This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1904 edition. Excerpt: ... possessed by no scholar of the century of Erasmus. But he brings the student face to face with living figures and colloquial speech. Demosthenes is there for his eloquence, and Herodotus, perhaps, as being attractive in matter and of utility for his moral instances. The inclusion of Homer needs no explanation. Euripides closes the list. Next to Lucian he was Erasmus' first choice when he himself was learning Greek. He then found the choruses lacking in true feeling; and would like to have re-written them in a worthier fashion3. But Erasmus, like most humanists, has nothing of the poet in his composition. Amongst Latins, Caesar and Sallust, to whom Livy and Tacitus4 are elsewhere added, have as historians special claims. 1 Eras. Op. iii. 1457 Band 1886 d, e. 8 De Rat. Stud., infra, p. 163, 3. 3 Supra, p. 38. 4 Eras. Op. iii. 971 d. Infra, p. 128, on teaching of history. Cicero attracted every humanist on the three sides of orator, letter-writer and moralist. Vergil is, in virtue of his elaboration, chief of all poets, Horace ranks next. Erasmus says of these: "when I read this I can scarcely refrain my petition, 'Holy Socrates, pray for us.' Similarly I can hardly restrain myself from wishing happiness and salvation to the holy soul of Maro and Flaccus." As Raumer says, there is room for surprise at this sentiment'. It is noticeable that Erasmus will have nothing to do with Latin versions of Romances2. It is more worthy of attention that he rules out even of the higher stage of education Christian writers, in prose or verse, and the great Greek philosophers. He laid down two canons on this head: (1) all writings that demand theological knowledge3, (2) all writings involving the young learner in abstract speculation4, are...

William Bathe, S.J. (1564-1614) was a pioneer in linguistics. The present book deals with Bathe's family background, his life and service as a courtier, diplomat and, finally, Jesuit educator, and, in particular, his contribution to the study of language and his most important publication, Ianua Linguarum (1611).

This book offers examples from both Christian and secular democratic institutions of higher education and then responds to possible criticisms about how moral education in a comprehensive humanist moral tradition may short change diversity, autonomy and critical thinking.

Erasmus' Familiar Colloquies grew from a small collection of phrases, sentences, and snatches of dialogue written in Paris about 1497 to help his private pupils improve their command of Latin. Twenty years later the material was published by Johann Froben (Basel 1518). It was an immediate success and was reprinted thirty times in the next four years. For the edition of March 1522 Erasmus began to add fully developed dialogues, and a book designed to improve boys' use of Latin (and their deportment) soon became a work of literature for adults, although it retained traces of its original purposes. The final Froben edition (March, 1533) had about sixty parts, most of them dialogues. It was in the last form that the Colloquies were read and enjoyed for four centuries. For modern readers it is one of the best introductions to European society of the Renaissance and Reformation periods, with lively descriptions of daily life and provocative discussions of political, religious, social, and literary topics, presented with Erasmus's characteristic wit and verve. Each colloquy has its own introduction and full explanatory, historical, and biographical notes. Volumes 39 and 40 of the Collected Works of Erasmus series - Two-volume set.