That is the first line of Ausonius's Ordo Urbium Nobilium. I saw the names of the next two cities, Constantinople and Carthage in the text; I might have guessed the first and perhaps Carthage would have figured on my attempt at filling the poet's list but in third place, I don't know.
If Rome and Constantinople are at the top of the list, which are the least of the noble cities?
First, I suppose, I ought to confirm that I am familiar at least vaguely with the lot of them; there are about a dozen or fifteen, as I recall (from who knows where-- not from having read the poem, of that I'm sure).
Twenty, judging by the section headings in the Loeb edition. Antioch, Alexandria by Egypt-- again, sure. Trèves, Trier. Then Milan and Capua, Aquileia (see of patriarchs from the 6th to the 18th century), Arles, Seville, Cordoba, Tarragona, and Braga. Athens, Catania, Syracusa, Toulouse. Narbonne and, in the last place, Bordeaux, Ausonius's home-- it is a western-oriented list, isn't it.
I must begin at the beginning but wanted to note this line (XX 39), close to the end:
If Rome and Constantinople are at the top of the list, which are the least of the noble cities?
First, I suppose, I ought to confirm that I am familiar at least vaguely with the lot of them; there are about a dozen or fifteen, as I recall (from who knows where-- not from having read the poem, of that I'm sure).
Twenty, judging by the section headings in the Loeb edition. Antioch, Alexandria by Egypt-- again, sure. Trèves, Trier. Then Milan and Capua, Aquileia (see of patriarchs from the 6th to the 18th century), Arles, Seville, Cordoba, Tarragona, and Braga. Athens, Catania, Syracusa, Toulouse. Narbonne and, in the last place, Bordeaux, Ausonius's home-- it is a western-oriented list, isn't it.
I must begin at the beginning but wanted to note this line (XX 39), close to the end:
Haec patria est: patrias sed Roma supervenit omnes
'Bordeaux is my homeland but Rome is above them all.'
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