Aretius, Benedictus

ARETIUS, ɑ-rê´-shi-Us (Grecized from Marti), BENEDICTUS: Scientist and theologian; b. at Bätterkinden, in the canton of Bern, Switzerland, 1505; d. at Bern March 22, 1574. He studied at Strasburg and at Marburg, where he became professor of logic; was called to Bern as school-teacher, 1548, and became professor of theology, 1564. His chief work, Theologiæ problemata (Bern, 1573), was a compendium of the knowledge of the time and was highly valued. His Examen theologicum (1557) ran through six editions in fourteen years. His works also include a commentary on the New Testament (1580 and 1616) and on the Pentateuch (1602; 2d ed., with commentary on the Psalms added, 1618), a commentary on Pindar (1587), a description of the flora of two mountains of the Bernese Oberland, Stockhorn and Niesen (Strasburg, 1561), a Hebrew method for schools (Basel, 1561), and a defense of the execution (in 1566) of the Antitrinitarian Valentin Gentilis (Geneva, 1567).

Bibliography: J. H. Graf, Geschichte der Mathematik und der Naturwissenschaften in Bernischen Landen, i. 25-29, Bern, 1888.