The Influence of Structural Invention on Erasmus's De Rerum Copia Commentarius Secundus

Abstract: This article adds to readings of Book Two of Desiderius Erasmus's De duplici copia rerum ac verborum commentarii duo that emphasize the relationship of the rationes locupletandi to style and invention by re-reading this text with an eye toward structural invention. In doing so, this paper explores Erasmus's use of the Rhetorica ad Herennium and Quintilian's Institutio oratoria , as well as observations by Erasmus's contemporaries, to consider the extent to which the composition of Book Two may have been influenced by structural invention.