Library › Latin: Letters › Epistolae ad Henricum Bullingerum
In this short letter of 1557 the young Nikolaus Dluski-Kottwitz introduces himself to Heinrich Bullinger. Comparing Bullinger’s venerable age, great intellect and abundant learning with his own youth, lack of talent and barren learning, he says he long hesitated whether to write or keep silent, but was encouraged by thoughts of Bullinger’s kindness to entrust these few lines to a messenger. Military service, he observes, has made many famous, but only in their maturity, and learning has made many renowned, but only after long labour; how much more fortunate he would be if he could win Bullinger’s friendship.
The letter is an exercise in humanist courtesy, built on rhetorical contrasts in the manner taught in the schools, and shows how young men of good family sought Bullinger’s acquaintance as a mark of honour. The sample does not reveal the writer’s background or circumstances beyond his youth, and little is known of him from this text. It nonetheless shows the reach of Bullinger’s reputation among young men of the educated classes.
About this edition. The Latin text comes from Corpus Corporum, the Latin text repository of the University of Zurich (edition: Institut für Schweizerische Reformationsgeschichte, Institut für Computerlinguistik, Universität Zürich. The online edition is based on the cited book…), reused with attribution for non-commercial purposes (CC BY-NC-SA). Every word has been analyzed with LatinCy, a neural language model for Latin — click or tap any word for its dictionary form, part of speech, and complete morphology, together with the full entry from Lewis & Short’s A Latin Dictionary.