Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
CASAUBON, ISAAC (1559-1614)
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: CAR-CAU
del.icio.us it!
|
See also:CASAUBON, See also:ISAAC (1559-1614) , See also:French (naturalized See also:English) classical See also:scholar, was See also:born at See also:Geneva, on the 18th of See also:February 1559, of French refugee parents. On the publication of the See also:edict of See also:January 1562, the See also:family returned to See also:France and settled at See also:Crest in See also:Dauphine, where See also:Arnaud Casaubon, Isaac's See also:father, became See also:minister of a Huguenot See also:congregation. Till he was nine-teen, Isaac had no other instruction than what could be given him by his father during the years of See also:civil See also:war. Arnaud was away from See also:home whole years together in the Calvinist See also:camp, or the family were flying to the hills to hide from the fanatical bands of armed Catholics who patrolled the See also:country. Thus it was in a See also:cave in the mountains of Dauphine, after the See also:massacre of St See also:Bartholomew, that Isaac received his first See also:lesson in See also:Greek, the See also:text-See also:book being Isocrates ad Demonicum. At nineteen Isaac was sent to the See also:Academy of Geneva, where he read Greek under See also:Francis See also:Portus, a native of See also:Crete. Portus died in 1581, having recommended Casaubon, then only twenty-two, as his successor. At Geneva he remained as. See also:professor of Greek till 1596. Here he married twice, his second wife being See also:Florence, daughter of the scholar-printer, See also:Henri See also:Estienne. Here, without the stimulus of example or encouragement, with few books and no assistance, in a See also:city peopled with religious refugees, and struggling for See also:life against the troops of the See also:Catholic See also:dukes of See also:Savoy, Casaubon made himself a consummate Greek scholar and See also:master of See also:ancient learning. His See also:great wants at Geneva were books and the sympathy of learned associates. He spent all he could See also:save out of his small See also:salary in buying books, and in having copies made of such See also:classics as were not then in See also:print. Henri Estienne, See also:Theodore de See also:Beza (See also:rector of the university and professor of See also:theology), and Jacques Lect (Lectius), were indeed men of See also:superior learning. But Henri, in those last years of his life, was no longer the Estienne of the See also:Thesaurus; he was never at home, and would not suffer his son-in-See also:law to enter his library. " He See also:guards his books," writes Casaubon, "as the griffins in See also:India do their See also:gold!" Beza was engrossed by the cares of See also:administration, and retained, at most, an See also:interest for theological See also:reading, while Lect, a lawyer and diplomatist, had Ieft classics for the active business of the See also:council. The sympathy and help which Casaubon's native city could not afford him, he endeavoured to See also:supply by cultivating the acquaintance of the learned of other countries. Geneva, as the
See also:metropolis of Calvinism, received a See also:constant See also:succession of visitors. The See also:continental tour of the See also:young Englishman of See also:birth was not See also:complete without a visit to Geneva. It was there that Casaubon made the acquaintance of young See also: In Montpellier he never took See also:root. He held the professor-See also:ship there only three years, with several prolonged absences. The hopes raised by his brilliant reception were disappointed; he was badly treated by the authorities, by whom his salary was only paid very irregularly, and, finally, not at all. He was not, at any See also:time, insensible to the attractions of teaching, and his lectures at Montpellier were followed not only by the students, but by men of mature See also:age and position. But the love of know-ledge was gradually growing upon him, and he began to perceive that editing Greek books was an employment more congenial to his See also:peculiar See also:powers than teaching. At Geneva he had first tried his See also:hand on some notes on See also:Diogenes Laertius, on See also:Theocritus and the New Testament, the last undertaken at his father's See also:request. His debut as an editor had been a complete See also:Strabo (1587), of which he was so ashamed afterwards that he apologized for its crudity to Scaliger, calling it " a See also:miscarriage." This was followed by the text of See also:Polyaenus, an editio princeps, 1589; a text of See also:Aristotle, 1590; and a few notes contributed to Estienne's See also:editions of See also:Dionysius oi See also:Halicarnassus and See also:Pliny's Epistolae. It is not till we come to his edition of See also:Theophrastus's Characteres (1592), that we have a specimen of that peculiar See also:style of illustrative commentary, at once apposite and profuse, which distinguishes Casaubon among annotators. At the time of his removal to Montpellier he was engaged upon what is the See also:capital See also:work of his life, his edition of, and commentary on, See also:Athenaeus. In 1598 we find Casaubon at See also:Lyons, superintending the passage of his Athenaeus through the See also:press, for which he had been unable to find facilities at Montpellier. Here he lived in the house of Meric de Vicq, surintend See also:ant de la See also:justice, a Catholic, but a See also:man of acquirements, whose connexions were with the circle of liberal Catholics in See also:Paris. In the See also:suite of De Vicq Casaubon made a flying visit to Paris, and was presented to Henry IV. The See also: We now know enough of Casaubon's See also:mental See also:history to know how erroneous were these computations of his motives. But, at the time, it was not possible for the immediate parties to the See also:bitter controversy to understand the intermediate position between Genevan See also:Calvin-ism and See also:Ultramontanism to which Casaubon's reading of the fathers had conducted him. Meantime the efforts of De Thou and the liberal Catholics to retain him in Paris were successful. The king repeated his invitation to Casaubon to See also:settle in the capital, and assigned him a See also:pension. No more was said about the university. The See also:recent reform of the university of Paris had closed its doors to all but Catholics; and though the chairs of the College de France were not governed by the statutes of the `university, public See also:opinion ran so violently against See also:heresy, that Henry IV. dared not appoint a Calvinist to a chair, even if he had desired to do so. But it was designed that Casaubon should succeed to the See also:post of sub-librarian of the royal library when it should become vacant, and a patent of the reversion was made out in his favour. In See also:November 1604, See also:Jean Gosselin died in extreme old age; and Casaubon succeeded him as sub-librarian, with a salary of 400 livres in addition to his pension. In Paris Casaubon remained till 1610. These ten years were the brightest See also:period of his life. He had attained the reputation of being, after Scaliger, the most learned man of the age,—an age in which learning formed the See also:sole See also:standard of See also:literary merit. He was placed above penury, though not in easy circumstances. He had such facilities for religious See also:worship as a Huguenot could have, though he had to go out of the city to Hablon, and after-wards to Charenton, for them. He enjoyed the society of men of learning, or of men who took an interest in learned publications. He had the best opportunities of seeing men of letters from See also:foreign countries as they passed through Paris. Above all, he had ample facilities for using Greek books, both printed and in MS., the want of which he had See also:felt painfully at Geneva and Montpellier, and which no other See also:place but Paris could at that period have supplied.
In spite of all these advantages we find Casaubon restless, and ever framing schemes for leavingParis,and settling elsewhere. It was known that he was open to offers, and offers came to him from various quarters, from See also:Nimes, from See also:Heidelberg, from See also:Sedan. His See also:friends Lect and Giovanni See also:Diodati wished, rather than hoped, to get him back to Geneva. The causes of Casaubon's discomfort in Paris were various, but the See also:principal source of uneasiness See also:lay in his See also:religion. The life of any Huguenot in Paris was hardly secure at that time, for it was doubtful if the See also:police of the city was strong enough to protect them against any sudden uprising of the fanatical See also:mob, always ready to re-enact the St Bartholomew. But Casaubon was exposed to persecution of another sort. Ever since the Fontainebleau Conference an impression prevailed that he was wavering. It was known that he rejected the outre See also:anti-popery opinions current in the Reformed churches; that he read the fathers, and wished for a See also: He was given to understand that he could have a professorship only by recantation. When it was found that he could not be bought, he was plied by controversy. Henry IV., who liked Casaubon personally, made a point of getting him to follow his own ex-ample. By the king's orders Duperron was untiring in his efforts to convert him. Casaubon's knowledge of the fathers was that of a scholar, Duperron's that of an adroit polemist; and the
scholar was driven to admit that the polemist was often too hard for him. These encounters mostly took place in the king's library, over which the cardinal, in his capacity of aumonier, exercised some See also:kind of authority; and it was therefore impossible for Casaubon to avoid them. On the other hand, the Huguenot theologians, and especially See also:Pierre du See also:Moulin, See also:chief pastor of the church of Paris, accused him of conceding too much, and of having departed already from the lines of strict Calvinistic orthodoxy.
When the assassination of Henry IV. gave full See also:rein to the Ultramontane party at court, the obsessions of Duperron became more importunate, and even menacing. It was now that Casaubon began to listen to overtures which had been faintly made before, from the bishops and the.court of See also:England. In See also:October 1610 he came to England in the suite of the See also:ambassador, See also:Lord Wotton of Marley (See also:brother of Casaubon'searlyfriend), an See also:official invitation having been sent him by Richard See also:Bancroft, See also:archbishop of See also:Canterbury. He had the most flattering reception from See also: Casaubon, though a layman, was collated to a prebendal See also:stall in Canter-See also:bury, and a pension of £300 a year was assigned him from the See also:exchequer. Nor were these merely See also:paper figures. When See also:Sir See also:Julius See also:Caesar made a difficulty about See also:payment, James sent a See also:note in his own hand: " Chanceler of my excheker, I will have Mr Casaubon paid before me, my wife, and my See also:barnes." He still retained his appointments in France, and his See also:office as librarian. He had obtained leave of See also:absence for a visit to England, where his permanent See also:settlement was not contemplated. In See also:order to retain their hold upon him, the See also:government of the See also:queen See also:regent refused to allow his library to be sent over. It required a See also:special request from James himself to get leave for Madame Casaubon to bring him a See also:part of his most necessary books. Casaubon continued to speak of himself as the servant of the regent, and to .declare his readiness to return when summoned to do so.
Meanwhile his situation in See also:London gradually See also:developed unforeseen See also:sources of discomfort. Not that he had any See also:reason to complain of his patrons, the king and the bishops. James continued to the last to delight in his See also:company, and to be as liberal as the See also:state of his finances allowed. See also: These two were attracted to Casaubon by congenial studies and opinions. With the witty and learned bishop of Ely in particular Casaubon was always happy to spend such See also:hours as he had to spare from the labours of the study. Andrewes took him to Cambridge, where he met with a most gratifying reception from the notabilities of the university. They went on together to Downham, where Casaubon spent six See also:weeks of the summer of 1611, in which year he became naturalized. In 1613 he was taken to See also:Oxford by Sir Henry See also:Savile, where, amid the See also:homage and feasting of which he was the object, his principal interest was for the See also:MSS. treasures of the Bodleian. The honorary degree which was offered him he declined. But these distinctions were far from compensating the serious inconveniences of his position. Having been taken up by the king and the bishops, he had to See also:share in their rising unpopularity. The courtiers looked with a jealous See also:eye on a pensioner who enjoyed frequent opportunities of taking James I. on his weak side—his love of book talk—opportunities which they would have known how to use. Casaubon was especially mortified by Sir Henry Wotton's persistent avoidance of him, so inconsistent with their former intimacy. His windows were broken by the roughs at See also:night, his See also:children pelted in the streets by See also:day. On one occasion he himself appeared at Theobalds with a See also:black eye,443 having received a See also:blow from some See also:ruffian's fist in the See also:street. The historian See also:Hallam thinks that he had "become personally unpopular "; but these outrages from the vulgar seem to have arisen solely from the See also:cockney's antipathy to the Frenchman. Casaubon, though he could make shift to read an English book, could not speak English, any more than Mme Casaubon. This deficiency not only exposed him to insult and See also:fraud, but restricted his social intercourse. It excluded him altogether from the circle of the " wits "; either this or some other cause prevented him from being acceptable in the circle of the lay learned—the " antiquaries." See also: But the most serious cause of discomfort in his English See also:residence was that his time was no longer his own. He was perpetually being summoned out of townto one or other of James's See also:hunting residences that the king might enjoy his talk. He had come over from Paris in See also:search of leisure, and found that a new claim on his time was established. The king and the bishops wanted to employ his See also:pen in their literary warfare against See also:Rome. They compelled him to write first one, then a second, pamphlet on the subject of the day,—the royal supremacy. At last, ashamed of thus misappropriating Casaubon's stores of learning, they set him upon a refutation of the See also:Annals of Baronius, then in the full See also:tide of its See also:credit and success. Upon this task Casaubon spent his remaining strength and life. He died in great suffering on the 1st of See also:July 1614. His complaint was an organic and congenital malformation of the See also:bladder; but his end was hastened by an unhealthy life of over-study, and latterly by his anxiety to acquit himself creditably in his See also:criticism on Baronius. He was buried in Westminster See also:Abbey. The See also:monument by which his name is there commemorated was erected in 1632 by his friend See also: The edition of See also:Polybius, on' which he had spent vast labour, he See also:left unfinished. His most ambitious work was his revision of the text of the Deipnosophistae of Athenaeus, with commentary. The Theophrastus perhaps exhibits his most characteristic excellences as a commentator. The Exercitationes in Baronium are but a fragment of the massive criticism which he contemplated; it failed in bringing before the reader the uncritical See also:character of Baronius's history, and had only a moderate success, even among the Protestants. His See also:correspondence (in Latin) was finally collected by See also:Van Almeloveen (See also:Rotterdam, 1709), who prefixed to the letters a careful life of Isaac Casaubon. But this learned Dutch editor was acquainted with Casaubon's See also:diary only in See also:extract. This diary, Ephemerides, of which the MS. is preserved in the See also:chapter library of Canterbury, was printed in 185o by the See also:Clarendon Press. It forms the most valuable See also:record we possess of the daily life of a scholar, or man of letters, of the 16th See also:century. (M. P.) A few See also:minor changes have been made in the above See also:article, compared with its See also:form in the 9th edition. The most complete See also:account 1 Eudaemon was a Cretan, Rosweyd a Dutch, Jesuit; Schoppe, a See also:German philologist and critic. of Casaubon is the full See also:biography by See also:Mark See also:Pattison (1875), of which a second and revised edition, by H. See also:Nettleship, was published in 1892 ; the most recent work on the subject is Isaac Casaubon, sa See also:vie et son temps, by L. J. Nazelle (1897); there is a monograph on the Fontainebleau conference by J. A. Lalot (1889). Casaubon is the subject of one of St Beuve's Causeries, the 30th of July 186o (a See also:notice of the Oxford edition of the Ephemerides). See also the article in E. Haag's La France Protestante (1882), and J. E. See also:Sandys, His'. of Class. Schol. vol. ii. (ed. 1908), pp. 204 See also:foil. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] CASAUBON, FLORENCE ESTIENNE |
[next] CASCADE MOUNTAINS |