Nazarius, (), was a Roman and a Latin
rhetorician and
panegyrist. He was, according to
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 ...
, a professor of rhetoric at Burdigala (
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...
).
The
extant speech of which he is undoubtedly the author (in R.A.B. Mynors, ''XII Panegyrici Latini'', Oxford 1964, No. 4; English translation in C.E.V. Nixon / Barbara Rodgers, ''In Praise of Later Roman Emperors'', Berkeley 1994) was delivered in 321 CE to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of the accession of
Constantine the Great
Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...
, and the fifth of his son Constantine's admission to the rank of Caesar. The preceding speech (No. 12), celebrating the victory of Constantine over
Maxentius
Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius ( 283 – 28 October 312) was a Roman emperor from 306 until his death in 312. Despite ruling in Italy and North Africa, and having the recognition of the Senate in Rome, he was not recognized as a legitimate ...
, delivered in 313 CE at Augusta Treverorum (
Trier
Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...
), has often been attributed to Nazarius, but the difference in style and vocabulary, and the more distinctly
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
coloring of Nazarius's speech, are against this.
References
{{Authority control
Ancient Roman rhetoricians
4th-century writers in Latin