Page 93 [93]
OCR
635 | TO JOHN FROBEN .. 57 amicitiam. Ceterum vbi video doctos vno ore omneis meo subscribere suffragio ac vehementius etiam diuinum hominis ingenium suspicere, non quod plus ament sed quod plus cernant, serio plaudo meae sententiae, nec verebor posthac quod sentio palam eloqui. Quid tandem non praestitisset admirabilis ista naturae felicitas, si hoc ingenium instituisset Italia? si totum Musarum sacris vacaret, si ad iustam frugem ac velut autumnum suum maturuisset? Epigrammata lusit adolescens admodum ac pleraque puer. Britanniam suam nunquam egressus est, nisi semel atque iterum, Principis sui nomine legatione fungens apud Flandros. . Preter rem vxoriam, preter curas domesticas, preter publici muneris functionem et causarum vndas, tot tantisque regni negociis distrahitur vt mireris esse ocium vel cogitandi de libris. Proinde misimus ad te Progymnasmata illius et Vtopiam, vt, si videtur, tuis excusa typis orbi posteritatique commendentur: quando ea est tuae officine autoritas vt liber vel hoc nomine placeat eruditis, si cognitum sit e Frobenianis edibus prodisse. Bene vale cum optimo socero, coniuge suauissima ac mellitissimis liberis. Erasmum filiolum mihi tecum communem, inter litteras natum, fac optimis litteris instituendum cures. Louamii. 20, Hrasmum | Froben’s younger son, born between 4 Nov. 1515 (cf. Q. p. 58) and 28 Feb. 1516, if Erasmus is accurate in saying (1. p. 9. 26) that he was six when the Colloguiorwm Formulae (Basle, Froben, March 1522) were dedicated to him. In a De Constructione (Ep. 341) printed for him by his father at this time, and in an Alphabetum Graecum of March 1518, his mame appears as John Erasmus Froben; but by 1522 the ‘form Erasmius had been adopted (cf. rv. 546 n.). His godfathers were Erasmus and Beatus Rhenanus; and at his confirmation, before March 1522, Capito was his sponsor. The Basle Library has a copy of Froben’s edition of the Collog. Formulae, (c. Aug.) 1522, printed for him on vellum (AN. VL. 4). For another Froben edition, Aug. 1524, Erasmus remodelled the preface. In June 1522 the boy was sent to Freiburg to be taught by Heresbach (Basle MS. G. II. 29 : letters of Froben to Bon. Amerbach (24 June?) and 6 July 1522; cf. Lond. xx. 38, LB. 636). In March 1527 he was at school under L. Carinus at Coblenz (Lond. xxi. 53, LB. 853: and Jortin ii. 456) ; and a dispute over the the causes of Erasmus’ quarrel with Carinus (Th. v. Liebenau in Kath. Schweizer-Blatter, NF. ii. 1886, p. 344). After Froben’s death Erasmus felt responsibility for his godson (Lond. xxviii 1, LB. 1084, 1251 x), and had him at Freiburg in the autumn of 1529. In Oct. the boy’s guardians recalled him to go to Paris (Basle MS. D. IV. rS 309 v2, 322 vo); but were persuaded to send him to Goclen at Louvain (Lond. xxvi. 51, LB. 1079: Q. pp. 59-61). He was there in Aug. 1530, but in Nov. 1531 was at Lille, learning French (Basle MS. Goclenii Epist. ff. 6, 9); Erasmus’ offer to take the boy for the summer of 1531, and advice to make him a scriniarius (Horawitz ii. 9) being both declined. By Nov. 1534 he had returned to Basle (Basle MS. D. IV. 18. 444 ; ef. Q. p. 45). On 23 Aug. 1536 (BRE. 296, 300) he married Katharine Weckhart; and then joined his stepfather, John Herwagen, in the printing business, vols. 3 and 4 of the Basle Galen, 1538, and the Paroemiae of Apostolius, 1538, being from their press. In Jan. 1542 he divorced his wife for adultery with Herwagen; and by Feb. 1545 appears to have married again. See Heitz and Bernoulli, Basler Büchermarken, 1895, PP. XX, XXVIL, REX. ou n o IS o
