Petrus Ramus (1515-1572),French humanist and philosopher,also known as Pierre de la Ramee. The upper (French) inscription refers to his death in the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of the Hugenots on 24 August 1572. The lower (Latin) inscription refers to the 1st-century BC Roman orator Marcus Tullius Cicero,on whose works Ramus commentated. Ramus was born into a noble,but impoverished,family. He was educated at Paris,becoming a lecturer on the classical authors. He tried to publish works on the science of logic,such as his Dialectic (1543),but these were suppressed due to the hostility expressed by the traditional Aristotelian establishment. In 1561 he became a Protestant,fleeing France for fear of religious persecution. He returned in 1571,and was killed the following year. Hand-coloured engraving |