André, was the son of a Protestant advocate at Castres, and was born in that town in 1651. His father resolved to give him a classical education, and accordingly sent him first to the academy of Puy Laurens, and afterwards to Saumur, where a distinguished scholar, Tauneguy Lefèvre, was at that time teaching Latin with great success. Such rapid progress did the young scholar make, that when Lefèvre sent away all his other pupils, he kept Dacier and taught him privately for an entire year. On the death of this kind friend, he returned home, whence, after a short sojourn, he betook himself to Paris to seek his fortune. By the Duc de Montausier, his name was put on the list of scholars who were then engaged in preparing the Delphin edition of the ancient classics. He was shortly after made warden of the library of the Louvre. In 1693 he was admitted into the Academy of Inscriptions; and in the same year into the French Academy. His marriage with the daughter of his old teacher at Saumur had taken place in 1683. From the classical pursuits of the contracting parties, this event was called by Bosnage the marriage of Greek and Latin. The most important of Dacier's works were his editions of Pomponius Festus and Valerius Flaccus, Paris, &c.; a translation of Horace, with notes, 10 vols. 12mo; a translation of Aristotle's Poetics; of the Electra and Oedipus of Sophocles; and of the entire works of Hippocrates. His last important undertaking was a translation of Plutarch, 8 vols. 4to. Dacier died Sept. 18, 1722.

Anne Lefèvre, the wife of the preceding, and still more celebrated than himself for her knowledge of the classical languages, was born at Saumur in 1651. The first work which brought her into notice was her translation of the Greek poet Callimachus. This established her reputation so thoroughly, that she was soon requested to edit others of the ancient classics for the use of the Dauphin. In this collection she published successively Florus, Ennius, Aurelius Victor, and Dictys Cretensis. Her translations of the ancient classics are very numerous. Among these may be mentioned the Amphitryon, Rudens, and Epidicus of Plautus, the whole of Terence, the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, the Phœbus and Clouds of Aristophanes, and the whole of Sappho and Anacreon. Madame Dacier died in 1720, two years before her husband.