请教

In spite of his critical stances against clerical abuses,Erasums could never bring himself to break with the church as Luther did,choosing instead to push for internal reforms.As a result,the two men became passionate ribals and conti-nued to trade literary barbs with one another until Erasmus's death in 1536.

The auther mentions "literary barbs" as a means of
(A)desmonstrating the manner in which the dislike between Erasmus and Luther was expressed.
为什么这一选项解释了literary barbs?
antecedent 是否有causal events的意思?

Thanks.

literary barbs解释了选项,是一种表达互相不满的办法,还一个是became passionate ribals.

antecedent指以前的事情,

厉害。。