Arnoldus Arlenius Peraxylus, ( – 1582), born Arndt or Arnout van Eyndhouts or van Eynthouts, also known as Arnoud de Lens, was a

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...

philosopher and poet. He was born in Aarle, near

Helmond Helmond (; called ''Hèllemond'' in the local dialect) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Metropoolregio Eindhoven of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of ...

, (although some accounts say

's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 160,783. It is the capital of ...

North Brabant North Brabant ( ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, Dutch Brabant or Hollandic Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to ...

, in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, at that time part of the possessions of the

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

. He studied under

Macropedius Georgius Macropedius (born Joris van Lanckvelt; 23 April 1487 – 23 July 1558) was a Dutch people, Dutch Humanism, humanist, schoolmaster and "the greatest Latin playwright of the 16th century." Biography Macropedius was born as Joris van Lanck ...

and later travelled to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and Ferrara and studied at the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna (, abbreviated Unibo) is a Public university, public research university in Bologna, Italy. Teaching began around 1088, with the university becoming organised as guilds of students () by the late 12th century. It is the ...

for five years, becoming a first-rate Greek scholar and supporting himself by bookselling and acting as a scout for the printers of Basel, arranging the publication of books such as

Caelius Rhodiginus Caelius Rhodiginus (born Lodovico Ricchieri; 1469, Rovigo–1525, Rovigo) was a Venetian writer, and professor in Greek and Latin. His original name was Ludovico or Lodovico Celio Ricchieri. He took the name Rhodiginus from his birthplace, Rovigo ...

's ''Lectiones antiquae''. In 1542 he travelled to

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, where he became librarian to the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

ambassador, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, finding new texts and organising the transcription of documents, work which involved him in travelling to Frankfurt and Florence. In 1543 he met

Conrad Gessner Conrad Gessner (; ; 26 March 1516 – 13 December 1565) was a Swiss physician, naturalist, bibliographer, and philologist. Born into a poor family in Zürich, Switzerland, his father and teachers quickly realised his talents and supported him t ...

who visited him in Venice. He also catalogued Mendoza's collection of Greek manuscripts. Working with manuscripts found in Mendoza's substantial library, he produced in 1544 the first printed

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

version of the works of

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

. This was published by

Hieronymus Froben Hieronymus Froben (1501–1563) was a famous pioneering printer in Basel and the eldest son of Johann Froben. He was educated at the University of Basel and traveled widely in Europe. He, his father and his brother-in-law Nicolaus Episcopius we ...

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

, and for many years was the basis of all existing translations from the Greek. In addition, he was responsible for the publication of important early editions of

Lycophron Lycophron ( ; ; born about 330–325 BC) was a Hellenistic Greek tragic poet, grammarian, and commentator on comedy, to whom the poem ''Alexandra'' is attributed (perhaps falsely). Life and miscellaneous works He was born at Chalcis in Euboea, a ...

(Basel, 1546) and Niccolò Perotti's Latin translation of

Polybius Polybius (; , ; ) was a Greek historian of the middle Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , a universal history documenting the rise of Rome in the Mediterranean in the third and second centuries BC. It covered the period of 264–146 ...

(Basel, 1549). His Greek-Latin Lexicon was published in Venice in 1546. He later worked as a corrector for the printer Lorenzo Torrentino and obtained books and manuscripts for

Johann Jakob Fugger Johann Jakob Fugger or Hans Jakob Fugger (23 December 1516, Augsburg - 14 July 1575, Munich) was a German banker and patron of the arts and sciences from the ''von der Lilie'' (''of the Lily'') line of the noted Fugger banking family. Life He wa ...

. In 1556 he was responsible for the publication in Basel of an edition of

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

's works, based on the 1534 edition by the scholar

Simon Grynaeus Simon Grynaeus (born Simon Griner; 1493 – 1 August 1541) was a German scholar and theologian of the Protestant Reformation. Biography Grynaeus was the son of Jacob Gryner, a Swabian peasant, and was born at Veringendorf, in Hohenzollern-Sigma ...

, which he personally corrected with the assistance of manuscripts of Plato which he had collected in Italy. This edition is described by the classicist

Myles Burnyeat Myles Fredric Burnyeat (; 1 January 1939 – 20 September 2019) was an English scholar of ancient philosophy. Early life and education Myles Burnyeat was born on 1 January 1939 to Peter James Anthony Burnyeat and Cynthia Cherry Warburg. He re ...

as "one of the most barbarously ligatured ever put into print."M. F. Burnyeat, 'Plato' (Master Mind Lecture), Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume 111, Oxford University Press 2001

Sources

* Charles Anthon, ''A Manual of Greek Literature from the Earliest Authentic Periods to the Close of Byzantine Era'' (New York, 1853) * Anthony Hobson, ''Renaissance Book Collecting: Jean Grolier and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, their Books and Bindings'': pp 72–74. *Jenny, B.R. ‘Arlenius in Basel’, ''Basler Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Alterthumskunde'', 64 (1964), 5–45.

References

1510s births 1582 deaths People from Laarbeek 16th-century Dutch people Dutch Renaissance humanists {{Netherlands-bio-stub