Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/122

 110 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE derful,' writes Wimpheling in 1507, ' and his library enjoys well-merited renown through all the civilised world, as he himself has earned universal fame for his virtue and his learning. I have seen him at Sponheim surrounded by the children of the peasants, to whom he was teaching the elements of Christianity. I have seen him amongst a circle of priests who had come from different parts to obtain instruction from him in the Holy Scriptures and the Greek tongue ; and I have seen him iu the midst of scholars whom the fame of his learning and his library had attracted — many from far off — and to whom he generously allowed free access to his literary treasures, and the no less precious privi- lege of intercourse with himself. ' * Alexander Hesnus himself made a pilgrimage to Sponheim in advanced old age in order to become acquainted with this library and to enjoy the refreshment and stimulus of intercourse with the abbot. Learned men from all parts of Europe, bishops, doctors, priests, and nobles, nocked to the monastery, where they would remain, some one month, some three, some a whole year, devoting themselves, free of cost, to the study of Latin and Greek. The many-sided literary activity of Trithemius in theology, philosophy, natural science, medicine, history, and literature, seems all the more astonishing because of the many claims on his time and attention made by the details of everyday life. On him devolved the task of providing for the daily wants of the monastery under his care ; in addition to which he undertook the thorough reform of his order. But it was precisely this zeal for reform and desire for the improvement of his brother-monks that fed the energy of his literary 1 De Arte Impressoria, p. 19.