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Ausonius Vol. 1 books 1-17
Ausonius (Decimus Magnus), ca. 310-ca. 395 CE, a doctor's son, was born at Burdigala (Bordeaux). After a good education in grammar and rhetoric and a short period during which he was an advocate, he took to teaching rhetoric in a school which he began in 334. Among his students was Paulinus, who was afterwards Bishop of Nola; and he seems to have become some sort of Christian himself. Thirty years later Ausonius was called by Emperor Valentinian to be tutor to Gratian, who subsequently as emperor conferred on him honours including a consulship in 379. In 383, after Gratian's murder, Ausonius retired to Bordeaux.
Ausonius's surviving works, some with deep feeling, some composed it seems for fun, some didactic, include much poetry: poems about himself and family, notably "The Daily Round"; epitaphs on heroes in the Trojan War, memorials on Roman emperors, and epigrams on various subjects; poems about famous cities and about friends and colleagues. "The Moselle," a description of that river, is among the most admired of his poems. There is also an address of thanks to Gratian for the consulship.
The Loeb Classical Library edition of Ausonius is in two volumes; the second includes "Eucharisticus" ("Thanksgiving") by Paulinus Pellaeus.
Book I. Prefatory Pieces
Book II. The Daily Round, or The Doings of a Whole Day
Book III. Personal Poems
Book IV. Parentalia
Book V. Poems Commemorating the Professors of Bordeaux
Book VI. Epitaphs on the Heroes Who Took Part in the Trojan War
Book VII. The Eclogues
Book VIII. Cupid Crucified
Book IX. Bissula
Book X. The Moselle
Book XI. The Order of Famous Cities
Book XII. The Technopaegnion
Book XIII. The Masque of the Seven Sages
Book XIV. Ausonius on the Twelve Caesars Whose Lives Were Written by Suetonius Tranquillus
Book XV. Conclusion of the Book of Annals
Book XVI. A Riddle of the Number Three
Book XVII. A Nuptial Cento
Ausonius's surviving works, some with deep feeling, some composed it seems for fun, some didactic, include much poetry: poems about himself and family, notably "The Daily Round"; epitaphs on heroes in the Trojan War, memorials on Roman emperors, and epigrams on various subjects; poems about famous cities and about friends and colleagues. "The Moselle," a description of that river, is among the most admired of his poems. There is also an address of thanks to Gratian for the consulship.
The Loeb Classical Library edition of Ausonius is in two volumes; the second includes "Eucharisticus" ("Thanksgiving") by Paulinus Pellaeus.
Book I. Prefatory Pieces
Book II. The Daily Round, or The Doings of a Whole Day
Book III. Personal Poems
Book IV. Parentalia
Book V. Poems Commemorating the Professors of Bordeaux
Book VI. Epitaphs on the Heroes Who Took Part in the Trojan War
Book VII. The Eclogues
Book VIII. Cupid Crucified
Book IX. Bissula
Book X. The Moselle
Book XI. The Order of Famous Cities
Book XII. The Technopaegnion
Book XIII. The Masque of the Seven Sages
Book XIV. Ausonius on the Twelve Caesars Whose Lives Were Written by Suetonius Tranquillus
Book XV. Conclusion of the Book of Annals
Book XVI. A Riddle of the Number Three
Book XVII. A Nuptial Cento
448 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 395
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 13, 2014
Ausonius (d. AD 395) is not necessarily the best regarded of ancient poets -- but his contemporaries really liked him. In his introduction to this edition/translation, H G Evelyn White at least gives Ausonius' poetry that much. Not much more, mind you. But that much. Evelyn White writes:
'As poetry, in any high or imaginative sense of the word, the great mass of his verse is negligible.' (vii)
On the fact that Ausonius wrote a poem about the number three: '...so trivial a theme is no subject for poetry at all...' (xvi) -- and then Evelyn White praises Ausonius' versification.
The Vergilian Cento is referred to as 'literary outrage' (xvii).
A final example from Evelyn White gives us an idea of why Ausonius and his style of poetry are so lowly regarded today, say that Ausonius was 'insensible, broadly speaking, to sentiment and unappreciative of the human sympathy which should pervade true poetry' (xxvii).
Now, I come not to praise Ausonius, nor to bury him. Nevertheless, Ausonius' lack of respect in the modern age drives principally from the Romantic movement, and not that his subject matter can be quite dull or that a lot of his poems are simply neat tricks in verse that would probably amuse a native Latin-speaker more than they do any of us. This vision of poetry is not that it is a question of setting out in verse form one's content but that it is the setting forth in verse one's soul -- that the subject of poetry is, in fact, the subject. This sort of criticism, for example, led one critic to refer to the scientific/philosophical passages in Dante as 'pure prose'.
That is to say, Ausonius is not, by Romantic definitions, a 'true poet'. He lacks true sentiment in what he does. For Ausonius, verse is a place to play, to delight in the titillation of the ear, to display his knowledge and erudition, to set forth pieces in various metres on various subjects. As to whether any real sentiment lies behind it -- well, who cares?
The result is poetry that I think almost all modern readers would suffer through to a great degree. I admire Ausonius. I think some of his poetic experiments, such as the Technopaignion, where he ends each line of verse with a monosyllable, are amusing and would require enormous skill -- even the Virgilian Cento, a patchwork of lines from Virgil, is the work of a person steeped in poetic metre. A lot of it, however, is unstimulating to the modern mind and ear. Perhaps if I were a Latin-speaker born, the rhythm and cadence of the verse would grab me more. Nonetheless, I do not say he is no true poet, and I do not think he is a bad poet. I think his is a style unsuited to our age and certainly unsuited to translation into English -- you cannot translate hexameters and you cannot translate aural tricks.
I do recommend to today's reader from the selections here in vol 1: 'The Daily Round' (it is what it says), various of the personal poems, the 'Parentalia' which recounts his deceased family members, the 'Mosella' which is regarded as his best (I say begin with this one, it is magnificent!), and 'The Order of Famous Cities'. Various others are amusing, but I fear that reading an entire volume of Ausonius would be tedious for most. If you enjoy those I recommend, take a dip into some of the others...
'As poetry, in any high or imaginative sense of the word, the great mass of his verse is negligible.' (vii)
On the fact that Ausonius wrote a poem about the number three: '...so trivial a theme is no subject for poetry at all...' (xvi) -- and then Evelyn White praises Ausonius' versification.
The Vergilian Cento is referred to as 'literary outrage' (xvii).
A final example from Evelyn White gives us an idea of why Ausonius and his style of poetry are so lowly regarded today, say that Ausonius was 'insensible, broadly speaking, to sentiment and unappreciative of the human sympathy which should pervade true poetry' (xxvii).
Now, I come not to praise Ausonius, nor to bury him. Nevertheless, Ausonius' lack of respect in the modern age drives principally from the Romantic movement, and not that his subject matter can be quite dull or that a lot of his poems are simply neat tricks in verse that would probably amuse a native Latin-speaker more than they do any of us. This vision of poetry is not that it is a question of setting out in verse form one's content but that it is the setting forth in verse one's soul -- that the subject of poetry is, in fact, the subject. This sort of criticism, for example, led one critic to refer to the scientific/philosophical passages in Dante as 'pure prose'.
That is to say, Ausonius is not, by Romantic definitions, a 'true poet'. He lacks true sentiment in what he does. For Ausonius, verse is a place to play, to delight in the titillation of the ear, to display his knowledge and erudition, to set forth pieces in various metres on various subjects. As to whether any real sentiment lies behind it -- well, who cares?
The result is poetry that I think almost all modern readers would suffer through to a great degree. I admire Ausonius. I think some of his poetic experiments, such as the Technopaignion, where he ends each line of verse with a monosyllable, are amusing and would require enormous skill -- even the Virgilian Cento, a patchwork of lines from Virgil, is the work of a person steeped in poetic metre. A lot of it, however, is unstimulating to the modern mind and ear. Perhaps if I were a Latin-speaker born, the rhythm and cadence of the verse would grab me more. Nonetheless, I do not say he is no true poet, and I do not think he is a bad poet. I think his is a style unsuited to our age and certainly unsuited to translation into English -- you cannot translate hexameters and you cannot translate aural tricks.
I do recommend to today's reader from the selections here in vol 1: 'The Daily Round' (it is what it says), various of the personal poems, the 'Parentalia' which recounts his deceased family members, the 'Mosella' which is regarded as his best (I say begin with this one, it is magnificent!), and 'The Order of Famous Cities'. Various others are amusing, but I fear that reading an entire volume of Ausonius would be tedious for most. If you enjoy those I recommend, take a dip into some of the others...
April 11, 2023
Leaving aside Ausonius as a source, in which context he is indispensable in various ways, this is not a read I would wholeheartedly recommend, though would not actively malign either.
As with anything written in translation, particularly poetry and ancient poetry at that, one is denied the full intended experience. Mind you, Mr Evelyn White seems to have strong opinions as to the quality of Ausonius' Latin poetry, which he considers varying at best. I don't wish to get bogged down in the matter of translation so as a final note on this, I was amused to discover that the copy I possess has declined to translate the climax, as it were, of the 'Nuptial Cento', where the Latin is reproduced on both pages instead. At the very least, then, this volume afforded me a chance to chuckle at the sensibilities of the early twentieth century.
Elsewhere, there is the occasional vignette that might capture the interest of the general reader. Ausonius' musings on his feelings for his late wife are often touching and there are flashes of true character in the lists of homages paid to deceased relatives and colleagues. In the case of the latter, however, these are thinly strewn amongst what might prove a tedious slog for some.
Ausonius is an amateur, in the sense that he seems to be writing on topics as and when the mood takes him and for the benefit of a very small audience indeed. This, from a modern 'we need to sell books' perspective, is at once a help and a hinderance. On the one hand, there is little incentive to sit and read this all in one go, yet on the other the variety likely broadens its appeal (Ausonius deals with elements of astrology, mythology, the ancient landscape, marriage and shagging, etc.).
All in all, as something to dip in and out of or to get an idea of what a late Roman intellectual thought to fart out in their spare time, one could do worse than the first volume of this collection.
As with anything written in translation, particularly poetry and ancient poetry at that, one is denied the full intended experience. Mind you, Mr Evelyn White seems to have strong opinions as to the quality of Ausonius' Latin poetry, which he considers varying at best. I don't wish to get bogged down in the matter of translation so as a final note on this, I was amused to discover that the copy I possess has declined to translate the climax, as it were, of the 'Nuptial Cento', where the Latin is reproduced on both pages instead. At the very least, then, this volume afforded me a chance to chuckle at the sensibilities of the early twentieth century.
Elsewhere, there is the occasional vignette that might capture the interest of the general reader. Ausonius' musings on his feelings for his late wife are often touching and there are flashes of true character in the lists of homages paid to deceased relatives and colleagues. In the case of the latter, however, these are thinly strewn amongst what might prove a tedious slog for some.
Ausonius is an amateur, in the sense that he seems to be writing on topics as and when the mood takes him and for the benefit of a very small audience indeed. This, from a modern 'we need to sell books' perspective, is at once a help and a hinderance. On the one hand, there is little incentive to sit and read this all in one go, yet on the other the variety likely broadens its appeal (Ausonius deals with elements of astrology, mythology, the ancient landscape, marriage and shagging, etc.).
All in all, as something to dip in and out of or to get an idea of what a late Roman intellectual thought to fart out in their spare time, one could do worse than the first volume of this collection.
December 26, 2015
Not that I've actually read all the Latin and even just the entire translation, of c0urse.
The Intro giving the story of Ausonius' life and times is excellent. It is rather dated, this being a "before the current copyright law" text. The sense of life as the Western Roman empire declined and collapsed which the translator gives is poignant and reminds me of our own time. (Ausonius lived from 310-395, Rome was sacked in 410, and the area where Ausonius lived in what is now France was overrun by the mid-400's).
The digital version I read on my iPhone and Kindle app was hard to follow, as the chapter heads appear on every page of the original, and show up very confusingly on the small screen, as do the old style footnotes. All of which is to say the text hasn't been reformated for modern devices.
Goes very well read along with Mary Beard's excellent SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome
Here's the summary from Wikipedia--just in case a person might not be (ahem...) familiar with dear old Ausonius:
"Decimius Magnus Ausonius was a Roman poet and teacher of rhetoric from Burdigala in Aquitaine, modern Bordeaux, France. For a time he was tutor to the future emperor Gratian, who afterwards (sic) bestowed the consulship on him. Wikipedia
Born: 310 AD, Bordeaux, France
Died: 395 AD, Aquitaine, France
Books: Mosella, The works of Ausonius, Ordo urbium nobilium, Technopaegnion, Epigrammi, Opera omnia
The Intro giving the story of Ausonius' life and times is excellent. It is rather dated, this being a "before the current copyright law" text. The sense of life as the Western Roman empire declined and collapsed which the translator gives is poignant and reminds me of our own time. (Ausonius lived from 310-395, Rome was sacked in 410, and the area where Ausonius lived in what is now France was overrun by the mid-400's).
The digital version I read on my iPhone and Kindle app was hard to follow, as the chapter heads appear on every page of the original, and show up very confusingly on the small screen, as do the old style footnotes. All of which is to say the text hasn't been reformated for modern devices.
Goes very well read along with Mary Beard's excellent SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome
Here's the summary from Wikipedia--just in case a person might not be (ahem...) familiar with dear old Ausonius:
"Decimius Magnus Ausonius was a Roman poet and teacher of rhetoric from Burdigala in Aquitaine, modern Bordeaux, France. For a time he was tutor to the future emperor Gratian, who afterwards (sic) bestowed the consulship on him. Wikipedia
Born: 310 AD, Bordeaux, France
Died: 395 AD, Aquitaine, France
Books: Mosella, The works of Ausonius, Ordo urbium nobilium, Technopaegnion, Epigrammi, Opera omnia
December 24, 2008
So, the Spouse got this for me long ago because it contains some nice lines about Ausonius's feeling for his wife, which was a very sweet and thoughtful thing to do. But most of these poems were written to show off Ausonius's metrical skill, rather than his depth of feeling or insight into human nature. As a result, it gets old very fast--you can only handle so many unrelated one-line verses that end in single-syllable words before you are ready to punch someone in the face.
I will admit that I took the lazy way out and read only the English bits. It's quite possible that in the original Latin Ausonius's metrical accomplishments would be more impressive. But I'm too busy for such a task right now, and the English translation hasn't exactly motivated me to get moving on that.
I will admit that I took the lazy way out and read only the English bits. It's quite possible that in the original Latin Ausonius's metrical accomplishments would be more impressive. But I'm too busy for such a task right now, and the English translation hasn't exactly motivated me to get moving on that.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews