Besides the five substantial poems that Eobanus Hessus published at Erfurt in 1515–17, this volume offers his previously unknown “Inaugural Lecture” on Cicero and Plautus and the bestselling satire “On the Species of Drunkards,” first published anonymously in 1515.

Faced with losing his Erfurt lectorships, Eobanus Hessus coped by imagining himself a Proteus, transforming into a lawyer, a physician, and finally a teacher at the evangelical academy in Nuremberg. Volume 5 traces this story via Hessus’s poems of 1524-1528

In this volume, Eobanus Hessus turns from passionate Erasmian into staunch defender of Luther, only to find himself caught in the no-man’s-land between the two titans. Under Erasmus’ spell, he writes "Itinerary of My Journey to Erasmus," "On the Restoration of Studies at Erfurt," epigrams against Edward Lee, and "Short Preface to the 'Enchiridion.'" Changing course in 1521, he publishes "Elegies in Praise and Defense of Luther" and "Letter of the Afflicted Church to Luther." Thereafter, amid tumults and academic collapse, he battles the radical preachers in "Some Letters of Illustrious Men Concerning the More Humane Studies" and "Three Dialogues." Two elegies serve as intermezzos: a "Consolation" to the imprisoned William of Brunswick and a patriotic "Invective" against Johannes Dantiscus.

Volume 4 traces Eobanus Hessus' career from 1518 to 1524, as he develops from an idolizer of Erasmus into a staunch defender of Luther and finally into an Erasmian Lutheran holding his ground in the no-man's-land between the two titans.