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THE FIRST EDITORIAL SUCCESS OF
ERASMUS was the Adagia, published first in Paris
in 1500. That first Collectanea adagiorum was only a
small display of what he would accomplish later, spurred by the
desire to collect, as Aulus Gellius did in his Attican
nights, his miscellaneous reading notes. At that time Erasmus
was in his thirties, at a crucial moment of his life, still
developing, but already with a strong personalty and ambitions
that would characterize him later. The Adagia, with their
continuous amplifications, corrections and reeditions became
the most monumental and at the same time
most influential collection of proverbs in Europe. They
accompanied Erasmus throughout his mature period, and were spread
throughout the world in various reprinted, reorganized, abbreviated,
commented, translated or mutilated versions.
This is a basic work for an understanding of the culture of the
sixteenth century. Its author opened a window on the ancient world,
by utilizing those sayings – Classical proverbs, idioms and
metaphors – that evoke it in a uniquely vivid way. His intent
was to approach the Classics by means of the mediocriter litterati.
offering as well, through the very same adages, effective aides de mémoire, so that one
might comfortably retain knowledge about the ancient world.
Since,
Erasmus insisted, emphasizing the oracular element of the
adages, "in the proverbs of the ancient world is all its wisdom
enshrined".
The edition of 1508 – Venice, Aldus Manutius – apart from being
considerably enlarged, also included interesting reflections on
the adages themselves, as well as on Classical knowledge and
language. The adage, from this point forward, was conceived as
an essence of meaning, which needs the process of explanation to
be understood in its totality. An apparently trivial sentence
can hold a treasure of wisdom. In 1515 the third edition was
published in Basel, by Frobenius, with a new reflection on the
moral and social application of these sentences, which in
certain cases extends to the domain of politics and economics.
From that time on every new edition of Frobenius included more and
more additional adages; their number was only fixed with the
edition of 1536. After the death of Erasmus, the 1558 Geneva
edition by Henricus Stephanus contributed important commentaries
that must be taken into consideration.
In our digital edition we include the complete text of the authoritative Opera omnia of Leiden (1703) with all its
complementary material, adding the prefaces of all the previous
editions and all the footnotes accompanying the text in this
edition. These notes are partly from the editor of the Opera
omnia, Jean Leclerc, and partly from the above-mentioned
edition of Henricus Stephanus. Besides, we include the most
important contemporary versions and paraphrases, such as the
alterated and expurgated "Tridentine" edition,
commissioned to Paolo Manuzio by the Papal Index Committee, which from 1575 on was the only version permitted
to Catholics. We also provide the commentaries by Claude
Mignault, as well as the rather loose translations by Richard Taverner, Johannes
Decius and others.
In the second edition, in preparation, we also fully annotate the sources of
Erasmus' quotations, and include the best contemporary editions
of the source works utilized by Erasmus, such as the proverb
collections of Zenobius or Apostolius.
Edition: 2006 — ISBN: 978-963-87196-4-5
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Titles included:
• Erasmus,
Adagia, de Opera omnia, Leiden 1703, edited and commented by Jean
Leclerc
• Adagia, edited by Paulus Manutius, Roma 1575
• Spalatinus, Georgius, Man muß entweder ein konig oder
aber ein narr geborn werden, s.l. 1520 (first German translation of
the adage 1.3.1, Aut regem aut fatuum nasci oportere)
• Taverner, Richard, Proverbes or adagies… gathered out
of the Chiliades by Erasmus, London 1539, y la segunda edición
ampliada de 1545 (first English translation of the Adagia)
• Decius Baronius, Johannes, Adagiorum
Graecolatinoungaricorum Chiliades, Bártfa 1598
Added in the second edition
(in preparation): • Erasmus, Silenos de Alcibíades, Valencia: Jorge
Costilla, 1529; and Antwerp: Martin Nucio, 1555 (editio optima)
• Mignault, Claude, Commentaries to the Adagia in the
edition of Cologne 1612
• Zenobius, Epitomê tôn Tarrhaiou kai Didymou paroimiôn,
with the Latin translation of Gilbert Cousin, Basilea: Henricus Petri
1562
• Schottus, Andrea, S. J., Adagia sive proverbia
graecorum ex Zenobio seu Zenodoto, Diogeniano et Suidae
collectaneis. Partim edita nunc primum partim latine reddita,
scholiisque parallelis illustrata, Antwerp: Plantin 1612
• Michael Apostolius, Paroemiae, cum Petri Pantini
versione, eiusque et doctorum notis, Leiden: Elzevir 1619
This little-known portrait of Erasmus,
published in the
Imagines virorum litteris illustrium (Strasbourg 1590)
of Nicolaus Reusner, depicts him leaning against the statue of
"Terminus", which he had chosen as his personal impresa.
He himself explained the reasons for his choice in an essay that we
publish here from Vol. X of his Opera omnia.
Desiderii Erasmi epistola apologetica de
Termini sui inscriptione "Concedo nulli"
Des. Erasmus ornatissimo viro Alfonso
Valdesio, Caesareae majestatis Secretario, S. D.
QVOD mihi pro tuo ingenio modestissime
significas, idem ex aliorum litteris dilucide cognovi, exstitisse
qui Terminum annuli mei sigillum in calumniam vocent, vociferantes
intolerabilis arrogantiae esse, quod adjectum est symbolum,
Concedo nulli. Quid est, si hic non est fatalis quidam morbus
calumniandi omnia? Ridetur Momus, qui sandalium Veneris
reprehenderit, at isti Momum ipsum superant, qui in annulo
quod arrodant invenerint. Momos dicerem, sed Momus
nihil carpit, nisi quod prius attente perspexerit. Isti
φιλαίτιοι vel sycophantae potius,
clausis oculis carpunt, quod nec vident, nec intelligunt. Tanta est
morbi vis. Atque interim sibi videntur Ecclesiae columnae, cum nihil
aliud quam traducant suam stoliditatem, cum pari malitia conjunctam,
jam notiores Orbi quam expedit. Somniant ab Erasmo dici, Concedo
nulli. Atqui si mea scripta legerent, viderent vix quenquam esse tam
mediocrem ut illi me praeferam, citius concedens omnibus quam nulli.
Jam qui me propius ex convictu familiari noverunt, quidvis vitii
tribuent potius quam arrogantiam: meque fatebuntur propiorem esse
illi Socratico, hoc unum scio, me nihil scire, quam huic, concedo
nulli. Sed fingant animum tam insolentem esse mihi, ut memet omnibus
anteponam, etiam-ne tam stultum existimant, ut id symbolo profitear?
Si quid haberent Christianae mentis, interpretarentur ea verba, aut
non esse mea, aut aliam habere sententiam. Vident illic sculptam
imaginem, inferne saxum, superne juvenem capillis volitantibus. An
haec habet aliquid Erasmi? Id si parum est, vident in ipso saxo
expressum, Terminus, in quam dictionem si desinas, versus erit
jambicus dimeter acatalectus, Concedo nulli terminus: Sin hinc
incipias, erit dimeter trochaicus acatalectus, Terminus concedo
nulli. Quid si pinxissem leonem, & addidissem symboli loco,
Fuge, ni
mavis discerpi, num haec verba mihi tribuerent pro leone? At nihilo
sanius est, quod nunc faciunt: nam similior leoni sum, quam saxo, ni
fallor. Dicent, non animadvertimus esse carmen, nec novimus
Terminum. An igitur posthac crimen erit scripsisse carmen, quoniam
illi metricam rationem non didicerunt? Certe cum scirent in
hujusmodi symbolis captari etiam obscuritatis aliquid, quod
conjecturas intuentium exerceat, si non noverant Terminum, quanquam
hoc ex Augustini & Ambrosii libris poterant discere, sciscitari
debebant à talium rerum peritis. Olim fines agrorum signo quopiam
discernebantur. Id erat saxum è terra prominens, quod
ἀκίνητον esse jubebant Priscorum leges, quarum haec vox est apud
Platonem, Quae non posuisti, ne tollas. Addita est superstitio, quo
magis deterreretur imperita multitudo, à tollendi audacia, dum
credit in saxo violari Deum, quem Romani Terminum vocant, cui fanum
ac festum etiam dicatum, Terminalia. Hic Terminus, ut est in Romanis
Annalibus, solus Jovi noluit concedere, quod cum caeterorum omnium
sacellorum exaugurationes admitterent aves, in solo Termini fano non
addixere. Refert T. Livius Libro ab Urbe condita I. ac rursus Lib.
VI. narrat, quod cum augurato liberaretur Capitolium, Juventas
Terminusque moveri se passi non sunt. Id omen magno omnium gaudio
exceptum est, quod existimarent portendi perpetuitatem imperii.
Juventus ad belulm utilis, & Terminus fixus est. Hîc forte
clamabunt, quid tibi cum fabuloso Deo? Obvenit, non adscitus est.
Alexander, Archiepiscopus titulo S. ANDREAE, cum à patre Jacobo,
Scotiae Rege, Senis in patriam revocaretur, mihi Romam evocato,
velut gratus & amicus discipulus, annulos aliquot dono dedit,
habitae inter nos consuetudinis
μνημόσυνον. In his
erat, qui in gemma sculptum habebat Terminum. Nam hoc prius ignotum
indicavit Italus quidam, rerum antiquarum curiosus. Arripui
omen, & interpretatus sum admoneri me, non procul abesse vitae
terminum: nam id temporis agebam annum circiter quadragesimum. Haec
cogitatio ne posset excidere, litteris hoc signum imprimere coepi.
Addidi carmen, ut ante dictum est. Itaque ex profano Deo feci mihi
symbolum, adhortans ad vitae correctionem: Mors enim vere Terminus
est, qui nulli cedere novit. Atqui in fusili imagine adscriptum est
Graece,
ὅρα
τέλος μακροῦ βίου, id
est, Specta finem longae vitae, Latine, Mors ultima linea rerum.
Poteras, inquient, insculpere defuncti cranium. Forsitan accepturus
eram, si obvenisset: sed hoc arrisit, primum quia fortuito contigit,
deinde quod geminam haberet gratiam, alteram ex allusione ad priscam
ac celebrem historiam, alteram ex obscuritate, quae symbolis
est peculiaris. Habes Apologiam de Termino, seu verius de lana
caprina. Atque utinam isti tandem calumniis suis terminum ponerent.
Lubens enim cum illis paciscar, ut mutem symbolum meum si illi
mutent morbum suum. Ita sane rectius consuluerint auctoritati suae,
quam clamant per bonarum litterarum studiosos labefactari. Ego
profecto tantum absum à cupiditate laedendi existimationem istorum,
ut vehementer doleam, quod ipsi sese tam stolidis sycophantiis Orbi
propinent deridendos, nec erubescant toties cum ludibrio confutati.
Dominus te servet incolumem & corpore & animo, amice in Christo
carissime. Datum Basileae, 1. Augusti, Anno 1528. |
