Description - Ausonius of Bordeaux by Hagith Sivan
Ausonius of Bordeaux, food and wine connoisseur, poet and politician, enjoyed a long and remarkable career. After thirty years as an academic in Bordeaux, he moved to the imperial capital of Trier as tutor to Gratian, heir to the throne of the western Roman Empire. When his pupil became emperor unexpectedly, Ausonius, his family and his friens made full use of the opportunities which the moment presented. Ausonius was also a proligic author. His writings range from brief poetic portraits of his family and his school colleagues to a lengthy poem on the river Moselle, letters in verse and an imperial panegyric in prose. In Ausonius of Bordeaux Ausonius' life and work are given the full context of his local and family background in fourth-century Gaul. His biography and literary output also serve as a point of departure for an overall inquiry into the formation of late Roman Gallic aristocracy. At the start of the book, social mobility in late Roman Gaul of which Ausonius serves as an outstanding example, is examined. Evidence for Gallic wealth, social rank and office-holdings shows how crucial was Ausonius' asnt for the genesis of a Gallic aristocracy. his family included doctors, lawyers, teachers and bureaucrats.
Their careers, marriages, failures and successes are traced within the urban fold of their homes in Bordeaux and their estates in Aquitania. Much of the material here relies on unpublished archaeological reports. Talent, ambition and opportunism carried Ausonius' family from rags to riches. When Ausonius reached the imperial court in the late 360s. he was ready to reap the fruits of three generations of provincial ascent. Between 375 and 380, the watern Roman empire became Ausonius' domain. He was a legislator, chief administrator and finally consul. His star waned when the imperial court moved to Italy. When his imperial patron died, a victim of assassination, Ausonius retired in peace to Bordeaux. He died, well over eighty, in the lap of luxury. Placing Ausonius firmly withing his historical context, Hagith Sivan presents a full socio-political survey of this critical period an dtopic. Archaeological evidence is related to literary and historical evidence to construct a synthesis from both.
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