His principal work was the establishment of a university at Alcala, where he himself received his early education. The foundation-stone was laid by himself in 1498; the buildings were completed, and the first course of lectures given, in 1508. For a model he took the university of Paris; he endowed it richly, and collected men distinguished for their learning from all parts of Europe, to fill the professorial chairs. Here he undertook the great work of publishing the first Polyglot Bible, the Complutensian, as it is called, from the Latin name of Alcala, where it was printed, which will exist for ages as a noble specimen of the Archbishop’s piety, munificence, and zeal for learning. The four first volumes contain the Old Testament in the Hebrew—the Septuagint version, with a Latin translation—the Vulgate, as corrected by St. Jerome—and the Chaldee Paraphrase, with a Latin translation. The fifth and sixth volumes contain the Greek Testament and the Vulgate. The printing of this great undertaking commenced in 1502, and was not completed till 1517, shortly before the death of Ximenes, who, when the last volume was brought to him, is reported by his earliest biographer, after an ejaculation of pious thanksgiving, to have addressed the bystanders in these words:—“Many high and difficult undertakings I have carried on in the service of the State, yet, my friends, there is nothing for which I more deserve congratulation than for this edition of the Scriptures, which lays open, in a time of much need, the fountain-head of our holy religion, whence may be drawn a far purer strain of theology than from the streams which have been turned off from it.” But owing to a hesitation at the Court of Rome, how far the criticism of the Scriptures should be encouraged, the Bible was not given to the world till 1522. Only about 600 copies were printed. The price fixed on it was six and a half ducats. The epistle dedicatory to Leo X. is by Ximenes himself: the preface, according to Dr. Dibdin, is by another hand. The most learned Hebrew and Greek scholars who could be procured were employed in the collation of manuscripts; and it may be noted that for seven Hebrew MSS. the sum of 4000 golden crowns was paid. These with other treasures of learning, which were deposited with the University of Alcala, about the middle of the last century were sold to a firework-maker as lumber. The whole cost of the work, which was defrayed by Ximenes, is said to have exceeded 50,000 gold crowns.