his writings, when I view his ardor in study, when I behold his admirable knowledge and retention of the contents of the Sacred Scriptures! What a wealth of eloquence, what a vigor of mind in a man so aged!11 In the above quotation we catch Erasmus in one of his moments of exaltation, when St. Jerome and not Valla is in the ascendant. But it was only for an instant, and it was only the intellectual part of Jerome that so moved him. Where Jerome speaks of his flight to the burning desert, of his emaciated limbs that were clothed in sackcloth, of his parched and blackened skin, of his days and nights passed in tears and groaning, of his temptations of the flesh when he had to cast himself down on his face and implore God to mitigate his sufferings, of his prolonged fastings and mortifications of the body, and of his final victory over himself so that he could lift up his soul to God in praise. and thanksgiving-during all this Erasmus remains unmoved. When Jerome speaks of his travels through Egypt to visit the monks and hermits of the desert, when he tells of his calling on the holy monk Didymus and the sublime instructions on the monastic life that he received from him, when he recounts what he found in the monasteries of the East, and when he relates the story of his own monastery in Bethlehem, we look in vain for any note of admiration in Erasmus. But, feeling at times the appalling contrast between himself and St. Jerome on this one subject, he hastened to justify himself on the score of his opposition to the monastic institution, insisting that monks were different in St. Jerome's day, and closing his eyes to the fact that if there were Didymuses then there were also Jovinians. So, as we have said, it was an intellectual appeal that summoned him to the task of editing the works of St. Jerome, and he performed the arduous task ably and admirably. It was the custom in the monasteries for one monk to read aloud the text of some manuscript, and for the other monks to take down the words at his dictation. It was in this way that copies of the ancient classics were multiplied before the age of printing, and the system had the defect of all systems which are subject to the errors and weaknesses of human nature. For instance, the hearing of some of the monks was less acute than that of the others, and a word or phrase might be lost here and there. Again, all the monks did not have equal command of the languages involved, and bad spelling might come in to vitiate an otherwise good copy. Other sources of possible error in copying will occur to each reader; and we may easily admit that the matter of errors arising is not so strange as that there were so few of them under the circumstances. Erasmus recognized the difficulty of the task which he had set himself, and proceeded at once to correct the corrupted text, to restore the omitted words and phrases by comparing various ancient codices, to throw light on ancient customs which had now become obsolete, and to illustrate with notes everything which might be obscure to the ordinary reader. All this he did, and it is 11 See dedication of Vol. II to Warham. lamentable that some of his critics judged his work not by what he had accomplished, but by what had escaped his attention. Writers like Marianus Victorius, who also brought out some years afterwards an edition of St. Jerome, dissected that of Erasmus unmercifully, stating that there were to be found therein more than fifteen hundred passages which he had left uncorrected, and that his notes betrayed ignorance of the subject. Such things are possible in a work of this magnitude, but the above-mentioned writer fails to tell us of the countless thousands of passages that Erasmus did correct, nor does he tell us of the invaluable help that he himself must have received for his own edition by a perusal of that of his learned and illustrious predecessor. There was no lack of scholarship in the work of Erasmus; but there were ever and always the same unfortunate opinions expressed that had in some measure neutralized the great benefit derivable from his annotations on the New Testament. It was in this work that he ridiculed pious pilgrimages as being of no benefit; it was here that he maintained Arianism to be only a difference of opinion and not really a heresy; it was here he claimed that the Arians of Jerome's time were better educated in religious matters than were the orthodox Christians who were their contemporaries. The utterance of these opinions at such a time of storm and stress in religious circles was most unwise, since they were but opinions, at best, and only served to furnish his adversaries with newer and better ammunition. So great was the clamor, and to such a pitch of intensity did it rise, that twenty-one years after the death of Erasmus his St. Jerome, with others of his works, was publicly burned at Rome by order of Pope Paul IV. And let us not come to the hasty conclusion that this was done entirely from prejudice or personal animosity, for Paul IV had been one of his own intimate friends and a man whom Erasmus greatly admired. He had met him in England when, as Cardinal Caraffa, he had been the legate of Pope Leo X. He had explained to the legate what his intentions were regarding the bringing out of a better edition of St. Jerome, and was greatly encouraged by him in this undertaking, by both advice and money.1 Erasmus' estimate of Caraffa may be learned from what he later wrote about him: 12 How persuasive the wonderful eloquence of the man! Who is there that would not be moved by the power of so upright and dignified a prelate? Who is there who would not become more zealous beholding the rare piety of this excellent man? For to an unusual skill in the three languages, and to an excellence in all the sciences, but more especially that of theology, he has added, though still a young man, so much integrity and holiness of life, so much modesty, and so much kindness combined with remarkable dignity, that he is a high ornament to the Roman See, and shows to all the English a perfect example of every virtue by which they all can model themselves.18 Strange anomaly of fate, that this man who had bid him Godspeed 13 Eras. Ep. 377. 1a Ibid., 335, 11. 253-62. in his efforts to restore St. Jerome should afterwards have been the one to condemn it to the flames; not that Erasmus had not given us back this great Father of the Church restored and freed from the cobwebs of ages, but that he had spoiled it all by injecting into his notes thereon his own personal, unorthodox, and doubtful opinions on subjects concerning which the entire attitude of the Church was against him—at least negatively. But enough of this subject. He was meditating another flying trip to England, on serious matters bent: what these were we shall shortly proceed to disclose. 14 As Pope Paul IV. CHAPTER IV FINAL DISPENSATION FROM LEO X Bound for England, he had left Basle where he had so long toiled on the New Testament and St. Jerome, and had arrived at Antwerp. It had been intimated to him by several that the Chancellor of Burgundy, John LeSauvage, whom we have already mentioned, was meditating more kindnesses towards him, and that it would be advisable for him to cultivate this powerful official by every means possible. He consequently proceeded to put this wise advice into effect, and announced himself as about to pay him a visit at the earliest moment. This elicited from the Chancellor the following direct proposition: Hail, Erasmus, most learned of men. You will do well to betake yourself hither [Brussels] at the first available opportunity; for, if you are sure that you will remain in this country, and here in laudable leisure will live quietly and comfortably (something which you have not been able to do anywhere else without great difficulty), I will cause at once to be conferred upon you a prebend or canonry at Courtrai. Nor will that be the only thing which you may expect from the established generosity and certain anticipation of our lord, his Catholic Majesty. Farewell, from Brussels, July 8, 1516.1 This was certainly something tangible, and he hastened to fulfil the Chancellor's wishes in the matter. But, having once secured the benefice, he did as he had done with the Aldington benefice, that is, he exchanged it for a pension to be paid him out of the income of this prebend. We have already explained that he was forced to do these things on account of the illegitimacy of his birth, which prevented him from holding benefices. The second inducement which the Chancellor held out to him to make him settle down in his own country turned out to be the offer of a bishopric, to which Charles V had nominated him. This, as it chanced, was not in the gift of Charles, but pertained solely to the Pope. On learning this fact, Charles had letters written to the Pope begging him to ratify the nomination. This furnished Erasmus some food for thought, as he had just sent Pope Leo a request which, if granted, would give him more real pleasure than a thousand bishoprics. Ammonius, whom he had made cognizant of the secret of his birth, and who had arranged all the needful preliminaries through his countryman and patron Sylvester Gigli, Bishop of Worcester, and English agent of the papal court resident in Rome, had been mainly instrumental in persuad1 Eras. Ep. 436. ing Erasmus to rid himself of his ecclesiastical disabilities once and for all. He had dwelt on the fact that Gigli continued to assure him of the great pleasure that the Pope had derived from Erasmus' works, and that Leo entertained the best dispositions towards him, going on to say that now was the time for him to make his appeal to the Pope. But the secret that Erasmus had guarded in his heart of hearts for so many years he could not nor would not entrust to paper; so we find him running over to England that he might speak with Ammonius, and that together, and without other interference, they might advance this great business. What these difficulties were that weighed on him so heavily we have already alluded to in more than one place. First there was the disability caused by the fact of his illegitimate birth, which prevented him from canonically receiving any benefice whatsoever in the Church. Then there was the fact that he had been elevated to the priesthood, which is forbidden by canon law to this class of unfortunates.' Also, his besetting fear that some day he might be forced to resume his obligations to his Order gave him not a moment's peace of mind, and now was the opportunity offered him to accomplish these several objects. After speaking with Ammonius on arriving in England, and devising with him the measures to be pursued, he went to spend a few days with friends, but on his return found that Ammonius had been summoned to join the retinue of the king, who had gone hunting probably for a week. Erasmus chafed at this delay but could not help himself; so he wrote Ammonius as follows: I trust this hunting will be as lucky for you as it is unlucky for me; for, in the first place, it takes away the king from me, and, besides that, it has prevented my access to the Cardinal for some days. Moreover, I was about to captivate Ursewick with a present of my New Testament, and was intending to ask him for the horse which he had promised me by letter. When I expect to meet him on Monday, he has, conveniently for himself, gone off hunting, not to return for a week, and so that tunny-fish has escaped me. Lastly, the hunting has snatched you from me, so that I shall have to commit to writing the matters about which I wished to speak with you. Please sign the letter which I have written to the Pope about my boyhood. To me it seems very poorly phrased; so, if you think it can be improved, go over it anew, and describe the affair more carefully, adding this to your other kindnesses. I leave my welfare in your keeping. I cannot urge you more earnestly, for I trust you entirely; nor do I promise you a magnificent recompense in return, since I prefer to express my thanks in deeds, not words, if I shall be able. And I feel sure the matter we are engaged in will succeed, not only because it is in the hands of a man most dear to me, but also that it is in charge of Ammonius, who is most lucky in my affairs. Farewell. c. August 14, 1516. It is evidently probable that the Bishop of Utrecht had not been informed of this disqualification before he ordained Erasmus. This was the Grunnius letter on pages 9 sqq. of Vol. I. |