Researchers dealing with Erasmus’s worldview, particularly in relation to “women’s nature,” have underrated the significance of the Adagia as a source reflecting Erasmus’s voice and opinions. Some have chosen to ignore it all together. However, in several of the adages, Erasmus expresses his views fairly plainly; for example, Nothing is more noxious than a woman (III x 21; Odyssey 11. 427), in which he notes: “In the ancient poets the female sex is often spoken of badly. And in our own times they constantly strive to ensure that the poets should not seem to have been liars.” There are further telling cases. In at least five adages, Erasmus expresses prejudicial, negative views about women. A prominent scholar has judged that “Erasmus could occasionally lapse into the traditional generalizations,” but there is no lapsus in such adages.