AUSONIUS, DECIMUS MAGNUS (c. 310-395)

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AUSONIUS, DECIMUS MAGNUS (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

WORK

, he was summoned by Valentinian to the imperial court, to undertake the education of Gratian, the

heir

HEIR (Lat. heres, from a root meaning to grasp, seen in heres or erus, master of a
house
- HOUSE
- HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
  Gothic
  - GOTHIC
  it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)
, Gr. xeip, hand, Sans. hat ana, hand)

-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

PROSE

, Gratiarum Actio, an address of thanks to Gratian for his

elevation

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

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

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

CRITICAL (in alphabetical order of authors)

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).

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