Evening star., 1936-07-05

" " daily press productions WIN
their STATS of news writer's,
columniSts and editorial ScribeS as mo-
tivators of the public mind. AS such
we are apt as well to view the printed
publicizing of ideas as comparatively
recent development. In reality, Eras-
mus, Dutch-born scholar of the Middle
Ages, the anniversary of whose death
in Switzerland over 400 years ago this
coming July II is being marked
throughout the classical world because
he stimulated the public mind Of his
day to a broader conception of scholar
ship, was the pre- Renaissance grand
sire of all publicists.
His portrait by his fellow Hollander
and contemporary, Holbein, is almost
as famous as is the distinguished sub
ject himself.
More and more clearly as the CEN
turies have passed has it become evi-
dent that the great gift which Erasmus
stressed to a world unaccustomed to it
was that of intellectual freedom. In
common with our modern press cor
respondents 1t was his aim to hold the
mirror up to the intellectual life Of his
day and to interpret what he visioned
to the public at large through the me-
dium of his writings. Nor in all history
Is there a more striking instance of a
successful contact man" influencing
the academic world Of his time toward
wider mental horizons by the skill OF
his pen and the charm of his wit and
personality.
Erasmus Born in 1857.
While the exact date of his birth Is
uncertain, it is generally estimated as
occurring during the year 1857 or
quarter of century before Christopher
Columbus and his daring fellow voy-
ayers made their crossing Of an ocean
blue" and changed the course Of world
history.
During a life spent in Holland,
France, England and Italy, despite the
fact that he was seldom connected for
any considerable length Of time with
the great universities of learning, Eras-
mus was the intellectual Christopher
Columbus of his era who made possible
the Renaissance.
faphers that he laid the egg which
Luther Matched" when the Reforma-
ton came about, although the ideals
of Erasmus and Luther were irrecon-
ciliable.
Despite the fact that Erasmus was
an intimate associate of Luther's and
in no wise in accord with the abuses
prevalent in the church at that time he
resisted a partisanship which would
have made him an ally Of Luther's.
Erasmus, with his detached and inquir-
ing viewpoint, was simply not the type
of thinker who was willing to force re-
forms by fanatical appeal to the pas
sions and prejudices of men or to be-
lieve that by such partisan means great
objectives could be achieved properly.
It has also been said of him that not
once during all the violent mental
convulsions Of his period, did he loose
his intellectual balance or become a
trimmer, for the reasonableness of his
nature could never forswear funda-
mental belief with him to the effect
that reform must be guided by knowl-
edge and by reason alone.
Charles Reede's international classic,
eThe Cloister and the HEARTH" dear
10 the hearts of successive generations
Of boys and girls and their elders,
gives q remarkable picture Of the
lives and times of the parents Of
Erasmus that fair-haired, low, dis
tinctly spoken blue-eyed Dutch boy
born out of wedlock, who was destined
in his time to become Europe's most
beloved and versatile scholar and in
fiuential man of letters.
Few Books Existed.
In Erasmus youth few If any school
books existed. To get more vivid
impression of that age we must set
him against the background OF his
era when printing had only just come
into vogue and pupils crowded about
their masters as best they could, copy
ing haphazardly whatever fell from
their lips. Sometimes 1t would be
chapters In grammar, rules Of syntax
or passages of Latin at random, In
that period of world history when the
Latin language was still living one.
From a singing boy at the Utrecht
LAoeN-