455 



VOSSIUS, GERARD. 



VOUET, SIMON. 



456 



Voss, by F. B. Th. Schmid, in Voss'a Poetical Works, Leipzig, 1835, 

 p. i-x.xxix. 



VO'SSIUS, GERARD. As his father's name was Johannes Vossius, 

 he called himself Gerardus Johannis Vossius, that is, Gerard Vossius, 

 the son of John. His real family name was Voa, which he Latinised 

 into Vossius. He was born in 1577, in the neighbourhood of Heidel- 

 berg, whither his father, who had once resided at Roermonde, in Hol- 

 land, had gone after he had embraced the Protestant religion. In the 

 year after the birth of his son Johannes Voasius returned to Holland, 

 and settled finally at Dortrecht. Gerard was only seven years old at 

 the time of his father's death. He began his studies at Dortrecht, 

 and, after having acquired a considerable knowledge of Latin and 

 Greek and of the elements of philosophy, he went, in 1595, to the 

 University of Ley den, where the range of his studies was considerably 

 extended. In 1598 he took his degree in philosophy, and began to 

 devote himself with great zeal to the study of theology, ecclesiastical 

 history, and the Hebrew language. About the year 1600 the Univer- 

 sity of Leyden was on the point of giving Vossius a professorship, 

 when he left the place, being invited by the town of Dortrecht to 

 undertake the head- mastership of the public school there. Soon after 

 his arrival at Dortrecht he married. His wife died in 1607, after 

 having borne him three children. In about six months he married 

 his second wife, who bore him five sons and two daughters. Of all 

 his children none survived him except his son Isaac. 



Gerard Vossius was an intimate friend of Hugo Grotius. Grotius 

 had severely chastised the Dutch clergy in his work ' Pietas Ordinum 

 Hollandiao,' and Vosfius, although he took the pains to avoid being 

 entangled in the theological disputes then going on in Holland, was 

 suspected of entertaining heretical opinions. In 1614 the professor- 

 ship of theology at Steinfurt was offered to him, and owing to the 

 hostility which some of the Dutch clergy evinced towards him, he was 

 inclined to accept the invitation ; but at the same time the rectorship 

 of the theological college at Leyden was offered to him. Vossius 

 accepted this distinguished post to which, some years after, the pro- 

 fessorship of eloquence and chronology in the university was added. 

 In 1618 he published a history of the Pelagian controversy (' Historia 

 Pelagiana'), from which his enemies inferred that he was guilty of that 

 heresy. A report also was spread that he was an Arminian, and a 

 secret friend of C. Vorstius. All this increased the number and 

 bitterness of his enemies, and the synod of Tergou was prevailed upon, 

 in 1620, to deprive Vossius of the rectorship of the theological college 

 at Leyden. The synod of Rotterdam however restored him, in 1621, 

 to his office, on condition that he should neither say nor write anything 

 against the synod of Dortrecht, which had condemned Arminianism. 

 During these troubles Vossius tranquilly continued his studies and 

 literary labours. In 1564 the University of Cambridge offered him a 

 professorship, but he yielded to the wishes of the curators of the 

 University of Leyden, not to quit the place, and the States of Holland 

 showed him their esteem and confidence by commissioning him to 

 write a Latin and a Greek grammar for the use of the public schools 

 in Holland. In 1626 another unsuccessful attempt was made to get 

 Vossius over to England ; but he continued at Leyden, where his 

 lectures and the reputation of his learning attracted crowds of students. 

 The work on Pelagianism, which had called forth so many enemies in 

 Holland, gained him the favour of Archbishop Laud, who procured 

 Vossius a prebend in the cathedral of Canterbury, the emoluments of 

 which were to be transmitted to him at Leyden. In 1629 he came 

 over to England to be installed, and after having been honoured with 

 the degree of Doctor of Laws at Oxford he returned to Holland. In 

 1630 the city of Amsterdam founded a gymnasium, and invited 

 Vossius to the chair of history. Notwithstanding the opposition of 

 the University of Leyden, Vossius accepted the offer, partly because 

 the new office afforded him more leisure, and better opportunity for 

 the education of hia children. In 1633 Vossius went to Amsterdam, 

 where he exerted himself to raise the new establishment. Although 

 the successive losses of his children caused him deep and lasting grief, 

 he did not allow these family afflictions to interfere with his official 

 duties or to interrupt his literary activity. He died at Amsterdam in 

 1649. One day when he was ascending the ladder in his library, the 

 ladder broke, and Vossius was found dead, and buried under his 

 books. 



Vossius was a man of extraordinary learning, and had a powerful 

 memory; he boasted that he never forgot anything. He was an 

 humble and devout man, and always ready to serve others. Extremely 

 careful in employing his time, he scarcely ever allowed a friend to stay 

 with him more than a quarter of an hour. He hated nothing more 

 cordially than the theological squabbles and the calumnies with which 

 the scholars of that time assailed one another. His writings, most of 

 which relate to classical antiquity, are very numerous, and some of them 

 necessary to a scholar. They were collected at Amsterdam, 1695- 

 1701, in 6 vols. folio. The following list contains those which are still 

 of great value : 1, ' Aristarchus, sive de Arte Grammatica Libri VII.,' 

 4to, Amsterdam, 1635, and often reprinted ; 2, ' De Historicis Latinis 

 Libri Tres,' 4to, Leydeu, 1627; a second edition appeared at Leyden, 

 in 1651. It contains an account of all the writers that ever wrote on 

 historical subjects in the Latin language, down to his own time. 3, 

 'De Historicis Graccis Libri Tres.' Of this work a most useful edition 

 was published by A. "VVestermann, 8vo, Leipzig, 1838, which contains 



many additions and corrections. It gives an account of all the Greek 

 historians down to the taking of Constantinople by the Turks. 4, ' De 

 Veterutn Poetarum Temporibus Libri duo qui sunt de Poetis Graocis et 

 Latinis,' 4to, Amsterdam, 1652; 5, 'De Logices et Rhetoricae Naturii 

 et Constitutione Libri Duo,' 4to, Hagae, 1658 ; 6, ' De Philosophorum 

 Sectis Liber,' 4to, Hagae, 1657. 



(Niceron, Mtmoirea dea Ilommes Illzistres, vol. xiii. ; Coloinesii 

 EpistolcB 0. J. Vossii, London, 1690.)- 



VOSSIUS, ISAAC, a son of Gerard Vossius by his second wife, was 

 born at Leyden, in 1618. His education, like that of all his brothers 

 and sisters, was conducted exclusively by his father. After he had 

 completed his studies he travelled for three years through Italy, 

 France, and England, during which time he collected many valuable 

 manuscripts of ancient writers. Queen Christina invited him, in 

 1648, to Sweden, and Vossius enjoyed for many years her esteem and 

 friendship, and had also the honour of giving her instruction in the 

 Greek language. On his father's death the professorship of history at 

 Amsterdam was offered to him, but he refused it, and although he 

 occasionally visited his native country, yet he spent the greater part of 

 his time in Sweden. Salmasius (Saumaise) was one of the scholars whom 

 Christina drew to her court, and for whom she entertained a very high 

 regard. But Salmasius always treated Vossius in an insolent manner, 

 and when at last the queen was informed that Vossius was going to 

 write against him, she refused to admit him to her presence, where- 

 upon Vossius immediately went back to Holland, in 1658, and never 

 returned to Sweden. In 1663 King Louis XIV. of France sent him a 

 handsome letter, accompanied by a considerable sum of money, partly 

 as an acknowledgment of the great merits of his father Gerard 

 Vossius, and partly as an encouragement to Isaac to continue his 

 literary labours. Shortly after this the States of Holland requested 

 Vossius <to write a history of the war between England and Holland, 

 and on his refusal, he was deprived of the pension which he had 

 hitherto enjoyed. This appears to have induced him to leave his 

 country, and in 1670 he arrived in England. At Oxford he was made 

 a Doctor of Laws, and in 1673 King Charles II. made him a canon of 

 Windsor, and assigned to him apartments in the castle, where he 

 remained until his death, on the 10th of February 1688. The splendid 

 library of books and manuscripts which he had collected, and which 

 was considered one of the most complete private collections in Europe, 

 was purchased by the University of Leyden. 



Isaac Vossius was almost as learned as his father, but his character 

 was not so blameless. When he attended Divine service in the chapel 

 at Windsor, it is said that he used to read Ovid's ' Amores ' and ' Ars 

 Amaudi,' instead of his prayer-book, and he was much given to women. 

 He knew all the European languages without being able to speak one 

 of them correctly. He was familiar with the manners and customs of 

 the ancients, but profoundly ignorant of the world and of the affairs of 

 ordinary life. Although a canon of Windsor, he did not believe in the 

 Divine origin of the Christian religion, and he treated religious matters 

 with contempt, although in all other things he was exceedingly credu- 

 lous. Charles II. on one occasion said, "This learned divine is a 

 strange man : he will believe anything except the Bible." On his 

 deathbed he refused the Sacrament, and was only prevailed upon to 

 take it by the remark of one of his colleagues, that if he would not do 

 it for the love of God, he ought to do it for the honour of the chapter 

 to which he belonged. His literary merits are great, though his works 

 are not so valuable as those of bis father. The following list contains 

 his principal works: 1, 'Periplus Scylacis Caryandensis et Anonymi 

 Periplus Ponti Euxini,' with a Latin translation and notes, 4to, 

 Amsterdam, 1639. 2, 'Justinus, Historia Philippica,' with notes, 

 12mo, Leydeu, 1640. 3, 'Ignatii Epistolaa, et Barnabaj Epistola,' 

 with a Latin translation and notes, 4to, Amsterdam, 1646. 4, 'Pom- 

 ponius Mela, de Situ Orbis,' 4to, Hagse, 1648; a second edition 

 appeared in 1700, at Franecker. His notes on Mela are chiefly directed 

 against Salmasius. 5, 'Dissertatio de vera ./Etate Mundi,' 4to, Hagae, 

 1659. In this work he endeavours to establish the chronology of the 

 Septuagint in opposition to that of the Hebrew text. This involved him 

 in various disputes with other divines, especially Home. 6, ' De Sep- 

 tuaginta Interpretibus, eorumque Translatione et Chrouologia, Bisser- 

 tationes,' 4to, 1663. 7, 'De Sibyllinis aliisque quae Christi Natalem 

 praecessere Oraculis,' Oxford, 1679. 8, 'Catullus et in eum Isaaci 

 Vossii Observationes,' 4to, London, 1684. 9, ' Variarum Observa- 

 tionum Liber,' 4 to, London, 1685. This volume contains a number of 

 dissertations, some of which had been printed separately, but most of 

 them show that he had no critical spirit. 10, ' Observationum ad 

 Pomponium Melam Appendix,' &c., 4to, London, 1686. This appen- 

 dix is an attack upon Jacob Gronovius, who had censured Vossius's 

 edition of Mela. Isaac also edited the ' Annales Hollandiae et Zelandioa, 

 Sexcentorum fere Annorum a Theodorico I usque ad Translatum a 

 Jacobo in Philippum Imperium,' which had been written by his brother 

 Matthias Vossius, who died before the work was completed. 



(Nice'ron, Mtmoires da Homines Illustres, vol. iii. ; Andreae HiUio- 

 tJieca Belgica ; Wood, A thence Oxonienses.) 



VOUET, SIMON, commonly considered the founder of the French 

 school of painting, was born at Paris in 1582. He was instructed by 

 his father Laurent Vouet, a painter of moderate ability, and distin- 

 guished himself at a very early age. Baron de Saucy, French ambas- 

 sador to the Porte, took Vouet with him to Constantinople in 1611, 



