disadvantage. Just as an example, take the case of Erasmus, the great
preacher of tolerance and laughter, who wrote his books in the sixteenth
century. He was the native of a small Dutch village. He wrote in Latin
and all the world was his audience. If he were alive to-day, he would
write in Dutch. Then only five or six million people would be able
to read him. To be understood by the rest of Europe and America, his
publishers would be obliged to translate his books into twenty different
languages. That would cost a lot of money and most likely the publishers
would never take the trouble or the risk.

Six hundred years ago that could not happen. The greater part of the
people were still very ignorant and could not read or write at all. But
those who had mastered the difficult art of handling the goose-quill
belonged to an international republic of letters which spread across
the entire continent and which knew of no boundaries and respected
no limitations of language or nationality. The universities were the
strongholds of this republic. Unlike modern fortifications, they did not
follow the frontier. They were to be found wherever a teacher and a few
pupils happened to find themselves together. There again the Middle Ages
and the Renaissance differed from our own time. Nowadays, when a new
university is built, the process (almost invariably) is as follows: Some
rich man wants to do something for the community in which he lives or a
particular religious sect wants to build a school to keep its faithful
children under decent supervision, or a state needs doc-tors and lawyers
and teachers. The university begins as a large sum of money which is
deposited in a bank. This money is then used to construct buildings and
laboratories and dormitories. Finally professional teachers are hired,
entrance examinations are held and the university is on the way.

But in the Middle Ages things were done differently. A wise man said to
himself, "I have discovered a great truth. I must impart my knowledge
to others." And he began to preach his wisdom wherever and whenever he
could get a few people to listen to him, like a modern soap-box orator.
If he was an interesting speaker, the crowd came and stayed. If he was
dull, they shrugged their shoulders and continued their way.

By and by certain young men began to come regularly to hear the words
of wisdom of this great teacher. They brought copybooks with them and a
little bottle of ink an