Part 3 (1/2)

I aood health, so I shall have to strain every nerve this year (1501) to get the e gave the printer published, and by dealing with theological problems, to expose our cavillers, who are very nuranted me, I shall be beyond the reach of envy'

Here we see hih not merely under the ienuine divinity as his task; unfortunately the effusion is contained in a letter in which he instructs the faithful Batt as to how he should handle the Lady of Veere in order to wheedle money out of her

For years to co were to cause him almost constant tribulations and petty cares He had hadbetter than to leave it Part of the year 1500 he spent at Orleans Adversity ustine Vincent Caminade, a hu), who took youngto detail here, but rey, for it sho deeply he mistrusted his friends

There are also his relations with Jacobus Voecht, in whose house he evidently lived gratuitously and for whoer in the person of an illegitimate brother of the Bishop of Cambray At this time, Erasmus asserts, the bishop (Anti him in Paris

Much bitterness there is in the letters of this period Eras, so to his friends He cannot bear Williaer because of his epicureanisy, to which he, Erasrieves us hly praised, certainly Erasmus promises to make him immortal, too But how offended he is, when Batt cannot at once comply with his imperious demands How almost shameless are his instructions as to what Batt is to tell the Lady of Veere, in order to solicit her favour for Erasre the expressions of his sorrohen the faithful Batt is taken from him by death in the first half of 1502

It is as if Erased to reveal himself to his true friend in need more co disavowed to Anna of Borselen his fundamental convictions, his ratuity He has paid houndian style hich dynasties in the Netherlands were familiar, and which must have been hateful to him He has flattered her formal piety 'I send you a few prayers, by means of which you could, as by incantations, call down, even against her will, froave birth to the sun of justice'

Did you smile your delicate s this? So much the worse for you

FOOTNOTES:

[3] Allen No 10317 Cf _Chr Matri baiser, dont les daleterre sont assez liberales de l'accorder'

CHAPTER V

ERASMUS AS A HUMANIST

Significance of the _Adagia_ and sier of classical culture-- Latin--Estrangement from Holland--Erasmus as a Netherlander

Meanwhile renown came to Erasmus as the fruit of those literary studies which, as he said, had ceased to be dear to him In 1500 that work appeared which Erasmus had written after his ioruht hundred proverbial sayings drawn from the Latin authors of antiquity and elucidated for the use of those who aspired to write an elegant Latin style In the dedication Erasmus pointed out the profit an authorhis arguood supply of sentences hallowed by their antiquity He proposes to offer such a help to his readers What he actually gave was much more He familiarized a much wider circle than the earlier humanists had reached with the spirit of antiquity

Until this time the humanists had, to some extent, monopolized the treasures of classic culture, in order to parade their knowledge of which the e prodigies of learning and elegance With his irresistible need of teaching and his sincere love for hueneral culture, Erasmus introduced the classic spirit, in so far as it could be reflected in the soul of a sixteenth-century Christian, a the people Not he alone; but noneall the people, it is true, for by writing in Latin he limited his direct influence to the educated classes, which in those days were the upper classes

Erasmus made current the classic spirit Hue of a few According to Beatus Rhenanus he had been reproached by soing the mysteries of their craft But he desired that the book of antiquity should be open to all

The literary and educational works of Erasun in his Parisian period, though ht about a transuain that this was not achieved by hile-handed; countless others at that tied But we have only to cast an eye on the broad current of editions of the _Adagia_, of the _Colloquia_, etc, to realize of how reater consequence he was in this respect than all the others 'Erasmus' is the only name in all the host of hulobe

Here ill anticipate the course of Erasmus's life for a moment, to enumerate the principal works of this sort Soia_ increased froh which not only Latin, but also Greek, wisdom spoke In 1514 he published in the same manner a collection of similitudes, _Parabolae_ It was a partial realization of what he had conceived to suppleia_-- ories, all to be dealt with in a similar way Towards the end of his life he published a si words or deeds of wisdomata_ In addition to these collections, we find rammatical nature, also piled up treasury-like: 'On the stock of expressions', _De copia verboru', _De conscribendis epistolis_, not to mention works of less importance By a number of Latin translations of Greek authors Erasmus had rendered a point of prospect accessible to those who did not wish to climb the whole mountain And, finally, as inimitable e, there were the _Colloquia_ and that almost countless multitude of letters which have flowed from Erasmus's pen

All this collectively made up antiquity (in such quantity and quality as it was obtainable in the sixteenth century) exhibited in an eet as to his taste; everything was to be had there in a great variety of designs

'You ia_ in such a mented edition), 'that as soon as you have finished one, you ine you have finished the whole book' He himself made indices to facilitate its use

In the world of scholasticism he alone had up to now been considered an authority who had ht and its mode of expression in all its details and was versed in biblical knowledge, logic and philosophy Between scholastic parlance and the spontaneously written popular languages, there yawned a wide gulf

Huistic structure of an arguestive phrase In this way the language of the learned approached the natural uages, even where it continued to use Latin, to its own level

The wealth of subject-reater abundance than with Erase of life, what ethics, all supported by the indisputable authority of the Ancients, all expressed in that fine, airy fore of antiquities in addition to all this! Illi for and illimitable the power to absorb what is extraordinary in real life This was one of the principal characteristics of the spirit of the Renaissance Theseincidents, curious details, rarities and anomalies There was, as yet, no symptoer digest reality and relishes it no more Men revelled in plenty

And yet, were not Erasmus and his felloorkers as leaders of civilization on a wrong track? Was it true reality they were ai at?