Note 25 — Chapter I · THE FIRST VISITATION OF THE DISEASE—1485.

Erasmus expresses himself on this subject in his usual manner. He was on terms of strict friendship with Linacre, whom on other occasions he greatly lauds. This, however, does not prevent him from lashing him with his satire as a philological pedant. “Novi quendam πολυτεχνότατον, græcum, latinum, mathematicum, philosophum, medicum, καὶ ταῦτα βασιλικὸν, jam sexagenarium, (he was born in 1460, and died in 1524,) qui ceteris rebus omissis, annis plus viginti se torquet ac discruciat in grammatica, prorsus felicem se fore ratus, si tamdiu liceat vivere, donec certo statuat, quomodo distinguendæ sint octo partes orationis, quod hactenus nemo Græcorum aut Latinorum ad plenum præstare valuit.” Laus Stultitiæ, p. 200. That Linacre is here meant is quite plain; the passage applies to no other contemporary.