Andreae Alciati Contra Vitam Monasticam Epistula - Andrea Alciato’s Letter Against Monastic Life: Critical Edition, Translation and Commentary 946270001X, 9789462700017

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SUPPLEMENTA HUMANISTICA LOVANIENSIA XXXVI

SUPPLEMENTA HUMANISTICA LOVANIENSIA Editors: Prof. Dr. Gilbert Tournoy (General Editor) Dr. Godelieve Tournoy-Thoen Prof. Dr. Dirk Sacré Editorial Correspondence: [email protected] Seminarium Philologiae Humanisticae Blijde-Inkomststraat 21 (Box 3311) B – 3000 Leuven (Belgium)

This publication was made possible with the financial support of the University of Waikato and of PEGASUS Limited for the Promotion of Neo-Latin Studies

SUPPLEMENTA HUMANISTICA LOVANIENSIA XXXVI

ANDREAE ALCIATI CONTRA VITAM MONASTICAM EPISTULA ANDREA ALCIATO’S LETTER AGAINST MONASTIC LIFE Critical Edition, Translation and Commentary by Denis L. DRYSDALL

LEUVEN UNIVERSITY PRESS 2014

© 2014 Leuven University Press / Universitaire Pers Leuven / Presses Universitaires de Louvain, Minderbroedersstraat 4, B – 3000 Leuven (Belgium) All rights reserved. Except in those cases expressly determined by law, no part of this publication may be multiplied, saved in an automated datafile or made public in any way whatsoever without the express prior written consent of the publishers. ISBN 978 94 6270 001 7 e-ISBN 978 94 6166 133 3 (e-pdf) D/2014/1869/25 NUR: 635

TABLE OF CONTENTS

— Acknowledgements

7

— Introduction

9

— Appendices

21

— Note on the Text and Translation

25

— Text and Translation

29

— Index of Names

137

For my children, Richard and Josephine

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thanks for help in preparing this work go to the University of Waikato for research facilities in the library and in computer services, and in particular to the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Professor Robert Hannah, who granted the necessary subsidy for publication. I am especially indebted to Professor Gilbert Tournoy and a second anonymous reader for their careful reading, corrections, and numerous helpful suggestions for the notes. My thanks go also to my colleague Professor Ray Harlow for generous help with some Greek passages, and to Philip Abela in the University of Auckland library for assistance in using the CETEDOC Library of Christian Latin texts.

First page of manuscript, fo. 106r

INTRODUCTION Alciato’s letter to his friend Bernardus Mattius is better known for the author’s worries about its circulation than for its content.1 It also raises questions about its date and about the identity of the addressee. As Karl Enenkel has shown, while the only surviving manuscript is a posthumous copy bearing the date 7 June 1553, the letter itself was composed very probably in the second half of 1517 or early 1518.2 The only suggestion one might add to this is that remarks in the letter about the proliferation of sects seem to imply that the partial solution arrived at after the fifth Lateran council, which ended in 1517,3 was not known to Alciato at the time. Mattius himself is unknown apart from what we learn in this letter. He was forty years old or perhaps more at the time,4 and therefore considerably older than Alciato, who was 25 in early 1518. He was a lawyer, and evidently a well-regarded member of the humanist circle around the French controlled senate of Milan.5 Apart from this we have only the hint that he was of French or English origin in the remark that a certain Franciscan called Richard, who may have been Richard of Middleton or Richard of Conington,6 was ‘your fellow countryman’ (‘tibi conterraneum’).7 He entered the monastery of San Giacomo alla Vernavola in Pavia, and Alciato criticises him for having left a mother and two 1  For Alciato’s biography see R. Abbondanza, ‘Alciato, Andrea’ in Dizionario biografico degli Italiani, ed. by A.M. Ghisalberti et al. (Rome, Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 1960 - [hereafter DBI]), II, 69-77. For his emblems, see Andreas Alciatus, ed. by Peter M. Daly and Virginia W. Callahan, assisted by Simon Cuttler, Index emblematicus, 2 vols (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985), and André Alciat, Les Emblèmes. Fac-simile de l’édition lyonnaise Macé-Bonhomme de 1551. Preface by Pierre Laurens, and table of concordances by Florence Vuilleumier (Paris: Klincksieck, 1997). 2  Karl A.E. Enenkel, ‘Alciato’s Ideas on the Religious: the Letter to Bernardus Mattius,’ Emblematica, 9 (1995), 293-313. 3   The bull Ita et vos, promulgated by Leo X on 31 May 1517, combined all the reform communities into one order called the Friars Minor of the Observance but maintained a separation of the Friars Minor Conventual. See the New Catholic Encyclopedia. 17 vols (New York: McGraw Hill, 1967; herafter NCE), 6, 68. Alciato’s remarks suggest that he may not have been aware of this when he wrote or that he was writing shortly before then. 4   Translation, § 37. 5   Translation, § 26. 6   Translation, § 42 and note 184. 7   There was apparently a well-established family of the name ‘Matty’ (various spellings) in Champagne.

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younger brothers in straightened circumstances, but does not say where they lived. The question whether Alciato ever intended to publish the letter may be resolved fairly easily. As Enenkel has said, it does not look at all like a private and inconsiderately written letter, and its form and length oblige us to see it as a rhetorical treatise, a ‘declamatio’ or ‘oratio’ as Alciato himself calls it. It displays humanist ideas and would have found a ready public both in the humanist circles of Milan and in the wider humanist world. However it is also clear that it was a genuine personal appeal resorting to privately shared ideas and arguments. It is implied that it was written in Milan and sent to Pavia,8 and a later letter from Alciato himself9 confirms that it was sent to Mattius. Moreover he asked his correspondent explicitly not to divulge his concerns: So warned myself by his example [that of Diagoras of Melos], I would scarcely dare to write these words – lest I stir up hornets, as they say – if I did not know of your goodwill toward me and believed you would not, at least for friendship’s sake, pass this letter of mine on to anyone.  (§ 6)

- and at the end of the next paragraph: These thoughts, even if they have occurred to me on other occasions, I have never expressed to anyone, and I would have settled with them by eternal silence, if the laws of friendship did not impel me to write even what should be unsaid.  (§ 7)

Clearly, even at the time of writing, he was well aware of the dangers of his opinions, and had avoided discussing them in public. It remains a question whether this was due more to fear of the response of the Franciscans, or to the delicacy of his situation in Milan, where, though he enjoyed the patronage of the French-controlled government,10 his religious beliefs and his local reputation as a lawyer would also matter. In the following years he remained extremely nervous about publication. In a   Translation, § 1 and § 6.   Gian Luigi Barni, Le Lettere di Andrea Alciato (Florence: Felice le Monnier, 1953 [hereafter Barni]), no. 65. 10  The Paradoxa, first published by Alessandro Minuziano in 1518, were dedicated to the French chancellor of the duchy of Milan, Antoine du Prat. The Dispunctiones, in the same volume, were dedicated to Jean de Selve, president of the senate of Milan, whom Alciato mentions in this text as favouring the advancement of Mattius. The Praetermissa and the Declamatio, which also first appeared in this volume, are dedicated to the senator Jacques Minut, described in the dedication of the Praetermissa as the pupil (in Greek) of Valterus Corbetes, who was also a member of the senate of Milan. 8 9



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letter dated 27 September 1520 he begs Francesco Calvo11 to retrieve the work from the ‘claws’ of Erasmus, to whom Calvo had given it, because he fears endless battles with the Franciscans, ‘those worshippers of saints’ ashes’. In another of 10 December of the same year – with some humorous exaggeration no doubt, though it sounds sometimes more like panic – he describes again the attacks and the calumny he fears from the factions of the ‘hooded ones’, threatens Calvo, Erasmus and Froben (to whom Erasmus may have passed the document) with law suits, and, more seriously, accuses Calvo of abusing his confidence by taking writings containing incautiously expressed ideas ‘from his boxes’ – he had presumably kept a copy after sending one to Mattius. This letter concludes with a barely veiled threat to withdraw publishing business from Calvo if the latter does not ensure the destruction of ‘that premature and illegitimate oration’.12 Soon after the time of writing, Alciato was seeking the position of count palatine, which was awarded to him by Leo X in February 1520, but he was still trying to get the work back from Erasmus through Boniface Amerbach in September of that year. In February 1522, he was able to thank Erasmus for a promise not to show the work to anyone, and in 1530 he remarks to Amerbach that Erasmus had re-assured him about that ‘inept declamation which, when a youth,13 I had sent to Mattius’. After a second note of re-assurance to Amerbach in June of 1531, we hear no more of the work, which Alciato now evidently regarded as a youthful indiscretion, but still too incriminating for publication.14

*** The introductory passage describes the surprise and distress Alciato and Calvo felt when informed by another friend and colleague, Valterus Corbetes,15 of Mattius’ unexpected decision to enter the Franciscan 11   Francesco Giulio Calvo opened a bookshop in Pavia in 1516 and was for a time Alciato’s preferred publisher. He moved to Rome in 1519, eventually becoming publisher to the Holy See. At about this time he changed his middle name to ‘Minuzio’ after his native town, Menaggio. See Contemporaries of Erasmus, 3 vols (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985-1987 [hereafter Contemporaries]), I, 256-57. 12   Barni, no 4. See Appendix 1 below. 13  He calls himself ‘puer’, though he was 25. In his De verborum significatione, Commentaria, lex 204, he defines the word as meaning a boy who has not completed 14 years. 14   Barni, nos 3, 4, 15, 20, 65, 69. 15   Gualtiero (Gualterius, Valterius, Valterus) Corbetta was somewhat younger than Alciato, perhaps 18-20 years old at this time. In Alciato’s works and correspondence he is named as a friend, and a colleague in both legal studies and humanist interests.

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order. Alciato goes on to warn of the power of religion to induce men to make bad decisions, such as to sacrifice even paternal love. Fearing that his friend. after brief contact with the monastery, is already infected by superstition, Alciato quotes the example of Lucretius’ hero who was ‘the first to scorn these scarecrows and rely on true reason’. These two passages, particularly the laudatory mention of Lucretius and epicurean rationalism, are already clearly critical of some forms of religion and may well have been among those which, in addition to the attack on the Franciscans, the author felt were indiscrete.16 The concluding passage of the introduction is in the same vein. It warns that, although Mattius may have found good men among those he frequented in monasteries on his recent journey to Rome, christianity – according to a story from Boccaccio, adduced without any attempt to balance its tendentiousness here – is ‘managed by some of the most worthless of men among the leaders’. One might add at this point that Alciato’s use of literary and historical examples is not always entirely honest; he is not above adding an interpretation unjustified by the example, and even of quoting out of context to suit his purpose.17 Alciato’s criticisms of monasticism are carefully organised within the frame of a main argument, explicitly stoic, which is that the life of an active person in the secular world is more acceptable to God than the monk’s life of withdrawal. He begins the main part of his appeal thus: ‘But here is my own argument: the life of those who live in a christian The dedication of the Praetermissa (1518) mentions him as tutor in Greek to the dedicatee Jacques Minut (Barni, no. 155). Alciato also chose him, in his model Declamatio (also 1518), as one of the ‘patroni’ (defence advocates): ‘men whose learning rivals their supreme probity, and who are friends of mine too’. Corbetta was admitted in 1524 to the Collegium iurisconsultorum of Milan, of which Alciato was already a member in 1518. From a letter to Calvo of 3 Sept. 1530 (Barni, no. 62) we learn that he had been in France at that time and would have been well received by Francis I, but returned to Italy because of a near fatal illness. In 1534 he became a senator of Milan and from 1535 till his early death in 1537 was one of the sixty ‘decuriones’. See the article by R. Ricciardi in DBI, xxviii, 741-42. 16   Alciato’s perhaps indiscrete daring in expressing his admiration for Lucretius is plainly implied in the lines which begin and end the passage of the De rerum natura alluded to: ‘When man’s life lay for all to see foully grovelling upon the ground, crushed beneath the weight of Religion, which displayed her head in the regions of heaven, threatening mortals from on high with horrible aspect, a man of Greece was the first that dared to uplift mortal eyes against her [...]’ And after the story of Iphigenia, ‘So potent was Religion in persuading to evil deeds’. However, he expresses loud disapproval of epicureanism later, mocking its recommendation to ‘live in obscurity’ and its alleged hedonism. (§ 31) 17   Examples of these practices are his reference to the story of the sacrifice of Isaac, § 2, his use of the younger Pliny’s letter, § 12, of the law forcing decurions to abandon hermit life and return to their office, note 111, and of Augustine’s allusion to the Barathrum, § 41.



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way, free of rituals, and who embrace that way of living such as you used to follow before, is much more acceptable to God’. (§ 5) And this is the argument with which he eventually concludes his appeal: I know, as you could clearly understand, that this Minorite way of life, even observed according to the letter, does not deserve unqualified praise, in that it requires us to do many things not in accordance with the gospel, and very many at variance with the most pious traditions of the fathers of the church. For this reason the way of life of others, whom you call laymen and who are not induced to swear an oath to any master, is not hindered by so many stumbling blocks. Indeed if we suppose a man untainted, unmoved by human allurements, such as you were formerly, it would be a far easier way amid these allurements to find salvation in heaven. Hence there is no reason for delay in changing your mind and returning to that free mode of life which is more acceptable to heaven than anything else.  (§ 49)

In the context of the Greek epigraph which stands at the head of the letter (‘Considering in what follows things not disapproved by the catholic church’), this beccomes a criticism of the way the church has tolerated and supported the abuses of monasticism. Within this frame Alciato introduces a series of more particular objections. First he asks whether monks practise the same way of living as the apostles and the primitive christians, leading a blameless life, setting up churches, spreading the word openly. The answer for Alciato is clearly that they do not. They do not undertake missionary work – and Alciato suggests it is not only through fear of endangering their own salvation, but also of sheer physical timidity. They do however derive huge monetary gain from tourists visiting their sanctuary in the empty tomb of Christ in Jerusalem. The establishment of christianity in the empire by Constantine led to a desire for solitude by some, who were therefore called ‘monks’ (Latin ‘monachi’, Greek μοναχοί, ‘solitary’). But these did not distinguish themselves by their dress from ordinary people or from each other. The Augustines were such as these originally, but ‘now they keep only the name and have changed their custom and their dress’. Benedict was the first to institute a way of life similar to present monks, but his withdrawal was a temporary move to escape the wars and disorders of his times, and he intended to return to his original way of life. Francis followed his example at the time of the Guelph and Gibelline wars. But their followers failed to follow their example and introduced rules contrary to simple gospel teaching, creating dissensions and divisions, and seeking wealth and power.

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An example of good living which Alciato relates directly to the ideals of St Francis is that of the Jewish sect of the Essenes. He takes a lengthy description of their philosophy and way of life from Porphyry and emphasizes their simplicity, charity and asceticism. He had concluded his remarks about St Francis with: ‘Although in this area [good and right living] many things were taken from the Jews, some were turned upside down [‘inversa’], and I would not be bold enough to say publicly whether these were changed in the right way’. And he ends this account with: ‘These are the Essene doctrines, from which your founders took the largest part of their teachings, even if they changed some of them, though I do not see why they had to be changed and perverted [‘pervertique’] so much’. The idea that the present practice of monkish orders represents a ‘perversion’ of praiseworthy Jewish practice frames this extract. But Alciato was not on particularly dangerous ground in his approval of this Jewish sect, since he could point not only to the christian historian Eusebius, through whom he took his account of Porphyry, but to Philo, Josephus and notably Jerome.18 The next section consists of a series of criticisms which Alciato attributes to a ‘quite overt neglect of real religion’. This should be a matter of active charity and responsibility. The Essenes lived by manual labour, and did not spend their time in ‘speculation about the heavens’. Their charity matched that recommended by the apostles, and contrasts starkly with the monks’ neglect of obligations to families and the poor. In a passage on the question of poverty – to which he will return later – Alciato is sarcastic about the reason for the Franciscans’ rule which prevents them giving anything without the rector’s permission: it gives them an excuse for refusing any request for help, and yet they live on alms given them by others. The question of responsibility raises the question of marriage, which, unlike the Essenes and contrary to Pauline advice, monks have entirely rejected. On this point, although he would ‘esteem Paul’s authority more’, Alciato reveals incidentally his personal inclination, believing with Jerome that marriage is a mistake and, significantly, stating his liking for a certain Greek epigram that warns against the likelihood of cuckoldry. If this is something of an aside, he returns to the question of responsibility with a sharp attack on Mattius as an individual for his undutiful neglect of an ageing mother and two young brothers whom he has left, it seems, in destitution. 18

  Epistula 22.35.



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Alciato then makes two other points against the rules under which Mattius will live. The first attacks the ideal of solitude as a refusal of the responsibility to set an example of behaviour. Seclusion suggests concealment of fraud, and is even disapproved by civil law – as Mattius, a lawyer himself, should know. Quoting the famous distinction by Plutarch of the three modes of life – contemplative, active, and hedonistic – Alciato equates monastic seclusion to the contemplative and condemns it as impractical, and as absurd as the epicurean ideal of living unobtrusively. It is moreover utterly selfish and unproductive. The second point concerns the hypocrisy of wishing to appear different from ordinary people in petty distinctions of dress and, more seriously, in the pretence of fasting, to which the very appearance of most monks gives the lie. But even real fasting is not a virtue in itself; what really matters is the consequent sharpened intelligence, the avoidance of defilement and real abstinence from drunkenness and greed. Those who can achieve this without fasting do not need such abstinence. Alciato then returns to his main argument, which is what impels him to disapprove most of all of Mattius’ intention: ‘When anyone can live continently and honestly, free of these observances of yours, and move without stumbling through the thickets and thorns of this world, he acquires far greater grace with God than those associates of yours who stay shut up in cloisters’. An active, responsible life in the community, where temptations abound, is far more difficult and praiseworthy than seclusion where temptations are restricted. There should be no difficulty for Mattius in changing his mind, because the mockery of unthink­ing people is ephemeral. The Stoic nature of the philosophy Alciato proposes is clear: ‘Reason drives us in such a way that it obliges us to hold constantly to better things. The best individual holds tenaciously to this standard and does not allow himself to be overcome by pleasures and desires’. Mattius has the prudence and discretion of Zeno’s ideal; he has only to show, by living in the world, that he has the fortitude. Alciato reserves for a particular attack the subject of poverty, which had been for several centuries a matter of controversy among the Franciscans, pitching strict Observants against more moderate Conventuals.19 Alciato, whose view is based on the common-sense notion (‘judgement [...] supported by the best reason’) that Christ and the apostles had owner19   The early controversies were extremely complex. For a more detailed account than Alciato’s remarks require, the reader should consult the article ‘Franciscans’ in the New Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 6.

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ship of certain things by natural justice, cites the bull of Pope John XXII which declared ‘erroneous and heretical’ the doctrine that Christ and his apostles had no possessions whatever. The Minorites however ‘do not conform to gospel doctrine in this either’ and are guilty of using their pretended poverty to refuse to give alms or any benefit to the poor, to abuse the weakness of widows, to persuade the dying to write codicils to their wills leaving everything to the order. This may not apply to Mattius personally, though he will certainly not be able to pursue the legal studies to which he was devoted, and the humanist ones which the early fathers also cultivated. He will, whatever his real taste, be obliged to lose himself in the disputations of the Franciscan scholastics. And he will not like the discrepancy between the pretence of abstinence and the wealth and comfort of the cloisters, the ‘silliness’ (‘fatuitas’) of much of their observances, and the irrelevance of their preaching to practical morals. Alciato summarizes with a re-statement of his main argument: ‘it [the Minorite way of life] requires us to do many things not in accordance with the gospel, and very many at variance with the most pious traditions of the fathers of the church’. In a final thrust, surprisingly harsh perhaps in a young man of 25 speaking to an elder of more than 40, but reflecting perhaps also his disappointment and even anger, he begs Mattius to accept his advice. There are three sorts of men. The most noble are those who can rely on their own judgement. Of the others, the wise are those who rely on good advice; but those who cannot submit to advice are senseless and useless. ‘So since you, Mattius, whom I suspect may have become quite foolish,20 could not stay in the first group but have allowed yourself to be demoted from it, you should in consequence submit to a good man who has kind regard for you, and do not allow yourself to be thrown in with the third rank, where you may be thought mad and utterly unfit. I pray God he may give you better sense’. The similarities with Erasmus’ views on monks are obvious, for example in his Praise of Folly or, as the editor of 1695 notes at one point (p. 60), in the colloquy The Franciscans, Πτωχοπλούσιοι (Rich Beggars). Although both he and Alciato talk of sending theologians to do battle with Turks and Saracens, and of the vicious hostility with which the friars respond to criticism, there is no apparent textual similarity; both 20   μάταιος (‘mataios’), l. 1244 – a facile, but deliberate pun. One gets an impression, from this sort of passage and from the letter to Calvo, that Alciato was inclined to a somewhat brutal frankness.



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seem to be repeating commonly held ideas and expressions. On the other hand it is also clear that Erasmus does not share Alciato’s convictions regarding civic activity, the good one can do in the world, and the grace one may acquire thereby. His preference, as expressed for example in the De contemptu mundi, is for scholarly withdrawal. Alciato’s criticism of the Minorites is broadened, quite explicitly, to a criticism of the church’s tolerance of their practices both by the sentence in the conclusion quoted above and by the Greek epigraph which heads the whole letter: ‘Considering in what follows things not disapproved by the catholic church’. Some at least of Alciato’s nervousness about publication may be attributed to this broader criticism of the contemporary church, to a questioning of the present power of contemporary Rome, in which Peter ‘did not have the same authority as his successors have now’, and which is ‘managed by some of the most worthless of men among the leaders’. Perhaps just as dangerous too as his views on ritual, fasting and Franciscan hypocrisy, were his opening remarks about religion, and his association of his ideas with Lucretius and epicurean materialism.

*** There are allusions to no less than 30 proverbs in this work and to five or six images which will later appear in the emblems. Such allusions are of course to be expected as rhetorical ornament in a formal declamation. None of these images is explicitly described as an emblem and there is no indication that Alciato is thinking as he writes of his poems,21 but one image is nevertheless constantly implied and is strongly reminiscent of Alciato’s criticism of Mattius – the image of the emblem ‘Desidia’ (‘Sitting idle’).22 This emblem, whose illustration shows the idle person sitting on a barrel or ‘bushel’, contemplating the stars, and hiding beneath him a lighted torch, evokes the biblical verse ‘Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel (‘modius’)’.23 The subject hides his talent, makes no 21   The first edition of Alciato’s Emblematum liber, unauthorised, appeared in 1531, the first authorised edition, Emblematum libellus, in 1534. The Emblematum libellus of 1546 is a separate second collection. 22   In the 1621 edition, this is no 81. The word ‘desidia’, translated as ‘idleness’, appears at § 46, but there is no indication that Alciato is thinking there of the emblematic image. 23  Matthew 5.15 ‘neque accendunt lucernam et ponunt eam sub modio [...]’ The ‘modius’ was equal to 16 ‘sextarii’ or approximately 8 litres. A ‘bushel’ – the word

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Andreae Alciati emblematum libellus, nuper in lucem editus. Venice, Aldus, 1546, fo. 35r



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use of his intellectual abilities. Alciato had said to Mattius, ‘So it is right for you to continue in this practice [cultivation of eloquence], unless you want to be accused of some exceeding impiety [...] in neglecting, almost despising the rarest blessings that God has bestowed on men’.24 The idle man’s contemplation (literally of the stars, or figuratively of heaven) is an hypocrisy (‘Segnities specie recti’ – ‘Idleness pretending to do the right thing [...]’), and he is of use neither to himself nor to others. ‘Hypocrisy’ and ‘useless burdens’ are both expressions used of the life that Mattius is embracing.25 Surprisingly, given the favourable portrait of the sect in the letter, he is referred to in the first line as an ‘Essene’. This however could be taken in the emblem as ironical: a term for someone who thinks of himself as a contemplative and an ascetic. The reference to a hood makes it clearer that Alciato is thinking of monks. He had referred to the Franciscans in the letter of 1520 as ‘the hooded factions’ (‘cucullatorum factiones’). Claude Mignault, the most important of the commentators of Alciato’s emblems, is sure this is the real intention, and he plunges at the beginnung of his commentary straight into this aspect of the subject:26 Although this could quite easily be turned against any who fail to make use of a fine gift entrusted to them for learning and intelligence [...] unless I am mistaken, the subject here really seems to be certain monks who want to appear as some sort of contemplatives and spend a lifetime sitting around in idleness [...]

However he is clearly anxious to say that neither he nor Alciato have any wish to attack monasticism as an institution and would confine the criticism to those who use their status as an excuse for idleness: But I would want this to be taken fairly, for I am not such as would dare or even wish to criticise those ancient institutions first introduced by the wisest of the fathers [...] But, to say frankly what I think of this, it is not the institution of monks and their rule which is blamed here in any way by used in the Authorised Version of the Bible, in a phrase which has become proverbial in English – is more nearly twice this size and is therefore not a strictly accurate translation. 24   Translation, § 42. 25   Translation, § 34 and § 27. 26   Omnia Andreae Alciati V.C. emblemata [...] (Antwerp, Plantin, 1577), pp. 295-98. Mignault’s commentaries appeared between 1571 and 1602. His note on the term ‘Essene’ says only that they were Jews distinguished from others by their asceticism and their fasts. Oddly, although he comments at length on the phrase ‘accensam contegit igne facem’ (‘hiding a lighted torch’), he does not cite Matthew 5.15 but only the next verse: ‘Let your light so shine before men’. Thuilius’ commentary on Essenes adds to Mignault’s only that Alciato probably meant hypocrites like the Pharisees.

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He continues at some length in this vein, taking the emblem clearly as an opportunity to vent his personal feelings about some monks, but, interestingly for us, also defends Alciato against charges of general anti-monasticism. This emblem could well have been inspired by the case of Mattius. It was perhaps composed at the earlier date, but did not appear until 1546 because Alciato held it back, fearing it would draw attention to an episode he wished to remain forgotten. Mignault of course did not know of the letter to Mattius, but perhaps we may deduce from his commentary that Alciato succeeded in covering his tracks.

27   ‘Quamquam id non incommode torqueri posset in eos, qui concreditam sibi eruditionis et ingenii dotem aliquam excellentem misere negligunt [...] nisi me fallit animus, videtur hoc revera susceptum esse in desides quosdam coenobitas, qui θεωρίαις imaginem aliquam consectantes, ignaviae situ aetatem terunt: [...] Quod tamen velim aequis auribus accipi, non enim is sum qui ausim aut etiam velim carpere instituta illa vetera primum quidem a sapientissimis inducta patribus [...] Sed ut aperte dicam quae sentio ea de re: hic ab Alciato, a me, ab aliis etiam quibus simplex minimeque fucatus est animus, nullo modo reprehenditur monachorum institutum et regula, sed multorum ex iis otium, ignavia, imperitia, quippe qui eo nomine pessime de se deque aliis mereantur [...]’

APPENDIX 1 The letter of 10 December 1520 (Barni, no 4), which is entirely devoted to the problem of the missing manuscript, but which has usually been inadequately summarized. Andrea Alciato to Francesco Calvo in Rome, greetings. As a messenger unexpectedly found for me is urging me to write as speedily as possible, forgive me, my most agreeable Calvo, if I deal with you in a few words. You have terrified me with your letter when you say you are uncertain whether Froben is consigning those old books of Galeazzo Visconti to the press and say that it may very easily have happened that Erasmus sent those that are intended for you. You seem to suggest the same hazard may have befallen my oration, although you speak ambiguously. Oh, that you should be so untrustworthy, Calvo, and a worse than capital enemy to Alciato if that were to happen! What will all those reports spread by you be worth for me, my sleepless nights, my studies, if you were to bespatter me with such a stigma or poison? I would rather perish. Luther, Picard, Hussite and all the other names of heretics will not be as infamous as my name will be if this is what happens. Do you not know, or do you pretend not to know, these hooded factiones, their power, their pulpit pronouncements, their public imprecations, their maledictions, and endless wickedness of that sort which (May the gods avert such a plague!) are going to fall on my head? I may bring a suit, against you chiefly as the standard-bearer, then Erasmus, then Froben. I shall call on gods and men, I shall turn every stone to clear myself and make you all guilty of the damage. Is this what your trust is worth? to take things written in the greatest confidence from my boxes, things which, even if worthless and vain – whatever might have come into my head, as friend to friend – I entrusted there to secrecy. And, as if this were not enough, to show them to the learned and unlearned alike, then to leave them in Germany with one who thinks of nothing but publishing them, of avenging himself as it were on his enemies with someone else’s weapons. You are locking me up in fetters from which I may never be able to free myself. There will be sermons, treatises, resolutions, invectives and thousands of works of this sort on the subject in which my

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reputation will be more perfidious and more detestable in the christiam world than an Arian or any other utterly infamous man. Free me, free me, I say, from this anxiety; send a messenger to destroy entirely that premature [‘abhortivam’ – sic, for ‘abortivam’] and illegitimate oration, that cancer on my studies. Let it be burned so that it can never come to light. Do not leave me to be tossed about any longer by this vexation. And do not force me to renounce my friendship with you, or rather to become, from a friend, your greatest enemy – and with good reason. I do not believe you would be so shameless as to dare deny, if bad luck should bring this about, that a most well justified warning example could be made of you. So I beg and implore you, by all the gods above, below and in between, that you do not allow this quite unparalleled injustice to fall on me, that you do not reject my friendship, for which I shall willingly place all my works with you, as I do now daily. In case you do not know, I have found the complete commentary of Donatus on Virgil; it is intended for you as soon as you relieve me of this concern. But the messenger is pressing. Farewell. Avignon, 10 Dec. 1520.

APPENDIX 2 An epigram by Alciato about the wealth and the meanness of the Carthusians in the Certosa of Pavia, which reflects the similar criticism he makes of the Franciscans (§ 39). Selecta epigrammata graeca latine versa, ex septem Epigrammatum Graecorum libris (Basel, Io. Bebelius, 1529), lib. 2, pp. 234-35. Alciatus. imitatio1 in Carthusios ticinenses Plurima noscendi cupidum traxere sodales   Ad Carthusiacae tecta superba domus. 4 Vidimus hic Pario quicquid de marmore posset   Aut ebore, aut auro cudere docta manus. Nil mage sed mirum monachis quos fronte Catones   Esse putes, intus caetera bruta gerunt. 8 Hi nos inviti accipiunt, et prandia praestant,   Dum credunt ovium pascere forte gregem. Nam raphanum et bulbos plebeiae atque ocyma mensae,   Quaeque aegrum servant intyba amara iecur, 12 Alliaque et virides porros, et olentia late   Ulpica, serpillo mixta tulere gravi, Defuit haud lachrymas oculis factura sinapis,   Rutaque, pauperibus grataque beta viris. 16 Restabat foeni ut ferrent bellaria, quum me   Proripui, isthaec vos prata vorate boves.

A Pastiche: Against the Carthusians of Pavia My comrades, eager to know more, have dragged me along to the proud buildings of the Carthusians’ home. We saw there what an expert hand can carve from Parian marble or ivory or gold. But nothing is more strange than monks; outwardly you might think they are Catos, inwardly they behave like any other brutes. They are reluctant to receive us and 1   The word ‘imitatio’ indicates this is a pastiche of the associated Greek epigram, not a translation like the preceding Latin verse by Luscinius (Otmar Nachtigall).

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feed us, thinking perhaps they are feeding a herd of sheep. For they serve the radishes, onions, clover of common peoples’ tables, and unhealthy liver with some bitter endives, and they have offered garlic and green and foul smelling leeks, mixed with odorous thyme. Enough mustard to make our eyes water, and rue and beet such as poor men are grateful for. They only had to serve hay as a desert, when I rushed out. You ox can feed on such meadows.

NOTE ON THE TEXT AND TRANSLATION Although Alciato’s correspondence suggests that there were in his time at least two copies of the letter – one actually sent to Mattius and one given by Calvo to Erasmus – we have no means of knowing the source of the text in the manuscript now in the library of the University of Utrecht, which is the only surviving text and the basis of both the 1695 edition and the present one.1 The catalogue of the library informs us that the copy was made by one Antonius Junius of Muiden, about whom nothing else seems to be known. A note on the last page, fol. 134v, reads ‘7 Junii 1553 / spc: 4 dierum’,2 which may be taken to mean that he completed his transcription in four days on that date. The first printed edition was compiled by the Leyden jurist Antonius Matthaeus, who included it in a volume that also contained a large collection of letters by other individuals.3 The dedication by Matthaeus to Nicolas Witsen4 tells us that the manuscript had been found by Matthaeus thanks to Witsen and used to belong to the well known Leyden historian Piet Schrijver (Petrus Scriverius).5 The marginal notes consist for the most part of the names of authors referred to by Alciato; these have been 1   The manuscript, kindly provided by the library of the University of Utrecht, Hs. 784 (5.F.25), fols 106r-34v, can be seen at: http://objects.library.uu.nl/reader/resolver.php?obj=002429978&type=2. In the apparatus criticus it will be represent by the siglum U and the 1695 Leyden edition by L. 2   There are also some illegible marks following this. L has ‘Spat. 4 die’. 3   Viri consultissimi quem Cultissimum vocat Gaspar Scioppius De stil[i] hist[orici virtutibus], p. 124 Andreae Alciati jurisconsulti Mediolanensis contra vitam monasticam ad collegam olim suum, qui transierat ad Franciscanos, Bernardum Mattium epistola. Accedit Sylloge epistolarum [...] Primus omnia in lucem protulit, adjectis passim notis, Antonius Matthaeus, iuris in illustri academia Lugd. Bat. Antecessor (Leyden, Frede­ ricum Haaring, 1695.) Two of the subsequent editions use the same plates: Leyden, Henricus de Swart, 1708, Leyden, Johannes van der Linden, 1711. The last edition, The Hague, Gerardus Block, 1740, re-sets the text, but with no significant differences, repeating all twenty-six of the omissions made by the editor in 1695. 4   Councillor of Amsterdam and former ambassador to Wiiliam III of England. The dedication consists mostly of a summary of Alciato’s letter. 5   Matthaeus says that he does not know how the manuscript came into the hands of Schrijver. He was convinced, by §§ 6 and 7 quoted above, that Alciato never intended to publish the letter. For him its greatest value is that it was written to a Roman catholic by a Roman catholic, and expressed opposition to the opinions and dogmas generally held by catholics (p. *4v). He adds several footnotes which are not reproduced here.

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omitted from our text. There are however a few points where the original copyist has written in the margin or above the line a word or phrase accidentally omitted at first, and some corrections or alterations of spelling (not always legible) in a different ink or a different hand from either the original or the other notes. These may have been added by Schrijver or by the later editors and have been taken into account. Matthaeus, who appears also to be the author of the brief letter to the reader, states there that he is responsible for the emendations in his edition: ‘I have attended to the errors as far as I could. But scarcely anyone is ever so fortunate as not to miss even one’. He then notes one correction of a quotation from Aristophanes that he has missed, but continues ‘You will correct others yourself’.6 His emendations are numerous; he found it desirable to make nearly 700. They are also generally useful, though he seems on rare occasions to depart unnecessarily from the manuscript. This does present a large number of problems, but, even where his suggestions are good, my aim has been to preserve and translate as far as possible the readings of the manuscript, which is the nearest we have to an authoritative text. Whatever time it took to make the copy, it has the appearance of being hasty, and of having been made by someone with a limited experience of writing both Latin and Greek. On one occasion there seems to be a break in continuity (p. 25, l.8), on another Matthaeus seems to have suspected a discontinuity (p. 24, l.3). Some errors even suggest that the copyist was writing from dictation (‘Cignus’ for ‘Caeneus’; ‘Nesinus for ‘Nicaenus’). The manuscript has no paragraph breaks. These are introduced where it seemed appropriate to enable the reader to see where a line of thought begins and ends. There are however six places where the copyist or perhaps Schrijver has apparently noted a transition in the text. These have been noted at the appropriate points. Abbreviations and ligatures can usually be resolved without difficulty and have been written out silently. Consonantal ‘u’ is transcribed as ‘v’, and ‘j’ as ‘i’. The diphthongs ‘ae’ and ‘oe’, sometimes marked sometimes not, have been regularized. Punctuation is often completely absent, and when it does appear is very irregular. I have attempted to provide commas and full stops which facilitate reading. I have not always agreed with Matthaeus in this respect. Part of the same problem is that the manuscript gives no indication of 6   ‘Ad menda attendi, quantum potui, Sed vix unquam tam felix quis, ut nec unum relinquat [...] Cetera corriges per te ipse’.



Note on the text and translation

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where quoted speech begins or ends. This has been marked in the transcript by quotation marks; but here again there may be some doubt as to where a quotation or paraphrase ends and Alciato’s comment begins. Alciato’s quotations are sometimes loose; on other occasions he paraphrases in reported speech. Where his version of a quotation differs from the accepted text, including biblical texts, I have made my own translation of his text and, where necessary, given a published translation in the notes. Many names are written in capital letters, but this is unsystematic and apparently without particular significance. Where there is a difficulty – of word, morphology, spelling, or punctuation – the text gives my suggestion, often agreeing with Matthaeus, and the text as found in the manuscript is reproduced as closely as possible in the apparatus criticus, but trivial errors are written out silently. The emendations of Matthaeus, including those that supply my reading, are noted there with the siglum L. Greek phrases or passages are presented as correctly as possible; the manuscript version is reproduced in the notes. Finally, Alciato is quite consistent in addressing Mattius with the singular pronoun (‘tu’, ‘tuus’), using the plural (‘vos’, ‘vester’) for the Franciscans or monks in general. The distinction is made in English where necessary by adding ‘you monks’ or ‘your institution’ etc. He refers to himself as both ‘ego’ and ‘nos’.7

7   The text published by Gian Luigi Barni forms an appendix in his edition of Alciato’s correspondence (see p. 10 above, n. 9, pages 205-90). He claims to have used both the manuscript and the edition of Matthaeus, but gives no indication of which source he follows at any point. In fact he seems to have reproduced the latter almost without question; in almost all cases where Matthaeus omits something, Barni does so too – in two cases a whole sentence. His text seems to have been proof-read somewhat hastily and his literary and historical notes are decidedly inadequate.

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Title page of the 1695 edition.

TEXT AND TRANSLATION

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Andrea Alciato’s letter against monastic life

    Andrea Alciato to Bernard Mattius, greetings. Considering in what follows things not disapproved by the catholic church. [1]  When Valterus Corbetes,1 a very good friend of both of us, told me in a

letter that you have changed your manner of life and entered the Minorite family, that you were wearing a dun-coloured habit, with a cord around your waist, and clogs on your feet, and were chanting the hours with your colleagues, I thought I was reading the impious books of the Samosatan. He stuffed so many fables into them, so many trivia, even though he proclaimed by his title to give the truth about the real world.2 Nor had it ever occurred to me that I should believe Mattius would gain admittance at any time into the monastery of St James.3 But in fact, when I read the letter and found he was not joking but speaking seriously, and recognised that he wrote more than the truth, how astonished and alarmed do you think I was? At the time it happened Calvo4 was with me. He said when I told him this news: ‘What a fine dissimulator you are, Alciato, persuading me of the greatest falsehoods, and depressing me too. But “Cretan against Cretan”5 as the proverb has it, you will achieve nothing by it’. But when he too read the letter through he was, I would say, not more sad than I, but at that moment he was so depressed by the harshness of the message that he could say nothing for two whole hours. Could it be that this man of such polished erudition, of such affable nature, such eloquence, such gentle manners, such sharp wit and unyielding probity, had sunk so far? Despising, rejecting, not considering the friends with whom he was as one mind in separate bodies, had he withdrawn to a   See the Introduction, note 15.   Probably not Paul of Samosata, the corrupt and heretical bishop of Antioch in the third century, as Barni suggested (note 3), but the satirist Lucian of Samosata. There was an early Latin edition of Lucian, published in Naples in 1475, whose title seems to make the claim Alciato mentions: Luciani poetae et oratoris de veris narrationibus libelli duo. He certainly also knew the Greek edition of 1503 (Venice, Aldus), perhaps the earlier edition by J. Lascaris (Florence, L. de Alopa, 1496), and the partial Latin translation by Erasmus and Thomas More. See C. Robinson, Lucian and his Influence in Europe (Chapel Hill, 1979). 3   Mattius had entered the monastery known as San Giacomo alla Vernavola. The Franciscans were present in Pavia from as early as 1228 when the convent of San Francesco dei Frati Minori dell’ Osservanza was founded. Two other houses, San Giacomo and Santa Croce were established in 1421 and 1478 respectively, but both were united with the original foundation in the early 19th century. See NCE, 6, 38-46. 4   See the Introduction, note 11. 5  Erasmus, Adagia, in Collected Works of Erasmus [CWE], vols 31-36 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1974-, hereafter Adagia), adage I ii 26, ‘Cretan and Cretan’. 1 2



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Andreas Alciatus iurisconsultus   Bernardo Mattio salutem dat.

Ἐν τοῖς ὑποτεταγμένοις νομίζων τὰ παρὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας καθολικῆς οὐκ ἀδόκιμα. [1]  Cum

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me Valterus Corbetes, utriusque nostrum amantissimus, suis literis certiorem fecisset mutasse te vivendi institutum et in Minoritarum familiam transisse, et gilvo indutum, fune accinctum, calopodiis innixum, horulas illas cum caeteris decantare, existimabam impii illius Samosateni libros legere, quibus tot infersit fabulas, tot nugamenta, rerum nihilominus ipsarum veritatem titulo professus. Νeque enim in mentem meam incidere poterat, ut Mattium crederem in Divi Iacobi coenobium se aliquando intrusurum. Caeterum ubi perlectis literis, non ludere eum sed serio agere, verioraque veris scribere deprehendi, quantum me putas attonitum exanimatumque stetisse! Erat forte tunc nobiscum Calvus, qui ubi nuncium hunc ei narravi: ‘Quam bellus’, inquit, ‘Alciate, dissimulandi artifex es! qui mihi mendacissimas res persuadeas, animo quoque prosterneres. Sed certe Cretensis adversus Cretensem, ut in proverbio est, nihil perfeceris.’ Verum et ille, ubi literas perlegit, non dicam me tristior, sed tum ita acerbitate nuncii animum re- | misit, ut duas per horas nihil effari potuerit. Illumne tanta eruditione perpolitum, tam comi natura, tanta facundia, tam suavibus moribus, tam acri ingenio, tam infinita probitate, eo delapsum ut his amicis, quibuscum unam mentem in duobus corporibus habebat, contemptis, spretis, inconsultis, in talem tenebrarum oblivionisque locum secesserit? At certe si nostrum alter Ticini tunc fuisset, qui te nunc amictus involvunt procul abessent;

3  Εν τοῖς ὑποτεταγμένοις νομίζων τὰ παρὰ τῆς ἐκκλησιας καθολικης ὀυκ ἀδόκιμα. U ||  4 Corbetes U: Corbites L. || 8 Samosateni L: Samosatheni U. || 8  libros me legere L. || 9  neque enim L: (‘e[ni]m’ inserted above the line) U. || 17  perfeceris U: profeceris L. 24  involvu[n]t [...] abesse[n]t U: involvit, [...] abesset L. ||

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place of such darkness and oblivion? But certainly, if either one of us had been in Pavia at that time, the garments that now clothe you would have been kept far away, and we would have convinced you with words and strong arguments, that anyone like you who withdraws into that cult falls into the grossest error and has no regard for himself. And if you could not consent to this by reasoned arguments, we would have begged as well, and we would either have recalled you from such a wild intention, or you would have compelled us to enlist in the same service, so that, just as we were always colleagues and united in humanist studies and in the discipline of the civil law, so in this wrestling school too we might follow the same rules. But by some evil fate or other Calvo’s affairs then took him off elsewhere. Frequent advocacy business, unlooked-for defence work have kept me on the other hand in my home town, so that at the time I could not have provided any remedy for this misfortune. For if by some rumour or with some eavesdropper’s ears6 I had caught any whisper of this affair, nothing would have kept me from flying to you like some guardian angel,7 nor would any pleaders, be they the most slow-paced, have held me back a minute, until I had restored you to yourself with some purgative. [2]  So even if I am well aware how laborious and difficult it is to change minds which are unyielding in matters of religion and to divert them from their course, yet I would not have doubted that, when you were besieged on every side by reasoning, arguments, persuasions, and prayers, I would have overcome you. Religion is the most important force innate in the hearts of men, and the ancient authors have shown that its power is such that it overcomes even paternal love, So the story that Iphigenia was once condemned to sacrifice by her father, though unwillingly and with much resistance,8 is told for no other reason than that mortals should take this as a demonstration that men often attempt the worst outrages under pretext of religion, and set aside their sense of duty not only to friends but to those with whom they have a tie of nature. We know how much Almighty God disapproved of this wickedness in the rites of the Jews from the fact that, when, by a divine order to Abraham, God stopped the old man, who was in the act of making his son a sacrificial victim, he showed no less

  Adagia, I ii 44, ‘A Corycaean was listening’.   In Greek: ἀλεξίκακος, something that wards off evil, a talisman. 8   There are many versions of this story, the most famous being that of Euripides, to which Alciato alludes later (§ 33), but he was probably reminded of it here by Lucretius (De rerum natura, I, 80-101), whom he cites immediately after this. There Iphigenia is called Iphianassa (l. 85). In one tradition (Iliad, 9.145), this is another daughter of Agamemnon, but in most she is either not named or, as in Lucretius, identical with Iphigenia. 6 7



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orationeque et efficatibus argumentis convicissemus in errorem quam maximum incidere sibique nihil consulere, qui tui similis in illam observationem secedit. Quod si id de te rationibus obtineri non potuisset, accessissent preces teque vel a tam saevo proposito revocavissemus, vel una tecum sub eadem militia nomen dare nos compulisses, ut sicut in humanitatis studiis, in iuris civilis disciplina symmistae et concordes semper fuimus, ita in hac quoque palaestra easdem leges sequeremur. Sed nescio quonam malo fato actum sit ut illum negotiationes suae in alium locum tunc abduxerunt, nos autem crebra advocationum fastidia, irrequieta patrocinandi studia in patria continuerint, ut in tempore huic malo remedium aliquod afferre non potuerim. Si enim rumusculo aliquo corycaeisve auribus quicquam huius rei subauscultassem, nihil mihi moram fecisset quin protinus ad te tanquam ἀλεξίκακος aliquis advolassem, nec me quamquam spissigradissimi causidici punctum temporis retinuissent donec te aliquo veratro tibi restituissem. [2]  Tametsi enim me nequaquam praetereat quam laboriosum et difficile sit pertinaces hos in religione animos reflectere et de cursu suo revocare, tamen non dubitassem, quin rationibus, argumentis, persuasionibus, preci- | bus te undique oppugnatum, tandem expugnassem. Maxima quippe res est insita pectoribus hominum religio, cuius vires huiusmodi esse veteres illi auctores ostenderunt, ut affectus quoque paternos superaret, ut non alia ex causa traditum sit quandoque a patre suo immolationi deditam Iphigeniam, invito tamen reluctanteque, quam ut inde exemplum mortales acciperent, sub praetextu religionis pessima plerunque facinora homines conari pietatemque non tantum in amicos sed in eos etiam qui vinculo naturali iunguntur exuere. Quam improbitatem in misticis Iudaeorum ab optimo maximoque Deo improbatam inde cognoscimus, quod ex oraculi iussu Abrahamum, filium suum iam 4  revocavissem[us] U: revocavissent L. || 9  abduxeru[n]t U: abduxerint L. || 9  fastidia U: studia L. || 11  corycaeisve L: coriccisve (‘coryciisve’ added above the line) U. || 13  ἀλεξίκακος L: αλεξίκακος U. || 13  nec me [...] restituisse[m] (added in the same hand in the margin) U: (included in the text) L. || 19  expugnassem L:  oppugnassem (altered in another hand to ‘expugnassem’) U. || 22  ex causa U: ex alia causa L. || 28  iussu Abrahamum, [...] cum arcuit Deus, non minus charitatem paternumque affectum probare se ostendit, quam immensam L: iussu in Abraha[m] [...] sene[m] Deus arcuit no[n] min[us] charitate[m] paternu[m]q[ue] fectu[m] [sic] probare se ostendit, immensam U. ||

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that he approved of paternal love and affection than of the immense and scarcely credible obedience to himself of the parent.9 [3]  But Lucretius, an excellent writer on both poetics and philosophy, rightly praised a certain serious man who – at a time when mortals were deterred by enormous superstition and by fear of the gods from the study of nature, and dared to investigate neither the course of the sun and moon nor the nature of the elements – was the first to scorn these scarecrows and rely on true reason, turning wholeheartedly and unhesitatingly10 to the study of these subjects.11 Following his example, I would pluck out certain superstitions myself, nor would the fabricated tales of some deter me from trying it, if only I were sure that you would listen to me willingly. I do not fail to recognize your great perceptiveness, but I fear that you too may cling to some trace left by others, that you are already corrupted in your conduct by this brief contact, and may not be able to listen to anything without resentment, unless it supports your purpose and approves your intention as the best. There is hardly any effort I would not have made if I thought you would change your mind when you read this. I would seem to be doing no less than trying to wrench Hercules’ club from his hand,12 or pitting my own poor strength in some duel with the Hydra.13 For when the divine Plato declared, as some one dared to dispute with him about his doctrine, that a certain sophist was a hydra,14 he was prophesying, I believe, and had in mind one of your people. However many arguments you put, they multiply theirs in return and rise up stronger again with a thousand syllogisms. Certainly I would not dare to go into the ring with you. Though I might be defending a better case, I might indeed succumb to your eloquence, and you may force me to say, as Isocrates exclaimed when he was defeated by Aristophon’s speech, that he favoured the more just parties but the pleader for the adversaries 9  Genesis 22.6-12. Genesis speaks only of Abraham’s obedience, not of God’s approval of paternal love. The disapproval of religious fanaticism and of superstition in the following example from Lucretius is plain, as is the implied allusion to monasticism. 10   In Latin ‘totis velis’ – a variant of ‘Plenis velis’, (Adagia, IV vi 1, ‘At full sail’). 11  Lucretius, De natura rerum, I. 62-101. Both the manuscript and L have ‘gravem quendam hominem’ (‘a certain serious man’), although, according to the Teubner edition (ed. J. Martin, 1957), all sources have ‘Graius homo’ (‘a Greek man’). Alciato’s remark is not a quotation, but by replacing the expected ‘Graius’ with ‘gravis’ he may have sought to emphasize his approval of Lucretius’ condemnation of superstition. 12   Adagia, IV i 95, ‘To snatch Hercules’ club’. 13  Cf. Adagia, I x 9, ‘You cut off a Hydra’s heads’. 14  Plato, Euthydemus, 297c. [Socrates to Dionysodorus] ‘You see, I am sadly inferior to Hercules, who was no match for the hydra – that she-professor who was so clever that she sent forth many heads of debate in place of each one that was cut off.’ Translation by W.R.M. Lamb. Loeb Classical Library (hereafter: Loeb), 1967.



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iam pro victima immolantem, cum arcuit Deus, non minus charitatem paternumque affectum probare se ostendit, quam immensam et vix credibilem parentis erga se obedientiam. [3]  Sed summus poeticesque philosophiaeque auctor Lucretius non immerito gravem quendam hominem laudibus extollit qui, cum gravissima superstitione mortales afficerentur et prae caelestium timore nec solis lunaeque cursus, nec elementorum naturam investigare auderent, primus, spretis hisce terriculis, vera ratione innixus totis velis in earum rerum cognitionem differri non dubitavit. Cuius exemplo quasdam ipse superstitiones revellerem, nec commentitiae quorundam fabulae quominus id tentarem deterrerent, si modo non difficiles te praestiturum mihi aures non diffiderem. Non enim is sum qui iudicii tui | summum acumen non cognoscam. Sed vereor ne tu quoque, caeterorum vestigio inhaerens, iam corruptus brevi hoc commercio moribus aliquid sine stomacho audire non possis, nisi quod in rem tuam faciat, consiliumque tuum tanquam optimum probet. Qua in sententia, nisi te, dum haec legis, perseveraturum non crederem, haud quicquam laboris assumpsissem. Non enim aliud facere viderer, quam si de Herculis manu extorquere clavam pararem aut ipse imbecillis viribus cum Hydra certamen aliquod molirer. Cum enim divinus ille Plato sophisten quendam fuisse Hydram prodidit, vaticinabatur credo et unum aliquem vestrum animo volutabat, cum quo quisquam de suo dogmate disputare ausit. Quotquot argumenta referes, rursus pullulant et mille syllogismis fortiores insurgunt. Ipse certe in palaestram tecum descendere non ausim, ne quamvis meliorem causam tuear, eloquentiae tamen tuae succumbam, Isocratisque illud dicere me compellas qui, cum Aristophontis oratione vinceretur, iustiores se partes fovere exclamavit, caeterum adversariorum actorem

4  poeticesque philosophiaeque U: poetices philosophiaeque L. || 10  superstitiones L: sup[er] - | stiones U. || 14 corruptus U: corruptis L. || 15  possis L: posses U. || 16  nisi te, dum haec legis, perseveraturum non crederem, haud quicquam laboris assumpsissem L: nisi hoc legis perseveraturum crederem, haud quicquam laboris ego assumpsissem U. || 18-19  extorq[ue]re clava[m] U: clavam extorquere L. || 20  sophiste[n] U: Sophistam L. || 25  tuear U: tuerer L. || 26  oratione L: oratione[m] U. ||

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was the stronger.15 And so I shall only talk to you using well-stocked language, and not cunning subtleties. But let me go over briefly with you our own reasons, and put before you the unadorned truth that I know you too recognised at one time, and that you have often discussed with me during those walks we used to have. [4]  But I do not understand clearly enough how, after your return from Rome, you could have changed your opinion and imitated that Jew. Though he could not be prevailed upon by any prayers to be initiated into the christian faith, when he went, despite his friend’s objection, to Rome and learned of the greed of priests, their lewdness and crimes, he immediately left the Jewish faith and became a worshipper of Christ. This was because he reckoned that, unless Christ was truly God himself, not just the greatest prophet, it was hardly possible that his cult would last so long when it was managed by some of the most worthless of men among the leaders.16 As you recounted to me when you came back to Milan, you were almost always during your tour a guest in monasteries, and perhaps for that reason found these brothers’ institutions the best. For although they are held in esteem by many unlearned and undiscriminating men, they are not in decline, but rather grow daily. But it was not that you were deceived in this, though indeed I would not dare to deny there are some among them (as among every type of men) who are good and just, and for the sake of whose merits God forgives the depravity of the others. As in a gathering of any mortals, the oracular saying of Bias is true, that most men are bad,17 so it is found to be most true every day in these monasteries. [5]  But here is my own argument: the life of those who live in a christian way, free of rituals, and who embrace a way of living such as you followed before, is much more acceptable to God. If I had not expressly found this to be true in you, I would not stop you calling me mad and, to use Aristophanes’ word, a ‘booby.’18 And I would not dare to condemn to you everyone of these fraternities, both because I am disposed to suppose the better case and to think there are some in them well versed in the best morals and strong in sanctity of life, but also because I see that I must beware that you may all be in accord to contrive something against me, 15   Not Isocrates, but Iphicrates. The story is told by Plutarch, Praecepta gerendae republicae, Moralia 801F (Loeb, X, p. 177). 16  Boccaccio, Decameron, I.2. 17   Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, I.5.88, Bias: οἱ πλεῖστοι κακοί. 18  Aristophanes, The Clouds, 1001.



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esse potiorem. Solum itaque tecum acturus sum, ut phalerato sermone, non subdolis argutiis tecum agam. Sed rationes tibi nostras breviter percenseam nudamque ante oculos tibi veritatem proponam, quam scio te quoque aliquando agnovisse, mecumque in ambulationibus illis nostris de ea saepe collocutum. [4]  Sed non satis perspicio quonam modo post tuum ab urbe Roma discessum sententiam mutaveris Iudaeumque illum sis imitatus, qui, cum nullis precibus flecti potuisset ut Christi sacris initiaretur, cum reluctante amico Romam ivisset deprehendissetque sacerdo- | tum avaritiam, libidinem, scelera, statim Iudaeismum exuit Christique factus est cultor, quoniam existimabat, nisi Christus, non solum summus p­ rophetes, verissimus Deus esset, haudquaquam possibile fuisse eius cultus tamdiu ut duraret, cum illum etiam nequissimi quidam homines inter primos tractarent. Tu enim ut, cum Mediolanum venisses, mihi retulisti, in tua hac peregrinatione per monasteria fere semper hospitatus es et vel eo forte argumento socialia haec instituta optima esse cognovisti. Quod quamvis a multis indoctis et nullius iudicii viris observata, non labefactantur tamen, sed indies potius augentur. Verum non fuit quod tu in hoc fallerere, quandoquidem nec negare ausim aliquos in illis (ut in omni hominum genere) bonos iustosque esse, et quorum meritis Deus caeterorum pravitatem donet, ut enim in omni mortalium quocunque coetu Biantis oraculum, quo plures malos esse dixit, verum est, ita in his quoque coenobitis verissimum quotidie deprehenditur. [5]  Sed hoc est quod ipse contendo: multo acceptiorem Deo illorum vitam qui sacris soluti Christianorum more vivunt, eumque degendi modum amplectuntur qualem tu prius sequebaris. Quod nisi expressim tibi probaverim, nihil moror quin dementem me et, quod Aristophanes ait, βλιτομάμμαν, dicas. Nec enim in universum damnare istas tibi fratrias ausim, tum quod lubet meliora suspicari, et aliquos in eis optimis moribus instructos vitaeque | sanctitate pollentes existimare, tum quod 1  ut phalerato sermone, no[n] subdolis argutiis U: non ut phalerato sermone aut subdolis argutiis L. || 5 saepe U: saepius L. || 8  pretibus (sic) U: rationibus L. || 11  prophetes, verissim[us] Deus esset U: Prophetes, sed verissimus etiam Deus L || 15 fere se[m]p[er] U: fere septem L. || 16  Quod qua[m]vis U: Quae, quamvis L. || 18  fuit U: sit L. || 21  ut enim U: ut tamen L. || 26  amplectuntur L: amplectant[ur] U. || 26  expressim L: expressim U. || 28  βλιτομάμμαν: βλιτομανιαν U: βλιτομανίαν L. || 29  in eis L: in eius U. ||

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and condemn me with curses and dreadful portents, just as the Athenian priests once persecuted with their decrees Diagoras of Melos.19 He was a man who had the greatest reverence for the gods and who considered nothing more important than the true cult of the gods. Nevertheless after the island of Melos, his homeland, was captured by the Athenians, after he had gone to Athens and a friend had refused him money he had deposited, he became so hostile to the gods of that people that he was called an ‘enemy of the gods’. When he found himself on some occasion in an inn and had no wood to cook his lentils, he put a picture of Hercules, which was there by chance, on the fire, and mocked the god in this verse: ‘Here, cook a lentil and add another labour to your twelve.’ After this, this man divulged to everyone those arcane Athenian ritual meals, which it was unlawful to eat among common people, and ‘pierced the eyes of the crows’.20 His contempt went so far that he turned many away from religion, and persuaded them not to be consecrated in future. So he was proscribed by decree of the citizens, and a price was put on his head for those who captured him, or killed him if he resisted.21 [6]  So warned myself by his example, I would scarcely dare to write these words – lest I stir up hornets, as they say22 – if I did not know of your goodwill toward me and believed you would not, at least for friendship’s sake, pass this letter of mine on to anyone. Although you could think enough has been done to persuade you, I shall set out in this letter some truths I personally hope to convince you of by reasoning. Although it is usually said that one must fight for the truth, and not keep quiet about anything as long as one acts justly, yet the times are such that some concession must be allowed us, so that we do not incur all sorts of hatred from others. For this reason any very prudent person, following Cicero’s example,23 speaks with the people and keeps his thoughts to himself. For if I dared to declare that the majority of these little brothers have an improper regard for themselves, and that that majority is not better than anyone else. I too would no doubt end up being crushed by their clogs like Caeneus24 by the Centaurs. So I am reminded of a picture 19  Diagoras of Melos, traditionally an atheist. Alciato hints at some approval of atheism, or at least of anti-clericalism. 20   That is, Diagoras exposed information held only by priests. See Adagia, I iii 75, ‘To pierce crows’ eyes’. 21   Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca, 13.6.7. 22   Adagia, I i 60, ‘To stir up hornets’. 23   Perhaps Cicero, Tusculanae Disputationes, 1.6: ‘fieri autem potest, ut recte quis sentiat et id quod sentit polite eloqui non possit’ (‘for, indeed, it is possible that a man may think well, and yet not be able to express his thoughts elegantly’). 24   Both the manuscript and L have ‘Cignus’. The Lapith Caeneus was immortal, but was pounded into the ground with tree trunks by the Centaurs. The story is told by Ovid, Metamorphoses, book 12.



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illud mihi cavendum video, ne simul omnes concordes aliquid in me machinemini devotionibusque et diris non aliter mecum agatis quam Diagoram Melium decretis aliquando suis Athenienses mystae persecuti sunt. Erat is vir erga deos piissimus et qui nihil prius caelestium vero cultu duceret. Caeterum capta ab Atheniensibus insula Melo, quae illi patria erat, cum Athenas concessisset et depositam pecuniam amicus ei denegasset, adeo diis illis gentium inimicus factus est, ut θεόμαχος diceretur. Cum in diversorio quandoque esset et nulla coquendae lenti ligna haberet, Herculis simulachrum, quod forte fortuna aderat, ignibus imposuit, hocque carmine in deum cavillatus est: ‘Hic lentem coque bissenoque alium adde laborem.’ Idem hinc arcana illa Atheniensium mysteria, quae in vulgus edere nefas esset, divulgavit omnibus sacerdotumque sicuti corvorum oculos confixit. Sed et usque adeo contempsit, ut complures a religione diverteret et ne amplius iniciarentur persuaderet. Quapropter civium decreto proscriptus, addita illis mercede, qui vel captum adduxissent vel reluctantem ferro cecidissent. [6]  Huius itaque exemplo ipse admonitus, haudquaquam auderem ista scribere, ne crabrones, quod dicitur, concitarem, nisi tuam in me benevolentiam nossem teque vel amicitiae causa nulli scripta haec nostra traditurum opinarer. Cum satis tibi esse factum existimare posses, si quae rationibus ipse vera convincere de te sperem his literis declaravero. Quamvis enim soleat dici pro veritate pugnandum esse, nec quicquam subtimescendum, dum iuste agas, eiusmodi tamen tempora sunt, ut etiam aliquid nobis remittendum sit, ne caeterorum omnium odia incurramus. Quapropter consul- | tissimus quisque Ciceronis exemplo cum plebe loquitur, cum se ipso sentit. Si enim non recte sibi consulere bonam horum fraterculorum partem, si meliores caeteris eos non esse praedicare auderem, non dubitarem fore quin, sicut a Centauris Caeneus, sic eorum calopodiis ipse tandem opprimerer. Nemesios igitur 3  myste (sic) U: iniuste L. || 5  cultu L: culto U. || 7  θεόμαχος L: θεομαχος U. || 8  diversorio L: duisorio (sic) U. || 12  in vulgus L: ne vulgus U. || 14  diverteret et ne L: diverteret ne U. || 15 illis: illi U L. || 16  adduxisse[n]t [...] cecidisse[n]t U: adduxisset [...] cecidisset L. || 17  exemplo ipse admonit[us] U: exemplo admonitus L. || 23  subtime­ scendum L: subtimussendu[m] (sic) (in the margin in a different hand ‘submussandum vel sub­timi­scendum’ (sic) U. || 24  nobis U: nobis aliquid L. || 24  omnium L: o[mn]ia U. || 27  meliores L: meliorem U. || 29 Caeneus: Cignus U L. ||

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of Nemesis, that fearful goddess, because she is thought by the painters to hold in one hand reins and in the other a measuring rod, so that we may take from this the lesson that the tongue must be restrained by the bit and the arm by the hand, so that no bad word is spoken or act done against anyone.25 For (as I have learned from Annaeus Seneca) an avenging god follows behind slanderers.26 [7]  I wished to explain this to you first, so that you do not think whatever I may say or argue arises from ill will. For if you believe that, these arguments would lose all authority; I would gain nothing at all with you, and no doubt do the greatest harm. And so this will be my business – convince yourself, though you may say the rest is madness – for you would indeed be very wrong if you thought I would have turned away from my path so quickly. You are aware what friendship there has been between us in recent years, it was indeed nothing other than the similarity in our customs that started it, that strenghtened it and made it grow. Nor can you forget how you yourself used to be frank, unflattering, unpretentious, and how I for my part was open-hearted toward you and of utterly sincere mind. So it is right you should consider that these words I write to you have been written for you in a completely sincere spirit and freely from my heart. I would not want to do anything else but lay open to you my thoughts about your new and unexpected situation, and let you know about them. These thoughts, even if they have occurred to me on other occasions, I have never expressed to anyone, and I would have settled with them by eternal silence, if the laws of friendship did not impel me to write even what should be unsaid. [8]  First of all therefore, my dearest Mattius, I would have you meditate on this: whether the early heroes of our faith, such as the apostles were and, following them in the primitive church, those holy priests, would have trodden the road you monks follow. Certainly no one is ignorant of that saying about Christ: ‘Every action of Christ is relevant to the way we behave’. But when human powers are weak and transient, since we cannot do everything according to his example, the nearest would be to imitate both the twelve and the others, and attempt with all our strength to come close to them. I would ask of you monks, do you do this? I do not 25   Cf. Alciato’s emblem 27, ‘Nec verbo nec facto quenquam laedendum’, based on the epigram 16.223-4 in the Greek Anthology. Alciato’s rendering also appears in the Selecta epigrammata graeca latine versa [...] (Basel, Jo. Bebelius, 1529), pp. 365-66. All references to the emblems are to the 1621 edition (Padua, P.P. Tozzi). 26  Slightly mis-remembered, or adapted. Seneca, Hercules Furens, 385: ‘sequitur superbos ultor a tergo deus’ (‘An avenging god follows behind the proud’).



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verendae illius Deae simulachri interim recordor, quod altera manu frenum retinere, altera cubitum a pictoribus existimatur, ut videlicet exemplum inde accipiamus linguam freno, brachium manu inhibendum, ne in aliquem aut mali quicquam dicatur aut re ipsa fiat. Sequitur enim (quod ex Annaeo Seneca accepi) maledicos ultor a tergo Deus. [7]  Quod tibi idcirco prius enarrare volui, ut quicquid a nobis dictum disputatumque fuerit, non existimes a malevolo animo proficisci. Si enim persuasione hac tenereris, exempla haec ipsa omnem auctoritatem perderent, nihilque tecum omnino proficerem, idque dubio procul summa cum iniuria. , nam etiam multum tua te falleret opinio, qui me tam brevi de cursu meo recessisse existimares. Non enim te latet, superioribus annis quanta inter nos amicitia fuerit, quam profecto nihil aliud quam similitudo morum inchoavit, confirmavit, confirmatam auxit. Nec etiam te praeterit quam tu ipse soleres esse candidus, sine tectoriis, sine fuco, quamque ipse vicissim tecum expectoratus et synceri prorsus animi. Merito igitur ea debes quae ad te | scribo arbitrari a me tibi candidissima mente liberoque ingenio scripta, qui non aliud agere velim quam consilium tibi meum in hac tua nova et inexpectata institutione patefacere eaque tibi communicare. Quae tametsi alias a me animadversa, numquam tamen cuique prodidi aeternoque silentio transacturus fuissem, nisi me amicitiae iura etiam tacenda scribere impellerent. [8]  Primum itaque omnium, mi charissime Matti, hoc velim tecum ipse cogites, num prisci illi nostrae religionis heroes, quales fuere apostoli atque ab his in primitiva ecclesia sancti illi antistites, eam vitae triverint viam quam vos prosequimini, etenim si verum est nemini non cognitum Christi axioma: ‘Omnis Christi actio ad nostram institutionem pertinet’. Sed quum humanae vires imbecillae atque fluxae sint, cum omnia agere eius exemplo non possimus, proximum fuit cum duodecim tum caeteros imitari, illudque omnibus viribus conari ut illis quam proximi accederemus. Id ego ex te quaesierim num vos ita faciatis? Non (opinor) affirmare 1  altera manu L: manu (inserted in the same hand above) U. || 2  pictoribus: (corrected from ‘pectoribus’) U: pectoribus L. || 5  quod L: qāod (sic) U. || 10  iniuria, Res [...] na[m] etia[m] (sic: a cross above ‘persuade’ and in the margin) U: iniuria. Multum etiam L. || 15  ipse soleres U: ipse etiam soleres L. || 21 transacturu[ss] U: transmissurus L. || 21  amicitiae iura L: amicitie [sic] mea (‘mea’ underlined: in another hand in the margin ‘iura’) U. || 25  triveri[n]t viam (‘viam’ addded in the margin in the same hand) U: tenuerint viam L. || 26  eteni[m] si veru[m] est nemini no[n] cognitu[m] Christi axioma U: Etenim nemini non notum est vetus illud axioma, quod L. || 28  imbecill[a]e U: imbecilles L. || 28  sint L: sunt U. || 31  Id U: et hinc id L. ||

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think you will dare to affirm it; indeed if you did, you would be convicted of a manifest untruth. But you, whilst you care less for more serious things, yet seem to fear the allurements of lying. Which is why in seeking out these matters you make distinctions and smell out hidden meanings, so that I cannot believe a Homolottian ox is so finical.27 [9]  And so let me set out myself in writing what I have never heard from your preachers. After the crucifixion of Christ and the solemn day of the resurrection, the apostles, scattered and wandering each to a different place, showed mortals his way. But since every city, by means of both regulations and decrees of their elders, punished those who introduced the new faith, it could not be done openly lest, with the few teachers immediately removed, our faith would not grow as easily as it should. And so when a few had been converted to the right path, they began to set up certain meetings in which they gathered and sang praises to Christ in the pre-dawn hours. This is how the church began, the word ‘ecclesia’ in Greek means simply a ‘coming together’ or ‘small gathering’. So you should not think, as the unlearned do, that Peter had the same authority in Rome as his successors have now.28 He was the leader of the church and the congregation of christians which used to be in the city, and their number was perhaps no more than five hundred. [10]  Some letters of Paul to these people survive, and they show clearly enough what a small community it was in that early time. And do not think they were rich and opulent. They were driven to constant work to feed themselves, nor were there couriers or messengers, as you have now, who, travelling tirelessly, hastened to Rome to the general of the order to obtain prerogatives. One old woman, whose name was Phoebe, carried those letters29 which are the firmest pillars of our faith. So great was their thriftiness, that we could without absurdity (if the gatherings of today’s people can have any similarity with their venerable and most holy gatherings) compare those churches with the schools of the flagellants in which lower-class people are for the most part initiated in our own day. And so those who had joined them abstained from vices; they were not held to be guilty of any crime.

27  See Adagia, III ii 52, ‘Bos Homolottiorum’ (An ox of the Homollotians), where Erasmus explains it may be used of a man who subdivides a topic too minutely. 28   One of the distinctly subversive remarks which may have made Alciato nervous about publication. 29   Romans 16.1-2.



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id audebis, quippe si ita faceres manifesto mendacio convincerere. Vos autem, cum parvi quaedam graviora pendatis, mendaciorum tamen delicta formidare videmini. Quapropter in eorum expectatione distinguitis subsentitisque, ut homolottiorum bovem possimus non ita dissertum credere. [9]  Igitur ut quod a contionatoribus vestris numquam audivi ipse stilo exequar: post Christi crucem celebremque illum resurrectionis diem dispersi palantes Apostoli, alii alio, viam mortalibus ostenderunt. | Sed quoniam et constitutionibus et maiorum decretis quaelibet civitas eos qui novam religionem inducerent puniebat, palam id fieri non potuit ne, statim de medio sublatis auctoribus qui pauci erant, non aeque facile incrementum nostra fides acciperet. Quibusdam itaque in rectam semitam deflexis, coetus quosdam constituere coeperunt quibus illi convenirent antelucanisque horis Christo laudes concinerent. Hinc exordium coepit ecclesia, quae vox, Graeco nomine, nihil aliud quam coetum conventiculumve significat, ut non existimes, quod indocti faciunt, id auctoritatis in urbe Roma Petrum habuisse, quam nunc eius successores habent. Praeerat ille ecclesiae et collegio illi Christianorum, quod in urbe erat, quorum numerus fortasse quingentos non excedebat. [10]  Ad hos extant Pauli quaedam epistolae quibus quam tenuis res eo in principio esset satis ostenditur. Et ne credas opulentos divitesque eos fuisse, continuis operibus urgebantur ut se alerent, nec, uti vos habetis, tabellarii nunciive erant qui Romam indefesso cursu ad ordinis generalem magistrum pro obtinenda praerogativa properarent. Epistolas illas, quae firmissimae sunt nostrae fidei columnae, anus una cui nomen Phoebe detulit. Tanta erat in iis frugalitas, ut possemus non absurde (si praesentium hominum conventus augustis illis et sanctissimis quicquam simile habere possunt) flagriferorum scholis, quibus nostra aetate ut plurimum mechanici iniciantur, ecclesias illas comparare. Igitur qui in eis nomen dederant a | vitiis abstinebant, nullius delicti rei habebantur. 4  subsentitisque L: subsen- | tisque U. || 4  homolottiorum bovem: homo lutoru[m] bove[m] U: (whole sentence omitted) L. || 12  Quibusda[m] itaque in rectam U: Quapropter quibusdam in rectam L. || 13  coetus L: coecus U. || 18  ecclesia et collegio illi L: ecclesia [& (sic)] collegio illo U. || 23  nu[n]ciive U: Nunciique L. || 24  Epistolas U: sed epi­stolas L. || 25  nomen L: nu[n]ne[n] (sic) U. || 26  frugalitas, ut possemus L: frugalitas possem[us] U. || 29  iniciantur: i[n]i | ciatur (sic) U: utuntur L. ||

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Even if they were restrained by no particular rule from marrying, nevertheless few did so. Their food and clothing were undistinguished. The one who was considered the better among them they made bishop. It was conduct and holiness of life they respected, not money or nobility. From these people came so many martyrs, so many witnesses. No one hesitated about avoiding death for the sake of faith in Christ, and when they found they had grown in number no one hesitated, through fear of emperors’ edicts or instant executions, to teach the way of truth openly and everywhere, to draw as many as they could to their belief by their eloquence and wonderful examples. [11]  So do you monks do this sort of thing? Almost the whole of Asia and a large part of Europe is oppressed by the arms of the Turks. Who out of your company goes off to those regions? Who attracts any Ottomans to the faith? Who establishes a ‘church’, that is, any gathering of the orthodox? Who fights for the cult of Christ? No one for sure, for you hesitate to do this simply because the threats of the Turks would frighten you away from such a pious intent. Perhaps you fear the stone quarries or the rack. But if this is so, it is not the main reason that I am angry with you; it is that you look for a possibly easier occasion for gaining profit and increasing your standing in the christian world. There are in Bohemia supporters of a perverse doctrine, the Hussites,30 but has anyone among you gone there to lead them into the right way? You have heard too at times even of many princes at risk of losing their kingdom for this reason. You have heard that many orthodox believers too have perished when persecuted by them. And you yourselves have advised that the matter be dealt with by the sword (as was held to be just among barbarians), and you do not consider it safe to put your salvation into such fearful danger and risk of imminent slaughter. I do not want to be such an unfair judge as to demand this too of you, nor wish you to be sacrificed and suffer the torments those early members of the church bore. I am aware that you are weaker than the ancients, and that you are not driven by such ardour for the true religion as that with which they fought against even emperors. But certainly it would be fair to say, since you are custodians in Jerusalem of an open sanctuary in the empty tomb of Christ,31 whence you derive great alms and huge gain from travellers, that you might also 30   For the Hussites, see Thomas A. Fudge, The Crusade against Heretics in Bohemia (Ashgate, 2002). 31   The Friars Minor were given the responsibility of caring for the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem by Pope Clement VI in 1342.



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Tametsi certa lege quo minus uxores ducerent non prohiberentur, nihilo tamen secius rari ducebant. Indifferentis victus erant sicuti et habitus. Qui ex eis melior haberetur in episcopum creabant. Mores et vitae sanctitas, non pecunia aut nobilitas, conspiciebantur. Ex his tot sunt martyres propagati, tot confessores. Nemo pro Christi fide mortem subterfugere dubitabat. Ubi se numero auctos viderunt, palam et ubique viam veritatis docere eloquentia et miris exemplis, quos poterant in sententiam trahere, non edictis principum, non praesentibus cruciatibus absterreri. [11]  Num itaque vos ita facitis? Omnis fere Asia cum magna Europae parte Turcarum armis opprimitur. Quis est de vestris qui in eas regiones secedat, aliquot ex Othomannis in sententiam trahat, ecclesiam, hoc est coetum aliquem orthodoxorum, constituat, pro Christi cultu pugnet? Nemo certe. Quod non aliam ob causam facere dubitatis, quam quia vos Turcarum minae a tam pio proposito absterrent. Veremini fortasse latumias aut eculeum. Quod si ita est, non maxime vobis irascor, nisi fortassis faciliorem lucro captando augendaeque dignitati occasionem in Christiano orbe stantes expectatis. Sunt in Bohemia perversi dogmatis sectatores Hussitae, et quisnam vestrum eo profectus est ut in rectam eos viam deduceret? Audistis quandoque et principes quoque plures hanc ob causam de regno periclitantes, audistis orthodoxos quoque plures ab iis percussos cecidisse, remque (ut inter barbaros aequum fuit) per gladios tractatam; vobis ipsis consulitis, nec in tam atrox periculum | et praesentem caedem, salutem vestram proiicere securum ducitis. Nec tam iniquus ipse iudex esse volo, ut hoc quoque de vobis requiram, et immolari vos velim eaque tormenta pati, quae prisci illi ἐκκλησιαστικοὶ ferebant. Non enim me latet magis imbecilles vos veteribus illis esse, nec tanto cum ardore pro vero cultu agi quanto ipsi etiam adversus imperatores pugnabant. Sed certe aequum fuit ut, sicut apertum Solymos in Christi coenotaphio delubrum incolitis unde vobis eleemosinam magnam ingensque emolumentum de viatoribus comparatis, 1  Tametsi U: et tametsi L. || 1  ducerent non prohiberentur L: ducere[n]t prohiberentur U. || 14  minae L: nin[a]e U. || 14  absterrent L: absterrere[n]t U. || 15  est no[n] U: est cur non L. || 18  sectatores L: spectatores U. || 18  quisnam L: quis nu[m] U. || 22  tractatam; vobis ipsis consulitis: consultis (sic) U: tractatam. Sed vos vobis ipsis consulitis L. || 26  ἐκκλησιαστικοὶ L: ἐκκλησιάζουσοι U (corrected in another hand). ||

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make the same effort in areas in which all could know you are driven not by the hope of profit but by zeal for the faith. Was it not within the memory of our parents, that a shipload of pilgrims heading for Jerusalem was captured by Turks in the Aegean Sea, that they were threatened that the ship would be sunk unless they renounced Christ as God? The signal of acceptance was to be a raised index finger, and when no one raised a hand, they were sunk beneath the waves and drowned. Do you not see how acceptable their sacrifice was to God, who freely accepts them into heaven in witness of his goodness? The outcome would probably not have been the same if your orders of brothers had occupied that ship. [12]  But to come back to the subject, these early people were the fathers of our religion, from whom so many illustrious minds arose By their writings which illuminated our beliefs, by their eloquence, they showed themselves unconquerable in their sanctity and their firm endurance of ills. And they did not divide themselves up in sects, some in white, some in black, some in brown, some in dun, some in other colours, distinguishing themselves by sects and names. All were brothers, called by the one name of christians. In this way they were so united by charity and love and uprightness that not even their enemies could point to anything which could be blamed in them. So Caecilius Pliny, a pagan who sometimes subjected them to tortures, accuses them of nothing other than worshipping Christ. He found they were guilty of no crime, committed no deceits, no robberies, no adultery, did not break trust, did not refuse a claimant what was held in trust, ate common and harmless food.32 If he were to say all this now of your orders, I do not know how far it would be true of all of them, but certainly it would be untrue of most. For this reason it happens, as we see, that just as their harmony and the firm uprightness of all drew even the destitute to their sect, so in our time the improbity of the majority alienates even the best from you, to others they may be a ‘scandal’ (if I may use the Greek word). On the other hand, since the Christian faith had already grown wonderfully by their virtue, since the pagans had now been ordered to close their temples by Constantine’s law and Christ alone was worshipped in the whole world, there were some who desired solitude, and were therefore called monks.33 32   Epistolae, 10.96. In sections 6-8 Pliny in fact states that some of those he had questioned had renounced christianity, but claimed to have done nothing worse [my italics] than attend early-morning gatherings, and so on. This is a good example of how Alciato occasionally bends an historical or literary reference to his own purpose, which is obviously to idealize the primitive church. 33   In Latin ‘monachi’; in Greek μοναχοί, ‘solitaries’.



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ita quoque in eis regionibus idem moliremini in quibus non lucri spe sed zelo fidei devectos nosse omnes possent. An non cum patrum nostrorum memoria deprehensa in Aegeo mari peregrinorum, qui ad Solymos tenderent, a Turcis navis fuit, interminatumque illis esset, nisi Christum Deum abnegarent, fore ut navis mergeretur, cuius rei signum erectus index esset; et nemine manum extendente, sub aquas demersi suffocatique sunt? Non vides quam grata eorum fuerit erga Deum servitus, qui illos in suae benignitatis martyrio libenter admittat? Non idem fortasse eventurum fuit si eam navim ordines isti fratrum tenuissent. [12]  Sed ut ad rem redeam, eiusmodi quidem prisci illi religionis nostrae patres erant, unde tot praeclara ingenia exorta sunt, quae literis, quae eloquentia dogma nostrum illustrarunt, quae sanctitate assiduoque malorum toleratu inconvincibiles ostenderunt se. Nec his inter se haeresibus divisi ipsi erant, alii quidem albi, alii nigri, | alii gilvi, alii aliis coloribus, sectis, nominibus distinguerentur. Omnes fratres erant, solo nomine Christiani dicti. Idcirco et charitate et amore et probitate tam coniuncti ut nec eorum quidem inimici quicquam reperire possint quod in eis damnarent. Hinc C. Plinius, gentilis vir et qui eos quandoque cruciatibus subdidit, nihil in eos accusat praeter quod Christum colerent. Non enim in scelus aliquod obstringi, non furta, non latrocinia, non adulteria committere, non fidem fallere, non appellanti depositum abnegare, promiscuum eos cibum et innoxium capere. Quae omnia si de vestris ordinibus nunc diceret, non satis scio quam de omnibus vere, sed certe de plurimis falsum diceret. Quam ob causam fieri videmus ut sicut concors illorum firmaque omnium virtus et nudos in suam sectam trahebat, sic nostra tempestate plurimorum improbitas etiam optimos a vobis alienet, sint caeteris (ut Graeca voce utar) scandalo. Caeterum, quoniam illorum virtute iam res christiana mirum in modum creverat, et iam Constantini lege templa sua pagani claudere erant iussi, unusque Christus omni in orbe cantabatur, fuere qui secessum amaverint, unde monachi dicti sunt, 2  an non cum L: An cum U. || 8 illos U: eos L. || 8  libenter L: liberter U. || 12  quae eloquentia L: q[ui] eloque[n]tia U || 12  quae sanctitate L: q[ui] sanctitate U. || 13  ostenderunt se L: ostenderu[n]t U. || 14  ipsi erant L: ipsi essent [crossed out] era[n]t U. || 14  alii quide[m] U: ut alii quidem L. || 18  et qui U: qui et L. || 19  pr[a]eter quod U: praeterquam quod L. || 25  nudos U: multos L. || 26-27  alienat sint U: alienet, et sit L. 30 amaveri[n]t U: amaverunt L. ||

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Their establishment so pleased Jerome and Rufinus that they gave their approval to them.34 These men were not, like those of our own time, who are dressed in dark tunics, their heads covered with a cape, solitaries meeting lay people too often, abhoring the flesh, eating delicate loaves, tarts, cakes, priceless fish, extremely well endowed with large estates. But they were such as used garments of a common sort, despising wealth, devoting themselves to the praises of the one God, living otherwise by their own sweat, such, as I have read, that some used to hire themselves out at a low rate to carry stone and earth, whereby they fed themselves, and gave what they did not need to other poor people. Those whom Augustine instituted lived no differently; now they keep only the name and have changed their custom and their dress. [13]  The first to institute a way of life similar to our monks and brothers, as far as I have gathered from history, was Benedict.35 When the wars of the Goths with Belisarius were raging, when Italy was barren and uncultivated, and everything was devastated by fire and sword, Benedict established his monks temporarily, intending, as I think, to return to his initial practices when perhaps the wars ended. But after his death his successors had other ideas. For they were enriched firstly by the Longobard kings, then by all the others, and when they acquired the monasteries of others, they took anything that was either ill-gained or procured by dishonest practices from the wills of sick people, because, if you please, no one could be saved by any other means than by devoting some part of his property to the poor or to monks. [14]  However, three hundred years ago, following Benedict’s example when the ruinous Guelph and Gibelline factions were destroying Italy and no city, or rather no house, but was suffering from some bane of this sort, Francis,36 wearied by the wickedness of the times, instituted this order of yours. However his successors have changed it so much that if he were to be alive again he would hardly recognise it as the one he had set up. He bound his disciples with no set rules, admonishing only moderation and humility, and ordered that they should follow the teaching of the gospels. Bonaventure – whom we say, using the more scholarly term, is ‘eutychus’37 – introduced the habit you now wear, for earlier the Mino-

34   For Jerome’s account of monastic communities see the letter to Eustochium, Ep. 22.35 (Loeb), pp. 137-43. 35   ad 480-546? NCE, 2, 271-73. 36  1182?-1226. NCE 6, 28-30. 37  1221-1274. NCE 2, 658-64. The term is perhaps not intended to be a name. Εὐτυχής means the same as Bonaventure, ‘fortunate’. Alciato may be reflecting a late fifteenthcentury legend that, when he was a child, Bonaventure’s life was saved by St Francis in a manner reminiscent of the story of Eutychus and St Paul (Acts 20.9-12).



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quorum institutum ita Hieronimo placuit Rufinoque, ut in hoc albo nomen dederint. Non erant hi quales nostri temporis, furva tunica induti, caput cucullione contecti, solitarii a laicis inter se nimis frequentes, carnem perosi, pastillos, scriblitas, placentas, pisces pretiosissimos comedentes, latifundiis ditissimi, sed qui vestimentis in promiscuo genere uterentur divitias contemnentes solius Dei laudibus insisterent, sudore alioquin suo victitantes, quippe qui le- | gerim, eorum aliquos vili mercede caementa et terram baiulare solitos qua se alerent, et quod superflueret caeteris inopibus largiri. Nec aliter vivebant, quos Augustinus quandoque instituit, qui nunc solum nomen tenent, mores et habitum mutaverunt. [13]  Primus qui similem monachis fratribusque hisce nostris modum instituerit, quantum ex historia deprehendi, fuit Benedictus. Hic cum Gothorum bellis cum Belisario flagrantibus Italia deserta incultaque esset, flammaque et ferro omnia vastarentur, monachos hos pro tempore instituit, cessantibus bellis fortasse (ut arbitror) ad primos mores reversurus. Verum post eius mortem aliud consilium successoribus fuit, ditati enim primum a Longobardorum regibus, mox a quibuscunque aliis. Cum enim aliorum monasteria haberentur, quicquid vel male partum vel pravis artibus conflatum erat aegrotantium testamentis accipiebant, quod videlicet alia ratione nemo salvus esse posset, nisi vel pauperibus vel monachis rei suae aliquid impenderet. [14]  Verum Benedicti exemplo trecentis abhinc annis, cum perniciosae Guelphorum Gibellinorumque factiones Italiam pessundarent nullaque civitas vel potius domus non aliquo huiusmodi scelere laboraret, pertaesus temporum iniquitatem, Franciscus ordinem hunc vestrum instituit, quem tamen posteri ita mutavere, ut, si revivisceret, minime eum esse agnosce- | ret quem ipse instruxerat. Certis legibus discipulos ille suos non adstrinxit, solum moderationis et demissi animi admonuit, evangelicamque doctrinam ut sequerentur imperavit. Bonaventura, quem elegantiori vocabulo Eutychum dicimus, habitum quo nunc utimini 3  nimis frequentes U: minus frequentes L. || 4 placentas L: placentes U. || 4  comedentes L: co[m]medentes U. || 5  ditissimi L: doctissimi (underlined. In another hand in the margin ‘ditissimi’) U. || 5  vestimentis L: vestime[n]ti (sic) U. || 7 aliquos U: aliquot L. || 8  et quod U: et ut quod L. || 9  largiri: largirentur U L. || 11  similem L: simile U. || 13 Gothoru[m] U: Gotthorum L. || 14  esset L: essent U. || 14  monachos L: monochos U. || 18 (‘Cum [...] haberentur’ omitted) L. || 22  abhinc L: adhuc U. || 26  posteri U: postea L. || 26  revivisceret L: reminisceret U. || 28  moderationis L: moderatiosus (sic) U. || 29  bonaventura L: banave[n]tura U. || 30  Eutychum L: Eutichum U. || 30  utimini L: ultimi (corrected in another hand in the margin) U. ||

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rites wore a shepherd’s or cowherd’s cloak. Bernardine of Siena,38 I have learned, added clogs; however it is said he condemned his own invention. When in Milan he met Philip Visconti, who held power in the state at that time,39 he asked to be granted land where he could build a monastery for his rule.40 The prince agreed without any difficulty, but, with his superb and unequalled wisdom, he added under his breath it was likely Bernardine would regret his petition, finding the extraordinary ingratitude of his disciples almost unmanageable – wherein that very famous duke was not at all deceived. [15]  Let me here defend Francis against the slander of that very scholarly author Merula. In book VI of his history41 he writes that Francis, seeing that everyone’s mind was disturbed by civil hatreds and that household weapons were brandished every day, was wrong not to counter this evil by preaching peace and with frequent sermons. As a fearless censor of morals and serious rebuker of crime, he was wrong not to restrain civilian hands from violence by force of speeches, by reminders of justice, by any means. But he preferred, says Merula, to watch with his little brothers on Apennine ridges rather than do something to alleviate this evil, and this perhaps in order not to offend the papal dignity which was the main source of this evil. You are too slanderous, Merula, and turn against Francis a sword smeared with honey.42 Do you think if the Pope acted wrongly that Francis would have kept silence for fear of being harmed? You are certainly mistaken. This is not what the gospel teaches. John the Baptist was not so afraid of Herod.43 Nor, in secular history, was

 1380-1444. NCE 2, 345-47.   1402-1447; ruled 1412?-1447. He was the second son of the famous Gian Galeazzo, celebrated by Alciato in emblem 134, and the last of the direct line of the Visconti. He was according to all accounts a clever politician, and it seems likely that Alciato wrote ‘inclytissimus’ (‘very famous’), as suggested by L, rather than ‘incautissimus’ as in the manuscript. 40   The monastery of St James (San Giacomo) which Mattius had entered? (l. 11) 41   Giorgio Merula, Antiquitatis Vicecomitum libri X (Milan, A. Minuziano, 1500), lib. VI, fol. 73ro - vo. Alciato is paraphrasing the passage, not quoting word for word: ‘me non parum mirari duos integerrimos homines Dominicum Calagurritanum Franciscum Picentem sive Umbrum divino suffragante spiritu duarum fraternitatum fundatores et principes, cum suo tempore hae pestes pullularent saevoque urgente tyranno urbes rapini fuga et caede civium exhaurirentur, nascenti malo non intercessisse: et ut erant / intrepidi morum censores et graves criminum obiurgatores eos in primis et coram animos corripere debebant ...’ And a little later on the same page: ‘alii ut longius a conspectu tot malorum et seditionum procella se subducerent in tranquillissimo portu transalpes philosophantes non tam speculationi altissimarum rerum quam frivolis quaestionibus et captiunculis quibusdam vacabant quanto conducibilius fuisset ...’ See also note 228 below. 42  Cf. Adagia, I viii 57, ‘A sword smeared with honey’, but also Jerome, Ep. 105.2. 43   Mark 6.18; Luke 3.19. 38 39



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instituit; pastorali enim gregarioque vestimento prius Minoritae utebantur. Addidit, ut accepi, calopodia Bernardinus Senensis, quem tamen ferunt inventum suum damnasse. Quum Mediolani Philippum Vicecomitem, qui tunc rerum potiebatur, convenisset, petiit sibi locum concedi quo monasterium suae observationis aedificaret. Haud difficulter annuit princeps, sed ut summa et incomparabili prudentia erat, subdidit fore ut quandoque eum petitionis suae poeniteret, miram discipulorum suorum ingratitudinem vix ferentem, qua inclitissimus dux minime deceptus est. [15]  Hic ego Franciscum ab elegantissimi scriptoris Merulae calumnia defendam. Scribit ille Historiae libro viº, haud satis recte eum fecisse, qui cum civilibus odiis omnium infestas mentes cerneret gliscentiaque indies domestica arma, pacis praedicatione frequentibusque concionibus huic malo obviam non iverit, et ut intrepidus morum censor gravisque criminum obiurgator erat, non eloquentiae viribus, non pietatis commemoratione, non quacunque arte civiles dextras a sanguine retineret, Quin (inquit) in Apennini iugis maluit cum fraterculis suis speculari, quam huius mali aliquid levare, et hoc fortasse ne pontificiam maiestatem laederet, unde maxima huius mali pars emanabat. Nimis maledicus es, Merula, melleque litum gladium in Franciscum detorques. Anne | arbitraris, si summus Pontifex male egisset, taciturum Franciscum, ne eum laederet? Erras certe. Non ita in Evangelio praecipitur, non ita Iohannes Baptista Herodem timuit, nec etiam in prophanis Sotades Philadelphum,

3  Mediolani L: Mediolanu[m] U. || 7  petitionis L: petionis U. || 8  inclytissimus L: incautissim[us] U. || 12 odiis om[n]i[um] infestas U: odiis infestas L. || 14  iverit L: inierit U. || 16  qui[n] U: qui L. || 17  iugis L: iu[n]gis U. || 20 emelleque U: felleque L. || 23  Sotades Philadelphum L: Ho[n]tades Philadelphu[m] (in the margin in the same hand: ‘Hontades Philadelp.’: in another hand: ‘Sotades’) U. ||

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Sotades44 afraid of Ptolemy Philadelphus, when he took his sister Arsinoë as wife. The angry king condemned him to dirt and rot.45 I myself believe that God, considering the great disaster of Italy, did not allow Francis either to endure or to diminish what was already inevitable. [16]  But just as Merula is not sufficiently just in accusing Francis, so he is right to inveigh against his partisans, who have insisted on certain frivolous philosophical questions, have disregarded his simple teaching about life and have preferred on the contrary to stir up dissensions, rather than follow his path by a constant habit of life. Hence some companion or other of Francis called Helias,46 seeking eagerly to be appointed in his place, introduced into that fellowship greater disturbances, more serious partisanships than those that raged especially at that time among lay people. So that it could be seen already at that time with foreboding that your commanders47 would at some time divide their companies into numerous parties, and that from the Minorites some would become Observants,48 some soluti,49 some Amadeani,50 some Clareni,51 and they would at once disagree with one another like Christian with Tartar, or Turk with Jew. Nowadays these dissensions have gone so far that there is scarcely one man who stands with another.52 They argue about their clogs and draw swords as if fighting for hearth and home,53 as if it is not allowed for everyone to serve God in whatever dress he likes.

  Sotades of Maroneia, author, according to Athenaeus, of scurrilous ‘Ionian Songs’.  Plutarch, De liberis educandis, Moralia, 11A (Loeb, I, p. 51); Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, 14. 620f-621b. Plutarch says Sotades was condemned to rot in prison, but neither author uses the phrase “paedore et situ”. 46   Elias of Cortona, c. 1180 – 1253. NCE 5, 273. Chosen by Francis, despite the fact that he was a lay member, to administer the order in his name, he was elected Vicar General in 1221, but deposed in favor of Albert of Pisa, a moderate Observantist. 47   Alciato makes a mocking use of ‘Imperatores’. 48   The Observants (of the primitive rule), or Spirituals, were committed to holding no property in common and to renouncing all vested income and accumulation of goods. The other large grouping was known as the Conventuals, distinguished by living together (‘convenire’) in ‘convents’, and sharing goods, income, and property. An excellent, concise account of the history in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries of these elements and their connection with Joachimite apocalypticism may be found in Leah DeVun, Prophecy, Alchemy, and the End of Time (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), ch. 2. 49   Unknown name. Alciato may be using ‘soluti’ as a common noun to allude to the Tertiaries or Third Order of Franciscans who serve God, but are ‘not bound’ by the rule of celibacy. 50   Amadeists, followers of Amadeo Pietro Giovanni de Silva, d. 1482. 51   Followers of Peter of Macerata and Angelo da Cingoli (Angelus Clarenus), an association of hermits founded in 1294. NCE 3, 915. John XXII attempted to suppress them in 1341, but they were not finally merged with the Observants until 1512. 52   See the Introduction, note 3. 53   ‘Aris focisque’. A proverbial expression not recorded by Erasmus. Cf. e.g. Cicero. In Catilinam, 4.11.24 and Pro Sestio, 42. 44 45



Andreae Alciati contra vitam monasticam epistula53

cum Arsinoën sororem in uxorem accepisset. Nam iratus rex paedore et situ eum confecit. Ipse existimo Italiae calamitatem magnam versantem animo Deum non sivisse, ut quod iam in fatis erat Franciscus vel tolleret vel diminueret. [16]  Sed ut in Franciscum non satis aequo iure Merula inclamat, ita non iniuria eius sectatores insectatur, qui frivolis quibusdam quaestionibus philosophiae incumbentes iustam vitae institutionem neglexerunt, malueruntque seditiones quasdam vicissim concitare, quam perpetuo vitae tenore semitam observare. Hinc Francisci comes nescio quis Helias, dum in eius locum subrogari gestit, non minores in eo comilitio turbas invexit, nec leviora factionum studia quam inter prophanos tunc maxime debacchabantur; ut iam tunc praesaga mente posset cognosci, fore ut aliquando in multas partes imperatores vestri cohortes suas dividerent, fierentque ex Minoribus alii Observantes, alii Soluti, alii Amadeani, alii Cla­ren­ses, et non aliter simul dissentirent, quam Christianus cum Tartaro vel Turca cum Hebraeo faciat. Nam in praesentiarum eo ob has simultates progressum est, ut fere alter alteri hominis loco non sit. Contendunt de calopodiis, et tanquam de aris focisque digladiantur, quasi unicuique non liceat quoquo habitu voluerit Deo inservire.

1  Arsinoën L: Arsio[n]en U. || 1  accepisset. Nam L: accepisset eam U. || 5-6  non iniuria eius sectatores insectatur (‘insectant[ur]’ corrected) U: non iniuria est sectatores insectatus L. || 7 iustam U: castam L. || 11 factionu[m] U: factionis L. || 12  debacchabantur L: debaccharent[ur] U. || 14  ex Minoribus L: et Minorib[us] U. ||

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[17]  ‘Blessed

are the poor in spirit’, says Christ.54 But if you monks were not so very arrogant in spirit, this question [of poverty] would hardly be disputed with such animosity. He is not poor who has lost property, nor is he rich who has plenty of money; rather he is really rich who needs the least, and poor he who needs the most. If your soul does not desire the property of another, if you were content with what you have, no one would deny that you have the greatest wealth. If you profess to be poor, you are in fact guilty, since you are not poor in spirit, but wish to be rich, and it could rightly be said of you what Plato once retorted to Diogenes: that the Cynic in dirty clothes was driven by greater ambition than he himself would be troubled by in gold and silver.55 Although I do not compare you to the Cynics, if you want to be praised for your tolerance of circumstances, you must not be offended if I say you are like Cynics. For they too despised all wealth, and went naked in winter, embraced ice-cold statues, refrained from the more delicate foods, so that you may seem to be fashioned plainly in their image; except perhaps they were superior in this too that they accustomed themselves to dog-food and used the hollow of the hand instead of a wooden drinking cup. Certainly when Diogenes was asked why he was called a Cynic he said: ‘Because I fawn on those who offer me something and wag my tail like dogs; I bark at those who offer me nothing, but enemies I bite hard’.56 On this ground indeed I do not see why I may not call you too cynics, since you often and quite imperturbably have embezzlers, law-breakers, and money-lenders in the monastery. I might think you do this following the example of Christ, who lodged with publicans, if these guests did not gratify you generously with bequests, and did not enrich you with supreme good judgement.57 But if someone out of generosity gives you an annual donation and then repents of it, you get angry and you bark at him, and what was a simple gift you pervert into a necessary obligation. There have even been some who, using legal procedures, claimed it in law as if   Matthew 5.3.   Not found, but the story in Diogenes Laertius (6.2.26) is perhaps the source: ‘And one day when Plato had invited to his house friends coming from Dionysius, Diogenes trampled upon his carpets and said, ‘I trample upon Plato’s vainglory’. Plato’s reply was, ‘How much pride you expose to view, Diogenes, by seeming not to be proud’. Others tell us that what Diogenes said was, ‘I trample upon the pride of Plato’, who retorted, ‘Yes, Diogenes, with pride of another sort’. Translation by R.D. Hicks (Loeb). 56   Id., 6.2.60: ‘Being asked what he had done to be called a hound, he said, “I fawn on those who give me anything, I yelp at those who refuse, and I set my teeth in rascals”’. 57   The emendation of L makes more explicit the biting sarcasm. 54 55

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in- | quit Christus, ‘pauperes spiritu’. At nisi vos superbissimos spiritus gereretis, haudquaquam hac de re tantis odiis certatum foret. Non est is pauper qui facultatibus delapsus est, neque is dives qui pecunia abundat; sed potius is est vere dives qui quam minimis eget, pauper qui plurimis. Nisi mens vestra alieni appetens, si eo quod penes vos est contenti essetis, nemo ditissimos negaret. Si pauperes vos esse fatemini, recte rei estis, quoniam non pauperes spiritu, sed divites esse vultis, meritoque de vobis illud dici poterit, quod quandoque in Diogenem intorsit Plato: ‘Maiore videlicet ambitione in sordidis vestibus Cynicum agi quam ipse in auro et argento solicitaretur’. Cum ego vos Cinicis non comparem, qui si a rerum tolerantia laudari vultis, non debetis aegre ferre si huiusmodi viris similes vos esse dixero. Et illi enim omnium divitiarum contemptores erant, et hyeme nudi agebant, statuas frigidissimas amplexabantur, cibis delicatioribus abstinebant, ut plane eorum imitatione fabrefacti videamini, nisi quod in eo quoque illi fortassis vincebant, quod canino prandio assuescerent, et quod vola manus pro ligneo poculo uterentur. Interrogatus certe Diogenes cur Cinicus dice­ retur: ‘Quia mihi aliquid porrigentibus adblandior et canum more cauda adulor; in non porrigentes adlatro, inimicos autem male mordeo’. Hac certe ratione non video cur et vos Cinicos non appellem, quippe qui peculatores, foedifragos, feneratores in monasterio frequenter et placidissime habetis. Quod existimarem exemplo Christi vos facere, qui cum publicanis deversatus est, nisi illi vos larga manu iuvarent legatis supremoque iudicio locupletarent. Quin si quisquam liberalitate ductus | aliquoties annuam vobis largitionem dederit, si poeniteat, irascimini adlatratisque, et quod merae donationis fuit in obligationis necessitatem pertrahitis. Fuerunt etiam qui ex formula tanquam debitum in iudicio repeterent. Sic quantum quisque de suo vobis addit tantum amicus, ubi dare desierit

3  No[n] U: Nec L. || 3 delapsus U: lapsus L. || 6  nemo L: ne mo[n] (sic) U. || 9  Cynicum L: Cinicu[m] U. || 12 illi e[ni]m om[n]i[um] U: illi omnium L. || 16  assuescerent: assuiscera[n]t (sic) U: assueverant L. || 18 mihi aliquid U: mihi, inquit, aliquid L. || 23  deversatus: diversatus U L. || 24  locupletarent L: locupletare[n]t[ur] U. || 24  Quin si quisquam: Quin si quisq[ue] U: ‘Quod siquis L. || 25  irascimini, adlatratisque L: irascemini adlatrisque U. ||

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it were a debt. Thus, according to how much some one brings you of his property, to that extent he is a friend; when he stops giving, you contemplate hostile action, so that I reckon that very witty poet Palladas was writing about people just like you: If a friend receives a present, he at once writes beginning ‘Lord brother’,   But if he gets nothing he only says ‘Brother’. For these words are to be bought and sold.   I at least wish no ‘Lord’, for I have nothing to give.58

I amused myself once with something not unlike this, moving away a little from the model: When I have given something, you salute me as ‘lord’ and ‘brother’.   When [I give] nothing, you call me only ‘brother’. This is how you pay for things with words. But since I have   Nothing else to give, you can save the word ‘lord’.

Do you not think Francis, looking down from above, bears these things with the greatest discontent, angered that the rules he gave to his own order are so visibly despised? For although even these rules have been much debased by the character of his successors, whatever is good and right in them probably flowed directly from him. Although in this area many things were taken from the Jews, some were turned upside down, and I would not be bold enough to say publicly whether these were changed in the right way. [18]  Theophrastus59 and Porphyry much more fully after him in his books On Abstaining from Meats60 (the very eloquent Philo transmitted much varied knowledge to posterity from them) write that there were among the Jews certain philosophers who were called Essenes.61 These 58   Translation by W.R. Paton. Greek Anthology, 10.44, (Loeb, IV, p. 25). Alciato’s version is not found in the Selecta epigrammata of 1529. 59   The reference is probably to a passage purporting to be derived from Theophrastus (c. 370-288 bc) through Porphyry (c. 234-305) and reproduced by Eusebius in the chapter preceding his account of Porphyry (see note 60 below). The passage concerns practices of the Jews but does not name the Essenes specifically. 60   The following paragraph is a summary paraphrase of Porphyry, De abstinentia, 4.11-13. However Alciato very probably used the report of Porphyry’s account by Eusebius of Caesarea, who also reproduces Philo’s account (Praeparatio evangelica, VIII, 11-12, 379a-384b and book IX, chapter 3, 404d-407c). 61   The word is a transliteration of the Hebrew ‘hōsen’, an ornamental piece of embroidery worn by Jewish priests. In Exodus 28.15 and 29 it is the ‘breastplate of judgement’, worn by the priest when acting as judge, but also as a memorial of God’s convenant with the people. It is rendered in the Septuagint as λόγιον [declaration]. Philo derives it from ὁσίος (pious).



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hostilia cogitatis, ut non in alios magis quam in vobis similes viros scripsisse facetissimum poetam τὸν Παλλαδᾶν existimem: Ἢν ὅ φίλος τι λάβῃ, δόμινε φράτερ εὐθὺς ἔγραψεν·   ἢν δ᾽ αὖ μή τι λάβῃ, τὸ φράτερ εἶπε μόνον Ὤνια γὰρ καὶ ταῦτα τὰ ῥήματα. αὔταρ ἔγωγε   ὄυκ ἐθέλω δόμινε, οὐ γὰρ ἔχω δόμεναι.

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Cui nos non absimile, pauxillum de exemplari recedentes, quandoque lusimus: Cum quicquam dederim, dominum fratremque salutas.   Cum nihil hoc solo nomine ‘frater’ ais.

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Pro rebus sic verba refers. Sed cum amplius ipse   Non habeam donum, parce voces dominum.

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Anne haec Franciscum de superis prospectantem non iniquissimo animo ferre arbitramini, qui quas ipsi ordini leges dederat tam notabiliter contemni indignetur? Quamvis enim successorum ingeniis et hae multum depravatae sint, quicquid tamen in illis boni aequique est, verisimile est ab ipso promanasse. Tametsi in hac parte multa de Hebraeis accepta sint, quaedam inversa quae non satis profiteri ausim, an recte fuerint immutata. |  [18]  Scribit Theophrastus et longe diffusius post eum Porphirius in libris De abstinentia a carnibus - a quibus nonnulla diversa eloquentissimus ille Philo etiam memoriae posterorum tradidit - fuisse apud Iudaeos quosdam philosophos qui Essaei dicerentur. Eos inter se summum

3  Ἢν ὁ φιλος ή λάβῃ δόμινε φάτερ ἐυθὺς ἐκαψεν | ἢ δ᾽ ἀν μή τί λάβῃ, το φατερ ἐῖπε μονον | ὤνια γαρ και ταῦτα τα ρήματα αὐτὰρ ἔγαγε | ὀυχ ἐθέλω δομινε ου γαρ ἔχω δόμεναι U. || 13  non iniquissimo L: cu[m] iniquissimo U. || 14 ipsi U: ipse L. || 14-15  notabiliter (‘notabilitate’ corrected in another hand) U: notabiliter L. || 20  longe diffusius post eu[m] U: longe post eum diffusius L. ||

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have the greatest love and respect for each other; they reject all pleasure, as if it is never without some vice of the mind; they cherish above all modesty and a tranquillity of mind far removed from greed and uncleanness. They do not take wives; they adopt the children of others whom they have found are of good character, and pass on to them lessons about their practices that have to be absorbed from an early age. They do this, not because they are averse to marriage but because it was thought they should be on their guard against women’s too seductive habits. Further he says wealth of any sort is so despised by them that there is among them a wonderful harmony in poverty. No one possesses anything more than the others, but they have everything in common, one is not richer or poorer than another, so each has the same means as everyone else – as is right among brothers. They rejoice in being lean and hard of body, as befiting men, whilst on the other hand they think unguents are a womanish pleasure and carefully avoid them as the ultimate effeminacy. They elect overseers and purveyors for themselves by a universal vote. They do not all live in one city but gather readily wherever they wish. They always lodge with men of their own sect, by whom they are taken in so willingly that any one might think they always lodged together, and for this reason travellers never carry any provision with them. They do not change clothes and shoes before they have been worn out by age and usage; they refrain from any transaction of buying and selling, and practice more the old custom of barter. If anyone ever worshipped God to the fullest it is they. They greet him with the Lord’s prayer before dawn, and pray that he will make the sun rise. When they have done this each is sent by their overseers to work at their crafts and labours, and when they have worked for five hours they assemble in one room, and having washed in cold water, they gather in the dining room. Here they consider it improper for any but the initiate to enter. Then, with everyone sitting on one row of benches, a plate of bread is placed before each. Their chief priest, having said a prayer to God, begins to eat first, for it is not allowed to taste anything before prayers. When they have broken their fast, they give thanks to God, so that, having begun breakfast with a prayer, they also end in a prayer. After this they lay aside their dining clothes and go out



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amorem observantiamque habere, voluptatem omnem quasi vitio animi non careat aspernari, modestiam animique tranquillitatem ab omni cupiditate et sordibus remotam imprimis amplecti, uxores non ducere, alienos liberos quos bonae indolis cognoverint adoptare, a tenerisque annis morum suorum doctrinam inbibendam illis tradere. Quod ab eis fit, non quia a matrimoniis abhorreant, sed quoniam pellaces nimis foeminarum mores cavendos arbitrabantur. Rursus divitias omnes adeo ait ab illis despectui haberi, ut mira inter eos sit paupertatis concordia, cum nemo praeter caeteros aliquid possideat, sed communia omnia habeant, alteroque aut ditior aut pauperior alter non sit, eademque omnibus (uti fratribus convenit) est facultas. Hi aridi durique corporis esse gaudent, quasi id virum deceat, cum contra unguentem lotum esse muliebre arbitrentur provideque ut summam molliciem id effugiant. Communibus suffragiis sibi praefectos atque obsonatores constituunt. Non omnes unam urbem colunt, sed facile quocunque placuerit commigrant. Semper penes haereseos suae viros hospitantur, a quibus tam alacri animo suscipiuntur, ut una simul semper habitasse illos quisque opinari possit. Quapropter discedentes numquam viaticum aliquod secum ferunt; vestimenta et calceos, priusquam vetustate et usu consumpta fuerint, non mutant. Emptionis, venditionis contractu abstinent, veteremque permutationis consuetudinem | magis observant. Deum si quis unquam maxime coluit, illi ipsi sunt. Antelucanis horis patria oratione eum salutant, ut solem oriri faciat precantur. Ubi haec fecerint, a praefectis suis ad artes operaque sua exercenda singuli dimittuntur; et ubi per quinque horas laboraverint, in unum conclave congregantur, frigidaque perloti in coenaculum coeunt. In id praeter iniciatos quemquam introire fas non habent. Ibi omnibus uno ordine sedentibus panis in singulos quosque ferculum unum apponitur. Primus eorum sacerdos dicta prius Deo oratione comedere incipit, ante enim preces quicquam gustare non licet. Ubi pransi fuerint, gratias Deo agunt, ut quod ab oratione prandium auspicantur in oratione quoque desinant. Post haec, coenatoriis vestibus depositis, ad opera rursus

1  quasi vitio a[nim]i careat U: quasi vitio non careat L. || 1  a[nim]iq[ue] (sic) U: atque L. || 5  fit U: ait fieri L. || 7 arbitrabant[ur] U: arbitrantur L. || 7-8  adeo ait ab illis L: adeo ab illis U. || 10  sit eademq[ue] U: sit. Eademque L. || 11 aridi U: avidi L. || 12  lotum L: letu[m] U. || 13  ut L: ac U. || 13  mollicie[m] (altered to mollicia[m]) U: mollitiem L. || 17 habitasse U: hospitasse L. || 23  h[a]ec U: hoc L. || 24  dimittuntur L: demittu[n]t[ur] U. || 28  comedere L: co[m]medere U. || 31 desina[n]t U: desinat L. || 31  ad opera L: a [sic] opera U. ||

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again to work. Following the same routine, coming back after sunset, they have a dinner. Nor do they ever allow shouting and quarelling among themselves. Since of all people they are the most restrained, each speaks in his turn, and there is therefore no noise such as excessive drinking and drunkenness arouse. They eat and drink only as much as is necessary to sustain life; otherwise there is no particular law about this. Those who wish to be enrolled into these practises are not immediately admitted unprepared;62 but, after they have lived outside by this rule a whole year, then only are they initiated; on this condition however, that they may still not live with them unless they have given proofs of their continence for at least two years. Then those who have gained full admission, with some one dictating before them, swear an oath in set words: that they will venerate God above all, constantly preserve justice, harm no one. In addition they promise to hate evil men, to count harm to the just as harm to themselves, to preserve faith, equity, respect for truth, and honesty for as long as they might live and their soul goes to heaven. These are the Essene doctrines, from which your founders took the largest part of their teachings, even if they changed some of them, though I do not see why they had to be changed and perverted so much. Following both what the ancients have handed down and what is commonly said, one should keep to an old rule unless we are convinced that it is obviously useful to move away from it. [19]  Let us see how much this was, not what I would call obvious usefulness, but quite overt neglect of religion that has driven you monks in this perversion. The Essenes did manual labour, performing the mechanical and meanest offices, and gained their living thereby. You sit there dully and, apart from the chatter with which you exercise tongue and voice, you do nothing. No one will ever persuade me that a man, not even the best, can devote a whole day to speculation about heaven. Human powers are weak, very prone to devilish illusions. Therefore if any one has applied his mind for three or four or more hours in this way, there must at some time be some relaxation from such cogitation. This did not escape that very witty author Aristophanes in his Clouds, where Socrates persuades old Strepsiades that he should walk around, set aside sometimes those subtle cogitations of his, and think of being cautious.63 And if I may leave 62   Adagia, I ix 54, ‘To enter with unwashed feet’, where Erasmus suggests also ‘uninitiated’ or ‘in a profane manner’. 63   Clouds, 743-45. Socrates  ‘Keep quiet; and if you be puzzled in any one of your conceptions, leave it and go; and then set your mind in motion again, and lock it up’ (translation by W.J. Hickie).



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Andreae Alciati contra vitam monasticam epistula61

exeunt. Eadem ratione post solis occasum redeuntes coenant. Clamorem tumultumque inter eos numquam audiunt. Cum enim omnium continentissimi sint, suo quisque loco loquitur, strepitusque idcirco abest, quem crapula ebrietasque potissimum excitat. Non vescuntur aut bibunt nisi quatenus vitam sustineant; alioquin in eo nulla est certa lex. Qui in haec ministeria ordinari volunt non illotis pedibus statim admittuntur; sed postquam integrum annum foris ea lege vixerint, tum demum iniciantur, ita tamen ut cum eis adhuc vivere non liceat nisi per biennium etiam continentiae suae signa mostraverint. Tunc penitus admissi, aliquo praeeunte, conceptis verbis iurant: imprimis Deum veneraturos, iustitiam continuo servaturos, nemini nocituros. Ad haec malos habere odio promittunt, non secus in hominem iustum iniuriam factam reputaturos quam si ipsi laesi essent, fidem, aequitatem, | veri observantiam, probitatem custodituros donec vixerint, anima ad caelestes transierit. Haec Essaeorum dogmata sunt unde vestri auctores maximam institutionum suarum partem accepere, tametsi quaedam immutaverint, quae tamen non video cur ita mutari pervertique debuerint. Standum veteri lege esse, nisi evidens utilitas ut ab ea recedamus persuadeat, et veteres tradiderunt et vulgo dicitur. [19]  Videamus quantum, non dicam evidens utilitas hoc fuerit, sed apertissima irreligio in eo vos traxerit quod invertistis. Laborabant Essaei propriis manibus, mechanicaque et vilissima officia exercebant, ut inde sibi victum compararent. Vos obtusi sedetis, praeterque verbula quibus linguam et vocem exercetis, nullum aliud opus facitis. Mihi quidem persuadebit numquam aliquis posse hominem, quantumvis optimum, integrum diem caelestium speculationi incumbere. Fragiles enim humanae vires sunt et daemonum illusionibus multum obnoxiae. Quapropter si tres aut quatuor aut plures horas ita quisque intentus fuit, necesse est aliquando de ea cogitatione remittatur. Quod etiam facetissimum auctorem Aristophanem non praeteriit, apud quem, ἐν νεφέλαις, Socrates Strepsiadi seni persuadet uti circumspectus quandoque subtiles illas cogitationes remittat, cauteque eas consideret. Qua in re 1  clamorem L: clamoru[m] U. || 2 audiunt U: audivit quisquam L. || 3  sint L: sunt U. || 9  mostraverint L: mo[n]straveru[n]t U. || 14  vixerint L: vixeru[n]t U. || 14  a[n]i[m]a U: animaque L. || || 18  recedamus L: recedim[us]  U. || 20  hoc fuerit: hec [sic] fuerit U: hoc fecerit L. || 29  aliqu[ando] [...] remittat[ur] U: aliquid [...] remittat L. || 31  circumspectus L: circu[m]tect[us] U. || 32 cauteque eas L: cauteq[ue] ita U. ||

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out the pagans here, the example of Anthony the monk64 is quoted by everyone everywhere. What Ovid says is not far from it: ‘If you never cease to strain [draw the bow], it will become slack.’65 [20]  So there was some advantage in the Essene custom of taking a break. In the same way you could remove those unavowed temptations that are induced by idleness. Indeed as Catullus says: ‘Idleness is too much trouble; [...] | Formerly idleness ruined kings and prosperous cities.’66 One of your people might say here: ‘What is it to me if the Essenes lived by that rule? Am I an imitator of Jewish superstition?’ Indeed he might be right, if this custom of your brother monks were not also opposed to the teachings of the apostles. This is why in the epistle of St James the writer says: ‘What use is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but does not have works? Will faith be able to save him? And if a brother or sister is naked and in want of daily food, and one of you says to them: “Go in peace, be warmed and filled”, yet you do not give them those things that are necessary for the body, what use is it?’67 You should note these words particularly, Mattius, you who cut yourself off in this way leaving a destitute mother and abandoned brothers. If only you had entered monasticism in such a way that you could do something for those in need, and were motivated by what Paul said to the Thessalonians: ‘For you remember, brethren, our labour and toil; working night and day, so that we should not be a burden to any of you, we preached among you the gospel of God’.68 But he also says in the first letter to the Corinthians: ‘Even up to this time we both hunger and thirst, and are naked and buffeted, and have no fixed abode. And we labour, working with our own hands’.69 This custom was followed by those early holy monks, not to feed themselves only, but to relieve and help the poor with what was left over. It is likely that this practice was followed by Christ too, who on that account was said to be ‘both a carpenter and son of a carpenter’, because he performed even mechanical and artisan work. But you are so far from caring about this, that I believe such a great calamity never befell the poor and needy classes as the one you inflict upon them Those   Perhaps St Anthony of Egypt (ad c. 251 – 356 ). NCE 1, 594.   Epistulae, 4.92. Phaedra [to Hippolytus] ‘The bow …, if always bent, will lose its force’. 66   Carmina, 51: ‘Otium, Catulle, tibi molestum est; [...] otium et reges prius et beatas perdidit urbes.’ Catullus’ poem is about idleness in the arms of Lesbia. 67   James 2.14-16. 68   I Thessalonians 2.9. 69   I Corinthians 4.11-12. 64 65



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ut Ethnicos mittam, Antonii μονάχου passim et per ora omnium circumfertur exemplum, cui non absimile Ovidianum illud: ‘Si numquam cesses tendere, mollis erit.’ [20]  Igitur hac intermissione Essaeorum more aliquid agendum fuerat, ut hoc modo tacitas illas et quae per otium plerunque subeunt tentationes abigeretis. Siquidem ut Catullus ait: ‘Otium nimis molestum est [...] Otium reges prius et beatas perdidit urbes.’ Dixerit hic vestrum aliquis: ‘Quid ad me si | ea lege Essaei vivebant? Num ego Iudaicae superstitionis imitator sum?’ Recte quidem, nisi et consuetudo haec vestra apostolorum traditionibus adversaretur. Hinc in epistola Divi Iacobi: ‘Quae utilitas,’ inquit ille, ‘fratres mei, si fidem dicat aliquis habere se, facta vero non habeat? Num illum salvum facere fides potest? Quod si frater aut soror nudi fuerint et egentes quotidiano victu, dicat autem aliquis vestrum illis “Abite in pace, calescite et saturamini”, non tamen dederit illis quae necessaria sunt corpori, quae erit utilitas?’ Quae verba tibi praesertim, Matti, annotanda sunt, qui egente matre et fratribus derelictis ita secesseris. At saltem huiusmodi te in coenobio collocasses in quo aliquid elaborando egentibus posses acquirere, moveretque te illud ad Thessalonicenses Pauli: ‘Qui meministis, inquit, fratres, laboris nostri ac sudoris, nocte enim ac die opus facientes, ob id ne cui vestrum essemus oneri, praedicavimus apud vos Evangelium Dei.’ Sed et idem ad Corinthios priore epistola: ‘Ad hoc usque tempus et esurimus et sitimus et nudi sumus et colaphis caedimur, et incertis vagamur sedibus, et laboramus operantes propriis manibus’. Quam consuetudinem et prisci illi et sancti monachi sequebantur, non ut se tantum alerent, sed ut de eo quod supererat indigentibus subvenirent essentque auxilio. Quod et observasse Christum verisimile est, qui propterea καὶ τέκτων καὶ τέκτονος ὑιὸς fuisse traditur, quod etiam mechanica atque fabrilia opera exercuisset. At vos haec tantum abest ut curetis, ut existimem nullam unquam aeque grandem calamitatem pauperum miserorumque ordinibus invectam, atque ea est qua vos illos affligitis. Si qui enim ex vobis prius divites | erant, hi non

5  otium L: ocitu[m] U. || 5  tentationes L: tentones (sic) U. || 6 Otiu[m] nimis molestu[m] U: Otium molestum L. || 10  D. Iacobus U L. || 11  inquit ille U: inquit L. || 13  a[u]t[e]m (inserted above the line in the same hand) U: autem L. || 14  dederit L: dede­ ritis U. || 19 Thessalonicenses L: Thessalonisenses U. || 20  enim U: omni L. || 27 propterea U: propter ea L. || 27  καὶ τέκτον και τέκτονος ὑιὸς U. || 29  nullam L: nullu[m] U. || 30 miseroru[m]q[ue] U: miserorum L. ||

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of you who were formerly wealthy enter religion without compassion for the needy and poor, bequeathing them nothing and leaving brothers and family without patrimony. And though you have distributed nothing of your own to the poor and needy, yet you fill your bellies from their alms. And how many men do you think, pious and devoted to God, who could stave off the misfortunes of the poor with their property, give them nothing, but rather lavish everything on you? Do you not see what good deeds, so acceptable to God, you deprive yourselves of? Everywhere in the gospels Christ preaches alms-giving as preparing the surest way to heaven. Paul declares it,70 and the sacred commentators have preached it with one voice and marvellous unanimity. You lack this blessing, thinking alms-giving is of no importance, but rather take what would be due to others. Or perhaps one of you is so aberrant as to think there is the same merit in giving and taking. And how far this is from the truth everyone can see. Indeed since hardly any reduce their possessions willingly but everyone usually busies himself to increase them, the one who gives is in truth worthy of God’s grace, since it is difficult to give. But one who takes is worthy of no consideration, since indeed even the stupid are eager to receive. And there is no one who does not have on his lips that verse of Hesiod: ‘To one who gives, one gave, but to one who does not give, no one gave.’71 [21]  Indeed I have heard, even if you want to give something to a beggar, you are forbidden to do so by your rule, and that a superior’s or general’s permission is necessary for this. I find this equally difficult to believe – and you do not deal with others as carefully as this either, because you do not usually make it clear that when sons or matrons lavish some gift or other on you, they should get the consent of parents and husbands – unless I suppose it is done so that, when a friend asks you for something, you never lack an excuse. You would give willingly if you had the power, but you are prevented by an ordinance of the fraternity, so that nothing may be given without the rector’s knowledge. So you cannot do the things whereby we acquire much grace with God, but you both do and practise every day something which is of no merit. For just as one who lends on interest commits a most serious sin, and he who 70   Matthew 6.1-4, Luke 14.13, Acts 11.29-30, 20.35, Romans 15.25-27; I Corinthians 16.1-2; Galatians 2.10. 71  Hesiod, Works and Days, 355: δώτῃ μέν τις ἔδωκεν, ἀδώτῃ δ᾽ οὔτις ἔδωκεν. (‘Give to one who gives, but do not give to one who does not give’). Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Loeb).



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inopum, non pauperum miserti, nihilque illis legantes, sed et fratribus et agnatis derelicto patrimonio in religionem vestram ingrediuntur. Et cum de vestro nihil in pauperes miserosque effundatis, eorum tamen eleemosinis vescimini. Quot enim arbitramini viros bonos et Deo addictos, qui inopum miserias suis facultatibus propellerent, nihil illis dare, sed ea omnia potius in vos prodigere? An non videtis quibus et quam Deo acceptis bonis estis privati? Praedicat ubique in Evangelio Christus eleemosinam tutissimam eo remedio viam ad superos parari. Ostendit id Paulus, et divi interpretes uno ore miro consensu prodiderunt. Eo vos beneficio caretis, qui eam nulli praestatis, sed potius quae aliis praestanda fuerant, arripitis. Nisi fortasse quisquam tantum de orbita recedat, ut par esse meritum dantis accipientisque existimet. Quod quantum a veritate absit omnes perspicere possunt. Siquidem cum de facultatibus suis haudquaquam homines libenter diminuant, sed ut plurimum unusquisque rem augere satagat, qui dat vere Dei gratia dignus est, quoniam difficulter datur; at qui accipit nullius est beneficii dignus, quandoquidem et stulti libenter accipiunt. Νemoque non in ore Hesiodi illud habeat: Δώτῃ μέν τις ἔδωκεν, ἀδώτῃ δ᾽οὔτις ἔδωκεν. ‘Danti aliquis dedit, ast non danti non dedit ullus.’ [21]  Quin etiam illud accepi, tametsi mendico vos aliquid dare velletis, lege tamen vestra quo minus id faciatis prohiberi, necessariamque hac in re magistri seu praefecti vestri indulgentiam. Quod aeque difficulter crederem (nec etiam tam scrupulose cum aliis agitis, qui filiisfamilias matronisque in vos aliqua prodigentibus non soletis indicere ut parentum maritorumque | consensum prius impetrent), nisi idcirco factum opinarer, ut petenti a vobis aliquid amico, excusatio numquam deesse posset; daturos videlicet libenter, si in vobis id esset, sed collegii psephismate arceri, ne quicquam inconsulto rectore dare liceat. Unde ergo multum gratiae apud Deum adipiscimur facere non potestis; unde vero nullius meriti res est, illam et facitis et in ea quotidie exercemini. Sicuti enim qui foenori dat gravissime peccat, qui accipit nullius regulariter delicti reus 3  effundatis L: effu[n]deretis U. || 7  ubiq[ue] U: utique L. || 8  eo remedio U: eoque remedio L. || 8-9 ostendit id Paulus U: ostendit et Paulus L. || 11 fuerant arripitis U: forent, accipitis L. || 17 habeat U: habet L. || 18  Δώτι μεν τὶς ἔδοκεν ἀδώτῃ δ᾽ὀύτις ἔδοκεν UL. || 27 daturos U: daturis L. || 27  si in vobis id esset U: si in vobis esset L. || 27  psephismate L: sphphismate (sic) U. || 31  regulariter delicti U: delicti regulariter L. ||

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receives is guilty according to law of no misdemeanor, so someone of poor condition who gives lavishly profits greatly, God promises him a hundredfold;72 but he who receives does nothing pleasing to God. [22]  Moreover there is another way in which you monks have diverged from the Essene fathers. Very few of them had wives, because they thought it safer to be without a woman. Paul approved this practice when he says: ‘Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be freed. Are you free of a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you take a wife, you have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Nevertheless, such people will have troubles in their hearts’.73 But you, being wiser than both the Essenes and Paul, have reckoned you should abstain entirely from marriage, even constraining yourselves in this by a rule. But I would not go so far as to condemn this rule entirely, since I see it was agreable to even the wisest defenders of our faith. This is why John, whom they called for his eloquence Chrysostom,74 in book 3 of Against the Opponents of Monastic Life,75 approved very greatly of this opinion of yours, and defended it at length and in every respect. But Jerome too, with quite excessive and strained praises of virgins,76 extolled it so greatly that, if I did not esteem Paul’s authoriity more, I would almost agree with Jerome that those who hasten to get married are indeed mistaken and entirely deceived.77 In truth I always liked that anonymous epigram, if I might express its meaning somehow, for it is very elegant in Greek: Hasten, everyone, to Venus, for there could be an end   To human life with too much love of virginity. So take a wife, bring a child into the world,   And beware lest you become a promoter of base adultery.78

72   A mis-remembered, or perhaps deliberately mis-applied reference. Matthew 19.29 says ‘And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting’. Cf. Mark 10.29-30. 73   I Corinthians 7. 27-28. Quoted by Jerome, Ep. 22.24 (Loeb), p. 103. 74   I.e. ‘golden mouth’. 75  Chrysostom, Adversus oppugnatores vitae monasticae, lib. III, 1-4; Patrologia graeca, 47, cols 349-56. 76   Notably in Ep. 22. 77   Perhaps a generalisation deduced from the case of Eustochium’s sister Blessila (Ep. 22.15). ‘You have at least learned from a case in your own family the troubles of wedded life and the uncertainties of marriage. Your sister, Blaesilla, before you in age but behind you in declining the vow of virginity, has become a widow but seven months after she has taken a husband. Hapless plight of us mortals who know not what is before us!’ 78   An adaptation of an epigram by Eratosthenes Scholasticus, Greek Anthology, 9.444 (Loeb, III, p. 249), translated by W.R. Paton thus: ‘Fair are the treasures of virginity, but if it were observed by all it would put an end to life. Therefore live in lawful wedlock,



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est, ita qui pauperi muneris aliquid largitur multum lucratur, centuplum illi Deus spondet; qui vero accipit, opus nullum Deo gratum facit. [22]  Caeterum et in alia re ab Essaeis illis patribus divertistis. Rari eorum uxores habebant, quia tutius arbitrati sunt sine muliere esse. Probavit id institutum Paulus ubi: ‘Alligatus es,’ inquit, ‘uxori? Ne quaere solitudinem. Solutus es ab uxore? Ne quaeras uxorem. Quod si uxorem duxeris non peccasti, et si nupserit virgo non peccavit. Attamen afflictionem in corde habituri sunt huiusmodi’. Vos autem et Essaeis et Paulo sapientiores uxore omnino abstinendum duxistis, idque lege ita vos arctante. Quam constitutionem non satis tamen damnare ausim, quum videam etiam sapientissimis fidei nostrae propugnatoribus placuisse. Quapropter Iohannes, quem ab eloquentia Χρυσότομον dixere, libro tertio quem in vituperatores vitae monasticae edidit, consilium hoc maxime probat, longeque et late defendit. Sed et Hieronimus, nimis certe affectatis virginum laudibus, tantopere extollit, ut nisi Pauli auctoritate magis ducerer, cum eo fere sentirem, errare videlicet et per- | quam decipi, qui connubia sectantur. Verum et mihi ἀδέσποτον illud epigramma semper placuit cuius sensum, nam Graece elegantissimum est, si utcunque expressero: Ad Venerem properate omnes, nam tollere posset   Vitam hominum nimius virginitatis amor. Idcirco uxorem capias, da pignora mundo,   Et cave sis spurci fautor adulterii.

5  Paulus ubi alligatus es U: Paulus, ubi alligatus es L. || 12  Χρυσόθομον U: Chrysostomum L. || 12-13  tertio quem L: tertio qua[m] U. || 13  consilium hoc L: c[o]nsilium no[n] U. || 16  ducerer L: ducere U. || 17  mihi L: m (sic) U. || 18 sensum U: sensum sufficit L. ||

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[23]  Paul

also seems to have held same view: ‘to avoid fornication, let each man have his own wife’.79 For this reason I myself would go along with Aeneas Sylvius’ opinion. This man, after he became pope, with the name Pius II, is said to have remarked once ‘Marriage was taken away from priests with good reason, but there is a better reason for restoring it’80 – a saying whose complete truth no one who knows the morals of our time will deny. The Greek author Procopius writes that the overthrow of the Roman empire occurred mostly for the reason that the number of men in Italy under Honorius or Augustulus was not such as could have protected it by arms.81 For since divorces were prohibited by the Christian law that those whom God had joined man should not separate, it often happened that a man, who could have had children with a woman of different constitution, was tied to a woman who could not be made pregnant. I could show with other arguments that Procopius’ opinion is inept and false; but let it suffice, from the example of certain wicked men, that not just those who happen to have a sterile wife, but also those to whom it is not permitted to have any wife, are not constrained thereby from propagating a huge progeny of children. [24]  Even this precept [rule of no marriage], whatever it might be worth, would hardly be necessary if you imitated the Essenes themselves exactly. Eusebius Pamphilus reports that they were accustomed to such indigence and scarcity of material things that they rarely needed to purge their bowels more than once a week. With such moderation and frugality of living they developed such endurance of mind that not fire, nor the rack, nor any other form of torture could induce them to perform any act against their law. They showed this constancy most clearly at the time when they were assaulted by Roman arms. They shed no tears, however harshly they were beaten, one way or the other they seemed to and give a mortal to the world to replace thee; but avoid lechery’. It appears in the Selecta Epigrammata of 1529 on page 34 under the name of Paulus Silentarius with Alciato’s version on page 35. The Greek does not say quite what was read into the epigram by Alciato, who seems to want to avoid marriage for fear of cuckoldry. Cf. the emblem ‘Cuculi’ (no 60). 79   I Corinthians 7.2. 80  Not found in his Opera (Basel, H. Petri, [1571]) in the form in which Alciato quotes it, but Platina, in his ‘Life’ of Pius II published at the beginning of the work, has the following as an example of the pope’s habit of expressing his ideas in the form of proverbs: ‘Sacerdotibus magna ratione sublatas nuptias maiori restituendas videri’ (fol. b 2r). Platina, Bartolomeo Sacchi (1421-81), was a Vatican secretary under Pius II and librarian under Sixtus IV. 81   This seems to be a misunderstanding, or again a mis-use, of Procopius, who says (De bello vandalico, 1, 2) ‘even up to the present time Italy is sparsely populated’ as a result of the slaughter committed by the Visigoths (trans. H.B. Dewing. Loeb).



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[23]  Quam

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sententiam Paulus quoque sequi visus est, qui: ‘Ob fornicationem,’ inquit, ‘unusquisque uxorem suam habeat’. Quapropter in Aeneae Silvii sententiam ipse pedibus iverim. Is, summus pontifex creatus sub Pii Secundi nomine, solitus aliquando dicere traditur: ‘Sacerdotibus magna ratione ademptum connubium, sed maiore quadam restituendum’. Quod apophthegma non esse non verissimum nemo, qui nostrorum temporum mores noverit, inficiabitur. Scribit Graecus auctor Procopius Romani imperii eversionem ea maxime causa processisse, quod non illa virorum multitudo in Italia sub Honorio Augustulove erat, quae armis tueri imperium potuisset. Cum enim christiana lege divortia prohiberentur, ne quos iunxisset Deus separaret homo, plerunque accidebat ut talis vir mulieri iungeretur, qui cum alia dissimilis naturae gignere liberos posset, at eam quae sibi contigerat reddere pregnantem nequiret. Quam sententiam cum aliis rationibus ineptam falsamque ostendere possem, satis sit quod malorum quorundam exemplo, nedum eos quibus sterilis uxor contigit, sed et illos quibus nullam omnino habere permittitur, idcirco non contineri quo minus magnam etiam liberorum prolem propagent. [24]  Sed et istud qualecunque | praeceptum fuit vix necessarium esset si Essaeos ipsos prorsus imitaremini. Eos tradit Eusebius Pamphili tanta tenuitate rerumque paucitate uti solitos, ut raro plusquam semel una dierum hebdomade alvi purgatione indigerent. Quam ob moderationem vivendique frugalitatem in eam animi patientiam devenerunt, ut nec ignibus, nec eculeo, nec alio tormentorum genere induci possent ut adversus legem suam quicquam molirentur. Quam constantiam eo maxime tempore demonstraverunt, quo Romanorum armis appetiti fuere; nullas enim lachrymas, quamvis acerrime plecterentur, emittebant ultroque se morti offerre videbantur. Si enim huiusmodi abstinentia

6  non esse non verissimum L: no[n] esse verissimum U. || 8  ea maxime causa U: ea maxime de causa L. || 14  cu[m] aliis U: cum et aliis L. || 16-17  idcirco non contineri quo minus:  idcirco no[n] co[n]tineri quo minus U: idcirco . . . . non contineri, . . . . quo minus (sic) L. || 17  magna[m] etia[m] liberoru[m] prolem propagent U: magnam liberorum molem propaget L. || 19  si L: se U. || 27  ultroque: utroque U: sed utcunque L. || 27  eni[m] U: autem L. ||

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offer themselves to die.82 So if you Minorites practised this sort of abstemiousness, you would not need rules about marriage. If what Terence says is true, that without Ceres and Bacchus Venus grows cold.83 Let these remarks suffice as regards the religion of the Essenes. [25]  But you seem to me to break the Gospel law too in no small way. This law is summed up in two precepts: that we should firstly love and worship God, and then our neighbour,84 but the one to be considered our neighbour is the one who needs our help. And so Paul preaches everywhere how carefully this precept is to be observed by the christian man. This is why he advises each to seek, not his own, but those things which pertain to his neighbour. The Thessalonians he commands to encourage each other in good works, to correct the wicked, to uphold the weak, to console the faint-hearted.85 And let no one say ‘What is the damnation of others to me?’ Since indeed Christ commanded us to leave all our own comforts so that we may take care of others’ salvation,86 Paul also declared to the Romans that those who neglect the salvation of brothers commit a sin against God and destroy his house.87 And he has many sayings of this sort which show clearly enough how we must take care for our neighbour, how much we must seek to be of help to him. This is what was approved by those who thought that to be a god is nothing other than to be of benefit to mortals. Hence in the Greeks and ancient poets we find ‘the gods are givers’, and in Cicero it is related that ‘optimus’ is put before ‘maximus’ in Jove’s grandest title for the simple reason that he was the most beneficent.88 Strabo too, the philosopher of Amasea, wrote that men 82   In Eusebius’ report of the account of Porphyry (see note 60 above), 407a, it is stated in fact ‘so great is their simplicity and sparingness in regard to food, that they do not need to ease nature on the seventh day which they are accustomed to keep for singing hymns to God [...]’ The rest is in the same account, sections 407b-c. 83  Terence, Eunuchus, 732. Adagia, II iii 97, ‘Without Ceres and Bacchus Venus grows cold’. Note Alciato’s mocking tone! 84   Matt. 22.37,39; Mark 12.30-31; Luke 10.27. 85   A paraphrase of I Thessalonians 5.14-15: ‘And we beseech you, brethren, rebuke the unquiet; comfort the feeble minded; support the weak; be patient towards all men, See that none render evil for evil to any man; but ever follow that which is good towards each other and towards all men’. 86  Luke 9.62, and perhaps the earlier reference to Matthew 19.29 more correctly applied in this case. 87   This is one of several arguments that Alciato has taken from Chrysostom (note 75 above, col. 350) and turned around to attack Mattius’ decision to become a monk. Migne suggests this passage is a reference to I Corinthians 8.12, but there the Vulgate has simply ‘in Christo peccatis’. Chrysostom was perhaps also thinking of the related passage in Romans 14, where verse 20 contains the phrase ‘destruere opus Dei’. 88  Cicero, De natura deorum 2.64: ‘sed ipse Iuppiter [...] a maioribus autem nostris optumus maxumus, et quidem ante optimus id est beneficentissimus [...]’. Alciato may be thinking of a Greek distich which he quotes, referring also to the same passage in Cicero,



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Minoritae vos uteremini, haud vobis aliquid de conubiis constituendum fuerat, si verum est quod Comicus ait, sine Cerere et Baccho frigere Venerem. Et haec quidem de Essaeorum religione satis sint. [25]  Verum et non parum in Evangelicam legem committere mihi videmini. Duobus ea omnino praeceptis clauditur, ut Deum primo dili­ gamus vereamurque, mox proximum (est autem pro proximo habendus qui nostra eget ope). Igitur quantopere praeceptum id christiano viro observandum sit Paulus ubique praedicat. Quapropter unumquemque monet non quae sua sunt tam querere quam quae ad proximum pertine­ant. Thessalonicensibus mandat invicem in bonum opus se cohortentur, malos corrigant, infirmos sustineant, pusillanimes consolentur. Neque quisquam dicat: ‘Quid ad me attinet aliorum perditio?’ quandoquidem nos iussit Christus plurima nostrorum commodorum negligere ut interim aliorum salutem curemus. Roma- | nis idem affirmavit eos qui fratrum salutem negligerent in ipsum Deum delinquere eiusque aedificium diruere. Suntque multa apud eum id genus dicta quae et satis superque ostendunt quantam proximi nostri curam habere debeamus, quamque illud quaerere, ut adiumento illi simus id veteres probaverunt, qui nihil aliud Deum esse existimabant quam prodesse mortalibus. Hinc Graecis atque poetis vetustis θεοὶ δωτῆρες ἔαων, et apud Ciceronem non alia ratione in titulo Iovis maximo optimum praeponi traditur, quam quod optimus beneficiis esset. Strabo quoque Amasinus philosophus tum

2-3  frigere Venerem U: friget Venus L. || 4  Veru[m] et U: Verum etiam L. || 6  vereamurque L: vereremurq[ue] L. || 6  proximum (est [...]): proximu[m] (es [sic] [...]) U: proximum. Est L. || 9  no[n] qu[a]e sua sunt ta[m] [above the line in the same hand] querere U: non tam quae sua sunt ea quaerere L. || 9 pertinea[n]t U: pertinent L. || 10  Thessalonicensibus L: Thessalonise[n]sibus U. || 10  in bonu[m] opus se U: se in bonum opus L. || 16  diruere U: deiicere L. || 16  quae et satis superque L: quae et sup[er]q[ue]  U. || 17  quamque L: qua[m]q[uam] U. || 18  adiumento illi simus id veteres probaverunt, qui: adiume[n]to ubi probaveru[n]t, qui U: ut simus ei adiumento, exemplo etiam veterum, qui L. || 19 Deum esse existimaba[n]t U: Deum existimabant L. || 20  θεοὶ δωτῆρες L: θεοὶ δωτῆρεςέαων (sic) U. || 22  beneficiis esset L: b[e]n[e]ficiu[m] [ss]et (sic) U. || 22 Amasin[us] U: Amasenus L. ||

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are most like gods precisely when they do good to others.89 Pausanias writes that the Megalopolitans called Jove ‘the good god’,90 because he is held to be the greatest god and because he is the most beneficent to men. The same view and reasoning is seen in the Greek proverb: ‘Man is a god to man’.91 We can read the explanation of this in Pliny’s History: ‘A mortal bringing aid to a mortal is a god. And this is the way to eternal glory. By this way went the great men of Rome […] This is the oldest way of giving thanks to those who deserved well, to number them with the gods’.92 So, although one who aids his neighbour is universally praised, you follow a rule of life in which you have no power to raise up anyone, for it is impossible by means of wealth and property, when you declare yourselves to be oppressed by deepest poverty. So you lack the very thing by which a mortal can help a mortal. But someone will say: ‘We win God’s favour for you by sermons and prayers, and we turn people away from sin by frequent preaching’. But beware of this, lest what St Matthew says may be turned against anyone who says such things: ‘These people come close to me with their words, and honour me with their lips: but their heart is far from me. And they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’.‘93 Then there is another saying of Paul in first Corinthians: ‘And I, brethren, when I have come to you, I do not come with lofty speech or wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God. For I do not consider myself to know anything among you. And my preaching will not be in the persuasive words of human wisdom. but in showing the spirit and its power:’94 It is not true that you may boast of benefitting in the Commentaria of his De verborum significatione (Lyon, S. Gryphius, 1530), lex 49: Ζεῦ βασιλεῦ τὰ μὲν ἐσθλὰ καὶ εὐχομένοις καὶ ἀνεύκτοις | ἄμμι δίδου: τὰ δὲ λυγρὰ καὶ εὐχομένων ἀπερύκοις. He gives his own Latin translation: ‘Sive velint homines seu nolint, Iuppiter illis | Da bona, quae mala sunt etiam cupientibus aufer.’ (‘Whether men will or no, Jupiter, Give them good things, and take away the bad evn from those who desire it.’) See The Greek Anthology (London, 1926), vol. 4, book 10, no 108. 89  Strabo, Geographia, 10.3.9: εὖ μὲν γὰρ εἴρηται καὶ τοῦτο, τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τότε μάλιστα μιμεῖσθαι τοὺς θεοὺς ὅταν εὐεργετῶσιν (‘it has been well said that human beings then act most like the gods when they are doing good to others […]’) Translation by H.C. Hamilton and W. Falconer (Loeb). 90  Pausanias, Descriptio Graeciae, 6.12.8, 8.27.9-16. 91   Adagia, I i 69, ‘Man is a god to man’. 92   Historia naturalis, 2.18-19: ‘deus est mortali iuvare mortalem, et haec ad aeternam gloriam via. hac proceres ivere Romani, … hic est vetustissimus referendi bene merentibus gratiam mos, ut tales numinibus adscribant’. 93   Matthew 15.8, but the first phrase echoes the original source, Isaiah 29.13. 94   A summary paraphrase of I Corinthians 2.1-4, in which some verses are omitted, and the tenses of the verbs are changed unsystematically.



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demum homines diis simillimos esse scripsit cum bene caeteris faciunt. A Megalopolitanis ἀγαθὸν θεὸν Iovem dici Pausanias auctor est, quod is summus Deus idcirco habeatur, quoniam idem sit erga homines beneficentissimus. Ostenditur eadem ratione ac sententia Graeco proverbio ἄνθρωπος ἀνθρώπον δαιμόνιον, quod sic explicatum in C. Plinii Historia legere possumus: ‘Deus mortali est iuvare mortalem, et haec ad aeternam gloriam via. Ηac proceres ivere Romani. Ηic est vetustissimus referendi bene merentibus gratiam mos, ut tales numinibus ascribant.’ Igitur cum omni voce laudetur qui proximum suum iuvat, vos illud vivendi institutum sequimini quo neminem sublevare potestas vobis ulla est: divitiis enim et opibus haudquaquam permittitur, cum profundissima paupertate vos oppressos praedicetis. Sic ea nimirum re qua maxime mortalis mortalem iuvare potest vos caretis. At dixerit aliquis: ‘Orationibus precibusque Deum vobis conciliamus, concionibusque frequentissimis a peccatis absterremus’. Sed hoc cavendum est, ne talia dicenti illud ex | D. Mattheo intorqueatur: ‘Appropinquat mihi populus hic ore suo et labiis me honorat. Caeterum cor eorum procul abest a me. Sed frustra me colunt docentes doctrinas et mandata hominum.’ Tum Pauli ex Corinthia priore aliud: ‘Ego cum venirem ad vos fratres, non veniam in eminentia sermonis aut sapientiae, annuncians vobis testimonium Dei. Non enim me iudicavi quicquam scire inter vos, et praedicatio mea non erit in persuasoriis humanae sapientiae verbis, sed in ostentatione spiritus et potentiae’. Verum non est quod idcirco etiam proximo inde vos prodesse

2  A Megalopolitanis L: Amegalopolitanis U. || 2  est q[uo]d is U: est. Quod si summus L. || 3-4  beneficentissimus ostenditur U: beneficentissimus. Et ostenditur id L. || 4 Gr[a]eco proverbio U: etiam Graeco proverbio L. || 5  δαιμόνιον L: δαίμονιον U. || 5  quod sic U: Quod quid sit L. || 6  Deus mortali e[st] U: Deus est mortali L. || 8  ascribant: asscriba[n]t (sic) U: adscribantur L. || 11  haud quaq[uam] permittit[ur] U: haudquaquam uti permittitur L. || 12  Sic U: Hic L. || 15  hoc U: hic L. || 18  doctrinas et mandata L: doctrinas ma[n]data U. || 19  venire[m] U: veniam L. || 20  annuncians vobis testimonium Dei (omitted) L. ||

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your neighbour even in that way, since even if you had not entered these monasteries, you are not for that reason prevented from helping certain people. So my argument is not that because you are a Minorite you do not benefit a neighbour, for any simple priest can help anyone in that sense, but that because you are a Minorite you can benefit no one with your wealth and properties. And so this is the crime of your order, that having joined that fellowship, you renounce all friends as if you never knew them. You seem to imitate Cleon, who, when first taking up state office, called his friends together and said that he wanted to break any link with them.95 But the not entirely bad example he set (for friendships often subvert equity and justice, which is very bad in magistrates) you follow without any reason. [26]  But why do I talk of friends when you monks are utterly undutiful to your own parents? And if anyone was ever of this number, you, Mattius, most certainly are one, for you seem to have thrown off all human and natural affections for your mother. I have often heard from you that it was your fate to have as mother an old woman who had fallen into poverty, whom it was necessary for you to assist with your wealth, and help her bear her poverty, to practise towards her that proverbial ‘return of gratitude’.‘96 This is something you will not be able to do in this new way of life, since, if you are held to absolute poverty, you will not have anything to give her. For as Annaeus says, the very house of a rich man has great means for doing good.97 The Greek philosopher Phornutus98 was persuaded of this. He thought the Graces were daugh  Thucydides, 3.36.5–3.40.7.   Adagia, I x 1, ‘To cherish in one’s turn’. Cf. emblem 30 ‘Gratiam referendam’. 97  Seneca, De beneficiis, 1.3.9: ‘Chrysippus says that the three Graces are daught­ers of Jupiter and Eurynome, also that while they are younger than the hours, they are somewhat more beautiful, and therefore have been assigned as companions to Venus. In his opinion too the name of their mother has some significance, for he says that she was called Eurynome because the distribution of benefits is the mark of an extensive fortune […]’ Translation by J.W. Basore (Loeb). 98   Not Chrysippus, as Barni supposed, but Lucius Annaeus Cornutus, whose compendium of Greek theology Alciato would have read in the volume published in 1505 by Aldus, where it is entitled Περὶ τὴς τῶν θεῶν φύσεως (on the title page: De natura deorum), and where the author’s name is given as Phurnutus. The chapter on the Graces is on p. 64 and the first two sentences are Ἐπιβαλλόντως δ᾽ἡμῖν ὡς εἴρηται καὶ εὐεργετικὰς εἶναι, παραδεδώκασιν ὁι πλεῖστοι, δὶος θυγατέρας χάριτας. οἱ μὲν, ἐξ εὐρυδομένης αὐτὰς γεγονυίας τῷ μάλιστα ἀπὸ ἐξηρμένων, καὶ διαβεβοημένων δόμων, τὰς δωρεὰς φιλεῖν δίδοσθαι [...] (‘It is our belief, as has been said, that they are beneficent. The majority have represented the Graces as daughters of Jove. Some on the other hand taught that they were born of Eurydomene, that gifts are given most of all by exalted and celebrated houses […]’) This work was also translated into Latin, under the title De natura deorum, by Filippo Fasanini in 1515. See emblem 163, ‘Gratiae’, and the commentaries by Mignault and Sánchez de las Brozas. 95

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gloriemini, quandoquidem etsi in haec monasteria non descendissetis, ea tamen ratione quibusdam auxilio esse non prohiberemini. Non igitur proximo prodestis quia Minoritae, nam eo modo quisque simplex sacerdos quenquam potest iuvare, sed divitiis facultatibusque vestris idcirco nulli prodesse potestis quia Minoritae. Hoc itaque vestri ordinis delictum est: quinimo, in id commilitium transitis, omnibus amicis tanquam vobis numquam noti fuerint, renunciatis. Videmini Cleonem imitari qui cum primum Reipublicae se tradere instituisset, convocatis amicis vinculum cum illis se solvere velle dixit. Sed quod ille non omnino malo exemplo fecit (solent enim amicitiae aequum quandoque et iustum subvertere, quod in magistratu turpissimum est), vos nulla ratione facitis. [26]  Verum quid ego de amicis, cum in parentes quoque | ipsos impiissimi sitis? Et si quis unquam ex his fuit, tu potissimum Matti unus es, qui omnes humanos naturalesque in matrem affectus videris exuisse. Saepius enim ex te audivi matrem te anum et ad inopiam delapsam sortitum esse, quam tuo lucro fovere, paupertatemque eius sustentare tibi necessarium erat, celebremque illam ἀντιπελάργωσιν in eam observare. Quod tu minime hoc in vivendi genere facere poteris, quandoquidem si in summa paupertate es detentus, non habebis quod illi des. Ut enim Annaeus inquit: ‘Domus ipsa divitis magnam habet benefaciendi materiam’; quod et Graeco philosopho Phornuto persuasum fuit,

1-2  descendissetis L: descendiscetis (sic) U:. || 2 prohiberemini L: prohibemini U L. || 3  eo modo quisq[ue] simplex sacerdos que[m]q[ue] potest iuvare U: eo modo potest quisque simplex sacerdos quenquam iuvare L. || 6  id co[m]militiu[m] U: illud commilitium L. || 7  vobis nu[m]q[uam] U: numquam vobis L. || 7 Videmini U: Videmini vos L. || 8  se tradere instituisset: tradere instituisset U: se tradere constituisset L. || 9  velle se solvere dixit L: velle dixit U. || 13 Matti L: Matte U. || 17  in eam: in ea U L. || 18 hoc in vivendi U: in hoc vivendi L. || 19  illi (‘illae’ altered to ‘illi’) U: illi L. || 20 e[ni]m U: tamen L. || 21  Phornuto: Phurnito U L. ||

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ters of Eurydomene, because all very large houses can confer enormous benefits. Since you, by your own wish, have made yourself poor, how can you be of help to anyone? Before you went over, you had the best possible chance of making benefactions creating this sort of reputation; and you had a most honourable stipend graciously awarded to you by the prince. You acquired that money by using excellent skills, and no less again with great benefit to your reputation – that too is why it is called an ‘‘honorarium’. You were generous to many, advising them both to be careful themselves and to do as much for others. What philosophy could be said to be more honourable than that advice of yours? The president of the senate99 liked you well, and intended to promote you, so that you could have been even more generous to the indigent. [27]  But you, consigning all these ideas to oblivion, have gone into a monastery where, since you can be of use to almost no one, I could, like Homer, have called you ‘useless burdens on the earth’.100 Although I fear this thought of the same poet may also be true of you at this moment: ‘yet he did not recompense his dear parents for his upbringing’.101 The oldest author of every maxim tells us by this that life will be brief for those who are undutiful to their parents102 and never consider the duty of support they owe them. Here it does not escape me how much I differ from Chrysostom, who says that reverence for parents should never hold anyone back from giving themselves wholly to the monastic life, since it is safer and takes precedence over all others.103 But that divine man is speaking of those who leave rich parents, who are in their own judgement in need of nothing. For a father or mother are troubled by a foolish and senseless emotion when they cannot bear calmly that their son rejects all pleasures and converts to that austere life. Will your mother mourn your initiation here so little and will your brothers grieve so little? – just when you should have been of greatest help to them, and especially when you were providing them with their daily bread,104 at that very time you have stopped that good practice. How or with what means will you nourish your old mother? With what literature, with what teaching will you   Jean de Selve, to whom Alciato dedicated the first edition of his Dispunctiones in 1518. See Contemporaries of Erasmus (Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2003; hereafter Contemporaries), III, 238. 100  Homer, Iliad, 18.104 and Odyssey, 20.379. Alciato is probably thinking of the second passage, which refers to a beggar, rather than the first, which is Achilles’ description of himself resenting his idleness. Cf. Adagia, I vii 31B, ‘A burden on the earth’. 101   Iliad, 4.477-8. Said of the Trojan Echepolus. 102   L 33: ‘brevem vitam’ and ‘in parentes impii’, in italics. 103   See note 75 above; a paraphrase of section 21, cols 384-85. But there is no basis for Alciato’s assertion that Chrysostom is talking only of wealthy parents. 104   Cf. Aristophanes, The Clouds, 106, Plutus, 219. 99



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qui Gratias τῆς Eυροδωμένης filias fuisse existimavit, quoniam amplissimae quaeque domus maxima beneficia conferre possint. Quapropter cum tu sponte pauper effectus sis, unde cuiquam officiosus esse poteris? Aderat tibi priusquam initiarere summa largiendi huiusmodi nomina faciendi facultas, honestissimumque stipendium principis beneficio tibi constitutum habebas. Eam pecuniam optimis artibus lucrabaris, nec non minus cum magna nominis tui gloria, unde et honorarium dicitur. Profitendo plurimis proderas, et ut ipsi caverent et ut aliis tantum facerent. Quae dignior philosophia ista hac tua professione dici poterat? Princeps Senatus te valde amabat, in animoque illi erat in altiorem te gradum promovere, unde et plus indigentibus prodesse potuisses. [27]  At tu his omnibus oblivione transactis in religionem secessisti; in qua cum nemini fere usui esse possitis, | vere vos inutilia terrae pondera cum Homero appellaverim. Quamquam et illud vereor, ne et eiusdem poetae sententia in te aliquando vera deprehendatur: οὐδὲ τοκεῦσι | θρέπτρα φίλοις ἀπέδωκε, μινυνθάδιος δέ οἱ αἰὼν, qua omnis sententiae vetustissimus auctor eis brevem vitam contingere tradit qui in parentes impii sunt, et nutricandi officium illis nequaquam rependunt. Hic me non latet quanta mihi cum Chrysostomo lis oriatur, qui negat parentum reverentia minime quenquam retineri debere quominus monasticae vitae se totum dedat, quandoquidem ea securior sit et omnibus aliis praeferenda. Sed certe in his divinus ille vir loquitur qui divites parentes deserunt suo suffragio nulla in re indigentes. Stulta enim et inepta nimis affectatione pater materve indolescunt, cum filium aequo animo ferre non possunt, spretis omnibus delitiis, in illam vitae austeritatem transire. At te huic iniciatum minime lugebit mater, minime plorabunt fratres, sed cum maxime illis auxilio esse debueras, et cum praesertim πρὸς ἄλφιτα illis proderas, eo potissimum tempore de bono illo instituto decesseris? Quomodo enim aut quibus opibus anum matrem nutricabis? Quibus literis, qua doctrina 2 Quapropter U: Quamobrem L. || 3  cuiq[uam] officiosus U: cuiquam tu officiosus L. || 4  initiarere L: metiarere U. || 4  largendi [sic] h[uius]m[od]i n[o]m[in]a U: largiendi honestaque hinc nomina L. || 5  stipe[n]diu[m] pri[n]cipis b[e]n[e]ficio U: Principis beneficio stipendium L. || 8 tantu[m] U: tantundem L. || 15-16  ἐιδὲ τοκείσι θρεπτα φίλοις ἀπέδωκε μινθαδιος δὲ ὁι αἴων U. || 20  quenquam L: que[m]q[ue] U. || 21-22  in his U: de his L. || 25  At te huic initiatum minime lugebit L: at te iniciatu[m] minime hac lugebit U. || 26  sed U: quod L. || 27  πρὸς ἀλφιτα U. || 29 qua U: aut qua L. ||

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educate one or other of your two brothers? You will not have the leisure to do it, nor would your fellow drinkers allow it. How will you protect that very witty Leo105 by some means so that he eventually drives out spiteful poverty? You are certainly undutiful and you offend106 clearly against the writings of the fathers of the church. [28]  Now, let us see if we can bring against these rules of yours other points which show you have very plainly erred from the right path. And from a large number I would say first that this solitary sort of life you follow is not approved by good men. Following Christ’s example, you should be watching for wicked people everywhere in communities and speaking to them, advising and correcting them (as one should a neighbour), keeping company with them occasionally so that you see whether, led by your conjuration, they have come to their senses and accepted your example. But you take very little care to practise these things, you shut yourselves up in your monasteries and speak to no one unless he comes to you. Those who have come to you must either be the good who do not need your help or examples, or, if they are wicked, they come to you with the intention of asking how they can go to heaven while saving the cost of a funeral. And you persuade them that the only way is for them to have some little chapel put up in your monastery to some saint like Bonaventure or Bernardine or any other, and to order their body to be carried there after their death, or to leave something for the vestry of your church. [29]  What wonderful friends of God you are, impelled by such trivial things that you prevail upon God by your prayers to admit even the most wicked to heaven because they are interred in your sanctuaries! Avoiding commerce with others, you operate only among yourselves, remaining the whole day shut up in your cells. How much better it would be to perform your acts of piety in the sight of all, so that enemies could not cast a slur on your solitude, quoting Seneca’s dictum: ‘A man alone is a good-fornothing’.107 This is not what Julius Drusus Publicola, that unique example of Roman poverty, is recorded as having done. His house was open and visible to neighbours on all sides, and a certain contractor undertook to demolish it at a very low price and build it in a new form. But he said: ‘I   Presumably the elder of the two younger brothers.   Given the plural ‘impiissimi estis’, it seems likely that Alciati intends this to be a criticism of the Franciscans, not just of Mattius personally. 107   Cf. Seneca, Ad Lucilium Epistulae Morales, letter 90: ‘homo solus non posset sine tot artibus vivere’. 105

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ex duobus alterum fratrem institues? Tibi enim nec erit faciendi ocium, nec combibones illi tui hoc sinerent. Quomodo facetissimum illum Leonem aliqua ope proteges, ut malignam paupertatem tandem | aliqua ex parte propellat? Impiissimi certe estis, et in divina sanctorum patrum praecepta expresse committitis. [28]  Age, videamus num alia etiam in vestras hasce leges intorqueri possint, quibus ostendatur a recto vos tramite apertissime decessisse. Et ex plurimis id primo dixerim, non probari bonis viris solitarium istud vitae genus quod vos sequimini. Cum enim Christi exemplo per civitates malos observare debeatis, eosque (ut proximum decet) verbis et monitione castigare, cum eis quandoque conversari ut probetis vestrane adiuratione ducti resipiscerent, exemplumque de vobis acciperent, minime haec observare curatis, sed monasteriis vestris inclusi cum nemine verba facitis nisi is vos adeat. Qui autem adierint aut bonos esse oportet, qui auxilio exemplisque vestris non indigeant, aut, si mali sunt, hi vobiscum consultaturi veniunt, quemadmodum funebrem pecuniam retinentes ad caelestes vadere queant. Vosque unam tantum rationem illam esse persuadetis, si aediculam alicui divo, puta Bonaventurae, vel Bernardino, vel cuivis alii, in monasterio vestro construi fecerint, cadaver eo post redditam animam portari mandaverint, vestiario aliquid vestri templi legaverint. [29]  O miros vos Dei amicos qui, minimis hisce rebus impulsi, Deum precibus ita flectatis, ut etiam pessimos in coelum admittat, quia in vestris delubris humati sint. Igitur, caeterorum commercio abhorrentes, inter vos soli agitis, cellulisque inclusi totam diem statis. Quanto melius esset, si in conspectu omnium pietatis illa opera faceretis, ne inimici solitudinem vestram calumniari possent, Senecaeque illud | adducerent: ‘Homo solus nequam est’. Non ita Iulius Drusus Publicola, unicum Romanae paupertatis exemplum, fecisse legitur. Hic cum domus eius undique vicinis conspicua et in aperto esset, et minimo sumptu redemptor quidam eam se eversurum et in aliam formam constructurum spopondisset, ‘Atqui 3  Leonem L: leone[m] U. || 5  committitis L: co[m]mittis U. || 9-10  per civitates malos U: malos per civitates L. || 11-12  adiuratione ducti resipiscere[n]t, exemplu[m]q[ue] de vobis accipere[n]t U: admonitione ducti velint resipiscere, exemplumque de vobis accipere L. || 15 indigea[n]t U: indigent L. || 15 sunt U: sint L. || 15  hi L: hii (sic) U. || 16 funebre[m] U: foenebrem L. || 17 caelestes U: caelestia L. || 19  cuivis L: cuiui[ss] (sic) U. || 19  eo (above the line) U. || 21-22  Deu[m] p[re]tibus ita U: Deum vestris partibus ita L. || 22  pessimos L: pessimo U. || 23  humati sint U: huiusmodi sunt L. || 24 tota[m] U: totum L. || 26  possent U: possint L. || 26 adducere[n]t U: adducant L. || 28 vicinis U: vicinis sit L. ||

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will only give you the job if you build it in such a way that it will be open not only to the neighbours but to all the citizens, so that everyone, not just the neighbours, can see clearly how people live in my house’.108 This is how men behave who make themselves famous by moderation and frugality. They have everything open, they keep nothing hidden, nothing secret. On the other hand, dealers in poor goods, seeking to impose on buyers, set themselves up in the dark, in closed shops, so that the ignorant buyer cannot see the poor quality of the wool. In the same way perpetrators of shameful deeds and crimes do not expose themselves to the light but stay behind closed doors, so that no one may perceive what they are doing. Christ says: ‘Every one that does evil hates the light’.109 And one might add: ‘Anyone doing things not worthy to be known is doing something blameworthy’. He admits only those like himself, and is on his guard, when he says or does anything wicked, lest he is acting in the presence of a witness. [30]  So I can believe that this solitude of yours is in truth condemned in civil law for no other reason.110 And you, who are a lawyer, should listen for a moment to how remarkably the laws approve these monasteries of yours. The most pious and most fortunate Emperors Valentinian, Valens and Gratianus, to Lucius Praetorian Prefect throughout the Orient: Some persons, fond of idleness, abandon their public duties, seek solitude and remote places, and under the pretence of religion gather with associations of hermits. Therefore we order that these persons and those found in such hiding places shall by the present law be taken from there, and recalled to perform their inherited duties, when, according to the sense of our decree, those who are obliged to discharge public duties do not have the pretext of attending to family affairs which we have considered they should be able to claim.111 108   I.e. Marcus Livius Drusus, tribune in 91 bc. The story comes from Velleius Paterculus, Historiae romanae, a manuscript of which was discovered by Beatus Rhenanus in 1515 and copied by Boniface Amerbach in 1516, but not published until 1520. Vellei Paterculi Historiae romanae libris duobus quae supersunt (Teubner, 1965). II, 14. ‘Publicola’ is not a name, but an informal title meaning ‘favouring the people’. 109   John 3.20. 110   I.e. because ‘anyone doing things that are not worthy to be seen is doing something blameworthy’. 111   Codex Iustiniani, 10.32.26: ‘Imperatores Valentinianus, Valens. Quidam ignaviae sectatores desertis civitatium muneribus captant solitudines ac secreta et specie religionis cum coetibus monazonton congregantur. 1. Hos igitur atque huiusmodi deprehensos erui latebris consulta praeceptione mandamus atque ad munia patriarum subeunda revocari, aut pro tenore nostrae sanctionis familiarum rerum carcere illecebris, quas per eos censuimus vindicandas, qui publicarum essent subituri munera functionum’.



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tantundem,’ inquit, ‘dabo si eam ita aedificaveris, ut non solum vicinis sed universis civibus exposita, ut omnes, nedum vicini, prospicere queant, qua domi meae ratione vivatur’. Sic enim solent, qui modestia, frugalitate homines claros se faciunt. Omnia in propatulo habent, nihil reconditum, nihil secretum retinent. E converso, sic pravorum negociatores, cum emptoribus imponere volunt, in obscuro et tenebris operta se taberna condunt, ne indoctus emptor lanae turpitudinem possit agnoscere. Sic et qui turpia foedaque perpetrant non se luci exponunt, sed intra conclave aliquod conclusi commorantur, ne qualis sit eorum actio quisquam possit annotare. Αὐτὸς ἔφα: ‘Qui male agit odit lucem’. At subdiderit alius: ‘Qui indigna cognitu, digna reprehensione agit, neminem nisi sui similem admittit, illudque cavet ne, cum quicquam male dixerit, fecerit, praesente arbitro agat.’ [30]  Quapropter hanc vere solitudinem non alia ratione in vobis civili lege damnatam credibile est, et tu qui iurisconsultus es interim audi quam egregie monasteria haec vestra leges approbent: 121v

Piissimi felicissimique imperatores Valentinianus, Valens, et Gratianus Lucio Praefecto Praetorio per orientem: Quidam ignaviae sectatores, de- | sertis civitatum muneribus, captant solitudines ac secreta et specie religionis cum coetibus μοναζόντων congregantur. Hos igitur et in huiusmodi deprehensos erui latebris consulta praeceptione mandamus, atque ad munera patriarum subeunda revocari, ubi pro tenore nostrae sanctionis familiarium rerum careant illecebris, quas per eos censuimus vendicandas qui publicarum essent subituri munera functionum.

3-4  modestia frugalitate U: modestia et frugalitate L. || 7 indoctus U: inductus L. || 12  cavet L: cavit (sic) U. || 12  praesente arbitro L: p[rae]senti arbitrio U. || 16  approbent L: approba[n]t U. || 17  valentinianus, valens, et gratianus L: valentianus (sic), valens, gracianus U. || 18  Praefecto Pretorio L: prefet. p[re]t (sic) U. || 20  μοναζόντων L: monazonio U. || 20  igitur et U: igitur atque L. || 20-21  deprehensos erui L: comprehensos exinde U. || 23 vendicandas U: vindicandas L. ||

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The emperors themselves brought in this constitution, though it is not specifically against monks. But Justinian, who ensured it was included in the chapter ‘On Decurions’, was free of all suspicion and even, as the Greeks report, most orthodox of all and an entirely christian man. Yet he not only condemns your solitudes but disapproves of your idleness.112 [31]  Plutarch writes that philosophers accept there are three sorts of life, of which one is called ‘‘active’, the second ‘contemplative’, but the third is pre-occupied with pleasures,113 and this, in which Epicurus distinguished himself, is approved by no-one. The active life, if there is no philosophy in it, is senseless, and men may be ensnared by it in great wrongs. But the contemplative way, in which I believe you are counted, is, as Plutarch says, utterly useless.114 You see this is the class in which the greatest men place you, though you may think you are wise, and may like that line in Horace: ‘“As for me, I forgive myself,” says Maenius’.115 Moreover you live in such a way that, if you except a few preachers, you are unknown to almost everyone because of your solitude, and in this way for the most part you spend an undistinguished lifetime. In this respect you follow that dogma of Epicurus which is so abhored by serious men: ‘‘Live unobtrusively’.116 By this he requires us to live a quiet and inactive life, such as no one would ever have lived. How absurd this precept is that author himself showed; he proclaimed it simply because he wanted to be on everyone’s lips, and in order to appear to know something that others did not, because it is indeed necessary not to hide, but to be visible to all.

112   However, in his De verborum significatione, lib. 2, p. 41, Alciato argues that the linguistic usage of one period may not apply to another, and that this law should be understood as not applicable in his time to those who enter monasteries for genuine religious reason. If this was his real belief, he was somewhat disingenuous in using this law against Mattius. In the imperial system the decurions were members of the senate of a town or a province. The members of the senate of Milan at this time were also called ‘decuriones’. 113  Plutarch, De liberis educandis. Moralia 8A (Loeb, I, p. 37). The phrases ‘and this one [...] yourselves’ are Alciato’s. 114   Alciato translates quite closely here. Plutarch says the contemplative life is τοῦ πρακτικοῦ διαμαρτάνων, ἀνωφελής (‘utterly failing in the practical, useless’) and the third life, that of enjoyment, is ἔκλυτος καὶ δοῦλος τῶν ἡδονῶν ὤν, ζῳώδης καὶ μικροπρεπτής (‘dissolute and enslaved to pleasure, bestial and mean’). The figure 3ū, inserted above the line in the manuscript, may suggest the person responsible understood this phrase to refer to the third, Epicurean, kind of life. 115  Horace, Sermones, I, 3, 23. Horace goes on ‘This is a foolish and impious self-love, and worthy to be stigmatized’. 116  Plutarch, An recte dictum sit latenter esse vivendum. Moralia, 1128A-1130E (Loeb, XIV, pp. 322-41). Erasmus, Adagia, II x 50, ‘Live in obscurity’.



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Quam constitutionem, tametsi non satis aequo in monachos animo, imperatores ipsi tulerunt. Iustinianus tamen, qui eam sub titulum ‘De decurionibus’ collocandam curavit, omni suspicione liber fuit, etiam, ut Graeci tradunt, ὀρθοδοξότατος et vir plane christianus, qui tamen in vobis non solitudines solum damnat, sed et ignaviam exprobrat. [31]  A philosophis acceptum, Plutarchus scribit, triplex esse vitae genus, cuius quidem alterum activum dicitur, alterum contemplativum, tertium vero voluptatibus inhians, et hoc quidem nemini non improbatum, in quo Epicurus excelluit. Activum vero si philosophia caruerit ineptum esse, unde magnis delictis irretiantur homines. At contemplativum in quo vos, ut arbitror, numeramini, prorsus est, ut ille inquit, inutile. Videtis quo vos ordine summi illi viri collocent, cum tamen existmetis vos esse sapientes, Horatianumque illud approbetis: ‘Egomet mihi ignosco, Maenius inquit’. Caeterum ita degitis ut ex hac solitudine vestra, si concionatores aliquos demas, omnibus fere sitis ignoti, ignobileque hoc potissimum modo aevum transigitis. Qua in re Epicuri illud dogma tantopere a gravibus viris reprobatum sequimini: λάθε βιώσας, quo ille ita ta- | cite et per socordiam vivere nos iussit, ut nemo unquam vixisset. Quod praeceptum quam absurdum esset, ille ipse auctor ostendit, qui non alia de causa illud edidit quam ut per omnium ora celebraretur, quam ut aliquid supra caeteros scire videretur, cum eum non latere, sed in omnium conspectu esse deberet.

3  e[tia]m U: omnium L. || 4  ορθοδοξότατος U. || 5  exprobrat L: exprobat (sic) U. || 9  Philosophia L: phia[m] (sic) U. || 11  numeramini, 3ū’ [sic: ‘tertium’ (?) inserted above the line] prorsus U: numeramini, prorsus L. || 13  mihi U: mî L. || 14  ita degitis ut: ut ita degetis (‘ut’ crossed out) U: et ita degitis, ut L. || 14  aliqu[o]s U: aliquot L. || 18  Quod L: q[uam] U. || 19 esset U: sit L. || 21  cum eum L: cum enim U. || 22 deberet L: debet U. ||

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[32]  Think, would it be right for one who admires the works of God in nature to remain in hiding, though he can teach his wisdom and uprightness, though he can preach what is honourable and fit for man? For that would be the same as being obliged to avoid teaching anyone, to avoid inspiring emulation of virtue, to avoid being an example of probity to anyone. Thus Epameinondas was unknown to the Thebans until his fortieth year, and was of no benefit to them. But when, on the contrary, his courage became recognised, he achieved deeds worthy of eternal memory.117 But if Epicurus gave his precept only for those who were wicked, he was certainly very wrong, for in fact he almost forbade them to become good. When some one is affected with fever or some such ill health, and neglects the illness, is he not said to feed the malady in some way? How could doctors cure him, if he had not first declared himself sick? And so you live in such a way that no one knows you are alive, but if you act rightly, we would be justly encouraged by your example; if you act wrongly, it is in your interest that you be known, so that you may be corrected by better people. [33]  Those who discount this idea of being known and recognized in human life seem to me to do nothing less than take away the light when the meal is set, so that each may gobble up, without anyone to blame him, as much as he likes, and indulge in the dark in excess and wine. And one might think, not without reason, that you suffer in your solitude the pains with which, according to fables, malefactors are punished in hell. And indeed it is thought Lethe118 is a swamp for the simple reason that this is one way of punishing the wicked: that is, darkness and obscurity. They are cast into an abyss and a desolate sea by being forgotten. Indeed Euripides reckoned, since women must abstain from dealings with other people, that a man is worth a thousand women,119 because, just as women are of use for evil or for nothing, so men must be of friendly disposition, be good to anyone, set an example to others by frequent intercourse. This is why in the gospel of Matthew Christ says: ‘‘So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father

  Possibly Plutarch, Lives, Agesilaus, 27.4.   Lethe (λήθη) is the river of forgetfulness in Hades. 119   Iphigenia in Aulis, l. 1394: Iphigenia ‘Better a single man should see the light than ten thousand women [γυναικῶν μυρίων]’. Both the Greek μυρία and the Latin ‘mille’ may mean ‘thousands’, i.e. an indefinite large number. Orestes, 108: Helen ‘It is not good for maidens to go into a crowd’. Translation by E.P. Coleridge (Loeb). 117

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aliquem Dei in naturalibus opera admirantem, cum eius prudentiam iustitiamque docere possit, cum quid honestum sit, quid viro dignum praedicare, laterene eum aequum fuerit? Non enim id aliud esset quam si illud facere cogeretur ne quem erudiret, ne ad virtutis imitationem excitaret, ne cui ad honestatem esset exemplo. Sic Epaminundas ad quadragesimum usque annum Thebanis incognitus nihil illis profuit. At contra cum eius virtus coepit agnosci, immortali memoria digna facinora confecit. Quod si id praeceptum illis tantum Epicurus dedit qui mali essent, certe et longe deceptus est, quippe qui eos fieri bonos fere vetuit. Cum enim quisquam vel febre vel huiusmodi mala aliqua valetudine afficitur et morbum supinat, nonne vitium illud alere quodammodo dicitur? Qui enim potuerunt eum medici curare, si se ipsum aegrotum prius non dixerit? Cum itaque sic vivatis, ut nemo vos vivere sciat, si iuste agitis, aequum fuit vestro exemplo nos incitari; si iniuste, vestra interest cognosci, ut a melioribus emendemini. [33]  Qui enim cognitionem hanc famamque de hominum vita tollunt non aliud agere mihi videntur quam qui apparato convivio lumen | de medio auferunt, ut unicuique liceat sine reprehensore quantum voluerit ingurgitare crapulaeque et vino per tenebras indulgere. Atqui ea in solitudine eas vos pati poenas non absurde aliquis existimaverit, quibus apud inferos plecti sontes fabulae tradiderunt, et non alia quippe de causa apud eos ληθὴ palus esse creditur, quam quod una ratio malos puniendi haec est, obscuritas videlicet et ignoratio, quibus ex oblivione in abissum et vastum pelagus praecipites eunt. Sane Euripides, cum mulieres ab aliorum commercio abstinere debeant, mille mulieribus virum praestare existimavit, quoniam sicut illae vel nulli vel malo usui sunt, ita viros oportet comi ingenio esse, unicuique prodesse, frequenti conversatione exemplum caeteris dare. Quamobrem in Evangelio Matthaei: ‘Sic luceat,’ inquit Christus, ‘lux vestra coram hominibus ut videant vestra bona opera et glorificent patrem vestrum qui est in coelis’. Et ad Ephesios Paulus:

3  No[n] e[ni]m U: Non certe L. || 5 Epaminundas U: Epaminondas L. || 10  quisquam L: quisq[ue] U. || 10  febri L: febre U. || 11  morbu[m] suppinat U: morbum supprimit L. || 12  potueru[n]t U: potuerint L. || 13-14  si iniuste L: se iniuste U. || 19  Atqui U: Atque L. || 20 aliquis U: quis L. || 22 puniendi U: plectendi L. || 24  praecipites eunt L: praecipites sunt U. || 26  vel nulli vel malo: vel nullo vel malo U: vel malo vel nulli L.

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who is in heaven’.120 And Paul to the Ephesians: ‘And have no dealings with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of what is done by them in secret. But all things created are made manifest by light, for all that is made manifest is light’. [34]  With these words the Apostle criticizes you in another way, since he is inveighing against hypocrites, whose fault you monks, I would think, are not entirely free of. For the early anchorites and monks dressed no differently from others, and it was difficult to know what profession they belonged to from their garb. But you have chosen dun colour because, I believe, this is the natural colour of fleece, not enhanced by craft or dye, for this is how someone thought the great humility of your order could be proclaimed to men. But he did not read well the words of the gospel; the Lord says: ‘‘Do not be concerned for your living, what you will eat or drink, nor for your body, what you will wear’.121 But, when you worry about that cassock and cord of yours, it shows that you think almost any other garb is wrong. In this respect you are all in collusion like oil-vendors on the Velabrum.122 And certainly when you want to look different from everybody else with that clothing, what is that but hypocrisy? Perhaps you reason with this syllogism: ‘The order of Minorites was founded by a holy man, and those who profess his teachings are commonly thought to be good and just. If I become one of them, I shall be judged good like the rest. And everyone will give way to me and look on me as a pious man’. Is that not playing the hypocrite? Everyone in fact who seeks to be seen as exceptional and above the common herd is a pretender and justifies himself before men contrary to what gospel law authorises. Therefore I would not doubt that, if Christ once inveighed against the Pharisees and Sadducees, seeing how much this cult of yours affected people, he would have railed against you far more than against them, and he would vent a whole cartload of reproaches against these perverts. [35]  On one point he would perhaps approve some of you, because he once said: ‘And when you fast, do not be sad like hypocrites. For they disfigure their faces, so they may appear to men to be fasting’.123 These

  Matthew 5.16.   Luke 12.22. 122   Adagia, III vii 79, ‘Like oil merchants in the Velabrum’. 123   Matthew 6.16. 120 121



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‘Ne commercium habeatis cum operibus infrugiferis tenebrarum, quin ea potius esse arguite; nam quae secreto fiunt ab istis turpe est vel dicere. Sed omnia prodita a luce manifesta sunt, nam quicquid manifestatur lumen est’. [34]  Quibus verbis alio etiam modo vos taxat Apostolus, quandoquidem in hypocritas invehitur, a quorum delicto nec vos abesse multum credi­derim. Prisci enim illi Anachoritae et monachi indiscretis cum caeteris vestibus utebantur, minimeque cuius professionis erant ex indumento cognosci poterat. At vos gilvum elegistis, ea credo ratione quod nativus ille vel- | leris color non arte, non tinctura fucatus. Sic enim quisquis ille fuit maximam ordinis vestri humilitatem declarare se mortalibus posse arbitratus est. At non satis recte Evangelii verba annotavit: ‘Ne sitis,’ inquit Dominus, ‘soliciti vitae vestrae quid esuri sitis aut bibituri, neque corpori vestro quibus indumentis usuri’. Vos autem cum de tunica illa vestra, quum de fune solicitemini, hoc ostendit quod alium ferre habitum nefas ducitis. In hoc omnes quasi in Velabro olearii concordes estis. At certe cum eo vestimento a caeteris differre vos videri vultis, quid aliud est id quam esse hypocritam? Syllogismo forte isto ratiocinamini: ‘Ordo Minoritarum a sancto homine institutus est, eiusque professores probi, boni, iustique vulgo existimantur. Si ipse ex eis unus fuero, aeque ac caeteri bonus iudicabor, cedentque tum de via omnes et tanquam sanctum respicient.’ An id hypocritam agere est? Omnis sane qui praeter alios, supraque vulgum videri vult, is simulator est et se ipsum coram hominibus contra Evangelicae legis auctoritatem iustificat. Ut sicuti quandoque in Phariseos et Saduceos Christus invectus est, non dubitarem, si eo in humanis agente vestram hanc observationem vidisset, longe acrius quam contra illos in vos invecturum fuisse integrumque conviciorum plaustrum in torticolles hosce exoneraturum. [35]  In hoc fortasse aliquos vestrum probaret, quod cum ipse quandoque dixerit: ‘Porro cum ieiunaveritis, ne sitis veluti hypocritae tetrici; observant enim facies suas quo perspicuum sit hominibus ipsos ieiunare.’ Praeceptum illi hoc diligenter observant, quos si videas, non  | inedia, 1  commercium L: co[m]mercu[m] (sic) U. || 2 arguite U: redarguite L. || 2  ab istis turpe est vel dicere U: Nam quae secreto fiunt ab ipsis turpe est et dicere. || 3  Sed omnia prodita a luce U: Sed omnia, quae arguuntur a lumine L. || 7  crediderim L: crederim U. || 13  soliciti L: soliti U. || 15 ostendit U: ostenditis L. || 16  In hoc U: et in hoc L. || 21  tum de via L: num de via U. || 22 An U: At L (no question mark in either text). || 22  Omnis L: omnes U. || 23  is simulator U: simulator L. || 25  Pharisaeos et Sadducaeos L: Phariseos Saduceos U. || 30-31  tetrici observant U: tetrici enim observant L. || 31  ipsos L: ipsu[m] (sic) U. ||

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individuals observe this precept diligently, for if you see them, you would swear they are not tormented by fasting or vigils. They look, with their red faces, purple cheeks and puffy lips, not just drunk, but as if they wear the mask of Bacchus himself. And am I to believe that these are better than lay people, and observe that long fast which their legislator ordered his followers to undertake? I would believe in fact and think well of them, if I did not know, having seen it myself, this is not true. As anyone may say and affirm on the authority of Plautus: ‘Better one eye-witness than ten hearsay witnesses’.124 How can I believe you suffer prolonged hunger through frequent fasts? Here the Satirist’s word fits you: ‘a fat paunch sticking out a foot and a half’.125 Jerome says: ‘All you see who have well arranged hair or red cheeks are of the Jovinian herd, and grunting pigs among them’.126 For I believe Aesop wished to show that such men with their narrow thinking do not look to heavenly things, when he tells in the fable of a starving vixen who fell through a narrow crack into some grain vaults and, having eaten her fill, could not get out, because ‘fat stomach never gets through narrow gaps’.127 Aristophanes wrote that philosophers were pale and like captives taken in battle,128 although it is very rare that any one of yours does not get fat. If others have a gloomy and utterly emaciated look, they have got that appearance not from fasting but from their character.

124  Plautus, Truculentus, 489. Cf. Adagia, II vi 54, ‘One eye-witness is worth more than ten ear-witnesses’. 125  Persius, Satires, I.57. The singular pronoun ‘tibi’ seems to indicate this is a jibe directed at Mattius personally. 126   The manuscript, with its reference to ‘Jovianus’ [sic, for ‘Jovinianus’] points to the correct source. ‘Somarii’ in L, followed by Barni, is inexplicable. The passage is a reminiscence of the conclusion of Jerome’s Contra Jovinianum, lib. II, 36: ‘Nunc restat ut Epicurum nostrum [...] alloquamur [...] Quoscunque formosos, quoscunque calamistra­tos, quos crine composito, quos rubentibus buccis videro, de tuo armento sunt, imo inter tuos sues gruniunt’ (Patrologia latina, XXIII, 349A. ‘I must say a few words to our Epicurus [i.e. Jovinian] [...] Whenever I see well-turned-out men, no strangers to the curling-irons, with hair nicely done and cheeks aglow, I know they belong to your herd, or rather they grunt among your pigs’). 127   This appears to be a version of Aesop, no. 24 (Aesopica, ed. B.E. Perry, p. 331). The adage is a version of one quoted by Erasmus from Jerome: ‘Fat stomach never bore fine feelings’. Adagia, III vi 18. Jerome, Ep. 52.11. 128   According to Barni (l. 710, n. 4), an allusion to two passages of Clouds, vv. 102 and 185. v. 102, Phidippides  ‘Who are they?’  Strepsiades  ‘I do not know the name accurately. They are minute philosophers, noble and excellent.’ Phidippides ‘Bah! They are rogues; I know them. You mean the quacks, the pale-faced wretches, the barefooted fellows, of whose numbers are the miserable Socrates and Chaerephon.’ v. 185, Disciple  ‘What do you wonder at? To what do they seem to you to be like?’ Strepsiades  ‘To the Spartans who were taken at Pylos’.



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non vigiliis afflictos iurabis, quippe qui rubra facie, purpureis genis, tumidis buccis, non ebrium quempiam, sed ipsius Bacchi personam referant. Et hos ego laicis meliores credam, et longa illa ieiunia observare quae thesmothetes suis peragenda mandavit? Crederem sane beneque de eis opinarer, nisi oculata fide cognoscerem verum id non. Dicat quilibet affirmetque de auctoritate Plauti: ‘Pluris oculatus testis unus quam auriti decem’. Quomodo enim ieiuniis crebris longam famen pati te credam? Hic tibi iuxta Satyricum illud: ‘Pinguis aqualiculus propenso sesquipede extat’. ‘Quoscunque,’ inquit Hieronymus, ‘crine compositos vel buccis rubentibus videris, de armento Ioviniani sunt, inter quos grunniunt sues.’ Nam et tales viros tenui illa animi speculatione caelestia non respicere Aesopus, opinor, fabella illa ostendere voluit, qua famelicam vulpem, per angustam rimam in frumenti cameras delapsam, egredi saturam non potuisse tradit, quod videlicet plenus venter minime per tenuia penetrat. Pallidos fuisse et similes captivis in praeliis philosophos scripsit Aristophanes, cum tamen rarissimus quisque vestrum non pinguescat. Quod si alii tetrici sunt macerrimaque facie, hi non ob ieiunia, sed ex natura potius hanc habitudinem acceperunt.

1  iurabis quippe q[ui] U: iurabis quoque quod L. || 3  referant L: referu[n]t U. || 5  opinarer L: opinare U. || 5  nisi oculata fide cognoscerem verum id non U: nisi oculata fide aliud cognoscerem L. || 8  Hic: Hi U: si L. || 8 Satyricu[m] U: Satyrici L. || || 10  Ioviniani: Ioviani U: Somarii L. || 12 qua U: quo L. || 13 cameras U: cavernas L. || 14  penetrat L: penetra (sic) U. || 15  captivis in praeliis L: captivos [altered in another hand:‘captivis’] p[rae]liis U. ||

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[36]  But let’s pretend you monks really live like that, and abstain from food as your legislator decreed. Do you believe that you deserve thereby God’s fullest grace because of fasting? But fasting is not a virtue in itself, it is a foundation of other virtues.129 Since intoxication is a hindrance to thinking, study, and good behaviour, fasting was introduced as a religious practice. The mind, stimulated to perfect sharpness, can then attend with greater precision to higher matters, and we can devote ourselves entirely to chastity and friendship, when the titillation of Venus has been set aside and base and amorous follies forgotten. This is why no fixed time for eating was set by the ancients at fast times, nor were fixed rules laid down for food, but a fast was any time when one abstained from eating and drinking. Tacitus writes in his Histories that this derived from the Jews, because, when they left Egypt under the leadership of Moses, and suffered lengthy famines travelling through wide deserts, they established frequent fasts in witness of this, fasts which were observed by Christians who had gone over to their laws.130 No one would deny that Tacitus slipped up in this. The Jews may well fast in memory of that long famine or for some other reason. Christians fast so that they may apply themselves to heavenly contemplation with sharpened senses, and so that they may separate themselves entirely from desires, drunkenness, and gluttony. Whence it has come about that those who are abstinent by their own nature, intelligent, abhoring defilement, sober minded, although they take no note of fixed times for fasting, they suffer no impoverishment of ideas. This is explained by the gospel of Mark; when the Saviour was approached by Scribes and Pharisees and asked why the apostles and disciples did not fast, he answered that as long as they had him with them it was not worthwhile.131 The disciples were made noble and pure by so much association with him; to some one in the best of health no medecine could possibly be necessary. Moreover Jerome wrote that he who fasts two days or three is no better than another.132 Indeed if he abstained in this way for a whole year I shall believe he would be no better, because as Paul wrote to the Romans: ‘One man believes he may eat anything: but the weak man eats herbs. Let him who eats not despise him who does not eat: and he who does not eat, let him not judge him who

  See note 175 below and Jerome, Ep. 130.11.  Tacitus, Historiae, 5.4: ‘Longam olim famem crebris adhuc ieiuniis fatentur …’ 5.5: ‘Transgressi in morem eorum idem usurpant …’ 131   Mark 2.18-19. 132   Ep. 22-37. 129 130



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fingamus vos plane ita vivere, tam cibi abstinentes esse ut vester legislator sanxit. An idcirco creditis vos summam apud Deum gratiam propter ieiunia mereri? Atqui non perfecta virtus ieiunium est, sed caeterarum fundamentum; cum enim crapula cogitationibus, studiis virtutique impedimento sit, rite institutum fuit ieiunium, quo in iustum acumen vegeta mens subtilius altiora consideraret, et ut Venerea illa tittilatione disiecta, foedisque et amatoriis ineptiis obliteratis, totos nos castitati amicitiaeque dederimus. | Quapropter non certa comedendi hora ab antiquis cum ieiunaretur statuta est, non certae ciborum leges prae­ stitutae, sed quotiens ab esitatione potuque abstineretur ieiunium fuit. Hausisse a Iudaeis originem Tacitus in Historia auctor est. Cum enim illi ab Aegypto Mose duce recedentes per longa deserta diutius famem passi sint, in huius rei testimonium crebra ieiunia instituisse, quae in eorum leges transgressi Christiani observarint. Qua in re eum labi nemo negaverit. Ieiunent Iudaei vel in longae illius inediae memoriam vel alia de causa. Christiani idcirco ieiunant ut magis vegeto sensu caelestium contemplationi incumbant, ut a libidinibus, ab ebrietate, a gula magnopere dissideant. Qua ratione effectum est ut qui suapte natura abstinentes sunt, qui ingenio celeres, stupris abhorrentes, mente sobrii, his, quamvis statas illas ieiunii horas nihil curent, ulla tamen inopia non impingatur. Declaratur id Evangelio Marci, cum a scribis et Phariseis aditus Σώτηρ interrogatus quare apostoli et discipuli non ieiunarent, respondit quamdiu secum agerent operaepretium id non esse. Tanto enim commercio lauti et puri discipuli erant, ut haud optime valenti necessaria ulla medicina esse possit. Caeterum et Hieronimus eum qui biduo aut triduo ieiunarat altero meliorem non esse scripsit. Ipse, etiam si annum integrum ita abstinuerit, nihilo magis bonum existimabo, cum ad Romanos Paulus: ‘Alius quidem credit vescendum esse quibuslibet, alius autem qui infirmus est oleribus 3  Atqui non perfacta L: Atqui p[er]fecta U. || 7  titillatione L: titulatione U. || 7 ineptiis U: nuptiis L. || 7-8  totos nos castitati L: totos castitati U. || 8  dederemus L: dederim[us] U. || 9  ieiunaretur U: convivaretur L. || 11  Hausisse: hui[ss]e (sic) U: Habuisse L. || 13  sint L: sunt U. || 14  observarint L: observarunt (corrected ‘observarint’) U. 19  his [...] ulla tame[n] inopia no[n] impingat[ur] U: hi [...] in nullam tamen idcirco noxiam impingant L. || 21 Eva[n]gelio U: in Evangelio L. || 21  Σώτηρ U: Σωτὴρ, et L. || 23 Tanto U: Tanti L. || 24  ut haud optime valente U: ut optime valenti haud L. || 25  altero L: alteri U. || 26  annum L: animu[m] U. || 27  Cum U: omitted L. ||

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eats’.133 He also says in First Corinthians: ‘But eating does not commend us to God. If we eat, we do not gain anything: nor, if we do not eat, are we lacking in anything’.134 And he declares to the Colossians that it is not for anyone to judge in matters of food or drink.135 Those who practice so much abstinence that they almost starve themselves seem to me to be like people who, when they are weakened by fever or some other sickness, vow they will go on foot to the sanctuary of St James of Galicia or make a pilgrimage naked in the middle of winter to Mary’s Loreto.136 In fact, if by chance they get better and are restored to pristine health and go to absolve their vow, either they are crucified by inflammations from excessive exhaustion and tortured by continuous burning fever, or, suffering from excessive cold, they are attacked by diseases of the lungs which lead to their death. Thus what they had vowed as a preservative against their sickness hastens death itself. And so I would think anyone who, of his own accord without fasting, can perform those acts usually performed by those who fast, hardly needs this scrupulousness in fasting at all. [37]  But to come back to you, Mattius, it is no ordinary reason that impels me to disapprove most of all of your intention. For I have always been of the opinion, in which I see all men of the soundest judgement agree, that when anyone can live continently and honestly, free of these observances of yours, and move without stumbling through the thickets and thorns of this world, he acquires far greater grace with God than those associates of yours who stay shut up in cloisters. For who does not believe that a poor man, burdened with many children, providing food from day to day with his own hands for them, for himself, and for his family, but mindful nevertheless of God, is far more acceptable in heaven than are those who have no other care than praying and fasting? He does not know what he will eat on the morrow, nor what he will provide for his children, since that small gain is uncertain. You are certain that nothing can be lacking for you, since a regular share from the poor house is never lacking, and provides supplies to your scattered army of hangers-on,137 burdened by hunger. Add to this that the man who lives a chaste and   Romans 14.2-3.   I Corinthians 8.8. 135   Colossians 2.16. 136   Two famous destinations for pilgrims: the church of St James of Compostela in Galicia, Spain, and the Basilica della Santa Casa at Loreto, on the Adriatic coast of Italy. 137   The ‘triarii’ formed the third rank from the front in the Roman army. Alciato is not averse to some heavy sarcasm. 133

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vescitur. Qui vescitur non vescentem non despiciat, et qui non vescitur vescentem ne invideat.’ Idem in Corinthia priore: ‘Esca,’ inquit, ‘nos non commendat Deo. Neque si comedamus aliquid no- | bis superest, neque si non comedamus quicquam nobis deest.’ Idem ad Colossenses quemquam iudicandum in cibo aut potu non esse prodidit. Nam qui tanta abstinen­tia utuntur ut inedia pene dispereant, non absimiles illis ego opinor, qui, cum febricula aliove morbo destruentur, se pedites ad Callaeci Iacobi fanum ituros vovent, vel media hyeme nudos in Lauretum Mariae profecturos. Si enim forte convalescunt pristinaeque valetudini restituuntur et votum solvere eunt, vel ex nimia lassitudine flegminibus cruciantur, ardenti continuaque febre torquentur, vel ex frigore nimio in laterales morbos incidunt, unde morti adiguntur. Sic quod votum pro aegrotationis amuleto voverant mortem ipsam accelerat. Igitur si quis sua sponte non ieiunans eas praestare actiones possit quas illi qui ieiunant praestare solent, haud necessariam hanc illi ieiunandi scrupulositatem opinarer. [37]  Verum ut ad te redeam, Matti, quo consilium istud tuum tam maxime non probem, non mediocris me ratio impellit. Ipse enim semper huius fui sententiae, in qua omnes summi iudicii viros consentire video: cum quis observationibus vestris solutus vivere continenter et probe possit, et inter mundi huius rubos et spinas inoffenso pede currere, longe maiorem gratiam penes Deum adipisci quam συνθιασῶται isti qui coenobiis inclusi morantur. Quis enim pauperem virum, multis filiis oppressum, solis manibus suis et sibi et familiae victum indies parantem, Dei tamen nihilominus memorem, non credat longe magis coelitibus acceptum quam illi sint qui nullam aliam habent curam quam orandi ieiunandive? Ille in crastinum quid manducaturus, quid filiis suis prae­ stiturus cum lucellum illud incertum sit, ignorat. Vos non posse quicquam vobis deesse certi estis, cum ordinaria ex ptochotrophiis portio numquam deficiat, triariorumque | fame oppresso et disiecto vestro agmini operam exhibeat. His adde eum, qui inter tot illecebras sanus et integer vivit, 1  Qui vescitur non vescentem L: q[ui] vescit[ur] vescente[m] U. || 2  Corinthia L: Corinthica U. || 3  Neque si comedamus L: neq[ue] co[m]medamus U: Vulgate, I Corinthians 8.8: neque si manducaverimus abundamus. || 5  quemquam L: que[m]q[ue] U. || 7  destruentur: distruentur U: distinentur L. || 10  votum solvere eunt: votu[m] soluri [sic] eunt U: voto soluti sunt L. || 14  ieiunant L: ieiuna[n] (sic) U. || 15  illi ieiunandi scrupulositatem opinarer L: illi no[n] ieiunandi scrupulositate[m] no[n] opinarer U: (a long space between ‘opinarer’ and ‘Verum’; in the margin ‘Transitio’). || 19  consentire: co[n] [...]ire (over-written illegibly) U: convenire L. || 26 sint U: sunt L. || 27 ieiuna[n]dive U: cantandive L. || 31  His L: Hic U. ||

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untainted life among so many allurements is better that he who, even if he has the will to do evil, does not have the immediate ability. For if I knew you well when you were unfettered by religious concerns, although a thousand delights and a thousand opportunities were offered to you, you were still firm in probity and indeed against vices you were a ‘wall of bronze’, as they say.138 I remember what great opportunity you had at times of indulging sensual pleasures, of making money. These things you shunned however with the purest mind, and you showed that you were a victor over yourself. So, when you used to conduct yourself like this, will you not own that you were most honest at that time, and much more honourable than you are now when, even if you wished to sin, you cannot easily do so? But perhaps you feared that your constancy and strength of mind would at some time be broken. What a fine reason! – that one who has reached forty years and more with all the strength of youth, is at his best and unweakened, should now, as an old man, be wrecked against the surges and rocks of life, be seized by the vices of youth – that a most docile foal should now turn out to be a wild and untamed steed! I shall not assent to this reason of yours; on the contrary I shal exhort you to turn back to your previous stage of life in which you will be no more lofty than anyone else, and where the nearer you are to danger the more you will earn higher praise for your integrity. Indeed I might adduce here what Paul wrote: that strength is made perfect by infirmity,139 and what the Greek proverb says: ‘Good things are difficult’.140 For although Periander the Corinthian ruled the state at first democratically and with the greatest moderation, when he had ruled for some time he changed his habits and began to act tyrannically. Pittacus of Mytilene, who held office as chief magistrate in his country, abdicated and went into exile, for he came to mistrust his own constancy, when he recognised that Periander, a very good man at first, had lapsed into bad habits. To friends who inquired why he had laid down the magistracy of his own accord, he answered: ‘To cleave to the good’. When the very wise Solon heard this, he said: ‘But good things come with the greatest difficulty’.141 So   Adagia, II x 25, ‘A wall of bronze’. The source is Horace, Epistulae. 1.1.60.   II Corinthians 12.9: ‘nam virtus in infirmitate perficitur’. 140   Adagia, II i 12, ‘Good things are difficult’. 141   Alciato appears to have taken this whole passage about the Greek proverb, Periander, Pittacus and Solon from the second-century paroemiographer Zenobius (Corpus paroemiographorum, no. 6.38), or, perhaps more immediately, from Erasmus who also used that source. See CWE 33, p. 23 and p. 345, note 6. 138 139



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esse illo meliorem cui, etsi malefaciendi voluntas adsit, facultas tamen non aeque est in promptu. Si enim sacris solutum bene te noveram, cum mille tibi oblectamenta, mille occasiones offerrentur, in probitate tamen praestabas adversusque vitia eras plane murus (quod aiunt) aheneus. Memini ipse quantam libidinibus indulgendi commoditatem quandoque habuisti, quantam comparandae pecuniae, quae tamen candidissimo animo ultro adversatus es, tuique ipsius victorem ostendisti. Cum itaque ista faciebas, nonne te tunc probissimum fuisse non inficiaberis, et multo quam nunc sis clariorem, qui etiamsi peccare velles non tamen commode posses? At fortasse verebare ne constantia illa animique robur aliquando frangeretur? O bella ratio, ut qui in ipso iuventutis flore ad quadragesimum et eo plus annum optimus pervenerit, et infractus quidem adversus vitales fluctus, scopulos, nunc senex labatur, iuvenilibus vitiis rapiatur, quique mansuetissimus pullus nunc cantherius ferox et indomitus evadat! Non assentiam tuae huic rationi, quinimo ut in pristinum vitae gradum redeas adhortabor, in quo multo excellentior futurus es, et quo periculo proprior eo integritatis tuae maiorem laudem reportaturus. Si quidem huc traxerim quod Paulus scripserit infirmitate fortitudinem perfici, et quod Graeco proverbio χαλεπὰ τὰ καλὰ dicitur. Cum enim Periander Corinthius initio populariter summa cum modestia imperium gereret, dein, ubi diutius regnasset versis moribus, tyrannice agere coepisset. Pittacus Mitheleneus, qui in patria sua summum magi­ stratum gerebat, se abdicavit in exiliumque profectus est. Diffisus enim de sui ipsius constantia est, ubi initio | optimum hominem Periandrum in malos mores lapsum agnovit. Percunctantibus ergo amicis cur sponte magistratum deposuisset, ἐσθλὸν ἔμμεναι respondit. Quod ubi audisset sapientissimus ille Solon: ‘At,’ inquit, ‘quae bona sunt maxima difficultate non carent’. Ut merito inde intelligere possis, Matti, cum arduum sit 1 adsit U: adest L. || 2 novera[m] U: noverim L. || 3  mille tibi oblectamenta L: nulla tibi oblectamenta U. || 5  Memini L: nemini U. || 8  probissimum fuisse L: probissimu[m] te fuisse U. || 13  fluct[us] scopulos U: fluctus et scopulos L. || 13  senex L: ‘sex’ (sic: the last letter over-written illegibly) U. || 14 rapiat[ur[ U: rapiaturque L. || 16  pristinum L: pistrinum U. || 16  multo L: nullo U. || 18 scripserit U: scripsit L. || 19  χαλεπὰ τὰ καλα U. || 20  populariter summa U: populariter et summa L. || 22 Mitheleneus U: Mithileneus L. 26  deposuisset εσθλον ἔμμεναι U: deposuisset, velle se ἐσθλὸν ἔμμεναι L. ||

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you may rightly understand from this, Mattius, that, although it may be hard for someone to persevere for a long time in being good when there is great opportunity to do evil, he nevertheless earns the greatest praise and the greater for that reason. Here I would think Christ alluded to his own example when he said that the way is narrow that leads to salvation.142 Virgil has the converse: ‘A wide road offers the easy way to go, but the end, | For those ensnared by it, it is ruin.143 [38]  Plato wrote that all men are at odds with themselves, that there is no one who is not his own enemy, and that it is an extraordinary victory if one overcomes oneself.144 So, from an opposite point of view, it is a most unhappy example to be overcome by oneself – something which Eusebius Pamphilus did not fail to notice.145 For each one of us is not alone, but each has two enemies, pleasure and pain, to which are added the longings for future success that are included under the name of hope. To put it plainly, the fear that precedes pain is analogous to the audacity that precedes pleasure. However, we have in ourselves these waverings like tendons or cords by which we are dragged in different directions. But reason drives us in such a way that it obliges us to hold constantly to better things. The best individual holds tenaciously to this standard and does not allow himself to be overcome by pleasures and desires. So it is no wonder if it is so difficult to be good, since ‘within domestic walls’,146 as they say, there is no lack of what may tempt us into bad habits, if we do not resist courageously. Truly then he is wise and careful and prudent beyond compare who cares for his salvation through so many straits and rough passages, who ensures he is not overwhelmed and is undefeated by so many difficulties. Zeno of Citium defined justice as that prudence which allots to each his own, as discretion in dealings, and as fortitude in suffering. If you conform to all the parts of this description, there is no reason why everyone should not honour you as a just, excellent, and most virtuous man. I have long recognised that you are prudent and extremely restrained towards others; I have seen in practice too that you are very discreet in human dealings. But I have yet to see you are strong   Matthew 7.14.   From a poem, attributed to Virgil in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, about the traditional Pythagorean interpretation of the Greek letter Υ (upsilon), which symbolises the choice between virtue and vice. See the Anthologia latina sive poesis latinae supplementum, ed. A. Riese (Teubner, 1868), II, 83-4, no. 632. 144   Laws, 644b-d. 145   Praeparatio evangelica, XII, 27, quoting Plato, note 144 above. 146  Perhaps Adagia, IV iii 90, ‘Surrounding walls’. 142 143



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ut diu quisque bonus esse in magna malefaciendi occasione perseveret, maxime tamen et tanto magis laudandum. Huc ego Christum suo illo exemplo allusisse crediderim, cum viam angustam esse dixit quae ad salutem duceret. Contra apud Maronem: ‘Molle ostentat iter via lata sed ultima meta | Praecipitat captos.’ [38]  Scripsit Plato pugnare sibi ipsis omnes homines, neminemque esse qui sibi hostis non sit, praecipuamque inde victoriam esse si se ipsum quis vicerit. Sic e converso infelicissimi exempli est a se vinci. Quod et Eusebius Pamphilius non praetermisit. Non enim solus unusquisque nostrum sed adversarios duos habet: voluptatem et dolorem, quibus futuri eventus desideria aggregantur quae spei nomine comprehen­ duntur. Si non improprie loquamur qui dolorem praecedit timor, quae voluptatem confidentia est. Sunt autem in nobis hae fluctuationes quasi nervi quidam aut funes quibus in diversas partes trahimur. Ratione vero in hoc adigimur ut constanter melioribus adhaerere nos cogat. Quod institutum optimus quisque pertinaciter servat, nec voluptatibus, desi­de­ riis superari se sinit. Non mirum igitur si usque adeo difficile sit bonum esse, cum intra domesticos (quod aiunt) parietes non desit quod nos, nisi audacter obstiterimus, in malos mores urgeat. Vere itaque ille sapiens et cautus incomparabilisque prudentiae est qui per tot rerum angustias salebrosaque itinera salutem suam curat, qui tot difficultatibus inoppressum insuperabilemque se conservat. Iustitiam definivit Zeno Cithieus esse prudentiam quae suum cuique tribuit: in rebus pertractandis | temperantiam, in perpetiendis fortitudinem. Cuius descriptionis partes si omnes observaveris, nihil erit quo minus te tanquam iustum, optimum, probissimumque virum omnes colant. Prudentem te alienique abstinentissimum iamdiu deprehendi, in humanis rebus moderatissimum quoque expertus sum. Superest ut in perpetiendis fortem agnoscam. Nec existimes eius me forte sententiae esse, ut aliquo modo eos fortes censeam qui frigoris atque inediae patientissimi sunt, qui paupertatem ultro subire videntur, qui solitudinem ferunt. Nequaquam enim id tale est unde merito ab

3 cum U: utcunque L. || 4 Molle: Mille U: Illi L. || 8  Sic e co[n]verso U: Sed et e converso L. || 8  infelicissimi L: felicissimi U. || 12  p[rae]cedit U: prodit L. || 16 voluptatibus U: voluptatum L. || 19  obstiterimus L: obsteterim[us] U. || 31  ferunt L: fera[n]t U. ||

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in suffering. And do not think I am perhaps of the opinion that I count as somehow strong those who are most tolerant of cold and hunger, who seem to suffer extreme poverty, who put up with solitude. For this is not at all the sort of thing for which they may be rightly honoured by all. Indeed I remember reading that there have been many men strong in this way, not christians either, who were held, not in any honour but in greatest disgust. I would mention just one of them: Timon, filthy, miserable, shaggy, digging arable fields in the solitudes of Hymettus. In Lucian’s story, he is regarded by Jupiter with astonishment,147 and he was so hostile to humanity that he invoked death on those who came to his tomb: ‘Seek not to know my country by name. Know this: on all those Who will come to my tomb I call down death.’148

But the man who has a really strong mind is one who, just when there is the greatest difficulty in living rightly, shows himself at that time to be vigorous, unbroken, unconquerable. For this reason, if some magistrate so conducts himself that he acquires a good name from his administration, he is truly strong and unconquered. For just as it was said originally in a common proverb, ‘Office shows the man’,149 so also it was known that it was not those who show themselves to be undaunted in isolation who deserve the highest praise, but he who, doing things worthy of memory in society, in intercourse with men, is truly to be praised. For this reason these people are superior to others, so that, not unjustly, good judges in the state can be compared to gold, active soldiers to silver, and farmers or artisans of that sort to bronze and iron. But if the person [who said this] had divined anything about you monks, I certainly do not know which metal he might have compared you to better than lead, which is dull, soft, and fragile, and unfit to carry weights. In this respect you monks too, I think, are not practised at bearing temptations, as long as you are afraid of being overcome by this wordly allurement, as long as you sit in your little conventicles, show no courage, do not meet face to face, but turn your backs out of laziness, and seek to get away by this particular sort of withdrawal. Against this I myself would approve what James said in his 147  Lucian, Works, ‘Timon, or the Misanthrope’, Loeb, vol. II, pp. 325-93 (especially pp. 333 and 335). 148   The inscription on the tomb is not in Lucian, but is taken from the Greek Anthology, 7.314. Loeb, II, p. 171. Not found in the Selecta Epigrammata of 1529. 149   Adagia, I x 76, ‘Tis the place that shows the man’.



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omnibus honorentur. Siquidem et huiusmodi fortes viros etiam non christianos complures extitisse legere me memini, qui tamen nedum aliquo honore, sed summo in odio habentur. Ex quibus unum interim Timonem proposuero, quem squallidum, aerumnosum, horridum in Hymetti solitudinibus arva fodientem, Iupiter apud Lucianum admiratur, quique in humanum genus ita infestus fuit ut ad suum tumulum venientibus mortem imprecaretur.

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Μὴ πόθεν εἰμὶ μάθῃς, μὴ τ᾽ οὔνομα, οἴδ᾽ ὅτι θνήσκειν Τοὺς παρ᾽ ἐμὴν στήλην ἐρχομένους ἐθέλω.

Ne patriam nomenque scias. Hoc nosce, quod omnes Ad mea venturos busta peropto mori.

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Caeterum illum forti tandem animo esse, qui ubi summa recte vivendi difficultas adest, ibi strenuum se infractum, insuperabilem, ostendit. Qua ratione si quisquam magistratus ita se gerit ut bonum nomen ex administratione acquirat, is vere fortis est et indomitus. Cum enim vulgata paroemia dici coeptum est: ‘Magistratus virum arguere,’ tum cognitum fuit, non qui in solitudinibus impercussos se praestant summam laudem mereri, sed qui in ipso foro, in hominum frequentia digna memoratu agit, vere laudandum esse. Quapropter caeteris illi praesunt, ut non inscite bonos iudices in civitatibus auro comparent, strenuos milites argento, agri- | colas autem et huiusmodi artifices aeri ac ferro. Quod si aliquid de vobis ille divinasset, nescio certe cui metallo magis similes esse dixisset quam plumbo, quod obtusum, penetrabile, fragile est, oneribusque ferendis non satis accommodatum. Sic et vos, uti arbitror, tentationibus ferendis non exercitati, dum hac mundi illecebra expugnari dubitatis, in vestris his conventiculis sedetis, non pectora ostenditis, non cominus congredimini, sed per socordiam terga datis, hacque potissimum fuga quaeritis evadere. Contra ipse Iacobi illud in 1  honorentur L: honerent[ur] U. || 2  legere me memini: legere memini U L. || 8  Μὴ πόθεν εἰμὶ μάθης μὴδ᾽ οὔνομα πλι οτι θνήσκειν | Τοῦς παρ᾽ ἐμὴν στηλήν ἐρχομένους ἐθέλω U. || 11  nomenque L: no[m]i[n]e U. || 12  illum L: illi U. || 17 impercussos: imperculsos U L. || 19  agit vere lauda[n]du[m] U: agunt, vere laudandos L. || 19  caeteris L: cetis (sic) U. || 20  co[m]pare[n]t U: comparet L. || 21  agricolas autem huiusmodi U: autem et artifices L. || 24  fragile U: et fragile L. || 24  accommodatum L: acco[m]- | datu[m] U. || 26  in vestris his conventiculis L: in vestra haec conventicula U. ||

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epistles: ‘Blessed is the man who endures temptation: for when he has been proved, he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who loved him’.150 [39]  It remains for me to dwell briefly on the idea that you Franciscans like so much: the idea that this poverty of yours will get you directly to heaven. You proclaim nothing is more important than this, and you think in this you imitate Christ who mentioned his own poverty in many places, and admonished others to practice the same: ‘Do not possess gold, nor silver, nor money in your purses: Nor scrip for your journey, nor two coats, nor shoes, nor a staff [...]’151 And there are many examples in the New Testament152 like these. But I see that you do not conform to gospel doctrine in this either. For long ago, by the decree of Pope John XXII against the dogma of the Bohemians, it was declared that Christ and his most holy disciples had certain goods, and that by natural justice they had ownership of certain things, that they retained the right to hold whatever would be left to them.153 This judgement is certainly true and is supported by the best reason, since it is hardly likely that they had nothing which they could share with paupers or beggars. ‘So why’, perhaps you would say, ‘do they proclaim that poverty of theirs so often?’ Because, though any one of them would have had some goods on occasion, yet they slipped back into poverty because these goods were immediately offered to beggars. They observed the precept: ‘Go and sell everything you have and give to the poor […]’154 But you do not carry out this precept, nor does anyone else in our times observe it, otherwise the Benedictines would not have such an abundance of riches, the Carthusians would not dwell in golden temples,155 and those they call Regulars156 would not abuse so

  James 1.12.   Matthew 10.9-10. 152   It is noticeable that the manuscript, followed by the printed editions, uses Erasmus’ title, ‘Instrumentum novum’. It is therefore probable that Alciato used it only two years after Erasmus published his edition in 1516. 153   The bull, Cum inter nonnullos, promulgated on 12 November 1323, by pope John XXII, which declared ‘erroneous and heretical’ the doctrine that Christ and his apostles had no possessions whatever. Alciato’s opinion on this question is a clear example of his humanist preference for the probable (rhetorical) argument as opposed to the strictly logical (apodictic) deduction from first principles preferred by the post-glossators. 154   Luke 18.22. 155   Cf. Alciato’s epigram ‘In Carthusios Ticinenses’ in Appendix 2 of the Introduction. 156   I.e., those who follow a rule (‘regula’), such as the Observant Franciscans. 150 151



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epistolis dictum approbavero: ‘Beatus vir qui suffert tentationem, qui cum probatus erit, accipiet coronam vitae quam promisit Deus his a quibus fuerit dilectus’. [39]  Superest ut in quo vobis tantopere placetis parumper insistamus, quippe qui paupertatem hanc vestram recta in coelum vos adportaturam arbitramini, nihilque supra eam praedicatis, hacque in re Christum imitari existimatis, qui non paucis in locis paupertatis suae mentionem fecit, idemque ut observarent caeteri admonuit. ‘Ne possideatis,’ inquit ille, ‘neque aurum, neque argentum, neque aes in crumenis vestris, neque peram ad iter, neque duas tunicas, neque calceamenta, neque virgam’. Suntque plurima in Instrumento novo similia his exempla. Caeterum nec cum Evangelica doctrina vos in hoc convenire video. Illud enim adversus Bohemicum dogma iamdiu Iohannis 22 constitutione declaratum fuit, habuisse Christum et sanctissimos eius discipulos quasdam facultates, iureque gentium dominia quarundam rerum penes eos fuisse, quicquid illis relictum foret, ius capiendi retinuisse. Quae sententia, ut verissima est, ita etiam optima ratione fulcitur, quum haud verisimile sit nihil illis fuisse quod pauperibus mendicisve potuissent impartiri. Cur igitur, fortasse dixeris, inopiam illam suam toties praedicant? Quod quamvis quandoque quasdam facultates aliquis eorum habuerit, iccirco tamen mox in paupertatem | delababantur, quia statim mendicis offerebant. Praeceptumque illud observabant: ‘Vade et vende omnia quae habes et da pauperibus’. Quod nec vos exequimini, nec quisquam alius nostra hac tempestate observat. Alioquin non tantis divitiis Benedictini abundarent, non aurea delubra incolerent Carthusienses, non tot possessionibus insultarent quos Regulares vocant. Cumque vere, Laurentio Levita auctore,

4  In the margin ‘Transitio’ U L. || 5  adportaturam L: adportaturu[m] U. || 7  paupertatis su[a]e U: suae paupertatis L. || 9  neq[ue] auru[m] U: omitted L. || 13  Iohannis: Io U: omitted L. || 14  Christum et sanctissimos L: Chr[istu]m sanctissimos U. || 17  optima ratione U: optima etiam ratione L. || 18 i[m]partiri U: impertiri L. || 21  delababantur: delaba[n]tur U: delaberentur L. || 21  offerebant L: offerebat U. || 24 non U: nec L. || 26  Cumque vere: Cumque ve (sic) U: Cumque L. ||

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many possessions. Since, as Laurentius Levita157 asserts, the poor are really the temple and church of Christ, the holy church fathers gilded their temples and sought to make the church as rich as possible in that way. But I see what drives you to despise the poor and scatter such riches on your cloaks, in your images, in your altar ornaments. It is that Christ gladly allowed a casket of unadulterated, costly balsam to be poured on his head, that he did not turn away from the wealthy Zachaeus,158 that he was anointed by Nicodemus the decurion with an ointment of spice.159 These things all demand that his altar furnishings should have gold and silver in order to be conspicuous.160 [40]  I do not disagree with you on this subject, if you think it is a better use for the excess part of of your huge alms than giving some of it to beggars. So too, although the apostles had the right to receive, by whatever title, things given to them, you, being superior even in that, have decided that no reclamation, no law-suit, no repossession of this sort of thing may be granted by you. You have, by this decree against the poor, abolished alms and benefits, and thereby have spurned that piece of wisdom: ‘It is a more blessed thing to give, rather than to receive’.161 James in his epistle says ‘Religion pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation […]’162 But how do you do this if what you distribute is nothing? Do you think it is some great work of piety when you go to widows’ homes and under pretext of greeting, not leave her until, with those sugared little words of yours, you have filled her with superstitions and made her subject and obedient to your word? These are not the works of mercy. James is not praising this sort of visitation, but the sort in which there is some real help. For example if a widow has lost her property, she may be maintained. If you see she is 157   The early christian martyr St Lawrence (225-258 ad), commonly called ‘Laurentius Levita’ from the opening words of a chant in the mass for the feast of St Lawrence: ‘Levita Laurentius bonum operatus est, qui per signum crucis cæcos illuminavit’ (‘The Levite Lawrence, who made the blind see by the sign of the Cross, performed a good work’). Among the sources Alciato may have quoted, St Ambrose, in his De officiis ministrorum 2, 28, 140, records: ‘For when the treasures of the Church were demanded from him, he promised that he would show them. On the following day he brought the poor together. When asked where the treasures were which he had promised, he pointed to the poor, saying: “These are the treasures of the Church”.’ 158   Luke 19.2-9. 159   John 19.39. 160   Another example of Alciato’s rather heavy sarcasm. 161   Acts 20.35. 162   James 1.27.



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templum et ecclesia Christi sint pauperes, hoc sancti illi patres modo templa inaurabant, ecclesiamque quam ditissimam facere studebant. Sed video quid vos impellat ut tantum divitiarum in palliis, in imagunculis, in altarium ornamentis, pauperibus contemptis, diffundatis - nimirum quod alabastrum non adulterati sed pretiosi nardi in caput suum infundi libenter passus sit Christus, quod Zachaeum divitem non sit aversatus, quod a Nicodemo Decurione aromatis unguento fuerit litus. Quae omnia declarant altaria eius auro argentoque convenire ut conspicua sint. [40]  Qua in re vobiscum non dissentio nisi quae de maximis eleemosinis vobis superant in alium quemcunque usum potius destinaretis, quam ut mendici quicquam inde haberent. Igitur cum apostolis ea quae illis dabantur quoquo titulo capiendi ius esset, vos, ut etiam illos superaretis, ita constituistis ut nulla vobis repetitio, actio, retentio huiusmodi rerum concessa sit. Quo edicto in pauperes eleemosinam beneficiaque sustulistis, reque ipsa philosophicum illud aspernati estis: ‘Beatius est dare quam accipere.’ ‘Religio,’ inquit Iacobus in Epistola, ‘pura et immaculata apud Deum et patrem haec: invisere orphanos et viduas in afflictione sua.’ Quin hoc vos facitis, si nihil est quod largiamini? An tunc magnum aliquod pietatis opus vos existimatis, cum in domos viduae descenderitis, | subque salutationis praetextu dulcibus illis vestris verbulis ab ea non recedatis, nisi ubi infinitis superstitionibus plenam, vestro dicto parentem obsequentemque reddideritis? Non sunt haec misericordiae opera, non talem visitationem laudat Iacobus, sed eam quae in rebus ipsis aliquo est adiumento, ut si vidua facultatibus lapsa

1  sint L: sunt U. || 5 non adulterati sed pretiosi L: no[n] adulterat[a]e sed p[re]tiosi U. || 6  libenter L: liberter’ U. || 12  illos L: illo U. || 15  sustulistis L: sustulisses U. || 17  Deum et patrem h[a]ec U: Deum patrem est haec L. Vulgate: ‘apud Deum et patrem haec est’. || 18  Quin U: Quomodo autem L. || 19  vos existimatis U: vos fecisse existimatis L. || 22  vestro dicto parentem obsequentemque L: v[est]roq[ue] dicto pare[n]tem obseque[n]tem U. ||

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stricken by anger or grief, you may soften her unforgiving conscience by persuasion and the power of prayer. If she is behaving badly and forgetting the memory of her husband, you may reprove her. Plato shows in his Republic that this sort of poverty too is not as fruitful as you proclaim, nor to be exalted with such praise,163 and Eusebius Pamphilus repeated this. For after explaining what magistrates should give careful attention to and what it was right to clear out of cities, Plato recommends that this should be their concern too: that wealth and poverty should not find a place in the state, since the first brings luxuriousness, sloth and partisanship, the second meanness, malice and discord.164 Add to these points the mean labours and the many such evils which poverty forces people to perform. Solomon in the book of Proverbs: ‘Give me neither poverty, nor riches […]’165 Surely that wisest of men understood how much evil often falls on mortals through these. This is why the Greek verse says: ‘Necessity is the cause of all evils’, for nothing is so hard, so bad, that the poor do not come close to it because of their need. Publius Mimus alluded to this: ‘Poverty puts a man to the test’.166 Not very different to this we have the Greek: ‘Hunger is the teacher of many things’.167 This is why Plutarch wrote that poverty is judged by some to be an evil, by some to be a great evil, and by some to be the greatest evil.168 [41]  Hence it comes about that when poverty persuades, or rather compels certain individuals among you, they sometimes try to do many things which are neither appropriate for good men nor bring any honour to your order, but only cause for hatred and notoriety. I would not declare all guilty of this fault, since I have known very many to be serious and honest, but among scabrous sheep sometimes the unharmed and the healthy also get a bad reputation. I remember that a teacher of mine, a man of the highest intelligence and learning,169 was once asked by a friend why, if some unworthy act is sometimes committed by holy men, it is shown that the authors of the evil were almost always Minorites,   Republic, 8.553c, 555d-e.  Eusebius, Praeparatio evangelica, XII, 35, quoting from Plato, Republic, IV, 421e. 165   Proverbs 30.8. 166  Publilius Syrus. J.W. Duff ed., Minor Latin Poets, Publilius Syrus, no. 247: ‘Hominem experiri multa paupertas iubet’ (‘Poverty commands many a trial’). 167   Adagia, IV ii 48, ‘Hunger teaches many things’. 168  Plutarch, De virtute morali, 10, 450A: ‘for some adjudge poverty not to be an evil, others to be a great evil, still others to be the greatest evil’. (Translation by W.C. Helmbold) 169   Perhaps Aulo Giano Parrasio, Alciato’s teacher in Milan 1504-1507. 163

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sustineatur, si ira vel dolore affectam videas, persuadendo orationisque vi inclementem animum flectas, si male eam agentem et spreta coniugii memoria, castiges. Nam et paupertatem hanc non adeo frugiferam uti vos praedicatis nec tantis laudibus tollendam ostendit in Repub. Plato, cuius sententiam Eusebius quoque Pamphili aemulatus est. Cum enim ille quae diligenter curare magistratus conveniat declarasset, quaeque de urbibus expelli aequum esset, et hoc quoque curae illis esse iubet, ne divitiae et paupertas aditum in civitatem habeant, quoniam alterae delicias, ocium et factiones afferunt, altera illiberalitatem, malignitatem, discordias. Adde his infames operationes multaque huiusmodi mala quae paupertas facere cogit. Salomon quoque in Parabolis: ‘Ne mihi,’ inquit, ‘divitias atque paupertatem des.’ Nimirum intelligebat sapientissimus vir quantum mali ex his plerunque in mortales decurrat. Quapropter et Graeco carmine πάντων δ᾽αἴτιος κακῶν ἀνάγκη dicitur; quod nihil aeque arduum aeque malum sit quod propter necessitatem pauperes non aggrediantur. Ad quod allusit Publius Mimus: Hominem experiri paupertas docet. Cui non absimile habemus Graecum: Πολλῶν ὁ λίμος γίγνεται διδάσκαλος. Quam ob causam Plutarchus paupertatem ab aliis malum, ab aliis magnum malum, a quibusdam et maximum malum iudicari auctor est. [41]  Hinc fit ut suadente vel potius adigente quosdam vestrum paupertate, multa aliquando facere conentur, quae nec viris bonis conveniunt, nec quicquam honoris ordini vestro praestant, sed odii tantum et infamiae causam. Cuius delicti non omnes reos ego praedicavero, quandoquidem et graves probosque quam plurimos agnovi, sed tamen ex sca- | brosis quibusdam ovibus quandoque et sospites et nitidae male audiunt. Memini quandoque summi ingenii eruditionisque praeceptorem meum, cum amicus eum interrogaret cur, si quicquam indigne a sacris viris aliquando fit, mali auctores fere semper Minoritas fuisse ostenditur, cum tamen inter caeteros hi maxime probentur, summamque integritatis

1  affectam videas U: affectam cum vides L. || 2  inclementem animum L: incleme[n]tiam animu[m] U. || 2  Si male eam agentem et spreta L: Si male et spreta U. || 7  de urbibus expelli U: quaeque expeti de urbibus L. || 11  cogit L: coget U. || 14  Graeco L: Graece U. || 14  παντ΄ολ ανάγκη d r (sic) U: πάντων δ᾽αἴτιος κακῶν ἀνάγκη dicitur L. || 16 experiri paupertas U: experiri multa paupertas L. || 17  Πόλλον U. || 19  et maximum malum L: (‘malum’ crossed out) U. || 24  reos L: res U. || 27  Memini L: nemini U. || 29 ostenditur U: ostendatur L. ||

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although these nevertheless had the highest approval among others and had the highest reputation for integrity and wisdom. He answered with this fable: ‘A vixen fell into a marsh and could not only not get out, but could not even move because she was held by the sticky mud. The stings of leeches and flies tormented her excessively. A hedgehog noticed this and, moved by pity, asked if she wanted him to drive the flies away. She said to him: ‘Not at all, for these are already swollen with my blood and do not weaken me now. But if you drive them away, other famished ones will come who will torment me more and will drain away whatever blood is left’. My teacher used to say ‘All those who call themselves “brothers” seem to be comparable to these leeches and flies’. For those who are wealthy and substantial because they have already been sucking much blood for a long time (for nowadays the flesh of men is considered to be wealth) are not very troublesome for us. But it is those who are oppressed by poverty, the starving who growl and grind their teeth, they of all others, bring the greatest disaster into granaries and grain repositories, and they are very easily driven to committing even wrongful acts. A saying that comes down to us from the ancients was that wisdom was your lot as a companion for poverty.170 But here I would understand ‘wise’ men to be those who, as Augustine says, are plunged with their teachings into the pit.171 For if you did not consider this poverty so hateful, there would be no reason why you should devise ambushes for corpses like vultures, no reason why you should hasten to those who, because of ill health, set out to write their wills. And no will, no codicils are made by which children are disinherited or near relatives passed over in favour of unrelated

  Adagia, I v 22, ‘Poverty has drawn wisdom as her lot’.  Augustine, Epistulae, 82.2.18 to Jerome. Patrologia latina XXX, 2, p. 369: ‘Proinde, sicut tu e contrario loqueris et licet reclamante, sicut scribis, mundo libera voce pronuntias caeremonias iudaeorum et perniciosas esse et mortiferas christianis et, quicumque eas observaverit sive ex iudaeis sive ex gentibus, eum in barathrum diaboli devolutum, ita ego hanc vocem tuam omnino confirmo et addo: quicumque eas observaverit non solum veraciter verum etiam simulate, eum in barathrum diaboli devolutum’ (‘Accordingly, as you say on the other hand – though, in the words of your letter, the world were to protest against it – and you declare that Jewish rites are both hurtful and fatal to Christians, that whoever observes them, whether Jew or Gentile, has sunk into the pit of perdition, I entirely endorse that statement, and add to it: Whoever observes these rites, whether Jew or Gentile, has sunk into the pit of perdition, not only if he is observing them sincerely, but also if he is pretending to observe them’). The Barathrum was the chasm into which criminals were thrown in Athens. Alciato seems to be saying simply that he takes ‘wise’ in the popular saying to be ironical. He ignores the context of the reference, where Augustine agrees with Jerome that christians should entirely reject Jewish ceremonies; something which could be seen as weakening his earlier approval of Essene asceticism. 170 171



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et prudentiae opinionem habeant, hoc apologo ita respondisse. Cum vulpes in quasdam paludes prolapsa esset, quod tenaci limo retineretur, non solum se exigere, sed nec movere quidem se posset. Irudines ac muscae aculeis eam suis mirum in modum affligebant. Quod conspicatus erinaceus, misericordia motus, interrogavit an a se muscas abigi vellet. Cui illa: ‘Minime vero,’ inquit, ‘hae enim iam cruore meo tumidae, non multum me iam afficiunt. At si eas propuleris, famelicae aliae supervenient, quae maiori me tormento macerabunt, et quicquid sanguinis superest id omne exhaurient. His,’ aiebat ille, ‘muscis irudinibusque comparandi omnes isti videntur qui se fratres appellant.’ Qui enim locupletes et assidui sunt, quoniam multum sanguinis (opes enim nostris temporibus viscera hominum habentur) iamdiu exuxere, non admodum nobis molesti sunt. At qui inopia opprimuntur, illi famelici, frementes, frendentesque dentibus, uni omnium maximam calamitatem in granaria et promptuarias cellas invehunt, facillimeque adiguntur ut etiam non facienda perpetrent. Traditum est a maioribus paupertatis comitem contigisse sapientiam, sed hic illos sapientes intellexerim qui, ut Augustinus ait: ‘cum doctrinis suis in Barathrum demerguntur’. Nam nisi paupertas haec ita vobis odio haberetur, non esset cur vos tanquam vulturii cadaveribus insidias strueretis, non esset cur ad eos qui ob malam valetudinem testamenta scribere incipiunt properaretis. Atque nullum testamentum, nulli codicilli fiunt, quibus aut filii exhaeredentur aut proximi agnati

2 quod U: et quod L. || 3  se exigere L: exigere U. || 3  irudines ac musc[a]e aculeis ea[m] suis mirum in modum illis [‘s’ crossed out] illam affligeba[n]t U: hirudines enim ac muscae mirum in modum aculeis eam suis affligebant L. || 4-5  conspicatus erinaceus U: conspicatus forte id erinaceus L. || 5  an a se muscas abigi L: an se musca (sic) abigi U. || 6  meo tumidae U: meo iam tumidae L. || 9  His U: Hic L. || 12 exuxere: exugere U: exugere non cessarunt L. || 15  invehunt facillimeque adiguntur L: invehunt[ur] facilimeque [sic] adigunt U. || 16-17  comitem contigisse L: comitem tibi contigisse U. || 17  hic [...] intellexerim: h· [sic] [...] intellexeri[m] U: hi [...] intellexerunt L. || 21 nullum testamentum U: Nullum certe testamentum L. ||

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nominees, except, as most often, on the advice of yourselves and with yourselves as signatories. But this does not apply at all to you personally who, as I know, will not allow yourself to become entangled in these shackles and will imitate, as is your custom, the examples of better men. [42]  But one thing does apply very much to you, because you will be able to devote yourself to the studies for which alone you were born. If you count up what you have achieved in the past, and the ways in which you have distinguished yourself, you will not deny that you owe much to literary teaching and to books of learned authors, and that you are so formed by nature that you never stop learning. And although you may occasionally be seized with loathing for other things, you are indefatigable in perusing the authors. This diligence of yours has raised you from the lowest to the highest level and has made, as some one said, ‘a consul from a rhetorician’.172 So it is right for you to continue in this practice, unless you want to be accused of some exceeding impiety in allowing such a perspicacious and vigorous mind to be infected by avarice, and in neglecting, almost despising the rarest blessings that God has bestowed on men. In this you would insult and brand the Giver himself, for it is against the teaching of the gospel to throw pearls before the eyes of swine.173 And so this arrangement should meet your complete approval: that most of your leisure should be devoted to your studies, for as Homer says: ‘Not to be flung aside, look you, are the glorious gifts of the gods, even all that of themselves they give, whereas by his own will could no man win them’.174 But how this will be allowed in your observances I cannot know for sure. For if no concession can be made from the rule, you can scarcely be weakened by both fasting and cold and at the same time give attention to any reading. I certainly believe that the same person should not have to endure starvation and thirst and cold and this sort of bodily suffering, and nevertheless pay full attention to reading books. Jerome teaches that we should abstain from food as long as we do not suffer trembling and can scarcely breathe, lest we perform less well than usual in reading and in vigils.175 For this reason, since men’s stomachs differ, since different 172  Juvenal, Satires, 7.197-8: ‘si Fortuna volet, fies de rhetore consul; | Si volet haec eadem, fiet de consule rhetor’. 173   Matthew 7.6. 174   Iliad, 3.65-66. Translation by A.T. Murray (Loeb). 175   Ep. 130.11 (to Demetrias): ‘Sic debes ieiunare, ut non palpites, et respirare vix possis [...] sed ut fracto corporis apetitu, nec in lectione, nec in Psalmis, nec in vigiliis solito quid minus facias. Jejunium non perfecta vitus, sed caeterarum virtutum fundamentum est [...]’ (Patrologia latina, XXII, 1116) (‘You must not go on fasting until your heart throbs and you can hardly breathe [...] but to curb the desires of the body, without performing less well than usual in reading scripture, singing psalms, and observing vigils. Fasting is not a complete virtue in itself but the foundation of all the other virtues’). See note 129 above.

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praetereantur extraniis institutis, nisi vobis | ipsis ut plurimum suadentibus tabulasque obsignantibus. Sed haec parum ad te pertinent, qui scio te in has pedicas illaqueari non patieris, meliorumque exempla, qui mos est tuus, imitaberis. [42]  Verum illud ad te multum pertinet quod studiis quibus solum natus es poteris incumbere. Si enim quae a te gesta sint, quibusque modis excellueris retro volueris computare, te plurimum literariae professioni, te eruditorum libris debere non negabis. Esque tu ea natura institutus ut numquam a studio cesses, et, cum caeterarum rerum satietas aliquando te capiat, in auctoribus pervolvendis es indefessus. Quae tua diligentia de minimo te ad summum gradum extulit fecitque, quod ille ait, de rhetore consulem, ut merito in ea tibi sit exercitatione persistendum, nisi maximae alicuius impietatis accusari velis, qui tam perspicax et vegetum ingenium aerugine infici permitteres, et quae rarissima hominibus bona Deus concessit negligeres et fere contemneres. Qua in re donatori ipsi iniuriam et notam inureres, qui contra Evangelicum dogma margaritas ante suum oculos proiecisses. Itaque tibi omnino institutio illa probanda est, in qua maximum tuis studiis ocium suppeditetur: οὕτι, enim, ut Homerus ait, ἀπόβλητ᾽ ἐστὶ θεῶν ἐρικυδέα δῶρα ὅσσά κεν αὐτοὶ δῶσιν, ἑκὼν δ᾽ οὐκ ἄν τις ἕλοιτο. Quemadmodum autem in hac observatione dabitur, cognoscere certe non possum. Si enim nihil de lege remittatur, haud poteris et ieiunio et frigore macerari idemque lectioni alicui operam dare. Non eiusdem certe opinor et famem et sitim et frigus huiusmodique corporis mala perpeti, et nihilominus in libris lectitandis operam consumere. Sic abstinendum cibis Hieronimus praecipit dum non palpitemus et respirare vix possimus, ne in lectione, in vigiliis quicquam solito minus faciamus. Quapropter cum diversus homini stomachus, alia aliorum palatis placeant, 2  pertinet L: pertinet (altered to ‘attinet’) U. || 5 quo[d] U: quoniam L. || 5  studiis quibus U: studiis fortasse, quibus L. || 6  sint L: sunt U. || 8  ea natura U: sic a natura L. || 11 quod ille U: ut ille L. || 13  qui tam U: quod tam L. || 14 ho[min]ib[us] U: homini L. || 15 donatori U: Creatori L. || 16-17  ante suum oculos proiecisses L: an[te] porcos [crossed out] suu[m] oculos proiecisset U. || 19  ἀπόβητ᾽ εστι θεῶν ἐρικύδεα δωρα οσσακεν ἀυτοὶ δῶσιν ἑκῶν δ᾿ ὀυχ ἄντις ἑλοντο U. || 20  dabitur, cognoscere certe: dabitur certe U: id dabitur, cognoscere certe L. || 21  si enim: se [sic] e[ni]m U: si omnino L. || 21  remittatur haud poteris: remittat[ur] aut poteris U: remittatur. An poteris L. || 27  diversus L: divisus U. ||

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things please different people’s palates, since one man is satisfied with moderate eating and another is scarcely satisfied with immoderate eating, nothing could be laid down in general in this matter by way of a clear rule and fixed hours. If however you monks observe such a rule, the result is that a studious man must often not give up reading or deviate from your rule.176 But granting that there will be forbearance for you, maximum leisure for study, and that there will be no reduction of your earlier habit of meditation, what studies would they be, do you think, at which you will have to labour? Would they be studies in civil law? No, not at all, for they have no importance to your order. Since the most high-minded poverty is the foundation and basis of your belief, no legal action is appropriate for you, nor do you have a legitimate standing in the courts. Studies in the humanities then? But it will not be according to your taste that you will have to labour, but someone else’s. They would want you to become a dialectician immediately, so that you become invincible in arguments like some Proteus. You know, from the corrupted verse of Aristophanes: ‘a man contradicting’ and ‘speakers opposing’,177 as usually happens in the fraternities.178 But it will be necessary to forget and wipe from your memory Christ’s precept too: ‘But let your speech be yea, yea: no, no: for anything over and above these is the product of evil’.179 In addition, when you have learned this thoroughly, they will force you to deviate to their theology – really empty talk180 – where you will not be given the prospect of reading the New Testament, the source of faith, nor even the interpreters, Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory Nazianzenus, Chrysostom and the very image of all these, Jerome. But you will be plunged into a particular heap of writers: the two Alexanders,181 Scotus,182 Nicolas

176  These two consequences are presumably not intended as alternatives to each other, but as two expressions of the same conclusion – otherwise the negative (‘non [...] alienari’) would be incorrect. 177   Fragmented quotes from the dispute of Euripides and Aeschylus in The Frogs (ll. 1119-1205)? Professor Tournoy suggests the following words of Christ may indicate that the crow appeared here as a symbol of treacherous behaviour. 178   ‘Phratria’ appears to be an alternative spelling of the Latin ‘fratria’, which Alciato uses elsewhere of associations of monks, not a reference to Greek phratria. 179   Matthew 5.37. 180   Cf. I Timothy 1.6 (ματαιολογία,vain discussion) and Titus 1.10 (ματαιολόγος empty talker). 181   Alexander of Hales (c. 1185- 1245). NCE 1, 296-7. The second could be Pope Alexander IV (1254-1261), who was very much in favour of the Franciscan Order, and was responsible for the translation of the relics of St Clare to the high altar of the church of S. Giorgio in Assisi (1260); he sent a letter to the Minister Provincial of the Order in Germany, imposing a penalty upon a friar preacher who publicly criticized the canonization of St. Clare of Assisi. 182   Duns Scotus (c. 1266 – 1308). NCE 4, 1102-6.



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aliquisque modico cibo se maxime alat, cum alius etiam vix immodico alatur, non potuit certa lege certis horis hac in re quicquam in communeconstitui. | Quod si tamen vos observatis, evenit ut necesse studioso viro plerunque sit aut non a lectione alienari, aut a vestra regula discedere. Sed concedamus commoditatem tibi et otium permaximum in studiis fore, nihilque de pristina illa lucubrandi consuetudine diminutum iri, quaenam ea esse arbitraris quibus tibi fuerit insudandum? An iuris civilis studia? Minime vero; ea enim nihil ad vestrum ordinem faciunt. Nam cum fundamentum basisque vestrae religionis altissima sit paupertas, actio vobis nulla competit, nec legitimam personam in iudiciis standi habetis. Humanitatis igitur studia? Atqui non tuo, sed alieno stomacho tibi insudandum fuerit, volentque te statim Dialecticum fieri, ut tanquam Proteus aliquis in argumentationibus insuperabilis fias. Scis inverso Aristophanis carmine: Vir pernegans, contraque dic corvos, ut est mos phratriae. Sed et Christi illud praeceptum oblivisci et de memoria obli­ terare necesse fuerit: ‘Sit sermo vester, est, est; non, non. Quicquid enim ultra adiungitur ex malo proficiscitur’. Adde quod ubi haec perdidi­ceris, tum ad suam illam θεολογίαν, sed ματαιολογίαν, deflectere te cogent, ubi non Instrumentum novum, unde fides est, non enim interpretes Ambrosium, Augustinum, Nazianzenum, Chrysostomum, atque horum omnium instar Hieronimum legere tibi permittetur, sed in columen quoddam scriptorum demergere: duos Alexandros, Scotum, Nicolaum

2  hac in [above the line] re U: hic L. || 3  Q[uo]d si tame[n] U: Quod tamen si L. || 3  observatis, evenit, ut L: observatis ut U. || 5  tibi et otium L: tibi otiu[m] U. || 9 fundame[n]tu[m] basisq[ue] U: fundamentum totius L. || 11  Atqui L: atq[ue] U. || 14  dic corvos L: dic tornes U. || 17 adiu[n]git[ur] U: adsurgit L. || 17 haec U: hoc L. || 18  θεολόγιαν U. || 18  sed ματαιολογίαν: seu potius ματαιολογίαν L: sed μαθεολογίαν U. || 19 enim U: eius L. || 21  permittetur L: promittetur U. || 22  quoddam L: que[n]da[m] U. || 22 demergere U: te demergent L. ||

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Relyrus,183 Richard your fellow countryman,184 Angelus Clavasius,185 and first of all in sanctity of life, the illustrious Bonaventure. These you will be commanded to peruse day and night, to the point that you may not be able give any attention to literature without distaste. They will count you so much the more learned, so much the better, the further you are removed from good style. [43]  But our early church fathers were not averse in this way to humane studies. It would be worth pointing out to you an example of this from Sozomenus.186 Since there was nothing the emperor Julian would not try in order to subvert christianity, he thought that the most certain way would be make Christians ignorant of humane letters. But since Gregory Nazianzenus, Basil the Great and many others excelled in these, they were able to defeat pagan weapons with their own, inasmuch as they could very easily confute the pagans’ errors from their own understanding of the authors. So he enacted a law stating that people of christian belief should not read heroic, tragic, comic or elegiac poets, nor possess histories of other sects published by the greatest men, and above all should not learn good style from these authors. This is why Syrus Apollinaris,187 in that Encyclopedia based on the example of a noble Homeric poem, wrote a comprehensive account of antiquity down to the reign of Saul, and compiled twenty-four books in alphabetical order. He also wrote comedies in imitation of Menander, and emulated very successfully tragedies of Euripides and lyrics of Pindar, taking his subjects from the sacred and mystical tradition of our religion. He showed himself the   Nicolas of Lyra (c. 1270 – c. 1349). NCE 10, 453-4.  Perhaps Richard of Middleton (Richardus de Mediavilla, c. 1249–1302), who joined the Franciscans in 1283. He was Norman and his place of birth may have been France or England, so we are left with the same uncertainty about Mattius. Alciato may well have believed Richard was French, since he was regent at the University of Paris from 1284 to 1287. See NCE, 12, 481. Perhaps also Richard of Conington (died 1330), who succeeded William of Ockham as provincial minister of the English Franciscans (1310-1316); he wrote a treatise on evangelical poverty. See NCE, 12, 478. 185   Angelo Clavasio (sic, in both U and L), i.e. Angelo Chiavasso (1411? – 1495), NCE 1, 505. L (p. 55) has a note on him which says his name ‘Clavasius’ (as in the manuscript) is taken from his place of birth, Clavasio in the Piedmont. He was a Vicar General of the order. 186   Sozomen [Salminius Hermias Sozomenus], History of the Church from ad 323 to 425. Ed. Ph. Schaff and H. Wace (Grand Rapids, Michigan, Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1976). See the Oxford Classical Dictionary. The account of Julian’s repressions is in book V, and the source of this example is chapter xviii. He was emperor ad 361-63. NCE, 8, 47. 187   I.e. Apollinarius, bishop of Laodicea in Syria (c. 300 – 390). NCE 1, 667-8. His Encyclopedia is lost, but is reported by Jerome and others. 183

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Relyrum, Richardum tibi conterraneum, Angelum Clavasium, et ante omnes sanctimonia vitae illustrem Bonaventuram; eos nocturna diurnaque manu versare iubeberis, ut non citra stomachum operam aliquam literaturae navare possis. Eo te doctiorem existimabunt, eo meliorem, quo ab elegantia verborum magis abfueris. [43]  At non ita humanitatis studia aversati sunt primitivi illi nostri sacrosancti patres. Cuius rei exemplum tibi ex Sosomeno referre ope­rae­ pretium fuerit. Cum nihil non moliretur Iulianus Imperator quo chri­ stianam religionem subverteret, existimavit certissi- | mam illam viam fore, si humanarum literarum imperitos Christianos fecisset. Cum enim in his Gregorius Nazianzenus, Basilius Magnus multique alii excellerent, suis ipsis gladios ethnicos superabant, quippe qui eorum ineptias ex scriptoribus intelligentes facillime poterant confutare. Igitur legem tulit ne qui Christiani dogmatis heroicos, tragicos, comicos, elegos poetas legerent, ne historias alienae sectae a summis viris editas haberent, ne omnino verborum elegantiam ex his auctoribus discerent. Quamobrem Apollinaris Syrus Encyclopedia illa, nobilis exemplo Homerici poematis, ad Saulis usque imperium antiquitatem conscripsit, viginti quatuor libris et alphabetti ordine complexus est. Idem comedias Menandrum imitatus composuit, Euripidisque tragica, et Pindari lirica felicissime aemulatus, argumentis ex divina mysticaque nostrae religionis traditione assumptis, seque parem elegantia,

1 Angelum U: et Angelum L. || 3  versare L: versari U. || 4  possis L: posses U. || 6  illi nostri sacrosancti: illins [sic] sacrosancti U: illi sacrosancti L. || 7 Sosomeno L: Sosomeo U. || 10 humanarum U: humaniorum L. || 12  suis ipsis gladios ethnicos U: suis ipsos gladiis ethnicos L. || 14  ne qui Christiani: nequi Christiani L: ne Christiani U. || 14  Tragicos L: traicos U. || 15  legerent L: legeret U. || 17  Encyclopedia illa U: Encyclopediam illam L. || 17  nobilis U: nobilem L. || 18  antiquitatem conscripsit U: conscripsit L. || 19  et L: ex U. || 21 aemulatus U: est aemulatus L. || 22  seque parem L: seq[ue] te pare[m] U. ||

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equal of those ancients in elegance, ingenuity, invention and style, so that, were it not that new things are always despised in comparison with the ancients – not in the light of truth but in opinion – Apollinaris on his own could be reckoned equal to all of them, and almost their superior. When Julian became aware of this, he recognized that his edict was circumvented and would be quite ineffective, since Christians could learn the same things from reading Syrus that he himself had forbidden to be read in Homer, Menander, and other such poets. He was outwitted, and so he revoked that pernicious decree. You can see now and perceive clearly how important even the impious Julian judged the knowledge of this literature would be for the christian religion, because you yourself could easily understand from this that the more weighty an author is in sacred writings, the purer and more correct his style was. To pass over the Greeks of the highest reputation: Origen, Basil, Nazianzenus, and the one who, for the purity of his style was deservedly called Chrysostom, among the Latins I shall propose for you at the moment only Jerome. You will have difficulty in judging in which way he is superior, that is whether he wrote more elegantly, and manifestly more copiously, or whether he perceived the divine more ardently, more faithfully, and with greater piety. In both ways he excelled so much that one can hardly know what might be better. [44]  Can I omit here the fact that the whole of the Old Testament is composed in verse? This is why you will find neither Pindaric nor Horatian lyrics are absent in it; the Book of Psalms runs in iambics, now imitates alcaics, now swells with sapphics, now begins with a half-foot,188 is no less extraordinarily sonorous in pentameters and hexameters. This is the meter in which Deuteronomy and the canticles of Isaiah are read by the Jews, and the histories of Solomon and Job are related. But the great authority of heroic meter is shown by the fact that the ancients have reported it was the invention of the gods, and that oracles were pronounced in no other meter. So that one would be right to think men are senseless who for the whole of their old age labour over their words and strophes, toothless old men who roll out the scrolls of some barbarous Anser,189 who have no greater concern than to be able, with the greatest precaution, to contrive some contorted ‘antilogue’ (for why should I not use Plautus’ word?190)

188   I.e. that is an anacrusis, or single short syllable, commonly prefixed to a line of lyric dactyls. 189   A salacious, erotic poet of the first century bc. There are references to him in Ovid, Tristia, 2.435. Cicero, Philippica, 13. 5, 11. Virgil, Eclogues, 9.36, and Propertius, 3.32.84. 190   Plautus has ‘antelogium’ (Menaechmi, prologue. 13), but ‘antilogia’ is not listed in Alciato’s In Plauti comedias lexicon, published posthumously (Basle, N. Episcopius, 1568). There is a play on the words ‘logus’ (word) and ‘stropha’, ‘antilogia’ and ‘anti­ strophe’.



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ingenio, inventione, charactere dicendi priscis illis ostendit, ut nisi nova semper prae antiquis non veritate, sed opinione sorderent, potuerit Apollinaris omnibus illis unus ipse aequalis et fere maior existimari. Quod ubi animadvertit Iulianus, edictum suum circumduci planeque nullius efficaciae futurum cognovit, cum Christiani eadem ex Syri lectione potuissent addiscere quae apud Homerum, Menandrum, caeterosque id genus poetas legi ipse vetuerat. Quam ob causam delusus, pernitiosum illud decretum revocavit. Vides nunc et apertissime perspicis quantum christianae professioni harum literarum cognitionem vel impiissimus ille Iulianus iudicarit. Quod ex eo facile tu ipse poteris intueri, quod videlicet quo quis gravior est in divinis scripturis auctor, eo et mundiore et castigatiore stilo fuit. Ut Graecos mittam maximi nominis Originem, Basilium, Nazianzenum, quique ob sermonis nitorem Χρυσόστομος dici meruit, inter Latinos unum interim tibi proponam: Hieronimum, quem difficulter iudicabis utra in re praevaluerit, elegantius videlicet et copiosius scripserit, an ardentius, fidelius, maioreque pietate de divinis | senserit. In utraque enim re tantum excelluit ut vix possit quid superet cognosci. [44]  An ego hic praetermittam Instrumentum omne vetus carmine compositum esse? Quapropter nec Pindari Flaccique liram in eo desi­ deres. Psalterium nunc iambo currit, nunc alcaico personat, nunc sapphico tumet, nunc semipede ingreditur. Nec minus pentametris hexametrisque casibus egregie sonorum est. Quo genere δευτερονόμιον, Esaiae cantica Hebraeis leguntur, Salomonis Iobique res gestae referuntur. Sed et heroi metri magnam auctoritatem illud ostendit, quod deorum inventum prisci tradiderunt, quodque oracula non alio dicendi genere constabant, ut merito nullius iudicii viros quis existimare possit, qui toto aetatis suae tempore logis illis, strophis insudant, qui edentuli senes barbari illius Anseris libros evolvunt, quique nullius rei maiorem curam habent, quam ut antilogia (cur enim Plautino vocabulo non utar?) cautissime sciant intorquere. 4 circu[m]duci U: parum validum L. || 8  revocavit L: evocavit U. || 9 cognitionem U: cognitionem profuturam L. || 13  ob sermonis L: ‘obserlectionis’ (sic, overwritten ‘ob sermonis’) U. || 13  Χρυσόσθομος U. || 17  enim re tantum L: e[ni]m tantu[m] U. || 20  nunc iambo L: eni[m] (?) U. || 22  δευτερονόμιον L: δευτερονόμον U. || 22 Esaiae U: et Esaiae L. || 23  heroi U: heroici L. || 24  inventum prisci U: inventum id prisci L. || 27  illis, strophis U: illis et strophis L. ||

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[45]  But why should I delay longer over these things? Indeed I cannot doubt that you have the same opinion as I, unless you have become another man and, contrary to the proverb of that rustic in Suetonius,191 are a wolf who has changed both hair and heart.192 I have often heard it said of you that you never approved the practice of entangling holy theology in the sophisms of the dialecticians – you used to adduce from Cassiodorus the idea that Christ and the apostles did not bequeathe to us the ‘art’ of dialectics and the vain sophisms of words, but a ‘sciemce’ [certain knowledge] to be applied with pure, sincere faith and good works.193 So when a pagan philosopher of Nicea taunted the fathers, and they thought they would tie him up in disputations, they achieved nothing until he was brought to the correct idea with simple words by a pious man, and he admitted that he could not be caught by verbal subtleties but could be overcome by simple speech and men’s honesty.194 ‘Woe to you’, says Christ, ‘who pass over the law of God and pursue the traditions of men’.195 But you monks, though you have the gospels and true christian law, you pay very little attention to them. On the contrary you embrace the teachings of your sect so firmly, you esteem them so much that, wherever on earth you happen to go, you carry them around with you. And though you do not learn by heart even one chapter of gospel truth, you memorise all that man-made tradition of regulations. You keep your little book in your bosom as if that shows you the safe roads. Although, when you arrive at your intended destination, you are sound in body, steadfast in mind, safe from robbers’ ambushes, you all attribute this to the Rule carried in your bosom, so that in truth you have with you ‘not a word, not even one’, of the gospel and the Pauline teachings.

 Suetonius, Vitae Caesarum. ‘Vespasian’, 16: ‘vulpem pilum mutare, non mores’.   Adagia, III iii 19, ‘A wolf may change his hair, but not his heart’. 193   Not a quotation. Mattius seems to have made a deduction from the last paragraph of Cassiodorus’ chapter on dialectic (Institutiones divinarum et humanarum lectionum, II iii 20), where he says that an ‘art’ is concerned with things possible and that can be other than they are, and a ‘science’ concerned with what cannot be other than it is. ‘But it has been taken for granted that these definitions were applied to secular letters, for only divine letters are incapable of being other than they are, since they possess the immovable authority of truth’ (the quoted sentence translated by Leslie Webber Jones). 194   In Sozomen, I, xviii. See note 186 above, The emendation in L (p. 58) of Nesinus to Nicaenus, is almost certainly correct because the dispute is said to have taken place in the context of the council of Nicea ( ad 325; more correctly spelled ‘Nicaea’) and no such personal name is found in the text. ‘Aethnicus philosophus Nesinus’ is therefore translated as ‘a pagan philosopher of Nicea’. 195   A paraphrase of Matthew 15.3, using the phrase ‘Vae vobis’ from ch. 23. 191

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quid ego his diutius immoror? Quandoquidem nisi alius factus es, et contra villici illius apud Tranquillum proverbium et mores et pilum lupus mutasti, non dubitem eadem te mecum sentire, quippe qui saepius de te audiverim numquam consuetudinem istam te approbasse, ut sancta theologia dialecticorum captionibus involvatur; illudque ex Cassiodoro afferebas, Christum et apostolos artem dialecticam vanasque verborum captiones nobis non tradidisse, sed pura et syncera fide et bonis operibus observandam scientiam. Hinc cum aethnicus philosophus Nicaenus patribus insultaret, illique eum disputationibus implicaturos existimarent, nihil profecerunt, donec a sancto viro simplicibus verbis in iustam sententiam perductus, se non verborum argutiis capi posse, sed simplicitate sermonis hominumque probitate superabilem confessus est. ‘Vae vobis,’ inquit Christus, ‘qui transgredientes legem Dei sequimini traditiones hominum.’ Atqui vos, cum Evangelia habeatis veramque Christianorum legem, in illis minimum operae navatis, rursusque haereseos vestrae | institutiones ita amplexamini, ita adoratis, ut quoquo terrarum ire vos contigerit, vobiscum circumferatis, et, cum nec unum evangelicae veritatis caput ediscatis, omnem illam ab homine traditam regulam memoriter habetis. In sinu libellum continetis tanquam hic vobis secura praestet itinera. Et quum, si quo destinatum erat appuleritis, quod corpore sospites, quod animo firmi, quod latronum insidiis tuti, id omnes Regulae quae in sinu continebatur tribuatis, ut Evangelii Paulinarumque

1  Transitio (in the margin) U. || 7  nobis non tradidisse L: nobis tradidisse U. || 7  pura et syncera L: pura syncera U. || 9  Nicaenus L: Nesinus U. || 9 patribus U: priscis Patribus L. || 11 argutiis U: angustiis L. || 13-14  legem Dei sequimini U: legem prosequimini L. || 20  Et quum, si quo L: Et si qu[um] quo U. || 22  quae in sinu continebatur: q[uae] in sinu continebant[ur] U: quam in sinu continebatis L. ||

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Why do you holy fathers devote more attention to institutions evolved by man than to the universal christian teaching, in which you were initiated through baptism and from the tenderest age?196 What value do they have, I ask, those utterly inept, utterly unlearned Franciscan authors of yours, the worst in the whole christian world; authors like Alexander of Hales197, Richard, and Occhas?198 Whatever time is spent turning their pages, we take away from reading the gospels. Why is the whole of your lifetime consumed on human decrees and contradictory opinions?199 Do you learn there of morality, humility, resignation of mind, patient endurance of evils? Are you mindful of the fact that every individual is what they are, because they learn precepts in books? But why should I argue this point any longer, since indeed I expect you will be far removed from those absurdities. Though your fellows threaten and hold out the prospect of imprisonment and rot if you have not become familiar with them, they will gain less than nothing with you Mattius. And perhaps you will imitate Philoxenus, who, being ordered by Dionysius to read and correct his tragedy, erased the whole thing with a single sweep, preferring to be sent to the quarries rather than read or emend an unworthy work.200 [46]  But there is something else, Mattius, that somehow cannot greatly displease you. You monks make the greatest display of abstinence, chastity, hunger, cold, and poverty, you proclaim yourselves to be men who look from a distance on the charms of this world, you wish to seem almost rocklike and indomitable in the face of every sort of vice. But why do you build such rich palaces and, as Homer says, ‘well-built mansions’,201 decorate such pleasant ambulatories, construct such large dining couches, such comfortable cells, such elegant cloisters? For is not the grandeur of an elegant house almost the greatest thing in worldly happiness and wealth? Why do you declare you are removed, cast out from   Adagia, I vii 52, ‘Since their nails were soft’.   See note 181 above. 198  If a comma is inserted between ‘Ricardus’ and ‘Occhas’, ‘Ricardus’ may be Richard of Middleton or Richard of Conington again. ‘Occhas’ could then be William of Ockam (1288-1347), the best known Franciscan scholastic. See note 184 above. 199   In his treatise on poverty Richard of Conington found himself in dispute with both Pope John XXII and William of Ockam. 200  Philoxenus of Cythera (435-380 bc), who lived at the court of Dionysius of Syracuse. Alciato seems to have his own brief version of a story told by Diodorus Siculus, Bibliothecae, 15.6. In particular, Diodorus says that the object of criticism was Dionysius’ verse, not his tragedy, The Ransom of Hector, which won the prize at the Lenaea at Athens in 367 bc. 201   Iliad, 2.661, 9.144. 196

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traditionum apud vos sit prorsus οὔ λόγος, ουδ᾽ ἀρυθμὸς. Cur ab homine excogitatis institutionibus plus operae sancti vos patres adhibetis quam universo christiano dogmati, in quo per baptismum et a teneris ungui­ culis initiati estis? Quid, quaeso, dignum habent ineptissimi et indoctissimi et pessimi de toto christiano orbe meriti illi vestri auctores, qualis Alexander ille Ales, Ricardus, Occhas, in quibus pervolvendis quicquam temporis de Evangeliorum lectione demamus. Cur omnis vestra aetas in hominum decretis simulque pugnantibus sententiis conteritur? Anne hinc bonos mores, humilitatem, demissionem animi, malorum aequanimem tolerantiam addiscitis? An non meministis talem unum quemque esse quales sunt, quod quotidie ediscuntur in libris praecepta? Sed quid ego ulterius hac in re disputem, quandoquidem spero fore ut tu ab his ineptiis longe devius sis futurus, ut tametsi minentur illi et ante oculos proponant, nisi in eis versatus fueris, carceres et paedorem, nihilo tamen magis nihil in te proficient. Philoxenumque fortasse imitaberis qui, iussus a Dionisio ut tragediam eius legeret emendaretque, totam una litura circumduxit, in latumiasque demitti maluit quam illaudatum opus aut emendare aut legere. [46]  Caeterum et aliud est, Matti, quod nescio quonammodo tibi summopere displicere non possit. Cum enim abstinentiae, castitatis, famis, frigoris, inopiae maximam ostentationem praebeatis, cum mundi huius illecebrarum viros vos contemplatores praedicetis, cum saxei pene et indo- | miti erga omne mali genus videri velitis, qua ratione tam pretiosa palatia et, ut Homerus ait, μέγαρα εὔπηκτα construitis, tam amoenas ambulationes exornatis, tam magna triclinia, tam politas cellulas, tam compta peristylia aedificatis? Nonne in hominum beatitudine et opulentia maxima fere dignitas est elegantis habitationis? Cum vos ab hoc seculo remotos eiectos dicatis, cur eius commoditatibus tam sumptuose utimini? At fortasse non meministis hoc quod Christus in 5 pessimi U: pessime L. || 6 Ricardus, Occhas: Ricardus [O]cchas U: et Richardus Occhas L. || 6 quicquam [...] demamus: quicq[uam] te[m]poris de Eva[n]gelioru[m] lectione debeam[us] U: omissa Evangeliorum lectione toti estis? L. || 9  demissionem U: demissionemque L. || 9-10  aequanimem L: aequanime U. || 10  addiscitis L: ddiscitis (sic) U. || 10  An non meministis: an meministis U. || 11  q[uod] quotidie ediscu[n]tur i[n] libris p[rae]cepta U (after ‘praecepta’ a long space, and in the margin: ‘Transitio’: repeated in the margin of L): ex quorum quotidie ediscuntur libris praecepta L. || 13  devius: devie[n]s (sic, devians?) U: alienus L. || 13  mine[n]t[ur] illi et an[te] oculos propona[n]t, nisi in eis versatus fueris, carceres et paedore[m] U: illi minitentur carceres, et pedorem ante oculos proponant L. || 15  proficiant L: proficie[n]t U. || 17  litura L: lectura U. || 17  latumiasque L: lathomasq[ue] U. || 18 (a second long space: in the margin: ‘Transitio’, repeated in L). || 23  omne mali genus: omne malegenus U: omne vitiorum genus L. || 23 velitis U: vultis L. || 24  μεγαρα ἐύπητα U. || 26  peristylia L: peristila U. || 27 elegantis U: elegantia L. || 27 cu[m] U: Cur L. || 28 dicatis U: dicitis L. || 29  At U: An L. ||

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this world? And why do you make such sumptuous use of its comforts? But perhaps you do not remember what Christ teaches in the gospel? He says ‘Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, and the son of man has nowhere to lay his head’.202 Perhaps your rule really does not forbid you to build so splendidly. I myself think rather that your manner of dress was instituted simply to show that it is not appropriate for you to live in great buildings, nor in rich lodgings, but rather to go wandering here and there through the world preaching the gospel of Christ everywhere. For what is the purpose of that mule-driver’s cape that covers your head than to protect you from sun and rain as you travel abroad? What do the clogs and the bare feet tell us? Is it not that you can cross waters straightway and without long delay? What of that easily obtained dun coloured cloth? Does it offer the best protection from heavy rain? This is how Francis made you, this is what he instituted, or more exactly203 what Bonaventure instituted: travellers, not secluded men who prolong uninterrupted stays in monasteries or stroll about only in town. But you have excelled so much in prosperous idleness that you can be accused of what Stratonicus said of the Rhodians. Criticising their luxury, he said they built as if they would be immortal, but ate as if they would live for a short time.204 If anyone should stop off in these buildings of yours, he could well exclaim, as Telemachus did in Homer: ‘Olympian Zeus methinks has halls like this: | What riches past all telling! I behold and marvel.’205 Socrates was not so sour, and Diogenes was different to you in this respect. For they, observing this sort of thing, would say if we believe Plutarch: ‘What misery, how many oddities, and stupidities are here! I cannot help laughing’.206 But really when it comes to your interests I cannot but admire your policy. Ordinary living may be satisfied with little, and if you were to ask for something for your use from the citizens, you might be able to extract a small sum of money on that basis. It was therefore entirely appropriate that this business of extending your forecourt be presented with prayers. Because great expense is necessary for it, large sums must

  Matthew 8.20.   Here the editor of L notes the similarity with Erasmus’ colloquy The Franciscans, Πτωχοπούσιοι (The Rich Beggars). 204  Plutarch, De cupiditate divitiarum, 5. Moralia, 525B (Loeb, VII, p. 19). 205   Telemachus in the house of Menelaus (Homer, Odyssey 4.74-5), quoted by Plutarch in De cupiditate divitiarum, 9. Moralia, 527E (Loeb, VII, p. 33-5). Translation by Phillip H. de Lacy and Benedict Einarson. 206   Plutarch says simply ‘Whereas Socrates or Diogenes would have said rather [...]’. Alciato may have seen the translation by Erasmus, which was made in 1512 (Opera (1703), vol. 4, col. 57). 202 203



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Evangelio praecipiat: ‘Vulpes,’ inquit ille, ‘foveas habent et volucres coeli nidos, et filius hominis non habet ubi caput reclinet.’ At fortasse regula nihil prohibemini, quo minus tam laute aedificetis. Atqui ipse non alia de causa instituta eo modo indumenta vestra arbitror, quam ut ostenderetur non in magnis aedibus, non in opulentis diversoriis convenire vobis habitare, sed potius huc atque illuc per orbem errabundos ire, Christi evangelium ubique praedicantes. Quid enim vult aliud mullio­ nicus ille cucullio, quo capita contegitis, quam ut, cum peregre vaditis, a sole et pluvia vos tutos reddat? Quid calopodia nudique pedes prae se ferunt? Non ut statim absque longiore mora aquas tranare positis? Quid parabilis ille gilvi coloris pannus? Nonne tutissimum velamentum imbribus praestat? Sic itaque vos fecit, sic instituit Franciscus, seu quod verius est Bonaventura, quasi viatores institueret, non umbraticos viros, qui in monasteriis continuam moram traheretis, vel per urbem tantum vagaremini. Vos vero succedente desidia ita perfecistis, ut Stratonici in Rhodios illud vobis impingi possit. Hic, eorum luxuriem taxans, aedificare illos dixit tanquam immortales futuros, rursus obsonari tanquam brevi tempore victuros. Nam si quis in vestras hasce aedes descenderit, Telemachi illud Homericum poterit exclamare: ‘Talis adest aula haec qualis Iovis altitonantis | Plurima di- | ctu mira stupor me habet aspicientem.’ Non ita tetricus ille Socrates et in hoc vestri dissimilis Diogenes. Illi enim huiusmodi cernentes, si Plutarcho credimus, dicerent: ‘Quam multa hic misera, inusitata, stulta; risus me capit aspicientem.’ Sed profecto in re vestra non possum non consilium hoc admirari. Cum enim hominum vita paucis contenta sit, si in usum aliquem vestrum a civibus postularetis, non magnam pecuniarum summam hoc nomine possetis eruscare. Quamobrem utilissimum fuit titulum hunc struendi atrii precibus praetendi; quod enim magno dispendio ea in re opus est,

1 praecipiat U: praecipit L. || 2  et filius U: at filius L. || 2  At: An U L. || 4  eo modo U: (omitted) L. || 8  cu[m] peregre U: peregre cum L. || 10 mora U: more L. || 11 Nonne tutissimum: non tutissimum L: tutissimu[m] U. || 15 perfecistis U: profecistis L. || 16  Rhodios L: Rodios U. || 16 luxuriem U: luxuriam L. || 19  Homericum L: Homerum U. || 20 Plurima U: Pluraque L. || 22  huiusmodi U: (omitted) L. || 23  misera L: miseria U. || 24 consiliu[m] hoc U: hoc consilium L. || 25  aliquem L: aliqu[i] (sic?) U. || 27 eruscare U: excusari L. || 27 Qua[m]obrem utilissimu[m] U: Quam autem ob rem visum L. || 28  e[ni]m U: (omitted) L. || 28  opus est, magna q[uo]que U: opus est? quod magna quaeque L. ||

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quite rightly be demanded.207 And as a result an extravagant amount can be gathered in a short time. Some come forward to give marble, by contributing expenses; this man will give pure white statues, another a amount of silver. This was not the way of those early, eminently holy monks, who loved the sands of Africa, the deserts of Thebes, the solitudes of Egypt, the barren lands of Syria; they dwelt there in unhewn caves and among rugged rocks, where they devoted themselves entirely to divine contemplation. [47]  But why do I go on about such details? Did not Francis, that divinity of yours,208 choose to make his seat in the rugged Apennine mountains? There his eye would not often enjoy pictures, there he would not distract his mind with long walks, nor warm his body in comfortable cells, but would feed his eyes with rapt contemplation of divine majesty, his mind with continuous meditation, and his body with assiduous fasting. He is the one whom others of your order have imitated and have rightly earned a reputation for surpassing blessedness among their followers. If you were to follow their examples, it would hardly be necessary for certain of you to be chosen to advertise the probity of your master on street corners and in squares, raising him to heaven with their songs like harmonious birds, in order to portray him as blessed after his death. How I too would damn these absurdities, when I see you being greeted one after another and vaunting astonishing sanctimonious images! This is why I am obliged, even if unwillingly, to say Christ was alluding to you when he said: ‘And they love the first places at feasts and the first seats in councils, and salutations in the market place, and to be called by men “Rabbi” [...]209 for one is your master, namely Christ, but you are all brothers. And call no one your “father” on earth, for you have one father, who is in heaven. And do not be called “masters”: for you have one master, namely Christ’.210 This teaching we Christians should observe so much the more because we read that even some of the better ancients refused such proud titles. This is why Pythagoras did not accept the bombastic name of the sophists and preferred to be called ‘a cultivator of wisdom’ rather than ‘a wise man’.211 207   L takes these last two sentences to be questions: ‘Was it appropriate [...]?’ ‘Was it necessary [...]?’ As statements, they may be understood as satirical. 208   The word numen (supreme authority, deity) may be thought to lend a sarcastic tone to the following remarks about St Francis’ asceticism. It seems Matthaeus, changing the word to ‘auctor’, wished to remove this suspicion. 209   ‘But be not you called Rabbi’ is omitted. 210   Matthew 23.6-10 (my translation). 211   Diogenes Laertius, Prologue, 12.



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magna quoque iustissime exigenda sunt. Hoc quoque evento immodica quantitas brevi conflatur. Occurrit adhaec qui marmora donet, conferat impensas; hic nuda et candida signa, hic modum argenti dabit. Non ita prisci illi et sanctitate illustres monachi, qui harenosa Libiaeque qui inculta Thebaidis, qui Aegyptiacas solitudines, qui Siriae sterilia diligebant. Atque illic informes caveas visuque horrida saxa incolebant, in quibus divinae contemplationi totos se dederent. [47]  Verum quid ego tam remota prosequor? Nonne vestrum numen Franciscus in horrentibus illis Apenninis montibus sedem suam delegit, ubi non pluribus picturis oculos oblectaret, non longis ambulationibus animum demulceret, non commodissimis cellulis corpus foveret, sed assiduo ieiunio, perpetua cogitatione, divinaeque maiestatis admiratione oculos, animum, corpus pasceret. Quem ex vobis alii imitati merito beatitatis insigne nomen apud posteros adepti sunt. Quorum exempla si vos sequeremini, haudquaquam necessarium esset eligi de vobis quosdam, qui vestri magistri probitatem per angulos et plateas praedicarent, qui tamquam σύμφωνες ὄρνιθες laudibus in coelum eveherent, ut post mortem pro beato depingerent. Verum et ipse quantum ineptias illas damnaverim, cum video vos invicem salutari mirisque sanctimo- | niae imaginibus gloriari. Quapropter vel inviti in vos allusisse Christum cogimur fateri cum: ‘Amant,’ inquit, ‘primos accubitus in coenis et primas cathedras in conventibus, et salutationes in foro, et vocari ab hominibus Rabbi. Unus est enim magister vester, nempe Christus. Omnes autem fratres estis. Et patrem nolite vocare vobis super terram, unus enim pater vester qui in coelis est. Ne vocemini magistri, unus enim vester est magister, nempe Christus.’ Quod praeceptum nos Christiani et eo amplius servare debemus, quod etiam meliores quosque veterum tam superbis titulis abstinuisse legimus. Qua ratione Pithagoras ampullosum illud Sophorum nomen non recepit maluitque se sapientiae cultorem quam sapientem 1 evento U: commento L. || 4  Libi[a]eq[ue] U: Lybiae L. || 6  illic L: illis U. || 8 Nonne vestrum numen Franciscus U: Quem instituti illius vestri Auctorem praedicatis L: (in the margin) Transitio U L. || 10  pluribus L: pluris U. || 11  demulceret L: demulciret U. || 17  σύμφωνες ὄρνιθες L: ψαφώνος ὄρνιθες U. || 17  eveherent[ur] ut [...] depingant[ur] U: eveherent, qui [...] depingerent L. || 18 Veru[m] et ipse qua[n]tu[m] ineptias illas­ da[m]naveri[m] U: cum et ipse ineptias illas mirum quantum damnaverit L || 19  Cu[m] ­video vos invice[m] salutari U: Video hinc tamen vos efferri L. || 20-21  fateri cum: ‘Amant,’: fateri. Cu[m] amant inquit U: fateri. Amant, inquit L. || 23  enim U: (omitted) L. || 24 unus U: unus est L. ||

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But the title of ‘most wise’ is not enough for you unless you stuff in every time ‘most acute’, ‘illuminated’, ‘enthroned’, and that sort of utterly meaningless flummery, so that you consider it improper to pronounce the names of certain people without putting in first this sort of title. And though in the Lord’s prayer, addressing God, you say only ‘Our father, who art in heaven’, you call even some Aloysius or Joachim212 from your fraternity ‘blessed father’. Oh what wonderful examples of silliness! What laughable, or rather deplorable foolishness! And one fat little father is as pleased with this greeting as some one who has defeated a pugilist in the Pancration, or has been declared a winner of the Pentathlon. When I was present once at a sermon of one of your fathers, I noticed he said that all those in the convents of this order of yours are ‘pure, perfect angels’. What portents are these? Let’s leave aside the bad ones and speak of the best: are they for that reason ‘angels’? Did not God will that the angels’ condition should be exempt from mortal blemish? In addition, you call the man who is your founder according to your literature, ‘Bachelor’. Where does this word come from, I ask? From ‘bucca’ [mouth] or is it, more exactly, etymologically from ‘Bacchus’?213 Is it in fact, since he excels in knowledge of most things, that he is allowed to indulge with impunity both with his mouth and with Bacchus? [48]  I come to your preachers who, forgetting their office, deal mostly with what has no relevance to morals. For they dispute about how many types of blood there are, what the orders of the blessed are, how God may create souls. And they waste a whole hour of the clock talking about this sort of question when even Paul would avoid them. He says to Titus ‘I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God be accustomed to put good works first. For these are honourable and useful to men. But avoid foolish questions, genealogies, controversies and legal disputes, for these are useless and vain’.214 Timothy too Paul advises to reject foolish and unprofitable questions, because discords arise from them.215 There are even some who relate their dreams, of which they may have convinced themselves, and there are those who claim to know 212   Possibly an allusion to Joachim di Fiore (c. 1135-1202), who was considered a prophet by members of the spiritual wing of the Franciscan order. See DeVun in note 48 above. 213   Alciato, of course, knows the accepted derivation of ‘baccalaurat’, as the gloss of ‘Cuiuslibet disciplinae’ in the De verborum significatio (Commentaria, lex LVII) shows: ‘Primus [gradus] qui a bacca laurea nomen sumpsisse videtur [...]’ (‘The first grade, which seems to have taken its name from “olive garland” [...]’). 214   Titus 3.8-9. 215   1 Timothy 4.7.



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dicere. At vobis non satis est ‘sapientissimi’ titulo, nisi acutissimum, illuminatum, inthronizatum, huiusmodique nugacissimas nugas semper inculcetis, ut quorundam nomina sine istius tituli praefatione pronunciare nefas ducatis. Et cum in dominica oratione Deum alloquentes: ‘Pater noster qui es in coelis,’ solum dicatis, Aloysium aliquem vel Ioachim ex vestris fratribus, beatum patrem appellatis. O mira fatuitatis exempla! O ridiculam vel potius deflendam insipientiam! Et pinguis ille pater ea salutatione tam gaudet quam qui in Pancratio pugilem superaverit, quam qui Pentathli victor fuerit declaratus. At cum aliquando contioni unius vestri patris adessem, adnotavi eum dicentem quotquot in coenobiis vestri huius ordinis sunt, puros, putos angelos esse. Quaenam portenta haec sunt? Omittamus malos; de his disseramus qui optimi sunt. Num idcirco angeli? Nonne separatam horum conditionem a mortali labe Deus voluit? His adde quod et eum qui literatura illa vestra conditor sit Baccalaureum vocatis. Unde, quaeso, id nomen? An a buccis? An ab ethymo proprius sit a Baccho? Quod videlicet, cum plurimarum rerum scientia praecellat, indulgere ei et buccis et Baccho impune liceat? |  [48]  Venio ad concionatores vestros, qui, officii sui immemores, ea potissimum attingunt quae nihil ad mores faciunt: quot genera sint sanguinis disputant, quot beatorum sint ordines, quonam modo creet Deus animas, huiusmodique quaestionibus, etiam reluctante Paulo, totam clepsydrae horam dicendo eximunt. ‘De his,’ ad Titum inquit ille, ‘volo ut confirmes, quo soliti sint ut bonis operibus praesint qui crediderint Deo. Haec enim sunt honesta et utilia hominibus. Stultas autem quaestiones et genealogias et contentiones, et pugnas legales omitte. Sunt enim inutiles et vanae.’ Idem Timotheo suadet ut stultas et inutiles quaestiones respuat, quum inde seditiones oriantur. Sunt aliqui etiam sua somnia, quae sibi confinxerint narrantes; sunt et qui vaticinia se scire profiteantur, hocque 2  nugacissima L: nugasissimas U. || 4  Deum alloquentes: (omitted) L. || 5 Ioachi[m] U: Ioachimum L. || 5-6  ex vestris L: et a [inserted above the line] vestris U. || 7  ridiculam L: ridiculu[m] U. || 10  adessem L: adesse U. || 11  putos L: putes U. || 14  eum qui L: eu[m] literatura U. || 14  conditor U: conditus L. || 15  ethymo proprius U: ethymo, quod propius (sic) L. || 19  Quot genera sint L: quod g[e]n[er]a sunt U. || 20  quot beatorum sint L: q[ui] beatoru[m] sunt U. || 21  reluctante L: elucta[n]te U. || 22-23  volo ut confirmes, quo soliti sint ut bonis operibus p[rae]sint q[ui] credideri[n]t Deo U: volo te confirmare, ut curent bonis operibus praeesse, qui credunt Deo. Haec sunt bona L. || 25  et contentiones U: (omitted) L. || 27  aliqui U: ubique L. || 28  co[n]fixerint (sic) U: confinxerunt L. || 28  qui vaticinia L: qui se vaticinia U. ||

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prophecies, and by this means particularly try to frighten those whom they cannot bring to religion and piety with ordinary words. By Hercules, this was something which deservedly turned out badly for John of Rupescissa, your fellow priest. For he claimed that he was warned by God of universal judgement and proclaimed the end of the world was nigh, and when events did not match his words, he was taken by Urban V and kept a prisoner at Avignon.216 There are others who preach the lives of the saints to the people with great frequency. When they happen to preach on the day sacred to saint Joseph, great heavens, how many and what grand proclamations they make! It is not enough, as in the gospel, to call him a righteous man who did not want to put Mary to shame,217 but they place him before the apostles, before the Forerunner,218 they cannot find a place for him in heaven. When a certain kitchen gardener once heard this he exclaimed ‘If you cannot make a place, put him in my basket, blessed sirs’- and wittily enough indeed, if Joseph in heaven is not offended. This man acts as if he were on equal standing with other pious people, and we mortals too should not imagine for ourselves differences of quality between the immortals, forgetting the saying of Christ: ‘The last shall be like the first, and the first like the last’.219 But what is more utterly wicked than that some Minorite has dared to gather six thousand fables into one book, and from these execrable examples has made Francis almost like Christ, so that Christ said or did on earth nothing that was not equally said or done by Francis.220 Ah, he has surely forgotten that in Matthew it is said ‘the disciple is not above the teacher’.221 Did this basest of workers not put at the head of his work ‘One may blame, but not emulate’?222 – 216   Jean de Roquetaillade (d. 1362 or 1366?), a French Franciscan who wrote influential works on alchemy and apocalyptic prophecy. According to DeVun (note 48 above), p. 26, he was imprisoned from 1344 on for ‘more than twenty years’, which may explain why Alciato names Urban V (1362-1370) here rather than Clement VI (1291-1352) and Innocent VI (1352-1362). 217   Matthew 1.18-24. 218   Ie. John the Baptist. 219   Matthew 19.30, Mark 10.31, Luke 13.30. 220   In his Legenda Sancti Francisci, Bonaventure makes a systematic comparison between Francis and Christ which culminates in ch. 13, 3 with the assertion that Francis bore in his hands and feet the stigmata of Christ. The work is translated by Ewert Cousins as The Life of St Francis (Mahwah, N.J., Paulist Press, 1978). 221   Matthew 10.24. 222  Guillaume Budé had a very similar dictum printed underneath the title of the second edition of his De asse (Paris: J. Badius, 1516): Μωμήσασθαι ταύτα ρᾶόν ἔστιν ἢ μιμήσαςθαι (‘It is quicker to censure these things than to emulate them’), and a slightly different version in that of 1528: Πολλὰ μωμήσαις ρᾶόν ἔστιν ἢ μιμήσαις (‘It is quicker to



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potissimum modo, quos verbis ad cultum et pietatem inducere nesciunt, absterrere conantur. Quod merito, Hercule, in malam rem Iohanni de Rupescissa symmistae vestro vertit. Cum enim se a Deo admonitum universalis iudicii affirmaret, cumque mundi finem adesse conclamaret, quia dictis eius res non responderunt, Avinione ab Urbano quinto captus in custodia mansit. Sunt alii qui sanctorum vitam saepissime populo praedicant. Cum in solennem divo Iosepho diem incidunt, dii boni quot laudes, quot praeconia quamque grandia sonant! Non satis est hunc cum Evangelio virum iustum appellare, qui Mariam παραδειγματίσαι noluerit, sed Apostolis, sed Praecursori proponunt. Nullum in coelo locum reperiunt in quem eum reponant. Quod cum quandoque olitor quidam audisset, exclamavit: ‘Si non est ubi condatis, in meam hanc corbem, beatissimi viri, reponite’; et ille quidem satis facete, nisi in coelo indignaretur Ioseph. Cum ipse summa concordia cum caeteris piis agat nec qua­litatem inter eos nos homines possumus nobis ipsis fingere et Christi illud obli­ vioni mandare: ‘Erunt novissimi sicut primi et primi sicut novissimi.’ Sed quid omnino prophanius est ausum | quam quendam Minoritarum sex milia fabularum in unum librum conferre, ex illisque execrabilibus exemplis pene Christo parem Franciscum facere, ut nihil dixerit, fecerit in terris Christus quod aeque a Francisco dictum, factum non sit. Ah, quam immemor ille apud Mattheum dici, non esse discipulum supra praeceptorem. An vilissimus artifex operi suo titulum hunc posuerit: μωμήσεται τὶς μᾶλλον ἤ μιμήσεται - neminem videlicet artis aemulum

2 absterrere U: terrere L. || 7  Cum in solennem L: Cu[m]q[ue] solenne[m] U. || 7  Iosepho L: Ioseph U. || 8  quamque U: et quam L. || 8  Non satis est L: Non satis U. || 9 qui U: ut qui L. || 9  παραδειγματίσαι L: παραδαγματίσαι U. || 13  viri reponite U: viri, quicquid est, reponite L. || 14  nec qualitatem L: ne qualitate[m] U. || 15  homines possumus nobis L: ho[m]i[n]es nobis U. || 17  quid omnino prophanius est ausum quam quendam Minoritarum: quid o[mn]i[n]o prophanius e[st] ausun [sic] que[n]dam Minoritanum (sic) U: quid quaeso tacemus esse ausum quendam Minoritarum L. || 19  Franciscu[m] facere U: facere Franciscum L. || 22  An vilissimus U: An cum vilissimus L. || 23  μωμισεται τὶς μᾶλλον ημοιμάσεται U. ||

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that is, he allowed that no one could be an imitator of his art. And shall we allow that Christ is not God of infinite power, goodness, and wisdom, that he should seem not to have done anything more than a mere mortal man might do? But you will say ‘This fault is not ours. Come, one man may have done wrong; would you make us all guilty of one man’s sin? And because one sheep is mangy, will you reject the whole herd?’ But these are indeed faults of all of you, by Hercules. In the usual praises of the saints that you are required to recite each day by pontifical law, you despatch Peter, Paul, Andrew, and the rest of the apostles, as well as others elevated into the community of the saints, with a short prayer, and you venerate the feast of Christ in a few words. But when it comes to Francis, you recite far more prayers and give him a more extended treatment than you allot to all the saints and Christ together. I have sometimes noticed and been pained by the fact that any wretch may write a life of any holy man in any way he likes, may mix falsehoods with truths, make a headless fable223 and insert it into the calendar of the saints, imposing the whole thing on the christian world, and that without anyone objecting. But you monks are allowed anything now, because, although something may be forbidden according to your rules, you nevertheless extract whatever concession you want out of some rescript. It is said in the gospel that it is easier that heaven and earth should pass away than that one jot of the law should fall,224 but when you do something contrary to the teachings of Francis, and the tradition, although the Pontiff allows it, you no longer observe Francis’ teaching; you yourselves set up something new and much more lax! Why did you ask so insistently for that beneficial charter to be granted to you, allowing you to hear everyone’s sins in the sacrement of confession, and to grant absolution by means of a proportional penance? Although that was the primary office of priests, because of course it provided daily bread, it was seen to be expedient and very useful that this power should be granted to you. [49]  But this is enough and more than enough. For I see that I have gone so far that I am beginning to cut to the quick, as they say.225 And criticize many things than to emulate them’). It was also quoted by Luís Vives in a letter to Erasmus of 4 June 1520 (Allen, Ep. 1108. CWE 7 p. 300 ll. 130-131. The saying was perhaps inspired by Lucian, Quomodo historia conscribenda sit, 33: ἀλλ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ὁ Μῶμος μωμήσασθαι δύναιτο (‘[which] no one, not even Momus, could censure’). 223   Adagia, I i 14, ‘A story without a head’; i.e. unfinished, imperfect. 224   Matthew 5.18. 225   Adagia, II iv 13, Ad vivum resecare ‘To cut to the quick’, where Erasmus says the expression means ‘to be needlessly precise or pedantic’. There seems to be a confusion of two sayings. L renders the phrase: ‘as they say about wine, “I begin to cough up”’.



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passus? Et nos incomparabilis potentiae, virtutis, sapientiae Christum Deum patiemur non alia videri fecisse quam quae etiam mortalis homo egerit? At dicetis: ‘Non nostrum hoc delictum est. Age, unus malefecerit, num ex unius peccato omnes nos reos facies? Et quod una ovis scabiosa sit, totum gregem num idcirco repudiabis?’ Hercule vero, sed et haec omnium culpa est, quod cum in ordinariis illis sanctorum laudibus, quas quotidie recitare ex pontificia lege tenemini, Petrum, Paulum, Andream, caeterosque apostolos tum alios etiam in consortium piorum relatos, brevi oratione transigatis, Christique celebrationem paucis verbis veneramini, ubi tamen ad Franciscum deventum est, longe plures orationes diffusioremque tractatum de eo recitatis quam omnibus simul sanctis cum Christo tribuatis. Animadverti quandoque hoc indoluique, cuique nebuloni esse concessum ut sancti cuiusque viri quomodocumque libuerit vitam conscribat falsaque veris immisceat, ἀκεφαλόν τε μύθον etiam inter misticas ephemeridas inserat, christianoque orbi in tantum imponat, idque nemine reclamante. Sed iam omnia vobis permittuntur, quippe qui, tametsi aliquid ex canonibus vestris facere prohibeamini, nihilominus ex rescripto aliquo concessionem quamcumque extorquetis. Cum tamen in Evangelio facilius esse dicatur coelum et terram praeterire quam de lege unum apicem cadere, cum contra institutiones Francisci traditionem, quamvis indulgente Pontifice, aliquid facitis, non amplius Francisci dogma observatis, sed novum quoddam multo laxius vos ipsi constituitis! | Cur enim tam felix illud diploma sollicite concedi vobis petiistis, ut liceret omnium delicta in sacramento confessionis audire, indictaque pro ratione poena absolvere? Cum sacerdotum id prius muneris esset, nimirum quod πρὸς ἄλφιτα faciebat, conducibile utilissimumque visum est si ea vobis facultas concederetur. [49]  Verum haec satis et super. Video enim me eo progressum esse ut (quod aiunt) ‘ad vivum resecare’ incipiam. Igitur ut causam omnem

1  Et nos L: et no[n] U. || 6  haec U: et hoc L. || 14  ακεφαλόν τε μύθον U. || 15  orbi in tantum imponat L: orbi tanta[m] idque U. || 16  sed ia[m] omnia U: Sed ea omnia L. || 20  cadere cu[m] contra U: cadere. Quaeso autem an non cum contra L. || 21  traditione[m] U: et traditiones L. || 23  Cur U: Cum L. || 23  tam L: tantu[m] U. || 23  sollicite U: tam sollicite L. || 23  vobis U: (omitted) L. || 26  conducibile L: Conducile U. || 28  haec: hec (sic) U: hoc L. || 29  ad vivum resecare: de vuo (sic) resecare U: de vino, exscreare L. ||

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so, Mattius, let me summarise briefly the whole case for you from everything I have written at length. I have poured this out in this first impulse, while the message that you have made this change still perturbs me most strongly. I know, as you could clearly understand, that this Minorite way of life, even observed according to the letter, does not deserve unqualified praise, in that it requires us to do many things not in accordance with the gospel, and very many at variance with the most pious traditions of the fathers of the church. For this reason the way of life of others, whom you call laymen and who are not induced to swear an oath to any master, is not hindered by so many stumbling blocks. Indeed if we suppose a man untainted, unmoved by human allurements, such as you were formerly, it would be a far easier way amid these allurements to find salvation in heaven. Hence there is no reason for delay in changing your mind and returning to that free mode of life which is more acceptable to heaven than anything else. You may be in some doubt, you will be very much afraid of what common people may say, that men may wonder at your change of mind and the crowd may taunt you as inconstant. But do you not know how petty, how untrustworthy is common talk among that rabble, and that it has no credibility for a good man? This is certainly demonstrated by that author of fables, whoever he was, who tells how a widow, no longer wishing to remain celibate, but fearing the laughter of the crowd – which is particularly wounding with sarcasms and raillery about those who go on to a second marriage – did something her nurse suggested. She ordered a dun coloured ass that she kept to be painted green and to be led about the streets of the city. All the common people followed this wonderful sight around the city for amusement’s sake (for they had not seen an ass of this colour) and pursued it with shouting and joking. Although it had been at the start a common subject of talk for the crowd, after this ass was led around every day, they ceased to marvel. This author was predicting the same would happen to the widow, that it would be on everyone’s lips for several days, but that in a short time the talk about her would be silenced.226 You should believe that your departure is very similar, for even if many, and they indeed the most ignorant, will marvel for the first month, it will thereafter be unheard and forgotten. 226   The author is the Italian humanist Laurentius Abstemius, also known as Lorenzo Bevilacqua. The first edition of his fables dates from 1495 (Venice, per Ioannem de Cereto de Tridino). I quote from the later anthology, Mythologia aesopica [...] Adiiciuntur insuper Phaedri, Avieni, Abstemii fabulae (Frankfurt, 1610), where it appears under the title Hecatomythium primum, no 80, p. 567. The author’s moral is: ‘This fable shows nothing is worthy of so much admiration that it does not cease to be a miracle with the passage of a long time’ (my translation).



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tibi, Matti, breviter percenseam ex his quae a nobis perscripta sunt, quae primo hoc impetu, dum acerrime nuncius hic mutati a te instituti me perturbat, effudi. Scio (evidenter potuisti comprehendere) vitam hanc Minoritarum, etsi ex praescripto observetur, non tamen perfectam laudem mereri, in qua multa nos agere oporteat ab Evangelio dissidentia, plurima a piissimis sanctorum patrum traditionibus discrepantia. Quapropter caeterorum, quos laicos vocatis, nullius adductos iurare in verba magistri, non tot salebris obstructum vivendi genus, quin, si virum proponanus integrum et humanis deliciis inconcussum quem hactenus tu egisti, longe faciliorem esse in his viam qua salutem apud caelestes sibi possit acquirere. Unde nihil in mora esse dicit, quominus de sententia decedas, redeasque rursus in solutum illud vivendi genus quo nihil est gratius caelitibus. Addubitas fortasse, vulgi voces expavesces, ne tuam hanc resipiscentiam admirentur homines, plebesque tanquam inconstantem vellicent. Sed nescis quam levis, quamque futilis sit plebeculae istius rumor, quamque bono viro nihili habendus? Ostendit certe id, quisquis ille fuit, ὁ μιθόλογος auctor qui, cum vidua in coelibatu amplius stare nollet, sed vulgi irrisiones vereretur, eas potissimum salibus cavillisque demordentes quae ad secundas nuptias transeunt, hoc facto a nutrice admonitam tradit. Quem enim gilvum asinum aluerat, viridi colore depingi iussit, per urbis vias | circumduci. Cuius rei admirationem (asinum enim hoc colore non viderant) plebes omnes animi gratia per urbem comitabantur, clamoribus iocisque persequebantur. Qui, cum a principio vulgi fabula fuisset, quotidie asinus hic traduceretur, desierunt admirari. Idem viduae adventurum praesagiebat; per aliquot enim dies in ore plurium futurum, sed brevi tamen fore ut sermo ille conticesceret. Huius rei similimam discessionem hanc tuam existimato. Etsi enim primo mense plurimi admirabuntur, et illi quidem indoctissimi, deinde tamen silentio supprimetur. 6  plurima a piissimis: plurima piissimis U: plurima penitus a L. || 7  adductos: adductus (corrected in another hand ‘adductos’) U: addictos L. || 8  salebris esse obstructum vivendi genus, opinor, L: falebris [sic] obstructu[m] vivendi genus U. || 10  faciliorem esse in his via[m] U: faciliorem ei existimem viam L. || 11  possit L: possi[n]t U. || 11  dicit U: debet L. || 12  rursus U: rursum L. || 13  c[a]elitibus U: coelestibus L. || 13  fortasse U: fortassis L. || 13  expavesces U: expavescis L. || 14  plebesque L: plebeiq[ue] U. || 15  futilis U: facilis’ L. || 17  μυθολόγος U. || 21 per U: et per L. || 21  admiratione[m] (asinu[m] enim hoc colore no[n] viderant) U: admiratione asinum, quem hoc colore non viderant L. || 24  quotidie asinus U: quotidie autem asinus L. || 24-25  desierunt admirari U: desierunt tandem admirari L. || 25  adventuru[m] U: eventurum L. || 26  futuru[m] U: futuram L. || 27  discessione[m] hanc tuam U: hanc discessionem tuam L. ||

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[50]  For you may give credit to men of some judgement that they will not be scoffers, since indeed they know very well that up to now you are bound by no law and that you are given a year to assess your strengths, to examine religious teachings. They are different for a while from lay persons only in attire, and they are allowed complete freedom to withdraw, but the law states that one who observes their sense and spirit is guilty of no crime, disgrace, or reproach, so many men of the most weighty authority leave monasteries after this interval, and nevertheless emerge to a blameless life and purest morals. For there is, as Paul says, no respect of persons with God.227 If a monk, or a Minorite, or some Calaguritan228 becomes a priest, or even discharges himself altogether; if he does good, he will acquire grace in heaven. Under any covering some good man will possibly be found; under any cloak the bad will be destroyed by their evil. Baptism is the same for all, and all we christians are brothers. In other respects, if a man has been strong in good deeds, the greater his strength the better the state he will have in heaven. Hence Chrysostom writes,229 as well as other outright censurers of monks, that the merits of those who spend their lives with others in this world, initiated into no religious profession, are greater than yours providing they have lived justly and honestly. So you must above all enter on this life, or rather come back to it, lest you, who used to be mindful of others and do so much for them, take advice from the worst lawyers and follow the example of that christian business man. Though he sold the purest wines of the highest grade to others, he kept the acidic and degraded vapid wine for himself. When his slave was caught escaping by someone and was asked why he was leaving his master, he said ‘Have you not read that Cicero liked this little verse: “I hate a wise man who is not wise for himself”’.230 For one who is not wise for himself, and is wise only for others, is mad, more stupid than Choroebus, and more foolish than Meli-

  Romans 2.11.   A person from Calagurris, the Latin form of Calahorra in Tarragona, north western Spain. Perhaps an allusion to a Dominican. Merula had named St Dominic, in the passage quoted above (note 41), as ‘Dominicus Calagurritanus’. Dominic, however, according to all authorities, was born in Caleroga, not Calahora. NCE 4, 964. 229   This argument is based in general terms on Chrysostom’s argument in the work quoted above in note 75, lib. II, section 9, cols 344-6, but, as before, to reach the opposite conclusion. 230   Euripides, frag. 905. Quoted by Cicero, Epistulae ad familiares, 13.15.2 and by Aristophanes and Lucian among others, it became almost proverbial, and is included by Erasmus in his commentary on Adagia, I vi 20, ‘He’s wise in vain that’s not wise for himself’. Quoted by Alciato also in his De verborum significatione, p. 31, when he is speaking of ignorance as an acceptable reason for not applying a penalty. 227

228



Andreae Alciati contra vitam monasticam epistula133 [50]  Nam

134v

alicuius iudicii viros non est quod insultaturos arbitrere, quandoquidem optime illi noscent, nulla te adhuc lege coherceri, annumque vobis dari ut interea vestras vires experiamini, ut religionis instituta exploretis; quapropter interea a laicis solo habitu differre, recedendi veniam liberrimam concedi, legibus ita caveri qui earum vires tenoremque servet, nullius criminis, infamiae, notae reum esse, plurimos gravissimae auctoritatis viros ex monasteriis hoc temporis interstitio digressos, nihilominus tamen inculpatae vitae candidissimisque moribus existere. ‘Non enim,’ ut est apud Paulum, ‘personarum respectus est penes Deum’, sit aliquis monachus, sit Minorita, sit ex Calagurritanis, si de illis rursus fiat sacerdos vel etiam omnino se solvat, si bene fecerit, graciam in caelo acquiret. Sub quocumque tegmine reperiri quilibet bonus poterit. Sub quocumque indumento mali male perdentur. Unum est baptisma omnium, et omnes christiani sumus fratres. Caeterum, qui bene meritis polluerit, is quo magis praevaleat, eo melioris conditionis in caelo erit. Quapropter cum vestris maiora eorum merita esse Chrysostomus, licet aliique vituperatores monachorum, scribant qui una cum aliis vitam in hoc seculo degunt, nulli professioni initiati, hi modo iuste et probe vixerint, hanc potissimum debes vitam ingredi, vel potius ad eam regredi, ne qui aliis bene consulere tantamque | rem facere solebas, tibi ipsi, sub pessimis consultis, christianum illum negociatorem imiteris, qui cum meracissima vina primaeque nobilitatis aliis venderet, ipse sibi acidum in vappamque depravatum retinebat. Cuius servulus, cum in fuga a quopiam deprehensus interrogaretur cur dominum relinqueret: ‘Nonne legisti senariolum illum Ciceroni placuisse: μισῶ σοφισὴν ὅστις οὐκ αυτῶ σοφὸς.’ Qui enim sibi ipsi non sapit et nisi caeteris sapiat, is 1  insultaturos L: insulturos U. || 3  annumque L: animu[m]que U. || 3  interea v[est] ras vires U: interea vires L. || 6  not[a]e U: notaeve L. || 9  existere L: existe U. || 10  Minorita L: minorista U. || 10  sit ex Calagurritanis, si de illis rursus fiat L: si ex calaguritanis [sic] rursus de illis fiat U || 12  acquiret U: acquirit L. || 12  reperiri L: reperire U: ‘. || 13  male U: (omitted) L. || 14  Caeterum L: Cae- (sic) U. || 16-17  merita etiam Chrysostomus li · r (sic) adusque [aliisque?] U: Chrysostomus aliique L. || 17  scribant L: scribat U. || 18  seculo L: seculi U. || 18-19  initiati, hi modo U: initiati, modo iuste L. || 19  vita[m] U: viam L. || 20  ta[n]ta[m]que U: gratamque L. || 21  sub pessimis co[n]sultis U: dum pessime consulis L. || 23  acidum in vappamque depravatum U: acida in vappamque depravata L. || 25  no[n]ne legisti senariolu[m] U: legisti, inquit, senariolum L. || 28  placuisse L: placu- | cuisse U. || 26  et nisi c[a]eteris sapiat is plane demen[s] est U: is si caeteris sapiat, demens est L. ||

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tides.231 And so, since you seem to have been mistaken, it follows that you should put that mistake right. Plato compared human life to dice,232 in which the player must wish for the best throw, but whatever happens, the result is that evil happens. This, as Terence says,233 you should correct by your skill. Otherwise, if you do not, Mattius, and do not get rid of hood, tunic, clogs, cord, and cloak, what else can I suspect of you than that, as people are saying, it was desperation and timidity which drove you in haste into the cloister, and that fear of criticism and embarrassment keeps you there? See even in this regard if what Hesiod said could not be turned against you (a saying which even Aristotle,234 greatest of the pagans, liked): That man is altogether best who considers all things himself, And marks what will be better afterwards and at the end; And he, again, is good who listens to a good adviser; But whoever neither thinks for himself nor keeps in mind What another tells him, he is an unprofitable man.235

Here it is said that there are three sorts of men, of whom the more noble are those who work out everything for themselves. Of the others, those too are good who do not see rightly enough for themselves what must be done, but comply with those who give good advice. The third group, who do not think for themselves and cannot submit to those who do give good advice, these must be hissed off by all as quite senseless and useless. So since you, Mattius, whom I suspect may have become quite foolish,236 could not stay in the first group but have allowed yourself to be demoted from it, you should in consequence submit to a good man who has kind regard for you, and not allow yourself to be thrown in with the third rank, where you may be thought mad and utterly unfit. [51]  I pray God he may give you better sense.237 Farewell. 7 June 1553 In a period of four days.

231   Adagia, II ix 64, ‘As foolish as Coroebus’ and IV iv 69, ‘As stupid as Melitides’. Aristophanes, Frogs, 989-91, Lucian, Amores, 53. According to Erasmus both characters are mentioned by Eustathius in his commentary on Homer (1669.51 and 1669.64, on Odyssey, 10.552). 232  Plato, Republic, 10.604c. 233  Terence, Adelphi, 4.7, ll. 22-3: ‘if that which you most want to throw does not turn up, what turns up by chance you must correct by art’. Translation by Henry Thomas Riley (Loeb). 234  Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 1095b. 235  Hesiod, Works and Days, 293-97. Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Loeb). 236   μάταιος (mataios). A facile, but deliberate pun. 237  Cf. Adagia, IV i 91, ‘Dii tibi dent tuam mentem’ (‘May the gods give you the mind you deserve’), which Erasmus says is applicable to the insane.



Andreae Alciati contra vitam monasticam epistula135

plane demens est, Coroeboque furiosior, et Melitide magis fatuus. Quum igitur te deceptum videas, proximum est ut errorem illum emendes. Humanam vitam Plato cum alea comparabat, in qua optimus quisque iactus aleatori expetendus est; sed utcumque tamen acciderit consequens est quod male accidit, id arte, quod Comicus ait, ut corrigas. Alioqui si id non feceris, cucullionemque et tunicam et calopodia et funem et pallium non exueris, quid ego amplius in te suspicari possim, quam, quod vulgo, dicitur desperationem pusillanimitatemque in coenobium te praecipitem egisse, timorem notae et erubescentiae in eo te continere? Qua in re vide etiam ne Hesiodi illud in te intorqueatur, quod etiam ethnicorum primo Aristoteli placuit: Οὗτος μὲν πανάριστος, ὃς αὐτὸς πάντα νοήσει Φρασσάμενος τά κ᾽ ἔπειτα καὶ ἐις τέλος ᾖσιν ἀμείνω, Εσθλὸς δ᾽ αὖ κἀκεῖνος, ὃς εὖ εἰπόντι πίθηται Ὃς δέ κε μητ᾽ αὐτὸς νοέῃ, μήτ᾽ ἄλλου ἀκούων Ἐν θυμῶ βάλληται, ὁδ᾽ αὖτ᾽ ἀχρῃῖος ἀνήρ.

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Quibus tria esse hominum genera traditur, quorum nobiliores sint qui ex se ipsis omnia noscunt. Caeterum et illi boni, qui ex se ipsis quidem quid agendum sit non sat recte perspiciunt, verum bene monentibus ob­tem­perant. Tertii vero, qui nec ipsi sciunt nec bene monentibus parere possunt, hi prorsus dementes et inutiles ab omnibus explodendi sunt. Cum igitur tu, Matti, quem subvereor ne plane μάταιος factus sis, primas hasce partes tenere non potueris, sed de gradu deiici te permiseris, consequens erit viro bono et bene tibi consulenti pareas, neque in tercium ordinem te coniici sinas, unde ab omnibus insanus et minime frugi vir existimeris. [51]  Deum rogo det tibi meliorem mentem. Vale. 7 Iunii 1553 Spatio 4 dierum

1  Coroeboque: Choreboque U: Ereboque L. || 1  magis fatuus U: magis insanus L. || 5  Alioqui U: Alioquin L. || 7  in te U: de te L. || 10  quod etiam U: quod et L. || 12  οὑτος μ᾽ πανάριστος, ὁς αὐτω παντα νοισει | φασσάμενος τα τ᾽ επειτα καὶ ες τέλος ἠσιν ἄμεινω | ἐσθλὸς δὲ αν κακεῖνος ὃς εὖ ειποντι πιθηται | ὃς δὲ κεμήθ᾽ αὐτῶ νοεη μήθ᾽ ἄλλου ἀκουών | ἐν θυμῶ βαλληται ὁδε ἀυτ᾽ ἀχρήιος ἀνήρ U. || 17  si[n]t U: sunt L. || 19  sat U: satis L. 21  hi prorsus U: hi ut prorsus L. || 22  μάταιος L: ματαιος U. || 28  Spatio: Spc: (sic) U: Spat L.

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25

INDEX OF NAMES Abraham  32, 33n, 34n

Bias 36-37

Abstemius, Laurentius  130n

Boccaccio, Giovanni Decameron  12, 36n

Acts of the Apostles  48n, 64n, 102n Aeneas Sylvius (Pope Pius II) 

68-69

Aesopus 88-89 Alexander IV (Pope)  110n Alexander of Hales  110, 118-19 Amadeani  52, 53 Ambrose (s.)  110-11 De officiis ministrorum 102n Amerbach, Boniface  11, 80n Angelus Clarenus  52-53 Angelus Clavasius  112-13 Anser 114-15 Anthony of Egypt (s.)  62-63 Apollinari(u)s 112-13 Aristophanes  26, 132n Plutus 76n The Clouds  36-37, 60-61, 76n, 88n The Frogs  110n, 134n Aristophon 34-35

Bonaventure (s.)  48-49, 78-79, 112-13, 120-21, 126n Caeneus (Cignus) 

26, 38-39

Calagurritani  50n, 132-33 Calvo, Francesco Giulio  11-12, 16, 21, 25, 30, 32 Cassiodorus Institutiones divinarum literarum 116-17 Catullus Carmina  62, 63 Christ, Jesus  16, 36-37, 40-47, 52-55, 62-65, 70-71, 78-87, 90-91, 96-103, 106n, 110-23, 126-29, 132-33 Chrysostom (s.) John Against the Opponents of Monastic Life  66-67, 70n, 76-77, 110-11, 114-15, 132-33

Athenaeus Deipnosophistae 52n

Cicero, Marcus Tullius De natura deorum 70-71 Epistulae ad familiares 132-33 In Catilinam 52n Philippica 114n Tusculanae Disputationes 38-39

Augustine (s.) 

Cignus (Caeneus)  26, 38-39

Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics 134-35 Arsinoë 52-53

48-49, 106-07, 110-11

Augustines  13, 48-49

Clareni 52-53

Augustulus, Emperor  68-69

Clarenus, Angelus 52-53 Cleon 74-75

Basil (s.)  112-15

Clement VI (Pope)  44n

Belisarius 48-49

Constantine, Emperor  13, 46-47

Benedict (s.)  13, 48-49, 100-01

Conventuals  15, 52n

Bernardine of Siena  50-51, 78-79

Corbetes, Valterus (Gualtiero)  10n, 11-12, 30-31

Bevilacqua, Lorenzo  130n

138

index of names

Cornutus, Lucius Annaeus De natura deorum 74n De Selve, Jean  10n, 76n Diagoras of Melos  10, 38-39 Diodorus Siculus Bibliotheca  38n, 118n Diogenes Laertius Lives of Eminent Philosophers  36n, 54n, 122n Diogenes the Cynic  54-55, 120-21 Dionysius of Syracuse  118-19 Donatus, Aelius Commentaria super Virgilium 22

Gregory of Nazianzus (s.)  110-13 Helias (Elias of Cortona) 

52-53

Hercules  34-35, 38-39 Herod Sotades  50-51 Hesiod Works and Days  64-65, 134-135 Hieronymus (s.) see Jerome Homer  112-15, 134n Iliad  76-77, 108-09, 118-19 Odyssey 120-21 Honorius, Emperor  68-69

Du Prat, Antoine  10n

Horace, Quintus Flaccus  115 Sermones (Satires) 82-83 Epistulae 94n

Duns Scotus  110

Hussites  21, 44-45

Elias of Cortona  52-53

Iohannes de Rupescissa  126-27

Epameinondas 84-85

Iphicrates 36n

Epicurus  82-85, 88n

Iphigenia  32n, 84-85

Erasmus, Desiderius  11, 16, 17, 21, 25, 120n Adagia  30n, 32n, 34n, 38n, 42n, 50n, 60n, 72n, 74n, 86n, 88n, 94n, 96n, 98n, 104n, 106n, 116n, 118n, 128n, 134n

Isocrates 36n

Essenes  14, 19, 56-57, 60-63, 66-69, 106n Euripides  112-13, 132n Iphigenia in Aulis  32n, 84-85 Eusebius of Caesarea (Eusebius Pamphilus) Ecclesiastical History  14, 56n, 68-69, 70n, 96-97 Preparation for the Gospel 104-05 Flaccus see Horace Francis (s.)  12n Froben, Johannes  11, 21

Iulius Drusus Publicola  78-79, 80n Iuvenalis, Decius Iunius Satires 108n James (s.) Epistle  62-63, 92-93, 98-99, 100n, 102-03 of Galicia  92-93 Monastery  30n, 50n Jean de Roquetaillade  126-27 Jerome (s.)  14, 106n, 110-11, 112n, 114-15 Contra Jovinianum 88-89 Epistulae  48, 50n, 66-67, 90-91, 108-09 Jews  14, 32-33, 56-57, 90-91, 114-15 John the Baptist  50-51, 126-27 John XXII (Pope)  16, 52n, 100-01, 118n



Index of names

John (s.) Gospel  80n, 102n

Minut, Jacques  10n, 11n

Josephus 14

More Thomas  30n

Junius, Antonius  25 Justinian, Emperor  82-83 Codex 80n Juvenal, Decius Iunius Satires 108n Laurentius Abstemius  130n Laurentius Levita (s.)  102-03 Leo X (Pope)  11 Livius Drusus, Marcus (Publicola)  78-79, 80n Longobard kings  48, 49 Lorenzo Bevilacqua (Laurentius Abstemius) 130n Lucian of Samosata  30n, 98-99, 128n, 132n, 134n Lucretius, Titus Carus De natura rerum  12, 17, 32n, 34-35 Luke (s.) Gospel  50n, 64n, 70n, 86n, 100n, 102n, 126n Luther, Martin  21 Lyra, Nicolaus de  110-13 Mark (s.) Gospel  50n, 66n, 70n, 90, 126n Maro see Virgil Matthaeus, Antonius  25-27, 127 Matthew (s.) Gospel  19, 54, 64, 66, 70n, 72, 84, 86n, 96n, 100n, 108n, 110n, 116n, 120n, 122n, 126, 128n Mattius, Bernardus  9-20, 25, 27, 30 Menander 112-15 Merula, Giorgio Antiquitatis Vicecomitum libri X  50-54, 132n

139

Minuziano, Alessandro  50n

Nemesis  39, 40 Nicolaus de Lyra  110-13 Observants  15, 52, 53, 100n Ockham, William of  118n Ottomans 44-45 Ovid, Publius Naso  38n Epistulae 62-63 Metamorphoses 38n Tristia 114n Palladas 56-57 Pamphilus Eusebius see Eusebius of Caesarea Parrasio, Aulo Giano  104n Paterculus, Velleius Historiae romanae 80-81 Paul of Samosata  30n Paul (s.)  14, 48n, 116-17, 128-29 I Corinthians  62-69, 72-73, 92-93 II Corinthians  94-95 Colossians 92-93 Ephesians 86-87 Galatians 64-65 Romans  42-43, 64-65, 70-71, 90-93, 132-33 Timothy  110n, 124-25 Titus  110n, 124-25 Thessalonians  62-63, 70-71 Pausanias Description of Greece 72-73 Periander 95-96 Persius, Aulus Flaccus Satires 88-89 Peter (s.)  17, 42, 128-29 Peter of Macerata (Liberato)  52n

140

index of names

Philo (Judaeus)  56-57 Philoxenus of Cythera  118-19 Phornutus / Phurnutus see Cornutus Piccolomini, Aeneas Sylvius  68-69 Pindar 112-15 Pius II  68-69 Plato 54-55 Euthydemus 34-35 Laws 96-97 Republic  104-05, 134-35 Plautus, Titus Maccius Menaechmi 114-15 Truculentus 88-89 Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus) Historia naturalis 72-73 Pliny the Younger (Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus) Epistulae  12n, 46-47 Plutarch Agesilaus 84-85 An recte dictum sit latenter esse vivendum 82-83 De cupiditate divitiarum 120-21 De liberis educandis  15, 52-53, 82-83 De virtute morali 104-05 Praecepta gerendae republicae  36-37 Porphyry On Abstaining from Meats  14, 56, 57, 70n Prat, Antoine du  10n Procopius De bello Vandalico 68-69 Propertius, Sextus  114n Proverbs, Book of  104-05 Ptolemy Philadelphus  51-52 Publilius Syrus (Publius Mimus)  104-05 Pythagoras 122-23

Richard of Conington  9, 112-13, 118-19 Richard of Middleton  9, 112-13, 118-19 Rupescissa, Iohannes de  126-27 Schrijver, Piet  25-26 Scriverius, Petrus  25-26 Selve, Jean de  10n, 76n Seneca the Younger, Lucius Annaeus Ad Lucilium Epistulae Morales  78-79 De beneficiis 74-75 Hercules Furens 40-41 Solon 94-95 Soluti 52-53 Sotades of Maroneia  51-52 Sozomenus, Salminius Hermias History of the Church  112-13, 116n Spirituals 52n Strabo Geographia  70-71, 72n Syrus Apollinari(u)s  112-13 Tacitus, Cornelius Historiae 90-91 Tartars 52-52 Terence (Publius Terentius Afer) Adelphi 134-35 Eunuchus 70-71 Theophrastus 56-57 Thucydides Peloponnesian War 74n Tullius see Cicero Turks  16, 44-47, 52-53 Urban V (Pope)  126-27



Index of names

Velleius Paterculus Historiae romanae 80-81 Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro)  22, 96-97 Eclogues 114n Visconti, Galeazzo  21 Visconti, Filippo  50-51 William of Ockham  118n Witsen, Nicolas  25 Zeno of Citium  15, 96-97

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20. Die Marias von Cornelius Aurelius. Einleitung, Textausgabe und Anmerkungen von J.C. Bedaux, 2006. 21. Justus Lipsius (1547-1606).Een geleerde en zijn Europese netwerk. Ed. by J. De Landtsheer, D. Sacré, C. Coppens, 2006. 22. Iosephus Tusiani Neo-Eboracensis, In nobis caelum. Carmina Latina. Raccolta, edizione e traduzione in lingua italiana con aggiunta di Prefazione e di Indici di Emilio Bandiera, 2007. 23. «Cui dono lepidum novum libellum?». Dedicating Latin Works and Motets in the Sixteenth Century. Ed. by Ignace Bossuyt, Nele Gabriëls, Dirk Sacré & Demmy Verbeke, 2008. 24. Spanish Humanism on the Verge of the Picaresque: Juan Maldonado’s Ludus Chartarum, Pastor Bonus and Bacchanalia. Ed. with introd., trsl., and notes by Warren Smith & Clark Colahan, 2009. 25. The Neo-Latin Epigram. A Learned and Witty Genre. Ed. by Susanna de Beer, Karl A.E. Enenkel & David Rijser, 2009. 26. Syntagmatia. Essays on Neo-Latin Literature in Honour of Monique MundDopchie and Gilbert Tournoy. Ed. by Dirk Sacré & Jan Papy, 2009. 27. De Paus uit de Lage Landen Adrianus VI 1459-1523. Catalogus bij de tentoonstelling ter gelegenheid van het 550ste geboortejaar van Adriaan van Utrecht. Ed. by Michiel Verweij, 2009. 28. Ad fines Imperii Romani anno bismillesimo Cladis Varianae. Acta Conventus Academiae Latinitati Fovendae XII Ratisbonensis. Ed. by Jan-Wilhelm Beck, 2011. 29. Aline Smeesters, Aux Rives de la lumière. La poésie de la naissance chez les auteurs néo-latins des anciens Pays-Bas entre la fin du XV e siècle et le milieu du XVII e siècle, 2011. 30. Roger Green, Philip Burton, Deborah Ford, Scottish Latin Authors in Print up to 1700. A Short-Title List, 2012. 31. Terence O. Tunberg, De rationibus quibus homines docti artem Latine colloquendi et ex tempore dicendi saeculis XVI et XVII coluerunt, 2012. 32. The Early Modern Cultures of Neo-Latin Drama, Ed. by Philip Ford & Andrew Taylor, 2013. 33. Neo-Latin Commentaries and the Management of Knowledge in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period (1400 -1700), Ed. by Karl Enenkel & Henk Nellen, 2013. 34. The Art of Arguing in the World of Renaissance Humanism, Ed. by Marc Laureys & Roswitha Simons, 2013. 35. Neo-Latin Philology: Old Tradition, New Approaches. Proceedings of a Conference Held at the Radboud University, Nijmegen, 26-27 October 2010, Ed. by Marc van der Poel, 2014. 36. Andreae Alciati Contra Vitam Monasticam Epistula. Andrea Alciato’s Letter against Monastic Life, Critical Edition, Translation and Commentary by Denis L. Drysdall, 2014. For more information about the series, please contact [email protected] or visit our website www.lup.be