Friday, September 12, 2008

Scotus is Not For Children

Multis amara sunt grammatices praecepta: Aristotelis ethice non est apta peueris: theologia Scoti minus; ne viris quidem admodum utilis ad parandam bonam mentem: et plurimum habet momenti, gustum optimarum rerum protinus insevisse teneris animis.


--Erasmus, De utilitate colloquiorum ad lectorem

2 comments:

Lee Faber said...

translation? I lose it towards the end. Is it "and it has much of the moment [?], scattering immediately the taste of the best things from young minds"

I think you're probably passing me up in latin, as all i read is 14th s. stuff. Peter Auriol also uses the word "nihilitates". Peter Thomae is turning out to be more learned; he quoted from Seneca's 46th epistle, as well as the "Thymeo"

Michael Sullivan said...

Man, you got to this fast.

As for the translation, I believe the last clause is something like "and, what is more important, it straightaway corrupts the taste for the best things in young and tender minds." In other words, typical humanist concern for style over substance: watch out, Scotus will corrupt your latinity!

Sadly, your second paragraph only confirms Erasmus' point.