Pieter Burmann the Younger

Pieter Burmann (October 13, 1714 - June 24, 1788), called by himself the Younger (Secundus) to distinguish himself from his uncle, was a Dutch philologist, born at Amsterdam.

He was brought up by his uncle in Leiden, and afterwards studied law and philology under CA Duker and Arnold von Drakenborch at Utrecht. In 1735 he was appointed professor of eloquence and history at Franeker, with which the chair of poetry was combined in 1741. In the following year he left Franeker for Amsterdam to become professor of history and philology at the Athenaeum. He was subsequently professor of poetry (1744), general librarian (1752), and inspector of the gymnasium (1753). In 1777 he retired, and died on the 24th of June 1778 at Sandhorst, near Amsterdam.

He resembled his more famous uncle in the manner and direction of his studies, and in his violent disposition, which involved him in quarrels with contemporaries, notably Saxe and Klotz. He was a man of extensive learning, and had a great talent for Latin poetry. His most valuable works are:

• Anthologia Veterum Latinorum Epigrammatum et Poematum (1759-1763)
• Aristophanis comoediae Novem (1760)
• Rhetorica.

He completed the editions of Virgil (1767) and Claudian (1760), which had been left unfinished by his uncle, and commenced an edition of Propertius, one of his best works, which was only half printed at the time of his death. It was completed by L. van Santen and published in 1780.

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.