Pagina 35 [35]
OCR
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 compositis, 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, 198203. 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 accomplished his mission he was himself arrested and imprisoned for a short while, but by June i476 he had returned 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 demand, whilst Greek printing was still II. B: éemdecpw14. B: yoruk\aua16, youvokapwenixupte È. 25. esse add. B. in its infancy. He also taught Greek; but as his acquaintance with the language 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) enumérates more than 70 MSS., principally Greek, written by him, two of which, copies of Gennadius’ Via Salutis, wereaddressed 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 Sapientum andof a Vita Machometi. See,besides Omont, Legrand, Bibl. Hellénique xv°. on Io 20 b>. ur
