Page 25 [25]
298. To JoHN DE NEVE.
Opuscula aliquot f°. A v°. Louvain.
I August 1514.
[The preface to Opuscula aliquot Erasmo Roterodamo castigatore, Louvain, Th. Mar¬
tens, Sept. 1514 (a); which include Catonis praecepta, Mimi Publiani, Septem
Sapientum celebria dicta and Institutum Christiant Hominis carmine pro pueris ab
Erasmo compositum. Van Iseghem (go) mentions another edition by Martens
in Sept. 1515; but the copy specified by him I have not been able to trace.
In Oct. 1515 Schürer published a new edition revised by Erasmus at his
request, with considerable alterations in the preface (8'); and this is followed
by his editions of Oct. 1516 (67), Nov. 1517 and Aug. 1519. The undated
edition by Martens (y) may be placed in the latter part of 1517, after Erasmus’
settlement at Louvain. It was reprinted by Martens in Nov. 1518 and by
Froben in Oct. 1520 and June 1526. Badius reprinted one of Martens’ editions,
probably the latest, 13 Aug. 1527 (6) and again in Noy. 1533; and the last
edition produced during Erasmus’ lifetime by any of his authorized printers is
that of Froben and Episcopius in 1534 (€).
The date of the preface is unquestionable. Erasmus’ statement that his work
on Cato cost him only a day (Ep. 421) is perhaps to be understood of the work
of final revision for the press; cf. Epp. 384 introd. and 428 introd. The book
may have been brought with its dedication ready written (cf. Ep. 199 introd.) ;
for Erasmus’ stay in Louvain at this time was short, and the book was left
behind with Dorp to be printed (Ep. 304. 156-9).
The Royal Library at Munich has a copy of 61 (4° A. Lat. a. 24) with the
following autograph inscription by Erasmus: ‘Iohanni Oecolampadio Vini¬
montano amico évriuordro munus haudquaquam Bapdripoy donauit Erasmus
ó podep6dapos.
John de Neve of Hondschoote, S.E. of Dunkirk, was B.A. from the Collège
du Lis at Louvain in 1497, and M.A. in 1499. He subsequently became
Bachelor of Theology, Regent of his College, and Feb.-Aug. 1515 Rector of the
University. Erasmus knew him intimately during his residence in the Collège
du Lis, from 1517 onwards. His name does not occur among the followers of
the Muses at Louvain in the Epithalamium Petri Aegidii, composed in 1514 but
rewritten probably c. 1517-8 (Ep. 312. 86n.) ; but after his death Erasmus wrote
a letter of regret (Lond. xxiii. 5, LB. 671) which was published with his
Exomologesis, Basle, Froben, (¢. Sept.) 1524. The date of de Neve’s death—which
occurred suddenly of paralysis—has not been certainly established. On the
ground of Erasmus’ letter it has usually been placed in 1524; but John Heems
of Armentier, who is there mentioned as de Neyve’s successor, is shown by the
University records to have become Regent in 1522, and after holding office for
more than thirty-seven years to have died on 1 July 1560. See E. Reusens in
Analectes pour... U’hist. ecclés. de la Belgique, vol. xx (iv in 2nd ser.), pp. 293-326
and 361; cited in EE. pp. 357,8. Förstemann and Günther place EE. 5,
which answers a letter of Erasmus inquiring about some books which he seems
to have left behind at Louvain with de Neve, in 1522; but from a similarity
in contents with EE. 13. 24 and also in month-date I incline to think that
both letters belong to 1522 : in which case de Neve?s death may be placed at the
end of 1522. Dorp’s Dialogue (p. 11) is dedicated to him. |
ERASMVS ROTERODAMVS M. IOANNI NEVIO HONDISCOTANO,
LILIANORVM LOVANII GYMNASIARCHAE, SALVTEM D. P.
Drsrroma moralia vulgo Catonis inscripta titulo, Neui theologorum
decus, primum diligenter a mendis repurgauimus collata Planudis
TIT. LOVANII 4; APVD INCLYTVM LOVANIVM y: om.e. I. Neui... decus add. B.
2. Planudis] Maximus Planudes was sent on an embassy to Venice in
(¢, 1260-1310), a Byzantine monk, who 1296. He translated into Greek a
ALLEN II B