Erasmus, Willem Vorsterman, and the

Printing of St Jeromes Letters

Hilmar M. Pabel*
Burnaby, Canada
Abstract
Willem Vorsterman was a leading printer in Antwerp in the rst half of the sixteenth century.
He printed two anthologies of the letters of St. Jerome, one in 1515, the other in 1533. Tese
deserve attention in connection with Erasmus of Rotterdam, the renowned humanist champion
and editor of Jerome. In its preface, the rst anthology takes up the cause of humanist theology
and invokes Erasmus authority on the eve of his celebrated edition of Jerome. His name adds
value to the anthology. Te second anthology does not refer to Erasmus at all; nevertheless it
yields traces of his editorial inuence.
Keywords
Vorsterman, Erasmus, St. Jerome, humanism
Introduction
In :,:,, Erasmus of Rotterdam took a new dmarche into the world of public
relations. His objective was the pre-publication advertisement of his edition of
St Jerome; his medium was print. In May, he wrote three letters to Rome to
secure ecclesiastical support for the edition. He informed Cardinals Raaele
Riario and Domenico Grimani as well as Pope Leo x that the edition would
soon appear in print thanks to the presses of Johann Froben, who had no rival
Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, :cc; DOI: :c.::o,/:,;cco,c;X:,,;::
Qurendo ,; (:oo;) :;-:)o www.brill.nl/qua
* I am indebted to Werner Waterschoot and Bart Besamusca for providing me with the initial
bibliographical orientation on Willem Vorsterman, to Rainer Henrich, Tomas Izbicki, and
Hans Trapman for helping me with some references, and to Mechtilde OMara for checking
some of my translations from Latin. Except for the prayer printed in the anthology of Jeromes
letters printed by Vorsterman in :,:, and the title of the anthology that he printed in :,,,, I have
modernized the spelling and punctuation in the Latin quotations. Abbreviations: Allen = Opus
epistolarum Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami, ed. P. S. Allen et al., :c vols. (Oxford :,co-,); ASD =
Opera omnia Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami (Amsterdam :,o,-); CSEL = Corpus Scriptorum
:o H.M. Pabel / Qurendo ,; (:oo;) :;-:)o
in publishing Christian books of superior quality.
:
In August, Froben pub-
lished these letters as well as an epistolary apology for Te Praise of Folly,
addressed to Maarten van Dorp, and a poem in praise of Schlettstadt, where
Erasmus had visited in :,::. Tese pieces constituted the rst published collec-
tion of Erasmuss letters, a collection combined with a series of texts on mili-
tary campaigns against Turks and Muscovites under the volume title of Iani
Damiani [. . .] elegeia. In this collection of letters, specically the three letters
to Rome, author and printer collaborated in promoting the scholarly reputa-
tion of Erasmus and providing elaborate advanced publicity a publishers
marketing blurb which species precisely the form which the Jerome volumes
will take.
:
Lisa Jardine observes: In all three letters Erasmus conveys vividly
his sense that he has earned the right, through his labours, to commercial
ownership of the Jerome, and therefore the right to negotiate the prot which
might accrue from its publication.
,
Erasmus portrayed the edition not only as
the product of more than Herculean labours but also as an editio princeps.
Jerome, reborn in his edition, previously was so much corrupted and muti-
lated that one might think he was now not so much revised as published for
the rst time (primum aeditus).

Tis claim resonates with hubris. Te Erasmian edition that Froben printed
in Basel in :,:o was a far cry from an editio princeps, even though, as the rst
publication of Jeromes opera omnia in nine volumes, it represented an
accomplishment in the history of print. Since :o;, when Sextus Riessinger
printed the editio princeps in Rome, Jeromes letters were published repeatedly
throughout Europe. Incunabular editions appeared in Rome, Parma, Venice,
Strassburg, Mainz, Nrnberg, and Basel. Te :,; edition produced by Nicolaus
Kesler in Basel formed the basis of four French editions printed in the rst two
decades of the sixteenth century one in Paris (:,::), and three in Lyon (:,c,
:,:,, :,:). Furthermore, in Basel, Johann Amerbach, who had already printed
editions of the collected works of Ambrose (:,:) and Augustine (:,co), was
Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (Vienna :oo-); CWE = Collected Works of Erasmus (Toronto :,;-);
NK = Wouter Nijho and M. E. Kronenberg, Nederlandsche Bibliographie van :,oo tot :,,o,
, parts (Te Hague :,:,-oo).
1 CWE, vol ,, p. :c, ep. ,,,.
: Cornelis Augustijn, Erasmus-Promotion anno :,:,: die Erasmus-Stcke in Iani Damiani . . .
Elegia, in: Augustijn, Erasmus: Der Humanist als Teologe und Kirchenreformer (Leiden :,,o),
pp. :-,:; Lisa Jardine, Erasmus, Man of Letters: Te Construction of Charisma in Print (Princeton
:,,,), p. ;: (quote).
, Jardine, op. cit. (n. :), p. ;:.
CWE, vol. ,, p. ,, ep. ,,,; Allen, vol. :, p. ;:, ep. ,,,.
H.M. Pabel / Qurendo ,; (:oo;) :;-:)o :o,
preparing an edition of Jerome until his death on Christmas Day, :,:, termi-
nated this project. His sons Basil, Boniface, and Bruno especially collaborated
with Erasmus to produce the edition that Froben, Amerbachs partner and
successor, printed in :,:o. Erasmus was immediately responsible for the rst
four volumes three volumes of letters and a volume of spuria while the ve
remaining volumes of Jeromes scriptural scholarship fell to the Amerbach
brothers with Erasmus as a sort of editor-in-chief.
,
Despite the many preceding editions, :,:o represented a watershed in the
history of editing Jerome. Erasmus successfully staked his proprietary claim on
Jerome and emerged as the authoritative transmitter and interpreter of his
letters.
o
Two anthologies of Jeromes letters, both printed in Antwerp by Willem
Vorsterman and neglected by scholarship, can be incorporated into the printed
record of the Erasmus-Jerome relationship. Te rst of these appeared in :,:,.
Although it did not completely anticipate the Erasmian reinterpretation of the
Church Father, the anthology rmly planted Jerome in the humanist camp,
explicitly under the banner of Erasmus. Vorsterman printed the second anthol-
ogy in :,,,. Tis reprise evinces Erasmian traits without ever accrediting the
consummate editor of Jerome.
Antwerp and Vorsterman
Already at the end of the fteenth century, Antwerp was the principal city of
book production in the southern Low Countries.
;
By the middle of the six-
teenth century it evolved into the most important printing centre in Europe
after Venice and Paris. As a printing production and distribution centre,
Antwerp along with Venice and Paris dominated the international book
trade.

Already at the end of the fteenth century with its leading printer at
, Te Correspondence of Johann Amerbach: Early Printing in its Social Context, ed. Barbara C.
Halporn (Ann Arbor :ccc), pp. ,c;-oo; John C. Olin, Erasmus and Saint Jerome: Te Close
Bond and Its Signicance, in: Erasmus of Rotterdam Society Yearbook, ; (:,;), pp. c-:.
o Hilmar M. Pabel, Credit, Paratexts, and Editorial Strategiesin Erasmus of Rotterdams Edi-
tions of Jerome, in: Cognition and the Book: Typologies of Formal Organisation of Knowledge in the
Printed Book of the Early Modern Period, ed. Karl A. E. Enenkel & Wolfgang Neuber (Leiden
:cc,), pp. ::;-, = Intersections: Yearbook for Early Modern Studies, (:cc), pp. ::;-,.
; Werner Waterschoot, Antwerp: Books, Publishing and Cultural Production before :,,,
in: Urban Achievement in Early Modern Europe: Golden Ages in Antwerp, Amsterdam and London,
ed. Patrick OBrien et al. (Cambridge :cc:), p. :,,.
Francine de Nave, A Printing Capital in its Ascendancy, Flowering and Decline, in: Antwerp:
Story of a Metropolis: :th-:;th Century, ed. Jan Van der Stock (Ghent :,,,), pp. , ,c.
:;c H.M. Pabel / Qurendo ,; (:oo;) :;-:)o
the time, Gerard Leeu, Antwerp was producing for a foreign, namely English,
market in the book trade. David McKitterick reminds us: In the sixteenth
century, the imprints of books show that Antwerp was, with Paris, the most
important overseas centre of book production for the English-speaking mar-
ket.
,
Antwerp printers produced works in French, English, Danish, Spanish,
and Italian. Although religious titles made up the lions share of the printed
output in the rst half of the sixteenth century, Latin humanist works also
achieved some prominence. In :,c,, Dirk Martens printed Erasmuss rst
book of original writings, the Lucubratiunculae, a collection of texts that
included the Enchiridion militis christiani.
:c
Did Erasmus want to make a con-
spicuous debut as an author by having the Lucubratiunculae appear there after
publishing in Paris the rst edition of the Adages in :,cc and an edition of
Ciceros De o ciis in :,c:?
According to Eugne Polain, Willem Vorsterman began printing in Ant-
werp as early as :,,.
::
In :,::, he gained admittance to the guild of St Luke as
a master printer. After printing almost cc works, he died in :,,.
::
He and his
contemporary Michiel Hillen van Hoochstraten (d. :,,), who before :,o
could count more than ,cc publications to his credit,
:,
dominated Antwerps
printing industry in the rst half of the sixteenth century. Vorsterman collabo-
rated with Hillen and other printers and contracted out work to and took on
work from colleagues within Antwerp and without. Commissions came his
way to print for Cardinal Erard de la Marck, Bishop of Lige, and Emperor
Charles v.
:
Printing meant prots for Vorsterman. Tis was an exceedingly successful
businessman who reaped where others had sown, printing texts that already
had successfully issued forth from other presses, and who liked to adorn texts
, David McKitterick, Histories of the Book and Histories of Antwerp, in: Quaerendo, ,,
(:cc,), pp. ,-:c, :: (quote).
:c De Nave, art. cit. (n. ), p. .
:: Eugne Polain, Essai bibliographique sur les ditions imprimes Anvers, par Guillaume
Vorsterman demourant en la rue de la Chambre a lenseigne de la Lycorne dor (Lige :,:), p. :,
no. :; Polain, Guillaume Vorsterman, imprimeur Anvers (XVI
e
sicle), in: Bulletin de la Socit
Ligeoise de Bibliographie, : (:,:-,), p. .
:: Anne Rouzet, Dictionnaire des imprimeurs, libraries et diteurs des XV
e
et XVI
e
sicles dans
les limites gographiques de la Belgique actuelle (Nieuwkoop :,;,), p. :,,.
:, Ibid., ,,.
: Ibid., :,,; Waterschoot, art. cit. (n. ;), p. :,,; Polain, art. cit. (n. ::), p. :c; Michel Spanneut,
Autour dune Bible amande de Vorsterman (:,:-:,:,), in: De Gulden Passer, , (:,oc), p. :;:.
H.M. Pabel / Qurendo ,; (:oo;) :;-:)o :;:
with woodcuts because he knew that illustrated books sold well.
:,
A bon march-
and,
:o
Vorsterman cast his nets very widely. Preferring the popular Gothic
type, he printed a wide variety of texts in several languages: chapbooks, devo-
tional works, Bibles, ordinances, almanacs and one music book.
:;
Like Hillen,
Vorsterman printed for both sides of the confessional divide. In :,:c, he
printed Leo xs bull (Exurge Domine) threatening Martin Luther with excom-
munication (xx :,:), and in the following year Charles vs Edict of Worms,
which outlawed Luther (xx ::o:). On ,c October :,::, he printed the rst
edition of John Fishers Convulsio calumniarum Ulrichi Veleni Minhoniensis, a
reply to the :,:c treatise by the Bohemian Lutheran Oldich Velensk that
argued St Peter had never been to Rome.
:
At the request of Christian Peder-
sen, the Danish convert to Lutheranism residing in the Low Countries, Vor-
sterman printed eleven Lutheran works between :,:, and :,,:, including
Pedersens Danish translation of the New Testament in :,:, (xx ::).
:,
Reli-
gious works enjoyed great demand, and Vorsterman aimed to meet it, espe-
cially when it came to the Bible. He contributed to the biblical exuberance in
full swing in the Low Countries by the :,:cs.
:c
Beginning in :,:, again and
again Vorsterman turned out the Bible or the New Testament in Latin or
mostly in Flemish. C. Augustijn has shown that the :,: Flemish Bible had
denite Protestant characteristics.
::
Te inquisitions censure of this Bible did
not stop Vorsterman from reprinting in :,,, :,, and :,, Bibles for Protes-
tant customers.
::
Ironically, the measure of the popularity of the works that he
printed is that they survive in only a few copies in public depositories, if they
survive at all.
:,
:, Rita Schlusemann, Buchmarkt in Antwerpen am Anfang des :o. Jahrhunderts, in: Laien-
lektre und Buchmarkt im spten Mittelalter, ed. Tomas Kock & Rita Schlusemann (Frankfurt
am Main :,,;), p. ,:.
:o Polain, art. cit. (n. ::), p. ::.
:; Ibid.; Spanneut, art. cit. (n. :), p. :;:; Waterschoot, art. cit. (n. ;), p. :,, (quote).
: A. J. Lamping, Ulrichus Velenus (Oldich Velensk) and his Treatise against the Papacy
(Leiden :,;o), p. :,:. In :,:,, Velensk printed his Czech translation of Erasmus Enchiridion.
See ibid., p. ,:.
:, De Nave, art. cit. (n. ), p. ,; Waterschoot, art. cit. (n. ;), p. :,; Spanneut, art. cit. (n. :),
p. :;:; Post-Incunabula and their Publishers in the Low Countries, ed. Hendrik D. L. Vervliet (Te
Hague :,;), p. ,.
:c Spanneut, art. cit. (n. :), p. :;,.
:: C. Augustijn, De Vorstermanbijbel van :,:, Nederlands Archief voor Kerkgeschiedenis, ,o
(:,;,), pp. ;-,.
:: Polain, art. cit. (n. ::), pp. ::-::.
:, Ibid., :-:,.
:;: H.M. Pabel / Qurendo ,; (:oo;) :;-:)o
Erasmus occupied a minor place in Vorstermans publishing program. He
began by covering the cost of a :,:: edition of the Enchiridion, printed in
Antwerp by Jan Tibault (xx :,). Four years later Vorsterman printed the De
constructione octo partium orationis (xx c:) and the De contemptu mundi epistola
(xx co). He reprinted the latter work in :,,o (xx c;). In :,: he published
an edition of Erasmuss letters (xx c:,), in :,,c an edition of the Colloquies
(xx :c), in :,,, the De civilitate morum puerilium (xx :o,), and perhaps in
:,,, another edition of Erasmuss letters (xx :,:). Beatus Rhenanuss Vita
Erasmi appeared in Antwerp in two separate editions in :,,o, one printed by
Jan Steels, son-in-law to Hillen, the other by Vorsterman. By contrast, Hillen,
who produced more Latin books than Vorsterman, published Erasmus repeat-
edly over a period of some twenty years. He published slightly more than one
hundred editions from the earliest version of the Colloquies in :,: (xx ccc)
to a fourth printing of the Paraphrasis in elegantiarum libros L. Vallae in :,,,
(xx :,o,).
Printing Jerome, the standard bearer of humanism both south and north of
the Alps, made good business sense. We can gauge his popularity bibliograph-
ically in the early sixteenth century with the following statistic. In the period
:,::-::, more editions of Jerome were printed in German-speaking territories
than of Augustine twenty-two editions versus seventeen, to be exact.
:
In
printing an anthology of Jeromes letters in :,:, (xx :c;,), Vorsterman fol-
lowed close on the heels of Jan Berntsz who printed a volume entitled Epistole
quaedam gloriosi Hieronimi in Utrecht in :,: (xx :c;).
Te Anthology
Vorstermans anthology had no explicit title. Te title page advertised the pur-
pose of the volume and served as table of contents (illus. :). Nothing could be
more useful for acquiring divine eloquence or more appropriate for leading a
good and happy life. Te anthology consists of twelve brief familiar letters,
various prefaces to the books of the Bible, a series of ten texts including the
letter on the paschal candle addressed to the deacon Praesidius, and three texts
aimed at the heretic Vigilantius, who assailed the cult of the saints: the letter
to Vigilantius in which Jerome denied the accusation that he was a disciple of
: Berndt Hamm, Hieronymus-Begeisterung und Augustinismus vor der Reformation.
Beobachtungen zur Beziehung zwischen Humanismus und Frmmigkeitstheologie (am Beispiel
Nrnbergs), in: Augustine, the Harvest, and Teology (:,oo-:,o): Essays Dedicated to Heiko Augus-
tinus Oberman in Honor of his Sixtieth Birthday, ed. Kenneth Hagen (Leiden :,,c), pp. :,:-:.
H.M. Pabel / Qurendo ,; (:oo;) :;-:)o :;,
:. Title page of the Jerome anthology printed by
Willem Vorsterman (Antwerp :,:,). By permission of
Te British Library (London), shelfmark: ,c,.b.,.
:; H.M. Pabel / Qurendo ,; (:oo;) :;-:)o
Origen (ep. o:), the letter to the priest Riparius in which Jerome requested the
writings of Vigilantius in order to refute him at length (ep. :c,), and, nally,
the polemic Adversus Vigilantium. Te addition of the prefaces was innovative
since they did not appear together in previously printed collections of all of
Jeromes letters. Erasmus similarly included the biblical prefaces in his edition.
He would have appreciated the fact that with the exception of three biblical
prefaces and the letter to Praesidius the Antwerp anthology included no works
that he considered spurious. Modern scholarship has proven Erasmus wrong
about this letter; it is now considered genuine.
:,
Some aspects of the anthology would likely have made Erasmus wince,
however. On the verso of the title page, a woodcut presents Jerome standing
in cardinals garb holding a processional cross in his right hand and the paw of
his legendary lion in his left (illus. :). Te towering cardinal is anked by two
short young men, one of whom identies himself on a scroll as a thief. Were
these the merchants who, according to legend, stole the donkey of Jeromes
monastery, the merchants whom the lion much later accosted to clear himself
of the suspicion that he had devoured the donkey?
:o
Te title of every text in
the edition acclaims its author as Blessed (or Saint) Jerome, Cardinal Priest.
Te printed predecessors and many manuscript collections of Jeromes letters
may have called Jerome a priest in individual headings, but references to him
as a cardinal are rare, even if some printed editions included Albrecht Drers
woodcut of Cardinal Jerome, in his chamber, removing a thorn from the lions
paw.
:;
Of the several manuscript codices that I have examined, only one, from
the fourteenth century, regularly calls Jerome a cardinal in its titles.
:
Erasmus
disdained the fanciful accretions that distorted Jeromes biography. In his own
Vita Hieronymi, a prominent component of his edition, Erasmus observes that
the claim that Jerome was made a cardinal priest is forgive my saying so surely
:, Germain Morin, Un crit mconnu de saint Jrme: La Lettre Prsidius sur le cierge
pascal, in: Revue bndictine, (:,:): pp. :c-;; G. Morin, La lettre de saint Jrme sur le cierge
pascal: Rponse quelques di cults de M. labb L. Duchesne, in: Revue bndictine, , (:,:),
pp. ,,:-;; G. Morin, Pour lauthenticit de la lettre de S. Jrme Prsidius, in: Bulletin dancienne
littrature et archologie chrtiennes, , (:,:,), pp. ,:-oc; Stefan Rebenich, Hieronymus und sein Kreis:
prosopagraphische und sozialgeschichtliche Untersuchungen (Stuttgart :,,:), p. :;c and n. ::.
:o Eugene F. Rice, Jr., Saint Jerome in the Renaissance (Baltimore :,,), p. :.
:; Te woodcut appears in the following editions: Epistolare beati Hieronymi (Basel: Nicolaus
Kesler, :,:); Epistolarium sancti Hieronymi (Basel: Nicolaus Kesler, :,;); Aepistolae sancti
Hieronymi (Lyon: Jacques Saccon, :,c). On the woodcut, see most recently David Hotchkiss
Price, Albrecht Drer Renaissance: Humanism, Reformation, and the Art of Faith (Ann Arbor
:cc,), pp. :,,-:c.
: Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. XIX, Cod. :.
H.M. Pabel / Qurendo ,; (:oo;) :;-:)o :;,
:. Woodcut of St. Jerome, verso of the title page of the
Jerome anthology printed by Willem Vorsterman (Antwerp :,:,).
By permission of Te British Library (London), shelfmark: ,c,.b.,.
:;o H.M. Pabel / Qurendo ,; (:oo;) :;-:)o
false in my opinion. Not only had that splendour and dignity of the cardinals
which we see today not yet come to be, but in those days, I believe, the name
of cardinal had not even existed. Jerome himself acknowledges the title of
priest in many passages, but cardinal never.
:,
In the Vita, Erasmus silently
suppressed the lion and other legends, contenting himself with a blanket con-
demnation of the ridiculous tales of miracles and stories of the most shame-
less falsity.
,c
Te woodcut in the Antwerp anthology exists within a devotional frame-
work. Two classicizing couplets appear above the woodcut:
Inclyte pestiferas extingue Hieronyme ammas
Sevaque tartarei supprime bella Jovis.
Fac tua directe vestigia calle sequamur
O decus eternum. Te duce tuta salus.
(Extinguish, o noble Jerome, the pestilential ames,
And suppress the savage wars of hellish Jove.
Make us follow your footsteps directly on the uneven path,
Oh eternal splendour. With you as our guide, our safety is assured.)
Something more liturgical, from the surages of the saints in Books of Hours,
,:

appears beneath the woodcut:
De sancto Hieronymo deuota oratio.
O Lampas ecclesie, o iubar singulare: doctor sapientie, decusque salutare: Inclyte
Hieronyme, o doctor deo chare: In lacu miserie nos regere dignare. v.
Ora pro nobis, gloriose pater Hieronyme. Ut digne e ciamur promissione christi.
Oremus.
Deus qui nobis per beatum hieronymum confessorem sacerdotemque tuum scripture
sancta veritatem ac mystica sacramenta revelare dignatus es: praesta quaesumus:
ut cuius commemorationem agimus: eius semper et erudiamur doctrinis et meritis
adiuuemur. Per.
:, CWE, vol. o:, p. ,o.
,c Rice, op. cit. (n. :o), p. :,:; CWE, vol. o:, p. :,.
,: Most of the collect of the prayer coincides with the surage of St Jerome in a Book of
Hours from France, c.:,cc, in the Royal Library in Copenhagen, Ms. GkS :o:: , f. :,v.: Deus
qui nobis per beatum Hieronymum confessorem sacerdotemque tuum: scripture sancte verita-
tem et mystica sacramenta revelare dignatus es: presta quesumus, ut cuius natalicia colimus
H.M. Pabel / Qurendo ,; (:oo;) :;-:)o :;;
(A devout prayer concerning Saint Jerome.
Oh beacon of the Church, oh unique radiance, doctor of wisdom, wholesome
splendour: noble Jerome, oh doctor dear to God, guide us please in [this]
slough of misfortune.
Pray for us, glorious father Jerome that we might be made worthy of the
promise of Christ.
Let us pray: Oh God, you who were pleased to reveal to us the truth and mys-
tical sacraments of Sacred Scripture through Blessed Jerome the confessor and
your priest, grant, we ask, that we who observe his commemoration might
always be instructed by his teachings and helped by his merits. Trough
[Christ, our Lord. Amen.])
Tis devotional dimension of a volume whose preface congures it as a peda-
gogical publication may be unprecedented in print. Te incunable editions of
Jerome along with the earlier sixteenth-century editions that I have seen did
not begin with prayers. Neither did Erasmuss edition.
Many previous printed editions supplied individual texts with summaries
or argumenta. Tese were the work of Teodoro de Lelli (d. :oo), who pre-
pared the editio princeps printed in Rome not after :o; but did not live to see
its publication. Only one argumentum appears in the Antwerp anthology. It
introduces the three anti-Vigilantian texts at the end of the volume. Te editor
did not borrow from Lelli, who provided an argumentum only for the Adversus
Vigilantium, a summary that repeated the comment of Gennadius (d. c.,o)
in his De viris illustribus, a continuation of Jeromes work of the same title.
Gennadius conceded that Vigilantius, a priest from Gaul in charge of a parish
in Barcelona, wrote from religious zeal and was eloquent, but he was also vain.
No reliable scriptural exegete, he produced a distorted interpretation of the
second vision of the prophet Daniel. He also uttered other tries. Lelli seems
to have inserted into Gennadius account that Vigilantius contended that the
relics of saints were not to be venerated and their vigils not to be observed.
,:

semper et eius erudiamur doctrinis, et meritis adiuvemur. See http://www.chd.dk/gui/gks:o::_
gui:.html (accessed on :; October :cco). Te entire surage appears in a French Book of Hours
completed in :,,;. See Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, MS ,:,
::v.-:,r.
,: Te editio princeps of Jeromes letters has no printed foliation. Lellis argumentum can be
located at Epistolarium sancti Hieronymi, , parts (Basel: Nicolaus Kesler, :,;), :: f. gr. Te claim
that Vigilantius rejected the veneration of relics and the keeping of vigils does not appear in the
following critical edition: Hieronymi de viris inlustribus liber. Accedit Genadii Catalogus virorum
inlustrium, ed. Wilhelm Herding (Leipzig :,:), p. ;.
:; H.M. Pabel / Qurendo ,; (:oo;) :;-:)o
By contrast, the editor of the Antwerp anthology vilied Jeromes opponent.
Vigilantius was a Gallic priest, a drunk, a peddler of rags, and a descendent
of the Celtiberians, a son of brigands. A hothead (homo furiosi capitis), he
was not only an Origenist but also the author of his own heresies, which
included the belief that Christ was a descendent of the devil according to the
esh. Echoing Jeromes letter to Vigilantius, the editor observed that the
devil had never blasphemed Christ as he had done through the mouth of
the Church Fathers adversary.
,,
Te only thing that Erasmus argumentum
to the Adversus Vigilantium had in common with the anthology was the refer-
ence to Vigilantiuss Gallic origin. He mentions Vigilantiuss teaching against
honouring the relics of martyrs and keeping vigil at their burial places. Yet
instead of criticizing him, Erasmus reproaches Jerome for hurling abuse at
Vigilantius.
,
Te preface to the anthology identies the main intended audience.
,,
Greet-
ings go out to all eager novices in the liberal arts. Te editor of the volume
gladly oers Jeromes letters, selected with no small eort, to noble youths
(iuvenes optimi) and bids farewell to his most beloved young people. It was
their duty to disdain the verbal preeners of our times along with the cheap
imitators and wranglers and to take up, embrace, and venerate the most rich
and indeed salubrious fruits of these letters. Readers of the preface, young and
old, encountered two main themes in the preface: the pre-eminence of theol-
ogy and the excellence of Jerome.
A scholarly ourish of three references to antiquity inaugurates the preface.
Aristotle in the opening line of the Metaphysics says that human beings by
nature desire knowledge (,ca); Cicero, the great orator, holds that everyone
is drawn and led to the desire for knowledge and understanding (De o ciis,
:, o, :); Lactantius, the early fourth-century Christian Cicero, shows that
God made human nature most desirous of striving for the truth (Diviniae
institutiones, ,, :).
,o
If all of this is true, then what could we seek better or
investigate more protably or know more advantageously than divine wisdom?
Divina sapientia seems like humanist code for theologia. Everyone knows that
it holds the highest and most distinguished place among all the disciplines of
the liberal arts that impart instruction for human life. It is the guide for
,, Epistolae Hieronymi (Antwerp: Willem Vorsterman, :,:,), . ;v.-;,r.
, Tertius tomus epistolarum divi Eusebii Hieronymi Stridonensis (Basel: Johann Froben, :,:o),
f. ,,r.
,, For the preface, see Epistolae Hieronymi, op. cit. (n. ,,), f. A :r.-A:v.
,o CSEL, vol. :,, p. :;.
H.M. Pabel / Qurendo ,; (:oo;) :;-:)o :;,
attaining eternal bliss and lifes most important teacher, indicating the way in
which to live well, supplying an abundance of virtues, erasing every vice,
destroying all sin. Liberating our minds from earthly and human desires, it
enkindles and turns us towards the desire and love of the highest good and of
everlasting happiness. Could anything be learned and taught that is more use-
ful, more magnicent, more salubrious than what Sacred Scripture teaches,
what the holy oracles publish, and what the works of the saints hand down?
Tese, presumably theological, studies surpass the teaching of Plato, the elo-
quence of Demosthenes, the subtlety of Aristotle, the sweetness of Isocrates,
the best of worldly literature, the alluring charm of poets, the splendid orna-
ments of orators, the contrivances and precepts of philosophers. No wonder
true and divine wisdom shines in these studies, where, in accordance with
Lactantius (Divinae institutiones, :, :), all is straightforward in speaking, sweet
to the hearing, easy to be understood, and worthy to be undertaken.
,;
Here we
have the strongest defense of human life, the sure refuge for all against evil
and lifes calamities.
Reecting on this often, the editor thought of the famous men of his day
who entrusted many works to the press. Tese were eloquent and graceful, but
they provided nothing relevant to leading a good and holy life, which ought
to be most important of all. What, wondered the editor, could serve the needs
of students? Could he nd anything that could stroke the ears of readers with
Ciceronian eloquence and that was replete with true, solid, and holy teaching
as well as wise sayings (sententiae)? Te highly renowned works of the most
blessed father and illustrious doctor Jerome sprang to mind. No one could
come up with anything more graceful, pure, and benecial. Te editor pro-
ceeds to invoke the authority of Lorenzo Valla with a quotation of sorts from
the preface to the fourth book of the Elegantiae: What and not even Valla
refrains from saying so could be more eloquent than our Jerome? What more
like the father of eloquence? What more accomplished in oratory (magis ora-
torium)? What more devoted to learning? What more perspicacious? What
more magnicent? Valla originally wrote: What can be more eloquent than
Jerome himself ? What more accomplished in oratory? What even if he often
would like to hide this more particular about speaking well, more devoted
to learning, more perspicacious?
,
Te editor adds that Jeromes style is
,; Lactantius writes omnia dictu prona (CSEL, vol. :,, p. ) instead of omnia dictu plana,
as the anthologys preface has it.
, Lorenzo Valla, Opera omnia, : vols. (Turin :,o:), vol. :, p. ::,.
:c H.M. Pabel / Qurendo ,; (:oo;) :;-:)o
concise and limpid, sparkles with Ciceronian purity, and abounds in apho-
risms. Furthermore, the sequence of topics is impressive, and one thing
depends on another. Finally, whatever theme he takes up is either the end of
the previous idea or the beginning of the following one.
In support of this judgment, the distinguished orator and poet Erasmus of
Rotterdam says:
And if we Christians are more impressed by examples taken from Christians,
I would not hesitate to oer Jerome as one to stand for the many. For his
learning is so varied and profound that, in relation to him, others scarcely
seem to swim (as one says) or to have had any education. Again, so great is his
manner of speaking, so considerable his authority and acuity, so massive and
manifold his apparatus of metaphors that you would say that compared with
him the others are Seriphian frogs.
Te reference to Erasmus is, as far as I know, the only appeal to his authorita-
tive assessment of Jerome in an edition of the Church Father before the pub-
lication of his own edition a year later in :,:o. Te quotation comes from the
preface to the earliest version of the Adages and his rst printed book, the
Adagiorum collectanea, which appeared in Paris in :,cc.
Erasmus would have enjoyed being paired with Valla. As a young humanist
monk
,,
at Steyn, he remarked to his friend and fellow monk Cornelis Gerard
that in the niceties of style I rely on Lorenzo Valla above all. He has no equal
for intelligence and good memory. Erasmus warmly recommended Vallas
Elegantiae to Gerard and insisted that his friend overcome his aversion to Valla
in order to become well versed in the Elegantiae.
c
Out of the monastery and
early in his scholarly career, Erasmus discovered and in :,c, published the
editio princeps of Vallas Annotations on the New Testament. Very likely the
future exegete found in Vallas grammatical analysis of the New Testament his
true personal vocation.
:
Erasmus might have been disappointed, however, with the quotation in the
preface in the Antwerp anthology, since the preface does not quote Erasmus
accurately, however.
:
It represents Erasmuss admiration for Jeromes diction
,, Charles Bn, rasme et Saint Augustin ou Inuence de Saint Augustin sur lhumanisme
drasme (Geneva :,o,), p. :.
c CWE, vol. :, p. ,:, ep. :c (quote); p. c, ep. :,; p. ,, ep. :,.
: Bn, op. cit. (n. ,), p. :,;.
: For the original passage from Erasmus, see Allen vol. :, pp. :,:-,, ep. ::o.
H.M. Pabel / Qurendo ,; (:oo;) :;-:)o ::
as tanta phrasis, not tanta dicendi phrasis. Was this a deliberate omission of a
superuous reference to speaking (dicere)? Another omission occurs in the same
nal sentence. As Erasmus explains in the Adages (I. v. ,:), Seriphian frogs
was said of the dumb and of those completely inept at singing and speaking.
,

Te Seriphian frogs that he has in mind in the preface to the Collectanea are
not unspecied others, but other theologians. Te omission of theologians
may have been a prudent one. Elsewhere in his preface Erasmus does not shy
away from pointing out more explicitly the contrast between humanist rheto-
ric and scholastic theology,

but the editor of the Antwerp anthology does not

pursue this strategy.
Erasmuss commendation of Jeromes eloquence and erudition was su -
cient. And, presumably, it was worth quoting because the distinguished ora-
tor and poet wrote it. In advertising in humanist fashion the merits of Jerome
to students of the liberal arts, the anthology allies itself with Europes rising
humanist star. A quotation from the eminent collector of ancient proverbial
wisdom lends support to the anthology. It helps supply the edition with
authoritative humanist credentials.
Did, in addition, the editor and printer think it was appropriate to mention
Erasmus because they knew that Erasmus was preparing an edition of Jerome?
Te preface is dated :o March :,:,, and Vorsterman printed the anthology on
April :,:, before Erasmus published his letters to Rome. Did he know of
the second edition of Erasmuss De duplici copia verborum ac rerum that Mat-
thias Schrer printed in Strassburg in December :,:? Te book contained a
letter to Jakob Wimpfeling in which Erasmus mentioned that he was prepar-
ing editions of the New Testament and of Jeromes letters.
,
Printers with a
keen commercial sense would presumably have been aware of works that
authors and editors were brining to completion. In :,::, Josse Bade observed
from Paris that printed editions of Jeromes letters had all been sold and oered
Erasmus fteen orins for the revision of the letters of St Jerome.
o
By :,:,
might it have been common knowledge among printers that Erasmus was
textually resuscitating Jerome? Without certain answers we are left to wonder
whether knowledge of Erasmuss editorial work inspired the invocation of his
authority.
, ASD, vol. II-:, p. ,c.
CWE, vol. :, pp. :o,-, ep. ::o.
, CWE, vol. ,, p. ,:, ep. ,c,.
o CWE, vol. :: pp. :,:, :,,, ep. :o,.
:: H.M. Pabel / Qurendo ,; (:oo;) :;-:)o
Te quotation from Erasmus reinforces Jeromes literary superiority, the
theme that the preface pursues to its end. If you want the seriousness of
Crassus or of Fronto, the brevity of Crispus, the abundance of Cicero, the
rich and orid style of Pliny and Symmachus, in short, the smoothness of a
stream or the force of a torrent, you will easily nd this in Jerome alone. Here
the editor probably had in mind a passage from the letter to Rusticus
(ep. ::,), in which Jerome mentions that he learned the keenness of Quintil-
ian, the owing style of Cicero as well as the seriousness of Fronto and the
gentleness of Pliny.
;
Te editor reviews some celebrated authors to make it
clear to the zealous reader that Jerome should be preferred far and above the
greatest of the rst-class authors. He mentions them in duets, where the sec-
ond is superior to the rst: Democrates and Plato, Socrates and Aristotle,
Hortensius and Cicero. Marcus Varro is distinguished for his prociency in
Greek and Latin. But, as the editor concludes his list of literary worthies and
recalls a title from the volumes opening prayer, much more distinguished is
that brightest beacon (lampas) of the Church, who (not to mention anything
else) was well-versed in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. He was so adept at reading
Latin books in Greek and Greek books in Latin that you would think he
wrote as if he were dictating at break-neck speed. Naturally endowed with
eloquence, he adapted his mental prowess to whatever he had to write in such
a way that even his bitterest enemies pronounced him a wordsmith. Accord-
ing to Augustine, Jerome attained a type of the most comprehensive knowl-
edge of all things human and divine.

Terefore, the editor recapitulates,

owing to his inspired eloquence, his unbelievable diversity of languages, and
the extraordinary holiness of his life, he bested the record of all antiquity and
of all ages.
Te dedicatory letter in Erasmuss edition of Jerome echoes the motif of
Jerome as the culmination of ancient learning. Erasmus assures Archbishop
William Warham of Canterbury, the editions patron: Other authors have
each a dierent claim upon us; Jerome alone possesses, united in one package,
as the phrase goes, and to a remarkable degree, all the gifts that we admire
separately in others. No Christian author can rival Jerome for brilliance of
; CSEL, vol. ,o, p. :,:.
Was the author of the preface thinking of Augustines comment in the De civitate Dei
(:, ,, CSEL, vol c/:, p. ,,o): . . . Hieronymus, homo doctissimus et omnium trium lin-
guarum peritus, qui non ex Graeco, sed ex Hebraeo in Latinum eloquium easdem scripturas
conuerterit?
H.M. Pabel / Qurendo ,; (:oo;) :;-:)o :,
expression. So impossible, continues Erasmus, is it to nd any writer of our
faith to compare with him that in my opinion Cicero himself, by universal
consent the leading light of Roman eloquence, is surpassed by him in some of
the qualities of a good style. When Erasmus compares any author, however
brilliant, to Jerome, that man seems as it were to lose his voice. Te erudition
of Greece cannot compare with Jerome, whose superiority is evident in all
branches of knowledge: languages, history, geography, antiquities, literature,
Scripture.
,
Te Anthology
In :,,,, Vorsterman returned to Jerome. Tis time his title page supplied a title
for the anthology: Divi Hieronymi epistolae aliquot, Argumentis, & Scholijs
illustratae, ad maiorem studiosorum vtilitatem selectae (xx ,:,:). Consisting of
sixteen texts, the second anthology was considerably less substantial than the
rst, even if its announced target audience, students, was the same. Nine of
the sixteen texts had appeared in :,:,: the letters to Niceas (ep. ), to Julian the
deacon (ep. o), to Chromatius, Jovinus, and Eusebius (ep. ;), to Heliodorus
urging him to take up the hermits life, (ep. :), to Paul of Concordia (ep. :c),
to Praesidius on the paschal candle, to Nepotian (ep. ,:), to Heliodorus on the
death of Nepotian (ep. oc), and the Adversus Vigilantium, the nal installment
in :,:, and :,,,. New to the Epistolae aliquot were the lives of Paul the rst
hermit and of Malchus the captive monk and the letters to Innocent (ep. :),
Anthony (ep. ::), Eustochium (ep. ,,), Marcella (ep. :,), and Asella (ep. ,).
Tese three last-mentioned letters to women represented a departure from the
:,:, anthology, which apart from the biblical prefaces, included none of
Jeromes many letters to women.
Vortserman did not insert a preface in the :,,, anthology. Erasmuss name
appeared nowhere in the volume. Jeromes reputation had to su ce for mar-
keting purposes, perhaps along with the name of the printer which appeared
on the title page. In :,:,, Vorsterman had identied himself only in the colo-
phon of the edition.
Te absence of Erasmuss name did not mean his inuence on the Epistolae
aliquot was beyond detection. Te full title recalls the Erasmian editions of
Jerome. Te title pages of the volumes that contained Jeromes genuine letters
, CWE, vol. ,, p. :,,, ep. ,,o.
: H.M. Pabel / Qurendo ,; (:oo;) :;-:)o
in the :,:o edition declared that the Church Fathers texts appeared una cum
argumentis Des. Erasmi Roterodami along with the argumenta and scholia of
Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam. At the head of the rst letter of the rst
volume, a title made it clear that Jeromes letters or epistolary treatises had
been edited ab Erasmo Roterodamo sacrae theologiae professore et eiusdem argu-
mentis ac scholiis illustratae by Erasmus of Rotterdam, professor of sacred
theology, and elucidated by his argumenta and scholia.
,c
Until :,,,, indeed
until Mariano Vittoris edition of Jeromes letters rst appeared in :,o-,, Eras-
mus was the only person who supplemented the letters with argumenta and
scholia. Further Erasmian editions of Jerome printed in :,:-o, :,,,-, :,,o-;,
:,,,, and :,o, as well as printings of only his edition of the genuine letters and
separate selections of the letters as edited by Erasmus reiterated the famous
humanists editorial interventions. If bibliophiles and scholars in the :,,cs saw
an edition of Jerome that boasted argumenta and scholia, they would most
likely expect credit for these to go to Erasmus. What would they nd if they
looked inside the anthology printed by Vorsterman?
Tose who valued Erasmuss edition might be disappointed. Te last four
texts the letters to Nepotian (ep. ,:) and Heliodorus (ep. oc), the vita of
Malchus, and the Adversus Vigilantium were bereft of all commentary except
for terse marginalia. An argumentum introduced the rst twelve texts, but it
was not typographically set o from the scholia. In Erasmuss edition, the dis-
tinct genres of commentary as a rule occupied distinct spaces, except for some
of the shorter letters, where one or more scholia appeared immediately after
the argumentum. In the Antwerp anthology, it was for the most part not
immediately obvious where the argumentum ended and the scholia began. Te
editorial commentary that prefaced the third text the letter to Chromatius
and company constitutes the only exception to the rule of typographical
conation. Although the commentary appeared as a continuous block of text,
one can easily assume that the various section markings within that block
separate one scholion from the next.
Did the editor of the anthology borrow from Erasmus? Te argumenta
in the anthology were independent compositions. Compare the argumentum
to the letter to Niceas (ep. ), the rst text in the anthology, with that of
Erasmus:
,c Omnium operum divi Eusebii Hieronymi Stridonensis tomus primus (Basel: Johann Froben,
:,:o), f. :r.
H.M. Pabel / Qurendo ,; (:oo;) :;-:)o :,
:,,, anthology
,:
Erasmus
,:
Nicias clericus Aquileiensis cum
Hieronymo dudum in Syriam pro-
fectus fuerat. Verum paulo post ad
patriam rediit. Queritur ergo Hiero-
nymus ipsum tam cito prioris amici-
tiae adeo negligentem: ut ne scribere
quidem curet.
Niceas, a cleric from Aquilea, had
recently set out with Jerome for Syria.
But shortly thereafter he returned to
his native land. Consequently, Jer-
ome complains that he so quickly
neglected an earlier friendship to the
extent that he cared not even to
write.
Expostulat cum Nitia hypodiacono Aqui-
leiae, quod nihil scribat, velut immemor
recentis amici. Exemplo Chromatii &
Eusebii hortatur, ut aliquando scribat. Hic
Nitias Hieronymo sodalis fuit deliciarum,
& peregrinationum comes. Quamquam ad
quem scripta sit epistola, e titulo liquet
non ex ipsa.
He remonstrates with Niceas, a subdeacon
of Aquilea for having written nothing, as if
heedless of a new friend. Following the
example of Chromatius and Eusebius, he
urges him to write now and then. Tis
Niceas shared with Jerome the same pleas-
ures and accompanied him on his travels.
Te addressee of the letter, however, is evi-
dent from the title, not from its contents.
Te two argumenta refer to Niceass geographical origins, his neglect of Jerome,
and Jeromes reproach, but structurally and verbally they are unrelated texts.
Te same is true when one compares the other argumenta in the anthology
with their Erasmian counterparts. Typically, the two sets of argumenta empha-
size dierent details. Erasmus observes that a youthful Jerome wrote to Julian
the deacon from the desert (scripsit iuvenis ex eremo). Tis is the only point
that the anthology has in common with Erasmus, although it does not qualify
Jerome as young and uses the present tense: ex eremo rescribit. Nor does it refer
to Heliodorus as Jeromes companion or to his letter as familiar and in some
respects humorous. It begins by recalling Jeromes sojourn in Syria and his
urging his sister to remain a virgin. In another case, the anthology underlines
the resistance to heresy on the part of Chromatius and company, but Erasmus
does not mention this at all. To take a nal example, Erasmus sums up the life
of Paul in a single sentence: Concerning the birth, life, and death of Paul, the
,: Divi Hieronymi epistolae aliquot (Antwerp: Willem Vortserman, :,,,), f. A:r.
,: Omnium operum divi Eusebii Hieronymi Stridonensis tomus primus, f. ,;v.
:o H.M. Pabel / Qurendo ,; (:oo;) :;-:)o
rst hermit (as it is believed), and how he was buried by St Anthony the
monk. Te anthology is interested in precise historical details. Jerome wrote
the vita while he was in the East. Paul was born in Tebes apparently in ao :,c
and died at the age of ::,. When he was fteen, he ed to the desert and
remained there , years.
,,
Some of the anthologys scholia, however, suggest an Erasmian provenance.
In the letter to Niceas, Jerome recalls that Ennius, the Roman poet, identied
as Cascans those who belonged to an uncouth tribe in Italy. Erasmus, in a
scholion on the passage, remarks that for the ancients cascus in the Sabine lan-
guage meant old. After mentioning a line about the Cascans quoted from
Ennius by Marcus Varro, he refers to a proverb in his Adages (I. ii. o:): Cascus
cascam ducit id est vetulus vetulam an old man marries an old woman. Te
anthology comments on the same passage: Cascus in the Sabine language
means old. Tus in Manilius: Cascus ducit cascam id est vetulus vetulam.
Although Erasmus does not refer to the obscure poet Manilius in his scholion,
he records in his commentary in the Adages that Varro, however, quotes the
adage as originating from a certain Manilius.
,
Jerome complains to Niceas:
Tu modo a nobis abiens, recentem amicitiam scindis potius quam dissuis
In leaving me just now, you tear apart rather than unstitch a fresh friendship.
Erasmus explains: We unstitch bit by bit (paulatim); we tear apart suddenly
(repente). Similarly, the anthology points out: A tear separates a thing
suddenly (repente), an unstitching gradually (paulatim).
,,
A scholion in Eras-
muss edition of the life of Paul denes hippocentaurs: superne homines sunt,
inferni equi they are men in the upper part of the body, horses in the lower
part. Te anthologys denition resembles that of Erasmus: Hippocentaurus
superne homo, inferne ngitur equus. Te dierence is that the anthology
denes a singular hippocentaur and uses the verb to fashion (ngere) instead
of to be.
,o
When Jerome tells Paul, an old man of Concordia, tu adulescentiam
in aliena aetate mentiris, Erasmus marvels that Jerome uses the word mentiris,
literally, you deceive, in a good sense to mean imitaris, you represent or resem-
ble or imitate. Erasmus might agree with this translation: you give the impres-
,, Divi Hieronymi epistolae aliquot, A,r., Av., C:v.; Omnium operum divi Eusebii Hieronymi
Stridonensis tomus primus, . ,,v., ,r., :c;v.
, ASD, vol. II-:. p. :;o.
,, Omnium operum divi Eusebii Hieronymi Stridonensis tomus primus, f. ,;v.; Divi Hiero-
nymi epistolae aliquot, f. A:r.
,o Omnium operum divi Eusebii Hieronymi Stridonensis tomus primus, f. :c;v.; Divi Hiero-
nymi epistolae aliquot, f. C:v.
H.M. Pabel / Qurendo ,; (:oo;) :;-:)o :;
sion of youth in an age foreign to it. Te scholion in the anthology tersely
notes: Adolescentiam in aliena aetate mentiris id est imiatris.
,;
Erasmus reads a passage from Jeromes letter to Anthony the monk as
Decem iam (nisi fallor) epistolas plenas tam o cii quam precum misi: cum
tu ne nutum quidem facere dignaris. Jerome, impatient to hear from Anthony,
complains: Unless I am mistaken, I have already sent ten letters full of cour-
tesy and entreaties, while you do not deign to make even a nod. Erasmus is
aware that some codices have motum or mutum as well as nutum. He conjec-
tures in his scholion that the passage originally read ne my quidem or ne mu
quidem, meaning ne minimum quidem verbum, that is, not even the least
word. Te anthology follows Erasmuss conjecture and reads ne mu quidem.
Te argumentum explains that Jerome reproved Anthonys pride because not
once did he respond to his many letters; he oered not even the least word in
reply: Antonium quondam monachum superbiae arguit quod ad multas Epis-
tolas ipsius ne semel responderit imo ne mu quidem fecerit, Hoc est, ne min-
imum verbum reddiderit.
,
More evidence that the editor of the anthology consulted Erasmuss edition
can be gleaned from apparent corrections of Erasmus in the anthologys scholia
on the letter to Paul of Concordia. In a litany of compliments on Pauls good
physical condition, Jerome, according to Erasmus, writes: cani cum rubore
discrepant your white hair contrasts with your ruddy complexion. Te
anthology insists that the correct reading is cani cum robore discrepant not
rubore. In other words, Pauls white hair belies his strength. Isidore Hilberg,
who produced the modern critical edition of Jeromes letters, sustained Eras-
muss reading.
,,
Towards the end of the letter, Jerome asks Paul to send him,
among other works, the history of Aurelius Victor. Erasmus comments that
Aurelius Victor was the thirteenth bishop of Rome. Te anthology maintains
that the passage refers to the chronicle of Victor, a pagan not a Roman ponti,
who wrote a history from Trajan to Constantine.
oc
In the :,:o edition,
,; Omnium operum divi Eusebii Hieronymi Stridonensis tomus primus, f. ,,v.; Divi Hieronymi
epistolae aliquot, f. D,r.
, Omnium operum divi Eusebii Hieronymi Stridonensis tomus primus, f. ,,r.; Divi Hieronymi
epistolae aliquot, f. E,v. (argumentum), f. Eor. (reading). Isidore Hilberg read the passage as cum
tu ne muttum quidem facere dignaris while you do not deign to make even a murmur. See
CSEL, vol. ,, p. :.
,, CSEL, vol. ,, p. ,;.
oc Omnium operum divi Eusebii Hieronymi Stridonensis tomus primus, ocr.; Divi Hieronymi
epistolae aliquot, f. D,r.
: H.M. Pabel / Qurendo ,; (:oo;) :;-:)o
Erasmus confused Pope Victor, the fourteenth bishop of Rome, who died at
the end of the second century with the fourth-century Roman historian, Sex-
tus Aurelius Victor, whose De caesaribus covered the period from Augustus to
Constantius ii.
o:
His correction of the error appeared in :,,,: Sextus Aurelius
Victor recorded the deeds of the emperors from Augustus to Teodosius, and
today his work survives in fragments.
o:
It is impossible to say whether the
anthology inuenced Erasmus to correct the scholion or whether the editor of
the anthology knew of Erasmuss correction. Te two editors could have, of
course, worked independently on this score.
Te convergences and divergences between Erasmus and the anthology
appear to be relatively few. Te anthologys editor, as we have already seen in
the case of the argumenta, was able to formulate his own interventions. Most
of his scholia, usually briefer and fewer than those of Erasmus, comment on
words or passages that Erasmus ignores. In the case where, in Jeromes letter to
Marcella on the death of Lea (ep. :,), a lemma in the anthology coincides
exactly with an Erasmian lemma, the unidentiable editor elucidates the
passage in question dierently. Te common lemma is designatum consulem.
Jerome lists his reasons for repeating the sad news of Leas passing. Te third is
to inform Marcella that the consul elect, withdrawing from his era, was in
hell, a reference to Vettius Agorius Praetextatus, who died about the same time
as Lea. Erasmus and the anthology read the passage the same way: Tertio, ut
desginatum consulem de suis saeculis detrahentem, esse doceamus in tartaro.
(Hilberg read detrahentes.) Erasmus explains that the designati had already
been elected but had not yet assumed their o ce. Terefore Jerome adds de
suis saeculis detrahentem because the consul elect had died before the day of
taking o ce (ineundi magistatus dies) had arrived. Te anthologys editor
writes that owing to the throng of candidates for the consulate certain men
were elected long before the Calends of January to avoid confusion at the time
when the magistracy took eect (quando magistratus ineundus). Tese designati,
dressed in a garment embroidered with palm branches, paraded about as if
they were already celebrated conquerors of the world: Tales designati palmatum
habitum portaverunt quo iam quasi Victores orbis incedebant illustres. Te
reference to the magistratus ineundus could be an Erasmian resonance; never-
o: Te Oxford Classical Dictionary, ed. Simon Hornblower & Antony Spawforth (,rd edn.,
Oxford :,,o), p. :::, s. v. Aurelius Victor, Sextus by Alexander Hugh McDonald and Antony
Spawforth.
o: Divi Eusebii Hieronymi Stridonensis, opera omnia, , vols. (Paris: Claude Chevallon :,,,-),
vol. :, f. r. Te rst volume of this revised edition was printed in :,,,.
H.M. Pabel / Qurendo ,; (:oo;) :;-:)o :,
theless it was common in Latin to combine magistratus and inire to denote
taking up elected o ce. Te anthologys nal comment about the consuls
elect corresponds to the following Erasmian scholion keyed to non palmatum
consulem, a phrase that appears several sentences later in the letter when Jerome
contrasts Leas humble stature with a consul in o cial garb. Erasmus relates
that the consular toga sported palm braches Toga consularis palmas habebat
just as the toga of a triumphant general.
o,
Te sartorial information is similar
but presented dierently, even if the mocking embellishment of the unknown
editor sounds characteristically Erasmian.
Conclusion
Dirk Martens was not the only Antwerp printer with whom Erasmus collabo-
rated. In :,:,, he entrusted Michiel Hillen with the rst edition of his para-
phrases on Pauls epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.
o
Defending
himself in the same year against the charge that he tried to obstruct the publi-
cation of Edward Lees critique of his edition of the New Testament, Erasmus
recalled that when Hillen hesitated to print Lees book, I told him in reply to
get on with it; I was strongly in favour.
o,
In :,:c, Hillen printed Erasmuss two
rejoinders to Lee.
oo
Tree years later, Erasmus specied that Hillens :,:, print-
ing of the Ratio verae theologiae should appear in the fth volume of his col-
lected works.
o;
He, however, was not pleased when Hillen in :,,, printed a
collection of Lenten sermons in which the author Nikolaus Ferber, a Francis-
can, held Erasmus responsible for the onset of Protestantism. Erasmus
denounced the book as absolutely asinine.
o
Since Erasmus knew Antwerps leading printer, was he also aware of the
citys second most productive printer? He never mentioned Willem Vorsterman
by name in his correspondence, but did he hear it mentioned on his trips to
Antwerp? He certainly could have known of Vorsterman from the works he
o, J. N. D. Kelly, Jerome: His Life, Writings, and Controversies (London), p. ,o; CSEL, vol. ,,
p. :::; Omnium operum divi Eusebii Hieronymi Stridonensis tomus primus, f. ;cr. (scholia and
Jeromes text); Divi Hieronymi epistolae aliquot, f. Er. (scholion), f. F:r. (Jeromes text).
o CWE, vol. ;, p. :,:, introduction to ep. :c,.
o, CWE, vol. ;, p. :,:, ep. :c,,.
oo CWE, vol. ;:, pp. xix-xx.
o; CWE, vol. ,, p. ,,, ep. :,:A.
o Contemporaries of Erasmus: A Biographical Register of the Renaissance and Reformation, , vols.
(Toronto :,,-;), vol. :, p. :; (Ferber), p. :,: (Hillen); Allen, vol. :c, p. ,o, ep. :,o.
:,c H.M. Pabel / Qurendo ,; (:oo;) :;-:)o
printed. Vorsterman certainly knew who Erasmus was, and so did the editors
of the Hieronymian anthologies that he printed.
If, as Jacques Derrida believes, prefaces obey an occasional necessity,
o,
then
the necessity of the hour for the preface of the :,:, anthology of Jerome was,
in line with Grard Genettes concept of a prefaces function, to get the book
read and to get the book read properly.
;c
To achieve this purpose means, for
Genette, to underline or even to enhance the high value of the work that the
preface brings to the readers attention.
;:
Te anthologys truly occasional pref-
ace positioned the selection of letters within the increasingly fashionable
humanist environment of reading Jerome. To read Jerome was a theological
enterprise, a quest for divine wisdom. Tis humanist theological enterprise
was fundamentally pedagogical, moral, and spiritual. Valla and, more recently,
Erasmus were the champions of the humanist approach to Jerome. Erasmus,
the distinguished orator and poet, was arguably the most eminent of the many
classical and fewer Christian authorities cited in the preface. Te quotation from
the preface to the rst edition of the Adages serves the purpose of the preface
to celebrate the superiority of Jeromes Christian learning and eloquence.
By :,,,, Jerome needed no introduction or, to be more specic, no preface.
We cannot tell whether the anthology that Vorsterman printed that year lacked
a preface because of design, editorial fatigue, a printers haste to bring another
book to market, or some other reason. Certainly Erasmuss edition had su -
ciently enhanced the humanist value of reading Jerome. While the editor of
the :,,, anthology commented on the texts in his own way, at points, it seems,
he borrowed from and even corrected Erasmus.
Printers were well aware that Erasmuss name helped sell books.
;:
Te value
that his name added to the business of printing Jerome was evident in Vorster-
mans Antwerp not only in :,,, but also in :,:,. Curiously, the earlier anthol-
ogy appeared before Erasmuss edition and before Froben printed Erasmuss
pre-publication advertisement. With adulation in Antwerp, did Erasmus need
to advertise the merits of his Jerome? Vorsterman and his editor may have
known already in the spring of :,:, what John Colet announced, expecting in
June :,:o the edition of Jerome: Nomen Erasmi nunquam peribit Te
name of Erasmus shall never perish.
;,
o, Jacques Derrida, Dissemination, trans. Barbara Johnson (Chicago :,:), p. :;, cited in
Grard Genette, Paratexts, trans. Jane E. Lewin (Cambridge :,,;), p. :o:.
;c Genette, op. cit., (n. o), p. :,;, emphasis in the original.
;: Ibid., pp. :,, :c:.
;: Karine Crousaz, rasme et le pouvoir de limprimerie (Lausanne :cc,), p. oc.
;, Ep. :,: Allen, vol. :, p. :,; CWE, vol. ,, p. ,::.