André Dacier

author

André Dacier

1651–1722

A leading French classical scholar of the age of Louis XIV, he helped bring Greek and Roman writers to a wider readership through editions, translations, and commentary. His work with the celebrated Delphin series and his long partnership with Anne Dacier made him a notable figure in the republic of letters.

1 Audiobook

The Preface to Aristotle's Art of Poetry

The Preface to Aristotle's Art of Poetry

by André Dacier

About the author

Born in Castres on April 6, 1651, André Dacier studied first at Puylaurens and then at Saumur under the scholar Tanneguy Le Fèvre. After Le Fèvre's death, he moved to Paris and began building a reputation as a classicist, eventually becoming known for his editions and translations of ancient authors.

Dacier worked on the famous ad usum Delphini editions prepared for the education of the Dauphin, and he is especially remembered for his scholarship on Latin texts, including Festus and Horace. He also served as keeper of the books in the king's cabinet, showing how closely literary scholarship and royal service could be linked in seventeenth-century France.

He married Anne Le Fèvre, later celebrated as Anne Dacier, and together they became one of the best-known scholarly couples of their time. In 1695 he was elected to the Académie des Inscriptions and soon after to the Académie française. He died in Paris on September 18, 1722.