ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

ordained by Providence; but perhaps we ought not to read in its fall the total condemnation of exertions, that, if properly directed, might have given Germany a nobler, more united attitude among the nations of Europe.

[ocr errors]

66

At this period we must place his beautiful Dialogue with Truth, written in a strain of enlightened zeal for the cause of freedom and learning, but in a subdued tone of charity and resignation. The Dialogue opens with a pathetic apostrophe to Truth, as the cause of all his sorrows; are these," says he, thy rewards, these thy promises, this thy faith to thy votaries?" His companion suggests topics of alleviation for the melancholy detail of misfortune; when, in the midst of the discourse, he perceives the wounds which disfigure the form of Truth herself; and finds that though she is patient and long suffering, she also has suffered from insults and wanton injuries, which are detailed in Hutten's usual strain of irony. From such an example he learns to bear his own griefs more contentedly, trusting to Providence for the vindication of its own cause, and submits to be instructed in the duty of a real friend to truth. "Thou wilt make me a Philosopher," exclaims he: "not a Philosopher, but a Christian," is the reply of Truth, who dismisses him with the exhortation" abi, et infracto animo, Christo nitens !"

But Hutten's brief and chequered course was run a wasting disease had long preyed upon his constitution, and with a broken heart, he fled to Switzerland for shelter in his dying moments. Erasmus, that Erasmus who had extolled him to the skies in his prosperity, was now ranging himself on the strongest side, and, when his former friend sought his hospitality, he disowned him and spoke with levity of his infirmities. A spirited public remonstrance ensued, and Erasmus turned, courted a reconciliation, and was in his turn repulsed.-Hutten was not long the victim of cruel enemies and false friends; he died in poverty and obscurity, at the early age of thirty-six, and was buried at Afnau, a little island under the magistracy of Zurich, leaving behind him a name which should be dear to the friends of truth and honesty, and an honour to that country which has but lately learned to prize his memory as it deserves.

The length of these preliminary observations has left little space for comments on or extracts from the book immediately under consideration. To those who have any taste for such productions, the Epistola cannot be a new book. It has therefore been our principal object, to excite an interest for its author. We shall, however, give a short key to its contents; the full relish for it would require considerable attention to the existing state of literature and religious opinion.

About the year 1510 a dispute arose among the Theologians of Cologne, in which Reuchlin took a prominent part.

A Jew named Pfefferkorn had, as was asserted, become a convert to Christianity from interested motives, and was highly patronised by the Inquisitor, Jacob Hochstrat (in the Epistola called " Alta platea,") Doctor and Professor of Theology, and by other supporters of the Church, more especially the Monks. The Jew persuaded the Inquisitor to issue an order for seizing all the books of his late brethren, and this order, it was said, was used for the purpose of making a pecuniary advantage from the bribes given for exemption.

Reuchlin attacked this odious combination, and the dispute rose into an important controversy on the value of the Hebrew writings. His opponents were not satisfied with this mode of discussion, and appeals were made to Rome. Rome however was not then, what the breaking out of the Reformation made it. Ignorance and bigotry were not then the only passports to promotion, and it appears that the silly theologians of Co logne were treated as they deserved, and the cause of Reuchlin and of learning was triumphant. The whole affair contributed to place many of the most zealous supporters of the church in Germany, in no very respectable point of view.

At last, Hutten thought the occasion deserving of a general castigation of the confederates: with this view (assisted by Crotus, and it is said, one or two other friends,) he published the letters before us, which purport to be the correspondence of divers Monks, Priests, and Theologians, of the Pfefferkorn faction. They are principally addressed to Ortuinus Gratius, Dr. of Theology, who after all (though an opponent of Reuchlin) is said to have been a learned and respectable man, and one who hardly deserved to be placed in so ridiculous a character, as the recipient of all the nonsense of these his imaginary correspondents.

We have already mentioned the brilliant success of the work, which covered the monks and universities with everlasting ridicule. Their barbarous Latin is exquisitely imitated, their ignorance delightfully exposed; all the petty details of their schemes against Reuchlin, and the friends of learning, are communicated, in the most solemn style, to their great centre, Ortuinus; and thus almost every subject which occupied the attention of the age is successively brought forward, to the utter exposure and discomfiture of the Anti-Reform Party.

We need hardly observe, that when so much of the wit of these letters consists in their Latinity, translation must destroy their effect, and we shall only attempt it in two or three in

stances.

The following is one of the many difficult cases of conscience, submitted by his disciples to Ortuinus. Those who have read the learned disquisitions of the Sophists, and Doctors of

the middle ages, on points of not much greater importance, will perceive it to be hardly a caricature :

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

"When I first set out for the Court of Rome, you told me I ought to write to you often, and to lay before you theological questions, which you would solve better than the courtiers here. I now therefore beg your decision, regarding the situation of one, who on a Friday, or other fast day, has eaten an egg with a chicken in it. A friend of mine and I were lately sitting at an inn, and eating eggs, I opened one and saw that there was a young chicken in it. So I showed it my companion, and he said eat it as fast as you can, lest the landlord should see it: if he does, you will have to pay him for a pullet, for it is the custom here to pay for whatever is set upon the table, and they take nothing back. If he sees there is a young pullet in the egg, he will say, Pay me for a pullet! for he reckons a small one just the same as a large one.' I immediately ate up the egg and the chicken in it, and then all of a sudden I recollected it was Friday, and said to my companion, you have made me commit a mortal sin in eating meat on a fast day.' But he said it was not a mortal sin, and that it did not even amount to a venial sin; for that the chicken was not considered as any thing more than an egg, till it was hatched, So it is,' said he,' with cheese, in which there are a great many maggots, and so with cherries, peas, and beans, and many other things which are nevertheless eaten on fast days, and even on the Vigils of the Apostles. And the landlords are great rogues for saying they are meat, which they do to get more money.' Then I went away, and mused upon it, and, by Heaven, Master Ortuinus, I am much troubled thereon, and know not how it becometh me to act. If I go to advise with one of the people about the Court, I know they have no conscience. It seems to me that these chickens in eggs are meat, because the substance is formed and fashioned into an animal body, and has the vital principle; and the case of maggots in cheese, &c. does not apply, for maggots are considered as fish, as I have heard from a Physician who was an excellent naturalist. I beseech you most earnestly to answer and advise me touching the question proposed; for if you hold it to be a mortal sin, I wish to procure absolution before I leave for Germany. You must know too that our master (of arts,) Jacobus de Hochstrat, has got a thousand florins, and it is my opinion that he will win his cause, and that the devil will confound that John Reuchlin, and all other poets and jurists who are against the church of Christ, that is, against the Theologians on whom the church is founded." &c.

[ocr errors]

* "Cumpriusquam ambularem ad Curiam, dixistis mihi, quod sæpe debeo vobis scribere, & aliquando debeo dirigere aliquas quæstiones Theologicales ad vos, tunc vultis mihi eas solvere, melius, quam Curtisani Romæ : ergo nunc quæro dominationem vestram, quid tenetis de eo, quando unus in die Veneris, id est, feria sexta, vel alias quando est jejunium, comedit ovum, & est pullus intus. quia nuper in Campo Floræ sedimus in uno hospitio, & fecimus collationem, &

[blocks in formation]

The ignorance of the learned opposers of the revival of classical literature is thus handled; the reader will observe, that the writer has only made himself the owner of a Latin version of Homer.

[ocr errors]

"Most excellent sir, as you are disposed to oblige me and do me kindness, I am desirous of doing all I can in return. You said to me when we parted, Oh Peter, when you get to Rome, see if there be any new books, and send me some." Here then I send you one just printed, and as you are a poet, I think you may derive advantage from it; for I lately heard from a Notary, who ought to know all these things, that this book is the fountain of poetry, and that the author, who is called Homer, is the father of all poets, and he said there was another Homer in Greek; then I answered, what have I to do with Greek? the Latin one is better, for I want to send it to Germany to M. Ortuinus, who has no idea of these Greek fancies.'

[ocr errors]

comedimus ova, & ego aperiens ovum, vidi quod juvenis pullus est in eo. ostendi socio meo. tunc ipse dixit: Comedatis cito antequam hospes videt, quia quando videt, tunc oportet ei dare unum Carlinum vel Julium pro gallina, quia est hic consuetudo, quod quando hospes ponit aliquid ad tabulam, tunc oportet solvere, quia non volunt recipere. Et si videt, quod juvenis gallina est in ovo, ipse dicit: Solvatis mihi etiam gallinam. quia computat parvam sicut magnam. Et ego statim bibi ovum, & simul illum pullum intus, & postea cogitavi, quod fuit dies Veneris, & dixi socio meo, vos fecistis, quod feci peccatum mortale, comedendo carnes in feriis sextis. Et dixit ipse, quod non est peccatum mortale, imo non est peccatum veniale, quia ille pullaster non reputatur aliter quam ovum, donec est natus, & dixit mihi, quod est sicut de caseis, in quibus aliquando sunt vermes, & in cerasis & in pisis & fabis recentibus, sed tamen comedantur in sextis feriis, & etiam in vigiliis Apostolorum. Hospites autem ita sunt pultroni, quod dicunt, quod sunt carnes, ut habeant plus pecuniam. Tunc ego abivi, & cogitavi super: Et per Deum, magister Ortuine, ego sum multum turbatus, & nescio quo debeo me regere. Si vellem libenter consilium quærere ab uno Curtisano, tunc scio, quod non habent bonas conscientias. videtur mihi, quod istæ juvenes gallinæ in ovis sunt carnes, quia materia est jam formata & figurata in membra & corpus animalis, & habet animam vitalem. aliud est de vermibus in caseis & aliis, quia vermes reputantur pro piscibus. sicut ego audivi ab uno medico, qui est valde Physicus. Ego rogo vos multum cordialiter, quatenus velitis mihi respondere ad propositam quæstionem. Quia si tenetis quod est peccatum mortale, tunc volo hic acquirere unam absolutionem, antequam vado ad Almaniam. Etiam debetis scire quod Magister noster Jacobus de Hochstraten acquisivit mille florenos, & Banco, & credo quod lucrabit causam, & diabolus confundet illum Joannem Reuchlin, & alios Poetas & Juristas, quia volunt esse contra Ecclesiam Dei, id est, contra Theologos, in quibus est fundata Ecclesia, ut Christus dixit: Tu es Petrus, & super hanc petram ædificabo Ecclesiam meam. Et commendo vos Domino Deo. Valete. Datum in urbe Romana."

Then I asked him what there was in the book, and he said it treats of some men who are called Greeks, who fought with other men who are called Trojans, of whom indeed I had heard before. Now these Trojans had a great city, and the Greeks besieged it full ten years. Then the Trojans sometimes sallied out and fought with them in good earnest, and they killed one another in a wonderful manner, so that the plain swam with blood, and there was a certain water that was stained with it and it was so red that it flowed like a stream of blood: and a shout was heard in the sky, and a certain man threw a stone which twelve men could not lift, and a horse spoke and prophesied : But I don't believe a word of such things, for they seem to me to be impossible, but I don't know how far the book is authentic. Pray write to me about it, and let me know what you think. Farewell: written from Rome." *

The contumelies to which the supporters of the Pfefferhorn cause found themselves exposed on carrying their complaints to the Court of Rome, often supply matter for bitter irony. The following specimen ends with an admirable display of university learning.

"Dilectionem fraternalem loco salutis, honorabilis vir. Secundum quod reliqui vobiscum, quod volo vobis notificare singula, &

*"Vir eximie, secundum quod estis mihi naturaliter inclinatus & multum favetis mihi, ego etiam volo vobis facere possibilia. Dixistis mihi autem: O Petre, quando venitis Romam, videte an sunt novi libri, & mittatis mihi aliquos. Ecce habetis unum novum librum, qui est hic impressus, et quia estis Poeta, credo, quod potestis vos multum ex illo meliorare. Quia audivi hic in audientia ab uno Notario, qui debet esse perfectus in tali arte, quod iste liber est fons Poetriæ, & auctor eius, qui vocatur Homerus, est pater omnium Poetarum. & dixit, quod est adhuc alius Homerus in Græco. Tunc dixi: quid mihi cum Græco? Ille Latinus est melior; quia volo eum in Almaniam mittere M. Ortuino, qui non curat illas Græcas fantasias. Et interrogavi eum, quid continetur in tali libro? Respondit, quod tractat de quibusdam viris, qui vocantur Græci: qui bellaverunt cum aliis viris, qui vocantur Trojani, quos etiam audivi prius nominari. Et isti Trojani habuerunt unam magnam civitatem, & illi Græci posuerunt se ante civitatem, & jacuerunt ibi bene decem annos. Tunc Trojani aliquando exiverunt ad eos, & percusserunt se realiter cum ipsis, & interfecerunt se mirabiliter ad invicem, ita quod totus campus sanguinavit, & fuit ibi quædam aqua, quæ fuit colorata per sanguinem, & fuit per totum rubicata, ita quod fluxit sicut si esset sanguis: & clamor audiebatur in cœlo, & unus projecit unum lapidem, quem duodecim viri non possent elevare, & unus equus incepit loqui, & prophetizavit. Sed non credo talia, quia videntur mihi impossibilia, & tamen nescio, an talis liber est multum autenticus: Rogo, scribatis mihi de eo, & faciatis me cognoscere, quod tenetis. Et cum hoc valete. Datum Romæ."

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »