Ausonius
- a distinguished poet, rhetorician, and grammarian of the fourth century, teacher of the emperor Gratian; cf. Bähr, Lit. Gesch. p. 227 sq.; Teuffel, Röm. Lit. § 414.
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…, sive Gigantea spatiabere litoris ora, sive ubicumque vago fluminis hospitio, Nympharum semper cupidas defende rapinas non minor Ausoniis est amor Adryasin ; ne tibi sit duros montes et frigida saxa, Galle, neque expertos semper adire lacus…
Propertius, Elegies
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…. interea tibi prima domus atque unica proles heu gremio in patriae Stygias raptatur ad aras. i nunc, Ausonios ferro populare penates et uetitas molire uias. i, pacta resigna per cunctos iurata deos. sic praemia reddit…
NA, Silius Italicus, Corpus Poetarum Latinorum. Vol. 3, ed. W. C. Summers, 1905
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…Tigrim Rhenumque recessit, Ac, toties nobis iugulo quaesita, vagatur, Germanum Scythicumque bonum, nec respicit ultra Ausoniam vellem, populis incognita nostris, Vulturis ut primum laevo fundata volatu Romulus infami complevit moenia luco, Usque ad…
Lucan, Pharsalia
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…repagula sensit et clausura fuit, nisi quod rescindere numquam dis licet acta deum. Iano loca iuncta tenebant naides Ausoniae gelido rorantia fonte has rogat auxilium, nec nymphae iusta petentem sustinuere deam venasque et flumina fontis elicuere sui ;…
Ovid, Metamorphoses
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…uos, qui Tyriae regitis Carthaginis arces, Hasdrubal, huc aures, huc quaeso aduertite sensus. quanta per Ausonios populos torrentibus armis tempestas ruat et Latio suprema minetur, utque bibant Tyrium bis quinos saeua per annos Sicana nunc…
NA, Silius Italicus, Corpus Poetarum Latinorum. Vol. 3, ed. W. C. Summers, 1905
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…, o cives, quae tanta licentia ferri, Gentibus invisis Latium praebere cruorem Cumque superba foret Babylon spolianda tropaeis Ausoniis, umbraque erraret Crassus inulta, Bella geri placuit nullos habitura triumphos Heu quantum terrae potuit pelagique parari Hoc ,…
Lucan, Pharsalia
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…rabidos utero succincta canes, omnis pariter solvit hiatus quis non totos horruit artus totiens uno latrante malo quid cum Ausonium dirae pestes voce canora mare mulcerent. cum Pieria resonans cithara Thracius Orpheus solitam cantu retinere rates paene coegit Sirena…
Seneca, Medea
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…sereno imperio uulgum pollens et pectora nullo parentum exagitare metu, pactamque per aras haud facilis temerare fidem socialia iura Ausoniis multos seruarat casta per annos. uerum, ubi fata uirum fragili soluere senecta, primaeuo cessit sceptrum exitiale nepoti…
NA, Silius Italicus, Corpus Poetarum Latinorum. Vol. 3, ed. W. C. Summers, 1905
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…monumenta date atque inuoluite flammis. Interea trepidis Fabius spes unica rebus. ille quidem socios atque aegram uulnere praeceps Ausoniam armabat uiridique ad dura laborum bellator senio iam castra mouebat in hostem, sed mens humana maior non tela nec…
NA, Silius Italicus, Corpus Poetarum Latinorum. Vol. 3, ed. W. C. Summers, 1905
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…et vitae prodiga virtus emisere animos, non tanta cadentibus Haedis aeriam Rhodopen solida nive verberat Arctos, nec fragor Ausoniae tantus, cum Iuppiter omni arce tonat, tanta quatitur nec grandine Syrtis, cum Libyae Boreas Italos niger attulit…
Statius, P. Papinius, Thebais
Magnus . The most remarkable Latin poet of the fourth century a.d.; born about 310 at Burdigala (Bordeaux). He was son of the private physician of Valentinian I. and afterwards prefect of Illyria. Educated thoroughly in grammar, rhetoric, and law, he practised as an advocate in his native city, where he afterwards became professor of grammar and rhetoric. He was then invited by Valentinian to undertake the education of his son Gratian, who, after he had ascended the throne, conferred upon him the consulship and other distinctions. After the assassination of Gratian he retired to his estate near Burdigala, where he continued to reside, in full literary activity, till 390. He became a Christian, probably on accepting the office of tutor to the prince. Besides composing a turgid address of thanks to Gratian, delivered at Trèves, Ausonius wrote a series of poems, including verses in memory of deceased relatives (Parentalia), verses commemorating his colleagues (Commemoratio Professorum Burdigalensium), Epitaphia, Eclogae, Epistulae, Epigrammata, and a number of miscellaneous pieces, one of which (Mosella) is the narrative of a tour from Bingen on the Rhine to Berncastel (Tabernae) on the Moselle, and then up the Moselle past Neumagen (Noviomagum) to Trèves. Its subject has secured the poem some renown.
Ausonius is not a real poet, but he tries to make up for lack of genius by dexterity in metre, by the manipulation of words, and by ornaments of learning and rhetoric. The consequence is that his style is generally neither simple nor natural.
The editio princeps of Ausonius was published in Venice (1472 foll.). There are separate editions of the Mosella by Böcking, with notes (Berlin, 1828); a variorum (Bonn, 1842), this with a German translation; and by Schenkl (Berlin, 1883). There is an English translation by C. T. Brooks, in Waring's Bride of the Rhine (Boston, 1878). The other poems may be found in the editions by Schenkl (Berlin, 1883) and Peiper (Leipzig, 1886).