What is Ausonius?
[[File:IMG 3148 Giovan Pietro Lasagna, Monumento a Decimo Magno Ausonio - Milano, Scuole palatine - Foto G. Dall'Orto, 3-gen-2006.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Monument to Ausonius in [[Milan]].]] '''Decimius Magnus Ausonius''' (ca. 310–395) was a [[Latin literature|Latin]] [[poet]] and [[rhetoric]]ian, born at Burdigala ([[Bordeaux]]). ==Biography== Ausonius was born in [[Bordeaux]] in ca. 310. His father was a noted [[physician]] of [[Greece|Greek]] ancestry.<ref>Harvard Magazine, Harvard Alumni Association, University of Michigan, p.2</ref><ref name= Kenney>The Cambridge History of Classical Literature, Edward John Kenney, Cambridge University Press, p.16</ref> Ausonius had a strict upbringing by his aunt and grandmother and received an excellent education, especially in grammar and rhetoric, but said his [[Ancient Greek language|Greek]] was not good. Having completed his studies, he trained for some time as a lawyer, but he preferred teaching. In 334, he established a school of rhetoric in Bordeaux, which was very popular. His most famous pupil was [[St. Paulinus of Nola]], who later became [[Bishop of Nola]]. After thirty years of this work, he was ordered by [[Valentinian I|Valentinian]] to the imperial court to teach [[Gratianus|Gratian]], the heir-apparent. The prince greatly respected his tutor, and after his accession bestowed on him the highest titles and honours that any Roman (besides from the royal family) could attain, culminating in the [[Roman consul|consulate]] in 379. After the murder of Gratian in 383, Ausonius retired to his estates near [[Burdigala]] (now Bordeaux) in Gaul. These supposedly included the land now owned by [[Château Ausone]], which takes its name from him. He appears to have been a late and perhaps not very enthusiastic convert to [[Christianity]]. He died about 395. ==References== *{{1911}} {{Reflist}} ==Other websites== {{wikiquote}} * [https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator:ausonius Works by Ausonius] at the [[Internet Archive]] * [http://www.gmu.edu/departments/fld/CL