The aim of this translation of some seven hundred of theAdagia(II vii 1–III iii 100) is to present, as in the preceding volumes (cwe 31, 32, 33), an English version of the final form of a steadily augmented and revised work, as left by Erasmus in 1536 and published in theOpera omniaof 1540. (For the special problem of the Greek passages which constitute something of an anthology and for which Erasmus supplied Latin versions, see the Translatorʹs Foreword to cwe 31 xiv.) The purpose of the notes is to identify the sources on which Erasmus...

Μήλιος Ἡρακλῆς, Hercules eating apples, was a contemptuous way of referring to a man who had some grand title, but neither wealth nor influence to give him power. An incident gave rise to this. Suidas tells us that one day some country people were proposing to sacrifice a bull to Hercules, and it broke its halter and escaped; nor had they any alternative offering. They seized an apple, stuck four twigs into it to serve for legs and then added two more as though in the place of horns, thus producing a sort of model of a bull; and this...