Part 2 (2/2)

In October Erasmus was at Oxford which, at first, did not please him, but whither Mountjoy was to follow him He had been recommended to John Colet, who declared that he required no recouin in the latter's historical work and thought very highly of his learning There followed during the remainder of Erasmus's stay at Oxford a lively intercourse, in conversation and in correspondence, which definitely decided the bent of Erasmus's many-sided mind

[Illustration: III JOHN COLET, DEAN OF ST PAUL'S]

John Colet, who did not differ e, had found his intellectual path earlier and more easily Born of well-to-do parents (his father was a London istrate and twice lord mayor), he had been able leisurely to prosecute his studies Not seduced by quite such a brilliant genius as Erasinning fixed his attention on theology He knew Plato and Plotinus, though not in Greek, was very well read in the older Fathers and also respectably acquainted with scholasticise of lish poets In 1496 he had established hiree in divinity, he expounded St Paul's epistles Although, owing to his ignorance of Greek, he was restricted to the Vulgate, he tried to penetrate to the originalthe later commentaries

Colet had a deeply serious nature, alarring against the tendencies of his vigorous being, and he kept within bounds his pride and the love of pleasure He had a keen sense of humour, which, without doubt, endeared hi a point in theology his ardour changed the sound of his voice, the look in his eyes, and a lofty spirit permeated his whole person

[Illustration: IV SIR THOMAS MORE, 1527]

Out of his intercourse with Colet cas At the end of a discussion regarding Christ's agony in the garden of Gethsemane, in which Erasmus had defended the usual view that Christ's fear of suffering proceeded from his human nature, Colet had exhorted hied letters about it and finally Erasmus committed both their opinions to paper in the foruish, fear and sadness of Jesus', _Disputatiuncula de tedio, pavore, tristicia Jesu_, etc, being an elaboration of these letters

While the tone of this pamphlet is earnest and pious, it is not truly fervent The man of letters is not at once and completely superseded

'See, Colet,' thus Eras half ironically to hi such a theologic disputation with poetic fables (he had ic metaphors) But as Horace says, _Naturauous position which Erass of the mind, appears still more clearly from the report which he sent to his new friend, the Frisian John Sixtin, a Latin poet like himself, of another disputation with Colet, at a repast, probably in the hall of Magdalen College, where Wolsey, too, was perhaps present To his fellow-poet, Erasmus writes as a poet, loosely and with some affectation It was a meal such as he liked, and afterwards frequently pictured in his _Colloquies_: cultured co, noble conversation Colet presided On his right hand sat the prior Charnock of St Mary's College, where Erasmus resided (he had also been present at the disputation about Christ's agony) On his left was a divine whose name is not mentioned, an advocate of scholasticism; next to hi at the banquet' The discussion was about Cain's guilt by which he displeased the Lord Colet defended the opinion that Cain had injured God by doubting the Creator's goodness, and, in reliance on his own industry, tilling the earth, whereas Abel tended the sheep and was content hat grew of itself The divine contended with syllogisuot the better of both

After a while, when the dispute had lasted long enough and had become more serious than was suitable for table-talk--'then I said, in order to play my part, the part of the poet that is--to abate the contention and at the same time cheer the meal with a pleasant tale: ”it is a very old story, it has to be unearthed from the very oldest authors I will tell you what I found about it in literature, if you will promise me first that you will not look upon it as a fable”'

And now he relates a witty story of some very ancient codex in which he had read how Cain, who had often heard his parents speak of the glorious vegetation of Paradise, where the ears of corn were as high as the alders with us, had prevailed upon the angel who guarded it, to give hirains God would not mind it, if only he left the apples alone The speech by which the angel is incited to disobey the Alhty is a masterpiece of Erasate with a big sword? We have just begun to use dogs for that sort of work It is not so bad on earth and it will be better still; we shall learn, no doubt, to cure diseases What that forbidden knowledge h, in that matter, too, unwearied industry suruardian is seduced But when God beholds the ement, punish Genesis and the Prometheus h Eras his fellow-poets, his heart was no longer in those literary exercises It is one of the peculiarities of Erasrowth that it records no violent crises We never find hiles which are in the experience of so reat minds His transition froious matters is not in the nature of a process of conversion There is no Tarsus in Erasradually and is never complete For many years to come Erasmus can, without suspicion of hypocrisy, at pleasure, as his interests or his ian He is a radually rise to the surface; who raises hiht of his ethical consciousness under the stress of circumstances, rather than at the spur of some irresistible impulse

The desire to turn only to matters of faith he shows early 'I have resolved', he writes in his monastic period to Cornelius of Gouda, 'to write no more poems in the future, except such as savour of praise of the saints, or of sanctity itself' But that was the youthful pious resolve of a e to England, Erass, and especially his letters, betray a worldly disposition It only leaves him in moments of illness and weariness Then the world displeases him and he despises his own a on Scripture and shedding tears over his old errors But these are utterances inspired by the occasion, which one should not take too seriously

It was Colet's word and exaed Erasical studies into a fir resolve to ed him to expound the Pentateuch or the prophet Isaiah at Oxford, just as he himself treated of Paul's epistles Erasht and self-knowledge, by which he surpassed Colet The latter's intuitive Scripture interpretation without knowledge of the original language failed to satisfy Eras to obtain water from a pumice-stone (in the words of Plautus) How shall I be so impudent as to teach that which I have not learnedand tre with cold? You complain that you find yourself deceived in your expectations regarding ; you have deceived yourself by refusing to believemyself Neither did I come here to teach poetics or rhetoric (Colet had hinted at that); these have ceased to be sweet to me, since they ceased to be necessary to me I decline the one task because it does not come up to thBut when, one day, I shall be conscious that the necessary power is in me, I, too, shall choose your part and devote to the assertion of divinity, if no excellent, yet sincere labour'

The inference which Erasmus drew first of all was that he should know Greek better than he had thus far been able to learn it

Meanwhile his stay in England was rapidly drawing to a close; he had to return to Paris Towards the end of his sojourn he wrote to his forh-pitched tone about the satisfaction which he experienced in England A most pleasant and wholesome climate (he was most sensitive to it); so much humanity and erudition--not of the worn-out and trivial sort, but of the recondite, genuine, ancient, Latin and Greek stao to Italy In Colet he thought he heard Plato himself Grocyn, the Grecian scholar; Linacre, the learned physician, ould not admire them! And whose spirit was ever softer, sweeter or happier than that of Thoreeable incident occurred as Eraslish soil in January 1500 Unfortunately it not only obscured his pleasant memories of the happy island, but also placed another obstacle in the path of his career, and left in his supersensitive soul a sting which vexed him for years afterwards

The livelihood which he had been gaining at Paris of late years was precarious The support from the bishop had probably been withdrawn; that of Anna of Veere had trickled but languidly; he could not too firmly rely on Mountjoy Under these circuainst a rainy day, was of the highest consequence Such savings he brought froland, twenty pounds An act of Edward III, re-enacted by Henry VII not long before, prohibited the export of gold and silver, but More and Mountjoy had assured Erasmus that he could safely take his lish coin At Dover he learned that the custoht only keep six 'angels'--the rest was left behind in the hands of the officials and was evidently confiscated

The shock which this incident gave hi himself threatened by robbers and murderers on the road froed him afresh into perplexity as to his support from day to day It forced him to resuan to loathe, and to take all the huet as due to it from patrons And, above all, it affected his nity

Yet this e for the world, and for Erasia_; and he the fas hich his er and thirst for revenge A few s with me are as they are wont to be in such cases: the wound received in England begins to smart only now that it has becoe in any way'

And six months later, 'I shall s it An occasion may offer itself, no doubt, to be even with theth did not always attain to his ideals, that the English, whoht, let alone his special friends a them, were not accessories to the misfortune He never reproached More and Mountjoy, whose inaccurate information, he tells us, had done the hararb of virtue, told him that now especially it would be essential not to break off his relations with England, and that this gave hi them Afterwards he explained this with a navete which often causes his writings, especially where he tries to suppress or cloakto Paris a poor e with my pen for thissoland At the sa indirectly causedmy affection In order, therefore, both to put the expectations of those people to shame, and to make known that I was not so unfair as to bla, or so inconsiderate as, because of a s displeased with land, and at the saive my friend Mountjoy a proof that I was no less kindly disposed towards hi as quickly as possible As I had nothing ready, I hastily brought together, by a few days' reading, a collection of Adagia, in the supposition that such a booklet, however it et into the hands of students In this way I demonstrated that my friendshi+p had not cooled off at all Next, in a poe or with the country at being deprived of my money

And my scheme was not ill received That land at the tiht and influential men'

This is a characteristic specimen of se with his indignation, so that later on he could declare, when the recollection came up occasionally, 'At one blow I had lost all my fortune, but I was so unconcerned that I returned to my books all the more cheerfully and ardently' But his friends kne deep the wound had been 'Now (on hearing that Henry VIII had ascended the throne) surely all bitterness must have suddenly left your soul,'

Mountjoy writes to hih the pen of Ammonius

The years after his return to France were difficult ones He was in great need of money and was forced to do what he could, as a ain to be the _homo poeticus_ or _rhetoricus_ He writes polished letters full of y and modest mendicity As a poet he had a reputation; as a poet he could expect support Meanwhile the elevating picture of his theological activities rey and perseverance 'It is incredible', he writes to Batt, 'how my soul yearns to finish allsomewhat proficient in Greek, and afterwards to devoteafter whichtime