Etienne, Henri II

In addition to the ancient languages (including Hebrew ), Henri Etienne learned almost all of Western European languages, as well as some Eastern. From the age of 18, he searched Greek manuscripts in the libraries of Italy , England and Flanders , setting himself the goal of publishing critically verified texts of the best Greek authors . In 1554, Etienne published for the first time a collection of ancient imitations of Anacreon , based on two previously unknown manuscripts, which he managed to master, in his own words, not without danger to himself. This edition immediately made his name known, and the collection itself subsequently created the modern glory of Anacreon, evoked repeated imitations in later literature and laid the foundation for European Anacreontic poetry .

The following year (1555) published a Latin translation of Theocritus , together with the bucolis ^{[2] of} his own composition.

In 1557, he founded a printing house in Geneva , regardless of his father’s, but after the death of his father, he united them. Within 40 years of printing, he has published about 170 essays in various languages. First place among them belongs to the Greek writers - both in number and in importance of publications. Many of them were published by him for the first time, the editions of others were improved and corrected, often with excellent Latin translations and commentaries. Within the collected works of one author or another, Etienne enumerated through all the original texts. This continuous numbering of texts from the Etienne editions of the works of Plato (1578) and Plutarch (1572) is still used by scholars around the world when referring to the texts of Plato and Platurch as standard ( Stephanus pages ) ^[3] .

For the composition of " L'Introduction au traité de la conformité des merveilles anciennes avec les modernes " Etienne was subjected to a symbolic execution in 1566.

Surpassing his father as a writer and scientist, Henri was inferior to him as a typographer: his publications are not so luxurious and careful.

His copyright activity is important in the history of the French literary language. He wrote in French , Latin and Greek , in verse and prose .

Works in Latin:

• Ciceronianum Lexicon graecolatinum (1557);
• The Dictionary of the Greek Language ( Thesaurus graecae linguae , 1572-73, 5 tons), a colossal work that cost him incredible efforts and 30,000 livres in money. The work was reprinted many times (for example, Firmen Didot ). This edition has greatly shaken his condition, especially since someone Scapula , using proofread sheets, published an abbreviated edition of a huge dictionary;
• " Artis typographe querimonia " (1569) - poem-history of typography;
• " Francofordiense Emporium " (1574) - a collection of poems and prose, representing the description and glorification of the Frankfurt Fair ;
• Principum monitrix Musa ( Basel , 1596) is a collection of poems and prose expressing the author’s views on the events of the era and on the principles of management.

Works in French:

• “ Traicté de la conformité du langage français avec le grec ” (1565);
• “ La précellence du langage français ” (Paris, 1579);
• " Deux dialogues du nouveau langage françois italianisé " ( Geneva , 1578), in which, proceeding from the similarity between French and his favorite Greek, proves the superiority of French over Italian , which is nothing but spoiled Latin, and fights against the corruption of French language by the Italianisms introduced by Catherine de Medici and her court;
• In his work “ L'Introduction au traité de la conformité des merveilles anciennes avec les modernes ”, more known as “ Apologie pour Hérodote ” (1566; critical edition of Paul Ristelyuber, Paris, 1879) defends Herodotus from accusations of reporting fable and too unbelievable information, citing a multitude of such facts about his society, which may seem to the later historian to be absolutely unbelievable. At the same time, he paints a satirical picture of morals in vivid colors, illustrating it with many piquant anecdotes. Excellent presentation makes this work one of the most interesting monuments of French literature of the XVI century .

• Etienne, French typographers // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 tons (82 tons and 4 extras). - SPb. , 1890-1907.