KASPAR VON

BARTH (1587-1658)  , German philologist, was born at Kiistrin in the province of Brandenburg on the 21st of June 1587 . He was an extremely precocious child, and was looked upon as a marvel of learning . After studying at Gotha, Eisenach, Wittenberg and Jena, he travelled extensively, visiting most of the countries of Europe . `Too independent to accept any regular post, he lived alternately at Halle and on his property at Sellerhausen near Leipzig . In 1636, his library and MSS. at Sellerhausen having been destroyed by fire, he removed to the Paulinum at Leipzig, where he died on the 17th of September 1658 . Barth was a very voluminous writer; his works, which were the fruits of extensive reading and a retentive memory, are unmethodical and uncritical and marred by want of taste and of clearness . He appears to have been excessively vain and of an unamiable disposition . Of his writings the most important are; Adversaria (1624), a storehouse of. miscellaneous learning, dealing not only with classical but also with medieval and modern writers; and commentaries on Claudian (1612, 1650) and Statius (1664) .