, an Italian of great skill in Oriental languages and biblical learning,
, an Italian of great skill in
Oriental languages and biblical learning, was born at Lucca
in 1466, and afterwards became an ecclesiastic of the order
of St. Dominic, and resided for the greater part of his life
at Lyons. He was deeply and accurately skilled in the
Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, and Arabic tongues, but
especially in the Hebrew. In the course of his studies he
was led to conceive that the Vulgate translation of the
Scriptures was either not by Jerome, or greatly corrupted;
and he therefore undertook to make a new one, following
Jerom only where he conceived that his version corresponded with the original. This design, so very soon after
the restoration of letters, is calculated to give us a very
high opinion of Pagninus’s courage and learning, and appeared in so favourable a light to pope Leo X. that he
promised to furnish him with all necessary expences for
completing the work; and he was likewise encouraged in
his labours by the succeeding popes, Hadrian VI. and
Clement VII. who licensed the printing of it. It appears,
by a letter of Picus Mirandula to Pagninus, that he had
spent twenty-five years upon this translation. It is the
first modern translation of the Bible from the Hebrew
text; and the Jews who read it affirmed, that it agreed
entirely with the Hebrew, and was as faithful, and more
exact than the ancient translations. The great fault of
Pagninus was, that he adhered too closely and servilely to
the original text; and this scrupulous attachment made
his translation, says father Simon, “obscure, barbarous,
and full of solecisms. He imagined, that, to make a faithful translation of the Scriptures, it was necessary to follow
exactly the letter, according to the strictness of grammar.
This, however, is quite contrary to his pretended exactness, because two languages seldom agree in their ways of
speaking; and therefore, instead of expressing the original in its proper purity, he defaces and robs it of its ornaments.
” Father Simon, nevertheless, allows the great
abilities and learning of Pagninus; and all the later commentators and translators of the Scriptures have agreed in
giving him his just commendation. Huetius, though he
seems to think father Simon’s criticism of him well
grounded, yet makes no scruple to propose his manner
as a model for all translators of the sacred books: “Scripture interpretandae rationibus utile nobis exemplar proposuit Sancius Pagninus.
”