BURMANN, PIETER (1668-1741), Dutch classical schol ar, known as "the Elder," was born at Utrecht. He studied at Utrecht and Leyden, and went to the bar, without, however, abandoning his classical studies. In 1696 he was nominated to the professorship of eloquence and history at Utrecht, and to this chair was soon added that of Greek and politics. In 1714 he visited Paris and ransacked the libraries. In the following year he was appointed to the chair of history, Greek language and eloquence at Leyden. He was subsequently appointed professor of history for the United Provinces and chief librarian. Burmann was rather a compiler than a critic ; his commentaries show immense learning and accuracy, but are wanting in taste and judgment.
Burmann edited the following classical authors:—Phaedrus (1698), Horace (1699) , Valerius Flaccus 0702), Petronius Arbiter 0709), Velleius Paterculus 0719), Quintilian (1720) , Justin (1722) , Ovid (1727), Poetae Latini minores (1731) , Suetonius (1736) , Lucan (1740) . He also published an edition of Buchanan's works, continued Graevius's great work, Thesaurus Antiquitatum et Historiarum ltaliae, and wrote a treatise De Vectigalibus populi Romani (1694), and a short manual of Roman antiquities, Antiquitatum Romanarum Brevis Descriptio (I 71I) . His Sylloge epistolarum a viris illustribus scriptarum (1725) is of importance for the history of learned men. The list of his works occupies five pages in Saxe's Onomasticon. His poems and orations were published after his death. There is an account of his life in the Gentleman's Magazine for April (1742) by Dr. Johnson.