Erasmus+summary

Erasmus starts his writing with the quote “dulce bellum inexpertis – war is sweet to those who have not tried it”. He cites this phrase from Vegetius to explain that going to war seems not to be big “thing”, for those who hasn’t experienced war, but those who have been to war know that “thing war; there is nothing more wicked, more disastrous, more widely destructive…in a word unworthy of man” (p. 222).

With astonishment Erasmus acknowledges that “everywhere at the present time war is being entered upon lightly, for any kind of reason…” (p.222) not by young and inexperienced, but by old who know it well, not “only by lay people but by priest and bishops”, not by common people but rather by princes. Erasmus complains about the fact, that men, “a peaceful creature, whom nature made for peace and loving-kindness, should rush with such savage insanity, with much mad commotion, to mutual slaughter” (p.222).

Erasmus then goes on and tries to explain the historic reasons for men for the act of killing. He thinks hunters in pre-history who killed animals, where the “first murders”. He writes that over time through killing/hunting several animals (first harmful beasts, then harmless, then sheep, domestic ox, birds, fish…) men got used of the act of killing and hunting had given men the skills for killing, which they - at one time used - to kill other men, first one against one, “then people began to band themselves together, according to kinship, neighbourhood, or friendly alliance” (p.223), and invented arms to make wars (“bellum”). This foul evolution went on to the point that “we are continually at war, race against race, kingdom against kingdom, prince against prince…and at this very worst of all, Christians fight Christians” (pp. 224-225). Erasmus complains that no one is astonished and he adds that the worst of all is that both sides in a war often argue that they act in the name of the Christ.

Erasmus tries to argue how this evolution among Christians could happen. In his opinion the main reason is a gradual estrangement of the church from the original doctrines of Christ (including the acceptance of Aristotle as an integral part of theology). He specifies the different aberrations in the church (taking over the Roman law, misunderstandings of the later writings in the Gospel, injustice, acceptance of different “trivial” reasons to approve wars…).