Erasmus (aláírt példány) [antikvár]

IntroductionAbout Christopher HoUis' book Erasmus, first pubHshed in 1933 and here reprinted, one can safely say that Erasmus scholars have ignored it. Why then bring it out again? The answer is simple. Mollis' Erasmus is the only book where attention is always focused on the crucial issue about Erasmus, that is, the true measure of his sincerity. In Hollis' book alone is the reader asked in chapter after chapter to confront the reality that sincerity was not Erasmus' forte. HoUis' book alone in the vast list of character portrayals of Erasmus focuses on what subtly gives itself away by all portraits of Erasmus painted, etched or sketched during his life.^ Among the artists the two chief ones, Dürer and Holbein the Younger, were enthusiastic admirers of Erasmus. But being great artists, they obeyed the precept, "amicus Plato, sed magis arnica Veritas," which on account of its classic provenance should have particularly appealed to Erasmus. Their portraits of Erasmus, impressively flattering as they may be in many ways, give him away as one who tries to hide something. He tried not to be outspoken, though he did not always succeed, about his inordinate sense of feeling superior to any and all, as one who can judge everybody but who ought not to be judged by anyone.It is not at all a new observation that throughout his life Erasmus had little use for the virtue of sincerity. Even if one takes into account that for Protestant historians of theVll