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:
- The translation is my own. ↩
- One is reminded here of Catullus’ odi et amo (Catullus 85). ↩
- 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. ↩