— — Festinat decurrere velox flosculus angustae miseraeque breuissima vitae portio, dum bibimus, dum serta, unguenta, puellas poscimus, obrepit non intellecta senectus. * Haec in sui memoriam scrib[ebat] Nicolaus Hieronymus Gundlingius P[rofessor] P[hilosophiae] Halae Magdeburgicae,    * Juvenal, Saturae 9.126-129.

p. 151. Halle, August 31, 1714

Gundling, Nicolaus Hieronymus
(1671-1729), German jurist

Nicolaus Hieronymus Gundling was born on February 25, 1671 in the village of Kirchsittenbach near to Nürnberg, a son of the pastor Wolfgang Gundling (?-1689), brother of the unfortunate Baron Jacob Paul von Gundling. He learned with his father and in Nürnberg, and from 1690 he read theology in Altdorf, Jena and Leipzig. In 1695 he defended the treatise of his father in Altdorf, obtained licenciate, and went to preach in Nürnberg. From 1699 he was a tutor to noble sons in Halle, and here he began to read law under the influence of the renowned Christian Thomasius (1655-1728). In 1703 he obtained a degree in law, and then he taught law, history, philosophy and rhetorics in Halle. From 1705 on he was promoted almost every year: he became extraordinary and then ordinary professor of philosophy, of eloquence, of international and natural law, and finally Secret Councillor of the Prussian King. He was an open-minded personality and a good preacher, a popular member in university circles. His good humor was not poisoned neither by his ruined matrimony and by gossips spreading about him. He was a passionate book collector. He published a lot, although did not write anything outstanding. He died in Halle, being rector of the university, on December 9, 1729. Some of his more remarkable works: Disputatio inauguralis juridica de transactione, testamenti tabulis non inspectis. Halle, 1703. – Otia. Frankfurt, Leipzig, Halle, 1706-1707. 3 Bde. – Observationes selectae. Halle, 1707-1710. 1-3 Bde. – Gundlingiana, darinnen allerhand zur Jurisprudentz, Philosophie, Historie, Critic, Litteratur … Halle, 1715-1732. 45 Stück. – Digesta, in quibus rationis principia ius Romanum et Teutonicum … expenduntur … Halle, 1723.

Some twenty persons writing in the album dated their contributions according to the ancient Roman calendar, counting the days back from the fifth or seventh day of the month (Nonae, the ninth day before Idus), from the thirteenth or fifteenth day (Idus), or from the first day of the following month (Calendae), respectively. The year in Rome began on the first of March. – Gundling uses the other Roman name for September: Septilis, the seventh month. Thus the meaning of the date "pridie Kalendas Septileis" is: the day before the first day of September, that is, August 31. August is also called with the old Roman name "Sextilis" in another note, written by Samuel Scheurer (241. p.).

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