o was a native
of southern Gaul but a resident of Rome where he attained the highest
senatorial offices. His literary fame rests upon the elegiac poem in which
he described his journey from Rome to Gaul in 416 A. D., and revealed the
hold which the imperial city still continued to exercise upon men's minds.

*Christian Latin literature: Lactantius (d. about 325 A. D.).* It is among
the writers of Christian literature that the few great Latin authors of
the time are to be found. At the beginning of the fourth century stood
Lactantius, an African, who became a teacher of rhetoric in Nicomedia,
where he was converted to Christianity. His chief work was the _Divinae
Institutiones_, an introduction to Christian doctrine, which was an
attempt to create a philosophical Christianity. His purity of style has
caused him to be called the "Christian Cicero."

*Ambrose, (d. 397 A. D.).* Ambrose, the powerful bishop of Milan, who
exercised such great influence with Gratian and Theodosius the Great, also
displayed great literary activity. In general, his writings are
developments of his sermons, and display no very great learning. Their
power depended upon the strength of his personality. More important from a
literary standpoint are the hymns which he composed for use in church
services to combat in popular form the Arian doctrines. In his verses
Ambrose adhered to the classic metrical forms, but in the course of the
next two centuries these were abandoned for the use of the rhymed verse,
which itself was a development of the current rhetorical prose.

*Jerome, 335-420 A. D.* The most learned of the Latin Christian writers of
antiquity was Jerome (Hieronymus), a native of northern Bosnia, whose
retired, studious life was in striking contrast to the public, official
career of Ambrose. A Greek and Hebrew scholar, in addition to his dogmatic
writings he made a Latin translation of the Old Testament from the Hebrew
(the basis of the later _Vulgate_), and another of the Greek _Church
History_ of Eusebius.

*Augustine, 354-430 A. D.* The long line of notable literary figures of
the African church is closed by Augustine, the bishop of Hippo who died
during the siege of his city by the Vandals in 430 A. D. In his early life
a pagan, he found inspiration and guidance in the philosophy of Plato and
Aristotle. But while Jerome was still dominated by Greek religious
thought, Augustine was the first Latin Christian writer to emancipate
himself