 Erasmus first voices the idea of arbitration as a method of conflict resolution in The Education of a Christian Prince: “If some dispute arises between princes, why do they not take it to arbitration instead [of waging war]?” (CWE 27: 183) He suggests a committee of churchmen, magistrates, and scholars to settle the dispute. Similar ideas are voiced in Dulce Bellum. Why not call on bishops, nobles, and councils as intermediaries to “settle the childish disputes of princes by arbitration?” (CWE 35: 430). We may take this to be an authentic Erasmian point of view because it appears not only in these rhetorical compositions but also in his psalm commentary, De Concordia. There it is presented not merely as a general proposition but given a more specific context. Erasmus suggests that the religious strife which characterized his age be settled by a general council of the church—a desire also voiced in contemporary religious colloquies and Imperial Diets and realized after long delay in the Council of Trent. Erasmus furthermore counseled the parties to find a middle ground and make concessions. He called this process synkatabasis (CWE 65: 201), a military term denoting a move in which two armies give up their vantage point and descend into the open plain to negotiate.