MAGGI (Jerome), in Latin Magister, one of the
most learned men of the 16th century, was born at
Angliari in Tuscany. He applied himself to all the
sciences, and even to the art of war; and distinguished
himself so much in this last study, that the Venetians
sent him into the island of Cyprus in quality of judge
of the admiralty. When the Turks besieged Fama-
guita, he performed all the services that could be ex-
pected from the most excellent engineer: he invented
mines and machines for throwing fire, by means of
which he destroyed all the works of the besiegers, and
in an instant overthrew what had cost the Turks in-
finite labour. But they had their revenge; for, taking
the city in 1571, they plundered his library, carried
him loaded with chains to Constantinople, and treated
him in the most inhuman and barbarous manner. He
nevertheless comforted himself from the example of
Æsop, Menippus, Epictetus, and other learned men;
and, after passing the whole day in the meanest
drudgery, he spent the night in writing. He com-
posed, by the help of his memory alone, treatises filled
with quotations, which he dedicated to the Imperial
and French ambassadors. These ministers, moved by
compassion for this learned man, resolved to purchase
him.
him: but while they were treating for his ransom, Maggi found means to make his escape, and to get to the Imperial ambassador's house; when the Grand Vizir being enraged at his flight, and remembering the great mischief he had done the Turks during the siege of Famagusta, sent to have him seized, and caused him to be strangled in prison in 1572. His principal works are, 1. A treatise on the bells of the ancients. 2. On the destruction of the world by fire. 3. Commentaries on Æmilius Probus's lives of illustrious men. 4. Commentaries on the institutes. These works are written in elegant Latin. He also wrote a treatise on fortification in Italian; and a book on the situation of ancient Tuscany.
He ought not to be confounded with his brother Bartholomew Maggi, a physician at Bologna, who wrote a treatise of gun-shot wounds; nor with Vincent Maggi, a native of Bresse, and a celebrated professor of humanity at Ferrara in Padua, who was the author of several works.