Tanneguy Le Fèvre (Tanaquil usFaber) (1615 – 12 September 1672) was a French

classical scholar Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

. He wrote many books, and translated numerous classical works. Somewhat unusual in this era, he educated his daughter

Anne Dacier Anne Le Fèvre Dacier (; 1651 – 17 August 1720), better known during her lifetime as Madame Dacier (), was a French scholar, translator, commentator and editor of the classics, including the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey''. She sought to cham ...

in Greek and Latin, and she subsequently became the notable classical scholar and translator better known as Madame Dacier.

Life and work

Le Fèvre was born at

Caen Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...

. After completing his studies in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, he was appointed by

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, 1st Duke of Richelieu (9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), commonly known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a Catholic Church in France, French Catholic prelate and statesman who had an outsized influence in civil and religi ...

inspector of the printing-press at the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

. After Richelieu's death, he left Paris, joined the

Reformed Church Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyterian, ...

, and in 1651 obtained a professorship at the

Academy of Saumur The Academy of Saumur () was a Huguenot university at Saumur in western France. It existed from 1593, when it was founded by Philippe de Mornay, until shortly after 1685, when Louis XIV decided on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, ending t ...

, which he filled with great success for nearly twenty years. His increasing ill-health and a certain moral laxity (as shown in his judgment on

Sappho Sappho (; ''Sapphṓ'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; ) was an Ancient Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her lyric poetry, written to be sung while accompanied by music. In ancient times, Sapph ...

) led to a quarrel with the

consistory Consistory is the anglicized form of the consistorium, a council of the closest advisors of the Roman emperors. It can also refer to: *A papal consistory, a formal meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church *Consistor ...

, as a result of which he resigned his professorship. Several universities were eager to obtain his services, and he had accepted a post offered him by the

elector palatine This article lists counts palatine of Lotharingia, counts palatine of the Rhine, and electors of the Palatinate (), the titles of three counts palatine who ruled some part of the Rhine region in the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire b ...

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

, when he died suddenly. One of his children, Anne, became the distinguished classical scholar and translator Madame Dacier. Le Fèvre was a highly cultivated man and a thorough classical scholar. He brought out editions of various Greek and Latin authors:

Longinus Longinus (Greek: Λογγίνος) is the name of the Roman soldier who pierced the side of Jesus with a lance, who in apostolic and some modern Christian traditions is described as a convert to Christianity. His name first appeared in the apoc ...

Anacreon Anacreon ( BC) was an Ancient Greek lyric poet, notable for his drinking songs and erotic poems. Later Greeks included him in the canonical list of Nine Lyric Poets. Anacreon wrote all of his poetry in the ancient Ionic dialect. Like all early ...

and

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...

Lucretius Titus Lucretius Carus ( ; ; – October 15, 55 BC) was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is the philosophical poem '' De rerum natura'', a didactic work about the tenets and philosophy of Epicureanism, which usually is t ...

and many others. His most important original works are: ''Les Vies des poètes Grecs'' (Lives of the Greek Poets, 1665); ''Méthode pour commencer les humanités Grecques et latines'' (Method to Start the Greek and Latin Humanities, 2nd ed., 1731), of which several English adaptations have appeared, such as Jenkin Thomas Philipps's ''A Compendious Way of Teaching Ancient and Modern Languages'' (1750); and ''Epistolae Criticae'' (1659).

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Le Fevre, Tanneguy 1615 births 1672 deaths Writers from Caen Huguenots 17th-century French scholars People from the Province of Normandy French Renaissance humanists French classical scholars 17th-century French writers 17th-century French male writers