Ed.: GGM 2.177–189; P. van de Woestijne, La descriptio orbis terrae d’Avienus (1961).
KP 1.788–789, M. Fuhrmann; PLRE 1 (1971) 336–337; OCD3 226, J.H.D. Scourfield; BNP 1 (2003)
426 – 427, J. Küppers.
Natalia Lozovsky
A ⇒ C A
A ⇒ (1) A A; (2) H; (3) N; (4)
C S
Aurelius (ca 155 – 200 CE?)
G himself records Aurelius’ dentifrice in CMLoc 5.5 (12.892 K.), compounded from
alum, roasted and then quenched with dry wine, to which were added mastic, frank-
incense, malabathron, and kuperos, mixed and applied. He is conceivably identifiable with
the military physician Aurelius Artemo ̄n, attested at Moesia Inferior (155 CE: CIL 3.7449).
F. Cramer, Anecdota Paris. 1 (1839) 394; RE S.1 (1903) 229–230 (#60a), A. Stein.
GLIM
Aurelius Augustinus (ca 385 – 430 CE)
Born 354 CE in Thagaste, he was concerned with transmitting the classical intellectual
disciplines arrayed by V until his conversion in 386 to the blend of neo-Platonism
and Christianity taught by A; he was bishop of Hippo from 395. In addition to
scores of theological works, wrote a treatise On music in six books. Its famous definitions
of “music” (1.2–3) as “scientia bene modulandi” and “scientia bene mouendi” ground it in
Roman rhetorical tradition rather than Greek music theory. Books 1–5 (completed ca
388 CE), on rhythm, develop the primacy of music over grammar in understanding the
movement of sound in language, illustrate proportions of time (following Pythagorean
traditions) expressed in rhythm and meter, establish that number provides the basis for
true knowledge of music, and provide examples of various meters and verse types. In
the sixth book (ca 391 CE), on musical metaphysics, number and proportion are
expanded from the corporeal to the incorporeal. Numbers in rhythm – found as well in
light, color, dance, and celestial harmony – are heard and exist in the memory but are
also eternal. Genera of number exist in: sound (sonus), the sense of hearing (sensus audien-
tis), the act of presentation (actus pronuntiantis), memory (memoria), and discernment (iudi-
cium). Augustine concludes that when organized according to the numerical principles of
proportion, music can stimulate the soul to imitate celestial harmony and lead it to a
love of God.
Ed.: M. Jacobsson (with English trans.), Aurelius Augustinus De musica liber VI (2002).
R. Catesby-Taliaferro, trans., Saint Augustine on Music (1947); Mathiesen (1999) 619–622; NGD2
1.173–174.
Thomas J. Mathiesen
Iulius Ausonius of Vasates (ca 315 – 378 CE)
Born ca 290 CE; father of the poet Decimus Magnus Ausonius, was born at Vasates
and practiced medicine at Burdigala, where was member of the curia; in old age became
AURELIUS