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Page 85

 

85 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA though his sermons betray the exaggerated rhetoric of his time. (FERDINAND Cows.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY: A selection of the Opera was published by C. du Molinet, Paris, 1679, whence, with a supplement, it was reproduced in MPL, ccxi. 295-562. His " Letters " were first published by J. B. Masson, Paris, 1611; then were taken into the MPL, ut sup.; forty of them are in Bouquet, Recueil, xix. 282-306; and a new ed. was issued by J. Desilve, Lettres d'Etienne de Tournai, Valenciennes, 1893. Consult: F. Maassen, Beitrdge zur Geschichte der juristischen LitEeratur des Mittelaltera, Vienna, 1857; J. F. Von Schulte, Gesehichte der Quellen uud LitteraEur des kanoniachen Rechta, i. 133 aqq., Stuttgart, 1875; L. Bourgain, La Chairs frangaise au xii. sit<cle, Paris, 1879; H. Denifle, Chartulariuvr universitatis Parisiensis, i.12 et passim, Paris, 1889; Archiv fur katkolisches Kirehenrecht, lxvi (1891), 460; Deutsche ZeitsehriJt Jvr Kirchenrecht, III., i (1892), 252 sqq.; KL, xi. 770-771.

STEPHENS, ESTIENNE, STEPHANUS: The name of a distinguished Parisian family of printers, which did most brilliant service in the interest of literature, and by their publications promoted the cause of the Reformation.

1. Henry, the first printer of this name, had an establishment of his own in Paris from 1503 to 1520. He was on friendly terms with some of the most learned men of the day, Buds, Brigonnet, and Faber Stapulensis (q.v.), and had among his proof-readers Beatus Rhenanus. Among his publications were Faber's editions of Aristotle, the Psalteriutn quint cuplex, and his commentary on the Pauline Epistles. Henry left three sons, Frangois, Robert, and Charles. Frangois published a number of works (153717) which had no bearing upon theology. His few impressions, chiefly issues of the classics, were all in Latin except Psalterium and a Horse Yirginis in Greek. Charles studied medicine, wrote some works on natural history, and gained an honorable position both as scholar and as author. In 1551 he assumed control of the Paris printing establishment, on Robert's departure to Geneva, and printed a number of works till 1561, using the title " royal typographer " (typographus regius). One of his works that long remained an authority was a Dietionarium Latino-Gctllicum, 1552. He published a number of smaller editions of Hebrew texts and targums, which were edited by J. Mercier.

2. Robert, the second son of Henry, and the founder of the splendid reputation which the name of Stephens still enjoys, was born in Paris, 1503, and died in Geneva Sept. 7, 1559. He early became acquainted with the ancient languages, and entered the printing-establishment of Simon de Colines, who married his mother upon his father's death. He corrected the edition of the Latin New Testament of 1523. This work was the first occasion of the endless charges and criminations of the clerical party, especially the theological faculty of the Sorbonne, against him. 7n 1524 he became proprietor of the press of his father. In 1539 he adopted as his devices an olive branch around which a serpent was twined, and a man standing under an olive-tree, with grafts from which wild branches were falling to the ground, with the words of Rom. xi. 20, Noli altum sapere, sed tinge, " Be not high-minded, but fear." The latter was called the olive of the Stephens family. In 1539 he received the distinguishing title of " Printer in Greek to the king." But the official recognition and the crown's approval to his under-

Stephen Stephens

taking could not save him from the censure and ceaseless opposition of the divines, and in 1550, to escape the violence of his per.ecutors, he emigrated to Geneva. With his title of " royal typographer " Robert made the Paris establi;>hment famous by his numerous editions of grammatical works and other school-books (among them many of Melanchthon's), and of old authors, as Dio Cassius, Eusebius, Cicero, Sallust, C;esar, Justin. Many of these, especially the Greek editions, were famous for their typographical elegance. In 1532 he published the remarkable Thesaurus linguce lutino, and twice he published the Hebrew Bible entire-in 15304, thirteen parts, in four volumes, and 1544-46 in seventeen parts. Both of these editions are rare. Of more importance are his four editions of the Greek New Testament, 1546, 1549, 1550, and 1551, the last in Geneva. The first two are among the neatest Greek texts known, and are called O mirificam; the third is a splendid masterpiece of typographical skill, and is known as the Editio regia.; the edition of 1551 contains the Latin translation of Erasmus and the Vulgate, is not nearly as fine as the other three, and is exceedingly rare. It was in this edition that the versicular division of the I\Tew'1'estament was for the first time introduced (see BtF.Lr.T1sxT, IL, 2, § 2, TIT., § 3). A number of editions of the Vulgate also appeared from his presses, of which the principal are those of 1528, 1532, 1540 (one of the ornaments of his press), and 1546. Thc: text of the Vulgate was in a wretched condition, and Stephens's editions, especially that of 1545, containing a new translation at the side of the Vulgate, was the subject of sharp and acrimonious criticism from the clergy. On his arrival at Geneva, he published a defense against the attacks of the Sorbonne. Efe issued the French Bible in 1553, and many of Calvin's writings; the finest edition of the Institutio being that of 1553. His fine edition of the Latin Bible with glosses (1556) contained the translation of the Old Testament by Santes Pagninus, and the first edition of Beza's translation of the New Testament.

Three of Robert's sons, :Henry, Robert, and Frangois, became celebrated as printers. Frangois, the second (b. in 1540), printed on his own account in Geneva from 1562-82, issuing a number of editions of the Bible in Latin ;end French, and some of Calvin's works. French writers identify him with a printer by the name of E:.tienne in Normandy, whither he is supposed to have emigrated in 1582. Robert, the second (b. in 1530; d. in 1570), began to print in Paris on his own account in 1556, and in 1563 received the title of Typographus reyins; his presses were busily employed in issuing civil documents. He held to the Roman Catholic faith and thus won the support of Charles IX., and by 1563 appears to have fully reconstituted his father's establishment in Paris. His edition o_ the New Testament of 1568-69 a reprint of his father's first edition, and equal to it in elegance of execution, is now exceedingly rare.

3. Henry, the second, the eldest son of the great Robert, and without doubt tae most distinguished member of the family, was born in Paris, 1528, and died at Lyons March, 1598. He displayed in his youth a genuine enthusiasm for Greek and Latin;