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[German version] A conversation between two monks and a person who appears to be a former member of the monastery, documented in the cod. Parisinus 7558 in 110 hexameters (with small gaps). The point of departure is the devastating invasion of Gaul by the Vandals and Alans (AD 407-409). While its effects are being smoothed out, the moral disaster continues and is rendered in a satirical fashion ( interior pestis, V. 15): the striving towards a knowledge denied to humankind, the vices of women, which, of course, are encouraged by men who thereby are held responsib…

[German version] A. Life A. lived in the 4th cent. AD ( c. 310-394). He was for many years a grammaticus and rhetor in his home city of Burdigala (Bordeaux), before being called to the court in Trier at an advanced age (probably in 367) by Valentinian I to act as tutor to the young Gratian -- a classic example of social mobility. This, and specifically the beginning of  Gratianus' reign (in 375), was the beginning of a political career which led to the eponymous consulship (in 379). He succeeded in securing influenti…

[German version] A. Definition Greek κέντρων ( kéntrōn) and Latin cento -- the linguistic historical relationship between the words is a matter of contention …

[German version] [1] Aemilius Magnus, professor of rhetoric and lawyer in Tolosa Aemilius Magnus, son of Caecilius Argicius Arborius and Aemilia Corinthia Maura, and maternal uncle of the poet D. Magnus  Ausonius, whose education and career he in…

Roman cognomen probably of Etruscan origin, as a praenomen passed down for the Aequian king G. Cloelius in 458 BC (Liv. 3,25,5). As cognomen prominent in the family of the Sempronii, especially with the people's tribunes Ti. and C.  Sempronius Gracchus. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [1] Writer of Lat. tragedies Writer of Latin tragedie…

[German version] Mentioned in Jer. Chron. for AD 324 as an exceptional orator; Ausonius also mentions him in the Commemoratio professorum Burdigalensium (14,9); he may even have taught at Burdigala/Bordeaux (otherwise [4. 243f.], against [5. 498f.]). His daughter matched him in eloquence (Jer. Chron. AD 336). The surviving panegyric to Emperor Constantinus [1] and the Caesars Crispus and Constantinus [2] II was held at R…

[German version] Attested as a concept ( invectiva oratio) from the 4th cent. AD, invective is not sharply defined. Before a wide or restricted public audience, by means of a generally valid canon of values, it seeks to discriminate seriously against or destroy an opponent (possibly indicated indirectly only; through whatever means it employs for the purpose, see  Satire). In a tradition going back to Plato, ψόγος ( psógos, reproach) forms a contrast with ἔπαινος ( épainos, praise), encomium and hymn; but, according to Pl. Leg. 934d-936b, in keeping with the theory's in…

[German version] A. Life Latin poet and scholar in the tradition of the Alexandrines. He was born to freedpersons in the year 170 BC (Jer. Chron. a. ABr. 1878; 139 BC), most likely in Pisaurium, where the hou…

(Ἄλκιμος; Álkimos). [German version] [5] Latinus A. Alethius Rhetorician, writer of panagyrics and poet Appears as a famous rhetorician (probably based on a catalogue of model speeches from Bordeaux) in  Sidonius, where he is praised for his oratorical fortitudo…

[German version] (C. Chirius F. derives from a misunderstood title of a work: enchiridion/enchiriadis). Author of a Lat. manual Ars rhetorica in three bks in the form of question and answer. In bks 1 and 2 the inventio is discussed (status, partes orationis), with emphasis on the doctrine of status, and in bk. 3 dispositio, elocutio, memoria and pronuntiatio. Probably to be dated in the 5th rather than the 4th cent. AD [6], the work represents a comprehensive and highly sy…

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[German version] [1] Military see  Ensigns Ego, Beate (Osnabrück) [German version] [2] Science See  Eagle; see  Constellations …