Namatianus, Rutilius Claudius

Namatianus, Rutilius Claudius [Na].
Roman official under Honorius who left Rome (probably in AD 417) to look after his ancestral Gallic estates, apparently near Toulouse, then threatened by the impending Visigothic settlement in Aquitaine. His autobiographical poem De reditu suo (‘On his return’) describes the devastation of Italy. His account contrasts with the prevailing fatality of the Christian historians, for he was a pagan and believed in the mission of Rome and its old gods, whom he saw as undermined by Christianity as much as by barbarian invaders.