Angelo Mai
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Angelo Mai (Latin Angelus Maius; 7 March 1782 – 8 September 1854) was an Italian
Biography
He was born of humble parents at Schilpario in what is now the province of Bergamo, Lombardy.[2]
In 1799 he entered the
He now threw himself with characteristic energy and zeal into the task of examining the numerous manuscripts committed to his charge, and in the course of the next six years was able to restore to the world a considerable number of long-lost works. Having withdrawn from the Society of Jesus, he was invited to Rome in 1819 as chief keeper of the Vatican Library. In 1833 he was transferred to the office of secretary of the Congregation of the Propaganda; on 12 February 1838 he was raised to the dignity of cardinal. He died at Castel Gandolfo, near Albano, on 8 September 1854.[2] His monumental tomb is located in the left transept of the
Works
It is on his skill as a reader of palimpsests that Mai's fame chiefly rests. To the period of his residence at Milan belong:
- fragments of Cicero's Pro Scauro, Pro Tullio, Pro Flacco, In Clodium et Curionem, De aere alieno Milonis, and De rege Alexandrino (1814)
- M. Corn. Frontonis opera inedita, cum epistolis item ineditis, Antonini Pii, Marci Aurelii, Lucii Veri et Appiani (1815; new ed., 1823, with more than 100 additional letters found in the Vatican library)
- portions of eight speeches of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
- fragments of Plautus
- the oration of Isaeus' De hereditate Cleonymi
- the last nine books of the Antiquities of Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and a number of other works.
- M Tullii Ciceronis de republica quae supersunt appeared at Rome in 1822
- Scriptorum veterum nova collectio, e Vaticanis codicibus edita ("A new collection of ancient writings, edited from Vatican codices") in 1825-1838
- Classici scriptores e Vaticanis codicibus editi ("Classical writers edited from Vatican codices") in 1828-1838
- Spicilegium Romanum ("A Roman gleaning") in 1839-1844
- Patrum nova bibliotheca ("A new library of [Church] fathers") in 1845-1853[2]
His edition of the celebrated Codex Vaticanus, completed in 1838, but not published (ostensibly on the ground of inaccuracies) till four years after his death (1858), is the least satisfactory of his labours and was superseded by the edition of Vercellone and Cozza (1868), which itself leaves much to be desired.[2]
Although Mai was not as successful in textual criticism as in the decipherment of manuscripts, he will always be remembered as a laborious and persevering pioneer, by whose efforts many ancient writings have been rescued from oblivion.[2]
References
- ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
- ^ a b c d e f public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Mai, Angelo". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 427. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the