Page:The whole familiar colloquies of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam.djvu/18

 xiv PREFACE. which dictates that this or that fraternity should be so respected, that the common profit of Christians should be neglected ? In the Colloquy of the Difference of Names and Things, I find fault with the preposterous judgment of some. In the Unequal Feast, I shew what is agreeable to civility. In Charon I shew my abhorrence of war among Christians. In the Assembly of Grammarians I deride the study of a certain Carthusian, very learned in his own opinion, who, whereas it was his custom foolishly to i^ail against the Greek tongue, hath now put a Greek title to his book ; but ridiculously calling them AnticomaritaB, whom hi should have called Antemarians, or Antidicomarians. In the Cyclops I reprove such as have the gospel in their mouth, when nothing like the gospel appears in their lives. In the Unequal Marriage I set forth the folly of people in common, when in matching their daughters they have regard to the wealth, but disregard the pox of the bridegroom, which is worse than any leprosy. And that now-a-days is so common a practice that nobody wonders at it, although nothing can be more cruel against their children. In the False Knight I describe a sort of men who, under the cloak of nobility, think they may do anything, which is a very great plague to Germany. In the Parliament of Women I was about to reprehend some of the vices of women, but civilly, that nobody might expect anything like what is in Juvenal. But while I was about this, the knight with- out a horse presented itself, according to the old saying, Talk of the devil and he appears. The rest are in a manner all composed for diversion, and that not dishonest, which is not to defame the orders, but to instruct them. Wherefore it would be more to the advantage of all the orders, both privately and publicly, if they all would lay aside the rage of reviling, and would with candour of mind embrace whatsoever is offered with an honest intention for the public good. One has one gift and another has another ; some are taken with one thing and some with another, and there are a thousand ways by which men are attracted to piety. The study of Juvencus is commended, who published the History of the Sacred Gospels in Verse. And Arator is not without his praises, who did the same by the Acts of the Apostles. Hilary blew the trumpet against heretics, Augustine argues sharply, Jerome argues by way of dialogue, Prudentius maintains the combat in a various kind of verse x Thomas an,d Scotus fight with the auxili- aries of logic and philosophy. Their studies have the same tendency, but the method of each is different. That diversity is not to be blamed that tends to the same end. Peter the Spaniard is read to boys, that they may be the better prepared to read Aristotle ; for he hath set them a good step forwards that hath given them a relish. But this book, if it be first read by youth, will introduce them to many useful parts of science to poetry, rhetoric, physics, and ethics ; and lastly, to those things that appertain to Christian piety. I have taken upon me to sustain the person of a fool, in blazoning my own meiit ; but I have been induced to it partly by the malice of some who reproach every- thing, and partly for the advantage of Christian youth, the benefit of whom all ought with their utmost endeavour to further. Though matters stand thus, and are manifestly so to all persons of