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ERASMUS.
HonDon:
C.
J.
CLAY and SONS,
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, AVE MARIA LANE. ffilasgoto:
1Leiv?ig: i^eto
263,
ARGYLE STREET.
F, A.
BROCKHAUS.
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Bombag: E. SEYMOUR HALE.
?9ork:
ERASMUS THE REDE LECTURE DELIVERED IN THE SENATE-HOUSE ON JUNE II, 1890
BY
R.
C
JEBB,
LiTT. D.
AND FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE.
REGIUS PROFESSOR OF GREEK IN
SECOND
EDITION.
CAMBRIDGE: AT THE UNIVERSITY 1897
PRESS
Main
^'^
Lib.
C^*^'
CamiJtitiSE
PRINTED BY
J.
AND
C
F.
CLAY,
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
< « c
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HISTORY
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.3
ERASMUS. Desiderius Erasmus was born
at
Rot-
terdam on the 27th of October, 1467.
His
Gerhard de Praet, belonged to a
father,
Gouda, a small town of
spectable family at
south
re-
Holland, not far from Rotterdam
:
his
mother, Margaret, was the daughter of a physician
Sevenberg
at
in
Brabant.
Gerhard's
parents were resolved that he should become a monk. to
Meanwhile he was
Margaret.
venting
their
His family succeeded
^
of
in
pre-
marriage, but not their union.
After the birth of a son brother
secretly betrothed
Erasmus
— the
— Gerhard 235644
elder fled
and only to
Rome.
•
-•
•
ERASMUS.
A
false
rumour of Margaret's death there
duced him,
On
hood.
in-
in his despair, to enter the priest-
returning
he found
Holland,
to
Margaret living at Gouda with his two boys.
He was
true
to
the irrevocable vows which
parted him from her.
After a few years, during
which the supervision of
their children's educa-
tion
had been a common
solace, she died, while
still
young
;
and Gerhard, broken-hearted, soon
followed her to the grave.
The boy his father's *
beloved.'
that,
afterwards so famous had been given Christian name, Gerhard,
Desiderius
and Erasmus
is
is
meaning
barbarous Latin for
barbarous Greek for
it.
If
the great scholar devised those appellations for himself,
it
Afterwards,
must have been
at
an early age.
when he stood godfather
to the son
of his friend Froben the printer, he gave the boy the correct form of his
Erasmius.
mus,
is
own second name, — viz.,
The combination,
Desiderius Eras-
probably due to the fact that he had
been known as Gerhard Gerhardson.
It
was a
EARLY singular fortune to
the
LIFE.
master of literary style
for a
be designated by two words which mean
same
He
and are both
thing,
incorrect.
was sent to school at Gouda when he
was four years he had a
Here
old.
it
was perceived that
and so he was taken to
fine voice;
Utrecht, and
placed
in
But he had no
gift for
music.
the Cathedral choir.
At
nine years of
age he was removed from Utrecht to a good
His precocious genius soon
school at Deventer.
showed dicted
the
itself,
and
his future
eminence was pre-
by the famous Rudolph Agricola
first
men who brought
the
new
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; one of learning
across the Alps.
Erasmus was only parents, ians.
and was
thirteen
They wished him
was to
and now fall
on
it
his
to
;
he knew his
seemed as
own
both
become a monk
to dispose of a ward.
boy loathed the idea story;
lost
the care of three guard-
left to
was the simplest way
when he
if
the
life also.
:
it
The
father's
same shadow However, the
guardians sent him to a monastic seminary at
1â&#x20AC;&#x201D;2
ERASMUS. Hertogenbosch, where the brethren undertook to
youth
prepare
three
the
for
years which he spent there
thirteen
sixteen
to
miserable
:
—were
The
cloister. i.e.,
from
wholly wasted and
he learned nothing, and his health,
never strong, was injured by cruel severities.
'The plan of these men,' he '
when they
to break
see a
boy of high and
and humble
reproaches,
and
struggle with the
a long one
it
by
blandishments,
monks and
of a
by
threats,
is
by
means.'
The
his guardians
was
other
various
they tried
failed,
— especially they promised him a
paradise of literary leisure.
When
lively spirit,
stripes,
when menaces
;
said afterwards,
At
last
he gave
in.
he was about eighteen, he took the vows
Canon Regular of the order of St Augustine.
Looking back afterwards on the he had been won, he asks, if this is
not
'
What
arts is
by which
kidnapping,
.?
The next
five
years
—
till
he was twenty-three
—were
spent in his monastery at Stein, near
Gouda.
The
general
life
of the place was odious
HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE,
5
named William
to him; but
he found one
Hermann.
They used
to read the Latin classics
secretly, for
such studies were viewed
together
—
with some suspicion.
It
was then that he
basis of his Latin style, familiar with
In
1
invited
left
laid the
and became thoroughly
some of the
49 1 he
friend,
best Latin authors.
the monastery, having been
by the Bishop of Cambray, Henry de
Bergis, to reside with
he
afterwards
took
him
as his secretary.
orders
Soon
and the Bishop
;
subsequently enabled him to enter the University of Paris, for
theology.
He was
purpose of studying
the
then, perhaps, about twenty-
seven years of age.
At
this
point
we may
Holbein, and by tradition
attempt,
—to
appearance.
of his personal
—aided
form some idea
Erasmus was a
rather small man, slight, but well-built as
became a Teuton, blue
light
brown
face
is
hair,
and a
fair
a remarkable one.
characteristics,
—
by
;
he had,
eyes, yellowish or
complexion. It
quiet, watchful
The
has two chief sagacity,
—and
ERASMUS. humour, half playful, half are
calm,
critical,
them
rather long, and pointed
the large
mouth
observant,
steadily
half-latent twinkle in
the nose
;
is
with a straight,
the rippling curves of
;
indicate
vivacity of temperament,
The eyes
sarcastic.
a certain energetic
and tenacity of purpose
while the pose of the head suggests vigilant caution, almost
timidity.
As we
continue to
study the features, they speak more and more clearly of insight
and refinement
yet very gentle shrewdness
mastery
;
of cheerful
and of a mind which has
ready at every instant. gestion
;
of a worldly
;
of enthusiasm,
its
weapons
is
no sug-
But there
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; unless
rary enthusiasm of a student.
be the
it
self-
lite-
It is difficult to
imagine those cool eyes kindled by any glow of passion, or that genial serenity broken by a spiritual struggle.
This man, we
feel,
would be
an intellectual champion of truth and reason; his wit
might be as the spear of
his satire as the
sword of Gideon
Ithuriel, ;
not the face of a hero or a martyr.
and
but he has
AT On
PARIS,
entering the University of Paris, Erasmus
took up his residence at the Montaigu College.
side of the Seine, not far from
was on the south
the Sorbonne, and site
now
vieve.
It
is
have stood on the
said to
occupied by the Library of
The Rector
St.
Gene-
man
of the College was a
of
estimable character; but he believed in extreme privation
youth logy.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;which
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; as
he had himself endured
in
the best school for students of theo-
Erasmus has described the
The work imposed on
there.
the students was exces-
They were
sively severe.
life
half starved
also
meat was proscribed altogether; eggs, usually the
of
reverse
fresh,
formed
the
of
staple
food; the inmates had to fetch their drinking
When
water from a polluted well. allowed,
was
it
such
as
nickname 'Vinegar College' Montaigu).
Many
wine was
implied (a Latin
by
the
pun on
of the sleeping-rooms were
on a ground-floor where the plaster was mouldering on the
damp
bourhood that the
air
walls,
and
in
such a neigh-
breathed by the sleepers
8
ERASMUS.
when they could
sleep
—was
year's experience of this place
words of Erasmus the
brightest
—doomed
gifts
and
myself,
— and
worse
either
of to
to madness, or to says,
'I
knew
assuredly every one of us ran Similar testimony
younger
unhappy
are the
many youths
'some of these/ he
the danger.' his
—these
promise
death, or to blindness, or
leprosy;
One
pestilential.
contemporary,
is
given by
Rabelais:
—'The
creatures at that College are treated
than
galley-slaves
among
and Tartars, or than murderers
the
in
Moors
a criminal
prison.'
No wonder best, soon fell
Erasmus, a delicate ill;
man
at the
indeed, his constitution was
permanently impaired. Bishop at Cambray.
He went Then,
to Holland, he returned to
the Montaigu College.
He
back to the
after a short visit
Paris
—but
not to
rented a one-room
lodging, and resolved to support himself during his University course It
by taking
private pupils.
was a hard struggle that he went through
AT then
;
PARIS.
but better days were at hand.
known
already become
brilliant promise,
Latinist.
in Paris as
and especially
He
had
a scholar of
as an admirable
Latin was then the general language,
not only of learning, but of polite intercourse
between persons of to
speak
Latin
different nationalities
with fluent grace
— an
and
;
art
which Erasmus was already pre-eminent
in
—was
the best passport to cultivated society in Paris,
whose University attracted students from countries.
Then he had
all
a bright and nimble
fancy, a keen sense of humour, a frank manner,
and also rare
tact
;
in short,
he was a delightful
companion, without ever seeking to dominate his
company.
One
of his pupils was a
Englishman, William
who was studying an
annual
Blunt,
at Paris.
young
Lord Mountjoy, Mountjoy
settled
pension of a hundred crowns on
Erasmus, and presently persuaded him to
visit
England.
This was in 1498. one.
Erasmus was now
For eighteen years
— ever since he
thirtyleft
the
ERASMUS. school at Deventer one.
The
coarse
the midnight
oil
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
his
slight
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
all
who met him
in
Hertogenbosch,
of Stein, the miseries of the later battle
these had
form, and
had been a hard
of
rigours
Montaigu College, the in Paris
life
that
left their
keen,
with poverty
marks on that
calm
face.
Men
England must have found
difficult to believe that
he was so young.
it
The
sallow cheeks, the sunken eyes, the bent shoulders, the
worn
air
of the whole
man seemed
speak of a more advanced age. then, nor at
any
to
But neither
was he other than
later time,
youthful in buoyant vivacity of
spirit, in restless
activity of mind, in untiring capacity for work.
And now
a
new world opened
before him.
In England he was not only an honoured guest, but,
for the first
time, perhaps, since he left
school, he found himself
he had something to
among men from whom
learn.
He
went
to Oxford,
with a letter of introduction to Richard Charnock, Prior of a house of his
own
order, the
Canons
Regular of St Augustine, and was hospitably
FIRST VISIT TO ENGLAND.— OXFORD,
ii
Mary
the
received
by him
Virgin.
At
in the
College of St
that time the scholastic theology
and philosophy
English Universities
But
of the Alps.
held the field in both the
still
— as
at
everywhere
else,
north
Oxford there were a few
eminent men who had studied the new learning in Italy,
and had brought the love
with them.
Erasmus was
for
it
home
just too late to see
William Selling of All Souls College, who died in
1495,
— one
endeavoured
the
of to
introduce
this country.
And
William
who was
Lilly,
first
Englishmen who Greek
studies
in
he was too early to meet still
abroad then.
But
he met some other scholars, who were among the earliest teachers or advocates of Greek at
Oxford,
—William Grocyn, William Latimer, and
Thomas Linacre;— the
last-named,
who became /
Founder of the Royal College of Physicians, had studied Chalcondyles.
at
Florence under Politian and
Erasmus speaks with
especial
praise of Grocyn's comprehensive learning,
of Linacre's finished
taste.
It
is
and
certain that
ERASMUS.
12
his intercourse with the
Oxford Hellenists must
have been both instructive and stimulating to
him
;
we can
see, too, that
desire to visit
show
letters
that
when he
left
far
The years from
Greek.
which
during
the other hand, his
had not advanced
1500, he
of
On
Italy.
strengthened his
it
worked
he
Greek by himself
in Paris,
Oxford
in
the study
1500
to
1505,
intensely hard
were those
at
which
in
knowledge of that language was
his
in
chiefly
built up.
The two Oxonians with whom Erasmus formed the closest friendship were John Colet
and Thomas More.
Colet was just a year his
and was then lecturing on St Paul's
senior,
what was quite a new way,
Epistles in
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;en-
deavouring to bring out their meaning historically
and
scholar else,
;
practically.
but
it
He was
was he who, more than anyone
encouraged Erasmus
Testament
in
not a Greek
the original
to
tongue.
the
New
Thomas
More, who was then a youth of twenty, had
FIRST VISIT TO ENGLAND. Oxford, and was reading law in London,
left
where Erasmus
first
The
met him.
story that
they met at dinner, and that, before an introduc-
each recognised the other by his wit,
tion,
perhaps apocryphal.
At any
rate,
is
expresses
it
the truth that such perfectly congenial minds
would be drawn to each other at once. In the winter of 1499 Erasmus visited Lord
Mountjoy
at Greenwich.
that he had a glimpse of
He
writes that he has
man, and a tolerable 1
500, just before
would seem,
It
Henry
become
courtier.'
Erasmus
left
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;bringing with
lawyer named Arnold.
and took
VII.'s Court.
a better horse-
to Greenwich, to
him another young
More proposed
his friends to call at a large
the neighbouring village of Eltham.
shown play
:
into a hall it
eldest, a
January,
In
England, Thomas
More went down from London say farewell,
*
was, in
too,
a walk,
house
in
They were
where some children were at fact,
the royal nursery.
boy of nine years
old,
The
was the future
Henry VIII.; he was not then Prince
of Wales,
ERASMUS.
14
Duke
but
of York, his brother Arthur being
The
still alive.
tutor in charge of the children
was John Skelton, the
Three days
poet.
after-
wards, in fulfilment of a promise, Erasmus sent the
little
Prince a Latin
England, and of
poem
in praise of
it is
;
Henry VII.
There
no
is
doubt that the praise of England came from his heart
:
At Dover
his letters
show
that.
the end of January, 1500, he sailed from for France.
just before he
A serious
mishap
went on board.
He
befell
him
carried with
him a considerable sum of money, contributed
by
him
friends for the purpose of enabling
visit Italy.
The custom-house
officers at
to
Dover
deprived him of nearly the whole, on plea of a
law forbidding the exportation of gold coin of the realm above a certain amount. at court afterwards tried to recover
but in vain.
When next
On
His friends it
for him,
reaching Paris, he
fell
he recovered, he set hard to work.
five
ill.
The
years were spent chiefly at Paris, with
occasional visits to Orleans or the Netherlands.
AT
PARIS.—REVISITS ENGLAND.
They form
15
a quiet yet memorable period of his first
collection of
proverbial sayings from the classics,
Wx^Adagia^
In
life.
1
—which,
500 he published his
in its
enlarged form, afterwards brought
And
him so much fame. incessant
him
labour at Greek gradually qualified
He had
for yet greater tasks.
Paris
had
during these years his
;
no teacher
in
and, though not absolutely in want, he
difficulty in
buying
all
the books that he
required.
Towards the end of 1505 Erasmus paid a second
visit
six months. bridge.
— staying
to
England,
On
this occasion
The Grace Book
only about
he visited Cam-
of our University
shows that permission was given to Desiderius
Erasmus
to take the degrees of B.D.
by accumulation.
It
would seem, however, that
he took the degree of B.D. only Caius says, and he must be that in the
and D.D.
doctor's
so
right, if
Dr John it
is
true
diploma which Erasmus
received at Turin in 1506 he
bachelor of theology.
;
Had
was described
as a
he possessed the
^
ERASMUS.
1
higher degree,
it
would have been mentioned
the Turin document.
During
this
second
in
visit
he saw a good deal of More and other old
Grocyn took him
acquaintances.
and introduced him
to
to
Lambeth,
Warham, Archbishop
of
Canterbury and Lord Chancellor of England, who, in the sequel, was one of his best
He had now become dream of
his
youth
friends.
able to realise the
—to
visit
Italy.
was
It
arranged that he should accompany the two sons of
Henry
Dr
VII.,
courier
Baptista Boyer, chief physician to
who were going
to
was to escort them as
The party
left
Dover
were tossed about
Genoa
days
a royal
Bologna.
far as
in the spring of
for four
;
1
506,
and
Channel.
in the
After a rest at Paris, they set out on horse-
back
for Turin.
the squalid
Erasmus has
German
inns,
with those of France.
vividly described
which he contrasts
Another discomfort of
the journey was that the tutor and the courier quarrelled a
panions
good
having
deal.
left
him
At Turin
—he
—
his
stayed
com-
several
IN ITALY. weeks, and
received
degree of Doctor
The years It
stay of
17
from the University the Theology.
in
Erasmus
Italy lasted
in
three
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; from the summer of 1506 to that of 1509. well to
is
remember what was the general
state of things in Italy at that time,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
for the
impressions which Erasmus received there had
a strong and lasting
upon
effect
literature the humanistic revival its
zenith,
his mind.
had now passed
and was declining into that
pedantry which Erasmus afterwards the
'
Architecture,
Ciceronian.'
painting were indeed active
;
Angelo and Raphael were fact
which
chiefly
Erasmus was that
In
frivolous
satirised in
sculpture
and
Bramante, Michael at work.
arrested
Italian soil
the
But the
attention
of
was the common
ground on which the princes of Europe were prosecuting their intricate ambitions, and that the Pope had unsheathed the sword in pursuit
of temporal advantage.
an elderly man, but Venice seemed to be J.
Julius II.
full
of
was already
military
his ulterior object
ardour. ;
mean2
ERASMUS.
1
autumn of
while, in the
Perugia and Bologna.
when
had reduced
1506, he
Erasmus was
in
Bologna
the Pope entered in November, and the
autumn were
late roses of that strangely mild
strewn in his path by the shouting multitudes
who
him
hailed
man namesake
as a warrior equal to his
Ro-
of old, the conqueror of Gaul.
Erasmus was
Rome,
at
the following
too, in
March, when the Pope celebrated his triumph with
pomp which no
a martial
Then came
have surpassed. from France, '
Emperor
— the
spoliation
—and
lastly
League of Cambray, by which
XIL and
Ferdinand
banded themselves together
for the
Venetian Republic.
Such
of
the
things as these sank
Erasmus.
Genoa
war of Maximilian,
Maximilian, the Pope, Louis of Spain
the revolt of
against Venice,
Elect,'
the iniquitous
futile
Caesar could
'
When
a commonwealth'
princes purpose to exhaust
—he wrote
speak of a just war object, they call
deep into the heart of
it
;
afterwards
when they
peace.'
—'they
unite for that
IN ITALY.
19
But there was a bright side also to in Italy
;
in
with learned
many
places he enjoyed intercourse
men and he formed some enduring ;
friendships.
At Venice he spent
with Aldu^
in
of
edition
the
an
Adagia through
now won may be
to
:
it is
seen from his
own account
in the
alone.
seen,
;
solitude.
—
still
could see the Cardinal
;
first,
no one to be
could not help
I
Coming
—a physician, —with
standing at the open door.
in
There was no
there found only one person,
thought,
and ought
passed through the
I
and not a door shut
I
in
the entrance-hall...
;
wondering at the room,
in
room
the second, the third
'
Rome,
courtyard of the Cardinal's
he says, 'or
went upstairs
I
little story,
be told in his own words.
palace,'
famous
of reputation which he had
a characteristic
one to be seen
enlarged
his
of his visit to Cardinal Grimani at
1509
months
several
saw
and
1508,
The kind
press.
his years
his I
to the last
—a
Greek,
head shaved,
asked him
if
I
he replied that he was
an inner room, with some
visitors.
As 2
—
I
said
ERASMUS.
20
no more, he asked me *
I
wished to pay
my
my
business.
respects to him,
been convenient, but as he call again.'
window
at a
came back
was
I
my it,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
'
just
is
to me, '
name, and
before
I
I
had
if it
will
I
going away, but paused
and asked
You need
if I
the Greek
told him.
wished to leave
not disturb him,'
will call again soon.'
I
replied,
engaged,
to look at the view;
any message. said,
I
The
Then he asked instant he heard
could stop him, he hurried into the
me
inner room, and quickly returning, begged
not to go
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
I
should be admitted directly.
Cardinal received me, not as a
man
degree might have received one of condition, but like an equal for
I
:
The
of his high
my
humble
a chair was placed
me, and we conversed for more than two
hours.
He
uncovered,
man
would not even allow
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;a
wonderful
of his rank.'
me
condescension
to in
be a
Grimani pressed Erasmus to
stay permanently at
Rome.
But he replied that
he had just received a summons to England,
which
left
him no
choice.
THE 'PRAISE OF FOLLY: In the April of that year,
boy
whom Erasmus
had seen
21
1509, the
in
the nursery at
Eltham had become Henry VIII.; and Mountjoy had written
him in
in
May,
to his old tutor, urging-
Erasmus reached England early
to return.
summer
the
little
of 15
Soon afterwards,
10.
in
More's house at Bucklersbury, he rapidly wrote his j
'
famous
the E?zcomium Moriae, or
satire,
Praise of Folly,' in which Folly celebrates her
^own
praises
He
pleasures.
the
as
great
source
had been meditating
on the long journey from
Rome
;
it is
human
of
this piece
a kaleido-
scope of his experiences in Italy, and of earlier
As
memories.
word
for
to the '
'
folly,'
name
title,
Moria, the Greek
was a playful
allusion, of course,
to the
of his wise and witty host.
Praise of Folly
is
'
a satire, not only in the
modern but
in the original sense of that
a medley.
All classes,
viewed on the weak author's
own
life
This
all callings,
side.
But
^
word,
are sportively
in relation to the
and times, the most important
topics are the various abuses in the Church, the
I
ERASMUS.
22
pedantries of the schoolmen, and the selfish wars
of kings.
If this eloquent Folly, as
Erasmus
presents her, most often wears the mocking smile
moments
of Lucian or Voltaire, there are
when she or of
wields the terrible lash of Juvenal
The
Swift.
popularity of the
throughout Europe, was boundless. of jest which
it
wore was
how absurd
undignified,
Pope or a King
for a
Folly
!
also
And,
it
would
to care
The mask
safeguard
its
satire,
;
how
have been
what was said by
just for that reason, the
Encomium
Moriae must be reckoned among the forces which prepared the Reformation.
Where was Erasmus V was
to settle
the great question for him.
by going
to Cambridge,
of
the
He
t
That
decided
it
on the invitation of
Fisher, the Bishop of Rochester,
Chancellor
now
University.
who was then
Rooms were
assigned to him in Queens' College, of which Fisher had been President a few years before. In that beautiful old cloister at Queens', where the
spirit
of the
fifteenth
century seems to
AT CAMBRIDGE. linger,
an
entrance
south-east corner
the
at
23
gives access to a small court which
is
known
His lodgings were
as the court of Erasmus.
in
a square turret of red brick at the south-east
His study was probably a
angle of the court.
good-sized room which
room
;
on the
floor
is
now used
above
this
was
as a lecturehis
bedroom,
with an adjoining attic for his servant. the south windows of these rooms
the modern Silver Street
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;he
From
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; looking
on
had a wide view
over what was then open country, interspersed
with cornfields
be seen as
;
the windings of the river could
far as the
Trumpington woods.
The
walk on the west side of the Cam, which called the
walk of Erasmus, was not
1684:
his
in
time
it
probably no trees upon
Cambridge must be
is
till
was open ground, with it.
His
dated Dec. 15
right, or
laid out
is
nearly
so.
10,
first letter
and
He
this
from date
says himself
that he taught Greek here before he lectured on
theology
;
and also
commencement
of
that, after his arrival, the
his
Greek
teaching
was
ERASMUS.
24
delayed by
Lady Margaret
the 15
ill-health.
and
1 1,
in those
to take place
Long
he was elected to
Professorship of Divinity in
days the election was ordered
on the
last
day of term before the
His residence, then, can hardly
Vacation.
have begun
Now
later
than the early part of 15
It is interesting to
think of him
11.
— now a man
of forty-four, but prematurely old in appearance
— moving
about the narrow streets or quiet
courts of that medieval
Cambridge which was just
about to become the modern
— a transformation
due, in no small measure, to the influence of his
own
labours.
Eleven of our Colleges existed.
Peterhouse was
in the third
century of
others also were of a venerable age.
its
life
;
Erasmus
would have heard the rumour that a house of his
own
order, the Hospital of the Brethren of
St John, was about to be merged in a new and
more splendid foundation, the College of St John the
Evangelist.
stands, he
Where
Trinity College
would have seen the separate
now insti-
tutions which, after another generation, were to
AT CAMBRIDGE.
25
be united by Henry VIII.; he would have seen a hostel of the Benedictines where Magdalene College was soon to arise; the Franciscans on the site of Sidney Sussex, and the Dominicans
on the
of
site
North of Queens'
would have found the convent of the
College, he
Carmelites
Emmanuel.
;
and then,
rising in lonely majesty
with no other College buildings as yet on
south side
—the
its
chapel of King's, completed as
to the walls, but not yet roofed.
When Erasmus his
rooms
at
began
his
entitled the 'Questions',
He
lectures in
Queens', his text-book
elementary grammar of
standard book
Greek
all
was the
Manuel Chrysoloras,
— which
had been the
through the fifteenth century.
next took up the larger and more advanced
grammar
of Theodorus Gaza, published in 1495,
—which
he afterwards translated into Latin.
We
have a specimen of
sition at this period.
Cambridge
his
own Greek compo-
In 151
1
he went from
to visit the celebrated shrine of the
Virgin at Walsingham in
Norfolk
— the
same
26
ERASMUS.
where, two years
later,
Queen Catherine gave
As
thanks after the battle of Flodden. offering,
a votive
he hung up on the wall a short
set of
Greek iambics, which are extant they are to the :
effect that, while others bring rich gifts
and crave
worldly blessings, he asks only for a pure heart.
There are some is
classical
Europe
faults of metre, but the diction
and idiomatic
probably no one
at that time, unless
could have written better. visited
:
Walsingham a
were Budaeus,
it
When Erasmus
little later,
there had been
re-
he found that
monks and
these verses had sorely puzzled the their friends;
in
much wiping
of
eye-glasses; and opinions differed as to whether
the characters were Arabic, or purely arbitrary.
Erasmus did not get many hearers lectures,
and was rather disappointed
at least, of his pupils were ardent
scribes
for his
Henry Bullock
of his letters
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; as
'
of Queens'
;
;
Greek
but some,
thus he de-
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the 'Bovillus'
working hard at Greek.'
And
the impulse which he gave can be judged from the
rapid
progress
of
the
new
learning at
AT CAMBRIDGE. Writing to him
Cambridge.
years after he had
left
in
— Bullock
27 15 16
—three
says, 'people
here are devoting themselves eagerly to Greek In a letter to Everard, the Stadt-
literature.'
holder of Holland, in
'Theology
Erasmus says:
1520,
flourishing at Paris
is
bridge as nowhere else
and
at
and why ?
:
Cam-
Because
they are adapting themselves to the tendencies of the age ready,
guests.'
because the new studies, which are
need be, to storm an entrance, are not
if
repelled
;
by them
In another letter he remarks that, while
Greek studies have been
instituted in both the
English Universities, at Cambridge
pursued peacefully
{tranqiiille),
to Fisher's influence.
struggles at
head
15 19,
in
He
is
they are
— owing,
he says,
alluding to those
Oxford between the adherents of
the schoolmen and the to a
welcome
as foes, but received as
the
and led
ship of Greek.
'
new
Trojan
'
learning which
and
'
Grecian
'
came
riots of
to Wolsey's founding the reader-
Oxford had been,
in
England,
the great theological University of the middle
ERASMUS.
28
and the scholastic system died hardest
ages, there.
Erasmus taught Greek without any formal appointment, so University
we know, from the
as
far
though Fisher, the Chancellor, may
;
have arranged that he should receive a stipend.
The
first
man
formally appointed Greek reader
was Richard Croke
in
1
5
19;
of Erasmus as having been
'
who
speaks, indeed,
professor of Greek,'
The
but probably means simply lecturer. of
cial status
Erasmus was that of Lady Margaret
The
Professor of Divinity.
was then
This
is
of 15 13
the
regulars as well
here.
'
whole as
election to the Chair
the end of his term
i.e.y
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Erasmus was re-elected.
a noteworthy
comprised
Folly
At
biennial.
summer
in the
offi-
fact.
The
Faculty
seculars.
electing
Theology,
of
The
body
*
Praise of
must by that time have been well-known If
Erasmus was not universally accept-
monks
of
Cambridge, at any rate the general respect
for
able to the
his character
schoolmen or to
the
and attainments carried the day.
AT CAMBRIDGE. When we at Queens',
try to imagine
we
are
him
29
rooms
in his
not to picture him
as
a
popular teacher, with the youth of the university
crowding to learn from him that of a recluse student, in
was
his life here
;
weak
health,
whose
surroundings were in some respects uncongenial to him, but
who had
a group of devoted pupils,
and some chosen older the end of his
life
friends.
From 1508
to
he suffered from a painful
organic disease, which obliged him to be careful
of his
diet.
When
hall at Queens',
he dined
in the old
College
above the west cloister— now
part of the President's
Lodge
— the ghosts of the
College benefactors, whose heads are carved on the oak wainscoting, would have been grieved if
they could have known what he thought of
Cambridge beverages; he writes friend
to
—afterwards Latin Secretary —begging a cask of Greek
Ammonius
Henry VI 1 1.
wine.
to his Italian
for
His favourite exercise was riding
he made frequent excursions.
;
and
Meanwhile he
accomplished a surprising amount of work.
He
//
ERASMUS.
30
was busy with the text of Seneca, with from
tions
Basil,
with Latin manuals for St
Paul's School, just founded
and with much
transla-
else.
It
by
his friend Colet
was here that he began
*My mind
revising the text of Jerome's works.
such a glow over Jerome,' he writes,
is
in
I
could fancy myself actually inspired.'
there
one labour above
is
rooms
in the old
among
all
1
5
1
that
But
that entitles those
tower at Queens' to be reckoned
the sacred places of literature.
there in
'
Lady Margaret
2 that the
It
was
Professor
completed a collation of the Greek Text of the
New Testament. the "
first
In
1
5
Four years
ever published 13
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; appeared at Basle.
Cambridge was
and nearly every one
later, his edition
fled
visited
from
by the plague,
it.
During some
months of the autumn, Erasmus had scarcely heard a
foot-fall
rooms.
At
left
the
in
end of the year, he
the University.
going
can
be
the cloister beneath
Some
conjectured
his
finally
of his reasons for
from
his
letters.
They express disappointment with England;
MOTIVES FOR LEAVING ENGLAND. and they speak of poverty.
It is well to
31
observe
the sense in which these complaints are to be
After
understood. actually
Archbishop
indigent.
Erasmus declined English
Warham had
it,
Kent
in
because he could not speak
—he never learned any modern language, ^
and besides :
Erasmus was never
him the Rectory of Aldington
ofifered
only
15 10
then
his
Warham
the benefice. liberal.
own
vernacular, spoke Latin
gave him a pension from
Fisher and Mountjoy were also
At Cambridge, with
the stipend of his Chair,
it
these resources, and
has been computed
that his income must have been equivalent to
about £^QO at the present day.
But
his
mode
of living, though not profuse, was not frugal.
Thus he himself enumerates the following heads
— servants {'famulorimt the aid of amanuenses — the cost of keeping a horse, or horses — frequent journeys — and social or charitable obligations: he of his expenditure
')
;
(iTnroTpocjyla)
disliked,
he says, to be penurious
abhorrens
a sordibus').
The
('/tic
fact
animus
seems
to
,
ERASMUS.
32
be that he had formed exaggerated hopes of
what Henry VIII. would do
/
immediate motive
for
him.
His
departure, however, was
for
probably the desire to supervise the printing of the
Greek
There was then no
Testament.
English press where such a work could be done so well as abroad.
He
had heard that Froben,
the famous printer at Basle, was about to publish
the works of Jerome
;
and
to
Basle he went.
Another circumstance helped to decide him. Prince Charles,
— afterwards the Emperor Charles
—had offered him the post of honorary privycouncillor, with a pension, — and without v.,
this
/
binding him to
live in the
Netherlands.
At
this
time Erasmus would have been welcomed
in
any country of Europe; Cardinal Canossa, the Papal legate, was anxious to secure him for
At
a later period, when his fame stood
yet higher,
Henry VIII. would have been glad
Rome.
to lure
him back
So, in
1
5 14,
;
but
it
was then too
Erasmus
return, except for a few
left
late.
England
months
— not
to
in the following
NEW
THE
He was now
year.
years of
is
essentially that
and astonishing life
there
is
little
— from
Louvain
in
to
33
,
Twenty-two
The
history of
of his untiring
literary activity. In his external
residence,
Basle,
forty-seven.
remained to him.
life
these years"
LEARNING.
beyond changes of
to record
Basle
Brabant,
the
to
— from
University of
Louvain back to
— from Basle to Freiburg, —and once more
Basle,
where, in
to this later period
1536, he died. is
The
clue
given by two threads,
which are indeed but strands of a single cord, his influence
on the revival of learning, and
his attitude towards the Reformation.
In the younger days of Erasmus the Italian cultivation of classical literature
had attained
its
highest point, and was already verging towards decline.
More than a century had passed
Petrarch had kindled the requires
some
effort of
to realise what that
first
since
enthusiasm.
It
the imagination for us
movement meant.
The men
of the fourteenth century lived under a Church
which claimed the surrender of the reason, not J.
3
/
ERASMUS.
34
only
in
matters of
faith,
but in
all
knowledge:
philosophy and science could speak only by the doctors
whom
When
she sanctioned.
the four-
teenth century began to study the classics, the first
feeling
was one of joy
dignity of the
and
in the
human mind
it
;
newly revealed
was a strange
delightful thing, as they gradually
know Rome,
came
to
the great writers of ancient Greece and
moving
to see the reason
freely, explor-
without restraint.
ing,
speculating, discussing,
And
then those children of the middle age were
surprised and
expression,
charmed by the forms of
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; so
different
been familiar to them.
classical
from anything that had
Borrowing an old Latin
word, they called this new learning humanity; for them, however, the phrase
meaning undreamt of by first
full
had a depth of
Cicero.
for the
had entered into
time, they felt that they
possession of themselves
Now,
;
nothing
is
more
characteristic of the Italian renaissance than the self-asserting individuality of the chief actors
each strives to throw the work of his own
spirit
PROGRESS OF ITALIAN HUMANISM.
ground
men )(
common
the
into relief;
is
the history of
rather than of communities.
In
three
humanism
the progress of this Italian
may be
phases
chief
The
guished.
first
fourteenth century, his
into the back-
life falls
the history of that age
;
35
closes with the
— the
immediate followers, Then,
discovery.
roughly
distin-
end of the
time of Petrarch and
—the
morning-time of
in the first half of the fifteenth
century, the discovered materials were classified,
and organised too,
scripts,
in great libraries;
Greek manu-
were translated into Latin,
—not
that the versions might be taken as substitutes for the original,
The men
itself
gathered around or
was
but to aid the study of Greek of this second
Cosmo
de'
Nicholas V. at Rome.
which
period were
Medici at Florence,
The
stage
third
of
form
and of matter, was carried to a higher
level,
that
chiefly
in
by the
in select
Platonic
criticism,
both
grouped
joint efforts of scholars
societies
academy
or academies, such at Florence, of
as
the
which Ficino
3—2
ERASMUS.
36
was the
centre.
The
greatest
— the greatest genius of the in
Italy,
1494,
—was
man
of this time,
literary renaissance
Angelo Poliziano
;
he died
when Erasmus was twenty-seven.
Two
With Erasmus a new period opens.
broadly distinguish him, as a scholar,
things
from the
men
before and after him.
First,
he
was not only a
refined humanist, writing for the
few,
and prizing no judgment but
fastidious theirs
;
he took the most profitable authors of
antiquity,
— profitable
literary sense,
—chose
a moral as well as a'
in
out the best things in
— and sought to make these things known, — applying their wisdom or wit them,
circumstances of his /
in
his
own
day.
The
all
—and
this
evils of his age,
— in
Church, in State, in the daily
seemed to him
to the
Secondly, in
work he had an educational aim,
of the largest kind.
widely
lives of
men,
to have their roots in ignorance,
— ignorance of what Christianity meant, — ignorance of what the Bible taught, — ignorance of what the noblest and most
gifted
minds of the
HIS AIMS past,
dr>
WORKS.â&#x20AC;&#x201D; THE 'COLLOQUIES:
37
whether Christian or pagan, had contributed
to the instruction of the
human
Let true
race.
knowledge only spread, and under
enlighten-
its
ing and humanising influence a purer religion
and a better morality
will
gradually prevail.
Erasmus was a man of the world keen
so
intellect,
;
but with his
quickly susceptible
made
to
all
un-
impressions,
he
common
such temperaments, of overrating
for
the
not
mistake,
the rapidity with which intellectual influences
permeate the masses of mankind.
However, no
one was ever more persistently or true to an idea than it is
wonderful
Erasmus was
how much he
brilliantly
to his
;
and
achieved.
His services to the new learning took various forms.
He
wrote school-books, bringing out his
view that boys were kept too long over grammar,
and ought to begin reading some good author as soon as possible.
His own Colloquies were meant
partly as models of colloquial Latin
was long a standard one
;
the book
in education.
lively dialogues are prose idylls with
These
an ethical
1
ERASMUS,
38
purpose,
—the dramatic expression of the
views on the
life
writer's
Thus the dialogue
of the day.
between the Learned Lady and the Abbot depicts monastic
illiteracy
;
that between
the
Soldier
and the Carthusian brings out the seamy the military calling.
form
;
but
the
earnestness with
side of
Lucian has influenced the
dramatic
humour
which
skill is
blends
the author's
own
;
there are touches here and there which might fairly
Then he made
be called Shakspearian.
and
collections of striking thoughts in the classics.
^4^the
His chief book of
A dagia. Many
this
passages
kind was
of the classical proverbs are
made
texts for
day.
Thus he takes up
little
fine
essays on the affairs of the
beetle pursues the eagle
'
a Latin proverb,
—based on the fable
the beetle avenging itself for an insult
stroying the eagle's eggs
The
'
—the
the most exalted wrong-doer
by
of
de-
moral being that
is
never safe from
the vengeance of the humblest victim.
This
suggests to him an ingenious satire on the mis-
deeds of great princes
—
typified
by the eagle
EDITIONS OF THE CLASSICS, ETC. and
Later in
their results.
the Apophthegms chiefly
—a
good sayings,
His editions of
authors were numerous
—
he brought out
collection of
from Plutarch.
Terence,
life,
:
classical
the best was that of the next best was
his favourite poet;
His principal editions of Greek
that of Seneca.
authors belong to the last five years of his
and were
less
39
important.
editions generally,
Speaking of these
we may say
valuable in two ways,
—by
life,
that they were
making the authors
themselves more accessible, and by furnishing
improved
from
translations
Mention
is
nunciation 1528.
It
Then he made many Latin
texts.
Greek
due also to
poetry
his dialogue
of Greek and Latin,
was
and
prose.
on the pro-
—published
in
especially a protest against the
confusion of the vowels in the modern Greek pronunciation, and against the
modern disregard
of quantity in favour of the stress accent.
His
views ultimately fixed the continental pronun-
which
ciation of Greek,
by
his
name
(17
is still
known
^Epda/jLov 7rpo(f)opa).
in
Greece
At Cam-
ERASMUS.
40
bridge
it
Smith
was introduced a
and
John
It is
Along with
Cheke.
dialogue appeared another, nian.
by Thomas
little later
this
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the amusing Cicero-
an appeal to common-sense against
an absurd affectation which marked the dotage
Bembo and
of Italian humanism.
his disciples
would not use a single word or phrase which Their purism moreover
did not occur in Cicero. rejected all
modern terms
an augur/ a nun a '
'the
fillet
'
:
a Cardinal became
vestal,'
the Papal tiara was
Most ludicrous of
of Romulus.'
all,
because Cicero was a statesman, the modern Ciceronian,
writing
to
his
from
friends
profound seclusion of his study, deemed stylistic
duty to imply that he lived
of politics.
The
gist of
in a
the it
a
vortex
what Erasmus says
is
merely that other ancients besides Cicero wrote
good Latin, and that a true Ciceronianism would adjust
itself to
its
surroundings.
No
one,
it
should be added, had a more intelligent admiration for Cicero than
/We
Erasmus
see, then, the
himself.
peculiar place which he
PLACE IN THE HISTORY OF HUMANISM. holds in the history of the
may
be allowed that,
if
new
41
learning.
It
the study of classical
antiquity be viewed as a progressive science, he
did
much
less to
some other great
advance
it
than was done by
He
scholars of a later period.
did not enlarge the boundaries of knowledge in that field as they were afterwards enlarged
by
the special labours of Joseph Scaliger, of Isaac
Casaubon, or of Richard Bentley.
But the work
which Erasmus did was one which, at that time,
was of the tions.
them
first
In
as literature
man
genial,
his
feel the ;
necessity for the northern na-
popular way he made
value and charm of the classics in fact, a learned
he himself was,
of letters rather than a critical specialist.
Let us remember what the state of northern Europe, as regards hood.
It
literature,
was sunk,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to
was
use his
in his
own
words,
utter barbarism.
To know Greek was
thing to heresy.
'
I
did
my
best,'
boy-
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
in
the next
he says,
'
to
deliver the rising generation from this slough of
ignorance, and to inspire
them with
a taste for
ERASMUS.
42
better studies.
Germany and
The all
wrote, not for Italy, but for
I
the Netherlands.'
circulation of his
more popular
over Europe, was so enormous that one can
compare
modern
it
only to that of some widely-read
once
or
journal,
heard,
some
of
extraordinarily
For instance, a Paris bookseller
popular novel.
invented, a
or
rumour that the
Sorbonne was going to condemn the of
writings,
Erasmus
as heretical
;
Colloqides
and, being a shrewd
man, he instantly printed a new edition of 24,000 copies.
A
moral treatise by Erasmus, called
the Enchiridion ger'),
('
the Christian
Soldier's
Dag-
which was a favourite alike with Catholics
and with Protestants, was translated into every language of Europe.
A
Spanish
ecclesiastic,
writing in 1527, declares that a version of in the
hands of
all
It
was
classes throughout Spain,
even the smallest country inn
show a copy.
it
could usually
may be doubted whether any
author's works were ever so frequently reprinted
within his life-time as were those of Erasmus.
POPULARITY OF HIS WRITINGS. And
wherever his books went, they carried with
them the good
of his
influence
spirit,
—his
love of
his hatred
i
of war, his versatile
nourished by varied observation of
wit which
falsehood and wrong,
good
ance, but
life is
life,
play gracefully around
could
slightest theme, or strike with a
that a
|
literature, his loyalty to reason, his quiet
common-sense, wit,
43
—
—
'
the
keen edge at
his desire to
make
it felt
not an affair of formal observ-
must begin
The works which
in the heart.
entitle
Erasmus
be
to
called the parent of Biblical criticism are con-
nected with his secular studies by a closer
than might appear at
tie
His principal
first sight.
concern was always with literature as such
;
he
was, moreover, a practical moralist, anxious to aid in correcting the evils of his time
was not
distinctively a theologian
dogmatic theology, inclination.
aim
Now,
—to make
ising
;
in particular, in
:
but he
and towards he had
little
pursuing his paramount
the world better by the
influences of literature
—the
human-
enemy with
/I
ERASMUS.
44
which he had to do battle was the scholastic
Hear
philosophy.
how
words when he
his
Christians are to convert
we put
into their
Turks â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Shall *
hands an Occam, a Durandus,
a Scotus, a Gabriel, or an Alvarus
they think of
asking
is :
What
?
will
when they hear of our perplexed
us,
subtleties about Instants, Formalities, Quiddities,
and Relations
? '
This was the dreary wilder-
ness of pedantry that had hitherto passed for
And
knowledge.
the scholastic philosophy was
securely entrenched behind the scholastic theo-
The weapons
logy.
of
that
theology were
Biblical texts, isolated
from their context, and
artificially interpreted
the one
it
way
to disarm
was to make men know what the Bible
said
and meant.
his first duty,
of
:
letters,
Bible.
felt
that
both as a moralist and as a
man
was
He was
do nothing
to
promote a knowledge of the
not a
at first
that province
Therefore Erasmus
really
was
Hebrew
scholar,
and could
hand with the Old Testament left
to Reuchlin.
But
he published the Greek Testament,
in
1516
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;the
first
WORKS IN BIBLICAL had appeared
edition which
CRITICISM.
;
for the
45
Complu^
tensian edition, though printed two years earlier,
was not issued
make
and added
more exact than the Vulgate
it
Further, he wrote a series of
notes.
Latin Paraphrases on
Testament
new
also wrote a
New Testament, endeavour-
Latin version of the ing to
He
1522.
till
except
the books of the
all
These
Revelation.
New were
intended to exhibit the substance and thought of the several books in a more modern form,
and so
to bring
them home more
ordinary reader's mind. presently translated
directly to the
The paraphrases were
into
English, and
every
Parish Church in England was furnished with
a copy.
In the remarkable 'Exhortation' pre-
fixed to his Greek Testament, that, while the disciples of
derive
it
every other philosophy
from the fountain-head, the Christian
doctrine alone
would
Erasmus observes
is
not studied at
its
source.
like to see the Scriptures translated into
every language, and put into the hands of '
I
He
long,'
all.
he says, that the husbandman should *
[
ERASMUS.
46
sing
them
to himself as he follows the plough,
that the weaver should
hum them
to the tune of
his shuttle, that the traveller should beguile with
them the weariness of to interpretation, tors,
the
medieval exposi-
Fathers of the early Church,
stood nearer to those documents alike in
time and for
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; from
the schoolmen, he appealed to the primitive
interpreters, the
who
Then, as
his journey.'
And
in spirit.
Jerome had essayed,
work analogous attempting
to
the
in
first
of
all
to Jerome;
in the fourth century,
that
which Erasmus was
sixteenth.
fitting that his edition of
a
Thus
it
was
Jerome should appear
almost simultaneously with his Greek Testa-
ment.
He afterwards edited other Latin Fathers
and
was through
it
his
translations from the
J
/
Greek
Fathers,
Athanasius, that better
known
So
far, all
was
/
/
in
especially their
in the
that
Chrysostom
writings
became
West.
Erasmus had
accord with
first
and
said
that general
and done
movement
of thought which led up to the Reformation.
HIS ATTITUDE TOWARDS LUTHER.
When
Luther came forward,
47
was expected
it
by many
that
his side.
But Erasmus never departed an inch
from
Erasmus would place himself
his allegiance to
Rome and
before his death Paul
;
III.,
in the
in appointing
at
year
him
Provost of Deventer, formally acknowledged the services
new
the
which he had rendered opinions.
clearly as possible
Luther made 1
It
what
important to see as
his position was.
his protest at
For four years
5 17.
is
combating
in
after that,
Wittenberg
in
Erasmus hoped
that the matter might be peaceably adjusted.
Luther was personally a stranger to him, but
had a great admiration
for his work,
to him, as to an intellectual
sympathy he hoped
leader of whose
that he might feel sure
Erasmus wrote back
kindly,
urging counsels of moderation. of
but guardedly,
When
Saxony consulted him, he spoke
favour.
But
and wrote
after 1521 all
Frederick
in Luther's
hopes of conciliation
peace between
Rome and
Luther was thenceforth impossible.
And now
were
at
an
end
:
/
ERASMUS,
48
both
Romanists
cried,
monks
the
began
sides
you
say,
,has hatched it:
This
'
is
loyal to the
all
your doing
you must now it
no time
lose
clear that
Church of which you are a
The Lutherans
said
You know
' :
with us in your heart
;
as
;
and Luther
laid the ^gg,
speaking out, and making
The
Erasmus.
press
to
that
in
you are priest.'
you agree
you yourself have made
a scathing exposure of the very abuses which
we
are attacking
be true to yourself, and take
;
your place among our '
fered,
but remained
.^
his
treatise
At
silent.
to write against Luther, \
Erasmus
leaders.'
and
on Free Will.
in
suf-
he decided
last
1524 published
Luther held
that,
/
owing
to original sin, divine grace alone can turn
\
man's
will to
trine
of the Church, that, while grace
i
good
;
Erasmus defended the doc-
indispensable and principal agent, the will far free as to
allow for
j
I
preferring
Erasmus
good
to
rejoined.
evil.
the
is
is
some human merit Luther
replied,
so in
and
Thenceforth the Lutherans
regarded Erasmus as an opponent
;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; some
of
HIS ATTITUDE TOWARDS LUTHER. them, as a traitor
;
while his
own
49
side felt that
he had not done them much good. For the question handled
by him, however important
in itself,
was not the question of the hour.
And
many
controversy
will feel that this particular
was the greatest mistake
in the life
Not because he entered the
—
is
it
intelligible that
self constrained to
decided to
That
fight,
issue was,
lists
of Erasmus.
against Luther
he should have
do so
—but
he did not raise the main
— Which
is
to
greater
:
him
the greater
evil,
It
—to was
was the
it
would have been better to
silence.
What were
the trains of thought and feeling
which determined
A
issue.
he was not prepared to enter on
that ground, then
keep
"i
to contend that rebellion
but, if
him-
felt
because, having
endure the corruptions, or to rebel
open
indeed
his course at that great crisis
own
careful study of his
utterances will
that the considerations which of three distinct kinds
;
J.
}
show
swayed him were
we might
as ecclesiastical, intellectual,
'
describe
them
and personal.
/
4
so
1
\
ERASMUS.
.
In the
place,
first
apparent that Erasmus
it is
regarded the prospect of schism, not only from a churchman's point of view, but also as a danger
He thinks of the Roman
to social order.
under the image of a temporal State.
Church Grave
abuses have indeed crept into the constitution, but the State contains within agencies for reform.
legitimate entitled to
up
lift
itself
A
the only citizen
is
his voice against the abuses;
but his loyalty to the head of the State must
remain intact
if
;
that head delays or declines to
interfere,
the citizen
must be
even
denouncing
evils,
in
whether there tion, as
is
he must
And,
consider
not a point at which denuncia-
tending to excite turbulence,
do more harm than good.
more
patient.
natural in an age
may
not
Such a view was the
when men's minds had
so long been familiar with the conception which
was the
basis of the
faults in
any grade of the
could do
Emperor
Holy Roman Empire,
away with were,
No
ecclesiastical hierarchy
the feeling that Pope and
by divine appointment, the
joint
THE LUTHERAN MOVEMENT,
V/£IV OF
human
guardians of
and that a
the framework
assault on
The
revolt
was an
authority of the Church
against the
together.
welfare,
which held
society-
peculiar attitude of Erasmus,
his reluctance to take part in the conflict,
the attacks
51
made on him from both
sides,
and
—gave
to his conduct the appearance of greater irre-
solution than can justly be laid to his charge.
About one thing
membered—he
—
this
should be distinctly re-
never wavered.
any moment contemplated authority of as
Rome
;
He
never at
/
rebellion against the /v
he was as remote from that
were the two English friends whose views as
to the abuses in the
Church most nearly agreed
with his own, John Colet and
The
real source of his
Thomas More.
embarrassment was that
/
he approved, in a large measure, of Luther's//? objects, while
he strongly disapproved of his
methods. Further, he disliked the Lutheran
movement
as threatening to impede' the quiet progress of literature,
and
this in
two ways,
—
first,
by creating
ERASMUS.
52
]
/
a
general
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;secondly,
by giving the
schoolmen and the monks a pretext that the
\
new
for saying
learning was a source of social
There
disorder.
'
turmoil,
is
a striking letter of
his,
written to Alberto Pio, Prince of Carpi, in 1525.
He
points out that the foes of the
had been most anxious Lutheran cause, at once. ]
Then,
to identify
in order to
further,
new it
learning
with the
damage two enemies
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; he disliked
to passion, or blind partisanship
;
all
appeals
hope
his
for
the world was in the growing sway of reason.
Two
hundred and
gifted
mind,
in
fifty
years afterwards, another
looking back, took
much
the
same view
that
forward.
Goethe deplored Luther's violence.
But
Luther
dream
Erasmus had taken
might
have
in
looking
quoted Ajax.
that such evils could be cured
To
by the
gentle magic of literature was indeed to chant incantations
over a malady that
craved
the
surgeon's knife.
As might have been of Erasmus
ascribed
expected, some critics
his
attitude
to
worldly
VIEW OF THE LUTHERAN MOVEMENT. motives
;
many
but this was unjust, as
When
his life show.
him a Cardinal, and
details of
Paul III. wished to
make
provide him with the
to
He was am-
necessary income, he declined. bitious
53
of praise, but not of wealth
or rank.
Personal considerations influenced him only in this sense, that
he knew his own unfitness for
the part of a leader or a combatant at such a
His right place was
time.
in his study,
grudged every hour
lost to his
would rather work
for a
and he
proper work.
month
at
*
I
expounding
St Paul,' he said to a correspondent, than waste '
a day
in quarrelling.'
ment he was
We
Luther.
the
In character and tempera-
most
perfect
contrast
to
remember the story of Luther
being awakened in the night by a noise in his
room
;
he
lit
a candle, but could find nothing;
he then became certain that the
invisible
of his soul was present in that room,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;and yet he
lay down, and went calmly to sleep.
the essence of the
man
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;the
Enemy
There
is
intensely vivid
sense of the supernatural, and the instinctive
I
V^
ERASMUS.
54
recourse to
it
as an explanation
Erasmus was once
lute faith.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;and the abso-
in
a town where
a powder-magazine exploded, and destroyed a house which had harboured evil-doers
one remarked that against guilt if
;
this
Erasmus quietly answered
against the folly which
had
have
never
side.
it
built a
fought
that,
was rather powder-
The man who
magazine so near a town. could
some
showed the divine anger
such anger was indeed there,
that
;
at
said
Luther's
#
Erasmus was a great the Reformation
Lutherans
:
;
literary precursor of
he armed the hands of the
but to call him, as some have done,
a Reformer before the Reformation, seems hardly
an appropriate those
who
description.
are denominated
If,
in
our own day,
Old Catholics had
confined themselves to urging the advisability of certain reforms, without disputing the authority
of the Pope or proposing to secede from com-
munion with Rome,
their position
been analogous to that of Erasmus.
would have
Viewed
as
Âť
Âť
CONCLUSION.
55
a whole, his conduct was essentially consistent
and independent. His imperishable claim to the gratitude of
'
the world, and especially of the Teutonic peoples, rests
on the part which he sustained
in a contest
of even larger scope than that waged by Luther,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
in the great
old and the
preliminary conflict between the
new conception of knowledge,
be-
tween the bondage and the enfranchisement of the
human mind, between
in religion anity. trials,
and the
a lifeless formalism
spirit of
From youth
practical Christi-
to old age, through
many
he worked with indomitable energy
the cause of light that, before
and
;
it
was
in
his great reward,
he died, he saw the dawn of a new
age beginning
for the
not without clouds
nations of the north,
and storm, but with the
assurance that the reign of darkness was past.
Cambridge: printed by
j.
and
c. f.
clay,
at the university
press.
^
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