DECIMUS

MAGNUS

See also:

• DECIMUS MAGNUS AUSONIUS (c. 310-395)

AUSONIUS (c. 310-395)  , Roman poet and rhetorician, was born at Burdigala [Bordeaux]: He received an etcellent education, especially in grammar and rhetoric, but confesses that his progress in Greek was unsatisfactory . Having completed his studies, he practised for some time as an advocate, but his inclination lay in the direction of teaching . He set up (in 334) a school of rhetoric in his native place, which was largely attended, his most famous pupil being Paulinus,afterwards bishop of Nola . After thirty years of this work, he was summoned by Valentinian to the imperial court, to undertake the education of Gratian, the heir-apparent . The prince always entertained the greatest regard for his tutor, and after his accession bestowed upon him the highest titles and honours,culminating in the consul-ship (379) . After the murder of Gratian (383), Ausonius retired to his estates near Burdigala . He appears to have been a (not very enthusiastic) convert to Christianity . He died about 395 . His most important extant works are: in prose, Gratiarum Actio, an address of thanks to Gratian for his elevation to the consulship; Periochae, summaries of the books of the Iliad and Odyssey; and one or two epistolae; in verse, Epigrammata, including several free translations from the Greek Anthology; Ephemeris, the occupations of a day ; Parentalia and Commemoratio Prolessorum Burdigalensium, on deceased relatives and literary friends ; Epitaphia, chiefly on the Trojan heroes Caesares, memorial verses on the Roman emperors from Julius Caesar to Elagabalus ; Ordo Nobilium Urbium, short poems on famous cities ; Ludus Septem Sapientum, speeches delivered by the Seven Sages of Greece ; Idyllia, of which the best-known are the Mosella, a descriptive poem on the Moselle, and the in-famous Cento Nuptialis . We may also mention Cupido Cruciatus, Cupid on the cross ; Technopaegion, a literary trifle consisting of a collection of verses ending in monosyllables ; Eclogarum Liber, on astronomical and astrological subjects ; Epistolae, including letters to Paulinus and Symmachus ; lastly, Praefatiunculae, three poetical epistles, one to the emperor Theodosius . Ausonius was rather a man of letters than a poet; his wide reading supplied him with material for a great variety of subjects, but his works exhibit no traces of a true poetic spirit even his versification, though ingenious, is frequently defective . There are no MSS. containing the whole of Ausonius's works .

Editio princeps, 1472;

editions by Scaliger 1575, Souchay 1730, Schenkl 1883, •Peiper 1886; cf . Mosella, Bocking 1845, de la Ville de Mirmont (critical edition with translation) 1889, and De Ausonii Morelia, 1892, Hosius 1894 . See Deydou, Un Poste bordelais (1868) ; Everat, De Ausonii Operibus (1885) ; Jullian, Ausone et Bordeaux (1893); C . Verrier and R. de Gourmont, Les 1pigrammes d'Ausone (translation with bibliography, 1905); R . Pichon, Les Derniers _(translation profanes (1907) .