[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.
[A sketch of Thomas More, sent in reply to a request from Ulrich vonHutten, 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]tresis a correction, made in 1521, when this letter was printed a second time, forquatuor, 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 forseveritate.
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 theDict. 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 theUtopia(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. TheUtopia(i.e. Nowhere, Gk. [Greek: ou topos], sometimes calledNusquama) 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 entitledAula. 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.
[An extract from theAdagia, 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 toquae, quamvis maxima, non tamen.
[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.'
[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.
* * * * *
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 Créqui, 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 middayprandium. In the colloquyIchthyophagia, 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'.
* * * * *
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.
NOLA, a bell.NUBILOSUS, cloudy, foggy.
OBOLEO, to give forth a smell, betray oneself by smell.OECONOMUS, a steward.OPIPARUS, sumptuous.
PANOPLIA, an equipment. PELLICIUS, made of skins or furs. PETASO, pestle or shoulder of pork. PHILARGYRIA, love of money. PONTIFEX, a pope. PRAESUL, a dignitary of the Church. PRESBYTER, a priest. PRIDIANUS, of the day before. PROGYMNASMA, an exercise. PROSUS, straightforward (of style), i.e. prose. PROTRITUS, common. PULSATILIS, produced by beating.
REDORMISCO, to fall asleep again.RHETORIA, a trick of rhetoric.ROSACEUS, made from roses.
SACERDOTIUM, a benefice, living.SACRIFICOR, to celebrate the mass.SACRIFICUS, a priest.SCHOLIUM, a note.SCRUPULUS, a scruple, fraction of an ounce.SESQUIHORA, an hour and a half.SOLOECUS, faulty, uncouth.SORBITIUNCULA, a posset.SUBCAESIUS, greyish.SUBDITICIUS, spurious.SUBMURMURO, to murmur softly.SUBNIGER, blackish.SUBSANNO, to sneer.SUFFLAVUS, yellowish.SUFFUROR, to steal away.SUPPOSITITIUS, put in the place of another, not genuine.SYNCOPIS, a fainting fit.SYNGRAPHA, a promissory note, document.
TABELLIO, a messenger.TELONES, a customs officer.TELONICUS, belonging to a customs officer.TEMPORALIS, connected with the things of this life.TESSELLA, a pane.TURPILOQUIUM, immodest speech.TYPOGRAPHUS, a printer.
VICE-PRAEPOSITUS, a vice-provost.VIVERRA, a ferret.
XENIUM, a present.
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AGRIPPINA, Cologne.AMBIANI, Amiens.ANDRELACUM, Anderlecht.ANTUUERPIA, Antwerp.AQUISGRANUM, Aachen.ARGENTINA, ARGENTORATUM, Strasburg.ARTESIA, Artois.
BASILEA, Basel.BEDBURIUM, Bedburg.BELNA, Beaune.BONONIA, Bologna.BONNA, Bonn.BRISACUM, Breisach.
CALECIUM, Calais.CANTABRIGIA, Cambridge.CANTUARIA, Canterbury.CLARUS MONS, Clermont.COLONIA (AGRIPPINA), Cologne.CONFLUENTIA, Coblenz.CURTRACUM, Courtray.
DIVUS TRUDO, St. Trond.
EBORACUM, York.
FRIBURGUM BRISGOIAE, Freiburg-in-the-Breisgau.
GRIENWIKUM, Greenwich.
HELVETIA, Switzerland.HIEROSOLYMA, Jerusalem.
LEODIUM, Liège.LONDINUM, LONDONIUM, London.LOVANIUM, Louvain.LUTETIA (PARISIORUM), Paris.
MAGUNTIA, Mainz.MOSAE TRAIECTUM, Maastricht.
OXONIA, Oxford.
PARISII, Paris.POPARDIA, Boppard.
ROFFA, Rochester.
ROTERODAMUM, Rotterdam.
SANCTUM AUDOMARUM, St. Omer.SELESTADIUM, Schlettstadt.SPIRA, Speyer.
TENAE, Tirlemont.TONGRI, Tongres.TORNACUM, Tournay.TRAIECTUM, Utrecht.
VENETIAE, Venice.
WORMACIA, Worms.
End of Project Gutenberg's Selections from Erasmus, by Erasmus Roterodamus