Note 733 — Chapter XIV · (continued 2)

Köstlin-Kawerau, 1, p. 656 f. In the note on p. 790 it is pointed out that the passage in question does not refer to any work by Erasmus. A. Freitag, in the introduction to his reprint of the book, “De servo arbitrio,” Weim. ed., 18, p. 577, says: “The words of Erasmus, in his letter to L. Vives on Ascension Day, 1527: ‘perdidimus liberum arbitrium,’ do not refer to the work, ‘De libero arbitrio.’” The jesting words used by Erasmus in a letter to Auerbach, dated December 10, 1524, which have also been quoted in support of the legend (“Profecto nunc habere desii liberum arbitrium, posteaquam emisi in vulgus”), only mean that, even had he so desired, it was now impossible to withdraw a book already published. He wrote in exactly the same sense to King Henry VIII on September 6, 1524: “iacta est alea, exiit in lucem libellus de libero arbitrio.”