of those who
aspired to write an elegant Latin style. In the dedication Erasmus
pointed out the profit an author may derive, both in ornamenting his
style and in strengthening his argumentation, from having at his
disposal a good supply of sentences hallowed by their antiquity. He
proposes to offer such a help to his readers. What he actually gave was
much more. He familiarized a much wider circle than the earlier
humanists had reached with the spirit of antiquity.

Until this time the humanists had, to some extent, monopolized the
treasures of classic culture, in order to parade their knowledge of
which the multitude remained destitute, and so to become strange
prodigies of learning and elegance. With his irresistible need of
teaching and his sincere love for humanity and its general culture,
Erasmus introduced the classic spirit, in so far as it could be
reflected in the soul of a sixteenth-century Christian, among the
people. Not he alone; but none more extensively and more effectively.
Not among all the people, it is true, for by writing in Latin he limited
his direct influence to the educated classes, which in those days were
the upper classes.

Erasmus made current the classic spirit. Humanism ceased to be the
exclusive privilege of a few. According to Beatus Rhenanus he had been
reproached by some humanists, when about to publish the _Adagia_, for
divulging the mysteries of their craft. But he desired that the book of
antiquity should be open to all.

The literary and educational works of Erasmus, the chief of which were
begun in his Parisian period, though most of them appeared much later,
have, in truth, brought about a transmutation of the general modes of
expression and of argumentation. It should be repeated over and over
again that this was not achieved by him single-handed; countless others
at that time were similarly engaged. But we have only to cast an eye on
the broad current of editions of the _Adagia_, of the _Colloquia_, etc.,
to realize of how much greater consequence he was in this respect than
all the others. 'Erasmus' is the only name in all the host of humanists
which has remained a household word all over the globe.

Here we will anticipate the course of Erasmus's life for a moment, to
enumerate the principal works of this sort. Some years later the
_Adagia_ increased from hundreds to thousands, through which not only
Latin, but also Greek, wisdom spoke. In 1514 he published in the same
m