§ 71. ERASMUS. 409
and seditious, such madmen and ranters, and in short so utterly distasteful to me that if I knew of any city in which I should be free from them, I would remove there at once.” His last letters are full of such useless lamentations. He had the mortification to see Protestantism triumph in a tumultuous way in Basel, through the labors of Gicolampadius, his former friend and associate. It is pleasant, however, and creditable to him, that his last interview with the reformer ~ was friendly and cordial. The authorities of the city left him undisturbed. But he reluctantly moved to the Roman Catholic city of Freiburg in Baden (1529), wishing that Basel might enjoy every blessing, and never receive a sadder guest than he.t. He bought a house in Freiburg, lived there six years, and was treated with every demonstration of respect, but did not feel happy,.and yielded to the solicitations of the Queen Regent of the Netherlands to return to his native land. |
On his way he stopped in Basel in the house of Jerome Froben, August, 1535, and attended to the publication of Origen. It was his last work. He fell sick, and died in his seventieth year, July 12, 1536, of his old enemies, the stone and the gout, to which was added dysentery. He retained his consciousness and genial humor to the last. When his three friends, Amerbach, Froben, and Episcopius, visited him on his death-bed, he reminded them of Job’s three comforters, and playfully asked them about the torn garments, and the ashes that should be sprinkled on their heads. He died without a priest or any ceremonial of the Church (in wretched monastic Latin: “ sine cruz, sine luz, sine Deus”), but invoking the mercy of Christ. His last words, repeated again and
1 He dictated these lines to his friend Amerbach on departing: —
** Jam Basilea vale! qua non urbs altera multis Annis exhibuit gratius hospitium. Hinc precor omnia leta tibi, simul illud, Erasmo Hospes uti ne unquam tristior adveniat.”
410 THE GERMAN REFORMATION. A.D. 1517 To 1530.
again, were, “Ὁ Jesus, have mercy; Lord, deliver me; Lord, make an end; Lord, have mercy upon me!”’!
In his will, dated Feb. 12, 1536, he left his valuables to Froben, Rhenanus, and other friends, and the rest to the aged and poor and for the education of young men of promise.? The funeral was attended by distinguished men of both parties. He lies buried in the Protestant cathedral of Basel, where his memory is cherished.
Erasmus was of small stature, but well formed. He had a delicate constitution, an irritable temperament, fair skin, blonde hair, wrinkled forehead, blue eyes, and pleasant voice. His face had an expression of thoughtfulness and quiet studiousness.? In his behavior he combined dignity and grace. “His manners and conversation,” says Beatus Rhenanus, “were polished, affable, and even charming.” |
He talked and wrote in Latin, the universal language of scholars in medieval Europe. He handled it as a living language, with ease, elegance, and effect, though not with classical correctness. His style was Ciceronian, but modified by the ecclesiastical vocabulary of Jerome. In his dialogue “ Ciceronianus,” or on the best mode of speaking (1528), he ridicules those pedantic semi-pagans, chiefly Italians, who worshiped and aped Cicero, and avoided Christian themes, or borrowed names and titles from heathen mythology. He had, however, the greatest respect for Cicero, and hoped that “he is now living peacefully in heaven.” He learned neither German nor English nor Italian, and had only an imperfect knowledge of French, and even of his native Dutch.
1 “QO Jesu, misericordia; Domine, libera me; Domine, fac finem; Domine, miserere mei ;”’ and in German or Dutch, Lieber God (Gott)! — Beatus Rhenanus, in Vita Er.
2 Drummond, II. 338-340, gives the document in full.
8 See the interesting description of his face by Lavaterin his Physiognomik, quoted by Ad. Miiller, p. 108, and Hagenbach, K. Gesch., III. 50. There are several portraits of him, — by Matsys (1517), Diirer (1523), and, the best, by Holbein who painted him repeatedly at Basel.