MANUTIUS, ALDUS (in Italian, Aldo Pio Manuzio), the first of those justly celebrated printers, illustrious for their learning as well as for uncommon skill in their profession, who were in Italy what the Stephens afterwards became in France. He was born in 1447, at Bassiano, a small town of the duchy of Sermoneta, in the Roman state. He was educated at Rome, and, after completing his course of study, repaired to Ferrara to study Greek under Guarini, a learned professor of that language. In 1482, he quitted Ferrara, then threatened with a siege by the Venetians, and retired to Mirandola, where he was received with distinction by the all-accomplished Pico. Yielding to the entreaties of Alberto Pio, he then went to Carpi, where he was soon joined by Pico, the uncle of the prince. M. Renouard conjectures, with much apparent probability, that it was at this time that Aldus conceived the design of forming a printing establishment, with the view of multiplying the best works of the Greek and Latin authors, and that the two princes (Alberto Pio and Pico di Mirandola) undertook to defray the expense of setting up the establishment. In the course of the year 1488, he repaired to Venice, a city which, from its position, its commerce, and the literary taste of its inhabitants, appeared the best suited for his design. His first object was to make himself advantageously known, and, with this view, he commenced by giving public instructions in Greek and Latin; but in the mean time he was very busily occupied in organizing his printing-house; and at length, in 1494, he published the poem of Hero and Leander in Greek and Latin, which was followed by the Grammar of Lascaris, that of Theodore Gaza, and the works of Theocritus, Apollonius, and Herodian. But it was the publication of the works of Aristotle which placed Manutius in the first rank of printers. It is impossible to form a just conception of the patience and sagacity necessary to read and decipher the manuscripts which served as the basis of this edition, to compare and collate them with one another, to select the best readings when they exhibited variations, and to supply the omissions of the copists. This edition alone, though less correct than the greater part of those which followed it, would be sufficient to earn for Manutius the gratitude of posterity, and to justify all the commendations which have been bestowed upon him. But if we reflect that he published, with the same care, and al-
most always with the same success, the greater part of the chefs d'œuvre of Greece; that, in multiplying good books, then so rare, he changed the direction of study, hitherto limited to scholastic theology and a barbarous jurisprudence; and that he thereby contributed in the most essential manner to the progress of the human mind, and the advancement of civilization; we cannot but entertain a sentiment of profound veneration for the man whose whole life was consumed in a series of labours which will extend their useful influence even to the latest generations. Before this time the greater part of books had been printed in the folio or largest size; Manutius, however, conceived the happy idea of publishing a collection of the Latin classics in a more convenient form, and with this view he had a character cast in imitation (it is said) of the hand-writing of Petrarch, and employed it, for the first time, in the impression of his Virgil which appeared in 1501. This character, long afterwards known by the name of Aldine, and now by that of Italic, was designed and cut by Francesco of Bologna, an artist highly esteemed in his particular line. The multiplicity of works which now issued from his presses having rendered it impossible for one individual to superintend the impressions, he had recourse to the assistance of some learned men, his personal friends; and out of this association of persons united in one common object he formed the Aldine Academy, whose short duration did not prevent it from attaining great celebrity. It reckoned amongst its members, Bembo, Erasmus, Battista Egnazio, and Andrea Navagero, who every year burned, in honour of Catullus, a copy of Martial; the monk Bolzani, the first who wrote in Latin the principles of Greek grammar; Alcyonio, who is accused of having destroyed the only manuscript of Cicero's treatise De Gloria, after having transferred its finest passages to one of his own works; the Greek Musurus Demetrius Chalcondylas, who published the first edition of Homer; and Alessandro, afterwards cardinal, who acted a prominent part in the ecclesiastical affairs of the sixteenth century. In 1506, war obliged Aldus to withdraw from Venice; and during his absence his goods were pillaged and his domains seized. He made repeated efforts to recover possession of his property, but, unfortunately, without success. On quitting Milan, where his friends had sheltered him, he fell into the hands of a troop of soldiers, who, taking him for a spy, conducted him to prison at Caneto. But he recovered his liberty, through the good offices of Jaffredo Carolo, vice-chancellor of the senate of Milan, and returned to Venice much poorer than when he left it. In 1507, he resumed his typographical labours; but the want of funds rendered it impossible for him to execute any great work. In these circumstances, Andrea Toresano d'Asola, his father-in-law, came to his assistance; and, in 1512, they formed a partnership, of which Aldus was constituted the head. He then re-opened his printing-house, which for two years had been shut, and resumed his labours with increased activity. But when he was on the point of publishing a Bible in three languages, which would have secured to him the distinction of being the first author of a polyglott, he was in 1515 removed from all his pursuits by death, at the age of about seventy. By his marriage with the daughter of Andrea d'Asola he had three sons and a daughter; but Paolo, his third son, was the only one who followed in the footsteps of his father.
The Greek editions which issued from the presses of Aldus are less correct than either the Latin or the Italian editions; but it should be remembered that he had frequently only a single manuscript, incomplete or half effaced, from which to reproduce a work, and that the conservation of many is entirely owing to his laborious patience. The mark of his press, it is well known, is a dolphin coiled round an anchor. Besides the prefaces, and the Greek or Latin dissertations with which he enriched most of his editions, Manutius was
Manutius, the author of several works, which would of themselves have been sufficient to insure to him a distinguished place amongst the learned men of his age, if he had not been the most celebrated printer it produced. Of these works the most important are, 1. Rudimenta Grammaticæ Linguæ Latinæ, Venice, 1501, in 4to, very rare; 2. Grammaticæ Institutiones Græcæ, 1515, in 4to; 3. Dictionarium Græco-Latinum, 1497, 1524, in folio; 4. De Metris Horatianis, a little work often reprinted during the sixteenth century; 5. Scripta Tria longe rarissima denuo edita et illustrata, Bassano, 1806, in 8vo. The Abbé Morelli is the editor of this collection, which contains a poem of Aldus, entitled Musarum Panegyris, in two little pieces addressed to the Prince of Carpi. The original edition in 4to, without date, must have appeared before 1489. Manutius translated from Greek to Latin the Grammar of Lascaris, the Batrachomyomachia, the Sentences of Phocylides, the Golden Verses of Pythagoras, and the Fables of Æsop and of Gabrias (Babrius). (See Life of Aldus Manutius the Elder, by Unger, augmented by Geret, Wittenberg, 1753, in 4to; also his Life by Manni.)