AUSONIUS

ausonius, decimus magnus (c. 310-395), roman poet and rhetorician, was born at burdigala [_bordeaux_]. he received an excellent education, especially in grammar and rhetoric, but confesses that his progress in greek was unsatisfactory. having completed his studies, he practised for some time as an advocate, but his inclination lay in the direction of teaching. he set up (in 334) a school of rhetoric in his native place, which was largely attended, his most famous pupil being paulinus, afterwards bishop of nola. after thirty years of this work, he was summoned by valentinian to the imperial court, to undertake the education of gratian, the heir-apparent. the prince always entertained the greatest regard for his tutor, and after his accession bestowed upon him the highest titles and honours, culminating in the consulship (379). after the murder of gratian (383), ausonius retired to his estates near burdigala. he appears to have been a (not very enthusiastic) convert to christianity. he died about 395. his most important extant works are: in prose, _gratiarum actio_, an address of thanks to gratian for his elevation to the consulship; _periochae_, summaries of the books of the _iliad_ and _odyssey_; and one or two _epistolae_; in verse, _epigrammata_, including several free translations from the greek anthology; _ephemeris_, the occupations of a day; _parentalia_ and _commemoratio professorum burdigalensium_, on deceased relatives and literary friends; _epitaphia_, chiefly on the trojan heroes; _caesares_, memorial verses on the roman emperors from julius caesar to elagabalus; _ordo nobilium urbium_, short poems on famous cities; _ludus septem sapientum_, speeches delivered by the seven sages of greece; _idyllia_, of which the best-known are the _mosella_, a descriptive poem on the moselle, and the infamous _cento nuptialis_. we may also mention _cupido cruciatus_, cupid on the cross; _technopaegion_, a literary trifle consisting of a collection of verses ending in monosyllables; _eclogarum liber_, on astronomical and astrological subjects; _epistolae_, including letters to paulinus and symmachus; lastly, _praefatiunculae_, three poetical epistles, one to the emperor theodosius. ausonius was rather a man of letters than a poet; his wide reading supplied him with material for a great variety of subjects, but his works exhibit no traces of a true poetic spirit; even his versification, though ingenious, is frequently defective. there are no mss. containing the whole of ausonius's works. editio princeps, 1472; editions by scaliger 1575, souchay 1730, schenkl 1883, peiper 1886; cf. _mosella_, bocking 1845, de la ville de mirmont (critical edition with translation) 1889, and _de ausonii mosella_, 1892, hosius 1894. see deydou, _un poete bordelais_ (1868); everat, _de ausonii operibus_ (1885); jullian, _ausone et bordeaux_ (1893); c. verrier and r. de courmont, _les epigrammes d'ausone_ (translation with bibliography, 1905); r. pichon, _les derviers ecrivains profanes_ (1907). aussig (czech _ousti nad labem_), a town of bohemia, austria, 68 m. n. of prague by rail. pop. (1900) 37,255, mostly german. it is situated in a mountainous district, at the confluence of the biela and the elbe, and, besides being an active river port, is an important junction of the northern bohemian railways. aussig has important industries in chemicals, textiles, glass and boat-building, and carries on an active trade in coal from the neighbouring mines, stone and stoneware, corn, fruit and wood. it was the birthplace of the painter, raphael mengs (1728-1779). aussig is mentioned as a trading centre as early as 993. it was made a city by ottokar ii. in the latter part of the 13th century. in 1423 it was pledged by king sigismund to the elector frederick of meissen, who occupied it with a saxon garrison. in 1426 it was besieged by the hussites, who on the 16th of june, though only 25,000 strong, defeated a german army of 70,000, which had been sent to its relief, with great slaughter. the town was stormed and sacked next day. after lying waste for three years, it was rebuilt in 1429. it suffered much during the thirty years' and seven years' wars, and in 1830 it had only 1400 inhabitants. not far from aussig is the village of kulm, where, on the 29th and 30th of august 1813, a battle took place between the french under vandamme and an allied army of austrians, prussians and russians. the french were defeated, and vandamme surrendered with his army of 10,000 men.