Selections from Erasmus
by
Erasmus Roterodamus

Part 3 out of 4



pronus ad misericordiam: eum nunc magis exserit, 285
quando potest plus prodesse. Alios pecunia sublevat,
alios auctoritate tuetur, alios commendatione provehit:
quos alioqui iuvare non potest, his consilio
succurrit: nullum unquam a se tristem dimisit. Diceres
Morum esse publicum omnium inopum patronum. 290
Ingens lucrum sibi putat accessisse, si quem oppressum
sublevavit, si perplexum et impeditum explicuit,
si alienatum redegit in gratiam. Nemo lubentius collocat
beneficium, nemo minus exprobrat. Iam cum
tot nominibus sit felicissimus, et felicitatis comes fere 295
soleat esse iactantia, nullum adhuc mortalium mihi
videre contigit qui longius abesset ab hoc vitio.

Sed ad studiorum commemorationem redeo, quae
me Moro mihique Morum potissimum conciliarunt.
Primam aetatem carmine potissimum exercuit. Mox 300
diu luctatus est, ut prosam orationem redderet molliorem,
per omne scripti genus stilum exercens; qui
cuiusmodi sit, quid attinet commemorare? tibi praesertim
qui libros eius semper habeas in manibus.
Declamationibus praecipue delectatus est, et in his, 305
materiis paradoxis, quod in his acrior sit ingeniorum
exercitatio. Unde adolescens etiamnum dialogum moliebatur,
in quo Platonis communitatem ad uxores
usque defendit. Luciani Tyrannicidae respondit, quo
in argumento me voluit antagonistam habere; quo 310
certius periculum faceret ecquid profecisset in hoc
genere. Utopiam hoc consilio edidit, ut indicaret quibus
rebus fiat ut minus commode habeant respublicae;
sed Britannicam potissimum effinxit, quam habet penitus
perspectam cognitamque. Secundum librum prius 315
scripserat per otium; mox per occasionem primum
adiecit ex tempore. Atque hinc nonnulla dictionis
inaequalitas.

Vix alium reperias qui felicius dicat ex tempore;
adeo felici ingenio felix lingua subservit. Ingenium 320
praesens et ubique praevolans, memoria parata; quae
cum omnia habeat velut in numerato, prompte et
incontanter suggerit quicquid tempus aut res postulat.
In disputationibus nihil fingi potest acutius, adeo
ut summis etiam theologis saepe negotium facessat, in 325
ipsorum harena versans. Ioannes Coletus, vir acris
exactique iudicii, in familiaribus colloquiis subinde dicere
solet Britanniae non nisi unicum esse ingenium;
cum haec insula tot egregiis ingeniis floreat.

Verae pietatis non indiligens cultor est, etiam si ab 330
omni superstitione alienissimus. Habet suas horas,
quibus Deo litet precibus, non ex more, sed e pectore
depromptis. Cum amicis sic fabulatur de vita futuri
seculi, ut agnoscas illum ex animo loqui neque sine
optima spe. Ac talis Morus est etiam in aula. Et 335
postea sunt qui putent Christianos non inveniri nisi
in monasteriis.

Tales viros cordatissimus rex in familiam suam
atque adeo in cubiculum non solum admittit verum
etiam invitat; nec invitat modo verum etiam pertrahit. 340
Hos habet arbitros ac testes perpetuos vitae
suae, hos habet in consiliis, hos habet itinerum comites.
Ab his stipari gaudet potius quam luxu perditis
iuvenibus aut mulierculis, aut etiam torquatis Midis
aut insinceris officiis; quorum alius ad voluptates 345
ineptas avocet, alius ad tyrannidem inflammet, alius
ad expilandum populum novas technas suggerat. In
hac aula si vixisses, Huttene, sat scio rursum aliam
aulam describeres, et aulas odisse desineres. Quanquam
tu quoque cum eo principe vivis ut integriorem nec 350
optare possis; neque desunt qui rebus optimis faveant.
Sed quid ista paucitas ad tantum examen insignium
virorum, Montioii, Linacri, Pacaei, Coleti, Stocschleii,
Latimeri, Mori, Tunstalli, Clerici atque aliorum his
adsimilium? quorum quemcunque nominaveris, mundum 355
omnium virtutum ac disciplinarum semel dixeris.
Mihi vero spes est haudquaquam vulgaris fore ut
Albertus, unicum his temporibus nostrae Germaniae
ornamentum, et plures sui similes in suam allegat
familiam, et ceteris principibus gravi sit exemplo, ut 360
idem et ipsi suae quisque domi facere studeant.

Habes imaginem ad optimum exemplar a pessimo
artifice non optime delineatam. Ea tibi minus placebit,
si continget Morum nosse propius. Sed illud
tamen interim cavi, ne mihi possis impingere, quod 365
tibi minus paruerim, neve semper opprobres nimium
breves epistolas. Etiamsi haec nec mihi scribenti
visa est longior, nec tibi legenti, sat scio, prolixa videbitur:
id faciet Mori nostri suavitas. Bene vale.

Antuerpiae decimo Calendas Augusti Anno M.D.XIX. 370




XXVII. A DISHONEST LONDONER

Hoc nuper cuidam accidit apud Britannos, medico
mihi ut patria communi, ita et amicitia coniunctissimo.
Civem quendam Londoniensem, virum egregie nummatum
et habitum adprime probum, arte curaque sua
liberarat, non sine suo ipsius periculo; nam is pestilentissima 5
febre tenebatur. Et ut fit in periculis,
medico montes aureos fuerat pollicitus, si non gravaretur
sibi in tanto vitae discrimine dexter adesse, obtestatus
et amicitiam quae illi cum eo intercedebat. Quid
multis? Persuasit et iuveni et Germano. Adfuit, 10
nihil non fecit; revixit ille. Ubi verecunde de pecunia
medicus admonuerat, elusit nugator, negans de mercede
quicquam addubitandum, ceterum arcae nummariae
clavem penes uxorem esse: 'et nosti' inquit 'mulierum
ingenium. Nolo sentiat tantam pecuniae summam a 15
me datam.' Deinde post dies aliquot hominem obvium
forte factum, iam nitidum et nulla morbi vestigia prae
se ferentem, appellavit et nondum datae mercedis admonuit.
Ille constanter asseverare pecuniam suo iussu
ab uxore numeratam esse. Medicus negare factum. 20
Hic vide quam ansam bonus ille vir arripuerit. Cum
forte medicus eum Latine numero singulari appellasset,
ibi velut atroci lacessitus iniuria, 'Vah,' inquit 'homo
Germanus tuissas Anglum?' Moxque velut impos
animi, prae iracundia caput movens diraque minitans, 25
subduxit sese. Atque ad eum modum honestus ille
civis elusit, dignus profecto quem sua pestis repetat.

Risimus quidem fabulam, nec tamen sine dolore
propter indigne frustratum amicum, nec sine tam insignis
ingratitudinis admiratione. Referunt gratiam 30
leones in periculis adiuti; meminerunt officii dracones.
Homo homini, amicus amico sic merito, pro mercede
quae nulla satis digna rependi poterat, ludibrium reponit.
Atque haec in facti detestationem diximus, non
in gentis odium. Nec enim par est ex hoc uno nebulone 35
Britannos omnes aestimari.




XXVIII. THE CONDITION OF ENGLISH HOUSES

ERASMUS ROTERODAMUS FRANCISCO CARDINALIS EBORACENSIS MEDICO S.

Frequenter et admirari et dolere soleo, qui fiat ut
Britannia tot iam annis assidua pestilentia vexetur,
praesertim sudore letali, quod malum paene videtur
habere peculiare. Legimus civitatem a diutina pestilentia
liberatam, consilio philosophi mutatis aedificiis. 5
Aut me fallit animus, aut simili ratione liberari possit
Anglia. Primum quam coeli partem spectent fenestrae
ostiave nihil habent pensi: deinde sic fere constructa
sunt conclavia, ut nequaquam sint perflabilia, quod
inprimis admonet Galenus. Tum magnam parietis 10
partem habent vitreis tessellis pellucidam, quae sic
admittunt lumen ut ventos excludant, et tamen per
rimulas admittunt auram illam colatam, aliquanto pestilentiorem,
ibi diu quiescentem. Tum sola fere strata
sunt argilla, tum scirpis palustribus, qui subinde sic 15
renovantur, ut fundamentum maneat aliquoties annos viginti,
sub se fovens sputa, vomitus, proiectam cervisiam
et piscium reliquias, aliasque sordes non nominandas.
Hinc mutato coelo vapor quidam exhalatur, mea sententia
minime salubris humano corpori. 20

Adde quod Anglia non solum undique circumfusa
est mari, verum etiam multis in locis palustris est salsisque
fluminibus intersecta; ne quid dicam interim
de salsamentis, quibus vulgus mirum in modum delectatur.
Confiderem insulam fore multo salubriorem si 25
scirporum usus tolleretur; tum si sic exstruerentur
cubicula, ut duobus aut tribus lateribus paterent coelo;
fenestris omnibus vitreis ita confectis, ut totae possent
aperiri, totae claudi, et sic claudi ut non pateret per
hiantes rimas aditus ventis noxiis. Siquidem ut aliquando 30
salutiferum est admittere coelum, ita nonnunquam
salutiferum est excludere. Ridet vulgus si quis
offenditur coelo nubiloso. Ego et ante annos triginta,
si fueram ingressus cubiculum in quo mensibus aliquot
nemo versatus esset, ilico incipiebam febricitare. Conferret 35
huc, si vulgo parcior victus persuaderi posset ac
salsamentorum moderatior usus; tum si publica cura
demandaretur aedilibus, ut viae mundiores essent a
caeno, curarentur et ea quae civitati vicina essent.

Ridebis, scio, otium meum, qui his de rebus sollicitus 40
sim. Faveo regioni quae mihi tam diu praebuit hospitium;
et in qua libens finiam quod superest aevi, si liceat.
Non dubito quin tu haec pro tua prudentia rectius noris;
libuit tamen admonere, ut si meum iudicium cum
tuo consentiat, haec viris principibus persuadeas. Haec 45
enim olim regum cura consuevit esse. Scripsissem
perlibenter reverendissimo domino Cardinali; sed nec
otium erat nec argumentum, nec ignoro quibus ille
negotiis distringatur. Bene vale, vir humanissime;
cui debeo plurimum. 50




XXIX. FISHER'S STUDY AT ROCHESTER

ERASMUS ROTERODAMUS IOANNI EPISCOPO ROFFENSI S.D.

Reverende Praesul, maerens ac dolens hoc verbum
legi in epistola tua, 'Utinam vivum me reperiat liber,'
&c. Auxit famulus dolorem, qui nuntiavit affligi te
adversa valetudine. Nihil indulges isti corpusculo.
Suspicor magnam tuae valetudinis partem nasci ex 5
loco. Nunc enim medicum agam, si pateris. Mare
vicinum et lutum subinde maris decessu nudatum
coelum exasperat. Et habes bibliothecam undique
parietibus vitreis, qui per rimas transmittunt auram
subtilem et, ut medici loquuntur, colatam, pestilentem 10
raris et imbecillis corpusculis. Nec me fugit quam
assiduus sis in bibliotheca, quae tibi Paradisi loco
est. Ego si in tali loco commorer tres horas, aegrotem.
Magis conveniret cubiculum pavimento ligneo
et parietibus undique ligno contabulatis. Spirant 15
enim lateres et calx noxium quiddam. Scio pie
viventibus mortem non esse formidabilem, sed totius
ecclesiae refert talem episcopum esse superstitem in
tanta bonorum inopia.

Basileae. pridie nonas Septemb. Anno M.D.XXIIII. 20

* * * * *

NOTES

I

[An incident related in the _Ecclesiastes_ (see p.15[*]). Erasmus was
ordained in 1492 by this Bishop of Utrecht, who was a son of Philip the
Good, Duke of Burgundy; and perhaps heard this story at the time.]

[* At the end of LIFE OF ERASMUS. Transcriptor.]

1. FUERIT] Either (1) fut. perf. indic., for which _erit_ might equally
well stand; or (2) perf. subj. of qualified statement. Cf. _crediderim_,
'I am inclined to believe.'

5. PROFANA DICIONE ONUSTIS] At the time when Erasmus was ordained the
diocese of Utrecht had been torn for more than twenty years with civil
war; in the course of which the Bishop had at one time been a prisoner.

19. II QUIBUS, &c.] The officials to whom fees were payable by successful
candidates.

21. HIERONYMOS] Jerome (died 420) was one of the Latin Fathers of the
Church.




II

[A letter to a young merchant, Christian Northoff of Lubeck, who had come
to Paris to study. Erasmus was teaching him; and one of the modes of
instruction was a daily interchange of Latin letters between master and
pupil. The scene here depicted, of course with some licence of
exaggeration, is laid in the boarding-house where Erasmus was lodging;
the mistress of which was a woman of violent temper.]

TIT. S.D.] _salutem dicit_, the common form of greeting at the head of
letters; often occurring as S.P.D., salutem plurimam dicit.

1. MEL ATTICUM] An endearing mode of address.

2. _Ne_ with the imperative is ante-classical (Plaut. and Ter.), and
poetical.

5. PYXIDEM] One of the _munera_ of l. 64.

6. Pandora was the first woman created, according to Greek mythology. She
brought down from heaven a box, which she was forbidden to open; but in
curiosity she raised the lid, and at once all the evils to which mankind
is subject flew out and spread over the earth. Epimetheus was her
husband.

13. TOGATA ... PALLIATA] The classical distinction between two kinds of
Roman drama, according as the scene was laid in Roman or in Greek
surroundings. In the former the _toga_ was worn by the principal
characters; in the latter the Greek _pallium_.

14. PLANIPEDIA] Acted by a _planipes_, a kind of pantomime; so-called
because he used neither the _soccus_ of comedy nor the _cothurnus_ of
tragedy in his performances.

15. EPITASIS] A Greek technical term, for the crisis of a play.

23. CATASTROPHEN] Also a Greek technical term; the point at which a play
turns, leading to the conclusion.

26. OPTASSE] Dependent on a verb of statement understood from _laudo_. A
common idiom.

41. CAROLI REGIS] Charles VIII, King of France, 1483-98.

42. GENTIL GERSON] Evidently _gentil garcon_, 'fine gentleman.'

47. FLAMMEUM] _sc_. velum. A flame-coloured veil, properly worn by
brides.

53. SURDAE CECINISSE] A proverbial phrase of labouring without result;
'to waste one's breath.' 'Ortum videtur a ridiculo casu, quo saepe fit ut
hospes incidat in surdum, quem percontetur multa, ridentibus iis qui
surdum noverunt.' Erasmus, _Adagia_.

66. ALIENIS MANIBUS] by getting a friend to write his Latin letter for
him.

67. FRONTIS] 'Frons habita est antiquitus pudori sacra, et facies item.
Inde frontem aut faciem proverbio perfricuisse dicuntur, qui pudorem
omnem dedidicerunt, velut absterso manu a vultu pudore.' Erasmus,
_Adagia_.

70. Patroclus was the friend of Achilles. When Achilles refused to fight
against Troy, Patroclus borrowed his arms, and was killed in the battle.

71. QUID SIMILE?] _sc_. inter nos.




III

[This letter describes a journey made in the exceptionally cold winter of
1498-9, when Erasmus paid a visit to his friend, James Batt. Batt was
then at the castle of Tournehem, near Calais, acting as tutor to a young
nobleman, the son of Anne of Borsselen, Lady of Veere, near Middelburg;
to whose patronage he was generously trying to introduce Erasmus.]

TIT. GUILHELMO] This form of the name William represents the German
Wilhelm; Gulielmus is more akin to the Italian Guglielmo; Guielmus, which
also occurs, to the French Guillaume.

5. AEOLUM] The king of the winds, whom Juno had persuaded to oppose the
Trojan fleet under Aeneas as it sailed from Troy to Italy. See Verg.
_Aen_. 1. 50 seq.

14. VIDISSES] _sc_. si adfuisses.

31. Bellerophon, after having vanquished the Chimaera on Pegasus, wished
to fly with his winged steed to heaven. But Pegasus threw him off and
ascended alone, to become a constellation in the sky.

35-6. CREDAS ... ACCIDISSET] The slight irregularity of tense is easily
intelligible.

35. Lucian, _fl_. 160 A.D., was a Syrian citizen of the Roman Empire. His
writings, which are mostly satirical, are in Greek. One of them is
entitled _Vera Historia_.

57. ALLEVARE] 'to exaggerate,' opp. to _elevare_,'to disparage.'
_Allevare_ can also mean 'to understate', but the sequence of thought is
not so natural.

62. SCRIBEBAM] The epistolary imperfect, representing the time of the
action when the words would be read by the recipient of the letter.

PATRIAM] Holland.

64. CONVICTU] Evidently it had been proposed that Erasmus should come and
live with Lord Mountjoy in Paris as his tutor.




IV

[An extract from a letter to an Italian friend domiciled in France.
Erasmus was probably writing from Bedwell in Hertfordshire, where Sir
William Say, Lord Mountjoy's father-in-law, had a country-house. For the
practice which Erasmus playfully describes in the second paragraph, see
an additional note on p. 157.[*]]

[* See ADDITIONAL NOTES, first note, at the end of this text.
Transcriptor.]

4. INVITA MINERVA] 'refragante ingenio, repugnante natura, non favente
coelo.' Erasmus, _Adagia_. Minerva was the goddess of wisdom.

6. MERDAS] It has been well pointed out that the use of so coarse a word
is foreign to Erasmus, whose writings, though often free, are marked by a
delicacy unusual in his age; and that he is therefore probably alluding
to the compositions of his correspondent, who knew no such restrictions,
e.g. in his _Querela Parrhisiensis pavimenti_.

7. UT ... PEREAT] A wish.

9. ALATIS] Like Mercury, the messenger of the gods, who for his journeys
attached winged sandals to his feet.

10. Daedalus was a mythical artificer who constructed the labyrinth for
Minos, king of Crete; but being detained there against his will, he made
wings for himself and his son Icarus and flew away to Sicily.

21. Solon (c. 638-558), the Athenian lawgiver, is said to have bound the
people with an oath to observe his laws until he returned; and then to
have absented himself from Athens for ten years.

23. PROPEDIEM] Erasmus was expecting to return to Paris in the summer of
1499. His visit to Oxford was only undertaken to fill an interval during
which he was detained in England.




V

[This incident occurred in the autumn of 1499. Erasmus was staying on an
estate belonging to Lord Mountjoy at Greenwich, and was visited one day
by Thomas More with a friend Arnold from London. In the course of a walk
they came to Eltham Palace ('a castle situated between two parks,' as it
is described by two ambassadors in 1514), the splendid banqueting hall of
which is still standing, and there paid their respects to the royal
children with their tutor, John Skelton, the poet. Arthur, Prince of
Wales, was then absent with his father: but the young Prince Henry,
afterwards Henry VIII, received the friends gracefully. They stayed to
dine in the hall, but apparently not at the 'high table'. The narrative
is found in a Catalogue of Erasmus' writings composed in 1523.]

7. ANIMI CAUSA] Relaxation to the mind rather than exercise for the body
was the object of the walk.

12. NOVEM] Henry was little more than 8, having been born on 2 June 1491;
Margaret was born on 29 Nov. 1489 and was therefore not yet 11. The other
ages given are correct. Inaccuracy in such trifling matters need not
surprise us, seeing that Erasmus was writing more than twenty years after
the visit.

16. IACOBO] James IV of Scotland, who was killed at Flodden, 9 Sept.
1513.

17. Mary afterwards became Queen of France by her marriage with Louis XII
in 1514.

26. _vel_ here intensifies the word that follows. It is often so used
with superlatives.




VI

[A letter written to Lord Mountjoy, who had intended to join Erasmus in
Oxford, but had been prevented by a summons to attend in Westminster Hall
on 21 Nov. 1499, for the trial of the Earl of Warwick in connexion with
the rising of Perkin Warbeck.]

6. John Colet (c. 1466-1519) was now lecturing in Oxford. For his
influence on Erasmus see X; and Mr. Seebohm's _Oxford Reformers_.

Richard Charnock was Prior of St. Mary's College in Oxford; the
Augustinian house, in which Erasmus was living. It is now practically
demolished.

9. HORATIUS] _Ep_. 2. 1. 63:

Interdum vulgus rectum videt, est ubi peccat.

11. CUIUS] _sc_. vulgi.

12, 3. nostro illo ingressu] Erasmus' arrival at Oxford; which for some
reason seems to have been discouraging.

35. TUM ... TUM] A post-Augustan construction, for which Cicero uses
_cum ... tum_.




VII

[A letter written to describe a dinner-party in a College hall in Oxford;
possibly at Magdalen, to which Colet, who was presiding, is thought to
have belonged. With the exception of Charnock, the other guests mentioned
have not been identified. The letter is to be dated in Nov. 1499; Sixtin,
to whom it is addressed, was a Dutchman resident in Oxford. The
manuscript in which Erasmus pretended to have found this story of Cain
is, of course, fictitious.]

TIT. DOMINO] The title of a Bachelor of Arts.

2. CONVIVIO] 'Bene maiores nostri accubitionem epularem amicorum, quia
vitae coniunctionem haberet, convivium nominarunt, melius quam Graeci qui
hoc idem compotationem (symposium) vocant.' Cic. _Sen_. 13, 45.

6. Epicurus (342-270) was a Greek philosopher, who is traditionally but
wrongly regarded as having taught that pleasure is the end of life.

7. CONDITUM] _condi[*]tum_, not _condi[*]tum_.

[* i.e. long 'i', not short. Transcriptor.]

Pythagoras (sixth cent. B.C.) was one of the greatest Greek philosophers.

20, 1. LAEVUM LATUS CLAUSIMUS] The left side was regarded as more exposed
to attack than the right, which had the sword-arm. It was therefore a
compliment to place oneself to the left of a friend, as though to protect
him in case of need. Here nothing more is meant than that Erasmus sat on
the Theologian's left.

25. POCULENTUM] connected with the wine-cups.

36. ALIUD] _sc_. quam solebat.

37. MAIORQUE] cf. Verg. _Aen_. 6. 49-51, of the Sibyl:

maiorque videri,
Nec mortale sonans, adflata est numine quando
Iam propiore dei.'

53. LEGERE] When the narrator is an eyewitness, the present infinitive is
usual, even of past time.

80. RHOMPHAEA] a sword; the Septuagint word.

97. OMNIIUGA] This word is not classical; but _multiiugus_, 'manifold'
(literally, of many yoked together, cf. _biiugus_, _quadriiugus_), is
common.

110. QUID] 'for what purpose?'

129. ID GENUS] An adjectival accusative, equivalent to genitive of
quality; cf. virile secus.

133. CULMI] The stalks of Cain's fine crops.




VIII

[A letter to an English friend, Robert Fisher, who had been a pupil of
Erasmus in Paris in 1497 and had then gone to study law in Italy.]

4. IN EA...REGIONE] Italy was at this time regarded as being, and in fact
was, more advanced than the rest of Europe in classical learning and
refinement. In consequence to visit Italy was the ambition of every
scholar.

SIS] In classical Latin when two reasons are given, of which one is
denied and the other affirmed, the verb in the affirmation is usually in
the indicative.

26. Wm. Grocin (c. 1416-1519) was one of the first to teach Greek in
Oxford. He was now resident in London.

28. Thos. Linacre (c. 1460-1524) was an Oxford scholar who had recently
returned from Italy and was now in London. He afterwards became one of
the first physicians of his age.




IX

[A letter describing Erasmus' journey to Paris on his return from England
in 1500. On 27 Jan. he was at Dover, whence he crossed to Boulogne. He
went then to Tournehem Castle and after spending two nights with Batt set
out for Paris. He reached Amiens in the afternoon of 31 Jan., started on
with horses the same evening and slept at an unnamed village. On 1 Feb.
he passed to the west of Clermont and slept at St. Julien (?), reaching
St. Denis and Paris on 2 Feb.]

2. VIGILIAS] Writings, composed doubtless by the 'midnight oil'; in which
Erasmus rightly considered his wealth to lie.

7. LUSIMUS] 'met.'

8. CRETIZAVIMUS] 'We behaved like a Cretan.' Cf. the English saying 'to
give tit for tat'. Erasmus means that he gave the messenger full measure
of conversation in return.

9. ANGLICA FATA] when preparing to leave England Erasmus had L20 in his
pocket. But a law of Edward III, re-enacted by Henry VII, forbade the
exportation of silver and gold; and in consequence all but L2 was taken
from him in the Dover custom-house. This very real calamity he had of
course related to Batt at Tournehem.

13. AEOLUM] Cf. III. 5 n.

21. Mercury was the god of traders and thieves. Cf. Ovid. _Fasti_ 5. 673
seq.

QUOQUE] _quo[*]que_, not _quo[*]que_.

[* i.e. long 'o', not short. Transcriptor.]

26. DIVO IULIANO] There is no village of St. Julien which satisfies the
required conditions. Juilly (Iuliacum) between Dammartin and Meaux is
perhaps intended.

44. IUGULOS] _iugulum_, neuter, is the common form.

45. VICTIMAE] Predicative Dative of purpose.

51. _obolere_ is only used intransitively in post-Augustan Latin.

55. MECUM] _sc_. reputo.

CICERONIANUM] _Brut_. 80. 278.

60. QUASNAM] Money of what country or of what coinage. The common
difficulty of travellers was then increased by the variety of coinages in
circulation within the same country. A further trouble was that through
use or 'clipping' one coin might differ from another of the same value;
and 'light' coins were always liable to be weighed and refused.

65. POSTULATUM] A particular kind of florin. Mr. Shilleto suggests that
the name is connected with _pistolet_ (or _pistole_), a French coin of
this period.

67. SCUTATUM] A crown, Fr. ecu; in l. 136 one of these is specified.

74. ACCEDEBANT] At this point the narrative reverts to 31 Jan. It is
resumed again at l. 128.

88. CORONATI AUREI] gold crowns.

91. VACUAM] A ruse to pretend that the purse was hardly worth keeping.

96. RELIGIONI] 31 Jan. 1500 was a Friday; a day commonly observed by
fasting.

100. SIBILIS] 'in whispers.'

107-8. AD LAEVAM] _sc_. manum.

111. SICUT MEUS, &c.] Hor. _Sat_. l. 9. 1, 2.

118. HUC] Apparently not the house mentioned in l. 114.

119, 20. QUOD ... ACCEPTUS FUISSEM] _me acceptum fuisse_ would be more
usual.

144. CEDO] _ce[*]do_, not _ce[*]do_.

[* i.e. short 'e', not long. Transcriptor.]

151. VIRGINIA MATRIS PURGATIO] The Feast of the Purification; 2 Feb.

179, 80. QUID MULTA?] _sc_. dicam.

186. GALLICE] _sc_. loqui.

201. DONEC] lit. 'until'; here marks the final action to be taken, when
any suspicions on the part of their companions had been allayed.

INDUSIATI] Strictly 'wearing an under-garment' (_indusium_); so here
'partially dressed'.

217. HORA NOCTIS UNDECIMA] About 5 a.m.; according to the Roman
reckoning, in which the day began at sunrise.

219. QUID MULTIS?] _sc_. verbis opus est.

228. EXISTIMARET] An example of 'contamination', i.e. the combination,
through confusion of thought, of two constructions, either of which would
be correct. The idea in the robber's mind here could be expressed equally
well by 'nisi quod nos quam pecuniosissimi essemus', the subjunctive
indicating not a fact but only his opinion; or by 'nisi quod nos quam
pecuniosissimos esse existimabat', where the opinion is definitely
stated. By 'contamination' with _essemus_, _existimabat_ is put into the
subjunctive. Cf. Cic. _Off_. l. 13 'Rediit paulo post, quod se oblitum
nescio quid diceret'.

230. MINUSCULUM] 'Just too small a sum.'

233. DUODENARIOS] Coins worth 12 pence; douzains.

234. divum Dionysium] St. Denis, 4-1/2 miles from Paris: which seems to
have been regarded as practically the end of the journey.

235. LANCES] Cf. l. 60 n.

258. PONDERI] The weight used in the scales; not as in l. 256.

264. IN HIS] 'in these modern coins.'

268. INTELLEGERET] Cf. l. 228 n.

272. NIMIS QUAM] _quam_ strengthens _nimis_, as freq. in Plautus.

291. AD SACRUM] To mass, in the monastery opposite.




X

[A letter written from Paris in the winter of 1504, after Erasmus had
returned from two years' sojourn in the Netherlands. The influence
exerted upon him by Colet in Oxford five years before is clearly shown.]

14. PERSUASERIM] Cf. I. 1 n.

19. NIHIL DUM] 'nothing as yet.' Cf. _nondum_.

TUARUM COMMENTATIONUM] Colet had been lecturing on the Epistles of St.
Paul, at the time of Erasmus' visit to Oxford. Cf. XXIV. 308, 9.

23. The precise date of Colet's D.D. is not known. He was now
administering the Deanery of St. Paul's, though he did not actually
receive it until May 1505.

31. VELIS EQUISQUE] 'id est summa vi summoque studio.' Erasmus, _Adagia_.

41. AD ROMANOS] Cf. XVI. 183, 4. Never completed.

49. Origen (_fl_. 230 A.D.) was one of the Greek Fathers of the Church.
Erasmus was engaged on an edition of his works at the time of his death
in 1536.

50. _evolvere_, to unroll, is the classical word for opening and reading
a book; belonging to the days when books were rolls (_volumina_) of
papyrus.

54. LUCUBRATIUNCULAS] Erasmus published a volume with this title in 1503
or 1504. Its contents are sufficiently indicated here. One of them was
the _Enchiridion Militis Christiani_, which was a manual of practical
Christianity; its title, which may mean either 'dagger' or 'handbook',
being perhaps intentionally ambiguous.

68. Erasmus had recently published a Panegyric, which he had delivered at
Brussels on 6 Jan. 1504 in the presence of Philip, Archduke of Austria,
and son of the Emperor Maximilian, congratulating the Archduke on the
success of his recent journey to Spain; to the thrones of which he was,
through his wife, the heir apparent.

103. INSCRIPTUM] The _Adagia_ were dedicated to Mountjoy.

106. STUDIO] 'intentionally.'

124. Christopher Fisher was an English lawyer in the service of the Papal
Court: who was at this time resident in Paris.




XI

[This incident occurred in January 1506, when Erasmus was paying his
second visit to England. It is narrated in 1523, in the catalogue of
Erasmus' writings, from which V is taken.]

3. LOVANII] During the years 1502-4.

4. PHILELPHUS] Francesco Filelfo (1398-1481) an Italian humanist. Erasmus
was incited to attempt the translation by Filelfo's example, not by any
direct communication.

6. _tum_ reverts back to the _tum_ in l. 3, after the digression.

7. PALUDANUS] John Desmarais (?), Public Orator of Louvain University.

9, 10. MONTIBUS ... AUREIS] 'Proverbialis hyperbole de iis qui immensa
promittunt spesque amplissimas ostentant,' Erasmus. _Adagia_.

17. CANTUARIENSI] Warham. See XXII and XXIII.

25. REDIMUS] From Lambeth to London.

38, 9. NOSTRAE FAIRINAE] 'nostri gregis, nostrae conditionis.' Erasmus,
_Adagia_. _Farina_ is lit. 'meal': so 'substance'; so 'quality '.

41. BADIO] Josse Bade, a Paris printer.

42. The Iphigenia in Aulis is another play by Euripides.

44. UNAM] _sc_. fabulam.




XII

[A letter written in 1507 to the famous printer Aldus (1449-1515)
proposing a new edition of the translations from Euripides mentioned in
XI. Aldus assented and the book appeared in Dec. 1507.]

2. UTRIQUE] Greek and Latin.

7. VOLITATURUS] Cf. Ennius in Cic. _Tusc_. 1. 15. 34:

Nemo me lacrimis decoret nec funera fletu
Faxit. Cur? Volito vivu' per ora virum.

20. Paul of Aegina was a Greek writer on medicine, whose works were much
esteemed in the sixteenth century.

27. William Latimer (c. 1460-1545) was an Oxford scholar of great fame in
his own day. He had recently been studying in Italy.

28. Cuthbert Tunstall (1474-1559) was a scholar and lawyer, who after
discharging important embassies was made Bishop of London in 1522, and
Bishop of Durham in 1530. He also had been studying in Italy shortly
before this time.

33. Badius' edition had been published in Sept. 1506.

38, 9. Cf. Soph. _Ajax_ 362, 3:

[Greek: Euphaema phonei mae kakon kako didous
Akos, pleon to paema taes ataes tithei.]

41. MINUTIORIBUS ILLIS] The famous 'italic' type, first cast for Aldus,
and said to have been modelled on the handwriting of Politian, the
Italian humanist.

54. MERCURIUS] Cf. IX. 21 n.




XIII

[An extract from a letter written in 1531 to an inmate of a Venetian
monastery, St. Antonio in Castello. It describes an interview which
Erasmus had with Cardinal Grimani in 1509, just before leaving Rome to
return to England. Grimani, who was one of the most influential cardinals
at that time, resided in a palace built by Paul II--now the Palazzo di
Venezia--near the Church of St. Mark. On his death in 1523 he left his
valuable library to the monastery above-mentioned: whence it has passed
into the Library of St. Mark's at Venice.]

12. UT TUM ABHORREBAM] This clause is explanatory of _tandem_.

15. MUSCA] A figurative expression, meaning 'the slightest sign'. Cf. 'as
big as a bee's knee', of something small.

55. ERAM RELICTURUS] = _reliquissem_. An idiomatic use with the future
participle. Cf. Livy 1. 40 'Gravior ultor caedis, si superesset, rex
futurus erat'.




XIV

[An extract from a letter dated 29 Oct. 1511 to Colet, who was then
engaged on the foundation of St. Paul's School, and had asked Erasmus to
make inquiries at Cambridge for a suitable under-master.]

2. MAGISTROS] _sc_. artium.

19. NOS RELIQUIMUS] Matt. 19. 27.




XV

[An extract from a letter written to a French scholar in 1532 from
Freiburg. It describes Erasmus' meeting with Cardinal Canossa, who had
been sent to London by the Pope in June 1514 to endeavour for peace
between England and France. Andrew Ammonius, who arranged the meeting,
was an Italian who held the important post of Latin Secretary to Henry
VIII, and was endowed with a Canonry in St. Stephen's Palace at
Westminster, on the site of the present Houses of Parliament. He was an
intimate friend of Erasmus, and as Canon had an official residence in St.
Stephen's, on the banks of the Thames.]

1. IMMORTALITATI] By dedicating a book to him.

5. CULTU PROFANO] In the dress of a layman; instead of in his proper
ecclesiastical garb.

14. PERSUASUS] An ante-classical use.

16. _praesedit_] 'took precedence of me in sitting down'.

37. ITALI] There were many Italian merchants and agents resident in
London at this time.

58. PERTRAXERAT] Cf. XIII. 55 n.

62. DIRIMIT] Cuts the house off from neighbouring buildings, i.e.
surrounds it.

63. OFFICII CAUSA] As a polite attention.

65. REDIRE] to London.

67. APERIT ... FABULAE SCENAM] Draws the curtain, i.e. discloses the
facts.

70. SURDO] Cf. II. 53 n.




XVI

[When Erasmus became famous, a friend of his early days at Steyn,
Servatius Rogerus, who had now risen to be Prior, wrote to him
reproaching him for having abandoned the dress of his order and urging
him to return to the monastery. The letter reached Erasmus in July 1514,
when he was on his way to Basel and was staying a few days at Hammes
Castle, an important military post in the English dominion near Calais,
of which his old patron, Lord Mountjoy, was lieutenant. In reply Erasmus
wrote an 'apologia pro vita sua', giving an account of himself and
stating his reasons for the belief that he could make better use of his
talents if he remained free. It is an important and confidential
document; and Erasmus therefore never published it. But copies of it were
being circulated in manuscript many years before his death.]

17. Cornelius, of Woerden, to the north of Gouda, was a school-friend of
Erasmus. He had entered the monastery of Steyn and persuaded Erasmus to
follow his example.

24. QUARUM ISTIC NULLUS USUS] This must not be taken to mean that good
learning was unknown to the monastery; for Erasmus read a great deal in
the classics at Steyn; but that a monastery was not a suitable home for a
scholar.

40. ANNUM PROBATIONIS] The constitutions of the Augustinian Order
provided that a novice could not make his profession as a Canon until he
had completed his sixteenth year and had passed at least a year and a day
in probation.

74. CALCULO] Stone in the bladder.

84. CONFRATRES] Brother belonging to the same order.

100. CONCANONICOS] fellow-canons. The word is appropriate here as Steyn
was a house of Augustinian canons.

104. SOLONIS] Cf. IV. 21 n.

Pythagoras (cf. VII. 7 n.) travelled in Egypt and the East in search of
knowledge, and ultimately settled in Magna Graecia. By birth he was a
native of Samos.

Plato (c. 429-347) after the death of Socrates in 399 travelled in Egypt,
Sicily, and Magna Graecia.

120. HIC IPSE] Leo X, who was Pope 1513-21.

135. ELEEMOSYNARIO] almoner. Wolsey (c. 1475-1530) now held this post,
and was also Bishop of Lincoln.

136. REGINA] Catharine of Aragon.

145. SACERDOTIUM] The living of Aldington in Kent was given to Erasmus by
Warham in March 1512. It was worth L33 6_s_. 8_d_. yearly; but after a
few months Erasmus was allowed to resign, an annual pension of L20 being
charged on the living and paid to him.

175. Erasmus' _De Copia_, first published in July 1512, was a treatise
designed to assist the beginner in Latin composition by supplying him
with variety of words and abundance of phrases.

178. CASTIGAVI] 'I have produced a critical edition of.'

180. OBELIS] The critical marks [Symbols: obelus, obelus] used to denote
suspected passages in texts.

IUGULAVI] 'I have disposed of', lit. 'have cut their throats'.

201. CULTU CANONICORUM] The proper dress of an Augustinian canon
consisted of a 'tunica candida cum linea toga sub nigro pallio.
Tegumentum a scapulis impositum cervicem totumque contegit caput'.

215. THESAURARII FILIOS] Matthias and Mark Lauweryn, sons of the Archduke
Philip's Treasurer; who were studying at Bologna in 1507. Mark afterwards
became an intimate friend of Erasmus.

218. Julius II was Pope, 1503-13.

228. _admonitus sum_ is followed here first by a statement and then by a
piece of advice.

251. APUD MONACHAS ALIQUAS] Convents of nuns require a resident priest to
conduct their services. These posts, the work of which was light, were
usually given to monks advanced in years. Servatius himself in later life
retired in this way to a convent of Augustinian nuns near Leiden.

253. NIHIL MOROR] The technical formula of dismissal, either of persons
receiving an audience, or of an accused person when the charge against
him is withdrawn. Then, by transference, 'I do not detain to make
inquiries about,' 'I do not care about.'

268. PASCHA] Easter, 16 April 1514. In calculating dates the Romans
reckoned inclusively, so that the _tertius dies_ is Tuesday.




XVII

[An extract from a letter written in September 1514. On his way to Basel
Erasmus passed through Strasburg, where he was welcomed with enthusiasm,
especially by the Literary Society, of which James Wimpfeling, a native
of Schlettstadt, was head. After his departure the Society, through
Wimpfeling, wrote him a formal letter of welcome into Germany, to which
this letter is the reply.]

6. CANTHAROS] casks.

8. John Sapidus (a Latinized form of Witz) was headmaster of the Latin
school at Schlettstadt, which was one of the most important in South
Germany.

15. Beatus Rhenanus (1485-1547) became a most faithful friend to Erasmus,
working as his coadjutor in many of his publications.

44, 5. DE EODEM ... OLEO] A proverbial phrase for an uninterrupted
effort. For the combination cf. _oleum et operam perdere_, to lose time
(literally, light) and trouble.

46. _liceat_ represents a slight change of mental attitude as to the
condition being fulfilled.

62. CIRCUMFERUNT, &c.] The subjunctive would be more usual.




XVIII

[A letter written in 1516 at the close of a visit to England, when
Erasmus was preparing to settle in the Netherlands. Reuchlin, to whom it
is addressed, was the first Hebrew scholar in Europe at this time. The
testimony in the final paragraph to the progress of learning in England
is valuable, inasmuch as it is not written to an Englishman.]

3. ROFFENSIS] John Fisher (c. 1459-1535) had been a constant patron to
Erasmus. He had been confessor to the Lady Margaret Tudor, mother of
Henry VII; and through his influence she had used her wealth to endow
learning, founding Professorships of Divinity at Oxford and Cambridge,
and two colleges--Christ's in 1506 and St. John's which was opened in
1516--at Cambridge. Fisher became Bishop of Rochester and Chancellor of
Cambridge in 1504, and was President of Queens' College, Cambridge,
1505-8.

7. PRO MEA VIRILI] _sc_. parte.

12. VENANTUR] It was evidently considered quite decorous for a bishop to
hunt. Warham's abstinence from the chase, which is commended in XXII and
XXIII, was clearly exceptional.

28. CALAMORUM NILOTICORUM] pens made from the reeds that grow on the
banks of the Nile. Reed-pens from Cyprus were also in demand at this
time.

30. POSSIS] _Si ... sunt_ is not the protasis.

38. AD MEAM EPISTOLAM] in which Erasmus asked permission to dedicate his
edition of Jerome to the Pope. It was dated 21 May 1515 from London; and
Leo's reply 10 July 1515 from Rome.

44. UTERQUE CARDINALIS] Grimani and another, to whom Erasmus had written
on the same subject.

46. Pace (c. 1482-1536), a scholar and diplomatist, who succeeded Colet
as Dean of St. Paul's in 1519, and was now ambassador (oratorem gerere).

49. ET HIERONYMUM] as well as the New Testament. Jerome was dedicated to
Warham.

51. CAROLUS] The young prince Charles, who afterwards succeeded his
grandfather Ferdinand as king of Spain in 1517, and his grandfather
Maximilian as the Emperor Charles V in 1519. He was now governing the
Netherlands.

PRAEBENDAM] A canonry at Courtray.

55. ARCHIEPISCOPUS] Warham.

57. OMNIA SUA] Cf. XXIII. 24.

70. PHILIPPUM] Probably Melanchthon (1497-1560), who was Reuchlin's
great-nephew. Erasmus evidently wished that he should be sent to St.
John's.




XIX

[This letter, written to a familiar friend at Basel, describes Erasmus'
journey down the Rhine to the Netherlands in September 1518; after a few
months' residence in Basel, during which a beginning had been made with
the second edition of the New Testament.]

5. DISTENTUS] from _distineo_.

10. ILLI] _sc_. caupones.

13. Gallinarius was the parish-priest of Breisach and an old friend of
Erasmus.

15. MINORITAM] A name for a Franciscan; formed from the humble style
adopted by the Order, 'Fratres Minores.'

17. SCOTICAM] worthy of Scotus; cf. XXIV. 27 n.

22. HORAM ... DECIMAM] Erasmus is here using the modern, and not the
Roman reckoning; for which cf. IX. 217 n.

23. AD ILLORUM CLEPSYDRAS] _sc_. usque ad multam noctem: not being
allowed to rise from table, to go to bed.

30. SODALITATIS] The Literary Society over which Wimpfeling presided. Cf.
XVII introduction.

35. ANGLUS EQUUS] A horse given him by an English friend.

39. Maternus Hatten was precentor of the cathedral at Spires.

45. CAESARIS] The Emperor Maximilian.

53. PROFESSUS EST] taught, was professor.

71. PRAEFECTUS] Cf. XVI. 251 n.

73. OFFICIALIS] legal adviser, chancellor.

83. DIE DOMINICO] Sunday: Ital. Domani, Fr. Dimanche.

91. COMITEM NOVAE AQUILAE] Hermann, Count of Neuenahr (Germ. Aar, a
poetical name for an eagle).

99. HOMERUS] _Il_. 3. 214.

107. TOTIES OFFERT] Cf. XVI. 135-6.

123. HESIODUS] I have not been able to find this phrase in Hesiod.
Erasmus is perhaps unconsciously contaminating _Sc_. 149 with Hom. _Od_.
17. 322-3.

130. QUANTUS, &c.] Hor. _Epod_. 10. 7, 8.

148. PERIODUS] 'a round'; apparently the canons dined with one another in
turn.

193. VEL MANU CONTACTA] 'with a mere touch of my hand.'

211. CUBICULUM] Erasmus had a room in the College du Lis at Louvain.

226. HEBRAEUM] A Jewish physician.

268. LAURINUS] Cf. XVI. 215 n.

291. POETAE] Cf. Hor. _C_. 3. 24. 31-2.




XX

[A letter to Erasmus' old friend and patron.]

10. WINTONIENSEM] Richard Foxe (c. 1448-1528), a powerful statesman and
ecclesiastic. He founded Corpus Christi College at Oxford in 1516 to be
the home of the Renaissance.

13. EBORACENSIS] In 1518 Wolsey, who was now Archbishop of York and
Cardinal, founded six public Lectureships in Oxford, Theology, Humanity,
Rhetoric and Canon Law being among the subjects on which lectures were
provided.

14. SCHOLA] the University.

18. ROFFENSI] Cf. XVIII. 3 n.

28. TUAE CELSITUDINI] as we should say, 'your Lordship.'

32. CONFLICTANDUM] in repelling attacks made on his edition of the New
Testament.

34. HOMERICA] Cf. _Il_. 1. 194 seq.




XXI

[An account of an explosion of gunpowder which took place in Basel in
Sept. 1526. The correspondent to whom the letter is addressed was
Principal of Busleiden's Collegium trilingue at Louvain.]

1. AFRICA] An allusion to the proverb, 'Semper Africa novi aliquid
apportat.' Erasmus' Africa here is the city of Basel, where religious
innovations were already beginning.

21. GIGANTUM MOLES] When they tried to scale the heights of heaven by
piling Mt. Pelion on Mt. Ossa.

22. Salmoneus was a presumptuous Thessalian who invented thunder and
lightning of his own, and was killed by Jupiter as a punishment.

Ixion was the king of the Lapithae who was bound upon an ever-revolving
wheel as punishment for having affronted Juno.

26. FLORENTIAE] When the bellicose Pope Julius II was attacking Bologna
in the autumn of 1506, Erasmus took refuge at Florence.

28. TONABAT] Impersonal.

58. PULVERIS BOMBARDICI] 'gunpowder.'

62, 3. RIMAS ... SPECULATORIAS] 'loopholes.'

65. ESSET ONERI FERENDO] Dative of Purpose; cf. solvendo esse, to be
solvent.

80. LATERIS] _sc_. turris.

107. MEDIUM UNGUEM] The middle finger was regarded as 'the finger of
scorn'.

111. CORYBANTES] The priests of Cybele, the mother of the gods, whose
worship was conducted with a great noise of musical instruments.

114. NOSTRA TYMPANA] This playful protest indicates that there was a
growing fashion of celebrating festive occasions with a din of drums and
trumpets. It doubtless embodies also the dislike of the scholar for
anything that disturbed his quiet.

ANAPAESTIS] The rataplan and rat-tat of the drum are compared to the
metric feet, the anapaest ([Symbols: arsis, arsis, thesis] and the
pyrrhic ([Symbols: arsis, arsis]).

121. CELEBRITAS] abstract for concrete.

130. TONITRUI] This form occurs in the Vulgate; but in classical Latin
the singular follows the fourth declension.




XXII

[This and the following extract are to some extent coincident, but each
contributes something to the picture of Warham which the other has not.
Both were written in 1533, shortly after Warham's death, XXII in the
first book of the _Ecclesiastes_ (see p. 15[*]), which was begun some
time before it was published; XXIII as a new preface for an edition of
Jerome which was being printed in Paris.

[* At the end of LIFE OF ERASMUS. Transcriptor.]

William Warham (c. 1450-1532) was an eminent lawyer before he received
ecclesiastical preferment. He was Master of the Rolls 1494-1502, Bishop
of London 1501, Archbishop of Canterbury 1503, Lord Chancellor of England
1504-15, and Chancellor of Oxford University from 1506 until his death.
In the severance of the English Church from Rome he was an unwilling
agent to Henry VIII.]

8. IURIS UTRIUSQUE] The two branches of law, civil and canon (or church).

34. VENATUI] Cf. XVIII. 12 n.

48. A CENIS] See p. 157. [ADDITIONAL NOTES at the end of this text.
Transcriptor.]

66. IBI] in England.

79, 80. FUIT ... EST] The subjunctive would be grammatically regular, but
in both cases the indicative is used to express a fact independent of any
condition.

82. ESSET] The subjunctive expresses the ground of the refusal.

84. PRAESTARE] Cf. l. 100 and _oratorem gerere_, XVIII. 47.

93. CUI RESIGNARAM] John Thornton, Suffragan Bishop of Dover, who was
appointed to succeed Erasmus on 31 July 1512. Cf. XVI. 145 n.

94. _a suffragiis_] A suffragan. This form was common in late Latin for
the designation of an office; cf. ab epistolis, a secretary; a libellis,
a notary; a cubiculis, a poculis.

95. IUVENEM] Richard Masters, appointed in Nov. 1514. He was afterwards
involved in the affair of the 'Holy Maid of Kent' and was deprived in
1534.

101. METROPOLITANUS] The title of an archbishop as head of an
ecclesiastical province. All the bishops in his province are suffragans
to him.




XXIII

5. CONCINNATUS] i.e. compositus.

16. CHARTIS] 'playing-cards.' An Act of 1463 forbade the importation of
them into England; Foxe's statutes for C.C.C. Oxford (XX. 10 n.), dated
1517, prohibit the use 'chartarum pictarum (_cardas_ nuncupant)'.

24. COMMUNIONEM] Cf. XVIII. 57-8.

32. PRO MORE REGIONIS] The following extracts from Erasmus' writings show
the reputation of the English at this time in the matter of
entertainment: 'Angli ostentatores': 'miramur si quis videat frugalem
Anglum': 'asscribo Anglis lautas mensas et formam.'

33. VULGARIBUS] _sc_. cibis.

38. HOLOSERICIS] _sc_. vestibus. Similarly _byssinis ac damascenis_, l.
44.

40. CONVENTUM] This took place in July 1520, shortly after Henry's
meeting with Francis I at Ardres, known as the 'Field of the Cloth of
Gold '.

41. UNDECIM] Erasmus' memory for dates was uncertain.

42. EBORACENSIS] Wolsey.




XXIV

[A letter written in 1521 from Anderlecht, a suburb of Brussels, to
Jodocus Jonas, a member of the University of Erfurt, and afterwards one
of the followers of Luther. Jonas had asked for a sketch of the life of
Colet, who had died on 16 Sept. 1519; and Erasmus in reply sent this
letter, to convey some impression of the man to whom he felt himself to
owe so much. With it he coupled a slighter sketch of another friend, also
dead, in whose character he traced much the same features as he had
admired in Colet. Very little is known of Vitrarius beyond the
information contained in this letter; without which our knowledge of
Colet and also of Henry VIII--the 'divine young king', as he was often
called in these early years--would not be so full as it is.]

2. PAUCIS] _sc_. verbis.

17. ORDINIS FRANCISCANI] The order of friars founded by St. Francis of
Assisi (1182-1226).

18. ADOLESCENS INCIDERAT] Here and in l. 38 Erasmus is clearly thinking
of the circumstances under which he himself had embraced the monastic
life (see p. 8[*]). His strong bias against monasticism, which is very
evident throughout this piece, often makes him unjust in his
representations of it.

[* At the beginning of LIFE OF ERASMUS. Transcriptor.]

27. SCOTICAS ARGUTIAS] An unflattering allusion to the philosophy of John
Duns Scotus (the Scot), who was one of the leaders of mediaeval thought;
_fl_. 1300.

30. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (died 397) was--with Jerome, Leo, and
Gregory--one of the four great Doctors of the Latin Church. Cyprian (died
257) was also one of the Latin Fathers.

50. OFFENDICULO] Cf. 1 Cor. 8. 9.

55. UNGUES] Cf. Juv. 7. 232.

56. DEDISSES] A conditional clause; the condition being expressed by
placing the verb first, without _si_. Cf. Verg, _Aen_. 6. 31 'Partem
opere in tanto, sineret dolor, Icare, haberes'; or in English such forms
as 'Give him an inch, he will take an ell'.

68. DIVIDEBAT] Mr. Lupton, who has edited this letter, gives an example
of this chilling method of division and subdivision, from a sermon on the
Son of the Widow of Nain. 'Death is first divided into (1) the natural,
(2) the sinful, (3) the spiritual, (4) the eternal. Of these 1 is further
classified as (_a_) general, (_b_) dreadful, (_c_) fearful, (_d_)
terrible. 2 is next compared to 1 in respect of four common instruments
of natural death, that is to say, (_e_) the sword, (_f_) fire, (_g_)
missiles, (_h_) water; and so on, to the end. This is no exaggerated
specimen.'

81. Thomas of Aquino (1225-1274) was, like Duns Scotus, one of the
leading mediaeval philosophers.

Durandus (c. 1230-1296) was a French writer on canon law and liturgical
questions.

IURIS UTRIUSQUE] Cf. XXII. 8 n.

83. CENTONES] _cento_ is lit. a patchwork, such as a quilt. The term was
then applied to a kind of composition which came into fashion in later
classical times and was very popular in the Middle Ages. It was made by
stringing together detached lines and parts of lines from an author into
a complete whole with a definite subject. Such centos were often made
from Vergil and on Christian themes; but the term is probably used here
for collections of texts from the Bible or the Fathers.

118. Ghisbertus was town-physician of St. Omer and a friend of Erasmus.

119. UTRIUSQUE SCHOLAE] 'of each party, or class.'

122. VIRTUTES] The Vulgate word, which in the English Bible is regularly
translated 'mighty works'.

143. SODALI] As a safeguard against scandal the Franciscan rule
prescribed that no brother should go outside the monastery without
another brother as companion.

152. HILARI DATORE] Cf. 2 Cor. 9. 7.

154. Antony of Bergen, Abbot of St. Bertin's at St. Omer, was brother of
the Bishop of Cambray, Henry of Bergen, to whom Erasmus had been
secretary on leaving Steyn. This incident occurred in 1502, the only year
in which Erasmus was at St. Bertin's in Lent.

157. QUADRAGESIMAE] Lent, the first day of which was roughly the fortieth
before Easter. Cf. Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima Sundays;
where the calculation is again only approximate.

163. OMITTERES] _Si_ must be understood from _nisi faceres_.

165. IUBILAEO] The faithful were encouraged to make pilgrimage to Rome in
years of Jubilee, those that did so receiving the Jubilee Indulgence. The
offerings made in return for these became so fruitful a source of revenue
that successive Popes were tempted to reduce the interval at which
Jubilees recurred from a hundred years to fifty, then to thirty-three,
and finally Paul II (1464-1471) to twenty-five. Erasmus' statement may be
an incorrect attribution to Alexander VI (1493-1503) of the action of
Paul II in halving the period of fifty years; or it may be an allusion to
the custom of celebrating the Jubilee outside Rome in the second year. In
any case the Jubilee of 1500 is referred to here. The practice also grew
up of selling the Jubilee Indulgence away from Rome; and bishops used to
purchase the rights in their own dioceses for a fixed sum, afterwards
reimbursing themselves by collecting what they could through their own
agents.

169. SORTEM] principal; the sum given by the bishop for the right to sell
indulgences.

182. SIMONIACI] Cf. Acts 8. 18 seq. The sin of selling spiritual
privileges was called simony.

188. AFFIXA EST] to the doors of the principal church, or to some equally
public place.

195. EPISCOPUM MORINENSEM] The Bishop of Terouenne, whose title,
_Morinensis_, was derived from the coincidence of his diocese with the
territory of the Morini in classical times.

199. AURI SACRA FAMES] Cf. Verg. _Aen_. 3. 56, 7.

201. COLLEGERANT] _sc_. accusatores.

222. THYNNUM] a tunny-fish caught in their nets, i.e. a rich person from
whom gifts might be extracted.

231. GUARDIANUM] Warden; the regular title of the head of a Franciscan
community.

244. HUNC] The new warden; _qui cupiebant_ being his former companions.

246. SUBOLESCERET] 'grew up'; i.e. came to be.

249. VIRGINUM] Cf. XVI. 251 n.

261. GEMMEUM] Probably an allusion to the resemblance between _Vitrarius_
and _Vitrum_. The vernacular form of his name is not known. Mr. Lupton
conjectures Vitrier; or perhaps it was Vitre.

269. STOICUM] used to denote a morose fellow. The Stoics were a school of
Greek philosophers, founded by Zeno in the third century B.C. They
practised great austerity of life.

275. PATER] Sir Henry Colet, Kt., was Lord Mayor of London in 1486 and
again in 1495.

285. SCHOLASTICAE] of the 'schoolmen', Scotus, Aquinas, &c., who taught
philosophy in the mediaeval universities.

287. SEPTEM ARTIUM] A course of education introduced in the sixth
century. It was divided into the _trivium_, grammar, logic, and rhetoric;
and the _quadrivium_, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy.

290. Plotinus (died 262 A.D.) was the Founder of Neo-Platonism; which he
taught in Rome.

296. DIONYSIO] The reference here is to some philosophical writings,
which in the Middle Ages were regarded as the work of Dionysius the
Areopagite, who is mentioned in Acts 17. 34 as a pupil of St. Paul. They
are now attributed to an unknown writer in the fifth century A.D.

303. Dante (1265-1321) and Petrarch (1304-1374) are evidently mentioned
here as masters of Italian poetry, not for their work as forerunners of
the Renaissance. Mr. Lupton conjectures with probability that Gower (c.
1325-1408) and Chaucer (c. 1340-1400) are the English poets intended.

309. ENARRAVIT] 'lectured on'.

316. CODICIBUS] manuscripts or printed copies of the Epistles to refer
to.

319. DOCTORIS TITULUS] Cf. X. 23 n.

324. COLLEGIO] Chapter.

337. SYMBOLUM FIDEI] the Creed.

366. Erasmus describes a visit with Colet to Canterbury in the
_Peregrinatio religionis ergo_, one of the _Colloquia_.

383. St. Paul's School was founded in 1510-1.

389. PRIMUS INGRESSUS] The portion of the room first entered.

CATECHUMENOS] A Greek word denoting candidates for admission to the
Christian religion, who were undergoing instruction before baptism: here,
pupils just entered.

399. REM DIVINAM] Divine service, with the mass; cf. ll. 551 seq.

437. PARADOXIS] 'unusual.'

438. PROCELLIS] Cf. ll. 597 seq.

449. PUERO] Probably here 'a servant'.

459, 60. SUMPTO ... PUSILLO] This substantival use of a neuter adjective
is confined in classical Latin to the nominative and accusative cases.

474. ALTERAM ... PARTEM] _sc_. epistolae; i.e. the sketch of Colet.

489. HUNC] The person intended here must be not Scotus but Aquinas, who
is the author of the _Catena Aurea_, a continuous commentary on the
Gospels. This violation of the ordinary rule that _hic_ refers to the
nearer of two persons mentioned is necessitated by the appropriation of
_ille_ to Colet.

493. AFFECTUUM] Mr. Lupton translates 'unction'.

511. DECIDIT] 'settled,' 'left.'

516. APUD ITALOS] Mr. Seebohm, _Oxford Reformers_, 3rd ed. p. 22,
conjectures that these Italian monks may have been Savonarola and his
companions.

519. GERMANOS] Mr. Lupton conjectures that the Order of the Brethren of
the Common Life, founded at Deventer by Gerard Groot in 1384, may be here
intended. If this is correct, there is significance in the use of
_residerent_, marking Colet's opinion, instead of _resident_; which would
make the statement Erasmus' own: for Erasmus had been for two years at a
school kept by the Brethren in Hertogenbosch and had not a high opinion
of them.

542. COLLEGIA] Colet's censure of the colleges in the English
universities must apply to the older institutions founded before the
Renaissance. Erasmus is probably recalling here some utterance of the
days before the foundation of Christ's (1506) and St. John's (1516) at
Cambridge, and Corpus Christi (1516) at Oxford.

544. SCHOLIS PUBLICIS] Mr. Lupton rightly interprets this of the
'schools' at the universities, in which public lectures were given; and
shows that as the lecturer had to hire the 'school' for his lecture, the
competition for fees would necessarily be keen. Cf. also l. 576. The term
is also used at this period for a school maintained publicly by a town.

548. UT CONFESSIONEM] Cf. ll. 133 seq.

563. ANSIS OMNIBUS] Like a vessel made with handles on all sides, i.e.
more than are necessary: 'at all points.'

570, 1. AD TERNIONES] into groups of three, in a _Breviloquium dictorum
Christi_. Mr. Lupton instances the three words to Mary Magdalene in John
20. 15-7. Cf. also l. 619.

574. CULTUM ECCLESIASTICUM] public celebration of Divine Service.

598. EPISCOPO] Rich. Fitzjames, Bp. of London, 1506-22.

605. COLLEGII] The canons and other ecclesiastical officers together
constituted St. Paul's a 'collegiate church'.

606. QUIRITABANTUR] 'lamented.' The verb is commonly active; but the
deponent form is cited by a grammarian from Varro.

608. ORIENTATE MONASTERIUM] Mr. Lupton shows that St. Paul's was in old
times a monastery; and suggests that Erasmus, whose information probably
came from Colet, was thinking of a king of the East Saxons, who took the
religious habit there. The name Eastminster seems, however, to have been
applied not to St. Paul's, but to an abbey near the Tower.

615. CANTUARIENSEM] Warham: see XXII and XXIII.

619. ILLUD EX EVANGELIO] John 21. 15-7.

635. PACEM] Cf. Cic. _Fam_. 6. 6. 5.

636. ID ... TEMPORIS] This attack on Colet may be dated in Lent of either
1512 or 1513; for in each year preparations were being made for a war
with France. It is not clear what interval of time is meant by Erasmus to
have elapsed between this and the attack mentioned in ll. 655 seq. about
Easter 1513.

637. MINORITAE DUO] Edmund Birkhead, Bishop of St. Asaph 15 April
1513--died April 1518)--cf. l. 687--and Henry Standish who succeeded him
in the see.

639. IN POETAS] because Colet allowed classical Latin poetry to be read
in his new school. The Church had always discouraged the study of the
poets of antiquity, on the ground of the immoral character of many of
their writings.

656. PASCHA] Easter, 27 March 1513. This incident can only be placed in
1513: because the expedition of 1512 started in the summer.

657. PARASCEVES] Good Friday: Gk. [Greek: Paraskeuae], the day of
preparation before the sabbath of the Passover.

666. CONSISTERET] _consistere_ means 'to take a stand with a person', 'to
agree.' This impersonal use is not classical.

669. IULIOS] As Mr. Lupton points out, there can hardly fail to be an
allusion here, not only to Julius Caesar, but also to the warlike Pope
Julius II (1503-1513); whom Erasmus had seen entering Bologna as a
conqueror in 1506 (cf. XXI. 26 n.). Similarly the name Alexander suggests
not only 'the great Emathian conqueror', but Pope Alexander VI (l. 165
n.).

672. VELUT AD BUBONEM] _sc_. aves. Owls are frequently teased by flocks
of small birds.

696. PRAEBIBIT] A compliment in days when poisoned cups were not unknown.

703. LUPI ... HIANTES] 'Dicebatur si quis re multum sperata multumque
appetita frustratus discederet. Aiunt enim lupum praedae inhiantem rictu
late diducto accurrere: qua si frustretur, obambulare hiantem.' Erasmus,
_Adagia_.

715. IN EO GENERE] As a friar.

723. IN CANONEM] into the catalogue of martyrs and saints, i.e. to
canonize.




XXV

[An anecdote of Colet related in a letter written in 1523 to give a
sketch of a friend lately dead. The date of the incident is uncertain;
but Erasmus' description of himself in l. 22 as 'hominem infelicissimum'
points rather to the year 1506, when he was still struggling and had not
as yet obtained the leisure he desired for his studies.]

4. DE LANA CAPRINA] Cf. Hor. _Ep_. 1. 18. 15, 6:

Alter rixatur de lana saepe caprina,
Propugnat nugis armatus.

'a (tali) eventu natum apparet, contentiose decertantibus duobus utrum
lanas haberet caper an setas.' Erasmus, _Adagia_.

DE ASINI ... UMBRA] 'de re nihili.' Erasmus, _Adagia_.

7. GUILHELMUM] Warham; see XXII and XXIII.

9. ENOHIRIDIO] Cf. X. 54 n.




XXVI

[A sketch of Thomas More, sent in reply to a request from Ulrich von
Hutten, the celebrated German knight; written in 1519.

Thomas More (1477 or 1478-1535) was the son of Sir John More (c.
1453-1530), knight, and afterwards Judge of the King's Bench. He was a
friend of Erasmus' earliest months in England (see V). Henry VII attached
him to his court and sent him on many embassies, and he afterwards filled
numerous offices; being Under-sheriff of London, Privy Councillor,
Treasurer of the Exchequer, Speaker of the House of Commons, and in 1529
Lord Chancellor in succession to Wolsey. This office he resigned in 1532,
feeling himself in opposition to Henry's ecclesiastical policy; and this
opposition cost him his life.

He married in 1505 Jane Colt; and shortly after her death, probably in
1511, Alice Middleton.]

29. Apelles was a Greek painter of the fourth century B.C. Alexander the
Great thought so highly of him that he would allow no one else to paint
his portrait.

30. FULVII RUTUBAEQUE] The names of gladiators (cf. Hor. _Sat_. 2. 7.
96); who are taken here as types of the unskilled.

35. LEGATIO] i.e. if either More or Hutten should be sent on an embassy,
which would bring them together.

66. OVIDIUS] _A._ _A_. l. 509 seqq.

67, 8. E CULMO] 'e culmo perspicitur spica demessa: etiam in sene apparet
cuiusmodi fuerit iuvenis.' Erasmus, _Adagia_.

81. MOS] The custom of the loving-cup.

120. HESIODO] _Op_. 713:

[Greek: Maede poluxeinon maed' axeinon kaleesthai.]

141. 'Though he was young of years, yet would he at Christmastide
suddenly sometimes step in among the players, and, never studying for the
matter, make a part of his own there presently among them, which made the
lookers-on more sport than all the players beside.' _Life of More_, by W.
Roper, his son-in-law.

145. MORIAS ENCOMIUM] The Praise of Folly; see p. 11. [in the middle of
LIFE OF ERASMUS, paragraph starting with 'As he rode hastily'.
Transcriptor.]

146. CAMELUS SALTAREM] 'Ubi quis indecore quippiam facere conatur,
camelum saltare dicebant: veluti si quis natura severus ac tetricus
affectet elegans ac festivus videri, naturae genioque suo vim faciens.'
Erasmus, _Adagia_.

154. Democritus of Abdera (c. 460-361), 'the laughing philosopher,' who
is famed for having maintained his cheerfulness in spite of being blind.

182. ABSOLVI] to be finished, fully trained.

191. Augustine (died 430), Bishop of Hippo, was one of the Latin Fathers
of the Church.

192. PROFESSUS EST] 'lectured on.'

209. PUELLAE TRES] _tres_ is a correction, made in 1521, when this letter
was printed a second time, for _quatuor_, which was doubtless a mistake.
The names of the children are not added till 1529, in a third edition.
Margaret (1505-1544) married about 1520 William Roper, who wrote a Life
of More. She was her father's favourite and friend, the ties between them
being very close. She corresponded in Latin with Erasmus; and one of her
letters to him is extant.

The other children, born in 1506, 1507, and 1509, were less
distinguished. The name of Aloysia is usually given as Elizabeth. Erasmus
perhaps made a confusion with the name of More's second wife.

218. SEVERITUDINE] ante- and post-classical for _severitate_.

222. REM] 'household business.'

233. PATER IAM ALTERAM] This passage implies that Sir John More was
already married to his third wife; and in the edition of 1521 Erasmus
speaks of a 'tertia noverca'. Only three wives are mentioned in the
_Dict. of National Biography_. Erasmus is perhaps in error.

240. ADVOCATIONIBUS] 'his practice as a barrister.'

250. DIE IOVIS] Thursday; Fr. Jeudi.

255. DRACHMAS] shillings.

261. LEGATIONEM] On one of these, in 1515, he wrote the _Utopia_ (l.
312).

276, 7. FELICES RES PUBLICAS] An exclamatory accusative.

294. EXPROBRAT] _sc_. beneficium; i.e. casts up against a man a benefit
conferred.

308. COMMUNITATEM] 'communism.'

310. ANTAGONISTAM] Erasmus accepted this challenge; and both wrote
declamations in reply to Lucian.

312. The _Utopia_ (i.e. Nowhere, Gk. [Greek: ou topos], sometimes called
_Nusquama_) is a description, written in Latin, of an ideal commonwealth;
in which More develops a number of very novel political ideas. The first
book, which was written last, deals with the condition of England in his
day; the description of Utopia occupying the second.

322. IN NUMERATO] 'in readiness.'

344. TORQUATIS] an epithet regularly used by Erasmus for the inhabitants
of courts with their chains of office (torques) round their necks; cf.
XVII. 61-2.

Midas was a king of Phrygia renowned for his riches.

345. OFFICIIS] officials. This concrete use is late Latin.

348, 9. ALIAM AULAM] Hutten had written a satire entitled _Aula_. He was
now living in the household of Albert of Brandenburg, Archbishop of
Mainz.

353. STOCSCHLEII] John Stokesley (c. 1475-1539), ecclesiastic and
diplomatist. He was now chaplain to the king, and in 1530 was made Bishop
of London in succession to Tunstall.

354. CLERICI] John Clerk (died 1541), ecclesiastic and diplomatist. He
was now chaplain to Wolsey; and subsequently became Dean of Windsor and
in 1523 Bp. of Bath and Wells.




XXVII

[An extract from the _Adagia_, no. 796. The Dutch physician referred to
is perhaps a Dr. Bont whom Erasmus knew at Cambridge in 1511 and who died
there of the plague in 1513.]

9, 10. QUID MULTIS] Cf. IX. 219 n.

10. GERMANO] Their standards of honesty were then high, and they were in
consequence apt to be imposed upon. England on the contrary was already
'perfide Albion'; as Erasmus writes in a letter of 1521, 'Britannia vulgo
male audit, quoties de fide agitur'.

24. _tuissare_: to address as 'thou'. Cf. Fr. tutoyer, Germ. dutzen.

33. QUAE NULLA] a condensed expression equivalent to _quae, quamvis
maxima, non tamen_.




XXVIII

[A letter written to John Francis, physician to Wolsey, and one of the
promoters of the College of Physicians in 1518. The date of the letter is
uncertain.]

3. SUDORE LETALI] The sweating-sickness. Ammonius (see XV introd.) fell a
victim to it in 1517.

8. HABENT] _sc_. Angli.

10. Claudius Galenus (130-200) was a Greek physician, who practised at
Rome in the reign of Marcus Aurelius.

13. COLATAM] a medical technical term (cf. XXIX. 10); lit. 'filtered'. So
here 'fine draughts' of air coming in round the small window panes.
Erasmus' idea seems to have been that when the winds were blowing, the
air would be fresh and the windows should be opened; but that when the
air was still, it was likely to be unwholesome and should be kept out.

24. SALSAMENTIS] Much of the leprosy which was prevalent at the time has
been ascribed to the consumption of salt fish.

35. CONFERRET] 'It would be useful'; cf. _conducere_.

40. OTIUM MEUM] 'at my spending my time in this way.'




XXIX

[This extract from a letter written to Fisher in 1524 contributes
something to the description of English houses given in XXVIII. Erasmus
had sent one of his servants to England, earlier in the summer, with
letters announcing that he was composing a book against Luther--as his
friends had frequently urged him to do.]

6. MARE] Erasmus had visited Fisher at Rochester in 1516 and clearly had
vivid recollections of the mud-flats of the Medway.

9. PARIETIBUS VITREIS] i.e. with continuous windows, as in the stern
galleries of old sailing ships.

* * * * *

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

P. 23. IV. 13. EST PRAETEREA MOS] The reality of this practice in England
may be illustrated from Erasmus' _Christiani matrimonii Institutio_,
1526, where he describes unseemly wedding festivities. 'Mox a prandio
lascivae saltationes usque ad cenam, in quibus tenera puella non potest
cuiquam recusare, sed patet domus civitati. Cogitur ibi misera virgo cum
ebriis, cum scelerosis ... iungere dextram, apud Britannos etiam oscula'.
The Lady of Crequi, between Amiens and Montdidier, welcoming Wolsey's
gentleman, George Cavendish, in July 1527, said: 'Forasmuch as ye be an
Englishman, whose custom is in your country to kiss all ladies and
gentlewomen without offence, and although it be not so here in this
realm, yet will I be so bold to kiss you, and so shall all my maidens'.
So, too, Cavendish writes of Wolsey's meeting with the Countess of
Shrewsbury at Sheffield Park, after his fall: 'Whom my lord kissed
bareheaded, and all her gentlewomen.'

P. 85, XXII. 48, A CENIS] Cf. XXIII. 34-5, XXIV. 342. It was a recognized
form of abstinence, to take no food after the midday _prandium_. In the
colloquy _Ichthyophagia_, first printed in Feb. 1526, Erasmus states that
in England supper was prohibited by custom on alternate days in Lent and
on Fridays throughout the year (cf. IX. 96). Of the Emperor Ferdinand,
when he visited Nuremberg in 1540, an observer wrote, 'Sobrius rex cena
abstinuit'; and Busbecq records that it was his master's practice to work
in the afternoon, 'donec cenae tempus sit--cenae, dico, non suae sed
consiliariorum; nam ipse perpetuo cena abstinet, neque amplius quam semel
die cibum sumit, et quidem parce'.

* * * * *

VOCABULARY

ABBAS, an abbot.
ACCUBITUS, a reclining (at meals).
ADAMUSSIM, precisely (AMUSSIS, a carpenter's rule).
ADLUBESCO, to be pleasing to.
AGRICOLATIO, agriculture.
AMARULENTUS, bitter.
ANATHEMA, curse of excommunication.
ANNOTAMENTUM, a note.
ANNOTO, to jot down.
ANTISTES, a prelate; a master.
ARCHIDIACONUS, an archdeacon.
ARCHIEPISCOPUS, an archbishop.
ATTEMPERO, to fit, adjust.
AVOCAMENTUM, a diversion, relaxation.

BENEDICUS, speaking friendly words.
BREVE, a Papal letter, Brief.
BYSSINUS, made of linen.

CAECUTIENTIA, blindness.
CANONICUS, a canon, of a cathedral, secular; of a monastery, regular.
CANTOR, a precentor.
CAPITULUM, a chapter (of a cathedral).
CARBUNCULUS, a carbuncle.
CARPA, a carp.
CAULETUM, a cabbage-garden.
CAUPONARIA, a female inn-keeper.
CEREVISIA, CERVISIA, beer.
CERVISIARIUS, made of beer.
CHALCOGRAPHUS, a printer.
CHIROTHECA, a gauntlet.
CHIRURGUS, a surgeon.
CINERICIUS, similar to ashes.
COLLAUDO, to praise highly.
COLLUCTOR, to contend with.
COLO, to strain, filter.
COMES, a count, an earl.
COMMISSARIUS, an agent.
CONCINNO, to arrange.
CONFABULO, a companion.
CONFOVEO, to warm, cherish.
CONSARCINO, to stitch together.
CONSILESCO, to keep silence.
CONSPURCATUS, polluted.
CONTIONOR, to preach.
CUCULLUS, a cowl.

DAMASCENUS, made of damask.
DECANUS, a dean.
DELINEARE, to sketch out.
DERODO, to gnaw away.
DIACONUS, a deacon.
DIATRIBA, a school.
DICTERIUM, a witticism.
DISSUO, to unstitch, sever.

ECCLESIA, a church.
ELUCESCO, to shine forth.
EMACULATUS, clear from faults, corrected.
EPISCOPUS, a bishop.
ESUS, an eating.
EXCUDO, to print.
EXOTICUS, foreign.

FEBRICITO, to be ill of a fever.
FERMENTO, to leaven.
FLATILIS, produced by blowing.
FLAVOR, yellowness.
FORMULAE, type.

GLAUCOMA, a mist before the eyes.
GRAECANICUS, of Greek origin, Greek.
GRAECITAS, the Greek language.

HAERETICUS, a heretic.
HEBDOMADA, a week.
HOLOSERICUS, made entirely of silk.
HORTENSIS, belonging to a garden.
HYPOCAUSTUM, a room heated from below with a stove.
HYPODIACONUS, a subdeacon.
HYPODIDASCALUS, an under-master.

IACTIO, a throwing.
ILLECTO, to entice, attract.
IMPOS, without control over.
INCENATUS, without having supped.
INCONTANTER, without hesitating.
INQUINAMENTUM, a defilement.
INTERULA, an inner garment.
INVITABULUM, a place that invites.

LACTARIUM, milk food.
LIBRIPENS, a man in charge of scales.
LOCATOR, a jobmaster.
LONGAEVITAS, long life.
LUSITO, to play, sport.

MACTATOR, a slaughterer.
MAGNAS, a great man, magnate.
MALAGMA, a poultice.
MONACHUS, a monk.
MONOCHORDON, a musical instrument with one string.
MORDACITAS, biting sarcasm.
MORIONES, jesters.
MULTILOQUUS, talkative.


 


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