But Scaliger had made numerous enemies. He hated ignorance, but he hated still more half-learning, and most of all dishonesty in argument or in quotation. His pungent sarcasms were soon car ried to the persons of whom they were uttered, and his pen was not less bitter than his tongue. Nor was he always right. He trusted much to his memory, which was occasionally treacherous. The Jesuits, who aspired to be the source of all scholarship and criticism, perceived that the writings and authority of Scaliger whose historical methods had discredited many of their claims were the most formidable barrier in their way. It was the day of conversions. Muretus in the latter part of his life professed the strictest orthodoxy; J. Lipsius had been reconciled to the Church of Rome; Casaubon was supposed to be wavering; but Scaliger was known to be hopeless, and as long as his supremacy was un questioned the Protestants had the victory in learning.
After several scurrilous attacks by the Jesuit party, in 1607 a new and more successful attempt was made. Scaliger's weak point was his pride. In 1594, in an evil hour for his happiness and his reputation, he published his Epistola de vetustate et splendors gentis Scaligerae et J. C. Scaligeri vita. In 1607 Gaspar Scioppius, then in the service of the Jesuits, whom he afterwards so bitterly libelled, published his Scaliger hypobolimaeus ("the Suppositi tious Scaliger"). The main argument of the book is to show the
falsity of Scaliger's pretensions to be of the family of La Scala, and of the narrative of his father's early life. To Scaliger the blow was crushing. Whatever the case as to Julius, Joseph had undoubtedly believed himself a prince of Verona, and in his Epistola had put forth with the most perfect good faith, and with out inquiry, all that he had heard from his father. His reply, Confutatio fabulae Burdonum, was not a success. Scaliger un doubtedly exposes many pure lies and baseless calumnies ; but he could not establish the family's supposed lineage. Scioppius was wont to boast that his book had killed Scaliger. It certainly em bittered the remainder of his life. The Confutatio was his last work. Five months after it appeared, on Jan. 21, 1609, he died.
Of Joseph Scaliger the standard biography is that of Jacob Bernays (Berlin, 1855). See also his Autobiography, with selections from his letters etc., trs. with introd. by G. W. W. Robinson (1927). See also J. E. Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship, ii. (1908) , For the life of J. C. Scaliger see the letters edited by his son, and his own writings, which are full of autobiographical matter.