106 Sketch of the Life of Professor Heeren, 



plan. In the winter of 1781, he laid all aside for the purpose 

 of devoting himself to the study of Greek. In this study he was 

 encouraged by Heyne, who directed his labours, and his progress 

 was rapid. Spittler, the historian, was, next to Heyne, the 

 master to whom he owed most : the lectures of that professor on 

 the History of the Treaties of Peace, and on the History of the 

 German States, were very useful to him. From them he 

 learned to view history on the grand scale, and acquired the me- 

 thod to be followed in studying it. As to philosophy, Feder's 

 lectures were of less advantage to him than his friendship, and 

 the practical wisdom of which he furnished an example. His 

 humanity studies, therefore, took a historical turn : languages 

 had less attraction for him than facts, and in this manner he 

 prepared himself for studying history in its sources. For each 

 period, he took the principal historian as a basis, and made 

 chronological extracts from him. He then read the other 

 authors, and noted on the margin the points in which they 

 differed. 



Heyne's lectures on Pindar and the Greek tragedians brought 

 him into the poetic vj^orld. Heyne engaged his pupil in collect- 

 ing fragments of lyrics, which led him into the remote regions 

 of Grecian literature. In this task he had to dive among the 

 grammarians, scholiasts, and rhetoricians; but he merely col- 

 lected the fragments, without commenting on them, having been 

 deterred by the difficulties of the prosody. 



M. Heeren now saw the period approaching when he was to 

 leave the University. Feder offered him the situation of tutor 

 in Italian Switzerland, with pecuniary advantages, and the pro- 

 mise of a pension. He had almost decided upon accepting it, 

 when a letter from his sister increased his hesitation, and Heyne 

 succeeded in making him reject the offer, by representing to 

 him the precarious and miserable life of a tutor. Before aspir* 

 ino- to the office of professor, it was necessary for him to receive 

 the degree of doctor. On the 29th May 1784, he sustained 

 his thesis De Chori GrcBcorum Tragici natura et indole. There 

 yet remained for him to acquire some degree of public reputa- 

 tion, by means of writing a commentary upon some author. 

 The rhetorician Menander had not yet exercised the learning of 

 any critic, and had even been confounded with another rheto- 



