[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.