satirical, at least more directly so. The
_Moria_, as a satire, is philosophical and general; the _Colloquia_ are
up to date and special. At the same time they combine more the positive
and negative elements. In the _Moria_ Erasmus's own ideal dwells
unexpressed behind the representation; in the _Colloquia_ he continually
and clearly puts it in the foreground. On this account they form,
notwithstanding all the jests and mockery, a profoundly serious moral
treatise and are closely akin to the _Enchiridion militis Christiani_.
What Erasmus really demanded of the world and of mankind, how he
pictured to himself that passionately desired, purified Christian
society of good morals, fervent faith, simplicity and moderation,
kindliness, toleration and peace--this we can nowhere else find so
clearly and well-expressed as in the _Colloquia_. In these last fifteen
years of his life Erasmus resumes, by means of a series of
moral-dogmatic disquisitions, the topics he broached in the
_Enchiridion_: the exposition of simple, general Christian conduct;
untrammelled and natural ethics. That is his message of redemption. It
came to many out of _Exomologesis_, _De esu carnium_, _Lingua_,
_Institutio christiani matrimonii_, _Vidua christiana_, _Ecclesiastes_.
But, to far larger numbers, the message was contained in the
_Colloquies_.

The _Colloquia_ gave rise to much more hatred and contest than the
_Moria_, and not without reason, for in them Erasmus attacked persons.
He allowed himself the pleasure of ridiculing his Louvain antagonists.
Lee had already been introduced as a sycophant and braggart into the
edition of 1519, and when the quarrel was assuaged, in 1522, the
reference was expunged. Vincent Dirks was caricatured in _The Funeral_
(1526) as a covetous friar, who extorts from the dying testaments in
favour of his order. He remained. Later sarcastic observations were
added about Beda and numbers of others. The adherents of Oecolampadius
took a figure with a long nose in the _Colloquies_ for their leader:
'Oh, no,' replied Erasmus, 'it is meant for quite another person.'
Henceforth all those who were at loggerheads with Erasmus, and they were
many, ran the risk of being pilloried in the _Colloquia_. It was no
wonder that this work, especially with its scourging mockery of the
monastic orders, became the object of controversy.

* * * * *

Erasmus never emerged from his polemics. He was, no doubt, se