atural philosophy, theology and all kinds of erudition. All down the
Rhine you will find the walls and roofs of monasteries adorned with
elegant epigrams which testify to German taste of old. To-day there
are Germans who can translate the Greek classics into Latin; and if
their style is not pure Ciceronian, let our detractors remember that
styles change with the times. Mankind is always discontented, and
prefers the old to the modern. I can quite understand that our German
philosophers adapted their style to their audiences and their lofty
subjects. So foreign critics had better let this provocative talk
alone for ever.'

A few years later Wimpfeling edited a fourteenth-century treatise by
Lupold of Bebenburg entitled 'The zeal and fervour of the ancient
German princes towards the Christian religion and the servants of
God'; the intention of which clearly fell in with his desire. In his
preface, addressed to Dalberg, Agricola's patron, he tells a story
which explains a peculiarity occasionally found in mediaeval
manuscripts; of being written in sections by several different hands.
Some years before, the Patriarch of Aquileia was passing through
Spires. To divert the enforced leisure of a halt upon a journey, he
prowled round the libraries of the town; and in one discovered this
treatise of Lupold, which pleased him greatly. As he was to be off
again next morning, there was no time to have it copied, at least by
one hand: so the manuscript was cut up and distributed among a number
of scribes, and in the space of a night the desired copy was ready.
Subsequently Wimpfeling heard of the incident from one of the brethren
in the monastery, and obtained the original manuscript to publish.
When such things could happen, no wonder that some manuscripts are
imperfect and others have disappeared.

Wimpfeling's next endeavour to assert the glories of Germany was
completed in 1502; but did not appear till 1505. It was based upon the
work of a friend, Sebastian Murrho of Colmar (d. 1494). The title,
_Defensio Germaniae_ or _Epithoma Germanorum_, sufficiently explains
its purpose. After a brief account of Germany in Roman times--his hero
being not Arminius, but 'the first German king, Arioviscus, who fought
with Julius Caesar',--and fuller records of the Germanic Emperors
since Charlemagne, Wimpfeling comes to the praise of his own days;
the men of learning, the famous soldiers, the architects who could
build the great tower of Stra