Erasmus, the Messenger, and More

Erasmus to Thomas More

Epistle 103

cannot find any malediction sufficiently strong to hurl at the head of the messenger, to whose carelessness or perfidy I attribute it that I am defrauded of that letter which I so certainly expected from my More. For I cannot and ought not to suppose for a moment, that the fault is yours, though we were a little vehement in our expostulations in that former letter; but we are not afraid of our freedom giving offence to you, who are not ignorant of that Spartan fashion of fighting at close quarters.

Jesting aside, I do beg, sweetest Thomas, that you will cure that sickness which we have contracted from the long want of you and your handwriting, by a payment with interest. We expect not a mere letter, but a huge packet, enough to weigh down Aegyptus Achthophorus. And it will be a kindness, if you will incite any persons within your reach, who are cultivators of Good Letters, to write to me, that my circle of friends may be complete; I could not venture to challenge them myself. As for you, I reckon you will not care in what fashion I write to the best-natured of men, and one who, I am persuaded, has no little love for me. Farewell, dearest More.

Oxford, the Feast of SS. Simon and Jude, (28 Oct.) 1499.

from The Epistles of Erasmus, From the Earliest Letters to His Fifty-First Year, Arranged in Order of Time; translated from the Latin with notes and commentary by Francis Morgan Nichols (London: Longman's Green & Co., 1901) p. 212-13.

Erasmus In Praise of English Women

[Erasmus to Faustus Andrelinus, Laureate Poet]
Epistle 98

eavens, what do I hear? Is our Scopus really turned all at once from poet to soldier, and handling deadly weapons instead of books? How much better was it when he did battle with Delius the Volscian, as he called himself, and what a triumph awaited him, if he had slain that champion!

We too have made progress in England. The Erasmus you once knew is now become almost a sportsman, no bad rider, a courtier of some practice, bows with politeness, smiles with grace, and all this in spite of himself. If you are wise, you too will fly over here. Why should a man with a nose like yours grow to old age with nothing but French filth about him? But you will say, your gout detains you. The devil take your gout, if he will only leave you! Nevertheless, did you but know the blessings of Britain, you would clap wings to your feet, and run hither; and if the gout stopped you, would wish yourself a Daedalus.

To take one attraction out of many; there are nymphs here with divine features, so gentle and kind, that you may well prefer them to your Camenae. Besides, there is a fashion which cannot be commended enough. Wherever you go, you are received on all hands with kisses; when you take leave, you are dismissed with kisses. If you go back, your salutes are returned to you. When a visit is paid, the first act of hospitality is a kiss, and when guests depart, the same entertainment is repeated; where ever a meeting takes place there is kissing in abundance; in fact whatever way you turn, you are never without it. Oh Faustus, if you had once tasted how sweet and fragrant those kisses are, you would indeed wish to be a traveller, not for ten years, like Solon, but for your whole life, in England.

The rest of my story we will laugh over together, for I hope to see you before long. Farewell.

From England, 1499.

-from The Epistles of Erasmus, From the Earliest Letters to His Fifty-First Year, Arranged in Order of Time; translated from the Latin with notes and commentary by Francis Morgan Nichols (London: Longman's Green & Co., 1901) p. 203-204.

Erasmus's Judicious Apology

[Desiderious Erasmus to William Blount, Lord Mountjoy]

Epistle 76

My greetings to you, well-named Monjoie. I ought to beg pardon, but I prefer to make a defence. I acknowledge the trespass I have committed in cheating you of your lessons to-day, but necessity and not my will has been the cause. I am compelled to provide their burden of letters for two messengers at the same time. Beware how you shift the position, and object that my plea of necessity is false; for then the status of the plaintiff and defendant will be changed, and the subject will cease to be judicial, and be conjectural, or a matter of definition, the question being, what is necessity. But look what a clever defendant you have. I plead before I am summoned; and, with no prosecutor, and myself both defendant and judge, I am sure of acquittal. Farewell, and remain in favour with the Muses.

[Paris, 1498]

-from The Epistles of Erasmus, From the Earliest Letters to His Fifty-First Year, Arranged in Order of Time; translated from the Latin with notes and commentary by Francis Morgan Nichols (London: Longman's Green & Co., 1901) p.167.

Erasmus, the Muses, & Preceptorial Maxims

[Desiderius Erasmus to Christian*]

Epistle 46

Paris, [1496][College Montaigu, University of Paris]

Avoid nocturnal lucubrations and studies at unseasonable times. They exhaust the mind and seriously affect the health. The dawn, beloved of the Muses, is the fit time for study. After dinner either play, or walk, or take part in cheerful conversation. Possibly even among these amusements some room may be found for improvement. Take as much food as is required, not for your pleasure, but for your health. Before supper take a short walk, and after supper do the same. Before going to bed read something exquisite and worth remembering, of which you will be thinking when overcome by sleep, and for which you will ask yourself again when you wake. Let this maxim of Pliny rest always in your mind: All your time is lost which you do not impart to study. Remember that nothing is more fugitive than youth, which, when once it has flown away, never returns. But I am beginning to preach, after promising to be nothing but a guide. Follow, sweetest Christian, the plan I have traced, or any better that you can. Farewell.

*Christian, a young pupil at the University of Paris.

- from The Epistles of Erasmus, From the Earliest Letters to His Fifty-First Year, Arranged in Order of Time; translated from the Latin with notes and commentary by Francis Morgan Nichols (London: Longman's Green & Co., 1901) p.110.

Erasmus Imbued

Erasmus to Cornelius*

[undated, c. 1487?]

Epistle 28 [Merula: Vita Erasmi, 1607, p. 209; Erasmi Epistolae, Londini, 1642, xxxi, 42]

There are two things, according to Cicero, which more than anything else produce intellectual languor, leisure and solitude; and both these conditions are ours. Solitude is required by this very scheme of our life. And leisure is not likely to be wanting, when we see letters, which formerly bred for their votaries the greatest gain as well as glory, are now a loss and a disgrace to those who pursue them. For it is come to this, that the more imbued with letters a man is, the more ridiculous and wretched a being he becomes. Hence, my Cornelius, I have seen no reason why I should choose to waste my life to no purpose in literary study, and have therefore for some time quite turned my attention away from letters. Besides those two things, I have had in addition imperfect health, which itself is wont not only to lessen, but even to quench the ardour of the mind. Nevertheless, since I have no other purpose in life so settled as that of gratifying and serving you in every possible way, as indeed I am most bound to to in return for the favours you have heaped upon me, I have taken up this work again for your sake, and have finished with all possible pains the Oration for which you have asked; taking great care to mark the oratorical divisions, and what character and colour is proper to each, so that you in the first place may have your wish fulfilled, and that the learned may be pleased with our labour, the illiterate may see and envy, the Sciolist and boaster may blush, and the ordinary reader may carry off some profit. * * * * Finally, my sweetest Cornelius, you will, I hope receive some help, or at any rate some pleasure, from the pains I have taken. In any case I shall have done my duty as a loyal friend. Farewell, and love me as you do.

[Desiderius Erasmus]

*Cornelius [Gerard] of Gouda

- from The Epistles of Erasmus, From the Earliest Letters to His Fifty-First Year, Arranged in Order of Time; translated from the Latin with notes and commentary by Francis Morgan Nichols (London: Longman's Green & Co., 1901) 73-74.