Madvig, Johan Nikolai
A Danish statesman, educator, and classical scholar, born at Svaneke, August 7th, 1804. He
was educated at Frederiksborg and Copenhagen, and in 1829 was called to the chair of Latin in
the University at the latter place. He twice held the ministerial portfolio of Religion and
Education, and was several times presiding officer of the Danish Parliament. As a scholar and
especially as a text critic Madvig had a world-wide reputation, and in his work upon the texts
of Cicero and Livy he won especial distinction. His most valuable works are
Emendationes in Ciceronis Libros Philosophicos (1828);
Emendationes Livianae (1860; 2d ed. 1876);
Adversaria Critica (3 vols. 1871-84);
Opuscula
Academica (2 vols. 1834-42; last ed. 1887); editions of Cicero,
De Finibus (1839; 3d ed. 1876); Cicero,
De
Senectute and
De Amicitia (1835; 2d ed. 1869); of Livy
(4 vols. 1861-66); and two grammatical works, a
Latin
Grammar (1841; 7th ed. 1881); and a
Greek Syntax
(1846), both having been widely used in England and the United States in English
translations and revisions. He also wrote a work on the constitution and administration of the
Roman State, intended to correct and supplement Mommsen's
History (2
vols. 1881-82). See his
Autobiography (1887).
