Rabelais, the Last of the French Erasmians

Author(s): Raymond Lebègue

Source: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 12 (1949), pp. 91-100
Published by: The Warburg Institute
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 RABELAIS, THE LAST OF THE FRENCH ERASMIANS

By Raymond Lebegue
n attempting to estimate the influence of Erasmus' work upon the thought
of Rabelais, I realize that I am venturing on dangerous ground, for I have
to commit myself regarding the metaphysical beliefs of the author of Panta-
gruel. There are, of course, two violently opposed theories on this question.
Brunetikre, ever dogmatic and decisive, asserted that Rabelais was one of the
most fervent pagans who ever existed. He had not gone very deeply into the
question, but in 1922 Abel Lefranc, having first rescued his favourite writer
from the Protestant camp, produced a great mass of quotations and evidence
to support his thesis of a Rabelais not merely non-Christian but militantly
anti-Christian, in whose books he claimed to have found numberless attacks
on Christianity. His view was shared by H. Busson, and in 1938 G. Lotel
adduced new arguments to support it. This interpretation made a great
impression. P. Villey, however, was not entirely convinced by the arguments,2
and a little later E. Gilson showed that Rabelais' parodies of liturgical or
Biblical texts were mere monkish pleasantries and of no great consequence.3
J. Plattard, in his Etat prdsentdes itudesrabelaisiennes
and in letters addressed to
myself, was also sceptical; and ten years ago, in expounding Gargantuato my
students at Rennes, I laid emphasis upon Rabelais' statements in favour of
an Evangelistic type of Christianity, and criticized in detail the arguments
which were alleged to prove him anti-Christian.
It was Lucien Febvre who in 1942 formulated the theory which opposes
this notion of the "atheist" Rabelais. His book, boldly entitled La religionde
Rabelais,is not only valuable for its minute examination of the texts and of
contemporary witnesses; it has also an excellent method to recommend it.
For Febvre, instead of emphasizing the sayings and behaviour of the char-
acters whose function it is to amuse the reader, relies on those of the idealized
persons whom the author holds up to our admiration and emulation-that is
to say Gargantua, Grandgousier and Pantagruel. The conclusion he reaches
is that the piety of these heroes comes nearer to the religion of Erasmus than
to the reformed religion.
Febvre made use of much previous research on Rabelais' borrowings from
Erasmus. L. Delaruelle, L. Thuasne, W. F. Smith and J. Plattard had each
in turn recorded many cases of resemblance between passages in Rabelais and
the principal works of Erasmus.4 Our purpose in the present article is not
so much to add to this list of derivations as to give a logical and connected
account of the influence of Erasmus upon the thought of Rabelais-a modest
contribution to that major work upon Erasmus and France which we hope
will one day take its place beside Bataillon's masterly Erasmeet l'Espagne.
Rabelais could hardly fail to notice the resemblances between the life of
the great Dutch humanist and his own. Were they not both of them clerici
1 La vie et l'oeuvrede Franfois Rabelais. Erasme . . ." Revued'histoirelitte'raire,XI, 1904;
2 Revue d'histoire
littiraire, XXXI, 1924, Thuasne, Etudes sur Rabelais, 190o4; W. F.
pp.3 532-6. Smith, "Rabelais et Erasme," Revuedes itudes
Les idles et les lettres, 1932, pp. 197-241. rabelaisiennes,VI, 1908; J. Plattard, L'Invention
4 L. Delaruelle, "Ce que Rabelais doit "a et la compositiondans l'oeuvre de Rabelais, 190o9.
91

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92 RAYMOND LEBLGUE

vagantes, emancipated monks who had shaken off the restrictions of monastic
life, retaining unpleasant memories of fasting and religious formalities? Both
had sought and gained their intellectual freedom. Both had increased their
learning by foreign travel. It is true that Erasmus did not indulge in transient
love affairs and leave illegitimate children in his wake, but this ex-monk who
had become an accomplished humanist was none the less a model for Rabelais.
Moreover, on one occasion at least, Rabelais expressed a most devout
admiration for Erasmus. Towards the end of 1532, having made the acquaint-
ance in Lyons of Hilaire Bertolphe, formerly Erasmus' secretary, Rabelais
wrote him a letter in which we find such phrases as these:

Patrem te dixi, matrem etiam dicerem . . . Me tibi de facie ignotum,

nomine etiam ignobilem sic educasti, sic castissimis divinae tuae doctrinae
uberibus usque aluisti ut quidquid sum et valeo, tibi id uni acceptum ni
feram, hominum omnium qui sunt, aut aliis erunt in annis, ingratissimus sim.
Even if these emphatic compliments had not come down to us, we should
have good grounds for asserting that Rabelais the humanist must have been
acquainted with books the success of which in France is attested by so many
editions, translations and imitations.1 Consider, moreover, the life led by
this wanderer, to whom Rimbaud's phrase "l'homme aux semelles de vent"
could almost be applied: he never stayed for as long as four years in any one
place; he made three journeys to Rome; he never settled down, whether at
Montpellier, or at Lyons, or anywhere else. What a contrast between the
vast library of Montaigne, for instance, and the limited collection of books
which Rabelais could form, and which he had to replace completely more
than once! (He must often have had to use books belonging to Geoffroi
d'Estissac and the Du Bellay brothers.) To whom therefore would the
compendiapublished by Erasmus have been more valuable than to this in-
veterate traveller? For with the Adagia and the Apophtegmata,he could slip
into his baggage the concentrated wisdom of the Ancients.
Certain fanatical Rabelaisians have tried to deny that their idol made use
of these anthologies of quotations rather than of the original works of antiquity,
but this view cannot be upheld in face of the textual researches that have been
made. It was not from Plato but from the adage Sileni Alcibiadis that he drew
the comparison of Socrates with the Silenus figures; it was not in Plutarch's
text but in Erasmus' translation that he read the Apophtegmata;and so forth.
Nor is there anything discreditable to Rabelais in all this. He had to restrict
his personal library to essentials, and moreover he presents these borrowings
to us adorned and enriched with his own inimitable style.
These compendiaare the first category of works by Erasmus which Rabelais
consulted continually; statistics compiled by W. F. Smith show that there are
more borrowings from the Adagia and the Apophtegmatain Rabelais' Books
III, IV and V than in Pantagruel and Gargantua.2
1 Cf. Margaret Mann, Erasme et les ddbutsde vision for the dipldmed'Jtudessupirieures.
la Reformefranfaise, Paris, 1934, and the un- 2 Rabelais gave free rein to his erudition
published studies which Mlle. Teyssier and in the later works, and they bristle with anec-
M. Vouzelaud prepared under my super- dotes and apophthegms.

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 RABELAIS, THE LAST OF THE FRENCH ERASMIANS 93
The works of Erasmus on the New Testament form our second category.
There is far less evidence here, however, than in the case of the compilations,
and we will not exaggerate its importance. First, there are the letters written
by Bud6 to Rabelais and to Pierre Amy in 1524, which are full of the com-
motion that Erasmus' Paraphrases of the Gospels aroused among the theolo-
gians of Paris; one may be certain that either at Fontenay-le-Comte, or in
the house of the abbot of Maillezais, Rabelais would have skimmed through
the books to which his celebrated correspondent drew attention. Secondly,
Plattard has pointed out that in the 1534 version of Gargantua,a passage from
St. Matthew appears as emended by Erasmus in his edition of the New
Testament.
The third category comprises Erasmus' original writings. It is these that
provide the most interesting analogies. We shall examine first the novels that
Rabelais published in 1532-34, and then proceed to show from Book III
(1546) and Book IV (1548, 1552) how the Erasmian elements in his thought
persisted until his death. The text of Book V being suspect, we shall leave
this aside.

BooksI and II: Pantagrueland Gargantua

Education
Most of Rabelais' ideas on this subject correspond with those of Erasmus.
They attack the same methods and the same books. Mediaeval pedagogy
seems to both of them absurd, against nature, pernicious. Both make fun of
the old textbooks and of a schooling which fritters away the whole period
of adolescence to no purpose.1 They criticize the squalor of the College of
Montaigu, and the brutal punishments which the teachers inflict on their
pupils. They attack the disputationespro et contraas a vain beating of the air,
and ridicule the abstract vocabulary of scholasticism and the ratiocinations
of the Scotist doctors. Rabelais gave a monstrous and fantastic caricature of
the magistrinostriof the Sorbonne, but, twenty years before he set Janotus de
Bragmardo spluttering, Erasmus in the MoriaeEncomiumhad already slated
them, saying that they stuttered rather than spoke.
Rabelais and Erasmus also profess the same positive ideas on education.
Thuasne, writing in the Revuedes bibliothequesin 1905, compared Gargantua's
letter to Pantagruel with the adage Spartamnactusand with Erasmus' letter of
1511 to Viterius. Both writers advocate an encyclopaedic programme of in-
struction, covering all the sciences, to be presented in an agreeable and varied
manner-"ut ludus videatur, non labor."'2The classical works mentioned in
the Institutioprincipischristianiare precisely those which Rabelais made most
use of. The studies of the young Archbishop Alexander Stuart3 foreshadow
those followed by Gargantua in Paris under the direction of Ponocrates, and
what Erasmus says of the former could equally be applied to the latter:
"Nulla omnino vitae pars vacabit studio, nisi quae rei divinae somnoque
daretur."

1 Cf. Erasmus, De pueris. .. instituendisand 2

Erasmus, De pueris . . .
Dialogus de rectapronuntiatione. 3 See the
adage mentioned above.
'7

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94 RAYMOND LEBLGUE

Religion
Like so many other humanists, both Rabelais and Erasmus sharply criti-
cized the vices of the monasteries, superstitious beliefs, and certain religious
practices. Rabelais' jokes about the incontinence of monks are a common-
place of the time, and if we find a certain piquancy in them this is because
we know that Brother Frangois Rabelais fathered at least three bastards. But
some specific resemblances may be noted. Brother John coins the amusing
conceit that "seulement l'ombre du clocher d'une abbaye est ficonde":
Erasmus, in the colloquy Exequiaeseraphicae,had remarked that there are very
few sterile women in the houses frequented by these gentry. Erasmuspreceded
Eudemon and Gargantua in describing monks as drones and apes,1 and it
was probably from him that Rabelais borrowed the term sophist as applied
to the theologians of the Sorbonne, and maybe the word "mateologien" also.
When Grandgousier in Chapter XLV of Gargantuaflies into a rage against
the superstition which attributes to saints the power to inflict disease, this
probably shows that Rabelais remembered the words of the bigoted Theotimus
in the colloquy Exequiaeseraphicae:"What horrible diseases do they not inflict
when they are not honoured properly !" As for the six pilgrims who stray into
the war with Picrochole, Rabelais uses them as a pretext for attacking such
"idle and unprofitable" journeys, and we find Brother John chaffing them
heavily: "Les moines biscotent vos femmes cependant qu'etes en romivage."2
In introducing this episode Rabelais undoubtedly had in mind those passages
in the colloquies in which Erasmus condemned pilgrimages as useless and
harmful. Finally, while Erasmus and Rabelais were not alone in criticizing
the traffic in pardons, there is surely a close connection between Panurge's
swindling in the churches of Paris3 and the trick described by one of the
speakers in the colloquy Peregrinatio.
With regard to Evangelicalism, it is not necessary to demonstrate that
Rabelais professes this in his novels of I532 and 1534, for the giants could be
quoted twenty times over in support of this thesis. Further, there is no doubt
that this Evangelicalism is very close to that of Erasmus. As many of their
contemporaries, however, were of the same persuasion, we must try and detect
more specific resemblances. Like Erasmus, Rabelais believes in the "free will"
of man; and like Erasmus, the Rabelaisian giants invoke God the Son rather
than the Father or the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the Redeemer; he is also, for
Grandgousier's ambassador, the "juste retributeur de nos entreprises," he re-
wards or punishes us according to our merits or our faults. He does not listen
to the worldly suppliant who comes with a selfish and immoral request, but
to the pious man whose prayer is humble.4 The close of Gargantua's letter
to Pantagruel corresponds exactly with Erasmus' ethical Evangelicalism.
Most significant of all, Rabelais' commentary on the famous rule Fais ce que
voudrasof the Abbey of Thldlme is an almost literal translation, as Renaudet
has shown, of the HyperaspistesII published by Erasmus in I527. Thus "Pour
ce que gens libbres, bien nds, bien instruits" corresponds to "Fateor in
2 "Romivage"-=pilgrimage to Rome.
1 Compare GargantuaXL with adages Ut
3
fici, Monachoindoctiorand Simiain purpura,and Pantagruel, XVII.
4 Ibid., XXIX.
the colloquy Opulentiasordida.

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 RABELAIS, THE LAST OF THE FRENCH ERASMIANS 95
quibusdam ingeniis bene natis ac bene educatis"; "conversant en com-
pagnies honnetes" is the inverse of "ex improbo convictu"; "ont par
nature un instinct et aiguillon qui toujours les pousse a faits vertueux"
corresponds to "minimum esse pravitatis". Erasmus and Rabelais are both
convinced that the nature of man contains seeds of goodness which may be
brought to fruition by good education and favourable surroundings.
Politics
In certain chapters of Gargantua,a system of politics is implied which, for
internal and external affairs alike, corresponds with the Christian philosophy
of Erasmus. The amazing transformation of Grandgousier is well known. He
begins by drinking and making merry with gay companions; next we see him
as a country gentleman, sitting at his fireside telling his family the tales of
Mother Goose; and then Picrochole's aggression enables him suddenly to
reveal himself as an excellent king.
Now Erasmus required that a king should conduct himself like a father ;1
and Grandgousier speaks affectionately of his subjects, calling them "mes
bonnes gens, mes amis, . . . mes pauvres sujets." There is a kind of contract
between himself and them, based upon mutual obligations, which recalls the
formula of the Institutio: "mutuum jus populi ac principis." Erasmus de-
manded the death penalty for those who endangered the state by flattery of
the ruler; and Picrochole's bad counsellors are punished. Gargantua, speak-
ing of his father, quotes Book V of the Republic:"que lors les republiques
seroient heureuses quand les rois philosopheroient ou les philosophes regne-
roient;" but it was from the MoriaeEncomiumor the Institutiothat Rabelais
borrowed this idea of the philosopher-king, for he gives a direct translation
of Erasmus' formula.2 There is evidence of the same procedure a little later
on, when Grandgousier himself cites Book V of the Republic.Again the quota-
tion is taken not from Plato but from the Institutio:"Platon vouloit ttrenon
guerre nommee, ains sedition, quand les Grecs meuvoient armes les uns contre
les autres."
The foreign policy advocated by Erasmus, if not directly drawn from "Holy
Writ," is at least based upon Gospel teaching: "princeps juxta evangelium."
Grandgousier follows the same principle. He says to Touquedillon: ".... cette
imitation des anciens Hercule, Alexandre, Scipion . . . est contraire a la
profession de l'Evangile, . . . ce que les Sarrasins et Barbaresjadis appeloient
prouesses, maintenant nous appelons briganderies3 et mdchancetes."
For Rabelais, as for Erasmus, war is against the Gospel and against reason.
Erasmus said repeatedly that wars arise from futile origins,4 and what could
be more futile than the peasants' quarrel which led to the Picrocholinal war?
According to Erasmus, warring kings seize upon the slightest pretext, exag-
gerate it, and allow themselves to be carried away by their anger; thus it was
with Picrochole. On the other hand, "bonus princeps nunquam omnino
1 "Animus
principe dignus . . . in rem- lique de Platon et la Renaissance franqaise,"
publicam paternus" (Institutio principis chris- Lettres d'humanite, II, pp. 142 and i6o-i.
tiani; cf. also the Querelapacis). 3 Cf. the
adage Dulce bellum: "quod latro-
2 On the widespread use of this formula in cinium est, turn bellum erat."
the I6th century, cf. my article "La Repub- 4 Ibid., and Querelapacis.

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96 RAYMOND LEBEGUE
bellum suscipiet nisi cum tentatis omnibus nulla ratione vitari poterit;" 1 and
in Chapter XXVIII we find Grandgousier acting upon this maxim. Erasmus
would have princes show respect for treaties; but if a treaty be violated, he
would not have the injured party give way to anger ;2 and this Grandgousier
is at pains to avoid. He is even prepared to make concessions, "acheter paix"'3
-the very expression used by Erasmus in the Querelapacis. But the enemy
will not renounce his intentions and the peaceable ruler reluctantly goes to
war-a war of defence, of course. Grandgousier informs his son in the follow-
ing terms of how the war will be conducted: "L'exploit sera fait ' moindre
effusion de sang qu'il sera possible; et, si possible est, par engins plus ex-
pedients, cautdles et ruses de guerre.. ." In this sentence a passage from the
ut quam minimo suorum malo, minimo christiani sanguinis
Institutio-"...
impendio geratur, et potest ocyssime finiatur"-is combined with a phrase
from More's Utopia: "arte doloque victos, oppressos hostes impendio glori-
antur."
When the just ruler gains the victory, he does not abuse it, but offers
generous terms to his defeated enemy; the "contion" (harangue) which
Gargantua addresses to the vanquished at this juncture echoes the colloquy
Ichtyophagia.
Books III and IV
It is not surprising that in the lifetime of Erasmus a French humanist
should have come so strongly under his influence, but it is remarkable-and
this has not been emphasized sufficiently-that the influence should have
persisted so long after his death. In Book III, which deals with Panurge's
hesitations on the subject of marriage, there is not much scope for direct
borrowing from Erasmus' original writings. However, in one of those racy
digressions in which he delights, Rabelais draws upon the Colloquies. Since
dying men, and dying poets in particular, are said to have the gift of prophecy,
he brings us to the death-bed of the poet Raminagrobis, into whose mouth
he puts some nonsense verses actually written by Guillaume Cretin. The
dying man describes how he has driven from his bedside a mob of importunate
creatures, black, white, dun, etc. . . .; and as if this were not plain enough,
Panurge states explicitly that the poet was railing at the "bons peres mendiants
cordeliers et jacobins." Rabelais is here, surely, remembering the wrangling
and importunity of monks in the presence of the dying as described in the
colloquies Funus and De incomparabileheroeJoanneReucklino.
Turning to Book IV, let us ignore the incomplete edition, which contains
few ideas of importance, and use the full and definitive text of 1552.4 Twenty
years had passed since the publication of Pantagruel, and sixteen since the
death of Erasmus. Those who had welcomed the ideas of the Evangelicals with
sympathy and enthusiasm had now formed into two groups. Some had broken
with Rome and accepted the imperious leadership of Calvin as infallible; the
1Institutio. Cf. also the letter of Erasmus to course on Book IV (1946-duplicated copy in
Franqois I: "omnibus frustra tentatis." the Centre de Documentation Universitaire,
2 Institutio. Paris) and my "Rabelaesiana" (Bibliotheque
3 Cf. Gargantua, XXXII. d'Humanisme et Renaissance, X).
' Cf. Marichal's edition (Droz, 1947), my

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 RABELAIS, THE LAST OF THE FRENCH ERASMIANS 97
rest, repelled by the doctrine of predestination or by Calvin's authoritarian-
ism, were unwilling to secede, and continued to practise the Catholic forms of
worship. The church at Meaux had long ceased to exist, and the important
figures who had shown Evangelical leanings had died one after another:
Marot, who was no more at home with the Genevan gentry than with the
Sorbonne; the vacillating Frangois I, who from time to time had given the
Reform movement his protection; and his sister Marguerite who, though she
died in the orthodox faith, had generously assisted the victims of religious
persecution. The government of Henri II, resorting to the most rigorous
penalties to combat the growth of heresy, in 155i proclaimed the Edict of
Chateaubriand.
What at this time is the position of Rabelais? Now that only two main
parties can be distinguished, irrevocably opposed to one another, he makes
concessions neither to the Sorbonne nor to the Calvinists. Holding a middle
course, he is consequently anathematized by both factions-as Montaigne,
later, will be "pelaude a toutes mains" for refusing to take sides. These
violent attacks on Rabelais darkened his humour, and perhaps for the first
time one finds vehement and bitter outbursts coming from his pen. One
example occurs in the appendix which he wrote to the Italian fable of Physis
and Antiphysia:1 "Depuis elle engendra . . . les demoniacles Calvins, im-
posteurs de Geneve, les enrag6s Putherbes, . . . cannibales et autres monstres
difformes . . ."; another in the letter to Cardinal de Chitillon: "la calomnie
de certains cannibales... avoit tant contre moi dtdatroce et deraisonnie...";
and we sense his fear lest the reopening of the Council should lead to perse-
cution.
It is in the sphere of religion that Rabelais in Book IV shows himself still
faithful to Erasmus' teaching, for pedagogy and politics hardly find a place
in this fantastic odyssey. I will not stress his remarks on the bad effects of
Lenten fasting on the health, or the various hits at the Pope and the bishops
in the episode of the Papimanians. Such views were indeed held by Erasmus,
but by many another also. The devout expressions used by Gargantua and
Pantagruel in their letters deserve a passing mention; they invoke the Eternal,
Our Lord, "benoist Servateur," but there is never a word for the Holy Virgin
or the saints who watch over travellers.
Following Febvre, we shall pay more attention to the scene of embarka-
tion from France, which already appeared in the edition of 1548. The edifying
exhortation by the leader of the expedition, supported by the scriptures, the
communal prayer, recited audibly and in French, the psalm sung in Marot's
version-these observances recall those of the Evangelicals, and as Febvre
expresses it, denote the survival of the "bel ideal des hommes de 1530." All
this, and above all the singing of the psalm in the vernacular, would have
met with Erasmus' approval.
The episode richest in significance, however, and hitherto least under-
stood, is that of the storm. We have been too prone to see in this nothing but
truculence and buffoonery, but a detailed examination reveals that it carries
satirical intentions and is directly influenced by Erasmus.

1 Celio Calcagnini, Apologus cui titulus gigantes.

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98 RAYMOND LEBtGUE
The text of 1548 contains nothing very remarkable. Pantagruel's indif-
ference to the monks who pass them, bound for the Council, contrasts with
the zeal of the bigoted Panurge. While the storm is raging, Panurge wants
to confess to Brother John, whose answer is scandalous enough from the lips
of a monk: "Vertu Dieu, parles-tu de confession a cette heure que sommes
en danger et qu'il nous convient 6vertuer?"' Panurge makes a vow to two
saints and to God, and invokes the help of the Blessed Virgin, but once the
storm is over he does not mention the vow again. These details do not attract
the reader's attention.
In 1552, however, the episode is greatly expanded, and words and incidents
are inserted the intention of which is unmistakable. It is clear that whereas in
1548 Rabelais' chief model was the Baldus of Folengo, the main inspiration
for the latter version comes from the colloquy Naufragium. In this dialogue,
one Adolphus describes how he has been shipwrecked off the coast of Holland.
He tells of the warnings of the pilot: "nothing remains for us but to put our
trust in God and prepare ourselves for death," and "it is time for each one
of us to commend himself to God and prepare to die." [Compare the words
of the master pilot in Rabelais, a new character who appears in the 1552
version: "Chacun pense de son ame, et se mette en devotion, n'esperant aide
que par miracle des Cieux!"] Vows are made to the Virgin Mary, to a relic
of the Holy Cross, to St. James of Compostella; someone promises a candle
as high as himself to St. Christopher in the cathedral of Paris, and when he
is told that he will ruin himself and still be unable to fulfil his vow, he replies
sotto voce, "Once I'm on dry land he won't get so much as a tallow candle."
[In 1552, Panurge does not give himself away so cynically as does this char-
acter-he saves himself by a pun; but none the less his vow also will go un-
fulfilled.]
In the Naufragium, while the sailors are singing the Salve Regina, one woman
remains calm and, offering no vows, prays in a low voice. As for Adolphus, he
makes his prayer to God the Father, repeating "Our Father which art in
Heaven." [In I552, Panurge calls all the blessed saints, male and female, to
his assistance, invokes the blessed, worthy and sacred Virgin, and proposes a
pilgrimage by proxy; whereas Pantagruel in a loud voice implores the help
of "le grand Dieu Servateur," then firmly grasps the helm. And later, com-
bining a phrase from the Paternoster with the plea of the Apostles on the
Sea of Galilee, he cries: "Seigneur Dieu, sauve-nous, nous p6rissons. Non
toutefois advienne selon nos affections, mais ta sainte volonte soit faite."]
Rabelais does not reproduce the tragic aspect of Adolphus' narrative, in
which only five out of fifty-eight lives are saved from the wreck, for this would
be incongruous in a novel which sets out to entertain. His account, however,
is undoubtedly derived from the colloquy, and the scholars who have made a

1 In the I552 edition Rabelais prudently
altered this. Erasmus would never have made
so daring a sally. In his book on the religious
thought of Erasmus, J. B. Pineau states that
it is not easy to discover what he thinks about
sacramental confession (cf. pp. I23 and 242).
We may observe that in the colloquy
Naufragium, while some of the travellers make
confession to a Dominican, the narrator con-
fesses himself in a low voice to God. Erasmus
considers confession to a priest as a useful but
not an essential institution, and denies that it
has a divine origin.

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 RABELAIS, THE LAST OF THE FRENCH ERASMIANS 99
passing reference to this source have not appreciated its importance. Two
more additions belonging to the text of 1552 are not without interest. First,
the joy of Panurge on seeing the monks is due to the superstitious belief-soon
to be shattered by the storm-that the encounter is a good omen. Rabelais
may have remembered the saying in the Moriae Encomium,that a chance
encounter with monks passes for a bad omen. Secondly, there is the remark
of the rational Epistemon in Chapter XXIII: "Icelui faut incessamment
implorer, invoquer, prier, requerir, supplier. Mais 1l ne faut faire but et
borne: de notre part, convient pareillement nous evertuer, et, comme dit le
saint Envoyd, etre cooperateurs avec lui."1 This formula of man's co-opera-
tion with the Divine Grace surely echoes the De liberoarbitrioof Erasmus.

It is difficult to specify the influence of Erasmus' writings upon Rabelais'

style and method. Who can decide how much his use of dialogue owes to
Lucian, how much to the colloquies of Erasmus, and how much to the tradi-
tional French comic theatre? Or to what extent the paradoxical praise of
folly influenced Rabelais in his praise of debts? Or whether a reading of the
colloquies contributed to his realism? No definite answers can be given.
On the other hand, it seems beyond dispute that while Rabelais gathered
his substance from all the humanists of his time, none had so deep or lasting
an influence on his mind as Erasmus. If the scholars of the twentieth century,
unlike the Romantics, praise Rabelais rather for his narrative and dramatic
powers, and for his verbal artistry, than as a thinker, this is because most of
his ideas are anticipated in the books of the earlier humanists, and above all
in those of Erasmus.
To his admiration of an older man of universal renown was added his
sympathy for one whose situation and character presented striking analogies
with his own. It is true that Erasmus had no taste for medicine and kindred
sciences, was not addicted to amorous adventures, and had not that scorn
of the feminine soul which Rabelais inherited from the Middle Ages; that
he did not indulge in obscenity and scatological humour, and that his paci-
fism went further than that of Rabelais. But both of them believed in free
will and had faith in the potentialities of human nature; for both, the Gospels
were the foundation of religious belief, and Jesus the focus of faith and
devotion; and both rejected the sophistry and wrangling of the theologians.
They desired peace for men of good will. They refused to be dragooned into
closed and militant groups. And while criticizing the clergy and attacking
certain religious beliefs and practices, they neither formally broke away from
the Roman Church, nor accepted the spiritual climate of Lutheran or
Calvinist Protestantism. For both of them, the irony which holds one's
adversary up to ridicule was preferable to irate and vehement pamphleteer-
ing. Despite their differences of temperament, these humanists were spiritually
akin.
Rabelais, last of the French Erasmians, we called him. Is this the truth?

1
"Icelui"-=God; "le saint Envoyd" -St. Paul (i Corinthians iii, 2 Corinthians vi).

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 100
100 RAYMOND
RAYMOND LEBLGUE
LEBILGUE
Was hhe tthe ssole survivor oof aa vanished vanished epoch?' It iis s mymy belief hhe
Was e realreally
ly he ole survivor f epoch?' It belief that
that e
is
is tthe he llatest
atest French wriwriter
French ter tto
o merit
meri t tthis
his description. NoNo doubt
description. doubt tthe he author of
author of
Contr'un borrowed
Contr'un borrowed moremore tthan han onceonce ffrom rom tthe
he Institutio;2 aand
Institutio;2 nd Ronsard,
Ronsard, cam-
cam-

paigning
paigning agai nst
against tthe
he Protestants, hhas
Protestants, as beenbeen ffound ound tto
o havehave drawn drawn uponupon aa letter let er
tthat
hat Erasmus wrotwrote
Erasmus e iin
n 1152
52 99.3
.3 PP.
. ViVilley4
l ey4 hhas
as shown that
shown that Montaigne iis
Montaigne s iin n line
line
wiwith
th tthe
he Moriae
Mori ae Encomium whenwhen
Encomium he
h e criticizes stoicism
criticizes stoicism and
a n d advocates
advocates a
a life
life
according tto
according o nature,
nature, and
a n d A.
A . Renaudet
Renaudet sees
s e s a
a
kinship
kinship between
between the
t h e esessay
say and
a n d
tthe
he Erasmian adage.
Erasmian adage. ButBut iit t cannot cannot bbe e ssaid
aid oof
f aany ny oof
f oour ur writers, afafter
writers, ter Rabelais,
Rabelais,
tthat
hat hhe
e diligently rread
diligently ead tthe
he original works
original works oof f Erasmus untuntil
Erasmus il hhis
is thought wawas
thought s

saturated wiwith
saturated th tthem.
hem.
Nevertheless, whenwhen tthe
Nevertheless, he spectre oof
spectre f ccivil
ivil wawar
r loomed oonn tthe
loomed he horizon, tthe
horizon, he
spispirit
rit of
o f Erasmus
Erasmus was
wa s still
s t i l alive
al i v e in
i n ssome
ome of
o f Ronsard's
Ronsard's and
a n d Montaigne's
Montaigne's con-
c o n-

temporaries. IIn
temporaries. n what temper
what temper oof f mimind
nd ddid
id Cardinal ddu
Cardinal u BeBellay-Rabelais'
l ay-Rabel ais'
former patron,
former patron, who
who died
di e d in
i n 156o-end
1560-end his
h i s days?
days? And
And BiBishop
shop Monluc?
Monluc?, And
And
tthe
he Chancellor MiMichel
Chancellor chel dde
e L'Hospital? IIn
L'Hospital?. n Febvre's words:
Febvre's words: ""Il Il restera llong-
restera ong-
ttemps
emps encore
encore des
d e s Erasmiens."5
Erasmiens."6 To
T o track
t r ack them
t h em down
down in
i n France, through
France, through tthe he
second halhalf
second f oof
f tthe
he sixteenth century
sixteenth century would
woul d be
b e a
a fascinating ststudy,
fascinating udy, but
b u t one
o n e

outside
outsi de tthe
he scope oof
scope f tthis
his article.
arti cle.

1 Suppose
-1
Suppose tthat hat Rabelais
Rabel ais hhad
ad llived
ived tten
en yeyears
ars ddans
ans lele ''Discours
Discours dede lala servi
servitude
tude volontaire', 1923-1923.
volontaire',
llonger:
onger: whatwhat woul would
d hahave
ve bebeen
en tthe
he attiattitude
tude 3
3 CCf.
f. LL.
. Franchet, "Erasme
Franchet, "Erasme etet Ronsard," Ronsard,"
oof
f tthis
his devotee oof
devotee f llaughter
aughter towards tthe
towards he oout-
ut- ReRevue
vue d'd'histoire
histoire llittiraire,
itte'raire, XXXIX.
XXXIX.
break oof
break f wawars
rs aand
nd murder amongst
murder amongst hhis is 4
4 CCf.
f. PP.
. ViVilley,
l ey, LLes
es ssources
ources etet e'dvolution
lP'volution ddes
es
countrymen inin 11562
countrymen 562 ?? Essai s,
Essais, 2n2nd
d eed.,
d., 1933,1933, 1 II,
, Ppp.
. 10-10-1!2,
1!2, 33, 21 3-8.
33),!213-8.
22
CCf.
f. JJ. Barrere,
. Barre' re, L'humanisme etet lala polpolitique
L'humanisme itique
'
OPOp.
. ccit.,
it., P.p. 3359.
59-

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