MELAXCTHON
54
MELAXCTHOX
retirinf^ manners, caused a feeling of disappointment ; but wlien, four days later (Aug. -29), he delivereil his inaugural Icot ure, '• On i-eforining the Studk.i of Youth,'' lie \V(iii ilic ciithiisiastic apjilause of all his hearers. Lu- ther, I'siiccially, was delighted. Two days aftenvards he wrote : '• \Ve quickly forgot all our thoughts about his person and stature, and rejoiced and wondered at his treatment of his theme. ... I realh' desire no other teacher of Greek so long as he lives." And again, Sept. 2. "Philip has his lecture-room crowded with students. He has especially infused an enthusiasm for the study of (ireek into the students of theology of all classes." This favorable opinion was only strengthened by fur- ther intimacy, which revealed the extensive erudition of Melancthon, and called forth eulogiums still more ar- dent. "A wonderful man, in whom everything is al- most supernatural, yet my most cherished and intimate friend" (Luther to Heuchlin, Dec. 14, lol8). Although r(i)eatedly called elsewlicre, even to France and Eng- l:ind, he remained at Wittenberg until the close of his life, exerting, by his varied attainments, marvellous in- dustry, and simple piety, an intluence second only to that of the great Keformer. Married in 1520 to Catharine Krapp, daughter of the burgomaster of Wittenberg, whom his friend Camerarius describes as a pious and devoted wife and mother, Melancthon enjoyed in his domestic life much happiness, but during his later years suffered great trouble and anxiety. Of his two sons, one died in infancy; Philip died in 1G03, a pious but not a gifted man, at one time secretary of the Consistory. Of his two daughters, Anna married the learned but er- ratic and unjirincipled George Sabinus, provost of the University of Kiinigsberg, and died in 1547 ; while INLigdalena became tlie wife of Dr. Caspar Keucer, after- wards professor at Wittenberg, and survived her lather.
ISIclancthon's last years were embittered not only by (liimestic griefs, but also by the distracted condition of t lie Church. He longed to be delivered, as he said, from the '•rabies thenlogirii." A violent cold, contracted in travelling, April, 15G0, terminated in a fever, which eventually proved fatal. Although in much feebleness, lie continued to lecture until a week before his death, whicli occurred Ajiril 19. .\lmost his last words were, '• Nothing but heaven." Two days afterwards his body was laid by the side of that of Luther, where, on the anniversary of his death, in 1860, the corner-stone of a monument to his memory was laid vith appropriate ceremonies. It has since been reared, in 1869.
Melancthon as a Teacher. — His reputation as a teacher gave him the title of Prceceptor Germanim, and attracted to Wittenberg crowds of students not only Irom all parts of Germany, but also from England, Prance, Poland, Hungary, Denmark, and even Italy and Greece. He frecpiently lectured to an audience of 2000. His lectures covered Old and Xew Testament exegesis, dogmatic theology, the explanation of the principal Latin and (Jreek classics, ethics, logic, physics, and occasionally metajdiysics. In addition, he received jirivate pupils at his house, and exercised over them a truly paternal oversight. By his work in the organiza- tion of many of the schools of Germany, and more espe- cially by his valuable text-books, he continued for many years after his death to exert a more powerful iniluence than any living teacher, and became, as Hallam {Hist, of Lit. i, 145) remarks, " far aliove all others, the founder of general learning throughout Europe." His Jjafin (Jraminai; prepared originally for his private pu]>ils, was almost universally adopted in Euro|)e, running through lifty-one editions, and continuing until 1734 to be the text-book even in the Komaii Catholic schools of Saxony. His Greek Grammar also enjoyed great popularity. Of his Terence, 73 editions had been pub- lished within IOC years of its first publication. He also published either scholia upon or ex])ositioiis or par- I aphnases of the De Ojjiciis, LwUus, I)e Oratore, Orator, Topine, Epistles, and 19 Orations of Cicero, Porciiis La- tro, Sallust, tlie Germania of Tacitus, Pliny, Quintiliau, |
1. xii, six orations of Demosthenes, one of ^schines, Lycurgus, Stoba;us, ^Elian, Lucian, Thucydides, Xeno- phon, Plutarch, Lysis, Ptolemieus, selections from Ho- mer and Sophocles, 18 tragedies of Euripides, Aristoph- anes, Menander, PJth Idyl of Theocritus, Tyrtasus, So- lon, Theognis, Calimaclius, Pindar, Empedocles, Virgil, Ovid, the Miles of Plautus, and the Theognis of Seneca, in addition to composing 391 Latin and Greek odes. His style (genus dicendi J'hitippicum), which is said, in purity of diction and correctness of classical taste, to excel even that of Erasmus, for a time was regarded in the schools as a model, even to the exclusion of Cicero and Quintilian.
In philosophy, although, in his first edition of his Loci Communes, he sympathizes with Luther's antagonism to Aristotle, yet he soon learned to distinguish between the use and the abuse of that author, and, while con- demning Aristotle as perverted by Romish scholasticism, he effectually employed him in his true meaning as an important aid to the student of theology for the detec- tion of sophistry and the attainment of a clear method of thought. He declared that he had never understood the use of philosophy until he had apprehended the pure doctrine of the (iospel. Among his philosophical works were an Epitome oj" Moral Philosophy ; Elements of Ethics; Explanation of Aristotle's Ethics; Commen- tari/ on Aristotle's Politics; Elements of Rhetoric ; Log- ical Questions ; and dissertations on various ethical sub- jects, such as oaths, contracts, etc. For many years in- struction in these works was the regular course in ethics in most of the schools of Protestant Germany, A writer before quoted pronounces them "more clear, elegant, and better arranged than those of Aristotle himself or his commentators" (Ilallam's Literature, ii, 50). lie was the author, also, of an eleinentaiy text-book of physics, and a sketch of inii\ cr>al lii^toiy. Injin the creation to the Reformation (('hrnnirnii ( ■inln„i.<). His miscella- neous iiratiiiMs. lectures, and essays (ill over two volumes of tlie ''nrjiii.^ L'l formatorum.