Guest blog by Manou Vermeire (KU Leuven)
“Qvvm Ioannes Frobenius, vir ornatiss[ime], adornaret suis typis excudere Tusculanas Quaestiones M. Tullii, meque rogasset vt hic aliquid adderem opellae meae, quo liber exiret aliqua recentis vtilitatis accessione commendatus; eo lubentius hanc suscepi prouinciam, quod pluribus iam annis mihi nihil aut perpusillum commercii cum Musis mansuetioribus fuisset.” (Allen ep. 1390, to John Vlatten, Basel, October 1523)
“When Johann Froben, honoured sir, was preparing to print Cicero’s Tusculan Questions, and had asked me to put something of my own work into it as best I could, so that the book when it appeared might have some useful novelty to recommend it, I set about the task all the more readily since for some years I had had either no contact with the more humane among the Muses or very little.” (CWE translation)
This is the start of Erasmus’ dedicatory letter, which serves as a preface to Froben’s new edition of the Tusculanae Quaestiones, to John Vlatten (ca. 1498/9 – 1562). This Vlatten, who spent most of his life in his native Germany, was a clergyman, councillor to the dukes of Cleves, educational reformer, patron of letters, and friend of Erasmus. The latter not only dedicated this edition of Cicero’s Tusculanae to him, but also his very own Ciceronianus (Allen ep. 1390 & Bietenholz & Deutscher 1987, 414-416). In the dedicatory letter to Vlatten, Erasmus professes his love for Cicero, whom he presents as a Christian avant la lettre – an interesting example of how humanists tried to reconcile their love of classical pagan literature with their Christian beliefs – and briefly delves into the topic of humanist education. All interesting subjects, but in this post I would like to focus on the two short instances of code-switching featured in this letter:
“Geri videtur quod legis, nec secus afflat animum tuum quidam orationis ἐνθουσιασμός, quam si ex viuo ipsius pectore ac felicissimo illo ore manantem audires. […] Caeterum isthic esse ranarum chorum quae bonis obstrepant literis, mirum videri non debet, quum hae nusquam desint, quae cantionem illam occinant e vetere comoedia, Βρεκεκεκὲξ κοὰξ κοάξ.” (Allen ep. 1390)
“What you read seems to be happening, and your mind feels the breath of a kind of enthusiasm in the style, exactly as though you had heard it coming from the heart and the eloquent lips of the living man. […] In any case, that there should be a chorus of frogs in your part of the world ready to croak against the humanities should surprise no one, for there is no shortage anywhere of such creatures to interrupt with their song from the old comedy brekekekex koax koax.” (CWE translation, code-switches indicated in italics)
The first code-switch is situated in a paragraph where Erasmus extols the many virtues of Cicero’s books in reprimand to those who feel they are just empty words. Thus, the code-switch to the Greek ἐνθουσιασμός could be an expression of heightened emotions, praising the almost divine inspiration of Cicero’s works in the reader. One could also point to Rummel’s (1981, 67) comment that Erasmus uses Greek words whenever he ventures into the realm of Greek culture. Her examples show that this can be extended to discussions of ancient culture in general. In this case, talking about Cicero’s style and how it makes his words and himself almost come alive, leads Erasmus to switch from Latin to Greek. Lastly, a code-switch between these two languages is very fitting when talking about Cicero’s style, as he himself code-switches from Latin to Greek in his letters (see e.g. Elder & Mullen 2019).
The second code-switch is situated in the paragraph where Erasmus for the first time really addresses Vlatten, except for the greeting at the start, of course. He says that one of the reasons he dedicates this work to Vlatten is that it could be of use in schools, a topic dear to Vlatten’s heart. Then, Erasmus touches upon the practicalities of a humanist education: What type of teacher should you hire and what should be on the curriculum? How should you respond to those opposed to such an education? The answer to the last question is simple: just ignore them. It is to these negative opinions that Erasmus refers by the code-switch Βρεκεκεκὲξ κοὰξ κοάξ, the sound of the frogs in Aristophanes’ comedy of that name.
Thus, there is an interesting opposition between the two code-switches in this letter: in one instance, Erasmus uses Greek to indicate something positive, in the other instance it is used with a clear negative connotation. However, it makes sense to use Βρεκεκεκὲξ κοὰξ κοάξ in a negative sense, as this is also how this quote is used in Aristophanes’ original: although this is not indicated in the text, the chorus of frogs who croak in this way is traditionally identified as bad poets. Perhaps Erasmus is thinking along the line that bad poets lack culture, as do those opposed to humanism and humanist education? Continuing this line of interpretation, one could argue that the fact that the Greek in this case is more gibberish than actual Greek could very well be a slight upon the language and rhetoric skills of these critics.
These code-switches are also interesting in their textual transmission, which features both printed editions and manuscripts. In the critical apparatus of the letter, Allen often points to a manuscript in Gouda (siglum β). This manuscript is a good example of the problems that Greek could pose for copyists and printers alike: not everyone could read or write this more exclusive language and script. In this case the copyist used two frequent coping mechanisms for this problem. The first is transliteration: ἐνθουσιασμός becomes enthusiasmos, Latin script combined with a Greek ending. The second strategy is to just omit the Greek: “Hic Greca” – a variant of the typical comment “this is Greek, it cannot be read,” associated with medieval attitudes but clearly also still relevant for Erasmus’ age.
Sources
Bietenholz, Peter. G., and Thomas B. Deutscher. 1987. Contemporaries of Erasmus: A Biographical Register of the Renaissance and Reformation: Volume 3: N-Z. Toronto – Buffalo – London: University of Toronto Press;
Elder, Olivia, and Alex Mullen. 2019. The Language of Roman Letters: Bilingual Epistolography from Cicero to Fronto. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press;
Mynors, R.A.B. (tr.), Alexander Dalzell (tr.), and James M. Estes (annot.) 1992. The Correspondence of Erasmus: Letters 1356 to 1534: 1523 to 1524. CWE 10. Toronto – Buffalo – London: University of Toronto Press;
Rummel, Erika. 1981. ‘The Use of Greek in Erasmus’ Letters’, in Humanistica Lovaniensia 30, 55-92.
How to cite?
Vermeire, Manou. 2023. “Erasmus 500 years on: Froben’s edition of Cicero’s ‘Tusculanae Quaestiones’ dedicated to John Vlatten (October 1523).” Adendros (blog). 28 October 2023. https://adendros.wordpress.com/2023/10/28/erasmus-500-years-on-frobens-edition-of-ciceros-tusculanae-quaestiones-dedicated-to-john-vlatten-october-1523/
Raf Van Rooy 