This is not spoken of himself; for the poem was written in the time of Valentinian; and Ausonius did not come into the office of prefect till after the death of that emperor.

Scaliger says in his Life of Ausonius: -" Hoc itaque tanto viro nascitur Burdegalæ Decius Magnus Ausonius nomine avi materni, cognomine patris." This is a mistake between the uncle and the grandfather. The grandfather of Ausonius by the mother's side was Cæcilius Argicius Arborius. He left one son, Æmilius Magnus Arborius. The two nuns were his aunts, Æmilia Hilaria by the mother's side, Julia Cataphronia by the father's.

After all the controversy which has taken place about the morality or immorality, the Paganism or Christianity, of Ausonius, his works speak sufficiently for themselves. When he professed to write gravely, he wrote piously and even theologically, as a long extract in this article will show : for there is no reason for taking it from him. When called on by the court, he wrote up to its temper; and when he wrote sportively, he explains himself thus:

Admoneo, ante bibas.

Jejunis nil scribo. Meum post pocula si quis
Legerit, hic sapiet.

ON THE CHARACTER OF CINNA.

Vix quidquam in Sullæ operibus clarius duxerim, quam quod, cum per triennium Cinnanæ Marianæque partes Italiam obsiderent, neque illaturum se bellum iis dissimulavit, nec, quod erat in manibus, omisit: existimavitque ante frangendum hostem, quam ulciscendum civem; repulsoque externo metu, ubi, quod alienum esset, vicisset, superavit quod erat domesticum.-PATERCULUS, lib. ii. cap. 24.

CORNELIUS CINNA was a patrician, but attached to the party of the people. Sylla, when he made him consul, had the precaution to administer a solemn oath to him, by which he pledged himself to support his new patron's interest. How likely he was to feel himself encumbered by such an obligation, may be gathered from the character given of him by Paterculus: -"Cinna, seditione orta, ab exercitu interemtus est; vir dignior, qui arbitrio victorum moreretur, quam iracundia militum: de quo vere dici potest, ausum eum, quæ nemo auderet bonus; perfecisse, quæ a nullo nisi fortissimo perfici possent; et fuisse in consultando temerarium, in exsequendo virum." Appian gives the following account of the effect produced on the opposite party by his appointment : — Οἱ δὲ τῶν φυγάδων φίλοι, Κίννα τῷ μετὰ Σύλλαν ὑπαλεύοντι θαῤῥοῦντες, τοὺς νεοπολίτας ἠρέθιζον ἐς τὸ ἐνθύμημα τοῦ Μαρίου, ταῖς φυλαῖς ἀξιοῦν ἀναμιχθῆναι,

ἵνα μὴ τελευταῖοι ψηφιζόμενοι πάντων ὦσιν ἄκυροι. . . Ανθισίαμένων δὲ τῶν ἀρχαίων καλὰ κράτος, Κίννας μὲν τοῖς νεοπολίταις συνέπρατίε, νομιζόμενος ἐπὶ τῷδε τριακόσια δωροδοκῆσαι τάλαντα· τοῖς δ ̓ ἀρχαίοις ὁ ἕτερος ὕπατος Οκλαούϊος. καὶ οἱ μὲν ἀμφὶ τὸν Κίνναν προλαβόντες τὴν ἀγορὰν μετὰ κεκρυμμένων ξιφιδίων, ἐβόων, ἐς τὰς φυλὰς πάσας ἀναμιγῆναι· τὸ δὲ καθαρώτερον πλῆθος ἐς τὸν Οκλαούτον ἐχώρει, καὶ οἵδε μετὰ ξιφιδίων. . . . ὧν Οκλαούϊος πυθόμενος, καλέβαινε διὰ τῆς ἱερᾶς ὁδοῦ μετὰ πυκνοῦ πάνυ πλήθους· καὶ οἷα χειμάρρους ἐς τὴν ἀγορὰν ἐμπεσῶν, ὤσαλο μὲν διὰ μέσων τῶν συνεστώτων, καὶ διέστησεν αὐτούς· ὡς δὲ κατέπληξεν, ἐς τὸ τῶν Διοσκούρων ἱερὸν παρῆλθε, τὸν Κίνναν ἐκτρεπόμενος. Κίννας δὲ, θαῤῥήσας μὲν τῷ πλήθει τῶν νεοπολιτῶν, καὶ βιάσεσθαι προσδο κήσας, παρὰ δόξαν δ ̓ ὁρῶν τὸ τόλμημα τῶν ὀλιγωτέρων ἐπικρα τοῦν, ἀνὰ τὴν πόλιν ἔθει, τοὺς θεράποντας ἐπ ̓ ἐλευθερία συγκ καλῶν. Ταῦτα δ ̓ ἐργαζομένῳ τε καὶ ἐπινοοῦντι τῷ Κίννα προσέφυγον ἀπὸ τῆς βουλῆς οἵ τὰ αὐτὰ ἐφρόνουν, Γάϊος τε Μιλώνιος, καὶ Κόϊντος Σερτώριος, καὶ Γάϊος Μάριος ἕτερος. Ἡ μὲν δὴ βουλὴ τὸν Κίνναν, ὡς ἐν κινδύνῳ τε τὴν πόλιν καταλιπόντα ὕπαλον, καὶ δούλοις ἐλευθερίαν κηρύξαντα, ἐψηφίσατο μήτε ὕπαῖον μήτε πολίτην ἔτι εἶναι· καὶ Λεύκιον Μερόλαν ἐχειροϊόνησαν ἀντ ̓ αὐτοῦ, τὸν ἱερέα τοῦ Διός. — Romanar. Histor. De Bellis Civilibus, lib. i.

The same events are also recorded by Plutarch in his Sertorius: Ἐπεὶ δὲ Μάριος μὲν ὑπὸ Σύλλα κρατηθεὶς ἔφευγε, Σύλλας δὲ Μιθριδάτῃ πολεμήσων ἀπῇρεν, τῶν δὲ ὑπάτων, Οκλάβιος μὲν ἐπὶ τῆς Σύλλα προαιρέσεως ἔμενεν, Κίννας δὲ νεωτερίζων ὑποφερομένην ἀνεκαλεῖτο τὴν Μαρίου σάσιν. γενομένης δὲ τοῖς ὑπάτοις ἐν ἀγορᾷ μάχης μεγάλης, Οκτάβιος μὲν ἐκράτησεν, Κίννας δὲ καὶ Σερτώριος οὐ πολλῷ ἐλάτους τῶν μυρίων ἀποβαλόνιες ἔφυγον· . Μαρίου δὲ καταπλεύσαντος ἐκ Λιβύης, καὶ τῷ Κίννα προστιθένιος ἑαυλὸν, ὡς ἰδιώτην ὑπάτῳ, Σερτώριος ἀπηγόρευεν· εἴτε τὸν Κίνναν ἦτον οἰόμενος ἑαυτῷ προσέξειν, ἀνδρὸς ἠγεμονικωτέρου παρόντος, εἴτε τὴν βαρύτητα τοῦ Μαρίου δεδοικὼς, μὴ πάντα τὰ πράγματα συγχέῃ, θυμῷ μέτρον οὐκ ἔχοντι πέρα δίκης ἐν τῷ κρατεῖν προερχόμενος.

εἰπόντος δὲ τοῦ

Κίννα, ταῦτα μὲν ὀρθῶς ὑπολογίζεσθαι τὸν Σερτώριον, αἰδεῖσθαι δὲ καὶ διαπορεῖν ὅπως ἀπώσεται τὸν Μάριον αὐτὸς, ἐπὶ κοινωνία πραγμάτων κεκληκώς, Sertorius assented, τῆς πίςεως μηδενὶ λογισμῷ χώραν διδούσης. οὕτως μεταπέμπεται τὸν Μάριον Κίννας· καὶ τριχῆ τῆς δυνάμεως διανεμηθείσης ἦρχον οἱ τρεῖς. διαπολεμη θέντος δὲ τοῦ πολέμου, καὶ τῶν περὶ τὸν Κίνναν καὶ Μάριον ἐμφορουμένων ὕβρεώς τε καὶ πικρίας ἁπάσης, Σερτώριος λέγε ται μόνος οὔτε ἀποκτεῖναι τινὰ πρὸς ὀργὴν, οὔτε ἐνυβρίσαι κρατῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ Μαρίῳ δυσχεραίνειν, καὶ τὸν Κίνναν ἐντυγχάνων ἰδίᾳ καὶ δεόμενος μετριώτερον ποιεῖν. . . . . . Ἐπεὶ δὲ Μάριος μὲν ἐτελεύτησε, καὶ Κίννας ἀνηρέθη μικρὸν ἕτερον, ὁ δὲ νεανίας Μάριος ἄκοντος αὐτοῦ παρὰ τοὺς νόμους ὑπατείαν ἔλαβεν, Κάρ βωνες δὲ καὶ Νωρβανοὶ καὶ Σκιπίωνες ἐπιόνι Σύλλᾳ κακῶς ἐπολέμουν.

After the decree of the senate against Cinna, he repaired to Capua, where a Roman army was stationed, and gained the officers who commanded it to his interest. With their sanction, the troops were convened. Cinna attended the meeting without the fasces, in the habit of a private man. This histrionic manœuvre procured him an oath of fidelity both from the officers and the common men.

An extraordinary circumstance is related to have happened in the course of this war: — " In quo bello duo fratres, alter ex Pompeii exercitu, alter ex Cinnæ, ignorantes concurrerunt: et, quum victor spoliaret occisum, agnito fratre, ingenti lamentatione edita, . . . ipse supra rogum se transfodit." -Liv. epit. 79. The historian goes on to say that Cinna and Marius, with four armies, two of which were commanded by Sertorius and Carbo, laid siege to the city of Rome.

It is to be noted, that young Marius joined his father when they left Africa, and sailed for Italy

With Cinna's invitation, he had given the elder Marius the title of proconsul, and had sent him the fasces and other badges of that dignity. During the operations against Rome, Cinna sent a party of soldiers to take possession of Ariminum, that no assistance might be sent from Gaul. Appius Claudius, to whom the guard of Janiculum had been intrusted, received Marius and Cinna into the place; but they were driven out again by Pompeius Strabo and Octavius the consul. But Metellus was so much better a general than Octavius, that the soldiers of the latter proposed to transfer their services to the former. Metellus reproved them severely, and commanded them to return to the consul; but instead of obeying, they went over to the other party.

Cinna had recourse to his old expedient: he proclaimed liberty to all the slaves in the city who should join him. As might naturally be expected, they flocked to him in crowds. The senate became greatly alarmed. The people were suffering much from the failure of their provisions, which seemed likely to produce general discontent. They therefore sent deputies to Cinna, and made an ineffectual attempt to negociate a peace. On the termination of the conference, Cinna advanced and encamped under the walls. The senate were entirely at a loss how to act, in consequence of their unwillingness to depose Merula, who had been appointed consul in the room of Cinna. Merula voluntarily laid down his office, to remove all possible impediment in the way of the public tranquillity. The senate immediately sent a fresh commission to Cinna, with directions to acknowledge him as consul. At the conference Marius was standing close