Books Fatal to Their AuthorsDitchfield, P. H. (Peter Hampson)
History
Books Fatal to Their Authors
Ditchfield, P. H. (Peter Hampson)
Authors; Prohibited books
This book aroused the ire of the powerful family of the Medicis, and was
suppressed by public authority. Bruto encouraged the brave citizens of
Florence to preserve inviolate the liberties of their republic, and
to withstand all the attempts of the Medicis to deprive them of their
rights. On account of its prohibition the work is very rare, for the
chiefs of the Florentines took care to buy all the copies which they
could procure. In order to avoid the snares which the Medicis and other
powerful Italian factions knew so well how to weave around those who
were obnoxious to them--an assassin's dagger or a poisoned cup was not
then difficult to procure--Bruto was compelled to seek safety in flight,
and wandered through various European countries, enduring great poverty
and privations. His exile continued until his death, which took place in
Transylvania, A.D. 1593.
The Jesuit Isaac Joseph Berruyer was condemned by the Parliament of
Paris in 1756 to be deposed from his office and to publicly retract his
opinions expressed in his _Histoire du Peuple de Dieu_. The first part,
consisting of seven volumes, 4to, appeared in Paris in 1728, the second
in 1755, and the third in 1758. The work was censured by two Popes,
Benedict XIV. and Clement XIII., as well as by the Sorbonne and the
Parliament of Paris. Berruyer seems to have had few admirers. He
delighted to revel in the details of the loves of the patriarchs,
the unbridled passion of Potiphar's wife, the costume of Judith, her
intercourse with Holophernes, and other subjects, the accounts of which
his prurient fancy did not improve. His imaginative productions caused
him many troubles. The Jesuits disavowed the work, and, as we have said,
its author was deposed from his office.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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