meminit et ad literas adamatas subinde redit. 280
Quicquid dignitate valet, quicquid apud amplissimum
regem gratia pollet, id omne iuvandae reipublicae,
iuvandis amicis impendit. Semper quidem adfuit animus
de cunctis bene merendi cupidissimus, mireque
pronus ad misericordiam: eum nunc magis exserit, 285
quando potest plus prodesse. Alios pecunia sublevat,
alios auctoritate tuetur, alios commendatione provehit:
quos alioqui iuvare non potest, his consilio
succurrit: nullum unquam a se tristem dimisit. Diceres
Morum esse publicum omnium inopum patronum. 290
Ingens lucrum sibi putat accessisse, si quem oppressum
sublevavit, si perplexum et impeditum explicuit,
si alienatum redegit in gratiam. Nemo lubentius collocat
beneficium, nemo minus exprobrat. Iam cum
tot nominibus sit felicissimus, et felicitatis comes fere 295
soleat esse iactantia, nullum adhuc mortalium mihi
videre contigit qui longius abesset ab hoc vitio.
Sed ad studiorum commemorationem redeo, quae
me Moro mihique Morum potissimum conciliarunt.
Primam aetatem carmine potissimum exercuit. Mox 300
diu luctatus est, ut prosam orationem redderet molliorem,
per omne scripti genus stilum exercens; qui
cuiusmodi sit, quid attinet commemorare? tibi praesertim
qui libros eius semper habeas in manibus.
Declamationibus praecipue delectatus est, et in his, 305
materiis paradoxis, quod in his acrior sit ingeniorum
exercitatio. Unde adolescens etiamnum dialogum moliebatur,
in quo Platonis communitatem ad uxores
usque defendit. Luciani Tyrannicidae respondit, quo
in argumento me voluit antagonistam habere; quo 310
certius periculum faceret ecquid profecisset in hoc
genere. Utopiam hoc consilio edidit, ut indicaret quibus
rebus fiat ut minus commode habeant respublicae;
sed Britannicam potissimum effinxit, quam habet penitus
perspectam cognitamque. Secundum librum prius 315
scripserat per otium; mox per occasionem primum
adiecit ex tempore. Atque hinc nonnulla dictionis
inaequalitas.
Vix alium reperias qui felicius dicat ex tempore;
adeo felici ingenio felix lingua subservit. Ingenium 320
praesens et ubique praevolans, memoria parata; quae
cum omnia habeat velut in numerato, prompte et
incontanter suggerit quicquid tempus aut res postulat.
In disputationibus nihil fingi potest acutius, adeo
ut summis etiam theologis saepe negotium facessat, in 325
ipsorum harena versans. Ioannes Coletus, vir acris
exactique iudicii, in familiaribus colloquiis subinde dicere
solet Britanniae non nisi unicum esse ingenium;
cum haec insula tot egregiis ingeniis floreat.
Verae pietatis non indiligens cultor est, etiam si ab 330
omni superstitione alienissimus. Habet suas horas,
quibus Deo litet precibus, non ex more, sed e pectore
depromptis. Cum amicis sic fabulatur de vita futuri
seculi, ut agnoscas illum ex animo loqui neque sine
optima spe. Ac talis Morus est etiam in aula. Et 335
postea sunt qui putent Christianos non inveniri nisi
in monasteriis.
Tales viros cordatissimus rex in familiam suam
atque adeo in cubiculum non solum admittit verum
etiam invitat; nec invitat modo verum etiam pertrahit. 340
Hos habet arbitros ac testes perpetuos vitae
suae, hos habet in consiliis, hos habet itinerum comites.
Ab his stipari gaudet potius quam luxu perditis
iuvenibus aut mulierculis, aut etiam torquatis Midis
aut insinceris officiis; quorum alius ad voluptates 345
ineptas avocet, alius ad tyrannidem inflammet, alius
ad expilandum populum novas technas suggerat. In
hac aula si vixisses, Huttene, sat scio rursum aliam
aulam describeres, et aulas odisse desineres. Quanquam
tu quoque cum eo principe vivis ut integriorem nec 350
optare possis; neque desunt qui rebus optimis faveant.
Sed quid ista paucitas ad tantum examen insignium
virorum, Montioii, Linacri, Pacaei, Coleti, Stocschleii,
Latimeri, Mori, Tunstalli, Clerici atque aliorum his
adsimilium? quorum quemcunque nominaveris, mundum 355
omnium virtutum ac disciplinarum semel dixeris.
Mihi vero spes est haudquaquam vulgaris fore ut
Albertus, unicum his temporibus nostrae Germaniae
ornamentum, et plures sui similes in suam allegat
familiam, et ceteris principibus gravi sit exemplo, ut 360
idem et ipsi suae quisque domi facere studeant.
Habes imaginem ad optimum exemplar a pessimo
artifice non optime delineatam. Ea tibi minus placebit,
si continget Morum nosse propius. Sed illud
tamen interim cavi, ne mihi possis impingere, quod 365
tibi minus paruerim, neve semper opprobres nimium
breves epistolas. Etiamsi haec nec mihi scribenti
visa est longior, nec tibi legenti, sat scio, prolixa videbitur:
id faciet Mori nostri suavitas. Bene vale.
Antuerpiae decimo Calendas Augusti Anno M.D.XIX. 370
XXVII. A DISHONEST LONDONER
Hoc nuper cuidam accidit apud Britannos, medico
mihi ut patria communi, ita et amicitia coniunctissimo.
Civem quendam Londoniensem, virum egregie nummatum
et habitum adprime probum, arte curaque sua
liberarat, non sine suo ipsius periculo; nam is pestilentissima 5
febre tenebatur. Et ut fit in periculis,
medico montes aureos fuerat pollicitus, si non gravaretur
sibi in tanto vitae discrimine dexter adesse, obtestatus
et amicitiam quae illi cum eo intercedebat. Quid
multis? Persuasit et iuveni et Germano. Adfuit, 10
nihil non fecit; revixit ille. Ubi verecunde de pecunia
medicus admonuerat, elusit nugator, negans de mercede
quicquam addubitandum, ceterum arcae nummariae
clavem penes uxorem esse: 'et nosti' inquit 'mulierum
ingenium. Nolo sentiat tantam pecuniae summam a 15
me datam.' Deinde post dies aliquot hominem obvium
forte factum, iam nitidum et nulla morbi vestigia prae
se ferentem, appellavit et nondum datae mercedis admonuit.
Ille constanter asseverare pecuniam suo iussu
ab uxore numeratam esse. Medicus negare factum. 20
Hic vide quam ansam bonus ille vir arripuerit. Cum
forte medicus eum Latine numero singulari appellasset,
ibi velut atroci lacessitus iniuria, 'Vah,' inquit 'homo
Germanus tuissas Anglum?' Moxque velut impos
animi, prae iracundia caput movens diraque minitans, 25
subduxit sese. Atque ad eum modum honestus ille
civis elusit, dignus profecto quem sua pestis repetat.
Risimus quidem fabulam, nec tamen sine dolore
propter indigne frustratum amicum, nec sine tam insignis
ingratitudinis admiratione. Referunt gratiam 30
leones in periculis adiuti; meminerunt officii dracones.
Homo homini, amicus amico sic merito, pro mercede
quae nulla satis digna rependi poterat, ludibrium reponit.
Atque haec in facti detestationem diximus, non
in gentis odium. Nec enim par est ex hoc uno nebulone 35
Britannos omnes aestimari.
XXVIII. THE CONDITION OF ENGLISH HOUSES
ERASMUS ROTERODAMUS FRANCISCO CARDINALIS EBORACENSIS MEDICO S.
Frequenter et admirari et dolere soleo, qui fiat ut
Britannia tot iam annis assidua pestilentia vexetur,
praesertim sudore letali, quod malum paene videtur
habere peculiare. Legimus civitatem a diutina pestilentia
liberatam, consilio philosophi mutatis aedificiis. 5
Aut me fallit animus, aut simili ratione liberari possit
Anglia. Primum quam coeli partem spectent fenestrae
ostiave nihil habent pensi: deinde sic fere constructa
sunt conclavia, ut nequaquam sint perflabilia, quod
inprimis admonet Galenus. Tum magnam parietis 10
partem habent vitreis tessellis pellucidam, quae sic
admittunt lumen ut ventos excludant, et tamen per
rimulas admittunt auram illam colatam, aliquanto pestilentiorem,
ibi diu quiescentem. Tum sola fere strata
sunt argilla, tum scirpis palustribus, qui subinde sic 15
renovantur, ut fundamentum maneat aliquoties annos viginti,
sub se fovens sputa, vomitus, proiectam cervisiam
et piscium reliquias, aliasque sordes non nominandas.
Hinc mutato coelo vapor quidam exhalatur, mea sententia
minime salubris humano corpori. 20
Adde quod Anglia non solum undique circumfusa
est mari, verum etiam multis in locis palustris est salsisque
fluminibus intersecta; ne quid dicam interim
de salsamentis, quibus vulgus mirum in modum delectatur.
Confiderem insulam fore multo salubriorem si 25
scirporum usus tolleretur; tum si sic exstruerentur
cubicula, ut duobus aut tribus lateribus paterent coelo;
fenestris omnibus vitreis ita confectis, ut totae possent
aperiri, totae claudi, et sic claudi ut non pateret per
hiantes rimas aditus ventis noxiis. Siquidem ut aliquando 30
salutiferum est admittere coelum, ita nonnunquam
salutiferum est excludere. Ridet vulgus si quis
offenditur coelo nubiloso. Ego et ante annos triginta,
si fueram ingressus cubiculum in quo mensibus aliquot
nemo versatus esset, ilico incipiebam febricitare. Conferret 35
huc, si vulgo parcior victus persuaderi posset ac
salsamentorum moderatior usus; tum si publica cura
demandaretur aedilibus, ut viae mundiores essent a
caeno, curarentur et ea quae civitati vicina essent.
Ridebis, scio, otium meum, qui his de rebus sollicitus 40
sim. Faveo regioni quae mihi tam diu praebuit hospitium;
et in qua libens finiam quod superest aevi, si liceat.
Non dubito quin tu haec pro tua prudentia rectius noris;
libuit tamen admonere, ut si meum iudicium cum
tuo consentiat, haec viris principibus persuadeas. Haec 45
enim olim regum cura consuevit esse. Scripsissem
perlibenter reverendissimo domino Cardinali; sed nec
otium erat nec argumentum, nec ignoro quibus ille
negotiis distringatur. Bene vale, vir humanissime;
cui debeo plurimum. 50
XXIX. FISHER'S STUDY AT ROCHESTER
ERASMUS ROTERODAMUS IOANNI EPISCOPO ROFFENSI S.D.
Reverende Praesul, maerens ac dolens hoc verbum
legi in epistola tua, 'Utinam vivum me reperiat liber,'
&c. Auxit famulus dolorem, qui nuntiavit affligi te
adversa valetudine. Nihil indulges isti corpusculo.
Suspicor magnam tuae valetudinis partem nasci ex 5
loco. Nunc enim medicum agam, si pateris. Mare
vicinum et lutum subinde maris decessu nudatum
coelum exasperat. Et habes bibliothecam undique
parietibus vitreis, qui per rimas transmittunt auram
subtilem et, ut medici loquuntur, colatam, pestilentem 10
raris et imbecillis corpusculis. Nec me fugit quam
assiduus sis in bibliotheca, quae tibi Paradisi loco
est. Ego si in tali loco commorer tres horas, aegrotem.
Magis conveniret cubiculum pavimento ligneo
et parietibus undique ligno contabulatis. Spirant 15
enim lateres et calx noxium quiddam. Scio pie
viventibus mortem non esse formidabilem, sed totius
ecclesiae refert talem episcopum esse superstitem in
tanta bonorum inopia.
Basileae. pridie nonas Septemb. Anno M.D.XXIIII. 20
* * * * *
NOTES
I
[An incident related in the _Ecclesiastes_ (see p.15[*]). Erasmus was
ordained in 1492 by this Bishop of Utrecht, who was a son of Philip the
Good, Duke of Burgundy; and perhaps heard this story at the time.]
[* At the end of LIFE OF ERASMUS. Transcriptor.]
1. FUERIT] Either (1) fut. perf. indic., for which _erit_ might equally
well stand; or (2) perf. subj. of qualified statement. Cf. _crediderim_,
'I am inclined to believe.'
5. PROFANA DICIONE ONUSTIS] At the time when Erasmus was ordained the
diocese of Utrecht had been torn for more than twenty years with civil
war; in the course of which the Bishop had at one time been a prisoner.
19. II QUIBUS, &c.] The officials to whom fees were payable by successful
candidates.
21. HIERONYMOS] Jerome (died 420) was one of the Latin Fathers of the
Church.
II
[A letter to a young merchant, Christian Northoff of Lubeck, who had come
to Paris to study. Erasmus was teaching him; and one of the modes of
instruction was a daily interchange of Latin letters between master and
pupil. The scene here depicted, of course with some licence of
exaggeration, is laid in the boarding-house where Erasmus was lodging;
the mistress of which was a woman of violent temper.]
TIT. S.D.] _salutem dicit_, the common form of greeting at the head of
letters; often occurring as S.P.D., salutem plurimam dicit.
1. MEL ATTICUM] An endearing mode of address.
2. _Ne_ with the imperative is ante-classical (Plaut. and Ter.), and
poetical.
5. PYXIDEM] One of the _munera_ of l. 64.
6. Pandora was the first woman created, according to Greek mythology. She
brought down from heaven a box, which she was forbidden to open; but in
curiosity she raised the lid, and at once all the evils to which mankind
is subject flew out and spread over the earth. Epimetheus was her
husband.
13. TOGATA ... PALLIATA] The classical distinction between two kinds of
Roman drama, according as the scene was laid in Roman or in Greek
surroundings. In the former the _toga_ was worn by the principal
characters; in the latter the Greek _pallium_.
14. PLANIPEDIA] Acted by a _planipes_, a kind of pantomime; so-called
because he used neither the _soccus_ of comedy nor the _cothurnus_ of
tragedy in his performances.
15. EPITASIS] A Greek technical term, for the crisis of a play.
23. CATASTROPHEN] Also a Greek technical term; the point at which a play
turns, leading to the conclusion.
26. OPTASSE] Dependent on a verb of statement understood from _laudo_. A
common idiom.
41. CAROLI REGIS] Charles VIII, King of France, 1483-98.
42. GENTIL GERSON] Evidently _gentil garçon_, 'fine gentleman.'
47. FLAMMEUM] _sc_. velum. A flame-coloured veil, properly worn by
brides.
53. SURDAE CECINISSE] A proverbial phrase of labouring without result;
'to waste one's breath.' 'Ortum videtur a ridiculo casu, quo saepe fit ut
hospes incidat in surdum, quem percontetur multa, ridentibus iis qui
surdum noverunt.' Erasmus, _Adagia_.
66. ALIENIS MANIBUS] by getting a friend to write his Latin letter for
him.
67. FRONTIS] 'Frons habita est antiquitus pudori sacra, et facies item.
Inde frontem aut faciem proverbio perfricuisse dicuntur, qui pudorem
omnem dedidicerunt, velut absterso manu a vultu pudore.' Erasmus,
_Adagia_.
70. Patroclus was the friend of Achilles. When Achilles refused to fight
against Troy, Patroclus borrowed his arms, and was killed in the battle.
71. QUID SIMILE?] _sc_. inter nos.
III
[This letter describes a journey made in the exceptionally cold winter of
1498-9, when Erasmus paid a visit to his friend, James Batt. Batt was
then at the castle of Tournehem, near Calais, acting as tutor to a young
nobleman, the son of Anne of Borsselen, Lady of Veere, near Middelburg;
to whose patronage he was generously trying to introduce Erasmus.]
TIT. GUILHELMO] This form of the name William represents the German
Wilhelm; Gulielmus is more akin to the Italian Guglielmo; Guielmus, which
also occurs, to the French Guillaume.
5. AEOLUM] The king of the winds, whom Juno had persuaded to oppose the
Trojan fleet under Aeneas as it sailed from Troy to Italy. See Verg.
_Aen_. 1. 50 seq.
14. VIDISSES] _sc_. si adfuisses.
31. Bellerophon, after having vanquished the Chimaera on Pegasus, wished
to fly with his winged steed to heaven. But Pegasus threw him off and
ascended alone, to become a constellation in the sky.
35-6. CREDAS ... ACCIDISSET] The slight irregularity of tense is easily
intelligible.
35. Lucian, _fl_. 160 A.D., was a Syrian citizen of the Roman Empire. His
writings, which are mostly satirical, are in Greek. One of them is
entitled _Vera Historia_.
57. ALLEVARE] 'to exaggerate,' opp. to _elevare_,'to disparage.'
_Allevare_ can also mean 'to understate', but the sequence of thought is
not so natural.
62. SCRIBEBAM] The epistolary imperfect, representing the time of the
action when the words would be read by the recipient of the letter.
PATRIAM] Holland.
64. CONVICTU] Evidently it had been proposed that Erasmus should come and
live with Lord Mountjoy in Paris as his tutor.
IV
[An extract from a letter to an Italian friend domiciled in France.
Erasmus was probably writing from Bedwell in Hertfordshire, where Sir
William Say, Lord Mountjoy's father-in-law, had a country-house. For the
practice which Erasmus playfully describes in the second paragraph, see
an additional note on p. 157.[*]]
[* See ADDITIONAL NOTES, first note, at the end of this text.
Transcriptor.]
4. INVITA MINERVA] 'refragante ingenio, repugnante natura, non favente
coelo.' Erasmus, _Adagia_. Minerva was the goddess of wisdom.
6. MERDAS] It has been well pointed out that the use of so coarse a word
is foreign to Erasmus, whose writings, though often free, are marked by a
delicacy unusual in his age; and that he is therefore probably alluding
to the compositions of his correspondent, who knew no such restrictions,
e.g. in his _Querela Parrhisiensis pavimenti_.
7. UT ... PEREAT] A wish.
9. ALATIS] Like Mercury, the messenger of the gods, who for his journeys
attached winged sandals to his feet.
10. Daedalus was a mythical artificer who constructed the labyrinth for
Minos, king of Crete; but being detained there against his will, he made
wings for himself and his son Icarus and flew away to Sicily.
21. Solon (c. 638-558), the Athenian lawgiver, is said to have bound the
people with an oath to observe his laws until he returned; and then to
have absented himself from Athens for ten years.
23. PROPEDIEM] Erasmus was expecting to return to Paris in the summer of
1499. His visit to Oxford was only undertaken to fill an interval during
which he was detained in England.
V
[This incident occurred in the autumn of 1499. Erasmus was staying on an
estate belonging to Lord Mountjoy at Greenwich, and was visited one day
by Thomas More with a friend Arnold from London. In the course of a walk
they came to Eltham Palace ('a castle situated between two parks,' as it
is described by two ambassadors in 1514), the splendid banqueting hall of
which is still standing, and there paid their respects to the royal
children with their tutor, John Skelton, the poet. Arthur, Prince of
Wales, was then absent with his father: but the young Prince Henry,
afterwards Henry VIII, received the friends gracefully. They stayed to
dine in the hall, but apparently not at the 'high table'. The narrative
is found in a Catalogue of Erasmus' writings composed in 1523.]
7. ANIMI CAUSA] Relaxation to the mind rather than exercise for the body
was the object of the walk.
12. NOVEM] Henry was little more than 8, having been born on 2 June 1491;
Margaret was born on 29 Nov. 1489 and was therefore not yet 11. The other
ages given are correct. Inaccuracy in such trifling matters need not
surprise us, seeing that Erasmus was writing more than twenty years after
the visit.
16. IACOBO] James IV of Scotland, who was killed at Flodden, 9 Sept.
1513.
17. Mary afterwards became Queen of France by her marriage with Louis XII
in 1514.
26. _vel_ here intensifies the word that follows. It is often so used
with superlatives.
VI
[A letter written to Lord Mountjoy, who had intended to join Erasmus in
Oxford, but had been prevented by a summons to attend in Westminster Hall
on 21 Nov. 1499, for the trial of the Earl of Warwick in connexion with
the rising of Perkin Warbeck.]
6. John Colet (c. 1466-1519) was now lecturing in Oxford. For his
influence on Erasmus see X; and Mr. Seebohm's _Oxford Reformers_.
Richard Charnock was Prior of St. Mary's College in Oxford; the
Augustinian house, in which Erasmus was living. It is now practically
demolished.
9. HORATIUS] _Ep_. 2. 1. 63:
Interdum vulgus rectum videt, est ubi peccat.
11. CUIUS] _sc_. vulgi.
12, 3. nostro illo ingressu] Erasmus' arrival at Oxford; which for some
reason seems to have been discouraging.
35. TUM ... TUM] A post-Augustan construction, for which Cicero uses
_cum ... tum_.
VII
[A letter written to describe a dinner-party in a College hall in Oxford;
possibly at Magdalen, to which Colet, who was presiding, is thought to
have belonged. With the exception of Charnock, the other guests mentioned
have not been identified. The letter is to be dated in Nov. 1499; Sixtin,
to whom it is addressed, was a Dutchman resident in Oxford. The
manuscript in which Erasmus pretended to have found this story of Cain
is, of course, fictitious.]
TIT. DOMINO] The title of a Bachelor of Arts.
2. CONVIVIO] 'Bene maiores nostri accubitionem epularem amicorum, quia
vitae coniunctionem haberet, convivium nominarunt, melius quam Graeci qui
hoc idem compotationem (symposium) vocant.' Cic. _Sen_. 13, 45.
6. Epicurus (342-270) was a Greek philosopher, who is traditionally but
wrongly regarded as having taught that pleasure is the end of life.
7. CONDITUM] _condi[*]tum_, not _condi[*]tum_.
[* i.e. long 'i', not short. Transcriptor.]
Pythagoras (sixth cent. B.C.) was one of the greatest Greek philosophers.
20, 1. LAEVUM LATUS CLAUSIMUS] The left side was regarded as more exposed
to attack than the right, which had the sword-arm. It was therefore a
compliment to place oneself to the left of a friend, as though to protect
him in case of need. Here nothing more is meant than that Erasmus sat on
the Theologian's left.
25. POCULENTUM] connected with the wine-cups.
36. ALIUD] _sc_. quam solebat.
37. MAIORQUE] cf. Verg. _Aen_. 6. 49-51, of the Sibyl:
maiorque videri,
Nec mortale sonans, adflata est numine quando
Iam propiore dei.'
53. LEGERE] When the narrator is an eyewitness, the present infinitive is
usual, even of past time.
80. RHOMPHAEA] a sword; the Septuagint word.
97. OMNIIUGA] This word is not classical; but _multiiugus_, 'manifold'
(literally, of many yoked together, cf. _biiugus_, _quadriiugus_), is
common.
110. QUID] 'for what purpose?'
129. ID GENUS] An adjectival accusative, equivalent to genitive of
quality; cf. virile secus.
133. CULMI] The stalks of Cain's fine crops.
VIII
[A letter to an English friend, Robert Fisher, who had been a pupil of
Erasmus in Paris in 1497 and had then gone to study law in Italy.]
4. IN EA...REGIONE] Italy was at this time regarded as being, and in fact
was, more advanced than the rest of Europe in classical learning and
refinement. In consequence to visit Italy was the ambition of every
scholar.
SIS] In classical Latin when two reasons are given, of which one is
denied and the other affirmed, the verb in the affirmation is usually in
the indicative.
26. Wm. Grocin (c. 1416-1519) was one of the first to teach Greek in
Oxford. He was now resident in London.
28. Thos. Linacre (c. 1460-1524) was an Oxford scholar who had recently
returned from Italy and was now in London. He afterwards became one of
the first physicians of his age.
IX
[A letter describing Erasmus' journey to Paris on his return from England
in 1500. On 27 Jan. he was at Dover, whence he crossed to Boulogne. He
went then to Tournehem Castle and after spending two nights with Batt set
out for Paris. He reached Amiens in the afternoon of 31 Jan., started on
with horses the same evening and slept at an unnamed village. On 1 Feb.
he passed to the west of Clermont and slept at St. Julien (?), reaching
St. Denis and Paris on 2 Feb.]
2. VIGILIAS] Writings, composed doubtless by the 'midnight oil'; in which
Erasmus rightly considered his wealth to lie.
7. LUSIMUS] 'met.'
8. CRETIZAVIMUS] 'We behaved like a Cretan.' Cf. the English saying 'to
give tit for tat'. Erasmus means that he gave the messenger full measure
of conversation in return.
9. ANGLICA FATA] when preparing to leave England Erasmus had £20 in his
pocket. But a law of Edward III, re-enacted by Henry VII, forbade the
exportation of silver and gold; and in consequence all but £2 was taken
from him in the Dover custom-house. This very real calamity he had of
course related to Batt at Tournehem.
13. AEOLUM] Cf. III. 5 n.
21. Mercury was the god of traders and thieves. Cf. Ovid. _Fasti_ 5. 673
seq.
QUOQUE] _quo[*]que_, not _quo[*]que_.
[* i.e. long 'o', not short. Transcriptor.]
26. DIVO IULIANO] There is no village of St. Julien which satisfies the
required conditions. Juilly (Iuliacum) between Dammartin and Meaux is
perhaps intended.
44. IUGULOS] _iugulum_, neuter, is the common form.
45. VICTIMAE] Predicative Dative of purpose.
51. _obolere_ is only used intransitively in post-Augustan Latin.
55. MECUM] _sc_. reputo.
CICERONIANUM] _Brut_. 80. 278.
60. QUASNAM] Money of what country or of what coinage. The common
difficulty of travellers was then increased by the variety of coinages in
circulation within the same country. A further trouble was that through
use or 'clipping' one coin might differ from another of the same value;
and 'light' coins were always liable to be weighed and refused.
65. POSTULATUM] A particular kind of florin. Mr. Shilleto suggests that
the name is connected with _pistolet_ (or _pistole_), a French coin of
this period.
67. SCUTATUM] A crown, Fr. écu; in l. 136 one of these is specified.