AMYOT, JACQUES French writer, was born of poor parents, at Melun, on Oct. 3o, 1513. He was educated at the University of Paris and then at Bourges, where he was made professor of Greek and Latin through the influence of Margaret of Valois. Here he translated Theagene et Chariclee from Heliodorus fol.), for which he was rewarded by Francis I. with the abbey of Bellozane. He was thus enabled to go to Italy to study the Vat ican text of Plutarch, on the translation of whose Lives 0559 1565) 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., by one of whom (Charles IX.) he was afterwards made grand almoner (1561) and by the other (Henry III.) was appointed, in spite of his plebeian origin, commander of the order of the Holy Ghost. Pius I. promoted him to the bishopric of Auxerre, and here he continued to live in com parative quiet, repairing his cathedral and perfecting his transla tions, for the rest of his days, though troubled towards the close by the insubordination and revolts of his clergy. He died on Feb. 6, bequeathing, it is said, 1,200 crowns to the hospital at Orleans I for the twelve "deniers" he received there when "poor and naked" on his way to Paris. He translated seven books of Diodorus the Daphnis et Chloe of Longus (1559) and the Opera Moralia of Plutarch (1572). His lively and idiomatic version of Plutarch, Vies des hommes illustres, was translated into English by Sir Thomas North, and supplied Shakespeare with materials for his Roman plays. The translation of Plutarch was his magnum opus. His other translations were subsidiary. The version of Diodorus he did not publish, although the manuscript had been discovered by himself. Amyot took great pains to find and interpret correctly the best s authorities, but the interest of his books lies in the simplicity and purity of language which won the praise of Montaigne. His trans lation reads like an original work. The personal method of Plutarch appealed to a generation addicted to memoirs. Amyot's book, there fore, obtained an immense popularity and exercised great influence over successive generations of French writers.
There is a good edition of the works of Amyot from the firm of Didot (25 vols., 1818-21) . See also Auguste de BIignieres, Essai sur Amyot et les traducteurs francais au xvie siecle (1851) .