I colloqui

Collected Work of Erasmus #39-40

by Erasmo da Rotterdam

"I colloqui" raccolgono una quarantina di dialoghi del grande umanista di Rotterdam. Pubblicati nel 1518 all'insaputa dell'autore, furono poi oggetto nel 1519 di un'edizione autorizzata che sub), revisioni e ampliamenti fino al 1533. I testi presentano una grande varietà di temi e di stili, dalla diatriba erudita e colta tipica del primo rinascimento alla rappresentazione di tono popolare e macchiettistico. Richiamandosi all'autentico spirito del Vangelo e alla secolare tradizione cristiana, Erasmo smaschera il culto dei santi e altre false pratiche liturgiche diffuse fra gli ordini religiosi, si scaglia contro la guerra e il mestiere del soldato e contro le monacazioni forzate, denuncia l'ignoranza da parte del clero di una corretta esegesi biblica fondata su basi filologiche e non risparmia strali polemici alle dottrine di Lutero e Zwingli. Brillanti, argute e sarcastiche fino all'irriverenza, queste conversazioni ripropongono, con la vivacità drammatica della forma dialogica, l'Erasmo lucido e caustico degli Adagia e dell' Elogio della follia che contempla con ironia l'insensatezza dei comportamenti umani dominati dall'abitudine, dalla paura, dalla superstizione.

Genres: Classics

Paperback

First published January 1, 1518

Reviews

[Rachel Zehr · Rating 4 out of 5]

The extensive notes in this edition of Erasmus’s Colloquies are very useful, particularly in understanding its early publication history. The work expands magnificently from its first unauthorized (by Erasmus) publication in 1518 until the final edition in his lifetime, published in 1533. First conceived as Latin exercises for those he tutored in Paris in the late fifteenth century, the pieces from the earliest edition are mainly formulae, teaching decorum in spoken and written Latin. Even the dialogue “The Profane Feast” contains significant formulaic sections. Erasmus really seems to take off with the dialogues written in the early to mid 1520s, which were intended to reach a broader reading audience than schoolboys.

All material of life is worthy of attention, from the habits and practices of religious orders to the lack of comfort found in German inns (“If you want to wash your hands, water is fetched, but usually it’s so clean that afterwards you have to look for other water to wash it off with” 371) to complex, interpretive questions in biblical texts to the maternal choices of women (“But if Nature gave you strength to conceive, undoubtedly it gave you strength to nurse, too” 595). Delivered in lively dialogues, Erasmus considers questions of fasting and church tradition, the philosophy of body and mind, poetic metre, late medieval piety, and the “spirit of Christ” he finds in ancient Greek and Roman writers. Erasmus can tell a whole story and evoke an entire scene with dialogue alone.

A few more quotes, put to the reader by Erasmus's interlocutors. Like wine, Erasmus says, “The gospel has the same effect when it penetrates the heart. It makes a new man of you” (867).

“Christian freedom does not consist in doing as one likes, unhampered by human regulations, but in fervour of spirit prepared for all things, doing readily and eagerly, as children rather than servants, what we are commanded to do (702).

On church reform: “What’s deeply embedded in men’s minds, has been confirmed by long and general usage, and has become, as it were, second nature cannot be abolished at a stroke without grave danger to human composure but must be removed gradually” (480-481).

Why one might believe the end of the world is near: “Kings make war, priests are zealous to increase their wealth, theologians invent syllogisms, monks roam through the world, the commons riot, Erasmus writes colloquies” (870).

“The man who rejected as consul one who did not recognize him as senator was praised by the ancients; nor is it right for the people to accept as preacher one who does not treat them as a congregation” (952).

"They say, 'Diseases of character are hidden from us.' I'm not talking about hidden ones; I'm talking about those that are more open than bodily defects" (711).

Funny, serious, reflective, daring, thoughtful, ambiguous—it’s all here in a lucid translation with excellent notes.

[Jonas Roose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een onverwachte opsteker op een trage treinreis, dit kleine boekje. Nu moet ik Erasmus' andere Colloquia familiaria lezen om na te gaan of het hele werk dezelfde mix van ontspanning en maatschappijkritiek brengt als deze selectie.