Page 60 [60]
LETTERS OF ERASMUS [1514
DOMINO ERASMO ROTERODAMO, LITERARVM SPLENDORI,
IACOBVS FABER S. D.
Henri circa crepusculum noctis praesentium tabellarius me conuenit
et nomine tuo dixit salutem ; quae non nisi gratissima esse potuit :
sed eo vberiore laetitia animum meum oppleuit, quo te intellexi
in Germania inter typographos versari. Publica enim vtilitas (vt
5 continuo concepi) et literarum feliciter propagandarum amor te
Brytannos deserere suasit, et nobis quidem oppido quam optabiliter
4 ac vtiliter. Quid enim aliud faceres, qui plenus es omnium bonarum
literarum, nisi non tibi sed vtilitati publicae eas studiis ac studiosis
propagares, imitator publici solis? Sic nanque mundi sol candidae
10 lucis plenissimus non intra se illam occulit, sed omnibus mortalium
oculis non suo sed illorum ysu manifestat ac ingerit. Quis non
suspiciat, amet, colat Erasmum? Nemo non, qui bonus et literatus
fuerit. Ergo qui prorogat vitas, fila vitae tuae faciat quam maxime
longeua, vt merita meritis diutius cumulans serus ad feliciora regna
15 de toto quam optime meritus mundo transeas; non solum gloriae
famam posteris relinquens, sed vitam iam cum superis viuens
heroicam. Vale felix et viue nobis et nostro saeculo, et ama te
colentem et amantem. Ex coenobio diui Germani iuxta Lutetiam
Parisiorum. x. Cal. No,
816. From Lucas KLETT.
Deventer MS. 91, f. 158. (Basle. )
LB. App. 301. 1 November 1514.
[The manuscript date, which is misread in LB. into 1518, is confirmed by
Ep. wi 3 seq. ; from which it is plain that Erasmus complied with Paliurus’
request.
Lucas Klett of Ruffach, S. of Colmar, matriculated at Basle early in r509 and
was M.A. at Christmas 15r2. In 1514 he was keeping a school at Basle (BRE. 38 ;
dedicating to Klett an edition of Bapt. Guarino’s De modo et ordine docendi.
Strasburg, Schiirer, March 1514) ; but he subsequently took up law—his request
to Zasius in this letter is perhaps connected with these studies—and by 1517
had become Chancellor to Christopher of Utenheim, Bp. of Basle (Lond. iii. 23,4;
LB. 259, 262). There was perhaps an interval in his tenure Cancer forn
1526 he was at Tübingen (EE. 50). But in 1530 he is found in it again anal he
was still holding it in 1538. See some letters from him to Ro Amerbach:
(Basle MSS. G. II. 30. 106, and KA. C. v. 1°) ; in the last of which he gives the
oe to his none with the ve ‘Lucas Klet, aut si mauis Pal rie One
of Erasmus’ epigrams, composed ¢. 1515, is addressed to him. He is perhaps to
be identified with the Doctor Lucas (CPR. p, 71 a =
Jodocus Gallus of Ruffach.] ( P. 71) who was intimate with
DOMINO ERASMO VNDECVNQVE DOCTISSIMO LYCAS PALYVRYS S.
PARCE, mi Erasme, si tuam magnificentiam rudiori Minerua ob¬
tundam ; patrocinii tui certe vbique terrarum multum ponderis et
authoritatis habentis adminiculo parumper opus habeo. Noui ego