This volume comprises Erasmus' correspondence during the final two years of his life, June 1534-August 1536. In the public sphere it was a time of dramatic events: the reconquest of the duchy Wurttemberg from its Austrian occupiers; the siege and destruction of the Anabaptist "kingdom" at Munster; Charles V's great victory at Tunis; and the resumption of the Habsburg-Valois wars in Italy. In the private sphere, these were years of deteriorating health, thoughts of impending death, and the loss of close friends (including Thomas Fisher and Thomas More, both executed by Henry VIII). At the same time, however, Erasmus managed to publish his longest book, Ecclesiastes, and to make arrangements, in his final will, for his considerable wealth to be spent for charitable purposes after his death.

Erasmus’ thorough engagement with the New Testament, in particular his revision of the Vulgate translation, aroused much controversy, especially in the orthodox Roman Catholic country of Spain. Erasmus had to fight fierce polemics with several people, including two Spanish scholars, Diego López Zúñiga and Sancho Carranza de Miranda, who were both connected to the University of Alcalà. This quarrel lasted from 1520 to 1524, with a late response by Erasmus in 1529. The discussion started as a philological one, regarding "correct" Latin, but turned into a dogmatic-theological fight over the issues of whether the New Testament speaks of Christ as God, whether one can apply the term servus (servant) to Christ, and whether the sacramental character of matrimony can be deduced from Ephesians 5:32. The six texts in this volume are here translated and annotated for the first time. With elucidating notes and an introduction, the volume offers wonderful insight into a fierce and fundamental polemic over the New Testament

Shelley thought all didactic poetry an 'abhorrence, ' and most of the Romantics agreed with this judgment. Critics in this century have been less dismissive of the genre, but seem puzzled by it. There has been a tendency to treat a didactic poem as though it were a kind of lyric, in which the focus of interest lies in the emotions and feelings of the writer. But didactic poetry has a purpose, history, and character of its own. This original and important book asks the question, 'What can the practising critic usefully say about a didactic poem?' This is not primarily a book about theory, but a guide to practical criticism combined with a fresh reading of the chosen texts. Through a close analysis of three of the major didactic poems in the classical canon, the De rerum natura of Lucretius, the Georgics of Virgil, and the Ars amatoria of Ovid, Dalzell's aim is to consider these poems as a genre and to ascertain what tools are available to the critic for their understanding. He raises questions about the limits of genre criticism, the relationship of poetry and knowledge, reader-response, and historical reception. Can there be a poetry of statement? Is all genuine poetry necessarily fictive in some sense? To what extent is a serious didactic intent compatible with poetry? The Criticism of Didactic Poetry is primarily of interest to classicists. It will also be of great value to scholars of other literatures who are interested in the history of the genre or in the theoretical debate about whether poetry can encompass knowledge. This book is a significant original contribution to the field, with the potential to influence future scholarly thinking on didactic poetry.