His life was full of strange incongruities, and any story of his life which should seek to cover these incongruities by any fictitious theory of consistency would but ill reflect the truth. And yet, with all its pettinesses and weaknesses, its contradictions and its comings-short of natural demands upon it, this life has, after all, an element of the heroic. If there be a heroism of persistent work and cheerful endurance, of steady exclusion of all distractions, of refusal to commit oneself to anything or anybody which might impede one's chosen line of duty, then we may gladly admit Erasmus into the choice company of the Heroes of the Reformation.

Such a distinction would vastly have amused him. He would have seized his pen and dashed off to some friend, who would spread the word, some such disclaimer as this: "Well, of all things in the world, now they are calling me a hero! If you never laughed before, laugh now to your heart's content. I a hero! a man afraid of my shadow,—a man of books, a hater of conflict, a man, who, if he were put to the test would, I fear, follow the example of Peter and deny his Lord. And, not content with this, they add 'of the Reformation.' I, who never, by word or deed, drunk or sober, gave so much as a hint of belonging to any of their accursed 'movements'! Well, no man can strive against the Fates."

I have chosen the chronological method because it serves best to illustrate the development of the man in his relation to his time. Such selections from Erasmus' writings have been chosen for detailed examination as bear most directly upon the main objects of the book. It has seemed wiser to make them long enough to show their true meaning rather than to use a greater number of mere scraps, which might in almost every case be contradicted by other scraps. So far as possible the merely controversial has been avoided. For example, I have barely alluded to the prolonged discussions with Archbishop Lee, the Frenchman Bedda, the Spaniard Stunica, and the Italian prince of Carpi. The detail of these controversies tends rather to confuse than to illuminate the point of chief interest to us. Yet no treatment of Erasmus could escape entirely the tone of controversy. He set that tone himself and the student of his writings inevitably falls into it.

The translations have been kept as close to the originals as was consistent with a freedom of style somewhat corresponding to Erasmus' own. It would be hopeless to attempt, by any paraphrasing whatever, to improve upon the freshness and vivacity of the author.

My thanks are due to many friends for kind assistance and suggestion, but especially to my colleague, Professor Albert A. Howard of the Latin department of Harvard University, to whose careful revision the accuracy of the translations is chiefly due.

References to the Leyden edition of Erasmus' works in 1703-1706 are given simply by volume, page (column), and division of the column, as, e. g., iii.¹, 157-B.

CONTENTS

PAGE
PREFACE[iii]
INTRODUCTION[xiii]
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE[xxiii]
CHAPTER I.
SCHOOL AND MONASTERY. 1467-1490[1]
CHAPTER II.
PARIS AND HOLLAND. 1492-1498[26]
CHAPTER III.
FIRST VISIT TO ENGLAND. 1498-1500[62]
CHAPTER IV.
PARIS—THE "ADAGIA"—THE "ENCHIRIDION MILITIS CHRISTIANI"—PANEGYRIC ON PHILIP OF BURGUNDY. 1500-1506[87]
CHAPTER V.
RESIDENCE IN ITALY—THE "PRAISE OF FOLLY." 1506-1509[122]
CHAPTER VI.
ENGLAND (1509-1514)—THE NEW TESTAMENT—THE "DE COPIA VERBORUM ET RERUM."[179]
CHAPTER VII.
BASEL AND LOUVAIN—THE "INSTITUTIO PRINCIPIS CHRISTIANI." 1515-1518[218]
CHAPTER VIII.
BEGINNINGS OF THE REFORMATION—CORRESPONDENCE OF 1518-1519[268]
CHAPTER IX.
DEFINITE BREACH WITH THE REFORMING PARTIES—HUTTEN'S "EXPOSTULATIO" AND ERASMUS' "SPONGIA." 1520-1523[336]
CHAPTER X.
DOCTRINAL OPPOSITION TO THE REFORMATION—FREEDOM OF THE WILL—THE EUCHARIST—THE "SPIRIT." 1523-1527[380]
CHAPTER XI.
FAMILIAR COLLOQUIES—NEW TESTAMENT PARAPHRASES—CONTROVERSIAL AND DIDACTIC WRITINGS—REMOVAL TO FREIBURG—LAST REFORMATORY TREATISES—RETURN TO BASEL—DEATH. 1523-1536[420]
INDEX[465]