Aemilius Portus

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Aemilius Portus , also Emilio Porto or Émile Portus (born August 13, 1550 in Ferrara , † 1614 or 1615 in Stadthagen ), was an Italian philologist and university professor.

Life

family

Aemilius Portus' father was the philologist Franciscus Portus (1511–1581) from Crete , who went to Italy at a young age and became head of a Greek school in Venice . From 1537 he taught in Ferrara, where Aemilius was born in 1550, and later the Greek language in Modena . After adopting the Reformed faith, he went to Geneva because of fear of the Inquisition . At the university there he was professor of Greek from 1559.

Aemilius Portus married a Gratiana of unknown surname before 1583. They had three sons and four daughters.

Teacher in Geneva and professor at the Lausanne Academy

Portus initially received private tuition from his father and, in addition to French and Italian, learned ancient Greek and Latin. From 1569 he worked for twelve years as a teacher of ancient languages ​​at the high school in Geneva. At this time he made his first contacts in Germany, and corresponded with Martin Crusius , a professor of the Greek and Latin languages ​​at the University of Tübingen . From 1581 to 1592 Portus taught as a professor of Greek at the Academy in Lausanne . He was removed from office due to a brawl caused by him. Thereupon he left Lausanne with his wife and six small children and after a stay in Basel they settled in Frankenthal in the Palatinate. Portus tried to find a new job in Austria, where he had friends, but did not succeed. Elector Friedrich IV finally allowed him to move with his family to Heidelberg and begin studying.

Studies and professorship in Heidelberg

On September 10, 1593, Portus enrolled at the University of Heidelberg and began studying medicine there, which he soon gave up. In 1596 he passed the master’s examination at the artist faculty and was appointed full professor of Greek language and rhetoric, succeeding Simon Sten . In addition to an annual salary of 160 guilders and natural produce, the university also provided him with accommodation. From 1599 to 1601 Portus was first Regens of the Contubernium (similar to Burse ), 1600 and 1606 Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy. In 1608, Portus got into an argument with a student, whose amicable settlement he refused, so that he was eventually sentenced to a fine. After this experience he demanded his dismissal from the university and, despite efforts to the contrary by the faculty and the senate, finally left Heidelberg in May 1609.

Teacher in Kassel and Stadthagen

Portus first went to Kassel , where he worked as a private language teacher and “Notarius imperialis” (imperial notary). He received further financial support from an order from Duke Johann Adolf von Schleswig , who asked him to come to Schloss Gottorf and translate Proklos ' work on the theology of Plato ( Theologia Platonica ) from the manuscript into Latin. In the summer of 1610 Portus had finished the work and returned to Kassel. Landgrave Moritz von Hessen-Kassel offered him a position as professor for the ancient languages, French and Italian at the court school there, Collegium Mauritianum . Portus hesitated at first because the pay was low and the lessons were in German, a language that he spoke poorly. In June 1611 he took up the position, but in November 1612, at the request of Count Ernst zu Holstein-Schaumburg, he switched to the academic high school in Stadthagen , where he taught and helped Greek, French and Italian, which had only been founded two years earlier To help build a high school. He died in Stadthagen in 1614 or 1615.

Publications

Aemilius Portus published some works by his father, Franciscus Portus, who had died at that time. These include his commentaries on Pindar (1583), Xenophon (1586) and Aristotle 's rhetoric (1598).

He published numerous other philological works in which he was involved. In 1594 he published a Latin edition of Thucydides ' The Peloponnesian War , based on a work by Henri Estienne including a translation by Laurentius Valla . In the following year, Portus 'Xenophon edition appeared, which Johannes Löwenklaus' original was expanded to. A Euripides edition followed in 1597 , a new edition of the critical edition by Willem Canter from 1571, with an improved Latin translation of Rudolfus Collinus ' text made by Portus . In 1599 Portus added a few notes to the work that were more grammatical than critical. Building on the work of Odoard Biset , he brought out an extensive, Greco-Latin Aristophanes edition with Scholia in 1607 .

Portus wrote several lexical studies, so he dealt in 1603 published "Dictionarium Jonicum Graeco-Latinum" with the usage of Herodotus , who wrote in the Ionian dialect .

Portus made translations into Latin, including Homer's Iliad and Odyssey (1609). He translated the main work of Dionysius of Halicarnassus , Antiquitates Romanae , into both Latin (1588) and French. Portus also translated one of the main works of the philosopher Proclus , the Platonic Theology , a comprehensive description of the proclical doctrine of gods in six books. His work, which juxtaposes the Greek and Latin texts, is often more of a commentary than a translation. It appeared post-mortem in Hamburg in 1618 and is provided with a foreword by Portus and thanks to his client Johann Adolf von Schleswig, whose son Friedrich III. took over the printing costs. His Suda translation (1619) also appeared after Portus' death .

Portus also wrote Greek and Latin poems, left speeches and letters.

Fonts (selection)
  • Dionysii Halicarn, Antiquitatum Roman. Libri XI. Vignon, Geneva 1588.
  • Thucydidis De bello peloponnesiaco libri octo. Frankfurt 1595.
  • Xenophontis, Philosophi et Imperatoris Clarissimi, qvae extant opera, in duos tomos diuisa. Marnius & Aubrius, Frankfurt 1595.
  • Euripidis tragoediæ XIX: accedit nunc pr. vigesimæ, cui Danae nomen, initium e vetustis Bibliotheacae Palatinae menbranis. Typis Hieronymi Commelini, Heidelberg 1597.
  • Dictionarium Jonicum Graeco-Latinum, quod indicem in omnes Herodoti libros continet. Frankfurt 1603 (Oxford 1810, London 1825).
  • Dictionarium Doricum Graeco-Latinum, quod totius Theocriti, Moschi, Bionis, et Simmiae variorum opusculorum accuratam, et fidelem interpretationem continet. Frankfurt 1603.
  • Aristophanis Comoediae undecim cum scholiis antiquis. Geneva 1607.
  • Lexicon Pindaricum. Hanover 1606.
  • Homeri Iliad. Vignon, Geneva 1609.
  • Homeri Odyssea. Vignon, Geneva 1609.
  • De Nihili antiquitate et multiplici potestate tractatus. Ex officina typographica Mauritiana, Kassel 1609.
  • Procli Successoris Platonici, In Platonis Theologiam Libri VI. Hamburg 1618. Reprinted by Minerva-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1960.
  • Suidas, nunc primum integer Latinitate donatus, & ex collatione multorum manuscriptorum codicum infinitis mendis purgatus, pristinoque suo nitori redditus. Cologny 1619.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d Portus, Aemilius. In: Dagmar Drüll (Ed.): Heidelberger Gelehrtenlexikon 1386–1651. Springer, Heidelberg 2002, p. 461.
  2. Richard HochePortus, Aemilius . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 26, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1888, pp. 447-449.
  3. Max Samson Friedrich Schoell: History of Greek literature, from the earliest mythical times to the capture of Constantinople by the Turks. Volume 1. Duncker et al. Humblot, Berlin 1828, p. 258.