Acilius Severus (writer)

Acilius Severus (died between AD 364 and 375; in some editions spelled Aquilus, Aquilius) was a Roman Christian writer of the late 4th century AD, from Hispania.

[1] He was from a senatorial family based on known correspondence with the Roman writer Lactantius[2] (c. 250 – c. 325) through written epistles to his ancestors.

[3] A fragmentary inscription dicated that his ancestry was rooted from the gens Acilia, a noble family since the first century CE.

[4][5] In Jerome's De viris illustribus, he writes that Acilius Severus wrote an autobiography in "a volume of mingled poetry and prose," entitled Καταστροφὴν (katastrophḗn, "vicissitudes, calamity") or Πεῖραν (peiran, "proofs, trial").

[8] In Jerome’s work, the account of Acilius life story ended in his conversion to Christianity.