I was also Custos, for which I got at every quarterly
fast a Zurich angster from each of the boys, of whom there were nearly
sixty, sometimes more. Zuinglius and Myconius used also often to employ
me to carry letters to the lovers of the truth in the allied districts.
In this service I have often ventured my life with joy, that the
doctrine of the truth might be spread, and several times narrowly
escaped. So I remained in poverty in Zurich till Mr. Henry Werdmüller
engaged me as tutor to his sons; one of whom, Otho Werdmüller,
afterwards became Master of Arts in Wittenberg, and then preacher at
Zurich; the other, however, was killed in the battle of Kappel. My
sufferings from want were now at an end, for I got my dinner every day,
but was near over-doing myself with study. I wished to study Latin,
Greek, and Hebrew, all at the same time; and many a night slept very
little, but tormented myself grievously with struggling against sleep;
often I took cold water, raw turnips, or sand into my mouth, that the
grating of my teeth might awake me. My dear father Myconius often
warned me against it, and said nothing to me if it sometimes happened
that sleep overpowered me during the lesson. Though I never had the
fortune to hear lectures on Latin, Greek, and Hebrew grammar, yet I
began to read them with others, in order to practise myself in them;
for Myconius only drilled us diligently in the Latin language; not
being himself thoroughly master of the Greek, as this was something
very rare at that time. In private I occupied myself with Lucian and
Homer, of which I had translations. Now also it happened that Father
Myconius took me to live in his house. He had several boarders, among
whom was the late Dr. Gessner, with whom I was to work Donatus and the
declensions: this exercise was uncommonly useful to me. At that time
Myconius had the very learned Theodore Bibliander as assistant, who was
extraordinarily well versed in all languages, but particularly in the
Hebrew, and had written a Hebrew grammar. He also boarded at Myconius's
table, and instructed me, at my request, in Hebrew. I used to get up
early every morning, made a fire in the stove in Myconius's little
apartment, seated myself before the stove, and copied the grammar as
long as Bibliander slept, and he never found it out. In this year
Damian Irmi, of Basle, wrote to Pellican in Zurich, that he was going
to Venice, and that if there were any poor fellows who might like to
have Hebrew Bibles, he would bring some with him as cheap as possible.
Dr. Pellican told him to bring twelve. When they came a copy cost a
crown. I had still a crown left of a legacy which I had received a
short time before; that I gave with joy for one, and then began to
compare the original Hebrew Bible with the translation, and so to make
myself acquainted with the meaning of the words. One day Conrad Pur,
preacher at Mettmenstetten, in the Canton of Zurich, came; and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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