Scaliger, Joseph Justus 1540-1609
French scholar

He was born in Agen, the son of Julius Caesar Scaliger. After studying at Bordeaux with his father, and in Paris, he acquired a surpassing mastery of the classics and eventually boasted a command of 13 languages, ancient and modern. While in Paris he became a Calvinist (1562) and later visited Italy, England and Scotland, only the last of which seems to have appealed to him, especially through the beauty of its ballads. In 1570 he settled at Valence and for two years studied under the jurist Cujacius. From 1572 to 1574 he was professor at Calvin's College at Geneva. He then spent 20 years in France and there produced works which placed him at the head of European scholars. Among them are his editions of Gaius Catullus, Albius Tibullus, Sextus Propertius and Eusebius of Caesarea. By his edition of Manilius and his Opus De Emendatione Temporum (1583) he founded modern chronology. From 1593 he held a chair at Leyden and to his inspiration Holland owes her long line of scholars. His last years were embittered by controversy, especially with the Jesuits, who charged him with atheism and profligacy.