Auerbach’s fame continues to rest upon his Dorfgeschichten, although the celebrity of even these has been impaired by the growing demand for a more uncompromising realism. Auerbach died at Cannes on the 8th of February 1882.
The first collected edition of Auerbach’s Schriften appeared in 22 vols. in 1863–1864; the best edition is in 18 vols. (1892–1895). Auerbach’s Briefe an seinen Freund J. Auerbach (with a preface by F. Spielhagen) were published in 2 vols. (1884). See E. Zabel, B. Auerbach (1882); and E. Lasker, B. Auerbach, ein Gedenkblatt (1882).
AUERSPERG, ANTON ALEXANDER, Graf von (1806–1876), Austrian poet, who wrote under the pseudonym of Anastasius Grün, was born on the 11th of April 1806, at Laibach, the capital of the Austrian duchy of Carniola, and was head of the Thurn-am-Hart branch of the Carniolan cadet line of the house of Auersperg. He received his university education first at Graz and then at Vienna, where he studied jurisprudence. In 1830 he succeeded to his ancestral property, and in 1832 appeared as a member of the estates of Carniola on the Herrenbank of the diet at Laibach. Here he distinguished himself by his outspoken criticism of the Austrian government, leading the opposition of the duchy to the exactions of the central power. In 1832 the title of “imperial chamberlain” was conferred upon him, and in 1839 he married Maria, daughter of Count Attems. After the revolution of 1848 at Vienna he represented the district of Laibach at the German national assembly at Frankfort-on-the-Main, to which he tried in vain to persuade his Slovene compatriots to send representatives. After a few months, however, disgusted with the violent development of the revolution, he resigned his seat, and again retired into private life. In 1860 he was summoned to the remodelled Reichsrat by the emperor, who next year nominated him a life member of the Austrian upper house (Herrenhaus), where, while remaining a keen upholder of the German centralized empire, as against the federalism of Slavs and Magyars, he greatly distinguished himself as one of the most intrepid and influential supporters of the cause of liberalism, in both political and religious matters, until his death at Graz on the 12th of September 1876.
Count Auersperg’s first publication, a collection of lyrics, Blätter der Liebe (1830), showed little originality; but his second production, Der letzte Ritter (1830), brought his genius to light. It celebrates the deeds and adventures of the emperor Maximilian I. (1493–1519) in a cycle of poems written in the strophic form of the Nibelungenlied. But Auersperg’s fame rests almost exclusively on his political poetry; two collections entitled Spaziergänge eines Wiener Poeten (1831) and Schutt (1835) created a sensation in Germany by their originality and bold liberalism. These two books, which are remarkable not merely for their outspoken opinions, but also for their easy versification and powerful imagery, were the forerunners of the German political poetry of 1840–1848. His Gedichte (1837), if anything, increased his reputation; his epics, Die Nibelungen im Frack (1843) and Der Pfaff vom Kahlenberg (1850), are characterized by a fine ironic humour. He also produced masterly translations of the popular Slovenic songs current in Carniola (Volkslieder aus Krain, 1850), and of the English poems relating to “Robin Hood” (1864).
Anastasius Grün’s Gesammelte Werke were published by L. A. Frankl in 5 vols. (Berlin, 1877); his Briefwechsel mit L. A. Frankl (Berlin, 1897). A selection of his Politische Reden und Schriften has been published by S. Hock (Vienna, 1906). See P. von Radics, Anastasius Grün (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1879).
AUFIDENA, an ancient city of the Samnites Caraceni, the site of which is just north of the modern Alfedena,[1] Italy, a station on the railway between Sulmona and Isernia, 37 m. from the latter. Its remains are fully and accurately described by L. Mariani in Monumenti dei Lincei (1901), 225 seq.: cf. Notizie degli scavi, 1901, 442 seq.; 1902, 516 seq. The ancient city occupied two hills, both over 3800 ft. above sea-level (in the valley between were found the supposed remains of the later forum), and the walls, of rough Cyclopean work, were over a mile in length. A fortified outpost lay on a still higher hill to the north. Not very much is as yet known of the city itself (though one public building of the 5th century B.C. was excavated in 1901, and a small sanctuary in 1902), attention having been chiefly devoted to the necropolis which lay below it; 1400 tombs had already been examined in 1908, though this number is conjectured to be only a sixteenth of the whole. They are all inhumation burials, of the advanced iron age, and date from the 7th to the 4th century B.C., falling into three classes—those without coffin, those with a coffin formed of stone slabs, and those with a coffin formed of tiles. The objects discovered are preserved in a museum on the spot. In the Roman period we find Aufidena figuring as a post station on the road between Sulmo and Aesernia, which, however, runs past Castel di Sangro, crossing the river by an ancient bridge some 5 m. to the north-east. Castel di Sangro has remains of ancient walls, but these are attributed to a road by Mariani, and in any case the fortified area there was quite small, only one-sixteenth the size of Aufidena. The attempted identification of Castel di Sangro with Aufidena must therefore be rejected, though we must allow that it was probably the Roman post station; the ancient city, since its capture by the Romans in the 3rd century B.C., having lost something of its importance. (T. As.)
AUGEAS, or Augeias, in Greek legend, a son of Helios, the sun-god, and king of the Epeians in Elis. He possessed an immense wealth of herds, including twelve bulls sacred to Helios, and white as swans. Eurystheus imposed upon Heracles the task of clearing out all his stalls unaided in one day. This he did by turning the rivers Alpheus and Peneus through them. Augeas had promised him a tenth of the herd, but refused this, alleging that Heracles had acted only in the service of Eurystheus. Heracles thereupon sent an army against him, and, though at first defeated, finally slew Augeas and his sons.
Apollodorus ii. 5, 7; Pindar, Olympia, xi, 24; Diodorus iv. 13; Theocritus, Idyll 25.
AUGER (from the O. Eng. nafu-gár, nave-borer; the original initial n having been lost, as in “adder,” through a confusion in the case of a preceding indefinite article), a tool for boring (q.v.) or drilling.
AUGEREAU, PIERRE FRANÇOIS CHARLES, duke of Castiglione (1757–1816), marshal of France, was born in Paris in a humble station of life. At the age of seventeen he enlisted in the carabineers and thereafter came into note as a duellist. Having drawn his sword upon an officer who insulted him, he fled from France and roamed about in the Levant. He served in the Russian army against the Turks; but afterwards escaped into Prussia and enlisted in the guards. Tiring of this, he deserted with several others and reached the Saxon frontier. Service in the Neapolitan army and a sojourn in Portugal filled up the years 1788–1791; but the events of the French Revolution brought him back to his native land. He served with credit against the Vendeans and then joined the troops opposing the Spaniards in the south. There he rose rapidly, becoming general of division on the 23rd of December 1793. His division distinguished itself even more when transferred to the army of Italy; and under Bonaparte he was largely instrumental in gaining the battle of Millesimo and in taking the castle of Cosseria and the camp of Ceva. At the battle of Lodi (May 10, 1796), the turning movement of Augereau and his division helped to decide the day. But it was at Castiglione that he rendered the most signal services. Marbot describes him as encouraging even Bonaparte himself in the confused situation that prevailed before that battle, and, though this is exaggerated, there is no doubt that Augereau largely decided the fortunes of those critical days. Bonaparte thus summed up his military qualities: “Has plenty of character, courage, firmness, activity; is inured to war; is well liked by the soldiery; is fortunate in his operations.” In 1797 Bonaparte sent him to Paris to encourage the Jacobinical Directors, and it was Augereau and the troops led by him that coerced the “moderates” in the councils and carried through the coup d’état of 18 Fructidor (4th of September) 1797. He was then sent to lead the united French forces in Germany; but peace
- ↑ Two churches here contain paintings of interest in the history of Abruzzese art, and one of them, the Madonna del Campo, contained fragments of a temple of considerable size.
