Sixt Birck

Sixt or Sixtus Birck, as Xystus Betuleius (February 24 1501 — June 19 1554) was a German humanist of Augsburg, "a notable German scholar of the New Learning". At the end of his schooling in Augsburg the Reformation broke out. He continued his theological studies at Erfurt, Tübingen and Basel before returning to Augsburg as director ("Magister") of the "Gymnasium" His theatrical output is in German and in Latin: in Basel a wide variety of German theater pieces with a Reformation subtext; in Augsburg a notable series of pedalogical school dramas in Latin, designed for student presentation and intended to improve morality and Latin alike. [W. Leonard Grant, "Neo-Latin Verse-Translations of the Bible" "The Harvard Theological Review" 52.3 (July 1959, pp 205-211) p 209f.] .

Among his numerous plays in Latin [Leicester Bradner, "A Check-List of Original Neo-Latin Dramas by Continental Writers Printed before 1650" "PMLA" 58.3 (September 1943), pp. 621-633.] are "Susanna" (Augsburg 1537; Zurich 1538), [It was included in an anthology of dramas drawn from the Old and New testaments, "Comoediae ac tragoediae ex novo et vetere testamento", Basel, 1541. (Bradner 1943:625).] originally written in German but so recast in the Latin version as to make an essentially new play. His "De vera nobilitate" is a dramatized version of Buonaccorso da Montemagno's "Dialogus de nobilitate" concerning meritocracy and the inherent virtues of nobility; it was rendered in play form, still in Latin, by Betuleius and published at Augsburg in 1538. [R. W. Truman, "Lázaro de Tormes and the "Homo Novus" Tradition" "The Modern Language Review" 64.1 (January 1969, pp 62-67) p 63, note 1.] His "Sapientia Solomonis" ("the Wisdom of Solomon") was published at Basel in 1547; an adapted version was acted before Queen Elizabeth and Princess Cecilia of Sweden in their common language, Latin, 17 January 1565. [(Sixt Birck), Elizabeth Rogers Payne, editor, "Sapientia Solomonis. Acted before the Queen by the Boys of Westminster School January 17, 1565/6" (Yale University Press/Oxford University Press) 1938.] . Other Latin plays by Birck are direct translations of his German plays.

In 1545 Betuleius published at Basel an edition of eight books of the Sibylline oracles with a preface dating from perhaps the sixth century. As a philologist, he made his mark with the first Greek concordance to the New Testament which he published at Basel in 1546.

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