NOTES
1. Gregory Nazianzen.—A Father of the Church in the fourth century. He was renowned for his eloquence, which he employed in combating the Arian heresy.
2. Wolfgang Ratich or Ratke (born at Wilster in 1571, died at Erfurt in 1635).—One of the immediate forerunners of Comenius in school reform. He enjoyed the patronage of Count Ludwig of Anhalt-Köthen, through whose liberality he was enabled to found a six-class school at Köthen, in accordance with his didactic principles. He also undertook the reorganisation of the schools at Augsburg, Weimar, Magdeburg, and Rudolfstadt. The lack of success that attended his efforts was due to his quarrelsome disposition and to his utter inability to establish a modus vivendi with his colleagues and assistants. For his Principles, see Intr. II. p. 136.
3. Eilhard Lubin (born in 1565, in the Duchy of Oldenburg; died in 1621).—Professor of Poetry and Theology at the University of Rostock. His Didactic, quoted by Comenius in sec. 17 of his introduction, has not been preserved.
4. Christopher Helwig (1581–1617).—Professor of Theology, of Greek, and of Oriental Languages in the University of Giessen. He was one of the Commissioners who examined Ratke’s didactic method in 1612.
5. Franciscus Ritter.—This may possibly have been a clergyman and mathematician of some repute the Palatinate in the early seventeenth century. Morhof mentions him under the name Franciscus Ridderus (Polyhistor, i. 1. 16).
6. Johannes Bodinus (1530–1596).—A lawyer at Toulouse, author of a treatise, Methodus ad facilem historiarum cognitionem.
7. Vogel.—Probably Ezechiel Vogel, a schoolmaster at Göttingen, and author of a work, Ephemerides linguæ Latinæ, in which he shows how a boy, by working two hours daily, may learn Latin in one year.
