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1523] ERASMUS TO JOHN BOTZHEIM 7
sed destiti, potissimum deterritus epithetis, quibus abundant chori ;
in quibus non erat spes in Latinis assequi compositionis felicitatem,
quam videmus in Graecis dictionibus. Quod si dictiones singulas
pluribus explicuissem, peribat gratia totius carminis. Nam hymni
sacri fere éonstant huiusmodi deorum cognomentis religiose com¬
positis, praesertim apud Graecos. Quod genus sunt illa apud
Homerum:
Apes drepperéra, Bprodppare, xpvoeorýàné,
bu Bpydbupe, dépar, TOTE XAÀAKOKÓpVO TÉ:
Itidem et Lucianus:
emdecpoxapés, KatakhwoPartes,
Kw\voodpéua, BacavaorpayéÀü,
oovporpyouripa, poyoayeddpa,
dorduxopéBa, yovvxXuvoaypimvà,
mepixovovdomwpopiray
yovurapuemirupre
Haec atque id genus quum apud Graecos plurimum habeant gratiae
ob facetissimam imitationem, Latinus sermo nec vmbram horum
possit reddere. Ad Graecas literas vtéunque puero degustatas iam
grandior redii, hoe est annos natus plus minus triginta, sed tum
quum apud nos nulla Graecorum codicum esset copia, neque minor
penuria doctorum ; Lutetiae tantum vnus Georgius Hermonymus
Graece balbutiebat, sed talis vt neque potuisset docere, si voluisset,
negue voluisset, si potuisset.
9. Toàiogóe restitui : TENOCÓS a.
xapés a.
22. Hermonymus 8 : Hieronymus &.
7. Homerum] Hymn. 8. 1, 2.
meliooés is an evident misprint; I
cannot find it in any early edition of
Homer.
to, Lucianus] Tragoedopodagra, 198¬
203. The early editions of Lucian
have the téxt as printed here, except
SovdvawpdBa.
22. Hermonymus] of Sparta. In the
spring of 1476 he was sent from Rome
to England with a letter from the
Pope requesting Edward rv to release
his brother George Nevill, Archbishop of
York, then in prison. Having accom¬
plished his mission he was himself
arrested and imprisoned for a short
while, but by June i476 he had re¬
turned to Paris, where most, if not all,
of the remainder of his life was spent.
He supported himself by copying Greek
MSS., for which there was some de¬
mand, whilst Greek printing was still
II. B: éemdecpw¬
14. B: yoruk\aua¬
16, youvokapwenixupte È.
25. esse add. B.
in its infancy. He also taught Greek;
but as his acquaintance with the lan¬
guage was scarcely more than ability
to speak it, his pupils, amongst whom
were Reuchlin, Erasmus, Budaeus,
Beatus Rhenanus, and M. Hummelberg,
had little to say in his praise. Faber
Stapulensis however, who addressed to
him Budaeus’ translation of Plutarch’s
De placitis philosophorum, Paris, Badius,
18 March 1505, speaks highly of him.
Omont (Mém. Soc. Hist. Paris, 1885) enu¬
mérates more than 70 MSS., principally
Greek, written by him, two of which,
copies of Gennadius’ Via Salutis, weread¬
dressed by him to Louis of Beaumont,
Bishop of Paris(1472-92), and to Philip,
Archduke of Austria, with practically
identical prefaces. He also printed
Latin versions of the Dicta Septem Sapi¬
entum andof a Vita Machometi. See,besides
Omont, Legrand, Bibl. Hellénique xv°.
on
Io
20
b>.
ur