"those three theologians or rather, when you come to that, of _that one_." "If I should paint him in his true colours no one could wonder that the _Moria_ is displeasing to such a man; nay, I should be sorry if it did not displease such people, though it does not suit me either. Yet it comes the nearer to pleasing me because it does not suit such characters as that." If Dorpius could only look into his soul he would see how many things Erasmus has _not_ touched upon, lest he give offence, and lest he say anything indecent or seditious. Our analysis of the _Moria_ is well sustained by Erasmus' attempt here to show that by _stultitia_ he does not mean mere human foolishness. "There is no danger that any person will here imagine that Christ and the apostles were really fools." They only had a certain element of weakness common to all humanity, and which, compared with the eternal wisdom, may well seem not altogether wise. The tone of the whole defence is admirably calm, and shows a sincere regard for Dorpius, though, like certain islanders, he does need to have a joke explained now and then. Erasmus did not exaggerate the immense and immediate popularity of the _Moria_. Our bibliography enumerates forty-three editions in the author's lifetime, and it has been translated and reprinted since then an infinite number of times. Holbein amused himself by decorating the margin of his copy with these rude but clever wood-cuts which have come to be the permanent types of the various orders of Erasmian fools. CHAPTER VI ENGLAND (1509-1514)--THE NEW TESTAMENT--THE "DE COPIA VERBORUM ET RERUM"