?f r THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY EDITED BY CAPPS, PH.D., LL.D. T. E. PAGE, Lirr.D. W. H.'D. ROUSE, Lirr.D. AUSONIUS I AUSONIUS tW^ksJ WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY HUGH G. EVELYN WHITE, M.A. SOMETIME SCHOLAR OF WADHAM COLLEGE, OXFORD IN TWO VOLUMES I LONDON : WILLIAM HEINEMANN NEW YORK : G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS MC11XIX PR UZl CONTENTS A CARGO OF WINE ON THE MOSELLE Frontispiece PAGE INTRODUCTION vii BOOK I. PREFATORY PIECES 3 BOOK II. THE DAILY ROUND OR THE DOINGS OF A WHOLE DAY 13 BOOK III. PERSONAL POEMS 33 BOOK IV. PARF.NTALIA 57 BOOK V. POEMS COMMEMORATING THE PROFESSORS OF BORDEAUX 97 BOOK VI. EPITAPHS ON THE HEROES WHO TOOK PART IN THE TROJAN WAR 141 BOOK VII. THE ECLOGUES 163 BOOK VIII. CUPID CRUCIFIED 207 BOOK IX. BISSULA 217 BOOK X. THE MOSELLE ' 225 BOOK XI. THE ORDER OF FAMOUS CITIES 269 BOOK XII. THE TECHNOPAEGNION 287 BOOK XIII. THE MASQUE OF THE SEVEN SAGES ... 311 BOOK XIV. AUSONIUS ON THE TWELVE CAESARS WHOSE LIVES WERE WRITTEN BY SUETONIUS TRANQUILLUS 331 BOOK XV. CONCLUSION OF THE BOOK OF ANNALS . . 349 BOOK XVI. A RIDDLE OF THE NUMBER THREE . . . 353 BOOK XVII. A NUPTIAL CENTO 371 APPENDIX 395 INTRODUCTION THE works of Ausonius were held in high esteem by the poet's contemporaries : Symmachus protests that he classes the Mosella as equal with the poems of Virgil, and Paulinus of Nola has grave doubts as to whether " Tully and Maro " could have borne one yoke with his old master. Extravagant as such judg- ments may be, 1 they have their value as indicating wherein (from the modern point of view) the import- ance of Ausonius really lies. As poetry, in any high or imaginative sense of the word, the great mass of his verse is negligible ; but the fact that in the later fourth century men of letters and of affairs thought otherwise, establishes it as an example and criterion of the literary culture of that age. The poems of Ausonius are in fact a series of documents from which we may gather in what poetry was then assumed to consist, w r hat were the conditions which determined its character, and the models which influenced it. In a definite sense, therefore, the chief value of the works of Ausonius is historical ; but not for the history of intellectual culture alone. The poet does not, indeed, throw light on the economic fabric of . * cp. Gibbon's epigram "The poetical fame of Ausonius condemns the taste of his age" (Decline and Fall, ed. Bury, in. p. 134 note 1). vii INTRODUCTION society and conditions of life in his day ; but he re- veals to us certain sides of social life which are at least curious as in the picture which he draws of the typical agent who "managed" the estates of the Roman landowner of his day (Epist. xxvi.), or when he shows what manner of folk were the middle-class .^people, officials, doctors,, professors and their woman- kind, amongst whom so large a part of his life was spent. Both these aspects of Ausonius' work, the literary and the social, are explained by the facts of his life. LIFE OF AUSONIUS Decimus Magnus Ausonius was born about 310 A. D. His father, Julius Ausonius, a native of Bazas and the scion apparently of a race of yeomen (Do- mestica i. 2, Grat. Act. viii.), is introduced to us as a physician of remarkable skill and discreet character who had settled at Bordeaux, where he practised and where his son was born. Aemilia Aeonia, the mother of the future consul, was of mixed Aeduan and Aquitanian descent, the daughter of one Caecilius Argicius Arborius, who had fled to Dax in the an- archic days of Victorinus and the Tctrici and had married a native of that place. Whatever the reason, her son speaks of her in the coolest and most unim- passioned terms as if possessing no other virtues than conjugal fidelity and industry in wool- working (Parent. ii.). Though she seems to have lived until about viii INTRODUCTION 353 A.D., the upbringing of her son devolved upon various female connections of the family, notably upon Aemilia Corinthia Maura, of whose strict discipline the poet seems to have retained painful recollections (Parent, v. 7-8). The boy's education was begun at Bordeaux ; and amongst his early instructors in "grammar" (Greek and Latin language and literature) he mentions Macrinus, Sucuro, and Concordius, who taught him Latin (Pi off. x. 11), and Romulus and Corinthius who were hard put to it to overcome his dislike for Greek (Prof. viii. 10 if.). About 320 A.D. he was transferred to the care of his maternal uncle, Aemilius Magnus Arborius, then professor at Toulouse, where the lad resided until his relative was summoned (c. 328 A.D.) to Constantinople, to become tutor to one of the sons of Constantine. Ausonius then returned to Bordeaux and continued his studies in rhetoric under Miner- vius Alcimus and perhaps Delphidius, the ill-starred son of the ex-priest of Bellenus and a descendant of the old Druids (Prof. i.,ii.,v.). Ausonius started on his own professional career about 334 A.D. as grammaticus at the University of Bordeaux (Praef. i. 20), and about the same time wedded Attusia Lucana Sabina, daughter of a leading citizen. By this marriage he had three children, Ausonius who died in infancy, Hesperius, and a daughter whose name is not mentioned. In due time he was promoted to a professorship in rhetoric, and though he practised for a while in the courts, his real ix INTRODUCTION bent was towards teaching (Praef. i. 17). One event only, so far as we know, disturbed the monotonous but not wholly restful (cp. Epist. xxii. 77 ff.) course of his professional life the death (c. 343 A.D.) of his wife, who had inspired the best of his shorter poems (Epigram xl.). How sorely he felt this loss is shown by the real though somewhat egotistical feeling with which he wrote of her more than thirty years later (Parent, ix.) ; and his words gain weight from the fact that he never married again. It was in 364 A.D., or thereabouts, after thirty years of class teaching, that Ausonius was summoned to the " golden palace " to become tutor to the youthful Gratian (Praef. i. 24 ff.) ; and the next ten years were spent in guiding the prince through the ortho- dox courses of "grammar" and "rhetoric." On one occasion at least the monotony of such a life was relieved for both tutor and pupil by a change to more stirring scenes. For Ausonius and Gratian both ac- companied Valentinian I. on the expedition of 368-9 A.D. against the Germans, when the former was com- missioned to celebrate the more spectacular results of the campaign (Epigr. xxviii., xxxi.). The preface to the Griphus gives us a glimpse of the professor on active service, and the Bissula adds a singular detail to the same episode. In 370 A.D. the title of comes was conferred upon him, and five years later he took the first step in his official career, becoming quaestor sacri palatii. When at the end of 375 A.D. his pupil Gratian ascended the throne, INTRODUCTION his advancement became rapid and his influence very marked. His hand, for instance, has been traced in the legislation of this period (see Cod. Theod. xiii. 3. 11, xv. 1. 19 and cp. Seeck, Symmachus, p. Ixxix.). In his rise the soaring professor drew a train of rela- tives after him. His father, then nearly 90 years of age, was granted the honorary rank of prefect of Illyricum in 375 A.D. (Dew. iv. 52) ; his son Hesperius was proconsul of Africa in 376 A.D. and praefectus praetorio of Italy, Illyricum and Africa in 377-380 ; his son-in-law, Thalassius, succeeded Hesperius in the proconsulship of Africa ; while a nephew, Aemilius Magnus Arborius, was appointed comes rerum privat- arum in 379 A.D. and promoted praefectus urbi in the year following. Ausonius himself was raised to the splendid post of praefectus Galliarum in 378, the office being united by special arrangement with the pre- fecture of Hesperius to enable father and son to share between them the toils and rewards of both posts. But the crowning honour was reserved for 379 A.D., when the ex-professor attained the consulship an absorbing theme discussed from all its bearings in the Gratiarum Actio. At the close of 379 A.D. Ausonius retired to Bordeaux (Domestica i. : title), no doubt to take possession of the ancestral estate which had come to him on the death of his father in 378 A.D. But in 383 the mainspring of the family fortunes was rudely broken. The army in Britain revolted with Maximus at its head : Treves was occupied, Gratian slain at Lyons, Valentinian II. driven out of INTRODUCTION Italy, and the usurper was master of the Western Empire. The prospects of the favourites of the old regime were definitely at an end. What Ausonius did during the domination of Maximus is unknown. From the explanatory note prefixed to Epist. xx. we learn that when the storm burst he was at Treves (he had no doubt returned to the court there) and it is possible that his continued stay in the city was in fact a detention at the order of Maximus. But if this is so, it is likely that he was soon permitted to return to his native Bordeaux. When at length Theodosius overthrew Maximus (388 A.D.) Ausonius may indeed have visited the court (cp. Praef. iii.), but was too old for public life. Henceforth his days were spent in his native pro- vince, where he lived chiefly on his own estates, paying occasional visits, which he disliked or affected to dislike, to Bordeaux (DomesL i. 29 ff., Epist. vi. 17 ff.). Here he passed his time in enjoyment of the sights and sounds of the country (Epist. xxvii. 90 ff.), in dallying with literary pursuits, and in the company of friends similarly disposed. The date of his death is not definitely known, but may be presumed to have occurred at the close of 393 or in 394, since nothing from his hand can be as- signed to a later year. He was then over eighty years of age. In connection, however, with his life something must be said on his attitude towards Christianity. xii INTRODUCTION When and how he adopted the new religion there is nothing to show ; but certain of his poems make it clear that he professed and called himself a Christian, and such poems as the Oratio (Ephemeris iii.) and Domestica ii., which show a fairly extensive know- ledge of the Scriptures,, sometimes mislead the unwary to assume that Ausonius was a devout and pious soul. But in these poems he is deliber- ately airing his Christianity : he has, so to speak, dressed himself for church. His everyday attitude was clearly very different. When Paulinus began to conform his life to what he believed to be the demands of Christianity, Ausonius is totally unable to understand his friend's attitude and can only believe that he is crazed. A devout and pious Christian might have combated the course chosen by Paulinus, but he would certainly have sym- pathised with the principle which dictated it. Nor does Christianity enter directly or indirectly into the general body of his literary work (as distinguished from the few "set pieces"). In the Parentalia there is no trace of Christian sentiment and this though he is writing of his nearest and dearest : the rite which gives a title to the book is pagan, the dead " rejoice to. hear their names pronounced " (Parent. Pref. 11), they are in Elysium (id. iii. 23) or in Erebus (id. xxvii. 4) or amongst the Manes (id. xviii. 12) according to pagan orthodoxy ; but in his own mind Ausonius certainly regards a future existence as problematical (Parent, xxii. 15 and especially Proff. i. 39 ff.). xiii b INTRODUCTION Further, the conception of the Deity held by Ausonius was distinctly peculiar as his less guarded references show. In the Easter Verses (Domext. ii. 24 ff.) the Trinity is a power transcending but not unlike the three Emperors; and in the Griphus (1. 88) the " tris deus unus " is advanced to enforce the maxim " ter bibe " in exactly the same tone as that in which the children of Rhea, or the three Gorgons are cited : for our author the Christian Deity was not essentially different from the old pagan gods. There is a marked contrast,, therefore, between Ausonius' formal professions and his actual beliefs. This is not to accuse him of hypocrisy. Conventional by nature, he accepted Christianity as the established religion,, becoming a half-believer in his casual creed : it is not in the least likely that he ever set himself to realize either Christianity or Paganism. THE LiTEiiAKY WORK OF AUSONIUS The adult life of Ausonius may be divided into three periods: the first, extending from c. 334 to 364 A.D., covers the thirty years of professorial work at Bordeaux ; the second (c. 364-383) includes the years spent first as Gratian's tutor and then as his minister ; while the last ten years of his life con- stitute the third. His circumstances during each of these periods necessarily affected his literary work^ which may therefore be correspondingly divided. The rirxl Period. The first period in the career INTRODUCTION of Ausonius is a long one, yet the output, so far as it can be identified,, is small in the extreme ; and since Ausonius was by no means the man to suppress anything which he had once written, we may believe that his professional duties left him little or no leisure for writing. Some of his extant work, how- ever, can be identified as belonging to this period. Possibly his earliest work (since he seems to have married c. 334 A.D.) is the letter written to his father On the Acknowledgment of 1m Son (Epist. xix.) a copy of forty elegiacs, very correct but very obvious and conventional in sentiment. To the first eight years of this period we must also assign the epigrams relating to his wife (Epigr. xxxix., xl., liii.-lv.), and those on certain "lascivae nomina famae " (Epigr. xxxviii. and Ixv.), which seem to have caused Sabina some misgiving. It is also probable that a consider- able number of the remaining epigrams especially those dealing with academic persons or topics (e.g. Epigr. vi.-xiii., lx., Ixi.) were composed during this period ; and it is at least a possible conjecture that some of the mnemonic verses on the Roman Calendar, the Greek Games, etc. (Eel. ix.-xxvii.), were written by Ausonius when grammaticus to assist his pupils at Bordeaux, 1 though worked up for formal publication at a much later date. The Second Period. The years spent at the impe- rial court were more prolific. The Easter Verses, an 1 Compare the mnemonics of some modern Latin Gram- mars. b '2 INTRODUCTION imperial commission, were written in or after 368 A.D. (Domestica ii. 25), and were followed by three of Ausonius' most characteristic works, the Griphus, the Cento NuptialiS) and the Bittula. The first of these, composed in 368 A.n. 1 while the poet was with the expedition against the Alamanni, celebrates the universality of the mystic number Three. Though so trivial a theme is no subject for poetry at all, it must be admitted that Ausonius here shows at his best as an ingenious versifier : partly by the immense range and skilful selection of his examples, partly by variety of rhythm, and partly by judicious use of assonance, the author succeeds in evading monotony and this though ninety hexameters are devoted to so unpromising a topic. The Cento Xuptialis was likewise compiled when Ausonius was on active service ; 2 but neither that "military licence" of which he speaks elsewhere as permissible at such a period, nor the plea that he wrote at the direction of the Emperor, can excuse the publication of this work at a much later date. As its title implies, it is a description of a wedding festival made up of tags, whose length is determined by^certain fixed rules, from the works of Virgil. In the nature of the case, the result is shambling and 1 It was dedicated to Symmachus and published some years later, but before 383 A.D. 2 If the words " sub imperatore meo turn merui" at the close of the preface are to be taken as no doubt they are in their strict military sense. xvi INTRODUCTION awkward as to sense, and disgraced by the crude and brutal coarseness of its closing episode. Neither the thorough knowledge of Virgil's text, nor the per- verse ingenuity displayed in the compilation can redeem this literary outrage. In the third work of this group, the Bissula, Ati- sonius sung the praises of a young German girl of that name, who had been assigned to him as his share in the spoils of the Alamannic War. Of the series of short poems or epigrams, which once constituted the work, only a brief preface addressed to Paulus, another to the reader, and the three opening poems have (perhaps fortunately : cp. Biss. u. 3 ff.) sur- vived. Since the heroine is represented as already thoroughly Romanized, the composition cannot well be earlier than c. 371-2 A.D. The poet's most ambitious and certainly his best work, the Mosella, is also loosely connected with the German War (see Mosella 423 ff.), which probably occasioned the journey described at the beginning of the poem (11. 1-11). It was not finished before 371 A.D., the date of the consulship of Probus and Gratian and of the birth of Valentmian II., both of which events are alluded to (Mosella 409 ff., 450). After sketching his route from Bingen to Neumageri, Au- sonius breaks into a eulogistic address to the Moselle, and settles to serious work with an exhaustive cata- logue of the fish to be found in its waters. Next he sings of the vine-clad hills bordering the river valley and the general amenities of the stream, which make xvii INTRODUCTION it a favourite haunt of superhuman and human beings alike. The aquatic sports and pastimes to be seen upon the river having been described, the poet dilates upon the stately mansions which stud the banks and celebrates the numerous tributaries which swell its waters. After a promise to devote his future leisure to praise of the country through which the river flows, Ausonius commits the Moselle to- the Rhine, closing his poem with an exaltation of the former above the streams of Gaul such as the Loire, the Aisne, and the Mariie. The years following 375 A.D. must have involved Ausonius in much public business, and this doubtless accounts for an interval of comparative barrenness. Except Epist. xiii., written in 377 when Ausonius was quaestor, and the Epicedion 1 (Domest. iv.)of 378, nothing noteworthy seems to have been produced during the busiest period of his official life. But the consulship of 379 A.D. brought leisure and revived the inspiration of the poet, who celebrates the beginning of his term of office with a prayer in trochaic septen- ariaus and another in hexameters (Domest. v., vi.) : both these are wholly pagan in sentiment ; but the elect were doubtless propitiated by a third and por- tentous prayer in rhopalic hexameters, written (it seems) during the consulship itself, which is purely Christian in tone. At the close of his year of office Ausonius rendered thanks to the Emperor in an elaborate oration, the Gratiarum Actio. This, the only 1 A second and enlarged edition was prepared later, xviii INTRODUCTION extant specimen of Ausonius' oratory, is of the class which must be read to be appreciated. The Third Period. After the consulship,, Ausonius found himself free from the ties of public duties, and was able to devote himself wholly to his literary pursuits. In 379 or 380 he retired to Aquitaine to take possession of the estate left him by his father. The occasion is celebrated in a short poem On his Palrimony (Domest. i.). At the close of 379 A.D. he published the first edition of his Fa.sH, dedicated to his son Hesperius. Originally the main part of this work was a list of the kings and consuls of Rome from the foundation of the city down to the author's own consulate. The list however, is not extant, 1 and all that remains of this production are the short addresses in verse which accompanied it. A second edition brought up to date (and probably corrected) was issued in 383 A.D. with a new dedication to Gregorius. Kinship of subject makes it probable that the Caesares was written at about the same time as the Fasti. In. its first edition this book comprised only the Monosticha i. iv. and the Tetrasticha on the Emperors from Nerva to Commodus ; the second edition was enlarged by () a series of Tetrasticha on the twelve Caesars, and (6) new Tetrasticha bringing the list down to the times of Heliogabalus. Another work of about the same date is the 1 It was apparently never included in the Opuscida. INTRODUCTION Protreptictts (Epist. xxii.), an exhortation addressed to the poet's grandson and namesake. We have seen that Ausonius returned from Aquitaine to Treves somewhere between 380 and 383 A.D. It was perhaps during these years that he wrote the Cupid Crucified, the subject of which was suggested by a wall-painting at Trevejs. In 383 A.D. Maximus seized the Empire of the West, and Ausonius' pupil, Gratian, was done to death. The poet, as we have seen, was possibly detained for a while at Treves; and the revolution seems to have profoundly affected him. A fragment (Epist. xx.) written at this period clearly shows the gloom and foreboding which had settled upon his spirits, and possibly checked for a time the flow of his poetic vein. Nevertheless, in or after 385 A.D. a noteworthy group of works was completed and published. The first of these, indeed, the Parentalia, was written at intervals (e.g. iv. 31 c. 379, and xxiv. 5, 16 in 382 A.D.) and may have been actually finished in 382 ; but the preface to the Professores indicates that the two works were issued together. 1 The Parentalia is a collection of thirty poems, mostly in elegiacs, celebrating the memory of the author's deceased relatives. Whether super- stition or mere love of verse-making be the cause, even remote connections whom the poet had hardly or never met are duly commemorated (Parent, xxi. 1 Unless this preface belongs to the Collected Edition alone. XX INTRODUCTION 1-2) : the semi-historical interest of these poems has already been alluded to (pp. vii. f.). The Professores is a similar collection of memorial verses, though distinguished by greater metrical variety, and commemorates the public teachers of the University of Bordeaux. A reference to the execution of Euchrotia with the Priscillianist martyrs (v. 37) shows that the work was not finished earlier than 385 A.D. Here again, if we except the verses on Nepotianus (Prof, xv.), Ausonius' verse is more interesting as a document for social history than as poetry. The Epitaphs, a series of epigrams on the chief heroes of the Trojan War, was finished after the Professores and appended to it, as the author himself states, owing to the similarity of the two works in tone. The presence of the miscellaneous epitaphs which follow will be explained below (p. xxxvi.). The Genethliacos (Epist. xxi.), a letter of con- gratulation to his grandson Ausonius on the occasion of his fifteenth birthday, maybe dated c. 387 A.D. At this point mention must be made of the Ephemeris, the date of which is by 110 means clear, though it has been variously fixed at r. 368 and c. 379-380. It is not easy to decide whether the poet was writing in the city (i.e. at Treves) or in the country (Aquitaine) : the former is suggested by iv. 4 ff., v. 3, the latter by viii. 42 f. Consequently the period to which the composition is to be assigned is doubtful : probably, however, it was late ; for the Oratio which forms part of it is but a revised xxi INTRODUCTION and expanded edition of an earlier and independent poem. The Ephemeris. when complete, described the daily routine of the poet's life. He wakes and calls his servant (unsuccessfully) in sapphics, only rousing the laggard by the substitution of iambics he demands his clothes and water for washing and gives orders for the chapel to be opened. After reciting the prayer already mentioned,, which in its revised form runs to eighty -five hexameters, Ausonius decides that he has " prayed enough " (satis prccum datum deo) and prepares to go out, but somehow failing to do so, first dispatches a servant to remind certain friends that they are invited to lunch, and then visits his kitchen to animate the cook. Here unfortunately a considerable portion of the text has been lost, and only l the concluding poem (imperfect) which deals with troublesome dreams is now extant. The usurper Maximus was overthrown by Theo- dosius in 388 A.U., arid the exultation with which Ausonius hails the event in the Order of Famous Cities (ix. 1, 5 ff.) suggests that this book was finished in 388 or 389. But from the opening words of the poem on Aquileia, " non erat iste locus " it may be inferred that most of the series was written before the end of Maximus and that the alteration was 1 Peiper inserts in the lacuna an address to a secretary (Ephem. vit.) : this is at best purely conjectural, and the piece seems rather to have been intended to stand at the head of a collection of poems. xxii INTRODUCTION made in order to admit a reference to the avenging of Gratiaii. As the title partly indicates, Ausonius here celebrates the twenty most remarkable cities of the Empire in a series of descriptive notices, the longest and warmest of which is naturally that dealing with Bordeaux. A very characteristic but by no means attractive work is the Techno pacgnion, a classified list of (probably) all the monosyllabic nouns in the Latin language so contrived as to form the last syllables of 164 hexameters. This, like the Fasti, the Caesarcs, the Oratio, the Epicedion and certain of the Epitaphs s is extant in two editions. The former of these, dedicated to Paulinus, must have been issued before 389, when the estrangement between Ausonius and his former pupil began : the second was addressed to Pacatus in 390, and contains a new dedication, one entirely new section, xiii. (On Monosyllabic Letters), besides a considerable number of alterations in the original matter. 1 Far more attractive than the dreary work just named is the Masque of the Seven Sages, again dedicated to Pacatus in 390 A.D. The famous Seven are here forced to appear upon the stage in turn to deliver each his wise precept and to expound its 1 Miss Byrne (Prolegomena, p. 60) considers that the first edition contained only the dedication to Paulinus and the initial section (Ttclin. ii. and iii.) ; but surely the frequent alterations evidenced by the Fand Z groups of MSS., above all the variants Pauline and Pacate in xiii. 21, show that the two editions were nearly co-extensive. xxiii INTRODUCTION practical application. Action of any sort there is none (for the characters appear singly), and the "dramatic " form is therefore a mere screen to allow Ausonius to turn the wisdom of the Sages into verse. But the artificiality is agreeably relieved by touches of parody (as in 11. 131-2), or of humour (11. 201, 213, &c.). Only the more salient landmarks in the literary history of Ausonius are here noticed, and this im- perfect sketch must close with some reference to the noteworthy correspondence between the poet and his former pupil Paulinus. Pontius Meropius Paulinus, born in 357 A.D., belonged to a noble and distinguished family in Aquitaine. He was educated at Bordeaux under Ausonius, by whose influence he was subsequently elected consul suffectus in 378. In the following year he married Therasia (the "Taiiaquil" of Epist. xxviii. 31, xxxi. 192). At first there is no trace of a shadow upon the friendship between Paulinus and his old tutor (see Epist. xxiii.- xxvi.) ; but in 389 Paulinus retired to Barcelona where he began to strip himself of his wealth and to lead a life of asceticism. Ausonius tried to combat this strange madness on the part of his friend, which he compares with Bellerophon's aberration : he deplores the growing estrangement of his friend, and rashly but not obscurely blames the influence of " Tanaquil " (Therasia). These appeals were conveyed in four letters, one of which never reached Paulinus : the remaining three reached their destination to- xxiv INTRODUCTION gether in 393 A.D. and were answered by Paulinus. Of this part of the correspondence two letters by Ausonius with the reply of Paulinus are extant (Epist. xxviii., xxix. and xxxi.). In 393 Ausonius wrote once again and received a reply conciliatory indeed but unyielding from his friend (Epist. xxvii., xxx.). It was the death, probably, of the older man which prevented the subject from being further pursued. LITERARY CHARACTER OF AUSONIUS The influences which determined Ausonius' literary quality were perhaps three in number, his age in general and social surroundings in particular, his education and profession, and his racial stock. Whatever the salient characteristics of the fourth century may be, intellectual freshness, imagination and a broad human outlook are not amongst them. The old literary forms and methods were outworn, and there was no spiritual force to reanimate or to reshape them. The accessible realms of the intellect had been delimited, mapped out, and explored as definitely as the Roman Empire itself; and outside (it was now tacitly assumed) was nothing but chaos, just as beyond the political and military frontiers of the state lay nothing but barbarism. In such an age was Ausonius born. His family surroundings were not such as to exert a compensating influence, as the family portraits sketched in the Pa rent alia unmistakably show : the men and women whom he XXV INTRODUCTION depicts are indeed excellent social units, examples of domestic and civic virtue, but 110 less surely conventional and unimaginative. With such sur- roundings, it may be said, Ausonius was not more heavily handicapped than Shakespeare probably was ; but the age of Ausonius w r as emphatically not Eliza- bethan, and in himself he was far from being a prodigy : he could not but conform to the mould of his early circumstances. The conventional type which he inherited and which his upbringing reimpressed, was stamped yet deeper by the educational system of his day. In this the masterpieces of ancient literature were made subordinate to the demands of rhetoric and studied not so much for the sake of the thoughts or ideas which they embodied as of the mode of expression ; while rhetoric itself from a vehicle for the statement of facts had degenerated into a mere display of verbal dexterity. The effect of these two influences, his general surroundings and his education, on the work of Ausonius is clear. From first to last his verse i^s barren of ideas : not a gleam of insight or of broad human sympathy, no passion, no revolt : his attitude towards life is a mechanical and complacent accept- ance of things as they are. To appreciate this it is only necessary to read Ausonius' Lament for his Father (Epicedion), beginning with a mechanical catalogue of everyday virtues and leading up to a glorification of the writer's own success and then to turn to INTRODUCTION Rughy Chapel. The same defects^ narrowness in out- look and egoism, make sterile even those poems which commemorate keener sorrows than a man of seventy might be expected to feel at the death of his father at the ripe age of ninety : a favourite grandson is accidentally killed,, and the cry is not " O the pity of it/' but ff .Alas, all my hopes are upset" (Parent, xi. 13). This is common, very common, human nature, but it is not great poetry. And again, grief for the loss of his wife (Parent, ix.), deeply felt as it was and much as its expression may command our pity, is too self-centred to engage entire respect. It is in the verses To his Wife (Epigr. xl.) alone that an entirely natural and universal expression of human feeling is to be found ; and even here the pedant must needs drag in the stiff lay-figures of Nestor with his " triple span " and Deiphobe of Cumae to chill the atmosphere of brave optimism and tenderness. Insensible, broadly speaking, to sentiment and unappreciative of the human sympathy which should pervade true poetry, Ausonius regarded the art (in practice at any rate) as the rhetorical treatment of any subject in verse with the inevitable rider that the harder the subject, the better the poetry. His Muse, therefore, was not of Helicon but essentially of the schools, and from the schools he derived both his subjects and his mode of treatment. The names of the days of the week, the Roman calendar, tabloid histories of the Roman Emperors, a catalogue of mono- syllables in Latin, or of the Trojan War heroes such INTRODUCTION were the themes in which Ausonius delighted : the Parentalia and the Mosella, indeed, are notable exceptions ; but even in these the mania for versified lists manifests itself, here in a complete catalogue of the poet's relatives, there in an exact enumeration of the fishes to be found in the stream. Bat if we could admit for a moment that these and similar matters were legitimate objects for poetic treatment, we should also have to admit that Ausonius was a master of his craft. The skill displayed in working out the unpromising theme of the Gripkus has already been noticed, and it is exerted to the full in the impossible task of making palatable the Technopaegnion. Ausonius, indeed, brought to his task many qualities and accomplishments which a brighter genius might have envied : his acquaintance with the letter, if not with the spirit, of classic authors was intimate ; his memory was clearly of unusual strength, as the quotations or reminiscences occurring on almost every page will show ; and his rhetorical skill stands him in good stead in his more ambitious works, the Moselle and Cupid Crucified. The peroration of the former (11. 438-468) may indeed be singled out as a really impressive example of this art. To these he adds the half-poetical, half-rhetorical gift for epigram as when he writes of Tiberius (Caesares, Tetr. iii. 4) } quae prodit vitiis credit operta locis, or of Otho (id. viii. 4), hoc solum fecit nobile quod periit ; INTRODUCTION and the more dubious turn for various forms of asson- ance such as " ignoscenda . . . cognoscenda," " legenda . . . tegenda" (Ludus i. 1, 3 f.), "faciendo . . . pati- endo " (Caesares, Tetr. v. 4) ; or in " Leonine " verses (often emphasising an antithesis) as fleta prius lacrim?'.y mine memorabo modi.9 (Parent. Pref. 2), or again (id. 7-S), 1 quae Numa cognattf sollemnia dedicat umbr/.v ut gradus aut mortz* postulat aut genem. Sometimes this degenerates into actual punning, as in Caesares, Tetr. iv. 4, " qui superavit avum " (unless this is accidental), or " non est quod mireris . . . est quod misereris" (Techn. ii.). Education and long scholastic experience in- fluenced Ausonius in yet other directions. As gramniaticus he was familiar with ancient authors, and, bound as he was by convention, to these he turned for models. Catullus and Horace are his masters in lyric, Plautus and Terence in the pseudo- dramatic Ludua, Virgil and Horace again in hexa- meter verse, and Martial and the Greek Anthology in epigram. In shorter passages and phraseology his debt to these and to others of his predecessors is immense. Unhappily this dependence is not con- fined to matters of technique or form. The literary bent of Ausonius was, in one of its aspects, towards 1 In this preface the assonance is frequently used and its significance is clearly funereal. xxix INTRODUCTION the epigram ; and he conscientiously imitates the masters of this form of composition in that obscenity of subject and grossness of expression which, as the younger Pliny (Epist. iv. xiv. 4 ff., v. iii. 1 ff.) informs us, was regarded as essential even by the greatest and most staid worthies. Rhetoric had a profound effect upon the literary work of Ausonius. For him a simple statement was an opportunity (for verbal display) missed ; and no feature is so characteristic of his poems as duplica- tions like set neque tu viduo longum cruciata sub aevo protinus optato fine secuta virum. (Parent, xxx. 9 f.) More than this, for a necessary word or two Ausonius loves to substitute an elaborate tour de force. Thus in Epist. xvi. 314 the simple complaint "you have not visited me for three months " is expanded into six elegiac couplets ; in Epist. xv. 535 the word ' ' thirty ' ' is transmuted into as many lines of mixed verse ; in Epist. xiii. 7-24 it needs eighteen verses adequately to say " six." In another place Ausonius complacently admits this tendency, and instead of telling his book that it is destined for Probus, observes (Epist. xii. 7 ff.) possem absolute dicere, sed dulcius circumloquar diuque fando perfruar, -and devotes the next twenty-four lines to a defini- tion of Probus through his attributes. xxx INTRODUCTION Hitherto we have been dealing with the effect of his age and training upon Ausonius : the third factor, if not so potent, is far more interesting. Ausonius was of Celtic blood ; and, extravagantly as Celtic claims are often overrated, it is possible that an element in his work, which is not due to his classical culture, should be ascribed to the genius of his race. This is a distinct appreciation for the beauties of Nature without reference to the comfort and gratifica- tion which they may afford to mankind. In the nature of the case such an element rarely finds its way through the crust which unimaginative surround- ings and a thoroughly artificial education and career had imposed upon the nature of Ausonius ; but the subject of the Mosella afforded it some outlet. The locus classicus is, of course, Mosella 63 ff., where the poet describes the dark weeds rooted in the rippled sands of the river bed, how they bend and sway in the under-current of the waters, revealing and again con- cealing the bright pebbles which lie amid them. Elsewhere, in a passage less distinctive, perhaps, but of a richer tone (11. 192 ff.), he dwells upon the beauty of the Moselle at evening when ' ' Hesperus drives on the lingering shadows " and the steep sides of the valley are mirrored in the still waters, when the boat gliding with the stream seems to be moving over the vines which clothe the hills. In the remainder of his work Ausonius by his choice of subjects, forbade himself the use of this his most genuine poetic quality : yet here and there, like the xxxi c 2 INTRODUCTION pebbles in the Moselle, it gleams out for a moment and is hidden again, as in Ephem. iii. 38 f. puri qua lactea caeli semita ventosae superat vaga nubila lunae, or in the passage rapidly sketching his rural life near Bordeaux (Epist. xxvii. 93), where "nemus umbris mobilibus " betrays a touch of the same spirit. Perhaps this naturalistic gift accounts for the vivid- ness with which some of the personages sketched by Ausonius stand out. The pictures of his grandfather, the shy astrologer, of his grandmother, who would stand no nonsense, and of his aunt Cataphronia, the needy but generous old maid (Parent iv., v., xxvi.) are excellent examples ; but perhaps the best, because the most varied, are to be found amongst the Pro- fessores. There we have the brilliant but restless Delphidius, ruined by his own ambitions (Proff. v.) ; Phoebicius (id. x. 23 ff.), offspring of Druids, who, finding the service of the god Belenus unremu- nerative, became a professor ; Citarius, grammarian and poet, who was equal with Aristarchus and Zenodotus on the one hand and with Simonides of Ceos on the other (id. xiii.) ; Victorius (id. xxii.), the zealous student of antiquities, who died, unhappily, before he had worked his way down to such modern authors as Cicero and Virgil ; and Dynamius, who left Bordeaux under a cloud but fell on his feet in Spain (id. xxiii.). Unhappily Ausonius has not condescended to depict the peasantry (coloni) of his day ; but in xxxii INTRODUCTION compensation he introduces us to two rustic figures whom we could ill spare. The first of these is a squireen, Theon, who lives in Medoc in a thatched farm-house near the sea coast : he has a weakness for making verses not of the best out of tags filched from another bard, Clementinus. What does he do all day ? asks Ausonius. Is he buying up for a song tallow, wax, pitch and waste paper to resell at a thumping profit ? Or is he more heroically chasing robbers until they admit him to a share in their spoils ? Or does he spend his time in hunting or fishing ? This curious person sends Ausonius rustic presents from time to time, such as oysters ancf apples, and still more rustic verses ; occasionally he seems to have borrowed the poet's money and then (as Ausonius complains) to have kept well out of his way. The letters to Theon (Epist. xiv. xvii.) give us, in fact, a very good idea of the life and pursuits of the small " local gentry" in the remoter parts of Gaul. The second character is the bailiff (or, as he prefers to be called, the factor) 011 the estate of Ausonius. In personal appearance he is grey-haired, bristly, truculent, with plenty of assurance just such a one as Phormio in Terence (Epist. xxvi.). He is a Greek whom Juvenal would have had no difficulty in recognizing. Through his ignorance of agricul- ture the crops have turned out a failure, and he has the effrontery to cast the blame upon the gods and the poverty of the soil. But the disaster has restored him to his natural element. Commissioned xxxiii INTRODUCTION to purchase grain to relieve the famine threatening the poet's household, he " comes out strong as a new corn-dealer," traverses the whole countryside buying up corn and attending all the markets. So adroitly does he manage this congenial business, complains Ausonius, that "he enriches himself and beggars me." The place to be assigned to Ausonius as a poet is not a high one. He lacked the one essential, the power of penetrating below the surface of human nature ; indeed his verse deals rather with the products of man than with mankind itself. His best quality appreciation for natural and scenic beauty is rarely indulged ; and this, after all, is an accessory, not an essential, of poetry. In his studies of persons (such as the Parentalia and Professores) he gives us clever and sometimes striking sketches, but never portraits which present the inner as well as the outer man. TEXTUAL HISTORY Ausonius did not necessarily publish a poem imme- diately after composition. Though it is evident that the first edition of the Fasti must have been formally issued as soon as completed in 379, the prefatory letters introducing the Cento and the Griphus show that each of these works was held back for some time before its definitive publication. At the same time the second of these documents speaks of the Gripfaa as " secreta quidem sed vulgi lectione laceratus," xxxiv INTRODUCTION i.e. as being surreptitiously circulated ; and from the letter of Symmachus appended to the Mosella it appears that the poet sometimes sent copies of his most recent work to friends before he made it public property. These "advance copies" were issued in confidence, as the words of Symmachus, " libelli tui (me) arguis proditorem " (Epist. i.), imply, and were not published in the full sense of the term. It was only after he had revised a poem to his satisfaction that Ausonius " published " it. This was usually done by sending it to a friend with an epistle prefixed, in which the author went through the polite farce l of inviting the recipient to correct its faults and so let it live, or to suppress it altogether (Ludusi. 1-4, 13-18). Ausonius sometimes revised, supplemented, and reissued poems already published, usually (but not always) adding a new dedication. Thus the Techno- paegnion, originally dedicated to Paulinus, underwent some alterations and additions before being re- published with its new dedication to Pacatus ; but in the second edition of the Fasti the prefatory poem, originally addressed to Hesperius, was merely adapted by slight verbal alterations to suit Gregorius. In the prefatory note to his second edition of the Epicedion (JDomest. iv.) Ausonius writes : " imagini ipsius (sc. patris) hi versus subscript! sunt neque 1 Ausonius, of course, \vould have been surprised and annoyed had any of his correspondents taken him at hi? word. xxxv INTRODUCTION minus in opusculorum meorum seriem relati. Alia omiiia mea displicent mihi ; hoc relegisse amo " clearly showing that he kept by him a collection of all his published or finished work. The fruits thus garnered were reissued in three "collected editions." The first of these, prefaced by a dedication to Gratian (Epigr. xxvi.), appeared in or just before 383 A.D. ; the second was drawn up c. 390 A.D. at the request of the Emperor Theodosius (Praefat. iii., iv.) ; and finally a collection, including second editions of old poems and works hitherto unpublished or which had appeared only in separate form., was issued after Ausonius' death by his son Hesperius or some intimate friend, probably in 393. x This conclusion may be drawn from the lemma of Epist. xx. which is in the third person (contrary to Ausonius' practice) and, after mentioning the circumstances in which the letter was written, states that it is " unfinished and copied as it stands from the rough draft " : similarly the lemma to the de Herediolo (Domest. i.) is in the third person. In both cases it is clear that Ausonius is not the writer, but someone (such as Hesperius) very intimately acquainted with the details of his life. To this editor the intrusion of the miscellaneous epitaphs (Epitaphs xxvii. xxxv.) at the end of the series on the Trojan War heroes may be due ; though it is possible that they were placed there by the author himself who intended to expand them into a distinct work standing next to the original series. 1 According to Seeck. xxxvi INTRODUCTION In the fourth century, therefore, there were current (a) early or " advance " copies of individual works, (b) formally published copies of the same, possibly containing small improvements, (c) three " collected " editions of the works. What is the relation between these possible sources and the extant MSS. ? We may say at once that there is no means of determin- ing whether our MSS. are to any extent dependent upon either the "advance" copies or the published editions of single works ; and it is tolerably certain that the collected edition prepared for Theodosius is no longer extant and probably was never available to the public. It is apparently from the collected editions of 383 and 393 A.D. that the surviving MSS. are derived. These MSS. are classified in four groups: (1) The Z or Tilianus group, represented by the Codex Tilianus (Leidensis Vossianus lat. Q. 107). The numerous MSS. of this class all present the same works in the same order and contain no poem assignable to a date later than 383 A.D. (2) The V group, a single MS. of the ninth century (Leidensis Vossianus lat. Ill) containing for the most part the poet's later works and "remains" together with second editions of some earlier poems, and some material (e.g. the Gripkus and the Versus Paschales) in the same shape which it wears in the Z group. (3) The P group, represented by Parisinus 8500, contain- ing selections. (4) The Excerpts (so called from the title of the MSS.), a further series of extracts. The exact history of the third and fourth groups xxxvii INTRODUCTION cannot be traced ; but since they contain nothing in common they are probably to be regarded as complementary to one another. Further, most of their contents are common to V, but include nothing peculiar to the Z group as contrasted with V. Con- sequently it is probable that P and Exc. are related to V \ and the presence in them of some matter not to be found in V 9 e.g. the letter of Theodosius (Praef. iii.) and the Moselle, suggests that they were derived from a more complete representative of this collec- tion than the extant Leyden MS. If this is so, the groups may be reduced to two on the one side the Z MSS., and on the other V and the selections. Of these two main groups, Z, which opens with a dedication to Gratian and contains nothing later than 383 A.D., represents the first collected edition, and V, with related MSS., reproduces the "posthumous" edition of 393 A.D. Such in its broad outlines appears to be the history of the text. Peiper, however, has put forward a very different theory. All the MSS. were derived (he holds) from a single copy of the final collected edition, and this archetype was split into two parts, the former being the ancestor of the Z group, the latter of V 9 which was supplemented by the remains of another copy (perhaps the ancestor of Z) in a very decayed condition. As for P and Exc., they are to be traced to a defective MS. akin to, but earlier than the ancestor of V , since it contained the Mosellu and other matter not preserved in that MS. xxxviii INTRODUCTION This theory cannot be upheld. The poems common to Z and V frequently differ so markedly that the variants cannot possibly be attributed to the fortunes of the MSS. The Epicedion may be cited first in illustration. Here Z omits the lemma, 11. 1316, 19-26 (all found in V\ and in 1. 38 reads "gnatos tris numero genui " (for 7 ), Paris, 1730. SouchayJ Karl Schenkl, Berlin, 1883 (Mon Germ. Hist., Auctores Antiquissimi., V. ii.). Rudolf Peiper, Leipzig, 1880 (Teubner Series). xlii INTRODUCTION (3) Translations. There appears to be no English translation of Ausonius. A French version is by Etienne Francois Corpet, Paris, 1842, and 1887. (4) General. F. Marx, s.v. Ausonius in Pauly-Wissowa, Real- Encyclopddie, ii. cols. 2562-2580. Teuffel and Schwabe, Hist, of Rom. Lit. (trans. Warr) ii. 421. Samuel Dill, Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire, ch. v. and passim. T. R. Glover, Life and Letters in the Fourth Century, pp. 102 ff. J. E. Sandys, Hist, of Class. Scholarship ,i. 221 ff. Marie Jose Byrne, Prolegomena to an Edition of the Works of Ausonius, New York, 1916. For further information on the considerable literature relating to Ausonius, see the very full Bibliography given by the last-named writer (op. cit. pp. 91 ff.). xliii AUSONIUS OPUSCULA VOL. I. D. MAGNI AUSONII OPUSCULA LIBER I [PRAEFATIUNCULAE] 1 I. AUSONIUS LECTORI SALUTEM AUSONIUS genitor nobis, ego nomine eodem : qui sim, qua secta, stirpe, lare et patria, adscripsi, ut nosses, bone vir, quicumque fuisses, et notum memori me coleres animo. Vasates patria est patri, gens Haedua matri 5 de patre, Tarbellis set genetrix ab Aquis, ipse ego Burdigalae genitus : divisa per urbes quattuor antiquas stirpis origo meae. hinc late fusa est cognatio ; nomina multis ex nostra, ut placitum, ducta domo veniant : 10 derivata aliis, nobis ab stemmate primo et non cognati, sed genetiva, placent. set redeo ad seriem. genitor studuit medicinae, disciplinarum quae dedit tma deum. 1 Omitted in the MSS. AUSONIUS BOOK 1 PREFATORY PIECES I. AUSONIUS TO HIS READER, GREETING MY father was Ausonius, and I bear the same name. Who I am, and what is my rank, my family, my home, and my native land, I have written here, that you might know me, good Sir, whoever you may have been, and when you know me, might honour me with a place in your memory. Bazas l was my father's native place ; my mother was ot Aeduan 2 race on her father's side, though her mother came from Aquae Tarbellae; 3 while I my- self was born at Bordeaux : four ancient cities con- tribute to the origin of my family. Thus my connexions are widely spread : many, if so they please, may adopt names which are derived from my house. Others like names brought in from out- side ; I like such as are taken from the main line and are not names of connexions, but proper to the family. But I return to my main theme. My father practised medicine the only one of all the arts which produced a god ; 4 I gave myself up 1 In Aquitania. 2 The capital of the Aedui was at Autun. 3 Dax, in the Dep. des Landes. 4 sc. Aesculapius. 3 B 2 AUSONIUS nos ad grammaticen studium convertimus et mox 15 rhetorices etiam, quod satis, attigimus. nee fora non celebrata mihi, set cura docendi cultior, et nomen grammatici merui non tarn grande quidem, quo gloria nostra subiret Aemilium aut Scaurum Berytiumve Probum, 20 sed quo nostrates, Aquitanica nomina, multos conlatus, set non subditus, adspicerem. Exactisque dehinc per trina decennia fastis deserui doctor municipalem operam, aurea et Augusti palatia iussus adire 25 Augustam subolem grammaticus docui, mox etiam rhetor, nee enim fiducia nobis vaiia aut non solidi gloria iudicii. cedo tamen fuerint fama potiore magistri, dum nulli fuerit discipulus melior. 30 Alcides Atlantis et Aeacides Chironis, paene love iste satus, films ille lovis, Thessaliam Thebasque suos habuere penates : at meus hie toto regnat in orbe suo. cuius ego conies et quaestor et, culmeri honorum, 35 praefectus Gallis et Libyae et Latio 1 Probably Aemilius Asper, commentator on Terence and Virgil : cp. Epist. xiii. 27. 2 Q. Ter. Scaurus flourished under Hadrian, and wrote an Ars Grammatica and commentaries on Virgil, Plautus, and others. 3 M. Valerius Probus, of Beyrut, failing to win promotion, eft the army and became a grammarian. Jerome dates his PREFATORY PIECES to Grammar, and then to Rhetoric, wherein I gained sufficient skill. I frequented the Courts as well, but preferred to follow the business of teaching, and won some repute as a grammarian ; and though my renown was not of so high a degree as to approach that of Aemilius, 1 or Scaurus, 2 or Pro bus of Bey rut; 3 yet it was high enough to let me look upon the teachers of my day, men famous in Aquitaine, as their equal rather than their inferior. 23 Afterwards, when three decades with all their festivals were passed, I left my toils as a provincial teacher, receiving the command to enter the Em- peror's golden palace. There I taught the young prince Grammar, and in due time Rhetoric ; for, in- deed, I have good reason for satisfaction and my boasting rests upon firm ground. Yet I confess that there have been tutors of greater fame, so but 'tis granted that there has been to none a nobler pupil. Alcaeus' offspring was taught by Atlas, and the son of Aeacus by Chiron 4 the first Jove's own son, and the other well-nigh sprung from Jove and these had Thebes and Thessaly for their homes. But this my pupil reigns over the whole world, which is his own. He created me Companion and Quaestor, 5 and crowned my honours with the prefectship of the pro- vinces of Gaul, Libya, and Italy. 6 I became consul, 7 prime 56-57 A. D. , and calls him eruditissimus yrammaticorum. He is perhaps confused here with the later (second century) Probus, the editor of Virgil. 4 Hercules and Achilles. 8 Tn 370 and 375. On the title comes see Seeck in Pauly- Wissowa, Real-Encyclopadie, iv. : in this instance it seems to have been a purely honorary title. 6 In 378. 7 In 379. AUSONIUS et, prior indeptus fasces Latiamque curulem, consul, collega posteriore, fui. Hie ergo Ausonius : sed tu ne temne, quod ultro patronum nostris te paro carminibus. 40 II. AUSONIUS SVAGRIO PECTORIS ut nostri sedem colis, alme Syagri, communemque habitas alter ego Ausonium : sic etiam nostro praefatus habebere libro, differat ut nihilo, sit tuus anne meus. III. EPISTULA THEODOSI AUGUSTI [Theodosius Augustus Ausonio parenti salutem.J l AMOR meus qui in te est et admiratio ingenii atque eruditionis tuae, quae multo maxima sunt, fecit, parens iucundissime, ut morem principibus aliis solitum sequestrarem familiaremque sermonem autographum ad te transmitterem, postulans pro iure non equidem regio, sed illius privatae inter nos caritatis, ne fraudari me scriptorum tuorum lectione patiaris. quae olim mihi cognita et iam per tempus oblita rursum desidero, non solum ut, quae sunt nota, recolantur, sed etiam ut ea, quae fania celebri adiecta memorantur, accipiam. quae 1 Suppl. Avantiua. 6 PREFATORY PIECES too, and was given the precedence on assuming the insignia and the curule chair, so that my colleague's name stood after mine. 39 Such, then, is Ausonius : and you, on your part, do not despise me because I ask your favour for these songs of mine, without your seeking. II. AUSONIUS TO SYAGRIUS GENTLE Syagrius, 1 even as you have a home within my heart and, like another self, inhabit the Ausonius we both share, so also shall your name stand on the front page of my book, that there may be no differ- ence whether it be mine or yours. III. A LETTER OF THE EMPEROR THEODOSIUS THE Emperor Theodosius to his father Ausonius, greeting. My affection for you, and my admiration for your ability and learning, which could not possibly be higher, have caused me, my dearest father, to adopt as my own a custom followed by other princes and to send you under my own hand a friendly word asking you not in right of my kingship, but of our mutual affection for each other not to let me be cheated of a perusal of your works. Once I knew them well, but with time they have been forgotten ; and now I long for them again, not only to refresh my memory as to those which are commonly known, but also to receive those which general report de- clares that you have added to the former. As you 1 Apanius Syagrius was praetorian praefect in 380 and 382, consul in 382. He was a close friend of Symmachus. AUSONIUS tu de promptuario scriniorum tuorum, qui rne amas, libens imperties, secutus exempla auctorum opti- morum, quibus par esse meruisti : qui Octaviano Augusto rerum potienti certatim opera sua trade- bant, nullo fine in eius honorem multa condentes. qui illos haut sciam an aequaliter atque ego te admiratus sit, certe non amplius diligebat. vale parens. IV. DOMINO MEO ET OMNIUM THEODOSIO AUGUSTO AUSONIUS Tuus AGRICOLAM si flava Ceres dare semina terrae, Gradivus iubeat si capere arma ducem, solvere de portu classem Neptunus inermem : fidere tarn fas est, quam dubitare nefas. insanum quamvis hiemet mare crudaque tellus 5 seminibus, bello nee satis apta manus, nil dubites auctore bono. mortalia quaerunt consilium. certus iussa capesse dei. scribere me Augustus iubet et mea carmina poscit paene rogans : blando vis latet imperio. 10 non habeo ingenium, Caesar sed iussit : habebo. cur me posse negem, posse quod ille putat ? invalidas vires ipse excitat et iuvat idem, qui iubet : obsequium sufficit esse meum. 8 PREFATORY PIECES love me, then, consent to favour me with those treasures stored away in your desk, and so follow the example of the choicest writers, with whom you have earned an equal place. For when the Emperor Octavianus was reigning, they vied with one another in presenting him with their works, and set no limit to the number of the poems which they composed to his praise. You may be sure that though he may perhaps have admired these authors as much as I do you, he certainly did not have a greater personal affection for them. Farewell, my father. IV. To MY LORD AND THE LORD OF ALL, THEODOSIUS THE EMPEROR, FROM AUSONIUS, YOUR SERVANT IF yellow Ceres should bid the husbandman commit seed to the ground, or Mars order some general to take up arms, or Neptune command a fleet to put out to sea unrigged, then to obey confidently is as much a duty as to hesitate is the reverse. How- ever much the wintry sea may rage with storms, or the land be yet unready for the seed, or the host still untrained for war, do not hesitate with such good councillors. Behests of mortals call for delibera- tion : what a god commands perform without waver- ing. The Emperor bids me write, and asks for my verse nay, almost begs for it ; power is masked under a courteous command. I have no skill to write, but Caesar has bidden me ; well, I will have it. Why should I deny that I can do what he thinks that I can do ? He by his own influence stirs up my feeble power, and he who bids me aids me as well ; it is enough for me to obey. It is not AUSONIUS non tutum renuisse deo. laudata pudoris 15 saepe mora est, quotiens contra parem dubites. Quin etiam non iussa parant erumpere dudum carmina. quis nolit Caesaris esse liber, ne ferat indignum vatem centumque lituras, mutandas semper deteriore nota ? 20 tu modo te iussisse, pater Romane, memento inque meis culpis da tibi tu veniam. 10 PREFATORY PIECES safe to disoblige a god ; though delay due to modesty often deserves praise, when we hold back despite the entreaties of our peers. 17 Nay more, these songs of mine have long been ready to break out unbidden : and what book would not be Caesar's own in the hope to escape thereby the countless erasures of a wretched bard, always emending and emending for the worse ? Remem- ber only, father of the Romans, that you gave me the command, and where I fail you must bestow forgiveness on yourself. i r LIBER II EPHEMERIS ID EST TOTIUS DIEI NEGOTIUM MANE iam clarum reserat fenestras, iam strepit nidis vigilax hirundo : tu velut primam mediamque noctem, Parmeno, dormis. dormiunt glires hiemem perennem, sed cibo parcunt : tibi causa somni, multa quod potas nimiaque tendis 1 mole saginam. inde nee flexas sonus intrat aures et locum mentis sopor altus urget nee coruscantis oculos lacessunt fulgura lucis. annuam quondam iuveni quietem, noctis et lucis vicibus manentem, fabulae fingunt, cui Luna somnos continuant. 1 V : caedis, Peiper. 10 15 12 BOOK II THE DAILY ROUND OR THE DOINGS OF A WHOLE DAY I ALREADY bright Morn is opening her windows, already the watchful swallow twitters from her nest ; but you, Parmeno, sleep on as if it were the first or the middle watch of the night. Dormice sleep the winter round, but they leave food alone ; while you slumber on because you drink deep, and swell out your paunch with too great a mass of food. And so no sound enters the winding channels of your ears, a deep stupor presses on your consciousness, and all the dazzling beams of light do not vex your eyes. Old tales pretend that once upon a time a youth l slept on year in, year out, untroubled by the interchange of night and day, because Luna made his slumbers unending. 1 He. Endymion. 13 AUSONIUS surge, nugator, lacerande virgis : surge, ne longus tibi somnus, unde non times, detur : rape membra molli, Parmeno, lecto. 20 fors et haec somnum tibi cantilena Sapphico suadet modulata versu ? Lesbiae depelle modum quietis, acer iambe. II. PARECBASIS PUER, eia, surge et calceos et linteam da sindonem. da, quidquid est, amictui quod iam parasti, ut prodeam. da rore fontano abluam 5 manus et os et lumina. pateatque, fac, sacrarium nullo paratu extrinsecus : pia verba, vota innoxia, rei divinae copia est. 10 nee tus cremandum postulo nee liba crusti mellei, foculumque vivi caespitis vanis relinquo altaribus. Deus precandus est mihi 15 ac films summi Dei, maiestas unius modi, sociata sacro spiritu. et ecce iam vota ordior : et cogitatio numinis 20 praesentiam sentit pavens. pavetne quidquam spes, fides ? 1 1 Added in margin of V by the first hand. Some editors reject the verse as an interpolator's correction. 14 THE DAILY ROUND 17 Up with you, you waster! What a thrashing you deserve ! " Up, or a long, long sleep will come on you from where you dread it least." l Out with you, Parmeno, from your downy bed ! 21 Perchance this ditty, tuned to the Sapphic mode, encourages your sleep ? Come you then, brisk Iambus, and banish hence the restful Lesbian strain. II. THE INTERLUDE Hi, boy ! Get up ! Bring me my slippers and my tunic of lawn : bring all the clothes that you have ready now for my going out. Fetch me spring water to wash my hands and mouth and eyes. Get me the chapel opened, but with no outward display : holy words and guiltless prayers are furniture enough for worship. I do not call for incense to be burnt nor for any slice of honey-cake : hearths of green turf I leave for the altars of vain gods. I must pray to God and to the Son of God most high, that co-equal 2 Majesty united in one fellowship with the Holy Spirit. And lo, now I begin my prayers : my heart feels Heaven is near and trembles. Have faith and hope, then, anything to fear ? 1 Quoted from Horace, Odes, in. xi. 38. 2 lit. " of one extent." AUSONIUS III. ORATIO OMNIPOTENS, solo mentis mihi cognite cultu, ignorate mails et nulli ignote piorum : principio extremoque carens, antiquior aevo, quod fuit aut veniet : cuius formamque modumque nee mens conplecti poterit nee lingua profari : 5 cernere quern solus coramque audire iubentem fas habet et patriam propter considere dextram ipse opifex rerum, rebus causa ipse creandis, ipse dei verbum, verbum deus, anticipator mundi, quern facturus erat : genera tus in illo 10 tempore, quo tempus nondum fuit : editus ante quam iubar et rutilus caelum inlustraret Eous : quo sine nil actunr, per quern facta omnia i 1 cuius in caelo solium, cui subdita terra sedenti et mare et obscurae chaos insuperabile noctis : 15 inrequies, cuncta ipse movens, vegetator inert um : non genito genitore deus, qui fraude superbi offensus populi gentes in regna vocavit, stirpis adoptivae meliore propage colendus : cernere quern licuit proavis, quo numine viso 20 et patrem vidisse datum : 2 contagia nostra qui tulit 3 et diri passus ludibria leti esse iter aeternae docuit remeabile vitae : nee solam remeare animam, sed corpore toto caelestes intrare plagas et inane sepulcri 25 arcanum vacuis adopertum linquere terris. 1 cp. John i. 3. 2 cp. John xiv. 9. 3 cp. 1 Cor. xv. 3. 16 THE DAILY ROUND III. THE PRAYER ALMIGHTY One, whom through the worship of my heart alone I know, to the wicked unknown, yet known to every devout soul, thou art without be- ginning and without end, more ancient than time past and time to come : thy fashion and extent no mind can ever grasp, nor tongue express. He only may behold thee and, face to face, hear thy bidding and sit at thy fatherly right-hand who is himself the Maker of all things, himself the Cause of all created things, himself the Word of God, the Word which is God, who was before the world which he was to make, begotten at that time when Time was not yet, who came into being before the Sun's beams and the bright Morning-Star enlightened the sky. Without him was nothing made, and through him were all things made : his throne is in Heaven ; and beneath his seat lie Earth and the Sea and the invincible Chaos of darkling Night : unresting, he is the very mover of all things, the quickener of the lifeless. He is God, the begotten of the unbegotten, who being provoked by the guile of his scornful people, called the nations into his kingdom the worthier offshoots of an ingrafted stock to worship him. To our forefathers it was granted to behold him ; and whoso discerned his Godhead, to him it was given to have seen the Father also. He bare our sinful stains and suffered a death with mockery, thus teach- ing us that there is a road to lead back to eternal life, and that the soul returns not alone, but with the body complete enters the realms of Heaven and leaves the secret chamber of the grave empty, covered with earth which cannot hold it. *7 VOL. i, c AUSONIUS Nate patris summi nostroque salutifer aevo, virtutes patrias genitor cui tradidit omnes, nil ex invidia retinens plenusque datorum, pande viam precibus patriasque haec perfer ad aures. 30 Da, pater, invictam contra omnia crimina mentem vipereumque nefas nocituri averte veneni. sit satis, antiquam serpens quod prodidit Aevvam deceptumque adiunxit Adam : nos sera nepotum semina, veridicis olim praedicta prophetis, 35 vitemus laqueos, quos letifer inplicat anguis. Pande viam, quae me post vincula corporis aegri in sublime ferat, puri qua lactea caeli semitalventosae superat vaga nubila lunae, qua proceres abiere pii quaque integer olim 40 raptus quadriiugo penetrat super aera curru Elias et solido cum corpore praevius Enoch. Da, pater, aeterni speratam luminis auram, si lapides non iuro decs junumque verendi suspiciens altare sacrijlibamina vitae 45 intemerata fero : si te dominique deique unigenae cognosco patrem mixtumque duobus, qui super aequoreas volitabat spiritus undas. 1 Da, genitor, veniam cruciataque pectora purga : si te non pecudum fibris, non sanguine fuso 50 1 Genesis i. 2. 18 THE DAILY ROUND 27 Son of the all-highest Father, Bringer of salva- tion to our race, thou unto whom thy Begetter has committed all the powers of his Fatherhood, keep- ing none back in envy but giving freely, open a way for these my prayers and safely waft them to thy Father's ears. ai Grant me a heart, O Father, to hold out against all deeds of wrong, and deliver me from the Serpent's deadly venom, sin. Let it suffice that the Serpent did beguile our old mother Eve and involved Adam also in his deceit 1 : let us, their late-born progeny once foretold by sooth-speaking Prophets, escape the snares which the death-dealing Serpent weaves. 37 Prepare a road that I, being freed from the fetters of this frail body, may be led up on high, where in the clear heaven the Milky Way stretches above the wandering clouds of the wind-vexed moon that road by which the holy men of old departed from the earth; by which Elias, 2 caught up in the chariot, once made his way alive above our lower air ; and Enoch, 3 too, who went before his end without change of body. 43 Grant me, O Father, the effluence of everlasting light for which I yearn, if I swear not by gods ot stone, and, looking up to one altar of awful sacrifice alone, bring there the offering of a stainless life ; if Thee I recognize as Father of the Only-Begotten, our Lord and God, and, joined with both, the Spirit who brooded over the waters' face. 49 Grant me thy pardon, Father, and relieve my anguished breast, if I seek thee not with the bodies of slain beasts nor with blood poured forth, nor 1 1 Tim. ii. 14. 2 2 Kings ii. 11. 3 cp. Hebrews xi. 5. 19 c 2 AUSONIUS quaero nee arcanis numen coniecto sub exiis : si scelere abstineoferrori obnoxiusjet si opto magis, quam fido, bonus purusque probari. confessam dignare animam, si membra caduca execror et taciturn si paenitet altaque sensus 55 formido excruciat tormentaque sera gehennae anticipat patiturque suos mens saucia manes. 1 Da, pater, haec nostro fieri rata vota precatu. nil metuam cupiamque nihil : 2 satis hoc rear esse, quod satis est ; nil turpe velim nee causa pudoris 60 sim mihi ; non faciam cuiquam, quae tempore eodem nolim facta mihi. 3 nee vero crimine laedar nee maculer dubio : paulum distare videtur suspectus vereque reus. male posse facultas nulla sit et bene posse adsit tranquilla potestas. 65 sim tenui victu atque habitu, sim carus amicis et semper genitor sine vulnere nominis huius. non animo doleam, non corpore : cuncta suetis fungantur membra officiis : nee saucius ullis partibus amissum quidquam desideret usus. 70 pace fruar, securus again, miracula terrae nulla putem. suprema dii cum venerit hora, nee timeat mortem bene conscia vita nee optet. purus ab occultis cum te indulgente videbor, omnia despiciam, fuerit cum sola voluptas 75 indicium sperare tuum ; quod dum sua differt 1 cp. Virgil, A en. vi. 743. 2 cp. Horace, Ep. i. 16, 35. 3 cp. Matth. vii. 12. THE DAILY ROUND divine heaven's will from the secrets of their en- trails : if I, though prone to stray, hold off from wrong, and if I long, rather than trust, to be approved upright and pure. Accept a soul which makes its confession, if I abhor these my frail limbs, if I re- pent me inwardly, and if deep-seated dread racks all my nerves and foretastes the final torments ot Gehenna, and the stricken mind suffers its own ghostly doom. 68 Grant, then, O Father, that these petitions may be fulfilled as I pray. Naught let me fear, and naught desire : let me feel that to be enough which is enough ; let me seek nothing vile, nor be the cause of my own shame ; let me not do to any that which at the same time I would not have done to me. May no real crime bring me to ruin, nor sus- picion tarnish my name : small difference there seems between the real and supposed guilt. Keep thou from me the means to do ill deeds, and let me ever have the calm power to do well. Let me be moderate in food and dress, dear to my friends, and ever careful to do naught to shame the name of father. In mind and body let me be free from pain : let all my limbs perform their wonted functions, and let not crippled habit mourn the loss of any part. Let me enjoy peace and live quietly, counting as nothing all that astounds on earth. And when the hour of my last day shall come, grant that the con- science of a life well spent suffer me not to fear death, nor yet long for it. When, through thy mercy, I shall appear cleansed from my secret faults, let me despise all else, and let my one delight be to await in hope thy judgment. And if that season 21 AUSONIUS tempora cunctaturque dies, procul exige saevum insidiatorem blandis erroribus anguem. Haec pia, sed maesto trepidantia vota reatu, nate, aput aeternum placabilis adsere patrem, 80 salvator, deus ac dominus, mens A gloria, verbum, filius, ex vero verus, de lumine lumen, aeterno cum patre manens, in saecula regnans, consona quern celebrant modulati carmina David : l et responsuris ferit aera vocibus amen. 85 IV. EGRESSIO SATIS preciim datum deo, quamvis satis numquam reis fiat precatu numinis. habitum forensem da, puer. dicendum amicis est have 5 valeque, quod fit mutuum. quod cum per horas quattuor [cursum citatis sol equis] 2 - ' ' . ^U^u*-< inclinet ad meridiem, monendus est iam Sosias. V. Locus INVITATIONIS TEMPUS vocandis namque amicis adpetit ; ne nos vel illis demoremur prandium, propere per aedes curre vicinas, puer. scis ipse, qui sint : iamque dum loquor, redi. quinque advocavi ; sex enim convivium 5 cum rege iustum : si super, convicium est. abiit ; relicti nos sumus cum Sosia. 1 VP 2 : C has also the variant line "consona quern cele- brat modulate carmine plebes." 2 Suppl. Translator. 22 THE DAILY ROUND tarries and the day delays, keep far from me that fierce tempter,, the Serpent, with his false allurements. 79 These prayers of a soul devout, albeit trembling with dark sense of guilt., claim for thine own before the eternal Father, thou Son of God who mayest be entreated, Saviour, God and Lord, Mind, Glory, Word and Son, Very God of Very God, Light of Light, who remainest with the eternal Father, reign- ing throughout all ages, whose praise the harmonious songs of tuneful David echo forth, until respondent voices rend the air with ff Amen." IV. GOING OUT Now I have prayed enough to God, albeit we sinful men can never entreat Heaven enough. Boy ! Bring me my morning coat. I must exchange my " Hail " and " Farewell " with my friends. But since the sun for four full hours has urged on his steeds and now verges towards noon, I needs must speak a word with Sosias. 1 V. THE TIME FOR GIVING INVITATIONS AND now the time for inviting my friends draws on. So, that no fault of mine may make them late for lunch, hurry at your best pace, boy, to the neigh- bours' houses you know without my telling who they are and back with you before these words are done. I have invited five to lunch ; for six persons, counting the host, make the right number for a meal : if there be more, it is no meal but a melee. Ah, he is off! And I am left to deal with Sosias. 1 It being now ten o'clock and two hours to lunch-time, Ausonius remembers that he must give directions (which follow in vi. ) to his cook Sosias. 23 AUSONIUS VI. Locus ORDINANDI COQUI. SOSIA, prandendum est. quartam iam totus in horam sol calet : ad quintain flectitur umbra notam. an vegeto madeant condita opsonia gustu (fallere namque solent), experiundo pruba. con cute ferventes palmis volventibus ollas, 5 tingue celer digitos iure calente tuos, vibrant! lambat quos umida lingua recursu 1 VII. [IN NOTARIUM IN SCRIBENDO VELOCISSIMUM] PUER, notarum praepetum sellers minister, advola. bipatens pugillar expedi, cui multa fandi copia, punctis peracta singulis, 5 ut una vox absolvitur. ego volvo libros uberes instarque densae grandinis torrente lingua perstrepo : tibi nee aures ambigunt, 10 nee occupatur pagina et mota parce dextera volat per aequor cereum. cum maxime nunc proloquor circumloquentis ambitu, 15 tu sensa nostri pectoris vix dicta iam ceris tenes. sentire tarn velox mihi vellem dedisset mens mea, 1 The remainder of this poem together with much else has been lost. 24 THE DAILY ROUND VI. THE TIME FOR DIRECTING THE COOK SOSIAS, I must have lunch. The warm sun is already passed well on into his fourth hour, and on the dial the shadow is moving on towards the fifth stroke. Taste and make sure for they often play you false that the seasoned dishes are well soused and taste appetisingly. Turn your bubbling pots in your hands and shake them up : quick, dip your fingers in the hot gravy and let your moist tongue lick them as it darts in and out . . . VII.- To HIS STENOGRAPHER, A READY WRITER Hi, boy ! My secretary, skilled in dashing short- hand, make haste and come ! Open your folding tablets wherein a world of words is compassed in a few signs and finished off as it were a single phrase. I ponder works of generous scope ; and thick and fast like hail the words tumble off my tongue. And yet your ears are not at fault nor your page crowded, and your right hand, moving easily, speeds over the waxen surface of your tablet. When I declaim, as now, at greatest speed, talking in circles round my theme, you have the thoughts of my heart already set fast in wax almost before they are uttered. I would my mind had given me power to think as 25 AUSON1US quam praepetis dextrae fuga 20 tu me loquentem praevenis. Quis, quaeso, quis me prodidit ? quis ista iam dixit tibi, quae cogitabam dicere ? quae furta corde in intimo 25 exercet ales dextera ? quis ordo rerum tarn novus, veniat in aures ut tuas, quod lingua nondum absolverit ? doctrina non hoc praestitit 30 nee ulla tarn velox manus celeripedis compendii : natura munus hoc tibi deusque donum tradidit, quae loquerer, ut scires prius 35 idemque velles, quod volo. VIII [DISCUTIUNT nobis placidos portenta sopores, qualia miramur, cum saepius aethere in alto conciliant varias coetu vaga nubila formas] l quadrupedum et volucrum, vel cum terrena marinis monstra admiscentur ; donee purgantibus euris difflatae liquidum tenuentur in area nubes. iiunc fora, nunc lites, lati modo pompa theatri visitur : et turmas equitum caedesque latronum 5 perpetior : lacerat nostros fera belua vultus aut in sanguinea gladio grassamur harena. 1 Schenkl observes that a leaf containing the end of the Ephemeris and the beginning of this poem has fallen out of the archetype. The Translator's supplement (in brackets) is intended to suggest the general sense immediately preceding. 26 THE DAILY ROUND swiftly as you outstrip me when I speak, and as your dashing hand leaves my words behind. 22 Who, prithee, who is he who has betrayed me ? Who has already told you what I was but now think- ing to say ? What thefts are these that your speeding hand perpetrates in the recesses of my mind ? How come things in so strange an order that what my tongue has not yet vented comes to your ears ? No teaching ever gave you this gift, nor was ever any hand so quick at swift stenography : Nature endowed you so, and God gave you this gift to know before- hand what 1 would speak, and to intend the same that I intend. VIII [STRANGE monsters disturb our calm slumbers, like those we marvel at when, sometimes, in the high upper air the wandering clouds unite and blend to- gether the various shapes] of four-footed beasts and winged creatures ; when monstrous shapes of earth and sea are mingled in one, until the cleansing eastern winds blow the clouds to shreds and thin them out into the clear air. Now the courts pass before my eyes with suits at law, and now the spacious theatre with its shows. Here 1 endure the sight of troops of cavalry cutting down brigands : or in the bloody arena some wild beast tears my face, or I am butchered with the sword. I go afoot across the 27 AUSONIUS per mare navifragum gradior pedes et freta cursu transilio et subitis volito super aera pinnis. infandas etiam veneres incestaque noctis 10 dedecora et tragicos patimur per somnia coetus. perfugium tamen est, quotiens portenta soporum solvit rupta pudore quies et imagine foeda libera mens vigilat : totum bene conscia lectum pertractat secura manus : probrosa recedit 15 culpa tori et profugi manascunt crimina somni. cerno triumphantes inter me plaudere : rursum inter captives trahor exarmatus Alanos. templa deum sanctasque fores palatiaque aurea specto et Sarrano videor discumbere in ostro 20 et mox fumosis conviva adcumbo popinis. Divinum perhibent vatem sub frondibus ulmi vana ignavorum simulacra locasse soporum et geminas numero portas : quae fornice eburno semper fallaces glomerat super aera formas : 25 altera, quae veros emittit cornea visus. quod si de dubiis conceditur optio nobis, desse fidem laetis melius quam vana timeri. ecce ego iam malim falli ; nam, dum modo semper tristia vanescant, potius caruisse fruendis, 30 quam trepidare malis. satis est bene, si metus absit. sunt et qui fletus et gaudia controversum coniectent varioque trahant eventa relatu. 28 THE DAILY ROUND wrecking sea, bound at a stride across the straits, and flit above the air on new-found wings. Then, too, in dreams we undergo amours unspeakable, and night's foul shames, and unions which are the themes of tragedy. Yet there is escape from these when- ever shame bursts through the bonds of sleep, scat- tering the horrors of our dreams, and the mind freed from filthy fancying keeps watch. Then the hands untainted feel about the bed nor find cause for re- morse : the sinful guilt of luxury departs, and as the dream fades from us, so its stain. Now, 1 see myself applauding, one of a triumphant throng : again I am dragged through the streets a disarmed Alan prisoner of war. And now I gaze upon the temples of the gods, their sacred portals and golden palaces ; or seem to recline at a feast upon a couch of Sarran (Tyrian) purple, and presently sit feasting at the table of some steamy eating-house. 22 They say the heavenly bard l set for the empty phantoms of sluggish sleep a place beneath an elm- tree's leaves, and appointed them two gates : that which is arched with ivory ever pours forth upon the air a host of deceptive shapes : the second is of horn and sends forth visions of the truth. But if dreams of doubtful import leave us the choice, better that cheerful sights deceive us than we should fear with a cause. Look you, I would even rather be deceived ; for, if only gloomy dreams always prove void, it is better to have missed what might have been enjoyed than to tremble at ill-fortune. 'Tis well enough it only fear be far from us. Some there are also who argue their woe and weal by contraries, and who forecast results by opposite interpretation. 1 so. Virgil (Aen. vi. 282 ff.). 29 AUSONIUS Ite per oblicos caeli, mala somnia, mundos, inrequieta vagi qua difflant nubila nimbi ; 35 lunares habitate polos : quid nostra subitis limina et angusti tenebrosa cubilia tecti ? me sinite ignavas placidum traducere noctes, dum redeat roseo mihi Lucifer aureus ortu. quod si me nullis vexatum nocte figuris 40 mollis tranquillo permulserit acre somrius, hunc lucum, nostro viridis qui frondet in agro ulmeus, excubiis habitandum dedico vestris THE DAILY ROUND 34 Away, you evil dreams, through the sloping firmaments of heaven, where wandering storms scatter the still-vexed clouds ; dwell in the moon-lit skies. Why steal you in at my doors and haunt the darkling couch in my confined dwelling ? Leave me to pass night unexcited in calm repose till golden Lucifer comes back for me in the rosy east. But if soft sleep shall soothe me with his gentle breath, nor any shapes trouble my rest by night, this grove the elm which spreads its green leaves on my estate I dedicate for you to dwell in on your night watches. LIBER III [DOMESTICA] I. DE HEREDIOLO CUM de palatio post multos aimos honoratissimus, quippe iam consul, redisset ad patriam, villulam, quam pater reliquerat, introgressus his versibus lusit Luciliano stilo : Salve, herediolum, maiorum regna meorum, quod proavus, quod avus, quod pater excoluit, quod mihi iam senior properata morte reliquit : eheu nolueram tam cito posse frui ! iusta quidem series patri succedere, verum 5 esse simul dominos gratior ordo piis. mine labor et curae mea sunt ; sola ante voluptas partibus in nostris, cetera patris erant. parvum herediolum, fateor, set nulla fuit res parva umquam aequanimis, adde etiam unanimis. 1 ex animo rem stare aequum puto, non animum ex re. cuncta cupit Croesus, Diogenes nihilum : 1 Of Gyrene, a disciple of Socrates. For the anecdote here related cp. Horace, Sat. n. iii. 100. BOOK III PERSONAL POEMS I. QN HIS LITTLE PATRIMONY WHEN the author had left the court after many years' enjoyment of the highest distinctions, having even become consul, he returned to his native place and settled down in the little property which his father had left him. Thereupon he wrote the following playful verses in the manner of Lucilius : Hail, little patrimony, the realm of my forebears, which my great-grandfather, which my grandfather, which my father tended so carefully, which the last- named left to me when he died all too soon, albeit in a ripe old age. Ah me ! I had not wished to be able to possess you so early. 'Tis indeed the natural order when the son succeeds the father ; but where there is affection, it is a more pleasing course for both to reign together. Now all the toil and trouble falls on me : of old the pleasure only was my share, the rest was all my father's. It is a tiny patri- mony, I allow ; but never yet did property seem small to those whose souls are balanced, nay more, whose souls are one. Upon the soul it is my balanced judgment wealth depends, and not a man's soul upon his wealth. A Croesus desires every- thing, a Diogenes, nothing ; an Aristippus l strews 33 VOL. I. D AUSONIUS spargit Aristippus mediis in Syrtibus aurum, aurea non satis est Lydia tota Midae. cui nullus finis cupiendi, est nullus habendi : 1 5 ille opibus modus est, quern statuas ammo. Verum ager iste meus quantus sit, nosce, etiam ut me noveris et noris te quoque, si potis es. quamquam difficile est se noscere ; yi/u>0i treavrov quam propere legimus, tarn cito neclegimus. " 20 agri bis centum colo iugera, vinea centum iugeribus colitur prataque dimidio, silva supra duplum, quam prata et vinea et arvum ; cultor agri nobis nee superest nee abest. fons propter puteusque brevis, turn purus et amnis ; 25 naviger hie refluus me vehit ac revehit. conduntur fructus geminum mihi semper in annum. cui non longa penus, huic quoque prompta fames. Haec mihi nee procul urbe sita est, nee prorsus ad urbem, ne patiar turbas utque bonis potiar. 30 et quotiens mutare locum fastidia cogunt, transeo et alternis rure vel urbe fruor. II. VERSUS PASCHALES PRO AUGUSTO DICTI SANCTA salutiferi redeunt sollemnia Christ! et devota pii celebrant ieiunia mystae. at nos aeternum cohibentes pectore cultum intemeratorum vim continuamus honorum. annua cura sacris, iugis reverentia nobis. 34 PERSONAL POEMS his gold abroad in the midst of the Syrtes, all Lydia turned to gold cannot content a Midas. The man who sets no bounds to his greed, sets none to his possessions : that is the limit to wealth, which you decree in your own soul. 17 But now you must know of what size is this estate of mine, that you may also know me and know yourself too, if you are capable. And yet how difficult this is, to know oneself ! KNOW THYSELF: as hastily as we read that motto, so quickly we forget it. I keep in tillage two hundred acres : a hundred more are grown with vines, and half as much is pasture. My woodland is more than tw r ice as much as my pasture, vineyard and tilth together : of husbandmen I have neither too many nor too few. A spring is near my house and a small well, besides the unsullied river, which on its tides bears me by boat from home and back again. I have always fruits in store to last me two whole years : who has short victual by him, he too has famine at hand. 1 29 This my estate lies not far from the town, nor yet hard by the town, to rid me of its crowds while reaping its advantages. And so, whenever satiety moves me to change my seat, I pass from one to the other, and enjoy country and town by turns. II. EASTER VERSES COMPOSED FOR THE EMPEROR Now return the holy rites of Christ, who brought us our salvation, and godly zealots keep their solemn fasts. But we, guarding within our hearts an unend- ing worship, maintain without a break the strength of an inviolate homage : rites are observed once a year ; but our devotion is continual. 1 cp. Hesiod, W. and D. 31; 363. 35 D 2 AUSONIUS Magne pater rerum, cui terra et pontus et aer Tartaraque et picti servit plaga lactea caeli, noxia quern scelerum plebis tremit almaque russum concelebrat votis animarum turba piarum : tu brevis hunc aevi cursum celeremque caducae 10 finem animae donas aeternae munere vitae. 1 tu mites legum monitus sacrosque prophetas humano impertis generi servasque nepotes, deceptum miseratus Adam, quern capta venenis implicuit socium blandis erroribus Aevva. 2 15 tu verbum, pater alme, tuum, natumque deumque, concedis terris totum similemque paremque, ex vero verum vivaque ab origine vivum. ille tuis doctus monitis hoc addidit unum, ut, super aequoreas nabat qui spiritus undas, 8 20 pigra inmortali vegetaret membra lavacro. trina fides auctore uno, spes certa salutis [da veniam et praesta speratae munera vitae 4 ] hunc numerum iunctis virtutibus amplectenti. Tale et terrenis specimen spectatur in oris Augustus genitor, geminum sator Augustorum, 25 qui fratrem natumque pio conplexus utrumque numine partitur regnum neque dividit unum, omnia solus habens atque omnia dilargitus. hos igitur nobis trina pietate vigentes, 1 cp. Romans viii. 18. 2 cp. 1 Timothy ii. 14. a cp. Genesis L 2. 4 A line such as is here supplied appears to have dropped out of the text. 36 PERSONAL POEMS 6 O mighty Father of all things ; to whom are subject earth, sea, and air, and hell, and all the expanse of heaven emblazoned with the Milky Way ; before thee tremble the folk guilty of offences, and contrariwise the blameless company of righteous souls extols thee with prayer and praise. Thou dost reward our course through these few years and the swift close of our frail being with the prize of ever- lasting life. Thou dost bestow upon mankind the gentle warnings of the Law together with the holy Prophets ; and, as thou didst pity Adam when be- guiled by Eve, on whom the poison seized so that she drew him by her smooth enticements to be the fellow of her transgression, so thou dost keep us, their progeny. Thou, gracious Father, grantest to the world thy Word, who is thy Son, and God, in all things like thee and equal with thee, very God of very God, and living God of the source of life. He, guided by thy behests, added this one gift alone, causing that Spirit which once moved over the face of the deep to quicken our dull members with the cleansing waters of eternal life. Object of our faith, Three, yet One in source, sure hope of our salvation ! Grant pardon and bestow on me the gift of life for which I yearn, if I embrace this diversity of Persons united in their powers. 24 Even on this earth below we behold an image of this mystery, where is the Emperor, the father, begetter of twin Emperors, who in his sacred majesty embraces his brother and his son, sharing one realm with them, yet not dividing it, alone holding all though he has all distributed. These, then, we pray, who, though three, nourish as one in natural 37 AUSONIUS rectores terrae placidos caelique ministros, 30 Christe, aput aeternum placabilis adsere patrem. III. ORATIO CONSULIS AUSONII VERSIBUS RHOPALICIS l SPES, DEUS, AETERNAE STATIONIS CONCILIATOR I si castis precibus veniales invigilamus, his, pater, bratis placabilis adstipulare. Da, Christe, specimen cognoscier inreprehensum, rex bone, cultorum famulantum vivificator. 5 cum patre maiestas altissima, non generate. 2 Da trinum columen paraclito consociante, ut longum Celebris devotio continuetur : ad temet properant vigilatum convenienter. Nox lucem revehet funalibus anteferendam, 10 nox lumen pariens credentibus indubitatum, nox flammis operum meditatrix sidereorum. Tu mensis dirimis ieiunia relligiosa, tu bona promittens surgentia concelebraris : da, rector, modicos efFarier omnipotentem. 15 Fons tuus emundat recreatu iustificatos, dans mentem oblitam positorum flagitiorum, dans agnos niveos splendescere purificatos. Lux verbo inducta, 3 peccantibus auxiliatrix, 21 ut nova lordanis ablutio, sanctificavit, 19 1 Scaliger and most edd. reject this as a work of Ausonius. 2 Heinsim, Schenkl : ingenerato, V, Peiper. 3 St. John i. 4 ff. PERSONAL POEMS ties, these mild rulers of the earth and instruments of Heaven, claim them for thine own in presence of thine eternal Father, O Christ most merciful. III. A PRAYER OF AUSONIUS THE CONSUL IN RHOPALic 1 VERSE GOD, our hope, who dost provide for us an end- less home ; if we by holy prayer and vigil win thy pardon> then, Father, in thy mercy grant us our petitions. Grant us, O Christ, to know thy faultless pattern, O gracious King, thou quickeiier of thy servants who adore thee thou, who with the Father, the Unbegotten, art one Majesty most high. Grant through the fellowship of the Comforter a triple stay to aid us, that throngs of worshippers may ceaselessly prolong thy praise : to thee it is they haste fitly to keep vigil. Night shall bring back a light far beyond any taper's ray ; night which sends forth a beam in which believers put their trust ; night which broods o'er the tasks of the fiery stars. Thou at thy table endest our solemn fasts ; thou, who dost promise still increasing blessings, art praised by all with one accord : O thou, our Ruler, give us poor worthless mortals power to express the greatness of the Almighty. 16 Thy fount cleanseth the sinner made justified by new creation : it bringeth the heart forgetful- ness of sins now laid aside : it causeth thy cleansed lambs to shine white as the snow. The light, brought in by the Word, the sinner's stay, even as a new washing clean in Jordan, hath sanctified them, 1 Rhopalic ("clublike") verse is that in which the first word is a monosyllable, the second a disyllabic, the third a trisyllable, and so on. 39 AUSONIUS cum sua dignati tinguentia promeruerunt. 20 Et Christus regimen elementis inrequietis fert undam medici baptismatis intemerati, ut noxam auferret mortalibus extenuatam. Crux poenae extremum properata inmaculato, 25 ut vitam amissam renovaret mortificatus, tot rerum titulis obnoxius immodicarum. 28 Quis digne domino praeconia continuabit ? 27 an terra humano locupletat commemoratu, 29 quern vocum resonant modulatus angelicarum ? 30 Dans aulam Stephano pretiosam dilapidate, dans claves superas cathedrali incohatori, quin Paulum infestum copulasti adglomeratu. Fit doctor populi lapidantum constimulator, ut latro confessor paradisum participavit, 35 sic, credo, adnectens dirissima clarificandis. Nos seros famulos adcrescere perpetieris sub tali edoctos antistite relligionis ; da sensum solida stabilitum credulitate. Fac iungar numero redivivo glorificatus, 40 ad caelum invitans consortia terrigenarum, SPES, DEUS, AETERNAE STATIONIS CONCILIATOR ! IV. EPICEDION IN PATREM POST deum semper patrem colui secundamque re- verentiam genitori meo debui. sequitur ergo hanc summi dei venerationem epicedion patris mei. titulus 40 PERSONAL POEMS when by their merits they are grown worthy of its blessed unction. And Christ, who ruled the restless elements, bringeth the healing waters of stainless baptism to minish and take away the guilt of men. The Sinless One was hurried to the cross of direst penalty, that by his death he might renew the life we forfeited, himself the theme of praise for all his matchless deeds. Who can worthily express the praises of the Lord ? Can earth with its human tongues enrich his renown which tuneful choirs of angels echo forth above ? Thou didst open thy splendid palace for Stephen stoned, thou didst give the keys of heaven to that first founder of the Apos- tolic Throne : much more, thou didst add Paul the persecutor to thy flock. He who urged on the men who stoned Stephen, became a teacher of the people/ as the thief who confessed thee received a place in Paradise, so, methinks, following up his heinous deeds with acts worthy of renown. Thou wilt suffer us thy servants of these latter days to grow in grace, led by the teaching of that great prelate of our creed : give us an heart established with firm faith. Grant that I, being glorified, may join the company of them that live again, when thou shalt call the fellowship of earth-born men to Heaven, O God, our hope, who dost provide for us an endless home ! IV. AN ELEGY UPON HIS FATHER I ALWAYS revered my father next to God, and felt that I owed my parent the second place after Him in my veneration. And so this hymn of worship to God most high is followed by an epicedion upon my 41 AUSONIUS a Graecis auctoribus defunctorum honori dicatus, non ambitiosus, sed religiosus : quern commendo lec- tori meo, sive is filius est seu pater sive utrumque. neque, ut laudet, exigo ; set, ut amet, postulo. ne- que vero nunc patrem meum laudo, quod ille non eget et ego functum oblectatione viventium onerare non debeo. neque dico nisi quod agnoscunt, qui parti aetatis eius interfuerunt. falsum me autem morte [eius] obita dicere et verum tacere eiusdem piaculi existimo. imagini ipsius hi versus subscript! sunt neque minus in opusculorum meorum seriem relati. alia omnia mea displicent mihi ; hoc relegisse amo. Nomen ego Ausonius, non ultimus arte medendi et, mea si nosses tempora, primus eram. vicinas urbes colui patriaque domoque, Vasates patria, sed lare Burdigalam. curia me duplex et uterque senatus habebat 5 muneris exsortem, nomine participem. non opulens nee egens, parcus sine sordibus egi : victum, habitum, mores semper eadem habui. sermone inpromptus Latio, verum Attica lingua suffecit culti vocibus eloquii. 10 optuli opem cunctis poscentibus artis inemptae officiumque meum cum pietate fuit. 42 PERSONAL POEMS father. It is a title consecrated by Greek writers to the honour of the departed, and is expressive not of vanity but of devotion. And this poem I commend to my reader, be he son, or father,, or both. I do not demand that he should praise it, but I do ask him to love it. And indeed I do not here sing the praises of my father ; for he needs no praise, and I have no right to burden the dead with the entertainment of the living. Furthermore, I say nothing more of him than what those who were to some degree his contemporaries recognize as fact. For me to say what is untrue about him because he is dead, and to disguise what is true, I consider to be equally heinous. These verses were written under his por- trait, and likewise entered in the collection of my works. I am dissatisfied with all else of mine ; but this poem I love to read over and over again. My name was Ausonius, of no mean repute in the art of healing; nay, if you but knew my age, I was the foremost. I was born and had my dwelling in two neighbouring towns ; Bazas was my birthplace, but Bordeaux was my home. I was a senator in the council 1 of both towns, although 1 filled no office and my rank was honorary. Not wealthy nor yet needy, I lived thriftily yet not meanly : as to my table, dress, and habits, I have always followed the same way. For Latin I never had a ready tongue ; but the speech of Athens supplied my need with words of choice eloquence. To all who asked I brought the aid of my art with- out fee, and pity bare a large share in my work. 1 Every municipium had a senate of one hundred members (decuriones) who met in a council- chamber called curia. 43 AUSONIUS iudicium de me studui praestare bonorum : ipse mihi numquam, iudice me, placui. officia in multos diverse debita cultu 15 personis, meritis, tempore distribui. litibus abstinui : non auxi, non minui rem ; indice me nullus, set neque teste, peril, invidi numquam ; cupere atque ambire refugi ; iurare aut falsum dicere par habui. 20 factio me sibi non, non coniuratio iunxit : sincero colui foedere amicitias. felicem scivi non qui, quod vellet, haberet, set qui per fatum non data non cuperet. non occursator, non garrulus, obvia cernens, 25 valvis et velo condita non adii. famam, quae posset vitam lacerare bonorum, non finxi et, veram si scierim, tacui. ira procul, spes vana procul, procul anxia cura inque bonis hominum gaudia falsa procul. 30 vitati coetus eiuratique tumultus et semper fictae principum amicitiae. deliquisse nihil numquam laudem esse putavi atque bonos mores legibus antetuli. irasci promptus properavi condere motum 35 atque mihi poenas pro levitate dedi. coniugium per lustra novem sine crimine concors unum habui : gnatos quattuor edidimus. prima obiit lactans ; at qui fuit ultimus aevi, - pubertate rudi non rudis interiit. 40 44 PERSONAL POEMS I strove to fulfil the judgment good men formed of me ; I myself was a judge who never satisfied myself. Upon many I bestowed such acts of kind- ness as their various walks in life, persons, de- serts, or the occasion demanded. I kept clear of lawsuits, and neither increased nor lessened my estate : none ever died accused by me, or even on my testimony. I envied none ; greed and self- seeking I shunned : false-speaking I abhorred as deeply as perjury. Parties and cabals never found an ally in me, and I honoured loyally the bond of friendship. I saw full well that he is not the happy man who has all that he would, but he who does not long for what fate has not given. No busybody, no tattler, seeing only what was before my eyes, I did not intrude upon what door or curtains screened. I dished up no scandal to wound the life of worthy men ; or if I knew such to be true, I held my tongue. Anger, and idle hopes, and carking cares all these were far from me, as were all hollow joys in what men count as goods. Meetings I shunned, and riots I forswore along with the ever-false friendships of the great. I never held it to my credit that I transgressed in naught, ever regarding good habits above mere laws. Being quick of temper, I made haste 'to crush this impulse, and did violence to myself to maintain an unruffled soul. For nine full lustres (forty-five years) I lived without reproach as with- out quarrel with one wife ; and of our union four children were born. The eldest girl died in in- fancy ; but our youngest boy died e'er he ripened into boyhood, though not unripe in parts. Our elder 45 AUSONIUS maximus ad summum columen pervenit honorum, praefectus Gallis et Libyae et Latio, tranquillus, clemens, oculis, voce, ore serenus, in genitore suo mente animoque puer. huius ego et natum et generum pro consule vidi ; 45 consul lit ipse foret, spes mihi certa fuit. matronale decus possedit filia, cuius egregia et nuptae laus erat et viduae, quae nati generique et progeneri simul omnium multiplici inlustres vidit honore domos. 50 ipse nee adfectans nee detrectator honorum praefectus magni nuncupor Illyrici. haec me fortunae larga iiidulgentia suasit numine adorato vitae obitum petere, ne fortunatae spatium inviolabile vitae 55 fatali morsu stringeret ulla dies, optima auditaeque preces : spem, vota, timorem sopitus placido fine relinquo aliis. inter maerentes, sed non ego maestus, amicos dispositis iacui funeris arbitriis. 60 iionaginta annos baculo sine, corpore toto exegi, cunctis integer officiis. haec quicumque leges, non aspernabere fari : talis vita tibi, qualia vota mihi. 1 Ausonius himself was properly prefect of the Gatils (in 378) ; but his prefecture was combined with that held by Hesperius (of Italy, Illyricum, and Africa). 46 PERSONAL POEMS son rose to the highest pinnacle of dignity,, as prefect of all Gaul, Libya, and Latium, 1 calm and kindly, gentle of glance and speech and mien, in bearing towards his father he was still a boy in mind and heart. I lived to see his son and son-in-law pro- consuls, 2 and my hope was always sure that he himself would be consul. My daughter enjoyed the pride of the wedded state, and won the highest praise both as wife and widow. She lived to see her son, her son-in-law, and her granddaughter's husband all bring glory to their house in titles manifold. And I, although I neither angled for distinctions nor affected to disdain them, bore the title of prefect of the great Illyricum. Such lavish kindness on fortune's part moved me to praise my God, and pray that my life might end before any day with fell tooth should fret the unmarred span of so fortunate a life. My prayers were heard and my request was granted : now 1 am fallen asleep after a peaceful end, and leave to others hopes, and prayers, and fears. And so, after the allowances 3 for my funeral had been allotted, I lay amid grieving friends, myself not grieving. Ninety years I lived, without a staff, my body whole and unfailing in all its functions. Whoe'er you are who shall read these lines, you will not scorn to say : " Your life was such as I pray mine may be." 2 sc. Hesperius and Thalassius, proconsuls of Africa. 3 Arbitria (cp. Cic. deDomo sua, 37) were so called because their amount was adjudged (arbitrabantur) in accordance with the means and rank of the deceased : see Justinian, Dig. xi. vii. 12, 5, 6. 47 AUSON1US V. PRECATIO CONSULIS DESIGNATI PRIDIE KALENDAS IANUARIAS FASCIBUS SUMPTIS IANE, VENI : NOVUS ANNE, VENI : RENOVATE VENI, SOL. ****** consults Ausonii Latiam visure curulem. ecquid ab Augusta nunc maiestate secundum 5 quod mireris, habes ? Roma ilia domusque Quirini et toga purpurei rutilans praetexta senati hoc apice aeternis signat sua tempora fastis. [IANE, VENI : NOVUS ANNE, VENI : RENOVATE VENI, soL.] 1 Anne, bonis coepte auspiciis, da vere salubri 10 apricas ventorum animas, da roscida Cancro solstitia et gelidum Boream Septembribus horis. mordeat autumnis frigus subtile pruinis et tenuata moris cesset mediocribus aestas. sementem Notus umificet, sit bruma nivalis, 15 dum pater antiqui renovatur Martius anni. [!ANE, VENI : NOVUS ANNE, VENI : RENOVATE VENI, SOL.] Spiret odorato florum nova gratia Maio, lulius et segetes coquat et mare temperet Euris, Sirius ardentem non augeat igne Leonem, 20 discolor arboreos variet Pomona sapores, 1 Suppl. Ptiper. 1 See Pliny, N.H. xv. 3, 4. In the earliest times, the Roman year began in March, and there were only ten months (December being the last) : the addition of two new 48 PERSONAL POEMS V. A SOLEMN PRAYER OF AUSONIUS AS CONSUL-DESIG- NATE, WHEN HE ASSUMED THE INSIGNIA OF OFFICE ON THE EVE OF THE KALENDS OF JANUARY Come, Janus ; come, New Year ; come, Sun, with strength renewed ! * ***** ****** soon to behold Ausonius enthroned in state, consul of Rome. What hast thou now beneath the Imperial dignity itself to marvel at ? That famous Rome, that dwelling of Quirinus, and that Senate whose bordered robes glow with rich purple, from this point date their seasons in their deathless records. Come, Janus ; come, Netv Year ; come, Sun, with strength renewed ! 10 Year, that beginnest with good augury, give us in healthful Spring winds of sunny breath ; when the Crab shows at the solstice, give us dews, and allay the hours of September with a cool north wind. Let shrewdly-biting frosts lead in Autumn and let Sum- mer wane and yield her place by slow degrees. Let the south winds moisten the seed corn, and Winter reign with all her snows until March, father of the old-style year, 1 come back anew. Come, Janus; come, New Year; come, Sun, with strength renewed ! 18 Let May come back with new grace and fragrant breath of flowers, let July ripen crops and give the sea respite from eastern winds, let Sirius' flames not swell the heat of Leo's rage, let party-hued Pomona bring on array of luscious fruits, let Autumn months (January and February) was traditionally ascribed to Numa. 49 VOL. I. E AUSONIUS mitiget autumnus, quod maturaverit aestas, et genialis hiems parta sibi dote fruatur. pacem mundus agat nee turbida sidera regnent. [!ANE, VENI : NOVUS ANNE, VENI : RENOVATE VENI, SOL.] Nulla tuos, Gradive, ofFendat stella penates, 26 quae non aequa tibi ; non Cynthia, non celer Areas finitimus terris ; non tu, Saturne, supremo ultime circuitu : procul a Pyroeiite remotus tranquillum properabis iter. vos comminus ite, 30 stella salutigeri lovis et Cythereie Vesper : non umquam hospitibus facilis Cyllenius absit. IANE, VENI : NOVUS ANNE, VENI : RENOVATE VENI, SOL. Hostibus edomitis, qua Francia mixta Suebis certat ad obsequium, Latiis ut militet armis, 35 qua vaga Sauromates sibi iunxerat agmina Chuni, quaque Getes sociis Histrum adsultabat Alanis (hoc mihi praepetibus victoria nuntiat alis) : iam venit Augustus, nostros ut comat honores, officio exornans, quos participare cupisset. 40 IANE, VENI : NOVUS ANNE, VENI : RENOVATE VENI, SOL. Aurea venture, Sol, porrige gaudia lano : fascibus Ausonii succedet Caesar in annum, 1 Of the stars mentioned in 11. 26-32 Cynthia is the Moon, Areas or Arctophylax (son of Jove and Callisto) is the Bear Warden, the "Fiery Planet " is Mars, and "Cytherean Vesper" is Venus as the Evening Star. The " Cyllenian" is Mercury, reputed to take on the influence of whatever star happens to be in his "house." 2 Ausonius is the only authority for Gratian's exploits in 378 after the defeat of the Alemanni at Argentaria (Colmar 5 PERSONAL POEMS mellow what Summer has matured, and let jolly Winter enjoy his portion due. Let the world live at peace, and no stars of trouble hold sway. Come, Janus; come, New Year; come, Sun, with strength renewed ! 26 Gradivus, let no star but such as favours thee invade thy house not Cynthia, nor swift Areas nearest to the earth, nor thou, O Saturn, moving remote in thy distant orbit : far from the Fiery Planet thou shalt move on thy peaceful course. Ye in conjunction move, star of health-bringing Jove, and Cythereaii Vesper, nor ever let the Cyllenian, 1 so complaisant to his guests, tarry far off. Come, Janus; come, New Year; come, Sun, with strength renewed! 34 All foes now vanquished 2 (where the mixed Prankish and Swabian hordes vie in submission, seeking to serve in our Roman armies ; and where the wandering bands of Huns had made alliance with the Sarmatian ; and where the Getae with their Alan friends used to attack the Danube for Victory borne on swift wings gives me the news of this), lo now the Emperor comes to grace my dignity, and with his favour crowns the distinction which he would fain have shared. Come, Janus; come, New Year; come, Sun, with strength renewed ! 42 Offer thy golden joys, O Sun, to Janus, soon to come. A year, and Caesar shall succeed to the insignia of Ausonius, and wear for the fifth time the in Alsace). In the Gratiarum Actio (ch. ii.) Gratian is credited with having restored peace along the frontiers of the Rhine and the Danube in a single year. The reference to a message here supposed to be brought by Victory is probably anticipatory. 5' E 2 AUSONIUS quintam Romulei praetextam habiturus honoris, ecce ubi se cumulat mea purpura (mitibus audi 45 auribus hoc, Nemesis) post me dignatur oriri Augustus consul, plus quam conferre videtur me sibi, qui iussit nostros praecedere fasces. IANE, VENI : NOVUS ANNE, VENI : RENOVATE VENI, SOL. Tu tropicum soli da l cedere, rursus et ilium 50 terga dare, ut duplex tropico varietur ab astro et quater a ternis properet mutatio signis. aestivos inpelle dies brumamque morantem noctibus adceleret promissus Caesaris annus. ilium ego si cernam, turn terque quaterque beatus, 55 tune ero bis consul, tune tangam vertice caelum. VI. ITEM PRECATIO KAL. IANUARIIS ANNE, bonis coepte auspiciis, felicia cernis consults Ausonii primordia : prome coruscum, Sol aeterne, caput solitoque inlustrior almo lumine purpureum iubar exere lucis eoae. anne, pater rerum, quas lani mense bifrontis 5 volvis in hibernum glaciali fine Decembrem, alme, veni et festum veteri novus adice lanum. 7 coge secuturos bis sena per ostia menses ; 2 7a 1 Scaliger : solido da, V, Peiper. 2 Transferred to this place by Peiper : in the MS. ( F) this verse follows 1. 49 in the preceding poem. 52 PERSONAL POEMS robe that distinguishes the Roman consul. Lo, how my honours are increased (hear this, O Nemesis, with an indulgent ear) : Augustus deigns to appear as consul after me. It is as though he did more than rank me with himself now he has bidden me to bear the insignia before himself. Come, Janus; come, New Year; come, Sun, with strength renewed! 50 Cause the one Tropic to give place to the Sun and again, make that other flee ; that twice he (the Sun) may move through his changes from the Tropic Star and four times hasten to pass on from the three grouped Signs. 1 Urge on the summer days, and let Caesar's promised year speed the winter with its laggard nights. If I behold that year, then shall I be thrice, nay four times blessed ; then shall I be doubly consul, then my head shall touch heaven itself. VI. ANOTHER PRAYER FOR THE FIRST OF JANUARY YEAR, that beginnest with good augury, thou dost behold the opening of Ausonius' consulship. Show forth thy fiery head, eternal Sun, and shine more brilliantly than is thy wont, spreading a glowing beam of light from out the East. O Year, who art the father of all those things which thou dost roll onward from the month of twy-faced Janus to wintry December's icy close, come, gracious New Year, and on the heels of the Old Year bring in merry January. Drive through thy gates the twelve months 1 A close rendering seems impossible. The two Tropics (of Cancer and Capricorn) are to be quickly passed (cedere . . . terga dare), that the Sun may run his due course be- tween the two Tropic Stars and the four groups (of three Signs each) which mark the seasons, and so bring the } r ear to a^close. 53 AUSONIUS sollemnes pervade vias bissenaque mundo 8 curricula aequatis varians per tempora signis praecipitem aeterna perfer vertigine cursum, 10 sic prono raptate polo, contraria Phoebus ut momenta ferat servata parte dierum et novus hiberno reparet sua lumina pulsu. menstrua ter decies redeunt dum cornua lunae, exortus obitusque manu volvente rotabis, 15 legitimum Phoebi cohibens per signa meatum. 54 PERSONAL POEMS that are to follow. Move on along the accustomed ways, and as thou changest season by season the courses of the twelve even-moving Signs in heaven, bear them along in headlong career with unceasing revolutions, thyself so carried onwards by the steep- sloping heaven, that Phoebus may begin to reverse his motions ere all your days are spent, 1 and through winter's impulse may restore his fires anew. While thrice ten times the horned moon returns new born, thy hand shall bring round in succession dawn and eve, still keeping Phoebus to his ordained course amid the signs of heaven. 1 i.e. the days which intervene between the winter solstice (when the Sun begins to "reverse his motions") and the actual end of the year. 55 LIBER IV PARENTALIA PRAEFATIO IN PROSA Scio versiculis meis evenire, ut fastidiose legantur : quippe sic meritum est eorum. sed quosdam solet commendare materia et aliquotiens fortasse lectorem solum lemma sollicitat tituli, ut festivitate persuasus et ineptiam ferre contentus sit. hoc opusculum nee materia amoenum est nee appellatione iucundum. habet maestam religionem, qua carorum meorum obitus tristi adfectione commemoro. titulus libelli est Parentalia. antiquae appellationis hie dies et iam inde ab Numa cognatorum inferiis institutus : nee quidquam sanctius habet reverentia superstitum, quam ut amissos venerabiliter recordetur. ITEM PRAEFATIO VERSIBUS ADNOTATA NOMINA carorum iam condita funere iusto, fleta prius lacrimis, nunc memorabo modis, BOOK IV PARENTALIA 1 PREFACE IN PROSE 1 KNOW that it is the fate of my poor poems to be read with a feeling of weariness : that is indeed what they deserve. But some are recommended by their subject-matter ; and at times, perhaps, the explana- tory heading alone so attracts the reader that, allured by its gaiety, he cheerfully puts up with its insipid- ness. This little volume is neither cheerful as regards its subject, nor attractive in title. It is endued with that mournful affection with which I commemorate in sorrowing love the loss of my dear ones. The book is headed Parentalia, after the solemn day 2 so called in ancient times, being indeed appointed so long ago as the times of Numa for offerings to departed re- latives. The loving respect of the living has, indeed, no more sacred office it can perform than to call to mind with due reverence those who are lost to us. A SECOND PREFACE CAST IN VERSE NAMES of my dear ones long honourably buried names that were once mourned with tears shall now be recalled in verse. What though it leave 1 This title is explained in the Preface. 2 See Ovid, Fasti, ii. 533 ff. 57 AUSONIUS nuda, sine ornatu fandique carentia cultu : sufficit inferiis exequialis hones, nenia, funereis satis officiosa querellis, 5 annua ne tacitis munera praetereas, quae Nuraa cognatis sollemnia dedicat umbris, ut gradus aut mortis postulat aut generis, hoc satis est tumulis, satis est telluris egenis : voce ciere animas funeris instar habet. 10 gaudeiit conpositi cineres sua nomina dici : frontibus hoc scriptis et monumenta iubent. ille etiam, maesti cui defuit urna sepulcri, nomine ter dicto paene sepultus erit. at tu, quicumque es, lector, qui fata meorum 15 dignaris maestis conmemorare elegis, inconcussa tuae percurras tempora vitae et praeter iustum funera nulla fleas. I. IULIUS AUSONIUS PATER PRIMUS in his pater Ausonius, quern ponere primum, etsi cunctetur films, ordo iubet. cura dei, placidae functus quod honore senectae undecies binas vixit Olympiadas. omnia, quae voluit, qui prospera vidit : eidem, 5 optavit quidquid, contigit, ut voluit. non quia fatorum nimia indulgentia, sed quod tarn moderata illi vota fuere viro. 1 i.e. the tribute paid by calling upon the name of the dead : cp. Vergil, Aen. iii. 68, vi. 507. 58 PARENTALIA them bare, undecked, and unadorned with well polished phrase? The funereal tribute 1 is offering enough to the departed. O Dirge, so ready to do service with plaints for the dead, forget not thy yearly tribute to these silent ones -that tribute which Numa ordained should be offered year by year to the shades of our relatives, according as the nearness of their death or kinship demands. 2 For the buried, as for those who lack earth to cover them, one rite suffices : to call on the soul by name counts for the full ceremony. Our dead ones laid to rest rejoice to hear their names : and thus even the lettered stones above their graves would have us do. Even he who lacks the sad urn of burial will be well-nigh as though interred, if his name be uttered thrice. But you, my reader, whosoe'er you be, who deign to recall in these sad plaints the deaths of those I loved, may you pass your span of life without a shock, and never have to mourn a death save in the course of nature. I. JULIUS AUSONIUS, MY FATHER FIRST among these I name Ausonius my father ; and even if his son should hesitate to place him first, yet natural order will have it so. He was God's special care, seeing that he enjoyed the glory of a calm old age, and lived through twice eleven Olympiads. All that he wished for, he saw ful- filled : likewise whate'er he desired befell him as he wished. It was not that Fate was more kind to him than is her wont, but that this worthy man was so reasonable in all his hopes. His own age matched 2 i.e. a remote relative lately dead must be commemorated. 59 AUSONIUS quern sua contendit septem sapientibus aetas, quorum doctrinam moribus excoluit, 10 viveret ut potius quam diceret, arte sophorum, quamquam et facundo non rudis ingenio. praeditus et vitas hominum ratione medendi porrigere et fatis amplificare moras. inde et perfunctae manet haec reverentia vitae, 15 aetas nostra illi quod dedit hunc titulum : ut nullum Ausonius, quern sectaretur, habebat, sic nullum, qui se nunc imitetur, habet. II. AEMILIA AEONIA MATER PROXIMA tu, genetrix Aeonia, sanguine mixto Tarbellae matris patris et Haeduici. morigerae uxoris virtus cui contigit omnis, fama pudicitiae lanificaeque manus coniugiique fides et natos cura regendi 5 et gravitas comis laetaque serietas. aeternum placidos manes conplexa mariti, viva torum quondam, functa fove tumulum. III. AEMILIUS MAGNUS ARBORIUS AVUNCULUS CULTA mihi est pietas patre primum et matre vocatis, dici set refugit tertius Arborius, quern primum memorare nefas mihi patre secundo, rursum non primum ponere paene nefas. temperies adhibenda,, [et proximus ille vocandus l ] 5 ante alios, quamquam patre secundus erit. 1 Suppl. Translator. 60 PARENTALIA him with the Seven Sages, whose teaching he so closely practised in his life as to live by the rule ot wisdom rather than profess it, albeit he was not unskilled nor lacking in the gift of eloquence. To him was given the power to prolong men's lives by means of medicine, and make the Fates wait their full time. Wherefore, though his life's task is ended, so great a reverence for him lingers yet that our own age has given him this epitaph : " Even as Ausonius had none for him to follow, so he has none who now can match his skill." II. AEMILIA AEONIA, MY MOTHER NEXT will I sing of you, Aeonia, who gave me birth, in whom was mingled the blood of a mother from Tarbellae and of an Aeduan father. In you was found every virtue of a duteous wife, chastity renowned, hands busy spinning wool, truth to your bridal vows, pains to bring up your children : sedate were you yet friendly, sober yet bright. Now that for ever you embrace your husband's peaceful shade, still cheer in death his tomb, as once in life you cheered his bed. III. AEMILIUS MAGNUS ARBORIUS, MY MOTHER'S BROTHER NATURAL affection bade me utter first my father's and my mother's names, and yet Arborius refuses to take third place. Though it were an outrage to mention him first and my father after him, yet again it is scarcely less to deny him the first place. So let us compromise ; let him be named next, before all others, although he will be second to my father. 61 AUSONIUS tu irater genetricis et unanimis genitori,, et mihi qui fueris, quod pater et genetrix, qui me la