Collected Works of Erasmus

This fifth of seven volumes on the Adages continues from where the Collected Works of Erasmus volume 34 left off and includes 900 more adages from III iv 1 to IV ii 100. The aim of the Adages volumes in the CWE is to provide a fully annotated, accurate, and readable English version of the more than 4000 adages gathered, and commented on by Erasmus, sometimes in a few lines and sometimes in full-scale essays.

Following in the tradition of meticulous scholarship for which the Collected Works of Erasmus is widely known, the notes to this volume identify the classical sources and illustrate how Erasmus' reading and thinking developed over twenty-five years, a period spanned by eight revisions of the first edition of the work which appeared in 1508 and won immediate acclaim. Many of the proverbs cited by Erasmus are still in use today.

Volume 35 of the Collected Works of Erasmus series.

Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536), a Dutch humanist, Catholic priest, and scholar, was one of the most influential Renaissance figures. A professor of divinity and Greek, Erasmus wrote, taught, and travelled, meeting with Europe’s foremost scholars. A prolific author, Erasmus wrote on both ecclesiastic and general human interest subjects.

John N. Grant is a professor emeritus in the Department of Classics at the University of Toronto.

Denis L. Drysdall retired as chairperson and associate professor of Romance Languages from the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand, where he remains a research associate.