Page 598 [598]
OCR
562 LETTERS OF ERASMUS [1514 ORNATISSIMO PATRI D. GVLIELMO ARCHIEPISCOPO CANTVARIENSI PRIMATI BRITANNIAE ERASMVS ROTEROD. 8. D. Cym ab ingratitudine non secus abhorream atque Achilles ille Homericus a mendacio, mecumque perpenderem quam esset immensum quod tuae deberem benignitati, rursum et illud viderem, mediocribus amicis de mediocribus beneficiis gratias agi conuenire, porro 5 tam excellenti vereque Primati gratiam referre conari tantum abesse a grati hominis officio vt potius ingratitudinis vel certe insolentiae genus esse videatur ; videlicet optimum factu iudicaui, vt tibi literaria strenula ceu flosculo quopiam e Musarum hortulis decerpto animum memorem atque amantem vteunque testificarer. Itaque Saturnalia 10 Luciani Latinitate donata bonis auibus mitto, libellum nisi fallor nec infestiuum nec a me alteri dicatum, et in primis oportunum, si quando ridere libebit ; imo si licebit in tanto negociorum agmine, quae tibi (vt Horatianis dicam verbis) per caput et circum saliunt latus. Cur autem vicio detur summatibus viris, siquando curis delassatum 15 animum risu reficiant? cum apud Hesiodum rideat et maximus ille marip dvipav re bev te Iuppiter; praecipue si risus sit cuiusmodi hune esse puto, nec illiberalis nec duovoos, imo haud scio an aliquanto plus frugis etiam adferens quam seria quidem illa sed permolesta negocia. 20 Vale, pater amplissime, et Erasmum tuum, vt facis, a monstro illo plusquam Lernaeo vindicare perge. [Anno m.p.xv.] 294. To PETER GILLES. Farrago p. 194. London. F. p. 329: HN: Lond. vii. 32: LB. 156. (July) 1514. [Erasmus departure from England on his way to Basle may be placed in July 1514, since he probably arrived at Hammes on the 7th ; cf. Ep. 296. 233. The words in which he announces his intended visit to Mountjoy and his other friends resemble those in Ep. 295; and this letter may therefore be placed in 1514. During his last days in London must have occurred the meeting with Canossa in Ammonius’ house at Westminster, by Thames’ side, which is so graphically described in Lond. xxiv. 24, LB. 1239. Canossa’s arrival in London may be dated in June 1514, since the mandate to him to proceed from France to England was dispatched from Rome about 20 May (Brewer, i. 5107, and 5173). | ERASMVS PETRO AEGIDIO SVO S. D. Acorprrs ab hoc nauta Antonio tria scrinia, vnum quadrum ligneum funibus obuinctum, duo Gallica corio suillo circumtecta ; repones vel apud te vel alicubi in tuto, donec ipse aduenero. Nautae, si videbitur, solues, nisi forsitan hic a me pecuniam exegerit; nondum enim cum 293. 8. e F: a Lond. 21. Anno m.D.xv. add. H. 294. 1. tria E Corrig. : mea EF. 2. duo E: tria F. circumtecta E: superne contecta H. 293, x1. alteri dicatum] OpPIS: 294. 1. tria] The correction made 13. Horatianis] Sat. 2. 6. 33, 4. in E escaped the notice of subsequent 15. Hesiodum] Cf. Th. 36 seq. editors.
