783 



WOLF, FEIEDRICH AUGUST. 



WOLF, HIERONYMUS. 



784 



lication Wolf was appointed, in 1782, rector of the public school^ of 

 Oaterode, at the foot of the Harz mountains. In the year following 

 he received two invitations, one to the office of rector of the gymnasium 

 at Gera, and the other to that of ordinary professor of philosophy in 

 the University of Halle, and rector of the paedagogical institute, 

 which was then connected with the university. Although the post at 

 Halle was less lucrative than that of Gera, Wolf preferred it, because it 

 opened to him a wider and more satisfactory sphere of action. His 

 mode of teaching at Halle was so different from that which had been 

 customary, that in the first years he was little understood and appre- 

 ciated by the students, and he gradually discovered that he must 

 descend to the capacity and knowledge of his hearers. From the time 

 he adopted this plan his lecture-room was always crowded, and the 

 greatest zeal prevailed among the students. With the assistance of 

 Baron von Zedlitz, Wolf succeeded in transforming the paedagogical 

 institute of Halle iuto a philological seminary, similar to that which 

 Heyne conducted at Gottingen. As an academical teacher Wolf fol- 

 lowed his own way, and being thoroughly convinced that there is no 

 fitter means of educating men for the higher purposes of life than the 

 study of the ancient languages and antiquity generally, his great object 

 was to train a number of able teachers, who were to diffuse sound 

 principles of education throughout Germany, and counteract the 

 numerous empirical schemes which were then afloat. Wolf always 

 regarded it as his peculiar vocation to work as a teacher; literary 

 labours and reputation were matters of secondary importance with 

 him. To give the reader some notion of his extraordinary activity as 

 a teacher, we may mention the fact, that during the twenty-three 

 years of his professorship at Halle he delivered upwards of fifty 

 courses of lectures on different subjects of antiquity, independent of 

 what he did in conducting the philological seminary. In order to 

 supply a suitable text of Hesiod for the purpose of a course of lectures 

 on mythology, he published, in 1784, an edition of Hesiod's ' Theo- 

 gony,' with a preface and some notes. 



About this time his attention was drawn to the Homeric poems by the 

 request of a publisher to prepare an edition of them. Many years 

 however passed away before this plan was realised. In 1789 he pub- 

 lished his celebrated edition of Demosthenes' oration against Leptines, 

 together with the declamation of Aelius Aristides on the same subject. 

 The learning displayed in the introduction, the excellent commentary, 

 and the ingenious emendations of the text, established his reputation 

 as a first-rate scholar and critic. In 1795 he at length published the 

 results of his Homeric studies in the celebrated 'Prolegomena ad 

 Homerum,' in which he developed his views on the original form of 

 the ' Iliad ' and ' Odyssey,' explained the history of these poems, and 

 pointed out in what manner their original form might be restored. 

 With extraordinary sagacity and learning he here endeavours to show 

 that the * Iliad' and the 'Odyssey' in their present form are not the 

 work of Homer, but the work of several rhapsodists, which were sub- 

 sequently put together and made up in the two epics bearing the 

 name of Homer. This work created a great sensation all through 

 Europe, and gave rise to numerous historical and antiquarian investi- 

 gations. Several scholars, and among them Heyne, endeavoured to 

 diminish Wolf's merits by asserting that they had entertained similar 

 ideas respecting the Homeric poems ; and Heyne went so far as to say 

 that Wolf had done nothing but strung together the notions which he 

 had gathered at Gottingen. This unfounded assertion provoked 

 Wolf to publish a series of letters addressed to Heyne, ' Briefe an 

 Heyne, eine Beilage zu den neuesten Untersuchungen u'ber Homer' 

 (8vo, Berlin, 1797), the first three of which are models of a learned 

 controversy and exquisite irony. Wolf's ' Prolegomena' have un- 

 questionably had greater influence than any other learned production 

 of modern times ; and although the results at which the author had 

 arrived are now almost universally regarded as untenable, or at least 

 greatly modified, yet the work begot that spirit of critical investigation 

 which has ever since characterised the best among the learned works 

 of Germany. It was Wolf who gave this impulse. 



In the years 1801 and 1802, in which his literary activity was 

 greatest, he published 1, Five orations of Cicero (' Post reditum in 

 senatu,' ' Ad Quirites post reditum,' ' Pro domo ad pontifices,' ' De 

 Haruspicum responsis,' and ' Pro Marcello'), and he endeavoured to 

 prove that these orations are spurious, that they arc mere declamations 

 of later rhetoricians, and altogether unworthy of Cicero; 2, His 

 edition of Suetonius, in 4 vols. 8vo (Leipzig, 1802), with the notes of 

 Ernesti, Isaac Casaubon, and some of his own. This edition contains 

 also the fragments of the 'Monumentum Ancyranum,' and of the 

 'Fasti Praenestini.' 3, A collection of his smaller essays and occa- 

 sional orations delivered at Halle, ' Vermischte Schriften und Aufsatze 

 in Lat. und Deutscher Sprache,' 8vo, Halle, 1802. During this period 

 Wolf received several honourable invitations from other universities ; 

 in 1796 an invitation to a professorship at Leyden ; in 1798 another as 

 chief manager of all the learned schools in Denmark ; and in 1805 a 

 third invitation to Munich. But he declined all these flattering offers, 

 and was rewarded for it by the Prussian government with a consider- 

 able increase of his salary and the title of privy councillor (Geheimer 

 Hath). During the time from 1804 to 1807 he was engaged in the 

 publication of his text of the Homeric poems (8vo, Leipzig, 4 vols). 

 A second and still better edition is that of 1817, in 4 vols. 12mo. It 

 was reprinted, with a preface by G. Hermann, in 2 vols. 8vo, Leipzig, 



1825, and in 1828, in 4 vols. 12mo. Wolf had not finished his 

 edition of Homer when, after the disasters of 1806, the University 

 of Halle was closed. As Wolf had no property, he was for a time 

 in considerable difficulties. In 1807 he went to Berlin, where he 

 found an opportunity of devoting his energy to the Academy of 

 Sciences of that capital, of which he was a member. Here he also 

 took a most active part in the establishment of the University of 

 Berlin. For himself he wished to have the general superintendence of 

 all the schools at Berlin, and the management of a philological semi- 

 nary which was to be connected with the new university and the 

 gymnasia of Berlin, and for which he drew up an excellent plan. In 

 the meantime he also obtained a high office in the ministry for public 

 instruction; but as he could not realise hie plans, and as the duties of 

 his several offices engrossed a great deal of his time which he would 

 have preferred to devote to teaching his favourite occupation he 

 withdrew from public service, but being a member of the Berlin 

 academy, he reserved to himself the right of lecturing in the university 

 on such subjects as might be most agreeable to him. During the 

 period of leisure which now followed, he devoted nearly all his time 

 to literary labours. From 1807 to 1810 he edited, together with 

 Buttmann, the ' Museum der Alterthumswissenschaft ' (Berlin, 2 vols. 

 8vo) ; the first volume contains Wolf's celebrated treatise ' Darstellung 

 der Alterthumswissenschaft nach Begriff, Umfang, Zweck und Werth,' 

 which was reprinted at Leipzig, 8vo, 1833, together with a select 

 number of his smaller essays, by S. F. W. Hoffmann. This treatise is 

 the first in which Philology, or the Alterthumswissenschaft (a word for 

 which an equivalent is much wanted in English), was treated as and 

 raised to the rank of a science. In 1812 he edited three dialogues of 

 Plato (' Euthyphro,' ' Apologia Socratis,' and ' Crito'), Berlin, 1 vol. 4to, 

 with an elegant Latin translation. From 1817 to 1820 he edited a 

 periodical, ' Literarische Analekten' (Berlin, 4 vols. 8vo), perhaps the 

 best philological journal that has ever been published. He gave it up 

 suddenly in 1820, on account of the restrictions imposed upon the 

 press by the government, to which he was unwilling to submit. Some 

 years after this he began to suffer from ill health. In April 1824, he 

 travelled to the south of France for the purpose of restoring his 

 health, but he never returned to his country : he died at Marseille, on 

 the 18th of August 1824. 



An interesting volume compiled from the papers which Wolf had 

 left on matters of education, was edited by W. Kbrte, Wolfs son-in- 

 law, under the title ' Ueber Erziehung Schule, Universitiit (Consilia 

 Scholastica),' Quedlinburg und Leipzig, 8vo, 1835. After the death of 

 Wolf several of his former pupils set about editing some of his most 

 important courses of lectures, but the haste and carelessness with 

 which the task was undertaken left much to be desired. These 

 lectures are 1, ' Encyclopaedic der Philologie,' edited by Stoekmann, 

 1 vol. 8vo, Leipzig, 1830; 2, 'Vorlesungen iiber die Alterthums- 

 wissenschaft,' edited by Giirtler, 5 vol. 8vo, Leipzig, 1831-35; 3, 'Vor- 

 lesungen iiber die vier ersten Gesange von Homer's Ilias,' edited by 

 Usteri, 3 vols. 8vo, Bern, 1831. 



(Hanhart, Erinnerungen an Fr, A. Wolf, 8vo, Basel, 1825 ; W. Korte, 

 Leben und Studien .Fr. A. Wolf's, des Philologen, 2 vols. 8vo, Essen, 

 1833 ; S. F. W. Hoffmann's Preface to Fr. A. Wolf's Darstellung der 

 A Iterthum sw issenschaft. ) 



WOLF, HIEKO'NYMUS, a German scholar of the 16th century, 

 was born on the 13th of August 1516, at Dettingen, and belonged to a 

 noble but reduced family. From his early youth he showed a great 

 inclination to study, but his father, whose means were very limited, 

 and who also thought the delicate constitution of his son unsuited for 

 a studious life, tried to dissuade him from it. His son at last gave 

 way, and resolved to become a soldier ; but some books which chance 

 threw in his way again changed his determination, and he went to the 

 University of Tubingen, where he became a pupil of Camerarius and 

 J. Schegk. As his father could not supply him with money, he was 

 obliged to become a sort of literary servant (famulus) to one of the 

 professors. He was however soon tired of this situation, and went to 

 Wurzburg, where he got a place as clerk in the bishop's office. Here 

 too he did not remain long, He resigned his post and went to Wit- 

 tenberg, where he attended the lectures of Melanchthon and others, 

 and also began to translate some Greek authors into Latin, which was 

 his favourite occupation. In 1539 he went from Wittenberg to Niirn- 

 berg, where he acted for a time as assistant-master in a public school, 

 until, in 1543, he was appointed rector of the gymnasium at Mu'hl- 

 hausen, on the recommendation of Melanchthon : but his restless dis- 

 position did not allow him to remain there more than two years ; he 

 resigned his office and returned to Niirnberg. Having stayed there 

 for some time, during which he maintained himself by giving private 

 lessons, he went to Strassburg. The next few years he spent partly at 

 Strassburg and partly at Basel, being all the while zealously engaged 

 in preparing his editions of Isocrates, Demosthenes, and Aeschiues. 

 From Strassburg he accompanied some young men whom he instructed 

 in Greek, to Paris, and after a short stay there he returned to Basel. 

 He now took his degree of Master of Arts, and then went to Augsburg, 

 where he at length found a resting-place. Anton Fugger received him 

 into his house, made him his librarian, and employed him in carrying 

 on his Latin correspondence. After having been in this situation for 

 six years, from 1551 to 1557, he was appointed professor of Greek in 

 the gymnasium of Augsburg. Soon after he was promoted to the 



