t was to the emperor, he spoke as if kings might
and perhaps ought to be elected, but in his _Adages_ he interpreted the
spirit of the ancients in a way most disparaging to monarchy.
Considering how carefully this work was studied by promising youths at
the impressionable age, it is not too much to regard it as one of the
main sources of the marked republican current of thought throughout the
century. Under the heading, "Fools {593} and kings are born such," he
wrote: "In all history, ancient and recent, you will scarcely find in
the course of several centuries one or two princes, who, by their
signal folly, did not bring ruin on humanity." In another place, after
a similar remark, he continues:

I know not whether much of this is not to be imputed
to ourselves. We trust the rudder of a vessel, where a
few sailors and some goods alone are in jeopardy, to
none but skilful pilots; but the state, wherein is
comprised the safety of so many thousands, we leave to the
guidance of any chance hands. A charioteer must learn,
reflect upon and practice his art; a prince needs only to
be born. Yet government is the most difficult, as it is the
most honorable, of sciences. Shall we choose the master
of a ship and not choose him who is to have the care of
so many cities and so many souls? . . . Do we not see
that noble cities are erected by the people and destroyed
by princes? that a state grows rich by the industry of
its citizens and is plundered by the rapacity of its
princes? that good laws are enacted by elected magistrates
and violated by kings? that the people love peace and
the princes foment war?

There is far too much to the same purpose to quote, which in all makes
a polemic against monarchy not exceeded by the fiercest republicans of
the next two generations. It is true that Erasmus wrote all this in
1515, and half took it back after the Peasants' War. "Princes must be
endured," he then thought, "lest tyranny give place to anarchy, a still
greater evil."

[Sidenote: Reformation]

As one of the principal causes of the Reformation was the strengthening
of national self-consciousness, so conversely one of the most marked
results of the movement was the exaltation of the state. The
Reformation began to realize, though at first haltingly, the separation
of church and state, and it endowed the latter with much wealth, with
many privileges and with high prerogatives and duties u