ANNE DACIER (1714)

Classical commentator, translator and editor, famous throughout Europe for her translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey, for her part in the French literary controversy called the querelle des anciens et des modernes and for her work with her husband André Dacier on the famous Delphin series of editions of Latin classics.

Anne Dacier was the daughter of a French humanist, Tanneguy Lefèbvre who educated her and launched her in the field of classical studies. In 1683 she married one of her father´s students André Dacier (also engaged in classical studies and translations), whose work was far inferior to hers.

Prior to her marriage, Mme. Dacier had already produced notable translations and her translations in prose of the Iliad (1699) and the Odyssey (1708) brought her renown throughout Europe, particularly affecting French men of letters. It was partly through these translations that a literary dispute known as the querelle des anciens et des modernes arose as a contest of the merits of classical as opposed to contemporary authors. One of her important works on the subject was Des causes de la corruption de goût (1714; Of the Causes of the Corruption of Taste).

Among her other important works were scholarly translations of Anacreon, Sappho, Terence, Plautus and Aristophanes, as well as of Horace in collaboration with her husband. Among her Delphin editions were works of Florus, Dictys Cretensis, Aurelius Victor and Eutropius.