Latin (or Latinio) Pacato Drepanio (Latinus Latinus -o Latinius- Pacatus Drepanius), was a Latin panegirist who flourished in the late fourth century AD. C.
Its most probable origins lie in the Aquitaine city of Aginnum (Agén), in present-day southern France, in the territory of the Celtiberian people of the Nitimbrigos. He was educated in the rhetoric school of Burdigala. He was a contemporary and intimate friend of Ausonius, who dedicated two of his minor works to Pacato, whom he described as the greatest Latin poet after Virgil.
Pacato obtained the office of proconsul of Africa (390) and maintained an influential position in the imperial court. He is the author of the second of the twelve Panegyricci Latini (Panegyricus Latini Pacati Drepani dictus Theodosio, chronologically, the last to be read, so some sources assume that he was the author of the compilation), which was read in the Senate of Rome (389) in honor of the Roman emperor Theodosius I the Great. It contains the description of the life and deeds of the emperor, especially the one of the congratulations that was the complete defeat of the usurper Maximo. The speech is one of the best of its kind. Although altogether it is not free of exaggeration and adulation, the author is marked by considerable dignity and self-control, and the panegyric discourse is thus more important as a historical document than other similar productions. The style is lively, the language elegant but comparatively simple, exhibiting familiarity with the best classical literature.
The writer of the panegyric should be distinguished from Drepanio Floro, deacon of Lyon around 850, author of some Christian poems and theological works of prose.
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