He came to the throne after the ten years of confusion which followed the death of Archelaus, the patron of art and literature, and showed the same taste for Greek culture and its representatives. But he had many enemies at home; in 383 he was driven out by the Illyrians, but in the following year, with the aid of the Thessalians, he recovered his kingdom. He concluded a treaty with the Spartans, who assisted him to reduce Olynthus (379). He also entered into a league with Jason of Pherae, and assiduously cultivated the friendship of Athens. By his wife, Eurydice, he had three sons, the youngest of whom was the famous Philip of Macedon.
Diodorus xiv. 89, xv. 19, 60; Xenophon, Hellenica, v. 2; Justin vii. 4.
AMYOT, JACQUES (1513–1593), French writer, was born of poor parents, at Melun, on the 30th of October 1513. He found his way to the university of Paris, where he supported himself by serving some of the richer students. He was nineteen when he became M.A. at Paris, and later he graduated doctor of civil law at Bourges. Through Jacques Colure (or Colin), abbot of St Ambrose in Bourges, he obtained a tutorship in the family of a secretary of state. By the secretary he was recommended to Marguerite de Valois, and through her influence was made professor of Greek and Latin at Bourges. Here he translated Théagène et Chariclée from Heliodorus (1547 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 Vatican text of Plutarch, on the translation on whose Lives (1559; 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 comparative quiet, repairing his cathedral and perfecting his translations, for the rest of his days, though troubled towards the close by the insubordination and revolts of his clergy. He was a devout and conscientious churchman, and had the courage to stand by his principles. It is said that he advised the chaplain of Henry III. to refuse absolution to the king after the murder of the Guise princes. He was, nevertheless, suspected of approving the crime. His house was plundered, and he was compelled to leave Auxerre for some time. He died on the 6th of February 1593, bequeathing, it is said, 1200 crowns to the hospital at Orleans for the twelve “deniers” he received there when “poor and naked” on his way to Paris. He translated seven books of Diodorus (1554), the Daphnis et Chloe of Longus (1559) and the Opera Moralia of Plutarch (1572). His vigorous 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. Montaigne said of him, “I give the palm to Jacques Amyot over all our French writers, not only for the simplicity and purity of his language in which he surpasses all others, nor for his constancy to so long an undertaking, nor for his profound learning . . . but I am grateful to him especially for his wisdom in choosing so valuable a work.” It was indeed to Plutarch that Amyot devoted his attention. 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 authorities, but the interest of his books to-day lies in the style. His translation reads like an original work. The personal method of Plutarch appealed to a generation addicted to memoirs and incapable of any general theory of history. Amyot’s book, therefore, 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., 1818–1821). See also Auguste de Blignières, Essai sur Amyot et les traducteurs français au xviᵉ siècle (Paris, 1851).
AMYRAUT, MOSES (1506–1664), also known as Amyraldus, French Protestant theologian and metaphysician, was born at Bourgueil, in the valley of Anjou, in 1596. His father was a lawyer, and, designing Moses for his own profession, sent him on the completion of his study of the humanities at Orleans to the university of Poitiers. Here he took the degree of licentiate (B.A.) of laws. On his way home from the university he passed through Saumur, and, having visited the pastor of the Protestant church there, was introduced by him to Philippe de Mornay, governor of the city. Struck with young Amyraut’s ability and culture, they both urged him to change from law to theology. His father advised him to revise his philological and philosophical studies, and read over Calvin’s Institutions, before finally determining. He did so, and decided for theology. He thereupon removed to Saumur—destined to be for ever associated with his name—and studied under J. Cameron, who ultimately regarded him as his greatest scholar. He had a brilliant course, and was in due time licensed as a minister of the French Protestant Church. The contemporary civil wars and excitements hindered his advancement. His first church was in St Aignan, in the province of Maine. There he remained two years. The eminent theologian, Jean Daillé, being then removed to Paris, advised the church at Saumur to secure Amyraut as his successor, praising him “as above himself.” The university of Saumur at the same time had fixed its eyes on him as professor of theology. The great churches of Paris and Rouen also contended for him, and to win him sent their deputies to the provincial synod of Anjou. Amyraut had left the choice to the synod. He was appointed to Saumur in 1633, and to the professor’s chair along with the pastorate. On the occasion of his inauguration he maintained for thesis De Sacerdotio Christi. His co-professors were Louis Cappel and Josué de la Place, who also were Cameron's pupils. Very beautiful was the lifelong friendship of these three remarkable men, who collaborated in the Theses Salmurienses, a collection of theses propounded by candidates in theology prefaced by the inaugural addresses of the three professors. Full of energy, Amyraut very speedily gave to French Protestantism a new force. In 1631 he published his Traité des religions, a book that still lives; and from this year onward he was a foremost man in the church. Chosen to represent the provincial synod of Anjou, Touraine and Maine at the national synod held in 1631 at Charenton, he was appointed as orator to present to the king “The Copy of their Complaints and Grievances for the Infractions and Violations of the Edict of Nantes.” Previous deputies had addressed the king on their bended knees, whereas the representatives of the Catholics had been permitted to stand. Amyraut consented to be orator only if the assembly authorized him to stand. There was intense resistance. Cardinal Richelieu himself, preceded by lesser dignitaries, condescended to visit Amyraut privately, to persuade him to kneel; but Amyraut held resolutely to his point and carried it. His “oration” on this occasion, which was immediately published in the French Mercury, remains a striking landmark in the history of French Protestantism. During his absence on this matter the assembly debated “Whether the Lutherans who desired it, might be admitted into communion with the Reformed Churches of France at the Lord’s Table.” It was decided in the affirmative previous to his return; but he approved with astonishing eloquence, and thereafter was ever in the front rank in maintaining intercommunication between all churches holding the main doctrines of the Reformation. P. Bayle recounts the title-pages of no fewer than thirty-two books of which Amyraut was the author. These show that he took part in all the great controversies on predestination and Arminianism which then so agitated and harassed all Europe. Substantially he held fast the Calvinism of his preceptor Cameron; but, like Richard Baxter in England, by his breadth and charity he exposed himself to all manner of misconstruction. In 1634 he published his Traité de la prédestination, in which he tried to mitigate the harsh features of predestination by his “Universalismus hypotheticus.” God, he taught, predestines all men to happiness on condition of their having faith. This gave rise to a charge of heresy, of which he was acquitted at the national synod held at Alençon in 1637, and presided over by Benjamin Basnage (1580–1652). The
