All The Familiar Colloquies Of Desiderius Erasmus, Of Roterdam: Concerning Men, Manners, And Things

Collected Work of Erasmus #39-40

by Erasmus, Nathan Bailey (Translator)

The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars.The Age of Enlightenment profoundly enriched religious and philosophical understanding and continues to influence present-day thinking. Works collected here include masterpieces by David Hume, Immanuel Kant, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, as well as religious sermons and moral debates on the issues of the day, such as the slave trade. The Age of Reason saw conflict between Protestantism and Catholicism transformed into one between faith and logic -- a debate that continues in the twenty-first century.++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++<sourceLibrary>British Library<ESTCID>T137878<Notes>Includes: 'The life of Erasmus' by Bailey.<imprintFull>London: printed for J.J. and P. Knapton, D. Midwinter and A. Ward, A. Bettesworth and C. Hitch, J Pemberton, J. Osborn and T. Longman and 5 others in London], 1733. <collation> 4],16,592p.; 8

Genres: Classics

612 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1518

About the author

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (28 October 1466 – 12 July 1536), known as Erasmus of Rotterdam, or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, social critic, teacher, and theologian.

Erasmus was a classical scholar and wrote in a pure Latin style. Among humanists he enjoyed the sobriquet "Prince of the Humanists", and has been called "the crowning glory of the Christian humanists". Using humanist techniques for working on texts, he prepared important new Latin and Greek editions of the New Testament, which raised questions that would be influential in the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation. He also wrote On Free Will, The Praise of Folly, Handbook of a Christian Knight, On Civility in Children, Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style, Julius Exclusus, and many other works.

Erasmus lived against the backdrop of the growing European religious Reformation, but while he was critical of the abuses within the Catholic Church and called for reform, he kept his distance from Luther and Melanchthon and continued to recognise the authority of the pope, emphasizing a middle way with a deep respect for traditional faith, piety and grace, rejecting Luther's emphasis on faith alone. Erasmus remained a member of the Roman Catholic Church all his life, remaining committed to reforming the Church and its clerics' abuses from within. He also held to the Catholic doctrine of free will, which some Reformers rejected in favor of the doctrine of predestination. His middle road approach disappointed and even angered scholars in both camps.

Erasmus died suddenly in Basel in 1536 while preparing to return to Brabant, and was buried in the Basel Minster, the former cathedral of the city. A bronze statue of him was erected in his city of birth in 1622, replacing an earlier work in stone.

Reviews

[Rachel Zehr · Rating 4 out of 5]

The extensive notes in this edition of Erasmus’s Colloquies are very useful, particularly in understanding its early publication history. The work expands magnificently from its first unauthorized (by Erasmus) publication in 1518 until the final edition in his lifetime, published in 1533. First conceived as Latin exercises for those he tutored in Paris in the late fifteenth century, the pieces from the earliest edition are mainly formulae, teaching decorum in spoken and written Latin. Even the dialogue “The Profane Feast” contains significant formulaic sections. Erasmus really seems to take off with the dialogues written in the early to mid 1520s, which were intended to reach a broader reading audience than schoolboys.

All material of life is worthy of attention, from the habits and practices of religious orders to the lack of comfort found in German inns (“If you want to wash your hands, water is fetched, but usually it’s so clean that afterwards you have to look for other water to wash it off with” 371) to complex, interpretive questions in biblical texts to the maternal choices of women (“But if Nature gave you strength to conceive, undoubtedly it gave you strength to nurse, too” 595). Delivered in lively dialogues, Erasmus considers questions of fasting and church tradition, the philosophy of body and mind, poetic metre, late medieval piety, and the “spirit of Christ” he finds in ancient Greek and Roman writers. Erasmus can tell a whole story and evoke an entire scene with dialogue alone.

A few more quotes, put to the reader by Erasmus's interlocutors. Like wine, Erasmus says, “The gospel has the same effect when it penetrates the heart. It makes a new man of you” (867).

“Christian freedom does not consist in doing as one likes, unhampered by human regulations, but in fervour of spirit prepared for all things, doing readily and eagerly, as children rather than servants, what we are commanded to do (702).

On church reform: “What’s deeply embedded in men’s minds, has been confirmed by long and general usage, and has become, as it were, second nature cannot be abolished at a stroke without grave danger to human composure but must be removed gradually” (480-481).

Why one might believe the end of the world is near: “Kings make war, priests are zealous to increase their wealth, theologians invent syllogisms, monks roam through the world, the commons riot, Erasmus writes colloquies” (870).

“The man who rejected as consul one who did not recognize him as senator was praised by the ancients; nor is it right for the people to accept as preacher one who does not treat them as a congregation” (952).

"They say, 'Diseases of character are hidden from us.' I'm not talking about hidden ones; I'm talking about those that are more open than bodily defects" (711).

Funny, serious, reflective, daring, thoughtful, ambiguous—it’s all here in a lucid translation with excellent notes.

[Jonas Roose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een onverwachte opsteker op een trage treinreis, dit kleine boekje. Nu moet ik Erasmus' andere Colloquia familiaria lezen om na te gaan of het hele werk dezelfde mix van ontspanning en maatschappijkritiek brengt als deze selectie.