View source for Jacques Amyot

{{short description|French bishop and scholar (1513-1593)}}
{{for|the Canadian swimmer|Jacques Amyot (swimmer)}}
[[File:Jacques Amyot par Léonard Gaultier.jpg|thumb|Jacques Amyot.<br>Portrait by [[Léonard Gaultier]].]]
'''Jacques Amyot''' ({{IPA|fr|amjo|lang}}; 30 October 1513{{snd}}6 February 1593), [[French Renaissance]] bishop, scholar, writer and [[translator]], was born of poor parents, at [[Melun]].

==Biography==
Amyot found his way to the [[University of Paris]], where he supported himself by serving some of the richer students. He was nineteen when he became [[Master's degree|M.A.]] at Paris, and later he graduated doctor of [[Civil law (legal system)|civil law]] at [[Bourges]]. Through Jacques Colure (or Colin), [[abbot]] of St. Ambrose in Bourges, he obtained a tutorship in the family of a secretary of state. By the secretary he was recommended to [[Margaret of France, Duchess of Berry]], and through her influence was made professor of [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Latin]] at Bourges. Here he translated the ''Æthiopica'' of [[Heliodorus of Emesa|Heliodorus]] (1547), for which he was rewarded by [[Francis I of France|Francis I]] with the [[abbey]] of Bellozane.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Amyot, Jacques|volume=1|page=901}} Endnotes:
* Edition of the works of Amyot from the firm of [[Didot family|Didot]] (25 vols, 1818–1821)
* Auguste de Blignières, ''Essai sur Amyot et les traducteurs français au xvi<sup>e</sup> siècle'' (Paris, 1851)</ref>
[[Image:Amyotmaison.jpg|right|thumb|Native house of Jacques Amyot at Melun.]]
He was thus enabled to go to Italy to study the [[Holy See|Vatican]] text of [[Plutarch]], on the translation of whose ''Lives'' he had been some time engaged. On the way he turned aside on a mission to the [[Council of Trent]]. Returning home, he was appointed tutor to the sons of [[Henry II of France|Henry II]], by one of whom ([[Charles IX of France|Charles IX]]) he was afterwards made grand [[almoner]] (1561) and by the other ([[Henry III of France|Henry III]]) was appointed, in spite of his plebeian origin, commander of the [[Order of the Holy Spirit]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

[[Pope Pius V|Pius V]] promoted him to the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Auxerre|bishopric of Auxerre]] in 1570,<ref name=Chambers>"Amyot, Jacques (1513-93)" in ''[[Chambers's Encyclopaedia]]''. London: [[George Newnes Ltd|George Newnes]], 1961, Vol. 1, p. 393.</ref> and here he continued to live in comparative quiet, repairing his cathedral and perfecting his translations, for the rest of his days, though troubled towards the close by the insubordination and revolts of his [[clergy]]. He was a devout and conscientious churchman, and had the courage to stand by his principles. It is said that he advised the chaplain of Henry III to refuse [[absolution]] to the king after the murder of the [[Guise]] princes. He was, nevertheless, suspected of approving the crime. His house was plundered, and he was compelled to leave Auxerre for some time. He died bequeathing, it is said, 1200 crowns to the hospital at [[Orléans]] for the twelve ''deniers'' he received there when "poor and naked" on his way to Paris.<ref name="EB1911"/>

He translated seven books of [[Diodorus Siculus]] (1554), the ''[[Daphnis and Chloe|Daphnis and Chloë]]'' of [[Longus]] (1559) and the ''[[Moralia|Opera Moralia]]'' of [[Plutarch]] (1572). His vigorous and idiomatic version of Plutarch, ''[[Parallel Lives|Vies des hommes illustres]]'', was published in 1558, later translated into English by [[Thomas North|Sir Thomas North]], and supplied [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] with materials for his Roman plays. [[Michel de Montaigne|Montaigne]] said of him, "I give the palm to Jacques Amyot over all our French writers, not only for the simplicity and purity of his language in which he surpasses all others, nor for his constancy to so long an undertaking, nor for his profound learning ... but I am grateful to him especially for his wisdom in choosing so valuable a work."<ref name="EB1911"/> However, Dr. [[Guy Patin]] commented (translation from French), "It is said that M. de Meziriac had corrected eight thousand mistakes in his Amyot, and that Amyot did not have good copies, or that he had not understood Plutarch's Greek well."<ref>{{cite journal |title=Plutarch's Lives (Review) |journal=The Atlantic Monthly |date=January 1860 |pages=110–119 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1860/01/plutarchs-lives/627616/ |access-date=20 December 2024}}</ref> 

It was indeed to Plutarch that Amyot devoted his attention. His other translations were subsidiary. The version of Diodorus he did not publish, although the manuscript had been discovered by him. Amyot took great pains to find and interpret correctly the best authorities, but the interest of his books today lies in the style. His translation reads like an original work. The personal method of Plutarch appealed to a generation addicted to memoirs and incapable of any general theory of history. Amyot's book, therefore, obtained an immense popularity, and exercised great influence over successive generations of French writers.<ref name="EB1911"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Jacques Amyot}}

{{Plutarch}}

{{Authority control}}

{{EB1911 article with no significant updates}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amyot, Jacques}}
[[Category:1513 births]]
[[Category:1593 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Melun]]
[[Category:16th-century French male writers]]
[[Category:16th-century French translators]]
[[Category:Bishops of Auxerre]]
[[Category:16th-century French Roman Catholic bishops]]
[[Category:Participants in the Council of Trent]]
[[Category:French male writers]]
[[Category:Translators of Ancient Greek texts]]