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 AUSTIN

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AUSTRALIA

ful whether Ausonius wrote these, but they were at least the work of a member of the circle to which he belonged; short poems on the labours of Her- cules; on the Muses; on ethical subjects (transla- tions of Greek originals, inspired by Pythagorean philosophy). Other writings are lectures by a pro- fessor; Epitaphs, eulogies on dead heroes of the Trojan War, modelled after the Greek, and epitaphs on Niobe, Diogenes, etc., translated from the Greek; Epyllia, various pieces, among others an enigma on the number three, a diversion of a courtier forced to go to war (368); " Cento nuptialis " (an ingenious conceit of the same origin, the result of a wager made with Valentinian), extracts from Virgil, the conclusion of which {consummatio matrimonii) is not very refined (368); " Technopipgnion ", a collection of verses in which eacli ends in a monosyllable; the authenticity of the Consul Ausonius's prayer, written in ropalic verse (verse composed successively of words of one, two. three, four, five syllables and so on) is doubtful; " Ludus septem sapientum"; this product of the seven sages is a kind of scholastic drama, in which, after a prologue, each sage recites a proverb; at the end, they invite the audience to applaud. It is a document interesting for the his- tory of pedagogy and also for the medieval drama.

To appraise Ausonius justly it must be borne in mind that he represents the professor of the fourth century. Some of his works, therefore, written for the school and in the spirit of the school, frequentlj' translations from the Greek, are unimportant. A versifier to whom any subject could appeal (the more difficult and the less poetical it was, the better), Ausonius knew by heart the works of his predeces- sors, but by his taste and metrical peculiarities showed himself a disciple rather of the poets of the new school (neoterici, poetic innovators of the time of the Severi) than of the classic poets. In this work the letters to Paulinus of Nola are an excep- tion to the whole, which is almost void of ideas. Ausonius's attitude in regard to Cliristianity should be explained in the same way. The paganism of his works is the paganism of the schools, and, if one would base on that the doubt that he was a Christian, inversely, his literary manner of treating mythology should make it questionable whether he was a pagan. But the paschal prayer, and still more, the prayer of the " Ephemeris ", could not have been written by a pagan. An orthodox Christian in his prayers, he was a pagan in the class-room. Hence his works, which are class-room productions, may very naturally seem pagan. It is said that after the edict of Julian (362) Ausonius had to give up teaching; but there is nothing to prove this, nor is there any proof to the contrary, as Julian died the following year. It is supposed that, like some of his contemporaries, Ausonius remained a catechumen for a long time. It is possible that he was not baptized until the time when we lose all trace of him, in the last silent and obscure days of his old age.

Editions.— ScHENKL in Monumenta Germanife Historica; Auclores antiquissimi (Berlin. 1883), II; Peiper in Bibliotheca Teubneria-na (Leipzig, 1886); Mosella, separately; De Mir- Mo.NT (Bordeaux, 1889); Hosins (Marburg, 1894); Schanz, Gc- schichte der romischen Literatur (Munich, 1904), IV, 1, 20-40. including the bibliography; Glover, Life ajid Letters in the Fourth Century (Cambridge, 1901) 102-124.

Paul Lejay.

Austin, John, an English la\vyer and WTiter, b. 1613 at Walpole, in Norfolk; d. London, 1669. He was a student of St. John's College, Cambridge, and of Lincoln's Inn, and about 1640 embraced the Catliolic Faith. He was highly esteemed in his pro- fes.sion and was looked on as a master of English style. His time was entirely devoted to books and literary pursuits. He enjoyed the friendship of such scholars as the antiquary Rlount, Christopher Daven- port (Franciscus a Santa Clara), John Sergeant, and II.— 8

others. Among his writings are: "The Christian Moderator; or Persecution tor Religion condemned by the Light of Nature, by the Law of God, the Evi- dence of our own Principles, but not by ths Practice of our Commissioners for Sequestrations — In Four Parts " (London, 1652, 4to.). It was published under the pseudonym of William Birchley, and in it he frequently disclaims the pope's deposing power. " In this work, Austin assuming the disguise of an independent, shows that Catholics did not really hold the odious doctrines vulgarly attributed to them, and makes an energetic appeal to tiie inde- pendents to extend to the adherents of the persecuted church such rights and privileges as were granted to other religious bodies" (Diet, of Nat. Biogr., II, 264). "The Catholique's Plea; or an Explanation of the Roman Catholick Belief, Concerning their Church, Manner of Worship, Justification, Civil Government, Together with a Catalogue of all the Pcenal Statutes against Popish Recusants, All which is humbly submitted to serious consideration. By a Catholick Gentleman" (London, 1659, ISmo.), also under the pseudonym of William Birchley; "Reflections upon the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance; or the Christian Moderator, The Fourth Part, By a Catho- lick Gentleman, an obedient son of the Church and loyal subject of his Majesty" (London, 1061); "A Punctual Answer to Doctor John Tillotson's book called 'The Rule of Faith' " (unfinished); "Devo- tions, First Part: In the Ancient Way of Offices, With Psalms, Hymns, and Prayers for every Day in the Week, and every Holiday in the Year". It is not known when and where the first edition appeared; the second, a duodecimo, is dated 1672. An edition printed at Edinburgh, 1789, contains a life of the author, presumably by Dodd. This work was adapted to the uses of the Anglican Church in Hicks's "Harmony of the Gospels", etc. (London, 1701), and has been often reprinted as a stock book under the title of Hicks's Devotions. "Devotions, Second Part, The Four Gospels in one, broken into Lessons, with Responsories, To be used with the Offices, Printed Anno Domini, 1675 " (2 vols., Paris, 12mo), a posthumous work, divided into short chapters with a verse and prayer at the end of each. The prayers, says Gillow, "gave rise to offence under the impres- sion that they favoured Blackloe's doctrine con- cerning the middle state of souls, and on account of this the work was not republished". A third part of the "Devotions" was never printed; it contained, according to the author's own statement "Prayers for all occasions framed by an intimate friend ac- cording to his (Austin's) directions, and overlooked by himself". He also wrote several anonymous pamphlets against the divines who sat in the West- minster Assembly.

GiLLOw, Biht. Diet. Eng. Cath., I, 87-90; Cooper in Diet. Nat. Biog., II, 263.

Thomas J. Shahan.

Austin Canons. See Canons and Canonesses, Regular.

Austin Friars, See Canons and Canonesses, Regular.

Australia (also known as New Holland till about 1817) is geographically the world's great i.sland- continent. Politically, the mainland, with the ad- joining island of Tasmania, forms the Commonwealth of Australia. This is under the British Crown and consists of the following six States, which were federated on 1 Jan., 1901, and are here named in the order in which they became separate colonies of the British Empire: New South Wales (1788); Tasmania (1803); Western Australia (1826); South Australia (1836); Victoria (1851); and Queensland (1859). 'The Commonwealth covers an area of 2,980,632 square miles. It is, territorially, about one-fourth