Athanase Auger


Athanase Auger, born 12 December 1734 in Paris, where he died on 7 February 1792, was a French educator, Hellenist and translator.

Life and work

A priest of the diocese of Paris and master of arts, he was denied Agrégation by the University of Paris in 1766. He was professor of rhetoric at the royal college of Rouen from 1 July 1762 until 1776 and was grand vicar to the bishop of Lescar.
He took a position at Brécé on 16 February 1766, but resigned the next day to take another one at Ambrières. Alphonse-Victor Angot is unable to say if he ever actually performed any duties in this parish. In any case, he resigned from Ambrières on 20 May 1767, in favour of his colleague Jacques-Claude des Nos. He resumed his classes on rhetoric in Rouen, until 1776 when he left and established himself in Paris.
He translated the Greek orators and historians, including the complete works of Demosthenes, Aeschines, Isocrates and Lysias, as well as Andocides, Antiphon, Demades, Dinarchus, Herodotus, Isaeus, Lycurgus, Thucydides, and Xenophon. He also translated the church fathers Basil of Caesarea and John Chrysostom, as well as the Orations of Cicero and the Constitution des Romains sous les rois et au temps de la République, a ten volume work which was published posthumously in 1792.
A moderate supporter of the French Revolution and admirer of Rousseau, Auger also wrote pieces on the political and educational reforms which he hoped would be carried out, principally instruction in civics and the education of women. At the time of the summoning of the États généraux, he wrote a monograph on education, titled Projet d’éducation générale pour le royaume.
Member of the Academy of Rouen, he also became a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in 1781.

Anecdote

In order to illustrate the customs of the province, Stendhal reproduced in his Mémoires d’un touriste a curious article, entitled Épisodes de la vie d’Anathase Auger publiés par sa nièce, which describes a family reunion attended by the vicar and his bishop, the Comte de Noé. His niece writes "The comte de Noé was a magnificent man in size, figure and bearing. His noble and distinguished bustle, when he assumed his sacred garments, provoked the admiration of all who saw it; as for his grand vicar, he was small, meagre and very ugly." She further describes how the two prelates danced a round with the family and how Auger agreed, for an hour only and much against his will, to refer to his bishop as tu.

Publications

;Political and Educational Publications