Paul Louis Courier De Mere, a French scholar and publicist, born in Paris about 1773, murdered near Veretz (Indre-et-Loire), April 10, 1825. He served in the army of Italy, and denounced in his private correspondence the spoliation of works of art by the French soldiery. Returning to France in 1800, he attracted the attention of Hellenists by the publication of his remarks upon Schweig-hauser's edition of Athenseus. In 1806 he was again with the army, stationed in dangerous and isolated parts of Calabria, and afterward at Naples and Portici, where he occupied his leisure hours in translating Xenophon's treatise on cavalry. Censured for lingering in Rome and Florence instead of attending to his duties, he threw up his commission, but rejoined the army just before the battle of Wagram, after which, however, he left it entirely. While in Florence he had discovered in the Laurentian library an unedited manuscript of Longus, "Daphnis and Chloe," which he published in Greek and French in 1810. Having in copying the manuscript accidentally blotted it with ink, he was accused of doing so purposely, and ultimately expelled from Tuscany, while the 27 remaining copies of the 52 he had printed were seized by the Tuscan government.

After the restoration he denounced the follies of the new administration in numerous pamphlets, which involved him in troubles with the government, and he was arrested several times. His most effective pamphlet, Pamphlet des pamphlets, appeared in 1824. In the spring of the following year he was found shot near his country seat. Five years later it was ascertained that he had been murdered by his gamekeeper, who had since died of apoplexy, but no clue was discovered to the motive which prompted him to the deed. Courier's pamphlets are masterpieces of style. They have been published collectively, together with his translations from the Greek and other works, and his life by Armand Carrel (4 vols., Paris, 1834; 1 vol., 1837; 2 vols., 1838). The best edition of his translation of Longus is that of 1825.