s
regarded in those days as a man of unusual calmness and dignity. Next
to Erasmus, he was the most learned scholar in Europe. He would never
condescend in his controversies to the coarse terms used by his
adversaries. We may learn something of the temper of the times by
observing that, in a single pamphlet, as quoted by Strauss, the
epithets that the dignified Reuchlin applies to Pfefferkorn are: "A
poisonous beast," "a scarecrow," "a horror," "a mad dog," "a horse," "a
mule," "a hog," "a fox," "a raging wolf," "a Syrian lion," "a
Cerberus," "a fury of hell." In this matter Reuchlin was finally
triumphant. This triumph was loudly celebrated by his friend Hutten in
another poem, in which the Obscurantists were mercilessly attacked.

We have seen with Hutten's growth a gradual increase in the importance
of those to whom he declared himself an enemy. He began as a boy with
the obscure Professor Loetz. He ended with the Pope of Rome.

At this time Reuchlin published a volume called "_Epistolae Clarorum
Virorum_" ("letters of illustrious men"). It was made up of letters
written by the various learned men of Europe to Reuchlin, in sympathy
with him in his struggle. The title of this work gave the keynote to a
series of letters called "_Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum_" ("letters of
obscure men")--that is, of Obscurantists.

These letters, written by different persons, but largely by Hutten, are
the most remarkable of all satires of that time.

They are a series of imaginary epistles, supposed to be addressed by
various Obscurantists to a poet named Ortuinus. They are written with
consummate skill, in the degenerate Latin used by the priests in those
days, and they are made to exhibit all the secret meanness, ignorance,
and perversity of their supposed writers.

The first of these epistles of the "obscure men" were eagerly read: by
their supposed associates, the Obscurantists. Here were men who felt
as they felt, and who were not afraid to speak. The mendicant friars
in England had a day of rejoicing, and a Dominican friar in Flanders
bought all the copies of the letters he could find to present to his
bishop.

But in time even the dullest began to feel the severity of the satire.
The last of these letters formed the most telling blows ever dealt at
the schoolmen by the men of learning. In one of the earlier letters we
find this question, which may serve as a type of many others:

A man ate an egg in which a