Dolet

Dolet, Etienne (1509-1546), a French writer born at Orleans. He took lessons from the best masters in Paris and Italy, and devoted himself to the study of Latin. He was appointed Secretary of Legation at Venice, and afterwards he studied law at Toulouse. Here he made an enemy of the Parliament, and he went to Lyons where he made fresh enemies by the "hardiesse "and satirical nature of his writings. In spite of the favour of Francis I., he was accused of unorthodoxy, and his books were burnt in 1543 by order of the Sorbonne, the "great Ciceronian" himself meeting three years later with the same fate as his books. Among his works were Two Books of Commentary on the Latin Tongue (1536-38), How to Translate from one Language to Another (1540), De Imitatione Ciceroniana, How to'l'ranslate Well. He translated bits of Cicero and Plato, and intended to translate the whole of nie latter author.