The Erasmian Adage in the Controversy with Luther

Despite the absence of allusions to Luther in the Adagia, Erasmus' use of particular adages in his apologiae and letters helps to clarify his shifting strategies in debating not only Luther but his Catholic opponents. Initially interested in distinguishing between Luther and his Catholic critics and intent on bringing his fellow reformer back into the fold with adages softened by explicit framing, Erasmus eventually makes less conspicuous and more offensive use of proverbs, deploying them to conflate his enemies and represent himself as trapped between their partisan agendas.