§ 7. ZWINGLI IN GLARUS. 25
on Lucian. He perceived, like Justin Martyr, the Alexandrian Fathers, and Erasmus, in the lofty ideas of the heathen philosophers and poets, the working of the Holy Spirit, Avhich he thought extended beyond Palestine throughout the world. He also studied the writings of Picus della Mirandola (d. 1494), which influenced his views on providence and predestination.
During his residence in Glarus he was brought into correspondence with Erasmus through his friend Loreti of Glarus, called Glareanus, a learned humanist and poet-laureate, who at that time resided in Basle, and belonged to the court of admirers of the famous scholar. He paid him also a visit in the spring of 1515, and found him a man in the prime of life, small and delicate, but amiable and very polite. He addressed him as " the greatest philosopher and theologian ; " he praises his "boundless learning," and says that he read his books every night before going to sleep. Erasmus returned the compliments with more moderation, and speaks of Zwingli's previoue letter as being " full of wit and learned acumen." In 1522 Zwingli invited him to settle in Zurich; but Erasmus declined it, preferring to be a cosmopolite. We have only one letter of Zwingli to Erasmus, but six of Erasmus to Zwingli.^ The influence of the great scholar on Zwingli was emancipating and illuminating. Zwingli, although not exactly his pupil, was no doubt confirmed by him in his high estimate of the heathen classics, his opposition to ecclesiastical abuses, his devotion to the study of the Scriptures, and may have derived from him his moderate view of hereditary sin and guilt, and the first suggestion of the figurative interpretation of the words of institution of the Lord's Supper.^ But he dissented from the semi-Pela-
1 Opera, vol. VII., pp. 10, 12, 221, 222, 251, 307, 310.
2 Melanchthon wrote, Oct. 12, 1529: "Cinglius mihi confessus est, se ex Erasmi scriptis primum hausisse opinionem suam de coena Domini." Corp. Reforv. IV. 970.
26 THE SWISS REFORMATION.
gianism of Erasmus, and was a firm believer in predestination. During the progress of the Reformation they werp gradually alienated, although they did not get into a personal controversy. In a letter of Sept. 3, 1522, Erasmus gently warns Zwingli to fight not only bravely, but also pjnidently, and Christ would give him the victory .^ He did not regret his early death. Glareanus also turned from him, and remained in the old Church. But Zwingli never lost respect for Erasmus, and treated even Hutten with generous kindness after Erasmus had cast him off.^
On his visit to Basle he became acquainted with his biographer, Oswald Myconius, the successor of (Ecolampadius (not to be confounded with Frederick Myconius, Luther's friend).
Zwingli took a lively interest in public affairs. Three times he accompanied, according to Swiss custom, the recruits of his congregation as chaplain to Italy, in the service of Popes Julius II. and Leo X., against France. He witnessed the storming of Pavia (1512),^ probably also the victory at Novara (1513), and the defeat at Marignano (1515). He was filled with admiration for the bravery of his countrymen, but with indignation and grief at the demoralizing effect of the foreign military service. He openly attacked this custom, and made himself many enemies among the French party.
His first book, "The Labyrinth," is a German poem against the corruptions of the times, written about 1510.^ It represents the fight of Theseus with the Minotaur and the wild beasts in the labyrinth of the world, — the one-eyed lion
1 " Tu pugna, mi Zwingli, non modo fortiter, verum etiam prudenter. Dahit Christiis, lit pugnes feliciter." Opera, VII. 221.
2 See vol. VI. 202, 427. On Zwingli's relation to Erasmus, sec Morikofer, I. 23 sqq., 176 sqq., and the monograph of Usteri quoted above, p. 19.
8 He gave a lively Latin narrative of the battle of the Swiss against the French in Pavia to his friend Vadianus.
4 Opera {Deutsche Schriften), Tom. II. B. pp. 243-247.
(Spain), the crowned eagle (the emperor), the winged lion (Venice), the cock (France), the ox (Switzerland), the bear (Savoy). The Minotaur, half man, half bull, represents, he says, " the sins, the vices, the irreligion, the foreign service of the Swiss, which devour the sons of the nation." His second poetic work of that time, " The Fable of the Ox," i is likewise a figurative attack upon the military service by which Switzerland became a slave of foreign powers, especially of France.
He superintended the education of two of his brothers and several of the noblest young men of Glarus, as ^gidius Tschudi (the famous historian), Valentine Tschudi, Heer, Nesen, Elmer, Brunner, who were devotedly and gratefully attached to him, and sought his advice and comfort, as their letters show.
Zwingli became one of the most prominent and influential public men in Switzerland before he left Glarus ; but he was then a humanist and a patriot rather than a theologian and a religious teacher. He was zealous for intellectual culture and political reform, but shows no special interest in the spiritual welfare of the Church. He did not pass through a severe struggle and violent crisis, like Luther, but by diligent seeking and searching he attained to the knowledge of the truth. His conversion was a gradual intellectual process, rather than a sudden breach with the world ; but, after he once had chosen the Scriptures for his guide, he easily shook off the traditions of Rome, which never had a very strong hold upon him. That process began at Glarus, and was completed at Zurich.
His moral character at Glarus and at Einsiedeln was, unfortunately, not free from blemish. He lacked the grace of continence, and fell with apparent ease into a sin which
1 Fabelgedicht vom Ochsen und etUchen Thieren, Op., II. B. 257-269. The ox is again tlie symbol of Switzerland. See the comments of the editors, pp. 262 sqq.