Ottavio Ferrari was born in Milan on May 20, 1607. Presented to Cardinal
Federico Borromeo by his uncle, Francesco Bernardino, he was elected Professor of
Rhetoric at the Collegium Ambrosianum in Milan at the age of 22. In 1634 he was appointed professor of
philosophy and
Greek literature at the
University of Padua, which he helped to rescue from a state of decline. The esteem in which his services were held may be inferred from the extraordinary
stipend conferred upon him, amounting to thousand
florins. For a
panegyric which he recited in praise of
Christina, Queen of Sweden (
Pallas Svecica, 1651), he was rewarded by a gold collar, valued at one thousand
ducats. Another
eulogy published in honour of
Louis XIV obtained him a
pension of five hundred crowns for five years. After the death of
Giuseppe Ripamonti, the Senate of
Milan appointed him Public Historiographer. He composed seven books on the
history of the city; but the want of necessary documents, together with the fear of offending the
House of Habsburg on the one hand, and his benefactor the king of France on the other, caused him to leave his papers unfinished and unpublished. He is principally esteemed as an
archeologist, in which capacity he made himself known by several learned works. He died in Padua on March 7, 1682. == Works ==