MAI, ANOKLO, CARDINAL. 



MAIAN'O, ni'N-KDETTO DA. 



IS) 



at Coloroo, email oily of bU duchy. ID this 



till 



n of tin society 



1041 whither be WM cent M ProfaHor of Greek and Latin 

 Aboot the end of 1805, be WM transferred to Rome for 

 of hi* theological *todiea, and won afterward* WM 

 to OrrMe. on^sWmritoo of the biaboo, UiunbattiaU 

 . He WM.^ sdarfttodtopri.Msord.es; and to the 

 wUoh ho thu* enjoyed of interoonre* with two learned 

 of tbo Society. Mootero and Menohaoa, he binuolf 

 to Mtribo not only hi* familiarity with the Hebnw language, 

 mneh more atnaibly influenced hU after-career, his accurate 

 of pahcofrapby, and bw akill in deciphering ancient 



Mai nfonttd to Rome in 1808, just about the time when the 

 contort of PioaVlL with Napoleon WM reaching the crisis; and an 

 order leaned by the Ticcroy, commanding all .ubjeoU of the kingdom 

 of Italy to return to their reepective province., compelled him to 

 ribs me his rsslilsnns one* again. Happily for the interests of litera- 

 tnic la settled at Milan 



The Ambroaian Library of that city bad long been known as rich 

 km aaanuecripte of the highest interact the remnant of the treasures 

 of MM old monastic libraries, especially those of Bobbio and Lucca, 

 and of tome of the annprecccd Benedictine convent* of tho Protestant 

 cantons of Switzerland. Many of it* best treasure* had been made 

 public by Muratori, MHll"n. and the Benedictine editors ; but there 

 yet rrm**"*^ a department entirely unexplored, which Mai soon appro- 

 priated to himself, and which has since come to be regarded as 

 cxelociiely bis own that of palimpsest or re-written manuscripts, in 

 which the original writing has been effaced in order to make room 

 for a later work written over it Through the influence of Padre 

 Mend and the recommendation of hi* friend*, and especially of Count 

 McUerio of Milan, Mai WM admitted an asaodato and eventually a 

 doctor of tbfe celebrated library ; and, from the date of hi* arrival in 

 Milan till hi* ultimate translation to the Vatican, be laboured in hi* 

 novel editorial career with a seal and success not unworthy of tho 

 traditional (lories of hi* country. His first essay at an author 

 WM a Latin translation (with a commentary) of laooratoc ' De Per- 

 mutation*' (1813), the original of which had been published by a 

 Greek named Andrew Mustoxidi in the previous year ; but this was 

 only the prelude of his far more remarkable success** in the decipher- 

 ntcnt and publication of palimpsest manuscript*. Up to this period, 

 with the exception of Raster and Wetetein'. reading* of the Old and 

 New Testament from the 'Codex Ephremi,' Knittel'i portions of 

 the Gothic Bible of L'lphiUs, Peter Bruni'a fragment of the ninety- 

 ftrst book of Livy, and Barrett'* palimpsest of the Gospels, palimpsest 

 liurature WM entirely untried. Within a few years Mai deciphered 

 and pnbUahed from palimpsest source* two volumes of inedited 

 frarmeoU of Cicero'* 'Oration*;' a volume of letters and other 

 ittiisf* of Fronto, the preceptor of Marcus Aurelius ; some fragments 

 of the loct ' Vidularia ' of Plautu* ; a loet work of Porphyrius, the 

 Platoniet; com* portions of Dionynus of Halicarnaasu* ; two work* of 

 Philo Jndaraa ; eight orations of Lysimachus ; an oration of Isacus ; 

 two book* of the SybUlin* Verse* ; and several other works of the 



IXirinf this time Mai, although a member of tho Jesuit Society, 

 had wit taken the solemn TOWS of the order, which indeed was 

 not formally restored by papal authority till 1814. It was then 

 tboofht, both by hi* superiors and by the authorities at Rome, that 



_ 



ho could render 'more cflective service* to literature and to religion 

 by rianlnlng attached to the Ambroaian Library. Accordingly, with 

 the full approval of all the authorities, he withdrew from the Society, 

 aad rccMliisrf. a* a simple priest, at Milan tilll 819, when he was called 

 to Borne M chief keeper of the Vatican Library, canon of the Church 

 of Be Peter**, and domestic prelate of the Pope Pius VII. Soon after 

 hi* cctabUshmcnt in the Vatican, be completed what wa* wanting in 

 ttwae frafBraU of Fronto which he had already printed at Milan ; 

 having happily discovered in the Vatican the missing portion of the 

 MMMript from which the Milanese fragment* bad been printed, and 

 which had (a* well as tb* Milaoc** manuscript) originally belonged 

 In the following year ha publiahed the 



work by which ho is best known out of Itely a largo and interesting 

 portion o< the loaf-lost 'De Republic*' of Cicero, the fragments of 

 whkh be mafed with consummate (kill in their respective order, 

 and interwove with all the known extract* of the work which had been 

 fiesaMSit by ancient author*. The whole text he Ulu.tn.ted by a 

 critical oanuMDtery of exceeding interact, which at once established 

 hi* Tiantotlon M one of the Brat scholar* of the age. 



US4*aMlMlowiacyo*o),ontbcptanof the 



, 



ttsbcd Mdor dUbnat Uticc by ManUon, Pa* Montf.ucon, Muratori, 

 and other*. It I* a work of immense labour and research, and of a 



--- *< ------ _._ . rt__i_ _^_ t 



racter-Oreek and Latin, sacred and profane, 

 historical, patristic*!, and philosophical. On. of the 

 second, is perhaps the most curious of the entire, con- 



taining considerable fragments, recovered from a very early palimp*e*t 

 manuscript, of almost all the ancient Qroek and Roman historians, 

 PoUbius, Diodoru* Siculus, Dionysiu* of Halicarnaaiua, Dion Cauius, 

 Appian, Dexippus, Kunapius, and others. 



The ' Vaticana Colloctio ' wa* quickly followed by a similar collec- 

 tion in ton volume*, 8vo, ' Classic! Soriptores ex Codicibu* Vaticanis 

 editi,' completed in 183S ; which included some of tho editor's eirlier 

 publications (especially the 'De Republic!'); although, with the 

 exception of about two volume*, it* content* are entirely new. 

 While he was engaged in the publication of this aeries he held the 

 laboriou* and responsible post of secretary of the Propaganda, to 

 which he had been appointed in 1833 ; and it was observed with 

 wonder that his extensive literary engagement* never were suffered 

 to interfere with the duties of the secretariate. HU active and 

 business-like habits, the promptness of his decisions, and the prudence 

 and discretion of his whole administration, are still gratefully remem- 

 bered by the members of the various missions under the surveillance 

 of the Propaganda. 



After five years of service in this laborious office, he was named 

 (1838) cardinal, at the same time with his friend and successor in 

 the Vatican Library, Mezzofanti ; and soon afterwards was appointed 

 to several important and confidential offices in tho Roman court, 

 chiefly of a literary character. Ho was mimed successively Prefect 

 of the Congregation for the Supervision of the Oriental Press ; Prefect 

 of the Congregation of the Index ; and Prefect of the Congregation of 

 the Council of Trent. In 1853 ho was appointed to the still mure 

 congenial post of Librarian of the Roman Church. 



This elevation did not interrupt in the slightest degree the literary 

 labours in which he had been engaged. Scarcely was the collection 

 of 'Classici Auctores' completed, when he commenced a similar one, 

 also in ten volumes 8vo, 'Spicilegium Romanum* (1839-44), equally 

 interesting and various in its content*, aad a fourth collection entitled, 

 ' Nova Patrum Bibliuthcca,' publiahed in 1853 iu six volumes 4 to; 

 thus completing a series unparalleled since the days of Muratori, and 

 indeed far more extraordinary than the older collections, from the 

 circumstance that it was compiled from the mere gleanings which had 

 escaped the research of the earlier generations of editors and col- 

 lectors. Several years before, he bad undertaken to edit thu well- 

 known ' Codex Vuticanus ' of the Old and New Testament with various 

 readings and prolegomena. The text of this edition was printed many 

 years before his death, but its publication was delayed in order that 

 it might bo accompanied by the intended prolegomena. He died how- 

 ever at Albano, September 8, 1854, in his seventy-third year, leaving 

 thU great work still unpublished ; and it is much to be regretted that 

 since his death no trace has been found among his papers of the long- 

 expected dissertations which he had intended to prefix to the ' Codex 

 Vaticanun.' It is conjectured cither that, engrossed by his other 

 manifold editorial occupations, he deferred year after year this anxious 

 and difficult task, or that, dissatisfied with the execution, he in tho 

 end destroyed what he had prepared. 



Cardinal Mai's abilities as an editor were of the very highest order. 

 While his collections comprise an infinite variety of authors of every 

 age, of every country, of every variety of style, and in every depart- 

 ment of literature, iu all he appears equally the master. Whether the 

 subject be theology or history, or law, or languages, or general literature, 

 his learning is never at fault, and his critical sagacity never fails. In tho 

 many delicate and difficult questions which so often arise ; in assigning 

 an anonymous manuscript to its true author, in collecting fragment* 

 of the same work and dovetailing them together into intelligible order, 

 in selecting from a heap of unknown materials all that is unpublished, 

 and deciding upon the question of its genuineness or its intrinaiu 

 value ; in a wor.l, in all the thousand investigations which fall to the 

 lot of a critical editor treading upou untried ground, he possessed a 

 kill and acuteuess which can hardly be described as other than in- 

 stinctive, and which, taking into account the vast variety of subjects 

 which engaged him, must be regarded as little short of marvellous. 



The private character of Cardinal Mai has been well described as 

 the very ideal of a Christian scholar. Earnestly devoted to tho 

 duties of hi* sacred calling, ho yet loved literature for its own 

 cake also, and he was ever foremost in every project for its advance- 

 ment. He was a member of all the leading literary societies of Italy, 

 and not unfrequently read papers in those of Rome and Milan. Ih 

 charities were at all times liberal and indeed munificent ; and at his 

 death (reserving to tho Vatican Library the right to purchase it at 

 a moderate price) be bequeathed tho proceed* of the sale of his 

 noble library to be applied to the benefit of the poor of bis native 

 village of Schilpario. A monument ha* been erected to his memory 

 in the church of St. Anastaiia, from which he derived his title as 

 cardinal. 



MAIA'KO, BENEDETTO DA, a celebrated Italian sculptor and 

 architect, was born at Florence, in 1444. He first distinguished him- 

 self a* a carver and inlaycr of wood, and in both of these arts ho WM 

 the first artist of his time, lie executed come very extraordinary 

 inlaid-work for cabinet* for the kings of Naples and Hungary, and 

 an accident which happened to two which he made for the latter king 

 caused Maiano to give up the art of inlaying iu disgust. These two 

 client* or cabinets suffered so much in the transport from Florence to 

 Hungary by undue care or the change of climate, that when they 



