Ausonius
Encyclopedia
Latin literature
Latin literature includes the essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings of the ancient Romans. In many ways, it seems to be a continuation of Greek literature, using many of the same forms...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and rhetoric
Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...
ian, born at Burdigala (Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
).
Biography
Decimius Magnus Ausonius was born in BordeauxBordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
in ca. 310. His father was a noted physician of Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
ancestry and his mother was descended on both sides from long-established aristocratic
Aristocracy (class)
The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...
Gallo-Roman families of southwestern Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
. 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
Bishop of Nola
The Diocese of Nola is a Roman Catholic diocese in Italy, with its seat in the ancient city Nola. The diocese is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Naples....
.
After thirty years of this work, he was summoned by Valentinian
Valentinian I
Valentinian I , also known as Valentinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 364 to 375. Upon becoming emperor he made his brother Valens his co-emperor, giving him rule of the eastern provinces while Valentinian retained the west....
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 consul
Consul
Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...
ate in 379. Ausonius also took part in a military campaign against the Alamanni
Alamanni
The Alamanni, Allemanni, or Alemanni were originally an alliance of Germanic tribes located around the upper Rhine river . One of the earliest references to them is the cognomen Alamannicus assumed by Roman Emperor Caracalla, who ruled the Roman Empire from 211 to 217 and claimed thereby to be...
, in 375, and then later he received the Alamanni
Alamanni
The Alamanni, Allemanni, or Alemanni were originally an alliance of Germanic tribes located around the upper Rhine river . One of the earliest references to them is the cognomen Alamannicus assumed by Roman Emperor Caracalla, who ruled the Roman Empire from 211 to 217 and claimed thereby to be...
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. These supposedly included the land now owned by Château Ausone
Château Ausone
Château Ausone is a Bordeaux wine from Saint-Émilion appellation, one of only two wines, along with Château Cheval Blanc, to be ranked Premier Grand Cru Classé in the Classification of Saint-Émilion wine...
, which takes its name from him. He appears to have been a late and perhaps not very enthusiastic convert to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. He died about 395.
Works
- Epigramata de diversis rebus. About 120 epigrams on various topics.
- Ephemeris. A description of the occupations of the day from morning till evening, in various meters, composed before 367. Only the beginning and end are preserved.
- Parentalia. 30 poems of various lengths, mostly in elegiac meter, on deceased relations, composed after his consulate, when he had already been a widower for 36 years.
- Commemoratio professorum Burdigalensium or Professores. A continuation of the Parentalia, dealing with the famous teachers of his native Bourdeaux whom he had known.
- Epitaphia. 26 epitaphs of heroes from the Trojan war, translated from Greek
- Caesares. On the 12 emperors described by SuetoniusSuetoniusGaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly known as Suetonius , was a Roman historian belonging to the equestrian order in the early Imperial era....
. - Ordo urbium nobiliumOrdo urbium nobiliumOrdo Urbium Nobilium is a prose text by Decimus Magnus Ausonius.It was written after a journey Ausonius took through the Roman empire between years 388 and 390.The book listed brief descriptions of the major cities of the Roman State....
. 14 pieces, dealing with 17 towns (Rome to Burdigala), in hexameters, and composed after the downfall of Maximus in 388. - Ludus VII Sapientium. A kind of puppet play in which the seven wise men appear successively and have their say.
- The so-called Idyllia. 20 pieces are grouped under this arbitrary title, the most famous of which is the
- Mosella. It also includes
- Griphus ternarii numeri
- De aetatibus Hesiodon
- Monosticha de aerumnis Herculis
- De ambiguitate eligendae vitae
- De viro bono
- EST et NON
- De rosis nascentibus (dubious)
- Versus paschales
- Epicedion in patrem
- Technopaegnion
- Cento nuptialisCento (poetry)A cento is a poetical work wholly composed of verses or passages taken from other authors; only disposed in a new form or order.- History :The term comes from the Latin cento, a cloak made of patches; and that from the Greek κέντρων. The Roman soldiers used these centones, or old stuffs patched...
, composed of lines and half-lines of Vergil. - Bissula
- Protrepticus
- Genethliacon
- Eglogarum liber. A collection of all kinds of astronomical and astrological versifications in epic and elegiac meter.
- Epistolarum liber. 25 verse letters in various meters.
- Ad Gratianum gratiarum actio pro consulatu. Speech of thanks to the emperor GratianGratianGratian was Roman Emperor from 375 to 383.The eldest son of Valentinian I, during his youth Gratian accompanied his father on several campaigns along the Rhine and Danube frontiers. Upon the death of Valentinian in 375, Gratian's brother Valentinian II was declared emperor by his father's soldiers...
on the occasion of attaining the consulship, delivered at TrevesTrèves-France:Trèves is the name or part of the name of several communes in France:* Trèves, in the Rhône department* Trèves, in the Gard department* Trèves, former commune of the Maine-et-Loire department, now part of Chênehutte-Trèves-Cunault...
in 379. - Periochae Homeri Iliadis et Odyssiae. A prose summary of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, attributed to but probably not written by Ausonius.
- Praefatiunculae. Prefaces by the poet to various collections of his poems, including a response to the emperor Theodosius ITheodosius ITheodosius I , also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman Emperor from 379 to 395. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule over both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire. During his reign, the Goths secured control of Illyricum after the Gothic War, establishing their homeland...
's request for his poems.
Although much admired by his contemporaries, the writings of Ausonius have not since been ranked among Latin literature
Latin literature
Latin literature includes the essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings of the ancient Romans. In many ways, it seems to be a continuation of Greek literature, using many of the same forms...
's finest. 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
Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon was an English historian and Member of Parliament...
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 wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
making, as his works give early evidence of large-scale viniculture in the now-famous wine country around his native Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
.
His contribution to the carpe diem
Carpe diem
Carpe diem is a phrase from a Latin poem by Horace that has become an aphorism. It is popularly translated as "seize the day"...
topic is also widely known and acclaimed:
An interesting little work of his is the Cento Nuptialis, translated as A Nuptial Cento by H.G. Evelyn-White for Loeb Classical Library
Loeb Classical Library
The Loeb Classical Library is a series of books, today published by Harvard University Press, which presents important works of ancient Greek and Latin Literature in a way designed to make the text accessible to the broadest possible audience, by presenting the original Greek or Latin text on each...
. Composed entirely of quotations from Virgil
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
, the poem celebrates a wedding culminating in a defloration of great virtuosity and obscenity:
- Itque reditque viam totiens | uteroque recusso
- transadigit costas | et pectine pulsat eburno.
- Iamque fere spatio extremo fessique sub ipsam
- finem adventabant: | tum creber anhelitus artus
- aridaque ora quatit, sudor fluit undique rivis,
- labitur exsanguis, | destillat ab inguine virus.
- Back and forth he plies his path and, the cavity reverberating,
- thrusts between the bones, and strikes with ivory quill.
- And now, their journey covered, wearily they neared
- their very goal: then rapid breathing shakes his limbs
- and parched mouth, his sweat in rivers flows;
- down he slumps bloodless; the fluid drips from his groin.
Saw mill
His writings are also remarkable for mentioning, in passing, the working of a water mill sawing marble on a tributary of the MoselleMoselle
Moselle is a department in the east of France named after the river Moselle.- History :Moselle is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
:
Roman technology
Roman technology is the engineering practice which supported Roman civilization and made the expansion of Roman commerce and Roman military possible over nearly a thousand years....
in using water power for different applications. It is one of the rare references in Roman literature of water mills used to cut stone, but is a logical consequence of the application of water power to mechanical sawing of stone (and presumably wood also). Earlier references to the widespread use of mills occur in Vitruvius
Vitruvius
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio was a Roman writer, architect and engineer, active in the 1st century BC. He is best known as the author of the multi-volume work De Architectura ....
in his De Architectura
De architectura
' is a treatise on architecture written by the Roman architect Vitruvius and dedicated to his patron, the emperor Caesar Augustus, as a guide for building projects...
of circa 25 BC, and the Naturalis Historia
Naturalis Historia
The Natural History is an encyclopedia published circa AD 77–79 by Pliny the Elder. It is one of the largest single works to have survived from the Roman Empire to the modern day and purports to cover the entire field of ancient knowledge, based on the best authorities available to Pliny...
of Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
published in 77 AD. Such applications of mills were to multiply again after the fall of the Empire through the Dark Ages into the modern era. The mills at Barbegal in southern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
are famous for their application of water power to grinding grain to make flour and were built in the 1st century AD. They consisted of 16 mills in a parallel sequence on a hill near Arles
Arles
Arles is a city and commune in the south of France, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture, in the former province of Provence....
.
The construction of a saw mill is even simpler than a flour or grinding mill, since no gearing is needed, and the rotary saw blade can be driven direct from the water wheel axle, as the example of Sutter's Mill
Sutter's Mill
Sutter's Mill was a sawmill owned by 19th century pioneer John Sutter in partnership with James W. Marshall. It was located in Coloma, California, at the bank of the South Fork American River...
in California shows. However, a different mechanism is shown by the sawmill at Hieropolis involving a frame saw operated through a crank and connecting rod.
Further reading
- Altay Coskun: Die gens Ausoniana an der Macht. Untersuchungen zu Decimius Magnus Ausonius und seiner Familie. Prosopographica et Genealogica 8. Oxford 2002, ISBN 1-900934-07-8.
- John R. Martindale: Decimius Magnus Ausonius. In: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. Vol I, Cambridge 1971, S. 140f.
- Hagith Sivan: Ausonius of Bordeaux: Genesis of a Gallic Aristocracy,Routledge,1993
- Ausone de Bordeaux, Opuscula Omnia, Œuvres complètes, edited by Bernard Combeaud, book, 870 p. or CD-Rom, Mollat, 2010.
See also
- AusonesAusonesThe Ausones were an ancient Italic tribe settled in the southern part of Italy. Often confused with the Aurunci, they share with them only a probably common origin.-History:...
, AusoniaAusonia-Places:Argentina* Ausonia, Argentina, a community in General San Martín Department, CórdobaItaly* Ausonia, Lazio, a comune in the Province of Frosinone-Ships:* German aircraft carrier I , a German aircraft carrier... - Château AusoneChâteau AusoneChâteau Ausone is a Bordeaux wine from Saint-Émilion appellation, one of only two wines, along with Château Cheval Blanc, to be ranked Premier Grand Cru Classé in the Classification of Saint-Émilion wine...
- French wineFrench wineFrench wine is produced in several regions throughout France, in quantities between 50 and 60 million hectolitres per year, or 7–8 billion bottles. France has the world's second-largest total vineyard area, behind Spain, and is in the position of being the world's largest wine producer...
- List of wine personalities
- Roman aqueducts
- Roman engineeringRoman engineeringRomans are famous for their advanced engineering accomplishments, although some of their own inventions were improvements on older ideas, concepts and inventions. Technology for bringing running water into cities was developed in the east, but transformed by the Romans into a technology...
- Roman technologyRoman technologyRoman technology is the engineering practice which supported Roman civilization and made the expansion of Roman commerce and Roman military possible over nearly a thousand years....
- watermills
- Aemilius Magnus ArboriusAemilius Magnus ArboriusAemilius Magnus Arborius was the gallo-roman author of a poem in ninety-two lines in elegaic verse, titled Ad Nympham nimis cultam, which contains a great many expressions taken from the older poets, and bears all the traces of the artificial labour which characterizes the later Latin poetry. It...
External links
- Works by Ausonius at the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
- Latin text of Mosella and the Septem Sententiae
- Ausonius' Opera Omnia: IntraText Digital Library
- Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina
- wiki text and translation of Moselle
- Wikipedia France: Ausone, vie et travaux