Erasmus on Greek

“[Theologians] are dogged everywhere by the nemesis that waits for those who despise Greek; here too they are subject to delusions, half asleep, blear-eyed, blundering, producing more monstrosities.”

-Erasmus, Letter to Maarten van Dorp, 1515.

The picture: Folly, marginal drawing by Hans Holbein the Younger, in Erasmus' In Praise of Folly, edition of 1515. Although Erasmus did not join the Reformers, this work satirized (among other things) abuses of the Catholic church. Its popularity may have even contributed to the Reformation.