Nicolas Perrot d'Ablancourt
Encyclopedia
Nicolas Perrot d'Ablancourt
(Châlons-en-Champagne
, 5 April 1606 - Paris, 17 November 1664) was a French translator of the Greek and Latin classics into French and a member of the Académie française
.
, before returning to Paris, where he was elected a member of the Academy in 1637, and devoted his life to this translations. He translated many of the works of Julius Caesar
, Cicero
, Frontinus, Homer
, Plutarch
, Tacitus
, Thucydides
and Xenophon
, as well as other less known writers, and some modern Spanish works. A malicious remark on one of his translations gave rise to the expression « les belles infidèles ».
(Châlons-en-Champagne
Châlons-en-Champagne
Châlons-en-Champagne is a city in France. It is the capital of both the department of Marne and the region of Champagne-Ardenne, despite being only a quarter the size of the city of Reims....
, 5 April 1606 - Paris, 17 November 1664) was a French translator of the Greek and Latin classics into French and a member of the Académie française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
.
Life
He converted to Protestantism and traveled to Leiden and then EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, before returning to Paris, where he was elected a member of the Academy in 1637, and devoted his life to this translations. He translated many of the works of Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
, Cicero
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
, Frontinus, Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
, Plutarch
Plutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
, Tacitus
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
, Thucydides
Thucydides
Thucydides was a Greek historian and author from Alimos. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BC...
and Xenophon
Xenophon
Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates...
, as well as other less known writers, and some modern Spanish works. A malicious remark on one of his translations gave rise to the expression « les belles infidèles ».