Part 19 (2/2)
He rules his whole household as agreeably, no quarrels or disturbances arise there If any quarrel does arise he at once heals or settles the difference; and he has never let anyone leave his house in anger His house seems blest indeed with a lucky fate, for none has lived there without rising to better fortune, and none has ever acquired a stain on his reputation there One would be hard put to it to find any agree as ith their iven him two, and he loved both of theave him a third stepmother: More swears his Bible oath he has never seen a better Moreover, he is so disposed towards his parents and children as to be neither tireso in any faain He has put aside from his fortune for his children an aives away lavishly While he still ave sincere and friendly counsel to all, considering his clients' interests rather than his own; he would persuade most of them to settle their differences--this would be cheaper If he failed to achieve this, he would then show the to law at the least possible expense--soation In the City of London, where he was born, he acted for soe in civil causes[88] This office is not at all onerous--the court sits only on Thursday arded as one of the most honourable None dealt with so rity; he usually reants (as before the for of the suit the plaintiff pays into court three shi+llings, the defendant likewise, and it is incorrect to demand more) By this behaviour he won the deep affection of the City
He had made up his mind to rest content with this position, which was sufficiently influential and yet not exposed to grave dangers Twice he was forced into eacity
King Henry VIII would not rest until he could drag More to Court Why not call it 'drag'? No ain admission to the Court as he studied to escape it But when the King decided to fill his household with rity, More was one of the first aards More so much as one of his intimate circle that he never lets him depart from him If serious matters are to be discussed, there is nonedecides to relax in pleasant gossiping, there is no hty and sagacious arbitrator; More solves these rateful Yet no one has ever succeeded in persuading him to accept a present from anyone How happy the states would be if the ruler everywhere put istrates like More in office! Meanwhile he has acquired no trace of haughtiness
Aet his old friends and from time to time returns to his beloved literature All the authority of his office, all his influence with the King, is devoted to the service of the State and of his friends His er to serve all and wondrously prone to pity, has ever been present to help: he will now be better able to help others, as he has greater power Some he assists with money, some he protects with his authority, others he advances by introductions; those whom he cannot help otherwise he aids with counsel, and he has never sent anyone away disappointed You ht call More the coreatly enriched when he assists the oppressed, extricates the perplexed and involved, or reconciles the estranged None confers a benefit so gladly, none is so slow to upbraid And although he is fortunate on so ood fortune is often associated with boastfulness, it has never yet been my lot to meet any man so far re his studies--it was these which chiefly brought More and ether In his youth he chiefly practised verse co to polish his prose, practising his style in all kinds of composition What that style is like, I need not describe--particularly not to you, who always have his books in your hands He especially delighted in co declamations, and in these liked paradoxical themes, for the reason that this offers keener practice to the wits This caused hiue in which he defended Plato's Communism, even to the community of wives He wrote a rejoinder to Lucian's _Tyrannicide_; in this theonist, to ress in this branch of letters His _Utopia_ was published with the ai the causes of the bad condition of states; but was chiefly a portrait of the British State, which he has thoroughly studied and explored He had written the second book first in his leisure hours, and added the first book on the spur of the moment later, when the occasion offered Some of the unevenness of the style is due to this
One could hardly find a better _ex tempore_ speaker: a happy talent has complete command of a happy turn of speech He has a present wit, always flying ahead, and a readyall this ready to hand, he can proly produce whatever the subject or occasion requires In arguinably acute, so that he often puzzles the best theologians on their own ground John Colet, a ement, often observes in intih this island is rich in so many fine talents
[Illustration: xxx ERASMUS AT THE AGE OF 54]
He diligently cultivates true piety, while being remote from all superstitious observance He has set hours in which he offers to God not the customary prayers but prayers from the heart With his friends he talks of the life of the world to come so that one sees that he speaks sincerely and not without firm hope Such is More even in the Court And then there are those who think that Christians are to be found only in monasteries! There you have a portrait not very well drawn by a very bad artist from a most excellent model You will like it less if you happen to co I have prevented your being able to cast intoit, and I know that you will not find it long drawn out as you read it: our friend More's charm will see to that Farewell
XVI TO WILLIBALD PIRCKHEIMER[89]
Basle, 14 March 1525
To the illustrious Willibald Pirckheis:
I received safely the very pretty ring which you desired e safety when one has a fall But they say too, that if the fall was likely to be fatal, the evil is diverted on to the gem, so that it is seen to be broken after the accident Once in Britain I fell with e was found tohole It was a present from Alexander, Archbishop of St Andrews,[90] whos When I left hi it to e of our friendshi+p that will never die' And I kepts There is no part of life into which ereat virtue, I could have wished in these days for a ring with an efficacious reainst 'slander's tooth' As to the belief about falls, I shall follow your advice--I shall prefer to believe rather than risk myself
Portraits are less precious than jewels--I have received from you amy Willibald more vividly before me Alexander the Great would only allow himself to be painted by Apelles's hand You have found your Apelles in Albrecht Durer,[91] an artist of the first rank and no less to be adood sense If only you had likewise found some Lysippus[92]
to cast the hthand wall ofor walking up and down, I have Willibald before h I have aelse Certainly Willibald could not be forgotten by me, even were there no memento, no portraits, no letters to refresh --the portraits often occasion a talk about you when my friends come to visit me If only our letters travelled safely, how little we should miss of each other! You have areat artist; but how this can be done I do not see
Once at Brussels he sketched me, but after a start had been h I have long been a sad model for painters, and ao on[94] I read with pleasure what you write, as witty as it is wise, on the agitations of certain persons who are destroying the evangelicalsplendid service: and I have much to tell you in my turn about this But this will be another time, when I have more leisure Farewell
XVII TO MARTIN LUTHER
Basle, 11 April 1526
To Martin Luther, greetings:
Your letter has been delivered too late;[95] but had it arrived in the best of time, it would not have moved me one whit I am not so simple as to be appeased by one or two pleasantries or soothed by flattery after receiving so many more than mortal wounds Your nature is by non to all the world, but you have so teainst anyone so frenziedly, nay, what is more abominable, so maliciously Now it occurs to you that you are a weak sinner, whereas at other ti taken for God
You are a man, as you write, of violent teument Why then did you not pour forth this marvellous piece of invective on the Bishop of Rochester[96] or on Cochleus?[97] They attack you personally and provoke you with insults, while my _Diatribe_[98] was a courteous disputation And what has all this to do with the subject--all this facetious abuse, these slanderous lies, charging me with atheism, Epicureanism, scepticism in articles of the Christian profession, blasphemy, and what not--besides es the less hardly, because in all this there is nothing to make my conscience disturb me
If I did not think as a Christian of God and the Holy Scriptures, I could not wish ed even until tomorrow If you had conducted your case with your usual vehemence, without frenzied abuse, you would have provoked fewer s are, you have been pleased to fillfree rein to your feelings How far you have given way to me the facts themselves show--so many palpable crimes do you fasten on me; while my _Diatribe_ was not even intended to stir up those ine, I suppose, that Erasmus has no supporters More than you think But it does not matter what happens to us two, least of all to o hence, even if the whole world were applauding us: it is _this_ that distresses ant, i the whole globe in ruinous discord, exposing goodto certain frenzied Pharisees, ar for revolt the wicked and the revolutionary, and in short so carrying on the cause of the Gospel as to throw all things sacred and profane into chaos; as if you were eager to prevent this stor at last to a happy issue; I have ever striven towards such an opportunity What you owe o into that All that is a private matter; it is the public disaster which distresses , for which we have to thank only your uncontrolled nature, that will not be guided by the wise counsel of friends, but easily turns to any excess at the pro of certain inconstant swindlers I know not whom you have saved from the power of darkness; but you should have drawn the sword of your pen against those ungrateful wretches and not against a temperate disputation I would have wished you a better hted with your own Wish ed it for you
XVIII TO THEOPHRASTUS PARACELSUS[100]
Basle, _c_ March 1527
To the reetings: