, a very eminent promoter of the revival of letters in Europe, was
, a very eminent promoter of the
revival of letters in Europe, was born at Thessalonica in
Greece in 1398. Some have erroneously called him Theodore de Gaza, as if he had been a native of that village.
His country being invaded by the Turks in 1430, he went
into Italy, and applied himself, immediately on his arrival
there, to learn the Latin tongue, under the tuition of Victorinus de Feltre, who taught it at Mantua. He was, indeed, past the age when languages are usually attained,
yet he made himself such a master of Latin, that he spoke
and wrote it with the same facility and elegance as if it
had been his native tongue: though Erasmus is of opinion,
that he could never fairly divest himself of his Greek idiotn.
His uncommon parts and learning soon recommended him
to public notice; and particularly to the patronage of cardinal Bessarion. Gaza had taken a very fair and exact
copy of Homer’s “Iliad,
” which the cardinal was extremely desirous to purchase; and he obtained either that,
or one like it, which was long extant in his library at
Venice.
About 1450, Gaza went to Rome, in consequence of an
invitation from pope Nicholas V. with many other professors of the Greek language, scattered about Italy, to translate the Greek authors into Latin, but unfortunately jealousies and dissensions arose among them, and in particular
a quarrel between Gaza and George Trapezuntius. Panl
Jovius assures us, that Gaza not only far surpassed all the
Greeks, his fellow-labourers and contemporaries, in learning and solidity of judgment, but also in the knowledge of
the Latin: which, says Jovius, he attained to that degree
of perfection, that it was not easy to discern, whether he
wrote best in that or his native tongue. On account of
these extraordinary qualities probably, he was admitted to
such a familiarity with cardinal Bessarion, as to be called
by him in some of his writings his friend and companion.