Erasmus’ Uncollected Adages

Abstract

Abstract Erasmus numbered 4151 adages in his last and largest Adagiorum Chiliades (1536). More adages appear in his Prolegomena (e.g., “light as a feather,” “bright as the sun”) and hundreds more are cited in his commentaries and dedicatory epistles (e.g., “Time shows who truly loves,” “Never think friendly what is said by foe”). All his life Erasmus liberally seasoned his writings with adages, almost all of which were gathered in the final Chiliades. But there are adages in his correspondence and Opera Omnia not in his great collection, and there are adages dropped from one edition to another. A search for uncollected adages and comparison of these with adages later deleted offer evidence of Erasmus’ effort and of his criteria for gathering and selection.