SCALIGER, Julius Caesar, a learned critic, poet, physician, and philosopher, was born at the castle of Ripa, in the territories of Verona, in 1484; and is said to have been descended from the ancient princes of Verona, though this[7:19:672] is not mentioned in the letters of naturalization which he obtained in France in 1528. He learned the first rudiments of the Latin tongue in his own country; and in his twelfth year was presented to the Emperor Maximilian, who made him one of his pages. He served that emperor seventeen years, and gave signal proofs of his valour and conduct in several expeditions. He was present at the battle of Ravenna in April 1512, in which he had the misfortune to lose his father Benedict Scaliger, and his brother Titus, on which his mother died with grief; when, being reduced to necessitous circumstances, he entered into the order of the Franciscans, and applied himself to study at Bologna. But soon afterwards, changing his mind with respect to his becoming a monk, he took arms again, and served in Piedmont; at which time a physician persuaded him to study physic, which he did at his leisure hours, and also learned Greek; and at last the gout determined him, at forty years of age, to abandon a military life. He soon afterwards settled at Agen, where he married, and began to apply himself seriously to his studies. He learned first the French tongue, which he spoke perfectly in three months; and then made himself master of the Gascon, Italian, Spanish, German, Hungarian, and Sclavonian; but the chief object of his studies was polite literature. Meanwhile, he supported his family by the practice of physic. He did not publish any of his works till he was forty-seven years of age, when he soon gained a great name in the republic of letters. He had a graceful person, and so strong a memory, even in his old age, that he dictated to his son two hundred verses which he had composed the day before, and retained without writing them down. He was so charitable, that his house was as it were an hospital for the poor and sick; and he had such an aversion to lying, that he would have no correspondence with those who were given to that vice; but, on the other hand, he had much vanity, and possessed a satirical spirit, which created him many enemies. He died of a retention of urine in 1558. He wrote in Latin, 1. A treatise on the Art of Poetry, and, 2. Exercitatione against Cardan, which works are much esteemed; 3. Commentaries on Aristotle’s History of Animals, and on Theophrastus on Plants; 4. Some treatises on Physic; 5. Letters, Orations, Poems, and other works, in Latin.

Scaliger, Joseph Justus, one of the most learned critics and writers of his time. He was the son of the former, and was born at Agen, in France, in 1540. He studied in the college of Bordeaux; after which his father took him under his own care, and employed him in transcribing his poems. By this means he obtained such a taste for poetry, that before he was seventeen years old he wrote a tragedy upon the subject of OEdipus, in which he introduced all the poetical ornaments of style and sentiment. His father having died in 1558, he went to Paris the year following, with a desire to apply himself to the Greek tongue. For this purpose he for two months attended the lectures of Tumebus; but finding that in the usual course he should be a long time in gaining his point, he shut himself up in his closet, and by constant application for two years gained a perfect knowledge of that language. After this he applied to the Hebrew, which he learned by himself with great facility. He made no less progress in the sciences; and his writings procured him the reputation of one of the greatest men of that or of any other age. He embraced the reformed religion at twenty-two years of age. In 1563, he attached himself to Louis Casteignier de la Roche Pozay, whom he attended in several journeys; and, in 1593, he was invited to accept of the place of honorary professor of the university of Leyden, which he complied with. He died of a dropsy in that city in 1609. He was a man of great temperance, was never married, and was so close a student that he often spent whole days in his study without eating; and though his circumstances were always very narrow, he constantly refused the presents that were offered him. He published many works, the principal of which are, 1. Notes on Seneca’s Tragedies, on Varro, Ausonius, Pompeius Festus, &c.; 2. His Latin Poems; 3. A treatise de Emendatione Temporum; 4. Eusebius’s Chronicle, with Notes; 5. Canones Isagogici; and many other works. The collections entitled Scaligeriana were collected from his conversations by one of his friends; and being ranged into alphabetical order, were published by Isaac Vossius.