Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/130

 118 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE which alone would train him for the higher work. Much, no doubt, in the literature of the ancients is offensive to a delicate sense of morality ; nevertheless, the study of them must not on that account be aban- doned. What it behoves us to do is to expunge, as much as possible, what is dangerous, and, as St. Basil recommends, set to work like the bees, who do not suck in the whole flower, poison and all, but choose only the honey. Butzbach, who was such an eloquent exponent of his master's ideas, entered more fully than any of his other pupils into the spirit and aims of Trithemius. As master of novices, and later on prior of the monas- tery of Laach, he was as indefatigable in labour as his master and pattern had been ; endeavouring like him to cultivate his mind in all directions, and to obtain wide influence through his literary activity. He was of the same true and steadfast nature, the same lofty and self-forgetting mind as Trithemius ; and, as with his master, he knew no greater joy than to find his own enthusiasm kindling sparks in others. As author he followed in the footsteps of the abbot of Sponheim, and in conjunction with his friend and religious asso- ciate, Jacob Siberti, published a valuable continuation of ' The Catalogue of Distinguished Men ' in the years 1508-1513. It is a history of the literature of the day, and in a series of 1,155 articles describes the character and works of the authors from different countries of Europe. Side by side with Heidelberg the university of Freiburg, in Breisgau, rose rapidly to distinction. Two of its professors in particular, the jurist Zasius and the theologian Gregory Reisch, became eminent for their