ERASTUS
514
ERASTUS
was unable to grasp firmly ecclesiastical doctrine or
dealjustly with its scholastic formulation, while on the
other he inveighed with extreme injustice against the
institutions of the Church. It must not be forgotten
that the grave defects of his character were compen-
sated by brilliant qualities. His splendid gifts explain
the universal European fame of the man through sev-
eral decades, a public esteem and admiration far ex-
celling in degree and extent the lot of any scholar since
his day. He had an unequalled talent for form, great
journalistic gifts, a surpassing power of expression;
for strong and moving discourse, keen irony, and
covert sarcasm, he was unsurpassed. In him the
world beheld a scholar of comprehensive and many-
sided learning, though neither profound nor thorough,
a man of universal observation, a writer whose diction
was brilliant and elegant in the highest degree. In a
word, Erasmus exhibits the quintessence of the Re-
naissance spirit ; in him are faithfully mirrored both
its good and bad qualities.
It cannot be denied that Erasmus was a potent fac- tor in the educational movement of his time. As the foremost of the German humanists, he laboured con- stantly and effectually for the spread of the new learning, which imparted to the education of the Re- naissance period its content and spirit. By his inter- course with scholars and students, his published sat- ires on existing institutions and methods, and espe- cially his work in editing and translating the Greek and Latin authors, he gave a powerful impulse to the study of the classics. But his more direct contribu- tions to education are marked by the inconsistency which appears in his whole career. Some of his writ- ings, e. g. his " Order of Study " (De ratione Studii, 1516) and his "Liberal Education of Children" (De pueris statim ac liberaliter instituendis, 1529), contain excellent advice to parents and teachers on the care of children, development of indivitluality, training in virtue and in the practice of religion, with emphasis on the moral qualifications of the teacher and the judi- cious selection of subjects of study. In other wTitings, as in the "Colloquia", the tone and the langviage are just the opposite, so offensive in fact that even Luther m his "Table Talk" declares: "If I die I will forbid my children to read his Colloquies . . . See now what poison he scatters in his Colloquies among his made- up people, and goes craftily at our youtli to poison them." It is not surprising that this work was con- demned by theSorbonne (1526) as dangerous to morals, and was eventually placed on the Index. That in most works on the history of education Erasmus occu- pies so large a place, while others who contributed far more to the development of educational method (e. g. Vives) are not mentioned, is perhaps due to sjTnpathy with the anti-ecclesiastical attitude of Erasmus, rather than to the intrinsic value of his constructive work (see Stockl, Gesch. d. Padagogik, Mainz, 1876).
A complete edition of the works of Erasmus, to which a life of him was added, was issued by Beatus Rlienanus (Basle, 1540-41) in 9 vols.; an edition was also published by Le Clerc (Leyden, 1703-06), 10 vols. ; Ruelens, " Erasmi Rott. Silva carminum" (Brussels, 1864). The editions of the letters of Erasmus have been as follows: "Epistulie familiares Erasmi" (Basle, 1518); Herzog, "Epistute famil. ad Bon. Amerbachium" (Basle, 1779); Horawitz, "Eras- miana" in the Transactions of the philosophical- historical section of the Academy of Vienna, vols. XC and XCV (1878-85) ; Horawitz, " Erasmus and Martin Lipsius" (1SS2); F. M. Nichols, "The Epistles of Erasmus" (London, 1901-04), 2 vols.; von Miaskow- ski, " Correspondenz des Erasmus mit Polen" (Bres- lau, 1901). Selections from his pedagogical writings were published by Reichling, " Ausgew. piidagogische Schriften des Erasmus" (Freiburg, 1896).
de Rotterd.t precurseiiT et inUiateur de I'esprit Tnodeme (Paris,
1S72), II; Drlmmo.nd, Erasmus, His Life and Character (Lon-
don, 1873), II; Feugere, Erasme, etude sur sa vie et ses ouvrages
(Paris, 1874); Gillt, Erasme (Arras. 1879); Richter, Eras-
musstudien (Dresden, 1891); Fr. Seebohm, The Oxford Re-
formers: John Colet, Erasmus, and Thomas More (London,
1SS7); Froude, Life and Letters of Erasmus (London, 1894,
1899): Emerton, Erasmus (London, 1S99); Penni.ngtox,
Erasmus (London, 1901); Capev, Erasmus (London. 1902),
with a good bibliography, pp. 196-220; concerning the policy
of conciliation of Erasmus see Woker, De Erasmi studiis ireni-
cis (Paderborn, 1872); Kalkoff in Zeitschrift fur Reformations-
gesch., I (1904), 1 sqq.; Hartfelder, Erasmus u. die Pdpste in
Hislor. Taschenhuch. VI, Series XI, 148 sqq.; Pastor. Gesch.
der Papste, I, IV, 472 sqq.; Lezius. Zur Characteristik des relig.
Standpunktes t/es Erasmus (1895); Richter, Desid. Erasmus u.
seine Stellung zu Luther (Leipzig, 1907); Hermelixk, Die re-
ligiijsen Reformbestrebungen des deutschen Humanismus (Tu-
bingen, 1907); Stichart, Rasmus von Rotterd., seine Stellung
zur Kirche und zu den relig. Bewegungen seiner Zeit (Leipzig,
1870); ScHOLZ, Die padagogischen und didactischen Grundsatee
des Erasmus (1880); Becker, Die Ansichten des Erasmus itber
die Erziehung und den ersten Uhterricht der Kinder (1890);
Glockner, Das Ideal der Bildung und Erziehung b'A Erasmuc
(1890): Hoffmann, Essai d'une tiste d'ouvrages concemant la
vie et les ecrits d' Erasme (Brussels, 1866); Erasmiana, issued by
the University of Geneva (Geneva, 1897-1901), I-III.
Joseph Satter.
Erastus and Erastianism. — The name "Erastian- ism" is often used in a somewhat loose sense as de- noting an untlue subservience of the Church to the State. This was not, however, the principal question on which the system of Erastus turned, but rather a sub- sidiary one and a deduction from it. This can be ex- plained by a short account of his life and works.
The real name of Erastus was Thomas Lieber or Liebler. He used the latinized form in his works, and accordingly has become known by that name. He was born at Baden, in Switzerland, of humble parents, 7 September, 1524; and died 31 December, 1583. For his education he went to Basle in 1540, and two years later, he found a patron by whose assistance he was able to enter the university. His zeal for learning may be estimated from the fact that although by disease he lost the use of his right arm, he learnt to write with his left hand, and is said to have been able to take down his notes more fluently than others who had no similar impediment. During his residence at Basle there was an outbreak of plague. Erastus was one of the victims; but he did not suffer severely, and on his recoverj-, schools having been suspended, he left Basle and proceeded to Bologna, where he studied philoso- phy and medicine. He was afterwards for a time also at the University of Padua. In 1553 he went to Ger- many and obtained an appointment as court physician to the Prince of Hennenberg. We next find him in 1558 as court physician to the elector Palatine, Otho Heinrich, and occupying at the same time the chair of medicine in the University of Heidelberg.
Although his work and lectureship were both con- nected with medicine, the chief interest of Erastus had always been in theology. Heidelberg was at that time the scene of severe contro\-ersial strife. Erastus, who was himself a follower of Zwingli, threw himself heart and soul into the conflict against the Lutherans. The Elector Frederick III (who had succeeded Otho Heinrich in 1559) was then enforcing the teaching of Calvinistic doctrines, and Beza was actively defending them as against Breny in Stuttgart. A conference was arranged to take place at the monastery of Maul- bronn in 1564, and by reriuest of the elector, Erastus took a prominent part therein. He published a state- ment defending the doctrine of Zwingli, and on its being attacked, he WTote a second defence the follow- ing year. The conference was far from successful in settling the dispute, which continued in an aggravat- ed form. In 1568, Erastus WTote his celebrated "Theses" against what he called the " excommunica- tory fever", which we shall discuss presently. They were violently attacked by Beza, and Erastus an- swered the following year by his "Confirmatio The- .sium". Notwith.standing his efforts, a full presby- terian system was set up in 1570 at Heidelberg, and the
