V I T A LIFE

Meditate on it; but beyond that, also take up the meditation and study of the art of Logic, the most humane of all human arts. Indeed, I cannot be distracted from the humanity of Petrus Ramus when I remember the humanity he showed toward me when I was in Basel. A man of such stature himself brought to my house the letters that he was carrying to me from my father-in-law when he came from Freiburg, offered them with a most gentle countenance, and deigned to honor me with his conversation and that most candid hand of his. Afterward, he even attended my lectures, which I was then giving on Rhetoric; and he did not merely attend, but also spoke humanely with me about my profession, and pointed out the error in which I was then greatly pleasing myself, taught me better things, and demonstrated that it was a tree without fruit (for this had been his most humane judgment of my profession). From that time on, although I had known him previously from his writings, I began to cherish him more and more and to love his writings, and I drank in the medicine for the scholastic disease. Wherefore, O excellent and most venerable teacher,
— What ages have produced such
A man? Who begat such a parent, so great? A paraphrase of Virgil, Aeneid, 1.605-606
For it is pleasing, with a grateful and pleasant argument of praise and congratulation, as that Trojan orator addressed the Queen of Carthage, so to address you, a teacher so noble, so illustrious, and so humane. Therefore, he continually used that humanity toward me from then on; and often, having embraced me in the middle of the road, especially in that little walk in the garden of Saint Peter, where I still remember with a mindful spirit the exhortations he made to me. Therefore, let the humanity of that generous spirit, that mild brow, the love of truth, and the highest liberty be held by us as philosophical and especially as Ramist. Indeed, his physical stature was large and truly heroic, and not at all unlike a generous nature. His health was firm and robust, which would best befit a well-born spirit; and he strengthened and invigorated it with perpetual continence and abstinence, and continuous labor. And these are the things known to us about his nature so far. With these foundations so clearly laid—homeland and parents, and the gifts of mind and body as causes so well established—what fruits of doctrine and virtue shall we think have arisen from there? About to receive the title of Master in Paris, he was compelled by the custom and habit of the schools to give the examiners full freedom for disputation.

Body of Ramus

Doctrine of Ramus