Reverende Praesul, maerens ac dolens hoc verbum 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 medicum 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 assiduus 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 superstitem 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.] TIT. 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 ATTICUM] An endearing mode of address. 2. _Ne_ with the imperative is ante-classical (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.