The Orginal Life of Zwingli [The life of Huldreich Zwingli by Oswald Myconius, written in Latin in 1532, and dedicated to Agathius of Bern, put into modern English from Neander’s edition of the lives of the Four Reformers,—Luther by Melanchthon; Melanchthon by Camerarius; Zwingli by Myconius; and Calvin by Beza (Vite quatuor Reformatorum, Berlin, 1841)—on the basis of the version by Henry Bennet, published in London in 1561, and revised by Mr. Henry Preble. This is the first life of Zwingli to be written.]
I.—Introductton
VOU have asked me, my dear friend Agathius, for a thing as worthy of execution as it is far beyond the compass of my skill. For great things require great powers. My training has been such as to make me creep upon the ground so far, and nature implanted a sort of instinctive lowliness in me at birth. And is it not indeed an arduous task to sketch the life of Zwingli? I do not say to write it fully, and you very wisely do not ask this, being well aware of what is to be demanded of the humbly endowed. The person properly fitted for that [z. e., for writing a worthy life of Zwingli] were not so much a Plutarch as a Cicero: so great is he in the estimation of his friends, and in reality, though so small in the eyes of his enemies, and you say yourself, that Zwingli has been spoken of in your ears as God, while there are those who disparage him so much that you wonder that the earth does not open and swallow them. For this cause, you say, you long.to become acquainted with the man from some one well acquainted with his life and conversation: and this particularly on account of the books so solidly composed,
which he left. For you want these to have the greatest influence possible. I will not deny that I knew Zwingh intimately, both as my highly valued patron, and as the most beloved of advisers: that, therefore,1 am his debtor to no slight degree. But what can I give?—so barren am I of appropriate expression! If you had not asked me I might have forgotten my indebtedness, but now that you press me I will do what I can. And I can say simply, and truly, and briefly things that, I think, will give satisfaction to your soul, for whom alone I would have what I am about to say written. II.—Zwingl’s parentage and birthplace. His precocity. At ten years of age sent to Buenzli, the schoolmaster at Basel. His literary and philosophical studies at Bern and Vienna. He was born, then, of worthy parents, his father [Huldreich] Zwingli, his mother Margarita Meylina [Meile], about the year 1487 [correctly January 1, 1484], in the village of the Toggenburg called Wildhaus, at a height which is almost equal to that of any mountain in Switzerland. I have more ν than once thought, in my simple-mindedness, that he drew something of divine quality directly from the heavens near which he lived, and surely there has not for many years been seen among men anything so nearly approaching the divine. His father was distinguished for his holiness of life and for having attained to the highest dignity his neighbours could bestow, for he was chosen Ammann [chief magistrate]. Seeing signs of promise in his little boy, he committed him at a very tender age to his brother, a priest, to see if there were the making of a scholar in him. The boy soon gave such satisfaction that he was sent to a school-teacher under whom he learned so quickly that he found all the things he was taught too easy to give his clever intellect due exercise. Therefore he was sent to Basel, being then about ten years old, and placed under the teacher, Gregory Buenzli, a good man, learned and wonderfully gentle. Here, forthwith, he made such progress in character and
letters that in the disputations, which were then customary, he carried off all the honours from all the boys and youths of the school, on which account he incurred the greatest hatred on the part of the older boys. His proficiency in music was beyond what is expected of his years, as 15 apt to be the case with those especially gifted by nature in any particular art. His studies were recognised by Buenzli, who loved him dearly, as not congruous with such joyous and pregnant wit.’ Wherefore, sending him home, he counselled that measures should be taken for his education in accordance with the excellence of his abilities. So it came about that he was sent to Bern, and came under Heinrich Lupulus, a remarkably learned man, and famous also as a poet, who was the first to teach the classics in Switzerland. Introduced by him into the secrets of classical learning, he acquired elegance of diction, and the knowledge and discernment of things. He also learned the theory of poesy, so that he could compose verses himself, and felicitously criticise those composed by others. In somewhat less than two years, he had laid the foundation for the study of philosophy. So he went next to Vienna [1500], and there embraced in his studies all that philosophy embraces, turning it to good account, for the increase and embellishment of his learning.