Osorio (or Osorius), Geronimo (1), a learned Roman Catholic Portuguese divine, and an excellent writer, the descendant of an illustrious family, was born at Lisbon in loOG. Showing an extraordinary inclination for literature, he was sent, at thirteen, to the University of Salamanca, and there learned Greek and Latin, and studied the law. At nineteen he re- moved to Paris, to be instructed in Aristotle's philos- o]3hy. From Paris he went to Bologna, where he de- voted himself to theology, learned Hebrew, and studied the Bible, in which he became so great a master that, on his return home, John HI, king of Portugal, ap- pointed him professor of divinity at Coimbra. Taking priest's orders, he was given the care of the church of Tavora by Dom Lewis, infante of Portugal, and soon after the archdeaconry of Evora by cardinal Henry, archbishop of that province, and brother to king John ; and at last he was nominated to the bishopric of Sylves by Catharine of Austria, that king's widow, who was regent of the kingdom during the minority of her grandson Sebastian. When this prince became of the proper age for the personal administration of his king- dom, he resolved upon an expedition against the Moors in Africa, much against the persuasions of Oso- rio, who thereupon, to avoid being an eye-witness of the calamities he dreaded, made various pretences to go to Rome. Here pope Gregory XIII gave Osorio many testimonies of his esteem ; but he had not been absent above a twelvemonth when the king called him home. Not long after this Sebastian was slain in a battle against the Moors, Aug. 4, 1578. During the tumults in Portugal which succeeded this fatal event Osorio labored incessantly to prevent the people of his diocese from joining in them ; and failing in this effort, he laid it so deeplj^ to heart that he died of grief, August, 1580. He is much commended for his piety and charity. He maintained several learned men in his palace, and at meals had some portion out of St. Bernard's works read, after which all present were at liberty to propose any difficulties that occurred upon it. As a writer, Du Pin observes that his diction is easy and elegant, for which reason he is called the Cicero of Portugal, as being a great imitator of Cicero, both in style, choice of subjects, and manner of treating them. His compositions are not intermixed with quotations, but consist of connected reasonings. He does not en- deavor in his Commentaries and Paruj^hrases to ex- plain the terms of the text, but to extend the sense of it, and show its order and scries fully. These were col- lected and published at Rome (1592, in 4 vols, fol.) by Jerome Osorio, his nephew, who prefixed his uncle's life to the edition. The titles of his works are : De nobili- tate civili, et de nobilitate Christiana : — De gloria (printed with the foregoing; some have thought this last to have been written by Cicero, and that Osorio found it and published it as his own) -.—De regis instilutione et
OSORIO
410
OSPRAY
disciplina : De rebus Emanuelis reyis invicHssimi vir-
tufe et auspicio gestis : — Item, cum prw/utione Joannis Melelii, de reperta India: — De justitia cmlesti, lib. x, ad Reginaldum Polum Cardinalem: — De vera sapientia, lib. V, ad Gregorium XIII, P. M. .■— besiiles paraphrases and commentaries upon several parts of Scripture. He •wrote to queen Elizabeth of England and exhorted her to turn papist. He was answered by Walter Haddon, master of the requests to that queen. See Gen. Bio//. Did. s. V. ; Wetzer u. Welte, Kirchcn-Lexikon, s. v. ; Aschbach, Kirchen-Lexikon, s. v. ; Hallam, Intrud. to the Liter, of Europe, i, 258. (J. H. W.)
Osorio, Geronimo (2), nephew of the preceding, was canon of Evora, and, having been educated by his uncle, endeavored to imitate his style; but he was not so tine a writer, though he seems to have had more learn- ing. He wrote, besides a life of his uncle, Notationes in Ilieronymi Osorii Paraphrasin Psulmorum, subjoined to his uncle's Paraphrase in the third volume of his works. Du Pin says these '■Remarks" are valuable, and tilled with critical observations on the Hebrew lan- guage : — Paraphrasis et Commentai-ia ad Ecclesiasten nunc primuni edita : — Paraph7-asis in Canticum Canii- corum (Lugd. 1611, 4to).
Ospray (by ornithologists, Osprey) is the rendering in the A. V. of the HebreAV '"I^P^^'j ozniyah' (Sept. uXiaitTOQ, or sea-eagle; which Jerome follows, halge- tus and halecetus, some copies translating it aquila ma- rina; but the Veneto-Greek MS. has yiiip, the vulture, from mere conjecture); the name of some unclean bird which the law of Moses disallowed as food to the Israel- ites (Lev. xi, 13 ; Deut. xiv, 12). The Hebrew ety- mology, from the root tjS", to sti-engthen, would seem to point to some bird remarkably poiverful, fierce, or im- pudent. Bochart supposes the black eagle to be meant, but reasons upon the mere conjecture that by the word aXia'iiTOQ is intended ptXavaitroQ {Ilieroz, iii, 188, etc.). The traditional interpretation favors the English ren- dering, the name and description of this bird having been copied and preserved from hand to hand, at least from Aristotle's time to our own. Thus, Gesner and Aldrovandus copied from Aristotle (Ray, Preface to Willoughbg^s Ornithologif) ; from them Willougliby took the names of his birds; and on this system Lin- naeus based his classification (Neville Wood, Ornitholo- gists' Text-book, p. 3). Aristotle, about B.C. 300 (prob- abh' contemporary with the translation of the Penta- teuch into Greek ; see above), describes the a\iattTOQ as " a species of eagle dwelling near seas and lakes ; and remarks it sometimes happens to it that, having seized its prey, and not being able to carry it, it is drowned in the deep" (Hist. Animal, ix, c. 32). Tlie same word is found in the writings of Pliny (A.D. 70) with the following description: "There remains (to be mentioned) the haiicefos, having the most penetrating vision of all (eagles); soaring (or balancing itself) on liigh, and upon perceiving a tish in the sea, rushing down headlong, and with its breast dashing aside the waters, seizing its prey" (I/ist. Xat. x, 3). The ha- li(etus is described in the very words of Aristotle and Pliny by Aldrovandus (lib. xii, Bonon. 1594, p. 194). For the transference of names into the Linnwan system, see Si/stema Naturw, i, 129 (Holmite, 1767). The word, according to its etymology, signifies sea-eagle, and the traditional English word is osprey. The following ac- counts from modern naturalists are strikingly in ac- cordance with the ancient descriptions: Species of the haliietus, or sea-eagle, occur in Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Australia (Selby's British Oi-nithology'). Mr. ^Lacgillivray describes " its savage scream of anger when any one approaches the neigldiorhood of its nest, its intimidating gestures, and even its attempts to mo- lest individuals who have ventured among its native crags." Mr. Selby {Illustrations of British Ornithologg, 1825), respecting the osprey, observes, "It is strictly