Luther: Epistula ad Erasmum

Gratia et pax a domino nostro Iesu Christo. iam satis diu silui, optime Erasme, et quamvis expectarem, ut tu maior et prior silentium rumperes, tamen cum frustra expectarim tam diu, ipsa puto caritas me cogit incipere. primum nihil causor, quod alieniorem te erga nos habueris, quo magis tibi esset integra et salva causa tua contra hostes meos papistas.

Grace and peace from our Lord Jesus Christ. I have been silent long enough now silent, most excellent Erasmus, and although I expected that you as the greater and prior would break the silence, yet since in vain I have waited so long, charity itself, I think, compels me to begin. First, I make no complaint that you have held yourself more aloof toward us so that your cause might be the more intact and safe for you against my enemies, the papists.

denique non aegre tuli admodum, quod editis libellis in aliquot locis pro illorum gratia captanda aut furore mitigando nos acerbiuscule momorderis et perstrinxeris. quando enim videmus nondum esse tibi a domino datam eam fortitudinem vel et sensum, ut monstris illis nostris libere et fidenter occurras nobiscum, nec ii sumus qui a te exigere audeamus id quod vires et modum tuum superat; quin imbecillitatem tuam et mensuram doni dei in te toleravimus et venerati sumus. nam id plane non potest negare totus orbis, quod litterae per te florent et regnant, per quas ad sinceram bibliorum lectionem venitur, donum etiam dei in te esse magnificum et egregium, de quo gratias agere oportuit.

finally I did not take it very hard at all, that in the little books you published, in some places, for the sake of capturing their favor or mitigating their fury, you have nipped us somewhat sharply and scored us. since indeed we see that as yet there has not been given to you by the Lord that fortitude and even that sense, that you might freely and confidently confront those our monsters together with us, nor are we such as would dare to demand of you that which surpasses your strength and measure; rather we have tolerated and venerated your weakness and the measure of the gift of God in you. for plainly this the whole world cannot deny, that letters through you flourish and reign, through which one comes to the sincere reading of the Scriptures, that the gift also of God in you is magnificent and distinguished, for which it was proper to give thanks.

proinde ego quidem numquam optavi, ut deserta aut neglecta mensura tua nostris castris miscereris, cui negotio etsi ingenio et eloquentia multum prodesse posses, tamen cum non adsit animus, tutius erat in tuo dono servire. hoc solum timebatur, ne quando per adversarios adducereris editis libeliis in dogmata nostra grassari, ut tum nos necessitas urgeret tibi in faciem resistere. compescuimus sane aliquos qui iam paratis libris te in arenam trahere volebant; atque ea ratio fuit, ut et Hutteni Expostulationem optarim non editam.

accordingly I for my part never desired that, with your measure deserted or neglected, you be mixed into our camp; to which business, although by talent and eloquence you could greatly be of advantage, yet since the spirit is not present, it was safer to serve in your own gift. this alone was feared, lest at some time you be induced by adversaries, with pamphlets published, to make inroads upon our dogmas, so that then necessity would press us to resist you to your face. we have indeed restrained some who already, with books prepared, wanted to drag you into the arena; and that was the reason why I even wished Hutten’s Expostulation not published.

multo minus tuam Spongiam; in qua, nisi fallor, tu ipse iam sentis quam facile sit de modestia scribere et in Luthero immodestiam redarguere, sed difficillimum, immo impossibile, praestare nisi dono spiritus singulari. credas igitur vel non credas, testis est Christus, ex animo me tibi condolere tot et tantorum odia vel studia esse in te irritata. quibus ut non movearis, quod tua est humana virtus tantis molibus impar, credere non possum; quamquam et illos forte moveat iustus zelus, et sibi videantur indignis modis a te provocati.

much less your Sponge; in which, unless I am mistaken, you yourself already feel how
easy it is to write about modesty and to refute immodesty in Luther, but most difficult, nay impossible,
to exhibit it unless by a singular gift of the Spirit. Whether you believe it or do not believe it, Christ is witness,
that from my heart I commiserate with you that so many and so great hatreds or parties have been stirred up against you.
That you are not moved by them, since your human virtue is unequal to such massive burdens, I cannot believe;
although perhaps a just zeal moves them too, and they seem to themselves to have been provoked by you in unworthy ways.

et, ut libere fatear, cum tales sint qui tuam acerbitatem et simulationem, quam tu prudentiam et modestiam velis intelligi, pro sua quoque infirmitate ferre nequeant, habent certe ob quod merito indignentur, nihil habituri si fortiores essent animis. quamvis tamen et ego irritabilis irritatus fuerim saepius, ut acerbius scriberem, tamen non feci hoc nisi in pertinaces et indomitos; ceterum clementia et mansuetudo mea erga peccatores et impios, quantumvis insanos et iniquos arbitror quod non modo teste mea conscientia, sed et multorum experientia satis testata sit. sic hactenus stilum cohibui, utcumque pungeres me, cohibiturumque etiam scripsi in litteris ad amicos, quae tibi quoque lectae sunt, donec palam prodires.

and, to confess freely, since such are they who cannot bear—owing also to their own infirmity—your acerbity and dissimulation, which you wish to be understood as prudence and modesty, they certainly have something on account of which to be deservedly indignant, who would have nothing if they were stronger in spirit. Yet although I too, being irritable, have been irritated often, so that I might write more acerbically, nevertheless I did this only against the pertinacious and the indomitable; moreover my clemency and mansuetude toward sinners and the impious, however insane and iniquitous, I judge to have been sufficiently attested not only by the witness of my conscience, but also by the experience of many. Thus thus far I have restrained the stylus, however you might sting me, and I also wrote in letters to friends—which were read to you as well—that I would restrain it, until you came forth openly.

nam utcumque non nobiscum sapias et pleraque pietatis capita vel impie vel simulanter damnes aut suspendas, pertinaciam tamen tibi tribuere non possum, neque volo: nunc autem quid faciam? utrimque res exacerbatissima est: ego optarem, si possem fieri mediator, ut et illi desinerent te impetere tantis animis sinerentque senectutem tuam cum pace in domino obdormire. id sane facerent, mea quidem sententia, si rationem haberent imbecillitatis tuae, et magnitudinem causae, quae modulum tuum iam dudum egressa est, perpenderent; praesertim cum res iam eo pervenerit, ut parum sit metuendum periculum nostrae causae, si Erasmus etiam summis viribus oppugnaret, nedum si aliquando spargit aculeos e t dentes tantum.

for however you may not be of one mind with us and condemn or suspend most heads of piety either impiously or with dissembling, yet I cannot, nor do I wish, to attribute pertinacity to you: but now what am I to do? on both sides the matter is most exacerbated: I would wish, if I could, to become a mediator, that those men too would cease to assail you with such vehemence and would allow your old age to fall asleep with peace in the Lord. This indeed they would do, in my judgment, if they would have regard to your imbecility, and would weigh the magnitude of the cause, which long since has gone beyond your measure; especially since the matter has now come to this point, that the peril to our cause is scarcely to be feared, even if Erasmus should assail with his utmost forces, much less if at times he merely scatters barbs and bares teeth.

rursus si tu, mi Erasme, illorum infirmitatem cogitares et a figuris illis rhetoricae tuae salsis et amaris abstineres, et si omnino neque potes neque audes nostra asserere, intacta tamen dimitteres et tua tractares. nam quod illi morsiones tuas iniquius ferunt, etiam te iudice nonnulla causa est, scilicet quod infirmitas humana cogitat et male metuit authoritatem et nomen Erasmi, ut longe aliud sit ab Erasmo semel esse morsum quam ab omnibus papistis semel esse commolitum. haec volo dicta, optime Erasme, in testimonium candidi in te animi et qui optet tibi dari a domino spiritum dignum nomine tuo, quem si distulerit tibi dominus dare, interim a te peto ut si aliud praestare non potes, spectator tantum sis tragoediae nostrae, tantum ne soleris et copias iungas adversariis, praesertim ne edas libellas contra me, sicut nec ego contra te edam.

again, if you, my Erasmus, would consider the infirmity of those men and abstain from those figures of your rhetoric, salty and bitter, and if altogether you neither can nor dare to assert our things, yet you would leave them untouched and treat your own. for that they bear your bitings too unfairly, there is some cause even by your own judgment, namely that human infirmity considers and ill fears the authority and the name of Erasmus, so that it is by far a different thing to be once bitten by Erasmus than to be once ground to pieces by all the papists. I wish these things said, best Erasmus, as testimony of a candid spirit toward you and one that wishes for you to be given by the Lord a spirit worthy of your name, which, if the Lord shall delay to give you, meanwhile I ask from you that if you can furnish nothing else, you be only a spectator of our tragedy, only do not console and do not join forces with the adversaries, especially do not publish libels against me, just as neither will I publish against you.

deinde eos qui se Lutherano nomine peti queruntur, homines esse tui meique similes cogites: quibus opus est parcere et ignoscere, et, ut Paulus ait, onera invicem portare. satis morsum est, nunc providendum est, ne consumamur ab invicem, quod eo esset miserabilius spectaculum, quo certius est neutram partem ex animo male velle pietati et sine pertinacia sua cuique placere. boni consule infantiam meam et in domino bene vale.

then consider that those who complain that they are assailed under the Lutheran name are men like to you and to me: men for whom it is necessary to spare and to forgive, and, as Paul says, to carry one another’s burdens. there has been biting enough; now provision must be made, lest we be consumed by one another, which would be the more miserable a spectacle, the more it is certain that neither party from the heart bears ill-will to piety, and that, without pertinacity, each is pleased with his own. take my childishness in good part, and in the Lord fare well.

Ioachimum istum iuvenem Philippo nostro similem tibi commendo, immo sese plus commendabit admissus.

I commend to you this young Joachim, similar to our Philip, indeed he will commend himself more once admitted.

anno MDXXIV

in the year 1524

Martinus Lutherus

Martin Luther