Title:  A Very Pleasaunt & Fruitful Diologe Called the Epicure

Author:  Desiderius Erasmus

Release Date:  July 8, 2005 [EBook #16246]

Language:  English

Character set encoding:  ASCII

*** Start of this project gutenberg EBOOK A very pleasaunt & fruitful ***

Produced by David Starner, Louise Hope and the Online
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[Transcriber’s note: 

The printed text marks the first few leaves of each 16-page signature:  ||A.i.||, ||A.ii.||...  Other page breaks are marked in this e-text with double lines ||

A few apparent typographic errors were corrected and are listed at the end of the text.  Other irregularities are noted but were left unchanged.  All other spelling, capitalization and punctuation are as in the original.]

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A Ve-
ry pleasaunt &
fruitful Dio-
loge called the
Epicure,
made by that fa-
mous clerke Eras
mus of Rotero-
dame, newly
translated.
1545.

* * * * *

S.  Paule to the Ephesians

You that haue professed Christ,
suffre not your selues to be deceyued
vvith false doctrine, nor vaine
and noughtie talkyng, but herken
vnto all Godly thynges, and
especially too the doctryne
of the Gospell.

||A.ii.||

The HABOVN-
daunt mercie and grace of our
heauenly father Iesu Christ,
maye alwaies strengthen
and defende oure noble
& vertuous Prynce Ed-
ward too the mainte-
naunce of the liue-
ly woord of
God.

Whereas manye histories of olde & auncient antiquitie, and also al godly & Christia writers most playnely conset together, and agree in this, that dignitie, riches, kinred, worldly pompe, and renoume, doo neither make men better, ne yet happiar, contrarie too the blynde & fonde iudgement of the most part of menne:  but by the power and strength of the mynde, that is, learnyng, wysedome, || and vertue, all menne are hyghly enriched, ornated, & most purely beutified, for these bee thinges bothe notable, eternall, and verye familiar betwene the heauenly father & vs.  It is therefore euidente (most excellent Prince) that the fittest ornametes for your graces tender age, bee, eruditio and vertue.  Wherunto you are bothe so ernestly addicte and therin so woderfully doo preuaile, that I nede not too exhorte & exstimulate your grace vnto the study thereof.  For that God him self hath wrought, and fourmed your mynde so apt and desirous too attayne and diligetly too seeke for al godly doctrine, that eue now you doo shewe in all youre saiynges and dooinges suche a wonderfull pleasautes much lyke vnto a certayne