STEPHANUS, Robert, the second son, was born at Paris in 1503. In his youth he made great proficiency in the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, and at the age of nineteen had acquired so much knowledge that his step-father intrusted him with the management of his press. He soon afterwards began business himself, and married Perrete, the daughter of Jodocus Badius, a printer and an author. She was a woman of learning, and understood Latin, which indeed was the necessary consequence of her situation. Her husband always entertained a number of learned men as correctors of the press. Being foreigners, and of different nations, they made use of no other language but Latin, which Perrete being accustomed to hear, was able in a short time not only to understand, but even to speak with tolerable ease.
In 1531 he published his Thesaurus Linguae Latinae, a work of great labour, and of great value. The device which he exhibited in all his books was a tree branched, with a man looking upon it, and these words Noli altum sapere, to which he sometimes added, sed time. In 1539, Francis I. made him his printer, and ordered a new set of elegant types to be founded for him. His frequent editions of the New Testament gave great offence to the doctors of the Sorbonne, who accused him of heresy for his annotations, and insisted upon the suppression of some of his books. Although Henry, the French king, in some measure protected him, the persecution of these divines ren-
Stephanus, Charles, Henry, dered him so unhappy, not to mention the expense and loss of time which an almost constant attendance at court unavoidably occasioned, that in 1552 he abandoned his country and settled at Geneva. Here he embraced the Protestant religion, and thus justified in some measure the suspicions of his theological enemies. It has been affirmed by several writers, that he carried along with him the royal types, and the moulds in which they were cast; but it is certain that he never afterwards made use of those types. Besides, is it possible that the author of so daring a theft could have been not only protected in Geneva, but even courted and honoured by the most eminent men of the age? Is it credible that such a crime could have been concealed for sixty years; or that Henry, the son and heir of the perpetrator, would have enjoyed the favour of the French king, if Robert Stephanus had acted such a shameful part? If he was burned in effigy at Paris, it was not for theft, but for having renounced the popish faith. After his arrival at Geneva, he published an account of the dispute between him and the Paris divines, which does as much honour to his abilities as his Thesaurus does to his learning. He died in 1559, after a life of the most extraordinary industry. The books of which he was the editor were not fewer than 360. Many of them were ancient classics in different languages. Several were accompanied with annotations which he collected, and all of them were corrected by the collation of manuscripts. He was so anxious to obtain perfect accuracy, that he used to expose his proofs in public, and reward those who discovered a mistake. His books consequently were very correct. It is said that his New Testament, called O Mirificam (because the preface begins with these words), has not a single fault. It was Robert Stephanus who first divided the New Testament into verses, during a journey between Paris and Lyon. The advantages of this improvement are fully counterbalanced by its defects. It has destroyed the unity of the books, and induced many commentators to consider every verse as a distinct and independent aphorism. By his last will his estate was left exclusively to such of his children as should settle at Geneva. He left behind him three sons, Henry, Robert, and Francis.