Avianus, a Latin writer of fables, placed by some critics in the age of the Antonines, by others as late as the 6th century AD. Latin is the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... In its strict sense a fable is a short story or folk tale embodying a moral, which may be expressed explicitly at the end as a maxim. ... The Antonines most often referred to were two successive Roman Emperors who ruled between A.D. 138 and 180: Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius, famous for their skilled leadership. ... (5th century — 6th century — 7th century — other centuries) Events The first academy of the east the Academy of Gundeshapur founded in Persia by the Persian Shah Khosrau I. Irish colonists and invaders, the Scots, began migrating to Caledonia (later known as Scotland) Glendalough monastery, Wicklow Ireland founded by St. ...

The 42 fables which bear his name are dedicated to a certain Theodosius, whose learning is spoken of in most flattering terms. He may possibly be Macrobius Theodosius, the author of the Saturnalia; some think he may be the emperor of that name. Nearly all the fables are to be found in Babrius, who was probably Avianus's source of inspiration, but as Babrius wrote in Greek, and Avianus speaks of having made an elegiac version from a rough Latin copy, probably a prose paraphrase, he was not indebted to the original. The language and metre are on the whole correct, in spite of deviations from classical usage, chiefly in the management of the pentameter. The fables soon became popular as a school-book. Promythia and epimythia (introductions and morals) and paraphrases, and imitations were frequent, such as the Novus Avianus of Alexander Neckam (12th century). Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius, Roman grammarian and philosopher, flourished during the reigns of Honorius and Arcadius (395-423). ... Babrius was the author of a collection of fables written in Greek. ... Latin is the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Prose is writing distinguished from poetry by its greater variety of rhythm and its closer resemblance to the patterns of everyday speech. ... In poetry, a pentameter is a line of verse consisting of five metrical feet: Be what you can if thus your heart so deem, For more the man will less the foible seem. ... Alexander Neckam (September 8, 1157 _ 1217), was an English scientist and teacher. ... (11th century - 12th century - 13th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century was that century which lasted from 1101 to 1200. ...

Editions and Extracts

• Cannegieter (1731)
• Lachmann (1845)
• Fröhner (1862)
• Bahrens in Poetae Latini Minores
• Ellis (1887)
• Muller, De Phaedri a Aviani Fabidis (1875)
• Unrein, De Aviani Aetate (1885)
• Hervieux, Les Fabulistes latins (1894)
• The Fables of Avian translated into Englyshe ... by William Caxton at Westmynstre (1483).

This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain. Karl Konrad Friedrich Wilhelm Lachmann (March 4, 1793 - March 13, 1851), was a German philologist and critic. ... Robinson Ellis (September 5, 1834 - ?) was an English classical scholar. ... William Caxton (c. ... Supporters contend that the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) represents, in many ways, the sum of knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...