Glasgow editor, and as my collection on Eschylus is tolerably complete, I willingly send you the twenty rix dollars, which it cost. * * C. D. ILGEN TO SCHÜTZ. Schul Pforta, Aug. 12, 1803. My dear friend, if the professors continue to leave Jena at the present rate, I shall take care not to go there again. I should be obliged to exclaim, as Reiz did, when he came to Leipsic, and first walked through the fields, "a barren land. Selah." * * * Pro Deum, popularium, adolescentium, postulo, clamo, oro, obsecro, ploro atque imploro fidem, who prepared that terrific article on Heyne? If there be an Ilias post Homerum, it is this review after the manner of Wolf. It must have had more than one bard for its author, or if but one, he must have been possessed of all the demons of Homeric learning. * * I beg you, unravel to me the mystery. F. JACOBS TO SCHÜTZ. Gotha, Sept. 26, 1803. The important matter of your change of residence is finally settled. I heartily wish you all happiness and contentment. But how disagreeable, how painful must such a change be, in present circumstances, and amidst so many intrigues! For all the benefits which have accrued to the university from your journal, you have drawn upon yourself anger and ingratitude. And why? Because you would not sacrifice yourself to the university, which has nothing to do with your paper. An attempt is indeed made to persuade the public that it is not so; and there are persons who are ignorant enough of such matters, to suppose that you were appointed professor in Jena, to edit a journal. * * I think it is incumbent on you to make a strong appeal to the public, showing that the new paper, in Jena, is not the continuation of the Literary Journal, which is wholly your own property, and which no one, without the greatest injustice, can wrest from you. JACOBS TO SCHÜTZ. Gotha, Jan. 1, 1804. * * You are, by this time, probably, quite at home in Halle ;—at least, the chief difficulties of such a change must be, by this time, overcome. I hope you find every thing to your satisfaction, and that your life in Halle will be as happy as it was in Jena. I send you herewith a review of the Athenaeus, which I hope will be to your mind. Whether Schweighaüser will be satisfied with it, I do not know. The good man knows next to nothing of metre and of Atticism, and has, therefore, fallen into innumerable blunders, which I could not pass without notice. I have generally pointed them out in an indirect way. * * JACOBS TO SCHÜTZ. Gotha, Nov. 9, 1806. *** Since the battle which was lost at the gates of Halle, and even in the city itself, I have had no rest. * * Write me, my dear friend, in a few words, how it is with you and yours;-whether Niemeyer, Vater, or Wolf, has suffered. * JACOBS TO SCHÜTZ. Gotha, Aug. 10, 1807. A thousand thanks for your kind and friendly letter, and for the affectionate interest you take in my affairs. *** It is true, proposals of a very flattering character from Munich, have been made to me; but you know how painful it is to me to think of removing. *** Nothing could be more pleasant to me, than that you and your journal should be transferred to Munich, and that we, per varios casus, should be brought together in one place. Keep this thought in mind, if your prospects fail in Prussia. What will Wolf do? Is there any thing for him in Berlin? Does he not regret that he declined the call from Bavaria? Is it too late now? If he would like the place in the Academy of Sciences, it is plain that he ought to have it, not I. The child's song is applicable here; regnum, quod recte facientibus esset. The recte facientes, in this case, are ii qui sapiunt, the Wolfii, Schützii, et siqui horum sunt similes. JACOBS TO SCHÜTZ. * * Munich, March 5, 1808. My dear friend, you have anticipated me in your kind and friendly remembrance, for which I heartily thank you. ** I find myself in a new world. The difference between Catholic and Protestant Germany is greater than one at a distance would think. The literary zeal here is feeble compared with what it is with us at the north. * * Classical literature is quite prostrate, and all regard for it discouraged. Still the youth are not wholly unsusceptible to its influence, and I hope I shall be able to revive a taste for these studies. But it will require patience. The unexpected restoration of the Halle university gives me great joy. *** You and your journal will probably now remain there. May heaven soon grant us better times, and richly make up to you all your losses and sufferings. JACOBS TO SCHÜTZ. Gotha, March 17, 1811. The attempt at assassination made upon Thiersch, has, indeed, deeply affected me. He was almost daily with me in my house in Munich, and we were to the last on terms of the greatest intimacy. After my return, he took my place in the Lyceum; and since then he has, with great spirit and success, conducted the Philological Seminary which I commenced. JACOBS TO SCHÜTZ. Gotha, Jan. 7, 1812. What do you say to the fragment of the Acharnians, which Wolf has published, with bitter observations upon the coterie of Voss? The rupture must now be considered as decisively made. It pains my heart to see such strife and dissension among scholars. It cannot do otherwise than diminish respect for learning, and, consequently, place obstacles in the way of those who are laboring for the best interests of humanity. JACOBS TO SCHÜTZ. Gotha, Dec. 6, 1812. * * The manner in which the younger Voss has reviewed the Acharnians in the Heidelberg Annals, is, in itself, just and honorable, though I think Wolf is not treated according to his merits. That Voss should speak of Wolf as a young student, who is laboring hard, and giving promise of final success, the latter will never forgive. * * Wolf's Latin translation of the Platonic dialogues appears to me most excellent, and if he goes, in this way, to the end, he will certainly have a right to a distinguished wreath. Buttmann writes me, that the edition of Plato, by Böckh and Heindorf, will not be given up on account of Wolf's. It is said that the Göttingen professorship has been offered to Gurlitt, but that he has declined it. I think it will have to be given to a young man. Is not Lobeck competent to it? His learned dissertation, de Morte Bacchi, shows that he is something more than a grammarian. I hear favorable accounts, also, of his character. SCHÜTZ TO JACOBS. * Jena, Jan. 11, 1802. Nothing for a long time has given me so much pleasure, as the information that your call to Kiel, has brought you 500 rix dollars additional salary. Heaven bless your duke for it, and let you enjoy, to your latest days, this well-merited reward. As you did not accept the appointment, there may be an opening here for our friend Eichstaedt. You will do me and him a great favor, if you will mention the name of the minister, and of other persons to be applied to. *To-morrow, the post will carry six louis d'or to you, as an extraordinary premium voted you for your services in the Journal. I wish I could make them sixty. But the state of our reserve funds, from which alone such rewards can be drawn, will not allow it; and I must beg you to keep this a secret. Not to mention that all reviews are not up to Jacobs, even if they were, we should be able at present to grant premiums to but very few; and if this should lead to jealousies, the practice must be given up wholly. * * SCHÜTZ TO JACOBS. Halle, Sept. 22, 1812. My dear friend, I know not whether you have received my first long letter, in which I urged you to accept the call to Göttingen, and endeavored to remove your objections. I sent it by way of Leipsic. On the receipt of your review of Bast, I sent you a second, by way of Weimar. This is the third; and I write, in consequence of what a student, just from Göttingen, related to me, namely, that you had been actually appointed, but that fears were entertained that you would hardly come. He |