[34] "Alcalá de Henares," says Martyr in one of his early letters, "quae dicitur esse Complutum. Sit, vel ne, nil mihi curae." (Opus Epist., epist. 254.) These irreverent doubts were uttered before it had gained its literary celebrity. L. Marineo derives the name Complutum from the abundant fruitfulness of the soil,—"cumplumiento que tiene de cada cosa." Cosas Memorables, fol. 13.
[35] Ximenes acknowledges his obligations to his Holiness, in particular for the Greek MSS. "Atque ex ipsis [exemplaribus] quidem Graeca Sanctitati tuae debemus; qui ex istâ Apostolicâ bibliothecâ antiquissimos tam Veteris quam Novi codices perquam humane ad nos misisti." Biblia Polyglotta, (Compluti, 1514-17,) Prólogo.
[36] "Maximam," says the cardinal in his Preface, "laboris nostri partem in eo praecipue fuisse versatam; ut et virorum in linguarum cognitione eminentissimorum operâ uteremur, et castigatissima omni ex parte vetustissimaque exemplaria pro archetypis haberemus; quorum quidem, tam Hebraeorum quam Graecorum ac Latinorum, multiplicem copiam, variis ex locis, non sine summo labore conquisivimus." Biblia Polyglotta, Compluti, Prólogo.
[37] Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 39.—Quintanilla, Archetypo, lib. 3, cap. 10.
[38] Martyr speaks of Ximenes, in one of his epistles, as "doctrinâ singulari oppletum." (Opus Epist., epist. 108.) He speaks with more distrust in another; "Aiunt esse virum, si non literis, morum taraen sanctitate egregium." (Epist. 160.) This was written some years later, when he had better knowledge of him.
[39] Quintanilla, Archetype, lib. 3, cap. lo.—Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 38.
The scholars employed in the compilation were the venerable Lebrija, the learned Nuñez, or Pinciano, of whom the reader has had some account, Lopez de Zuñiga, a controversialist of Erasmus, Bartholomeo de Castro, the famous Greek Demetrius Cretensis, and Juan de Vergara;—all thorough linguists, especially in the Greek and Latin. To these were joined Paulo Coronel, Alfonso a physician, and Alfonso Zamora, converted Jews, and familiar with the Oriental languages. Zamora has the merit of the philological compilations relative to the Hebrew and Chaldaic, in the last volume, lidem auct. ut supra; et Suma de la Vida de Cisneros, MS.
[40] Quintanilla, Archetypo, lib. 3, cap. 10.
[41] The work was originally put at the extremely low price of six ducats and a half a copy. (Biblia Polyglotta Compluti, Praefix.) As only 600 copies, however, were struck off, it has become exceedingly rare and valuable. According to Brunei, it has been sold as high as £63.
[42] "Industriâ et solertiâ honorabilis viri Arnaldi Guillelmi de Brocario, artis impressoris Magistri. Anno Domini 1517. Julii die decimo." Biblia Polyglotta Compluti. Postscript to 4th and last part of Vetus Test.