(1823-)
Marie Louis Gaston Boissier is known in Paris as one of the most
prominent professors of the Collège de France, and to the outside world
as the author of a number of scholarly books of essays, most of them on
Roman subjects. Born at Nîmes in 1823, his life has been devoted
entirely to literature. Soon after his graduation from the École Normale
he was made professor of rhetoric at Angoulême, and later held the same
position at Nîmes. He has received the degree of Doctor, and occupied a
number of high positions, culminating in that of professor of Latin
poetry in the Collège de France, which he still holds. His works have a
high value in the world of scholars, and have won him the red ribbon of
the Legion of Honor, as well as a seat in the Académie Française, which
he entered in 1876. His best known works, 'Cicero et ses Amis' (Cicero
and His Friends), was crowned by the Académie; and 'Proménades
Archéologiques, Rome et Naples,' written in 1880, has been translated
into English, as has also his life of Madame de Sévigné, which contains
many charming bits of comment on the seventeenth century. As a
biographer, and also as a historian, he is quiet and accurate--never
dry. He has great charm of style, and writes with elegance, correctness,
clearness, and originality. He contributes largely, also, to the Revue
des Deux Mondes and to scientific publications.
[Illustration: GASTON BOISSIER]