Amyot, Jacques

AMYOT, JACQUES. - French writer, b. at Melun on 30 Oct. 1513, d. there on 6 Feb. 1593. He studied in Paris, rapidly excelling in his knowledge of the classical world; a priest, he taught Latin and Greek for six years at the University of Bourges; he also carried out various diplomatic missions. Charles IX appointed him in 1560 grand almoner of France and councillor of state; elected bishop of Auxerre, he died there embittered by religious discord and persecuted on the unjust accusation of having advised the assassination of the Duke of Guise.

An excellent connoisseur of Greek, he translated the novel of Heliodorus, Théagène et Chariclée, and that of Longus Sophista, Les Amours pastorales de Daphnis et Chloé, seven books of the History of Diodorus Siculus and the Parallel Lives of Plutarch, to which he added the Moral Works. The version of Plutarch was completed on manuscripts sought out in Rome and Venice and carefully examined in their variants; it is not literal, but conducted with a freedom of interpretation intended to bring out the magnanimity of the characters. The simple and clear style, followed as a model by his contemporaries, made him deservedly famous and served to spread knowledge of the ancient heroes.

Giorgio Calogero