CAMPA'NUS, JOHN, of Novara in the Milanese, the first translator of Euclid from the Arabic. Blancanus Chron. Math.') places him between A.D. 1000 and 1100, but says that by his own account be wrote a calendar in the year 1200. Vossius confirms the latter, and cites the calendar in question, and also Blancanus in confirmation, without noticing the discrepancy. Riccioli contends for A.D. 1030. There is no doubt the writer of the calendar lived about A.D. 1200, but whether an earlier Campanus might not have been the translator of Euclid is a question. Tiraboschi (cited by Montucla) has shown that there was a Campanua who was chaplain to Pope Urban IV. (elected 1261), but we do not see on what grounds Tiraboschi positively affirms this one to have been the translator of Euclid.
This translation was the first printed, and we shall give an account of this early triumph of the art. There is no title-page ; the first words being " Preclarissim us fiber elementorum E uclidis perspicactssimi : in artem Geometric incipit qua foelicissime : punctus est cuius pa no est," &c. At the end we find Opus elementerfi euelidis megarensis in geometria artfi In id quoq; Campani pspicacissimi Comentationes finiut. Erhardus ratdolt Augustenaia impresser solertiseimus. venetiis
impressit. Anne salutis. M.ecce.lxxxij. Octavio. Cale5. Jun'. Lector. Vale.' There is a preface by Ratdolt, in which he complains that, among the vast number of books then printed at Venice, there should be so few on mathematics. This he attributes to the difficulty of repre senting diagrams, and states that he has discovered a method of printing them as easily as letter types. This appears to be wood cutting; and the diagrams are on a broad margin by the side of the black letter.
The translation itself is evidently from the Arabic, not from the Greek. Several Arabic terms are introduced ; an equilateral rhombus is called 'belmuaym ; ' a parallelogram, ' helmuaym ' in the definitions, but afterwards a 'parallelogram ; ' a trapezium is helmua riphe.' There was a reprint at Venice in 1491, not by Ratdolt; and the commentary of Campanus was reprinted by Henry Stephens at Paris in 1516 in the edition of Zamberti. Billingsley's English trans lation, best known by John Dee's preface, was made from Campauus.
For a copious list of manuscripts of Campanus in different libraries, &c., see Heilbrouner, 'Hist. Math. Univ.' (Mex.)