[An extract from a letter written in 1531 to an inmate of a Venetian monastery, St. Antonio in Castello. It describes an interview which Erasmus had with Cardinal Grimani in 1509, just before leaving Rome to return to England. Grimani, who was one of the most influential cardinals at that time, resided in a palace built by Paul II—now the Palazzo di Venezia—near the Church of St. Mark. On his death in 1523 he left his valuable library to the monastery above-mentioned: whence it has passed into the Library of St. Mark's at Venice.]

12. UT TUM ABHORREBAM] This clause is explanatory of tandem.

15. MUSCA] A figurative expression, meaning 'the slightest sign'. Cf. 'as big as a bee's knee', of something small.

55. ERAM RELICTURUS] = reliquissem. An idiomatic use with the future participle. Cf. Livy 1. 40 'Gravior ultor caedis, si superesset, rex futurus erat'.