Adagia

In his "Adagia" ("Proverbs"), an annotated collection of proverbial sayings, Erasmus of Rotterdam summarizes ancient and Christian wisdom and relates it to contemporary life. The compendium, which the humanist repeatedly supplemented and revised from 1500 to 1536, was part of the educational canon for centuries. Erasmus did not leave it at a mere stringing together of word explanations - his detailed commentaries and anecdotes provide deep insights into his world of thought. This edition, translated and annotated by Anton J. Gail, presents a selection of authoritative passages from this work and explains its genesis and reception.