Ausonius quotes

Ausonius was a Roman poet and teacher of rhetoric from the province of Gaul. His works provide valuable insights into the culture and society of late Roman Empire. He is remembered for his influential poetry and for mentoring the future Emperor Gratian. Here are 21 of his quotes:

Ausonius must be read to be believed! As poet, no subject is too trivial for him; as courtier, no flattery too excessive. (Ausonius)
If fortune favors you do not be elated; if she frowns do not despond. View quote
Ausonius
Forgive many things in others; nothing in yourself. View quote
Ausonius
It is the things which Ausonius reveals unconsciously that win him liking, not those which he sets out to celebrate with a kind of innocent pomp: not the chair of rhetoric at twenty-five, nor the imperial tutorship in his fifties, nor the consulship at sixty-nine, but that he loved and taught rhetoric all his life, and kept his simplicity. View quote
Ausonius
The poetical fame of Ausonius condemns the taste of his age. View quote
Ausonius
In the history of versification did anyone ever juggle so wildly well with iambics, sapphics, dactylics, anapestics, and all the rest? He fabricated verses most ingeniously, most enthusiastically. His virtuosity is amazing. Almost every line he wrote was a tour de force. And in spite of all this highly self-conscious technical facility he managed occasionally to write poetry. View quote
Ausonius
If many dread you, then beware of many. View quote
Ausonius
His monuments decay, and death comes even to his marbles and his names. View quote
Ausonius
Every stage of life has its troubles, and no man is content with his own age. View quote
Ausonius
When about to commit a base deed, respect thyself, though there is no witness. View quote
Ausonius
It is outrageous that a strictly abstemious reader should sit in judgement on a poet a little drunk. (Ausonius)
Let us never know what old age is. Let us know the happiness time brings, not count the years. View quote
Ausonius
No man pleases by silence; many I please by speaking briefly. View quote
Ausonius
He who does not know how to be silent will not know how to speak. View quote
Ausonius
What colour are they now, thy quiet waters? The evening star has brought the evening light, And filled the river with the green hillside; The hill-tops waver in the rippling water, Trembles the absent vine and swells the grape In thy clear crystal. View quote
Ausonius
So many lovely things, so rare, so young, A day begat them, and a day will end. View quote
Ausonius
They wander in deep woods, in mournful light, Amid long reeds and drowsy headed poppies And lakes where no wave laps, and voiceless streams, Upon whose banks in the dim light grow old Flowers that were once bewailèd names of kings. View quote
Ausonius
I've never written for a fasting man; A taste of wine is good before my verse. But sleep is better than a little wine, For when sleeping one thinks my songs are dreams. View quote
Ausonius
O maid, while youth is with the rose and thee, Pluck thou the rose: life is as swift for thee. View quote
Ausonius
In the history of versification did anyone ever juggle so wildly well with iambics, sapphics, dactylics, anapestics, and all the rest? He fabricated verses most ingeniously, most enthusiastically. His virtuosity is amazing. Almost every line he wrote was a tour de force. View quote
Ausonius
If you are a terror to many, then beware of many. (Ausonius)