[68] Carmen equestre vel potius Alpestre, iv., 755.
[69] See [page 226].
[70] See the diploma in W. Vischer, Erasmiana, Basel, 1876.
[71] iii.², 1397.
[72] See [Introduction].
[73] In another place he says that he changed his dress in Italy to conform to the custom of the country, iii., 1527.
[74] Beatus Rhenanus, in his brief summary of Erasmus' life, says: "With the exception of the rudiments, he may truly be said to have been self-taught. For the journey into Italy ... was undertaken for the sake of visiting that famous land, not to take advantage of the professors there. At Bologna he heard no one of the public lecturers, but, satisfied with the friendship of Paulus Bombasius ... he devoted himself to his studies at home."
[75] Nolhac, Érasme en Italie, Ep. i.
[76] See the adage Festina lente, ii., 405, B-D.
[77] It seems quite clear that Erasmus was a victim to what is now known as the "uric acid or gouty diathesis," a condition much more likely to be produced by high living and heavy drinking than by any such experience as he describes in the Opulentia sordida.