As a private tutor in the house of
Lazare de Baif, he had
Jean-Antoine de Baif for his pupil. His son, Louis, showed great precocity and at the age of ten, translated into French verse one of his father's Latin pieces. His poems were published with his father's. Daurat became director of the Collège de Coqueret, where he had among his pupils
Antoine de Baif,
Pierre de Ronsard,
Remy Belleau, and
Pontus de Tyard.
Joachim du Bellay was added by Ronsard to this group, and these five young poets, under the direction of Daurat, formed a society for the reformation of the French language and literature. They increased their number to seven by the initiation of the dramatist
Étienne Jodelle, and thereupon they named themselves
La Pléiade, in emulation of the seven Greek poets of Alexandria. The election of Daurat as their leader proved his personal influence, and the value his pupils set on the learning to which he introduced them, but as a writer of French verse he is the least important of the seven. Meanwhile, he collected around him a sort of academy, and encouraged the students in a passionate study of Greek and Latin poetry. He himself wrote incessantly in both those languages, and was styled "the modern
Pindar". His influence extended beyond the bounds of his own country, and he was famous as a scholar in England, Italy, and Germany. In 1556 he was appointed professor of Greek at the
Collège Royal. In 1567, he resigned the post in favour of his nephew, Nicolas Goulu. King
Charles IX gave him the title of
poeta regius ("the king's poet"). His prolific output was the wonder of his time; he is said to have composed more than 15,000 Greek and Latin verses. The best of these he published at Paris in 1586. He died at Paris, having survived all his illustrious pupils of the
Pléiade, except Pontus de Tyard. The
Œuvres poétiques in the vernacular of Jean Daurat were edited in 1875 with biographical notice and bibliography by
Charles Marty-Laveaux in his
Pléiade française. Daurat has been credited with the development of the
claque in the French theatre, in which professional applauders are paid to ensure the success of (or in other cases, booed to ensure the failure of) certain plays, playwrights, and actors. ==Scholarship==