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564 LETTERS OF ERASMUS [1514
Ago nunc in arce Hammensi, pauculos dies cum meo Montioio
commoraturus, deinde Germaniam aditurus in transitu salutatis
amiculis aliquot, Si fortuna respondebit et meis optatis et aliorum
promissis, maturabimus reditum ; sin minus, consilium ex re capie¬
mus. Faxit Deus Opt. Max. vt incolumis reuersus Ammonium
meum offendam non solum incolumem, verumetiam lautissimis
fortunae muneribus auctum. Si quando inciderit occasio prouehendi
res Erasmi tui, non dubito quin sis eum praestaturus absenti quem
semper hactenus praestitisti et absenti et praesenti. Bene vale,
amice singularis.
Ex arce Hammensi. postridie nonas Iulias. m.D.X1II.
296. To Servatius ROGERUS.
Deventer MS. go. f°. 9. Hammes Castle,
Brussels MS. 4850-7. f°. 143. 8 July 1514.
Lond. Pref.: LB. App. 8 and i. Pref.
[This letter was never published by Erasmus, though copies of it were in
circulation before his death. Two manuscripts of it exist, one in a xvi° hand,
in the Athenaeum Library at Deventer (a), the other, written by Martin Lypsius
(1492-1555); in the Bibliothèque Royale at Brussels (8). There are also three
printed versions of importance. Two of these contain the letter only, on four
quarto leaves, with the title Zrasmi Roterodami Epistola qua se excusat cur mutarit
monasticam vitam, item habitum, but without indication of date or printer; of
one, which has an elaborate border and device on the title-page, there is a copy
in the library of Trinity College, Dublin (y!); of the other, which is quite plain,
several copies are known, one being in the Bodleian (7”). The third was printed
by J. Lambert at Ghent in 1536 after Erasmus’ death, with the title Zpistola
quaedam D. Erasmi Rot. nunquam ante hac aedita, rationem fere totius vitae eius continens.
Epitaphia nonnulla in eundem (è) ; a copy of this is at St. John’s College, Oxford.
Though it is not invariably the best, I consider a the most valuable, as
containing the important reading inclinatus (1. 54; see facsimile). It is the last
item in a little book of twelve octavo leaves, written throughout by the same
hand, but plainly on several occasions ; for the title ‘Papa modernus’ is given
to Leo x in an entry of 1515 (f. 5 v°) and to Adrian vi in one of 1522 (f. 6).
The book contains nine miscellaneous speeches and letters, of dates ranging
between 1508 and 1522. Four of the letters are to and from Erasmus, one of the
latter being unpublished. £ is also of high value and has the following intro¬
duction by Lypsius, which throws light on the manner in which the letter
became public property ; ‘Sequentem epistolam amiculi cuiusdam opera vsus
transcripsi. Erasmus enim ceu sub fide Francisco Nouiomago Crucifero,
D. Philippi Traiectensis episcopi sacellano, eam communicarat, sed tandem a suae
professionis consorte circumuentus est, qui eam noctu exscripsit. It occurs in
a MS. volume of 267 quarto leaves, all in Lypsius’ hand ; and from the date of
the other contents of the volume it seems to have been written about 1518.
y! and y? are probably unauthorized impressions of the letter, which were in
circulation in 1533, and to which Erasmus refers as ‘ea Cepistola) quae fertur
ad Seruatium’ in Lond. xxvii. 22, LB. 1265. They agree very closely in their
text, and one is probably a reprint of the other. 6 is unique in containing
versions of a few words and sentences into inferior Greek. One of these passages,
ll. 75-7, is alluded to by Erasmus in the same letter as having given offence;
it is clear therefore that the Greek translations were inserted by some friond
of Erasmus in an attempt to establish an authorized text of the letter and to
render passages which were liable to misrepresentation less easily accessible
38. M.D.XIIIL. add. H.
30. Si fortuna] Cf. Ep. 297. 27.