Pinedo, Thomas De

Pinedo, Thomas de (called in the synagogue Isaac), a noted Jewish litterateur of the 17th century, was born in 1614 in Spain, but was obliged to leave his native country and seek a refuge in Amsterdam from inquisitorial persecution. He was more famed for his proficiency in Greek and the ancient classics than as a Jewish theologian. He was descended from the family of Pillheiro of Francoso, in Portugal. His education he received at Madrid, where he was indebted to the training of the Jesuits for his literary attainments, of whom he speaks in grateful remembrance. He had already reached a mature age when the suspicions of the Inquisition obliged him to quit the scene of his studies and the society of his learned friends in the capital of Spain, to live in safety in the United Provinces. He belonged to those few who were fortunate enough to evade in safety the clutches of the Inquisition. He differs from Orobio de Castro in this especially, that he never in any of his writings attacked the Christian religion, but, on the contrary, frequently took pleasure in acknowledging its beneficial influences upon society, though he did not spare the tribunal of the Inquisition, of which he says: "Me pudet pigetque prodidisse hoc de gente Christiana." At Amsterdam he finished and published, in 1678, his edition of Στέφανος περὶ πολέων: Stephanus de Urbibus quemr Primus Thomas de Pinedo Lusitanus Latii jure donabat et observationibus scrutinio variarum linguarum ac praecipue Hebraicae, Phoniciae, Graecae, et Latinae dialectis illustrabat,

and dedicated the work to the marquis of Mondejos, of the house of Mendoza, ever devoted to the encouragement of literature. Pinedo's work, which is very valuable for Jewish history and archaeology, and was lately edited with a preface by Dindorf (Leips. 1825, 4 vols.), shows that the author was well acquainted with Jewish literature. Besides Josephus, which forms the basis of the whole, Pinedo quotes Benjamin de Tudela's Itineraries; David Zemach (p. 482, 584); R. Salomo Jarchi, s.v. Antiochia, "quem Hebraei per rosetheboth Rasi vocant, celeberrimus in S. S. commentator;" Kimchi's Commentary on Genesis (p. 497); Ibn- Ezra's Commentary on Esther (p. 583); Maimonides, Moreh Nebuchim; R. Azariah, Min Haadomim (p. 583). In two passages Pinedo mentions the name of Jesus, viz., when speaking of Bethlehem, he says, after having given the explanation of the text: "Sed multo magis urbem nobilitarunt Davidis et Jesu Nazareni natales;" and then, when speaking of Galilee, he adds: "Quia Jesus Nazarenus frequenter in hac regione versabatur, ideo Julianus, ὁ Παραβάτης, eum per contemptum Galilceum et Christianos Galilleos vocabat. Sic enim vocabantur prius Christiani, qui sub imperatore Claudio, relicto Nazarceorum et Galilceorum nomine, Christiani dicti sunt, ut testatur Suidas." Pinedo died Nov. 13,1679, and the noble marquis whom we have mentioned above warmly expressed in a letter to the Judseo-Spanish poet, De Barrios, his regret at the death of Pinedo, and more especially at his dying in the profession of Judaism. Pinedo not only left in his Στέφανος a minument "aere perennius," but also wrote his own epitaph in the following words'

Advertite Mortales. Hic jacet Thomas de Pinedo Lusitanus Qui primum Orientem vidit In Lusitanive oppido Francoso. Ortus Ex nobili illus regni familia Paterna Pinheiro, materna Fonseca Madriti penes patruum educatus Literis apud Jesuitas operam dedit. Domo profugus Nullius criminis ac invidiae reus Has oras appulit. Antequam abiret ad plures In sui memoriam Hoc cenotaphium per Stephanum sibi excitavit. Id volebat vos scire. Valete.

See Fürst, Bibl. Jud. 3, 102; De Rossi, Dizionario storico degli autori Ebrei, p. 264 sq. (Ger. transl. by Hamburger); Wolf, Bibl. Hebr. 1, 397; 3, 278; Da Costa, Israel and the Gentiles, p. 433 sq.; Gratz, Gesch. d. Juden, 10, 200; Kayserling, in Frankel's Monatsschrift, 1858, p. 191 sq.; id. Geschichte der Juden in Portugal (Leips. 1867), p. 301. (B. P.)