Arthur Palmer (1841–1897) was a Canadian-Irish classical scholar.

Life

Born at

Guelph, Ontario Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as The Royal City, it is roughly east of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Ontario Highway 6, ...

, Canada, on 14 September 1841, he was the sixth child of Arthur Palmer, archdeacon of Toronto, by his first wife, Hester Madeline Crawford. He was educated, first by his father, then at Guelph grammar school, under the Rev. Edward Stewart. After about four years there he left, in 1856. In 1857 Palmer went to

Cheltenham College Cheltenham College is a public school ( fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18) in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school opened in 1841 as a Church of England foundation and is known for its outstanding linguis ...

in England, where he remained less than a year; the headmaster at the time was Arthur Dobson. He entered

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

, in 1859, and was elected to its

Scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...

in 1861. In 1863, he obtained a B.A. as Senior Moderator and Gold Medallist in classics, as well as a Junior Moderator and Silver Medallist in experimental and natural science. In 1867 he was elected a fellow, and was admitted to M.A., and in 1880 succeeded

Robert Yelverton Tyrrell Robert Yelverton Tyrrell ( ; 21 January 1844 – 19 September 1914) was an Irish classics, classical scholar who was Regius Professor of Greek (Trinity), Regius Professor of Greek at Trinity College Dublin. He was a prominent figure in the "Du ...

in the chair of Latin. In 1888 he succeeded Thomas Ebenezer Webb as public orator. He was Litt.D. of his own university, and honorary LL.D. of Glasgow (1890) and D.C.L. of Oxford (1894). From 1867 to 1880 Palmer was a college tutor, and for some years he captained a team of old university cricketers, the Stoics. During the last ten years of his life he suffered from bladder disease, dying of cancer on 14 December 1897.

Works

Palmer's contributions to classical scholarship were mainly emendations of Latin and Greek texts. His published works were: * ''Heroides'' of Ovid, 1874; new edit, (revised and enlarged, with the transl. of Planudes), 1898, Clarendon Press Series * ''Elegies'' of Propertius, 1880. * ''Satires'' of Horace, London, 1883
5th edit.
1893. * ''Amphitruo'' of Plautus, 1888. * ''Records of the Tercentenary Festival of the Dublin University'', 1892. * ''Catullus'' in Macmillan's Parnassus Library of Greek and Latin Texts, 1896. Palmer and Louis Claude Purser completed the editorial work for the final volumes of James Henry’s ''Aeneidea'', a detailed commentary on

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

’s ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...

'', after the death of John Fletcher Davies, the editor originally appointed by Henry’s trustees. Palmer also worked on

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

, and contributed to the text of the ''

editio princeps In Textual scholarship, textual and classical scholarship, the ''editio princeps'' (plural: ''editiones principes'') of a work is the first printed edition of the work, that previously had existed only in manuscripts. These had to be copied by han ...

'' of

Bacchylides Bacchylides (; ''Bakkhulides''; – ) was a Greek lyric poet. Later Greeks included him in the canonical list of Nine Lyric Poets, which included his uncle Simonides. The elegance and polished style of his lyrics have been noted in Bacchylidea ...

(1897), and first edition of Herondas (1891). He also contributed articles to ''Hermathena'', the ''Journal of Philology'', ''Classical Review'', and other periodicals.

Family

On 4 October 1879 Palmer married Frances Greene of

Clevedon Clevedon (, ) is a seaside town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, England. It recorded a parish population of 21,281 in the United Kingdom Census 2011, estimated at 21,442 in 2019. It lies ...

. They had two sons: Arthur, born on 13 May 1881, and Uther, born on 20 April 1892.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Arthur 1841 births 1897 deaths Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Canadian classical scholars Classical scholars of Trinity College Dublin Irish classical scholars Scholars of ancient Greek literature Scholars of Latin literature