13 The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.



Ver. 13. The cloak that I left] O supellectilem Apostolicam! (Eras. in loc.) Oh, what a small deal of household stuff had this great apostle, saith Erasmus; a cloak to keep off the rain, and a few books and writings. Tota etiam supellex mea est chartacea, saith he in another place: All my stock is in books. (Eras. in Farrag. Epistol.) And of judicious Calvin it is reported, that all the goods that he left behind him, his library being sold very dear, came scarcely to 300 florins, that is, about 90 pounds of our money. "Seekest thou great things for thyself?" Jer_45:5.



But especially the parchments] Notebooks of his own making or collecting: these are highly prized by students. Julius Caesar, being forced to swim for his life, held his Commentaries in one hand above water, and swam to land with the other, {a} And what a sweet providence of God was that, that when Heidelberg was sacked and ransacked by the Spaniards, Ursin’s Catechism, enlarged by Pareus, but not yet published, was taken among other books for pillage, and by him dropped in the streets, but taken up by a young student, and afterwards printed by Philip Pareus, to the great benefit of all good people!



{a} Maior fuit cura Caesari libellorum quam purpurae.