M/M: I Miss You, Buddy: Ausonius to Paulinus 1.16-19

Name:  Ausonius Date:  310 – 395 CE Region:  Aquitania, Gaul [modern France] Citation:  Letter 27.34 – 37

In this letter to Paulinus, Ausonius complains about his absence by comparing their relationship to other great relationships of mythology.

 

Faithless one! You’d really break up Pirithous and Theseus,

Separate Euryalus from his Nisus?

You’d convince Pylades to abandon Orestes,

And keep the Sicilian Damon from offering himself as a hostage

So Pythias can escape?

Impie, Pirithoo disiungere Thesea posses,

Euryalumque suo socium secernere Niso!

Te suadente fugam, Pylades liquisset Orestem,

Nec custodisset Siculus vadimonia Damon!

Ausonius [Decimus Magnus Ausonius; 310 – 395 CE, modern France] was a Roman poet from Aquitania, Gaul who lived during the 4th century CE. He is best known for his epic poem Mosella, which describes the Moselle River, and his Epistles, a series of literary poems between himself and the Christian poet Paulinus.