Page 584 [584]
548 LETTERS OF ERASMUS [1513
163 A Natali statim isthue aduolabo, nisi Iuppiter nos alligarit domi,
D. Laracum, virum omnium quos in Anglia nouerim humanissimum
candidissimumque, quaeso vti meis salutes verbis. Rogo ne graueris
in proximis ad Paceum literis asseribere, vti tibi significet quid
actum sit de libris meis quos Ferrariae reliqueram. Nonnihil su
170 spectum est mihi illius silentium: non quod quicquam de fide illius
addubitem, sed quod verear ne quid acciderit commentariis meis,
quod ambo nolimus. Bene vale, Ammoni.
Cantabrigiae. natali diui Thomae. [Anno m.p.x.]
284, To THomas WOLSEY.
Basle MS. AN. vi. 1. Cambridge.
4 January (1514).
(This is the preface to a translation of Plutarch’s De vtilitate capienda ex inimicis,
which exists in manuscript in the University Library at Basle. The translation
forms a neatly bound book of twenty-five small quarto leaves, the first of which
is occupied by the preface. At the foot of the first page is written in the hand
of Boniface Amerbach (Ep. 326) ‘manus domini Erasmi Roterodami.’
The translation was perhaps first made in the autumn of 1512 (cf. Ep. 264),
and shared the fate of Ep. 272 which was committed to Berckman. It may be
conjectured that Erasmus subsequently, on finding that the Plutarch was not
yet published, wrote a special copy for presentation to Wolsey, as a New Year
offering in 1514; and that having failed to present it in time (Ep. 287. 2-5) he
afterwards amplified it into Ep. 297. This suggestion agrees with the statement
in i. p. 8. 19-24 that the treatise was dedicated to Wolsey when he was Royal
Almoner, and that his promotion was so rapid that the preface had to be changed
three times before an opportunity arrived of presenting the book to him.
The date is given by Wolsey’s preferment. The see of Lincoln fell vacant by
the death of William Smith on 2 Jan. 1514. Wolsey was appointed by Papal
Bull of 6 Feb. 1514, and consecrated at Lambeth on 26 March. The date given
by Erasmus hardly accords with that of Smith’s death ; but Mr. Nichols quotes
Halle’s Chronicle, 1550, f. 46, to the effect that Wolsey was named Bp. of Lincoln
‘on Newers daye,’ apparently before his predecessor was actually dead.]
ORNATISSIMO VIRO CHRISTIANISSIMI REGIS ANGLORVM
ELEMOSYNARIO MAGNO EPISCOPO LYNCOLNIENSI
NOMINATO ERASMVS ROT. S. D.
Cvm et antea iamdudum vererer tantum virum tantulo aggredi
munusculo, contantemque hinc tua inuitaret bonitas, hine deterreret
magnitudo, accessit interim tot ornamentis dignitas etiam episcopalis.
Verum vbi mecum reputarem nihil humanitati decessisse, si quid
5 accessit honoribus, ausus sum hoe qualicunque xeniolo et meum in
te animum testificari et tuum ambire fauorem. Est libellus perpu
sillus quidem ille sed, vt eum compendio laudem, Plutarchi, quo
viro nihil vnquam produxit foecunda alioqui magnorum ingeniorum
283. 166. D. om. H.
283. 166. Laracum] Thos. Larke whom he possessed great influence,
(te. July 1530), the King’s Chaplain, See Brewer.
and Canon of Westminster 14 Nov. 1511. 169. libris meis] The Antibarbari, ete.;
He was confessor to Wolsey, with see p. 121.