Listed 2 sub titles with search on: Religious figures biography for wider area of: "AQUITAINE Province FRANCE" .
AQUITAINE (Province) FRANCE
Drepanius. It became a common practice, in the times of Diocletian and his immediate successors,
for provincial states, especially the cities of Gaul, at that period peculiarly
celebrated as the nursing-mother of orators, to despatch deputations from time
to time to the imperial court, for the purpose of presenting congratulatory addresses
upon the occurrence of any auspicious event, of returning thanks for past benefits,
and of soliciting a renewal or continuance of favour and protection. The individual
in each community most renowned for his rhetorical skill would naturally be chosen
to draw up and deliver the complimentary harangue, which was usually recited in
the presence of the prince himself. Eleven pieces of this description have been
transmitted to us, which have been generally published together, under the title
of "Duodecim Panegyrici veteres", the speech of Pliny in honour of Trajan being
included to round off the number, although belonging to a different age, and possessing
very superior claims upon our notice, while some editors have added also the poem
of Corippus in praise of the younger Justin. Of the eleven which may with propriety
be classed together, the first bears the name of Claudius Mamertinus, who was
probably the composer of the second also; the third, fourth, sixth, and seventh
are all ascribed to Eumenius, with what justice is discussed elsewhere; the ninth
is the work of Nazarius, who appears to have written the eighth likewise; the
tenth belongs to a Mamertinus different from the personage mentioned above; the
eleventh is the production of Drepanius, but the author of the fifth, in honour
of the nuptials of Constantine with Fausta, the daughter of Maximianus (A. D.
307), is altogether unknown.
Discourses of this description must for the most part be as devoid of all sincerity
and truth as they are, from their very nature, destitute of all genuine feeling
or passion, and hence, at best, resolve themselves into a mere cold display of
artistic dexterity, where the attention of the audience is kept alive by a succession
of epigrammatic points, carefully balanced antitheses, elaborate metaphors, and
welltuned cadences, where the manner is everything, the matter nothing. To look
to such sources for historical information is obviously absurd. Success would
in every case be grossly exaggerated, defeat carefully concealed, or interpreted
to mean victory. The friends and allies of the sovereign would be daubed with
fulsome praise, his enemies overwhelmed by a load of the foulest calumnies We
cannot learn what the course of events really was, but merely under what aspect
the ruling powers desired that those events should be viewed, and frequently the
misrepresentations are so flagrant that we are unable to detect even a vestige
of truth lurking below. We derive from these effusions some knowledge with regard
to the personal history of particular individuals which is not to be obtained
elsewhere, and from the style we can draw some conclusions with regard to the
state of the language and the tone of literary taste at the commencement of the
fourth century; but, considered as a whole, antiquity has bequeathed to us nothing
more worthless.
Latinus Pacatus Drepanius was a native of Aquitania, as we learn from
himself and from Sidonius, the friend of Ausonius, who inscribes to him several
pieces in very complimentary dedications, and the correspondent of Symmachus,
by whom he is addressed in three epistles still extant. He was sent from his native
province to congratulate Theodosius on the victory achieved over Maximus, and
delivered the panegyric which stands last in the collection described above, at
Rome, in the presence of the emperor, probably in the autumn of A. D. 391. If
we add to these particulars the facts, that he was elevated to the rank of proconsul,
enjoyed great celebrity as a poet, and was descended from a father who bore the
same name with himself, the sources from which our information is derived are
exhausted.
The oration, while it partakes of the vices which disfigure the other
members of the family to which it belongs, is less extravagant in its hyperboles
than many of its companions, and although the language is a sort of hybrid progeny,
formed by the union of poetry and prose, there is a certain splendour of diction,
a flowing copiousness of expression, and even a vigour of thought, which remind
us at times of the florid graces of the Asiatic school. How far the merits of
Drepanius as a bard may have justified the decision of the critic who pronounces
him second to Virgil only (Auson. Praef. Epigramm. Idyll. vii.), it is impossible
for us to determine, as not a fragment of his efforts in this department has been
preserved. He must not be confounded with Florus Drepanius, a writer of hymns.
The Editio Princeps of the Panegyrici Veteres is in quarto, in Roman
characters, without place, date, or printer's name, but is believed to have appeared
at Milan about 1482, and includes, in addition to the twelve orations usually
associated together, the life of Agricola by Tacitus, and fragments of Petronius
Arbiter, with a preface by Franc. Puteolanus, addressed to Jac. Antiquaries. Another
very ancient impression in 4to., without place, date, or printer's name, containing
the twelve orations alone, probably belongs to Venice, about 1499. The most useful
editions are those of Schwarzius, Ven. 1728; of Jaegerus, which presents a new
recension of the text, with a valuable commentary, and comprehends the poem of
Corippus, Nuremberg. 1779; and of Arntzenius, which excludes Drepanius, with very
copious notes and apparatus criticus, Traj. ad Rhen. 1790-97. The edition published
at Paris, 1643, with notes by many commentators, bears the title " XIV Panegyrici
Veteres", in consequence of the addition of Panegyrics by Ausonius and Ennodius.
In illustration we have T. G. Walch, Dissertatio de Panegyricis veterum,
Jenae, 1721; T. G. Moerlin, de Panegyricis veterum programma, Nuremb. 1738; and
Heyne, Censura XII Panegyricorum veterum, in his Opuscula Academica.
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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