DACIER, Andrew, keeper of the books of the king’s cabinet, and member of the French Academy and also of that of Inscriptions and Belles-lettres, was born at Castres on the 6th April 1651. He had a great genius and inclination for learning, and studied at Saumur under Tanneguy Le Fevre, who was then, engaged in the instruction of his daughter, who afterwards proved an honour to her sex under the name of Madame Dacier, and with whom her future husband was associated in study. This gave rise to that mutual tenderness which a marriage of forty years could not weaken. The Duke of Montausier hearing of his merit, put him in the list of commentators for the use of the Dauphin, and engaged him in an edition of Pomponius Festus, which he published in 1681. His edition of Horace, printed at Paris in ten volumes 12mo, and his other works, procured him a great reputation. He was made a member of the Academy of Inscriptions in 1695. When the history of Louis XIV. by medals had been finished, he was chosen to present it to his majesty; who being informed of the pains which he had bestowed on it, settled upon him a pension of 2000 livres, and appointed him keeper of the books of the king’s cabinet in the Louvre. When that post was united to the office of library-keeper to the king, he was not only continued in the privilege of his place during life, but the survivorship thereof was granted to his wife, a favour of which there had been no instance before. But the death of Madame Dacier in 1720 rendered this grant, which was so honourable to her, ineffectual. Her husband died on the 18th September 1722, of an ulcer in the throat. In his manners, sentiments, and whole conduct, he was a complete model of that ancient philosophy of which he was so great an admirer, and which he improved by the rules and principles of Christianity.

Μ. Dacier published successively, I. The Works of Horace, Paris, 1681, in 10 vols. 12mo; 2. The Moral Reflections of the Emperor Marcus Antoninus, with remarks, and a life of the imperial moralist, Paris, 1690, in 2 vols. 12mo; 3. The Poetics of Aristotle, translated into French, with notes, Paris, 1692, 4to and 12mo; 4. The Oedipus [7:7:582]and Electra of Sophocles, with notes, Paris, 1692, in one vol. 12mo; 5. Plutarch’s Lives, translated into French, with notes, Paris, 1696, 4to; 6. The Works of Hippocrates, translated into French, with notes, Paris, 1697, in 2 vols. 12mo; 7. The Works of Plato, translated into French, Paris, 1699, in 2 vols. 12mo; 8. The Life of Pythagoras, with his symbols and golden verses, with the Life of Hierocles, and his Commentary on the Golden Verses, Paris, 1706, 12mo; 9. The Manual of Epictetus, with a translation and notes, Paris, 1715, in 2 vols.

Dacier, Anne Lefevre, daughter of Tanneguy Lefevre, professor of Greek at Saumur, in France. She early showed a fine genius, which her father cultivated with great care and satisfaction. After his death she went to Paris, whither her fame had already preceded her. She was then preparing an edition of Callimachus, which she published in 1674. Having shown some sheets of it to M. Huet, preceptor to the dauphin, and to several other men of learning at the court, the work was so highly admired, that the Duke of Montausier made a proposal to her of publishing several Latin authors for the use of the dauphin. She at first rejected this proposal, as a task to which she was not equal; but the duke insisting upon it, he at last gained her consent, and she undertook an edition of Florus, which was published in 1674. Her reputation being now diffused over all Europe, Christina, queen of Sweden, ordered Count Königsmark to compliment her in the name of his mistress; upon which Mademoiselle Lefevre sent the queen a Latin letter, with her edition of Florus, to which her majesty wrote an obliging answer, and not long afterwards wrote another letter to persuade her to abandon the Protestant religion, and to settle at the Swedish court. In 1683 she married M. Dacier, upon which occasion it was pleasantly remarked that this was the marriage of the Greek and the Latin; and she soon afterwards declared her design to the Duke of Montausier and the Bishop of Méaux, of reconciling herself to the church of Rome, which she had entertained for some time; but as Μ. Dacier was not yet convinced of the reasonableness of such a change, they retired in 1684 to Castres, where they had a small estate, in order to examine the points of controversy between the Protestants and the Roman Catholics. They at last determined in favour of the latter, and made a public abjuration of Protestantism in 1685. After this,, the king gave both the husband and wife marks of his favour. In 1693 she applied herself to the education of her son and daughter, who made great progress; but the son died in 1694, and the daughter became a nun in the abbey of Longchamp. Madame Dacier had another daughter, who united in her all the virtues and accomplishments that could adorn the sex; but she unfortunately died at the age of eighteen. Her mother has immortalized her memory in the preface to her translation of the Iliad. Madame Dacier was in a very infirm state of health the two last years of her life; and she died, after a very painful sickness, on the 17th of August 1720, aged sixty-nine. She was remarkable for her firmness, generosity, equality of temper, and piety.

Independently of the works on which she laboured in conjunction with her husband, Madame Dacier published, 1. Callimachi Hymni, &c., Paris, 1674, with a preface and notes; 2. A. Flori Historia Pom. ad usum Delph., Paris, 1674, 4to; 3. Dictys Cretensis et Dares Phrygius, Paris, 1684, 4to; 4. Sexti Aurelii Victoris Historice Pomanae Compendium, Paris, 1681, 4to; 5. The Poetry of Anacreon and Sappho, translated into French, with notes, Paris, 1681, 12mo; 6. Eutropii Hist. Pom. Breviarium, Paris, 1683, 4to; 7. The Amphytrion, the Epidicus, and the Pudens of Plautus, translated into French, with notes, Paris, 1683, in 3 vols. 12mo; 8. The Plutus and the Clouds of Aristophanes, translated into French, with notes, Paris, 1684, in one vol. 12mo; 9. The Comedies of Terence, translated into French, with notes, Paris, 1688, in 3 vols. 12mo; 10. Two of Plutarch’s Lives, translated into French, and forming part of the complete translation of the Z⅛es of that celebrated biographer undertaken by Μ. and Mad. Dacier; 11. The Iliad of Homer, translated into French, with notes, Paris, 1699, in 4 vols. 12mo; 12. The Causes of the Corruption of Taste, Paris, 1714, in one vol. 12mo; 13. Horner defended against the Apology of P. Ρ. Hαr-douin, Paris, 1716, in one vol. 12mo; 14. The Odyssey of Homer, translated into French, with notes, Amsterdam, 1717, reprinted with the Iliad at Paris, 1756, in 8 vols.