Pagina 29 [29]
I. Erasmus To JoHN BoTzHEIM.
Catalogus omnium Erasmi Lucubrationum. Basle.
LB. i. init. 30 January 1523.
[This catalogue, which was written by Erasmus at the request of the friend to
whom it is addressed, is of the highest importance for the study of his life and
works. The first and second editions (a and 8) were published by Froben in
April 1523 and Sept. 1524, the second being greatly enlarged ; a third, corrected,
appeared from the same press c. Feb. 1537 (y) ; and the treatise, again revised,
is included among the introductory matter in the first volume of Erasmus’
Opera Omnia, 1540 (6). It is an expansion of the Lucubrationwm Erasmi Roterodamt
Index, printed by Th. Martens, r Jan. 1519, doubtless from information fut¬
nished by Erasmus himself, who was then at Louvain; and reprinted with
additions by Froben, 29 March 1519, and in modern times by F. L. Hoffmann,
Serapeum, 1862. 49 ete. and 1863.11. It is noticeable that the date of the letter
is retained unchanged in B, in spite of the insertion in the text of dates which
plainly contradict it. The history of Erasmus’ numerous writings may be studied
aco in the Bibliotheca Erasmiana (BEr!,2), now in course of publication at
ent.
John von Botzheim (c. 1480-Apr. 1535) belonged to a noble Alsatian family
domiciled at Sasbach, east of Se He was a pupil of Wimpfeling at Heidel¬
berg, and some verses by him appear in Wimpfeling’s Adolescentia, first published
in 1499 (Knepper, Wimpfeling, pp. 119, 20). In 1500, being already a vicar of
Strasburg cathedral, he matriculated at Bologna (Acta Nat. Germ. Univ. Bonon.
P. 257), where he became Doctor of Canon Law. He returned from Italy to
Strasburg in 1504, bringing with him Lorenzo Astemio’s edition of the De vitis
Caesarum of Aurelius Victor (Fano, H. Soncinus, 26 Feb. 1504), which was
at once reprinted by Thos. Wolf the younger at Strasburg, Jo. Priis. 11 Mar.
1505. He also published with the same printer Roderici Zamorensis speculum vite
humane, 12 Jan. 1507. In 1512 he was appointed Canon of Constance, where his
house soon became a centre of hospitality for men of art and letters, and for
travellers passing to Tyrol and Italy. He was introduced to Erasmus by Urbanus
Rhegius in 1520 (Lond. xii. 32, LB. 248; wrongly dated 1517). Similarity of
temperament made them close friends; and in Sept. 1522 Erasmus visited
him for a few weeks from Basle. He was at first favourably inclined to the
Reformation, but afterwards revolted from its excesses, and thus, like Erasmus,
found both parties hostile to him. In 1527, when reform triumphed at
Constance, he accompanied the Cathedral Chapter to Ueberlingen and remained
there till 1535, when he went to Freiburg on a visit to Erasmus, during which
he died. He adopted the name Abstemius or Bivilaqua, either from admiration
of the Italian humanist, or in indication of his temperate habits; it appears as
early as 1507 in the Speculum vite humane. Otmar Nachtgall’s Progymnasmata Graecae
Literaturae, Strasburg, Jo. Knoblouch, 1521, are dedicated to him.
See a life by K. Walchner, Schaffhausen, 1836 and ADB.)
ERASMVS ROTERODAMVS ORNATISSIMO VIRO D. IOANNI BOTZHEMO
ABSTEMIO IVRIS VTRIVSQVE DOCTORI CANONICO
CONSTANTIENSI S. D.
Nox pateris, Abstemi vir clarissime, quicquam mearum lucu¬
brationum deesse tuae bibliothecae, sed quereris idem opus tibi
subinde commercandum esse vel retextum, vel locupletatum, vel
recognitum. Proinde rogas vt tibi catalogum omnium nugarum
mearum verius quam librorum describam, et cui postremam 5
manum addiderim indicem, ne vel fugiat aliquid quod non
VRAA B 3. esse om. B.