Étienne Clavier

Étienne Clavier (26 December 1762 in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

– 18 November 1817 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

) was a French

Hellenist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

and magistrate. The son of a wealthy merchant of Lyon, he made early studies of the Classical languages, followed by studies of law in Paris. In 1788 he purchased a commission as ''conseiller au Châtelet'' of which he was soon deprived during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

. He entered the magistracy under the

Directoire The Directory (also called Directorate, ) was the governing five-member committee in the French First Republic from 2 November 1795 until 9 November 1799, when it was overthrown by Napoleon Bonaparte in the Coup of 18 Brumaire and replaced by ...

, serving as a judge in the criminal tribunal of the Seine, where he made himself prominent by the independence of his character in the trial of

General Moreau Jean Victor Marie Moreau (, 14 February 1763 – 2 September 1813) was a French general who helped Napoleon Bonaparte to power, but later became a rival and was banished to the United States. Biography Rise to fame Moreau was born at Morla ...

. Pressured by

Joachim Murat Joachim Murat ( , also , ; it, Gioacchino Murati; 25 March 1767 – 13 October 1815) was a French military commander and statesman who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Under the French Empire he received the ...

, who urged him to pronounce the capital sentence, with the assurance that Napoleon would grant clemency, he made the famous reply, "Et à nous, qui nous la fera?" He was finally discharged from his post in the reorganization of the tribunals of 1811. In 1809 he was elected member of the ''

Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the Institut de France. The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigr ...

''. He was appointed to the chair in history and ethics at the

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment ('' grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris n ...

in 1812 and was named ''censeur royal'' at the Bourbon Restoration. Étienne Clavier contributed several memoirs to the ''Académie des inscriptions''. In one on the Oracles of the Ancients, he asserted that the priesthood of Antiquity were under no necessity of fraud in producing their miracles, which were easily explained by the confidence and credulity of the people. As a Hellenist, his work has lost its value, his translations, such as the '' Bibliotheke'' attributed to Apollodorus (Paris, 1805), lacking the accuracy demanded by later generations, and his erudition, such as his corrections to

Jacques Amyot Jacques Amyot (; 30 October 15136 February 1593), French Renaissance bishop, scholar, writer and translator, was born of poor parents, at Melun. Biography Amyot found his way to the University of Paris, where he supported himself by serving som ...

's translation of

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...

, ill-directed. His principal merit, according to

Pierre Larousse Pierre Athanase Larousse (23 October 18173 January 1875) was a French grammarian, lexicographer and encyclopaedist. He published many of the outstanding educational and reference works of 19th-century France, including the 15-volume '' Grand di ...

, is to have pursued classical studies during a period that lacked classicists of the first order. {{DEFAULTSORT:Clavier, Etienne Academic staff of the Collège de France French jurists Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 1762 births 1817 deaths Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery 18th-century jurists 19th-century jurists