Ausonius
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the Roman poet Ausonius. For John Ausonius, the Swedish murderer, see John Ausonius.
Decimus Magnus Ausonius (c. 310-395), was a Roman poet and rhetorician, born at Burdigala (Bordeaux).
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[edit] Biography
Ausonius was given a strict upbringing by his aunt and grandmother, both named Aemilia. He received an excellent education, especially in grammar and rhetoric, but professed that his progress in Greek was unsatisfactory. Having completed his studies, he trained for some time as an advocate, but he preferred teaching. In 334, he established a school of rhetoric in Bordeaux, which was very popular. His most famous pupil was St. Paulinus of Nola, who later became Bishop of Nola.
After thirty years of this work, he was summoned by Valentinian to the imperial court, to teach Gratian, the heir-apparent. The prince greatly respected his tutor, and after his accession bestowed on him the highest titles and honours that any Roman (besides from the royal family) could attain, culminating in the consulate in 379. Ausonius also took part in a military campaign against the Alamanni, in 375, and then later he received the Suebian slave girl Bissula as his part of the booty; he later addressed a poem to her.
After the murder of Gratian in 383, Ausonius retired to his estates near Burdigala (now Bordeaux) in Gaul. He appears to have been a late and perhaps not very enthusiastic convert to Christianity. He died about 395.
[edit] Works
Although much admired by his contemporaries, the writings of Ausonius have not since been ranked among Latin literature's best. His style is easy and fluent, and his Mosella is still widely appreciated for its description of life and scenery along the River Moselle. Overall, however, he is generally considered derivative and unoriginal. Edward Gibbon observed in the third volume of his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire that "the poetical fame of Ausonius condemns the taste of his age."
However, he is frequently cited by historians of winemaking, as his works give early evidence of large-scale viniculture in the now-famous wine country around his native Bordeaux.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Latin text of Mosella and the Septem Sententiae
- Ausonius' Opera Omnia: IntraText Digital Library
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
