Selections from Erasmus: Principally from his Epistles Part 13

136. REGINA] Catharine of Aragon.

145. SACERDOTIUM] The living of Aldington in Kent was given to Erasmus by Warham in March 1512. It was worth 33 6_s_. 8_d_. yearly; but after a few months Erasmus was allowed to resign, an annual pension of 20 being charged on the living and paid to him.

175. Erasmus' _De Copia_, first published in July 1512, was a treatise designed to a.s.sist the beginner in Latin composition by supplying him with variety of words and abundance of phrases.

178. CASTIGAVI] 'I have produced a critical edition of.'

180. OBELIS] The critical marks [Symbols: obelus, obelus] used to denote suspected pa.s.sages in texts.

IUGULAVI] 'I have disposed of', lit. 'have cut their throats'.

201. CULTU CANONICORUM] The proper dress of an Augustinian canon consisted of a 'tunica candida c.u.m linea toga sub nigro pallio.

Tegumentum a scapulis impositum cervicem totumque contegit caput'.

215. THESAURARII FILIOS] Matthias and Mark Lauweryn, sons of the Archduke Philip's Treasurer; who were studying at Bologna in 1507. Mark afterwards became an intimate friend of Erasmus.

218. Julius II was Pope, 1503-13.

228. _admonitus sum_ is followed here first by a statement and then by a piece of advice.

251. APUD MONACHAS ALIQUAS] Convents of nuns require a resident priest to conduct their services. These posts, the work of which was light, were usually given to monks advanced in years. Servatius himself in later life retired in this way to a convent of Augustinian nuns near Leiden.

253. NIHIL MOROR] The technical formula of dismissal, either of persons receiving an audience, or of an accused person when the charge against him is withdrawn. Then, by transference, 'I do not detain to make inquiries about,' 'I do not care about.'

268. PASCHA] Easter, 16 April 1514. In calculating dates the Romans reckoned inclusively, so that the _tertius dies_ is Tuesday.

XVII

[An extract from a letter written in September 1514. On his way to Basel Erasmus pa.s.sed through Strasburg, where he was welcomed with enthusiasm, especially by the Literary Society, of which James Wimpfeling, a native of Schlettstadt, was head. After his departure the Society, through Wimpfeling, wrote him a formal letter of welcome into Germany, to which this letter is the reply.]

6. CANTHAROS] casks.

8. John Sapidus (a Latinized form of Witz) was headmaster of the Latin school at Schlettstadt, which was one of the most important in South Germany.

15. Beatus Rhena.n.u.s (1485-1547) became a most faithful friend to Erasmus, working as his coadjutor in many of his publications.

44, 5. DE EODEM ... OLEO] A proverbial phrase for an uninterrupted effort. For the combination cf. _oleum et operam perdere_, to lose time (literally, light) and trouble.

46. _liceat_ represents a slight change of mental att.i.tude as to the condition being fulfilled.

62. CIRc.u.mFERUNT, &c.] The subjunctive would be more usual.

XVIII

[A letter written in 1516 at the close of a visit to England, when Erasmus was preparing to settle in the Netherlands. Reuchlin, to whom it is addressed, was the first Hebrew scholar in Europe at this time. The testimony in the final paragraph to the progress of learning in England is valuable, inasmuch as it is not written to an Englishman.]

3. ROFFENSIS] John Fisher (c. 1459-1535) had been a constant patron to Erasmus. He had been confessor to the Lady Margaret Tudor, mother of Henry VII; and through his influence she had used her wealth to endow learning, founding Professors.h.i.+ps of Divinity at Oxford and Cambridge, and two colleges--Christ's in 1506 and St. John's which was opened in 1516--at Cambridge. Fisher became Bishop of Rochester and Chancellor of Cambridge in 1504, and was President of Queens' College, Cambridge, 1505-8.

7. PRO MEA VIRILI] _sc_. parte.

12. VENANTUR] It was evidently considered quite decorous for a bishop to hunt. Warham's abstinence from the chase, which is commended in XXII and XXIII, was clearly exceptional.

28. CALAMORUM NILOTICORUM] pens made from the reeds that grow on the banks of the Nile. Reed-pens from Cyprus were also in demand at this time.

30. POSSIS] _Si ... sunt_ is not the protasis.

38. AD MEAM EPISTOLAM] in which Erasmus asked permission to dedicate his edition of Jerome to the Pope. It was dated 21 May 1515 from London; and Leo's reply 10 July 1515 from Rome.

44. UTERQUE CARDINALIS] Grimani and another, to whom Erasmus had written on the same subject.

46. Pace (c. 1482-1536), a scholar and diplomatist, who succeeded Colet as Dean of St. Paul's in 1519, and was now amba.s.sador (oratorem gerere).

49. ET HIERONYMUM] as well as the New Testament. Jerome was dedicated to Warham.

51. CAROLUS] The young prince Charles, who afterwards succeeded his grandfather Ferdinand as king of Spain in 1517, and his grandfather Maximilian as the Emperor Charles V in 1519. He was now governing the Netherlands.

PRAEBENDAM] A canonry at Courtray.

55. ARCHIEPISCOPUS] Warham.

57. OMNIA SUA] Cf. XXIII. 24.

70. PHILIPPUM] Probably Melanchthon (1497-1560), who was Reuchlin's great-nephew. Erasmus evidently wished that he should be sent to St.

John's.

XIX

[This letter, written to a familiar friend at Basel, describes Erasmus'

journey down the Rhine to the Netherlands in September 1518; after a few months' residence in Basel, during which a beginning had been made with the second edition of the New Testament.]

5. DISTENTUS] from _distineo_.

10. ILLI] _sc_. caupones.

13. Gallinarius was the parish-priest of Breisach and an old friend of Erasmus.

15. MINORITAM] A name for a Franciscan; formed from the humble style adopted by the Order, 'Fratres Minores.'

17. SCOTICAM] worthy of Scotus; cf. XXIV. 27 n.