§ 70. CALVIN AS A STUDENT. 307
of Pierre Danes, a Hellenist and encyclop8eclic scholar of great reputation.^
He showed as yet no trace of opposition to the Catholic Church. His correspondence refers to matters of friendship and business, but avoids religious questions. When Daniel asked him to introduce his sister to the superior of a nunnery in Paris which she wished to enter, he complied with the request, and made no effort to change her purpose. He only admonished her not to confide in her own strength, but to put her whole trust in God. This shows, at least, that he had lost faith in the meritoriousness of vows and good works, and was approaching the heart of the evangelical system.2
He associated much with a rich and worthy merchant, Estienne de la Forge, who afterwards was burned for the sake of the Gospel (1535).
He seems to have occasionally suffered in Paris of pecuniary embarrassment. The income from his benefices was irregular, and he had to pay for the printing of his first book. At the close of 1531 he borrowed two crowns from his friend, Duchemin. He expressed a hope soon to discharge his debt, but would none the less remain a debtor in gratitude for the services of friendship.
It is worthy of remark that even those of his friends who refused to follow him in his religious change, remained true to him. This is an effective refutation of the charge of coldness so often made against him. Francois Daniel of Orleans renewed the correspondence in 1559, and entrusted to him
1 Lefranc (p. 89) calls him "I'tin de.s esprits les plus profonds et les plus pidssants de cetie Renaissance qui compta tant de ge'nies universels," and quotes
the distich : —
" Magnus Sudceus, major Danesms ille, Argivos norat, iste etiam reliqtios."
2 "Nolui earn deducere a sententia . . . sed paucis admonui, ne stiis se viribus efferret, ne quid sibi de se temere promitteret, sed omnia reponeret in Dei virtnte, in quo sumus et vivimus." Herminjard, II. 347.
308 THE REFORMATION IN FRENCH S\VITZE11LAND.
the education of his son Pierre, who afterwards became an advocate and bailiff of Saint-Benoit near Orleans.^
§ 71. Calvin as a Humanist. Commentary on Seneca.
" L. Annei Se \ necce, Romani Senato | ris, ac philosophi clarissi j mi, libri duo de Cleiiientia, ad Ne \ ronem Casarem : | Joannis Caluini iVouioduncei commentariis iUustrati ... | Parisiis. . . . 1532." 4°. Eeprinted 1576, 1597, 1612, and, from the ed. princeps, in Opera, vol. V. (1866) pp. 5-162. The commentary is preceded by a dedicatory epistle, a sketch of the life of Seneca.
H. Lecoultre : Calvin d'apres son commentaire sur le " De Clementia" de Seneqiie (1532). Lausanne, 1891 (pp. 29).
In April, 1532, Calvin, in his twenty-third year, ventured before the public with his first work, which was printed at his own expense, and gave ample proof of his literary taste and culture. It is a commentary on Seneca's book On Mercy. He announced its appearance to Daniel with the words, " Tandem jaeta est alea.^^ He sent a copy to Erasmus, who had published the works of Seneca in 1515 and 1529. He calls him "the honor and delight of the world of le1> ters."2 It is dedicated to Claude de Hangest, his former schoolmate of the Mommor family, at that time abbot of St. Eloy (Eligius) at Noyon.
This book moves in the circle of classical philology and moral philosophy, and reveals a characteristic love for the best type of Stoicism, great familiarity with Greek and Roman literature,^ masterly Latinity, rare exegetical skill,
1 See the last three letters of Calvin to Daniel (1559 and 1560) in Opera, Tol. XVII. 584, 680, and XVIII. 16. Lefranc says (p. 77) : " Bien de touchant comme cette correspondance ou le grave r€formateur viontre una indulgence et une souriante bonhomie qui ne lui sont pas habitueUes. . . . Get e'change de lettres T^vele veritablement un Calvin affectueux et de'licat qu'on a trop souvent m^connu, sur la J'oi des Solsec et des Audin." There is a German monograph on Pierre Daniel d' Orleans by Hagen of Bern, translated into French by Paul de Felice, Orleans, 1876.
2 " Litterarum alterum decus ac primce delicicv." In his dedicatory letter to Claude de Hangest, April 4, 1532, which is also printed in Herminjard, II. p. 411.
^ He freely quotes Aristotle, Plutarch, Virgil, Livy, Ovid, Horace, Pliny,