Meursius was born Johannes van Meurs at
Loosduinen, near
The Hague. He was extremely precocious, and at the age of sixteen produced a commentary on the
Cassandra of
Lycophron. For ten years he was the tutor to the children of
Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, accompanying the family on Oldenbarnevelt's diplomatic missions to many of the courts of Europe. While on such a trip, in 1608 he obtained a doctorate of Law in
Orléans. He died in
Sorø and is buried in
Sorø Abbey Church. Meursius was the author of classical editions and treatises, many of which are printed in
J.F. Gronovius's
Thesaurus antiquitatum graecarum. Their lack of arrangement detracts from their value, but they are a storehouse of information, and Meursius does not deserve the epithets of "pedant" and "ignoramus" which
Joseph Justus Scaliger applied to him. Meursius also wrote about the troubles in the Netherlands. one of the first dictionaries of
Modern Greek. Complete edition of his works by J. Lami (1741–1763). See Van der Aa's
Biographisch Woordenboek der Nederlanden (1869), and
J.E. Sandys,
History of Classical Scholarship (1908), ii. 311. == Selected works ==