Musurus, Marcus

, one of the revivers of literature, was a. native of Candia, and came to Italy about the beginning of the sixteenth century, where he understood that encouragement would be given to men of ability in the languages and grammatical studies. After exhibiting proofs of his talents at Venice, the senate appointed him to teach publicly at Padua in 1503, and a great concourse of scholars gathered around him, until his labours were interrupted by the war. He had been the disciple of Lascaris, who recommended him to the notice of Leo X.; and that pontiff addressed a letter to him when he was at Venice in 1513, requesting that he would invite from Greece ten young men, of education and virtuous disposition, who might instruct the Italians in the proper use and knowledge of the Greek language. This establishment accordingly was formed, and Lascaris was placed at the head of it. At this time Musurus was finishing the first edition of the works of Plato, in Greek, which was printed by Aldus in 1513. To this edition Musurus prefixed some Greek verses that have been much admired, and published separately, by Muncker, Amsterdam, 1676, 4to, by our Foster, in his ingenious work on the Greek accents (see | Foster), and more recently at Cambridge, by Samuel Butler, A. B. 1797. It is also reprinted in Mr. Rescue’s “Leo X.” with an elegant English translation.

Leo was so pleased with these verses, and the services Musurus had rendered to literature, as to confer upon him the bishopric of Malvasia, in the Morea, about a year before his death, which happened at Rome in the autumn of 1517. Besides his Plato, the learned world is indebted to him for the first editions of Aristophanes and Athenaeus. The Aristophanes was published at Venice in 1498, fol. The Athenaeus, a far less correct work, and perhaps the most incorrect princeps editio, was published in 1514, fol. at Venice. ¹