「身體的身體」：伊拉斯摩斯與人文學者的服飾觀

The ‘Body’s Body’: Erasmus’ and Humanists’ Ideas on Clothing

近年來蓬勃發展的服飾文化史，多從物質文化或藝術史的面向切入，本文則企圖開拓思想的角度，以服裝如何被談論與思考，來分析服飾在歷史中的意義。本文主要研究的對象是文藝復興時代的人文學者，並以荷蘭出生的伊拉斯摩斯為主角。在研究方法上，本文從「觀看的方式」切入，指出人文學者一方面認為穿著能凸顯個人內在的品格與涵養，眼見可以為憑；另一方面又對服裝所能承載的內在真實充滿懷疑，外在的高貴華麗未必有內在的對應，因此眼見不可為憑。雖然這兩種立場有矛盾之處，但也凸顯了人文學者乃在表象與內在的關連性中，思考服飾的意涵。

This article attempts to bring the Renaissance humanists and their ideas into the study of clothing culture by looking at the Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), a tremendously influential writer and best-selling author of the sixteenth century. His various works contained valuable sources about his experience and ideas on clothing, as well as the contemporary custom of dress. In addition, he left several portraits to show his style of dress visually. This article thus makes use of his writings and portraits to understand the way that he and other humanists thought of the sign and significance of clothing. The article begins with the story of Erasmus’s crisis of changing habit in the early sixteenth century, in order to correlate his own experience and his writings on clothing. Then it surveys diverse sources written by Erasmus and his contemporary humanists, including courtesy books, treatises on education, satires, and colloquies. Focusing on Erasmus's works, this article discovers two ways of seeing things in his ruminations on clothing. On the one hand, 'seeing is believing': he is convinced that clothing is 'the body's body' and one may infer the state of a man's character through what he wears. On the other hand, 'seeing is not believing': he suggests not judge a person by his clothes and appearance. Finally, this article turns to look at Erasmus's portraits and discusses his ideal style of dress. His portraits deliver an image of true 'civility', embodying a perfect correspondence between the outward clothing and body and the inner soul and spirit.