XXII. TO BARTHOLOMEW LATOMUS[116]

XXII. TO BARTHOLOMEW LATOMUS[116]

Basle, 24 August 1535

To Bartholomew Latomus, greetings:

... In apologizing for your silence you are wasting your time, believe me; I am not in the habit of judging tried friends by this common courtesy. It would be impudent of me to charge you with an omission which you have an equal right to accuse me of in turn.... The heads of the colleges are not doing anything new. They are afraid of their own revenues suffering, this being the sole aim of most of them. You would scarcely believe to what machinations they stooped at Louvain in their efforts to prevent a trilingual college being established. I worked strenuously in the matter, and have made myself accordingly very unpopular. There was an attempt to set up a chair of languages at Tournai, but the University of Louvain and the Franciscans at Tournai did not rest until the project was abandoned. The house erected for this purpose overlooked the Franciscans' garden--that was the cause of the trouble....

I have had a long life, counting in years; but were I to calculate the time spent in wrestling with fever, the stone and the gout, I have not lived long. But we must patiently bear whatever the Lord has sent upon us, Whose will no one can resist, and Who alone knows what is good for us.... The glory [of an immortal name] moves me not at all, I am not anxious over the applause of posterity. My one concern and desire is to depart hence with Christ's favour.

Many French nobles have fled here for fear of the winter storm, after having been recalled.[117] 'The lion shall roar, who shall not fear?' says the Prophet.[118] A like terror has seized the English, from an unlike cause. Certain monks have been beheaded and among them a monk of the Order of St. Bridget[119] was dragged along the ground, then hanged, and finally drawn and quartered. There is a firm and probable rumour here that the news of the Bishop of Rochester having been co-opted by Paul III as a cardinal caused the King to hasten his being dragged out of prison and beheaded--his method of conferring the scarlet hat. It is all too true that Thomas More has been long in prison and his fortune confiscated. It was being said that he too had been executed, but I have no certain news as yet.[120] Would that he had never embroiled himself in this perilous business and had left the theological cause to the theologians. The other friends who from time to time honoured me with letters and gifts now send nothing and write nothing from fear, and accept nothing from anyone, as if under every stone there slept a scorpion.

It seems that the Pope is seriously thinking of a Council here. But I do not see how it is to meet in the midst of such dissension between princes and lands. The whole of Lower Germany is astonishingly infected with Anabaptists: in Upper Germany they pretend not to notice them. They are pouring in here in droves; some are on their way to Italy. The Emperor is besieging Goletta; in my opinion there is more danger from the Anabaptists.

I do not think that France is entirely free of this plague; but they are silent there for fear of the cudgel....

Now I must tell you something about my position which will amuse you. I had written to Paul III at the instance of Louis Ber, the distinguished theologian. Before unsealing the letter he spoke of me with great respect. And as he had to make several scholars cardinals for the coming Council, the name of Erasmus was proposed among others. But obstacles were mentioned, my health, not strong enough for the duties, and my low income; for they say there is a decree which excludes from this office those whose annual income is less than 3,000 ducats. Now they are busy heaping benefices on me, so that I can acquire the proper income from these and receive the red hat. The proverbial cat in court-dress. I have a friend in Rome who is particularly active in the business; in vain have I warned him more than once by letter that I want no cures or pensions, that I am a man who lives from day to day, and every day expecting death, often longing for it, so horrible sometimes are the pains. It is hardly safe for me to put a foot outside my bedroom, and even the merest trifle upsets me.[121] With my peculiar, emaciated body I can only stand warm air. And in this condition they want to push me forward as a candidate for benefices and cardinals' hats! But meanwhile I am gratified by the Supreme Pontiff's delusions about me and his feelings towards me. But I am being more wordy than I intended. I should easily forgive your somewhat lengthy letter, if you were to repeat that fault often.... Farewell.

FOOTNOTES:

[21] Servatius Roger (d. 1540), whom Erasmus came to know as a young monk soon after his entry into Steyn, became eighth Prior of Steyn; it was as Prior that he wrote to Erasmus in 1514 to urge him to return to the monastery, see pp. 11, 87 f., 212 ff.

[22] Juvenal, ix. 18-20.

[23] N. Werner (d. 5 September 1504), later Prior of Steyn.

[24] Probably James Stuart, brother of James IV of Scotland, Archbishop of St. Andrews, 1497, aged about twenty-one at this time.

[25] Relative of John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester. Took his doctor's degree in Italy, returned to England 1507.

[26] William Grocyn (_c._ 1446-1519), Fellow of New College, one of the first to teach Greek in Oxford.

[27] Thomas Linacre (_c._ 1460-1524), Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, 1484. Translator of Galen. Helped to found the College of Physicians, 1518.

[28] James Batt (1464?-1502), secretary to the council of the town of Bergen.

[29] Anne of Burgundy, the Lady of Veere (1469?-1518), patroness of Erasmus until 1501-2, when she remarried.

[30] i.e. to replace Greek words either corrupted or omitted. Erasmus is here referring probably to the text of the _Letters_ of Jerome; he uses the same expression in his letter of 21 May 1515 to Leo X (Allen 335, v. 268 ff.): 'I have purified the text of the Letters ... and carefully restored the Greek, which was either missing altogether or inserted incorrectly'.

[31] Brother of Henry of Bergen (Bishop of Cambrai) and by this time Abbot of St. Bertin at St. Omer, where he was forcibly installed by his brother the bishop in 1493.

[32] 'And my sin is ever before me,' where _contra_ could be rendered as either 'before' or 'against'; the ambiguity is resolved by referring to the Greek, where [Greek: enopion] = face to face with.

[33] Apparently a loose statement of the _Constitutions_ of Clement V, promulgated after the Council of Vienne, 1311-12, Bk. 5, tit. 1, cap. 1, in which for the better conversion of infidels it was ordained that two teachers for each of the three languages, Hebrew, Arabic, and Chaldaean be appointed in each of the four Universities, Paris, Oxford, Bologna and Salamanca. Greek was included in the original list, but afterwards omitted.

[34] Probably George Hermonymus of Sparta.

[35] Cf. Juvenal, iii.78. (_Graeculus esuriens_.)

[36] William Warham (1450?-1532) became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1503, Lord Chancellor of England, 1504-15, Chancellor of Oxford University from 1506. This letter forms the preface to _Hecuba_ in _Euripidis_ ... _Hecuba et Iphigenia; Latinae factae Erasmo Roterodamo interprete_, Paris, J. Badius, September 1506.

[37] [Greek: en to pitho ten kerameian], i.e., to run before one can walk, to make a winejar being the most advanced job in pottery.

[38] Politian translated parts of Iliad, 2-5 into Latin hexameters, dedicating the work to Lorenzo dei Medici. Published by A. Mai, Spicilegium Romanum, ii.

[39] Nicholas de Valle translated the _Works and Days_ (_Georgica_), Bonninus Mombritius the _Theogonia_.

[40] Martin Phileticus.

[41] No. 3; his Funeral Orations were printed _c._ 1481 at Milan.

[42] Aldus Manutius (1449-1515) founded the Aldine Press at Venice, 1494.

[43] Published by Aldus, 1513.

[44] Published by Aldus, 1528.

[45] Published by Aldus, 1518, although projected in 1499.

[46] _Euripidis ... Hecuba et Iphigenia_ [in Aulide]; _Latinae factae Erasmo Roterodamo interprete_, Paris, J. Badius, 13 September 1506. Reprinted by Aldus at Venice, December 1507 (and by Froben at Basle in 1518 and 1524).

[47] Thomas More (1478-1535). This letter is the preface to the _Moriae Encomium_, published by Gilles Gourmont at Paris without date, reprinted by Schuerer at Strasbourg, August 1511.

[48] The Greek 'laughing philosopher'.

[49] John Colet (1466?-1519), Dean of St. Paul's 1504, had founded St. Paul's School in the previous year (1510).

[50] Raffaele Riario (1461-1521), Leo X's most formidable rival in the election of 1513.

[51] Francesco Alidosi of Imola, d. 1511.

[52] Robert Guibe(_c._ 1456-1513), Cardinal of St. Anastasia and Bishop of Nantes (1507).

[53] Leo X.

[54] Wolsey.

[55] _Enchiridion militis Christiani_, printed in _Lucubratiunculae_, 1503.

[56] A new and enlarged edition under the title _Adagiorum Chiliades_, printed by Aldus in 1508.

[57] _De duplici copia verborum ac rerum commentarii duo_, Paris, Badius, 1512.

[58] The Hebrew scholar, who adhered to the Reformation, 1523.

[59] F. Ximenes (1436-1517), confessor of Queen Isabella, Archbishop of Toledo, 1495, founded Alcala University, 1500; he promoted the Polyglot Bible.

[60] (1428-1524), taught medicine at Ferrara and made translations from Aristotle, Dio Cassius, Galen and Hippocrates.

[61] (d. 1525) Professor of Medicine at Naples, and from 1507 at Venice; physician to Aldus's household, where he met Erasmus.

[62] (1466-1532), physician, astronomer and humanist; learned Greek with Erasmus in Paris. He was physician to the Court of Francis I.

[63] (1479-1537), Dean of the Medical Faculty at Paris, 1508-9, and Physician to Francis I.

[64] (1467/8-1540), the Parisian humanist, whose _Annotationes in xxiv Pandectarum libros_ were published by Badius in 1508.

[65] Ulrich Zaesi or Zasius (1461-1535) Lector Ordinarius in Laws at Freiburg from 1506 until his death.

[66] Henry Loriti of canton Glarus, usually known as Glareanus (1488-1563), had an academy at Basle where he took in thirty boarders.

[67] Published at Basle, March 1519.

[68] A translation of Galen's _Methodus medendi_, not printed until June 1519. Lupset supervised the printing.

[69] This may be the _De pueris statim ac liberaliter instituendis_, composed in Italy. More writes to Erasmus in 1516 (Allen 502) that he has received part of the MS. from Lupset, but it was not published until 1529.

[70] Luther's _Theses_, posted 31 October 1517 and printed shortly afterwards at Wittenberg.

[71] The proposals for a crusade drawn up at Rome, 16 November 1517.

[72] The _Julius Exclusus_, an attack on Pope Julius II, who died 1513. Erasmus never directly denied his authorship, and More speaks of a copy in Erasmus's hand (Allen 502).

[73] Beat Bild (1485-1547), whose family came from Rheinau near Schlettstadt, became M. A., Paris, in 1505. He worked as a corrector at Henry Stephanus's press in Paris, with Schuerer in Strasbourg, and from 1511 for fifteen years with Amerbach and Froben in Basle, where he edited and superintended the publication of numerous books.

[74] Haecceity, 'thisness', 'individuality', t.t. of Scotistic philosophy, cf. quiddity, 'essence'.

[75] I.e. the Literary Society of Strasbourg. A letter survives, addressed to Erasmus in the name of this Society, dated 1 September 1514, in which occur all the names mentioned here, with the exception of Gerbel's.

[76] A portrait drawing of Varnbueler by Albrecht Duerer is in the Albertina, Vienna; Duerer made also a woodcut from it.

[77] Hermann, Count of Neuenahr (1492-1530), a pupil of Caesarius, with whom he visited Italy in 1508-9. In 1517 he lectured in Cologne on Greek and Hebrew, and became later Chancellor of the University. Among his works is a letter in defence of Erasmus.

[78] _Operationes in Psalmos_. Wittenberg, 1519.

[79] James Probst or Proost (Praepositus) of Ypres (1486-1562).

[80] Ulrich Hutten (1488-1523), the German knight and humanist.

[81] Satires 2, vii. 96 (where however the gladiators are the subject, and not the artists, of a crude charcoal sketch).

[82] Sir Thomas More's portrait at the age of fifty was painted by Hans Holbein; it is now in the Frick Collection, New York. Two portrait drawings of him by Holbein are in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle. See also p. 236, note 4.

[83] John More (1453?-1530), at this time a Judge of Common Pleas, promoted to the King's Bench in 1523.

[84] Jane Colt (_c._ 1487-1511).

[85] More's second daughter was Elizabeth; Alice was the name of his stepdaughter.

[86] Alice Middleton.

[87] A group portrait of Sir Thomas More with his entire family was painted by Hans Holbein about 1527-8 at More's house in Chelsea. It was commissioned from the artist at the recommendation of Erasmus. The original has been lost; see Plate XXIX and p. 260.

[88] More was elected Under-Sheriff, 1510.

[89] W. Pirckheimer (1470-1530), humanist. After studying law and Greek in Italy he settled at Nuremberg. Some of his works were illustrated by Duerer.

[90] Alexander Stewart (_c._ 1493-1513), natural son of James IV of Scotland, fell at Flodden. Erasmus was his tutor in Italy in 1508-9. For details of this ring see p. 247 f.

[91] Duerer made three portraits of him, two drawings (now in Berlin and in Brunswick) and an engraving.

[92] The Greek sculptor, _c._ 350 B. C. In a letter to Pirckheimer dated 8 January 1523-4 (Allen 1408, 29 n.) Erasmus appears dissatisfied with the reverse of the medal cast by Metsys in 1519. Extant examples all show a reverse revised in accordance with his suggestions.

[93] A drawing of Erasmus was made by Duerer in 1520 (now in the Louvre), and an engraving in 1526.

[94] Erasmus had his portrait painted by Holbein several times in 1523-4 and 1530-1. A number of originals and copies are still extant.

[95] Luther's letter, in which he evidently attempted to mitigate Erasmus's indignation against his _De Servo Arbitrio_ (The Will not free), which was a reply to Erasmus's _De Libero Arbitrio_ (On free Will), 1524. Luther's letter came 'too late' because Erasmus had already composed the _Hyperaspistes Diatribe adversus Servum Arbitrium Martini Lutheri_, Basle, Froben, 1526.

[96] John Fisher (1459?-1535).

[97] John Dobeneck of Wendelstein.

[98] i.e., the _De Libero Arbitrio_.

[99] Reading _reticeo_ for _retices_.

[100] Theophrastus Bombast of Einsiedeln (also known as Theophrastus of Hohenheim, whence his ancestors came), 1493-1541. The name Paracelsus may be a translation of Hohenheim, or may signify a claim to be greater than Celsus, the Roman physician. Appointed _physicus et ordinarius Basiliensis_ in 1527.

[101] Paracelsus had diagnosed the stone, from which Erasmus suffered, as being due to crystallization of salt in the kidneys.

[102] Froben died before the year was out.

[103] Martin Butzer (_c._ 1491-1551), later Bucer, a Dominican, who obtained dispensation from his vows in 1521 and adhered to the Reformation. At this time he was a member of the Strasbourg party, and this letter is probably an answer to a request for an interview for Bucer and other Strasbourg delegates on their way through Basle to Berne. He eventually became Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge under Edward VI.

[104] Henry of Eppendorff, a former friend who followed Hutten on his quarrel with Erasmus.

[105] Erasmus stated in the _Responsio_ of 1 August 1530, that in the Reformed schools little was taught beyond _dogmata et linguae_ and it may be some such criticism, based on what he had heard from a reliable source (perhaps Pirckheimer at Nuremberg), to which Bucer had taken exception in his letter.

[106] Alfonso Valdes (1490?-1532), a devoted admirer of Erasmus, was from 1522 onwards one of Charles V's secretaries. He wrote two dialogues in defence of the Emperor.

[107] On this gem see Edgar Wind, 'Aenigma Termini,' in _Journ. of the Warburg Institute_, I (1937-8), p. 66.

[108] Greek god of ridicule.

[109] Livy, I, 55, 3. Livy refers to the clearing of the Tarpeian rock by Tarquinius Superbus (534-510 B. C.), involving the deconsecration of existing shrines, as a preliminary to the building of the temple of Juppiter Capitolinus. The auguries allowed the evacuation of the other gods, Terminus and Juventas alone refusing to depart.

[110] Livy, 5, 54, 7.

[111] See p. 66.

[112] Preface to _T. Livii ... historiae_, Basle, Froben, 1531. Charles Blount (b. 1518), eldest son of William Blount, Lord Mountjoy.

[113] _c._ 1495-1541, Professor of Greek at Basle, 1529. He found the MS. containing Livy, Bks. 41-5, in 1527.

[114] Not 'illuminated.' Erasmus refers elsewhere (Allen 919. 55) to a codex as _non scripto sed picto_.

[115] The MS., now lost, containing Bks. 33, 17-49 and 40, 37-59, found in the cathedral library at Mainz, published in Mainz, J. Schoeffer, November 1518.

[116] (1498?-1570). Taught Latin and Greek at Freiburg and became head of a college there; in 1534 became the first Professor of Latin in the College de France. Retired to Coblenz in 1542.

[117] By the Edict of Courcy.

[118] Amos iii. 8.

[119] Richard Reynolds of the Bridgettine Syon College at Isleworth.

[120] More had been executed 6 July 1535.

[121] Lit. 'not even the peeping of an ass is safe.' This Greek proverb, used of those who go to law about trifles, refers to the story of a potter whose wares were smashed by a donkey in the workshop going to look out of the window. In court the potter, asked of what he complained, replied: 'Of the peeping of an ass.' See Apuleius, _Met._ IX., 42.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

I. PORTRAIT OF ERASMUS. By Quentin Metsys. 1517. Rome, Galleria Corsini. _Facing p. 14_

One half of a diptych, the pendant being a portrait of Erasmus's friend, Pierre Gilles (Petrus Aegidius), town clerk of Antwerp. The diptych was sent to Sir Thomas More in London; the portrait of Gilles is now in the collection of the Earl of Radnor at Longford Castle.

II. VIEW OF ROTTERDAM at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Contemporary engraving, hand-coloured. _Facing p. 15_

III. PORTRAIT BUST OF JOHN COLET, Dean of St. Paul's (1467-1519). By Pietro Torrigiano. St. Paul's School, Hammersmith, London. _Facing p. 30_

John Colet, a close friend of Erasmus (see pp. 30-1), founded St. Paul's School. The artist, a Florentine sculptor, was active in London for many years and is best known for his effigies on some of the royal tombs in Westminster Abbey. The attribution of this bust is due to F. Grossmann (_Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes_, XIII, July 1950), who identified it as a cast from Torrigiano's original bust on Colet's tomb (destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666) and also pointed out that Holbein's drawing of Colet in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle (No. 12199) was made from the lost monument after Colet's death.

IV. PORTRAIT OF SIR THOMAS MORE (1477-1535). Dated 1527. By Hans Holbein. New York, Frick Collection. _Facing p. 31_

See also Holbein's drawing of Thomas More with his family, Pl. XXIX.

V. Pen and ink sketches by Erasmus. 1514. Basle, University Library (MS A. IX. 56). _Facing p. 46_

These doodles of grotesque heads and other scribbles are found in Erasmus's manuscript copy of the _Scholia to the Letters of St. Jerome_, preserved in the Library of Basle University and published by Emil Major (_Handzeichnungen des Erasmus von Rotterdam_, Basle, 1933). Erasmus worked on this manuscript shortly after his arrival in Basle in August 1514. His edition of the _Letters of Jerome_ was published by Froben in 1516 (see p. 90).

VI. A Manuscript Page of Erasmus. Basle, University Library. _Facing p. 47_

See note on Pl. V.

VII. Title-page of the _Adagia_, printed by Aldus Manutius in 1508. _Facing p. 62_

The printing of this edition was supervised by Erasmus during his visit to Venice (see pp. 64-5). On this title-page is the emblem of the Aldine Press, which is found again on the reverse of Aldus's portrait medal (Pl. IX).