The Servatius letters are too long to present
in their entirety, so I present here a synopsis:
Letter #1 Synopsis: It's a great shame that
we can't see each other more often; at least we can exchange letters. Do you
love me?
Quotation: "If it were possible, I
should have wished you might care for me as I do for you and that you might
feel the pangs of love for me as sharply as I am constantly racked by my
yearning for you."
Letter #2: Synopsis: I can see that you're
very upset; why won't you tell me about it?
Quotations: "It is my very special love
for you, sweetest Servatius..." "Indeed, I suspect...that you have
not yet become persuaded by my supreme love for you."
Letter #3: Synopsis: You said you'd write;
why haven't you? You should write.
Quotation: "For every person who is at
leisure is caught up in love's longings, love being the 'sickness of an
unoccupied soul'."
Letter #4 (This letter is particularly
revealing, and is provided in its entirety here.
Synopsis: Why do you refuse to return my love, or even tell me your feelings?
Quotation: "Considering that my
affection for you is and always has been so deep, dearest Servatius,..."
Letter #5 Synopsis: I'm deathly despondent
over your refusal to talk to me.
Letter #6 Synopsis: Thanks for the letter.
I'm so happy. Please don't be coy anymore.
Quotation: "I beg you earnestly, O 'half
my soul', by that extraordinary love I bear to you, not to cast me down again
into the pit of sorrows."
Letter #7 Synopsis: Sorry I haven't written.
Quotation: "Farewell, and continue in
your love for me."
Letter #8 Synopsis: I am reconciled to your
refusal to return my love. Study hard.
Quotation: "Erasmus of Rotterdam to
Servatius, the friend who is supreme in his affections"
Letter #9 Synopsis: Stop being so lazy!
Resume your studies!
Quotation: "...I am well disposed toward
you."
There's no question that these letters are,
to use Hollis' term, 'peculiar'. Indeed, any modern reader would have little
difficulty concluding that they constitute strong evidence in favor of the
'Erasmus was gay' hypothesis. The thinking behind such a conclusion is that men
don't include love in their relationships with other men, unless they are gay.
Any man who declares his love for another man must be gay. And any man who does
so with as much passion as appears in these letters must beyond any question be
gay.
However, we must remember that these letters
come from a different culture; applying our own cultural standards is an
acceptable first approximation, but we must always be aware of the possibility
that cultural differences might render our first estimates misleading. And
there is no question that the concept of love back then was very different than
our concept. To learn more about the difference between Erasmus' Latin words
and the English word 'love', click here.
There are a variety of alternate explanations
for these letters:
Erasmus was
developing and practicing his writing style.
Declarations of
love between men were frequent in that culture and do not indicate homosexual
intent.
Moreover, the Servatius letters also contain
an item that argues against the 'Erasmus was gay' hypothesis. [This item is
taken from my email correspondence with the history professor.] Erasmus was
recounting a rare face-to-face encounter with Servatius, acknowledging
Servatius' obvious distress upon encountering Erasmus. Erasmus continues:
"And unless I was mistaken, I was not altogether unaware what was the
source of your pain. I mean that person's shamelessness in hurling accusations
against you without justification or right." There was an accusation
directed at Servatius regarding his relationship with Erasmus -- very
suspicious indeed. Yet Erasmus explicitly declares that accusation to be
without justification. This is about as clear a statement as we can have on the
matter. We should take his words at face value and conclude that there was in
fact no gay relationship. One may argue that this statement was merely false
posturing for an unseen third party, but in the very same letter Erasmus
proclaims again his love for Servatius. Thus, the alternate explanation creates
a contradiction. We must be consistent in our interpretations. Either we take
him at face value (in which case we conclude that there was no gay
relationship), or we decide that this is all literary posturing -- in which
case we conclude that there was no gay relationship.
Another negative arguement is provided by
Erasmus' single letter to a chap named Sasbout, written at about the same time
as the Servatius letters. This letter too contains a number of references to
love: "...for the sake of the love I bear you...", "...my
sweetest Sasbout...", "...remember me, once your bosom companion and
now as affectionate as ever." But the most important quote from this
letter is: "And in order to increase your zest for this pursuit [the
pursuit of learning] it is worth your while at least to check and restrain the
immoderate desires of your time of life if you cannot altogether suppress them,
which is scarcely possible for a human being. You know what I mean." If
Erasmus had been gay and erotically attached to Sasbout, Erasmus would not have
used such an obviously hypocritical arguement.