When Erasmus wrote his Institutio Principis Christiani in 1515 for the young Charles, the future emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire, he presented it in the form of short, pithy sentences (sententiae) to make the reading less boring. Moreover, he made use of plenty of lively anecdotes and quotations. In the dedication he described his method with the following words: ‘I have taken Isocrates’ work on the principles of government and translated it into Latin, and in competition with him I have added my own, arranged as it were in aphorisms for the reader's convenience, but with considerable differences from what he laid down’ (CWE 27, p. 204). A large part of his mirror-for-princes is devoted to the outline of an educational programme for the young prince with practical advice on how to raise him from early childhood to a mature and virtuous adulthood. Sixteen years after the publication of the Institutio Erasmus addressed himself to the fifteen-year-old prince William the Younger, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, to whom he had already dedicated his treatise on the education of children (De pueris instituendis). This time he offered him an enormous collection of apophthegmata, ‘things well said’, 3,080 in total. The subject was well chosen in accordance with the prince's young age. Erasmus described it as ‘milk for a prince of tender years’ (p. 17).

The nice two-volume translation of the Apophthegmata in the famous Collected Works of Erasmus series gives more than one reason for intellectual joy. First, it sheds more light on Erasmus’ endeavours to provide a thorough education of young people who will take up leading roles in society. Therefore, just as in his mirror-for-princes, the Dutch humanist did not delve into abstract and theoretical discussions, but sought after instruments that could immediately bring some practical benefit. For, ‘a man born to exercise authority needs to put virtue into immediate practice, not debate it at leisure’ (p. 4). With this goal in mind, Erasmus provided his readers with sayings that contain several layers and that, as a consequence, are fruitful for young people but also for more experienced individuals. It is up to the readers themselves to discover the import of each of the ‘things well said’. As Erasmus stated it in his dedicatory letter: ‘the things I have listed are learned with enjoyment and easily take root in the mind, and actually contain more deep teaching than appears at first sight’ (p. 14). It also brings him to a short reflection on the best type of apophthegm, which he describes as ‘one which in a few words suggests rather than spells out some out-of-the-ordinary thought, such that no one could deliberately invent it, and which becomes more and more satisfactory the more closely you study it’ (p. 14).

It is crucial for a good understanding of Erasmus’ collection of Apophthegmata that the sayings are not obscure in nature, but are constructed in such a way that readers can always find different levels in them depending on their intellectual progress. The nature of the Apophthegmata is totally different from later collections of political sayings, such as Justus Lipsius’ Politica from 1579, in which the author deliberately selected sententiae whose meaning could only be grasped by a small group of intellectuals who are experienced in state affairs and have an excellent command of the Latin language. It was a collection for insiders only, so to speak. This brings me to another particular feature of Erasmus' Apophthegmata and to another reason why its translation should be welcomed. It is a collection whose primary function was not only the (moral) education of the young, but also simple relaxation. It is an instrument ‘to lighten the prince's burden of care’ (p. 4), as Erasmus calls it. Even more, ‘it will be observed’, as he remarks, ‘that my collection contains some items that do nothing to teach morals but simply raise a laugh’ (p. 14). Especially towards the end of the work he included more jokes, whose punch lines are more difficult to grasp for later generations and which, as a consequence, require more background information.

In the Apophthegmata we also see the humanist as a promoter of Antiquity and restorer of ancient texts, which is another reason why this translation is so valuable. In the dedicatory letter of the Institutio Erasmus explains that, in fact, the genre of mirrors-for-princes did not exist. Therefore, he has taken Isocrates' oration for king Nicocles as an example and written his own princely advice in competition with him. One of the models he frequently used was Plutarch, whose Apophthegmata he recommended in passing as conducive to the proper training of the young princely mind. In Erasmus' œuvre the Greek author is the most quoted author after Homer and Cicero. Erasmus was very familiar with Plutarch's manifold writings, especially the Moralia, for which he could rely on the important editio princeps, which was being prepared when he was staying at the house of the famous printer Aldus Manutius in Venice during the years 1507–1508. In his own monumental collection the humanist did not present translations from his Greek model, but merely took his cue from him and expanded the text: ‘The whole work however I have made to some extent my own, as I have expanded the Greek text by inserting additional information from other authors and including a good deal of material which was not in Plutarch's text at all. I have also added notes explaining the meaning of a saying or its application’ (p. 10). By collecting different sources he revealed disagreements about who actually said what. A recurring problem was the reliability of the Greek original: ‘There were besides many places where I had to wrestle with a faulty text, where the translators too had met problems' (p. 8).

All these aspects of Erasmus as an educator, princely advisor and textual critic – and many more – come to the fore in his Apophthegmata and have been done full justice by the translators K., who also acted as the editor, and F. They deserve praise for their accurate work, editorial skills and translational ingenuities. For, indeed, this is a smooth translation in which the original speed and suppleness is kept. References to the primary sources are carefully listed in the footnotes, as are the many marginal annotations. The notes, moreover, contain various cross-references (to other passages in the Apophthegmata, other works of Erasmus and other ancient sources), useful contextual materials (ranging from biographical information and historical explanations to elaborations on ancient customs) and, not unimportantly, explanations of word puns and jokes which have become unintelligible for modern readers. In some cases the translators have even provided interesting textual notes that shed light on Erasmus' philological choices and skills and that clearly show how the humanist elaborated on and adapted certain passages. Thanks to the efforts of K. and F. this wealthy collection of ‘things well said’ may find new generations of enthusiastic readers, who will make interesting discoveries and come across amusing anecdotes.