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Dudithius Andrew
Dudithius Andrew
Dudithius Andrew, or Duditius, (also called Dudicz, or Duditz,) of Horehowitza, was surnamed Sbardellatus, from the family of his mother, and born at or near Buda, in Hungary, on the 16th of February, 1533. His father was a Hungarian Noble ; and his mother was of an illustrious Venetian family. While yet an infant, he lost his father in the Turkish war; but his mother survived, and was living as late as the year 1572.
In his boyhood he received an excellent education; and made considerable proficiency in Latin, and the science of Rhetoric. But he paid particular attention to the study of History and Politics, of which he afterwards experienced the advantage, in the various diplomatic missions in which he was engaged. Thomas Crenius describes him as "trium Imperatorum Consiliarius et Orator, Tullianae eloquentiae Sectator admirabilis, vir litteris insigniter excultus, et rerum Politiearum usu probatus."
Melchior Adam relates, on the authority of Charles Oslewski, that he was brought up with Stephen Bathory, Prince of Transylvania, who afterwards became King of Poland. The truth of this statement has been questioned by Cel. Schwartz : but it is certain that he was a fellowstudent of this Prince, in the University of Padua. From that time, however, he conceived an unconquerable dislike to the Prince, whom he calls, in his letters, "a vile Turkish slave," and other opprobrious names, and accuses of perfidy and impurity ; and whose election as King of Poland he did all in his power to prevent.
Being born of Catholic parents, Dudithius was taught, as a child, to hate Protestants, and imbued with a zeal for the rites and ceremonies of the Romish Church. As he grew up, his cousin, Augustin Sbardellatus, Bishop of Vacs, or Waitzen, and afterwards Archbishop of Strigonium, or Gran, undertook the charge of his education ; and, as Hungary was embroiled in war, sent him to Breslau, where he devoted himself to literature, and acquired a knowledge of the German language. Quirinus Reuter informs us, that he then went to Vienna, and spent some time in the Court of the Emperor Ferdinand ; but Bock thinks it more probable, that he went from Breslau into Italy, and merely passed though Vienna, on his way thither. During his stay in Italy, his time was divided between Padua and Venice ; and at these places he studied under Paul Manutius, Francis Robortellus, Charles Sigonius, Onuphrius Panvinius, P. Victorius, and other eminent teachers, with whom he lived on terms of friendship. Paul Manutius had so high an opinion of him, that, in his letters, addressed to various learned men, he ranks him among the greatest geniuses of the age. His fondness for Cicero was such, that at three separate times, he transcribed the whole of his works with his own hand. From Italy he went into France, and at Paris devoted himself to the study of Philosophy, and the languages of Scripture, to which he added that of several of the oriental dialects. His instructer in Greek was Angelo Canini ; in Hebrew, John le Mercier ; in Philosophy, Francis Vicomercatus. When he had finished his studies at Paris, he returned to his native country ; and his cousin, the Archbishop, after a short time, sent him again to Padua, to study Jurisprudence, with a view to qualify him for some civil office. Here he became acquainted with the celebrated Cardinal Pole, who, being a patron of merit, took notice of him, and admitted him to his table, while yet a stripling ; and when the Cardinal went to England, to congratulate Queen Mary on her accession to the throne, Dudithius accompanied him thither. Having spent a twelvemonth in England, he returned to Hungary, according to Reuter ; but to Paris, according to De Thou, for the purpose of resuming his studies, which had been suspended during his travels. Bock thinks it most probable, that he returned from England directly to his native country ; and thence went a second time into Italy, and a third time into France. On his way from Italy into France, he visited the Florentine Court, and paid his respects to Catharine de Medicis, who expressed her surprise, at hearing a native Hungarian speak Italian with perspicuity and elegance. He made some stay at Vienna, on his return from France ; and about the year 1560, received two appointments from the King of Hungary. One of these was a Charge at the Upper Baths of Baden, and the other a Canonry in the metropolitan Church of Strigonium. He was in great favour with the Emperor Ferdinand ; but Reuter is mistaken in supposing, that he was at this time admitted to the office of a Privy Councillor of the Emperor. Schwartz has proved, that he did not arrive at that honour till some years later. But in 1561, he obtained from Ferdinand the Bishoprick of Tina, in Dalmatia, in which he was confirmed by Pope Paul IV., on the 28th of January, 1562 ; but he did not enter upon the duties of his episcopal office, because Dalmatia was then in possession of the Turks.
In the same year, the Hungarian clergy chose him to be their joint representative with John Sylvester, of Clausenburg, Bishop of Chonad, at the Council of Trent, where he spoke at considerable length on five several occasions. He arrived at Trent in the month of February, and took his seat in the Council, with his colleague, on the 6th of April ; but was called home by the Emperor about the end of the year, before the Council had finished its sittings. It has been suspected, that Dudithius was not a Catholic, when he undertook this mission ; and some affirm, that he was recalled, at the request and solicitation of the Pope, who had learnt, through his Legates, that many of the assembled Bishops were in danger of being brought over to his party, by his eloquence and arguments. But what he said and did at Trent was said and done by a man, who was entirely devoted to the See of Rome. On his return, the Emperor Ferdinand approved of his conduct at Trent ; and, as a mark of his approbation and favour, presented him, in the month of May, 1563, with the Bishoprick of Chonad, and that of Fiinfkirche, or the Five Churches ; and made him a Privy Councillor.
In the year 1565, Dudithius was sent by Maximilian, Emperor of Austria, to the Court of Sigismund Augustus, King of Poland, to bring about a reconciliation between the latter and his Queen, who was sister to the Emperor, and had formerly been married to the Duke of Mantua ; or to obtain permission for her to leave Poland, which the Emperor had formerly requested in vain. Dudithius used all the arts of persuasion of which he was master, to bring about a reconciliation ; but all that he could accomplish, after much negotiation, was, to obtain permission for the Queen to be sent to her brother. She accompanied Dudithius from Lithuania to Cracow, whence, having left the greater part of her train, with her female attendants, she proceeded with Dudithius to the Emperor, who was then at Vienna. It was the Emperor's pleasure, however, that Dudithius should go back to Poland, with the title of Perpetual Internuncio. He, therefore, returned to Cracow.
In the mean time Dudithius was favourably inclined towards the Protestants, with whose Teachers and Ministers he had great facilities for becoming acquainted, and holding frequent intercourse, on his journeys. We learn, from the Preface to Modrevius's "Sylvae," that as early as the year 1565, he was agitated by various doubts respecting the Roman Catholic religion ; and that he came to the determination of marrying. Two years afterwards he carried this resolution into effect, by forming a matrimonial alliance with Regina Strass, who had been a Maid of Honour to Catharine, Queen of Poland. But he wished the marriage to be kept secret, till he had discharged the duties of his embassy, and arranged his domestic affairs in Hungary. We must date his secession from the Romish Church, however, from his marriage in 1567 ; and may ascribe it principally to the celibacy enjoined on the Romish clergy, and to his conscientious advocacy of the communion of both kinds.
On becoming a Protestant, he resigned his Bishoprick ; but the Emperor continued his friend and protector. The papal excommunication was levelled at his head, and he was burnt in effigy at Rome: but all this he treated with contempt. He formed the determination of spending the remainder of his life on the confines of Poland, and was accordingly naturalized in that country ; and having obtained the rank of a Polish Noble, he was enabled to purchase from Stanislaus Cichovius the town of Smigel, in Great Poland, on the borders of Silesia. Here he built a Protestant place of worship, and established a School at his own expense ; and thus became the founder and patron of the Church of Smigel, the first Minister of which was John Krotovius. (Vide Art. 89.)
Soon after his marriage, Dudithius left his wife with her mother in Poland, and went into Hungary, to obtain the Emperor's sanction to his resignation of the diplomatic office which he held, and to take his formal leave of public life. Maximilian granted his request, but not without reluctance, for he was unwilling to lose the services of Dudithius, and yet would not insist upon his retaining, against his will, the office of Perpetual Internuncio. On his return into Poland, he fixed his abode at Cracow, and entered into a correspondence with Beza, and other Divines of the Helvetic Confession ; and it is said that, in consequence of his renunciation of Catholicism, combined with the influence of his personal character, and his great eminence as a scholar, the cause of the evangelical party in Hungary was much extended.
On the death of Sigismund Augustus, King of Poland, the last of the race of Jagellon, in 1572, the throne of that country became vacant; and Dudithius, who was under the greatest obligations to the House of Austria, endeavoured, both by his speeches and writings, to induce the Poles to elect the Emperor Maximilian, or his son Ernest, King. But the French party proved the stronger ; and the majority of the Nobles being in the interest of Henry of Valois, the election was decided in his favour. Henry, however, having resigned the crown of Poland after a reign of about two years, and having returned to France to take possession of his hereditary kingdom, Dudithius again made common cause with those, who wished for the election of the Emperor Maximilian, or some Austrian Prince. But the party with which he acted was again left in a minority ; and the choice fell upon Stephen Bathory. Dudithius, however, resolved that he would never acknowledge Bathory as King ; and was compelled to quit Poland with his family, in the month of February, or March, 1576, on account of the hostility which his continued opposition to the claims of the new monarch had raised against him.
About three years before this, death had deprived him of his wife ; and he was left a widower, with three young children, two sons and a daughter. He felt his loss acutely, but on account of the education of his children, he entered into a second matrimonial connexion with Elizabeth Zborovia, or Zborowska, widow of John Tarnovius, whom Smalcius praises, as a most pious and modest matron. Being driven, with the whole of his family, out of the Polish territory, in the year 1576, he withdrew to Bylitz, a town of Upper Silesia, fourteen miles distant from Cracow, and at that time subject to Charles Promnitz. In this year, the Emperor Maximilian died, but he retained his affection for Dudithius to the end ; and one of the latest acts of his reign was to give orders to the Magistrates of Breslau to receive Dudithius, and treat him kindly, and to grant him liberty to go where he pleased. But he settled with his family in Moravia, and remained there, in the Principality of Paskow, by the kind permission of the Emperor Rudolph, whose Councillor he continued, with the customary pension, during that monarch's life ; and who conferred upon him the privileges of a free Baron of Moravia. In this retreat he spent his time in the midst of literary pursuits, was visited by some of the most learned men of the day, and composed his treatise on Comets. But at the expiration of two years, tired of the obscurity of this place, and of the disputes in which he was involved with the neighbouring boors, he left it, and went, as he had originally intended, to Breslau, where he had spent the pleasantest part of his youth ; and where he remained during the rest of his life, devoting himself wholly to literary occupations, and to the society of learned men.
It is said, that Dudithius sold his estates in Hungary and Poland ; and lent the money, produced by the sale of them, to the Emperor Rudolph on moderate interest. But he often complains in his letters, that the interest is not punctually paid ; and that his salary and pension are in arrears. Of his mode of life at this time he writes as follows to his friend, John Crato, of Crafftheim, in a letter, dated June 12th, 1580. "Here am I, living in a noble and populous city, in such a way, that the principal streets are not yet known to me, and very few of the inhabitants. I rarely go out anywhere before Sunday, except when some one invites me to a meal ; and that very seldom happens. I live with my family in the midst of a great desert ; I have one or two friends ; but I very rarely see them." He now withdrew himself altogether from public affairs ; and when, in 1587, Maximilian, Duke of Austria, was a rival candidate for the crown of Poland with Sigismund, hereditary Prince of Sweden, he took no interest whatever in the election.
About the end of the year 1579, he commenced a correspondence with Faust Socin, soon after the arrival of that eminent reformer in Poland ; and the letter addressed to him by Dudithius appears to have been very complimentary. The correspondence extended from the year 1580 to 1583, and in the course of it Dudithius proposed various questions to Socin on religious subjects, expressed doubts about certain parts of Socin's writings, and was far from agreeing with him in all things. He spent nearly ten years at Breslau ; and although he had very little society at first, yet, as time advanced, the circle of his acquaintance extended, and he had a great influx of visiters from Poland. Hence suspicions arose, and the clergy evinced a disposition to trouble him, on account of his religious opinions: but he appealed to the Emperor, and was allowed to pass the remainder of his life in peace. Two days before his death, he addressed a letter to his friend Praetorius, an eminent mathematician, at the end of which, after proposing various mathematical questions, he wrote these words with his own hand. "On the 15th of this month, there was a lunar eclipse in Aquarius, which is my horoscope. If Astrology is true, it either brings death to me, or some very grievous disease. What think you?" At length, on the 23rd of February, 1589, just a week after he had completed the fifty-sixth year of his age, with scarcely any preceding disease, he calmly breathed his last at Breslau, in the presence of his wife and children, ejaculating, at short intervals, the words, "O, Lord Jesus, save me!" The medical men who attended him differed as to the cause of his death, some supposing that it was caused by the breaking of an ulcer in the lungs, and others that it was the result of apoplexy. "That his death followed that eclipse," says Praetorius, "I regard as a matter of no importance whatever. What if consternation killed him?"
His body was interred in the church of St. Elizabeth, the principal one of the city, without any funeral pomp ; and his widow erected to his memory a monument in black marble, bearing the following inscription. "D. O. M. S. Andrew Dudithio ab Horechouicza Dno. in Smigla; antiquiss. prosapia, virtute singulari, eruditione multiiuga, diuersissimarum linguarum excellenti cognitione, plurimarumque et maximarum rerum usu vere illustri et incomparabili viro III. Impp. Ferdinandi I. Maximiliani II. Rudolphi II. Consiliario ; summis honorum, tum sacris, tum profanis, legationibusque ampliss. apud exteros Reges et Dynastas, maxima cum laude perfuncto ; carissimo omnibus; adverso nemini, cunctis admirationi, marito exoptatissimo atque desideratissimo, suo et liberorum nomine multis cum lacrymis posuit, Elisabetha, ex illustri et amplissima Sboroviorum familia oriunda, quae, ut in hac vita, cum dulcissimo conjuge per annos decern conjunctissime vixit, ita ne mortuum quidem deserere, sed cum eodem, in eodem sepulchre- quiescere voluit. Vixit maritus ann. 56, d. 7, obiit Breslae 23 Febr. MDLXXXIX. Illa vixit Obiit —." The blanks at the end of this inscription were never filled up. Dudithius's widow returned to Poland after her husband's death, and became a member of the Socinian Church ; and dying in the month of October, 1601, was buried on the 10th of Dec, at Czarcow. Dudithius had several children by this lady, one of whom, named Regina, was married to Jerome Moscorovius, Oct. 2nd, 1593. His elder son by the first marriage was named Andrew, and received his education under Quirinus Reuter, and Solomon Gesner. The three surviving sons of the second marriage, Alexander, Daniel and Jerome, were placed under the care of Smalcius, who had the charge of the School of Smigel, built by their father. They remained there till the year 1598 ; but when Smalcius removed to Lublin, in 1599, Moscorovius took the two younger ones to Luclavice, where they continued for some time with their tutor, in the house of Peter Statorius. Jerome, the youngest, died on the 7th of July, 1612, at Czarcow, and left a widow in very reduced circumstances.
The library of Dudithius contained many valuable works, both printed and in manuscript ; but what became of it, after the death of its possessor, is unknown. The biographical accounts of Dudithius are numerous, but that of Quirinus Reuter is the best. Those authors, who have described his character, speak of him as of a mild and gentle disposition; of quick perception, excellent judgment, and great prudence ; and so rigidly temperate, that he abstained from the use of wine, and all intoxicating liquors. He took great interest in the welfare of Faust Socin, and put him on his guard against the wiles of the Jesuits, and others. He seems himself to have had a great dread of death ; and to have wondered that his friend did not participate in the same feeling. Socin, in the course of their correspondence, had expressed his readiness to yield up his life in the cause of truth ; and seemed even desirous of martyrdom. Dudithius reproved him for giving utterance to such wishes ; and the answer of Socin, from which the following passage is taken, strikingly illustrates the different characters of the two men. "I don't think," says Socin, "that I said I desired death ; but only this, that I should esteem it a great favour, if God saw fit, to undergo death for his truth, and be conformed in this respect not only to others whom he has loved, but also to his only and best beloved Son, my Lord. Neither can I dissemble, that it has often appeared surprising to me that you should intimate you have different thoughts, and should declare it as your wish, that you may not be obliged to lay down your life as a martyr for Christ. Why so ? Is it that a little may be added to the residue of your years ? Of how great value, I pray you, if your death was left to your own choice, are those few decads of years you may continue longer in this life ? Indeed, what would be even ages, and thousands of years that must at last come to an end ? Recollect those words that deserve to be written in letters of gold, which a man, destitute of the true knowledge of God, and of all solid hope of another life after the present uttered: 'Nothing appears to me lasting which has an end ; for when that arrives, what is passed has fled away: that only remains, which you have obtained by virtue, and right conduct.'—Perhaps you may plead, your meaning was, that you might not endure and feel the agonies and distresses attendant on martyrdom. But in what light are these to be viewed, when God affords strength to support them patiently and cheerfully out of love to him, but as a pledge and earnest given to a Christian of future immortality and blessedness. Therefore, on no account, unless I am mistaken, should we, who profess Christianity, declare that we wish not to be numbered among the martyrs for Christ; especially before those who pay little regard to religion, and who will seize the advantage afforded them by such kind of speeches, to harden their minds in their lukewarmness, and to believe that our hearts do not glow with zeal for it. I suppose you will clearly perceive my meaning, and therefore I shall not use more words to express it. I only request this, that you will excuse my freedom, since I think it my duty thus to address you." (F. Socini Opera, T. I. p. 509.)As regards the religious opinions of Dudithius, the assertions, made by his different biographers, are various and contradictory. Some have charged him with Atheism ; others have stigmatized him as a heretic. Some have asserted, others have denied, that he lapsed into Arianism. The truth is, as may be collected from his own writings, and the Synodical Acts of the Unitarian Churches, he agreed on all fundamental points with them ; and urged, if not a union of all religions, yet a toleration of them. But he never made any public confession, and was not formally admitted into communion with the Socinians. Motives of policy induced him to avoid this ; although, as we have already seen, he was the founder, and patron of the Church at Smigel. In a letter to Beza, he confesses that he derived his opinion concerning God, and his Son Jesus Christ, principally from the published writings of Blandrata and Davidis ; but solemnly affirms that he never saw either of them, and consequently, that he could not have been biassed by any prepossession in their favour. Ruarus, in reply to a letter of Vincentius Frisius, says, "Dudithius embraced the opinion of Socin concerning God and Christ, and never departed from it, as far as I know. On other subjects, not a few of his sentiments coincided with those of Socin. But when he found, that, from one of his letters to John a Lasco, and another to John Crato, his reputation was in danger, he began to conceal his opinion." (Epp. Cent. i. N. 99.) Sandius says, that "he joined the followers of Calvin ; but when he found that they stood in need of reformation in many things, and especially when he saw their bitterness towards the worshipers of the One God, he withdrew from them, and joined the Unitarians, embracing their opinion, which he professed and propagated to his death." (B. A. p. 61.)
The following is an extract of a letter, dated Cracow, 1570, assuring Beza, that he speaks to him with the utmost frankness, as to a friend. "The disciples of the Apostles never burnt any person for not according with them in belief; they neither sent any into exile, nor armed others against their Sovereigns; neither did they ever publish any statutes, giving authority for establishing religion by force. Tell me, I pray you, according to that reformation of the Gospel, which you believe is nowhere preserved in its purity, but among yourselves, how is it, that all sorts of crimes are committed with impunity ? Is not every place stained with the blood of a number of persons shed by you? Have not snares been laid by you for Princes and Magistrates? And are not rewards proposed for thieves and assassins to excite them to murder, in inspiring them with the hope of eternal salvation? Has the Christian religion any need of such defenders? Did Christ, your Master, put arms into your hands to defend his cause ?" (F. Socini Opera, T. I. p. 517.) In another letter to John Wolfius, Minister of the Church at Zurich, Dudithius represents to him the inconsistency of the Calvinists, in accusing the Catholics of cruelty, as the Reformed are worse than they! This he illustrates by the examples of Servet, Valentine Gentilis, and many others, whom they put to death for their belief. He charges the Calvinists of Zurich with banishing the aged Ochinus, with his wife and family, in the depth of winter, without even giving them a hearing. He describes the inhospitable treatment which Lasco, and the Church of the Strangers experienced at the hands of the Calvinists, who refused them shelter in every place to which they came, in the most inclement season of the year. Dudithius, after that, could not suppose that they would have the effrontery to reproach the Catholics with the cruelty and tyranny of the Church of Rome! (Ibid. p. 516.)
Bock infers, from a letter addressed by Dudithius to his friend Praetorius, that persons, holding the religious sentiments of Socinus, were in the habit of assembling in his house at Breslau, not long before his death; and he justly remarks, that the suspicion of his being a Socinian is not a little increased by this circumstance, as well as by the fact, that all his surviving family,—wife, sons and daughters,—openly joined the Socinians after his death. "In the mean time," he observes, "we think that a full judgment concerning his private opinions, towards the end of his life, must be left to the omniscient Searcher of hearts. That he at one time impugned the doctrine of the Trinity is placed beyond all doubt, by proofs in abundance ; that he really repented of his error, there is not a single argument to prove." (Hist. Ant. T. I. pp. 293, 294.) During his residence at Breslau, he attended public worship at the Calvinistic Lutheran Church, where he also partook, at stated times, of the Lord's Supper ; but this he probably did, like many others, who were strenuous advocates of the opinions of Socin, merely to shew the world, that he had ceased to be a Catholic.
Dudithius was a voluminous author. A full account of his writings is given by Bock, of which the following is little more than an abridgment.
1. A Short Commentary on the Signification of Comets, first printed at Basle, in 1579, 4to., and dedicated to Nicholas Mieleczki, Palatine of Cracow. This treatise was reprinted by Peter Perna, in a collection of tracts on the same subject, in 1586, 4to. A third edition was put forth by Elias Major, at Breslau, in 1619, 8vo.; a fourth at Jena, in 1665, 4to.; and a fifth at Utrecht, in the same year, 4to. In this little work, Dudithius denies that comets are productive causes of physical, or prognostics of moral evil.2. Thirty-eight Letters on Medical Subjects in Laurence Scholtz's Volume of Philosophical, Medical and Chemical Epistles. Frankf. 1598, Fol.; Hanover, 1610, Fol.
3. Poems, inserted in the 2nd Vol. of " Deliciae Poetarum Germaniae," have been attributed to Dudithius by Sandius and others: but Schwartz, who devoted much attention to the life and writings of Dudithius, was unable to find any production of his, except two epigrams, one of which was addressed to his preceptor, Angelo Canini, and the other to his wife, a short time before his own death. Neither of these epigrams is inserted in the collection above mentioned, which, however, does contain "Poems of Nathan. Chytraeus on Dudithius."
4. Two Speeches delivered at the Council of Trent, in the Name of the Bishops of Hungary. Venice, 1562,4to.; Brescia, 1562; Paris, Frankfort on the Maine, Hanover and Padua, 1563, These speeches, with a third, On the Use of the Cup in the Lord's Supper, which had been separately printed at Padua in 1563, were inserted in a Collection of the Miscellaneous Works of Quirinus Reuter. Offenbach, 1610, 4to.
5. A Life of Cardinal Pole. Venice, 1563, 4to. This was not an original work of Dudithius, but a Latin translation from the Italian of Ludovico Beccatelli, made during the residence of Dudithius at Padua. The Aldine edition is very scarce; but that of London, 1690, 8vo., may often be met with.
6. An Apology, addressed to Maximilian II., in which the author assigns Reasons for marrying, and for relinquishing the Bishoprick of the Five Churches, and other Ecclesiastical Preferments. This Apology was inserted in the Collection of Reuter, and the Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum.
7. The Judgment of Dionysius of Halicarnassus concerning the History of Thucydides. Venice, 1560, 4to. This was afterwards inserted in John Bodin's " Methodus Historica," Basle, 1576, 8vo.; 1579, 8vo.; and was reprinted in the Works of Thucydides. Vide " Biblioth. Gesneri, edita a Frisio," f. 43.
8. Two Sets of Notes on F. Socin's "Disputation concerning Water Baptism." These Notes were printed, with the Disputation to which they relate, atRacow, 1613, 8vo.; and are inserted, together with the reply of Socin, in the Bibliotheca Fratr. Polon. T. I. pp. 738—748. Schwartz says, that these Notes were not written by Dudithius, but by Reuter, in proof of which he appeals to Melchior Adam, and to ocular inspection ; and yet F. Socinus, who was no no doubt well informed upon the subject, expressly attributes them to Dudithius. Bock thinks that Reuter may have been the author of the second set of Notes.
9. Eight Letters in the Bibl. Fratr. Pol. T. I. pp. 510— 534. The first of these Letters is addressed to John Lasicius, and relates to the Trinity. In the second, which is addressed to John WoLfius, Minister of the Church at Zurich, Dudithius discusses the question, "Where is the True and Catholic Church of Jesus Christ to be found ?" The third is addressed to Theodore Beza, first Minister of the Church of Geneva, and relates to the question, "Whether the name Church belongs to the Reformed Church alone ?" It is the same with that, which Sandius mentions, (B. A. p. 64,) under the title, "Epistola de Haereticis non persequendis, et capitali Supplicio afficiendis, Christlingae, 1584," 8vo.; and which was printed with Minus Celsus's treatise on that subject. The fourth and fifth are addressed to Peter Melius, Pastor of the Church of Debreczin, in Upper Hungary, to whom Dudithius administers a severe castigation, for his foul abuse of the Socinians. The sixth is addressed to Beza, and contains the writer's Confession of Faith concerning God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit ; and animadversions on the Athanasian Creed. The seventh is addressed to Josiah Simler and John Wolfius, Divines of Zurich, and contains a modest reply to a letter, which Dudithius had received from the latter, with censures upon those who persecute others for not agreeing with them in matters of religion. The eighth is a reply to a letter of Peter Carolius, Minister of Varad, who had endeavoured, but in vain, to appease the just indignation of Dudithius against Peter Melius, for his supercilious and bigoted treatment of the Antitrinitarians.
10. Numerous Letters in Italian, addressed to F. Socin, in 1580, and succeeding years.
11. A Letter to Justus Lipsius, published in the " Select Letters of Justus Lipsius, Frankf. 1590," No. 91, p. 149; and another to the same, inserted in Peter Burmann's " Sylloge Epistolarum a Viris illustribus scriptarum," T. I. N. 214, p. 215.
12. About three hundred Autograph Letters, preserved, according to Lauterbach, in the Elizabethan Library at Breslau.
13. Another large Collection of Manuscript Letters, formerly in the possession of Praetorius.
14. A Letter to M. Anton. Muretus, written at Padua, in 1559 ; and inserted in the "Letters of Muretus," edited by James Thomasius, L. i. N. 69, p. 422.
15. A Letter to Joachim Camerarius, the Father, written in 1568 ; and inserted, by Thomas Crenius, in his " Animad. Phil, et Hist," P. ii. p. 140.
16. A Letter to Christopher Threcius, Rector of the School at Cracow, written about 1571, and inserted in "Epistolae Praestantium ac Eruditorum Virorum," otherwise called, "Remonstrantium Epistolae," Amst. 1684 and 1704, Fol. N. 16, p. 32.
17. A Letter to Reiner Reineccius, written in 1581, and inserted in a Book of Historical Letters, addressed to R. R. during sixteen years, Helmst., 1583, Fol. p. 35, b.; and another addressed to John Martellus, in 1580, and inserted in the "Offenbach Collection of Quirinus Reuter."
18. A Valedictory Letter upon Reuter's Book, consecrated to the Memory of Friends, written in 1582, and inserted, by Melchior Adam, in his "Lives of German Theologians," p. 391.
19. A Letter to Solomon Gesner, written in 1588, and prefixed to Gesner's "Commentary on Cicero ' De Fato.'"
20. A Letter to Simon Simonius, written in 1585, a fragment of which was inserted in Simonius's " Simonius Supplex ad incomparabilem Virum," etc. Fol. M. 3.
21. Three Letters to John Praetorius, written in the years 1572, 1585 and 1589, and inserted, by Sigismund James Apinus, in his "Vitae Professorum Philos. in Acad. Altorf," p. 25.
22. MS. Notes on the "Dialogues of Bernardine Ochinus." These Notes were written in a copy of Ochinus's "Dialogues," which had previously been the property of Valentine Gentilis, and George Blandrata, under whose respective hand-writings Dudithius subscribed the words —" Manus V. Gentilis, Bernae decollati,"—"Blandratae Manus."
23. A small work, On the Greek and Latin Languages, written before the year 1560, of which Dudithius, in the Dedication to his "Judgment of Dionysius of Halicarnassus concerning the History of Thucydides," says, "If the Greek be compared with the Latin, what, I pray, can be found fuller than the former, what more jejune than the latter ? which we have shewn copiously enough, and, as I think, clearly enough, in a little book of ours."
24. A Proof that Marriage is permitted by the Divine Law to every Order of Men without Exception. This was written at the Diet of Petricow, in 1567; and is inserted in the Collection of Reuter, pp. 52—79.
25. Illustrations of the Book of "Demetrius on Interpretation." These Illustrations were never completed.
26. Dudithius also translated Longinus "On the Sublime" from Greek into Latin, but his version never saw the light; and he meditated, but did not complete, "A Refutation of Atheism."
27. Paul Manutius mentions with much praise, as having been written by Dudithius, while yet at Padua, "Commentariolus Argumenti Theologici," which began with the words, "Ita mihi optata contingant;" but whether it was published, or remained in manuscript, is uncertain. Sandius also speaks of some letters of Dudithius as occurring in the correspondence of Manutius ; and refers, from memory, to the "Bibliotheca Gesneriana," as his authority for this statement. (Bibl. Ant. p. 63.) The reference is verified by Bock, who tells us that what Sandius says upon this subject is taken from Casp. Frisius's "Epit. Biblioth. Gesnerianae," p. 43 ; but he remarks, at the same time, that the allegation itself appears not to be borne out by fact. He adds, however, that he has not seen the oldest editions of the Epistles of Manutius ; and that no letters of Dudithius to Manutius are given in the later ones. He further states, that in the letters addressed by Manutius to Dudithius, the name of the latter is suppressed; but that in Krause's edition, published at Leipzic in 1720, 8vo., the name of Dudithius has been restored from the most ancient editions. On this subject the reader will find much valuable information in the Appendix to the present work, communicated to the author by one whom he is proud to call his friend,—Richard Taylor, Esq., F.L.S., F.G. S.
(Vidend. Sandii B. A. pp. 61—64. MoreriD'ict. Hist. Art. Dudith. Bock, Hist. Ant. T. I. pp. 252—322. Smalcii Diarium, apud Zeltn. Hist. Crypto-Soc. pp. 1166. 1174. 1196. Socini Opera, T. I. pp. 495— 534. Toulmin's Mem. of F. Socinus, Chap. ii. Sect. 2, pp. 47—50. Ruari Epist. Cent. i. N. 99. Wissowatii Narratio Compend. p. 214. Moshem. Inst. H. E. Saec. xvi. Sect. iii. P. ii. C. iv. § ix. Schelhornii Amoen. Literar. T. V. pp. 254, 255. Lampe, Hist. Eccles. Ref. in Hungaria et Transylvania, A. D. 1565, pp. 124, 125. Mon. Rep. Vol. V. (1810) pp. 651, 652. Thomce Crenii Anim. Philol. et Hist. P. ii. C. iv. § x. pp. 138—154, et Ref.)
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