Ausonius Professors Of Boredaux And Letters Notes

Ausonius

• Who was Ausonius?

  • Born 310 AD

  • Father settled in Bordeaux as a physician

  • Ausonius studies grammar at Bordeaux and eventually becomes a Grammaticus at the Uni of Bordeaux (334 AD)

  • in 364 AD after 30 years teaching, he becomes Gratian’s tutor.

• When Gratian ascends the throne, Ausonius advances quickly in power.

  • His family are all appointed as important Roman officials.

• But the cushy life stops in 383, when Britain revolts with Maximus ruling supreme.

• Theodosius however overthrows Maximus in 388.

• Died in 394.

• Was definitely a Christian.

• Book V: Poems Commemorating the Professors of Bordeaux.

• 1: Tiberius Victor Minervius, The Orator

  • Credited with making Constantinople as glorious as Rome.

  • Praises Minverius’ power of speech and the “mock law-suits of our schools”.

  • He has a great memory, recalling the exact moves of a board game they played.

  • A gentle and genuine man: “no malice ever blackened your heart: your tongue, though free and full of wit, indulged only in kindly jests that had no sting”.

• 2: Latinus Alcimus Alethius, the Rhetorician

  • Alcimus was unparalleled in legal eloquence.

  • A man of great dignity, brilliance in learning and his biographies of men (Julian and Sallust [the prefect of Gaul and colleague of Julian in the consulate of 363 AD) in particular) with immortalise them too.

• 3: Luciolus, the Rhetorician

  • Skilled in the rhythms of prose and laws of verse

• 4: Attius, Patera, the Elder,. the Rhetorician

  • A man of great knowledge, swift and rolling eloquence

• 5. Attius Tiro Delphidius, A Rhetorician

  • Eloquent, learned, quick in word and wit.

• 6: Althius Minervius, Son of the Above, A Rhetorician

  • A prodigy who was a teacher at a time when he could be excused for merely learning.

  • Died early, with Fortune presenting him with gifts of rhetoric only to be snatched away a travesty to all that knew him.

• 7: Leontius the Grammarian, Surnamed Lascivus

  • A “glad and cheerful soul”

  • Permitted the surname lascivious and enjoyed the joke in good spirit.

• 8: To the Greek Grammarians of Bordeaux

  • Patient, earnest teachers

• 9: To Jucundus, The Grammarian of Bordeaux the Brother of Leontius:

  • A simple, kind friend though perhaps unequal to the title of grammarian.

• 10: To the Latin Grammarians, Scholars of Bordeaux, Macrinus, Sucuro, Concordius, Phoebicus, Ammonius, and Anastasius, Grammarian of Poictiers

• 11: To Herculanus, My Nephew, Grammarian of Bordeaux

  • Herculanus had potential but chose the Pythagorean path of Vice over virtue.

• 12: To Thalassus, Latin Grammarian of Bordeaux

  • offers him “farewell”

• 13: To Citarus, the Sicilian of Syracuse, Greek Grammarian of Bordeaux

  • In past ages this man would have been renowned as a second Aristarchus

  • Passed away without children, though with a wife well-born and rich.

• 14: To Censorius Atticus Agricius, The Rhetorician

  • A man with mastery of eloquence.

• 15: To...

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