A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

AVIANUS.
Our space does not allow us here to enter into
a critical examination of the character of Augustus: what he did is recorded in history, and public
opinion in his own time praised him for it as an
excellent prince and statesman; the investigation
of the hidden motives of his actions is such a delicate subject, that both ancient and modern writers
have advanced the most opposite opinions, and
both supported by strong arguments. The main
difficulty lies in the question, whether his government was the fruit of his honest intentions and
wishes, or whether it was merely a means of satisfying his' own ambition and love of dominion; in
other words, whether he was a straightforward
and honest man, or a most consummate hypocrite.
Thus much is certain, that his reign was a period
of happiness for Italy and the provinces, and that
it removed the causes of future civil wars. Previous to the victory of Actium his character is less
a matter of doubt, and there we find sufficient
proofs of his cruelty, selfishness, and faithlessness
towards his friends. He has sometimes been
charged with cowardice, but, so far as military
courage is concerned, the charge is unfounded.
(The principal ancient sources concerning the
life and reign of Augustus are: Sueton. Augustus;
Nicolaus Darnase. De Vita Augusti; Dion Cass.
xlv.-lvi.; Tacitus, Annal. i.; Cicero's Epistles
and Philippics; Vell. Pat. ii. 59-124; Plut. Antonius. Besides the numerous modern works on
the History of Rome, we refer especially to A.
Weichert, Imperatoris Caesaris Augusti Scriptorum
Reliquiae, Fasc. i., Grimae, 1841, 4to., which contains an excellent account of the youth of Augustus
and his education; Drumann, Geschichte Roms, vol.
iv. pp. 245-302, who treats of his history down
to the battle of Actium; Loebell, Ueber das Principat des Augustus, in Raumer's Historisches Taschenbuch, 5ter, Jahrgang, 1834; Karl Hoeck,
Rimische Geschichte vom Vefiudl der Republik biS
zur Vollendung der Mlonarchie udner Constantin, i.
1. pp. 214-421.) [L. S.]
E RIV AT
27.)
AVIA'NUS, FLA'VIUS, the author of a collection of forty-two Aesopic fables in Latin elegiac
verse, dedicated to a certain Theodosius, who is
addressed as a man of great learning and highly
cultivated mind. The designation of this writer
appears under a number of different shapes in different MSS., such as Avianus, Anianus, Abidnus,
Abienus, and Avienus, from which last form he was
by many of the earlier historians of Roman literature, such as Vossius and Funccius, identified with
the geographical poet, Rufus Festus Avienus.
[AVIENUS.] But, independent of the circumstance
that no fact except this resemblance of name can
be adduced in support of such an opinion, the ar

AVIANUS. 431
gument derived from the style of these compositions
must, to every reader of taste and discrimination,
appear conclusive. Nothing can be imagined more
unlike the vigorous, bold, spirited, and highly embellished rotundity which characterizes the Descriptio Orbis and the Aratea than the feeble, hesitating, dull meagreness of the fabulist. Making all
allowances for numerous corruptions in the text,
we can scarcely regard these pieces in any other
light than as the early effusions of some unpractised youth, who patched very unskilfully expressions borrowed from the purer classics, especially
Virgil, upon the rude dialect of an unlettered age.
Cannegieter, in his erudite but most tedious
dissertation, has toiled unsuccessfully to prove that
Avianus flourished under the Antonines. Wernsdorf, again, places him towards the end of the
fourth century, adopting the views of those who
believe that the Theodosius of the dedication may
be Aurelius Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, the
grammarian, and adding the conjecture, that the
Flavianus of the Saturnalia may have been corrupted by transcribers into Fl. Avianus. These
are mere guesses, and may be taken for what they
are worth. Judging from the language, and we
have nothing else whatever to guide us, we should
feel inclined to place him a hundred years later.
Avianus was first printed independently by Jac.
de Breda, at Deventer in Holland, in the year
1494, 4to., Gothic characters, under the title
" Apologus Aviani civis Romani adolescentulis ad
mores et Latinum sermonem capessendos utilissimus;" but the editio princeps is appended to the
fables of Aesop which appeared about 1480. The
earlier editions contain only twenty-seven fables;
the whole forty-two were first published by Rigaltius, along with Aesop and other opuscula (16mo.
Lugd. 1570). The most complete edition is that
of Cannegieter, 8vo. Amstel. 1731, which was followed by those of Nodell, 8vo. Amstel. 1787, and
of C. H. Tzschucke, 12mo. Lips. 1790.
" The fables of Avian translated into Englyshe"
are to be found at the end of " The Subtyl Historyes and Fables of Esope, translated out of Frenshe
into Englysshe, by William Caxton at Westmynstre. In the yere of our lorde M cccc lxxxiii., &c.
Enprynted by the same the xxvj daye ofMarclhetheyere
of our lord l ccc Ilxxxiij, And the fyrst yere of the
regne of kyng Rychard the thyrde," folio. This book
was reprinted by Pynson. We have a translation
into Italian by Giov. Gris. Trombelli, 8vo. Venez.
1735; and into German by H. Fr. Kerler, in his
Rb'mi. Fabeldichter, Stuttgard, 1838. (Vossius, de
Poetis Latt. p. 56; Funccius, de Vegeta L. L. Seneclute, cap. iii. ~ Ivi.; Barth. Adversar. xix. 24, xxvii.
3, xxxix. 7 and 13, xlvi. 4, 7, 16; Wernsdorf,
Poett. Latt. Minn. vol. v. pars. ii. p. 663, who effectually destroys the leading argument of Cannegieter
that Avianus must be intermediate between Phaedrus and Titianus, upon which idea the hypothesis
that he lived under the Antonines rests.) [W.R.]
AVIA'NUS EVANDER. [EVANDER.]
AVIA'NUS FLACCUS. [FLACCUS.]
AVIA'NUS HAMMO'NIUS. [HAMMONIUS.]
AVIA'NUS, LAETUS, the name prefixed to
an epigram in bad Latin, comprised in three elegiac distichs, on the famous work of Martianus
Capella. The subject proves that it cannot be earlier than the end of the fifth century. (Burmann,
Antholog. Add. i. p. 738, or Ep. n. 553, ed. Meyer.;
Barth. Adversar. xviii. 21.) [W. R.]