Morhof calls him the phoenix of his age[726]:  Hofman gives him the same commendation.

“He is the greatest of men, says Meibomius[727], the light and support of letters; on whom we can bestow no praise but what will fall short of his virtue and erudition.  His uncommon penetration makes us compare him to an eagle in the clouds,” says Oldenburg.

In 1727 was printed at Hall in Saxony, under the false name of Delft, a book entitled Hugonis Grotii Belgarum Phoenicis manes ab iniquis obtrectationibus vindicati.  The author, who was said to be M. Lehman[728], speaks of Grotius as the greatest man Holland ever produced, and fit to be compared with the most illustrious of other Countries, and he flatters himself that the Dutch will in the issue agree with all nations, that he was the greatest ornament of their country.  He gives his thoughts of Grotius in the following lines.

Hic ille est Grotius, majus quo doctior orbis Nil habuit; credo, nil habiturus erit:  Gallia quem stupuit, stupuit quem Suecia, verus Qui Phoebus Delphis, orbe pharusque fuit.

Salmasius, who so unmercifully fell foul of Grotius’s memory, had formerly been one of his greatest admirers.  Grotius gave him the title of Most Eminent, which Pope Urbin VIII. had a very little time before attributed to the Cardinals.  Salmasius answers him[729] August 8, 1630.  “You not only offend the Cardinals, but, more than most eminent Grotius (super eminentissime) you offend me, by giving me a title which you much better deserve yourself.”

These two Princes of Literature, as they were styled, had at this time a great reciprocal esteem and friendship for each other.  We learn from Grotius’s letters[730], that Salmasius, notwithstanding the advantageous idea he entertained of his own knowledge, sometimes consulted him.  He changed all of a sudden:  Grotius imagined[731] it was to make his court to those in power in Holland; but Sarrau, who knew both, assures us[732] that Salmasius’s coldness wholly proceeded from the change of Grotius’s sentiments in religion.  The news of Grotius’s death was scarce spread over Europe, when Salmasius poured out all his venom in a letter written from Leyden, Nov. 20, 1645, to Sarrau[733].

“You think Grotius, says he, the first among the learned; for my part, I give that rank to Vossius.  I do not think it is necessary to wait for the judgment of posterity, to know whose opinion is most just:  it will be sufficient to consult the learned in Italy, Germany, in this country, and even in France:  but till we have their suffrages let us go through all the sciences, and examine the extent of Grotius’s capacity.  There is no one whom I would desire to resemble less in divinity:  he is every where a Socinian, both in his treatise On the Truth of the Christian Religion, and his Commentary on the Old and New Testament.  As to Philosophy, he can scarce be compared with the moderately skilled.