Erasmus' Familiar Colloquies grew from a small collection of phrases, sentences, and snatches of dialogue written in Paris about 1497 to help his private pupils improve their command of Latin. Twenty years later the material was published by Johann Froben (Basel 1518). It was an immediate success and was reprinted thirty times in the next four years. For the edition of March 1522 Erasmus began to add fully developed dialogues, and a book designed to improve boys' use of Latin (and their deportment) soon became a work of literature for adults, although it retained traces of its original purposes. The final Froben edition (March, 1533) had about sixty parts, most of them dialogues. It was in the last form that the Colloquies were read and enjoyed for four centuries. For modern readers it is one of the best introductions to European society of the Renaissance and Reformation periods, with lively descriptions of daily life and provocative discussions of political, religious, social, and literary topics, presented with Erasmus's characteristic wit and verve. Each colloquy has its own introduction and full explanatory, historical, and biographical notes. Volumes 39 and 40 of the Collected Works of Erasmus series - Two-volume set.

The essay that begins this introductory volume to the Adages explores the development of the Collectanea and its transformation into the Adagiorum chiliades.

Late at night, Robert goes to the circus and finds a fabulous balloon machine, with which he creates unusual balloons.

This annotated selection of 116 proverbs, which includes all the longer essays, is based on the translation in the Collected Works of Erasmus."--BOOK JACKET.

The Annotations of Erasmus are designed for those who wish to take the study of the Bible seriously. Erasmus himself declared as much: his Annotations were not written, he implied, to provide pleasant diversions or popular entertainment. They were a work of genuine biblical scholarship. They brought to bear on theological issues of the day the light of Scripture interpreted from its own historical and literary contexts -- often with disturbing clarity. They are, moreover, replete with that Erasmian irony that so effectively exposed the personal and institutional follies of all parties in the early years of the Reformation. Erasmus wrote annotations on all the New Testament books, but among them all the annotations on Romans must hold a special place. The Epistle to the Romans has been understood as the classic theological statement by the Apostle to the gentiles of the terms on which Divine grace embraced all human beings. Besides, centuries of reflection have made Romans a focus of debate on central theological issues -- for example, the relation of the Divine Persons, the predestination of the saints, the doctrine of justification. To such problems the sometimes tortured syntax of the Greek has often obscured the clarity sought from the divine Apostle. Erasmus understood that all discussion of Romans must rest upon a sure grasp of the author's intent. His task, therefore, in the Annotations on Romans was to clarify the text of the Epistle, and so to illuminate the vision of Paul. This translation reveals the annotations as a rich storehouse of methodological discussion and semantic analysis, and a fascinating witness to the theological debates of the early sixteenth century. Volume 56 of the Collected Works of Erasmus series.

This is the first of five volumes to appear in the section of the CWE devoted to Erasmus' spiritualia, works of spirituality that include such aspects of religion as piety, theology, and the practice of ministry. The volume begins with an introductory essay that provides the first comprehensive review of the content, sources, and style of Erasmus' many works dealing with piety.