JULIUS

See also:

• POMPONIUS, LUCIUS

POMPONIUS [Giulio Pomponio Leto]

See also:

• JULIUS POMPONIUS [Giulio Pomponio Leto] LAETUS (1425-1498)

LAETUS (1425-1498)  , Italian humanist, was born at Salerno . He studied at Rome under Laurentius Valla, whom he succeeded (1457) as professor of eloquence in the Gymnasium Romanum . About this time he founded an academy, the members of which adopted Greek and Latin names, met on the Quirinal to discuss classical questions and celebrated the birthday of Romulus . Its constitution resembled that of an ancient priestly college, and Laetus was styled pontifex maximus . The pope (Paul II.) viewed these proceedings with suspicion, as savouring of paganism, heresy and republicanism . In 1468 twenty of the academicians were arrested during the carnival; Laetus, who had taken refuge in Venice, was sent back to Rome, imprisoned and put to the torture, but refused to plead guilty to the charges of infidelity and immorality . For want of evidence, he was acquitted and allowed to resume his professorial duties; but it was for-bidden to utter the name of the academy even in jest . Sixtus IV. permitted the resumption of its meetings, which continued to be held till the sack of Rome (1527) by Constable Bourbon during the papacy of Clement VII . Laetus continued to teach in Rome until his death on the 9th of June 1498 . As a teacher, Laetus, who has been called the first head of a philological school, was extraordinarily successful; in his own words, like Socrates and Christ, he expected to live on in the person of his pupils, amongst whom were many of the most famous scholars of the period . His works, written in pure and simple Latin, were published in a collected form (Opera Pomponii Laeti Darla, 1521) . They contain treatises on the Roman magistrates, priests and lawyers, and a compendium of Roman history from the death of the younger Gordian to the time of Justin III .

Laetus also wroth commentaries on classical authors, and promoted the publication of the editio princeps of

Virgil at Rome in 1469 . See The Life of Leto by Sabellicus (Strassburg, 1510) ; G . Voigt, Die Wiederbelebung des klassischen Alterthums, ii.; F . Gregorovius, Geschichte der Stadt Rom im Mittelalter, vii . (1894), p . 576, for an account of the academy; Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship (1908), H . 92 .