Ritschl, FRIEDRICH WILHELM

Ritschl, FRIEDRICH WILHELM, classical scholar, was born at Grossvargula, near Erfurt, 6th April 1806. He studied at Leipzig and at Halle, held chairs of Philology at Breslau (from 1834), Bonn (from 1839), and Leipzig (from 1865), and died at Leipzig on 9th November 1876. As a teacher he exercised great influence over his pupils, amongst whom were Curtius, Ihne, Brugmann, &c. His greatest work is an edition of Plautus (3 vols. Bonn, 1848-54; new ed. 1881-87), provided with the richest critical apparatus. This standard work was preceded by Parerga Plautina et Torentiana (Leip. 1845). He achieved a second triumph in the department of Latin inscriptions, his collection, Priscæ Latinitatis Monumenta Epigraphica (Berlin, 1864), being the forerunner of the great Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Ritschl's numerous critical papers and dissertations are collected in Opuscula Philologica (5 vols. Leip. 1867-79). Ribbeck's Life of him is the best (2 vols. 1879-81); see also another by L. Müller (1878).