Page:Luther's correspondence and other contemporary letters 1507-1521.djvu/301

 Vocht in Englische Studien, xl. 376. In 1532 he was a jurist and iiQperial councillor. Allen, iii. 444.

Inasmuch as I could not explain to you, even at great length and with much art, how much I favor your difficult as well as fair and pious undertaking, I shall certainly not try to do so in this short familiar epistle. How much should I favor Luther, who, I see, is approved by all good men and rightly extolled by the greatest, and who also is hated and reviled by the wicked! I observe both these facts with the greatest, that is, with equal joy, for I consider them equal praise. Recently, when I was living with Erasmus (for al- though unworthy I did so about eight months) I learned wdl how high an opinion of Luther that man of most exquisite judgment held, and which he would testify to his table com- panions,^ among whom, as among faithful friends, he was ac- customed to lay bare his mind. William Nesen' was of the same opinion with him, for he all but adored Luther. But as much as the deliberate judgment of these two pleased me, so much did that precipitous condemnation' of you by the soph- ists of Cologne and Louvain disturb me. But again, when I learned how unjust and unlearned their condemnation was, I greatly rejoiced, and finally exulted and applauded, for I saw that this would be as a branding-iron^ by which both of those Kakademies* would stamp themselves with a mark of lasting infamy. And so a few days ago, when I was prepar- ing to leave Louvain for Paris at the urgent request of the theologians,* there came into my hands, I hardly know from where, some marginal notes on that most beautiful book.* By Hermes^ they were neither foolish nor unlearned; with the aid of the Muses I will see to it that they are printed at my own expense if necessary, and, if there is anything

iGreek.

'Supra, no. 213.

this was ratified by LouTain on NoTcmber 7, 1519.
 * The University of Cologne condemned Luther's doctrines on August 30, and

4An untranslatable pun, combining the Greek words for "bad** and for "academy."

^Hermann was eyidently one of the younger scholars, who, like Nesen, was expelled from Louvain about this time.

SThis book was perhaps the volume of Luther's Works issued by Frobea which was the one condemned by Cologne and Louvain.

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