Last of the Romans
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The description Last of the Romans (Ultimus Romanorum) has historically been given to any man thought to embody the values of Ancient Roman civilization - values which, by implication, became extinct on his death.
It has been used to describe a number of individuals. The first recorded instance was Julius Caesar's description of Marcus Junius Brutus as the one with whom the old Roman spirit would become extinct.
Many people have been called Last of the Romans:
- Gaius Asinius Pollio was one of the last great orators and writers of the Roman Republic.
- Flavius Aëtius and Bonifacius were rival generals in the late Western Roman Empire at the time of Atilla the Hun.
- Valens was the Emperor who led his army to a catastrophic defeat in the Battle of Adrianople.
- Syagrius was the last Roman commander in Gaul before the invasion of the Franks.
- Ambrosius Aurelianus was a Romano-British military commander against the Anglo-Saxon invasion.
- Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius was one of the last great philosophers of Rome.
- Justinian I was another Emperor, given an A&E TV biography entitled Justinian: Last of the Romans (1997).
In a more literal sense, it could also refer to:
- Romulus Augustus, the last de facto Western Roman Emperor.
- Julius Nepos, the last de jure Western Roman Emperor.
- Constantine XI Paleologus, the last Eastern Roman Emperor.
A different list, "Last of the Romans," was offered in E. Cobham Brewer, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) [1]:
- Marcus Junius Brutus, one of the murderers of Caesar. (B.C. 85-42.)
- Gaius Cassius Longinus, so called by Brutus. (Died. B.C. 42.)
- Stilicho, the Roman general under Theodosius.
- Aëtius, a general who defended the Gauls against the Franks and other barbarians, and defeated Attila in the Catalaunian Fields near Chálons, in 451. So called by Procopius.
- François Joseph Terasse Desbillons; so called from the elegance and purity of his Latin (1751-1789).
- Alexander Pope called William Congreve Ultimus Romanorum. (1670-1729.)
