Listed 21 sub titles with search on: Biographies for wider area of: "FRANCE Country EUROPE" .
FREJUS (Town) VAR
Agricola, Gnaeus Julius, is one of the most remarkable men whom we meet with in
the times of the first twelve emperors of Rome, for his extraordinary ability
as a general, his great powers, shewn in his government of Britain, and borne
witness to by the deep and universal feeling excited in Rome by his death (Tac.
Agric. 43), his singular integrity, and the esteem and love which he commanded
in all the private relations of life.
His life of 55 years (from June 13th, A. D. 37, to the 23rd August, A. D. 93)
extends through the reigns of the nine emperors from Caligula to Domitian. He
was born at the Roman colony of Forum Julii, the modem Frejus in Provence. His
father was Julius Graecinus of senatorial rank; his mother Julia Procilla, who
throughout his education seems to have watched with great care and to have exerted
great influence over him. He studied philosophy (the usual education of a Roman
of higher rank) from his earliest youth at Marseilles. His first military service
was under Suetonius Paulinus in Britain (A. D. 60), in the relation of Contubernalis.
Hence he returned to Rome, was married to Domitia Decidiana, and went the round
of the magistracies; the quaestorship in Asia (A. D. 63), under the proconsul
Salvius Titianus, where his integrity was shewn by his refusal to join the proconsul
in the ordinary system of extortion in the Roman provinces; the tribunate and
the praetorship,--in Nero's time mere nominal offices, filled with danger to the
man who held them, in which a prudent inactivity was the only safe course. By
Galba (A. D. 69) he was appointed to examine the sacred property of the temples,
that Nero's system of robbery (Sueton. Ner. 32) might be stopped. In the same
year he lost his mother; it was in returning from her funeral in Liguria, that
he heard of Vespasian's accession, and immediately joined his party. Under Vespasian
his first service was the command of the 20th legion in Britain (A. D. 70). On
his return, he was raised by the emperor to the rank of patrician, and set over
the province of Aquitania, which he held for three years (A. D. 74-76). He was
recalled to Rome to be elected consul (A. D. 77), and Britain, the great scene
of his power, was given to him, by general consent, as his province.
In this year he betrothed his daughter to the historian Tacitus; in
the following he gave her to him in marriage, and was made governor of Britain,
and one of the college of pontiffs.
Agricola was the twelfth Roman general who had been in Britain; he
was the only one who completely effected the work of subjugation to the Romans,
not more by his consummate military skill, than by his masterly policy in reconciling
the Britons to that yoke which hitherto they had so ill borne. He taught them
the arts and luxuries of civilised life, to settle in towns, to build comfortable
dwelling-houses and temples. He established a system of education for the sons
of the British chiefs, amongst whom at last the Roman language was spoken, and
the Roman toga worn as a fashionable dress.
He was full seven years in Britain, from the year A. D. 78 to A. D.
84. The last conquest of his predecessor Julius Frontinus had been that of the
Silures (South Wales); and the last action of Agricola's command was the action
at the foot of the Grampian hills, which put him in possession of the whole of
Britain as far north as the northern boundary of Perth and Argyle. His first campaign
(A. D. 78) was occupied in the reconquest of Mona (Anglesea), and the Ordovices
(North Wales), the strongholds of the Druids; and the remainder of this year,
with the next, was given to making the before-mentioned arrangements for the security
of the Roman dominion in the already conquered parts of Britain. The third campaign
(A. D. 80) carried him northwards to the Taus, probably the Solway Frith; and
the fourth (A. D. 81) was taken up in fortifying and taking possession of this
tract, and advancing as far north as the Friths of Clyde and Forth. In the fifth
campaign (A. D. 82), he was engaged in subduing the tribes on the promontory opposite
Ireland. In the sixth (A. D. 83), he explored with his fleet and land forces the
coast of Fife and Forfar, coming now for the first time into contact with the
true Caledonians. They made a night attack on his camp (believed to be at Loch
Ore, where ditches and other traces of a Roman camp are still to be seen). and
succeeded in nearly destroying the ninth legion; but in the general battle, which
followed, they were repulsed. The seventh and last campaign (A. D. 84) gave Agricola
complete and entire possession of the country, up to the northernmost point which
he had reached, by a most decided victory over the assembled Caledonians under
their general Galgacus (as it is believed, from the Roman and British remains
found there, and from the two tumuli or sepulchral cairns) on the moor of Murdoch
at the foot of the Grampian hills. In this campaign his fleet sailed northwards
from the coast of Fife round Britain to the Trutulensian harbour (supposed to
be Sandwich), thus for the first time discovering Britain to be an island. He
withdrew his army into winter quarters, and soon after (A. D. 84) was recalled
by the jealous Domitian.
On his return to Rome, he lived in retirement, and when the government
either of Asia or Africa would have fallen to him, he considered it more prudent
to decline the honour. He died A. D. 93; his death was, as his biographer plainly
hints, either immediately caused or certainly hastened by the emissaries of the
emperor, who could not bear the presence of a man pointed out by universal feeling
as alone fit to meet the exigency of times in which the Roman arms had suffered
repeated reverses in Germany and the countries north of the Danube. Dion Cassius
(lxvi. 20) says expressly, that he was killed by Domitian.
In this account we can do no more than refer to the beautiful and
interesting description given by Tacitus (Agric. 39-46) of his life during his
retirement from office, his death, his person, and his character, which though
it had no field of action at home in that dreary time, shewed itself during the
seven years in which it was unfettered in Britain, as great and wise and good.
(Tacitus, Agricola.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
MASSALIA (Ancient city) FRANCE
380 - 310
Pytheas was a navigator and explorer from Massilia (Marseilles), who
was the first Greek to visit and describe the British Isles, and the Atlantic
coast of Europe. The merchants of Massilia wanted to find a sea route to the source
of amber, which was used for jewelry. In 320 BC Pytheas sailed out of the Mediterranean
Sea into the Atlantic Ocean. He travelled along the European northern coast, all
around Britain and possibly as far north as Iceland.
His writings reveal also a scientific interest; he observed that the
Pole star is not at the true pole and that the moon affects the tides.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Hyperhistory Online URL below.
Sea farer from Massalia (today's Marseille) who lived in the 4th century
BC.
Pytheas described a journey along the Atlantic coast of Europe up
to the south coast of Brittany
and the island Thule in the north. Thule was supposedly Scandinavia, and he described
its people, its summer solstice and the frozen sea, as well as what he had heard
about Ireland.
According to Pytheas, the world is an island surrounded by a huge
ocean. Even in antiquity he was much criticised and accused of being a liar.
This text is cited Sept 2003 from the In2Greece URL below.
BEAUVAIS (Town) OISE
Correus, a Gaul, chief of the Bellovaci, was distinguished by a high spirit of independence and an inveterate hatred of the Romans, and was accordingly acknowledged as their commander by all the tribes which, together with the Bellovaci, made war against Caesar in B. C. 51. Correus, conducted the campaign with much ability, and, when he at length met with a decisive defeat, disdained to surrender himself, and fell fighting desperately. (Hirt. B. G. viii. 5-17)
ARLES SUR RHONE (Town) FRANCE
Gallicanus, a rhetorician mentioned by Fronto, where, however, A. Mai remarks that the word Gallicanus may be a mere adjective to designate a rhetorician of Gaul, and that Fronto may allude to Favorinus, the Gallic sophist of Arles. Whether Mai is right or not cannot be decided, but the Squilla Gallicanus to whom one of Fronto's letters (Ad Amic. i. 28) is addressed, must, at all events, be a different person. The latter is mentioned in the Fasti as consul, in A. D. 127, in the reign of Hadrian. Whether this M. Squilla Gallicanus, again, is the same as the one who occurs in the Fasti as consul in A. D. 150, is uncertain, as under the latter date the Fasti are incomplete, and have only the name Gallicanus.
BORDEAUX (Town) GIRONDE
Exsuperius, descended from a family of Bordeaux, was professor of rhetoric first at Toulouse, and subsequently at Narbonne, where he became the preceptor of Flavius Julius Delmatius. and of his brother Hannibalianus, who, after their elevation, procured for their instructor the dignity of Praeses Hispaniae. Having acquired great wealth, lie retired to pass the remainder of his life in tranquillity at Cahors (Cadurca). He is known to us only from a complimentary address by Ausonius, who calls upon him to return and shed a lustre upon the city of his ancestors. (Auson. Prof. xvii.)
FREJUS (Town) VAR
Gallus, C. Cornelius, (Eutropius, vii. 10, erroneously calls him Cneius), a contemporary
of Augustus, who distinguished himself as a general, and still more as a poet
and an orator. He was a native of Forum Julii (Frejus), in Gaul, and of very humble
origin, perhaps the son of some freedman either of Sulla or Cinna. Hieronymus,
in Eusebius, states that Gallus died at the age of forty (others read forty-three);
and as we know from Dion Cassius (liii. 23) that he died in B. C. 26, lie must
have been born either in B. C. 66 or 69. He appears to have gone to Italy at an
early age, and it would seem that he was instructed by the Epicurean Syron, together
with Varus and Virgil, both of whom became greatly attached to him. (Virg. Eclog.
vi. 64, &c.) lie began his career as a poet about the age of twenty, and seems
thereby to have attracted the attention and won the friendship of such men as
Asinius Pollio. (Cic. ad Fam. x. 32.) When Octavianus, after the murder of Caesar,
came to Italy from Apollonia, Gallus must have embraced his party at once, for
henceforth he appears as a man of great influence with Octavianus, and in B. C.
41 he was one of the triumviri appointed by Octavianus to distribute the land
in the north of Italy among his veterans, and on that occasion he distinguished
himself by the protection he afforded to the inhabitants of Mantua and to Virgil,
for he brought an accusation against Alfenus Varus, who, in his measurements of
the land, was unjust towards the inhabitants. (Serv. ad Virg. Eclog. ix. 10; Donat.
Vit. Virg. 30, 36.) Gallus afterwards accompanied Octavianus to the battle of
Actium, B. C. 31, when he commanded a detachment of the army. After the battle,
when Octavianus was obliged to go from Samos to Italy, to suppress the insurrection
among the troops, he sent Gallus with the army to Egypt, in pursuit of Antony.
In the neighbourhood of Cyrene, Pinarius Scarpus, one of Antony's legates, in
despair, surrendered, with four legions, to Gallus, who then took possession of
the island of Pharus, and attacked Paraetonium. When this town and all its treasures
had fallen into the hands of Gallus, Antony hastened thither, hoping to recover
what was lost, either by bribery or by force; but Gallus thwarted his schemes,
and, in an attack which he made on Antony's fleet in the harbour of Paraetonium,
he sunk and burnt many of the enemy's ships, whereupon Antony withdrew, and soon
after made away with himself. Gallus and Proculeius then assisted Octavianus in
securing Cleopatra, and guarded her as a prisoner in her palace. After the death
of Cleopatra, Octavianus constituted Egypt as a Roman province, with peculiar
regulations, and testified his esteem for and confidence in Gallus by making him
the first prefect of Egypt. (Strab. xvii.; Dion Cass. li. 9, 17.) He had to suppress
a revolt in the Thebais, where the people resisted the severe taxation to which
they were subjected. He remained in Egypt for nearly four years, and seems to
have made various useful regulations in his province; but the elevated position
to which he was raised appears to have rendered him giddy and insolent, whereby
he drew upon himself the hatred of Augustus. The exact nature of his offence is
not certain. According to Dion Cassius (liii. 23), he spoke of Augustus in an
offensive and insulting manner; he erected numerous statues of himself in Egypt,
and had his own exploits inscribed on the pyramids. This excited the hostility
of Valerius Largus, who had before been his intimate friend, but now denounced
him to the emperor. Augustus deprived him of his post, which was given to Petronius,
and forbade him to stay in any of his provinces. As the accusation of Valerius
had succeeded thus far, one accuser after another came forward against him, and
the charges were referred to the senate for investigation and decision. In consequence
of these things, the senate deprived Gallus of his estates, and sent him into
exile; but, unable to bear up against these reverses of fortune, he put an end
to his life by throwing himself upon his own sword, B. C. 26. Other writers mention
as the cause of his fall merely the disrespectfull way in which he spoke of Augustus.
or that he was suspected of forming a conspiracy, or that he was accused of extortion
in his province. (Comp. Suet. Aug. 66, de Illustr. Gram. 16; Serv. ad Virg. Eclog.
x. 1; Donat. Vit. Virg. 39; Amm. Marc. xvii. 4; Ov. Trist. ii. 445, Amor. iii.
9, 63; Propert. ii. 34. 91.)
The intimate friendship existing between Gallus and the most eminent
men of the time, as Asinius Pollio, Virgil, Varus, and Ovid, and the high praise
they bestow upon him, sufficiently attest that Callus was a man of great intellectual
powers and acquirements. Ovid (Trist. iv. 10. 5) assigns to him the first place
among the Roman elegiac poets ; and we know that he wrote a collection of elegies
in four books, the principal subject of which was his love of Lycoris. But all
his productions have perished, and we can judge of his merits only by what his
contemporaries state about him. A collection of six elegies was published under
his name by Pomponius Gauricus (Venice, 1501, 4to), but it was soon discovered
that they belonged to a much later age, and were the productions of Maximianus,
a poet of the fifth century of our era. There are in the Latin Anthology four
epigrams (Nos. 869, 989, 1003, and 1565, ed. Meyers, which were formerly attributed
to Gallus, but none of them can have been the production of a contemporary of
Augustus. Gallus translated into Latin the poems of Euphorion of Chalcis, but
this translation is also lost. Some critics attribute to him the poem Ciris, usually
printed among the works of Virgil, but the arguments do not appear satisfactory.
Of his oratory too not a trace has come down to us ; and how far the judgment
of Quintilian (x. 1. § 93; comp. i. 5. § 8) is correct, who calls him durior Gallus,
we cannot say. The Greek Anthology contains two epigrams under the name of Gallus,
but who their author was is altogether uncertain. Some writers ascribe to C. Cornelius
Gallus a work on the expedition of Aelius Gallus into Arabia, but he cannot possibly
have written any such work, because he died before that expedition was undertaken.
(Fontanini, Hist. Lit. Aquilejae, lib. i.; C. C. C. Volker, Commentat. de C. Cornelii
Galli Forojuliensis Vita et Scriptis, part i., Bonn, 1840, 8vo., containing the
history of his life, and part ii., Elberfeld, 1844, on the writings of Gallus).
A. W. Becker, in his work entitled Gallus, has lately made use of the life of
Corn. Gallus for the purpose of explaining the most important points of the private
life of the Romans in the time of Augustus. An English translation of this work
was published in 1844.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Felix Magnuts, a fellow-student and correspondent of Sidonius Apollinaris, and consequently lived between A. D. 430--480. Felix was of the family of the Philagrii (Sidon. Propempt. ad Libell. 90, Ep. ii. 3), and was raised to the rank of patrician (Ep. ii. 3). The letters of Sidonius to Felix are curiously illustrative of the distress and dismemberment of the Roman provinces north of the Alps in the fifth century, A. D.
A poem (Carm. ix.) and five letters (ii. 3, iii. 4, 7, iv. 5, 10) are addressed by Sidonius to Felix.
AURNE (Prefecture) NORMANDY,SOUTH
1770 - 1838
ARLES SUR RHONE (Town) FRANCE
Favorinus (Phaborinos), a philosopher and sophist of the time of the emperor Hadrian.
He was a native of Arles, in the south of Gaul, and is said to have been born
an Hermaphrodite or an eunuch (Philostr. Vit. Soph. i. 8.1; Lucian, Eunuch. 7;
Gell. ii. 22). On one occasion, however, a Roman of rank brought a charge of adultery
against him. He appears to have visited Rome and Greece at an early age, and he
acquired an intimate acquaintance of the Greek and Latin languages and literature.
These attainments combined with great philosophical knowledge, very extensive
learning, and considerable oratorical power, raised him to high distinctions both
at Rome and in Greece. For a time he enjoyed the friendship and favour of the
emperor Hadrian, but on one occasion he offended the emperor in a dispute with
him, and fell into disgrace, whereupon the Athenians, to please the emperor, destroyed
the bronze statue which they had previously erected to Favorinus. He used to boast
of three things: that being a eunuch lie had been charged with adultery, that
although a native of Gaul he spoke and wrote Greek, and that he continued to live
although he had offended the emperor (Philostr. l. c.; Dion Cass. lxix. 3; Spartian.
Hadr. 16). Favorinus was connected by intimate friendship with Demetrius of Alexandria,
Demetrius the Cynic, Cornelius Fronto, and especially with Plutarch, who dedicated
to him his treatise on the principle of cold (peri ton protou Psuchron), and among
whose lost works we have mention of a letter on friendship, addressed to Favorinus.
Herodes Atticus, who was likewise on intimate terms with him, looked up to him
with great esteem, and Favorinus bequeathed to hill his library and his house
at Rome. Favorinus for some time resided in Asia Minor; and as he was highly honoured
by the Ephesians, he excited the envy and hostility of Polemon, then the most
famous sophist at Smyrna. The two sophists attacked each other in their declamations
with great bitterness and animosity. The oratory of Favorinus was of a lively,
and in his earlier years of a very passionate kind. He was very fond of displaying
his learning in his speeches, and was always particularly anxious to please his
audience. His extensive knowledge is further attested by his numerous works, and
the variety of subjects on which he wrote.
None of his works, however, has come down to us, unless we suppose
with Emperius, the late editor of Dion Chrysostomus (in a dissertation de Oratione
Corinthiaca falso Dioni Chrys. adscripta, Brunsvig. 1832), that the oration on
Corinth, commonly printed among those of Dion Chrysostomus, is the work of Favorinus.
The following are the titles of the principal works ascribed to him:
1. Peri tes kataleptikes Phantasias, probably consisting of three books, which
were dedicated respectively to Hadrian, Dryson, and Aristarchus. (Galen, vol.
i.)
2. Alkibiaoes. (Galen, iv.)
3. A work addressed to Epictetus, which called forth a reply from Galen (iv.).
4. A work on Socrates, which was likewise attacked by Galen (iv.).
5. Ploutarchos e peri tes Akademikes Diatheseos. (Galen, i.)
6. Peri platonos. (Suidas.)
7. Peri tes Homerou Philosophias. (Suidas.)
8. Purroneioi tropoi, in ten books, seems to have been his principal work (Philostr.
Vit. Solh. i. 8.4; Gell. xi. 5). Favorinus in this work showed that the philosophy
of Pyrrhon was usefil to those who devoted themselves to pleading in the courts
of justice.
9. Pantodape Historia, consisting of at least eight books, probably contained
historical, geographical, and other kinds of information (Diog. Laert. iii. 24,
viii. 12, 47).
10. Apomnemoneumata, of which the third hook is quoted. (Diog. Laert. iii. 40).
11. Gnomologika. Philostratus (comp. Gell. xvii. 12) mentions several orations,
but we have no means of judging of their merit. Besides the two principal sources,
Philostratus and Suidas, see J. F. Gregor, Commentatio de Favorino, Laub. 1755;
Forsmann, Dissertatio de Favorino, Abo, 1789.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Dec 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
System of Economical Contradictions or The Philosophy of Misery.
BORDEAUX (Town) GIRONDE
Ausonius, who in the oldest MSS. is entitled Decimus Magnus Ausonius, although the first
two names are found neither in his own poems, nor in the epistle addressed to
him by Symmachus, nor in the works of any ancient author, was born at Bourdeaux
in the early part of the fourth century. His father, Julius Ausonius, who followed
the profession of medicine, appears to have been a person of high consideration,
since he was at one period invested with the honorary title of praefect of Illyricum;
but there is no ground for the assertion of Scaliger, frequently repeated even
in the most recent works, that he acted as physician in ordinary to the emperor
Valentinian. If we can trust the picture of the parent drawn by the hand of the
son, he must have been a very wonder of genius, wisdom, and virtue (Idyll. ii.
passim ; Parental. i. 9, &c.). The maternal grandfather of our poet, Caecilius
Argicius Arborius, being skilled in judicial astrology, erected a scheme of the
nativity of young Ausonius, and the horoscope was found to promise high fame and
advancement (Parental. iv. 17, &c.). The prediction was, in all probability, in
some degree the cause of its own accomplishment. The whole of his kindred took
a deep interest in the boy whose career was to prove so brilliant. His infant
years were sedulously watched by his grandmother, Aemilia Corinthia Maura, wife
to Caecilius Arborius, and by his maternal aunts, Aemilia Hilaria and Aemilia
Dryadia, the former of whom was a holy woman, devoted to God and chastity (Parental.
vi. and xxv.). He received the first rudiments of the Greek and Latin languages
from the most distinguished masters of his native town, and his education was
completed under the superintendence of Aemilius Magnus Arborius, his mother's
brother, who taught rhetoric publicly at Toulouse, and who is named as the author
of an elegy still extant, Ad Nympham nimis cultam (Profess. viii. 12, &c., x.
16, iii. 1, i. 11; Parental. iii. 12, &c.). Upon his return to Bourdeaux he practised
for a while at the bar ; but at the age of thirty began to give instructions as
a grammarian, and not long after was promoted to be professor of rhetoric. The
duties of this office were discharged by him for many years, and with such high
reputation that he was summoned to court in order that he might act as the tutor
of Gratian, son of the emperor Valentinian (Praef. ad Syayr. 15, &c.) Judging
from the honours which were now rapidly showered down upon him, he must have acquitted
himself in his important charge to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. He
received the title of count (comes) and the post of quaestor from Valentinian,
after whose death he was appointed by his pupil praefectus of Latium, of Libya,
and of Gaul, and at length, in the year 379, was elevated to the consulship, thus
verifying to the letter, as Bayle has observed, the apophthegm of Juvenal:
"Si fortuna volet fies de rhetore consul"
The letter of Gratian, conferring the dignity, and the grateful reply of Ausonius,
are both extant. After the death of Gratian he retired from public life, and ended
his days in a country retreat at no great distance from his native city (Epist.
xxiv.), without losing, however, his court favour, for we have direct evidence
that he was patronised by Theodosius. (Praefatiuncula, i.)
The precise dates of the birth and of the death of Ausonius are alike
unknown. That he was born about the beginning of the fourth century, as stated
above, is evident from the fact, that he speaks of himself as far advanced in
years when invested with the consulship (Grat. Act.), and he was certainly alive
in 388, since he refers to the victory of Theodosius over Maximus, and the death
of the "Rutupian robber" (Clar. Urb. vii.).
Judging from the fond terms in which Ausonius speaks of his relations,
the kindly feeling which appears to have been maintained between himself and several
of his pupils, and the warm gratitude expressed by him towards his benefactors,
we should be led to conclude that he was gentle, warm-hearted, and affectionate;
but it is so very easy to be amiable upon paper, that we have perhaps no right
to form any decided opinion upon his character. His religious faith has been the
subject of keen controversy, but there seems to be little difficulty in determining
the question. From his cradle he was surrounded by Christian relatives, he was
selected by a Christian emperor to guide the studies of his Christian son, and
he openly professes Christianity in several of his poems. It is objected: 1. That
his friend and quondam disciple, Pontius Paullinus, the famous bishop of Nola,
frequently upbraids him on account of his aversion to the pure faith. 2. That
several of his pieces are grossly impure. 3. That his works contain frequent allusions
to Pagan mythology, without any distinct declaration of disbelief. 4. That he
was the intimate friend of Symmachus, who was notorious for his hostility to Christianity.
5. That the compositions in which he professes Christianity are spurious. To which
arguments we may briefly reply, that the first falls to the ground, because the
assertion, on which it rests, is entirely false; that if we admit the validity
of the second and third, we might demonstrate half the poets who have lived since
the revival of letters to be infidels; that the fourth proves nothing, and that
the fifth, the rest being set aside, amounts to a petitio principal, since it
is supported by no independent evidence external or internal. His poetical powers
have been variously estimated. While some refuse to allow him any merit whatever,
others contend that had he lived in the age of Augustus, he would have successfully
disputed the palm with the brightest luminaries of that epoch. Without stopping
to consider what he might have become under a totally different combination of
circumstances, a sort of discussion which can never lead to any satisfactory result,
we may pronounce with some confidence, that of all the higher attributes of a
poet Ausonius possesses not one. Considerable neatness of expression may be discerned
in several of his epigrams, many of which are evidently translations from the
Greek; we have a very favourable specimen of his descriptive powers in the Mosella,
perhaps the mest pleasing of all his pieces; and some of his epistles, especially
that to Paullinus (xxiv.) are by no means deficient in grace and dignity. But
even in his happiest efforts we discover a total want of taste both in matter
and manner, a disposition to introduce on all occasions, without judgment, the
thoughts and language of preceding writers, while no praise except that of misapplied
ingenuity can be conceded to the great bulk of his minor effusions, which are
for the most part sad trash. His style is frequently harsh, and in latinity and
versification he is far inferior to Claudian.
His extant works are:
1. Epigrammatum Liber, a collection of 150 epigrams.
2. Ephemeris, containing an account of the business and proceedings of a day.
3. Parentalia, a series of short poems addressed to friends and relations on their
decease. From these Vinet has extracted a very complete catalogue of the kindred
of Ausonius, and constructed a genealogical tree.
4. Professores, notices of the Professors of Bourdeaux, or of those who being
natives of Bourdeaux gave instructions elsewhere.
5. Epitaphia Heroum, epitaphs on the heroes who fell in the Trojan war and a few
others.
6. A metrical catalogue of the first twelve Caesars, the period during which each
reigned, and the manner of his death. 7. Tetrasticha, on the Caesars from Julius
to Elagabalus.
8. Clarae Urbes, the praises of fourteen illustrious cities.
9. Ludus Septem Sapientum, the doctrines of the seven sages expounded by each
in his own person.
10. Idyllia, a collection of twenty poems on different subjects, to several of
which dedications in prose are prefixed. The most remarkable are, Epicedion in
patrem Julium Antonium; Ausonii Villula; Cupido cruci affixus; Mosella ; and the
too celebrated Cento Nuptialis.
11. Eclogarium, short poems connected with the Calendar and with some matters
of domestic computation.
12. Epistolae, twenty-five letters, some in verse, some in prose, some partly
in verse and partly in prose, addressed to various friends.
13. Gratiarum Actio pro Consulatu, in prose, addressed to the emperor Gratian.
14. Periochae, short arguments to each book of the Iliad and Odyssey.
15. Tres Praefatiunculae, one of them addressed to the emperor Theodosius.
The Editio Princeps of Ausonius appeared at Venice in folio, without
a printer's name, in a volume bearing the date 1472, and containing Probae Centones,
the eclogues of Calpurnius, in addition to which some copies have the Epistle
on the death of Drusus and some opuscula of Publius Gregorius Tifernus. It is
extremely scarce. The first edition, in which Ausonius is found separately, is
that edited by J. A. Ferrarius, fol. Mediolan. 1490, printed by Ulderic Scinzenzeller.
The first edition, in which the whole of the extant works are collected in a complete
form, is that of Tadaeus Ugoletus, printed by his brother Angelus, at Parma, 1499.
The first edition, which exhibits a tolerable text, is that of Phil. Junta, Florent.
1517; and the best edition is the Variorum of Tollius, Amstel. 1671.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Hesperius, son of the poet Ausonius by his wife Attusia Lucana Sabina. We have no data for
fixing the year of his birth. He lost his mother while he was young; but his education
was carefully superintended by his father, who wrote "Fasti," for the use of his
son, and inscribed to him his metrical catalogue of the Caesars. Hesperius received,
probably from the emperor Gratian, who was his father's pupil, the proconsulship
of Africa, which he held A. D. 376, and perhaps later. He was one of the persons
appointed to inquire into the malpractices of Count Romanus and his accomplices,
and executed the task with equity, in conjunction with Flavianus, vicarius of
the province. He afterwards held the praetorian praefecture in conjunction (as
we judge from some expressions of Ausonius) with his father. Valesius thinks they
were joint praefecti praetorio Galliarum; Gothofred, that they were joint P. P.
of the whole western empire (comprehending the praefectures of Gaul, Italy, and
Illyrium), but that Ausonius usually resided in Gaul, and Hesperius in Italy.
There are extant several letters of Symmachus addressed to Hesperius; and from
one of these (lib. i. ep. 80) he appears to have been at Mediolanum (Milan), the
usual seat of the P. P. of Italy, but it is not clear that the letter was addressed
to him while he was praefect. Tillemont, who discusses the question in a careful,
but unsatisfactory note, thinks that Ausonius first held the praefecture of Italy
alone, and afterwards that of Gaul, in conjunction with Hesperius. In A. D. 384,
a Count Hesperius (apparently the son of Ausonius), was sent by the emperor Valentinian
H. on a mission to Rome, which he was enabled to see, and bear witness to the
innocence of his friend Symmachus, who, through some unjust accusations, had incurred
discredit at court. Nothing is known of him after this.
Hesperius had at least three sons. One of them, Paulinus, distinguished
as "the Penitent," author of a poem called Eucharisticon or Carmen Eucharisticum
de Vita sua (sometimes ascribed, but incorrectly, to the better known Paulinus
of Nola), was born in Macedonia about A. D. 375 or 376, before his father's proconsulship
of Africa, which renders it not unlikely that Hesperius then held some office
under the Eastern emperor Valens. Another son, Pastor, died young, and is commemorated
in the Parentalia of Ausonius.
(Amm. Marc. xxviii. 6; Symmach. Epist. i. 69-82; Cod. Theod. 6. tit. 30.4; 7.
tit. 18.2; 8 tit. 5.34; tit. 18.6; 10. tit. 20.10; 13. tit. 1.11; tit. 5.15; 15.
tit. 7.3; 16. tit. 5.4, 5; Gothofred, Prosop. Cod. Theodos ; Tillemont, Hist.
des Emp. vol. v.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Jan 2006 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Dynamius, a legal pleader of Bordeaux known to us through a short poetical memoir in elegiac verse, composed after his decease by his friend Ausonius. From this little piece we learn that Dynamius was compelled to quit his native city in consequence of being charged, not unjustly it would seem, with adultery, that he took refuge under the assumed name of Flavinius at Lerida, where he practised as a rhetorician, and that he there wedded a wealthy Spanish bride. Late in life he paid a short visit to the place of his birth, but soon returned to his adopted country, where he died. (Auson. Prof. xxiii.)
TOULOUSE (Town) HAUTE GARONNE
Arborius, Aemilius Magnus, the author of a poem in ninety-two lines in elegiac verse, entitled "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 is printed in the Anthology of Burmann (iii. 275) and Meyer (Ep,. 262), and in Wernsdorf's Poct. Lat. Minor (iii.). The author of it was a rhetorician at Tolosa in Gaul, the maternal uncle of Ausonius, who speaks of him with great praise, and mentions that he enjoyed the friendship of the brothers of Constantine, when they lived at Tolosa, and was afterwards called to Constantinople to superintend the education of one of the Caesars. (Auson. Parent. iii., Profess. xvi.)
AUTUN (Town) BURGUNDY
Eumenius, whose works are included in the collection which commonly bears the title "Duodecim
Panegyrici Veteres", was a native of Autun, but a Greek by extraction; for his
grandfather was an Athenian, who acquired celebrity at Rome as a teacher of
rhetoric, and having subsequently removed to Gaul, practised his profession
until past the age of eighty, in the city where his grandson, pupil, and successor,
was born. Eumenius flourished towards the close of the third and at the beginning
of the fourth centuries, and attained to such high reputation that lie was appointed
to the office of magister sacrae memoriae, a sort of private secretary, in the
court of Constantius Chlorus, by whom he was warmly esteemed and loaded with
favours. The precise period of his death, as of his birth, is unknown, but we
gather from his writings that he had, at all events, passed the prime of life.
The city of Cleves at one period claimed him as their townsman, and set up an
ancient statue, which they declared to be his effigy.
The pieces generally ascribed to this author are the following:
1. Oratio pro instaurandis scholis. Gaul had suffered fearfully from the oppression
of its rulers, from civil discord, and from the incursions of barbarian foes,
for half a century before the accession of Diocletian. During the reign of the
second Claudius, Autun in particular, after sustaining a siege of seven months,
was compelled to surrender to the half-savage Bagaydae, by whom it was almost
reduced to ruins. Constantius Chlorus having resolved to restore not only the
buildings of the city, but also to revive its famous school of rhetoric, called
upon Eumenius, who, it would seem, had by this time retired from public life
and was enjoying his dignities, to undertake the superintendance of the new
seminary, allowing him, however, to retain his post at court, and at the same
time doubling his salary, which thus amounted to the large sum of 600,000 sesterces,
or about 5000l. per annum. The principal, before entering on his duties, delivered
(A. D. 296 or 297) the oration now before us, in the presenee of the praeses
of Gallia Lugdunensis, in order that he might publicly acknowledge the liberality
of the prince, might explain his own views as to the manner in which the objects
in view could best be accomplished, and might declare his intention of carrying
these plans into effect without any tax upon the public, by devoting one-half
of his allowance to the support of the establishment. We find included (c. 14)
an interesting letter addressed by Constantius to Eumenius.
2. Panegyricus Constantio Caesari dictus. A congratulatory address upon the
recovery of Britain, delivered towards the close of A. D. 296, or the beginning
of 297.
3. Panegyricus Col.tantino Augusto dietus, pro nounced at Treves, A. D. 310,
on the birth-day of the city, in the presence of Constantine, containing an
outline of the career of the emperor, in which all his deeds are magniied in
most outrageous hyperboles. Heyne is unwilling to believe that Eumenius is the
author of this declamation, which he considers altogether out of character with
the moderation and good taste displayed in his other compositions. The chief
evidence consists in certain expressions contained in chapters 22 and 23, where
the speaker represents himself as a native of Autun, and, in the language of
a man advanced in years, recommends to the patronage of the sovereign his five
sons, one of whom is spoken of as discharging the duties of an office in the
treasury.
4. Gruliaruimi acico Constanlino A unqusto Flavciensium nomine. The city of
Autun having experienced the liberality of Constantine, who in consideration
of their recent misfortunes had relieved the inhabitants from a heavy load of
taxation, assumed in honour of its patron the appellation of Flavia, and deputed
Eumenius to convey to the prince expressions of gratitude. This address was
spoken at Treves in the year A. D. 311.
For information with regard to the general merits and the editions of Eumenius
and the other panegyrists, see Drepanius in Aquitania.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Dec 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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