LA BOËTIE, ESTIENNE de. - French writer, b. at Sarlat on 1 Sept. 1530, d. at Germignan (Bordeaux) on 18 Aug. 1563. Counsellor to the Parliament of Bordeaux, poet and humanist with Stoic leanings, translator of Xenophon and Plutarch, La B. in his brief life was almost ignored by his contemporaries, but after his death he was fortunate to find in Montaigne a devoted and scrupulous editor of his works (v. Montaigne, Essais, I, XXVII and XXVIII).
Twenty-nine French sonnets, among the most exquisite of the time, some Latin verses, and the translations from the Greek saw the light of day in 1671 with a preface by Montaigne. In 1576 there followed the publication of *Discours de la servitude volontaire ou le Contr'un*, dense with classical references and libertarian and republican spirit, which was to be much discussed even later.