Reference edition:

The Works of Ausonius, edited with Introduction and Commentary by R.P.H. Green, Oxford 1991

Ausonius' prefatory epistle to the Cento nuptialis of is addressed to Axius Paulus, a rhetorician and learned friend; he was also the dedicatee of Ausonius' Bissula. The epistle was apparently composed some time after the completion of the short work, and was found by chance among his papers. It locates the Vergilian cento in the context of the imperial court of Trier, presenting it as one of the literary entertainment of Valentinian and his entourage. Ausonius feels the need to justify, even if in semi-serious tone, for his decision to degrade in this way the dignity of the poetry of Virgil and attributes to responsibility of this to the emperor, who peremptorily demanded him to compose a cento that would compete with a cento on the same subject composed by ​​Valentinan himself some time earlier. The reading of the epistle is particularly interesting because it is the ancient text that analyses the compositional technique of centones in greatest detail and with the most penetrating insight, shedding light on the strengths and weaknesses of the genre. The author initially devaluates his short work (frivolum et nullius pretii opusculum) as a sort of of captatio benevolentiae. He then presents the cento as an intellectual lusus that demanded a not insignificant commitment: a perfect knowledge of the source text is essential to compose a text that would display originality, consistency of style and a coherent meaning, even if 'degrading' in some way the original model (de seriis ludicrum, de diversis unum, de alieno nostrum). The technique of assembling Virgilian 'tesserae' has specific rules that Ausonius describes in great detail. The author should not violate these rules if he wants to demonstrate his artistic mastery and avoid strained usage: peritorum concinnatio miraculum est, imperitorum iunctura ridiculum. [R. Tabacco; tr. L. Battezzato]