannot divine.
So long, however, as I do my own duty and am without
fault, I shall not be very anxious how this or the other
feels. towards me.
"I have a great deal more to say in answer to your
letters, and, besides, a whole sackful of trifles which I
want to pour into your bosom. . . . Farewell, my dearest
Erasmus. Love me as ever. I shall have my revenge
on you for calling me ‘most valiant.'”
To this Erasmus replied in a letter from which the
following extracts may suffice :-
ERASMUS to AMMONIUS. 31
“ Cambridge, Nov. 28, 1511 [? 1513].
“... I AM charmed that you should not have quite
forgotten me in the great hurry and bustle you have
been in, and that you should have paid so much atten-
tion to my foolish commands; and though that is
nothing new for you, I admire your good-nature and
accept your kindness to myself as much as if it were. I
am quite as much obliged to you for the wine as if I
had received it. I wonder, however, that you should
trust anything of that kind to those rascals whose
treachery you have more than once experienced. The
groom who delivered the letter declares that no flagon
was given to him.32 : . . I am prevented from coming.
31 Ep. cxxxi.
to be an interpolation from another
32 The words which follow here letter, which has been lost, and are
-“Respondit • Aovvelualos, sed clearly referred to in the preceding
oidły npòs froS," &c. -would seem letter from Ammonius.
DESCRIBING HIS LIFE AT CAMBRIDGE.
231
which is a
to London before Christmas, partly by the plague, and
partly by the highway robberies, of which England is
now full. ...
“Come, you call me most holy,' which is an
outrage on the supreme Pontiff! But what epithet is
there that would better fit a soldier and a conqueror
than most valiant ?' If you had whole wagon-loads
of trifles, to say nothing of sackfuls, you would never
satisfy me, if I should have the good luck to have a
talk with you. . . . I, my dear Ammonius, have been
ould better Pontiff! But
home and buried in my books. Cambridge is a coni-
plete desert;, most of the men are away for fear of the
plague, though, when they are all here, even then it is a
desert. The expense is intolerable, and there is not a
farthing to get. Now, suppose I have sworn this by
everything sacred. It is not yet five months since I
came here, and in that time I have spent sixty nobles.
I have received just one from some of my hearers, and
this much against my inclination. I am determined, in
these winter months, to leave no stone unturned, and, as
they say, to cast my sheet-anchor. If I succeed, I shall
provide for myself some comfortable retreat; but if not,
I am determined to fly hence, I know not whither; if
nothing else, at least to die elsewhere. Farewell.”
The Master of the Rolls mentioned in the above
letter of Ammonius was Dr. John Young, Dean of York,
to whom Erasmus dedicated his translation of Plutarch's
“ Precepts for the Preservation of Health.” 33
During his stay in England, at this time, Erasmus,
it seems, would sometimes seek relief from incessant
83 KNIGHT'S Life of Erasmus, p. 174. Er. Op. iv. 29.
. 232.
PILGRIMAGE TO WALSINGHAM;
TI
toil by an occasional excursion into the country, in
company with some friend or another. Thus it hap-
pened that in one of his summer vacations, curiosity
led him to go on a pilgrimage to the celebrated shrine
of Our Lady of Walsingham, where he hung up a votive
poem in Greek in her honour. His experiences on this
occasion were afterwards embodied in one of his Familiar
Colloquies, in which he minutely describes the elegant
but unfinished church, about three miles from the sea,
with the winds sweeping through its open doors and
windows, the small wooden chapel of the Virgin, dimly
lighted with wax-candles and filled with a most fragrant
odour, the altar adorned with gems and gold and silver,
and the priest standing by to see after the offerings and
to scowl on those who offered nothing. Here he was
shown, on one side of the church, a small door, which it
would be impossible to enter without stooping, but
through which he was assured an armed knight, after
invoking the aid of the Virgin, had passed on horse-
back; while on another side there was another small
chapel filled with most precious relics, where he saw a
joint of St. Peter's finger, large enough to have belonged
to a giant. His profane remark that St. Peter must
have been a very big man, eliciting a burst of laughter
from one of his companions, might have brought him
into trouble, and nearly put a stop to the exhibition.
The verger, however, was appeased by a present of a few
coins, and then proceeded to point out a shed in front
of the church, which he said had made its appearance
there quite suddenly in winter-time, when the ground
was covered with snow, and under which there were
two wells of exceedingly cold water, possessed of great
virtue, and excellent for curing complaints of the head
A
SCEPTICISM OF ERASMUS.
233
or stomach. On being asked whether it had been long
there, he told them for some centuries. “And yet,"
said Erasmus, “the walls do not look very old ; the
thatch seems comparatively new; nor do these cross-
beams look as if they had been there a great many
years." To silence their doubts, the verger pointed to
a very old bearskin nailed on the boards, and smiled
at their dulness in being blind to so obvious a proof.
Apologizing for their stupidity, the party then turned to
look at the Virgin's milk, which was shown them in a
glass globe. Erasmus thought it looked like chalk
mixed with the white of an egg, and mischievously
prompted a young Cambridge friend who accompanied
him, named Robert Aldridge, to ask how he could prove
vouchsafed, but on the question being repeated in the
gentlest way, the monk exclaimed, in a tone of horror,
“What need to ask such questions when you have the
tablet before you to vouch for it ? ” at the same time
pointing to a tablet above the altar; and he would at once
have expelled them from the church had not a piece
of silver, for the second time, allayed his rising anger.
Returning to the church after dinner, they found that :
the tablet told a long story of how the milk had been
brought from Constantinople to Paris, where an English-
man, into whose care it was given, obtained the half of
the original quantity from the canons there, and, having
brought it with him to his own country, gave it to the
brethren at Walsingham. This milk was peculiarly pre-
cious because it was caught direct from the Virgin's breast,
and not, as in other instances, gathered from the ground.
Nor did Erasmus fail to present his offering of verses.
Returning on another occasion, he saw them hanging up
234
PILGRIMAGE TO THE SHRINE
A
in the church; and being questioned whether it was he
who had presented a votive tablet in Hebrew characters
about two years before, knowing that the monks called
everything Hebrew which they did not understand, he
admitted that it was. He was then assured that it had
excited a great deal of curiosity among the pilgrims,
one learned man having pronounced it Arabic, another
declaring that the characters were fictitious, till at
length one came who was able to decipher the title,
which was in Roman letters. Erasmus then translated
the ode into Latin verse, and refused to take the reward
which was offered him, declaring that he would gladly
do anything for the Virgin, even if it should be to carry
her letters to Jerusalem. At last he was prevailed on
to accept a fragment of wood cut from a log on which
she had been known to rest. 34
On another occasion he visited, in company with
Colet, the celebrated shrine of St. Thomas à Becket at
Canterbury, where he reverentially kissed the sacred
rust on the spear-head with which Becket was slain,
saw the martyr's skull enclosed in a silver casket, in-
spected his hair shirt, his girdle, and his drawers, and
kissed his handkerchief; and where Colet gave great
offence by asking whether Becket had not been in his
8.4 Coll. Fam., Peregrinatio Reli- either occasion would be much the
gionis ergo. The first pilgrimage to same, nor would chronological ex-
is evident from Ep. cxiv., in which
le announces his intention to Am-
monius. It is the second, which
took place two years later, when
them into humorous dialogue; if,
indeed, the second visit may not
have been purely imaginary. The
letter to Ammonius just cited con-
ode mistaken for Hebrew, that is
more particularly described in the
Colloquy. But the incidents on
reference in his epistles to the pil-
grimage to Walsingham.
OF ST. THOMAS À BECKET.
235
· lifetime very kind to the poor, and suggesting that, as
he could not have since changed his character except
for the better, it could not fail to gratify him if the
poor were permitted to help themselves to some of the
wealth with which he was now surrounded. 35
Such, then, were the experiences which Erasmus
was storing up for future use during his vacation
rambles, while filling the Lady Margaret's Divinity
chair at Cambridge. He now, however, as appears
from the following letter to his old friend, the Abbot
of St. Bertin, received an intimation that his return to
his own country would be agreeable to the Court of
Brussels ; and it was probably at the same time or
soon afterwards that he was appointed Councillor to
Prince Charles.
ERASMUS to ANTHONY À BERGIS, Abbot of St. Bertin.36
" London, March 14, 1513 [? 1514].
"I HAVE heard, most learned father, from the Bishop
of Durham, and from Andreas Ammonius, the King's
Secretary, of your affection and truly fatherly love for
me : on which account I am the more anxious to return
to my country, provided only the Prince can give me
,an income sufficient for my humble wants. Not that I
am tired of England or dissatisfied with my patrons.
I have here, too, a number of friends, and many of the
bishops have shown me no common kindness ; but
particularly the Archbishop of Canterbury, who could
not possibly be kinder or more affectionate if he were
my father or brother. By his gift, I have a pretty
good pension, which I draw from a benefice I resigned.
My other patron adds as much more from his own
35 Coll. Fam., Peregrinatio Religionis ergo. 36 Ep. cxliv.
n
236
LETTER TO THE ABBOT OF ST. BERTIN.
.
means. I get a good deal from the kindness of the
nobility, and would get much more if I were willing to
pay my court a little ; but the genius of the people of
this island is rapidly changing, owing to the prepara-
tions for war. Everything is rising in price every day,
while liberality is proportionately decreasing. How,
indeed, can men who are so often decimated avoid
growing parsimonious ? Lately, too, I nearly got my
death for want of wine, having brought on a fit of the
gravel by the wretched stuff I was compelled to drink.
Besides, it is always a kind of banishment to live in an
island, and now we are more closely confined than ever...
by war, so that even letters cannot pass out. I see,
also, great disturbances likely to arise, the issue of
which it is impossible to predict. Oh! that God would
be merciful and still this storm which is raging in the
Christian world. I often wonder what it is that urges,
I will not say Christians, but men to such a pitch of
madness that they will make every effort, incur any
expense, and meet the greatest dangers, for their
our lives but waging war? We are worse than the
dumb animals, for among them it is only the wild
beasts that wage. war, and even they do not fight
among themselves, but with beasts of a different species,
and that with the weapons with which nature has
furnished them ; not as we do, with machines invented
by the art of the devil, nor for all manner of causes, but
either in defence of their young or for food. Can we,
who glory in the name of Christ, whose precepts and
example taught us only gentleness, we who are members
of one body, who are one flesh, and grow by the same
spirit, who are nourished by the same sacraments,
ERASMUS DENOUNCES WAR..
237
1.
4
attached to the same head, and called to the same
immortality, and who hope for that highest communion,
that, as Christ and the Father are one, so we also may
be one in Him-can we, I say, think anything in this
world of such value that it should provoke us to war?-
a thing so ruinous, so hateful, that even when it is most
just, no truly good man can approve of it. Pray
consider by whom it is carried on-by homicides,
gamblers, scoundrels of every kind, by the lowest class
of hirelings, who care more for a little gain than for their
lives. It is such as these that make the best soldiers,
since they only do for pay and for glory what they
did before at their own risk. These off-scourings of
mankind must be received into your fields, into your
cities, to enable you to carry on war. In short, we
must put ourselves at the mercy of these men, while we
desire to revenge ourselves on some one else. Add to
this the crimes which are committed under the pretext
of war, since 'amid the din of arms good laws are
silent,' — how many robberies, sacrileges, rapes, and
other disgraceful deeds such as one is ashamed even to
mention. This corruption of morals must needs last
for many years, even after the war is over. Then think
of the expense, so that, even if you conquer, you still
lose far more than you gain ;—what kingdom, indeed,
could you put against the life and blood of so many
thousand human beings? ...
“This is the proper office of the Roman Pontiff, the
Cardinals, the Bishops, and the Abbots, to compose the
dissensions of Christian princes; they should in these
cases declare their authority, and show how much power
they have in virtue of the reverence paid them. Julius,
who was certainly not universally esteemed, aroused
238
ERASMUS DISAPPOINTED WITH ENGLAND; .
this storm of war; shall not Leo, a learned, upright,
and pious man, be able to allay it? ... What do
you suppose the Turks will think of us when they hear
of Christian princes falling out so ,furiously with one
another, and that for a title to empire ? Italy is now
delivered from the French. What has been accom-
plished by so much bloodshed, except that where the
Gaul ruled before, some one else rules now? The
country, too, was more flourishing before than it is now.
But I will not go more deeply into these matters. ....
For my own part, whatever income I have, I derive it
from England; but I would willingly resign the whole
of it, on this condition—that a Christian peace might be
cemented among Christian princes. To this result your
own influence, which has great weight with Prince
Charles, and still more with Maximilian, and which is
respected by the English nobility, will contribute in no
small degree: Nor do I doubt that you have yourself
already experienced what losses even friends may occa-
sion while war is going on. So that you will be acting
for your own interest in using your utmost efforts that
this war may be brought to a conclusion, and will be
well repaid for your labour. I will fly to embrace you
as soon as I shall be allowed to escape from this.
Meantime, farewell, most respected father.”
On the whole, England had not turned out the land
flowing with milk and honey which Erasmus had ex-
pected. Probably, as he was always willing to confess,
he was himself to blame for his comparative want of
success. It may be that if he had been somewhat
more of an adept in paying his addresses personally to
the great-in writing no one could flatter more ele-
HIS ADVANCES TO WOLSEY..
239
gantly–he might have reaped more ample harvests
from their liberality; and that if he could have con-
sented to leave his studies for a few months in order to
dance attendance at court, he might have had any
number of church-livings he chose. Yet it may well
have been that the publication of the "Praise of Folly"
destroyed all his chance of preferment. How could a
man who had said such sharp things about the Church
be put into high office in it? Such is not the stuff of
which bishops or even deans are made. In our own
days it seems impossible to promote a man who has in
any way attacked or dissented from any part of the
Church doctrine or discipline, or even run counter to
popular opinion in these matters; and assuredly great
offence would have been taken had any special favour
been shown to the author of the Moria. It is clear
that Erasmus never stood high in the good graces of the
ruling favourite at the English court. Wolsey, indeed,
could scarcely like a man who handled the high ecclesi-
astical dignitaries so freely, and taught with so much
earnestness that cardinals should be humble and unos-
tentatious. And, in fact, he seems never to have given
him anything. Yet Erasmus made advances to Wolsey
more than once, and sent him a piece translated from
Plutarch with a flattering dedication.37 This was appa-
rently a year or two later than our narrative has yet
carried us, and at a time when honours were coming so
thick on Wolsey that Erasmus was obliged, he tells us,
to alter the dedication three times before presenting it.
Wolsey did, indeed, at one time promise him a prebend
at Tournay, but he changed his mind and gave it to
some one else, promising Erasmus a better one. This
37 De utilitate capienda ab inimicis.-Er. Op. iv. 23.
240
ARCHBISHOP WARHAM
promise, however, was never fulfilled ; 38 and Erasmus,
though he speaks of the singular favour which the
cardinal. had always shown him, says distinctly that he
was never one whit the richer by his munificencé. 39
It is not altogether easy to understand what it was
that Erasmus expected, or what he complained of; and
perhaps he did not very well know himself. He only
knew that he had allowed his imagination to run on the
"heaps of gold” which were awaiting him in England,
and that when he had made up his mind to settle in
England the heaps of gold had vanished into thin air.
It is difficult to suppose that even if a bishopric had
been offered him he would have accepted it; to have
fulfilled its duties. would have been uncongenial to his
tastes, and without a knowledge of the English language,
even in those days, impossible.
Yet once, as we shall see hereafter, he had a narrow
escape of being made a bishop, without his consent-
not, however, in England, but in Sicily. · No wonder if
he thought it a good joke. It would not have suited
him at all, nor, as he declared in all seriousness, would
the world.
Indeed, he was far too conscientious, and had the
interests of the Church far too much at heart, to take
any office as a mere sinecure. Accordingly, when War-
ham, in fulfilment of his promise, offered him the
38 Er. Op. iii. 1523, C; 1545, E. ditior.”—Cat. Luc. In regard,
89 “ Cardinali Eboracensi, cui however, to the prebend at Tournay,
me nihil non debere, ob singularem
favorem, quo me jam olim prose-
quitur ; et tamen hactenus ex illius
munificentia non sum pilo factus
from which it appears that Erasmus
was unable or unwilling to fulfil the
conditions attached to the benefice.
OFFERS ERASMUS A BENEFICE.
241
241
rectory of Aldington, in Kent, afterwards notorious in
connection with the history of the Holy Maid of Kent,
who belonged to the town, he refused it on the ground
that his ignorance of the English language would pre-
vent him from discharging the duties of a pastor, nor
was he willing to draw a pension from a parish to which
he rendered no service in return. The Archbishop met
his scruples by assuring him that he did far more good
to the Church by his books than he could by preaching
to a little country congregation, and that no wrong was
done if he received, in reward for his labours, a small
portion of the Church's revenues. He promised, more-
over, that the interests of the parish should not be
neglected, and he kept his word by putting it in charge
of a young priest of good character and of some
draw a pension of twenty pounds annually from the
parish of Aldington, and this was the only English
living from which he ever derived any income. 40
There was, however, one way in which his wishes
might have been amply gratified, and in which, it is
more than probable, he himself expected to find an
escape from poverty and the honourable reward of his
labours for the advancement of learning. Henry VIII.
might, of his own munificence, have bestowed on him
40 Er. Op. v.678. KNIGHT, p. 155-
in Kent, to which Erasmus was
collated to the rectory of Aldington that the previous incumbent was
ss the 22 of March, the end of the Master John Alan, who freely
year 1511." I suppose this would resigned March 22, 1511, while, on
mean 1512. See, in Knight's Ap- , July 31, 1512, Erasmus resigned,
pendix, the " instruments taken out and got the pension of 201., John
of Archbishop Warham's Register, Thorneton, the Archbishop's suf-
relating to the rectory of Aldyngton, fragan, having been presented.
VOL. I.
16
242 .
*EXPECTATIONS OF ERASMUS
such a liberal pension as would have secured his inde-
pendence, and enabled him to live in a style adequate
to the place which he held in the literary world, and by
so doing he might have retained in his kingdom the
greatest literary luminary of the age, and would cer-
tainly have done honour to himself and to England.
· Erasmus frequently complains of having been induced
to come to England by promises which were never
fulfilled, and whether any promises had been actually
made him or not, he may have referred to some par-
ticular personage who might reasonably have been
expected to confer upon him some distinguished favour;
and indeed in one place he speaks of having been
betrayed by some one who had made him repeated
promises, but whom he does not name. He cannot
have. referred to Warham, with whom he never finds
fault, and who seems to have been lavish in his gene-
rosity, nor to Mountjoy, from whom he had a pension,
nor to More, from whom he seems to have expected
nothing. It was probably, then, some one too great to
name, whom he considered as having especially deceived
him; and Erasmus was sometimes heard to say that it
was the duty of kings to aid the studies of literary men
by setting them above want, but that they were too
ready to save their own revenues by having recourse to
church livings, which scholars were obliged to accept in
order to secure the leisure they needed for their studies. 41
On the other hand, Henry, who was far too munificent
41 “ Sane plus semel Erasmum
dicerememini, Principum esse debere
officium, ut propria liberalitate stu-
diosos juvent; sed illos suis impensis
parsuros ad sacerdotiorum colla-
tionem confugere, ad quæ accipienda
sectatores disciplinarum cogi, ut
otium literarium tueri queant."
BEAT. RHEN. Ep. Car. Cæs.
FROM HIS ENGLISH PATRONS.
.243
to grudge the money, if he had supposed there was a
who was no courtier, and of whom he saw but little, had
done nothing to deserve a reward at his hands; and if
Wolsey was unfriendly or indifferent, that would suffi-
ciently account for the King showing him no favour.
While in England, Erasmus dedicated to Henry only
one unimportant work-his translation of Plutarch's
treatise on distinguishing a friend from a flatterer 42_
but whether because he was himself too sparing of
flattery, or the King, full of his ambitious schemes, had
no leisure just then to bestow on the pursuits of litera-
ture, it would not appear that he received any acknow-
ledgment. Some years afterwards, however, on receiving
the third edition of his work, Henry sent him a present
if he would return to his kingdom. 43
It must not, of course, be supposed that Erasmus,
notwithstanding his constant complaints, was really
poor, except by comparison. But he liked to live com-
fortably, he was fond of good wine--indeed, he main-
tained that his health required it--and his frequent.
journeys on horseback must have been very expensive.
Sometimes he begged or borrowed a horse from a friend,
but while he was at Cambridge we find him once keeping
two horses, which, he says, were much better cared for
than their owner, as well as two servants, who were much
more elegantly dressed than their master. His con-
42 De discrimine adulatoris et autem fortunam meis meritis longè
amici.—Er. Op. iv. I.
majorem. Ceterum multo post
43 Ep. cclxviii. cccxiii. Conf. Cat.. jam oblito dedicationis illius misit
Luc. -" Huic (Henrico octavo) me Angelatos sexaginta, impulsu vel
puto tantum debere, quantum ob- admonitu potius Joannis Coleti.”
tulit, si voluissem accipere ; obtulit
244 ERASMUS PREPARES TO LEAVE ENGLAND;
NT
ITY
tinual correspondence must have cost him a considerable
sum in those days, and associating constantly with great
men, he could not make a mean appearance. So long, ·
therefore, as he had no fixed income to depend on save
Lord Mountjoy's pension of one hundred crowns, it is
no wonder if he sometimes felt himself a little straitened,
and looked anxiously round for a rich man whom he
might make his prey. Now, however, he had also his
pension from the parish of Aldington, amounting to
another one hundred crowns, and he confesses to having
received from the Archbishop of Canterbury more than
four hundred nobles during the few years he had been
in England. 44 The sale of his works, too, must have
brought him in a considerable sum, which would now
be increasing every year, and, besides, there were the
presents which he was continually receiving from one or
another of his wealthy patrons. For the present, then,
Erasmus was at any rate raised above poverty and was
likely to remain so, as long as Warham lived.
Whether he could have been induced to take up his re-
sidence permanently in this country, even had his utmost
hopes been fulfilled, may well be doubted. At any rate
he must have left it frequently to seek the advantages
offered abroad for the publication of his works, and as
old age drew on and health became worse, such long
journeys would have been found impossible. In truth,
the press in England was too far behind the press on the
Continent to admit of any of his more important works
being printed in this country ; and so, early in the year
1514, having completed his labours on St. Jerome, and
hearing at the same time that Froben, the celebrated
printer of Basle, was actually engaged in printing the
44 Ep. Pat. Servatio.
HIS INTERVIEW WITH CANOSSA.
245
entire works of that father, Erasmus packed up his
manuscripts, bade farewell to his English friends, and
took his departure for the Continent. It must have
been immediately before leaving London that he dined
in company with Cardinal Canossa, who had come over
as Papal legate to endeavour to negotiate peace between
the kings of France and England, and with the amusing
account which Erasmus has left of this interview I shall
conclude the present chapter. He had been invited to
dinner by his friend Ammonius, and finding, on his
arrival, a stranger in the dress of a private gentleman,
with his hair tied up in a net, and attended only by one
presence of a person of any importance. Nor did his
host undeceive him. He chatted with Ammonius, and,
wondering at the military bearing of the stranger, at
length asked in Greek who he was. “Oh! a great.
merchant,” said Ammonius in the same language. “I
thought so," replied Erasmus, and took no further
notice of him. “We then sat down to dinner," he con-
tinues, “Canossa taking the precedency, and I sitting
next him, and during the entire meal I talked familiarly
with Ammonius, as my manner is, but took no pains to
conceal my contempt for the merchant. At length I
asked Andreas whether the report was true that a legate
had come from Leo X. to put an end to the dissension
between the kings of France and England, to which he
answered in the affirmative. “The supreme Pontiff,' I
went on, 'has no need of my advice, but if he had asked
advised ?' inquired Ammonius. 'It would have been
better,' I answered, “if no mention had been made of
peace. Why so?' 'Because,' said I, 'peace cannot
246
DISDAIN OF ERASMUS
be made all at once, and in the meantime, while the
rulers are treating about terms, the soldiers, at the mere
suspicion of peace, run into greater excesses than during
war. By a truce, on the other hand, the soldiers' hands
are tied at once. Now, I should propose a truce for
three years, during which the terms of an enduring
covenant might be discussed at leisure.' Andreas
assented, and said, 'I believe that is just what the legate
is doing.': I then returned to the subject, on which I
had not yet got any clear answer. “Is he a Cardinal ?'
I asked. “What makes you think so ?' replied he. “Be-
he asked again. 'I am acquainted with you here,' I
replied; 'if, after some years, we should meet in
Brabant, would you ask how I knew you?' Here they
smiled at one another, while I had not the least sus-
picion. Then I pressed him to tell me whether he was
really a Cardinal. Ammonius equivocated, and at last
said, 'He has the mind of a Cardinal.' "That is some-
thing,' said I, with a smile, 'to have a Cardinal's mind.'
All this and much more Canossa listened to in silence;
then he said something in Italian, and presently intro-
duced a few Latin words, but still in such a way that
you might have fancied he was nothing more than a
merchant with some little learning. As I made no
you should choose to live here among this barbarous
people, unless indeed you prefer to be alone here to
being first at Rome.' Astonished to hear so acute an
observation from a merchant, I replied that I was living
in a country where there were a great many men of
distinguished learning, among whom I was content to
occupy the lowest place, whereas at Rome I should be
FOR THE SUPPOSED MERCHANT.
247
nowhere. I said this, and more to the same effect,
because I felt a little nettled by the remark of the mer-
chant, and I think some good genius must have stood
my friend; otherwise Ammonius, who knew very well
how freely I blurt out among my friends whatever
comes to my lips, might have exposed me to the greatest
risk.” A few days afterwards Erasmus learned from
his friend that the merchant whom he had treated with
such marked disdain was no other than Canossa him-
self, the very legate about whom he had been making
such curious inquiries; that the Cardinal had conceived
the highest opinion of him, and even wished him to
accompany him to Rome. Of this, however, Erasmus
would not hear. It would seem that he never wished
to see Canossa again after such an awkward adventure;
nor was he at all pleased with Ammonius for having
played him such a trick. As he very truly observed,
he might have made some remark on the Pope or on
the legate himself, which might have turned greatly to
his disadvantage. 45 Canossa, on the other hand, was
evidently much taken with his new acquaintance, and a
year or two afterwards, having been made Bishop of
Bayeux, he sent him a pressing invitation to come and -
live with him, promising him, besides a pension of two
hundred ducats a year, his expenses, and the keep of
two horses and a servant. This invitation, however, as
all others that threatened to interfere with his liberty,
Erasmus declined. 46
46 Ep. mccxxxix.
16 Ep. ccxxiv. ccvi.
( 248 )
CHAPTER IX.
LETTER TO AMMONIUS ERASMUS REFUSES TO RETURN TO STEYN —
ADVENTURE NEAR GHENT_VISITS STRASBURG-SCHELESTADT-
BASLE - ACQUAINTANCE WITH FROBEN - ZASIUS - ZWINGLE —
ECOLAMPADIUS-PIRCKHEIMER—THE CHRISTIAN PRINCE-JOHN
REUCHLIN --- LETTERS TO RAPHAEL AND GRIMANI – TO POPE
LEO X.
ERASMUS to ANDREAS AMMONIUS. 1
“ The Castle of Hamme, Fuly 8, 1514.
"I CALLED at your house more than once, my dearest
friend, to bid you a last farewell, and at the same time
to enjoy your conversation—which, indeed, has been
one of the greatest pleasures I have had in life--as
long as I could. I had a very good passage, but one
also which caused me some anxiety. The sea was
perfectly calm, the wind in our favour, the sky clear,
and the hour most convenient, for we set sail about
seven o'clock. But those robbers of the sea, the
custom-house officers, carried off my portmanteau,
filled with my writings, into another ship. I believe
they do this kind of thing purposely, in order to purloin
something, should they have the opportunity, or, if not,
to extort a few coins by selling you your own property.
Accordingly, believing that the work of so many years
was gone for ever, I was in as great grief as I should
fancy the fondest parent could possibly be for the loss
1 Ep. clix.
ERASMUS AT THE CASTLE OF HAMME.
249
of his children. And, indeed, in all other things they
treat strangers in such a way that it would be better to
fall into the hands of the Turks than get into their
clutches. I am often surprised that the kings of
England should tolerate such scoundrels, who not only.
give great annoyance to strangers, but bring disgrace
on the whole island, seeing that every one tells at home
how. inhumanly he has been treated, and others form
their judgment of the nation from the doings of these
robbers.
“I don't know whether I told you that I paid my
respects to the King's Majesty. He received me with
the most friendly looks, and the Bishop of Lincoln then
bade me be of good hope and confident. He said
nothing, however, about making me a present; nor did
I venture to put in a word on that subject lest I should
be thought impudent. Durham gave me a present of
six angels as I was going away, and this, if I mistake
not, is the fourth sum of like amount that I have
received from him. The Archbishop sought an oppor-
tunity and gave me an equal sum. Rochester gave me
a real; and that is the whole of what I have carried
away with me. I wished you to know this, lest it
should have been supposed that I had taken advantage
of my leaving England to amass a large sum of money.
“I am now at the castle of Hamme, where I intend
to stay a few days with my friend Mountjoy, after
which I shall proceed to Germany, only stopping to
call on two or three friends on my way. If my fortune
should correspond with my own wishes and the pro-
mises of others, I shall return soon ; but if not, I must
adapt my plans to circumstances. God grant that I
may return safe, and that I may find my friend
· 250
ERASMUS REFUSES
Ammonius not only safe, but loaded with the richest gifts
of fortune. If you should ever have an opportunity of
advancing the interests of your friend Erasmus, I feel
sure you will do the same for him in his absence as you
have always done for him whether absent or present..
Farewell, dearest friend.”
n
· While Erasmus was wandering about the world,
labouring hard in the cause of letters and associating
with great men, meantime he was not altogether for-
gotten by his brethren in the humble Augustinian
convent of Steyn, nor, it would seem, had they quite
despaired of eventually recovering the lost sheep. At
least, one of them, named Servatius, having recently
become prior of the convent, thought it his duty to
write him a letter, pressing him to return, and rebuking
him for his unclerical habits and for having left off the
dress of his order. This letter reached him while he
was at the castle of Hamme. As his answer, which, of
course, was a refusal, has already been made use of for
some particulars in his life, it will not be necessary to
reprocluce the whole of it here, but a few extracts may
be interesting
After reminding the reverend father that he had
originally become a monk greatly against his will,
Erasmus proceeds to defend his present manner of life,
and to contrast it with the habits of the monastery, to
the no small disadvantage of the latter. “I have
always," he says, “kept this in view, in what kind of
life I should be least tempted to evil, and I think I
have found it. Meantime, I have lived among sober
men; I have lived in the pursuit of letters, which have
saved me from many vices. I have enjoyed the oppor-
TO RETURN TO STEYN.
251
tunity of associating with men of a truly Christian
spirit; by whose conversation I have been improved. I
say nothing just now of my works ; but many confess
that they have been made, not only more learned, but
better, by reading them. The love of money has never
possessed me. For fame, I value it not a jot. Though
I was at one time led astray by pleasure, I have never
been its slave. Rioting and drunkenness I have always
abhorred and avoided.
“Whenever I have thought of re-entering your fra-
ternity there has occurred to me the envy on the part
of many, and the universal contempt with which I should
be overwhelmed ; I remember too the sort of talk we
used to have, so frigid; so silly, so far from the spirit of
Christianity; our drinking bouts, so unclerical; in
short, our whole manner of life, from which, if you take
away what they call the ceremonies, I know not what
good would be left. Finally, I remembered my bodily
infirmities, which are now increased by age, disease, and
toil, and which would both prevent my satisfying you
and occasion my own death. For some years past I have
been subject to the stone, a painful and indeed fatal
disease; and during the same period I have found
it impossible to drink anything but wine, nor will my
disorder permit me to drink every sort of wine. I am
compelled also to be particular as to my food and the
climate in which I live. For this is a kind of disease
which very easily returns, and which requires the utmost
care; and I am acquainted with the climate of Holland,
and with your way of living, to say nothing of your
morals. Accordingly, if I should return, I should
gain no end but to give you trouble and hasten my
own death.
252
ERASMUS APPLIES TO LEO X.
"... You wish me to have a settled abode, a thing
which advancing age also recommends. Yet we hear
the travels of Solon, Pythagoras, and Plato spoken of
approvingly. The Apostles, too, were wanderers, and
especially Paul. St. Jerome was a monk at Rome, in
Syria, in Africa, and in various other places, and he
continued his sacred studies even when his hair was
grey. I am not to be compared to him, I admit; but
nevertheless I have never changed my place except to
avoid the plague, or for the sake of learning, or for my
health, and wherever I have lived--forgive my boasting
for the sake of its truth I have met with praise and
approbation from those who were best able to bestow
them. Nor is there any country, whether Spain, Italy,
Germany, France, England, or Scotland, which does not
invite me to share its hospitality."
Erasmus then goes on to speak of his reception at
Rome, and tells how in England there was not a bishop
but was glad to have a bow from him ; how. the King
himself had written to him with his own hand; and how
the Queen desired to have him as her tutor. After
mentioning Warham, Mountjoy, and his other English
friends, he goes on to say a few words about his writings;
he next apologizes for his change of dress, and finally
thanks Servatius for his offer to look out for some retreat
for him where he may live in quiet and enjoy a large
income. “What this is," he adds, “I can't imagine,
unless you mean to set me over a nunnery, so that I,
who have never consented to serve kings or archbishops,
must become the slave of women. As to an income,
that is no inducement to me, for I don't want to become
rich, provided I have as much as my health and my
studies require, and I am not a burden to any one. ...
FOR A DISPENSATION FROM HIS VOWS.
253
I am now on my way to Germany, that is to say, to
Basle, where I intend to publish my works. Possibly I
may spend this winter in Rome. On my return I shall
try and see you somewhere ; but that is impossible at
present, as the summer is almost over, and I have a
long journey before me.
"... Farewell, my reverend father, as you now are,
my once very genial companion.” 2
So far indeed was he from thinking of again sub-
mitting his neck to the monastic yoke, that, on the
contrary, he applied to Leo X. for a dispensation from
his vows. His letter, addressed to Lambertus Grunnius,
the apostolic secretary, in which, under the name of
Florentius, he describes how he was entrapped into a
monastery against his will, and when he was too young
to be able to judge for himself, was now sent to the Pope,
who expressed his indignation against the man-stealers,
and willingly granted the request. Along with this
letter Erasmus forwarded all necessary information for
the drawing up of the diploma, and desired the secretary
to be at his ease about the expenses, which he pledged
himself to pay; the Pope, however, had given directions
that no charge should be made. The letter to Grunnius
is without a date, so that we cannot fix the exact time
when this transaction took place.3
Leaving Hamme, Erasmus spent two days with his
friend the Abbot of St. Bertin, after which he went on
to Ghent and Antwerp, in each of which cities he stayed
? ? Ep. vii. App. The letter to
Father Servatius appears in two
forms slightly different. The other
will be found in the first volume of
Le Clerc's Erasmus.
3 Ep. ccccxlii., ccccxliii. App.
The letter to Grunnius is also printed
by Jortin in his Appendix-Life of
Erasmus, iii, 1.
254
AN AWKWARD PREDICAMENT.
a few days to see his friends, and thence he proceeded
to Bergen, where he visited the Prince de Vere and his
mother.
On the way to Ghent he met with an adventure of
which he has given a humorous account in a letter
written to Mountjoy. “Scarcely," he tells him, “had
he left the inn where he had spent the night when his
horse shied at some clothes which were spread on the
ground to dry, and having happened to stoop to one
that his horse started to the other side, in his effort to
keep his seat, he gave his spine a wrench which was like
to have broken it. Finding it impossible to ride farther,
he tried to dismount, but so excruciating was the pain
that he succeeded only with the help of his attendant.
He was now six long miles from his destination, in the
open country, and with no inn at which even tolerable
entertainment could be found within sight. To walk
such a distance would have been difficult for him at any
time; in his present condition it was impossible. In
this extremity he called in the aid of St. Paul, and
he would finish the commentary he had begun on his
Epistle to the Romans. Presently, finding he could
walk no further, he tried if he could mount his horse,
and unexpectedly succeeded. By moving quietly on
he was able to get to his journey's end, but on retiring
to his bed-room on his arrival he found he could not
stand without support on both sides. The physician
and apothecary were sent for, and all his thoughts
were turned on death. On wakening the next morn-
ing, however, he found he could raise himself without
difficulty, and presently it appeared that his pain was
li11
ERASMUSS VOW TO ST. PAUL.
255
YA
gone. Whereupon he returned thanks to God and
St. Paul."
If this vow was actually made with any serious
belief in its efficacy-and it is only a parallel case to
the vow of St. Geneviève-it is another curious illus-
tration how difficult it is for even the most rational
minds to escape entirely from the influences of an age
of superstition, and shows that if Erasmus could set
these influences at defiance when he was well, he was
obliged to yield to them when disease or pain made his
'will less resolute. The whole story, however, has such
a comic aspect that one is half-inclined to suspect that
the vow may have been an after-thought, designed for
the amusement of those who know its author's way, or
as a satirė. on the usual conduct of religious persons
when placed in disagreeable circumstances. On the
other hand, it is unquestionable that the least super-
stitious people will, under stress of pain, have recourse
to expedients which they would be ashamed to acknow-
ledge, and the practice of making vows was so inveterate
in that age that even those who had least faith in their
efficacy may sometimes have found themselves instinct-
that. Erasmus actually called in the aid of St. Paul.
The levity with which he treats the subject shows
either that he did not really believe his rapid recovery
to be due to the assistance of the saint, or that
he was ashamed of doing so. The best practical com-
4 Ep. clxxxii. This letter is cor- stead of - Annunciationis,” the
rectly dated Aug. 29, 1515. In the Assumption of the Virgin being
postscript, the only part written August 15, and the Annunciation
after the arrival of Erasmus in Basle, March 25, when Erasmus was still
we must undoubtedly read “Basi- in England.
liam veni post Assumptionis," in-
256
ERASMUS ARRIVES AT BASLE;
mentary on the incident is that the vow was never
fulfilled.
From Holland he proceeded to Strasburg, where he
found a congenial society of learned men who received
him with acclamation, the most prominent of whom
were Sebastian Brandt, the celebrated author of the
“Ship of Fools," and James Wimphelingus. The latter,
who was now a venerable old man, had been formerly a
professor of divinity at Heidelberg, where he underwent
a bitter persecution from the Augustinians, to whom he
had given mortal offence by declaring that St. Augustine
. was no monk, at least not after the fashion of those who
then professed to represent him. Julius II., however,
with the approval of all enlightened people, had
delivered himn from his enemies.5
At Schelestadt, his next halting-place, the magis-
trates, hearing of his arrival, sent him a present of
three jars of the choicest wine, and invited him to
a dinner, from which he excused himself on the plea
of haste. He was not, however, ungrateful for their
attention, but celebrated the praises of the city, which
was the birthplace of Beatus Rhenanus and other well-
known men of the time, in a short elegiac poem. A
young friend named John Sapidus accompanied him
hence to Basle, where the first whom he met were Beatus
Rhenanus, from this time forth one of his most intimate
and best-loved friends; Gerard Listrius, the learned
physician, who has been already mentioned as having
written the commentary on the Moria; and Bruno
Amerbach, one of the three sons of John Amerbach,
Froben's predecessor in the printing-office. The day
after his arrival he called on Froben. The honest
6 Er. Op. iii. 1141. Encomium Slestadii.-Er. Op. i. 1223.
HIS RECEPTION BY FROBEN.
257
printer, whose plain, well-marked features still live on
Holbein's canvas, and about the corners of whose mouth
there lurks that spice of dry humour which made him a
fit companion for Erasmus, was not at that moment
expecting his visit; and the latter, remembering, per-
haps, his first meeting with Aldus, could not forbear
indulging in a little of his customary pleasantry. He
told him, accordingly, that he had brought with him a
letter from Erasmus, with whom, he added, he was on
him with the duty of superintending the publication of
his writings, and anything he undertook would be sure
to meet with his approval. "In short," he continued,
to relieve the printer's perplexity, “I am so like him
that whoever sees me sees Erasmus.” Froben laughed
and welcomed him, and Froben's father-in-law carried
him away to his home, having first paid his reckoning
at the inn. Two days afterwards the professors of the
University, through the Dean of the Theological
Faculty, invited him to supper for the following evening,
when he was introduced to all the learned men of the
place. They would have overwhelmed him with atten-
tions had he permitted it. But he had hard work before
him, and was compelled to beg that they would leave
-
labour so incessant that, as he tells one of his corre-
spondents, he had scarcely time to eat. He had worked
so hard, as he tells another, that he had almost killed
himself in the endeavour to bring St. Jerome to life. A
complete edition of the works of Seneca, whose text he
had corrected with enormous labour, an edition of the
“ Adages," so enlarged as to be almost a new work,
an improved edition of the De Copia, his “Book of
VOL. I.
17
258
ZASIUS; ZWINGLE;
Similes," and his translations from Plutarch-these
works, together with the continued preparations for
the “Jerome" and the New Testament, might well
have exhausted the energies of any less indefatigable
student. They were apparently too much for the press
of Froben. The De Copia and the “Similes” were
sent to Matthias Schurer, the printer of Strasburg.
The “Jerome" did not make its appearance for about
a year, while the New Testament was not yet even
begun.7
Another friend whom he made during his stay in
Basle was Udalric Zasius, Professor of Imperial Law at
Friburg. Zasius wrote to him one or two playful letters
in which he addressed him as “Great Man," and told him
he intended to mention his name in a work he was then
preparing on the Imperial Law.8 Erasmus of course
replied in the same strain. He thanked him for his
intention of immortalizing him. “But, pray," he adds,
“do not continue to load me with invidious titles, lest
you may give occasion to sarcastic people to ridicule
me. For who but must laugh to hear Erasmus called
Great,' seeing how small he is, in every sense of the
word; or 'Fortunate,' seeing that Fortune has bestowed
upon him no favours whatever ?”
While he was staying at Basle he also made the
acquaintance of two men who afterwards played a dis-
tinguished part in the history of the Reformátion.
Zwingle, who had an intense admiration for him, and
never went to sleep without reading some pages from his
writings, came to Basle on purpose to see him. He
, afterwards thought it a great matter to be able to boast
7 Ep. ad Jac. Wimphelingum. Conf. Ep. xi. and xiii. App:
8 Ep. x., xxvii. App.
9 Ep. xi. App.
ECOLAMPADIUS.
259
that he had seen Erasmus.10 The other was the mild
and amiable Ecolampadius, who, by his knowledge of
Hebrew, was of great assistance to him, a year later, in
editing the Greek Testament. For him he seems, at
this time, to have conceived an affectionate regard,
which, amid the differences of after years, was never
wholly obliterated. He gave him as a mark of his
friendship a manuscript containing the beginning of
St. John, which colampadius attached to his crucifix,
and would often reverently kiss. 11 It was probably at
this time too that he became acquainted with Bilibald ,
Pirckheimer, the learned senator of Nuremberg, who
continued till his death one of his most attached
friends. Pirckheimer wrote a book in defence of Reuch-
lin, with which Erasmus declared he had only one fault
to find, and that was the list which he had appended to
it, of those who supported Reuchlin; "for who," asked
he, “that has any pretensions to learning or piety does
not support him ?" 12
Erasmus, as we have seen, had intended proceeding
into Italy this winter, but he found plenty of work to
keep him at Basle, where accordingly he remained till
the following spring, and before the end of March, 1515,
we find him once more among his English friends. As
I have already mentioned, he had been invited about a
year before to the court of Brussels, and made a coun-
cillor to Prince Charles of Austria, the Arch-Duke of
Burgundy, then a lad of fifteen, but destined soon to
succeed to the throne of Spain, and eventually to be-
come Emperor of Germany as Charles V. To this
Prince, who was the son of his old friend Philip the
Fair, he dedicated, as the first fruits of his new office,
10 Er. Op. iii. 1538, C, D. 1 Ib. 235, C, D. 12 Ib. 270, A.
260
THE CHRISTIAN PRINCE.
a treatise which he wrote about this time, perhaps in
the intervals of his journey, on the education of a
Christian Prince.13 This little work, applauded though
it was, and deservedly so, at the time of its appearance,
cannot be said to have retained much of its value. It
abounds, indeed, in admirable precepts, but most of
them are tolerably obvious; and as the chief motives
which it supplies for good government are those of
virtue, a bad king possessed of absolute power might
naturally ask why he should obey them. True, he is
told he will be hated by his subjects, but he sets their
but he hopes that his own case will prove an exception.
Again, the philosopher in his study easily sees that to
capture a city costs infinitely more, both in treasure and
in men, than to build one; but what if the monarch's
passion be for military glory, and not for his people's
welfare ? Another objection to such a treatise might be
that while, with praiseworthy fulness, it treats of the
means of despotism, one might derive from it the
maxims of tyranny, as easily as learn how to govern
well. Probably, however, Erasmus has said upon the
subject nearly all that could be said by one who relied
indeed, I ought to add, on the sympathies of a generous
18 Institutio Principis Christiani.
-Er. Op. iv. 561. We find it first
mentioned under the date March 31,
1515, in the following terms :—
“Est in manibus libellus de insti-
tuendo Principe, quem illustrissimo
Carolo, archiduci Burgundiae, Maxi-
miliani nepoti, destinavimus.”-
Er. Op. ii. 144, A. I would gladly
fix the exact date of his appointment
to the dignity of councillor, but Eras-
mus has not thought it of sufficient
importance to refer to it particularly
in any of his letters. He notices it
only in the Cat. Luc., and in a tract
against Lee, but without any precise
indication of date. -Jortin, iii. 187.
JOHN REUCHLIN.
261
nature. His own political opinions may not be of much
importance, especially if they were derived from books
rather than founded upon observation ; and yet he had
ample opportunity for bringing his shrewd sense to bear
on the relations between kings and people. It does not,
however, add much to our knowledge to find that he
considers the best form of government to be a monarchy
tempered by a certain proportion of the aristocratical
and democratical elements. If his testimony in favour
of free trade be thought of any value it may be found
here : for he protests against the imposition of duties
upon the necessaries of life, such as corn, bread, wine,
beer, and clothing. The treatise was printed at Basle
· in the following year, accompanied by a translation
of the work of Isocrates on the administration of a
kingdom.
During this year the interest in the cause of the
- learned and high-minded John Reuchlin, the greatest.
Hebrew scholar of that age, and an earnest and enthu-
siastic investigator of the mysteries of the Cabbala, on
which he had published one or two curious works, had
reached its height. Persecuted by the Dominicans,
under the Inquisitor, the ignorant and bigoted Hoch-
straten, for his opposition to the diabolical proposal to
destroy all existing Jewish literature, the Scriptures
alone excepted, Reuchlin had defended himself in a book
which he called the “Eyeglass,” and on a mandate
being issued by Hochstraten to burn it, had appealed
from the Inquisitor to the Pope. The Bishop of Spire,
to whom Leo committed the case, on the 14th of April,
1514, gave sentence against the enemies of Reuchlin
and imposed on them perpetual silence, and then it
became their turn to insist that the matter must be
TIY
262
ERASMUS INTERESTS HIMSELF
.
carried to Rome to be decided there. Meantime, the .
persecution continued more bitterly than ever; Reuchlin
was formally condemned by the Universities of Paris,
Maintz, Erfurt, and Louvain ; and weary of the strife,
and anxious for some decisive sentence, he, too, for the
second time, appealed to Rome.
Such was the state of the case while Erasmus was
at Basle, and on his journey thither and back again to
England, he must have heard it eagerly discussed in the
towns along the Rhine. It was probably on his return
journey that he met the great scholar himself, and was
asked by him to use his influence in Rome on his
behalf.1.4 Erasmus, who must have seen in the perse-
cution against Reuchlin, an image of what he himself
had to expect from the hostility of the monks, did not
forget the request. He had, besides, other reasons for
writing to Rome. He had, perhaps, not yet given up
all thoughts of returning thither, and had he received
sufficient encouragement, it is possible he might have
done so. He wished also to bespeak the interest of
his powerful friends there, and especially of the Pope,
on behalf of the important works which were soon to
make their appearance at Basle. Accordingly, with
these three objects in view, we find him writing from
London to his friends, Raphael, Cardinal of St. George,
and Cardinal Grimani, two letters of very similar purport,
in which he begins by complaining that in England his
fortune has not been such as he had been led to expect,
adding that he almost regrets having left Rome, especially
when he remembers its liberty, its splendour, its
enlightenment, its libraries, the intercourse he had
enjoyed there with the learned and the great. But
14 Er. Op. ix. 1642, B.
GUCHLIN.
IN THE CAUSE OF REUCHLIN.
. 263
1
what could he do? His friends had promised him
mountains of gold. Lord Mountjoy had led him to
expect an ample revenue, combined with leisure for
study, and liberty to live as he pleased. To the late
King there had succeeded a youth of almost angelic
virtue, an accomplished scholar, and who loved him so,
that shortly before his father's death he had written to
him with his own hand. Thus encouraged, he had
dreamt of a second age of gold, or of a residence in the
Fortunate Islands. Erasmus, however, here admits that
he was himself partly answerable for the disappoint-
ment of his expectations. It was not that fortune had
not come in his way, but he had been wanting to his
opportunities, having such a distaste for public business,
being so entirely without ambition, and besides so lazy,
that unless fortune should flow in upon him as he slept,
there was little chance of his attaining it by his own
efforts. He was far, therefore, from blaming his friends,
especially as the trumpet of Julius, in summoning them
all to war, had drowned the voice of the Muses. He
then proceeds to give an account of his literary labours,
for which he hopes a more favourable consideration now
that peace has been restored to the world, and especially
calls attention to the St. Jerome. He is in doubt
whether to dedicate this great work to the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, to whom, he says, he owes
everything, or to the Pope ; but he promises to be
guided by the advice of the Cardinals. And then he
proceeds to make a most earnest appeal on behalf of
the brother scholar, who, as we have just seen, had
requested his interposition. “I pray and beseech you,”
he writes, “by your regard for learning, which your
Highness has always singularly favoured, that that
27
264
ERASMUS APPEALS TO THE CARDINALS
admirable man, John Reuchlin, may have your good-
will in his present trouble. By aiding him you will
render a service to literature and to all literary men,
whose interest in him is in proportion to their own
learning. All Germany is indebted to him, for he was
the first to give an impulse to the study of Greek and
· Hebrew in that country. He is a man profoundly
versed in many languages, of very various accomplish-
ments, known to the whole Christian world by the
books which he has published, high in favour with the
Emperor Maximilian, one of whose councillors he is,
esteemed and honoured in his own country, where he
holds the office of judge (durinvir), and of a character
on which no one has hitherto cast a stain. Besides, his
old age and grey hairs deserve respect. At his time of
life he had earned the right to enjoy the fruits of those
studies he had so honourably pursued, while it was
hoped, too, that he would publish, for the common
good, the labours in which he has been engaged for so
many years. It is considered, then, by all good men,
not only in Germany, but in England and France, a
most unworthy thing that so excellent and so giſted a
man should be harassed with odious litigations, and
that about a matter which, in my judgment, is utterly
paltry. The arms of kings have been confined by
your wisdom-let the same wisdom restore peace to
the students of letters. Far hence be all that savours
of rancour or of feud. Now that kings have returned
to harmony at your bidding, it is monstrous that learned
men should engage in mutual conflict with books and
abuse, and that, while the former are content with
harmless weapons, they should fight with pens dipped
in poison. How much better had it been that this man
.
AND THE POPE, ON BEHALF OF REUCHLIN. 265
should have bestowed upon literary pursuits of the
highest class the toil, the money, and the time which he
has spent on these pettifogging lawsuits. Julius II. is
remembered by many with gratitude because, by his
own voice, he released James Wimphelingus, a man not
only estimable for his learning and piety, but also of
venerable age, from litigations of this kind, and imposed
silence upon his calumniators. Whoever, believe me,
shall restore John Reuchlin to literature and the Muses,
will oblige a very large number of persons.”
The letter to Raphael, from which this extract is
taken, together with the companion letter to Grimani, is
dated London, March 31, 1515.15
The Cardinals were in favour of the dedication to
Leo, but without waiting for their reply, Erasmus wrote
to the Pope, about a month later, to ask his permission.
The daring satirist, who had not scrupled to attack the
Pontiffs themselves for their degeneracy from the ex-
ample of the Apostle whose successors they professed to
be, addressed Leo in a more servile tone than might
have been expected, telling him he surpasses the rest
of mankind in majesty as much as men surpass the
brutes. He then descends to a style of more reason-
able flattery, recalling the blessings which had come
upon the Christian world, and especially upon the world
of letters, from the accession to the chair of St. Peter of
so great a ruler, a member of the family of the Medici,
ever the patrons and friends of men distinguished for
their learning and their virtue. “Of that house," he
continues, "you are no degenerate offspring; on the
contrary, you outshine its glory by your own superior
virtues, and by the splendour of those accomplishments
15 Ep. clxvii., clxviii.
ERASMUS'S LETTER TO THE POPE ;.
1
by which you cast its former brilliancy into the shade
you render it the more illustrious." He takes occasion,
however, it must be added, to utter a few useful truths,
and in congratulating Leo on the restoration of peace,
reminds him that the chief warfare of the head of the
Church should ever be with moral evil. There was, no
doubt, he admits, another kind of warfare, viz., with the
barbarous and impious enemies of the Christian religion
and of the Roman See. But the former was by far the
more necessary of the two, as well as the more difficult;
and when we had conquered on that field we might
hope to fight successfully on the other. There was,
besides, this great difference between these two kinds of
warfare, that while the one was disapproved of by some
good men, the other was universally applauded. For
there can be no doubt that Christ and Paul exhort us
to make war on sin, but neither Christ nor his Apostles
urge us to take up arms against the Turks. “And
indeed," he adds, “I am not sure whether, as Christ
with the Apostles and Martyrs conquered the whole
world by their beneficence, patience, and holy teaching,
it would not be better to subdue the Turks by setting
them a good example than by arms." He is assured,
however, that his Holiness is doing everything in his
power for the restoration of religion, which has recently
gone sadly to decay; and by the reconciliation of the
sovereigns of Christendom he has prepared the surest
means for the subjection of the impious Turks. “Those
savage beasts will fly so soon as they shall hear the
roar of our Lion; they shall feel, they shall feel, fero-
cious though they are, the invincible strength of the
meek Leo; nor shall. they be able to withstand a
Pontiff whose power shall consist in his piety rather
vy
HIS LABOURS ON ST. JEROME. . 267
than in the number of his troops, and who shall carry
all the power of heaven with him to the war.”
. After this burst of rodomontade, Erasmus con-
tinues in a more sober strain. He assures the Pope
work by means of which the services of his Holiness
towards the Christian world may be held in ever-
lasting honour; and as he is convinced that such a
task exceeds his unaided powers, he has resolved,
as the surest means of attaining his end, to make
use of some name already immortal. Seeing, then,
that St. Jerome was the greatest of the Latin theo-
· logians, and that his works were so corrupted that
they had become almost unintelligible ; encouraged,
'moreover, by the sympathy of so many learned men,
especially the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, and
Father John Peter Caraffa, his Holiness's ambassador
in England, who urged him to a task from which his
own modesty would have made him shrink; and espe-
cially relying upon His aid, who never fails to assist our
pious efforts, he had at length resumed a labour which
to restore the text of Jerome's Epistles, that being the
part of his works of which he had assumed the special
charge. He then gives a particular account of his
labours upon Jerome, which, however, to avoid repe-
tition, as we must return to the subject presently, may
be omitted here. The following extract from the con-
clusion of his letter describes his fellow-labourers in
this important undertaking, and will serve as an intro-
duction to some account of the edition of St. Jerome,
which will be noticed at length in another chapter :-
“For a considerable time past this great work has
268
ERASMUS'S COADJUTORS
been in progress at Basle, at the printing-office of
Froben, so well known for its accuracy and for the
number of excellent works, especially those bearing on
sacred subjects, which have issued from it. I need
scarcely say that this work, as well as its expenses, are
shared among several persons. For in those parts of
Jerome which I have not taken in hand, but in which
I occasionally give my assistance, several learned men
have been diligently employed for some time past;
among whom I must mention first that distinguished
man, John Reuchlin, of Phorzheim, who knows Greek,
Latin, and Hebrew almost equally well, and, besides,
can hold his ground in every branch of science with the
very foremost men of the time. It is with good reason,
then, that all Germany looks up to him as a kind of
Phoenix, and as the greatest glory of which it can
boast. Conon of Nuremberg, also, a theologian of the
Preaching Order of Friars, as they are vulgarly called,
has been of no small service to our undertaking. He is
a man whose acquaintance with Greek literature is most
extensive, and who has ever shown the most unwearied
industry in promoting the cause of learning. And with
these must be named Beatus Rhenanus, of Schelestadt,
a young man whose profound learning is equalled only
by his exquisite critical taste. But it is to the
brothers Amerbach, with whom Froben shares the
expenses and the toil, that the praise of this under-
taking is chiefly due. Indeed, one might fancy that it
was the express destiny of this family that Jerome
should be restored to life by their means. The father,
a most worthy man, had his three sons taught Greek,
Latin, and Hebrew expressly for this purpose. On his
death he bequeathed the task to his children, dedicating
IN THE RESTORATION OF ST. JEROME.
269
to it all the wealth he had. And now these excellent
young men are devoting themselves to the accomplish-
to their hands, dividing St. Jerome with me on this
principle, that whatever is not included in those books
which are written in the epistolary form, shall be
their special charge. But your Holiness will doubtless
ask why I trouble you with these details? I was about
to say, most Holy Father, that while there is no name
better known or more revered than that of Jerome, I
see, nevertheless, how much splendour, weight, and
authority shall be added to it ;-and while the glory of
Leo is unapproachable, it will yet gain, if I mistake not,
no little lustre ;-if so rare, so great, and so renowned a
work shall pass into the public hands under the happy
auspices of your name. It is but fitting that all good
literature which is the offspring of peace, should flourish
under a Pontiff by whom repose and peace, without
whose fostering care learning must perish, have been
restored to the world. Fitting too that the chief
teacher of the Christian religion should be dedicated
to that religion's High Priest, and the best of all theo-
logians to the best of all Popes. I am not indeed
ignorant that the dedication of anything to your
Holiness is a subject on which the most scrupulous
consideration is called for ; that which is consecrated
to Deity should be worthy of Deity. If, however, in
this undertaking I shall obtain your Majesty's favour,
it will be my desire to consecrate to Leo not merely
these labours, but all the fruits of my studies. For
myself I expect no other reward for such excessive toil
than that the works of Jerome restored by my industry
may be of some service to the cause of Christian piety.
270
LEO'S REPLY TO ERASMUS.
He whose grace I seek as the reward of my labour will
most abundantly recompense me. Jerome will find
more readers according as he is rendered more in-
telligible. He will be the more acceptable to all if
his works appear under the sanction of so great a
Pontiff.” 16
Leo's reply to this letter was extremely gracious.
He not only declared himself highly pleased with the
labours of Erasmus, but addressed a letter to the King
of England, specially recommending him to his favour.17
These letters, which bear the date of July 10, 1515, did
not reach England till Erasmus had again left it, to
return to Basle. After all the St. Jerome was not
dedicated to the Pope. Erasmus had not foreseen that
the other great work which he had in contemplation,
and for which it was even more important to have the
sanction of the Pontiff's name, would appear first. The
New Testament, as we shall see, was dedicated to Leo,
and the Jerome to the Archbishop of Canterbury.
16 Ep. clxxiv. : 17 Ep. clxxviii., clxxix,
1.271 )
CHAPTER X.
THE “ADAGES” – HISTORY OF THE WORK — FIRST EDITION - Dis-
CUSSION WITH POLYDORE VIRGIL-ALDINE EDITION-REPRINTED
BY FROBEN-DEFINITION OF A PROVERB-EXAMPLES—ERASMUS
RAILS AT KINGS AND PRIESTS — THE SILENI OF ALCIBIADES —
THE SCARABÆUS.
THE few years immediately preceding the ever memor-
able day, October 31, 1517, on which Luther posted up
his theses on the church door at Wittenberg, and thus
gave the signal for the Reformation, were a period of
great literary activity, and were distinguished by the
publication of several remarkable works, which them-
coming events; and among the rest, certainly not the
least remarkable were three by Erasmus—viz., the new
and greatly enlarged edition of his “Adages, his "St.
Jerome," and his New Testament. These I shall now
proceed to notice in order, and at some length. The
“Adages" first claim our attention.
This, which, in its latest form, fills one of the largest
of the eleven folio volumes which constitute Le Clerc's
edition of “Erasmus," is a most singular work, and,
though it may be supposed that few would have
patience to read it in these days, it is, nevertheless,
well worthy of study. Not only is it a monument
of vast learning, but it is a rich repository of anecdotes,
quotations, and historical and biographical sketches.
272
THE “ADAGES” OF ERASMUS;
What a boon it must have been to the student in an
age when books were rare and expensive, supplying
him, as it did, with apt and elegant phraseology on
all sorts of subjects, serving as an introduction to the
Greek and Latin classics, and furnishing besides eloquent
declamations against kings and monks, war and priest-
craft! To those, too, who desired an easy method of
learning Greek, it must have been a valuable aid,
all the Greek quotations, of which there were several
thousand, being carefully rendered into Latin. Thus,
besides to a great extent serving the purpose of a
dictionary and a grammar, it is a common-place book,
a journal and a book of travels, all in one.
This is true, however, only of the later editions, in
which the adages number 4,151, and are each followed
by a commentary explaining their meaning and origin,
and illustrating their use, and in some instances digress-
ing into long rhetorical essays in which the vices of the
age are keenly satirised or boldly denounced. Com-
pared with these later editions the first, which appeared
in the year 1500, was indeed, as Erasmus himself
described it, an opus jejunum atque inops,-a poor miser-
able production.
The history of this celebrated work is as follows.
went there, the idea occurred to him of making a
collection of proverbs from the writings of the ancients.
Some Greek writers who were then considered “not
edition of 1508, states that there are
in the work about 10,000 verses
from Homer, Euripides, and other
Greek writers, literally translated in
many quotations from Plato, De-
mosthenes, and others.
? Er. Op. iii. 96, B. See above,
p. 139.
HISTORY OF THE WORK.
273
obscure," but whom nobody knows now, had previously
attempted the same kind of thing; but their works were
so mutilated, besides having no references, that they had
proved of little service to him.3 Latin writers, such as
Aulus Gellius, Macrobius, and others, had shown their
appreciation of the value of proverbs by noting and
explaining them whenever they came in their way, while
among the moderns, such masters of classical Latinity
as Pico and Politiano, had endeavoured to give grace to
their style by the interspersion of ancient adages; "but
as yet,” says Erasmus, “no one had made any formal
collection of them.” The plan was discussed at Oxford
with the University men, and due encouragement given,
Charnock being particularly urgent that the work
should be undertaken. The earliest conception of the
work was a very modest one, but from the first Erasmus
appears to have foreseen to what it was likely to grow.
“I intend,” he says in a letter to Battus shortly after his
return to Paris, “writing a collection of ancient adages.
I foresee there will be some thousands, but it is my
purpose to publish only two, or at the most, three
hundred.” 5 Indeed, he felt that he was not yet enough
of a Greek scholar for any greater undertaking. A
little farther on in the same letter we find him com-
plaining that Greek nearly kills him, and that he has no
money either to purchase books or to hire a teacher.
C
3 “Adde huc quod apud Græcos
complures extiterunt non obscuri
nominis auctores, qui proverbiorum
collectanea vel ex professo con-
scripserunt. Veluti Apostolius Bi-
zantius, Stephanus Diogenianus.
Quorum nos quidem, præter no.
mina, nihil adhuc nancisci quivimus,
VOL. I.
nisi ex Diogeniani collectaneis frag-
menta quædam, verum adeo mutila,
adeoque nuda nulla auctorum no-
menclatura, nullis locorum indiciis,
ut ex his nobis non multum acce-
derit.”-Preface to the first edition.
4 Tb:
6 Ep. lxxx.
18
274
FIRST EDITION OF THE “ADAGES ;"
Afterwards he took some lessons from Hermonymus,
already referred to as the Professor of Greek at Paris,
and of whom he speaks with such contempt as one
“who was incapable of teaching even if he had been
willing to do so, and who would not if he could.”6 He
was, he wittily complains, “twice a Greek ; for he was
always hungry, and he demanded heavy fees.”
The first edition of the “Adages," which was
published at Paris in the year 1500," consisted of about
eight hundred proverbs, and was dedicated to Lord
Mountjoy. The explanatory remarks are in this
edition extremely brief, sometimes not extending be-
yond two or three words; and a few proverbs which
subsequently suggested long dissertations are found
here with no more comment than is barely sufficient to
explain their meaning. Nor is there any great display
of learning. There are very few Greek references, and
these are probably at second hand. And there are
perhaps nearly as many citations from previous col-
lectors, or from such writers as the grammarian Donatus,
6 See above, p. 33, note.
? Desiderii Herasmi Roterodami
vetcrum maxim.cque insignium pare-
miarum id est adagiorum collectanca :
opus qum novum tum ad omne vel
scripture vil sermonis genus ve-
nustundum insigniendunque mirum
in modum conducibile. Id quod ita
demum intelligetis adolescentes optimi
si hujus modi deliciis et literas vestras
et orationem. quotidianam assuescetis
aspergere. Sapete ergo et hanc tam
rarum thesaurum tantillo nummulo
veralem. vobis redimite, multo prce
stantiora propediem accepturi, si hec
boni consulueritis. Valete. In noie
scte trinitatis. Venalis invenictur
hic liber in officina : Magistri Fohan-
nis Philippi, cujus quidem tum in-
dustria : tum sumptu nitidissimis
formulis est emendatissime impressus:
In via divi Marcilli ad divine
trinitatis signum. Such is the title-
page, evidently the composition
of the printer, of the oldest edi-
tion I have seen. Its date, how-
ever, is 1505. On the opposite
side there is a letter from Faustus
Andrelinus, expressing his approval
of the work, which bears the date
June 15, 1500.
ITS IMPERFECTIONS.
275
VI
as from original authorities. Erasmus himself makes
very light of the labour expended on this work, and
speaks of it as having been merely the occupation of
his leisure hours. He had put together these proverbs,
he says, in a very few days, and without strict regard to
accuracy, intending them to serve as a private assistance
to his pupil and friend Lord Mountjoy; and eventually
certain persons had printed them, but so badly that it
might have been supposed errors were introduced inten-
tionally. And in the original dedication to Mountjoy, in
which he quotes from Pliny the sentiment which should
be the motto of every student, that he considered all
time lost which was not devoted to study, he says he
had dictated the work rather than written it, at a time
when he was suffering from fever, and had been for-
bidden by his physician to touch a book. Accordingly,
abandoning severer studies, he had roamed for a time
through various authors, gathering from their works all
sorts of flowers, which he then wove into a garland.
That he published the volume of Adages sooner
than he had intended, and while conscious of its imper-
fections, is undeniable; but he is careful to disclaim all
responsibility as to the correctness of the press, the
book having been printed, he says, when he was absent
from Paris.8 Twenty-four years afterwards he gave a
somewhat whimsical account of the motives which led
him to publish thus prematurely. We have seen how,
in consequence of the absurd law prohibiting the re-
moval of coin from the realm, he had been deprived of
i
8 « Eam quidam, sedulo quidem
illi, sed sinistro nimioque studio
mei, publicandam etiam ac formulis
· excudendam curarunt."-Preface to
the Aldine edition. Cf. Er. Op. iii.
671, F.-“Meus [liber] absente me
excusus est Lutetiæ.''
276
WHIMSICAL STORY.
his little all at Dover, and had arrived on the other side
of the Channel almost in a state of destitution. Now, it
seems, the natural thing for an indignant scholar to do,
under those circumstances and in those times, would
have been to seize his pen and write a book full of
abuse of England and the English. Erasmus, wishing
to show that he bore no malice, determined, on the
contrary, to publish something in which there should be
no reference to his misadventure. In such a case he
seems to have thought that silence would be accepted
as conclusive evidence of a forgiving disposition; and
as Mountjoy might be supposed to have incurred his
special wrath, he resolved to dedicate the volume to him.9
All this, however, may have been purely imaginary so
far as regards the publication of the “Adages.” It.
does not seem very probable that Erasmus would attack
a country in which he had been so kindly received and
made so many valuable friends; and still less that he
would quarrel with Mountjoy, on whom he was de-
pendent for a pension. It is much more likely that
he sought to recruit his exhausted finances by the publi-
cation of a work which was pretty sure to sell.
The little book was received with favour, accom-
panied as it was by a recommendatory letter from
Faustus Andrelinus, the Poet Laureate. This letter
Erasmus had himself asked for, on the plea that the
worse a man's goods are the more they need commen-
dation : yet he afterwards found it convenient to say
that the printer had extorted it.10 In England, it
would seem, the work was less in demand than might
have been expected, considering the connections the
author had established there, for we find him regretting
9 Cat. Luc.
10 Cf. Ep. lxxi. and dcii. ·
Y
DISCUSSION WITH POLYDORE VIRGIL.
277
that he had sent any copies to this country, since they
sold better and for a higher price in France ; and it will
three years, he had received no account of one hundred
copies which had been sent to England.11 That“some-
body must have got the money" seemed clear enough,
but what was still more certain-as has happened occa-
sionally even since the sixteenth century-was, that the
author had not got it.
Several years afterwards he had a good-humoured
a book of Adages, as to which of them was first in the
field. Polydore charged his eminent contemporary with
having stolen from him ; while Erasmus declares that
at the time his “ Adages” were published he had never
heard of any Polydore, except the one killed by Poly-
mnestor in the. Tragedies. He was at Louvain, he
says, (a place to which he had always felt an objection,
he knew not why, though he discovered it afterwards;)
when he first heard of the rival work. There a certain
theologian named Luke had spread a report that he
had come before the world dressed in borrowed feathers;
that Polydore had written a work of the same kind as
his, only far better, and that he was no more than
Polydore's ape. He immediately made inquiries. No
such book was to be had in any of the shops, but at
last he chanced upon a copy in the library of a most
inveterate book-collector named Busleiden. Eagerly
he compared the dates ; found that his own was pub-
lished on the 15th of June, 1500, and Polydore's in
Italy three months later. Such an argument, one would
suppose, was decisive, provided the facts were correctly
11 See above, p. 138.
111
278
THE ALDINE EDITION
stated. But Erasmus, as if he was aware that this
was not the case, goes on, in his letter to Polydore on
the subject, to urge additional proofs of his ignorance.12
Polydore's book, he says, contained some good proverbs
which were not to be found in his own ; but such an
admirable plagiarist as he was accused of being would
certainly not have omitted any. Besides, supposing he
had known of the book, why should he have cited
Polydore, seeing that his proverbs are taken from the
commonest sources, when he might have referred to
the original sources themselves ? After all, he con-
cludes, there is not much merit in a compilation, but
such as there is they had better divide between them.13
Indeed, the question was not worth disputing about,
for the fame of Erasmus in no respect rests upon his
first edition. This was reprinted at Paris and Strasburg
in the course of the next few years; but the first
appearance of the work in anything like the shape in
which it is now known was at Venice in 1508, 14 though
the digressions, which are to us the most curious and
interesting part of the book, were not added till a still
later period. During these eight years Erasmus had
collected a vast number of adages, both Greek and
Latin, which he was now prepared to add with com-
ments and illustrations; and in the splendid library of
Aldus he enjoyed ample means for completing his work
to the best advantage. He has himself, under the
12 There is no doubt, I believe,
that Polydore Virgil published his
book of Adages in 1498. It is un-
fortunate that Erasmus should have
allowed himsell thus to misstate a
plain fact, rather than acknowledge
that another was first in the field.'
13 Ep. dcii.
14 Erasmi Roterodami Adaoi.
Orum. Chiliades Tres, ac Centurice
fere totidem. Vencliis in ædibus
Aldi. Mense Sept. mdviii.
OF THE “ADAGES.”
279
Il
proverb Festina lente, given a most interesting account
of his labours, and bears generous testimony to the
kindness which he received from his Italian friends.
He had, he tells us, brought nothing with him to Venice
but a confused mass of materials derived from authors
already printed ; but, notwithstanding his being a
foreigner, he found every one ready to lend him all the
aid in their power. Aldus withheld none of his trea-
sures. Other learned men, such as Lascar, Marcus
Musurus the poet, and Aleander, sent him their manu-
scripts, and some even whose names he did not know
proffered their assistance. Thus he was enabled by a
comparison of good manuscripts to bring his work to a
perfection which would otherwise have been impossible.
The work went merrily on, Aldus printing while Erasmus
wrote, and the bulk of it was completed in the course of
about nine months. The number of proverbs collected
now amounted to 3,260, and a vast mass of learning
drawn from the most various sources was thus given to
the world. In the same essay in which he records
these particulars Erasmus contrasts the generous en-
couragement shown by the Italians to a Dutchman
with the illiberal conduct of some more nearly akin to
him, and from whom, therefore, better things might
have been expected. He had applied to a friend of his
—of what country he does not say, using the general
term Cisalpine—for the loan of a Suidas which he knew
him to possess, and which had the Proverbs noted on
the margin. He wished to have it merely for a few
hours, until his amanuensis should copy some sentences
into his note-book. The owner of the Suidas refused,
in spite of repeated applications. Erasmus, having
tried in vain to overcome his obstinacy, suggested that,
280
FROBEN REPRINTS THE “ADAGES.”
+
perhaps, he intended publishing a collection of proverbs
himself. No: he vowed he had no such notion in his
head. At last the admission was forced from him that
he was afraid that learned men would be held in less
esteem if what had hitherto been their monopoly should
be made public property. 15
This, the first great edition of the “Adages," was
received with immense applause by the literary world,
though the sale of such an expensive work as it must
have been could not be very rapid. In course of time,
however, other editions followed. Froben brought out
a splendid one, almost rivalling the Aldine, at Basle, in
1513, and it was this which first drew the attention of
Erasmus to the merits of that enterprising printer. In
1515 he printed another, under the superintendence of
the author; and it was in this that there first appeared
those remarkable essays, containing such fierce attacks
on monks and kings, to which reference has already
been made. Afterwards, the “Adages” were reprinted
repeatedly by Froben, and always with some additional
matter, as well as at Strasburg, Paris, and elsewhere; and
altogether the demand was such as not only to be com-
mensurate with the merits of the work, but to have satis-
fied or surpassed the utmost expectations of its author.
In proceeding to give some more detailed account
of this great work in its completed form, it is obvious to
remark that there are many of the so-called adages
a proverb ? According to Le Clerc, it is the essence of
the proverb that it shall be figurative, and he, therefore,
defines it “a short moral sentence which indicates
something different from what the words seem at first
16 Er. Op. ii. 397-407.
WHAT IS A PROVERB ?
281
A
to mean." 16 We need not, however, tie down Erasmus
to any definition except his own. He has shown that
some proverbs are not moral, and that others are not
metaphorical, and he is surely entitled to say what
extent of ground he wishes to be covered by his work.
His own definition is that a proverb is “a saying often
repeated, and with something uncommon in the mode
of expression ;"17 but this, it must be confessed, would
by no means include his entire collection, and in order
to complete his number of four thousand and upwards,
mere phrases, idiomatic expressions, and sometimes
even single words are called into requisition. Probably,
however, of recognized proverbs occurring in the classical
writers of antiquity, there are few or none omitted ; and
it is interesting to observe that there are many which
were familiar when Socrates talked wisdom in the
market-place of Athens, or when Cicero thundered in
the Roman Senate-house, which are equally common
now, either in precisely the same form or one slightly
altered. Thus we have “Many a slip 'twixt the cup
and the lip,” which is expressed in Latin in the follow-
ing hexameter,-
Multa cadunt inter calicem supremaque labra ;
and this again is a translation from the Greek :-
Nomà peračù TéXEL KÚMıkog kaì xeídeos åkpov.18
Again, Fumnum fugiens in ignem incidi, which may be
translated “ Out of the frying-pan into the fire ; 19 “one
swallow doesn't make a summer," only the Greeks and
Romans naturally said “spring.” 20 “As like as two
16 Bibliothèque Choisie, i. p. 391. 18 Er. Op. ii. 181, A.
17 “Paramia est celebre dictum, 19 Ib. 184, C.
scita quapiam novitate insigne.” 20 Ib. 299, C.
-Er. Op. ii. 2, B.
· 282
TYY
the authorship of which is disputed, some ascribing it to
Pythagoras, others to Bias, though one would not think
it quite beyond the bounds of possibility that two such
great men might have hit upon it severally with-
out suspicion of plagiarism ; duabus sedere sellis, 23
suggesting sitting between two stools, though it is
really equivalent to having two strings to one's bow;
"pigeons' milk," of which the classical form, however,
was hens' milk ; 24 alterum pedem in cymba Charontis
habere, “to have one foot in the grave," 25 and so on. .
Shakspeare's
At lovers' perjuries
They say Jove laughs—
is, of course, but a literal translation of Ovid's-
Jupiter ex alto perjuria ridet amantum,-
and of Tibullus's-
Perjuria ridet amantum
Jupiter. 26
Pages might be filled with similar examples, all amply
illustrated with learned remarks, classical quotations
and allusions, or, perhaps, fables, accounting for the
origin of the proverbs, and explaining their use.
But undoubtedly by far the most curious and in-
teresting part of the “Adages” consists of those
digressions, sometimes simply narrative or descriptive,
sometimes keenly sarcastic, sometimes full of vehement
rhetoric, in which Erasmus delights his readers with his
knowledge of his own times, and with various scraps of
21 Er. Op. ii. 186, A.
22 1b. 259, E.
23 Ib. 262, F.
24 Ib. 222, D.
25 Ib. 427, B.
26 Ib. 549, C.
THE USE ERASMUS MAKES OF THEM.
283
information or anecdote, exposes the vices of his age,
and launches out into unmerciful attacks on monks,
theologians, and kings. The monks, of course, furnish
ample materials for wit and sarcasm, and assuredly they
are not spared; but Erasmus seems also to have been
the earliest of those writers who during the course of
the sixteenth century vindicated the right of subjects
to rebel, and even defended tyrannicide. . Indeed, he
plainly suggests assassination as the best means of
ridding the world of a bad ruler ; for what else is it but
to suggest assassination to speak of princes and the
Bruti in the same breath ? I shall presently give an
analysis of one or two of the more celebrated of these
rhetorical pieces. Meantime, a few examples of the
way in which Erasmus makes his proverbs the vehicles
of his attacks on contemporary abuses may be found
interesting
Rudius ac planius-that is, “speak with less refine-
ment, and you will be better understood.” This proverb,
derived from the practice of the ancient philosophers of
wrapping up their wisdom in language unintelligible to
the multitude, suggests a side-blow at the would be
philosophers of the day. “Even to this day," says
Erasmus, "some professors of philosophy and theology,
while teaching things in no way beyond the capacity of
a woman or a clown to utter, wrap up the question in
obscure phraseology and monstrous big words.” 27
Quot homines, tot sententiæ—"many men, many
Y
would hearken to this advice, in which case there would
not be so much controversy about points of no im-
portance, 28
27 Er. Op. ii. 42, E.
28 Ib. 114, A.
284.
THE AVARICE OF THE NOBLES,
A mortuo tributum exigere-applied to those who
gather riches by unscrupulous' means. We have here
some vigorous railing against merchants, kings, and
priests. “I would sooner," he says, “have a usurer
than the mean traders of these days who hunt up gain
from every source, by tricks, lies, impostures, misrepre-
sentations, buying here in order to sell elsewhere at
double the price, or by their monopolies plundering the
IN
almost the only honest men. .... Now, the rage for
ownership has gone to such extremes that there is
nothing in the world, sacred or profane, that is not
beaten into money. Once, even under tyrants, who,
however, did not yet fully know their own power, the
seas, the rivers, the roads, and wild animals were
common property. Now, certain noblemen, as if they
were the only men in the world, or rather as if they
were gods, claim everything as their own. The un-
happy sailor is compelled at a great risk to steer out of
his direct course, and to submit to anything he may be
ordered by those insolent robbers, as if it was not
enough for him to battle with the winds and waves but
such storms as these must be let loose upon him. No
sooner is the harbour reached than extortions begin ;
you cannot cross a bridge but you must pay toll; you
cannot pass over a river but you feel the prince's
might; if you have any baggage you must redeem it
from those accursed robbers; and, what is most cruel
of all, the wretched common people are defrauded, and
their necessary food curtailed, by innumerable tithes
and taxes.” Strong enough, surely! But ecclesiastical
abuses generally call forth the bitterest language, and the
greediness of the priests is no less severely handled. “You
AND OF THE PRIESTS. . : 285
cannot be baptized, that is to say, you cannot become a
Christian, without paying for it; such are the splendid
auspices under which you enter the doors of the Church.
They will not marry you unless you put your hand into
your pocket; they will not confess you but to get some-
thing by it. They celebrate the mass for hire ; they
will not sing for nothing, they will not pray for nothing,
they will not lay on a hand for nothing. Hardly will
they bless you from a distance by the motion of their
hand unless you give them something. They will not
consecrate a stone or a cup but for hire. Nay, even
that truly pontifical office of teaching the people has
not escaped the contagion of money-making. To sum
up all, however, in one word, they will not so much as
impart Christ's body unless you are willing to pay for
it. I say nothing of the harvest which is gathered from
litigations and dispensations, as they call them; from
pardons, vulgarly called indulgences; from conferring
priesthoods, from confirming Bishops and Abbots. But
what could you expect to get gratuitously from people
who make even the burial of the dead a matter of buy-
ing and selling, and that in ground which does not
belong to them? Among the Gentiles there was
a common sepulchre for the miserable plebeians ;
there was a place where you might bury whom you
would gratis. Among Christians the earth may not
even be opened to receive the dead unless you hire
what ground you want from a priest, and according
to the amount you pay will be the sort of place pro-
vided for you. If you like to pay handsomely you
shall have the privilege of rotting in the church
close by the high altar; but if you can afford only
a moderate sum you must be content to return to
11
286
ANECDOTE
your kindred elements among plebeians and under the
open sky.” 29
After all this does not seem so very unfair. It was
right that those who wanted a handsome burial should
pay for it, and far better surely that the priests should
make a moderate charge for their services than live on
alms like the mendicant friars. But the morality of the
time was that of the convent, from whose atmosphere
it would seem that even Erasmus was not entirely free;
commerce, even as applied to the things of this life,
was hardly thought of as honourable, while political
economy was unknown. .
"A head without a tongue".spoken of those who
have no advice to offer themselves, but nod their head
in assent to the opinions of others. “The crocodile,"
Erasmus caustically adds, “also has a head without a
tongue, but armed with teeth, like many we meet with
now, who, although they have no talent for speaking,
can yet give a deadly bite. The Nile is far away, but
this kind of crocodile may be found everywhere.” 30
Under the head of Virum improbum vel mus mor-
deat, “even a mouse would bite a wicked man," meaning
that the slightest thing may be made the occasion of a
quarrel, he takes occasion to relate an instance of
base ingratitude which had come within his own know-
ledge. A wealthy citizen of London, a man held
in universal respect, had been cured of a dangerous
disease by a German physician, to whom he continued
to make the most extravagant promises as long as his
life was in danger. On his recovery the physician
modestly reminded him of the debt. The other put
him off, observing that his wife had the key of his
2 Er. Op. ii. 336, sqq.. 80 Ib. 390, E.
LU
OF A CITIZEN OF LONDON. :
287
money chest: “and you know," he added, “the nature
of women; I don't want her to know that I am giving
away so large a sum of money." A few days after-
wards the physician, meeting his patient, who by this
time had lost every trace of his malady, renewed his
application, when he was told by the citizen that his
wife had paid the money by his orders. The physician
assured him it was not so, but happening to address
him in the singular number, the other immediately
seized the opportunity to consider himself grossly
affronted. “Do you, a vulgar German," he exclaimed,
“presume to thou an Englishman?” and he darted
away, apparently beside himself with rage. “I could
not help laughing at the story," says Erasmus, “and
yet I was sorry for the disappointment of my friend, as
well as amazed that any one could be guilty of such
monstrous ingratitude. It would not be right, how-
ever, to judge all Britons by this scoundrel.” 31
Festina lente, “hasten slowly”-one of the most
valuable of all mottoes, is the explanation of the well-
known anchor and dolphin of the Aldine editions ; the
dolphin, being; as was supposed, the swiftest of all crea-
tures, expresses the haste, while the anchor round which it
is twisted supplies the qualifying adverb. The emblem
itself is borrowed from a coin of the Emperor Vespasian,
with whom, as well as with Augustus, this saying was a
great favourite; and when Erasmus was at Venice, the
coin was shown him by his friend and entertainer,
Aldus Manutius. The dolphin and anchor having
been explained at somewhat tedious length, the occasion
is taken for passing a well-deserved eulogium on the
great printer. “If some deity friendly to literature,”
81 Er. Op. ii. 332.
YYY
288
EULOGIUM ON ALDUS.
V
Erasmus exclaims, “would but favour the fair and truly
royal vows of Aldus, I can promise that within a few
years the studious will possess, by his work alone, all
the good authors there are in the four languages, Latin,
Greek, Hebrew, and Chaldee, in a complete and
accurate form, and no one need have any lack of literary
material. And then we shall see how many excellent
manuscripts there are still hidden, which are either kept
back through ignorance, or suppressed, owing to the
ambition of certain persons who care for nothing except
that they may be thought the only wise men. Then
we shall know, too, with what prodigious errors those
authors abound who are now considered tolerably cor-
rect. . . . . The library of Ptolemy," he finely adds,
“ was contained within the walls of a house, but Aldus
is constructing a library which shall have no limits but
those of the world." 32
Under Ne puero gladium, we have an anecdote of
Henry VII. “This monarch,” Erasmus says, “was
distinguished for his sound good sense and his laconic
speeches ;" and once, having been listening to a theo-
logian of one of the mendicant orders haranguing in
the most unmeasured terms against princes, he ex-
claimed, “It was very like putting a sword into the
hands of a madman.” The saying was, perhaps, hardly
worth recording, but surely Erasmus had forgotten how
aptly it might have been applied to himself.33
These are a few flowers out of this immense bouquet,
and they may suffice to give some idea of the variety
and richness of the collection. But the author himself
has furnished the best description of the difficulties of
his undertaking-difficulties so great in that age, when
32 Er. Op. ii. 397, sqq.
33 16. 559, B-E.
THE LABOURS OF HERCULES.
289
1
many of the best classics still existed only in manuscript,
and when the best manuscripts were scattered far and
wide through Europe, often lying hid in obscure corners
where they were by no means easy of access, that nothing
but the most unconquerable zeal for learning could have
carried him over them in triumph. This description is
appropriately introduced under Herculei labores, the “la-
bours of Hercules," a proverb applicable to toil, not only
immense, but also unrequited, and hence in a special
degree to literary work. “For," as Erasmus complains
though in his own case, it must be owned, without
much reason—"there is no kind of labour which is
repaid with so much ingratitude; and the reward of the
scholar, after he has lost his sight, brought on premature
old age, and worn out his life in study, neglecting for its
sake sleep, health, and personal appearance, is to find
that he has only succeeded in making himself an object
of detestation and envy. The unlearned neglect him ;
the half-learned laugh at him; and the learned, with
the exception of a few, are so filled with envy, that,
overlooking all his merits, they have the sharpest eyes for
detecting any mistakes into which he may chance to have
fallen.” To write a book like the “ Adages" obviously
requires a far more extensive range of reading than any
other sort of literary production. For most ordinary
subjects the author would have before him a certain
limited number of books which it would be necessary
for him to consult. But for a work like this there was
not a book, ancient or modern, in either Greek or
Latin, that had not to be read, and read too with
the utmost care and minuteness; "since adages, being
very small,' sometimes escape the most searching
eye. Can any one now form an idea how infinite
VOL. I,
19
290
, THE HERCULEAN LABOUR
is the toil of hunting through every country in the world
for such tiny things as these? Human life is hardly
long enough for turning over the pages of so many
poets, grammarians, orators, logicians, sophists, his-
torians, mathematicians, philosophers, and theologians.
Every one, I think, must admit this. But how small a
part is even this of our toil !” Erasmus now describes
the commentators, whose ignorance and carelessness,
he says, made no small addition to his labours; and
then he proceeds to speak of the "prodigious corrup-
tion of the manuscripts, which was such that it was
impossible to select a passage for quotation but some
obvious blunder would meet the eye, or else there would
be one lurking in secret. Think of this, too,” he con-
tinues: “in the composition of other works the mind
has an ample range, so that, wherever you may happen
to be, you may be putting the finishing strokes to
some portion of your work by keeping your thoughts
.constantly in motion ; whereas here you are so tied
down that you cannot depart one foot's breadth, so
to speak, from the manuscripts. For your only hope
of success depends on your having a number of manu-
scripts, especially Greek ones; and how rare these are
everybody knows. Consequently you must spoil your
sight among decayed volumes, thick with the dust of
ages, torn and mutilated, and eaten through and
through by moths and worms; which are, besides,
extremely difficult to read ; and, in brief, are of such
sort that any one who was long employed among them
would soon begin to feel in himself the effects of old age
and decay, as well as to make others feel them too."
And all the pleasure there may be in this kind of work
is the reader's; the writer has none whatever. “In
; OF WRITING THE “ADAGES.”
291
other studies you may indulge your imagination, you
may expatiate sometimes among the flowers of elo-
quence. There are pleasant nooks in which you may
rest when weary, and recruit your exhausted strength.
But here it is not merely cold cabbage hot again,' to use
the Greek proverb, but the same things have to be
repeated thousands of times—the meaning of an adage,
its origin and its application.” In the sequel of this
essay, which he prolongs to such an extent that he
fears, not without reason, lest the reader may consider
it a Herculean labour to finish it, Erasmus offers an
elaborate apology for any imperfections his work may
be supposed to contain; for having completed it so
hastily; and, finally, for having undertaken it at all. If
any of the charges to which he refers were brought
against his book-we know at least that Budæus and
he had some epistolary quarrelling as to the propriety
of the digressions—it has long survived them; and
Erasmus has not only, as he says himself, surpassed
Hercules, who was unable to grapple with two monsters
at once, whereas he brought out his edition of St.
Jerome and an enlarged one of the “Adages " simul-
taneously at Basle, but he has overcome the greatest
enemy of the works of man, Time, which is continually
devouring its own offspring 34
I shall now conclude this notice of the “Adages" of
Erasmus with some account of two of the best known
and most characteristic of the longer essays introduced
in the edition of 1515. These are the “Sileni of Alci-
biades" and the Scarabaus.
Every one knows that Silenus was the rakish god
who nursed the infant Bacchus, and that Alcibiades, in
34 Er. Op. ii. 707, C. sqq.
292
THE SILENI
the Banquet of Plato, compares Socrates to a Silenus.
The force of the comparison lies in the fact that the
Greeks had little images called Sileni, which outwardly
portrayed the thick lips and flat nose of the foster-
parent of Bacchus, but which were so constructed that
the outside could be removed, when the features of a
true denizen of Olympus would suddenly be disclosed
to view. Hence the Sileni of Alcibiades" passed into
a proverb used of persons or things apparently worth-
less or ridiculous, but concealing something infinitely
precious under their uninviting exterior. Erasmus
makes the happiest use of this proverb, applying it in
the first instance to the ancient philosophers, such as
Diogenes, who, though he was vulgarly looked on as
no better than a dog, yet had something within him
which drew from Alexander the Great the excla-
mation, “If I were not Alexander I should wish
to be Diogenes ;” or Epictetus, who, though a slave,
poor and lame, yet possessed the only qualities which
give a man'any value in the sight of Heaven-
uprightness united with wisdom. Then, with a bold-'
ness which to some may seem startling, if not even
wanting in reverence, he applies it to Christ, remarking
that, in this instance, if we look to the outside only, it
would be impossible to find any condition more abject
or contemptible. “His parents were obscure, his home
humble, himself poor, his followers a few fishermen and
a publican. His life, to which all pleasures were un-
known, led through hunger, weariness, reproaches, and
mockeries to a cross. ... But if the Silenus be opened
and we look within, that is to say, if, the eyes of our
understanding being enlightened, he shall condescend
to reveal himself, what an inestimable treasure will you
OF ALCIBIADES.
293
find : a pearl of so great price under so vile an exterior,
so great majesty under such deep humility, such bound-
less riches under such poverty, such unimaginable virtue
under such weakness, so great glory under such
ignominy, such absolute repose amid such excessive
toils, and, to conclude all, an unfailing fount of immor-
tality in so bitter a death.” The Prophets, the Apostles,
and John the Baptist are treated in a similar way, and
it is shown by various illustrations that all through
nature the most obvious things are usually the least
valuable. How far Erasmus was from accepting any
hard literal method of interpreting the Bible is clear
from the following passage, in which he shows that
there, too, the same rule prevails. “To speak first of
the Old Testament, if you do not look deeper than the
mere historical clothing, and read how Adam was made
of clay, how his wife was taken secretly from his side, as
he slept, how the serpent tempted the woman with an
apple, how God walked in the garden in the cool of the
evening, how the gates of Paradise were guarded by a
sword to prevent the return of our first parents--is.
there not danger lest you may suppose all this to be a
fable forged in the workshop of Homer ?35 Yet, under
these external wrappings, what splendid wisdom lies
hid! The parables of the Gospel might well be
supposed to be the work of some illiterate peasant if
you consider only the outside shell. But crack the nut,
35 Compare the Enchiridion Mili-
tis Christiani for a very similar
passage, where also the Sileni of
Alcibiades are introduced : -
"Maxime vero scripturæ divinæ,
quæ fere Silenis illis Alcibiadeis
similes, sub tectorio sordido ac pene
ridiculo, merum numen claudunt.
Alioqui, si sine allegoria legeris,
Adæ simulachrum de argilla uda
formatum,” &c.
294
INVERSE SILENI.
and you will not fail to find that ancient and truly
divine wisdom, the very counterpart of Christ himself."
Beside the Sileni already described, there is another
class, who present just the opposite characteristics,
looking fair upon the outside, but inwardly full of cor-
ruption; and these are called inverse Sileni. “Such are
those who, by their sceptre, their guards, their splendid
titles, wouid seem to be no less than gods come down
upon the earth ; but who, if they could be opened,
would be found to be, not kings, but tyrants, robbers,
and public enemies. Such are those bishops whose
mitre, sparkling with gold and gems, and all their
mystic panoply, proclaim them more than men, while,
in reality, they have the heart of soldiers or of traders.
Such are they—and one meets them everywhere-
whose rugged beard and pale face, the hood and the
girdle, and their sour looks might lead you to think
them the holiest of men, whereas, if you could only
peep inside, you would find their heart a sink of selfish-
ness and greed. The great difference between the man
of the world and the Christian is that the former looks
exclusively to those things which lie upon the surface
and at once meet the eye-such as riches, birth, and
personal advantages—whereas the latter seeks for those
qualities which the eye cannot see, and which have the
least possible connection with material objects. Hence,
in the vulgar estimate, gold is set above learning, a
noble birth is preferred to virtue, the decrees of men to
the precepts of Christ, the shadow to the substance,
things temporal to things eternal. And closely con-
nected with this false view of things is the practice of
using false names. Thus, men call it justice when evil
is overcome with evil and crime with crime, or when
TXX
KINGS AND BISHOPS.
295
an injury is repaid with abundant interest. They call
him a traitor and an enemy of his sovereign who wishes:
that his sovereign should govern according to law, that
is, who wishes that he should be truly a king, and not
a tyrant. And, on the other hand, he is called his
sovereign's friend who corrupts him by bad education,
poisons his mind with false opinions, mocks him with
flattery, and by his evil counsels makes him hateful to
his people, and involves him in perpetual wars. They
say that the king's majesty is exalted when he has
gained any accession of irresponsible power. They say
his empire is extended when he has acquired the right
to one or two petty townships, albeit it may have been
purchased at a vast expenditure of blood, and at the
orphans. In the same way they call the priests,
bishops, and supreme pontiffs the Church, whereas they
are in reality no more than the Church's ministers. The
Church is the Christian People, whom Christ himself
calls greater, because it is they who sit at meat, while
the bishops are they that serve ; and yet, though less in
this respect, in all others they would be greater if, not
merely in their office, but in their life and character,
they resembled Christ, who, though he was Lord and
Master of all, took upon him the form of a servant.
They say the Church is adorned and honoured, not
when piety increases among the people, vice diminishes,
and holy doctrine flourishes, but when her altars shine ·
· with gold and jewels ; nay, even when her priests rival
tude of their servants, in their luxury, their mules,
their horses, their sumptuous palaces, and whatever else
contributes to the stir and splendour of life.” These are
296
ERASMUS ATTACKS
a few of the examples which Erasmus gives of the
abuse of words, and of the way in which the majority
of men permit themselves to be deceived by outward
He then proceeds to show that in all this he was far
from desiring to despoil either kings of their power or
priests of their dignity. On the contrary, he who would
have kings resemble God, whose image they bear, by
the possession of wisdom and superiority to sordid
affections, has a far higher idea of regal excellence
than those who pander to their pleasures, and make
them slaves to their own passions. He, who would
have bishops pure from every earthly stain, as the vicar
of Christ and guardian of Christ's heavenly spouse, has
formed a higher estimate of episcopal dignity than those
who load them with worldly wealth, entangle them in
mean cares, and expose them to the storms of war. “I
am willing," he continues, “that priests should reign,
but I think earthly dominion is unworthy of their
heavenly calling. I am willing that Popes should
triumph, but it must not be in such sanguinary triumphs
as were celebrated by a crime-stained Marius or an
impious Julius. I desire that they should be rich, but
in which they shall the more abound the more they
bestow them upon others. I wish that they should be
securely guarded, but with apostolic arms, with the
shield of faith, the breast-plate of righteousness, and
the sword of salvation, which is the word of God. I.
am willing that they should be most warlike, but against
the true enemies of the Church, simony, pride, lust,
ambition, anger, and impiety. Wilt thou know what.
are the true riches for a Pope? Listen to the first of
THE POPE'S TEMPORAL POWER.
297
Popes : 'Silver and gold have I none, but such as I
have give I thee; in the name of Jesus rise and walk.'”
From this the transition is easy to attack the temporal
power. .“ Why dost thou value the successor of St. Peter
on that wealth which Peter himself boasts that he did
not possess ? Why dost thou wish to see the apostolic
princes dressed in those ornaments which the Apostles
trampled under foot ? Why dost thou .call that the
patrimony of Peter which Peter himself boasted that
he had not ?" After showing that temporal sovereignty,
with all that it involves, is most unsuitable to the priestly
character, Erasmus remarks that it never prospers so
well in the hands of a priest as in those of a layman.
And for this there are two reasons. The first is, that
the majority of men submit more readily to secular
than to ecclesiastical rulers ; and the second, that while
the former, having children to succeed them, bestow all
their care to improve their dominions, the latter, being
without heirs, and generally called to the throne in
their old age, try to make the most of their time by
spoliation and plunder. Besides, when a secular ruler
rises to the head of affairs, the battle for the throne,
having been once fought, is at an end, and his favourites,
having been exalted and rewarded, are no more a drain
upon the resources of the people. But it is quite
different in the other case, in which the battle must
be perpetually renewed, and where there is a constant
succession of new men, all demanding to be enriched
at the nation's expense. Another consideration of
some importance is that the people more readily submit
to the authority to which they have been accustomed ;
and in the event of their king's death, they are con-
tent to see that authority revived in his natural heir ;
298
THE TEMPORAL POWER.
whereas, in the case of ecclesiastical rule, every trans-
ference of power necessarily implies a total revolution.
Besides, the secular prince is instructed from his earliest
childhood in all the arts which will qualify him for the
signed by nature for the oar, and may be raised to the
Papal throne by the mere caprice of Fortune. 36 Lastly,
it is scarcely possible that one man should be equal to
two such difficult administrations. It is extremely
difficult to be a good prince. But it is even more
difficult, though at the same time more honourable, to
be a good priest. Why, then, unite the two ? Christ
will not gain in power by being made a partaker of
earthly sovereignty, nor in dignity by being loaded with
its trappings. After all this, it was probably not much
to the purpose for Erasmus to declare as he does, in
bringing his essay to a close, that he did not wish that
the priests should be forcibly deprived of any wealth or
dominion they at present possessed; he only desired
that they should surrender them voluntarily, or at least
rise superior to them, and, as Paul enjoins, possess
upon the temporal. power of the Church was too clearly
struck to permit any such modifying expressions to be
accepted as an atonement. 37
As though he thought that in attacking the Church he
had been too sparing of the secular power, Erasmus wrote
another treatise in which kings are the special objects of
his wrath. “The beetle pursues the eagle,” is the pro-
verb which he makes the occasion of this declamation.
36 There is a reference here to Julius II., who was said to have been the
son of a sailor.-Froben's Scholium.
37 Er. Op. ii. 770, C. sqq.
THE "SCARABÆUS.”
299
The Scarabæus is nothing but the old Æsopian fable
of the beetle and the eagle, only told by Erasmus
with all the wit of which he was so great a master,
and with the most pointed reference to the tyrannical
arts . practised by contemporaneous sovereigns. He
introduces the subject in the most humorous way,
announcing in mock heroic style his purpose of
recounting the causes which led to war between the
great king of the birds and the humble insect, and
calling upon the Muses, who disdained not to inspire
Homer to sing the battle of the frogs and mice, to
condescend to lend him their assistance. First, how-
ever, he proposes to give some account of the nature,
character, and habits of the combatants upon either
side; and it is in describing the eagle that he finds the
opportunity for launching forth into a fierce denunciation
against tyranny. The eagle has been designated by
common consent the king of the birds, no doubt be-
cause, being formed for rapine and plunder, he is the
aptest type that could be found of the regal character.
If this be disputed on the ground that a king's highest
praise is clemency, and to do injury to no man, however
great his power, it must be answered that such kings
exist chiefly in the dreams of philosophers, and that
history supplies hardly any examples of them. In our
times, at least, there is scarcely one to be found to
whom the Homeric epithet of “people-devouring king”
will not apply. And they are now not even satisfied
with the title of king, unless there be added to it a long
list of splendid lies, calling them gods, though they
hardly deserve the name of men; invincible, though
they have never left a battle-field without being beaten ;
august, though everything about them is mean and
300
THE ROYAL EAGLE,
narrow; serene, though they are ever shaking the world'..
with the storms of war; Catholic Christian, though
Christ is never in their thoughts. But now examine
wicked eyes, his threatening beak, his savage jaws,
his fierce brow. Consider, further, his dark and death-
like hue; then his voice, harsh, terrible and awe-
inspiring, and that threatening, dissatisfied shriek which
puts all the animals to flight. No sooner is this cry
heard than all the world trembles ; the senate shrinks
into itself, the nobility becomes obsequious, the judges
fawn, the theologians are silent, the lawyers assent, the
laws give way; nothing remains unshaken, not even
religion, nor natural affection, nor justice, nor humanity.
And though there are so many tuneful birds whose
various and melodious notes might move the very
stones, yet the shrill and unmusical cry of the eagle is
enough to put them all to silence. There are many
other particulars in which the comparison holds good.
Thus, a pair of eagles require an ample space for their
depredations, and will not suffer any other robber in
their neighbourhood. And do not our eagles, too, love
broad lands? Are they not ever striving to extend
their empire, and going to war continually with the
neighbouring eagles or kites about the bounds of their
kingdom, which means simply the limits within which
they have the right to plunder? Only there is this
but carries his booty from a distance to his nest.
Tyrants, on the contrary, do not spare even their closest
connections, but thie nearer the throne the greater is the
danger. But the eagle would not be armed in a suffi-
ciently royal manner were he provided only with hooked
AND THE BEETLE..
301
TXT
beak and hooked talons; he has eyes also which are
sharper than any lynx's, and which can brave the sun's
fiercest beams, and indeed it is said that by this test
they prove the legitimacy of their offspring. Accord-
ingly they see from a great distance the prey on which
they intend to pounce. But the king of the birds has
only two eyes, one beak, and a few claws. The human
eagle has at his command myriads of watchful eyes,
innumerable beaks and claws in the persons of his
officials and subordinates, and is besides of an insatiable
hunger from which nothing is secure, be it secreted
where it may. Do but consider the various arts, the
tricks, the wiles, the machinery with which wicked
princes are provided to enable them to pillage their
subjects, as gainful laws, fines, false titles, pretended
wars, the accusations of the informer, and the claims of
relatives, and you must confess that the eagle is hardly
worthy the name of king. After describing the enemies
of the eagle, and the various modes by which they are
vanquished, Erasmus comes next to the beetle. His
description is exceedingly witty, but from the nature of
the subject-seeing that he is dealing with a creature of
unclean habits—is not altogether nice, and may there-
fore be passed by. Only that the beetle is a warrior no
one need doubt, who will consider his bright scales so
closely knit together that no part of his body is un-
protected, and his horrible hum not more musical than
the braying of a military trumpet. The manner in
which war fell out between these redoubtable chiefs is
now unfolded somewhat as follows :-Once, upon Mount
Ætna, an eagle was pursuing a hare, and was on the
point of pouncing upon her, when the frightened crea-
ture took refuge in the hole of a beetle which happened
302
THE BEETLE ENTREATS THE EAGLE
to be .near; for in such an extremity any refuge is
welcome. Now, this beetle was a mighty man of war;:
for on that mountain, it is said, the nation of the beetles
is of a peculiarly excellent stock, so that on account of
their great size “the beetle of Mount Ætna” has
become a kind of proverbial phrase. The hare, then,
taking refuge in this beetle's cave, threw herself at his
feet imploring protection against her merciless foe.
Flattered to find that any one should suppose him
capable of yielding such protection, and pleased that
his poor abode, which men seldom passed without
stopping their noses and muttering a curse, should be
made a harbour of safety precisely as if it had been
holy ground or the statue of a king, the beetle went
out to meet the eagle and endeavoured to stay
his wrath in such words as these: “The greater is
spare the innocent. Pollute not my house with the
blood of an unoffending creature; so may thy nest be
ever free from such calamity. It is the part of a
generous and royal mind to grant indulgence even to
the unworthy. Let reverence for the sanctities of
home, which are founded upon natural justice, pro-
tected by law and allowed by custom, prevail with
thee to spare the innocent; let thy suppliant's love, if
not his authority, prevail. But if thou despisest our
race and the beetle's arms, at least expect that the
gods will remember right and wrong. If it nothing
moves thee that the outrage of a violated home will
rebound upon thine own head, at least revere supreme
Jupiter, whom by this one deed thou wilt thrice offend.
This is my guest,—thou wilt break the laws of hos-
TO SPARE HIS GUEST.
303
laws which protect suppliants. Finally, I am thy
friend, interceding with a friend ;-thou wilt therefore
break the laws of friendship. Thou who holdest the
thunderbolts of Jupiter knowest how sure is his anger,
and how terrible his vengeance." But the eagle would
wait to hear no more. Contemptuously spurning the
beetle from him, he pounced upon the hare and tore
her to pieces before his eyes. Neither the 'prayers nor
the threats of the beetle availed, though perhaps he
would not have despised him so much had he remem-
bered how the king of the beasts was once saved by a
mouse, or how an ant, in return for some kindness,
saved the life of a dove when actually in the fangs of a
hawk. So true is it that there is no creature so weak
or so abject, but it may find occasion to benefit or to
injure those infinitely stronger than itself. No such
reflections, however, occurred to the eagle, engrossed as
he was with the immediate enjoyment of his prey. The
outrage sank more deeply into the heart of the mag-
nanimous beetle than any one could have believed,
and urged by shame, pity, and anger, and foreseeing
that if such a crime were allowed to pass unpunished,
beetles would never more be able to hold up their
heads in the world, he resolved upon a terrible revenge.
He did not, however, dare to encounter the eagle in
person, not merely because he was inferior in strength,
but because Mars, being a stupid god, and as blind as
Cupid or Plutus, generally favours the worse cause.
But knowing the love which parents generally have for
their children, and believing that the eagle was not
altogether a stranger to such natural affections, he
determined to attack him in his offspring. Besides, he
considered that it would be for his own greater safety
TA
304
THE BEETLE'S REVENGE.
if he could root out the entire race, and he cherished
also the fond hope that in the event of success he him-
self might ascend the throne. Armed with this reso-
lution he proceeded to the eagle's nest. Whether he
flew or crept is a disputed point; some authors main-
tain that he contrived to be carried thither by the eagle
himself, having clung to him unobserved, as he sprang
from the ground. Once arrived, he watched his oppor-
tunity, and then thrust out the eggs one by one until
he had destroyed them all. The rest of the story may
be told more briefly. The eagle built her nest—for here
it will be advisable to change the sex of our bird-in a
more remote and inaccessible spot, but the beetle still
pursued her. Another and another was tried, but in
vain. At length she appealed to Jupiter, who permitted
her if she pleased to lay her eggs in his lap. The bird
obeys and deposits there the last hope of her race.
And now what follows is almost past belief. The un-
conquered beetle flies to the palace of supreme Jupiter,
and drops into his lap a ball of dirt which he had
prepared for the purpose. Jupiter, who cannot bear
dirt, seeing that he dwells in the purest region of the
world, and far from all earthly contagion, and offended
by the smell, in endeavouring to free himself from the
pollution, sweeps away the eagle's eggs, which, falling
from so great a height, were destroyed long before they
reached the ground. By this act the beetle, who had
hitherto carried on his operations in secret, was at
length discovered, and thus, besides satisfying his ven-
geance, gained the additional pleasure of having his
power acknowledged ; while the rage of the eagle was
proportionately increased when he found he had been
defeated by so contemptible, an antagonist. Hence
MORAL OF THE FABLE.
305
arose dire war between them, the eagle pursuing and
destroying the race of beetles wherever they were to
be found, the beetle stretching every nerve for the
destruction of the eagle. Nor would there have been
any end until both species were utterly destroyed, had
not Jupiter called a council of the gods, by whom it was
decreed that during the thirty days of the eagle's incu-
bation the beetle must abstain from hostilities, and
for that period not be seen in public at all. This
decree was proclaimed by Mercury and engraven on
brass by Vulcan. It endures to the present day, and
will endure to the end of time. The deadly war con-
tinues between the beetles and the eagles, but during
the time that the eagle is sitting the children of the
beetle are nowhere to be seen.-Such is a brief account
of this excellent satire, which would necessarily lose
much in any translation, but of course loses far more in
so curtailed an analysis. Erasmus does not conclude
without turning upon the poor beetle whose cause he
had so long defended, but in whom, as his humour
altered, he appears to have seen a type of his own
tormentors. The fable warns us that no one should
despise any enemy, however mean. “For there is a class
of men, of the lowest condition indeed, and yet whose
nialice is to be feared, not less black than beetles, nor less
offensive, nor less vile, who, nevertheless, by the obsti-
nate malice of their nature, as they are incapable of doing
good to any one, often give a great deal of annoyance,
even to persons in high positions. They terrify us by
their black dress and blacker looks, stun us with their
clatter, and drive us mad with their stench; they buzz
round us, settle upon us, pierce us with their stings, so
VOL. I.
20
306
MORAL OF THE FABLE.
that it were far better to engage in feud with really
powerful men than to provoke those beetles, whom one
is ashamed even to have conquered, and whom you can
neither shake off nor encounter in battle without con-
tamination.” 38
88. Er. Op. ii. 869, A. sqq.
( 307 )
LAURENTIUS VALLA'S ANNOTATIONS ON THE NEW TESTAMENT -
ERASMUS EDITS THE NEW TESTAMENT--WRATH OF THE MONKS
- CONTROVERSY WITH FABER - LATOMUS – LEE — STUNICA-
CARANZA – EDITION OF ST. JEROME ---- SPURIOUS Works-
JEROME'S LIFE BY ERASMUS-DEDICATION TO WARHAM.
FOR years past it had been a cherished object with
Erasmus to print an edition of the New Testament in
the original tongue, and with this view he had been
collating manuscripts whenever he had opportunity.
As early, indeed, as the year 1505 he had appeared as
a critic of the Greek text, not, however, in his own
name, but as editor of the Annotations of Laurentius
Valla,' to whom must be ascribed the honour of having
been the first to attempt a revision of the text by a
comparison of authorities. . Having found by chance a
copy of this work on the shelves of an old library, and
thinking its publication would be a great boon to the
studious, he consulted Christopher Fisher, Apostolic
Protonotary, on the subject. He was perfectly sensible
that such a work would provoke hostile remark, but
Fisher desired him not to permit himself to be deterred
from a useful labour by the mutterings of a few monks,
and himself undertook the responsibility of the publica-
tion by becoming its patron.2
1 Laurentii Vallæ, viri tam Græcæ quam Latina lingua doctissimi,
in Novum Testamentum annotationes apprime utiles.--Basilea, 1526.
? Ep. ciii.
308
FROBEN WANTS THE NEW TESTAMENT.
The time was now come when Erasmus was not
merely to tread in the footsteps of Valla, whose work,
however creditable at the time, did not extend beyond
a few brief notes, but to leave him far behind by his
own infinitely more extended labours. On the 17th of
April, 1515, Beatus Rhenanus wrote to him from Basle :
"Froben wants to have your New Testament, for which
he promises that he will give as much as anybody.”3
This was joyful news. It would save him the fatigue
and inconvenience of a journey to Italy, and it pro-
mised to secure for Germany the credit of the first
publication of the New Testament in the original Greek,
If it was known that at this very time the New
Testament had been actually in print for more than a
year, though not yet published, as part of the Com-
plutensian Polyglott, which was preparing under the
auspices of Cardinal Ximenes, there was the more need
for despatch. Soon after receiving this news Erasmus
was on his way to Basle.
It will now be convenient to embrace in one review
the several editions of the Greek Testament of Erasmus,
and to follow rapidly the controversies to which it gave
rise, returning by-and-by to notice his connection with
other events which were transpiring at the same time,
bitter than they might otherwise have been.
At the time that Erasmus thus undertook to edit
the New Testament in Greek, as well as for centuries
before, the Latin translation of the Greek and Hebrew
Scriptures and the Apocrypha was the sacred book of
the Church. This, with many slight variations in the
manuscripts, was substantially Jerome's version, and it
8 Ep. xxi. App.
THE VULGATE.
309
was upon this that the text subsequently authorized by
the Council of Trent was founded. To the monks and
theologians of that day it was the Bible as much as if
no originals had existed, or as if Hebrew Prophets and
Galilean Apostles had written in Latin ; it was the Bible
as much as the authorized English version is the Bible
to the average church-goer of our own times. From
this preachers declaimed, and from this controversialists
reasoned. Such was the passing ignorance of the
monks that it is probable many of them had not the
faintest conception of any original by which the Latin
might be tested, and even respectable theologians did
not think it necessary to look beyond it. It is not
surprising, then, that the earliest book printed was the
Latin Bible. That was about the middle of the fifteenth
century, and before the close of that century several
other editions had appeared ; among the rest a neat
one in octavo, by John Froben, bearing the date 1491.
Nor were the modern languages neglected. Before the
end of the fifteenth century there were translations of the
Bible in German, Italian, Dutch, French, and Bohemian
--all, of course, from the Latin ; and at the beginning of
the sixteenth century there was even a Spanish one.
But all this time, and even while splendid editions of
the Greek classics were issuing from the press of Aldus
in Venice, as well as from a few other centres of literary
activity, no one had been sufficiently enterprising or
sufficiently zealous in the cause of religious progress to
edit or to print the Christian Scriptures in their original
tongue. The truth is, that those who were interested
in religion cared very little for learning ; while most of
those who were interested in learning cared not at all
4 See above, p. 81.
310
ERASMUS'S GREEK TESTAMENT;
for religion. The monks did not wish for the Greek
Testament, because they could not have read it, and, if
they could, would not have trusted it against the Latin ;
and the learned men, of Italy in particular, where the
· greatest number of books were printed, did not wish for
it, because they were not Christians. Erasmus, how-
ever, differed both from the monks and from the learned
men. He cared for literature and for religion too; and
for him accordingly was reserved the honour of being
the first to give to the world an edition of the New
Testament in Greek.
It was a great triumph for Germany, when, on the
Ist of March, 1516, there appeared at Basle, from the
press of Froben, the whole New Testament in Greek,
printed side by side with an improved Latin translation,
and with annotations by Erasmus. It was dedicated
to Pope Leo X., and the title-page announced that the
text was after several ancient and excellent manuscripts,
in both Greek and Latin, with the citations in the
Fathers compared. In reality, however, owing, it may
be supposed, to the haste with which the work was
hurried through the press, not more than five Greek
5 Novum Instrumentum omne,
diligenter ab Erasmo Roterodamo
recognitum et emendatum, 11011 solum
ad græcam veritatem, verum etiam
ad multorum utriusque linguæ codi-
quæ lectoren doceant quid qua
ratione mutatum sit. Quisquis igitur
amas veram Theologiam, lege, cog.
nosce, et deinde judica. Neque statim
offendere, si quid mutatum offenderis,
eniendatorum fidem, postremo ad
probatissimorum autorum citationem,
emendationem, et interpretationem,
præcipue Origenis, Chrysostomi,
Cyrilli, Vulgarii, Hieronymi,
Cypriani, Ambrosii, Hilarii,
sit.
And on the colophon: Basilea, in
ædibus Ioannis Frobenii Hammel-
burgensis, mense Februario. Anno
M.D. XVI. Regnante Imp. Cus.
Maximiliano P. F. Augusto.
HIS MANUSCRIPTS.
311
manuscripts, which happened to be at hand, or which
Erasmus had brought with him, were used as his prin-
cipal authorities; and these were neither very old nor
very valuable. The oldest, which contained the whole
of the New Testament, except the book of Revelation,
has been assigned to the tenth century, and allowed by
the great critics to be of considerable authority. But
the other four, which included only parts of the canon,
were of quite recent date and comparatively little
worth. Amongst them all there was but one copy of
the Apocalypse, and that wanted the last six verses,
which, accordingly, Erasmus was obliged to supply from
the Latin-a task in which he succeeded so ill, that in
that short passage he deviated from the true text no
less than thirty times. Otherwise, as was to be expected
in one who was conscious that there were very few who
could rival him in a knowledge of Greek, his prejudices
seem to have been against the Latin ; and though he
sometimes followed it when it was wrong, he more
frequently deviated from it when it was right. Never-
theless, the work was a marvel of genius and industry.
. 6 This at least is the usual state- tionem Novi Testamenti ;” and
ment. Erasmus himself, however, again, in his Responsio ad Nota-
seems to say that he used at least tiones novas Ed. Lei, we have these
nine manuscripts, as he says in the words, - “Primum sic agit Leus
Apologia prefixed to his first edi- quasi mihi non fuerit nisi unicum
tion :-“Nos in prima recognitione exemplar, cum tam multis sim usus,
primum in Anglia, mox in Braban-
secunda quinque," &c. It is clear, tia, postreno Basileæ non semel,"
moreover, from several references, &c. Probably, however, his notes
that he had been collating manu were not much used for the first
Thus in a letter to Colet, from Cam-
bridge, which I have referred to the
year 1512 (Ep. cxv.-see above,
p. 220), he says, “ Absolvi colla-
to his own well-known expression,
was præcipitatum verius quam edi-
tum.
312
ERASMUS'S GREEK TESTAMENT.
Many things conspired to make the sale more rapid
than might have been anticipated. The fame of the
editor, now known either personally or by reputation to
all the learned men, as well as the princes and nobility,
of Holland, France, Germany, Italy, and England, the
increasing number of students of Greek, the desire to
know something of the Scriptures in the original-all
these things raised the interest to its height. The
friends of Erasmus bought the book for his sake, or for
its own; his enemies bought it to discover the heresies
and errors which they had determined beforehand it
must contain. Within three years there was a demand
for another edition, and this also was speedily exhausted,
although the two together consisted of 3,300 folio copies.
The second edition appeared in the beginning of 1519,
· with a greatly improved text, and with the Vulgate so
altered as to be substantially a new translation. This
edition was fortified with a Papal Brief, a copy of the
Nicene Creed, and an engraving of the Trinity, which,
one would think, ought to have been effectual, though
they by no means proved so, in protecting the work
against charges of heresy. Right above the Pope's
letter, which spoke in the highest terms both of the
scholarship and the orthodoxy of the work, there
appeared a sufficiently quaint device, which curiously
illustrates the zeal with which the great literary warfare
was carried on—a woodcut representing the victorious
"Germans under Arminius overthrowing the legions of
Quinctilius and Varus, with a tablet in one corner
inscribed with the words— Tandein, Vipera, sibilare
7 It is a singular circumstance
that the creed is here given in its
Eastern form, that is, it makes the
Holy Spirit proceed from the Father
only, instead of from the Father and
the Son.
WRATH OF THE MONKS.
313
.
desiste. This was of course the printer's doing, but it
was certainly no great compliment to Leo.
From the time that the New Testament was an-
nounced, great murmurings were heard among the
cowled heads, and probably curses, “not loud, but
deep,” proceeded from many lips that ought to have
been used only to bless. The sweets of labour, how-
ever, may have come first. The friends of Erasmus
hastened to send him their congratulations on this great
achievement, and those who were determined to cavil
may have thought it necessary to examine his work
before they began their attack. At first, some gentle
passages of arms took place with men not really hostile,
or who did not despair of retaining the great scholar in
the service of the Church; and these were conducted
with wonderful courtesy, for Erasmus enjoyed the
respect of all competent persons, and he himself enter-
tained the notion, not very common in any age,
that the precepts of Christianity were applicable even
to the conduct of theological controversy. But by-and-
by more bitterness infused itself into the strife. Accu-
sations of heresy and Arianism were heard. Erasmus,
it was said, had charged the Apostles with lapses of
memory and with writing bad Greek; he had altered
texts which were important for proving the Deity of
Christ, and he had omitted altogether the testimony
of the Three Witnesses in the First Epistle of John,
Some of these faults it may have required a little
learning to detect ; at all events, they could not have
been discovered without reading the book. But one
thing was clear to the commonest understanding : he
had departed from the Vulgate translation, and had
substituted comparatively pure Latin for its intolerable
314
WRATH OF THE MONKS.
barbarisms. Evidently the common Bible of Christen-
dom was not good enough for him, and priests and
preachers must now be called upon to give up the words
they had so long been accustomed to regard as divine.
This raised the wrath of the monks to its height.
“Solecisms," they cried, “are not offensive to the
Almighty.” “Well, but," replied Erasmus, "neither
are they pleasing to Him." "It is too bad," they said,
that the Holy Scriptures should be made subject to
the rules of grammar.” “The Vulgate," it was answered,
“is not Holy Scripture, but a translation of Scripture ;
and those who do not like the revised translation are not
obliged to use it.” Some were ignorant and impudent
enough to say that it was an intolerable crime for any one
· to presume to correct the Gospels. “Is every fool, then,"
retorted Erasmus, “to be permitted to corrupt the manu-
scripts of the Gospels, and is it an impiety to restore
what has been corrupted ?". To those who feared that
the authority of the Bible might be called in question
if any variations from the received standard should be
acknowledged, he replied that for more than a thousand
years there had been no complete agreement either in
the Greek or the Latin copies.8 Perhaps it was to
conciliate the monks that the common title, Novum
Testamentuin, was restored in the second edition,
instead of Instrumentum, which had been preferred
in the first, on the ground that it was the more proper
word to express the deed, or written document, con-
taining the Testament. This title was also defended on
8 See the Apologia prefixed to
the first edition ; also the preface to
the fourth and fifth editions. The
New Testament, with Erasmus's
translation and annotations, and
the preſatory matter, occupies the
sixth volume of Le Clerc's Erasmus.
A RIDICULOUS BLUNDER.
315
the authority of Jerome and Augustine ; but it does
not seem to have occurred to Erasmus that the word
Testament, which in Latin, as in English, properly
implied the decease of one of the contracting parties,
was altogether a misnomer.
The New Testament of Erasmus was, in fact, as may
easily be supposed, by no means a faultless production.
The first edition abounded in typographical errors, and
there were a few of a more serious nature, which, how-
ever, may be excused on the ground of the great haste
with which the work was finished-the printing and
much of the editing having occupied only five or six
months.9 The very title-page contained a sufficiently
glaring and rather ridiculous blunder. This was the
mention, in the list of the Fathers whose works had
been used in the preparation of the text, of Vulgarius, a
writer no one had ever heard of before. The mistake
arose in the following way. Erasmus had a copy of
Theophylact on Matthew, with this title : Toū Deode-
λεστάτου Αρχιεπισκόπου Βουλγαρίας κυρίου Θεοφυλάκτου
εξήγησις εις το κατά Ματθαίον Ευαγγέλιον ; in his haste
he toolk θεοφυλάκτου for an epithet, while for Βουλγαρίας
he must have read. Bovı yapiov, which he converted
from the name of a country into the name of a man,
and, translated “Vulgarius ;” and under this name
Theophylact was quoted in his notes. To make matters
worse, he attributed to Vulgarius a reading which is not
to be found in Theophylact, and in one place grossly
misconstrued him. Another blunder, scarcely pardon-
able even at a time when geography was a mystery
9 On the 2nd of October, 1515,
Erasmus wrote, “Novum Testa-
mentum jam aggressi sunt.”—Er.
Op. iii. 1523, B., where the date
1513 is a palpable blunder..
316
BLUNDERS OF ERASMUS;
which few had attempted to penetrate, was the state-
ment that the port of Neapolis, where Paul arrived on
his journey from Samothrace to Philippi, was a town in
Caria. Nor was Erasmus at all thankful to those who
pointed out, in no friendly spirit certainly, such slips as
these. Gentle and temperate as he was, compared with
the more energetic spirits who were preparing to shake
the world, his pride as a scholar was obstinate in
refusing, wherever that was possible, to acknowledge an
error. He was willing enough indeed to confess, in
general, that, being human, he had made mistakes, but
all particular mistakes he thought himself bound not-
withstanding to defend. He was obliged, however, to
apologize for the haste which had led him to give a
new Father to the Church, which he did by asserting
(untruly, it would appear) that the name Theophylact
was almost illegible in the manuscript he had made use
of. But he stuck to it to the last that the Herodians
mentioned in Matthew xxii. 16, were the soldiers of
Herod the Great; sheltering himself here under the
authority of Jerome, whose shield he thought ample
enough to defend him against all the darts of malice.
His final edition of the note on Acts xvi. II is a curious
example of human or theological weakness. It may be
translated thus: “ Neapolis. Not the city of that name
now held by the Spaniards in Italy, but another in
Caria, in Asia. This seems to be the opinion of Jerome
in his list of the names of places in the Acts, but I
think wrongly. Some will have it that Neapolis is in
Thrace or Macedonia, near Ptolemæus, and not far from
Philippi. And this opinion is the more probable one, as
there are several cities of that name.”!
Such real blunders as these were of course eagerly
BOLDNESS OF HIS CRITICISM.
317
seized upon by the calumniators of Erasmus in order to
increase the outcry against him. But the principal
objects of attack were the merits rather than the faults
of his work. There is throughout his annotations a
boldness and freedom of criticism which in our own
day would be denounced as daringly rationalistic; and
if his text is not always correct, which indeed was not
to be expected, it was at least honestly constructed. A
few examples will give the best idea of the character of
his criticism. Of Luke's style, he remarks that it is
purer than that of the rest of the Evangelists, owing to
his acquaintance with Greek literature. The Epistle
to the Hebrews, he says, breathes the spirit of Paul, but
is not at all in his style. He doubts whether the
Apocalypse be the work of John the Apostle. On this
book, chap. i. 4, he remarks," It must be honestly con-
fessed the Greek has no meaning whatever.” Rom. ix. 5,
he points in the usual way to make it agree with the
Latin, but intimates in his note that the sentence might
be pointed in three different ways, adding that there is
here no complete refutation of the Arians, as the final
clause, “who is over all, God blessed for ever," may be
referred to the Father and not to Christ. So on
I Tim. iii. 16, “God manifest in the flesh," he suspects
that the word “God” was introduced against the
Arians, and that the true reading was not asos but"O,
referring to uvotholov in the preceding sentence. There
his common sense led him to a conclusion which the
more thorough criticism of after times has fully con-
firmed.10 That was quite true too, or very nearly true,
which his enemies had brought as a charge against him,
10 Here, however, he has the support of the Vulgate, which actually
reads quod.
318
CRITICAL HONESTY OF ERASMUS ;
that he had accused the Evangelists of lapses of memory.
For on Matt. ii. 7, “And thou, Bethlehem,” &c., after
quoting the remarks of Jerome that the prophecy as
given here does not agree with the words of Micah, and
that the Evangelist must either give the words as quoted
by the Scribes and Pharisees, or else must himself have
made a mistake through a lapse of memory, he shows
that the first of these opinions will not hold, and then
proceeds, but very cautiously and without admitting
that he entertained it, to justify the second. That that
was really his own view we may very fairly suspect, but
it was scarcely fair to charge him with it, especially as
he finally suggests another alternative, namely, that the
Evangelist may have intentionally altered the sense of
the original to adapt it to the novel circumstances. But
the best proof of the courage and honesty of Erasmus
might be thought to be the omission of I John v. 7.
Yet, what else could he have done but omit it? The
words were not in his manuscripts. The omission,
accordingly, was no act of his, and the proper way to.
state the case would be to say that he forbore to insert
it. Even for that, however, much credit is due to him,
especially as he persevered in that honest course in his
begun. How he came to yield at last, and insert this
notable forgery in his third and subsequent editions, we
shall see presently.
But the notes on the New Testament were by no
means confined to questions of textual criticism. There
was other matter in them which was sure to give offence,
and which might seem to have been introduced on pur-
pose to offend. They were made the vehicle, perhaps to
*HIS NOTES ON THE NEW TESTAMENT.
319
11
the writer upon the manners of the time, and especially
for uttering sarcastic allusions to the various abuses
which prevailed in the Church. In fact the Encomiuin
Moriæ was here repeated, only in a somewhat more
serious form. And on many points — for example,
on the dress of the priests and the ceremonies
observed in public worship, on fasts and feasts, on
the monastic life, on vows, penance, the worship of
relics, on marriage and divorce,-opinions were ex-
pressed which, if they were not at variance with the
authorized doctrines of the Church, were at all events in
direct conflict with popular ideas, and with the teachings
and practice of the most zealous upholders of the eccle-
siastical system. It is an evidence of the boldness of
Erasmus, and shows how little he was of a Papist in the
strict sense of the word, that he altogether denies the
primacy of Peter, and in his note on the famous text,
Matt. xvi. 18, “ Upon this rock I will build my church,"
expresses his surprise that any should have so perverted
the meaning as to refer the words exclusively to the
Roman Pontiff, “to whom,” he adds, in his second
edition, “they undoubtedly apply first of all, seeing that
he is the head of the Christian Church; but they apply
not to him only, but to all Christians,” &c. On Matt.
xvii. 5, “Hear ye Him,” he remarks, “ Christ is the only
teacher who has been appointed by God himself. Such
authority has been committed to no theologian, to no
Bishop, to no Pope or Prince. Not that we ought not
to obey them, but we ought to obey Christ first of
all.” 11 Here are some remarks upon the superstitious
respect for pretended relics, introduced in a note on
Matt. xxiii. 5, “That they may be seen of men."
11 These words are not in first edition.
320
THE NOTES ON THE NEW TESTAMENT.
L
.
-
"Jerome, on this passage, condemns the superstition
of certain women who, like the Pharisees with their
phylacteries, used to carry about little copies of the
Gospel, and pieces of the wood of the true cross, and
other things of the same kind, which, he says, have a
zeal of God. but not according to knowledge. If that
most holy man entertained such sentiments with regard
to weak women who might fairly have claimed sonie
little indulgence, what would he say were he to return
to the world now, and see Mary's milk exhibited in our
churches for money, and almost as much honour paid
to it as to the consecrated body of Christ; miraculous
oil, and fragments of the true cross in such quantities,
that if they could be brought together it would take a
merchant vessel to hold them all; if he were to see
Francis's hood exhibited at one altar, and the Virgin
Mary's shift at another, in one church Anna's comb, in
another Joseph's boot, in another Thomas of Çanter-
bury's slipper, in another," 12—- but here the translator
must break off, for the next relic mentioned is, in fact,
unmentionable. The statement in Acts ix. 43, that
Peter lodged “with one Simon a tanner," calls forth
the exclamation, “Oh! how great a guest—the very
chief of the Apostles—to lodge with so humble an ·
entertainer! In our days, three royal palaces scarce
suffice to receive Peter's vicar.!!13 In reference to the
language of Scripture, we are told on Acts x. 38, that
“the Apostles learned Greek, not from the orations of
Demosthenes, but from common conversation." 14 Again,
St. Paul's statement that he preached the Gospel with-
out charge (1 Cor. ix. 18) gives occasion to a sneer at
12. Not in the first edition.
13 In the first edition.
It In the first edition.
BOLDNESS OF ERASMUS.
321
12
the greediness of the clergy. “That,” says Erasmus,
“was a boast truly worthy of an Apostle, but one which
no one in our days is ambitious of making. Nothing is
to be had now gratuitously. You cannot even get
buried free of cost.” But there were yet other and more
important questions on which it is clear that Erasmus
held opinions very different from those which prevailed
among the majority of the clergy and the monks, and
by his views on which he might well have seemed to
have done something to occasion the now rapidly
approaching schism in the Catholic Church. Such was
his avowed wish, directly in opposition to the Council of
Toulouse, which had forbidden the Bible to the laity,
that the Scriptures might be translated into all tongues, so
that even Turks and Saracens, to say nothing of Scotch
and Irishmen, might read them, and Christians take
from them the subjects of their daily conversation.15
Such, still more, were the doubts which he expressed as
to whether the sacrament of matrimony was known to
the early Church-to the Church of St. Jerome and
St. Augustine—amounting, of course, to a doubt, or at
least suggesting one, whether marriage was a sacrament
at all; the similar doubts which he expressed regarding
auricular confession; and when he further proceeded
to attack the celibacy of the clergy, and argued how
much better it would be, considering the gross im-
morality which it occasioned, if marriage were not
altogether forbidden, it is not wonderful if all whose
interests or feelings attached them to the old system
felt bound to oppose and denounce him.
Such a book, appearing at such a time, could not
fail to be bitterly attacked. The strife began even
15 Paraclesis ad pium lectorem, prefixed to the Novum Testamentum.
VOL. I.
21
322
CONTROVERSY WITH FABER STAPULENSIS.
before its publication, when Martin Dorpius, in the
letter which has been already noticed in connection with
the Moria,16 remonstrated with Erasmus on his design,
and maintained that there was no fault to be found
with the Vulgate; but it was not till after the appear-
ance of the second edition, when men's minds were
exasperated by the bold defiance which Luther had
hurled at Rome, that the more formidable and systematic
attacks upon it commenced. Meantime, however, Eras-
mus had a controversy of a comparatively friendly kind,
which indeed he had himself provoked, with the French
theologian, James Lefevre of Etaples, or Faber Stapu-
lensis, as he was called in Latin. Faber was a man of
undoubted learning, and had already made one impor-
tant contribution to theological study.17 He and Eras-
mus had known one another intimately at Paris, where
they had many long conversations on subjects of com-
mon interest, but strangely enough neither of them had
happened to mention that he was meditating a work
upon the New Testament.18 It was therefore with
surprise that Erasmus learned, while he was making
arrangements for his own work at Basle, that Faber had
partly anticipated him--it was in reality to a very
small extent-by the publication of a commentary on
the epistles of Paul with a new translation of his own
printed side by side with the Vulgate version,19 In this
16 See above, p. 203.
conflictati, ne casu quidem inciderit
17 His Quincuplex Psalterium, . ulla mentio, quid vel meum, vel
printed at Paris by Henry Stephens, tuum stụdium parturiret ac moli-
in 1509.
retur."-Apologia ad Jac. Fab. Stap.
18 “Sæpe mecum admiratus sum, Er. Op. ix. 19, C.
quinam evenerit, ut in tam crebris, 9 Jacobi Fabri Stapulensis in
tam prolixis, tamque familiaribus omnes D. Pauli epistolas commenta-
colloquiis, quibus Lutetiæ fueramus riorum libri XIIII.
ERASMUS CHARGED WITH IMPIETY.
323
work Faber undoubtedly laid himself open to attack.
His Latin was far from Ciceronian. His Greek was
often defective:20 His want of judgment was shown in
the fact that he assumed the genuineness of Paul's
epistles to Seneca and printed them as a kind of sup-
plement to his commentary on Philemon. In truth
Faber was guilty of some egregious blunders, such as
would now be simply impossible, but were at that time
more pardonable ; and two or three of these Erasmus
took the opportunity of pointing out in his own notes,
not however without apologizing for his dissent and
paying many compliments to the learning of his friend.
But theologians are proverbially a combative race, and
to express a difference of opinion, still more to convict
of an error, is sometimes to bring upon oneself a charge
of blasphemy. So it proved in the present instance.
In a second edition of his commentaries which speedily
appeared, Faber, without altogether throwing off the
garb of friendship, attacked Erasmus with considerable
warmth, and even charged him with impiety. The
question turned on the proper meaning of Heb. ii. 7,
which Faber, assuming that the epistle was originally
written in Hebrew, and afterwards translated (not
always correctly) into Greek, proposed to render, "Thou
hast made him a little lower than God,” according to
Jerome's interpretation of Psalm viii., while Erasmus
thought that this rendering, besides being inadmissible for
either psalm or epistle, solved no difficulty in the latter.
Christ, he argued, in his Divine nature, was never made
20 As an example of his Latin it
may be mentioned that he headed
his translation -- Intelligentia et
Græco ;--of his Greek, or rather of
both, that he rendered mapaßovlev-
oáuevos-ex deliberatione positurus
est animam.
324
CONTROVERSY
lower than the angels, nor could he be said to have been
made lower than God. In his human nature, on the other
hand, he was made not a little, but a great deal lower
than the angels, and lower even than the most abject of
the human race. From the dilemma thus raised he
proposed to escape by rendering, “Thou hast made him”
(not "a little” but) "for a little time, lower than the
angels.” 21 Faber, with perfect propriety, as regards the
Hebrew, disputed the translation, but not satisfied with
this, he hastened to charge the sentiment, certainly
somewhat harsh in its expression, but quite innocent in
intention—that Christ had been made lower than the
most abject of the human race, as impious and most
- unworthy both of God and Christ. Besides Erasmus,
in the course of his remarks, took occasion to state that
doubts had been entertained as to the authorship of the
Epistle to the Hebrews, that it was received late by the
Roman Church, and that Jerome had said that there
were some who did not receive it on the ground that its de-
scriptions of Jewish customs were not always strictly cor-
rect, and for these surely very cautious and perfectly true
allegations, he was accused by his friend of folly, vanity,
and ignorance. It was a year and a half before he was
aware that these formidable charges were in circulation
against him. He was getting into his carriage to start for
Louvain when a friend mentioned to him that a second
edition of Faber's commentaries had appeared, and
21 As regards the meaning of
Heb. ii. 7, Erasmus may have been
quite right in rendering Boaxú tu
"for a little time," and for this
meaning he relies on Acts v.. 34,
where he maintains that it is the
only possible one. Faber was pro-
bably a better Hebraist, but both
were mistaken in supposing that
the Psalmist and the author of the
Epistle must necessarily have meant
the same thing.
: WITH FABER STAPULENSIS.
325
1
referred him to the passage in which he was attacked. 22
He immediately procured the book from his bookseller,
read it as he travelled, and on his arrival, in the course
of the following fourteen days, wrote his Defence, 23 in
which, while treating his opponent with the greatest
courtesy, he carefully reviews the controversy between
them, and reads Faber an admirable lecture on Christian
charity and forbearance. 2*
Another attack was called forth by a short essay on
the right method of the study of Scripture, which
22 “ Cum essedum (sic) conscen-
derem, eruditissime Faber, Lova-
nium commigraturus, id enim malui
quam principem in Hispanias comi-
tari, commodum submonuit ine
quidam amiculus Commentarios in
Paulum iterum abs te editos," &c.-
Er. Op. ix. 17, A.:
23 “ Quatuordecem dumtaxat die
cuların spatio." - Io. Frobenius
Lectori. As a curious example of
the way in which printers in the
sixteenth century thought themselves
entitled to recommend authors and
their works to the public, and also
as a proof how they themselves
stood in the ranks of learning, this
whole preface of Froben's may be
quoted : “Jacobus Faber Stapu-
lensis in secunda suarum in Paulum
Annotationum æditione, ERASMUM
nostrum erroris notavit, ipse rodis-
sime hallucinatus. At hic (o divinam
ingenii promptitudinem) etiamdum
ab officina calente opera, quatuor-
decem dumtaxat diecularum spatio,
hanc Apologiam effudit verius quam
scripsit. Ex ea tametsi brevi, sed
mire docta, velut leonem (ut aiunt)
ab unguiculis, æstimare licet, quam
sit ERASMUS theologicarum etiam
argutiarum non ignarus, quibus nunc
Theologi passim in scholis utuntur.
Adjecit quidam apud nos, pauculas
in marginibus adnotatiunculas, ut
lectori consuleret. Eme, lege, et
ERASMUM Deodoyerióratov kai dia-
LEKTIKÚTUTOv, hoc est, summum Theo-
logum et acerrimum disputatorem
deprehendis. Argumentum Apo-
logiæ sequens pagella copiosius
explicabit. Bene Vale."
I certainly cannot reconcile Fro-
ben's statement that Erasmus wrote
his Reply while Faber's work was
warm from the press, with the fol-
lowing words of Erasmus himself:-
“ Quin de hac quoque proxima
editione mirum ubique silentium,
quæ jain sesquiannum per omnes
regiones volitat, me uno omnium
inscio.”- Apol. ad Fab.
24 Apologia Des. Erasmi Rotero.
dami ad Insignem Philosophum,
Jacobum Fabrum. Stupulensem.
Lovanii, 1517. Er. Op. ix. 17.
326
CONTROVERSY WITH LATOMUS.
Erasmus had prefixed to his Greek Testament, and in
which he maintained that the first thing required was a
knowledge of the three tongues, Greek, Latin, and
Hebrew..5 In the course of his remarks, he incidentally
mentions that he himself, though within a year of fifty,
returned to the study of Hebrew whenever he had an
opportunity. He also inculcated the advantage of having
as much general knowledge as possible, especially of the
objects named in Scripture, so that the student may
not, like some ignorant commentators, make a quadruped
of a tree, or a fish of a precious stone. Nor were poetry
and good letters to be despised. Christ clothed all his
teachings in parables, and that was poetry. Paul quotes
from the poets, but there is nothing in his writing to
remind one of Aristotle and Averroes. It is difficult for
those who are imbued with the scholastic philosophy to
appreciate the simplicity of the Scriptures, but if it be
maintained that without it one cannot be a theologian,
Erasmus will console himself with the example of so
many famous men, Chrysostom, Jerome, Ambrose,
Augustine, Clement, nay, of Peter and Paul, who were
utterly ignorant of it, and even condemned it. It was
probably this attack on the divinity of the schools which
gave the most offence, and James Latomus, a doctor
and professor of divinity at Louvain, took up the cause
of scholasticism, and, at the same time, jealous for the
authority of the Vulgate, attacked the principle that a
knowledge of Greek and Hebrew was necessary for the
study of Scripture. In the dialogues which he wrote
25 Erasmi Roterodami Methoitus.
This treatise, which was afterwards
considerably expanded and printed
as a separate work, under the title
of Ratio Verce Theologia (Er. Op.
v. 75, sqq.); was not repeated in the
later editions of the New Testament.
EDWARD LEE.
327
on this subject he did not name Erasmus, but it was
evident that he had him in view, and the latter, fearing
lest he might be misconstrued, wrote a defence of him-
self in two books, in which he declared that he had
never intended to condemn the scholastic divinity: he
merely preferred to it the study of the Scriptures, as he
believed the Church had always done. 26 He was him-
self residing at Louvain at the time, but the controversy
was carried on in an amicable spirit, and no breach of
friendship took place between the disputants.
But it was our own country, where he had found
his best friends, which furnished also his bitterest
enemies. And among those who took up arms against
his New Testament none was more bitter or more
unrelenting in his persecutions than Edward Lee, after-
wards chaplain and almoner to Henry VIII., and
eventually Archbishop of York. At this time he was
a comparatively young and still unknown man, and, as
Erasmus believed, actuated in his hostility to himself
by nothing but ambition and the love of notoriety.
Such a vain creature was he, according to Pirckheimer,
that you would have thought everything he trod upon
inust needs turn into a rose, and in his own estimation
no one could compare with him for beauty, learning,
and sanctity. 27 His attack, which began about a year
after the first appearance of the New Testament, was
of the most vexatious kind, being carried on by private
whispers rather than on the open field of fair con-
troversy, while neither his age nor his learning entitled
him to enter into conflict with a scholar of such esta-
blished reputation. Erasmus speaks of him in his letters
26 Apologia in dialogum. Fac. Latomi.-Er. Op. ix. 79.
27 Er. Op. iii. 550, A.
328
EDWARD LEE
with the utmost contempt, or rather with an anger
which shows that he could not afford to despise him,
declaring that “a creature more arrogant, ignorant, and
venomous the world had never seen ;” and when his
book, which was kept back, as we are assured, by mere
cowardice for more than two years, at length came out,
“mendacious," “ foolish,” “ignorant,” are among the
epithets he applies to it. Lee, he tells us, had learned
all the Greek and Hebrew he knew in a few months on
purpose to write his criticisms. He had adopted the
bribing the monks with entertainments, and with presents
of wine and fruit; and with the same view he had written
not less than six hundred letters, for which he had been
obliged to employ several amanuenses. 28 Nor could he
be prevailed upon, though often entreated, to furnish
his antagonist with a copy of his criticisms. When the
second edition of the New Testament was going through
the press, and a considerable part had already been
printed off, Erasmus met Lee, showed him the sheets,
and offered, if he would point out anything in them con-
trary to the orthodox faith or to good morals, to reprint
them, notwithstanding the great expense it would cost him,
and to make honourable mention of Lee as the author
easy to make, if Erasmus had resolved beforehand on
no account to acknowledge an error, and it is scarcely
to be wondered at if Lee refused to comply. Lee,
however, maintains that he did send the manuscript of
his notes to Erasmus; but that, finding he took no
notice of it, he was compelled to print it; and he adds
that Erasmus bribed or threatened the printer in
28 Er. Op. iii. 575, F.
29 16. 655, B.
ATTACKS ERASMUS.
329
Antwerp to whom he had applied to prevent him from
undertaking the work. 30 Nor does Erasmus altogether
deny the first part of this statement. His account of
the matter is that Lee, having called upon him at
Louvain, insinuated himself into his confidence, and
was taken into his sleeping apartment, where he was
shown the preparations for the second edition of the
New Testament, already far advanced towards com-
pletion, and that he then began to study the first
edition, having by this time acquired sufficient Greek
for that purpose, and some time after confessed that he
had made some notes upon it. Erasmus begged him to
let him see them ; but he would never send more than
half a page at once, and always insisted on its being
returned before he would let him have another, as
though he were afraid it should be copied ; and Erasmus,
finding that most of his criticisms were worthless, and
that he had already anticipated the few that were
of admonition on the margin of one of his papers. At
this Lee seemed to take great offence. He looked
daggers at Erasmus, and on the departure of the latter
for Basle, he spread a report everywhere that he had
detected no less than 300 errors in the Greek Testament.
When, at length, his notes were published, they were
found to be full of the most scurrilous abuse. 31 “At
last," wrote Erasmus to Capito, “the British viper has
broken loose! Edward Lee, the everlasting disgrace
I would describe the monster to you, but I am afraid
80 See Apologia Edouardi Leei ad
diluendas quorundam calunnias.
81 Annotationes Edouardi Leei
in Annotationes novi testamenti
Desiderii Erasmi. Prostant Par.
rhisiis.
.330
CONTROVESY WITH LEE
posterity would not believe that such a beast ever wore
the form of humanity.”32 Erasmus was in some doubt
whether he should notice this attack, and his friends
were also divided on the subject. Rejecting, however,
what reports had been spread to his disadvantage, and
fearing lest his silence might be construed into a con-
fession of defeat, he determined to reply, but briefly.
His answer cost him forty days' labour. 33
Lee's criticisms were principally textual, and had for
their object the defence of the Vulgate ; but he also
took occasion to charge Erasmus with favouring Arian-
ism and Pelagianism, with undermining the authority of
Holy Scripture, and other offences against the Catholic
faith. I shall notice at some length only one of these
criticisms, which happens to have a special interest--
that on I John v. 7. Lee based his defence of the
authenticity of this celebrated passage on the fact that
Laurentius Valla, in his annotations on the New Testa-
ment, had not noticed its omission from any of his
manuscripts; on Jerome's Preface to the canonical
Epistles, in which he said it was stated that the text
had been corrupted by the heretics; and on an insinua-
tion which he chose to make to the effect that Erasmus
had consulted only one manuscript. Besides—and this
no doubt made a deeper impression on those who were
likely to take his side of the question than any learned
arguments—the consequence of omitting words so im-
portant to the orthodox faith would be the revival of
· 82 Erasmus Capitorzi in the appen-
dix to Hess, vol. ii. p. 545, 599.
38 Des. Erasmi Roterodami
Liber quo respondet annotationibus
Eduardi Lei, quibus ille locus
aliquot taxare conatus est in quatuor
evangeliis.--Er. Op. ix. 123. Liber
alter quo respondet reliquis annota-
tionibus Eduardi Lei. Ib. 199.
RESPECTING THE THREE HEAVENLY WITNESSES. 331
the Arian heresy and a schism in the Church. Lee's
arguments, such as they were, were not very difficult to
dispose of. Laurentius Vålla was but human; he may
have been guilty of an oversight, or he may have found
the words in question in his manuscripts. It was not
true that Jerome had said this passage had been cor-
rupted by the heretics, and even if he had said so,
Jerome was not infallible; on the contrary, he was a
man of a warm and even violent temper, and often
made assertions much more positively than facts seemed
to warrant. Jerome's language, however, really implied
that he had changed the public reading of the Church,
and that accordingly the Latin must have previously
agreed with the Greek.SNor was it the case that the
disputed words had been omitted by none but heretics;
for Cyril, an orthodox Father, in collecting all the texts
he could find against the Arians, quotes the testimony
of the Spirit, the water and the blood, but not that of
the Three in heaven, which he certainly would not have
omitted had he found it in his copies. As to the charge
that Erasmus had been guilty of carelessness and dis-
honesty in not consulting more than one manuscript, it
was simply absurd. He had, in fact, consulted many
in England, in Brabant, and at Basle, and at different
times had had in his hands a greater number than
Valla. Had he found the words in a single copy, he
would, he says, have inserted them; but that not having
been the case, he followed the only course that was open
to him-pointed out what was wanting in his Greek
manuscript. Probably that was an aggravation of his
offence; could he not have printed the Greek as it stood
84 Erasmus does not appear to have questioned the authenticity of the
Preface to the canonical Epistles.
332
ERASMUS REPELS LEE'S CHARGE
without calling special attention to it, and might he not
at least have retained the usual Latin reading ? Having
disposed of the critical part of the question, Erasmus
proceeds to relieve the mind of his opponent of his
apprehensions of heresy. He reminds him that others
besides himself can read Greek, and that soon every
one pretending to scholarship will be able to do so. To
what purpose, then, would he have concealed the real
reading of the Greek manuscripts? There is the reading,
for the Arians, as well as everybody else, to see for
themselves, and he is not responsible for the fact. And
how can Lee suppose that the mouth of the Arians, if
there were any Arians, would be stopped at once by the
testimony of the Three Witnesses ? Are there not
other passages in which the word "one" means not one
in substance, but one in consent? Must it not, indeed,
have this meaning in the case of the three that bear
witness on earth; and might it not be made to bear this
sense also in the words under dispute ? But, in fact,
there are no Arians. No heresy more completely extin-
guished! And as to the disturbances which Lee antici-
pates, why, the New Testament has now been in the
hands of the public for more than three years, and none
of these dreadful results have followed. By-and-by,
Erasmus becomes pleasantly severe. The unlucky Lee
had broken into a strain of solemn admonition, fore-
telling the evils that would come upon the world from
this corruption of Scripture, and calling upon the
Shepherd of the Church to awake. “There is still
hope," he exclaims, “ with the help of God, since the
smoke has not yet burst into a flame. The Guardian
of Israel will not slumber nor sleep, if the watchman in
Israel slumbers not nor sleeps." Rather insulting to
• OF FAVOURING THE ARIANS.
333
the Pope, replies Erasmus, to suppose he does nothing
but snore and yawn. “But let Lee be comforted. The
watchman in Israel will not always slumber and sleep,
but will at last put to silence such wild and seditious
calumnies, and shut the mouth of all who, by their
foolish clamour, would excite among the people the
trouble which seems to be the element in which they
live themselves. For should any disturbance arise in
the Church of God, it will be entirely their doing; we
have no desire either to promote sedition or to advocate
unsound doctrine. If, however, we fall into any unin-
tentional errors, certainly it was not for Lee to find fault
with our mistakes, seeing how many disgraceful blunders
he is guilty of himself in that little pamphlet of his ;
much less to abuse and calumniate us. However, I am
ready to acknowledge the justice of all the reproaches
he has heaped upon me, if, in all my many works, some
of which are of great length and fill more than one
volume, while some were produced in great haste, I am
guilty of so many flagrant blunders, or so often incon-
sistent, if I misquote or show that I do not understand
my own language, as often as he has done in that little
pamphlet which he drew up two years ago, with the aid
of his friends, and when he was able to give to it the
whole of his attention.”
It might seem that there could be no doubt with
whom the victory would remain in a contest of this
kind between learning and capacity upon the one side,
and ignorance and dulness on the other ; but, unfor-
tunately, treachery supplied the place of knowledge,
and Lee carried away the most substantial fruits of a
conflict in which he was otherwise completely defeated.
Erasmus in his reply had twice professed his willingness
111
334
ERASMUS INSERTS THE DISPUTED TEXT
to insert the testimony of the Three Witnesses if a
single manuscript could be produced containing it.
Lee must in due time have satisfied himself that none
such could be found at Oxford or Cambridge, nor pro-
bably anywhere else. But what then? Were there no
amanuenses living? Was it impossible to have a manu-
script written on purpose which should contain the
disputed words, and satisfy the scruples of this trouble-
some Grecian ? That the Codex Montfortianus was
written under the direction of Lee, with the express
object of deceiving his opponent and exacting from
him the fulfilment of his promise, there is indeed no
positive proof; but its, opportune appearance at this
particular juncture lends a countenance to the suppo-
sition, and there was nothing in the character of Lee
to make it probable that he would have hesitated to
commit a pious fraud which he thought so important
to the orthodox faith. One only wonders that he
should have gone such a long way round to accomplish
his purpose, instead of simply affirming the existence of
the manuscript; but no doubt he had a tender con-
science, and found it more agreeable to equivocate than
to lie; and besides, how did he know but Erasmus
would run over to England to have a sight of this
newly-discovered treasure? Erasmus, however, was
very easily satisfied. It does not appear that he ever
even saw the Codex Britannicus, as he calls it. He
desired peace, and shrunk from the clamour that was
raised against him on all sides. Having been informed,
therefore, that a manuscript had been found containing
the testimony of the Heavenly Witnesses, although he
suspected, and with good reason, that it had been
corrected after the Latin, he inserted the spurious
IN HIS THIRD EDITION.
.
335
words in his third edition, which appeared in 1522.
There the text corresponds exactly with the reading of
the Codex Montfortianus, which is now deposited in the
Library of Trinity College, Dublin, proving its identity
with the Codex Britannicus of Erasmus.35 In the subse-
quent editions it was altered into better Greek.
Another antagonist, of a very similar temper to
Edward Lee, but of greater pretensions to learning,
whom the attacks of Erasmus on all the favourite pre-
judices of the time summoned into the field, was the
Spanish theologian, James Lopez Stunica. An adept
in the three languages, and having spent many years in
the study of the original text of the Old and New
Testaments and in the comparison of manuscripts, he
3The exact agreement, it must
be understood, applies only to the
interpolated clause; but it is remark-
able that for the eighth verse Eras-
mus had a better text in his second
than in his third edition, where he
altered it after the Codex Britanni-
cus, the only differences being the
insertion of kai before uswp, and the
retention of the clause, kai oi tpeis
sis TÒ Év elolv, which the Codex
Britannicus oniitted, and which the
Dublin MS. also omits. That this
clause was omitted by the Codex
Britannicus, we have the express
testimony of Erasmus himself twice
repeated, -in the Apologia ad Stre-
oricam, and in the note on 1 John,
v. 7, in the later editions of his
Testament-in both of which places,
aſter giving the whole seventh and
eighth verses, he remarks that it
may be merely accidental that the
kai oi tpæis eis rò fv elow is not
repeated. It is important to notice
this, because a little lower down, in
the very same note, Erasmus contra-
dicts himself (possibly owing to a
mere printer's blunder) by stating
that the British MS. adds to the
witness upon earth, kai oi tpɛīs aiz
TÒ Év cloiv. The text of the Codex
Britannicus in verses 7 and 8, as
quoted by Erasmus, certainly de-
viates from that of the Dublin MS.
in the omission of the űylov after
Ilveõua, and the oi before the second
uaptupoŮVTES; but that these are
mere slips in copying is clear from
their re-appearance in the text of
the third edition, which text, be it
remembered, has been in other re-
spects altered for the worse-viz. by
the omission of the article three
times in order to make it agree
with the newly discovered authority.
336
JAMES LOPEZ STUNICA
thought himself well qualified to sit in judgment on the
work of his Dutch contemporary.36 Accordingly he
published a series of criticisms, 37 in the preface to which
he treats Erasmus with high disdain, as a man of letters
who had gained some reputation--more than he de-
served-by his literary and grammatical labours ;---he
mentions particularly his translations from Lucian and
Euripides, and his “Adages," – and who had been
tempted on to the audacious design of publishing a
new translation of the Scriptures, to which he added a
volume of annotations in the style of Laurentius Valla.
Nor will he allow him any higher motive than the love
of notoriety and the pleasure of finding fault with the
old translation and its author. How elegant he could
sometimes be in his language may be inferred from a
single passage, in which he speaks of Erasmus as so
“steeped in the beer and butter of his country" as to be
incapable of clear thought.38 He charges him repeatedly
with gross ignorance of the Holy Scriptures, with igno-
rance of Greek, with ignorance of the writings of the
Fathers. He defends some of the worst solecisms of
the Vulgate; and, above all, he is indignant because
Erasmus had expressed a doubt whether the name of
God was applied to Christ in the writings of the
Apostles and Evangelists in more than two or three
places, and asserts that to those who seek diligently
it must be apparent that the name is so applied in
86 “Quippe qui non paucos annos
in sanctis scripturis veteris ac novi
testamenti hcbraice, græce ct latine
perlegendis consumpsimus," &c.—
Irelace to Annotations.
37 Annotationes Ficobi Lopidis
Slunecce contra Erasmum Rotero-
damum in defensionem Tralationis
Novi Testamenti. It was printed
at the Complutensian University in
the year 1520.
38 “Ut Erasmus butiro et ccrvisia
patria obrutus somniaverit.”—Note
on Gal. iii.
AND CARDINAL XIMENES.
337
many passages; after which he proceeds to enumerate
the texts usually advanced in proof of the supreme
deity of Christ. Stunica, however, while guilty of some
gross blunders himself, was undoubtedly successful in
detecting several serious errors in the notes of his
antagonist, and had he entered into the controversy in
a better spirit, and shown himself less captious and
more concerned for the interests of truth, he might have
been considered no unworthy opponent.
More than three years had elapsed between the
appearance of the first edition of the Greek Testament
and the attack of the Spanish theologian-a fact for
which Stunica offers no other explanation than the
statement that the new translation was some time in
reaching him. Erasmus, however, gives a very different
account of the matter. According to him, Cardinal
Ximenes was highly pleased with his edition of the
New Testament, and when Stunica expressed his sur-
prise to him that he should pay any attention to a work
teeming with such monstrous errors, he nobly replied in
the language of Scripture_."Would that all were such
prophets! Go thou and do better if thou canst, but
disparage not another man's labour." 39 It was not,
accordingly, till after the Cardinal's death that Stunica
ventured to publish his attack. Erasmus, who patheti-
cally complains that at his time of life he should be
compelled to enter into a controversy by which his
peace of mind will be destroyed, as well as the pleasure
of his studies, replied in a careful, and, on the whole,
pretty temperate apology.40 Point by point he foils the
89 Er. Op. ix, 284, D.
Testamento taxaverat Facobus Lopes
10 Des. Erasmi Roterodami Apo Stunica.-Er. Op. ix. 283, 599.
logia respondens ad « qu« in Novo This work is without a date.
VOL. I.
22
11
338
ERASMUS CHARGED WITH HERESY.
1
attack of his enemy, exposing his mistakes, defending
his own positions, showing that in one or two instances
the corrections of Stunica have been anticipated in the
second edition of his Greek Testament, but with these
exceptions never of course admitting that he has been
wrong. He indignantly repels the charge of having
treated the old translator with contempt; on the con-
trary, he had often praised him, and sometimes even.
defended him against Faber and Valla. Still more
audacious was it to assert that he had condemned the
translation of the Church, seeing that he had protested
so often that he was merely translating the Greek copies,
but had never said that he approved their readings.
Nor will he admit that the translation now in use is
St. Jerome's, as Stunica. assumes. The contrary, he
thinks, he has abundantly proved in his notes.
But his adversary's hints at heresy fairly roused his
anger. If he had expressed a doubt whether the
epithet, "servant," could be applied to Christ, he was in
danger of falling into the error of Apollinaris, who
denied the human nature. If he had added that, though
Christ was subject to his Father, it was as a son, not as
a servant, he must beware of seeming to favour the
heresy of Arius, who denied the equality of the Son ·
with the Father. “I” he exclaims, “deny Christ's
human nature, who adore it in so many of my books !
I make Christ in His divine nature inferior to the
Father, who so often express my detestation of the
Arians! I have defended myself from the charge of
heresy; let Stunica defend himself from the suspicion
of perverse aņd wicked calumny. Let him call me a
Dutchman, rude, coarse, stupid, ignorant, a block, a
dolt, a fool, and I shall not be greatly moved; but who
THE RHODIAN MANUSCRIPT.
339
can bear to have the suspicion of heresy fastened upon
him by a brazen-faced buffoon—and such heresy, too,
as affects not the honour of the Pope, nor the dogmas
of the schools, but Christ himself ?” 41
It is a difficult matter fighting when you cannot
see your adversary's weapons; but Erasmus was under
this disadvantage with regard to the famous Rhodian
manuscript, to which Stunica frequently appealed in
condemnation of his text. “This Greek manuscript
of the apostolic epistles," he says, “is of very great
antiquity, and was brought from the island of Rhodes
to Spain, where it was presented to Cardinal Ximenes,
and by him deposited in the public library of this
Complutensian Academy." Erasmus, however, would
not permit himself to be crushed by its authority. He
opposed to its readings the numerous ancient copies
which he had consulted in England, in Holland, and at
Basle, and besides even ventured to suspect that, like
some other Greek manuscripts he had met with, it was
corrected after the Latin, in which case it would of course
be valueless as an instrument of criticism. “I would
have more confidence," he caustically remarks, “in a
copy which did not always agree with the Latin." 42
41 Er. Op. ix. 317, C, D.
12 The Rhodian manuscript has
never been seen since the sixteenth
century. Stunica first introduces it
in reference to 2 Cor. ii. 3, where
Erasmus had remarked "Szoper
tristitiam superest;" and gives the
reading of the Rhodian manuscript
as follows:-iva ur) RowvĚTi lutñs
oxű, áo' ūv ždet le xaipelv. Erasmus
replies -“At ego illi Rhodiensi
oppono tot vetusta exemplaria, quæ
nos vidimus partim in Anglia,
partim in Brabantia, partim Basileæ,
quorum nonnulla Cardinalis quidam
Roma secum advexerat, cum illic
esset synodus, et in itinere moriens
legavit totam bibliothecam, quæ
Græca erat, monasterio Carthusien-
sium; ac deprehendi quosdam
Græcos codices ad nostros esse casti-
gatos, quo de numero suspicor esse
Rhodiensem illum. Quod si verum
est, codex ille nihil aliud est, quam
340
CONTROVERSY WITH STUNICA.
On i John, v. 7, however, of the genuineness of which
Stunica, following in the footsteps of Lee, was an
advocate, the. Rhodian manuscript would seem to have
on the Preface of Jerome, and on his own assumption
that the Greek copies are evidently corrupt. He does
not of course quote a single Greek authority, and Eras-
mus accordingly is able to ask triumphantly, “Where
has your Rhodian' manuscript gone to sleep?" 43 All
other arguments he points out were beside the purpose,
since he had never undertaken to emend the Greek
manuscripts, but only to render them faithfully. Never-
theless he certainly did not believe that the Latin copies
in this instance represented the original text; and he
proceeds to show once more, by the same arguments
which he had employed against Lee, that the words
under discussion were unknown to the early Church.
He adds, moreover, that he had recently consulted two
(Latin) manuscripts of remarkable antiquity at Bruges,
in which they were wanting.
Stunica, it may be supposed, was neither convinced
nor pacified by this reply. He pursued his adversary
with unrelenting animosity, and two years afterwards
(1522) published a rejoinder, in which he resumed some
of the principal points in the controversy between them
-especially that regarding the title of Deity as applied
to Christ--and openly charged him with Arianism.44 He
had at first, it would seem, really supposed that the
amussis alba in albo lapide. Ego diensis ?”—a question which the
magis fiderem exemplari Græco, world has been asking ever since.
quod non usquequaque consentiret 44 Facobi Lopidis Stunicæ Libellus
cum nostris."--Er. Op. ix. 333, A, B. trium illorum voluminum præcursor
. 48 “Ubi dormit codex ille Rho quibus Erasmicas impietates ac blas-
phemias redarguit. Roma, 1522.
SANCTIUS CARANZA.
341
statement of Erasmus on that head arose from ignorance
of Scripture, but when he found him putting another
construction on the passages adduced to show that the
name of God is frequently applied to Christ, he no
longer hesitated to bring the terrible charge of heresy.
About the same time he published a collection of the
“blasphemies and impieties” of Erasmus, taken from
his various works, and principally from the notes to the
New Testament, and the edition of Jerome. 45' Stunica
was at that time residing at Rome, and so highly was
Erasmus esteemed there, that he found considerable
difficulty in bringing out these attacks, two decrees of
the conclave having been actually issued to prevent it,
nor was it until after the death of Leo X.; whery he
probably took advantage of the interval which elapsed
before the arrival of the new Pope, Adrian VI., that he
succeeded in his design. In reply to these works, Eras-
mus also wrote an apology, which, however, it will not
be necessary to notice at length 46
Stunica was followed by another Spanish divine,
Sanctius Caranza, who undertook the defence of his
countryman against Erasmus, especially with reference
to those passages to which the latter was supposed to
have given an Arian interpretation. Erasmus again
replied that he had no doubt that the Deity of Christ
might be proved from Scripture, but he protested against
straining particular texts to meanings which could not
properly be put into them. Caranza would seem to
45 Erasmi Roterodami Blasphe-
mice et Impietates per Jacobum Lo
pidenn Stunicam nunc primum pro-
palate ac proprio volumine alias re-
dargute. Roue, 1522.
46 Des. Erasmi Roterodami Apo-
logia adversus libellum Jacobi Stu-
nicæ, cui titulum fecit, Blasphemia
et impietates Erasmi. Basiliæ,
13 Jun. Anno 1522.
342
THE BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH
have been a fairer and more moderate disputant than
Lee and Stunica.47
Such were the more serious controversies which
followed the publication of the New Testament. Some-
times, in the hands of the ignorant monks, the attacks
upon it assumed a sufficiently comic aspect, and Eras-
mus. has not failed to record one or two instances of this
in his usual humorous style. There was, for example, a
certain Dr. Standish, Bishop of St. Asaph-St. Ass,'
Erasmus calls it—who was terribly distressed because
Erasmus, following Laurentius Valla, had substituted
the masculine word Serino for the neuter Verbum in the .
first chapter of St. John's Gospel.
On a certain occasion he was preaching in St. Paul's
Churchyard, and having begun a sermon upon Charity,
all of a sudden he broke out into a furious attack upon
Erasmus, declaring that the Christian religion must be
ruined unless all new translations were abolished, and
that it was intolerable that this man should have corrupted
the Gospel of St. John by putting Serino in the place of
Verbum which had been the reading of the Church
for so many centuries. Then he began to appeal to the
feelings of his audience, bewailing his own unhappy lot,
to think that he who all his life had been accustomed to
read, “In principio erat verbum," must henceforth read,
“In principio erat sermo ;” and finally he appealed to
the mayor, the aldermen, and the whole body of citizens
to come to the rescue of Christianity in this its hour of
47 “Post longas et inutiles rixas,
tandem mihi res esse coepit cum
homine vere Theologo, qui, si cre-
dendum est amicorum litteris, et
disputat erudite, et docet modeste,
et admonet amanter.” — Desiiderii
Erasmi Apologia de tribus locis,
quos ut recte taxatos a Stunica de-
fenderat Sanctius Caranza Theo-
logus.-Er. Op. ix. 401, sqq.
TURNED INTO RIDICULE BY MORE.
343
peril. No one, however, took notice of his rodomon-
tade except to laugh at it. It happened the same day
that Standish was to dine at the palace, and two of his
hearers—one of whom was a bachelor, and profoundly
versed in the scholastic philosophy as well as in the
modern learning, the other a married man, but of the
most heavenly mind (no doubt, as Knight conjectures,
meet him. They were no sooner seated, than one of
them remarked how glad he was to find he had been
reading the Commentaries of Erasmus. Standish, per-
ceiving that a trap was laid for him to compel him to
not read, replied bluntly, “ Perhaps I have read as much
as I chose to read.” “I have no doubt you have,”
replied the other. "Pray, may I ask on what argu-
ments or authorities does Erasmus rely, that he has
ventured to change the common reading in John's
Gospel ?” To this question, of course, the Bishop was
unable to make any reply. He said he was content
with the authority of Augustine, who affirms. that
verbum was a better word than ratio as an appel-
lation of the Son of God. “Yes,” said More, “than
ratio ; but what has that to do with sermo? “Why,
they are the same thing." "Nay," replied his tor-
mentor, “they are very different; and it is not very
wise in you to attack a man who has rendered such
good service to the cause of letters, without having
either read the passage you criticise, or made yourself
master of the subject.” Some time afterwards, made
no wiser by his defeat, Standish surprised the Court by
dropping reverently upon his knees in presence of the
King and Queen, and a large assemblage of the nobility
344
THE BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH
and of learned men. Every one was eager to hear
what so eminent a theologian had to say, supposing it
must be something of great importance. He began by
pronouncing an eulogium, in English, upon the ancestors
of the King and Queen for having ever defended the
Catholic Church against heretics and schismatics, and
then proceeded to exhort and adjure their Majesties to
follow in the footsteps of their progenitors, warning
them that most dangerous times were at hand, and that
unless the books of Erasmus could be suppressed, the
religion of Christ was ruined. Then, raising his hands
and eyes to heaven, he prayed that Christ would con-
descend himself to aid his spouse if no one on earth
would come to her defence. While he was still on his
knees, one of his two tormentors on the previous occa-
sion (Sir Thomas More) stepped forward, and having
said how much he admired the pious harangue of the
Teverend father, begged that, as he had alarmed their
Majesties so much, he would now be good enough to
point out what it was in the books of Erasmus from
which he apprehended such terrible consequences. He
replied he would do so at once, and, reckoning on his
fingers, proceeded : “First, Erasmus denies the resur-
rection. Second, he makes the sacrament of matrimony
of no account. Lastly, he is unsound on the Eucharist."
More commended the clearness of his statement, and
observed that nothing now remained but that he should
prove his assertions. “Certainly,” replied the other;
and beginning upon his thumb, “ First,” said he, “ that
he denies the resurrection I prove thus : Paul in his
Epistle to the Colossians (he meant Corinthians) writes
thus : 'We shall all rise, but we shall not all be changed'
(the reading of the Vulgate); but Erasmus has altered
ACCUSES ERASMUS BEFORE THE COURT.
345
the reading of the Church, and from his Greek copies
reads as follows: 'We shall not all sleep, but we shall
all be changed. It is clear that he denies the resur-
rection.” Presently the poor Bishop was led into a still
greater absurdity, if that were possible, and said that
Jerome had restored the true reading from the Hebrew;
till at length the King took pity on his incurable
stupidity, and diverted the conversation to some other
subject. 48
Three editions of the Greek Testament by Erasmus
have now been mentioned. The fourth appeared in
1527, and the fifth in 1535, the year before his death.
On all of them, except the last, which hardly differs
from its predecessor, much labour was spent.
In estimating the merits of Erasmus as an editor of
the New Testament, it ought surely to be considered
sufficient if he can fairly claim to have been the first.
And this he can do with very little qualification. Car-
dinal Ximenes is indeed entitled to equal honour, as
having planned the Complutensian Polyglott, in which
the New Testament, it would seem, was printed by the
beginning of the year 1514; but the whole work was
not ready till 1517, nor was it published before 1522.
The name of Laurentius Valla also must not be for-
gotten as the very first, so far as is known, who collated
different manuscripts of the New Testament. But
Erasmus was the first who edited, printed, and pub-
lished the Christian Scriptures in their original tongue,
and for that the world owes him a debt which it would
not be easy to repay. His text, indeed, was far from
perfect; and yet a chapter from his last edition, com-
pared with the text of Griesbach or Tischendorf, pre-
48 Ep. clxvi.
346
COMPARISON BETWEEN
sents wonderfully few variations, and these generally
such as in any less important book' might well be
thought trifling. It is ever to be regretted, for his own
credit's sake, that Erasmus should have given way
about 1 John v. 7 ; yet there was much excuse for him ;
and there can be no doubt that the clergy would never
have rested till they had secured its insertion.
The edition of the works of St. Jerome, which, as we
have seen, had been in progress long before the New
Testament was begun, and to which we must now give
our attention, was delayed till after the completion of
the latter work. At length on the ist of July, 1516, it
came out in nine splendid folio volumes, sumptuously
printed, a worthy monument of the learning of the
editors, and of the industry and spirit of the printer and
publisher. It was dedicated to Archbishop Warham, in
one of the most finished compositions of the pen of
Erasmus. The epistle dedicatory prefixed to the first
volume is dated April 1, 1516, precisely a month after
the publication of the New Testament.
Of all the Fathers of the Church, Jerome was the
one for whom Erasmus had the warmest admiration,
whose writings he had studied most diligently, and with
whose mind his own had the closest affinity. In some
respects, it is true, the resemblance was not great. The
grim old Father, dwelling in the deserts of Syria, the
companion of wild beasts and scorpions, his face pale
with fasting, his mind fevered with passions which all
his austerity had not been able completely to subdue,
his spare person lacerated with self-inflicted stripes,
lying naked on the ground or clad only in the coarsest
sackcloth, visited by horrible visions, and hearing ever
the sound of the last trumpet ringing in his ears,
ERASMUS AND ST. JEROME.'
347
certainly differed in not a few important points from
the self-satisfied and by no means ascetic German man
of letters. Jerome believed firmly in the virtue of the
monastic life, and in the excellence of virginity.
Erasmus denied both. It was the former who wrote
that “marriage peoples the earth, but virginity para-
dise;" 49 Erasmus maintained that an old maid was a
monster. 50 Jerome had the deepest reverence for sacred
relics and sacred places; Erasmus constantly made
them the subjects of his wit. The former was pro-
bably much more superstitious than the latter; yet
Erasmus pronounced St. Geneviève a better physician
than Dr. Copus : and Jerome, in his old age, referring
to the supernatural flagellation inflicted on him for
reading the classics, declared that to be a dream, which,
when a young man, he had solemnly averred was a
reality. Making allowance, however, for the difference
between an age of increasing darkness and one of in-
creasing light, there is probably sufficient similarity in
the characters of these two eminent men to convince us
that Erasmus would have been a Jerome had he lived
in the fourth century, and Jerome an Erasmus had he
lived in the sixteenth. Certainly the eulogies which
Erasmus writes on the father, and in which he praises
particularly his vast and varied learning, his acquaint-
ance with profane literature, his antiquarian skill, his
linguistic accomplishments, his eloquence, his fervour,
the grace which tempers the severity of his style, his
judgment, his memory, his power of happy combina-
49 Adv. Jov. L. i. c. 9.
50 Coll. Fam. Proci et Puelle.-
“Quid juxta naturam prodigiosius
anu virgine?” It is true the senti-
ment is put in the mouth of a fic-
titious character, but it need not be
doubted that it was that of Erasmus
himself.
348
ERASMUS EDITS ST. JEROME;
tion, might almost have been written of himself.51 There
was, besides, one other respect in which they closely
resembled one another : they both inclined to moderate
and common-sense views of religion; and if Augustine
was the master of Luther, Jerome was the master of
Erasmus. He had read his works with enthusiasm
from his boyhood, and as he advanced in life he con-
tinued to read them, perhaps with greater judgment,
but not with less devotion. Jerome, he declares, holds
the first place in the best kind of theology; certainly
among the Latins, but even Greece can hardly furnish
his equal.52 “Jerome," he exclaims elsewhere, with still
greater enthusiasm, "Jerome is a river of gold ; he who
has Jerome alone needs no more ample library.” 53
The task of editing the works of this Father was one
of no small difficulty. There were manuscripts, moth-
eaten and mutilated, and covered with filth, to be
deciphered. The very letters in which these manu-
scripts were written, strange Gothic characters, had to
be learned like a new alphabet. There was a text,
51 " Tantam uno in homine repe-
rias secularium ut vocant literarum
cognitionem, tantam omnis antiqui-
tatis peritiam, tot linguarum absolu-
tam scientiam, tam admirandam
locorum et historiarum omnium noti-
tiam, tam non vulgarem mysticorum
voluminum eruditionem, tantum
ininiitabilis eloquentiæ, tam exactum
ubique judicium, tam sacrum afflati
pectoris ardorem, rerum adeo diver-
sarum tam digestam ac præsentem
memoriam, tam felicem juxta ac
divitem mixturam, denique tanto
lepore conditam severitatem, ut
quemadmodum per se facundi, si
cum Cicerone conferantur, protinus
videntur obmutescere, ita coeteri
doctores quos ultra collationem sus-
picimus, cum Hieronymo compositi,
vix sapere, vix loqui, vix vivere
videantur.” Pref. to vol. ii. Divin-
arum literarum studiosis omnibus.
Conf. Ded. to Warham.
52 Pref. to vol. ii.
68 “Aureum flumen habet, locup-
letissimam bibliothecam habet, quis-
quis unum habet Hieronymum."
--Ep. Ded. .
DIFFICULTIES OF THE TASK.
349
corrupted partly by the carelessness or the ignorance,
partly by the wilful dishonesty of transcribers, to be
restored. Finally, there were spurious works to be
separated from the genuine, in which, however, the
imposture was so gross that it was much more easy to
detect it than to overcome the prejudices by which it
had hitherto been sustained. Into such a miserable
state indeed had these precious remains been suffered
to fall, that if Jerome could have returned to life
he would have been unable either to recognize or
to read his own works.54 Erasmus, however, found
himself equal to all these difficulties. He not only
furnished a text which left very little work for future
editors,55 but he accompanied his text with learned
scholia, or brief critical and explanatory notes, in which
all the resources of his great learning were called into
requisition, to elucidate every obscure or doubtful point.
While printing the spurious works in obedience to a
prejudice which he believed would probably demand
them, he relegated them to a place by themselves, and
warned the reader not to waste time on their perusal. He
supplied a life of his author which contained no statement
that could not be substantiated from his own writings ;
and he roused the attention or rather the enthusiasm
of his readers by eloquent dissertations in his praise.
It seems a pity that Erasmus should have thought
64 Ep. Ded.
a better text, but the number of
55 It is true that Marianus, the reliable corrections may probably be
next editor of St. Jerome, claims to overstated. What is more certain is
have restored the true reading in that this author, who loses no op-
about 1,500 places which Erasmus portunity of assailing Erasmus, has
had either corrupted, or through ig. sometimes availed himself of his
norance failed to correct. It would learning without acknowledgment.
be strange if with far more resources The editors of the Benedictine
at his command he had not produced edition do him more justice.
350
SPURIOUS WORKS;
it necessary even to print, instead of discarding alto-
gether, such miserable trash as “Jerome's Life by an
unknown Author,” or “Cyril's Letter to Augustine on
the Miracles of Jerome;" but it was impossible to avoid
it without giving unnecessary offence. . At least he
thought so, and in his preface to the spurious works
addressed to all students of theology,56 he justifies him-
self at considerable length for his boldness in venturing
to question the genuineness of any work hitherto re-
ceived as Jerome's, observing that the Church, from
whose judgment he would never willingly depart a
single hair's breadth, has left the point undecided. He
then enters upon a learned and elaborate discussion,
showing the way in which spurious works obtain čur-
rency, and remarking that in proportion as an author
is known and revered, it is the more probable that his
name will be abused. In heathen literature, both Greek
and Latin, there are abundant examples. There are.
verses in Homer which Homer never wrote. There are
spurious plays of Euripides and Aristophanes. There
are spurious dialogues of Plato and Lucian. Of the
· great number of plays bearing the name of Plautus,
Varro admits only twenty-one to be genuine. The
“Precepts of Rhetoric,” for ages past ascribed to Cicero,
are proved by the style not to be Cicero's. Nor have
the sacred writers been spared. The Epistles of Paul
to Seneca and of Seneca to Paul contain nothing worthy
of either. Some books of the Old Testament are not
received by the Hebrews, and of those which they do
receive, the author is not always certain. St. Jerome
himself marks with an obelisk some parts of Daniel,
56 Des. Erasmus R. Divinarum
literarum studiosis omnibus, pre.
fixed to vol. ii. containing the spu-
rious works attributed to Jerome.
HOW THEY GAIN CURRENCY.
351
TIY
and rejects third and fourth Esdras as apocryphal.
In Jerome's lifetime the Epistle to the Hebrews was
rejected by the Roman Church, and the Apocalypse by
the Greeks. The Epistle of James was believed by
many not to be by the Apostle, but by another of the
same name. Many rejected the second Epistle of Peter,
with whom St. Jerome sometimes agrees, though he else-
where accounts for the diversity of style by supposing
that the Apostle had made use of a different interpreter.
There are now three epistles received as John's, though
Jerome testifies that only the first is from the Apostle.
There are various ways in which spurious works may be
ascribed to well-known authors. It may happen through
the mere accident of an identity or similarity of names.
It may happen through the mistake or caprice of the
bookbinder. Sometimes when a work is anonymous the
reader makes an unfortunate guess, and ascribes a false
name. Sometimes a fictitious name is used without any
design of misleading, but nevertheless gains currency
as the real one. This was the case with the Epistles
of Phalaris, and of Paul to Seneca. But finally there
are those who use great names with the worst possible
intention, in order to propagate heresy and recommend
their own pestilent dogmas to the reader. Hence
such impudent forgeries as the letter of Jesus to Ag-
barus, the Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of Nicodemus,
and other similar works. It is not wonderful, then,
if the great name of Jerome has been made use of
in order to gain acceptance for writings in which there
is no trace of his hand. That such was actually the
case Erasmus, judging from internal evidence, has no
doubt whatever. He is convinced, he says, that there
was some one-the style proves that it was always the
352
STYLE THE TOUCHSTONE TO DISTINGUISH
same person-whose principal occupation it was to
interpolate his own worthless compositions in the works
of others, but particularly in those of Ambrose, Augus-
tine, and Jerome. This impostor had an extraordinary
passion, amounting almost to insanity, for corrupting
the writings of St. Jerome in every conceivable way,
so that, not satisfied with forging whole books and
epistles in his name, he would even introduce some
drivelling of his own into the interpretation of a
prophecy or a psalm, thus not merely sewing his
own rotten rags upon Jerome's fine purple, but
spoiling his good wine by pouring into it his own
vinegar. There is, however, one grand touchstone by
which the genuine may ever be distinguished from the
spurious, and that is the style.57 But then stupid
people answer that the same author has not always the
same style. Certainly not, replies Erasmus ; there will,
of course, be variations according to the nature of the
subject, the age of the author, the progress he has made
in his studies, or the particular state of mind in which
he writes. The Philippics of Cicero, for example, which
he wrote in his old age, are not in the same style as the
Orations against Verres which he wrote in his youth.
The phraseology of the defence of Milo is very different
from that of the treatise on moral duty. Sometimes we
vary our style intentionally to adapt it to different
subjects; and as we improve in facility of expression,
some alteration will naturally follow. Nevertheless,
authors have their identity just as persons have ; and
if it is easy to recognize a well-known face under all
changes of expression, if the features of the old man
at once recall the friend of one's youth, if no two
57 “Character orationis et habitus.”
TIT
I
THE GENUINE FROM THE SPURIOUS.
1
353
brothers or two sisters are ever so like that they cannot
1
may vary his style. In Jerome especially there can be
no difficulty, because so many and so remarkable
were his gifts that the presence of any one of them
would suffice for his identification. In those which he
enjoyed in common with others, such as force of intel-
lect, fertility of fancy, fervour, eloquence, knowledge of
Scripture, zeal for learning, he was so superior to others
that he might at once be distinguished by his pre-
eminence. But Jerome had also gifts peculiar to
himself, of which the principal was that remarkable
power of combination by which he was enabled to
enrich his compositions with quotations from the most
varied sources, Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, ancient and
modern, yet without violating the unity of the subject.
Another was that pleasantry (festivitas) which the
• learned admire so much in Marcus Tully. Besides-
but this is certainly very inconclusive reasoning-
Jerome has written no work which he does not him-
self somewhere cite; he has, however, cited none of
those which Erasmus rejects. To the argument founded
upon the style of the suspected compositions, it is
added that some of them are not found in the oldest
copies, while others do not even pretend to be Jerome's.
Finally, there are some of them in which Jerome's
authorship is so frequently insisted upon, that this very
circumstance of itself excites suspicion.
Erasmus, whose great fault was that he never knew
when he had done with a subject, thought it necessary
to follow up this beautiful piece of criticism with
another preface, also addressed to students of theo-
VOL. I.
23
354
ANECDOTE OF DR. COP.
logy,58 in which the same arguments are further illus-
trated, and which he himself confesses is needlessly
verbose. There is nothing in it, I believe, worth re-
peating, except one or two anecdotes which he narrates
in order to show how people are often led astray by
their prepossessions. While living with the Bishop of
Cambray he made the acquaintance.of a Sicilian named
Peter Sauteranus. This gentleman, who was no less
witty than learned, used to tell how he had once in
Paris written the following epigram-
Tempora fatalis quoniam sic limitis itis
Tristia concentu funere solor olor-
to which he gave the title of Cygnus noriens pro
specul. Having then engaged a skilful penman to copy
it out in antique characters, and taking care that some
of the letters should be left imperfect as if defaced by
time, he presented it to the Poet Laureate, Faustus
Andrelinus, telling him he had found it among some
old relics he happened to have by him. Andrelinus
received the paper with the utmost reverence ; he read
it and re-read it, and all but worshipped it, till the
other put an end to his admiration, or changed it into
laughter, by acknowledging the deception. A some-
what similar practical joke was once played by Dr.
Cop, who, at a supper-party where a number of phy-
sicians were present, singled out from the vegetables on
the table a very common kind of parsley, and holding
it up-“Come!” cried he, “physicians ought to know
something about the nature and virtue of plants. Say,
who can, what is the name of this herb?” No one
58 Erasmus Roterodamus Divinarum studiosis literarum, prefixed to the
third series of vol. ii.
ERASMUS'S LIFE OF ST. JEROME.
355
ventured to express an opinion, so convinced were they
all that it must be some rare and foreign herb about
which so eminent a man was making such grave in-
quiries, until he solved the problem by calling the cook,
who at once answered for the doctors. The last anec-
dote is of one of the most learned of the Italian scholars,
whose name, however, is suppressed. Some one pre-
sented to him a fragment torn from a manuscript,
• observing casually that he fancied it to be quite recent.
The Italian, who was one of those who despise any-
thing modern, immediately began to find fault with it,
denouncing the barbarian who had wasted paper on
such miserable stuff. It was then announced that the
fragment was Cicero's. The moral of these stories is,
of course, that “even with learned men a strong pre-
possession sometimes completely blinds the judgment,"
and that, consequently, the mere habit of accepting
certain works as Jerome's is no proof that they are
really his.
L
stantius his son, is probably the best that has ever been
written. Discarding the fables of the old writer, to
whom, however, it should in gratitude be remembered
we are indebted for the immortal lion which, in all
worthy representations, attends upon the saint, Erasmus
uses Jerome himself as his principal authority, and from
the fulness of his acquaintance with his writings gives a
vivid sketch of the main events of his life. Nor does
he forget to infuse into the narrative a little of his own
philosophy. Thus, where he records how Jerome, after
much hesitation, decides upon adopting the monastic
life, he is careful to remind us that the monk of those
6
ST. JEROME'S DREAM.
days was very different from the monk of more recent
times. To be a monk then was to be released from
family ties, from worldly duties, and, consequently,
to possess greater freedom than in any other state.
He could change his residence as he pleased. His
dress was simple, and such as convenience prescribed,
rather than any inflexible rule. He was bound by no.
vows, and if he repented of his resolve, his worst
punishment was to bear the character of inconstancy.
The famous story of Jerome's supernatural flagellation
naturally comes under discussion here, and it is worthy
of note, and a proof, perhaps, how small was the store
set upon simple truth either in the fourth century or
the sixteenth, that, if the saint could deliberately lie,
his biographer evidently saw no sin in a lie which was
told with a pious object. The story itself is so well
known that it may be superfluous to repeat it. Jerome
—such is his own account of the matter-had been
unable, on his retirement from the world, to bring
himself to part with the library which he had collected
with so much care at Rome, and had, consequently,
been tempted to indulge in the study of the profane
writers until his taste revolted from the rude style of
the prophets. One day, when he was reduced almost
to the point of death by a fever, he was suddenly
hurried before the eternal judgment-seat, and being
examined as to his condition, he replied that he was a
Christian. The answet was stern and terrible, -- "Thou
liest; thou art a Ciceronian, and not a Christian, for
where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also."
Thereupon, he was immediately seized and subjected to
à castigation so severe that he cried for mercy, nor was
he delivered until the bystanders, flinging themselves.
1
HIS JUSTIFICATION OF FALSEHOOD.
357
at the feet of the Judge, besought him to spare his
youth and his ignorance, on the understanding that the
offence should never be repeated. That this was no
vain dream, but a reality, was proved by the pain which
his shoulders, and by the zeal with which from that
time forth he pursued the study of the Holy Scriptures.
An obvious explanation, which would go some way to
vindicate the character of the saint, would be, no doubt,
that a vivid dream, acting upon a strong imagination,
and especially during an access of fever, might leave
upon the memory all the effects of an actual occurrence.
But the difficulty is that Jerome related the circum-
stance with a solemn asseveration of its truth after a
sufficient interval had elapsed to enable him to review
it calmly, and yet, after a much longer interval, ridiculed
an adversary who had referred to it for not being
satisfied with replying to his serious arguments, but he
must notice also his dreams. Nor need we scruple to
suppose that the saint was guilty of falsehood when we
find him, in his commentary on the Galatians, inter-
preting the difference between the apostle of the
Gentiles and the apostle of the circumcision as "econo-
mical” and not real. And it further illustrates the
Augustine, who objected to this interpretation that, by
attributing falsehood to an apostle, it invalidated the
whole authority of Scripture, he justified it on the plea
that it was introduced to refute Porphyry's blasphemy,
who charged Paul with rudeness in rebuking the chief
of the apostles; as if any interpretation of Scripture
were admissible provided it was adapted to silence an
antagonist, and without regard to its truth. Erasmus,
358 ST. JEROME PREFERRED TO ST. AUGUSTINE.
7
however, does not concern himself much with the ques-
tion of right or wrong. He merely remarks that a
falsehood which had for its object to deter a young
lady from the excessive study of the classics, was
justifiable on the same principle on which it is generally
considered allowable for parents to frighten their
children from doing wrong by fictitious threats. But
he labours hard to prove that a story the moral of
which was so unpalatable to a classical scholar, was not
merely a falsehood, but was acknowledged by its author
to be nothing more. One argument which he uses will
probably be considered abundantly conclusive. If, he
says, it be a crime to possess profane authors, and if to
read them be to deny Christ, why should Jerome alone
be flogged ? “For my own part,” he concludes; "I had
rather be whipped with Jerome, than anointed with
honey in company with the men who are so scared by
· Jerome's dream that they abstain from all literature;
though," he caustically adds, "they do not keep them-
selves from the vices of those whose books they are
afraid to touch."
In this biographical essay, Erasmus clearly places
Jerome above Augustine, both for eloquence and for
logic. In reply to the charge_"as arrogant as it is
impious"—that he was no theologian, he remarks that
as it can be founded only on the fact that he does not
indulge in sophistical subtleties, or talk of majors and
minors like the scholastics, it would exclude from that
honourable title all who have lived more than four
hundred years ago, and among the rest the Apostles
themselves. But if learning, eloquence, a knowledge of
the Holy Scriptures, and other such qualities constitute
a theologian, then assuredly Jerome is one of the
THE “ST. JEROME” DEDICATED TO WARHAM. 359
greatest. And as to his style, so far from assenting
to the witticism of Theodore Gaza, that if Jerome
was whipped for being a Ciceronian, he had cer-
tainly not deserved it, he seems inclined to place him
above Cicero himself. “ Cicero speaks; but Jerome
thunders and lightens. We admire the language of
the one; but the feeling as well as the language of
the other." 59
To restore the text, and illustrate with ample learn-
ing, the writings of St. Jerome, was a task which could
not but redound to the honour of the scholar who
accomplished it successfully. The epistles of Jerome
indeed had been printed before in the splendid edition
of 1470, published at Rome in two large folios, but with
a less pure text, the Greek and Hebrew words omitted,
without systematic arrangement, and with too little
attention to the distinction between the genuine and
the spurious. But Froben's edition was in every respect
worthy both of the esteem in which Jerome was held in
that age, and of the learning and reputation of his
editor. The brothers Amerbach, it is true, share with
Erasmus the credit of this great work, but the foregoing
review will have made it evident that he superintended,
and made himself responsible for every part. It was a
worthy offering to lay before the Primate of England,
to whom, as he had already presented the New Testa-
ment to the Pope, it was natural that Erasmus should
wish to dedicate it. The greatest of theologians, he
remarks, might well congratulate himself on being
restored under the auspices of one who was second to
:59 "Loquitur Cicero ; tonat ac fulminat Hieronymus. Illius linguam
miramur; hujus etiam pectus.".
360 THE “ST. JEROME” DEDICATED TO WARHAM..
none among Bishops; for, as Jerome was, a perfect
master of every branch of learning, so did Warham
-unite in his own person, in due harmony and proportion,
all episcopal graces. A second edition of the Jerome
was called for in 1524, and a third in 1533, the year
following that in which Warham died.
( 361 )
CHAPTER XII.
ERASMUS AT BRUGES -- MEETING WITH MORE-INVITED TO INGOLD-
STADT--LETTER TO FISHER — JOHN WATSON-ERASMUS NEARLY
MADE A BISHOP - INVITED TO PARIS - BUDÆUS -- CORRESPON-
DENCE WITH HIM — LOUVAIN — ATENSIS — VIVES -- COLLEGE OF
BUSLEIDEN — HUTTEN — DEATH OF AMMONIUS - OF COLET
ENGLISH DWELLING-HOUSES-LETTER TO LAURINUS—TO BEATUS
— WRITINGS OF ERASMUS - THE COMPLAINT OF PEACE - THE
PARAPHRASE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
WE have seen that Erasmus left England on his way to
Basle, some time between the 17th of April, 1515, the
day on which Rhenanus wrote to him that Froben had
decided on printing the New Testament, and the middle
of July, when he ought to have received the Pope's
letter, in reply to his request that he might dedicate his
St. Jerome to his Holiness. We have no means of
deciding exactly when he arrived in Basle, but it was
probably not till the season was considerably more
advanced. His new office of councillor to Prince Charles
made it necessary that he should now present himself at
the Flemish court, and it was no doubt with this view
that he went to Bruges, where we find him enjoying the
society of Cuthbert Tonstall, the learned and amiable
Bishop of London, of Richard Sampson, afterwards
Bishop of Chichester, and of Sir Thomas More, and
reckoning up with them the advantages and disadvan-
tages of a benefice at Tournay, which Wolsey was then
willing to give him, and which Sampson was anxious
362
ERASMUS AT BRUGES.
that he should accept.1 It so happened that More,
Tonstall, and Sampson were part of an embassy from
the English king, to settle some commercial difficulties
with Flanders, and as they left home in May it is more
than probable that Erasmus accompanied them. No
doubt he left them at Bruges, where they were detained
four months; nor were they able to return home till
toward the close of the year. It was while on this
embassy that More wrote his “Utopia," and it may be
considered fortunate that he found the time hang some-
what heavy on his hands, otherwise we might never have
possessed that admirable plea for religious toleration. In
a letter written shortly after his.return home More com-
plains to his friend that he had been absent for more than
six months, when he had expected to return within two.
We can understand that to a man of his strong domestic
feelings such a severance of the home ties must have
1
that he never liked the office of an ambassador. His
next remark, though merely intended as a joke, was, I
fear, more true than flattering. “Such an office," he
says, “ does not suit us laymen; it is much fitter for
you priests, who either have no wife and children at
home, or find them wherever you go." ?
The office of councillor did not bring very much
profit to Erasmus. He tells us indeed that a salary had
been promised him out of the Prince's treasury, but this
implies that at the time of writing at least he had received
none; and in the meantime he "was living on his own
juice like a snail, or rather like a polyp gnawing his own
limbs ;"3 but he confesses to having got a prebend which
Er. Op. iii. 220, A, D.
2 Ep. ccxxvii.
3 “ Hactenus quidem hic sementem facio, cujusmodi messem facturus,
INVITED TO INGOLDSTADT.
363
he 'had turned into an annual pension. His engage-
ments to the Prince at all events furnished him with a
fair excuse for declining any invitations with which he
was honoured from other quarters. While at Basle he
received a most flattering invitation from Ernest, Duke
of Bavaria, who was most anxious to secure his services
for his university at Ingoldstadt, and determined to
spare no expense for that object. If he pleaded old
age, he was assured of the greatest comfort and quiet,
as the intention was not that he should wear himself
out with toil, but simply give the light of his presence to
the university. The delightful situation and healthy
atmosphere of the place were held out as further induce-
accept, and he was encouraged to expect that rich livings
would be put at his disposal. If he would not take up
his residence among them, it was hoped that he would
at least pay a visit to Ingoldstadt and give the Duke an
opportunity of meeting and conversing with him. The
expenses of his journey would be paid in the most
liberal manner and a handsome present made him.
Erasmus, however, does not seem to have complied
· with the Duke's invitation even in this modified form.'
He had never intended remaining so long at Basle, and
as soon as he could get away from his work he returned
down the Rhine to Flanders, and thence it would seem
crossed the Channel for a short visit to England. From
St. Omer we have the following note to his friend
Ursewick, dated June 5, 1516:-
Y
incertus : meo etiamnum succo vic-
meis ipsius brachiis, me ipsum
imo polyporum in modum, arrosis
4 Ep. ccxxix. ccxxx.
364
LETTERS TO URSEWICK,
ERASMUS to URSEWICK."
“St. Omer, June 5, 1517 [? 1516].
“I HAVE been exceedingly fortunate in the horse you
gave me, for he has carried me in safety to Basle twice
and back again, a very long and most dangerous
journey. He is now as wise as Homer's Ulysses--
Mores hominum multorum vidit et urbes--
to say nothing of his visiting so many universities. While
I was almost killing myself at Basle for ten months, in
the meantime he was perfectly idle, and has grown so
fat that he can hardly walk. Upper Germany has
pleased me amazingly, and Erasmus was immensely
popular there. Of course you have seen the New
Testament? The whole of 'Jerome' will appear
shortly, together with the little book on the education
of a Christian Prince. I have sent the Archbishop of
Canterbury four volumes of the “Jerome' by your
protégi, the one-eyed Peter, whom I found so busy
writing books that he has almost killed himself with
toil. I think he must be under some fatality, he has
become so unlike what he used to be. He has got quite
abstemious and hates wine, and hence has become un-
wontedly pale. In whatever corner of the world I may
dwell, I shall always remember your kindness. Fare-
well.”
Another letter of the same date, addressed to the
Bishop of Rochester, contains some interesting references
to his New Testament. “This work,” he says, “was
feared before its appearance, but now that it is published
6 Ep. cclv.
AND THE BISHOP OF ROCHÉSTER.
365
LAV
TTY
it meets with the approval of all divines who have the
least spark of either learning or honesty. The Prior of
Friburg, a man of the greatest authority among his own
people, the author of The Philosophical Pearl,' as
soon as he had dipped into the work, declared that he
would rather have it than two hundred golden florins.
Louis Bere, a Paris divine, a man of the first eminence
in that department, is in perfect raptures with it, and
laments having wasted so many years in those scholastic
disputations. Such also is the opinion of Wolfgang
Capito, public preacher at Basle, a most learned Hebraist
and practised theologian. Both these men are diligent
students of Greek. To omit the rest, the Bishop of
Basle, a man now well up in years and of the most
unblemished life, has shown me the greatest kindness,
and although I refused all his offers, he at length com-
pelled me to accept a horse, which, on my departure
from the city, I was able to sell again for fifty golden
florins. Ernest, Duke of Bavaria, sent a special messenger
to Basle to offer me two hundred gulden a year, besides
splendid presents and the prospect of some good livings
if I would take up my residence at Ingoldstadt, the
university of Bavaria. And a German Bishop, whose
name I do not at present recollect, has done the same
thing. But I must leave off boasting, though I might
give many other similar instances with the most perfect
truth.
"I know that I deserve none of these favours, but I
am glad to find that my labours, such as they are, meet
with the approval of good men. Many are by this
means induced to read the Scriptures, who otherwise
never would have read them, as they themselves confess;
many have begun to learn Greek,-indeed, that is the
366
LETTER TO ROCHESTER.
case everywhere. The whole of St. Jerome' will
appear at the next Frankfort fair. I am now sending
to the Archbishop of Canterbury, by the one-eyed
Peter, who is sent for this purpose at my own expense
and risk, the four volumes of 'Epistles,' which he will
be glad to lend to you. I had come as far as St. Omer
with the intention of crossing to England, but a feverish
attack made me unwilling to risk a sea voyage. As
soon as I can I shall take some means of proving that I
am not altogether unmindful of the very great kindness
you have shown me.
“Prince Charles, they say, is succeeding to no less
than nineteen kingdoms. What wonderful good fortune!
but I trust it may prove to be for the happiness of my
country and not of the Prince only. When, on leaving
Basle, I was preparing to travel through Lorraine, I met
soldiers everywhere, and saw the country-people carry-
ing their furniture into the nearest towns; there was a
report that they intended attacking the people, but it
was unknown by whom they were sent. I have a notion
they had been disbanded by the Emperor, and were
looking for some other employer who might give them
their pay in his stead. Oh! the strange games of Chris-
tian princes! It is thus we fill the world with tumult,
and stake everything on the hazard of war, and yet we
think ourselves Christians! But I and the like of me
can do no more than lament that it should be so.
Would that all Popes, cardinals, magnates and divines ·
would conspire together at length to put a stop to these
disgraceful evils ; but that will never be till the interests
of individuals shall be postponed to the public advantage
and the latter alone be regarded. By this means even
the private condition of every one would be improved.
FOHN WATSON.
367
Farewell. I shall be better if I shall have earned the
favour of a letter from you." 6
That Erasmus a little later in the season fulfilled
his intention of crossing to England, is clear from a
letter which he wrote from Brussels to John Watson.
He gives us, however, no particulars of this visit, merely
remarking that he had mounted his horse to go to Cam-
bridge when some one told him the Bishop of Rochester
was expected in London that very day, and consequently
he had waited for him there.7 Watson was a young
Cambridge divine who had been very intimate with
Erasmus at that University, and entertained the greatest
admiration for him. He had recently been travelling in
his footsteps in Italy, and had written to him on his
return, telling him in what esteem he was held by the
learned there, and how his "Folly” was regarded among
them as the very height of wisdom. At Venice they
were particularly loud in his praises, and were very
anxious that he should return.8 Watson was one of
those who were able to appreciate the labours of
Erasmus. Perhaps that may partly explain why he
never attained any high preferment in the Church.9.
While in London Erasmus received the Pope's
letter, which must have been waiting for him nearly
a year, and wrote to say that if it had reached him
when he was still in Basle, no dangers would have
deterred him from hastening to throw himself at his
most blessed feet. As it was, however, he had now
returned to his own country, where increasing years, as
well as the kindness of his own Prince, detained him.
Charles-he writes here in a rather different spirit from
6 Ep. cclvi.
7 Ep. cxcii.
8 Ep. clxxxiii.
9 KNIGHT: p. 145-6.
368
ERASMUS NEARLY MADE A BISHOP:
his language previously quoted in another letter 10_had
most kindly invited him in his absence, and without any
solicitation on his part, and had at once bestowed on
him a very rich and honourable preferment. He ex-
presses great obligations to his Holiness for the addi-
tional favour he had experienced in consequence of his
letters, from the King of England, the Cardinal of York,
and the Archbishop of Canterbury. 11
On his return to Brussels in autumn, Erasmus
waited on the Chancellor Sylvagius, by whom he was
informed, much to his surprise, and still more, it would
seem, to his amusement, that Charles, who had now, by
the death of his grandfather, Ferdinand of Spain, suc-
ceeded to the title and the possessions of the Catholic
King, was anxious to make him a Bishop. “Here is a
man," said the Chancellor, addressing the assembled
councillors, “who does not yet know what a great man
he is.” Then turning to Erasmus, he continued, “The
Prince wants to make you a Bishop; and he had
actually conferred on you a most desirable bishopric in
Sicily, but since discovering that it is not in the list of
those reserved for the Crown, he has written to the
Pope, begging him to give it you.” Erasmus thought
the affair a good joke, and wrote a humorous letter
on the occasion to Ammonius. “Nevertheless," he
adds, “I am pleased with the Prince's good-will
towards me, or rather with the Chancellor's, who, in
fact, is the Prince. I only hope this comedy may end
well." 12 It ended exactly as he wished, for no more was
heard of the Sicilian bishopric. In another letter he
1
.
1
11 Ep. clxxxi.
12 Ep. clx. This letter should evidently be dated Oct. 6, 1516, and not
1514.
10 See above, p. 362.
INVITED TO PARIS.
369
YA
says, “The mistake was a fortunate one. On my
friends congratulating me, I could not help laughing,
However, I thanked them heartily for their kindness,
but begged them not to engage in such an unavailing
enterprise again, as I would not exchange my leisure
for any bishopric however splendid.” 13 We may well
believe that the Nolo episcopari was never more honestly
spoken; and though, as he remarks, the Sicilians were
originally Greeks, and were still celebrated for their wit,
he might almost as well have been made a bishop in
India, as be compelled to reside so far from all the seats
of learning.
At Brussels, where a part of this winter was spent,
there was some difficulty about procuring a lodging on
account of the crowded state of the city. He succeeded,
however, in finding a small room, which had the advan-
tage of being near the Court, and what he considered a
greater recommendation, not far from where his friend
Tonstall, the English Ambassador, was residing. It
was while here that he received another invitation, which
he seems to have had more hesitation in declining than
that of Duke Ernest. Francis I. was desirous of adding
to the glory of his reign by surrounding himself with
learned men, whom he proposed to invite to his
kingdom by the offer of splendid rewards; and on one
occasion, having expressed this intention in the presence
of William Petit, his confessor, and some others inte-
rested in learning, the opportunity was seized to mention
the name of Erasmus, and accordingly the great scholar
Budæus, who was known to be already in friendly cor-
respondence with him, was commissioned to invite him
in the King's name, and promise him a preferment, with
18 Ep. ccxix.
VOL. I.
1
24
370
FRANCIS 1.
V
1
a thousand francs or more. Even allowing for the
difference in the value of coin, the pecuniary reward
does not seem very ample ; but a residence in Paris,
and connection with so splendid a Court, would not
have been without its attractions for any one ambitious
of that kind of distinction. Budæus, though it may be
doubted whether he cordially wished Erasmus to come
-indeed in the very letter which he wrote on this
occasion, he candidly confessed that he was jealous of
his famemperhaps said all he could to induce him to
accept the invitation of Francis. He praised the gene-
rosity of the King, and described him as eloquent in
speech, easy of access, and endowed with rare gifts of
mind and body. He dwelt upon the honour of being
invited by such an illustrious Prince. He told him
how high he stood in the esteem of Stephen Poncher,
the Bishop of Paris, who was then the Ambassador
of the King of France at Brussels. “I have seen your
New Testament," he said, “open in his bedroom.” At
the same time he very properly took care to explain
that he could guarantee nothing, and advised him, if
he thought the offer worth considering, to write either
to himself or to some other friend, to ask for some
distinct pledge on the part of the King. Poncher,
according to Budæus, was a most accomplished scholar
and statesman, well known on both sides of the Alps,
both as a diplomatist, and as a friend and patron of
literary men. He made the acquaintance of Erasmus
at Brussels, frequently sought his society, and returned
to Paris full of his praises. Neither his persuasions,
however, nor the arguments of Budæus, availed to bring
Erasmus into France. In his reply to Budæus he
excused himself from giving any definite answer until
BUDÆUS.
371
the Chancellor, who was then absent, should have
returned. He left Poncher with the impression that had
his faith not been pledged to his own Prince, he would
certainly have accepted the invitation of the French
monarch; and he wrote a graceful letter to Francis
himself, in which he congratulated him on the proof he
was giving of his right to the name of “Most Christian
King” by his efforts for the maintenance of peace, and
which he concluded, while he avoided making any
promise, by devoting himself entirely to his Majesty's
service.14 These letters, no doubt, were regarded as a
refusal, and the invitation was not pressed. Nor is there
any reason to regret that the summons of Francis was
not responded to. The atmosphere of Paris was not as
favourable to liberty as that of Germany; the Sorbonne
was active and energetic in the extirpation of heresy,
and the bold destroyer of abuses might in time have
found himself surrounded by enemies too powerful to
resist, and who would either have silenced or destroyed
him.
The letter noticed above was not, as has been
already hinted, the first which Erasmus received from
Budæus. There remains, in fact, a very lengthy corre-
spondence between these two eminent scholars which
forms a kind of episode in the literary history of the
period, and which now demands a brief notice.
William Budé, or Budæus, was a native of Paris, and
was a year or two younger than his illustrious contem-
porary. Of a wealthy family, he was fortunate in having a
father who was fond of learning and a great buyer of books.
In his boyhood he had the advantage of such schooling
as the times afforded; he then studied law, but on his
14 Ep. cxcvii. cciii. cciv, ccxii,
1
372
LEARNING OF BUDÆUS;
return home bade farewell for a time to letters and gave
himself up to idleness and pleasure. After some years
thus wasted, the good influences of home prevailed, and
he determined to devote himself to private study in his
father's library. Hence he used to say he had been
"self-taught and late-taught.” He received, indeed,
some lessons in Greek from an old man to whom he was
obliged to pay an extravagant fee for teaching him
many things he had afterwards to unlearn, but who, he
admits, read and pronounced well. As Budæus says
that this old man was the only Greek in France, he
must of course have been no other than Hermonymus
of Sparta, of whom we have already found Erasmus
speaking in such contemptuous terms.15 Budæus after-
wards twice visited Rome and the other principal cities
of Italy, where he saw many of the learned men, but
without having much opportunity of benefiting by their
intercourse; and on his return home he made the ac-
quaintance of John Lascar, who, he says, did what he
could for him by occasionally reading with him and
lending him his manuscripts. The first important work
of Budæus was his Annotations on the twenty-four
books of the Pandects, of which however he disowned
the first edition of 1508. But the work which had
hitherto done most for his fame (though not so import-
ant as his much later Commentaries on the Greek lan-
guage, which became the kernel of the new Thesaurus
Linguæ Græcæ of Henry Stephens), was that on the not
very inviting subject of the Roman As and its parts, in
which he reduced the ancient monies to their modern
equivalents, and cleared up many obscure points in
classical literature. This work, which is said to be very
15 See above, p. 274. i
IIIII
HE DISPUTES THE PALM WITH ERASMUS.
373
diffuse, and sometimes difficult to understand, neverthe-
less produced the most astonishing effect in Europe, and
where as that of the only scholar who could have
any pretension to dispute the palm of learning with
Erasmus.16
It was therefore with some sense of rivalry and with
a consciousness of the eyes of the world being on them,
that these two learned men began to address one another
in long and elaborate epistles written alternately in Latin
and Greek, in which they mingled extravagant praises
of one another's learning with captious censures of one
another's faults, and insinuated each his own merits
while affecting the utmost degree of self-depreciation.
Erasmus, it so happened, had inserted a note in his
Greek Testament, in which, after speaking in the highest
terms of Budæus, he took occasion to point out an error
into which he had fallen in his explanation of the word
taonkolovOnkóti in the proem to Luke's gospel, and
Budæus had freely confessed himself wrong, but with-
out admitting Erasmus to be altogether right. Budæus
again had invited the criticisms of his rival on his great
work, and the latter having found fault with him for
his digressions, which he thought only served to obscure
still more a very difficult subject and one which required
minute and careful handling; Budæus retorted that
every one could not be expected to be as eloquent as
Erasmus, and complained that the latter occupied him-
self so much with works on small and trivial subjects.17
(letto oynuata), though withdrawn and apologized for,
rankled long in the mind of his correspondent, who
16 Ep. cccxlix. Biog. Un. art. Budé. 17 Ep. ce. ccl.
·
374
.
CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN
declared that he could not conceive what particular
works he referred to, as none of his books made any
extraordinary pretensions, though they had all some
good aim, and it might be hoped had been found of
some little use in the world.18 Then they took to abusing
one another's handwriting. “Pray don't give me so much
trouble in future," says Budæus, "seeing with what plea-
sure I read your letters; but use your customary
handwriting, which I know to be clear and beautiful.
You have surely sent me the first rough draft, instead
of a clean copy. If you continue to write so care-
lessly, mind that this fault does not bring you into
disgrace; for I not only keep your letters among my
literary treasures, but show them round among my
friends, because I think it is for my own character that
the world should know that I have such intimacy
with you." 19
To which Erasmus replies, -"You certainly act the
part of an intimate friend in thus finding fault with me
for my bad writing. I think, however, I can partly clear
myself of this charge, as well as retort it upon you.
For in the first place it is scarcely civil to expect one
whose time is taken up in copying out large volumes,
and who sometimes has twenty letters to write in a day,
to write as neatly as if he had nothing else to do. As
to my copying out my letters, I should be quite un-
equal to the task, and were I to employ others to do so,
I should require five servants at least. And yet my
wife"-(in a former letter, Erasmus referring to the com-
plaint of Budæus that owing to his family cares he had
little time for study, had declared that for his part he was
married to Poverty)—"and yet my wife, about whom
18 Ep. ccli.
19 Ep. cclvii.
LI
ERASMUS AND BUDÆUS.
.
375
you make yourself so merry, hardly allows me to keep
one, so imperiously does she rule my house, proving
herself my mistress more truly than my wife. How
much trouble what you call my draft may have given
you I do not know. This I know, that I had so much
difficulty in deciphering your clean letter, that I was
obliged to write it all over again with my own hand, to
make it legible, first to myself, and then to my learned
friends; for, before, I could scarcely read it myself,
while others could not at all; not so much because you
had written carelessly, as on account of the peculiarity
of your writing. This, however, is an inconvenience
which you can easily cure by taking care to send us
plenty of letters, for thus your hand will become familiar
to us." 20
But the most serious difference, which almost led to
a breach of friendship, between these two eminent men,
arose out of Erasmus's controversy with Faber. Budæus
warmly espoused the cause of his countryman, and told
Erasmus that considering the greatness of his own fame,
he might have afforded to pass over Faber's attack.
Erasmus replied, very justly, that he could not submit
in silence to be called impious and a blasphemer, and
that he had written his apology more in sorrow than in
anger; and he appealed to those who were intimate
with him whether he had ever, even when the wound
was fresh, said an unkind word of Faber. Finally, he
was quite ready, he said, to retract his defence, if Faber
would set the example by withdrawing the attack. In-
deed, the controversy with Faber seems really to have
given him some pain, and he constantly speaks of it as
a quarrel with a friend. In one of his letters he offers
20 Ep. ccxxi.
i
376
CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN
to make Budæus arbiter in the dispute, provided he will
read his apology with care, and complains that many
had found fault with him who had read neither the
attack nor the defence. The example of Jerome and
Augustine, both of whom had proved themselves sharp
controversialists when attacked, he thought amply justi-
fied him in defending himself. There cannot be a
determined not to quarrel with Budæus, and the latter
having given him to understand that henceforth there
could be no terms between them, he replied in a long
letter, in which he declared himself his everlasting
friend, and in the course of which, as preparatory to
some pretty hard knocks, he took occasion to say, amid
much more in the same style, “Though my writings
shall perish with their author, or rather perish before him,
yet posterity shall say that there was one Erasmus whom
The correspondence between the two scholars was kept
up for many years after this, but on a very reduced
scale, and it may be doubted whether there was ever
any real cordiality between them. The Frenchman
carefully abstained from mentioning his great rival in
any of his works, though it is said he was often entreated
to do so, 22 and subsequently, as we shall find, Erasmus
gave fresh offence by comparing Budæus, in his Cicero-
nianus, with Badius the printer of Paris, also a learned
man, however, and the author of many works. This
last offence, it is probable that Budæus never forgave.
The correspondence between these two famous
scholars might fairly claim a place among the quarrels
of authors. The reader of our days, indeed, is apt to
u Ep. cclxxxv. cccv. cccx. 2 BAYLE : art. Budæus.
· ERASMUS AND BUDÆUS.
377
find the letters a little tedious, and those of Budæus, in
particular, somewhat heavy and laboured; but at the
time when France and Germany seemed to be pitted
against one another in the persons of their respective
champions, the friendly discussion was watched with
eager interest.23 Even yet it is impossible not to admire
the literary skill displayed on either side, the dexterity
with which the darts of irony are shot under the appear-
ance of almost worshipping admiration, and the easy
manner in which the most extravagant praise is made
to pass into downright censure. As to the comparative
merits of the two men, it seems to be admitted that
Budæus possessed the more accurate knowledge of the
Greek tongue. In breadth of scholarship, extent of
reading, and general vigour of mind, as well as in grace
and eloquence of style, Erasmus was unquestionably his
superior, as he was the superior of all the other learned
men of the time.24
Meantime, the authorities of the University of
Louvain, and especially the members of the theological
faculty, were desirous that Erasmus should once more
take up his residence among them.25 Although it
28 The correspondence between temporaries. The words of Budæus
Erasmus and Budæus was printed, himself on this point are plain
along with some other letters, at enough: -“Erasmo '... cui
Louvain, in 1517, under the follow. ego jam invidere cæpi ob nimiam
ing title :- Aliquot Epistola saine istam gloriam, qua non modo Ger-
quam elegantes Erasmi Roterodami, maniam (de reliquis Provinciis nunc
et ad hunc aliorum eruditissimorum silebo), sed Galliam etiam nostram
hominum antehac nunquam excuscita irradiat, ut gloriolam nostram
procter unam et alteram.
præradiet, et jam nobis esse ob-
24 I am surprised that Mr. Hal- scuris ac videri necesse sit."-Er.
lam (Lit. Hist. i. p. 284, ed. 1855) Op. iii. 168–169.
should have insinuated that this 25 Er. Op. iii. 191, C.
was not also the judgment of con-
378
ERASMUS AT LOUVAIN.
seemed natural that he should do so while his connec-
tion with the Court of Brussels lasted, there were con-
siderations which made him hesitate. Louvain was a
noted seat of the enemies of learning, and was one of
the four universities which had joined in the persecution
against the excellent and learned John Reuchlin. The
influence of the Emperor had not protected that eminent
man from the hostility of the monks, and in going to
Louvain, Erasmus might seem to be thrusting his head
into the lion's mouth. Besides he dreaded the annoy-
ance which his reputation might bring upon him on the
part of the students. It was with these things in his
mind that he wrote to Ammonius in the letter from
Brussels already quoted :-"I don't like the idea of
going to Louvain. I should be obliged while there to
show attention to the scholastics at my own expense :
the young men would come crowding about me con-
tinually, begging me to criticise this poein, to correct
that letter; one would ask for one author, and another
for another; nor is there any one there whose friend-
ship would be either useful or ornamental. Besides I
should be obliged to listen sometimes to the yelpings
of the pseudo-divines——the most disagreeable kind of
people I know; among whom an individual has recently
appeared who almost succeeded in embroiling me in a
quarrel, and I am now in the position of holding the
wolf by the ears, neither able to gain the mastery, nor
yet to escape myself. He flatters me when I am
present, but abuses me behind my back: his promises
are most friendly, but he acts like an enemy. Oh! that
great Jupiter would melt down and re-cast all this sort
of people, who, though they contribute nothing to make
us either better or more learned, yet give trouble and
ATENSIS.
379
annoyance to everybody!" 26 Nevertheless he removed
to Louvain in the course of the winter, and there were
his head-quarters for the next few years. Whether it was
that by his conciliatory manners he was able to disarm
opposition, or to overawe it by the greatness of his
fame, or whether' the obstructives were not so strong as
had been supposed, he seems to have found himself at
first comfortable enough, and was well satisfied with his
reception. “I find the divines of Louvain," he writes
to Tonstall, “frank and agreeable, and especially John
Atensis, a man of incomparable learning and 'the
greatest possible kindness. There is not less theological
learning here than at Paris, but there is less sophistry
and less pride." 27
Atensis, who was the Vice-Chancellor of the Univer-
sity, somewhat disappointed the expectations which
Erasmus had formed of him. He says elsewhere that
he was indeed no enemy of good letters, but of an irri-
table temper, and supposes that in any hostility he
showed to himself he acted at the instigation of others.
Indeed, the anxieties of his position between the two
parties, the men of culture and the obscurantists,
hastened his death, which took place not long after-
wards, and as it was not till after this that the advocates
of the old theology began to grow violent in their
abuse, he does him the justice to suppose that he must
have exerted his influence to keep them somewhat in
check.28
At Louvain he was received with open arms by
Dorpius, now quite a convert to the good cause. There,
too, he formed a close intimacy with Ludovicus Vives, a
young Spaniard from Valencia, of whose abilities he
26 Ep. clxxx. 27° Ed. cccxiii. 28 Er. Op. ix. 1649, A.
380
BUSLEIDEN'S COLLEGE.
formed a very high estimate, saying that he was one of
those who would eclipse his own fame. “He has," he
observed in a letter to More, “an extremely philo-
sophical mind; nor do I know any one who is better
qualified to break the ranks of the sophists, in whose
tactics he is thoroughly disciplined.” 29 Nor did he
overrate the powers of Vives, who afterwards gained a
high reputation as a scholar, and was invited to England
by Cardinal Wolsey, where he read lectures at Oxford,
and was subsequently appointed tutor to the Princess
Mary.so
Louvain was at this time one of the most frequented
of all the Universities, rivalling even Paris itself, and
Erasmus estimates the number of students at no less
than three thousand. While he was there a great im-
pulse was given to liberal studies by the munificence of
Jerome Busleiden, who, by his will of June 22, 1517,
bequeathed several thousand ducats to found a college
for the three learned languages. In the formation of this
institution Erasmus, it may be supposed, took a lively
interest, and it was on his recommendation that one
Adrian, a converted Jew, and possessed of a knowledge
of Hebrew literature which few in that age could rival,
was appointed professor of Hebrew.31 To him also was
committed the charge of looking out for a competent
teacher of Greek, and the next year we find him writing
to John Lascar, of Constantinople, to beg that if he
knew any one he could recommend he would send him
at once. There were many candidates, he said, but he
and those with whom he was acting were anxious to
secure a native Greek who might teach the correct pro-
nunciation. The salary was to be about seventy ducats,
29 Er. Op. iii. 542, C. 80 JORTIN : i. 191-2. 81 Ep. cccxxxviii.
ITS PROFESSORS.
381
besides the pupils' fees; and the expenses of the journey
from Constantinople, and a dwelling-house, were gua-
ranteed. 32 The chair, it would appear, was offered to
James Ceratinus, so called from his native place, Horn,
in Holland, one of the most accomplished Grecians of
the day, and a man of unblemished character, as well
as of extraordinary modesty, who in 1525 succeeded
Mosellanus at the University of Leipsic.33 He was
previously professor of Greek at Tournay in the new
college there, but having been driven thence by “war
and the plague, the two greatest evils which afflict
humanity," he was now resident at Louvain.34 He
could not, however, be prevailed upon to accept the
professorship, and it was accordingly given to Rutgerus
Rescius, whom Erasmus commends as a man of pure
character, and most diligent in the discharge of his
duties. 35
The Latin professor was Conrad Goclenius, a West-
phalian, whom Erasmus seems to have taken completely
into his confidence, and whom he afterwards, at a time
when he thought he was going to die, entrusted with his
will, in which he left a considerable sum to himself.
We find him introducing Goclenius to More as one
whom he might love with his whole heart. “He has
plenty of wit," he tells him, “but of the most refined
sort; and in story-telling you will find him nearly a
match for yourself. He has quite a special talent for
poetry, and is always clear and sweet, nor is there any
subject, however unattractive, round which he cannot
throw a charm. And yet he writes prose so admirably
32 Ep. cccxiv.
88 Ep. dccxxxvii. dccxxxviii.
84 Er. Op. iii. 667, A.
35 Ep. cccclxxx.
382
THE OBSCURANTISTS AT LOUVAIN.
that you would think it quite impossible for him to
write a verse." 36
With such friends as these, and there were others
whom he also mentions with honour, Erasmus could not
want for congenial society. It was not, however, to be
expected that the enemies of culture should witness
these proceedings with indifference, or look favourably
on an institution designed to facilitate the study of such
dangerous languages as Greek and Hebrew. There
were some accordingly, who, by secret intrigue, or open
clamour, offered all the opposition they could to the
success of “the college of the three tongues.” “The
old parrots !” exclaims Erasmus, bitterly, “they would
rather be double-tongued, as in truth they are; it is
hopeless to think of teaching them a new language." 37
“Let them dissemble as they will,” he says again,
“they detest it." 38 It is to be feared that Rescius
must have yielded at length to these adverse influences,
for we find Erasmus, in the very last letter he ever
wrote, in the year 1536, complaining that instead of
reading Demosthenes and Lucian, and other classical
authors, he was translating back into Latin, ecclesias-
tical institutions which had been first rendered into
Greek. Such was the influence of men whom jealousy
for their own useless studies would not even permit geo-
graphy to be taught in their university !
It was probably not long after his settlement at
Louvain that Erasmus first made the acquaintance of
36 Er. Op. iii. 615, A, B.
87 - Instituitur hic collegium tri-
lingue, ex legato Buslidii. Sed ob-
strepunt nonnulli, qui, quod sunt,
bilinguem esse malunt; jam vetuli
psittaci, quibus mutanda lingua
spes non sit.”-Er. Op. iii. 367, C.
88 " Dissimulent quantum libet,
hoc collegium illos pessime habet."
-16. 523, C.
ULRICH VON HUTTEN.
383
Ulrich von Hutten, the celebrated German reformer and
man of letters, of whom we shall have more to say by-
and-by. Hutten, coming to Louvain, would of course
call on Erasmus, for whom he entertained the greatest
admiration, and no doubt they congratulated one
another on the victory of Reuchlin, who, on the 2nd of
July, 1516, had been acquitted by the commission
appointed to try him at Rome. “And when,” Eras-
mus would sometimes ask, “is Hochstraten to be
hung ?” to which Hutten would reply that he would
attend to that matter shortly. Many a laugh too they
must have had over the famous Epistola Obscurorum
Virorum, or Letters of Obscure Persons, of which
Hutten is known to have been in part the author, and
which almost rivalled the Moria itself, both in popularity
and in the effects which they produced. These letters,
written in a language which amusingly exaggerates the
barbarous Latin of the monks, under pretence of
defending Hochstraten and his party, in reality turn
them into infinite ridicule, and hold them up to the
scorn and contempt of the world. Erasmus, Hutten
tells us, and it can be easily believed, was in ecstasies
with this satire, and declared that such an admirable
way of turning the barbarians into ridicule had never
before been invented.39 Afterwards, however, on being
himself suspected of the authorship, and thinking that
it was quite enough for him to bear the odium of the
works to which he had put his name, he found it con-
venient to change his tone, and took several oppor-
89 “Maxime omnium laudabas et
applaudebas, autori prope triumphum
decernebas, negabas unquam excogi-
tatam compendiosiorem illos insec-
tandi viam, hanc demum optimam
esse initam rationem, barbare ri-
dendi barbaros," &c.—Expostulatio.
-Hut. Op. Münch, vol. iv. p. 356.
384
ERASMUS IN ENGLAND AGAIN;
tunities of speaking disparagingly of it, as a work of
which he disapproved. Able to adapt himself to every
society, Erasmus was at this time on the best of terms
with Hutten, notwithstanding their very opposite cha-
racters. Under no circumstances is it probable that a
them. As it was, they became, as we shall find,
bitterly hostile.
In the spring of this year (1517) Erasmus had been
in England, where the King and Wolsey, at length, it
would seem, sensible of the honour which would be
reflected on their country by the presence of so eminent
a man, received him with the greatest kindness, and
offered him a splendid dwelling-house together with a
pension of six hundred florins to induce him to remain.
For some time he kept this promise before his eyes, and
on the death of the Chancellor Sylvagius in the following
year, he seemed inclined to accept it. His other con-
nections in England might well have drawn him to this
country, and in a letter written about this time, we find
him saying that were it not for the help he received
from Britain he would still be a beggar. 40 He had
objections to Germany on account of the stoves, whose
dry heat disagreed with his constitution, and the frequent
highway robberies which made the roads dangerous,
and he felt no inclination to accompany his master to
Spain, though invited thither by the Archbishop of
Toledo. Eventually, however, he decided against
England. "I am afraid of the troubles that may
happen there,” he wrote to More, “and I dread the
slavery to which I should be subject." 41
And when we remember what troubles actually
40 Ep. clxxxv. App...
41 Er. Op. iii. 1658, E.
HIS REASONS FOR NOT SETTLING THERE.
385
came, no doubt we shall admit that he was right. Other
considerations, too, may have influenced him. Though
Warham long survived, old friends were beginning to
drop away into the land of shadows. In 1517, Ammo-
nius' of Lucca, whose memory he ever continued to
cherish as that of a most gifted man and faithful friend,
was cut off, when not yet forty, by the sweating sickness,
notwithstanding his temperate habits, which he had
boasted to More only a few hours before his death were
a sufficient protection against contagion. A loss which
Erasmus felt even more was that of Colet, who died on
the 16th of September, 1519, and these two much-loved
friends being gone, it may be that his inclination to
make London the home of his old age was greatly
diminished in strength. “For thirty years," he wrote
to Thomas Lupset, “I have not felt any one's death so
much; I am resolved to consecrate his memory to
posterity." 43 And nobly he kept his word in the
admirable portrait he has left us of his friend. 44
The sweating sickness which carried off Ammonius,
was a contagious fever of a most pestilent character,
which, having first broken out in Henry VII.'s army
on his landing at Milford-Haven in 1483, subsequently
ravaged England five different times, ultimately dis-
appearing in 1551. The presence of such an enemy, in
addition to the ordinary plague to which England was
subject in common with other countries, though appar-
ently to a greater degree, might well have terrified any
one even less careful of himself than Erasmus. More-
over, at this time England was certainly not before, and
was probably considerably behind, other countries in
the ordinary comforts and decencies of life, and in
42 Ep. dxxii. 43 Er. Op. iii. 508, B.: 44 Ep. ccccxxxv.
VOL. I,
25
THE PLAGUE IN ENGLAND;
a well-known letter addressed to Francis, Cardinal
Wolsey's physician, Erasmus, no doubt quite justly,
attributes the prevalence of the plague in our own
country to the filthy habits which then prevailed. His
details are not altogether nice, but for the sake of the
unpleasant truth they will be pardoned. The letter has
no date, but certainly belongs to 1518 or 1519, and is as
follows:-
ERASMUS to FRANCIS, Physician to the Cardinal of
York. 45
“I OFTEN wonder and lament how it happens that for
so many years Great Britain has been afflicted with
pestilence without intermission, particularly with the
sweating sickness, a malady which seems peculiar to
itself. We read of a city being delivered from a pesti-
lence which had long ravaged it by the destruction and
renewal of its buildings in accordance with the advice
of some philosopher. Either I am greatly deceived, or
by some such plan must England be delivered. In the
first place they never think whether their doors and
windows face north, south, east, or west; and in the
second place the rooms are generally so constructed
that, contrary to Galen's rule, no thorough draft can be
sent through them. Then they have a large part of the
wall fitted with sheets of glass which admit the light
but keep out the air, and yet there are chinks through
which they admit that filtered air which is all the more
pestilential because it has been lying there a long time.
Then the floors are generally strewed with clay, and
that covered with rushes which are now and then
45 Ep, ccccxxxii. App.
CAUSES AND REMEDIES.
.
387
en
1
renewed, but so as not to disturb the foundation, which
sometimes remains for twenty years nursing a collection
of spittle, vomits, excrements of dogs and human beings,
spilt beer and fishes' bones, and other filth that I need
not mention. From this, on any elevation of tempera-
ture, there is exhaled a vapour which, in my judgment,
is by no means beneficial to the human constitution.
Besides, England is not only surrounded on all sides by
the sea, but many parts of it are very marshy, and it is
intersected with salt rivers, to say nothing just now of
the salt fish, of which the common people are wonder-
fully fond. I should have confidence in the island
becoming more healthy if the use of rushes could be
abolished, and the bed-rooms so built as to be open to the
sky on two or three sides; and if all the glass windows
were so made as to open or shut all at once, and shut
so fast as to leave no chinks through which noxious winds
could force a passage ; since, as it is sometimes healthy.
to admit the air, so is it also sometimes healthy to
exclude it. The vulgar laugh if you complain of their
cloudy sky : I can only say that for thirty years past, if I
entered a room in which no one had been for some
months, I would immediately begin to feel feverish. It
would be an advantage if the vulgar could be persuaded
to live more sparingly and to be more moderate in the
use of salt-fish. Then there might be policemen who
should have the charge of seeing that the streets were
kept clean from filth ; and they should also look after
the neighbourhood of the city. I know you will laugh
at me for making myself anxious about these matters;
but I do so out of friendship for a country which has so
long afforded me hospitality, and where I would willingly
spend the remainder of my life if I could. I doubt not
388
ERASMUS GOES TO BASLE;
that you in your wisdom know far more about these
things than I do, but I wished to mention them in order
that, if my judgment should accord with yours, you may
commend them to the consideration of the leading men
of the country; for these things used to be the care of
monarchs. I would very gladly have written to his
Reverence my Lord Cardinal, but I had neither time nor
anything to say; and I know well how immersed he
is in the affairs of state.”
After reading the above no one will wonder that Eras-
mus declined the hospitality of England and preferred
to reside in a country where they did not indulge in
the luxury of rushes.
After a winter of more than usually hard work,
no winter he complained had ever seemed so long to
him,-he was ready about Easter to start once more
for Basle, with the materials he had prepared for the
second edition of the New Testament. These constant
journeys, undertaken though they were for the public
advantage, were, it seems, made a subject of reproach
against him by the monks, ever ready to seize an oppor-
tunity of attacking the friends of that learning which
they so much hated. Their complaint that the need
of a revision of his Greek Testament implied that the
first edition was far from perfect, would have been more
just if it had not been merely spiteful. Nettled by
some remarks to this effect which had reached his ears,
Erasmus could not forbear administering a severe
rebuke to his tormentors before leaving Louvain, as will
appear from the following extracts from a long letter
to Marcus Laurinus, a canon of Bruges, who appears to
have been one of his most confidential friends.
1
PT
HIS LETTER TO LAURINUS.
389
ERASMUS to MARCUS LAURINUS.46
“ Lour'ain, Easter Monday, 1518.
“... It is hard indeed to bear the obstinate and per-
verse ingratitude of mankind. None are more in need
of my labours than those who thus bark at my studies;
nor do any bark more furiously than those who have
never seen the cover of one of my books. Try the
experiment, my dear Marcus, and you will find that ·
what I say is true. The first time you meet with any
person of that kind, let him rave on against my New
Testament, until he has quite exhausted his fury and is
so hoarse that he can say no more, and then just ask
him if he has ever read the work. If he is impudent
enough to say he has, press him to produce the passage
with which he finds fault. You won't find one of them
who can do it.
; “. . . As to their cavil that I am preparing a new
edition because I am dissatisfied with the first, suppose.
it were so, what is there to blame in that? What fault
can they find if I study to surpass myself and to do
what Origen, Augustine, and Jerome did, especially
when I candidly promised, in my first edition, that I
would do so if necessary?
“... But these men of severe life find fault with
me for my want of steadiness, because they have heard
that I am going to Basle; as if forsooth I went to Basle,
or had done so before, for my amusement. It was there
I edited St. Jerome and the New Testament, besides
many other works; and to serve the public interest, I un-
dertook a most dangerous journey, and thought nothing
46 Ep. ccclvi.
390
ERASMUS DEFENDS HIMSELF
.
of the expense or the toil by which I have worn out a
good part of my life and my health. A strange un-
steadiness, if I did not choose to drink away my time
with them instead of going to Basle! They run hither
and thither, up and down the world, and fly over land
and sea, not at their own expense, seeing that they
make a profession of beggary, but with money got, by
cheating and scraping together, from widows whom they
drive mad by descanting on their sins, by robbing nuns,
and lastly by imposing on the good-nature of simple
brothers, and this that they may injure and cast a
stain on men who have done good service to the Chris-
tian commonwealth. And they, forsooth, are esteemed
steady and grave, while I, because I make myself a
slave to the public interest with my own money and to
my own loss, am unsteady. 'Let him choose,' they
cry, 'a city in which to live. What! do they think I
live here in a Scythian desert? Do they suppose that
every one is blotted out of existence whom they do not
see continually at their compotations ? To my think-
ing, I have a home wherever I have my library and any
little furniture I possess. But if the public advan-
tage demands that I should change my place, it would
be better, if I mistake not, to praise my public spirit
than to condemn my unsteadiness. If I could have
released myself from the necessity for this journey at a
cost of three hundred gold pieces, I would willingly
have paid down that sum. As the case stood I was
obliged to go. Nor did I ever change my abode except
for fear of the plague, or on account of my health, or
to make an honest penny. Italy is the only country I
ever visited of my own accord, and I went there partly
to visit the holy places at least once, partly to benefit
AGAINST THE CHARGE OF UNSTEADINESS.
39.1
by the libraries of that country and enjoy the society of
its learned men. I have not yet repented of that in-
stance of my unsteadiness. I am now here for about
two years without a break. I might have followed the
Catholic King into Spain with the very best prospects.
I have received an invitation from the King of France,
who promised me mountains of gold; also a most kind
one from the King of England and the Cardinal of
York, and from Francis, Archbishop of Toledo, lately
deceased. I have received invitations from the Bishop
of Paris, from the Bishop of Bayonne, from the
Archbishop of Maintz, from the Bishops of Liege,
Utrecht, Basle, and Rochester, and from the Dukes of
Bavaria and Saxony. This is no lie; the fact is known
to many and is clear from their own letters to me.
Neglecting all these invitations, I have persevered with
the work I had on hand ; and yet I must be called
unsteady, though my sole desire is to finish what I have
begun at the cost of so many sleepless nights !
“If the virtue of steadiness consists in your occu-
pying the same place as long as possible, stones and the
trunks of trees must claim the first rank of merit, and
next to these come shells and sponges. It is no vice
to change one's abode; the vice would consist in
changing it from bad motives. Nor is it a virtue to
remain long in the same place, but to have lived in a
praiseworthy manner. Socrates is praised because he
always lived as a good citizen in Athens. Yet Plato's
travelling is not deemed a vice. John the Baptist never
went beyond Judæa ; Christ merely touched its confines :
yet we do not on that account condemn the apostles
for unsteadiness because they wandered up and down
through the world. No one condemns Hilarion for his
1
0
392
LETTER TO LAURINUS.
wanderings because Paul never left his cave. Yet why
bring forward such examples for those who are not
steady even while living in the same city, but are con-
tinually changing their stall and their feeding-ground,
and wherever the kitchen sends up a richer steam and a
more savoury smell, thither they crowd. "They say I
have no steadiness because I have not gone on drinking
with them for five-and-forty years in the same city, like
a sponge, which, once it is fixed, lives only to drink ;'
because I have not made free with the nuns, gambled,
or played the sycophant. In truth, I vastly prefer my
unsteadiness to their steadiness. For I think it is far
more creditable to have lived in many places in such a
way that, no matter where you may be, the best men of
the place wish you back again, than to have lived in
the same city in such a way as to bring disgrace upon
yourself, or even to make it a matter of indifference
whether you have lived there at all. What if my
health compels me to change my place? Will they
make no allowance for the duty of paying attention to
one's health ? As it is, they condemn me because I
prefer the public advantage to everything else. But
they can do without my labours. Let them; only
let the cultivated and the learned have the benefit
of them. I don't want to compel any one to be wiser
than he wishes to be. But a truce with these fellows,
my dear Marcus. Let us, in the spirit of pure Chris-
tianity, love the good, and tolerate the bad, if they
refuse to be overcome even by kindness. Like to like,
as the proverb says. A hard knot requires a hard
wedge to split it; and while they are attempting to
fix their teeth in a soft and brittle substance, they may
chance to break them against something solid. As for
ERASMUS TAKEN ILL AT BASLE.
393
me, I have neither time nor strength to fight with these
ruffians.
“I hope you will not inconvenience yourself to
come here, though otherwise I should be delighted
to see you. I shall visit you, I hope, in a short time,
and spend some days with you, to enjoy your society,
before I leave this. Even if I do leave this, I shall not
be long away. If I go to Basle I shall return next
autumn; if to Venice, next spring. i . . Farewell,
excellent friend." .
At Basle Erasmus remained till the autumn. He
arrived there about the middle of May, but had not
been longer than ten days in the city when he was
seized by an infectious disorder, the symptoms of which
were cough, violent headache, and pains in the bowels,
and which, in the course of the summer, proved fatal to
a large number of persons. From this he was fortunate
enough to recover in the course of some days, but he
was afterwards attacked by dysentery, and during the
whole summer, which was an extremely hot one, he
enjoyed scarcely a moment's health. Nevertheless, he
was able to see some important works through the press;
but he would not wait for the completion of his second
edition of the New Testament, which he was obliged to
leave to the care of Froben and the brothers Amerbach,
and which did not appear till the following March
(1519). His restless habits, and perhaps the state of
his health, required change, and by October he was
on his way back to Louvain. A letter to his friend
Beatus describes his return journey, and gives very
minute details as to his physical sufferingsdetails far
more fit, as Jortin has remarked, to be poured into the
-
394 : ERASMUS GIVES BEATUS
ears of his physician in the privacy of the bedchamber,
than to be committed to writing and handed round the
circle of admiring friends and acquaintances.47 So at
least the taste of our times would say ; but, in truth, any-
thing that Erasmus might choose to write was welcome
in Basle, and, indeed, wherever Latin was understood
or there was any pretension to literature. The first
part of the letter, however, is a lively description of the
difficulties and discomforts of travel in the sixteenth
century, and as such will probably interest the reader.
ERASMUS to RHENANUS.48
- Louvain, 1518.
"I MUST give you, my dear Beatus, a full account of
my journey, which was a complete tragi-comedy. I
was feeling rather weak and ill, as you know, when
I left Basle, not having yet become reconciled to the
open air after my long confinement to the house, and
the constant work in which I was engaged. The
voyage was pleasant enough, except that about noon
the heat of the sun was rather annoying. We stopped
for dinner at Brisach, but I never had a worse dinner in
my life. The smell was enough to kill you, but the
flies were even worse than the smell. We sat for more
than half-an-hour at the table doing nothing, waiting
for dinner to be served. At last it was put on the table,
but there was positively nothing fit to eat-soup with
bits of meat so dirty that the mere sight of them was
enough to make you sick, and salt fish which had
evidently done duty more than once before..
Towards night we were landed in some village, where it
felt very cold, but the name of which I don't want to
47 JORTIN : vol. i. p. 130.
48 Ep. ccclvii.
AN ACCOUNT OF HIS JOURNEY.
395
know, nor, if I knew, should I care to mention it. I
was nearly killed there. We had supper in a small
room heated by a stove, where there were more than
sixty of us, I think, a most miscellaneous set of people,
and it was not over till nearly ten o'clock. Oh! the
stench! the noise ! especially as they began to grow
warm with wine ; and yet we were obliged to take our
time from their watches. In the morning, while it was
still quite dark, we were routed from our beds by the
shouts of the sailors, and I was obliged to go on board
both supperless and sleepless. We got to Strasburg
before breakfast at about nine o'clock, and then we
found ourselves more comfortable, especially as Schurer
supplied us with wine. Some of our friends were
waiting for us, and soon they all came to make us
welcome. Thence we went on horseback to Spire, nor
did we see anywhere so much as the shadow of a soldier,
notwithstanding the formidable reports which had
reached us. My English horse broke down completely,
and could scarcely drag himself to Spire, that wicked
blacksmith having used him so badly that both his
ears had to be burnt with a red-hot iron. At Spire
I stole away from the inn and went to a neighbouring
village, where I had been before, where the dean, a kind
and learned man, entertained us hospitably for a couple
of days, and where, as good luck would have it, we fell
in with Hermann Busch. Thence I proceeded by car-
riage to Worms, and from there on to Maintz. It so
happened that a secretary of the Emperor, named
Ulrich Farnbul, got into the same carriage with me, and
paid me the greatest possible attention all the way to
Maintz, where he would not suffer me to go to the inn,
but brought me to the house of a certain Canon, and
396
ERASMUS ARRIVES AT COLOGNE;
when I was going away accompanied me to the boat.
The voyage was pleasant, the weather being fine, but it
was rather longer than it need have been, owing to the
carelessness of the sailors. The smell of the horses,
too, was disagreeable.... On arriving at Popard,
as we were walking up and down on the bank, some
one, I don't know who, recognized me and pointed me
out to the Customs' collector. The collector's name, if
I remember right, is Christopher Cinicampius, vulgarly
Eschenfelder. You would not believe how overjoyed
the man was to see me. He dragged me into his house,
and there, on a table, among his business papers, were
lying the works of Erasmus. He called his wife and
children and all his friends, shouting aloud that he was
now indeed happy; and meanwhile he sent two bottles
of wine to the sailors, and afterwards, as they continued
to vociferate, two more, promising that on his return
he would remit the tax to whoever had brought him
such a man.
“Hence, in order to show us respect, John Fla-
minius, the superior of the convent, a man of angelic
purity, of sound and sober judgment, and of no common
learning, accompanied us as far as Coblentz, where we
were carried home by Matthias, the Bishop's chaplain, a
young man, but of very composed manners, and an
excellent Latin scholar, besides being deeply versed in
the law. There we were very merry over our supper.
At Bonn the Canon left us, in order to avoid the city of
Cologne, which I also wished to do, but my servants
had gone on there with the horses, and there was no
one in the boat on whom I could depend to go and
fetch him back—I could not trust the sailors. Accord-
ingly, the next morning—it was now Sunday, and the
VISITS THE COUNT OF NEW EAGLE.
397
weather was thick and unwholesome-we arrived at
Cologne before six o'clock. I went into the inn, gave
directions to the servants, to see about hiring a two-
ten. I then went to mass, and on my return found
breakfast not yet ready. Not a carriage was to be had.
I then tried to get a horse, for my own were useless,
but with as little success. I saw that they were doing
all they could to keep me there, so I instantly ordered
my own horses to be saddled, put one of my valises on
one of them, gave the other in charge to my host, and
set off on my lame horse to the Count of New Eagle, a
journey of five hours. He was living at Bedburium,
and I spent with him five most delightful days, in so
much quietness and comfort, that I was able to finish a
good part of my proof; for I had brought part of the
New Testament with me. I wish you knew this man,
my dear Beatus. He is young, but has all the wisdom
of age; he is sparing of words, but when he speaks it is
very sweetly and from his heart; he is learned in more
than one branch of study, but without ostentation, and
is altogether a most unaffected and most lovable man.
I was now feeling much stronger, and better satisfied
with myself, and was hoping to be well enough to visit
the Bishop of Liege and to return to my friends in
· Brabant in good health. What feastings, what greet-
ings, what talks I was promising myself! I had deter-
mined, if the autumn should prove favourable, to go to
England, and accept the offer which the King has so
often repeated. But, oh, the deceitfulness of human
hopes ! the uncertainty of life! From these dreams of
happiness I was suddenly hurled down to the very
brink of destruction. Already a two-horse carriage had
398
ERASMUS EXPOSED TO A STORM ;
been hired for the next day. The Count, who was
unwilling to bid me farewell before night, told me he
would come and see me before I left in the morning.
That night a violent storm of wind arose, which had
been blowing also the night before ; nevertheless I got
up in the middle of the night to say something to the
Count, and having waited till seven o'clock, and the
Count not making his appearance, I ordered him to be
called. He came, and being an extremely modest
young man, he asked me whether it was still my
intention to leave in such unfavourable weather, adding
that he was anxious about me. Thereupon, my dear
Beatus, Jupiter, or some evil genius, took from me, not
half my reason, as Hesiod says, but all I had left; for
the half was gone when I ventured to Cologne. And I
would that he had either warned his friend more im-
pressively, or I had been more attentive to his modest
but friendly advice. I was carried away by the power
of destiny; for what else shall I call it? I got into the
carriage, an open one, the wind blowing so that it
might have torn up an oak; it was a south wind, and
was loaded with pestilence. I thought I was well pro-
tected by my cloak, but its force penetrated every-
where. Towards night rain came on, which was even
more pestilential than the wind which carried it. I
arrived at Aix, tired with the shaking of the carriage,
which was so unpleasant to me, especially as it was over
a stony road, that I would rather ride on a horse no
matter how lame. Here I was carried from the inn by
a Canon to whom the Count had introduced me, to the
house of the precentor, where we found some other
canons at dinner. A very poor breakfast had sharpened
my appetite ; but these worthy people had nothing to
TAKEN ILL IN CONSEQUENCE.
399
give me but some carps, and they were cold. However,
I took my fill; and supper being prolonged with various
talk till far on in the night for it was late when they
sat down-I excused myself, and went to bed, having
slept very little the night before.
“The next day I was taken to the house of the sub-
prior, for it was now his turn to entertain. As there was
no fresh fish there except eel, the weather must assuredly
have been in fault, for otherwise he keeps a sumptuous
table. I filled myself with some fish dried in the air. It
was that kind which the Germans call from the stick
with which it is pounded, and which I usually like well
enough; but I found part of this was still raw. After
breakfast, the atmosphere being then most pestilential,
I went into my bed-room, and ordered a fire to be
lighted. The Canon, who was a very kind man, chatted
with me for about an hour and a half. Meantime I felt
my stomach turn sick, and when this lasted, I dismissed
But here Erasmus becomes 'so disagreeably minute
that it may be as well to break off. He proceeds to
narrate, with many particulars, how he at length arrived
at Louvain, with several ulcers breaking out on his
body, and a strong suspicion that now at last he had
chambers in the University, he took refuge at the house
of his friend Theodoric Martin, the printer, and imme-
diately sent for a surgeon, who confirmed his fears, and
having promised to send some soothing lotions, declined
himself to return for fear of infection. Some physicians,
however, who were consulted declared that there was
no disease, and a Hebrew doctor said he wished he had
400
ERASMUS IN THE FACE OF DEATH;
as healthy a body. Other conflicting opinions were
pronounced; but, meantime, Erasmus recovered suffi-
ciently to return to his studies, and resolved to make
an effort to throw off his trouble by mental exertion.
It was nearly four weeks, however, before he was able
to leave the house of the friendly printer, and, mean-
time, Dorpius, Atensis, and other friends, notwithstand-
ing his warnings that no one should come near him,
insisted on visiting him, and made his time pass
pleasantly by their conversaţion. “My dear Beatus,"
thus the letter concludes,_"who would believe that,
after the fatigue of so many journeys and such severe
study, this thin and delicate frame of mine, on which
age, too, has now set its seal, would be able to bear up
also against so many diseases ? For you know how
seriously ill I was at Basle not long ago, and, indeed,
more than once. I could not escape the suspicion that
this year would be fatal to me, one misfortune followed
another in such rapid succession, and each one more
difficult to bear than its predecessor. Yet such was my
frame of mind that, even in the lowest depression of
disease, I was neither tormented with a wish to live nor
did I tremble with fear of death. In Christ alone was
all my hope, from whom I prayed for nothing but that
he would give me what he himself might judge to be
for my good. When I was a young man, I remember
I used to shiver all over at the very name of death;
but I have gained this much at least by years, that I
fear death very little, nor do I measure human happi-
ness by length of life. I am now past my fiftieth year,
and when I consider how few are permitted to reach
that age, I cannot complain that I have not lived long ;
besides, if this has anything to do with the matter, a
TRIUMPH OF HIS ENEMIES.
401
1
monument is even now ready by which I may testify to
posterity that I have lived. And, perchance, from the
pyre, as the poets say, when envious tongues shall be
silent, my glory shall shine the more brightly. Yet
human glory must not come near the heart of a
Christian. I pray that we may have the true glory of
being accepted with Christ.”
While Erasmus was thus lying ill at the house of
his friend Martin, in the meantime his enemies began
somewhat prematurely to rejoice over his death, and a
preaching friar at Cologne announced with great glee
to his applauding companions that he had not only
died, but died, as he expressed it in his wretched
monkish Latin, sine lux, sine crux, sine Deus,—without
candles, crucifix, or God.49 To die without the visible
means of grace provided by the Church would be, of
course, in the eyes of all good Catholics, to be utterly
lost, and if that fate had indeed befallen the great
leader of the new crusade against the cherished ignor-
ance and superstition of the monks, he had only got
his deserts, and the world was well rid of him, Nay,
the imagination of some had even carried them so far
that a report was spread-only, however, in the distant
city of Prague—that he had been burned at Cologne,
along with his books : 50 no doubt, the wish was father to
the thought. Fortunately, however, Erasmus disap-
pointed the hopes of his monkish adversaries. He
recovered from his disease, whatever it was, and lived
to plant many another pointed shaft in their sides.
But it is now time to glance at the literary labours
on which he was engaged during his residence 'at
Louvain, for the editing of the New Testament by no
49 Er. Op. iii. 432, E. 50 Ib. 432, D.
VOL. I.
26
402
THE “COMPLAINT OF PEACE.”
means sufficed to exhaust his energies. It must have
been shortly after his arrival that he wrote a declamation
against war, which he called Querela Pacis, or The
Complaint of Peace, 51 and which he dedicated to Philip,
Bishop of Utrecht, another natural son of Philip the
Fair, and brother of David, the late Bishop.52 The
subject was one on which Erasmus felt strongly, and
wrote earnestly and eloquently. No member of the
Society of Friends ever detested war more cordially
than he did, and in that warlike age he never feared to
lift up his voice boldly against it.
As in the “Praise of Folly," Folly is the speaker, so
in this essay Peace utters her own complaint, bewailing
her unhappy fortune that she can find no resting-place
anywhere. She has tried the cities, but found the
private houses full of quarrelling and dissension ; she
has tried the courts, but found the courteous salutations
and ceremonies, which at first promised so well, mere
hypocrisy ; she then tries the theologians, the priests,
and, last of all, convinced that here at least she must
find a secure asylum, the monks; but, need it be said,
without success. “School contends with school, and, as
though the nature of truth varied in different places,
there are some doctrines which never cross the sea, the
Alps, or the Rhine; nay, in the same University the
logician is at war with the rhetorician, the lawyer with
the divine. And still further, even in the same profes-
61 Querela Pacis undique gentium read it. Doubtless it may embody
ejecta profligatæque.--Er. Op. iv. parts of the Anti-polemus, which he
625.
wrote at the request of Julius II.,
62 BURIGNI (i. 145) says, on the but as Leo X. is mentioned more
authority of Calkreuter, that Eras- than once, it was evidently written
mus composed this piece at Rome, under the latter Pontiff.
But this only shows that he had not
PEACE NOWHERE TO BE FOUND. 403
sion, the Scotist fights with the Thomist, the Nominalist
with the Realist, the Platonist with the Peripatetic, so
that they cannot agree even in the most minute particular,
and often they will fight most desperately for a mere straw,
until, in the heat of the discussion, they proceed from
arguments to abuse, and from abuse to blows, and, if the
affair is not settled with daggers and lances, they stab
one another with pens dipped in poison, tear each other
in pieces on paper, and brandish against one another's
fame tongues armed with death. But none revolted me
more than the monks, among whom there are as many
factions as there are societies, while Dominicans dispute
with Franciscans, Benedictines with the followers of
St. Bernard ; there are so many names, dresses, cere-
monies, studiously diverse, so as to exclude all possi-
bility of agreement, while each order is in love with
itself, but condemns and hates every other. And yet
nothing can be more utterly at variance with Christianity,
whose founder is emphatically called the Prince of
Peace.” Erasmus here does not forget that in the Old
Testament, God is called the God of hosts and the God
of vengeance, and I am not sure whether he is strictly
orthodox when he remarks in explanation that there is.
a great difference between the God of the Jews and the
God of the Christians, “though," he hastens to add, "in
his own nature God is one and the same.” He has,
however, no difficulty in proving from the New Testa-
ment the unchristian nature of war.
Well might he be honestly indignant at the conduct
of the clergy in flattering the passions of princes and
people. The Franciscans and Dominicans, he says,
when England and France were about to engage in war,
a few years before, instead of restraining this mad fury,
404
CHRISTIANITY,
did all they could to increase it. Priests and Bishops
leave their churches and follow the armies to the field,
while above the contending hosts waves the holy cross,
whose mission it is before all things else to preach
peace to mankind, but which is now made the symbol
of war. What hast thou to do with the cross, thou
wicked soldier? It is the sign of him who conquered
not by fighting but by dying, and who saved and not
destroyed. Dost thou carry the sign of salvation, while
thou art hastening to kill thy brother, and with the
cross destroyest him who by the cross was saved ?"
Nor does he fail to notice the absurdity of the fact that
the same holy symbol is present in both camps. “What
a monstrous thing is this! Can the cross fight with
the cross, Christ carry on war against Christ? The
prayers which are offered up for peace must be regarded
as a mere mockery of God, so long as the princes of the
earth rush to arms on the flimsiest pretences, and while
prompt to answer to the call of the warlike Pope Julius,
pay no attention to the voice of Leo summoning the
world to peace and concord. Hence it is clear that they
call in the aid of religion as a mere cloak to conceal
their impiety." The mockery of Christianity becomes
almost grotesque when we learn that the guns were
often called after the Apostles and engraved with
images of the Saints.
Erasmus goes the length of scarcely permitting even
defensive war, except indeed against the incursions of
| Turks and other barbarians. Among Christians he
thinks all war intolerable, and unequivocally contends
for peace at any price, on the plain mercantile prin-
ciple that to purchase peace will always cost less than
to carry on war. It would be unjust, however, not to
THE RELIGION OF PEACE.
405
add that he urges also the higher motive that it is more
Christian to forgive than to take vengeance. Yet it
may be doubted whether the chivalrous Francis I., if he
ever read this treatise, would have felt greatly flattered
on finding it said of him that he did not scruple to
purchase a peace, even though the next sentence
explains that he did so in order to prove that the good
of the human race was the object most worthy of a
king. But, in truth, Erasmus was not careful to flatter
the great, nor mindful of what kings might think of
him; otherwise he would never have been so bold in
his attacks upon their conduct. In this very essay he
disposes of the “divine right” of kings in the most off-
hand way, asking what great difference it can make who
reigns, so long as the public interests are properly
attended to.53
The treatise concludes with an earnest appeal to
Kings, Bishops, and all in authority to follow the things
that make for peace, pointing out that the greatest
sovereigns of the day, Francis, Charles, Maximilian,
and Henry, and above all the Pope himself, “the pacific
and meek Leo," are in its favour, and urging that thus
“the empire of kings will be more august, when they
shall rule over a pious and prosperous people, the priests
will have more time for the performance of their sacred
duties, the Christian name will be more formidable to
the enemies of the cross; while, above all, they will
gain the favour of Christ, to please whom is the sum of
all human happiness.”
Some part of the year 1517 was employed by Eras-
mus in preparing editions of Suetonius and Quintus
53 “Quasi vero ita magni referat, licis commodis recte consulatur.”—
quis regnum administret, modo pub- Er. Op. iv. 633, C.
406
THE GRAMMAR OF THEODORE GAZA,
Curtius, both of which were afterwards printed by
Froben. The latter he dedicated to Ernest Duke of
Bavaria, in an elegant epistle, in which he says that he
had always, from his very boyhood, been a great
admirer of this author for his singular fairness and
correctness, as well as the terseness of his style, and
had taken him with him as the companion of his
voyage when he visited England the preceding spring.
He was, however, he adds, no admirer of the subject of
the history, regarding Alexander the Great as no more
than a successful robber.54 The Suetonius was edited
from a very old manuscript, which Mountjoy had found
in a monastery at Tournay, when he was governor of
that city. It was dedicated, in a very long epistle, to
Frederic, Elector of Saxony, and his cousin George.55
During this same winter at Louvain (1517-1518),
which he had found so long, Erasmus made a valuable
contribution to Greek learning, by translating the
grammar of Theodore Gaza, and thus supplying stu-
dents with the best Greek grammar that had yet
appeared.56 He also enlarged and printed in a separate
form the short treatise on the proper method of theo-
logical study, prefixed to the first edition of his Greek
Testament, and of which some account has already
been given.57 It was dedicated, in its new form, to the
Archbishop Elector of Maintz and Magdeburg, who had
been recently made a Cardinal.
Among other works printed at Basle in the course of
the summer (1518), Erasmus now published for the first
64 Ep. cclxxvi.
pendio perveniendi ad veram theo-
56 Ep. cccviii.
logiam.-Er. Op. v. 75. See above,
66 Theodori Gaze Grammaticis, p. 325. The dedication bears the
libri duo.--Er. Op. i. III.
date Dec. 26, 1517.
57 Ratio, seu Methodus, com-
AND OTHER WORKS.
407
time the first book of his youthful treatise, the Anti-
· Barbarians, to which reference has been already made.58
The original design, as I have said, had extended to
four books, of which the first and second were com-
pleted, but having been entrusted to the care of Richard
Pace, when the author was about to leave Italy, they
were unfortunately lost. On taking up his residence at
Louvain, however, Erasmus found that the first book, in
its original youthful form, had got into circulation to
such an extent that he deemed it advisable, lest it should
be published by others, himself to take it in hand, and
prepare it for the press. The work, thus revised, was
dedicated to John Sapidus. Another youthful work,
also published this year, was the “ Praise of Medicine,"59
an essay which the author said he had written long ago,
at a time when he was trying his hand at everything.
One can easily believe that it was printed without much
revision. It is a mere declamation, with very little sub-
stance, giving, however, some significant hints as to the
superstitions which then prevailed, and especially as to
the belief in astrology. It was dedicated to one Henry
Affinius, a distinguished physician of the day.
Up to this time the Enchiridion had been frequently
reprinted. A new edition was now published by Froben
with a defence of the work by its author, in the form of
a letter addressed to Paulus Volzius, the devout abbot
of a monastery near Schelestadt. In this letter Eras-
mus sharply attacks the scholastic divinity, and contrasts
with it the practical teaching of Christ and His Apostles.
Referring to the war which was just then contemplated
against the Turks, he asks what would be the result if,
after conquering them, in order to convert the survivors
68 See above, p. 25. 69 De Laude Medicina.-Er. Op. v. 531.
408
NEW EDITION OF THE ENCHIRIDION,
to Christianity—“for I suppose,” he adds, “we do not
intend to put them all to the sword”-the works of
Occam, Scotus, and the rest, were put into their hands.
* What,” he asks, “will they think when they hear of
those thorny and inextricable subtleties about instants,
formalities, quiddities, and relations; especially when
they observe that the great professors of our religion
agree so little among themselves, that they often resort
to abuse and contempt, and sometimes even to blows?
.... The most effectual way of conquering the Turks.
would be if they were to see the spirit and teaching of
Christ expressed in our lives; if they perceived that we
were not aiming at empire over them, thirsting for their
gold, coveting their possessions, or desiring anything
whatever save their salvation and the glory of Christ.
.... And unless this spirit animates us, I am afraid
we shall sooner degenerate into Turks ourselves, than
bring over the Turks to our side.” Erasmus then pro-
ceeds at some length to justify his little work against
the attacks which had been made upon it, showing that
in exposing and condemning abuses, he had not intended
to find fault with any of the institutions or customs of
the Church, so long as they were kept in due subordina-
tion to the precepts of Christ. “If any one utters a
warning that it is safer to trust in good deeds than in
the Pope's pardons, he does not therefore condemn those
pardons, but he prefers that which is more certainly in
accordance with the doctrine of Christ.”—“I find no
fault if some live on fish, others on herbs and vegetables,
and others on eggs : but I warn those who, in a Jewish
spirit, persuade themselves that they can be made
righteous by these things, that they are grievously
mistaken ; who pride themselves on such trifles, the
WITH LETTER TO VOLZIUS.
409
inventions of men, while yet they think it no sin to take
away another's good name by their lying calumnies."
In his condemnation of the monastic orders, whose
origin and degeneracy he rapidly sketches, he is un-
sparing enough, though affecting to find fault only with
abuses. “I utter no reproaches," he says, “because the
Franciscans and Benedictines follow their own rule; but
only because some of them prefer it to the Gospel.”
Doubtless he was thinking of his own early experience
when he expressed the wish that no one should be per-
mitted by law to take monastic vows before his thirtieth
year. “But,” he continues, "those who, like the Phari-
sees, compass sea and land to make one proselyte, will
never want for young men ignorant of the world to
allure into their nets and make a prey of. There is a
large abundance of fools and simpletons everywhere.
For my part I could wish, and I doubt not that all truly
pious men would wish the same thing, that the Gospel
religion was so dear to all, that, content with this, no
one should bind himself to the Benedictine or Fran-
ciscan rule; nor do I doubt that Benedict and Francis
themselves would wish so too. .... I could wish that
all Christians lived in such a manner that those who are
now alone called religious might no longer be thought
so.” 60 The letter to Volzius bears the date August 14,
1518. We are informed elsewhere that this new preface
injured the sale of the work by offending a number of
the Dominicans, who had previously commended it.61
Previous to the third visit of Erasmus to Basle,
Froben had printed, in the beginning of the year 1518,
a collection of his letters enlarged from one which had
appeared the preceding year at Louvain, and another
Go Ep. cccxxix.
61 Cat. Luc. See above, p. 122, note.
410
THE LETTERS OF ERASMUS;
was issued under the superintendence of the author
himself before he left Basle in the autumn. Thus the
readers of that time and their numbers were increasing
every day-were already put in possession of a series
of letters perhaps the most entertaining that has ever
been given to the world, unsurpassed for their flowing
easy style, their biting satire, their graphic powers of
description, their wit, eloquence, and learning, and con-
stituting now, with the additions that were subsequently
made, one of the most interesting and delightful auto-
biographical sketches that it would be possible to name.
Among so many--they now fill two folio volumes and
number upwards of eighteen hundred, of which far the
greater part are by Erasmus himself—some, no doubt,
are of little intrinsic value. There are others which one
would have thought the author would be far more
anxious to destroy than to publish. Nevertheless, as
the correspondence of the most brilliant literary man of
his day, we could not wish that one had been lost.
These letters were read with delight and eagerness at
the time of their first appearance, and they will continue
to be read as long as any interest is felt in the great
men and the great events of the time to which they
belong.
One other work, the composition of which, however,
extended over several years, may be most conveniently
noticed here. At Louvain Erasmus had written a
Paraphrase of the Epistle to the Romans, which towards
the close of 1517 he published, and dedicated to his
old friend Cardinal Grimani. This was followed, after
about a year and a half, by the two epistles to the
Corinthians and the Galatians, and then, in due time, by
the rest of the canonical epistles. The two epistles
HIS PARAPHRASE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 411
to Peter, we may notice, were dedicated to Cardinal
Wolsey. The idea of making Paul write as Erasmus
would have written is not one that by any means com-
mends itself to the taste of our age, nor, indeed, to
the good taste of any age. It should be remem-
bered, however, that the Paraphrases were written at a
time when Erasmus was much better appreciated than
St. Paul. The work accordingly was received with
universal favour; and when we find such a man as
Richard Pace writing that, by the help of the Para-
phrase on the Corinthians, he had been enabled to
understand better than ever before both the language
and the meaning of St. Paul, it may be supposed that
such a work was needed. 62 Erasmus himself had not
intended to go beyond the epistles of Peter and Paul,
but the persuasions of his learned friends had induced
him to persevere. His own good sense, it seems, would
have withheld him from paraphrasing the Gospels, but
having gone to Brussels to meet the Cardinal of Sion,
on his return from the Diet of Worms, that dignitary,
being particularly interested in the work, and to whom
a part of it had been dedicated, besought him to do for
St. Matthew's Gospel what he had already done for the
Epistles. Erasmus replied, very justly, as we may
think, that to paraphrase 'so simple a narrative would
be like lighting a candle at noon-day; besides, he urged,
if he undertook St. Matthew, he would be expected to
paraphrase the rest also, and must go over the same
62 "Tuam in duas Pauli ad Co- affirmare, me aliquatenus (ne ni-
rinthios Epistolas paraphrasim mium meo ipsius tribuam ingenio)
diligentissime perlegi : et ex hoc tuo cum quid dicat, tum quid sentiat
labore tantum me fructus percepisse divus Paulus, intelligere."--Er. Op.
fateor, ut nunc tandem (quod ante. ii. 308, F.
hac mihi contigit nunquam) audeam
412 THE PARAPHRASE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
Eventually, however, he yielded. The simple story of
the Evangelists passed into the wordy rhetoric of
Erasmus, and the result was dedicated to his four
principal patrons-Matthew to Charles V. ; John, which
followed next in order, to Ferdinand, Charles's brother ;
Luke to Henry VIII. ; and Mark to Francis I. Last of
all, he paraphrased the Acts of the Apostles, which he
dedicated in the beginning of the year 1524 to the new
Pope, Clement VII., thus having completed, or rather
completely transformed, the New Testament, with the
exception of the Apocalypse, a book which seems to
have had little attraction for the Reformers of that time.
The work, when complete, was accompanied by an
address to the pious reader, advocating the propriety
of making the Scriptures accessible to the most
illiterate, and of translating them into the vulgar
tongue. 68
..The Paraphrase of the New Testament cannot be
counted among the most permanently interesting of the
works of Erasmus. Yet there was none which gave
such universal satisfaction, or which so entirely escaped
censure. 64 Doubtless it did good work in promoting the
study of the Scriptures, and so preparing the way for
the coming Reformation. It is well known that it was so
highly appreciated in England that a copy of it, trans-
lated into English, was ordered to be placed in every
parish church beside the Bible.
Testament fills the seventh volume
of Le Clerc's Erasmus.
Gul " Absolvi Paraphrases in omnes
Epistolas divi Pauli germanas,
felix, ut illis quoque probetur, qui-
'bus nihil placet Erasmicum.”-Er.
Op. iii. 414, D.
THE REFORMATION.
413
But we have now once more passed, and must accord-
ingly return to, that point of time which forms an epoch
not merely in the life of Erasmus, but in the history of
the world. The great movement generally known as
the Protestant Reformation is so intimately connected
in its origin and progress with his life, he himself was
so peculiarly related to it, as having, on the one hand,
done' more, by his assaults on the superstitions of the
time, than almost any other individual, to prepare the
way for it, and, on the other, as having never openly
espoused it or gone hand-in-hand with its leaders ;-his
conduct, on this account, was so misrepresented at the
time, and has been so misunderstood since, that it
will be necessary to treat of this part of his life with
special fulness. In presenting the views and feelings
of Erasmus in regard to the Lutheran movement, I
shall adopt the plan I have hitherto followed, of per-
mitting him to speak for himself; but it will be advis-
able first to try to understand accurately the nature of
that movement itself.
END OF VOL. I.
LONDON: PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE,
AND PARLIAMENT STREET.

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