Selections from Erasmus: Principally from his Epistles Part 8

XXIX. FISHER'S STUDY AT ROCHESTER

ERASMUS ROTERODAMUS IOANNI EPISCOPO ROFFENSI S.D.

Reverende Praesul, maerens ac dolens hoc verb.u.m legi in epistola tua, 'Utinam vivum me reperiat liber,'

&c. Auxit famulus dolorem, qui nuntiavit affligi te adversa valetudine. Nihil indulges isti corpusculo.

Suspicor magnam tuae valetudinis partem nasci ex 5 loco. Nunc enim medic.u.m agam, si pateris. Mare vicinum et lutum subinde maris decessu nudatum coelum exasperat. Et habes bibliothecam undique parietibus vitreis, qui per rimas transmittunt auram subtilem et, ut medici loquuntur, colatam, pestilentem 10 raris et imbecillis corpusculis. Nec me fugit quam a.s.siduus sis in bibliotheca, quae tibi Paradisi loco est. Ego si in tali loco commorer tres horas, aegrotem.

Magis conveniret cubiculum pavimento ligneo et parietibus undique ligno contabulatis. Spirant 15 enim lateres et calx noxium quiddam. Scio pie viventibus mortem non esse formidabilem, sed totius ecclesiae refert talem episcopum esse superst.i.tem in tanta bonorum inopia.

Basileae. pridie nonas Septemb. Anno M.D.XXIIII. 20

NOTES

I

[An incident related in the _Ecclesiastes_ (see p.15[*]). Erasmus was ordained in 1492 by this Bishop of Utrecht, who was a son of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy; and perhaps heard this story at the time.]

[* At the end of LIFE OF ERASMUS. Transcriptor.]

1. FUERIT] Either (1) fut. perf. indic., for which _erit_ might equally well stand; or (2) perf. subj. of qualified statement. Cf. _crediderim_, 'I am inclined to believe.'

5. PROFANA DICIONE ONUSTIS] At the time when Erasmus was ordained the diocese of Utrecht had been torn for more than twenty years with civil war; in the course of which the Bishop had at one time been a prisoner.

19. II QUIBUS, &c.] The officials to whom fees were payable by successful candidates.

21. HIERONYMOS] Jerome (died 420) was one of the Latin Fathers of the Church.

II

[A letter to a young merchant, Christian Northoff of Lubeck, who had come to Paris to study. Erasmus was teaching him; and one of the modes of instruction was a daily interchange of Latin letters between master and pupil. The scene here depicted, of course with some licence of exaggeration, is laid in the boarding-house where Erasmus was lodging; the mistress of which was a woman of violent temper.]

t.i.t. S.D.] _salutem dicit_, the common form of greeting at the head of letters; often occurring as S.P.D., salutem plurimam dicit.

1. MEL ATTIc.u.m] An endearing mode of address.

2. _Ne_ with the imperative is ante-cla.s.sical (Plaut. and Ter.), and poetical.

5. PYXIDEM] One of the _munera_ of l. 64.

6. Pandora was the first woman created, according to Greek mythology. She brought down from heaven a box, which she was forbidden to open; but in curiosity she raised the lid, and at once all the evils to which mankind is subject flew out and spread over the earth. Epimetheus was her husband.

13. TOGATA ... PALLIATA] The cla.s.sical distinction between two kinds of Roman drama, according as the scene was laid in Roman or in Greek surroundings. In the former the _toga_ was worn by the princ.i.p.al characters; in the latter the Greek _pallium_.

14. PLANIPEDIA] Acted by a _planipes_, a kind of pantomime; so-called because he used neither the _soccus_ of comedy nor the _cothurnus_ of tragedy in his performances.

15. EPITASIS] A Greek technical term, for the crisis of a play.

23. CATASTROPHEN] Also a Greek technical term; the point at which a play turns, leading to the conclusion.

26. OPTa.s.sE] Dependent on a verb of statement understood from _laudo_. A common idiom.

41. CAROLI REGIS] Charles VIII, King of France, 1483-98.

42. GENTIL GERSON] Evidently _gentil garcon_, 'fine gentleman.'

47. FLAMMEUM] _sc_. velum. A flame-coloured veil, properly worn by brides.

53. SURDAE CECINISSE] A proverbial phrase of labouring without result; 'to waste one's breath.' 'Ortum videtur a ridiculo casu, quo saepe fit ut hospes incidat in surdum, quem percontetur multa, ridentibus iis qui surdum noverunt.' Erasmus, _Adagia_.

66. ALIENIS MANIBUS] by getting a friend to write his Latin letter for him.

67. FRONTIS] 'Frons habita est antiquitus pudori sacra, et facies item.

Inde frontem aut faciem proverbio perfricuisse dic.u.n.tur, qui pudorem omnem dedidicerunt, velut absterso manu a vultu pudore.' Erasmus, _Adagia_.

70. Patroclus was the friend of Achilles. When Achilles refused to fight against Troy, Patroclus borrowed his arms, and was killed in the battle.

71. QUID SIMILE?] _sc_. inter nos.

III

[This letter describes a journey made in the exceptionally cold winter of 1498-9, when Erasmus paid a visit to his friend, James Batt. Batt was then at the castle of Tournehem, near Calais, acting as tutor to a young n.o.bleman, the son of Anne of Borsselen, Lady of Veere, near Middelburg; to whose patronage he was generously trying to introduce Erasmus.]

t.i.t. GUILHELMO] This form of the name William represents the German Wilhelm; Gulielmus is more akin to the Italian Guglielmo; Guielmus, which also occurs, to the French Guillaume.

5. AEOLUM] The king of the winds, whom Juno had persuaded to oppose the Trojan fleet under Aeneas as it sailed from Troy to Italy. See Verg.

_Aen_. 1. 50 seq.

14. VIDISSES] _sc_. si adfuisses.

31. Bellerophon, after having vanquished the Chimaera on Pegasus, wished to fly with his winged steed to heaven. But Pegasus threw him off and ascended alone, to become a constellation in the sky.

35-6. CREDAS ... ACCIDISSET] The slight irregularity of tense is easily intelligible.

35. Lucian, _fl_. 160 A.D., was a Syrian citizen of the Roman Empire. His writings, which are mostly satirical, are in Greek. One of them is ent.i.tled _Vera Historia_.

57. ALLEVARE] 'to exaggerate,' opp. to _elevare_,'to disparage.'

_Allevare_ can also mean 'to understate', but the sequence of thought is not so natural.

62. SCRIBEBAM] The epistolary imperfect, representing the time of the action when the words would be read by the recipient of the letter.