Desiderius Erasmus

"Erasmus' Adages is a collection of 4151 ancient proverbs, each accompanied by a commentary explaining its history and possible uses. Though most of these commentaries are very short, some just a few lines of scholarly explication, others are lengthy essays on social and political topics. The most famous of these is 'War is sweet to those who have not tried it,' a major anti-war tract. Many of the proverbs have passed into modern usage ('Know thyself,' 'To give someone the finger,' 'Well begun is half done'), some even retaining their Latin form (Deus ex machina). And a few, as it turns out, were created by Erasmus himself through occasional misinterpretations of the ancient sources ('Pandora's box,' 'To call a spade a spade'). The massive compendium, characterized by wit, elegance, seriousness, and occasional bursts of satire, was among the most learned and widely circulated of Latin books during the early modern period. 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.

Erasmus' Apophthegmes is a collection of cute little tales from Greek and Roman times that are in some manner telling, morally uplifting, or simply funny. Here's one of the funny tales: A certain young gentleman who had come to Rome from the provinces was found to bear an astonishing resemblance to Augustus Caesar. Hearing this, Augustus had the man brought before him. Perceiving the close resemblance, Augustus asked him, "Tell me, did your mother ever spend any time in Rome?" The quick-witted provincial shot back, "My mother, never; my father, often." This is a reprint of an English translation first published in 1564. The English is a little hard on modern readers. Here's a sample of the English: "Unto Euclides beying verie studious of contencious conclusions, and cauillicions of subtile reasoning, he said: "Euclides ye maie percase matche with Sophistes, but with men ye can not haue to dooe." Unfortunately, the digitization of this book renders it unreadable. There are numerous "typos" where the text recognition software deduced the wrong characters, likely because it could not use modern English to figure out what the text says. Also, no effort was made to clean up the text surrounding the main text. Hence, you'll be treated to something like this: "Well, but, replies the other, " even Socrates was among thefe thou^ VOL. -I. G "fands." The APOPHTHEGMS Book III. ** fands." 'Tis alfo very unaccountable, that a ; perfon you ftand in awe of frmly, pafTes unre garded by you in ax:roud. Translation: "Well, but, replies the other, "Even Socrates was among these thousands. It is also very unaccountable that a person you stand in awe of firmly, passes unregarded by you in a crowd." Good luck with this one. There is one good reason to read it: it is the ONLY English-language translation of the Apophthegms. So if you want access to these, either learn Latin or wait until the Collected Works of Erasmus project publishes its own translation.

"In this wide-ranging and compelling dialogue, Badiou and Milner explore the role of politics in today's world and consider the need for a formal theory of communist political organization. Whether they are addressing the era of revolutions, and in particular the Paris Commune and the Chinese Cultural Revolution, or discussing the infinite, the universal,the name 'Jew,' violence, capitalism, the left, or Europe, Jean-CLaude Milner's dyed-in-the-wool skepticism constantly runs up against Alain Badiou's doctrinal passion." -- rear cover.

Presents a selection of writings by sixteenth-century Dutch theologian Desiderius Erasmus, including "The Praise of Folly," an ironic speech by the pagan goddess Folly in praise of herself, and includes critical essays.

The Portable Philosophy contains excerpts from four major thinkers in the history of philosophy. Erasmus' The Praise of Folly was one of the most influential essays in the Renaissance. Bacon's New Atlantis was a story about the philosophy of science. Berkeley's Three Dialogues was an exercise in idealism. Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling ushered in a new way of thinking about philosophy and religion and is the progenitor of Existentialism.