50 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



Karlsruhe in 1803 for the University of Halle, to which he was drawn 

 by the great reputation of Friedrich August Wolf. His original in- 

 tention was to study theology and philology together. But his interest 

 in the latter study soon led him to discard theology and to devote him- 

 self to philology as his professional study, combining, however, with it 

 philosophy under Schleiermacher, — a combination that gave a turn to 

 his first literary undertaking on the Minos and the Laws of Plato. 



On leaving Halle in 1806, Boeckh began as a teacher in Berlin. 

 But the fortunes of the war then raging soon forced him to leave 

 Prussia and go to Heidelberg. His rapid academic advancement is an 

 evidence of the precocity of his genius. He was appointed Extraor- 

 dinary Professor at Heidelberg in 1807, Ordinary Professor in 1809, 

 and in 1811, when the University of Berlin was founded, he received 

 a call as Professor of Eloquence and Ancient Literature. 



From 1811 to 1867 — fifty-six years — he lived in Berlin the un- 

 eventful life of a scholar, dividing his time between study, his duties 

 as Professor and head of the Philological Seminary, and various other 

 charges for which his extraordinary aptitude for affaii's fitted him. He 

 was repeatedly Rector of the University. In the sessions of the Acad- 

 emy he took a lively interest, and his communications to that body 

 have become a standard part of philological literature. 



Both in his elaborate books and in the more fugitive pieces and 

 courses of lectures which laid the groundwork to these books, Boeckh 

 exhibited two qualities not often united, — a faculty for details and a 

 comprehensive grasp of the general subject. He had a perfect genius 

 for details. No matter what the subject was that interested him, — and 

 in his long and manifold studies there were few things connected with 

 ancient life which did not interest him, — whether it was a question of 

 weights and measures, of finance, of grammar, of metres, of orthog- 

 raphy, or astronomy, — he followed the thing out with a microscopic 

 eye into its minutest ramifications, weighing carefully all the evidences 

 of the text and studying the credibility of his witnesses. In his ear- 

 lier years he kept copious notes and adversaria. Later in life he gave 

 them up, trusting entirely to his memory. Under such a load of eru- 

 dition a less happily balanced mind would have staggered and stumbled. 

 But in combination and arrangement Boeckh was equally at home. 

 With the insight of genius he looked at the tangled and complicated 

 masses, and order sprang out of chaos. Grasping the leading idea, he 

 carried it out consistently to the end, and his intimate familiarity with 



