Scaliger (Ital. Della Scala, Fr. De l'Escale), JULIUS CÆSAR, according to the account given of him by the famous son Joseph Scaliger, was born in 1484 in the castle of Ripa, at the head of the Lago di Garda, in the north of Italy. On the same authority we are told that Julius was the second son of Benedetto della Scala, a descendant of the princely family of Verona of that name, which had been dispossessed of its territory by the republic of Venice. In all probability this genealogy is a pure fiction, as in Julius' letters of naturalisation as a French citizen he is styled simply 'a native of the town of Verona in Italy.' If we may trust his son's further account of him, Julius was bred to the profession of arms along with other noble youths under the immediate supervision of his kinsman the Emperor Maximilian, whom he subsequently served in his wars in different parts of Europe. The son of a fallen house, he was at one time so hopeless of his future that like other noble youths of Italy in similar circumstances he seriously thought of entering the brotherhood of St Francis. With this object he proceeded to the university of Bologna, where he devoted himself mainly to the study of Duns Scotus. His zeal for a monastic life, however, soon cooled, and 'to the last day of his life he would never willingly interchange a word with any Franciscan.' Returning to his former profession of arms, he took service in the French armies then attempting the conquest of Italy, and distinguished himself alike by his marvellous feats of strength and his adventurous courage. Having gained the command of a troop of light horse, he behaved with such gallantry as to win for him the special notice of King Francis himself. Notwithstanding his restless life Scaliger never neglected his studies, and to other attainments he added a knowledge of medicine and Greek. Such is the account of Julius Scaliger up to this point in his life which is given by his son in the epistle entitled 'De Vetustate et Splendore Gentis Scaligere et Jul. Cæs. Scaligeri Vita.' An account more likely to be true is that Julius was the son of a sign-painter of Verona, by name Benedetto Bordone, and that he studied at Padua, where he took the degree of doctor of medicine.
It is only from his naturalisation as a French citizen in 1528 that our knowledge of Scaliger is drawn from authentic sources. In that year, on the invitation of the Bishop of Agen, he settled in that town as a physician, and remained there for the rest of his life. Here he married a girl of nineteen, Andiette de Roques Lobejac, by whom he had fifteen children. The best-known circumstance of his later life is his attempt to gain notoriety by an unscrupulous attack on Erasmus, the foremost scholar and man of letters of the age. In ridicule of the Latin stylists of Italy Erasmus had published a satire entitled Ciceronianus. Construing this satire as a censure of Cicero himself, Scaliger attacked Erasmus (1531) in an oration which for sheer wantonness of abuse is unparalleled even in that age of unscrupulous controversy. As Erasmus paid no heed to this attack, Scaliger produced a second oration which in brutal scurrility surpassed even his former effort, but before its publication Erasmus was dead. Into all his work, much of which was of undoubted value, Scaliger carried the same coarse and jealous temper. Yet his son Joseph, while frankly admitting his father's faults, which, indeed, were largely his own, claimed for him an essential nobility of character, and an especial hatred of everything that suggested falsehood or hypocrisy. Engaged to the last in his labours as a scholar, Julius died in 1558, under suspicion of decided leanings towards the religious teaching of Calvin.
As a scholar Scaliger's fame has been overshadowed by that of his greater son. His vast attainments, however, and his natural force of mind have been admitted by every generation of scholars. But what Lessing said regarding one of his works (Poetics libri septem ad Sylvium filium) is the accepted opinion regarding them all: 'Scaliger's judgments as often show want of sanity and taste as insight and good sense.'
For the Life of Julius Scaliger, see the epistle of his son above referred to; Charles Nisard, Les Gladiateurs de la République des Lettres (1860); Bourousse de Laffore, Étude sur Jules César de Lescale (Agen, 1860); Magen, Documents sur Julius Cæsar Scaliger et sa famille (Agen, 1873). Exclusive of his Latin poems, Scaliger's chief works are De Causis Linguae Latineæ libri tredecim; Exotericarum Exercitationum liber quintus decimus de Subtilitate ad Hieronymum Cardanum; Poetics libri septem ad Sylvium; Commentarii in sex libros de causis Plantarum Theophrasti; Animadversiones in Theophrasti Historias plantarum; Aristotelis Historia de Animalibus, J. C. Scaligero interprete, cum ejusdem Commentariis; Commentarii in Hippocratis Librum de Insomniis.