Julius Caesar Scaliger
Julius Caesar Scaliger, born on April 23, 1484, in La Rocca Castle, Riva, was a notable figure in early modern intellectual history. He claimed descent from the influential Della Scala family of Verona and is recognized for his contributions to philosophy, natural sciences, and the study of Latin grammar. Scaliger's scholarly reputation flourished in Europe, earning him a position as a page to Emperor Maximilian I at the age of twelve, and he later gained recognition as a military figure, notably receiving the Order of the Golden Spur after the Battle of Ravenna. He pursued higher education at the University of Bologna and dedicated much of his later life to extensive study in the natural sciences and medicine.
In 1525, Scaliger moved to France, becoming the personal physician to Bishop Antonio della Rovera and marrying Andiette de Roques Lobejac, with whom he had fifteen children, including the renowned philologist Joseph Justus Scaliger. His major works include "De causis linguae latinae," a comprehensive study of Latin grammar, and "Poetices libri septem," a significant treatise on literary criticism published posthumously in 1561. Scaliger's approach to classical literature and philosophy laid the groundwork for future European neoclassicists, and he is remembered as a key influence on later French literary scholars. He passed away on October 21, 1558, in Agen, France, leaving behind a legacy of scholarly achievement.
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Julius Caesar Scaliger
Scholar
- Born: April 23, 1484
- Birthplace: La Rocca Castle, Riva, Italy
- Died: October 21, 1558
- Place of death: Agen, France
Biography
Julius Caesar Scaliger was born on April 23, 1484, in La Rocca Castle, Riva, Republic of Venice, which now is in Italy. Scaliger claimed descent from the famed Della Scala family who had ruled Verona for two centuries until 1387; the family’s Latin name was Scaligerus, and Scaliger also went by the name Giulio Cesare Della Scala. The only information about his early life comes from his own account, and after his death others alleged that Scaliger’s ancestry and youthful history had been misrepresented.
Known for his work in philosophy and the natural sciences, for his exposition of Latin grammatical principles, and for his Aristotelian literary criticism, Scaliger was an early precursor of the European neoclassicists of later centuries. Despite his arrogant disposition, his reputation among his contemporaries was extraordinarily high; at one point Scaliger was considered one of the most scholarly men in Europe.
Emperor Maximilian I, who was a relative of Scaliger’s, made him a page in his service when Scaliger was twelve years old. For the next few years, Scaliger studied literature and art, and one of his teachers was the artist Albrecht Dürer. Scaliger later distinguished himself in battle and was awarded the Order of the Golden Spur for his valor at the Battle of Ravenna, in which Scaliger lost both his father and elder brother. After serving the duke of Ferrara for a brief time, Scaliger left the military and entered the University of Bologna in 1514. He left the university in 1519 and spent the next six years at the castle of Vico Nuovo in Piedmont, studying the natural sciences and medicine and occasionally serving in the military.
Scaliger moved to France in 1525, assuming the position of personal physician to Antionio della Rovera, the bishop of Agen, and eventually becoming a French citizen. In 1528, he married sixteen-year-old Andiette de Roques Lobejac, with whom he subsequently had fifteen children, including the famous philologist and historian Joseph Justus Scaliger.
Scaliger’s earlier writings include attacks upon Desiderus Erasmus’s treatise, Dialogus, cui titulus Ciceronianus Sive, de optimo dicendi genere (1528), and a Latin translation of Hippocrates’ Liber de Somniis. His study of Latin grammar, De causis linguae latinae, was published in 1540. Scaliger’s major botanical work, In libros duos, qui inscribuntur De plantis, Aristotele autore, libri duo, a commentary upon Aristotle’s De plantis, was published in 1556, and a popular philosophical work, Exotericarum exercitationum liber quintus decimus de subtilitate ad Hieronymum Cardanum, appeared in 1557.
Scaliger’s most famous work, Poetices libri septem (1561; Select Translations from Scaliger’s Poetics, 1905), was published posthumously in 1561 and is a defense and application of classical, especially Aristotelian, principles of literary criticism. This work helped advance the analysis of classical Greco-Roman literature, but Scaliger’s central interest remained philosophy; he considered his classical studies to be a form of relaxation. Scaliger died at Agen, France, on October 21, 1558, a successful teacher and an influence upon the better-known French classicists who followed him.