Page 113 [113]
337 | TO MARTIN DORP 91
also implies that Erasmus’ arrival at Basle was then recent. It was perhaps
on this occasion that he had the honourable reception in Strasburg described in
the Chronik of Wm. Werner, Freiherr yon Zimmern (1485-1575); ed. Barack, in
the Bibl. d. litterar. Vereins in Stuttgart, 1869, vol. 8, p. 206. See also Ep. 363. 5 n.
The inundations mentioned in Epp. 345 and 348 may have helped to prolong
his stay.
From Ep. 347 and More’s letter to Dorp there mentioned it is clear that like
Ep. 333 and 335 the printed version of this letter is an enlargement of that
actually sent. After publication in A it did not again appear with Erasmus’
Epistolae ; and in the Opera of 1540 it is included among the Apologiae—a title
which More gave to it at once (Ep. 388). It was reprinted with a few errors
corrected in Erasmus’ Enarratio in primum Psalmum, Louvain, Th. Martens,
Oct. 1515 (Ep. 327). Afterwards it formed one of the pieces regularly printed
with the Moriae Encomium, and appears in all the early editions of that work
from 1516 onwards. It was revised for Froben's edition of 1515-16 (a+), the first
in which it is found (cf. Ep. 328. 48 n.), and again for his of July 1522 (6). I have
collated the variants between A and Lond. in the following editions : Froben’s
of Nov. 1517 (a2), Schiirer’s of June 1519 (a8), and Froben's of Nov. 1519 and
Oct. 1521, which follow a?; also in the Opera, 1540 (ix. 3), which follows £.
From the variants in 1]. 688 and 871 the London editors seem to have printed from
both a! and a?.]
ERASMVS ROTERODAMYS MARTINO DORPIO THEOLOGO EXIMIO S. D.
Non fuit reddita nobis epistola tua, sed tamen exemplar, haud scio
quo modo exceptum, amicus quidam exhibuit Antuuerpiae. Deploras
Moriam parum feliciter aeditam, studium in restituendo Hieronymo
nostrum magnopere comprobas, ab aeditione Noui Testamenti deterres.
Quibus litteris tuis, mi Dorpi, tantum abest vt quicquam fuerim 5
offensus, vt posthac mihi coeperis esse multo charior, cum semper
fueris charissimus. Adeo syncere consulis, mones amice, obiurgas
amanter. Habet nimirum hoc Christiana charitas, vt etiam cum
saeuit maxime, tamen genuinae suae dulcedinis gustum obtineat.
Multae mihi cotidie redduntur ab eruditis viris litterae, quae me 1o
decus Germaniae, quae solem, quae lunam faciunt, et splendidissimis
titulis onerant verius quam ornant. Harum emoriar si vlla vnquam
me perinde delectauit vt illa Dorpii mei iurgatrix epistola. Vere
dictum est a Paulo, charitatem non peccare; siue quid adulatur,
studet prodesse, siue stomachatur, non aliud agit. Atque vtinam 15
liceret per ocium ad tuas litteras rescribere, quo tanto amico satis¬
faciam. Vehementer enim cupio quicquid ago te approbante fieri,
cuius ingenio pene coelesti, cuius eruditioni singulari, cuius iudicio
longe acerrimo tantum tribuo vt malim vnius Dorpii quam mille
caeterorum calculis approbari. Verum adhuc a nauigatione nausea- 20
bundus et mox equitatione fessus, ad haec in componendis sarcinulis
occupatus, satius esse duxi quomodocunque respondere quam amicum
in ista relinquere opinione; siue hane ex teipso conceperis, siue
instillauerint alii, qui te ad eam epistolam scribendam subornarunt,
quo sub aliena persona suam agerent fabulam. 25
1. Non fuit reddita] Of. Ep. 334. 168 n. 11, solem] Cf. Epp. 315. 9, 323. 30.