"When I was at Rome I was invited once and again by him, through Pietro Bembo, if I am not mistaken, to an interview with him, and though I was at that time very averse to seeking the company of great men, I at last went to his palace more from shame than from desire. Neither in the courtyard nor in the vestibule did the shadow of a human being appear. It was the afternoon hour. I gave my horse to my man and went up alone, found no one in the first hall, nor in the second, and still on to the third, finding not a door closed and wondering at the solitude. Only in the last did I find one man, a Greek physician I believe, with shaven head, guarding the open door. I inquired what the cardinal was doing. He replied that he was within talking with some gentlemen, and as I said no more he asked what I wished. 'To make my compliments to him,' I said, 'if convenient, but as he is not at leisure, I will call again.' Then, as I was about to go and was looking out of the window, the Greek returned to me and waited to see if I had any message for the cardinal. 'There is no occasion to interrupt his conference,' I said; 'I will come again soon.' Finally he asked my name and I gave it to him. When he heard it he rushed in before I knew it and soon coming out said I was not to go away and I was summoned at once. As I came in the cardinal received me not as a cardinal and such a cardinal might receive a man of the lowest condition, but as a colleague. A chair was set for me and we talked more than two hours, during which he did not permit me to take off my hat. For a man at the very height of fortune his graciousness was marvellous. Among the many things he said about study, showing that he had then in mind what I learn he has since done about his library, he began to urge me not to leave Rome, the nurse of genius. He invited me to share his palace and the enjoyment of all his fortunes, adding that the warm and moist climate of Rome would suit my health, and especially that part of the city where he had his dwelling, a palace built by a former pope who had chosen the site as being the most healthful in the city. After we had had considerable discussion he sent for his nephew, who had just been made archbishop, a youth of an almost divine disposition. As I started to rise he forbade me, saying:—'It is becoming for the pupil to stand before the master.' At length he showed me his library of books in many tongues.

"If I had known this man earlier I should never have left a city which I found favourable to me beyond my deserts. But I had already arranged to go and matters had gone so far that I could hardly have remained honourably. When I said that I had been summoned by the king of England, he ceased to urge me, but begged me over and over again not to suspect him of not meaning what he had said nor to judge him according to the usual manners of courtiers. With difficulty I got away from the conference; but when he was unwilling to detain me longer, he laid it upon me with his last words that I should see him again on the subject before I left the city. I did not return, unhappy man that I was, lest I should be overcome by his kindness and change my mind. But what can one do against the fates!"

This interview was held at the last moment of Erasmus' stay in Rome, before his departure for England. His account makes it clear that he had not known Grimani before, so that we cannot reckon him among Erasmus' Roman patrons. Nor can we give too much weight to the promises of employment. From the connection in which Erasmus introduces the story it seems quite probable that the cardinal had some idea of making use of him in connection with his library; but the great scholar had no fancy for being anybody's librarian. His laments that he had not listened to Grimani's proposition may safely be treated as conventional.

From Rome Erasmus journeyed rapidly by way of Bologna, through Lombardy, over the Splügen Pass to Chur, Constance, and Strassburg, where he took ship on the Rhine for Holland. We hear of him at Louvain and Antwerp and then in England early in July, 1509. What was the fruit of his nearly three years in Italy? He had perfected himself in Greek, as far at least as he needed to go for the purposes he had most at heart. He was Doctor Erasmus, and needed no longer to feel himself overshadowed by the superior display of some inferior talent. He had given to the world in his Adages a great and serious work, which was welcomed with the greatest approval by those most competent to judge. He had seen for himself something of the life of that people which had done most to bring pure learning to honour. Finally he had made personal connections within the world of scholars, which were likely to be of great future service to him.

It would be most interesting if we could perceive with any distinctness the direct effect of this experience upon Erasmus' literary production, but such effect cannot be traced in any instructive way. There are of course references to Italy to be found henceforth in many of his writings, but it would be too much to say that the Italian visit was in any way epoch-making for his literary character. Literature was not a thing of nationalities; it was cosmopolitan, and the scholar was as much, or as little, at home in one place as in another. The genius of Erasmus ripened slowly and naturally, following the lines of its early choice and moving on without noteworthy interruption to its highest achievement.

Still, few biographers have failed to fancy a connection of cause and effect between the Italian impressions of Erasmus and the famous satire, in which almost at once on his arrival in England he gave free rein to his criticism of church and society. Certainly his illustrations in the Praise of Folly point often to abuses which he might have seen and felt in Italy. His direct attacks upon popes and cardinals can hardly fail to have gained an added point from his observation at first hand. What is not clear is that such stimulus to his reforming zeal was anything more than incidental.


ERASMUS.
HOLBEIN'S ILLUSTRATIONS TO THE "PRAISE OF FOLLY."
"FOLLY" AS PROFESSOR.
HOLBEIN'S ILLUSTRATIONS TO THE "PRAISE OF FOLLY."