Luther on Jerome and Aesop

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 13 Apr 2015   Posted by E.J. Hutchinson


While we’re on the subject of Martin Luther and Classical authors, a comment in which he compares Aesop and Jerome, about whom he expresses a deep ambivalence. This is also from his Tabletalk (no. 445). 1

Ergo nullum doctorem scio, quem aeque oderim, cum tamen ardentissime eum amaverim et legerim. 2 In Aesopo certe plus est eruditionis quam in toto Hieronymo.

Therefore I know of no doctor [of the church] whom I hate equally, although, still, I have loved and read him most eagerly. Surely there is more instruction in Aesop than in all of Jerome. 3

Notes:

  1. The translation is my own. ↩
  2. One is reminded here of Catullus’ odi et amo (Catullus 85). ↩
  3. For some discussion of this excerpt and the rest of the Tabletalk entry, see here. Carl Springer has also written a book-length treatment of Luther and Aesop. ↩
Written by E.J. Hutchinson
E.J. Hutchinson is Assistant Professor of Classics at Hillsdale College.