1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Arator

ARATOR, of Liguria, a Christian poet, who lived during the 6th century. He was an orphan, and owed his early education to Laurentius, archbishop of Milan, and Ennodius, bishop of Pavia, who took great interest in him. After completing his studies, he practised with success as an advocate, and was appointed to an influential post at the court of Athalaric, king of the Ostrogoths. About 540, he quitted the service of the state, took orders and was elected sub-deacon of the Roman Church. He gained the favour of Pope Vigilius, to whom he dedicated his De Actibus Aposlolorum (written about 544), which was much admired in the middle ages. The poem, consisting of some 2500 hexameters, is of little merit, being full of mystical and allegorical interpretations and long-winded digressions; the versification, except for certain eccentricities in prosody, is generally correct.

Text by Hübner, 1850. See Leimbach, “Der Dichter Arator,” in Theologische Studien und Kritik (1873); Manitius, Geschichte der christlich-lateinischen Poesie (1891).