FABER, fāber, BASILIUS: Teacher and writer; b. at Sorau (56 m. s.s.e. of Frankfort), Lower Lusatia, c. 1520; d. at Erfurt 1575 or 1576. He studied at Wittenberg after 1538; was private tutor in the house of Johannes Spangenberg, preacher in Nordhausen; then rector of the Latin school in that place; and later held a similar position at Frankfort, and from 1557 to 1560 at Magdeburg. For the next ten years he directed the abbey school at Quedlinburg. On account of his refusal to subscribe the Corpus doctrinæ Philippicum, he was dismissed on Dec. 5, 1570; and the following year he was called to the new Latin school at Erfurt, where he remained as head of the Alumnat, until his death.

Faber's influence was great, both through his pupils (among whom were men like Cyriacus Spangenberg and Johannes Caselius, qq.v.) and as author. His grammatical works enjoyed great acceptance; likewise his Libellus de disciplina scholastica (Leipsic, 1572, 1579); but above all the Thesaurus eruditionis scholasticæ (1571 and often), which was intended to be more than a mere dictionary, a veritable treasury of helps to a knowledge of the Latin tongue and the interpretation of the Latin writers. It was repeatedly revised and was used even into the eighteenth century. As theologian, Faber was a devoted supporter of Luther and his doctrine; he translated into German Luther's commentary on Genesis, chaps. i.-xxv.; was collaborator in the first four "Magdeburg Centuries" (q.v.); and wrote certain edifying, in part eschatological works. He also issued in 1563 a German edition of Saxonia, by Albert Krantz (q.v.).

GEORG MÜLLER.