Pavel Danilovich Antonovich

Son of a centurion ataman. Educated at the University Gymnasium, then at Moscow University. Teacher of Latin and Greek at the University Gymnasium (1784) in Moscow. Provincial Secretary (1786). He started his literary activity while still a student. He collaborated in Nikolai Novikov's periodical "Vecherniaia Zaria" ("Evening Dawn") (1782). While teaching he composed the textbook "Azbuka grecheskaia, ili Nachal'noe poznanie grecheskogo iazyka, s grammaticheskimi pravilami, razgovorami, Ezopovymi basniami" ("The Greek ABC, or an Elementary textbook of the Greek language, with grammatical rules, conversations, Aesop’s fables ") (1794). Antonovich called the translation from French "Zabavy v uedinenii dlia vsiakogo vozrasta i sostoianiia l'udei, v dvukh chastiakh, s priobshcheniem pohozhdenii Aristonoevykh" ("Amusements in solitude for people of all ages and states, in two parts, with the adventures of Aristonous") (1797); it was his first literary work. Its first part consisted of a translation of the anonymous French collection "Amusements d'un solitaire".