Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 58.djvu/385

 appears on some of the plates in Robert and James Adam's ‘Works in Architecture,’ 1773, and Orme's ‘Rudiments of Landscape.’



VIVES, JOHANNES LUDOVICUS (1492–1540), scholar, was born at Valencia in Spain on 6 March 1492, the son of Ludovicus Vives and Blancha Marcha his wife. The family was distinguished on both sides, his father tracing back his descent to Vives del Vergel, an illustrious inhabitant of the ancient city of Denia in the province of Valencia; while his mother belonged to a family of the neighbouring town of Gandia, which numbered among its members several poets of good repute (, vol. i. pp. v, vi, 8). John's studies commenced in his native town, where his chief instructor was Jerome Amiguetus, a staunch defender of the old learning against Antonio Calà Harana del Ojo, better known in literary history as Lebrija. His maternal uncle, Henricus Marcha, also read with him the ‘Institutions’ of Justinian. From Valencia, in order to carry out his studies, he repaired in 1509 to Paris. The passion for dialectics was there at its height, and he endeavoured to perfect himself in the art under John Dullard and Gaspar Lax, but the narrow bigotry of his teachers disgusted him (De Canis, ii. 361), and about 1512 he betook himself to Bruges. Here the tranquil air that pervaded the city, the urbanity of the citizens, and the excellent municipal administration so completely won his affections that he determined to make it his residence, and, according to his own statement, more than fourteen years of his life were spent within its walls. We hear of him, however, as again in Paris in 1514, where, in the month of April, he printed his ‘Christi Triumphus.’ From Bruges he went for a time to Louvain, where in 1518 he compiled his treatise ‘De Initiis, Sectis, et Laudibus Philosophiæ.’ In the following year he again visited Paris, where he made the acquaintance of Budæus, while his dislike of the ‘Obscurantists’ found expression in one of his most notable productions—the ‘In Pseudo-dialecticos.’ About this time he became acquainted also with Erasmus, whose attention had been directed by Thomas More to the high merit of Vives's writings.

On 5 May 1520 Vives received his license to teach, and proceeded to lecture before the university at Louvain. He lectured, he tells us, chiefly on Cicero, Pliny's ‘Natural History,’ and Virgil. Among his pupils was William of Croyes, archbishop of Toledo from 1518 to January 1521–2, and during that brief period Vives's chief patron. Erasmus, overweighted with the arduous task of preparing a new edition of the works of St. Augustine, now sought the aid of Vives, who consented to write a commentary on the ‘De Civitate Dei.’ The mere restoration of the text was a work of considerable difficulty, and while thus occupied he was attacked by an illness which necessitated his return to Bruges. During his stay the city was honoured by a visit from Henry VIII of England and his queen [q. v.] in July 1521, with More, just knighted, in their train. The queen had already bestowed a pension on her illustrious countryman (Opera, ii. 960), who was now presented to the royal pair. In the following September Vives returned to Louvain. Writing from thence to Erasmus in July 1522, he forwards proofs of the last five books of his commentary on the ‘De Civitate,’ together with the dedication to Henry, and solicits his friend's criticisms and corrections (Erasmi Opera, ed. 1703, Epist. dcxxx. vol. iii. p. 720). The dedication was graciously received by Henry, who in his letter of acknowledgment (24 Jan. 1523) refers in flattering terms to the services rendered by Vives to learning, and promises him his aid whenever occasion might offer. The death of the cardinal of Croyes in the preceding year had already deprived the struggling scholar of his chief patron, and he now determined, in response to the royal intimation, to push his fortunes in England. In the course of 1523 he landed in this country, and was received at court with marked favour by both king and queen, and also by Wolsey.

In the meantime the ‘De Civitate’ had appeared at Basel, where it was printed by Frobenius; but the praise lavished by the editor on Erasmus—the tolerance which led him to indulge in the pious hope that even heathens, if virtuous, like Numa, Cato, and Camillus, might find admission into heaven—and certain other laxities in connection with points of doctrine, roused the susceptibilities of the Roman censorship, and eventually the work was placed in the ‘Index,’ with the words ‘donec corrigatur.’ Frobenius reported that the book had no sale; but Vives, in a letter from Bruges dated 10 May 1523, affirms that he is in possession of good evidence to the contrary, and that in London alone thirty copies had been sold.

During his stay in England Vives appears to have resided in the first instance at Oxford, where he had already been honoured