...as long almost as Xenocrates in Athens...
Edward Bensly notes: "Xenocrates was head of the Academy for twenty-fives years (cf. Diogenes Laertius, Lives..., book IV, 2, 11). Burton had been a student of Christ Church for over twenty-one years when he published Anatomy)." (N&Q, 10th ser. vol. II, Dec. 3, 1904, p. 442). In another note Bensly comments again on the same passage: "The first edition [of Anatomy] has: 'that I haue liu'd a silent, solitary, priuate life, mini & musis in the Vniuersity this tuentie yeares, and more, penned vp most part in my study. And though by my profession a Diuine, yet...' Xeoncrates does not appear until the 3rd edition..." (N&Q, 10th ser. vol. VI, Aug. 25, 1906, p. 144).
Somehow, back then, being an "eternal student" wasn't a bad thing!
* * * * * * * * *
[Shilleto: Catullus, ix, 2]
Verani, omnibus e meis amicis
antistans mihi milibus trecentis...
Dear Veranius, of all my close companions
by three hundred miles the foremost...
(trans. Peter Green)
The slight divergences from the original suggest that Burton is quoting from memory!
