Eumenius (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Εύμένιος; born c. 260 CE at the latest, more probably between 230 and 240 CE), was one of the

Ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

panegyrists and author of a speech transmitted in the collection of the '' Panegyrici Latini'' (Pan. Lat. IX).

Life

Eumenius was born in

Gallia Lugdunensis () was a province of the Roman Empire in what is now the modern country of France, part of the Celtic territory of Gaul formerly known as Celtica. It is named after its capital Lugdunum (today's Lyon), possibly Roman Europe's major city west of ...

at Augustodunum (modern-day

Autun Autun () is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Saône-et-Loire Departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region of central-eastern France. It was founded during the Principate era of the e ...

), the ''

civitas In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (; plural ), according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the , or citizens, united by Roman law, law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilitie ...

'' capital of the Celtic

Aedui The Aedui or Haedui (Gaulish language, Gaulish: *''Aiduoi'', 'the Ardent'; ) were a Gauls, Gallic tribe dwelling in what is now the region of Burgundy during the La Tène culture, Iron Age and the Roman Empire, Roman period. The Aedui had an ambi ...

. He was of Greek descent; his grandfather, who had migrated from Athens to Rome, finally settled at Augustodunum as a teacher of

rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...

. Eumenius probably took his father's place, for it was from Augustodunum that he went to be ''magister memoriae'' (private secretary) to the emperor

Constantius Chlorus Flavius Valerius Constantius ( – 25 July 306), also called Constantius I, was a Roman emperor from 305 to 306. He was one of the four original members of the Tetrarchy established by Diocletian, first serving as Caesar (title), ''caesar'' ...

, whom he accompanied on several of his campaigns. In 296 CE, Chlorus determined to restore the famous schools (''scholae Maenianae'') of Augustodunum. During the periodic crises of 3rd-century Gaul, instruction had ceased, possibly for lack of funding or students, and the buildings had been greatly damaged during a siege of the city in 269 CE. The emperor appointed Eumenius to the management of the schools, allowing him to keep the rank of a senior imperial officer and doubling his salary. Eumenius gave up a considerable portion of his emoluments to the improvement of the schools. Eumenius was a

pagan Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

and had not converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

, unlike

Ausonius Decimius Magnus Ausonius (; ) was a Latin literature, Roman poet and Education in ancient Rome, teacher of classical rhetoric, rhetoric from Burdigala, Gallia Aquitania, Aquitaine (now Bordeaux, France). For a time, he was tutor to the future E ...

and

Sidonius Apollinaris Gaius Sollius Modestus Apollinaris Sidonius, better known as Sidonius Apollinaris (5 November, 430 – 481/490 AD), was a poet, diplomat, and bishop. Born into the Gallo-Roman aristocracy, he was son-in-law to Emperor Avitus and was appointed Urb ...

and other 4th- and 5th-century writers from Gaul.

Panegyric

His speech, usually called ''Pro restaurandis'' (or ''instaurandis'') ''scholis'' (''For the restoration of the schools''), was probably delivered in 297 CE or 298 CE in the forum at Augustodunum or

Lugdunum Lugdunum (also spelled Lugudunum, ; modern Lyon, France) was an important Colonia (Roman), Roman city in Gaul, established on the current site of Lyon, France, Lyon. The Roman city was founded in 43 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus, but cont ...

(modern-day

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

) before the governor of the province. The purpose was to ask the governor if Eumenius might dedicate his salary (or a large part of it) to rebuild the schools at Autun. He praises the emperors (

and his colleagues of the

tetrarchy The Tetrarchy was the system instituted by Roman emperor Diocletian in 293 AD to govern the ancient Roman Empire by dividing it between two emperors, the ''augusti'', and their junior colleagues and designated successors, the ''caesares''. I ...

) and sets forth the steps necessary to restore the schools to their former state of efficiency, stressing that he intends to assist the good work out of his own pocket. He cites the imperial letter of Constantius granting him his position and salary at length, and it is from the address of this letter that the name of the oration's author is preserved. Formerly, other anonymous panegyrics of the ''Panegyrici Latini'' were attributed to Eumenius as well. The most extreme position was that of Otto Seeck, who held that all of them were by him. This view has been largely abandoned today, and Eumenius is regarded as the author of only ''Pro instaurandis scholis''.Nixon and Saylor Rodgers, pp. 8–10.

References

*C.E.V. Nixon / Barbara Saylor Rodgers: ''In Praise of Later Roman Emperors'', Berkeley 1994. *Édouard Galletier (ed.): ''Panégyriques latins'', 3 vols., Paris 1949–55. *Barbara Saylor Rodgers, ''Eumenius of Augustodunum'', Ancient Society 20 (1989), pp. 249–262.

External links

Opera Omnia ex Migne Patrologia Latina
{{Authority control 3rd-century Romans Ancient Roman rhetoricians

Life

Panegyric

See also

References

References

External links