This sixth of seven volumes devoted to the Adages in the Collected Works of Erasmus completes the translation and annotation of the more than 4000 proverbs gathered and commented on by Erasmus in his Adagiorum Chiliades (Thousands of Adages, usually known more simply as the Adagia). This volume's aim, like that of the others, is to provide a fully annotated, accurate, and readable English version of Erasmus' commentaries on these Greek and Latin proverbs, and to show how Erasmus continued to expand this work, originally published in 1508, until his death...

After spending several months in England, Erasmus returned to Paris in the winter of 1500 and set about compiling a small anthology of classical proverbs known as the Adagiorum collectanea. This modest work became the basis for one of Erasmus' best known and longest works, when it was expanded in 1508 into the far more substantial Adagiorum chiliades.　The essay that begins this introductory volume to the Adages explores the development of the Collectanea and its transformation into the Adagiorum chiliades. It is followed by the first annotated...