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• The Religious Pilgrimage.
• ΙΧΘϒΟΦΑΓΙΑ.
• The Funeral.
• Echo.
• ΠΟΛϒΔΑΙΤΙΑ, Or, the Unequal Feast.
• Of Things and Words.
• Charon.
• The Assembly of Grammarians.
• ΑΓΑΜΟΣ ΓΑΜΟΣ, Or, the Unequal Marriage.
• The Imposture.
• Cyclops, Or the Gospel-carrier.
• ΑΠΡοΣΔΙοΝϒΣΑ the Impertinents, Or Crosspurposes.
• The False Knight: Or, ΙΠΠΕϒΣ ΑΝΙΠΠΟΣ·
• ΑΣΤΡΑΓΑΛΙΣΜΟΣ.
• ΓϒΝΑΙΚΟΣϒΝΕΔΡΙΟΝ. the Assembly Or Parliament of Women.
• Diluculum: Or, the Early Rising.
• ΝΗΦΑΛΙοΝ ΣϒΜΠοΣΙοΝ. the Sober Feast.
• The Notable Art.
• The Sermon, Or Merdardus.
• The Lover of Glory.
• Opulentia Sordida, Or the Wealthy Miser.
• The Seraphick Funeral.
• Amicitia, Or Friendship.
• Problema.
• The Epicurean.
• The Conflict Between Thalia and Barbarism.
• Des. Erasmus of Rotterdam to the Reader,: Concerning the Profitableness of Colloquies.
• Erasmus of Rotterdam, of the Method of Study, to Christianus of Lubeck.

Erasmus of Rotterdam, OF THE Method of Study, TO CHRISTIANUS of LUBECK.

My special Friend Christian,

MAKING no doubt but that you have an ardent Desire of Literature, I thought you stood in no Need of Exhortation; but only a Guide to direct you in the Journey you have already enter’d upon: And that I look’d upon as my Duty to be, to you, the most nearly ally’d to me, and engaging; that is to say, to acquaint you with the Steps that I myself took, even from a Child: Which if you shall accept as heartily as I communicate, I trust I shall neither repent me of giving Directions, nor you of observing them. Let it be your first Care to chuse you a Master, who is a Man of Learning; for it cannot be, that one that is unlearned himself can render another learned. As soon as you have gotten such an one, endeavour all you can to engage him to treat you with the Affection of a Father, and yourself to act towards him with the Affection of a Son. And indeed, Reason ought to induce us to consider, that we owe more to those, from whom we receive the Way of living well, than to those to whom we owe our first Living in the World; and that a mutual Affection is of so great Moment to Learning, that it will be to no Purpose to have a Teacher, if he be not your Friend too. In the next Place, hear him attentively and assiduously. The Genius of Learners is often spoil’d by too much Contention. Assiduity holds out the longer, being moderate, and by daily Augmentations grows to a Heap larger than can be thought. There is nothing more pernicious than to be glutted with any Thing; and so likewise with Learning. And therefore an immoderate pressing on to Learning is sometimes to be relax’d; and Divertisements are to be intermix’d: But then they should be such as are becoming a Gentleman, and Student, and not much different from the Studies themselves. Nay, there ought to be a continual Pleasure in the very midst of Studies, that it may appear to us rather a Pastime than a Labour; for nothing will be of long Duration, that does not affect the Mind of the Doer with some Sort of Pleasure. It is the utmost Madness to learn that which must be unlearned again. Think that you ought to do the same by your Genius, that Physicians are wont to do in preserving the Stomach. Take Care that you don’t oppress your Genius by Food, that is either noxious, or too much of it; both of them are equally offensive. Let alone Ebrardus, Catholicon, Brachylogus, and the rest of these Sort of Authors, all whose Names I neither can mention, nor is it worth while so to do, to others who take a Pleasure to learn Barbarism with an immense Labour. At the first it is no great Matter how much you Learn; but how well you learn it. And now take a Direction how you may not only learn well, but easily too; for the right Method of Art qualifies the Artist to perform his Work not only well and expeditiously, but easily too. Divide the Day into Tasks, as we read Pliny the Second, and Pope Pius the Great did, Men worthy to be remember’d by all Men. In the first Part of it, which is the chief Thing of all, hear the Master interpret, not only attentively, but with a Sort of Greediness, not being content to follow him in his Dissertations with a slow Pace, but striving to out-strip him a little. Fix all his Sayings in your Memory, and commit the most material of them to Writing, the faithful Keeper of Words. And be sure to take Care not to rely upon them, as that ridiculous rich Man that Seneca speaks of did, who had form’d a Notion, that whatsoever of Literature any of his Servants had, was his own. By no Means have your Study furnish’d with learned Books, and be unlearned yourself. Don’t suffer what you hear to slip out of your Memory, but recite it either with yourself, or to other Persons. Nor let this suffice you, but set apart some certain Time for Meditation; which one Thing as St. Aurelius writes does most notably conduce to assist both Wit and Memory. An Engagement and combating of Wits does in an extraordinary Manner both shew the Strength of Genius’s, rouzes them, and augments them. If you are in Doubt of any Thing, don’t be asham’d to ask; or if you have committed an Error, to be corrected. Avoid late and unseasonable Studies, for they murder Wit, and are very prejudicial to Health. The Muses love the Morning, and that is a fit Time for Study. After you have din’d, either divert yourself at some Exercise, or take a Walk, and discourse merrily, and Study between whiles. As for Diet, eat only as much as shall be sufficient to preserve Health, and not as much or more than the Appetite may crave. Before Supper, take a little Walk, and do the same after Supper. A little before you go to sleep read something that is exquisite, and worth remembring; and contemplate upon it till you fall asleep; and when you awake in the Morning, call yourself to an Account for it. Always keep this Sentence of Pliny’s in your Mind, All that Time is lost that you don’t bestow on Study. Think upon this, that there is nothing more fleeting than Youth, which, when once it is past, can never be recall’d. But now I begin to be an Exhorter, when I promis’d to be a Director. My sweet Christian, follow this Method, or a better, if you can; and so farewell.

FINIS.

NOTES. VOL. II.

robert roberts, printer, boston, lincolnshire.

22

For the passage on stones and their resemblances to natural objects, compare Pliny De Gemmis. The grotesque and mimetic element in Nature, exhibited also in the forms of orchids, etc., is a subject worthy of more attention than it has yet received.

You don’t believe that Dolphins carry Men on their Backs46

An allusion to the charming Greek myth of Arion, who on his way home to Corinth from Sicily, whence he was returning laden with prizes and presents from a musical contest, having excited the greed of the crew,—obtained permission to play once more upon his lyre. Dolphins were attracted round the prow; and when he plunged into the sea, one of them carried Arion on his back to Tænarus, whence he escaped to Corinth. The detection of the would-be murderers followed on their arrival.

Councils58

The Council of Basle, 1431–1443. The Council of Constance, 1414. The “late Lateran Council” referred to was that held in 1517. These were all Œcumenical Councils, of which down to the present day, twelve Western, nine Eastern, have been held. Much of the freedom which Erasmus permits himself in discussing ecclesiastical matters is explained, when we recollect that he wrote in the period immediately preceding the great Council of Trent, 1545–1563, which stereotyped Catholic doctrine.

As Horace says, etc.67

See Od., iii. 3, 1.

Doli capax68

There is a play on this expression which has already been used by the preceding speaker, and rendered “at Years of Discretion.” It also admits the meaning attached to it by the second speaker, “easy to be imposed upon.” The expression was a Roman legal phrase, the word dolus, (device, artifice, craft), having like other words become insensibly degraded in later times into a bad signification. See Festus, sub voc.

That every Parish Priest every Year purchase, etc.74

“Twice a year,” according to original.

Gerson85

John Gerson, the famous canon and chancellor of Paris (1363–1429). At the Council of Constance he distinguished himself by the eloquence with which he maintained the superiority of the synod over the Pope.

Never was any Man so nettled103

Lit., “You would say you had caught a cicada by the wing,”—from the aggravation of his clamour. A Greek proverb.

I will make a better Batchelor than you, of a Bean-Stalk103

The practice of making not only hats, but likewise cloaks from straw is indirectly alluded to. On the other hand nothing could be woven out of brittle bean-stalks. The phrase seems to have been a popular proverbial one.

The Habit of a Beguin107

So called from their head-dress. Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, etc., use biggen for a homely old woman’s cap. See Richardson’s Dictionary. There is a large Béguinage at Ghent, which the visitor is expected to “do” as one of the sights of the city.

There’s no catching old Birds with Chaff107

Lit., “There’s no catching the old vixen (she-fox) in a net.” Another proverb is, “There’s no taking the fox in the net twice.” “Once bit, twice shy.”

They had both of them their Pipes open113

An elegant paraphrase of the original pulcre vocalis, “finely vocal!”

Bedlam rather than a Banquet127

“Convicium, non Convivium,” original. Perhaps it is hardly necessary to say that Bedlam is a corruption of Bethlehem, the lunatic asylum, formerly a religious house, in London.

I have read in Horace that they ought not to exceed five128

“Ne sit quinto productior actu.” “The play is not to exceed five acts.” Ars Poetica, or Ad Pisones, 189.

The old Proverb, A hearty Welcome is the best Cheer128

Lit., “Before all things they brought cheerful faces.” Ante omnia vultus accessere boni. Shakespeare: “Small cheer and great welcome make a merry feast.”

When you perceive any dispos’d to be quarrelsome130

Lit., “When you perceive τὴν ἄοινον μεθήν, the wineless drunkenness arising:” a very expressive phrase. Plut. ii., 716 A.

A greater Fool than Ben of the Minories134

“Than Coroebus” according to original. He is mentioned in Lucian’s dialogues as a typical fool. Who “Ben of the Minories” was, and how he obtained his eminence, I cannot say.

The Wooden Horse138

“Equuleus,” original. A Roman instrument of torture, made in the shape of a horse.

Had as good keep his Breath to cool his Porridge144

For “he washes a brick,” laterem lavat, Ter. Ph. i., 4, 9. He labours in vain.

Cacatile Beast147

A coined adjective from caco, to perform a necessary natural office. Erse: cach, cacach; whence probably a nurse’s exclamation, indicating an object of disgust to children.

Moria’s Noblemen152

Moria, Greek Μωρία, folly.

Tetters155

Some species of cutaneous eruption, probably measles.

• “those measles
• Which we disdain should tetter us.”
• Shakes. Coriolanus, iii., 1.

The Mange . . . . has a great many Names155

e. g., “French, Neapolitan disease,—Spanish scab.”

Seven liberal Sciences taught in the Schools158

On the trivium and quadrivium of the middle-age universities, see above, p. 415.

Every Boar to brim his Sow160

Old Norse: brimi, flame, Anglo-Saxon: bremman, to be hot, on flame with passion.

• “I see the bull doth bull the cow;
• And shall I live a maiden still?
• I see the boar doth brim the sow;
• And yet there’s never a Jack for Gill.”
• Percy’s Loose and Humourous Songs.

Let there be an Act of Parliament, that the same Person shan’t be a Barber and a Surgeon too165

The wide separation of these two callings, formerly united, is a very suggestive fact in relation to modern progress. The emblem of the pole with the twisted ribbons painted on it remains. There still exists the Barber-Surgeons’ Company in London, with their Hall in Monkwell Street. Barbers in Germany still perform simple surgical operations.

Sotadic168

From Sotades, an Alexandrian poet, c. 280 B.C. A Sotadic verse is one which reads the same, taking the letters backward or forward:—

• “Signa te, signa; temere me tangis et angis:
• Roma tibi subito motibus ibit amor.”

The author of the above distich is said to have been no less a personage than the Prince of Darkness. If so, he may be a “gentleman” (Shakesp.) but hardly a scholar. The story runs that jolly St. Martin, on his way to Rome on foot was taunted by the devil on his poor means of conveyance; whereupon the bishop turned him into a mule, mounted, and urged him on by making the sign of the Cross. The baffled spirit cried out as above, the sense being interpreted as follows: “Cross, cross thyself: unreasonably dost thou lay hands on me and vex me; soon by my exertions shalt thou reach Rome, the object of thy desire.” Another example of sotadics or palindromes is:

“llewd I did live, and evil I did dwell.” (ll being old spelling for L).

I nubbled him so well favouredly with my right, that you could see no Eyes he had for the Swellings175

Lit., “with my right I fisticuffed him, beat him black and blue in fine style, and turned his whole face into a lump.” This was “proving his doctrine orthodox by apostolic blows and knocks.” Nubble seems to be the same as nobble, a North-country word for pelt, as with stones.

Halcyon days179

The king-fisher (ἀλκυών,) supposed by the Greeks to incubate during fourteen days before the winter solstice on the surface of the sea, when it was perfectly still. Some aspirate the word (ἁλκυών) deriving it from ἅλς and κύω; the “sea-brooder.”

St. Nicholas180

The patron of thieves, often called “Clerks or Knights of St. Nicholas.” But here his office of protector of sailors is referred to. There are many churches in sea-port towns dedicated to him. He took the place of Neptune in the Catholic transformation of Paganism. See Horace, Od. i. 5.

• “Me in my vowed
• Picture the sacred wall declares to have hung
• My dank and dropping weeds
• To the stern god of sea.”
• —Milton’s Version.

Don’t reckon your Chickens before they be hatch’d202

“Don’t sing the encomium before the victory.” See above p. 385.

That of Hesiod, ’Tis too late to spare when all is spent217

“Sera in fundo parsimonia,” original. “’Tis too late to save when you are at the bottom of the chest.”

Pliny says, All Life is one continued Watching, etc.217

See his preface to Vespasian, Nat. Hist.

Sleep call’d by Homer, the Cousin-German of Death217

“Germanus,” original. Homer represents sleep as Twin-brother of Death, Il. xiv. 231, xvi. 672, 682. The epithet germanus is derived from the root gen, and denotes that which is genuine, hence applied in Latin to full brothers and sisters, having the same parents, or at least the same father.

The Performance, which is to be called so (i.e. holy) in the sense in which Virgil calls Avarice so232

The word is sacra, and the allusion to Virgil’s phrase, “auri sacra fames,” (Aen. iii. 57) where sacra bears the sense of accursed.

Billingsgate Parsons232

“Rabulae,” original. An infrequent word; used by Cicero as a term of contempt for a ranting advocate. The common usage of the expression “Billingsgate” refers, of course, to the clamour and coarseness of the market. So again: “to scold like a fish wife.” The French allude to the “Place Maubert” in the same way.

St. Francis and the Sisterhood of little Birds232

This was, of course, he of Assisi, died 1226. (St. Francis of Sales died 1622.) This “gentle and holy” and truly poetic soul had a most intense sympathy for all Nature. Not only the little birds, but Sun and Moon, Wind and Water, were his “brothers” and “Sisters.” Dean Milman says that the only curse he can find to have proceeded from his lips was when a fierce swine killed a lamb. Lambs and larks were his especial pets, as symbols of the Saviour and of the cherubim.

Humility239

Its signification. The word is derived from humus, ground. Humi repentes, “creeping on the ground.”

The Lesbian Rule244

A phrase used by Aristotle. When an action is not squared to reason, but reason is accommodated to the action, when the law conforms to manners, instead of manners being corrected by the laws, etc.

249

The saying of Pope Alexander VI. Quoted again at p. 298.

That saying of Theocritus, etc.256

A mistake for Theognis, 26.

Pascitur in vivis livor, post fata quiescit256

Ovid, Amores, i. 15, 39.

Virtue is conversant in Difficulties, as old Hesiod taught before the Peripatetics262

See Hesiod’s “Works and Days,” 286,—a striking passage, recalling similar imagery in the Sermon on the Mount:—

• “Evil is manifold and quickly reached;
• Smooth is the road thereto, and nigh the way;
• But the high gods do make us sweat for Good;
• Strait is the gate to that, and long the road,
• And steep at first—but when the top is won,
• All then is easy that was hard before.”
• E. Arnold’s Translation.

Greek Fire265

The discovery of the properties of this inflammable oil is ascribed to Callinicus of Heliopolis. Constantinople owed its successful defence in the first two sieges of the seventh and eighth centuries by the Saracens, to the use of the Greek fire. The secret remained with the Roman empire for 400 years—the Saracens then came into possession of it, and continued its use, until it was superseded by gunpowder in the fourteenth century. See Gibbon.

Synodium267

The name taken from the Greek σύνοδος, synod, which means generally a meeting; συνοδία, synodia, companionship, society.

Antronius267

As a name of contempt. See above, p. 419.

Hunks267

Said to be derived from the Icelandic hunskur, sordid. Richardson. More probably a contraction of the Teutonic word, hüke, hüker, German; hugkner, Bavarian; huckster, higgler, English.

The Mess . . . . that Melchisedek offer’d to Abraham272

Viz., “bread and wine,” Gen. xiv., 18.

German meals276

“Beaver” for merenda, luncheon. Latin bibo, Italian bevere, to drink. The front part of the helmet, lifted up to enable the wearer to drink, was hence called beaver. In the sense of the text bever is a provincialism for a drink in the harvest-field.

Pope Benedict294

This must have been Benedict XII., 1334—1342.

The Apologist concerning a Crab-fish, etc.303

A mistranslation of apologus, an apologue, or fable. One ascribed to Æsop.

The Lake Asphaltitis323

The mare mortuum or Dead Sea.

The Souls of Men, that Virgil calls Sparks of pure Æther325

In that fine passage from which the Catholic doctrine of purgatory seems to be derived, vi. 735, sq.:—

• “Donec longa dies, perfecto temporis orbe,
• Concretam exemit labiem, purumque reliquit
• Aetherium sensum, atque aurai simplicis ignem.”

It is commonly the Case of Farmers to be at Uncertainty as to the Ends of Lands327

A pun on the double meaning of fines, that of ends, final causes, and that of boundaries.

If we will speak the Truth, none are greater Epicureans than those Christians that live a pious Life327

Compare with the whole passage the following from Montaigne: “Toutes les opinions du monde en sont là, que le plaisir est nostre but; quoiqu’elles en prennent divers moyens: autrement on les chasseroit d’arrivée; car qui écouteroit celui qui, pour sa fin, establiroit nostre peine et mesaise? Les dissentions des sectes philosophiques en ce cas sont verbales; transcurramus solertissimas nugas; il y a plus d’ opiniastreté et de picoterie qu’il n’ appartient à une si saincte profession; mais quelque personnage que homme entrepreigne, il joue tonsiour le sien parmy. Quoy qu’ils dient, en la vertu même, le dernier but de nostre lisée, c’est la volupté. Il me plaist de battre leurs aureilles de ce mot, qui leur est si fort à contrecoeur; et s’il signifie quelque supreme plaisir et excessif contentement, il est mieux deu à l’ assistance de la vertu qu’ à nulle aultre assistance. Cette volupté, pour estre plus gaillarde, nerveuse, robuste, virile, n’en est que plus serieusement voluptueux; et lui debvions donner le nom du plaisir, plus favourable, plus doux et naturel, non celui de la vigueur, duquel nous l’ avons dénommee.”

Liv. I., Chap. xxx.

A Sentence in Plautus that has more Wisdom in it, than all the Paradoxes of the Stoics328

See the Mostellaria, iii. 1, 13.

A certain sort of Flax, which being put into the fire is not burnt, but shines brighter328

Some, however, read lignum, wood, instead of linum, flax.

Syrus in the Comedy, after he had slept away his Debauch, spoke sober Things331

See the Adelphi of Terence.

The Pox, which by Way of Extenuation they call the Common-Garden Gout334

Lit., “The Neapolitan scab.”

Do they not epicurize gloriously? Yes, if coming often to the Powdering-Tub be doing so334

A pun is here disguised. “Do they not seem finely to Epicurize (ἐπικουρίζειν)? Yes, to epicourīathein (ἐπὶ κουρεɩ̂α θεɩ̂ν, to run to the barbers’ shops).”

In some cases, like Momuses, some murmur against the Workman, etc.340

Momus, in the Greek myth, represented the spirit of mockery and disparagement. He was expelled from Olympus for scoffing at Vulcan’s handiwork and at Venus’s creaking sandals.

That adorable Prince of Christian Philosophers342

Would be better rendered, “That adorable Head of Christian philosophy” (Christianae philosophiae princeps).

Tantalus and the Stone343

There are several different forms of this striking myth concerning Tantalus, which has strongly impressed itself on language in tantalize.

Chiron349

The famous learned centaur, the instructor of Hercules, Achilles, etc.

That Cacus whom Virgil speaks of350

Æneid, viii., 194.

• “Hic spelunca fuit, vasto submota recessu,
• Semihominis Caci facies quam dira tenebat.”

His cave was in Italy. He is elsewhere represented as a three-headed monster.

I believe you’d make the very Post and Pillars burst with your braggadochia talking350

An allusion to Juvenal, Sat. i., 12, 13:—

• “Frontonis platani convulsaque marmora clamant
• Semper, et assiduo ruptae lectore columnae.”
• “The walks of Fronto echo round and round—
• The columns trembling with the eternal sound.”
• Gifford.