11 Facts About Ausonius

Decimius Magnus Ausonius was a Roman poet and teacher of rhetoric from Burdigala in Aquitaine, modern Bordeaux, France.

Ausonius's best-known poems are Mosella, a description of the river Moselle, and Ephemeris, an account of a typical day in his life.

Ausonius was given a strict upbringing by his aunt and grandmother, both named Aemilia.

Ausonius received an excellent education at Bordeaux and at Toulouse, where his maternal uncle, Aemilius Magnus Arborius, was a professor.

Ausonius's teaching attracted many pupils, some of whom became eminent in public life.

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Ausonius was able to turn literary skill into political capital.

That year Ausonius was made Praetorian Prefect of Gaul, campaigned against the Alemanni and received as part of his booty a slave-girl, Bissula, while his father, though nearly ninety years old, was given the rank of Prefect of Illyricum.

Ausonius appears to have been a late and perhaps not very enthusiastic convert to Christianity.

Ausonius's grandson, Paulinus of Pella, was a poet; his works attest to the devastation which Ausonius's Gaul would face soon after his death.

Ausonius's style is easy and fluent, and his Mosella is appreciated for its evocation of the life and country along the river Moselle; but he is considered derivative and unoriginal.

Ausonius's writings are remarkable for mentioning, in passing, the working of a water mill sawing marble on a tributary of the Moselle:.