Burmann
The name of two celebrated Dutch classical scholars.
1.
Pieter, known as “the elder,” born at
Utrecht, June 26th, 1668. He studied at the university of his native town, from which he
received a degree in laws in 1688. He spent some time in travel, visiting the great seats of
learning in Germany and Switzerland, and on his return practised law. In 1691, he was
appointed receiver of taxes, and in 1696, Professor of Eloquence and History in his Alma
Mater. To the duties of this chair he soon added those pertaining to the chair of
Greek. In 1715, he was called to the University of Leyden to succeed the renowned Perizonius
(q. v.) as Professor of Greek, Rhetoric, and History, where he remained until his death,
which occurred March 31st, 1741. He was an indefatigable editor, producing commentaries on
Phaedrus
(1698), Horace
(1699), Valerius Flaccus
(1701), Petronius
(1709), Velleius Paterculus
(1719),
Quintilian
(1720), Ovid
(1727), and Lucan
(1740). He
likewise edited the works of the Scottish scholar, George
Buchanan (q.v.), and continued the
magnum opus of
Graevius,
Thesaurus Antiquitatum et Historiarum Italiae, besides preparing a
short manual of Roman Antiquities entitled
Antiquitatum Romanarum Brevis
Descriptio (1711). A number of his poems and orations in Latin were
collected and published after his death. As a commentator, Burmann was diffuse, laborious,
and pedantic, and his stately quartos are to-day but little consulted; yet they have
furnished much material for succeeding editors who possessed the taste and discretion which
he unfortunately lacked. As a controversialist, he possessed a most irascible temper, and was
involved in many violent disputes with contemporary scholars, notably with Le Clerc and
Bentley.
2.
Pieter, known as “the younger,” the nephew of
the preceding, was born at Amsterdam in 1714, and after studying at Utrecht, filled
professorships at Franeker and at the Amsterdam Athenaeum, besides acting as the keeper of
the public library at the latter place. His published works comprise editions of
Aristophanes, Vergil, Claudian, and Propertius, besides a selection of the Latin Anthology
(1759 and 1773). In 1777, he retired on a pension and died in the following
year. The Anthology is his only work that is now regarded as important. See L.
Müller,
Geschichte der class. Philologie in den Niederlanden
(Leipzig, 1869), and the article
Anthology.
