Avitus
- a Roman cognomen: A. Cluentius Avitus, Cic. Clu. 5, 11 sqq.
(or Ecdi'dius), son of Isicius, archbishop of Vienne, was born about the middle of the 5th century. From his earliest years he is said to have devoted himself to literature, and to have given promise of that erudition which subsequently gained for him, among his countrymen at least, the reputation of being the most profound and eloquent scholar of his age. After bestowing an ample inheritance on the poor, lie retired into the monastery of St. Peter and St. Paul, close to the walls of his native city, and remained in the seclusion of the cloister until the death of his father (in A. D. 490), whom he succeeded in the archiepiscopal dignity. His fame as a pious and charitable priest and a powerful controversialist now rose very high. He took part in the celebrated conference at Lyons between the Arians and the Catholic bishops, held in the presence of the Burgundian king, where, as we are told, he silenced the heretics and brought back many waverers to the bosom of the church. Gundebald himself is said to have yielded to his arguments, although from political motives he refused to recant his errors openly; and all agree, that after his death his son Sigismund publicly declared his adherence to the true faith. Avitus, at the request of his royal admirers, published treatises in confutation of the Nestorians, Eutychians, Sabellians, and Pelagians, and was peculiarly successful in gaining over a number of Jews who had settled in his diocese. By pope Hormisda he was appointed vicar apostolic in Gaul, in the year 517 presided at the council of Epaune (concilium Epaonense), died on the 5th of February, 523, was buried in the monastery of St. Peter and St. Paul, where he had passed so many years of his early life, and in the fulness of time received the honours of canonization. Works
The works of Avitus are 1. Sacrorum Poematum libri quinque
Sacrorum Poematum libri quinque, dedicated to his brother, Apollinaris, bishop of Valentia, a renowned worker of miracles. This collection consists of five distinct pieces, all in hexameter verse, extending to upwards of 2500 lines, De Initio Mundi, De Peccato Originali, De Sententia Dei, De Diluvio Mundi, De Transitu Maris Rubri. 2. De consolatoria Castitatis Laude
De consolatoria Castitatis Laude, in 666 hexameters, addressed to his sister Fuscina, a nun.
These productions display much imagination and great fluency; the plan of the different portions is well conceived and skilfully executed, and both in versification and expression they deserve the moderate praise of being much better than could have been expected, belonging as they do to what Funecius has quaintly termed the " Iners ac decrepita senectus" of the Latin language. Barthius is of opinion that we are prevented from estimating them fairly, in consequence of the numerous depravations and interpolations which he believes them to have suffered from the monks in ages still more barbarous. Besides his effusions in verse, Avitus is known to have published nine books of epistles, and a great number of homilies; but of those the following only are extant: 3. Letters
Eighty-seven letters to and from various persons of distinction in church and state. >4 De Festo Rogationum et prima ejus Institutione.
A homily De Festo Rogationum et prima ejus Institutione. 5. Fragments of Homilies
Eight fragments of homilies. 6. Fragments of opuscula.
Fragments of opuscula.
These remains shew that he was well versed in scripture and in theology, and that he possessed some knowledge of Greek and Hebrew, and they contain curious and valuable information on various points of ecclesiastical history, discipline, and doctrine. Editions
The poems were first printed at Strasburg in 1507 from a MS. in the possession of Beroaldus, and are given in the Corpus Poetarum Latinorum of Maittaire and similar compilations.
The whole works of Avitus were published collectively with notes by Père Sirmond, at Paris, 1643, 8vo., in the second volume of his Opuscula of the fathers and other ecclesiastical writers, and also in the works of Sirmond published by Père la Baume, Paris, 1690, fol., and reprinted at Venice, 1729, fol. Since that period, a new homily has been discovered, and is included in the fifth vol. of the Thesaur. Anecdot. by Dom. Martenne. [W.R]
The Latin poet quoted under this name is believed to have flourished during the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. Many suppose him to be the same person with Alfius Flavus--the precocious pupil of Cestius and contemporary with Seneca, who while yet a boy was so famed for his eloquence, that crowds flocked to listen to his orations (Senec.Controv. i.l )--and with Flavius Alfius, referred to by Pliny (Plin. Nat. 9.8), as an authority for a story about dolphins. Hence Vossius conjectures, that his designation at full length and properly arranged may have been Flavus Alfius Avitus. All this is very ingenious and very uncertain. We know from Terentianus Maurus (1. 2448), that Alphius Avitus composed a work upon Illustrious Men, in iambic dimeters, extending to several books; and eight lines are cited by Priscian from the second book, forming a part of the legend of the Faliscan schoolmaster who betrayed his pupils to Camillus; besides which, three lines more from the first book are contained in some MSS. of the same grammarian. (Priscian, vol. i. pp. 410, 553, vol. ii. p. 131, ed. Krehl, or pp. 823, 947, 1136, ed. Putsch.) These fragments are given in the Anthologia Latina of Burmann, ii. p. 267, and Add. ii. p. 730, or Ep. n. 125, ed. Meyer.
There is also an " Alpheus philologus," from whom Priscian adduces five words (vol. i. p. 370, ed. Kr., or p. 792, ed. Putsch), and an Alfius whose work on the Trojan war is mentioned by Festus, s. v. Mamertini. (Wernsdorf, Poett. Latt. Minn. vol. iii. p. xxxi., vol. iv. pars ii. p. 826.) [W.R]
was legate over the provinces of Thrace under Aurelian, and a letter addressed to him by that emperor is quoted by Vopiscus in the life of Bonosus. Some critics have supposed, that he was the author of an " allocutio sponsalis," in five hexameters, preserved among the "fragmenta epithalamiorum veterum," and that the little poem itself was one of the hundred nuptial lays which were composed and recited when Gallienus celebrated the marriages of his nephews. (Pollio, Gall. 11.) Wernsdorf, however, considers that the lines belong to Alcimus Avitus Alethius. [Alethius.] (Wernsdorf, Poett. Latt. Minn. vol. iv. pars ii. p. 501; Burmann, Antholog. 3.259, or Ep. n. 259, ed. Meyer.) [W.R]
the husband of Julia Maesa, brother-in-law of Julia Domna and Septimius Severus, uncle by marriage of Caracalla, father of Julia Soemias and Julia Mamaea, and maternal grandfather of Elagabalus and Alexander Severus. He was of consular rank, and, as we gather from the fragments of Dio Cassius, governed in succession Asia, Mesopotamia, and Cyprus. From him Elagabalus inherited the name of Avitus--an appellation by which ancient historians frequently distinguish that emperor. (D. C. 88.30, 79.16; Herodian, 5.3.2; see also the genealogical table under Caracalla.) [W.R]
emperor of the West, was descended from a noble family in Auvergne, and spent the first thirty years of his life in the pursuits of literature, field-sports, jurisprudence, and arms. The first public office to which he was promoted was the praetorian praefecture of Gaul, and whilst in retirement in his villa near Clermont, he was appointed master of the armies of Gaul. During this period, he twice went as ambassador to the Visigothic court, first in A. D. 450 to Theodoric I., to secure his alliance on the invasion of Attila; secondly in A. D. 456, to Theodoric II., on which last occasion, having received the news of the death of Maximus, and of the sack of Rome by the Vandals, he was, by the assistance of the Visigoths, raised to the vacant throne; but, after a year's weak and insolent reign, was deposed by Ricimer, and returned to private life as bishop of Placentia. But the senate having pronounced the sentence of death upon him, he fled to the sanctuary of his patron saint lulian, at Brivas in Auvergne, and there died, or at least was buried. (A. D. 456.)
His private life is chiefly known from the Panegyric of his son-in-law, Sidonius Apollinarus; his public life from Gregor. Turon. 2.11, and Idatius, Chronicon. [A.P.S]
The annexed coin of Avitus has on the obverse the head of Avitus crowned with a diadem of pearls, and the inscription D. M. Avitus Perp. F. Aug., and on the reverse the emperor wearing the paludamentum, and standing with one foot upon a barbarian; in the right hand he holds the cross, and in the left a small figure of Victory.