The Erasmus Reader

edited by Erika Rummel

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS

Toronto Buffalo London

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I middot 1 1i J (I ~( ~j) (iHll f) ~

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Canadian Cataloguing in Publication D ata

1 mus Desickrius d 1536

Jill I ~ rlrnu~ rcader

IldSld on the Collected works of Erasmus

Ill duuc~ bibliographical referen ces

IIN 11-8ll2U-6806-S

1 RummeL Erika 1942- II Title

middot K l Ii 1990 199492 C90-094710-1

hi It II 11 L is based on the Collected Works of Erasmus (eWE) the research

h i 1 Iii lion of which have been generously supported by the Social

It ll lnd Humanities Research Council of Canada

i II- 11lt1111 the Praise of Folly published with the kind permission of

1 I ) ~lIin Hooks Ltd

I I USTRtTlON Hans Holbein Bildnis des Schreibenden Erasmus vall

1lIa rwll Portrait of Erasmus ~Vriting Courtesy Oeffentliche Kunstsammshy

IlIlI g 13)sel Kunstmll seum Colorfolo Hans Hinz Allschwil Switzerland

Contents

Introduction 3

1 Erasmus His Life and Works 15

Brief Outline of His Life Compendium vitae 15

Catalogue of His Works Catalogus lucubrationum 21

2 Erasmus as Educator 51

The Antibarbarians Antibarbarorum libel 51

On Education for Children De pueris instituendis

On Good Manners De civilitate 1 01

65

3 Erasmus the Christian H umanist 123

The Ciceronian Dialogus Ciceronian us 123

The Handbook of the Christian Soldier Enchiridion militis christiani 138

4 Erasmus as Reformer and Critic of the Church 155

Praise of Folly Moriae encomium 155

Letter to Dorp Letter 337 169

The Luther Affair Letters 980 1033 1202 195

Julius Excluded from Heaven Dialogus Julius exclu5Us e coelis

Shipwreck Naufragium (from the Colloquies) 239

216

5 Erasmus and Politics 749

The Ed uGJtion oJ) Christian Prinn 11I lillilin lrlIiipisrilr io lilllli 49

LI Il I- I y rtl 101111 1(1 lIL lts l)()

11 11(1 1 11 11I11tI1

1 111 1 III L lIl ld

I middot 1 1i J (I ~( ~j) (iHll f) ~

100

1 11 il ld Oil 1id -lnc paper

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication D ata

1 mus Desickrius d 1536

Jill I ~ rlrnu~ rcader

IldSld on the Collected works of Erasmus

Ill duuc~ bibliographical referen ces

IIN 11-8ll2U-6806-S

1 RummeL Erika 1942- II Title

middot K l Ii 1990 199492 C90-094710-1

hi It II 11 L is based on the Collected Works of Erasmus (eWE) the research

h i 1 Iii lion of which have been generously supported by the Social

It ll lnd Humanities Research Council of Canada

i II- 11lt1111 the Praise of Folly published with the kind permission of

1 I ) ~lIin Hooks Ltd

I I USTRtTlON Hans Holbein Bildnis des Schreibenden Erasmus vall

1lIa rwll Portrait of Erasmus ~Vriting Courtesy Oeffentliche Kunstsammshy

IlIlI g 13)sel Kunstmll seum Colorfolo Hans Hinz Allschwil Switzerland

Contents

Introduction 3

1 Erasmus His Life and Works 15

Brief Outline of His Life Compendium vitae 15

Catalogue of His Works Catalogus lucubrationum 21

2 Erasmus as Educator 51

The Antibarbarians Antibarbarorum libel 51

On Education for Children De pueris instituendis

On Good Manners De civilitate 1 01

65

3 Erasmus the Christian H umanist 123

The Ciceronian Dialogus Ciceronian us 123

The Handbook of the Christian Soldier Enchiridion militis christiani 138

4 Erasmus as Reformer and Critic of the Church 155

Praise of Folly Moriae encomium 155

Letter to Dorp Letter 337 169

The Luther Affair Letters 980 1033 1202 195

Julius Excluded from Heaven Dialogus Julius exclu5Us e coelis

Shipwreck Naufragium (from the Colloquies) 239

216

5 Erasmus and Politics 749

The Ed uGJtion oJ) Christian Prinn 11I lillilin lrlIiipisrilr io lilllli 49

194 Erasmus as a Reformer

my case to them with 11 1 1111 frankness with which you have pul theirs to me Make my llttl with them as far as you can and make them see that I foU nw Illi ~ course not in order to discredit those wh(J know nothing of thl ~ l I II 19 l1Llges but for the general good which will be available to anyon l W il l I cares to use it and will not be a burden on the man who prefer lu Jo without also that my attitude is that it anyone arises who can 01 will teach us something better I shall be tht first to tear up and tba ndon what I have written and subscribe to hi~ opinion

The Luther Affair

Martin Luther (1483-1546) first approached Erasmus in March 1518 with

I letter (Ep 933) that expressed his admiration for the Dutch scholar At that

Illne Luther was already the centre of a growing controversy though he

hld not yet been condemned officially Erasmus originally gave his qualishy

lamiddotd support to Luther although he objected to his tactics of confrontation

l uthers intransigence and Erasmus need to defend himself against those

who proclaimed that Erasmus laid the egg that Luther hatched led to an

pen breach between the two men in 1524 The following three letters

panning the years 1518-1521 show the gradual change in their relationshy

hi p

Ep 980 dating from 1518 and addressed to Luther himself is polite and

wll-meaning Ep 1033 of October 1519 also expresses support for the reformer

lit contains a warning note It is addressed to the archbishop of Mainz

Ihert of Brandenburg (1490- 1545) who was favourably disposed to the New

lrning and to whom Erasmus had previously dedicated his Ratio I Method rrue Theology outlining his approach to biblical studies The letter which

IS notintended for publication but found its way into the hands of a publisher

Ihrnugh the indiscretion of a friend contained some candid statements that

Iased Luthers supporters but outraged conservative Catholics Ep 1202

I May 1521 was written after Luthers appearance at the Diet of Worms

lid shows a shift in Erasmus perception that foreshadows later develop-

Iwnts Whereas he had previously seen Luther as an instrument of God

hn lugh which the church might be purged of its abuses he now regarded

1111 as a danger to the unity of the church Ep 1202 is addressed to Justus

IIIS (1498- 1555) at the time professor at the University of Erfurt a comshy

lIld Lutheran and later to become one of Luthers closest associates in

11 ilnberg

I hese extracts are from e W E 6 391-3 translated by RAB Mynors and DFs

III li nson annotated by Peter G Bietenholz e WE 7 110-16 translated by RAB

h 1Il1 rS annotated by Peter G Bietenholz and eWE 8 201-11 translated by

II Mynors annotated by Peter G Bietenholz

196 197 Erasmus as a Reformer

Ep 980

ERASMUS OF ROTTE RDAM T O MARTIN LUTHER

Greetings dearest brother in Christ Your letter gave me great pleasure it displayed the brilliance of your mind and breathed the spirit of a Christian No words of mine could describe the storm raised here by your books Even now it is impossible to root out from mens minds the most groundless suspicion that your work is written with assistance from me and that I am as they call it a standard~bearer of this new movement They supposed that this gave them an opening to suppress both humane studies - for which they have a burning hatred as likely to stand in the way of her majesty Queen Theology whom they value much more than they do Christ - and myself at the same time under the impression that I contribute something of importance towards this outburst of zeal In the whole business their weapons are clamour audacity subterfuge misinterpretation innuendo if I had not seen it with my own eyes - felt it rather - I would never have believed theologians could be such maniacs One would think it was some disastrous infection And yet this poisonous virus starting in a small circle spread to a larger number so tha t a great part of this university was carried away by the spreading contagion of this epidemic paranoia

I assured them that you were quite unknown to me that I had nnl yet read your books and could therefore neither disapprove nor llprove anything I merely told them not to make such an offensiw lIrroar in public before they had even read hat you have writteIl Inl t hat this was in their own interests since their judgment ough t tll Irry great weight I also advised them to consider whether it was 1

gppd plan to produce before a casual audience of laymen a distorted oIlnUnt of views which it would be more proper to refute in print 01

di tuis among specialists especially since all with one voice spei1~ l11 ghly of the authors manner of life I did no good at all they are SCI

hllnded by their own jaundiced indeed slanderous disputations Whr 1

I think how often we have agreed terms of peace and how often lice

~Ull1e trifling and rash suspicion they have stirred up fresh trou bh 1 And they regard themselves as theologians Theologians in this PII I I If tlw world are unpopular at court and this too they think is my fault 111 the bishops are cordially on my side These men have no confidc mt in the p rin ted word their hope of victory lies entirely in mal iciml

The Luther Affair

gossip This I despise fo r my conscience is d ear Their atti tude to you has softened somewhat They are afraid of my pen knowing their own record and my word I would paint them in their true colours as they deserve did not Christs teaching and Christs example point in quite another direction Fierce wild beasts are tamed by kindness these men are driven wild if you do anything for them

You have people in England who think well of what you write and they are in high place There are some here too the bishop of Liege among them who favour your views As for me I keep myself uncomshymitted so far as I can in hopes of being able to do more for the revival of good literature And I think one gets further by courtesy and moderation than by clamour That was how Christ brought the world under his sway that was how Paul did away with the Jewish law by reducing everything to allegory It is more expedient to protest against those who misuse the authority of bishops than against the bishops themselves and middot I think one should do the same with kings The universities are not so much to be despised as recalled to more serious studies Things which are of such wide acceptance that they cannot be torn out of mens minds all at once should be met with argument close-reasoned forcible argument rather than bare assertion Some peoples poisonous propagan da is better ignored than refuted Everyshywhere we must take pains to do and say nothing out of arrogance or faction for I think the spirit of Christ would have it so Meanwhile we must keep our minds above the corruption of anger or hatred or of ambition for it is this that lies in wait for us when our religious zeal is in full course

I am not instructing you to do this only to do what you do always 1have dipped into your commentary on the Psalms I like the look of it particularly and hope that it will be of great service There is a man in Antwerp the prior of the monastery there3 a genuine Christian who is most devoted to you and was once your pupil or so he says He is almost the only one among them all who preaches Christ the others as a rule preach the inventions of men or their own advantage I have written to Melanchthon4 May the Lord Jesus ever more richly endue you with his spirit every day for his own glory and the good of mankind Your letter was not at hand when I wrote this

Farewell from Louvain 30 May 151 9

196 197 Erasmus as a Reformer

Ep 980

ERASMUS OF ROTTE RDAM T O MARTIN LUTHER

Greetings dearest brother in Christ Your letter gave me great pleasure it displayed the brilliance of your mind and breathed the spirit of a Christian No words of mine could describe the storm raised here by your books Even now it is impossible to root out from mens minds the most groundless suspicion that your work is written with assistance from me and that I am as they call it a standard~bearer of this new movement They supposed that this gave them an opening to suppress both humane studies - for which they have a burning hatred as likely to stand in the way of her majesty Queen Theology whom they value much more than they do Christ - and myself at the same time under the impression that I contribute something of importance towards this outburst of zeal In the whole business their weapons are clamour audacity subterfuge misinterpretation innuendo if I had not seen it with my own eyes - felt it rather - I would never have believed theologians could be such maniacs One would think it was some disastrous infection And yet this poisonous virus starting in a small circle spread to a larger number so tha t a great part of this university was carried away by the spreading contagion of this epidemic paranoia

I assured them that you were quite unknown to me that I had nnl yet read your books and could therefore neither disapprove nor llprove anything I merely told them not to make such an offensiw lIrroar in public before they had even read hat you have writteIl Inl t hat this was in their own interests since their judgment ough t tll Irry great weight I also advised them to consider whether it was 1

gppd plan to produce before a casual audience of laymen a distorted oIlnUnt of views which it would be more proper to refute in print 01

di tuis among specialists especially since all with one voice spei1~ l11 ghly of the authors manner of life I did no good at all they are SCI

hllnded by their own jaundiced indeed slanderous disputations Whr 1

I think how often we have agreed terms of peace and how often lice

~Ull1e trifling and rash suspicion they have stirred up fresh trou bh 1 And they regard themselves as theologians Theologians in this PII I I If tlw world are unpopular at court and this too they think is my fault 111 the bishops are cordially on my side These men have no confidc mt in the p rin ted word their hope of victory lies entirely in mal iciml

The Luther Affair

gossip This I despise fo r my conscience is d ear Their atti tude to you has softened somewhat They are afraid of my pen knowing their own record and my word I would paint them in their true colours as they deserve did not Christs teaching and Christs example point in quite another direction Fierce wild beasts are tamed by kindness these men are driven wild if you do anything for them

You have people in England who think well of what you write and they are in high place There are some here too the bishop of Liege among them who favour your views As for me I keep myself uncomshymitted so far as I can in hopes of being able to do more for the revival of good literature And I think one gets further by courtesy and moderation than by clamour That was how Christ brought the world under his sway that was how Paul did away with the Jewish law by reducing everything to allegory It is more expedient to protest against those who misuse the authority of bishops than against the bishops themselves and middot I think one should do the same with kings The universities are not so much to be despised as recalled to more serious studies Things which are of such wide acceptance that they cannot be torn out of mens minds all at once should be met with argument close-reasoned forcible argument rather than bare assertion Some peoples poisonous propagan da is better ignored than refuted Everyshywhere we must take pains to do and say nothing out of arrogance or faction for I think the spirit of Christ would have it so Meanwhile we must keep our minds above the corruption of anger or hatred or of ambition for it is this that lies in wait for us when our religious zeal is in full course

I am not instructing you to do this only to do what you do always 1have dipped into your commentary on the Psalms I like the look of it particularly and hope that it will be of great service There is a man in Antwerp the prior of the monastery there3 a genuine Christian who is most devoted to you and was once your pupil or so he says He is almost the only one among them all who preaches Christ the others as a rule preach the inventions of men or their own advantage I have written to Melanchthon4 May the Lord Jesus ever more richly endue you with his spirit every day for his own glory and the good of mankind Your letter was not at hand when I wrote this

Farewell from Louvain 30 May 151 9