offered to him, he
refused them all, preferring to be an independent man of letters.
Erasmus was recognized as the supreme literary authority of the world,
and this lofty position was the summit of his ambition. Nothing could
turn him aside from the path that led to that eminence, and, once
attained, nothing could attract him away from it.

Basel had become the center of the new printing industry. This led
Erasmus to choose that city as his home for the latter part of his life,
and here he furthered the cause of humanism as no other man had done, by
editing and giving to the world many of the classic treasures of the
monasteries. He translated Greek works into Latin, thereby making them
available to the world, as Latin was better understood than Greek. His
edition of the Greek Testament was his most eminent service, though his
"Colloquies" are better known. His "Praise of Folly" is a satirical
work, in which he holds up to ridicule the ignorance and vice of the
monks.

Though he never broke away from the Church, without doubt his sympathies
were with the reformers. But neither the persuasions nor the
denunciations of Luther could bring him to take a decided stand on
either side. He thought that the reform could be wrought within the
Church. He accepted the dogmas of the Church, and remained within it as
long as he lived.

Erasmus was the exact counterpart of Luther. He appealed to the limited
few, Luther to the masses; he to the educated and higher classes, Luther
to the ignorant and lowly; he was a man of reflection, Luther a man of
action. The apparent vacillation of Erasmus may have been due to ill
health, to the influence of the Pope, to the ties of the Church in which
he had been reared, to the satisfaction he found in his eminent literary
position, and to his dislike for controversy.

Erasmus gives us some very valuable pedagogical teachings, which may be
summed up as follows:--

=Pedagogy of Erasmus.=--1. The mother is the natural educator of the
child in its early years. The mother who does not care for the education
of her children is only half a mother.

2. Until the seventh year the child should have little to do but play,
in order to develop the body. It must have no earnest work, but must be
taught politeness.

3. After the seventh year earnest work must begin. Latin and Greek
(which should be studied together) must be taught early so that right
pronunciation and a good vocabulary may be attained.