TO THE CANDID READER

original: "S.", an abbreviation for "Salutem," a standard Latin greeting in letters and prefaces.

A large decorative woodcut initial 'E' set within a square border. The scene inside the letter shows a person, likely a scholar, seated at a desk or lectern with an open book, surrounded by stylized floral patterns.

Behold before you, READER, the sixth volume of the Works of Desiderius Erasmus, containing his Latin Version of the New Testament, set alongside the Greek text, together with his Annotations. However, since in previous editions the verse numbers original: "numeri commatum," referring to the division of the text into numbered verses, a practice that was still relatively new and evolving in the 16th and 17th centuries., which are most convenient for those searching for a specific passage, had not been included, the Bookseller Referring to the publisher, likely Peter van der Aa, who oversaw this 1703–1706 edition. has taken care to add them diligently here to both the Greek and the Latin. Furthermore, Erasmus's Annotations, which were formerly placed at the end of the book and could only be compared with the Greek text and the Erasmian Version with great difficulty, are now placed at the bottom of individual pages, where they offer themselves easily for reading. Yet the Reader who is less familiar with the Works of Erasmus should not be surprised if the words highlighted for explanation at the start of each Annotation are not found in those parts of the Version where the numbers appear. He ought to know that Erasmus wrote his Annotations not upon his own Version, but upon the Vulgate Vulgate: The traditional Latin translation of the Bible used by the Western Church for over a millennium, which Erasmus sought to correct using Greek manuscripts. Translation. Nevertheless, we thought it best to tie the numbers to the Version of Erasmus, so that these translations might be more easily compared with one another. After the Eusebian Canons A system of tables created by the 4th-century bishop Eusebius to help readers find parallel passages in the four Gospels., the Bookseller also took care to add several items which were not in the Froben edition The famous printing house in Basel that published Erasmus's original New Testament in 1516. of the year 1540, but which he found in another older edition of Erasmus's New Testament. These are: a Summary of all Scripture, and an Index of subjects found in the New Testament. Even if these were not composed by Erasmus himself, they seem to have been added to that edition with his consent and approval, for they are good and useful. Furthermore, since some other elegant and fruitful additions were found in the Basel edition of 1522 which do not appear in others—having been removed, I believe, for reasons not difficult to guess—and since we no longer have those same reasons for omitting them, it seemed right to the Bookseller to add them after the Author’s Dedication to Pope Leo X. He is surely to be praised for this: that he has studiously collected all the fragments original: "ramenta," literally "scrapings" or "shards," often used to describe tiny flakes of gold. of this rich vein from every quarter, so that he might make their use more common to the entire Republic of Letters: An international community of scholars and intellectuals who shared knowledge across borders through Latin correspondence and printed books.. To this end, he has spared no labor or expense, and he is therefore worthy of the heartfelt support of all citizens of the Republic of Letters.

If the excellence of a Work can be judged by the number of editions, this must be a most excellent Volume, for it has been published so often that no one’s studies on the New Testament have been reprinted as frequently. Indeed, Erasmus was the first of all to see how the New Testament ought to be restored and illustrated. First, he diligently collected various readings from Manuscript Codices and the Holy Fathers The "Church Fathers," early Christian theologians whose writings are used to verify ancient biblical texts., from the comparison of which the truth might be established. He also completed, with the greatest labor, a much more elegant and clear new Translation of the entire New Testament, since the old one was less than Latinate and too obscure. Finally, based on the usage of the Greek Language and the consensus of those same Fathers, he handed down the meaning of the sayings as far as he was able; nor could anyone else in his age have better performed the task he undertook. I know there are very learned men who have said that Erasmus too diligently collected variant readings in passages concerning the Divinity of Christ, and thereby paved a way for those who deny it. For this reason, they wished to make him suspected of secret Arianism A theological position, declared a heresy in the 4th century, which argued that Jesus Christ was a created being and not co-eternal with God the Father.. But as far as the doctrine itself is concerned, he so defended himself in his Apologies (contained in the ninth Volume) that to attribute anything heterodox to him now would be pure slander. As for those variant readings, if what he says about the Manuscripts and the Fathers (among whom some passages are read differently) is true, there is no reason for us to be angry with him; for it is not right for us to protect the truth with lies, which surely does not need them. If he had deceived us, it would have to be demonstrated, which I do not see has been done. Therefore, since we have a large enough supply of passages and arguments to refute Arianism, even if there is some variation in certain words among the Fathers or ancient Codices, let us use those arguments in which nothing doubtful is admitted, and leave the doubts as they are, and rather give thanks to Erasmus;