Details
GROTIUS, Hugo (1583-1645). Autograph letter signed ('H. Grotius') to Denis Petau, Paris, 3 December 1640, half page, folio, integral address leaf (annotation to upper margin, two small scorch holes and light spotting).
A graceful and urbane request for scholarly assistance. Grotius's Annotationes in libros Evangeliorum is approaching publication and, with many apologies for trespassing on his time 'omnibus veri amantibus et mihi cara' (dear to me and to all lovers of truth), he asks Petau to forward his comments and recommendations. He thanks Petau too for his paraphrase of the psalms, which he describes as 'ipsa graecitas et poesis nativa' (the very soul of greekness and natural poetry), and keeps always by his side.
Denis Petau (Dionysius Petavius), brilliant theologian and author of Opus de doctrina temporum and the unfinished De theologicis dogmatibus, was professor of divinity at the Jesuit Collège de Clermont in Paris. Grotius's Annotationes are among the most distinguished of his theological writings: in them he took the revolutionary step of subjecting the scriptures to an analytical commentary, applying the same hermeneutic rules as used on secular texts. Grotius's immersion in theological studies at this time was considered to have injured his standing as a diplomatist and politician.
A graceful and urbane request for scholarly assistance. Grotius's Annotationes in libros Evangeliorum is approaching publication and, with many apologies for trespassing on his time 'omnibus veri amantibus et mihi cara' (dear to me and to all lovers of truth), he asks Petau to forward his comments and recommendations. He thanks Petau too for his paraphrase of the psalms, which he describes as 'ipsa graecitas et poesis nativa' (the very soul of greekness and natural poetry), and keeps always by his side.
Denis Petau (Dionysius Petavius), brilliant theologian and author of Opus de doctrina temporum and the unfinished De theologicis dogmatibus, was professor of divinity at the Jesuit Collège de Clermont in Paris. Grotius's Annotationes are among the most distinguished of his theological writings: in them he took the revolutionary step of subjecting the scriptures to an analytical commentary, applying the same hermeneutic rules as used on secular texts. Grotius's immersion in theological studies at this time was considered to have injured his standing as a diplomatist and politician.
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