Ausonius

Ausonius is known only as a recipient of letters from Isidore of Pelusium, the ascetic and prolific letter-writer active in Pelusium and the eastern Nile Delta in the early-to-mid 5th century. The letters consistently address him as "Corrector" (corrector), a provincial governor with judicial authority in the late Roman administration, and their content is overwhelmingly concerned with the right exercise of that office: Isidore praises him for blending fear with gentleness so as to make no enemies, urges him to grant pardon rather than punish offhandedly, to keep his ears open to the petitions of the poor and the oppressed but shut to slanderers and false accusers, and to guard justice impartially, holding aloof equally from unjust hatred and from favor. One letter (new-339) shows Isidore joining a city-wide petition to him about a civic matter, treating him as the official who first and perhaps alone ought to take thought for the city. Beyond these epistolary exchanges and the office of corrector they attest, Ausonius is otherwise unattested.