NUNEZ, or NONIUS, FERNANDO, an eminent classical editor, was born in the latter half of the fourteenth century at Valladolid, and was surnamed "El Pinciano," from Pintia, the ancient name of his native town. Though a scion of the noble family of Guzman, and a commander of the Order of Santiago, he consecrated his life to the pursuits of polite literature. After sitting at the feet of the eminent Antonio Lebrija, he studied for some time at Bologna, and returned to Spain the first Greek scholar of his age. His talents were soon employed, at the request of Cardinal Ximenes, in preparing the Latin version of the Septuagint for the Complutensian Polyglott. He was then installed by the same munificent patron of letters in the Greek chair of the newly-founded university of Alcalá de Henares. This office the force of circumstances induced him in course of time to abandon; and he was next appointed professor of rhetoric at Salamanca. It was there that those services in the cause of letters were chiefly performed which elicited the commendation of such men as Erasmus, Lipsius, and Vossius. The annotations that he published in 1536 on the works of Seneca restored the text of that author. He also produced Observationes in Pomponium Melam, 8vo, Salamanca, 1543; and Observationes in Loca Obscura et Depravata Historia Naturalis C. Plinii, Salamanca, 1544. At the same time, both from the academical chair and at his hospitable table, he was instructing many a young man that was destined to spread abroad the light of learning. He died in 1553, requesting that the following words might be inscribed on his tomb: Maximum vitæ bonum mors—"The greatest blessing in life is death".