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 each 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 lawyer 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
