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Ten Colloquies
Book by Desiderius Erasmus
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1957
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About the author
Erasmus
1,407 books452 followersDesiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (28 October 1466 – 12 July 1536), known as Erasmus of Rotterdam, or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, social critic, teacher, and theologian.
Erasmus was a classical scholar and wrote in a pure Latin style. Among humanists he enjoyed the sobriquet "Prince of the Humanists", and has been called "the crowning glory of the Christian humanists". Using humanist techniques for working on texts, he prepared important new Latin and Greek editions of the New Testament, which raised questions that would be influential in the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation. He also wrote On Free Will, The Praise of Folly, Handbook of a Christian Knight, On Civility in Children, Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style, Julius Exclusus, and many other works.
Erasmus lived against the backdrop of the growing European religious Reformation, but while he was critical of the abuses within the Catholic Church and called for reform, he kept his distance from Luther and Melanchthon and continued to recognise the authority of the pope, emphasizing a middle way with a deep respect for traditional faith, piety and grace, rejecting Luther's emphasis on faith alone. Erasmus remained a member of the Roman Catholic Church all his life, remaining committed to reforming the Church and its clerics' abuses from within. He also held to the Catholic doctrine of free will, which some Reformers rejected in favor of the doctrine of predestination. His middle road approach disappointed and even angered scholars in both camps.
Erasmus died suddenly in Basel in 1536 while preparing to return to Brabant, and was buried in the Basel Minster, the former cathedral of the city. A bronze statue of him was erected in his city of birth in 1622, replacing an earlier work in stone.
Erasmus was a classical scholar and wrote in a pure Latin style. Among humanists he enjoyed the sobriquet "Prince of the Humanists", and has been called "the crowning glory of the Christian humanists". Using humanist techniques for working on texts, he prepared important new Latin and Greek editions of the New Testament, which raised questions that would be influential in the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation. He also wrote On Free Will, The Praise of Folly, Handbook of a Christian Knight, On Civility in Children, Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style, Julius Exclusus, and many other works.
Erasmus lived against the backdrop of the growing European religious Reformation, but while he was critical of the abuses within the Catholic Church and called for reform, he kept his distance from Luther and Melanchthon and continued to recognise the authority of the pope, emphasizing a middle way with a deep respect for traditional faith, piety and grace, rejecting Luther's emphasis on faith alone. Erasmus remained a member of the Roman Catholic Church all his life, remaining committed to reforming the Church and its clerics' abuses from within. He also held to the Catholic doctrine of free will, which some Reformers rejected in favor of the doctrine of predestination. His middle road approach disappointed and even angered scholars in both camps.
Erasmus died suddenly in Basel in 1536 while preparing to return to Brabant, and was buried in the Basel Minster, the former cathedral of the city. A bronze statue of him was erected in his city of birth in 1622, replacing an earlier work in stone.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 19, 2020
Cannius. ... now it's time for you to begin changing from brute to man.
Polyphemus. You do well to warn me, for prophets these days declare the end of the world is at hand.
Cannius. All the more reason to hurry.
Polyphemus. I await the hand of Christ.
Cannius. See that you are pliant material for his hand! But where do they get the notion that the end of the world is near?
Polyphemus. They say it's because men are behaving just as they did before the Flood overwhelmed them. They feast, drink, stuff themselves, marry and are given in marriage, whore, buy, sell, pay and charge interest, build buildings. Kings make war, priests are zealous to increase their wealth, theologians invent syllogisms, monks roam through the world, the commons riot, Erasmus writes colloquies. In short, no calamity is lacking: hunger, thirst, robbery, war, plague, sedition, poverty. Doesn't this prove human affairs are at an end?
Cannius. Is this mass of woes, what worries you most?
Polyphemus. Guess.
Cannius. That your purse is full of cobwebs.
Polyphemus. Damned if you haven't hit it! -- Just now I'm on my way back from a drinking party. Some other time, when I'm more sober, I'll argue with you about the Gospel, if you like.
Cannius. When shall I see you sober?
Polyphemus. When I'm sober.
Cannius. When will you be so?
Polyphemus. When you see me so. Meantime, my dear Cannius, good luck.
Polyphemus. You do well to warn me, for prophets these days declare the end of the world is at hand.
Cannius. All the more reason to hurry.
Polyphemus. I await the hand of Christ.
Cannius. See that you are pliant material for his hand! But where do they get the notion that the end of the world is near?
Polyphemus. They say it's because men are behaving just as they did before the Flood overwhelmed them. They feast, drink, stuff themselves, marry and are given in marriage, whore, buy, sell, pay and charge interest, build buildings. Kings make war, priests are zealous to increase their wealth, theologians invent syllogisms, monks roam through the world, the commons riot, Erasmus writes colloquies. In short, no calamity is lacking: hunger, thirst, robbery, war, plague, sedition, poverty. Doesn't this prove human affairs are at an end?
Cannius. Is this mass of woes, what worries you most?
Polyphemus. Guess.
Cannius. That your purse is full of cobwebs.
Polyphemus. Damned if you haven't hit it! -- Just now I'm on my way back from a drinking party. Some other time, when I'm more sober, I'll argue with you about the Gospel, if you like.
Cannius. When shall I see you sober?
Polyphemus. When I'm sober.
Cannius. When will you be so?
Polyphemus. When you see me so. Meantime, my dear Cannius, good luck.
November 16, 2011
Historical primary document. Wonderfully insightful. A must read for any student of the Christian Reformation.
November 10, 2019
Interesting look at the Renaissance/Reformation times. I enjoy Erasmus' use of irony to make some of the points that got him into trouble and got this book on the Index of prohibited books.
June 9, 2023
Of these Ten Colloquies, my favorites were "Charon" and "The Funeral." His satire is clever and sometimes just as relevant today as it was back in the 15th and 16th centuries. Erasmus believed that if there is such a thing as a just war, it is one fought in self-defense after one's country has been invaded, much like Ukraine's defense against Russian invasion. But he thought "just" wars seldom occurred. Erasmus was a humanist and a Christian and these ideologies influenced his arguments in each colloquy. Apparently his political enemies did not appreciate his form of humor as he tended to attack many religious theologies, particularly in the Godly Feast. In The Funeral, he disparages the pride of the rich; he compares the extravagance of a rich man's funeral to that of the simplicity of that of a poor man's. Charon the ferryman debates with the avenging spirit, Alastor about the volume of souls he's having to ferry along the river Styx. According to Alastor, "If you want to make money, you have to spend money." Yet what good is money in the afterlife? Alastor also states: "People mutter that it's outrageous for human affairs to be turned topsy-turvy on the personal grudges or ambitions of two or three men." Such is how wars are waged.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews