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, a jurist, who, according to Tiraboschi, attained greater fame during his life than abler men after their death, was born in 1453 at Milan, and is said to have been the natural son of one of the dukes of Milan, but this seems doubtful. He studied law at Pavia under his brother Lancelot, who was professor in that university, and on his removal to Pisa, Philip accompanied him, and continued his studies under Barth, Socinus, Philip Corneus, and others. In 1476 he received his doctor’s degree> and soon after was appointed one of the university profc ssors, in which he distinguished himself by his art in disputing, which he appears to have practised with so little respect for his seniors as to create him many enemies, and render his life a life of contest with his brethren. In the mean time his popularity was augmented by the respect paid to him by kings and popes, of all which he was in full enjoyment, when he died at Sienna in 1536. Of his works, none of which appear to have perpetuated his fame, the most considerable are his “Consilia,” Venice, 1581, 2 vols, fol.; and “De regulis juris,” ibid. fol.

He was a man of extensive learning, and perfectly skilled in the Greek and Latin tongues. He is said to have had Homer and Hesiod so well by heart, as once, in a conversation with a learned young gentleman, to have expressed all he had occasion to say in the verses of Homer. He was also a judicious critic, and wrote notes upon many ancient Greek and Latin authors, Petronius, Phacdrus, Oppian, &c. which have been inserted in the best editions of those authors. Thus Burinan, in his edition of “Phsedrus,” 1698, 8vo, has carefully inserted the entire notes of Rittershusius, whom he calls in his preface “Germanise suae quondam ornamentum, & noil minoris Gallice-decus.” He published a great number of works, sixty-six of which are enumerated by Niceron, many on civil law, but most on the belles lettres and criticism. His edition. of “Oppian,” Greek and Latin, appeared in 1657, 8vo. His son Nicholas, born at Altdorf in 1597, was also a man of learning and a jurist, and particularly applied to historical and genealogical inquiries. He studied at Helmstadt, and afterwards travelled into various countries of Europe. On his return he took a doctor’s degree in 1634, and was appointed professor of feudal law at Altdorff. He died in 167O. Nicholas edited several of his father’s works, and in 163S published an oration on “Hanno’s Periplws.” v ' He was the author of a large work, entitled “Genealggia? Jmperatorum, Regum, Ducum, Comitum, &c. ab anno 1400 ad annum 1664,” 7 vols. in 4, folio, a work of rare occurrence. Several of his letters are printed in the “Epistolse celebrium Virorum,” 1705.