Page:The whole familiar colloquies of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam.djvu/14

 x ^ PREFACE. deliberate about choosing a kind of life, and to make clioice of a priest to whom you may commit your secrets, I judged it to be necessary for young men ; nor do I see any reason why I should repent of it. But if so, there will be fewer monks and priests. It may be so ; but then, perhaps, they will be better, and whosoever is a monk indeed will prove it so. And besides, they who endeavour to make men be of their own persuasion, either for the sake of their own gain or supersti- tion, do very well deserve to be defamed by the writings of all men, that they may be brought to repentance. In the Profane Banquet, I condemn not the ordinances of the church concerning fasts and choice of meats ; but I point out the superstition of some men, who lay more stress on these things than they ought to do, and neglect those things that are more conducive to piety. And I condemn the cruelty of them who require strictly these things of those persons from whom the meaning of the church does not exact them ; and also the preposterous holiness of those per- sons who condemn their neighbour for such things. Here, if any one shall consider how great a mischief among men accrues hence to godli- ness, he will confess that scarce any other admonition is more neces- sary. But in another place I shall give a fuller answer to this matter. In the Religious Banquet, although I make them all laymen, and all married men, yet I sufficiently shew what sort of feast that of all Christians ought to be. With which pattern, if some monks and priests compare their feasts, they will perceive how far short they fall of that perfection in which they ought to exceed laymen. In the Canonization, I show what honour is due to men of excel- lency, who have well deserved by their studies of the liberal arts. They are foolish who think that the Colloquy between the Maid and her Sweetheart is lascivious, whereas nothing can be imagined more chaste, if wedlock be an honest thing, and it be honest to be a wooer. And I could wish that all wooers w-ere such as I suppose one in this Colloquy to be, and that marriages were contracted with no other dis- courses. What can you do with those of a sour disposition, and averse to all pleasant discourse, who think all that is friendly and merry is unchaste ? This young maid refuses to give her sweetheart a kiss at his departure, that she may preserve her virginity for him entire. But what do not maids now-a-days grant to their sweethearts ? Besides, they do not perceive how many philosophical sayings are inter- mixed with jests concerning marriages so hastily made up } concerning the choice of bodies, but much more of minds ; concerning the firmness of matrimony ; concerning not contracting marriages without the con- sent of parents, and of keeping them chastely ; of the religious educa- tion of children : and in the last place, the young maid prays, that Christ by his favour would make their marriage happy. Is it not fit that young men and maids should know those things ? And persons who think that this lesson is hurtful to children, by reason of the wan- tonness of it, suffer Plautus and the jests of Poggius to be read to them. Oh excellent judgment ! In the Virgin that is Averse to Marriage, I abhor those that by their allurements draw young men and maids into monasteries, con- trary to the minds of their parents : making a handle either of their