Born in
Kronstadt (
Transylvania), he studied at the
University of Leipzig, after which he went to
Amsterdam, where he edited the works of
Homer and the
Onomasticon of
Julius Pollux. Subsequently, in
Hamburg, he assisted the major
bibliographer Johann Albert Fabricius in the production of his
Bibliotheca Graeca and his edition of
Sextus Empiricus. He found a permanent post in
Bucharest as secretary to the
Prince of
Wallachia,
Nicholas Mavrocordatos, whose work ''
(De Officiis'') he had previously translated for Fritzsch, a
Leipzig bookseller, by whom he had been employed as
proofreader and
literary hack. In Mavrocordatos' library, Bergler discovered the introduction and the first three chapters of
Eusebius's
Demonstratio Evangelica. In addition to writing numerous articles for the
Leipzig Acta Eruditorum, Bergler edited the
editio princeps of the
Byzantine historiographer
Genesius (1733), and the letters of
Alciphron (1715), which contained 75 letters published for the first time. He died in Bucharest, and was buried at his patron's expense. According to another account, on his patron's death in 1730, Bergler, finding himself without means, left for
Istanbul, and died there . He is said to have become a
convert to
Islam — this report was probably a mistake for the undisputed fact that he embraced
Roman Catholicism. His edition of Aristophanes was published after his death by the
Younger Burman in 1760.
Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.) characterizes Bergler's life as "wild and irregular," and says he made enemies due to his allegedly cynical manners. ==References==