Richard Claverhouse Jebb - Erasmus, 1897

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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

t

«

«

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

print

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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