.JPG)
Saint
Sidoine Apollinaire
Ecrivain,
évêque de Clermont (+ 486)
ou Caius Sollius Modestus Apollinaris Sidonius.
Évêque de Clermont. Il est le dernier écrivain romain classique. Né à Lyon, il avait une statue sur le Forum de Rome dont il fut le préfet. Il était également le poète officiel de la cour impériale. Il connut huit empereurs, mais aucun ne l'entraîna dans sa disgrâce car il savait s'engager et se dégager. Après l'assassinat de l'empereur Majorien, il se retire prudemment dans son domaine d'Auvergne avec sa femme et ses deux fils, chassant pêchant, écrivant des poèmes. Ce furent les cinq plus belles années de sa vie. Mais tout changea quand les Wisigoths se ruèrent sur Clermont dont il était devenu à la fois gouverneur et évêque. Le siège dura quatre ans et, lui, le raffiné, dut manger des chats et ensuite s'entendre "avec ces géants grossiers dont l'haleine pue l'ail et l'oignon des ragoûts qu'ils mangent dès le matin." Il est un pasteur exemplaire, donne son mobilier que sa femme rachète sur le marché, ce qui permet à saint Sidoine de les donner à nouveau. Les souffrances et la tristesse le font mourir prématurément.
À Clermont en Auvergne, vers 479, saint Sidoine Apollinaire, évêque. De préfet
de la ville de Rome, il fut ordonné évêque des Arvernes. D'une grande culture
humaine et sacrée, remarquable par sa force d'âme, il s'opposa à la férocité
des barbares en père catholique et docteur éclairé.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1716/Saint-Sidoine-Apollinaire.html
Il
y a quinze siècles, l’épopée de saint Sidoine Apollinaire
15 JANVIER, 2021
PROVENANCE: FSSPX.NEWS
L’année 2021 voit le
1550e anniversaire de l’accession de saint Sidoine Apollinaire au siège épiscopal
de Clermont-Ferrand, l’un des plus importants dans la Gaule d’alors.
FSSPX.Actualités revient sur cette grande figure épiscopale, ultime témoin du
monde gallo-romain qui devait bientôt disparaître sous les coups des invasions
barbares.
Caïus Sollius Modestus
Apollinarius Sidonius naît à Lyon, alors capitale des Gaules, en 431 ou 432. Il
appartient à l’une des familles les plus importantes du pays : son
grand-père avait été préfet du prétoire de Gaule sous le règne de Théodose, et
c’est par la conversion de cet aïeul que le christianisme est entré dans la
famille. Sous l’empereur Valentinien III, son père avait été revêtu de la même
dignité. Le plus brillant avenir semblait donc réservé à Sidoine.
Après avoir achevé des
études aussi complètes que possible, celui-ci épouse en effet, vers 452 une
jeune fille originaire d’Auvergne, Papianilla, dont le père – Flavius Eparchius
Avitus – devait être, quelques années plus tard, élu empereur par les députés
de la noblesse gauloise réunis à Beaucaire.
Le 1er janvier 456, selon
la coutume, Sidoine est chargé de prononcer devant le Sénat romain le
traditionnel panégyrique de son-beau père : ce qu’il fit avec succès.
Las ! Peu de temps après, l’empereur est renversé, mais Sidoine rentre
dans les grâces de son successeur, dont il prononcera aussi le panégyrique.
En 468, son éloquence lui
vaut d’être nommé préfet de Rome, puis, à la sortie de sa charge, patrice. Le
futur saint espérait jouir en paix des années qui lui restaient à vivre
lorsque, dans des conditions mal connues, il se trouve propulsé en 471 sur le
siège épiscopal de Clermont, alors vacant.
Rien ne l’a préparé à
l’exercice de ces hautes fonctions, mais dès qu’il est élu, Sidoine Apollinaire
a le souci de se rendre digne de la confiance de son peuple et de ses
collègues, et de se montrer à la hauteur des circonstances particulièrement
difficiles dans lesquelles son ministère devait s’exercer.
En effet, dès 474, les
nuages s’amoncellent sur la cité des Arvernes : les Wisigoths conduits par
l’hérétique arien Euric envahissent la région. Sidoine doit organiser lui-même
la résistance. Mais Clermont tombe bientôt, et l’évêque est emprisonné dans la
forteresse de Livia, près de Carcassonne.
Rendu à la liberté,
Sidoine Apollinaire retrouve son siège épiscopal sur lequel il mourra en paix,
vers 487 ou 489.
Il y a eu deux hommes
dans Sidoine Apollinaire : le patricien gallo-romain et l’évêque. Sa vie,
se partage en deux phases bien distinctes. La première, toute mondaine, est
absorbée par la légitime ambition que pouvait concevoir un homme de son rang et
de sa naissance.
La seconde nous présente
un évêque, dans toute l’acception de ce mot : un pasteur vigilant de son
troupeau, dévoué aux soins de ses intérêts moraux et matériels, préoccupé de la
multitude d’affaires qui s’imposaient à un évêque des Gaules, à la fin du Ve
siècle, dans le désarroi général de la société.
Mais, à côté de l’évêque,
nous trouvons aussi le patriote gallo-romain, profondément attaché à tout ce
que comprenait de gloire, de traditions et de souvenirs ce grand nom de Rome.
Les derniers efforts de
patriotisme romain, c’est Sidoine qui les a faits, preuve remarquable de cette
unité profonde dont Rome avait empreint les nations soumises à son
empire ; les dernières paroles éloquentes, inspirées de ce patriotisme,
c’est l’évêque de Clermont qui les a prononcées. Et il est remarquable que la
terre gauloise qui lutta avec tant d’énergie contre les légions de César ait
été aussi la dernière à résister, au nom de Rome, à l’invasion et à la conquête
des barbares ariens.
(Sources :
Dictionnaire de théologie catholique/Eugène Baret : préface aux œuvres de
Sidoine Apollinaire – FSSPX.Actualités)
Sidoine
Apollinaire
Sidoine
Apollinaire (Caius Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius dit). - Descendant
d'une des plus nobles familles de la Gaule, né à Lyon ou à Clermont-Ferrand en
430; son grand-père et son père étaient chrétiens; il fut lui aussi, élevé dans
la religion chrétienne
Sidoine composa, en 456,
à la gloire de son beau-père un panégyrique en vers qui nous est resté
(Panegyricus Avito Auguto socero dictus, carmen VII). La même année, Avitus fut renversé par Ricimer et Majorien, contre lesquels
Sidoine Apollinaire lutta deux ans avec la noblesse gauloise. Il finit par se
soumettre, en 458, et s'empressa, pour rentrer en grâce auprès des vainqueurs,
de faire le panégyrique
Quatre ans plus tard, en
472, il est élu évêque de la ville des Arvernes,
aujourd'hui Clermont-Ferrand. Ce n'est pas qu'il ait la science théologique ou
l'esprit ecclésiastique; mais l'épiscopat, à Clermont, avait une grande
influence politique et pouvait séduire un ambitieux. En effet, le successeur
de Théodoric II,
le roi Euric, menaçait l'Auvergne
Le rôle de Sidoine
Apollinaire est aussi considérable au point de vue littéraire qu'au point de
vue historique et politique. Il a laissé neuf livres de lettres où se trouvent
de nombreux morceaux de poésie; il se vante lui-même d'avoir imité Pline le Jeune et
Symmaque. Ces lettres affectées, prétentieuses, gonflées de métaphores, nous
révèlent le caractère de cet évêque, bonhomme, vaniteux et au fond paresseux et
ami des plaisirs. D'ailleurs, comme les poèmes, la correspondance de Sidoine
Apollinaire est très utile à l'histoire du Ve siècle. Augustin Thierry en a
usé plus d'une fois. Les poèmes de Sidoine, au nombre de vingt-quatre
(hexamètres, distiques élégiaques
SOURCE : https://www.cosmovisions.com/Sidoine.htm
Sidoine
Apollinaire, un écrivain gallo-romain devenu évêque et saint
Par Le
Progrès - 28 déc. 2013 à 22:35 -
Sidoine Apollinaire,
écrire, raconter, flatter et prier.
S’il naît à Lugdunum, le
Lyon de l’époque antique, c’est dans une famille de notables gallo-romains et
chrétiens, où l’on est par tradition un haut fonctionnaire de la cité, de père
en fils. Le jeune Sidoine y ajoute un goût marqué pour l’écriture, la
littérature et la poésie, épousant en 452 une jeune fille de sa caste,
appartenant à l’une des familles les plus influentes de la Gaule romaine.
Au sein des factions, des
intrigues et des coups d’état qui scandent l’Empire romain déclinant, son
beau-père Avitus devient même empereur, confiant à son gendre un poste de choix
lié à la plume éloquente de ce dernier. Pas pour longtemps : il est prestement
renversé, mais son remplaçant Majorien conserve le gendre et sa fameuse plume,
prompte à flatter le nouveau maître de Rome.
En prison pendant deux
ans
Pas pour longtemps non
plus : il est assassiné, mais un de ses successeurs, Anthémius rejouera le même
scénario, rappellera dans la capitale impériale le Lyonnais et sa plume aussi
brillante que flatteuse, lui confiant même un poste politique d’importance.
Pour peu de temps : au milieu des intrigues et des famines qui frappent la Rome
décadente, Sidoine regagne prestement sa Gaule natale.
Là, continuant sa
production littéraire et poétique, il est élu évêque de Clermont, aux
prérogatives touchant à la fois les domaines religieux, politiques et
administratifs. Ainsi, pendant quatre ans, il assure la défense de la cité
contre les armées du roi wisigoth Euric.
En 475, la ville tombe et
Sidoine se retrouve en prison pendant deux ans à Carcassonne, ne retrouvant la
liberté qu’au prix de quelques textes louangeurs chantant les mérites du
nouveau maître. Après quoi il quitte le tumulte et meurt une dizaine d’années
plus tard, devenu par la suite un saint de l’Église catholique, fêté le 21
août.
SidoineApollinaire 430
environ : naissance à Lyon (Lugdunum). 468 : préfet de
Rome. 470 environ : retour en Gaule. 471 : évêque de
Clermont. 486 : décès à Clermont.
Sidoine
Apollinaire vers 430 - 487
Qui étaient les gaulois ?
Sidoine Apollinaire
Gallo-Romain né à Lyon, fils
et petit-fils de préfets des Gaules, poète et historien, personnage politique
et évêque, Sidoine Apollinaire est un des écrivains qui nous
renseignent le mieux sur la Gaule du milieu du Vème siècle, sur les rapports
entre Gallo-Romains, Wisigoths et Francs.
Appartenant à une riche
famille de la noblesse sénatoriale, il joue d'abord un rôle politique à Rome.
Marié à la fille de l'empereur Avitus, puis préfet de Rome en 468 au temps de
l'empereur Anthemios, il part ensuite pour l'Auvergne afin d'affermir l'autorité
romaine dans cette région, pôle de résistance à la pénétration barbare.
C'est alors, vers 470,
qu'il est élu évêque de Clermont per saltum, c'est-à-dire sans être encore
prêtre, mais il est aussitôt ordonné et sacré. Sa vie familiale laïque cesse.
Cependant, la pression
wisigothique s'accentue et quand l'empereur Julius Nepos (473-475), aux
abois, donne aux Wisigoths le droit de s'installer en Auvergne comme
ils le sont déjà de la Loire aux Pyrénées et dans la péninsule Ibérique, Sidoine
Apollinaire est de ceux qui protestent. En vain.
Ils arrivent à Clermont.
L'évêque ayant refusé de fuir, il est arrêté et emprisonné près de Carcassonne.
Mais deux ans plus tard, c'est-à-dire un an après la déposition de Romulus
Augustule, le dernier empereur de Rome (476), il se rallie au roi
des Wisigoths, Euric, demande son pardon et l'obtient.
Ni théologien ni
particulièrement dévot, mais esprit généreux, excellent administrateur, ayant
une claire intelligence politique et un incontestable talent littéraire, il est
une des plus belles figures du monde impérial romain en train de s'effondrer.
C'est lui qui a donné
des Francs la plus exacte description dont on dispose :
"Leurs cheveux roux
sont ramenés du sommet de la tête vers le front, laissant la nuque à découvert
; leurs yeux sont verdâtres et humides, leur visage est rasé avec une maigre
moustache. Des vêtements collants serrent les membres de ces guerriers de
haute stature et laissent à nu leurs jarrets. C'est un jeu pour eux de lancer
au loin leur francisque, sûrs du coup qu'ils portent, de faire tourner leur
bouclier et de sauter d'un bond sur l'ennemi, devançant le javelot. Dès
l'enfance, la guerre est leur passion".
En d'autres pages, il
déplore la décadence du latin, écrivant à un ami : "Toute la pourpre du
noble langage perd son éclat à cause de l'incurie du vulgaire. La multitude des
paresseux est tellement croissante que si nous ne travaillons pas à préserver
la pureté de la langue latine de la rouille des barbarismes populaires, nous ne
tarderons pas à déplorer sa disparition..."
Mort à Clermont vers 487,
il a laissé des poèmes et neuf livres de lettres écritent en vers.
SOURCE : http://www.alex-bernardini.fr/histoire/Sidoine-Apollinaire.php
The
beginning of Sidonius’ letters in the manuscript Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Ms.
lat. fol. 591, fol. 1r.
Der
Anfang der Briefe des Sidonius in der Handschrift Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Ms.
lat. fol. 591, fol. 1r.
Also
known as
Caius Sollius Apollinaris
Sidonius
Sidonio Apollinare
Profile
Born to the imperial
Roman nobility, son of Apollinaris, Prefect of Gaul. Soldier. Married to
Papianilla, the daughter of Emperor Avitus, c.452. Father of
Apollinaris. Arrested for
political reasons in 457,
but was well treated, and after release he eventually rose through the ranks of
the new regime. Urban Prefect of Rome in 468 and 469.
Roman Patrician. Roman Senator. Reluctant bishop of Clermont, France,
chosen more for political than theological reasons. Imprisoned when
the Goths under Alaric took Clermont in 474;
Sidonius had helped defend his city against the invaders. He was later released
and returned to his see where
he served the rest of his life. Noted writer and poet;
his poetry in
particular helped advance his political career. Known for giving of his great
wealth to the poor and
his support of monasteries.
Born
c.423 in
Lugdunum, Gaul (modern Lyon, France)
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
Introduction to the Letters, by O M Dalton
images
e-books
Letters
of Sidonius, volume 1
Letters
of Sidonius, volume 2
webseiten
auf deutsch
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
MLA
Citation
“Saint Sidonius Apollinaris“. CatholicSaints.Info.
27 January 2022. Web. 20 August 2022.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-sidonius-apollinaris/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-sidonius-apollinaris/
Sidonius Apollinaris
(CAIUS SOLLIUS MODESTUS APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS).
Christian author
and Bishop of Clermont, b. at Lyons, 5 November, about
430; d. at Clermont,
about August, 480. He was of noble descent, his father and
grandfather being Christians and
prefects of the pretorium of the Gauls. About 452 he married Papianilla,
daughter of Avitus, who was proclaimed emperor at the end of 455, and who set
up in the Forum of Trajan a statue of his
son-in-law. Sidonius wrote a panegyric in honor of his father who had
become consul on 1 Jan., 456. A year had elapsed before Avitus was overthrown
by Ricimer and Majorian. Sidonius at first resisted, then yielded and wrote a
second panegyric on the occasion of Majorian's journey to Lyons (458). After
the fall of Majorian, Sidonius supported Theodoric II, King of the Visigoths, and after
Theodoric's assassination hoped to see the empire arise anew during the
consulate of Anthemius. He went to Rome, where he eulogized
the second consulate of Anthemius (1 Jan., 468) in a panegyric, and became
prefect of the city. About 470 he returned to Gaul, where contrary to
his wishes he was elected Bishop of the
Arveni (Clermont in Auvergne). He had been chosen as the only one capable of
maintaining the Roman power against the attacks of Euric, Theodoric's
successor. With the general Ecdicius, he resisted the barbarian army up to the
time when Clermont fell, abandoned by Rome (474). He was
for some time a prisoner of
Euric, and was later exposed to the attacks of two priests of
his diocese. He
finally returned to Clermont,
where he died (Epist., IX, xii).
His works form two
groups, the "Carmina" and the "Epistulae". The poems are
the three panegyrics with their appendixes; two epithalamia; an acknowledgment
to Faustus of Reji (now
Riez), a eulogy of Narbonne, or rather, of two citizens of Narbonne; a
description of the castle (burgas) of Leontius, etc. The letters have been
divided into nine books, the approximate dates of which are: I, 469; II, 472;
V-VII, 474-475; IX, 479. Although written in prose, these letters contain
several metrical pieces. After his conversion to Christianity, Sidonius
ceased to write profane poetry. The poems of Sidonius are written in a fairly
pure latinity. The prosody is correct, but the frequent alliterations and the
use of short verses in lengthy compositions betray the poet of a decadent
period. The excessive use of mythological and allegorical terms and the
elaboration of details make the reading of these works tiresome. The sources of
his inspiration are usually Statius and Claudian. His defects are atoned for by
powerful descriptions (sketches of barbarian races, landscapes, details of
court intrigues) noticeable particularly in his letters, in the composition of
which he took as models Symmachus and Pliny the Younger. Most of them are
genuine letters, only somewhat retouched before their insertion in the
collection. They abound more in mannerisms than the poems and contain also many
archaic words and expressions borrowed from every period of the Latin language;
he is very diffuse and runs to antithesis and plays upon words. He foreshadows
the artificial diction of the "Hisperica Tamina", only the artistic
skill of the painter and
the story-teller makes up for these defects. These letters exhibit a highly
colored and unique picture of the times. Sidonius wished to unite the service
of Christ and that of the Empire. He is the last representative of the ancient
culture in Gaul.
By his works as well as by his career, he strove to perpetuate it under the
aegis of Rome;
eventually he had to be content with saving its last vestiges under a barbarian
prince.
Sources
The writings of Sidonius
were edited by SIRMOND (Paris, 1652); for new editions see LUETJOHANN in Mon. Ger. Hist.: Auct. antiq., VIII
(Berlin, 1887); MOHR in Bibliotheca
Teubneriana (Leipsig). For an exhaustive bibliography see CHEVALIER, Répertoire; IDEM, Bio-bibl., s.v.; ROGER, L'enseignement
des lettres classiques d'Ansone à Alcuin (Paris, 1905), 60-88.
Lejay,
Paul. "Sidonius Apollinaris." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton
Company, 1912. 20 Aug. 2022 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13778a.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Joseph E. O'Connor.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. February 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, D.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2021 by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13778a.htm
Book of Saints
– Sidonius Apollinaris
Article
(Saint) Bishop (August
23) (5th
century) One of the most notable personages of the Age in which he lived,
and distinguished both as an orator and as a poet. He began life as a prominent
public man, was married and had children. The Invasion of the Barbarians, which
led to the collapse of the Roman Empire, had commenced; and Sidonius, called
to Rome,
was appointed Prefect of the City. But the people of Gaul soon reclaimed him
and obtained his recall to his own country. Separating from his wife with her
consent, he was made Bishop of
Clermont in Auvergne. He proved himself a model Bishop, not only by his zeal
for religion, but also by his prudence and skill in safeguarding his flock in
the troubles of the times. His dealings with Alaric, the chief of the Goths,
though they irritated the Barbarians, ultimately resulted in the escape of his
people from destruction. Saint Sidonius died in
A.D. 482,
and has left many letters and poems. Like so many of his contemporaries, he
could not bring himself to believe that the Roman Empire was to pass away and
to be succeeded by a new Europe, peopled by conflicting nations. This makes his
correspondence specially interesting.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate.
“Sidonius Apollinaris”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info.
20 August 2016. Web. 20 August 2022.
<https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-sidonius-apollinaris/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-sidonius-apollinaris/
August
23
St.
Apollinaris Sidonius, Bishop of Clermont, Confessor
CAIUS SOLLIUS APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS was
born at Lyons about the year 431, and was of one of the most noble families in
Gaul, where his father and grandfather, both named Apollinaris, had commanded
successively in quality of prefects of the prætorium. He was educated in arts
and learning under the best masters, and was one of the most celebrated orators
and poets of the age in which he lived. From his epistles, it is manifest that
he was always religious, pious, humble, affable, extremely affectionate,
beneficent, and compassionate, and no lover of the world, even whilst he lived in
it; for some time he had a command in the imperial army; and he married
Papianilla, by whom he had a son called Apollinaris, and two daughters.
Papianilla was daughter of Avitus, who after having been thrice prefect of the
prætorium in Gaul, was raised to the imperial throne at Rome in 455; but being
obliged to quit the purple after a reign of ten months, died on the road to
Auvergne. Majorian, his successor, prosecuted his relations, and coming to
Lyons, caused Sidonius to be apprehended; but admiring the constancy with which
he bore his disgrace, and becoming acquainted with his extraordinary
qualifications and virtue, restored his estates to him, and created him count.
Majorian was a good soldier, and began to curb the barbarians who laid waste
the fairest provinces of the empire, but was slain in 461, by Ricimer the Goth,
his own general, who placed the diadem upon the head of Severus. Upon this
revolution Sidonius left the court, and led a retired life in Auvergne, where
he protected his province from the Goths, and divided his time between studies
and the exercises of piety. Severus was poisoned by Ricimer after a reign of
four years, and Anthemius chosen emperor in 467, who immediately called
Sidonius again to Rome, and created him prince of the senate, patrician, and
prefect of the city. His piety and devotion suffered no prejudice in his
elevation, and amidst the distraction of his secular employments, in which he
made use of his authority only to promote the divine honour, and to render
himself the servant of others in studying to advance every one’s happiness and
comfort.
God soon called him from
these secular dignities to the government of his church. The bishopric of
Arvernum, since called Clermont, in Auvergne, falling vacant in 471, the people
of that extensive diocess, and the bishops of the whole country, who had long
regretted his absence whilst he was detained in the capital of the world,
unanimously demanded that he should be restored to them in order to fill the
episcopal chair. Sidonius was then a layman, and his wife was yet living; he
therefore urged the authority of canons against such an election, and opposed
it with all his might, till, fearing at length to resist the will of heaven, he
acquiesced; it having been customary on extraordinary occasions to dispense
with the canons which forbid laymen to be chosen bishops. He therefore and his
wife agreed to a perpetual separation; and from that moment he renounced poesy,
which till then had been his delight, to apply himself only to those studies
which were most agreeable to his ministry. He was no stranger to them whilst a
layman, and he soon became an oracle whom other bishops consulted in their
difficulties; though he was always reserved and unwilling to decide them, and
usually referred them to others, alleging that he was not capable of acting the
part of a doctor among his brethren, whose direction and science he stood
himself infinitely in need of. St. Lupus, bishop of Troyes, who had loved and
honoured him whilst he was yet wandering in the dry deserts of the world, found
his affection for him redoubled when he beheld him become a guide of souls in
the paths of religion and virtue. Upon his promotion to the episcopal dignity
he wrote him an excellent letter of congratulation and advice, in which, among
other things, he told him: 1 “It is no
longer by pomp and an equipage that you are to keep up your rank, but by the
most profound humility of heart. You are placed above others, but must consider
yourself as below the meanest and last in your flock. Be ready to kiss the feet
of those whom formerly you would not have thought worthy to sit under your
feet. You must render yourself the servant of all.” This Sidonius made the rule
of his conduct. He kept always a very frugal table, fasted every second day,
watched much, and though of a tender constitution, often seemed to carry his
penitential austerities to excess. He was frequently in want of necessaries,
because he had given all away to the poor. His love and compassion for them,
even whilst he lived in the world, was such, that he sometimes had sold all his
plate for their relief; which having been done without the knowledge of his
wife, she afterwards redeemed it.
After he was bishop, he
looked upon it as his principal duty to provide for the instruction, comfort,
and assistance of the poor. In the time of a great famine he maintained, at his
own charge, with the charitable succours which Ecdicius, his wife’s brother, put
into his hands, more than four thousand Burgundians and other strangers, who
had been driven from their own country by misery and necessity; and when the
scarcity was over he furnished them with carriages, and sent them to their
respective homes. St. Sidonius made frequent visitations of his diocess, and
performed every office of his ministry with all the care and prudence possible.
The reputation of his wisdom was so great, that being summoned to Bourges, when
that see, which was his metropolitan church, was vacant in 472, all the
prelates there assembled, with one consent, referred the election of a bishop
to him, and he nominated Simplicius, a holy pastor. 2 He says
that a bishop ought to do by humility what a monk and a penitent are obliged to
do by their profession. He gives us the following account of Maximus,
archbishop of Toulouse, whom he had before known a very rich man in the world;
that he found him in his new spiritual dignity wholly changed; his clothing,
countenance, and discourse savoured of nothing but modesty and piety; he had
short hair, and a long beard; his household-stuff was plain; he had nothing but
wooden benches, stuff curtains, a bed without feathers, and a table, without a
carpet; and the food of his family consisted of pulse more than flesh. 3 He
testifies that the annual festivals of saints were kept with great solemnity;
that on them the people flocked to the church in throngs before day; that they
lighted up a great many tapers; that the monks and clergy sung the vigils or
matins in two choirs, and that they celebrated mass about noon. 4
The city of Clermont
being besieged, in 475, by Alaric, king of the Visigoths, who then reigned in
the southern provinces of France, the zealous bishop encouraged the people to
stand upon their defence, by which he exposed himself to the rage of the
conquerers after they were masters of the place. He entreated the Arian king to
grant several articles in favour of the Catholics, which the barbarian was so
far from allowing, that he sent the holy prelate prisoner to Liviane, a castle
near Carcassone, where he suffered much. However, Alaric some time after
restored him to his see, and he continued to be the comfort and support of the
distressed Catholics in that country. He was again expelled by two factious
wicked priests, but some time after recovered the government of his church, and
died in peace in the year 482, on the 21st of August. His festival was kept
soon after his death with solemnity at Clermont, where his memory is in great
veneration. His body lay first in the old church of St. Saturninus, but was
afterwards translated into that of St. Genesius. See his works; 5 St. Gregory
of Tours, Hist. Fr., l. 11, c. 22, 24, and the life of the saint by Savaron and
F. Sirmond; also Fleury, l. 29, n. 36. Ceillier, t. 15. Rivet, Hist. Lit. t. 2,
p. 550. Gall. Chr. Nov., t. 2, p. 231.
Note 1. Spicileg. t.
5, p. 579. [back]
Note 2. L. 7, ep.
9. [back]
Note 3. L. 4, ep.
24. [back]
Note 4. L. 5, ep.
17. [back]
Note 5. Sidonius’s
works consist of nine books of letters, and of a collection of short poems upon
particular subjects, directed to his friends. His principal poems are three
panegyrics on the Emperors Avitus, Majorian, and Anthemius. He discovers a rich
poetical genius, and wrote verses readily, but his promotion to the episcopal
dignity hindered him from polishing them. His thoughts are ingenious, witty,
and curious; and his style is concise, pleasant, and lively, but sometimes too
lofty and subtle. He uses some words which show the Latin language had then
degenerated from its purity. He had a flowery imagination, and excels in his
descriptions and draughts. The learned Savaron published the works of
Apollinaris Sidonius with useful notes, in quarto, at Paris and Hanover; but
the edition of F. Sirmondus, in the year 1652, which is more ample, is enriched
with new notes so well chosen, so curious, and judicious, as to give an ample
proof of the excellency of the editor’s understanding, and the depth of his
learning. The correctness of all the works of this learned Jesuit, justify the
advice which he gave Huet; “Be not in haste,” said he, “to make your appearance
in print; revise your works at distant intervals; keep them by you, according
to the maxim of Horace and Vida, for ten years; and declare not yourself an
author before you are fifty years old.” [back]
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume VIII: August. The Lives of the Saints. 1866
SOURCE : https://www.bartleby.com/210/8/233.html
Europe
in 451
Apollinaris Sidonius (5
November c.430 - 21 August c.483)
I: General Remarks
Although a saint, a
bishop, and an important figure in a turbulent age, Sidonius is remembered
particularly because of his somewhat dubious literary talents. These were so
admired until the revival of appreciation for good Latin that some 147 letters
and twenty-four poems of his have survived. It is not a simple matter to
reconstruct an entire life from such materials, and much of what follows may
not be correct in detail. Its account of the course of events and descriptions
of some of the institutions of the Late Roman Empire are true enough, however,
and the attempt to weave the life and attitudes of Apollinaris Sidonius into
this context accords well enough with what we do know of the man and his works.
II: Youth (c. 430-456)
A: General Situation in
the Empire in the West
1: The condition of the
empire had deteriorated badly by the time of Sidonius' birth in Lyon in about
the year 430, and the situation of the western provinces deteriorated rapidly
during his youth.
a: By 430, the first
invaders of the Empire, the Vandals, had moved to Africa, the richest grain
area of the Empire, which they took and held in defiance of imperial authority.
They took to the sea and their piratical attacks soon destroyed Roman commerce
on the Western Mediterranean.
b: The Visigoths, who had
sacked Rome in 410, were settled in Aquitaine by a treaty with the imperial
government. They soon threw off their federate status and established
themselves as a separate kingdom. Always seeking to operate in a favorable
manner with the Romans, the Goths nevertheless sought to expand: into Spain,
against the Vandals and Alans left in the northwest of the peninsula, and in
every other direction against Roman provinces of the region, Tarraconensis,
Narbonnensis, and Lugdunensis -- the province of Lyon -- which stretched along
the valleys of the Rhone and Loire.
c: The Burgundians had
been allowed to settle in Savoy, along the upper Rhone, perhaps as a
counterweight to the Visigoths.
d: North of the Loire,
the rebel Bretons were poised and, the greatest Germanic force that would
emerge in the future, the Franks who were experiencing a slow but steady growth
of population that would eventually drive them to cross the lower Rhine and
establish themselves in what is now Belgium.
2: The Empire had not
responded well to this threat.
a: The Italian Provinces,
especially Rome, had been favored at the expense of the more exposed regions.
b: Rather than putting
aside personal interests, the central government had become the site of almost
continuous conspiracy and treachery. Barbarians used this factionalism to
advance their own candidates for the throne, hoping to gain advantages thereby.
c: The heavy expenses of
government; salaries, bribes, and, most particularly, defense, were met by an
extremely uneven taxation, in which the provinces paid more than Italy, and in
which the poor and the middle class bore the entire burden.
3. Despite these
conditions, the tone of Sidonius' letters suggests that the class to which he
belonged were hardly aware of the direction in which Roman affairs were moving.
B: Birth and
education
1: Sidonius was born in
the pleasant city of Lyon, situated on the Rhone River in what is now southern
France. His family was of the praefectorial class and was one of the more
influential of the region. His grandfather and father had both been Praefect of
the Gauls, a position at the time of real responsibility. The family had
accepted Christianity in his grandfather's time, but like most of the noble
families of the region, they had not become fanatic about it. At least they had
not yet, as some other families had already done, produced a saint.
2: When the time came,
Sidonius entered the Roman equivalent of a university located in his own city
of Lyon. For some time, the caliber of the schools of Gaul had been improving,
although those in the rest of the West were in a state of decline. Lyon was not
one of the first rank of Gallic schools, but it was respected. The emperor
Gratian (370-383) had attended the "university" of Bordeaux and had
appointed his old professor, the poet Ausonius, to the consulship in 379. This
remarkable appointment had brought Bordeaux prestige and funds, and it had
assumed a rank in Gaul not unlike that of Harvard in the United States. If
Bordeaux was the Harvard of the Western empire, Toulouse and Marseilles might be
considered the Princeton and Yale. Lyon was, then, the equivalent of a great
state university such as Michigan or the University of California at Berkeley.
The organization and
purpose of the Roman school was considerably different from the medieval or modern
concept, but education was certainly as highly regarded. The central government
endowed chairs and, more commonly, required municipalities to do so. In many
cases, the government built public lecture halls where the professors could
discourse. Normally, however, the lecture was only a part of the education. The
serious student would pay his professor a fee to work with him personally.
The school of Grammar was
the basic level, corresponding, one might suppose, to the first and second
years of a modern American university, although the student might spend more or
less time in studies at this level. In a fully-staffed institution, the school
of Grammar consisted of two divisions, Greek grammar and Latin grammar. Faculty
generally began teaching at this level, and, if they were sufficiently skilled,
might move up to the better pay and greater prestige of the school of Rhetoric.
The curriculum and
teaching methods of the schools of Grammar were more or less standardized.
There were certain great works of literature recognized as suitable for study,
some more important than others; the poets were particularly emphasized.
Homer's Iliad and Hesiod's Theogony and Works and Days were
the most important works for Greek Grammar, and Virgil's Aeneid and
Cicero's orations and letters were basic to the study of Latin Grammar. The
professor would read a passage to his students, and then comment extensively
upon it, discussing its style, allusions, comparing it with similar passages in
other authors, clarifying archaic words, etc. At best such training could have
been a fine liberal education. In practice, it sometimes rose to literary
criticism, and more often sank to providing massive footnotes and glosses.
Upon completion of the
both the Greek and Latin curricula of the school of Grammar, student were
prepared to move on. Many chose to end their formal education at this point,
and, if the institution provided such, some entered the professional schools of
medicine and law. The brightest and wealthiest students, and those from the
most important families, however went on to enter the school of Rhetoric. The
school of Rhetoric was composed, like that of Grammar, into divisions of Greek
and Latin Rhetoric, and the student normally took one as a major and the other
as a minor field of study.
At the level of the
school of Rhetoric, the student was not expected simply to study past authors,
but to create. But the emphasis was upon creation in the style of the past
masters, especially extemporaneous compositions and speeches. The great
orations of the past were studied, and the students learned to speak in the
style of Cicero, with literary allusions drawn from Virgil, discussing some
episode of Homer's Iliad. Achievement was measured by style, not by
content.
This was the sort of
education that Sidonius pursued, although he did not enjoy the benefits that
would have come with a full curriculum of study. By this time, the lack of
funds, the rise of Christian thought, and other factors were leading to the
"downsizing" of the late Roman universities, and few could afford to
maintain a full faculty. Lyon appears to have dispensed with Philosophy and
Law, and did not emphasize Greek Rhetoric. Sidonius thus knew his Greek authors
reasonably well, but not to the point that he could think in Greek. His letters
and poems were solidly based on Latin models, and he attempted to demonstrate
the extent of his learning with frequent allusions and images drawn from the
Greek classics. He was not too different from others of his class in this respect.
The cultural ties that had bound the Western nobility to the Greek tradition of
scholarship were weakening, although every attempt was made to disguise that
fact.
3: What was the purpose
of this sterile and imitative talent, and why did the children of noble
families spend their youth in learning how to write and give public speeches in
a centuries-old style? Why did they memorize Greek and Latin fables and myths,
and fill their writings and speeches with obscure references and ponderous
evocations of long-dead authors? The answer was, as is often the case, that
they were educated in the skills that might gain them advancement. In the world
of fourth-century Gaul, however, there were few areas in which demanded any
real ability from the nobility. The Roman nobles had for so long attempted to
avoid the burdens of empire that there were very few areas of life in which
they could demonstrate real ability.
a: They were forbidden to
serve in the army, and, even if they had been able to do so, there would have been
little role for them to play. Military command authority was usually in the
hands of a barbarian chieftain, like Merobaudes, who led Roman armies that
consisted primarily of Germanic mercenaries.
b: The traditions of
their class forbade them to go into manufacture, their great estates were
self-sufficient and managed by trained slaves. They continued to make money,
but could do nothing with it except loan it out at interest. Since, under the
declining economic conditions of the period, loans were often note repaid. This
meant that the nobility simply gained more land. Even if their loans were
repaid, this simply provided them with more money that they could use only in
making more loans. Since families of the senatorial rank or above were tax-
exempt and their estates relieved them of having to buy anything but the most
exotic of luxuries, the wealth of the Roman nobles grew no matter what they
did. The distance between them and the mass of the Roman population increased
until they were virtually isolated within their own society.
c: The local government
was entrusted to the middle-class curiales, and senatorial scions were debarred
from these onerous functions.
d: Positions of
responsibility within the central government were in the hands of professional
bureaucrats
The nobles could simply
retire to their estates and wear themselves out with excesses, and some did.
Most, however, sought a "nobler" life. Basically they attempted to
add to the honors of their family by holding some position of prestige within
what was called the cursus honorum, something that might best be
translated as "The Ladder of Offices." Many of the old imperial
administrative offices had been preserved and the emperors had even added new
ones. These had once been offices of prestige and responsibility. Although the
responsibilities had been long since been assumed by professional civil
servants, the prestige remained, and members of the Roman nobility gained honor
of serving as figurehead administrators of these offices. The offices of
the cursus honorum formed a ladder of positions, a ladder on
increasing prestige and social status. There were numerous lower ranks, but the
three highest -- those of prefect, patrician, and consul -- were avidly
pursued, especially since the person who served a short term in one of these
higher offices earned social status that became hereditary in his family. The
young Roman, after having finished his education, would use his family
connections to enter the cursus honorum at as high a level as
possible. Once having obtained such an office he would attempt to ingratiate
himself with his superiors so that they might appoint him to another office
further up the ladder.
How did one ingratiate
himself with one's superiors? By demonstrating one's social skills. These
skills consisted primarily of culture, wit, and urbanity. Clever and polished
conversation, the ability to make and to recognize literary allusions, facility
in publicly praising one's sponsors and patrons in fashionable poetry,
personally declaimed in public, graceful manners, mastery of the art of
conversation, and other genteel accomplishments were the signs of merit that
gained one favor and advanced one's career. Certainly these were artificial and
mannered affectations, but their mastery demanded an education that only the
wealthy could afford and only the noble could value. Privileged classes often
close their ranks to outsiders in this way, as one will see with the hereditary
nobility of Medieval Europe or the nobility of Restoration London.
The term of service in
each of these offices was short, often only a year, and the average noble
reached the limit of his ability to rise in the cursus honorum relatively
early in life, often by his early thirties and then had nothing to do but to
retire to his country estate and to the company of neighbors much like himself.
He Superannuated in the prime of his life, the Roman noble devoted himself to
reading, writing, conversation, mild sports, and his gardens.
Thus the school education
of the day while, admittedly artificial, achieved three basic ends: it gave the
nobles a sense of identity and protected them from encroachment by the lower
classes; it provided them with the skills necessary to achieve success in their
terms; and it provided the best of them with a cultured mind which could
survive a lifetime of retirement years without falling into excess or simple
vegetation.
4. This was Sidonius'
education, and this was the type of life which lay before him. His first step
was to marry, and he did quite well, marrying a daughter of the family of the
Avitii, perhaps the most prestigious and wealthy family in the region. She
brought with her as a dowry, the great estate of Avitacum, which Sidonius
mentions a great deal more than he does her. After making himself at home here,
By about 455 he was ready to enter politics.
III: Entering
the Cursus Honorum (456-458)
1: The situation was
somewhat unusual when Sidonius was ready to begin public life in his
mid-twenties. In the year 451, the western provinces had been menaced by the
invasion of Attila the Hun and a large army. Attila and his forces crossed the
Rhine River, and a remarkable Roman general, Aetius (pronounced aye-EE-tee-
uhs), had been able to patch together an equally remarkable confederation to
meet them. He convinced the Germanic tribes residing in the area to join in
resistance and, under his leadership, Visigoths, Franks, Bretons, and
Burgundians joined forces with the small regular Roman army in defeating the
enemy in battle at Chalons-sur Marne. More to the point, Aetius had been
successful in enlisting the active assistance of some of the nobles resident in
the area, among them being Sidonius' father-in-law, Avitus. The results of this
co-operation were very encouraging to the West, and the Germanic leaders were
impressed with the advantages of forming a western confederation under the
leadership of Aetius. The Visigoths returned to their former status of Roman
allies, the Sueves gave the Spanish province of Carthaginensis back to imperial
administration. and the new Visigothic king, Theodoric II, began to search for
new avenues of mutual action.
It was at this point that
Aetius was murdered by enemies at the imperial court who were jealous of his
successes. The effects of this assassination in the West were quite dramatic.
Acting as if their chieftain had been killed and they were seeking vengeance
according to German custom, the Franks and Alamanni moved south and west,
occupying stretches of imperial territory and gaining control of some important
imperial arms factories. Meanwhile, the court faction that had encompassed
Aetius' death ignored the German attacks and concentrated on eliminating their
political opponents. A group of the old followers of Aetius gathered to attempt
to restore Aetius' vision of a Western Federation, by were betrayed. Many were
killed (15 March, 455), and the other nobles of the region organized to defend
their territory and their own lives. Avitus, who had survived the downfall of
both Aetius and his friends, was sent by his neighbors to the Visigothic
capital of Toulouse to enlist the assistance of the Visigoths. Meanwhile, Rome
was in turmoil. Attila had appeared before the city and had been bought off by
Pope Leo with the gift of a heavy tribute. Almost as soon as the Huns, who were
suffering from an epidemic of some sort anyway, had departed, the Vandal fleet
sailed up the Tiber River, and Vandal marines took and sacked Rome. This was
followed by a flood that destroyed many of the poor neighborhoods of the city,
and swept away many of the warehouses in which the city's food supply was
stored. Hunger was followed by the effects of the sickness the Huns had left
behind them. The Roman government, under the control of Petronius Maximus, a
usurper, had proven completely unable to protect the city or its inhabitants.
When Petronius ventured outside the imperial palace to speak to the masses,
they came carrying rocks and stoned him to death. When the news reached
Toulouse, the Westerners decided to attempt to seize imperial power and restore
the policy of Aetius. The Visigothic king Theodoric, probably hoping to gain
the power of the king-maker, recommended Avitus as emperor and promised to
support him. The Gallo-Roman senators crowned Avitus at Arles, and, in
September, he left for Rome with a strong detachment of Visigothic warriors.
His son-in-law, Sidonius,
was also a member of his train and ready for a dazzling career. He had wealth,
education, and now patronage of the highest level. On his arrival in Rome,
Sidonius did what any ambitious young man would do. He wrote a excessively
flattering poem about Avitus and read it publicly in the Roman forum. Although
it is rather pompous and obscure, everyone applauded and voted to place
Sidonius' statue in Forum of Trajan along with those of other accomplished
Romans. Sidonius was sure that he was on the path to success, and he failed to
note that the Romans applauded every imperial protege and voted to erect his
statue in the Forum of Trajan, but such projects were brought to a successful
conclusion only very rarely. Sidonius seemed not to have realized upon how
slender bases his present prestige rested.
Although Avitus was able
to take power, he was unable to solve all of Rome's problems at once, and so
was unable to hold on to that power. He fought and defeated the Vandals, but
Rome faced a famine, and there was no food to be had to alleviate conditions
until the Spring harvests would become available. Avitus may have been a bit
gullible, since he agreed that it would look better if he were to send his
Visigothic troops home, where they would no longer be an additional drain on
the city's food supply. As soon as they had left, the old faction that had
opposed Aetius stirred up a revolt among the Roman populace. Majorian, a Roman
general who had been an enemy of Aetius, took command of the rebels, and
managed to defeat and kill Avitus in October of 456. Majorian then set about
rooting the Westerners and their sympathizers out of all positions of any power
or prestige.
The Romans of Lugdunensis
did not give up easily, however, and rose in revolt against Majorian, who had
made himself the new emperor. The revolt was crushed, however, and Sidonius --
along with other Gallo-Roman nobles of the region -- retired from public life.
IV: County Gentleman
(458-467)
1: The affairs of the
West steadily declined during these years. Majorian failed in his attempts to
defeat the Vandals, losing Africa definitively, as well as Sardinia, Corsica
and the Balearics. Most of Lugdunensis, including Lyons, was turned over to the
Burgundians, and the Visigoths were allowed to take Narbonnensis Prima.
Finally, the Vandals took Sicily, the last granary of the West (468). At this
point, the Eastern emperor, Leo, intervened, and appointed Anthemius, his own
man, as emperor in the West. Matters had gone too far for imperial fortunes to
be repaired, however, and Anthemius' reign was, in retrospect, the last gasp of
the Roman Empire in the West.
2: This steady decline in
Roman fortunes seems to have had little effect upon Sidonius during these nine
years. He appears to have accepted the curtailment of his public career as an
unfortunate, but not unusual, event, and retreated to retirement at Avitacum.
His letters from this period. as well as a few incidental poems provided us an
unparalleled picture of the life of the leisured classes of the time.
The nobles lived on great
estates, of which they might own a number. The estate formed a separate world,
self-sufficient in virtually all things. Slaves did all the necessary work,
although the owner supervised building, decorating, and some of the more
refined activities such a flower gardening. The mansion formed the heart of the
estate, and embellishing its amenities and enjoying them were the profession of
the owner. Much time was spent in visiting, reading, hunting, bathing, and
generally resting. The nearest society to it that springs to mind is that of
the Ante-Bellum south pictured in MGM movies from the thirties, such as the
opening scenes from Gone With the Wind.
3: Unbeknownst to
Sidonius, who appears to have given up all political ambition, events were
moving him towards a second excursion into public life.
V: Second Attempt at
Politics (468-469)
1: The new Emperor,
Anthemius, was attempting to reconcile the West and restore some order. The
people of the district of Auvergne asked Sidonius to present a petition to
Anthemius while he was in a conciliatory mood, and Sidonius travelled to Rome
to do so.
He arrived in Rome in
time for the marriage of Anthemius' daughter and seized the opportunity to
write a poem about the event, and read it publicly. The acclaim was great and
much to Sidonius' joy, he was made Prefect of the City, only two steps away
from the golden prize of the consulship. He encountered problems, however, since
one of the major responsibilities of the Prefect was to ensure the regular
distribution of grain to the city. Of course, the Prefect had no power to do
anything about the matter, but he was praised when grain was plentiful and
condemned when it was short. With Sardinia, Sicily, and Africa in the hands of
the Vandals, the city's grain supply was no longer as assured as it once had
been. Sidonius spent the entire year in fear that something would go wrong and
that people would boo him in the theater. Even the idea of such humiliation
horrified him, and, by the end of his term, he seems to have suffered what
might best be termed a nervous breakdown. As soon as he was relieved of office,
and before his successor had been installed, he had gathered his household and
fled to his villa at Avitacum. He did not even wait for the ceremony that
raised him and his family to the Patrician status, a dignity that his service
as Prefect of the City had won him.
2: Once again, he retired
to Avitacum. This time, he should have definitely given up any ambitions. He
had broken down under the pressure of office and being placed in the public
eye, he was in his late forties, and he had accomplished enough to bring honor
to his family's name and to be remembered and honored by his descendants.
VI: Roman Bishop (c.
470-474)
1: This was not to be the
case, however. Within the year, he was called by the people of Auvergne to
become their bishop. This brings up the problem of why they would have chosen a
retired gentleman with no record of spirituality and little proof of personal
administrative ability. One must understand that different cities had different
needs, and two types of men during this period were considered as prime
candidates for the post of bishop, a post that was, to all intents and
purposes, filled by someone chosen by members of the congregation. the bishops
of the time were more like elected representatives than any other officials of
the West.
a: The superficiality of
the public educational system had led the Church to concentrate Christian
education in the monasteries, and a number of these were springing up in the
West. The major one in Lugdunensis was at Lerins, off the coast of France.
where St. Honoratus had established an institution modelled upon the monasteries
and schools of Egypt and Syria. In such places, which were usually in close and
frequent contact with Eastern centers, real philosophy was being developed and
a peculiar western version of Christianity -- the semi-Pelagian school -- was
showing great promise of revivifying Roman life.
b: On the other hand, an
ascetic thinker was not always what a given church needed. Sometimes it needed
a wealthy man to help endow it; sometimes a cultured man to impress Germanic
neighbors; sometimes a man of good birth to handle its properties honestly;
sometimes a man of position simply as a compromise candidate. Generally
speaking, since local needs were peculiar and paramount, the people of the
diocese elected their own man.
2: It is difficult to
ascertain what Sidonius' special qualifications were, but the call to serve as
bishop represented for the nobility of the time a public charge which, unlike
all others, it was impossible simply to refuse. It was possibly the only really
public obligation the senatorial class still recognized.
3: The position of
Sidonius' diocese was perilous. The Visigoths under the stern and Arian king
Euric coveted the territory and threatened it from the south, while it was cut
off from other Roman territories by the Bretons and Burgundians to the east and
north. Many of the officials of the region were in despair. Roman taxation was
heavy, and benefits were nil. Corruption was endemic, and many residents of the
district had come to the conclusion that they were simply being exploited, which
was indeed the case.
4: Bishop Sidonius and
his brother-in-law Ecdicius stiffened the resistance of the inhabitants of the
territory, and Euric finally invaded and laid seige to the city of Auvergne.
Sidonius managed supplies and morale during this difficult period, while
Ecdicius formed a body of eighteen commandos which made life hell for the
besiegers by their sudden raids and ambushes. Both Sidonius and Ecdicius showed
a strength of character that one would not have believed possible of men of
their tender upbringing and impractical background. Upon arriving at his seat
of Aurillac, already under Visigothic threat and menaced by famine, Sidonius
ordered his flock to scrape the algae and lichens from the walls of the city to
make soup, and to eat the dogs and cats instead of feeding them. Before the
matter was over, he would have his congregation dining on rat rather than
surrender to a bunch of heretical barbarians. For his part, Ecdicius and his
friends are said to have enjoyed slipping out of the city at night to cut the
throats of unwary Germans. Some of these accounts may be more than a little
romanticized, but they illustrate what the people of the time believed that
their urbane and sophisticated leaders were capable of doing. In any event, the
Visigoths, who had terrorized great expanses of the empire in the West, were
unable to dislodge the bishop and his followers.
In 474 the Visigoths
lifted the seige, and a Roman official arrived to pour praise on the defenders.
Arrangements were made for peace talks with Euric. The bishops of Arles,
Marseilles, Riez, and Aix were the Roman negotiators, and they appeased Euric
by giving him Auvergne in exchange for his promise not to attack their own
territories. It was betrayal plain and simple, but these were perilous times,
and self-preservation was the order of the day. In the year 475, Sidonius
ceased to be a Roman citizen and never seems to have recovered from the blow.
VII: Later Years
(475-483)
1: Sidonius was thrown
into a Visigothic prison as a recognition of how steadfast had been his
resistance to Euric's designs. His imprisonment seems to have been light, but
of a sort that must have been particularly painful. He was exiled to a small
villa high in the Pyrenees Mountains, where he was isolated from others of his
class and culture. Interestingly enough, this little district still exists, a
patch of land of about a mile square called Llivia, a piece of Spanish
territory completely surrounded by the lands of France. After a while, he was
simply released and allowed to go his own way. This lack of regard was perhaps
only a further punishment. Sidonius wandered to Bordeaux, where Euric was
holding his court, and being attended by many of the Gallo-Roman nobles who,
like Sidonius, now found themselves subjects of a barbarian king. After a
period of being ignored in Bordeaux, Sidonius finally returned to Avitacum. His
friends apparently feared that the shocks of recent years might drive him into
a permanent state of depression, and suggested that he occupy his time by
editing some of the best of his letters and poems. He did so, with great
pleasure, and it is to this period -- his final retirement -- that we owe the
written works which have kept his name alive.
He seemed to have paid
little attention to events in Italy, where the barbarian commander of the Roman
army, Odoacer, found himself faced with a steady increase in the price of food,
now that the peninsula could no longer relay on imports from the imperial
granaries of Sicily, North Africa, Spain, and southern France. His troops could
no longer feed themselves on the pay they were given, and salary increases were
only eaten up by inflation. In the year 476, he went to Orestes, regent for the
boy-emperor, Romulus Augustulus, and asked that each of his soldiers be given a
piece of land and a slave family to till it and produce enough food to maintain
the soldier. These lands and slaves were to be donated, naturally enough, by
the nobility who owned most of the land and slaves. Orestes flatly refused, and
Odoacer had him killed. He then brought in monks to give the eleven-year old
Romulus Augustulus the monastic tonsure. The last of the Roman emperors on the
West spent the rest of his life in a lovely monastery overlooking the Bay of
Naples. Odoacer, meanwhile had packed up the imperial regalia, the diadem,
purple cloak, and red shoes that were the official dress of a Roman emperor. He
had sent them to the emperor of the East with he message that they were no
longer needed. There was no more Roman Empire of the West.
2: Sidonius died of
unknown causes on the 21st of August, probably in the year 483. He was buried
in the church in Auvergne, and was immediately regarded as a saint by popular,
if not overly excited, acclaim. The shrine of St. Apollinaris was venerated
until the disorders of 1794, when it was destroyed by mobs inspired by the more
radical of the ideals of the French Revolution to erase from the face of France
all signs of its superstitious and monarchical past.
VIII: Some General
Observations
1: The career of Sidonius
suggests a cause for the fall of the Roman Empire which is not generally
emphasized: that the empire trained a noble class superbly well to compete in
an artificial fashion for a series of empty honors. Their education blunted
their creativity, and their energy was dissipated in meaningless pursuits. The
late Roman noble was brave and honorable; talented and dogged, as Sidonius and
Ecdicius proved during the siege of Auvergne. Such men could have saved the
empire if they had not been so finely trained to waste their time. Sidonius had
every opportunity to see the sham and waste; he lived to learn of the
deposition of the boy emperor Romulus Augustulus, the last Roman Emperor in the
West and yet seemed unable to comprehend that it was all over. His last letter
to his wife closed with the words,
... I pray in our common
name that just as we of this generation were born into prefectorian families,
and have been enabled by divine favor to elevate them to patrician rank, so
(our children) in turn may exalt the patrician to the consular' dignity. V,
xvi
SOURCE : http://www.vlib.us/medieval/lectures/sidonius.html
Folio
27r du ms. lat. 2782 (XII-XIIIe siècles) répertoriant les lettres de Sidoine
Apollinaire.
Sidonius Apollinaris,
Letters. Tr. O.M. Dalton (1915): Preface to the online edition
Sidonius Apollinaris was
a Roman aristocrat of the 5th century AD. Born around 431 AD, he held
estates in Gaul. He pursued an official career under the emperors Avitus
(a kinsman), Majorian, and Anthemius, rising to be Prefect of Rome. But
all these emperors were murdered in turn by the sinister Ricimer, a barbarian
general holding the highest office in the state, that of Patrician, or Prime
Minister. Ricimer ostensibly governed in the Roman interest. In
reality he pursued no interest but his own, and his murder of the capable
Majorian ensured the collapse of the empire.
As Roman rule weakened,
the barbarians occupied more and more of Gaul. Sidonius had returned to
Gaul under Anthemius. Like so many other aristocrats, he had reluctantly
become Bishop in his local town, Clermont in Arvernia. The
advancing Visigoths under their king Euric moved into the region; Sidonius
helped organise resistance,since none of the Roman forces paid for from the
crushing taxation of the time were available to defend them. But after
enduring a siege, he found to his appalled horror that the imperial government
was plotting to betray the Arvernians, some of their strongest
supporters. (His outraged letter to Bishop Graecus, one of the go-betweens,
is included in this edition). And so it proved. Sidonius himself
was imprisoned by Euric.
States prepared to sell
their own allies to appease an advancing enemy have little prospect of
survival. In less than a dozen years, Roman rule had ceased everywhere in
the West; the consequence of its rulers placing themselves in the power of
those whose loyalties were ultimately non-Roman. Sidonius lived long
enough to outlive the last emperor, Julius Nepos. He died, sometime after
480, and is canonised as a saint.
Sidonius left two works;
a set of 24 Carmina or Poems, and 9 books of Letters. This
translation, in two volumes contains only the letters; both are available in
the Loeb text. The Poems include verse panegyrics of all three
emperors, and have considerable historical value.
Dalton included an
introduction of almost 200 pages; nearly a third of the book. It seems
permissable to wish that he had included the poems instead. This preface
has been written so that the general reader may orient himself first.
Roger Pearse
24th January 2003
Sidonius Apollinaris,
Letters. Tr. O.M. Dalton (1915) pp. xi-clv ; Introduction
INTRODUCTION
(CAIUS) SOLLIUS
APOLLINARIS (MODESTUS) SIDONIUS 1 was
born at Lyons, about the year 431, and died at Clermont perhaps in A.D. 489, at
the age of nearly sixty years.2 The
exceptional interest of the period covered by his life is apparent from these
dates; he saw the last sickness and the death of the Roman Empire in the West,
and is our principal authority for some of the events which attended its
extinction. He was a younger contemporary of Attila and Gaiseric. The campaigns
of Aëtius took place in his boyhood; he was a youth of about twenty when the
Huns were defeated on the Catalaunian plains, and for the first time in history
the Roman and the Teuton fought side by side against a common |xii enemy. He was about twenty-four when the house of
Theodosius became extinct with Valentinian III, and the Vandals plundered the
city of the Caesars (A.D. 455). He was still alive when Romulus Augustulus laid
down his diadem at the bidding of Odovakar. More than once his path crossed
that of the last emperors who ruled in Italy; as the son-in-law of Avitus, and
a high officer of state under Anthemius, he saw Rome in the final phases of her
imperial existence. In his own country he met or corresponded with every person
of importance. He had dined with Majorian, he had played backgammon with the
Visigoth Theodoric II; he lived to become first the prisoner and then the
subject of that monarch's fierce successor, Euric. He exchanged letters with
Lupus, Remigius, Faustus, and all the leaders of the Church in Gaul. There was
hardly a single distinguished name with which in some way or another his own
was not associated. Like Cassiodorus, he enjoyed an outlook over two worlds,
the old Roman civilization in its decay, and mediaeval society in its
beginnings. To paraphrase a sentence of Sir Thomas Browne, he stands like Janus
in the field of history.
Sidonius came of a
senatorial family long settled in Gallia Lugdunensis, a family to which, as he
himself says, the holding of high office seemed almost a hereditary right: both
his father and his grandfather had been prefects in Gaul.3 His
mother belonged to the gens |xiii of the Aviti,
which was connected with other noble provincial families, the Ferreoli, the
Ommatii, and the Agroecii; when therefore he married Papianilla, daughter of
the Avitus who became emperor, he may only have added a new tie to an old
alliance.4 He
had a brother, who may not have lived to mature age, as no letter is addressed
to him;5 he
had aunts or sisters and a mother-in-law, mentioned as taking care of one of
his children (V. xvi. 5). A nephew Secundus (III. xii), and a cousin
Apollinaris complete the list of his own relations, with the possible addition
of Simplicius, who is so often mentioned with Apollinaris that he may have been
his brother. He had two brothers-in-law, Ecdicius and Agricola,6 of
the latter of whom we hear little, of the former, much. For Ecdicius was the
hero of his native country of Auvergne. He distinguished himself by great
gallantry in the last struggle for independence (III. iii), and seems to have
had in him much of the spirit of mediaeval chivalry.7 Nor |xiv was he deficient in other gifts; he must have possessed
some talent for diplomacy, since he was instrumental in rallying the
Burgundians to the cause of Auvergne at a very critical moment. Sidonius and
Papianilla8 had
one son, Apollinaris, and three daughters, Alcima, Roscia, and Severiana.9 The
boy, whose early promise is mentioned in one of the most pleasing passages of
the Letters (IV. xii. 1), was destined to disappoint his parents, first in his
failure to maintain the intellectual promise of his youth, and later by more
serious deficiencies, recorded by other hands than those of his own father.10 Of
the girls, only Roscia and Severiana are |xv mentioned
in the Letters, and both in an incidental manner; for Sidonius was not
communicative on his family affairs. The name of Alcima does not occur at all:
we learn more of her from other sources than Sidonius himself tells us of her
sisters. She became noted for her devotion to the saints, and for her
munificence to the Church,11 and
is said to have joined her sister-in-law Placidina in a successful effort to
obtain the see of Clermont for her brother some years after her father's death
(see below, p. li, note 2).
Sidonius was educated in
his native city, where the schools, if less famous than those of Bordeaux, were
yet of high repute. He passed through the regular course of academic training,
the essential parts of which consisted of grammar and rhetoric; and in both
Letters and Poems preserves kindly memories of his teachers and fellow
students.12 As
might be expected from the fortunate circumstances of his birth, and his
father's rank as prefect, his youth was probably a happy one, passed
alternately between the city and the country estate, where he enjoyed games and
all the pleasures of |xvi the chase.13 His
love of eloquence began early; he refers to the delight with which, as a youth
of eighteen, he listened to the speech of Nicetius when Astyrius assumed the consulship
at Aries in 449 (VIII. vi. 5). After his marriage, which must have been an
early one, he probably divided his time between Lyons and Auvergne; in the
latter region was situated his father-in-law's estate of Avitacum, which was
ultimately to come to him through Papianilla, and of which he has left a
description (II. ii; Carm. xviii). It was probably during the first
years of his married life that he frequented the Visigothic Court at Toulouse,
from which he wrote home the very interesting letter descriptive of Theodoric
II to his brother-in-law Agricola (I. ii).14 Avitus,
to whose exertions the coalition of Roman and Visigoth against Attila had been
largely due, had long favoured an understanding between the two peoples. He had
been a familiar figure at the Court of Theodoric I, whose sons he had
endeavoured to imbue with Roman civilization; 15 it
was therefore natural that he should |xvii encourage
the visits of his son-in-law to the more important of these pupils. He may not
have clearly foreseen the part which he was destined personally to play in the
near future; but it must have appeared a possible contingency that the Goths
and their Gallo-Roman neighbours might once more be called upon to take
decisive action together. With Tonantius Ferreolus and many others, he may well
have shared the belief that the Roman understanding with the most civilized of
the barbaric peoples might save an Empire which Italy was too enfeebled to
lead. He had seen the Visigoths and the Burgundians in their homes, and learned
to appreciate the rude virtues and the manly strength which redeemed the
coarser elements in their nature. He dreamed perhaps of a Teutonic aristocracy
more and more refined by Latin influences, which should impart to the Romans
the qualities of a less sophisticated race and to their own countrymen a wider
acceptance of Italian culture.16 He
knew that for more than a century Gaul had been the most vigorous and
enlightened portion of the Empire in the West, and as Italy became year by year
more helpless, he may well have believed that the leadership of the decaying
state might pass into the control of his own country. But throughout he
probably gave Theodoric II credit for a greater disinterestedness than he
possessed; for in all likelihood the Visigothic king intended to exploit the
Roman connexion in the |xviii interest of himself
and his own people. Be that as it may, when, in 455, the line of Theodosius
became extinct with Valentinian III, the murderer of Aëtius, Avitus was sent
as magister milltum to secure the recognition of Petronius Maximus in
Gaul. But while he was at Toulouse, news came of that emperor's murder,
whereupon Theodoric urged him to assume the diadem himself.17 After
a meeting either of representative magnates or of the Council of the Seven
Provinces 18 at
Ugernum (Beaucaire), Avitus, then some sixty years of age, was formally
invested with the purple.
The event was the first
turning-point in the career of Sidonius: it opened before him the brightest
prospects of advancement, and awakened in him that ardent desire of political
distinction which was for many years to exert so strong an influence on his
life. He accompanied his father-in-law to Rome, and there, following the
precedent of a Claudian or an Ausonius, delivered the Panegyric of Avitus which
earned him the honour of a statue in the. Forum of Trajan.19 But
the hopes |xix which the young aspirant might
legitimately base upon his relationship to the head of the state were soon
dashed to the ground: Avitus did not fulfil the expectations of his friends.
His personal courage availed him little in Rome. On the other hand, his
character revealed unsuspected weakness,20 and
his position as a provincial nobleman among the critical aristocracy of the
capital became each day more difficult. His every action was watched with
unfriendly eyes; his bodyguard of Visigoths aroused resentment; and when, to
provide their payment, he was reduced to melting statues and stripping the
bronze tiles from temple roofs, it needed but a pretext to ensure his speedy
ruin. The immediate cause of his downfall lay in the hostility of Ricimer, now
only at the beginning of his career as king-maker. The formidable Suëve had
achieved a notable triumph over the Vandal fleet near Corsica (456), and,
flushed with victory, determined to remove an emperor over whose election he
had exerted no |xx control. The unfortunate Avitus,
who found his position in Rome untenable, fled to Gaul with the object of
obtaining military support, but returning with an insufficient force, was
defeated by Ricimer at Placentia.21 The
conqueror, establishing a precedent destined to be followed more than once in
the immediate future, compelled him to exchange the diadem for the mitre, but
the transformation did not long preserve the victim's life. Apprehensive that
his fate was only postponed, Avitus seems to have sought safety in renewed
flight; it is certain that he met his death within a few months of his
deposition.22
The fall of Avitus was a
crushing blow to Sidonius. He returned home, where he found many spirits
troubled like his own, and a party among the nobility still indisposed to
acquiesce in the rule of Ricimer, or to see Gaul robbed of the leadership which
she had fairly assumed. Feeling ran so high that a regular conspiracy was
formed with both Visigothic and Burgundian support, in the hope of placing upon
the throne a second emperor approved by Gaul. The candidate is conjectured to
have been the gallant Marcellinus; 23 but
it seems unlikely that |xxi such a scheme can have
had the consent of the person principally involved, for Marcellinus, actually
commander in Dalmatia, had been the comrade of Majorian, now raised by Ricimer
to the principate (April 457), and during the new reign played a part of
conspicuous loyalty.24 Majorian
had almost all the gifts which make a ruler----courage, prudence, tact, love of
justice, and magnanimity. A puppet-emperor might have been defied, but not a
man like this. As soon as events permitted, he entered Gaul, and in 458 and 459
reduced the rebels to submission,25 The
focus of the rising was Lyons, which had actually received a Burgundian
garrison.26 Whether
these barbaric auxiliaries remained in the city, or whether they were persuaded
to withdraw by Petrus, Majorian's Secretary of State, there could only be one
end to the adventure; the city, after suffering great hardships, was compelled
to unconditional surrender.27 The
emperor felt it necessary to exercise severity; in addition |xxii to
the ruin of its walls and buildings, Lyons was punished by severe taxation. In
this rising and its consequent disasters Sidonius took a prominent part; he
seems to imply that he and his friend Catullinus actually bore arms,28 and
he was certainly one of those who had to smart under the lash of a 'tribute'
described in one of his poems as triple-headed, like the monster Geryon.29 After
the capture of Lyons, the movement collapsed: perhaps by the secret activity
among the rebels of men like Paeonius, the upstart, who during the interregnum
had usurped positions to which he had no claim, and who now sowed dissension in
the hope of securing favour at the victor's hands.30 Theodoric,
who had attacked Aries, abandoned open hostility, and renewed his previous
relations to the empire; the Burgundians, returning to their old position as
loyal foederati, were confirmed in possession of all Lugdunensis
Prima except the capital itself.
From the embarrassment
into which his active participation in rebellion had thrown him, Sidonius
extricated himself, perhaps with the assistance of the literary Petrus, by the
exercise of his poetic talents. His short appeal against the triple impost was
successful; he made a |xxiii further bid for the
emperor's favour by writing a pane-eyrie. It is difficult to exonerate our
author from the charge of a certain moral pliancy in this matter. Not twenty
months had elapsed since he had sung the praises of Avitus before the Senate at
Rome, and now he stood forth in the town of his birth to laud the nominee of
Avitus' murderer.31 This
second panegyric is in some ways superior to the first; if the heart of the
writer was less glad, his pen was no less ready; and the poem contains passages
of no small brilliance and great descriptive power.32 Majorian
loved letters, and had a generous nature; he accepted the tribute, and admitted
the panegyrist to the circle of his friends. Sidonius received the title of
count, and became a persona grata at the court; the extent of his
influence became apparent during the second visit of Majorian to Gaul in the
year 461.33 At
that time there appeared an anonymous satire which created a great stir at
Arles; the writer |xxiv severely lashed some of the
personages most prominent under the new régime, among others the parvenu
Paeonius, who was naturally consumed with the desire to unmask the hidden
assailant. He thought he had succeeded in tracing the lampoon to Sidonius, whom
he would have gladly humiliated. Instead of this, he was himself subjected to
new and conspicuous discomfiture in the presence of the emperor, who at a
banquet endorsed the conduct of his new friend by publicly resenting an
unproved insinuation (X. xi).34 Once
more the star of Sidonius seemed in the ascendant; for the second time it was
eclipsed. Majorian's career, which promised so much for the empire, was
suddenly arrested, and the last real emperor of Rome fell a victim to the
jealousy of Ricimer (461). The king-maker availed himself of the disappointment
caused by the failure of a new naval expedition against the Vandals to remove
too popular a rival.35 During
the |xxv next four years he kept upon the throne
Severus, a feeble personage on whose nullity he could rely. Severus died in
465, whereupon Ricimer for two years controlled the destinies of Italy alone.
In 467, however, a rapprochement with the court of Constantinople, alienated by
the murder of Majorian, became the interest of Italy, and the Senate requested
Leo I to nominate an emperor in the West.36 He
complied, naming Anthemius, a great Byzantine noble, son-in-law of Marcian, and
a soldier of high repute. Soon after the new ruler had landed in Italy, he
endeavoured to conciliate Ricimer by giving him his daughter Alypia in
marriage.37 For
the first time since Majorian's death Italy indulged new hopes. Under a soldier
supported by Byzantine influence she might make head against the barbarian
without, while the union of Ricimer with the imperial princess promised internal
peace.
When his prospects were
for the second time overclouded by the untimely fate of Majorian, Sidonius
passed six years of retirement at Lyons and upon his |xxvi
favourite estate of Avitacum. The quietness of his life was relieved by more
than one round of visits to friends at Bordeaux and Narbonne; a number of the
letters, and these among the most entertaining, were probably written during
the leisure which he now enjoyed.38 But
for the ambitions awakened by experience of two courts and only latent during
these years, this would perhaps have been the happiest period of his career.
Reading or composing in his library, or instructing his young son; wandering in
his grounds by the lake, and amusing himself upon occasion with games and with
the chase, he found the hours pass not unpleasantly at home; abroad, the
society of the cultured friends and relatives who vied with one another in
their desire to show him hospitality, afforded him the most agreeable of
distractions. But he had tasted publicity and imperial favour; he had fallen
under the glamour of Rome; and amid all the ease and calm of his existence the
thought of the prizes which had just slipped from his grasp was a source of
secret discontent. He was still well under forty; he could not yet resign
himself to the undistinguished life of a provincial noble.39 While
Ricimer remained sole arbiter of Rome's destinies, Ricimer who had caused the
death of both his patrons, there seemed no place for him on the greater stage
of the world. On all sides the road |xxvii was
barred against him; he must accept the fate of the disappointed man.
Into these shadows the
election of Anthemius and the improved position of affairs in Italy brought a
sudden light; hopes almost abandoned rose once more. Sidonius began to consider
whether he might not attain at the new court the position which fortune had
twice placed almost within his reach and twice withdrawn. The course now taken
by events was exceptionally favourable to the attempt. Anthemius fully grasped
the importance of strengthening his new dominions, and his attention was
naturally directed to Gaul as the bulwark of empire in the West. The
provincials on their side were anxious to explain their needs, and to enlist
the sympathies of the new prince; they probably had grievances for redress, and
schemes for a strong policy against barbaric encroachment. A deputation was
appointed to visit Rome, and after offering congratulations to Anthemius, to
lay before him the hopes and the necessities of the country. What more natural
than that the eloquent son-in-law of Avitus, one used to courts and no stranger
in the capital, should be selected to act as leader? Doubtless to his great
satisfaction, Sidonius found himself once more preparing to cross the Alps,
furnished with an Imperial letter which placed all public means of transport at
his disposal. After a favourable journey down the Ticino and the Po to Ravenna,
he learned that the emperor was at Rome, and followed him thither by the
Flaminian Way, arriving on the eve of the nuptials of Ricimer and Alypia.
The first step was taken;
Sidonius had now to see that on this, his third endeavour to rise, he reached
an |xxviii altitude commensurate with his
persistent effort and with the dignity of his family. It is probable that
Anthemius met him more than half-way, and that the comedy of advancement in which
Sidonius now engaged was in reality directed by the imperial advisers. It was
very important for the emperor to conciliate Gaul. He was now perfecting a
defensive scheme against the aggression of Euric,40 which
involved the sanction of all Burgundian appropriations, and possibly a further
cession,41 in
order to secure the more willing cooperation of Gundioc. It was a matter of
moment to win for his policy a man of such influence in Lyons and Auvergne as
Sidonius, and it may therefore be fairly surmised that the way of ascent was
made smooth for the aspirant's feet. The leader of the deputation took up his
quarters with a cultured Roman noble, Paulus, by whose assistance he prepared
to combine the prosecution of his mission with a legitimate advancement of his
private fortunes. The two selected the most efficacious patron in the Senate,
Basilius, who had the |xxix reputation of obtaining
promotions for all his clients and not for his relatives alone. It was arranged
that the emperor should be favourably impressed by a panegyric delivered on his
assumption of the consulship for the second term on New Year's Day, 468 A.D.42 The
story which must be read in Sidonius' own words (I. ix), recalls some episode
from court-life in the eighteenth century; as Baret has said, the scene might
almost be an entresol at Versailles. The panegyric was graciously
received----had not Basilius guaranteed as much? And the poet was magnificently
rewarded with the office of Prefect of Rome, carrying with it the presidency of
the Senate. It can hardly be supposed that the appointment was nothing more
than a distinction offered to Letters, like the consulship of Ausonius, or
those nominations with which ministers of the eighteenth century recompensed
their literary partisans. As already hinted, it is more probable that in part
at least the affair was prearranged, and that the panegyric provided an
ostensible motive for an act really dictated by considerations of imperial
policy.
Sidonius now rode, as he
would have said, at a safe anchor of glory,43 he
had attained the highest grade but two in the imperial system of honours. There
remained only the titles of Patrician and Consul; could he win these, he would
have achieved the feat which he repeatedly declared to be every man's proper
ambition; he would have risen to a higher rank than any of his ancestors. In
the moment of his elation, he |xxx doubtless
indulged golden dreams; but the unselfishness of his nature is shown by his
evident desire that his friends in their turn should set their feet upon the
official ladder, and by his promises to do all that he can to further their
advancement.44 Yet
he soon found that office has its troubles; almost from the first, the path of
greatness was rough to his feet. Among his duties as prefect was the
superintendence of the Corn Supply, the Praefectus Annonae being his
subordinate officer.45 On
one occasion supplies ran dangerously short, and he grew somewhat alarmed,
fearing outbreaks in the amphitheatre on the part of the spoiled Roman
populace; fortunately the arrival of ships at Ostia preserved him from the
unpopularity which he dreaded (I. x. 2). A more serious event was the
impeachment of Arvandus, Prefect of Gaul, and a personal acquaintance of his
own, before a committee of the Senate on charges of peculation and high
treason.46 |xxxi Sidonius was now placed in a most embarrassing
position. On the one hand, he could not but sympathize with this effort of his
native province to end by a signal example the insolence and corruption which
were leading Roman provincial government to disaster; moreover, the principal
accuser, Tonantius Ferreolus, was his connexion and intimate friend. On the
other hand, to leave Arvandus to his fate without lifting a finger, appeared a
dishonourable and cowardly course. He decided to do what he could for the
impeached man who proved an intractable client, committing every possible
blunder in the defence, and rendering the severest sentence unavoidable. The
action of Sidonius has been commended by historians, among whom Gibbon is
numbered.47 He
necessarily incurred much odium (I. vii. i); for never had representative of
law and order a more compromising client. The praise which thus falls to his
lot is doubtless deserved, for it may well have been that Sidonius was unaware
of Arvandus' treasonable correspondence with Euric, a matter which the
prosecution may have kept as the trump-card to be played at Rome, and perhaps
deliberately concealed from all friends of the accused, however nearly
connected with themselves. Even when the treasonable letter was produced,
Sidonius may have hoped against hope that it was not a genuine document, but
had been supplied to the accusers by more unscrupulous enemies |xxxii of the fallen prefect.48 But
though we may approve this loyalty to a fallen friend, we cannot but feel some
astonishment that a man of Sidonius' high character should have permitted
himself an intimacy with an unscrupulous and violent personage like Arvandus:
he was wont to choose his intimates among men of a very different stamp, and to
be fastidious in selection. The conceit and obstinacy of the ex-prefect
frustrated all efforts to establish a plausible defence,49 and
Sidonius absented himself from Rome before sentence was pronounced, probably to
avoid the pain of witnessing a condemnation which he had been unable to avert.
But he and those who acted with him did not relax their efforts on behalf of
the condemned man; in all likelihood the commutation of the death-sentence to
banishment with confiscation of property may be ascribed to their active
intervention.
Events of such a nature
must have rendered the term of his office an anxious time for the Prefect of
Rome. There was another and yet graver cause of anxiety, |xxxiii less
immediately conspicuous, but big with coming trouble. This was the increasing
tension between Anthemius and his new son-in-law.50 To
any one gifted with political foresight, an ultimate rupture became day by day
more certain; and it may be that the retirement of Sidonius 51 was
hastened by his desire to leave Rome before fresh disasters broke on the
ill-fated empire. This explanation of his final departure is perhaps as likely
as that which would attribute his second return from Italy to something in the
nature of honourable dismissal. It is possible, however, that, like Mr.
Secretary Addison in 1717, this earlier literary statesman proved unequal to
the routine of administration, and that the title of Patrician which he now
received, was intended to cover any mortification at the premature close of his
career; but the capacity for affairs manifested in the stage of his life on
which he was now to enter, is rather against the supposition of actual failure.
Whatever the causes of his retirement, Sidonius now bade farewell to secular
ambitions; restored to the peace of Avitacum, he may well have reflected upon
their vanity, and tasted the last bitterness of disillusion. It is a |xxxiv probable conjecture that such reflections gave a
more serious turn to a mind never irreligious, and that the evident change of
his outlook on the world conditioned the event which was now to transform his
life.52 On
the death of the Bishop of Clermont, Sidonius was invited by general consent to
occupy the vacant throne, and he accepted the invitation.53 Assuming
him to have been born between 431 and 433, he was now about forty years of age.54 The
Letters contain no allusion to the circumstances immediately preceding this,
the crucial event of our author's life. Nowhere does Sidonius allude to the
invitation itself, of the persons who made |xxxv it
or to the arguments which they employed, though more than once he describes his
new profession as having in a sense been forced upon him,55 as
indeed it had been forced upon many other men of birth and wealth alike in
Italy, and in his own country, among whom St. Ambrose himself is numbered. It
is not difficult to supply the information which he omits to furnish. In those
troubled times, the Church had special need of leaders familiar with the
traditions of high office, trained to public life, and possessed of ample
fortune (see below, p. lxxiii). Such men were better able than any others to
stand between their flocks and the imperious barbarian princes who, with every
year, closed in a narrowing circle round the dwindling territory of Rome. The
careers of a Patiens and a Perpetuus proved the wisdom of those who elected
them: the career of Sidonius was destined to justify it in an equal degree. He
probably accepted the office not only from the changed view of life which led
him to despise worldly ambition, but also because he believed that it opened to
him a prospect of useful action for the benefit of his fellow countrymen. He
well knew the anxieties and labours which it would involve; long before his own
ordination, he had been acquainted with some of the best among the Gallic
bishops, and the arduous manner of their life. There can be no question of
vanity or ambition in his acceptance. As far as worldly honour went, the
ex-Prefect and Patrician had nothing to gain |xxxvi by
occupying a bishop's throne; and Clermont was not even a metropolitan see.56 Several
letters written by Sidonius to other prelates soon after his election show that
he was sincerely oppressed by the sense of his own unworthiness, and aware how
little his previous life had prepared him for his new career; at the same time
his health seems to have suffered, and a dangerous fever brought him almost to
death's door (V. iii. 3). But he was cheered by the receipt of encouraging and
kindly replies from several bishops of the Province; that of Lupus of Troyes57,
which is preserved, must have caused him peculiar pleasure, for Lupus was the
most venerable figure in Gaul, and regarded with respect in every diocese.
Events were now moving to
a crisis which was to put the character of Sidonius to the severest test, alike
as patriot and as ecclesiastic. The hold of the empire upon Gaul continually
relaxed. It had rewarded the friendship of the Burgundians by permitting great
annexations of territory;58 its
enemies were never satisfied. Riothamus the 'King' of the Bretons, who had been
entrusted with the defence of Berry with some twelve thousand men, had already
been defeated by the Goths, whose ambition was an ever-present menace.59 Count
Paul, for a while the Roman commander, had |xxxvii checked
with Frankish support their advance north of the Loire, but they now added to
their dominion the northern part of Aquitanica Prima, with the cities of
Bourses and Tours. While Euric's lieutenant Victorius made steady conquests in
Aquitanica Prima he himself overran the country beyond the Rhône, which he was
unable to retain on account of Burgundian jealousy.60
The fulfilment of his
ambitions involved the absorption of Auvergne, the most loyal district which
remained to the empire, inhabited by a war-like race claiming Trojan descent, a
people which had fought with Hannibal, and, in the person of Vercingetorix,
sent against Julius Caesar a captain worthy of his military genius. Their
principality had been the most formidable in Gaul, and they had long enjoyed
the reputation |xxxviii of freemen and warriors.61 Such
men, whose leaders still desired Roman rule, even with the traitorous Arvandus
and Seronatus 62 as
the official representatives of the empire, were not likely to accept
Visigothic domination without a struggle. Their country was apparently exposed
for several years to a series of raids and invasions culminating in sieges of
the city of Clermont,63 whose
people offered a most stubborn resistance, with Sidonius at their head. The
bishop was no longer animated by the sentiments towards the Gothic monarchy
which had inspired his eulogy of Theodoric II. Euric was a very different man
from his murdered brother, more violent, less refined, less amenable to reason.
He made no pretence of recognizing Roman supremacy; moreover his Arianism was
of an aggressive type, and with Sidonius, whose Catholicism was orthodox and
sincere, this was a factor which now weighed more than any other. The
Arvernians, though at first they had conceived new hope from the accession of
Nepos,64 now
began to fear that they looked in vain |xxxix towards
the Rome for which they prepared to make the utmost sacrifices. As the year 474
advanced it was seen that without imperial support their position was hopeless.
Sidonius had attempted to postpone the evil day by diplomatic means; Avitus,
whose family name was so well known to the Goths, had been sent to intercede
with Euric;65 Ecdicius
seems to have been dispatched to solicit aid from the Burgundians. But neither
was able to prevent the horrors of continued siege. The defenders fought with
tenacity; and though their walls were damaged, though fires destroyed whole
quarters and they were reduced to extremities by hunger, they succeeded in
holding the city. Their spirits were at one time raised by a heroic exploit of
Ecdicius, 'the Hector of this Troy,'66 who
with a little band of eighteen troopers broke through the enemy's lines,
inflicting heavy loss upon seasoned warriors, perhaps |xl overcome
by a momentary panic.67 The
privations of the city had been so severe, that a party was apparently formed
in favour of accepting Gothic rule, a party perhaps recruited by Gothic agents,
who no doubt reminded the suffering citizens that the exactions of Visigothic
counts were not likely to exceed those of Seronatus. This was a move of which
Sidonius perceived the peril. The tension of war was followed each winter by
inevitable reaction. The Goths had burned the crops; and though the generosity
of Patiens and Ecdicius, now and later, did much to relieve distress,68 men
stood among ruined homes and saw their families still suffering the pangs of
hunger. The advocates of surrender had here a promising material to work upon,
and Sidonius strained every nerve to counteract their efforts. He induced his
friend Constantius of Lyons, a venerable priest whose name was held in honour
in Auvergne, to visit Clermont.69 The
appeal was not in vain; though the winter weather was severe, the old man
braved every inconvenience of the way, and by his cheerful presence and calm
advice composed |xli the differences and animated
the courage of the people.70 The
bishop also instituted the solemn processional prayers or Rogations already
used in time of peril by Mamertus, bishop of Vienne.71 These
also had a tranquillizing effect. But there was still a prospect that the siege
might be again renewed, and all eyes were turned to Italy. Julius Nepos was
alive to the danger that Euric might cross the Rhône; but weak as his resources
were, he could only hope to secure peace by negotiation. The quaestor
Licinianus, who had been sent into Gaul to investigate the condition of affairs
upon the spot, had done little more than confer upon Ecdicius the title of
Patrician, an honour which even at this anxious time highly gratified Sidonius,
and filled Papianilla with delight; 72 he
had now returned, and it was soon only too clear that hopes based on his |xlii intervention were not likely to be fulfilled. Rumours
of negotiations were in the air. We find Sidonius writing for information to
those presumably in a position to receive early intelligence.73 To
this last period of suspense, if not earlier, may belong the visit to the
Burgundian kingdom, when he was able to frustrate the machinations of the
informers threatening Apollinaris.74 He
began to fear that something was going on behind his back, and that the real
danger to Auvergne came no longer from determined enemies but from
pusillanimous friends.
His suspicions were only
too well founded. On receipt of the quaestor's report, a Council was held to
determine the policy of the empire towards the Visigothic king. Four Gaulish
bishops were empowered to enter into negotiations----Leontius of Arles, Graecus
of Marseilles, Faustus of Riez, and Basilius of Aix. It is not easy to say
whether they failed because they refused to surrender Auvergne; nor can we
precisely define the relation of their mission to that undertaken on behalf of
the emperor by the venerated bishop of Pavia. Schmidt considers that the
embassy of Epiphanius took place when the negotiations of the four bishops had
broken down, and that the treaty of 475 was ratified by him.75 The
empire did not feel strong enough to support Auvergne, and it was decided |xliii to cede the whole territory to Euric, apparently
without condition, unless, indeed, the Visigoth undertook that Catholics should
receive fairer treatment, and that the disabilities from which they had
suffered should cease.76 If
so, the contingent religious advantages of the treaty might ultimately have
soothed Sidonius the Churchman, as the shame of surrender at first incensed
Sidonius the patriot. But when the news of the decision reached him he gave way
to an outburst of righteous indignation, and wrote to Graecus, his intimate friend,
a letter in which the bitterness of reproach is no less remarkable than the
exalted tone of patriotism.77 Sidonius
loved Auvergne; among all the Gallo-Roman nobles none was more devoted to the
imperial connexion than he; none attached more weight to the maintenance of
Latin letters and Roman civilization. He was cut to the heart. All the valour
of Auvergne had been thrown away: the treaty seemed an impossible, an |xliv incomprehensible betrayal; the thought of it filled
him with mingled shame and sorrow. The year 475, in which he ceased to be a
Roman citizen, was the darkest year of his life.78
In the organization of
his new territory, which he seems to have annexed without further opposition,
Euric showed the qualities of a statesman. He appointed Victorius, a Catholic
and Gallo-Roman, as Count of Clermont, a man whose piety Sidonius praises, but
whose character is painted in a different light by Gregory of Tours.79 He
probably intended to act as fairly by his new Catholic subjects as violent
prejudice would allow. But the conduct of Sidonius in encouraging so protracted
a resistance at Clermont had incurred his sharp resentment. The bishop was
imprisoned in the fortress of Livia, situated between Narbonne and Carcassonne.80 There
may have been some pretence of entrusting him with a special duty,81 but
probably the principal object of the victor was to keep him away from his
people until the new government was fairly |xlv established.
Sidonius seems to have remained for some time within the walls of Livia, but to
have undergone no great physical hardships, since his chief complaint is that
he suffered from the chattering of two repulsive Gothic hags outside his window
(VIII. iii. 2). He had a powerful friend at court in the person of Leo, Euric's
Secretary of State, who only waited a propitious time to intercede for his
unfortunate countryman, and meanwhile recommended him to occupy his mind by
literary work.82 It
must have been due to the solicitations of Leo (VIII. iii) that the prisoner
was at last removed, apparently on parole, to Bordeaux, where Euric was now
holding his court; and here, among a crowd including members of numerous
barbaric tribes, he was forced to wait the king's good pleasure.83 Sidonius
was ill at ease about his property, perhaps his loved estate of Avitacum, all,
or part, of which had been seized during the recent disturbances.84 He
found it difficult to obtain justice; and in a letter to his friend Lampridius
(VIII. ix), whose case was very different |xlvi from
his own, bewails the hardness of his lot; but the verses which accompany the
letter are practically a panegyric of the Visigothic ruler, whose power they
exalt to the skies.85 As
Lampridius was now a favoured personage in the king's entourage, the writer
doubtless hoped that they would be brought to the royal notice, as indeed they
probably were; the subsequent permission to return home, soon afterwards
accorded to Sidonius, may well have been hastened by this timely resort to the
arts of the court poet.86 Euric
was perhaps of opinion that his prisoner had now suffered enough, and would
cause him no further trouble.
The bishop returned to
Clermont in a despondent mood. The Patrician and ex-Prefect was brought
low; |xlvii the idol of his patriotism was
shattered. He saw himself abandoned by the government for which he had
willingly risked his life; he was the subject of a barbarian whose manners he
despised and whose heresy he detested. There remained to him only his faith and
his pastoral duty; and in time these were sufficient for him, leading him to
those paths of sanctity which were to result in his canonization. But at first
the new life was hard; Auvergne enslaved was no longer Auvergne to one whose
youth was full of such memories as his. He threw himself with a high sense of
duty into his episcopal work; several of his letters refer to events and
meetings which occurred in the course of his diocesan visitations;87 those
which were written to aid clerks, deacons, readers, and others in need of his
assistance prove that he did not spare himself when an opportunity came to help
his neighbours or dependants. But in spite of all these activities, there must
have been long and melancholy hours, especially in winter; and his friends
feared their effect on his mind. They therefore encouraged him to write; and to
this encouragement we probably owe the nine books of the Letters. The first
book was issued in response to a request from the aged priest Constantius who
had rendered him such noble aid after the siege of Clermont. It probably
appeared in 478.88 It
was followed by Books II-VII, dedicated to the same venerable friend. Books
VIII and IX |xlviii were supplemental, the first
added to gratify Petronius,89 though
still dedicated to Constantius; the second by desire of another friend,
Firminus.90
There can be no two
opinions as to the wisdom of his friends. It is clear from more than one
passage that Sidonius enjoyed rummaging among his papers for any letters suited
for publication, and that to transcribe, correct and polish the pages written
at various periods of his life provided just the distraction which he required.
To the gradual process of publication may in part be ascribed the lack of
chronological order in the Letters, which makes them appear inconsequent to the
modern reader, though it is not the sole reason (cf. below, p. cliv). But
Sidonius was not only asked for collections of his letters. His talent as a
poet was still in request. If a new church was erected, a metrical inscription
for the walls must come from his hand; if a notable person died, he must
provide an elegy.91 High
ecclesiastic though he was, he was still expected by privileged persons to
furnish occasional verses; and though he sometimes declined a request which he
felt inappropriate, at others he could not find it in him to refuse.92 He
was also urged to write the history of periods falling within his own
remembrance, a task which he was unwilling to perform.93 But
he occupied |xlix himself with Commentaries on the
Scriptures, and composed, among other religious works, certain Contestatiunculae, which
appear to have been prefaces to the Mass. The loss of his religious writings
makes it impossible to estimate his position among the doctors; Gennadius
placed him without hesitation among their number.94 His
activities were not confined to composition; he also revised manuscripts. Thus
we find him sending to Ruricius a Heptateuch collated by his own hand.95
Amid these manifold
occupations, pastoral, literary, and scholastic, the later life of Sidonius
wore away. In the words of his epitaph (see p. Hi), he lived tranquil amid the
swelling seas of the world (mundi inter tumidas quietus undas). He continued to
write to his friends and to receive letters from them; it is thought some
examples may date from 484, or even later.96 |l This was an important year, for it marked the death of
Euric, and the succession of a weaker ruler in the person of Alaric II. The
disappearance of the great Arian may have relaxed in some measure the tension
between the Catholic Gallo-Romans and their unorthodox rulers; but it prepared
the way for the final subjection of Gaul under a single barbaric nation. The
Franks soon afterwards commenced the advance which was only to end on the
shores of the Mediterranean; in 486 Clovis ended the shadowy rule of Syagrius
between the Loire and Somme, and prepared the way for a descent upon the
Visigothic and Burgundian kingdoms;97 Sidonius
may even have lived to hear of this event.98 The
last years of his life are said to have been embittered by the persecution of
two priests of Clermont, Honorius and Hermanchius, possibly representatives of
the Arian heresy.99 The
story runs that they proposed |li on a certain day to
drive Sidonius from his church, but a horrible fate overcame one conspirator,
and the other for the moment desisted from aggression. Thus Sidonius, when his
time came, was suffered to die in peace. He is said to have fallen sick of a
fever, and to have been carried into the church of St. Mary, where he took an
affecting farewell of his flock, and indicated his desire that Aprunculus
should succeed to his office.100 Little
more is heard of his family after his death. His son Apollinaris is said to
have been one of his successors in the see of Clermont.101 The
year of Papianilla's death is unrecorded; of her daughters, we know only the
meagre facts with regard to Alcima related by Gregory of Tours. By the end of
the sixth century the house which had played so great a part in Gaul was no
longer known to history.102 Sidonius
was buried in the chapel |lii of St. Saturninus at
Clermont, and an epitaph of eighteen hendecasyllables, composed not very long
after his decease, is quoted by Savaron from an early manuscript formerly
belonging to the Abbey of Cluny, but now at Madrid.103 At
some time after the tenth century, the chapel having fallen into ruin, his
remains were translated to the church of St. Genesius in the centre of the
town, where they lay in a reliquary on the right-hand side of the principal
altar. In 1794 the church was destroyed; it is not known whether the bones were
actually burned within the Place de Jaude, or whether the reliquary was buried
under the ruins of the demolished walls.
Such were the principal
events in the career of Sidonius, Gallo-Roman noble, Prefect and Patrician,
Visigothic subject, bishop and saint. His letters have been compared to a
literary Herculaneum, preserving under the accumulated centuries the most
varied evidences of late Roman provincial life.104 We
may gather from them a multitude of facts bearing upon the |liii society,
civil and ecclesiastical, of the time; and though the value of Sidonius as a
chronicler is seriously affected by an upbringing which set more store on
literature than on observation, the harvest is plentiful enough. He experienced
life under such various aspects, and knew so many people, that he could not
fail to present a picture of provincial society of the highest interest and
importance. It was inevitable that he should see things in the light of his own
times, and remain under the influence of his own environment. He does not say
as much about common things and ordinary events as a modern historian would
like to know; he is reticent, after the Roman manner, about his family. It was
not an age which cared to talk much of private life, or to describe the usual
scenes of city, farm and country-side; nor was it the age of confessions,
confidences and apologies. Sidonius does not depict his inmost nature like
Montaigne, though in many little touches, applied almost at random, he allows
us to trace for ourselves a portrait which he would not himself elaborate. We
must not therefore go to him either for the sociology of the fifth century, or
for the more intimate aspects of life; his mind was absorbed in other things.
But when all deductions are made, we shall still find in his pages much
invaluable material even on the subjects which he disregards; while those on
which he cared to be explicit receive from him more illumination than from any
contemporary writer. This is especially true of the lives of the members of his
own class, of the literary activities of fifth-century Gaul, and of
ecclesiastical affairs. His hundred and forty-nine letters are addressed to a
hundred and nine correspondents, including ex-prefects |liv and
patricians, a minister and an 'admiral' of the Visigothic king, a Breton
commander, and no less than twenty-eight bishops; while among the recipients of
letters who did not hold ecclesiastical or secular office are to be found the
student, the poet, the young noble, the country gentleman, the schoolmaster and
the rhetor. So varied a list proves that the writer was a man whose wide
acquaintance gives him a right to be heard as a representative of his time and
country.
Many allusions in the
Letters will be more intelligible if a few words are said in the present place
on the general conditions obtaining in Gaul when Sidonius wrote, with especial
reference to the classes from which his correspondents were drawn. And firstly
in relation to his own class, the provincial nobles of senatorial houses.
Perhaps the point which
first strikes us is that life on the great estates in the last half of the
fifth century, at the very end of Roman power in Gaul, is just as Roman, and in
some ways almost as secure, as in the times of Hadrian or Trajan. The noble has
his town house and his country villa, the latter with its large establishment
of slaves, its elaborate baths, and all the amenities of country existence as
understood by Roman civilization.105 In
his well-stocked library he reads his |lv favourite
authors, writes himself in verse and prose, or maintains a continual
correspondence with friends of equal wealth and leisure. For diversion, he
hunts and fishes, or rides abroad to visit his neighbours; if interested in the
development of his land, he goes round the estate, watches the work in
progress, and is present at the harvest or the vintage.106 It
is the life of the cultured landed proprietor in a country at profound peace,
where soldiers seem to be neither seen nor thought of, and the only sense of
insecurity arises from the presence of robbers on the lonelier roads; but for
the apparent predominance of literary over sporting interests, we might be
reading of the English shires in the days of the Georges, when the carriages of
nobles were stopped by highwaymen on Bagshot Heath. Yet the Visigoths had been
established half a century in Aquitaine; the Burgundians were on the Rhône; the
Franks were pressing upon such territory in northern Gaul as still retained a
shadow of Roman authority. The barbarians encompassed the diminished imperial
possessions upon three sides; even before the time of Anthemius and Euric, the
empire must have been aware that they were bent on a further advance.107 When
we think of the apprehension caused in modern times |lvi by
the threatened invasion of one nationality by another, of the military
preparations and the manifold precautions on every hand, it all seems at first
sight very strange. The explanation is to be sought in the fact that, for the
majority of the population, the possibility of change had no exceeding terrors.
The small landowners and townsmen had suffered to such an extent from
maladministration in the past, that they regarded the future with indifference;
their own lot was no whit better than that of their fellows who had already
passed under Teutonic sway. The Visigoths and the Burgundians had the best
reputation among the barbarian peoples; they kept order with a strong hand;
they endeavoured to assimilate what was good in Roman law and practice. Even
the great landowner had only to fear a partial confiscation of his estates; but
in most cases the acreage was large enough to leave him still in comfort, and
in difficulties he would probably still have an appeal to some administrator of
Roman extraction, like Leo or Victorius.108 Under
these circumstances |lvii the Gallo-Roman noble
might view the change in his allegiance without despair; though his income and
his acreage would be diminished, he would still have his villa, and cultivators
to work on his land; he would still live his leisured life. Only in Auvergne,
perhaps, did loyalty to a tottering empire go the length of resolute
resistance; even there, it is probable that a part of the population was
lukewarm, and that ardour had to be assiduously fanned by enthusiastic
loyalists like Sidonius and Ecdicius. Thus the change from Roman to Visi-gothic
citizenship implied, for the noble, a comparative loss, and for the lower
classes a possibility of actual gain: a Euric was less likely than a remote and
helpless emperor to tolerate a Seronatus in his service. The Letters afford
interesting confirmation of a certain tacit confidence in barbaric rule. One year
Sidonius paid a round of visits to Roman friends living near Bordeaux and
Narbonne; these friends are displayed to us reading and writing in their
comfortable libraries, maintaining their luxurious kitchens, entertaining each
other, and living a large life at their ease. Yet at the time every one of them
had ceased to have any political concern with the empire; every one of them was
a Visigothic subject. The fact speaks for itself, and it makes the point from
which we started less strange than it at first appeared. If life continued
almost in the old fashion, |lviii even across the
barbaric frontier, why should there be panic on the Roman side, or terror as to
what would happen when the line was finally abolished? Existence would be much
the same for most men after the great change was made. The higher nobility
would lose the honours of imperial office, for there would be no more
prefectorian or patrician rank; the rude barbarians would be unwelcome
neighbours; but there were ways of avoiding them, and after all, they were a
small minority. The Gallo-Roman nobles would continue to pay each other visits
and write each other elaborate letters; they would hold closely together, and
neither Visigoth nor Burgundian would care to intrude on their society. The prestige
of Roman culture would remain; things would go on as before. Their day would
begin at its usual early hour, opening in religious families with a service in
the chapel attached to the house,109 followed
by visits to particular friends. After nine o'clock, there would be outdoor and
indoor games; if sport was pursued, the hawks or hounds would be taken out.110 The
company would perhaps adjourn to the baths, after which would come the prandium or
midday meal, about 11 a.m.111 |lix The hour of the siesta would be succeeded by a ride or
other light exercise, and by the afternoon bath, preparatory to the coena, or
supper, which would be enlivened by songs and music, or seasoned by cultured
conversation. The barbarian might rule the land, but the laws of polite society
would be administered as before.
The Letters enable us to
follow in some detail the career of the Gallo-Roman noble from childhood to
mature age. During his tender years he and his sisters were left to the care of
the ladies of the family; at this period of their lives they remained in a
seclusion almost resembling that of the Eastern gynaeceum.112 From
this seclusion the girl never really issued into the full light; she learned,
as she grew up, to superintend and share the work of the textrinum (II.ii.
9); if she was skilful, like Araneola, she executed ambitious pieces of
embroidery with figure-subjects (Carm. xv. 147 ff.); in the library, |lx her place was where the religious books were kept (II.
ix. 4), and sometimes, like Frontina, she attained at home a reputation of
piety superior to that of nuns (IV. xxi. 4). The boy was permitted far more
freedom; he played ball-games, and was initiated into the various forms of
outdoor sport. As soon as he was old enough he attended the schools of his
provincial capital, and learned to deliver 'declamations' before the rhetor,
perhaps a man of distinction like Eusebius of Lyons, at whose feet Sidonius sat
(IV. i). In his holidays, or on special occasions, the high official position
held by his relatives might secure for him a good position at any spectacle or
ceremony; we see the young Sidonius, when his father was prefect, pushing into
the near neighbourhood of the consul Astyrius on the day of his inauguration
(VIII. vi. 5). Released from the schools, he continued his sports, adding games
of chance with dice, evidently very popular on all hands (II. ix. 4; V. xvii.
6, &c.). If a young man was rich and clever, or his family had influence,
he went to Rome and entered the Palatine service, with the hope of rising to
the high offices of the State. But his public life was usually over before
middle age, and he retired to enjoy the honorary rank conferred by his late
office. If he had no taste for further publicity he remained at home, read and
wrote, followed his hounds, or acquired a taste for rural economics; kept up
his classics and his ball-games; perhaps built additions to his villa. He might
even grow too absorbed in rural interests to visit town even in the winter,
like the Eutropius whom Sidonius rebuked, or the Maurusius whose company he so
highly valued. Or he might advance a stage further, and think of |lxi nothing else, till he was lost to all ambition beyond
crops and stock, and sank into rusticity. There were many such in Gaul, and in
more than one letter Sidonius alludes to them with regret or indignation. 113 But
the more intellectual among the country gentlemen did not lightly forget the
culture of their younger years. Literature probably occupied the class as a
whole more than it has ever done in modern Europe. The Gallo-Roman noble was
always a potential author, and valued himself as a critic. Verses and epigrams
were circulated from house to house,114 and
the writers of these expected from every reader a letter of acknowledgement,
which could be nothing less, under the circumstances, than eulogistic. The more
earnest students would edit a classic, and keep copyists at work transcribing
manuscripts for their shelves. In their houses the library was a very important
room, and the scrolls and books were carefully arranged.115 We
receive the impression that the proportion of well-to-do people really fond of
literature was high in the second half of the fifth century; and though the
devotion to the classics in many ways recalls that of the Chinese |lxii literate to whom the past is everything, the
precedence given to literature over sport is a feature which commands our
respect.
For all this, the more
strenuous noble must often have found time hang heavy on his hands. He had few
outlets for his energy; local politics were of the slightest interest to him;
they were the affair of smaller men, and he had, as a rule, little notion of
what we now call social service (see below, p. lxx). But his duties as father
of a family were conscientiously performed; he sometimes himself took a part in
his children's education.116 Then
there was the regular and voluminous correspondence with his friends,
comparable, in the care lavished on style and diction, to the leisurely
exchange of letters by persons of culture in the eighteenth century. Visits to
friends living at a distance were also serious undertakings; we find Sidonius
making 'rounds' which range from Auvergne to Provence, from Bordeaux to Lyons.117 On
long expeditions he took his servants, bedding, and all impedimenta; where
there was no friend's house to offer hospitality, he camped (IV. viii), or, if
driven to it, used an inn (II. ix. 7; VIII. xi. 3). Friends' houses stood open
to each other, and liberal hospitality reigned. But though good cooking was
evidently as general as in modern France, excess at table was rather the
exception than the rule. Hospitality, |lxiii however,
was sometimes insistent, then as now; and in one place Sidonius confesses that
after the opulent suppers of Ferreolus and Apollinaris a week's thin living
will do him good (II. ix. 10). If the noble was a Christian, as was now very
generally the case,118 public
religious duties played some part in his life. When a church was consecrated,
or the feast of the patron saint came round, he made a point of attending the
services, which sometimes began even before daybreak: at such festivals all
classes came together, though they did not mingle, and the intervals between
the services were occupied with games and conversation (V. xvii). Or he would
prepare to set out with all his family on a pilgrimage to some important
shrine, even when the state of the roads was dangerous (IV. vi). With these
tranquil occupations his years passed by. But if he bore a high character and
was popular with his neighbours, the quiet tenor of his life might be suddenly
interrupted: he might wake one day to find himself elected bishop, and the most
earnest nolo episcopari was not accepted as an excuse. If, on the
other hand, the Church made no such claim upon him, he declined into a serene
old age, and might have to listen in his own bed to those contradictory
verdicts of the doctors whose quarrels in previous years disturbed his
patience.119 |lxiv He died; but though veneration for the dead was a
conspicuous virtue of his age, his family might forget for two generations to
erect his monument, and when reminded by some accident of their duty, excuse
each other by citing the irrelevant cases of an Achilles and an Alexander.120
Both in town and country,
the nobles seem to have led a large and sumptuous existence, in no way inferior
to that of their own class in Italy. The proud name of 'the lesser Rome of
Gaul' which Ausonius applied to Arles,121 is
justified by the letters alluding to the sojourn of Majorian in that town. In
one an imperial banquet is described; in another a private feast, given by an
acquaintance of Sidonius.122 In
both cases the luxury is redeemed by an intellectual atmosphere, but the luxury
is there, with all the genialis apparatus which contemporary extravagance
required. There are the hangings of rich purple, the napery 'white as snow',
the table-decoration of vine-tendrils and ivy; there are flowers in profusion.
The guests recline, with balsam-perfumed hair, while frankincense smokes to the
roof, and the very lamps are scented. The slaves bow beneath the burden of
chased silver plate; choice wines flow in cups crowned with rose-wreaths. There
is dancing, and music made on cithara and flute by Corinthian girls and other
professional musicians. It |lxv all suggests an
evening with Lucullus rather than a dinner-party in a provincial capital. These
were special occasions; but the general standard of life was clearly high.
There is a picture of one Trygetius, so comfortable at Bazas amid the selected
delicacies of his storeroom123 that
even the prospect of a gourmet's paradise at Bordeaux cannot drag him from
home. A snail would outstrip this lazy personage, whom a comfortable boat
awaits on the Garonne, with 'mounds of cushions', a grating to keep the feet
dry, an awning to ward off the evening damp, dice and backgammon to pass the
idle hours while, in frequent chants, the oarsmen sing his praise. Even
the delicata pigritia of Trygetius, thinks Sidonius, must be tempted
by this care for his comfort, all leading to a veritable tournament of epicures
at the end. Who would imagine that when this invitation was sent, the homes of
these Gallic Sybarites were in Visigothic territory, and that Theodoric was
master of Bordeaux? Sidonius himself was comfortable enough at Avitacum, with
his winter and summer dining-rooms, his elaborate baths, and his ball-ground
down by the lake (see below, p. xcv); while the lordly villa of Consentius,
the Octaviana, was probably more extensive still, with its porticoes
and baths, its well-stocked library, its vineyards and olive-groves, where the
visitor hardly knew which to praise most, the cultivation of the estate or that
of the master's mind (VIII. iv).124
It is in many respects a
singularly refined life, free, |lxvi as a rule,
from coarse vice and brutality. But no one who reads either the letters of
Sidonius, or any other work descriptive of the fourth and fifth centuries, can
fail to be struck by a certain lack of broad aims or ardent interests. These
men are less primitive than the barons of the Middle Ages, but in idealism and
fervour the mediaeval knights leave them far behind. It has already been hinted
that to find a parallel for some of these lives, absorbed in solemn literary
trifling, we should have to look to the Far East, rather than to any European
state. These members of the senatorial class125 were
possessed of enormous wealth, but they seem to have had little encouragement to
expend any part of it for the benefit of their country.126 They
escaped the municipal taxation which they could well afford; 127 their
chief use for surplus money was to lend |lxvii it
at twelve per cent, and if possessed of business instinct, to foreclose their
mortgages.128 Thus
they had come to possess nearly the whole superficial area of a country which
they were not even supposed to defend. If they wished to commit illegal acts,
they could often set themselves above the law. Provincial governors were
amenable to hospitality and open to social influence; a Seronatus could be
persuaded to sanction courses which the distant emperor would not have
tolerated. Judges were even more exposed to improper influence; the powerful
noble had probably little difficulty in wresting a judgement, if he had the
mind to do so. The base arts to which some members of the senatorial class
descended to evade their share of taxation, or fill their pockets at the
expense of a defrauded state, disclose a code of ethics for which too often
public duty was a phrase without a meaning.129 The
honourable men among them----a Tonantius Ferreolus, a Thaumastus----might
discountenance such ignoble practices, and lead the province in an attempt to
obtain the punishment of a bad governor. But they were in a minority, and the
evil grew despite their efforts. It is difficult to understand how the nobles
spent the princely incomes which, by fair or unfair means, were always
increasing. |lxviii In modern times, with
continual demands upon his purse for all kinds of public objects, with the
competition for expensive works of art, with a thousand and one objects of use
or luxury daily forced upon his notice, it may be supposed that the magnate can
keep expenditure within range of income. But the Roman millionaire, at any rate
in the provinces, had no great and steady drain on his resources unless he was
a devout man and prepared to erect or restore churches as a practice. He might
spend considerable sums on his houses and baths; but as labour was cheap, if
not unpaid, and as there is a limit to construction, even building on a large
scale would not seriously diminish an income equivalent to £50,000 a year. A
few, like Magnus or Consentius, might buy pictures or other works of art, but
the sums paid for them can hardly have been comparable with those given for old
masters to-day, nor do we gather from the Letters that the love of art was
really intense, or widely disseminated in Gaul. The chief intellectual interest
was literary, and however enthusiastic it may have been, it can hardly have
depleted a senatorial purse. There were manuscripts to buy, but, it may be
conjectured, not at the prices of the modern sale-room; and the rarer
illuminated books were not yet collected by the competitive methods of our day.
If then there were no hospitals to endow, no large yachts to maintain, no
subscription lists to head, on what did the provincial millionaire spend his
money? He could only entertain on a very lavish scale when resident in a town
like Arles. He gambled, but not, as far as we know, on the heroic scale. He
patronized the chase, but hunting was then a cheap pursuit. The milliners' and
jewellers' |lxix bills which he had to pay can
hardly have caused him much embarrassment; the weaving, and probably the
making, of his wife's clothes was done by the maids of the house; and it may be
doubted whether, in an age when diamonds were practically unknown, the most
expensive jewellers could send him an inconvenient account. His estate was
self-supporting; those who tilled it largely worked for nothing or were
recompensed in kind;130 all
the food and all the fuel required for his household came from his own fields
and woods. 'Clients' cannot have been ruinously expensive where food was cheap.
He had only to feed and clothe his domestic servants, not to pay them wages.131 The |lxx answer to the question probably is that the rich
provincial noble did not and could not spend his income; year by year he became
richer and ever more uselessly rich.
That he did so was but
one count in the indictment against the Roman system of provincial government,
which threw such burdens on the middle class and the lower class of freemen,
that the vigour of both was sapped, and the spirit of enterprise crushed out of
existence. It is unnecessary in the present place to dwell upon the notorious
evils of the Curial system,132 which
gave the decurion all duties and no rights, and the senatorial class
all rights and no duties. We need not linger over the folly which encouraged
useless wealth and useless lives in a class which, reasonably handled, might
have become a bulwark of the State. The noble had no useful work to do. His
tenure of quaestorship, vicariate or prefecture once over, he had no further
career. He could not serve in the army; he was not |lxxi supposed
to found an industry. There was no scope for active brains except in
literature, and literature was now of such a kind that its propagation was of
doubtful advantage to the world. We can hardly wonder if men unmanned, as it
were, by statute failed the empire in its need, or if the great proprietor made
his estate his world, and cared little for events beyond his boundaries. He had
become a fly upon the wheel of government, brilliant perhaps, but an insect
still, and adding no momentum. Sidonius belonged to the best of his order; he
and his relations loved their country, and were prepared to sacrifice
everything for it. But custom held them bound; they had no chance to prove themselves
until it was too late.
The Roman empire opened
its own veins. But there was now within it an organism which drew to itself new
blood, and amid the general enfeeblement of old institutions, grew daily in
vitality. The Church succeeded to the neglected opportunities of the State.
While the secular arm relaxed, the Church enlarged her power, and drew the
people to the one rallying-point that remained to them amid the increasing
disruption of society. 'In the civil world', said Guizot, many years ago,
speaking of the fifth century, 'we find no real government; the imperial
administration is fallen, the senatorial aristocracy fallen, the municipal
aristocracy fallen as well. It is a tale of dissolution everywhere. Authority
and freedom alike are attacked by the same sterility. In the religious world,
on the other hand, we see an active government, an animated and interested
people. Excuses for anarchy and tyranny may be numerous; but the liberty is
real, |lxxii and so is the power. On all sides are
the germs of an energetic popular activity and of a strong executive. This, in
a word, is a society marching towards a future, a stormy future fraught with
evil as well as good, but full of power and fecundity.'133 Here
is the root of the matter: the Church had a future and a present; the State had
only a past. While the imperial officials were too often regarded as
instruments of tyranny, whose only relation to the mass of the people was
external and oppressive, the leaders of the Church were in constant touch with
national and individual life. Their homes were in the towns; their houses were
open to all in trouble. Instead of being the common enemy, the bishop was every
one's friend,134 he
stood in a regular relation to the municipal body, and exercised certain
judicial rights of his own.135 |lxxiii Moreover, he controlled the Church lands in his
diocese, and had thus a power of the purse which necessarily increased his
consideration at a time of general impoverishment. It is not astonishing that
under such circumstances the prestige of the bishop steadily rose. In the time
of Sidonius, the episcopate was already moving towards the emancipation
attained in the sixth century; but as yet the occupants of the Gallic sees were
men of such high character that there was little abuse of their expanding
authority. The Letters bring no such charges of violent and unseemly conduct as
those which are scattered through the pages of Gregory of Tours.136 The
bishops of the expiring fifth century were powers in the land and powers for
good, mitigating the hardships of a dangerous epoch, and standing forth in the
public eyes as the true representatives of national life. They were indeed
almost the only conspicuous figures who were visibly doing national work, and
the fact was widely recognized. Good men of wealth and standing, condemned to
inaction by the absence of any secular career, must have cast envious eyes upon
this episcopal office which enabled its holders to serve their country so well;
the hierarchy and the people, equally alive to the importance of strengthening
the Church by the |lxxiv admission of such
valuable recruits, did not discourage their aspirations.137 The
Church was not so ill-advised as to imitate the State in debarring from a share
in her activities the very men who could render the greatest service; she gave
the nobles a ready welcome, not merely because they were rich, though riches
were desirable, but because they were likely to possess, in a more eminent
degree than others, the high culture and the great manner which the long habit
of receiving deference conferred. The Church had room, as historians have
observed, for two types of bishop. She needed, on the one hand, the learned
pupil of the monasteries, the theologian, preacher, and disciplinarian. She
needed, on the other, the man born to great place, imposing respect by personal
distinction, and a commanding figure in any company. She appreciated a Faustus,
pursuing as bishop the austerities which he had practised as a monk; she
welcomed Remigius and Principius, sons of a count, and the wealthy Patiens, who
could combine simplicity in his own life with a lordly openness of hand and the
most gracious arts of hospitality (cf. VI. xii. 3). The aristocratic bishop
could serve her best not only in her relations with imperial officials, whose
day was almost gone, but also with the barbarian princes, whose favour grew
more important with every year. As the empire was ever further dismembered, and
the Church provided the one bond of union between the subjects of isolated
kingdoms, the diplomatic bishop continually proved his |lxxv worth.
The Visigoth and the Burgundian were impressed by his culture and his
experience of the world; moreover, they were by tradition disposed to favour
high birth. There was thus a general tendency to elect a certain number of
aristocratic personages to vacant sees, and a corresponding readiness, on the
part of the worthier noble, to look with favour on such election, seeing, as he
could not fail to do, that the one way to be of use was to become a bishop. It
was therefore no unprecedented event when upon the death of the Bishop of
Clermont, Sidonius found himself called to succeed by the voice of his fellow
countrymen in Auvergne. The call came perhaps too suddenly; it appeared rather
a summons than an invitation; but the recipient of it was more ready for the
change than he supposed himself to be. And in spite of the misgivings which
crowded upon his mind, he must have seen ground for hope in more than one
direction. In leaving the aimless existence of the provincial magnate for the
living work of the Church, he joined an organization which now assumed a
commanding influence over the whole moral and intellectual field; to throw
himself with ardour into its work was to aid the one force in the land which
made for regeneration. The Church appealed also to the scholar and man of
letters. The only original philosophical speculation of the day was carried on
by theologians like Faustus and Claudianus Mamertus, who had persuaded
Philosophy into the service of Religion (IX. ix. 12).138 To
rhetoric the Church offered the one chance of effective action; the orator in
the pulpit could feel that he was not |lxxvi
delivering a class-room declamation, but reaching the hearts of men. The
preacher could treat the great subjects of life, not as themes for academic
display, but with a purpose of practical reform; the eloquence of a Remigius
carried away great congregations; the pulpit had succeeded the rostra, it alone
spoke to an assembly of the people.139 Even
the education of the young was beginning to pass into the control of the
Church: in the monastery of Lerins a school was established by Faustus, at
which a brother of Sidonius was trained (Carm. xvi. 1. 70).140 The
old education was doomed to pass with the passing of the empire; it was a
survival, unfitted for the coming age. The people at large had no interest in
the exercises of rhetors and grammarians; they turned from them to other
teachers. And among these the former pupil of Hoënius and Eusebius now took an
honoured place.
We may briefly notice a
few allusions in the Letters to those ecclesiastical matters with which the
second part of Sidonius' life was so largely concerned. Great as the influence
of the bishops had become, it is clear that it was still in some measure controlled
both by the general voice of the laymen, and by that of the priesthood, now a
body apart, and more definitely severed from the community than in early
Christian times.141 We
mark the survival of these two factors, |lxxvii the
popular and the priestly, in the interesting accounts of the episcopal
elections at Bourges and Châlon (VII. ix; IV. xxv). We there find the popular
vote still regarded as an integral part of the proceedings, while some of the
diocesan priests give vent to strong opinions of their own, not always
coincident with the episcopal point of view. But in both cases the bishops,
though recognizing the traditional popular claim, succeed in carrying their
point. They hold a private meeting at which they agree upon their candidate and
it is this candidate who is elected.142 The
consecration of a new bishop at Châlon is carried out by Patiens and Euphronius
in a masterful manner; at Bourges, Sidonius delivers a formal address calling
upon the people to accept Simplicius. At Bourges,143 indeed,
the electors seem to have recognized the necessary confusion where 'two
benchfuls' of unscrupulous men were all urging their claims to a single throne
(VII. ix. 2). When one aspirant based his hopes on his kitchen and his dinners,
and another on a promise to divide Church property among his supporters, the
evils of popular election became apparent to all responsible laymen: they
abrogated their claims in favour of the bishops, whose selection they agreed to
accept. Such cases |lxxviii probably illustrate
as well as any examples could, the evil tendencies which necessitated a change
of system.144 And
the people were not alone in the responsibility for undesirable episodes on
these occasions. At Bourges the priests openly favoured promotion by seniority
rather than by merit, and Sidonius was obliged to administer a sharp rebuke. It
is plain that in the late fifth century a tightening of the bonds of discipline
was inevitable, and this could only be effected by the bishops.145 The
intense and factious excitement aroused on the occasion of an episcopal vacancy
affords yet another proof of the importance attaching to the bishop's position.
A see was worth fighting for; so much so, that the prize attracted candidates
whose motives were sometimes entirely base.146 Perhaps
in the years preceding the disasters of A.D. 474 there had been a certain
laxity in the religious life of Gaul. Sidonius alludes to public devotions in
which the prayers were too much interrupted by refreshments (V. xiv. 2); 147 the
dicing and other amusements interspersed between the services at the festival
of St.. Just seem in rather |lxxix too close an
alternation with the devotions of the day (V. xvii).148 There
may have been in many places an excessive preoccupation with the material side
of life, which affected even those whose office it was to inspire thoughts of
the opposite kind. An Agrippinus in holy orders harassing his sister-in-law on
money matters is not a pleasant figure (VI. ii). Nor can we approve the
apparent toleration of money-lending in the case of priests (IV. xxiv). But
against such examples may be set others of a very different kind, which show
that there was a strong leaven of piety and devotion both among clerics and
among laymen. In the monasteries there was severe self-discipline, and many of
the distinguished monks or abbots who were taken from Lerins to fill the sees
of Gaul, carried into their new spheres of activity all the monastic rigour to
which they had been accustomed.149 The
Syrian monk Abraham, who after being driven from his native country by |lxxx Sassanian persecution, had finally settled down at
Clermont (see below, pp. lxxxiii, civ), afforded another example of
renunciation,150 which
produced its effect even upon Victorius, Euric's Count of Auvergne (VII. xvii.
1). Vectius, the noble who maintained his place in the world while secretly
practising a devout life, is, as Dill has observed, a character which might be
taken from Law's Serious Call (IV. ix). The ex-quaestor Domnulus, a
friend of Sidonius, goes into retreat in the monasteries of the Jura (IV. xxv).
Simplicius, while a young man, straitens his resources by building a church,
Elaphius builds a baptistery in Rouergue (IV. xv).
It is natural that we
should learn more from Sidonius of the contemporary bishops than of the lower
ranks in the Church, since it was with them that he had chiefly to correspond.
Many attractive figures pass before us, some already familiar, as having their
recognized place in the history of their age. There is the aged Lupus of Troyes
(S. Loup), the doyen of Gaulish bishops, who in spite of advanced years and
many anxieties, received the news of Sidonius' election with fatherly
satisfaction, and, for all his saintliness, was human enough to take umbrage at
a supposed breach of literary etiquette (IX. xi). There is Remigius (S. Remi),
the apostle of the Franks, to whose glowing eloquence |lxxxi Sidonius
bears his testimony (IX. vii). There is Faustus, the daring theologian of the
day, and leader of a semi-Pelagian school in the south of Gaul, whose work on
Free Grace was condemned by Pope Gelasius, and whose anonymous treatise on the
Materiality of the Soul elicited the De Statu Animae of Claudianus
Mamertus.151 There
is the learned Graecus of Marseilles, whose part in ratifying the treaty of
surrender drew from Sidonius the bitter reproach of outraged patriotism, but
did not ultimately affect the friendly relations between them. There are St.
Euphronius of Autun, Leontius of Arles, Perpetuus of Tours, Basilius of Aix,
and many others less known to posterity.152 Finally
there is Patiens, for whom Sidonius is the sole authority, the saintly and
generous bishop who relieved the distress even of those living far beyond the
limits of his own diocese, and rebuilt on a magnificent scale the old church of
the Maccabees at Lyons: for him, as bishop of his native town, Sidonius may
well have felt an almost filial affection. Of the 'second order' in the Church,
the priests, we hear comparatively little. The most distinguished |lxxxii among them is the above-mentioned Claudianus
Mamertus, the religious philosopher of Gaul, who combined high speculation with
orthodox belief, while at the same time aiding his brother Mamertus, Bishop of
Vienne, in almost all the practical work of the diocese, from the receipt of
the revenues to the training of the choir (IV. xi). Most other priests whose
names are mentioned in these pages are names and nothing more; it is a matter
for regret that there is no portrait of the parish priest and his activities,
such as the most literary bishop of Gaul could so well have drawn for us on his
return from one of his extended visitations. Of the inferior orders, one or two
deacons ('Levites') are briefly introduced. Proculus, a pupil of Euphronius, is
praised as reflecting in his manner something of the urbanity of his master
Principius (IX. ii); a more unfortunate Lévite, who, driven from home by the
barbarian incursion, has sown a crop on church-lands in the diocese of Auxerre,
finds a ready advocate in Sidonius, who begs of Bishop Censorius the remission
of the payments due (VI. vii). Two Readers (lectures) also find mention in
these pages, one, the impudent Amantius, several times, and once at great length;
the other, an unnamed person engaged in commerce, whom the influence of Graecus
is to convert from a small trader into a 'splendid merchant' (splendidus
mercator (VI. viii). Of the monks in Gaul Sidonius gives but scanty
information. An Abbot Chariobaudus receives a gift of a cowl for winter use
(VII. xvi); but though allusions are made to the great houses of Lerins and
Grigny, and to the smaller houses of Condat and Lauconne in the Jura, the
Letters give us |lxxxiii no details of monastic
life.153 We
only learn that on the death of the monk Abraham, the founder of St. Cirgues at
Clermont, his successor had not the qualities which maintain order, and
Sidonius asks his friend Volusianus to act as a kind of Superior without the
walls (VII. xvii); perhaps in the founder's time these monks followed an
oriental custom, and Volusianus was now to introduce the stricter rules of
Lerins or Grigny. It was at St. Cirgues that some ill-conditioned person
removed Sidonius' book when he was conducting a service, with the vain idea of
causing him embarrassment (Gregory, Hist. Franc. II. xxii), a rather
curious little episode, which, if really founded on fact, throws an interesting
side-light on the maintenance of monastic discipline. The house ultimately
became a priory and lasted till the close of the eighteenth century.154
Though as a young man
Sidonius was familiar with the court of Theodoric II at Toulouse (I. ii), no
small part of his experience among the barbarians was gained when he had become
a bishop. We have seen that after his imprisonment in the fortress of Livia,
he |lxxxiv seems to have been compelled to wait
the king's pleasure at Bordeaux; and in the course of his efforts to recover
his lost property, he must have been brought into contact with various members
of the Visigothic administration. It was at Bordeaux that he saw those
representatives of the different barbarian tribes whose personal
characteristics he has described, some of them captives like himself, others
rendering voluntary service to a dreaded master. At both periods of his life he
must have been familiar with the Burgundians, whose territory even in his youth
was at no great distance from his native town. But in their case also, the
acquaintance which was so distasteful to his fastidious mind was renewed at a
later time after they had entered on the possession of Lyons. His female
relations continued to reside in that city; and he went there after his entry
into the Church, to see not only his family, but also the Burgundian king who
stood with Rome against the aggression of Euric.155 It
must have been painful in the extreme for one to whom Roman culture meant so
much, to hear the guttural voices of the barbarians in the streets where in his
young days he had passed to and fro with his Latin classics; to see 'skin-clad'
guards at the gate of the praetorium where Rome had displayed the symbols of
her power, and, penetrating to the halls built for an imperial magistrate, to
be welcomed by the gross good-humoured chieftain whom Patiens conciliated by
excellent dinners (VI. xii. 3). Sidonius paid his court, as duty to his people
compelled him to do; he took the opportunity of interceding for his |lxxxv kinsman Apollinaris, threatened by the malevolence
of the informers who now infested the barbarian capitals; but, all the time,
the iron must have entered into his soul. Like his brother-in-law Ecdicius, who
in like manner had frequented these same halls, he must have suffered from a
keen sense of humiliation. There was but one consolation, that however
unrefined the Visigoth and the Burgundian might appear by comparison with the
Roman standard, they were humane and civil compared with the pagan Frank and
the fierce piratical Saxon of the north.156
It was indeed the
peculiar good fortune of central and southern Gaul that the two peoples which
here succeeded to the Roman inheritance were the best of all the conquering
Teutons. The Visigoths belonged to a tribe which had now been in contact with
imperial civilization for generations and had adopted much from Roman law and
custom; the Burgundians, though outwardly less civilized, were the most genial
and good-natured of all the German nations. The great drawback to both lay in
their common profession of the Arian heresy, but for which the Gallo-Romans
might have acquiesced far more readily in their dominion, and the ultimate
triumph of the Frank would hardly have been |lxxxvi so
rapid.157 Religious
fanaticism apart, and this only flamed fiercely in the ten years of Euric's
reign, the relations between provincial and barbarian were those of mutual
tolerance.158 Neither
Visigoth nor Burgundian was animated by any inveterate hostility to Rome. They
had been confirmed in possession of their present territory by imperial sanction;159 it
had been their earlier ambition to rank as foederati; the Burgundian
king was even now proud to hold rank under the empire.160 It
was impossible even for the most exclusive Roman citizen to forget that the
fabric of the empire had been preserved by barbarian arms, and that the great
Stilicho was a Vandal. Nor could personal charm be denied to those Teutonic
leaders who had learned the arts of Roman life. In Italy itself there had been
conspicuous examples; and though the portrait of Theodoric II in I. ii is
perhaps overdrawn for a temporary political purpose, his manner of life was
tolerably civilized. The Goths and Burgundians were prepared to treat the
Gallo-Romans without violence; but they were determined ultimately to dominate
the whole of central and southern Gaul. Before the time came for the full
satisfaction of that ambition, they were as a rule inclined to live peaceably
with their neighbours; |lxxxvii meanwhile they
were subjected to a continual process of Romanization,161 their
new relation to the land and their inferior knowledge of agriculture alone
making them to a great extent dependent on Roman law.
On their side, the
Gallo-Romans were used to the presence of the northerner in their midst. The
individual Teutonic peasant or slave had been a familiar figure in their
households or on their farms since the days when the military emperors had
distributed thousands of prisoners over the land. It was recognized, not by the
fiery Salvian162 alone,
but by the average inhabitant, that the barbarians had their good qualities,
and that in blunt honesty and the sense of justice the Teutonic chief might
excel the Roman official. When the imperial system degenerated beyond
redemption, when a Seronatus succeeded an Arvandus, and the extortions of the
tax-gatherers were hardly to be borne, the perception became general that life
might |lxxxviii be more tolerable in
Septimania, or under Chilperic than under the jurisdiction of Rome. Except in
Auvergne, where among a section of the inhabitants loyalty to Rome was a
passion, the country was being gradually prepared for the inevitable
transference of sovereignty. The poor man often longed for the change; the rich
man resigned himself to unavoidable fate. The one felt that his lot could not
be worse; the other saw that the civilized life of ease might be led almost as
agreeably at Toulouse or Bordeaux, which had been Visigothic for half a century,
as in the cities remaining to the empire (cf. above, p. lxv). It may be added
that even as fighting men the barbarians did not inspire universal terror. The
intruders were in a numerical inferiority which increased with each fresh
annexation, and the Gallo-Roman could remember more than one occasion on which,
man for man, Roman warriors had proved their equals.163 Moreover
the barbarian tribes were not united against Rome. The Burgundian was jealous
of the Visigoth, and even lent troops to Auvergne to assist in opposing his
advance. Perhaps the worst feature in the situation was the general suspense;
the uncertainty when the blow would fall paralysed such public life as
remained. The administration continued to deteriorate; the officials were
openly dishonest. The roads were insecure. |lxxxix Fugitives
from unjust usage established themselves in fastnesses and seized on all
property which could be carried off.164 They
were joined by bankrupts, runaway agents or cultivators from the great estates,
in short by every one to whom the lawless life appealed. Rome was ceasing to
maintain order; she had to make way for a power which could.
Perhaps when the blow did
fall, it proved, for a time at least, more serious than the sanguine had
expected.165 Euric
was an intolerant Arian; the passive or active resistance of the Catholic
clergy provoked him to harsh treatment of individuals, while he prevented new
appointments to sees left vacant by death or deprivation. Churches fell in
ruin; bereft of their pastors, flocks were scattered.166 He
was further incensed by the obstinate resistance of Auvergne; his troops burned
the crops and devastated the country, thus causing the most widespread
distress. But as soon as the treaty was concluded and Berry and Auvergne were
his own, he in some measure justified the hope that the Goths would establish a
reputable government. He already had at his right hand, as |xc prime-minister,
the Catholic Gallo-Roman Leo;167 he
now set over the conquered Auvergne another Gallo-Roman, Victorius; and we may
perhaps assume that the episcopal negotiators of the treaty had secured from
him better conditions for the Catholic population under his rule (see above, p.
xlii). As a whole, the newly acquired territory settled down under Visigothic
laws, in which, as we have seen, much Roman law was now incorporated.168 A
sensible loss to the senatorial families was that of the 'consular',
'prefectorian', and other titles derived from their passage through the cursus
honorum. As Sidonius says, the only distinction now was culture, so that
the jealous maintenance of Roman literature and the purity of Latin speech
became more than ever important.169 A
few nobles followed the example of Leo and Victorius, and took high office
under the new régime, as they did in like manner at the Burgundian courts.170 Evodius,
for whose presentation-cup to Ragnahild Sidonius wrote his verses (IV. viii),
may have succeeded in pushing his fortunes in this manner. Other conspicuous
Gallo-Romans were perhaps content to ingratiate themselves |xci with
their prince by the arts of flattery: such was Lampridius, the orator and poet
of Bordeaux (VIII. ix).171 The
baser sort found their advantage in becoming informers, and trading in the
properties and lives of their fellow countrymen.172 Their
machinations were in one case thwarted by the interventions of Chilperic's
queen, whose support was of such worth to Patiens. The respect which the
Teutonic princes and peoples showed to their women was a virtue which did much
to make them respected by their Gallo-Roman subjects.
Probably Sidonius came
into close personal relations with no barbarians other than the Visigoths and
Bur-gundians; of the rest he had a glimpse during his sojourn at Euric's court
(see below, p. cix), or only knew by hearsay.173 His
experience was gained in the most favourable field; but it is clear that though
in younger days he had followed his father-in-law's pro-Gothic policy, and
though as a Visigothic subject he schooled himself to civility, the intensity
of his Roman sympathies never suffered him to like even the best of the
barbarians. In a confidential letter he makes the confession that he does not
care for barbarians even when they are good (VII. xiv. 10). He despised them as
lacking in the refinements of the one culture in which he believed. The
personal habits of the Burgundians |xcii revolt
him,174 he
indulges in a subdued sneer at the culture of the Visigothic court: the quality
of the silver of Ragnahild's cup, not that of the verses engraved on it, will
alone be esteemed 'in such an Athenaeum' (cf. above, p. xlvi). The barbarians
are always the skin-clad savages (pelliti), as compared with . the Romans in
their civilized dress.2 In a time of strained relations, the Visigoths
become the perfidious people (foedifraga gens), in whom no reliance can be
placed (cf. p. lxxxvii, note175).
This ingrained dislike on the part of Sidonius is an unfortunate circumstance
for the historian of the barbaric nations. He was in a position which offered
him priceless opportunities to observe not only the outward appearance of a few
ypes casually seen at Bordeaux or Lyons, but the daily life of the community.
He might have learned to converse with them, given us examples of their speech,
told us their proverbial wisdom, their legends and their history. He did none
of these things. The apostle of Latin idiom would not soil his lips with the
detested German tongue. An Athenian, forced to learn Persian under a victorious
Xerxes, would not have suffered more than this Patrician, if Visigothic had
been made a compulsory language in vanquished Gaul. It is clear that he only
half admires |xciii the cleverness of a Syagrius
who became so proficient in the Burgundian dialect that old men were afraid of
being detected by him in solecism (V. v. 3).
It is a great opportunity
lost.176 But
though he falls lamentably short of what he might so easily have accomplished,
Sidonius has left several sketches of barbarian types which are not without
their value to the student of history and ethnology, or even to the literary
man. It was probably at Lyons that he saw the young Frankish (?) prince
Sigismer in his rich apparel, walking amongst his guards to the house of his
prospective father-in-law, the Burgundian Chilperic (IV. xx). The description
is full of interest, and has attracted the attention of every historian of the
fifth century; so circumstantial is it that though the nationality of Sigismer
is not stated, it may be fairly inferred from his equipment and his arms.177 But,
as already noted, it was during his enforced stay at Bordeaux that the Bishop
of Clermont had occasion to observe the various representatives of the northern
tribes who pressed upon one another at the court of the powerful Euric (VIII.
ix). There he saw the swift Herulian with his glaucous countenance;178 the
blue-eyed Saxon 'arch-pirate', terror of the coasts; 179 the
grey-eyed Frank with his shaven face, yellow hair, and close-fitting tunic;180 the
Sigambrian, shorn of his |xciv treasured back-hair.181 His
knowledge of Mongolians probably dates from an earlier time, and is not
displayed in the Letters; it may chiefly have been derived from Avitus, who
knew the Asiatic nomads well from the days of Attila, Aëtius, and Litorius.
What Sido-nius has to say of them is to be found in his Panegyric of Anthemius,
where he praises the horsemanship of troopers who seem rather centaurs than men
separable from their mounts.182 From
hearsay also may have come the extremely interesting description of the Saxons,
'who regarded shipwreck as only so much practice.' Their maritime skill and
enterprise are told in a few vigorous phrases, while their custom of offering a
human sacrifice before setting sail on the homeward voyage is recorded as a
fact of common knowledge.183 Taken
as a whole, these contributions to our knowledge of the Teutonic tribes are
well worth having, though, for the reasons given above, they at the same time
disappoint us, knowing as we do the unique nature of his opportunities. After
all, great allowance must be made for a writer who had championed a lost cause
against these very peoples of the north. The representative of a high
civilization who fears that all refinement is going down before the flood of
barbarism cannot be expected to regard the barbarian with the same sympathetic
interest as the conqueror or pioneer |xcv who
carries the banner of the higher culture into the wilderness in the confident
assurance of its triumph. Had Sidonius accompanied a victorious Roman army to
the shores of the Baltic, he might have looked upon the Teuton with other eyes,
and developed some of the observant qualities of a Tacitus or a Lafitau. And
yet, when we remember his silence on his own countrymen of the lower classes,
we may perhaps doubt whether, even under stimulating conditions, he would have
made a good scientific observer. The whole education and training of the Roman
school were such as to make the scientific attitude almost impossible to the
finished product of the system.
Before turning to
consider that system and its effect upon the literary talent of Sidonius, we
may pause briefly to consider the information which he supplies on several
external aspects of Gallo-Roman civilization in the last years of the imperial
connexion.
We may take, in the first
place, his description of his villa Avitacum, evidently modelled upon Pliny's
accounts of his own favourite country seats. In some parts this description is
hard to follow, and the relative position of the principal chambers not quite
easy to understand. We imagine, however, an extensive structure designed with
all the Roman regard for aspect; with a winter dining-room provided with an
open hearth, and summer dining-room, half out of doors; with colonnade and
loggia, weaving-room, women's quarters, and very extensive baths.184 The |xcvi baths were clearly a great feature of Avitacum. The
house almost abutted upon an eminence, from which a stream flowed down, while
the same hill provided timber for heating in such convenient fashion that the
cut logs rolled down the steep slope, and almost delivered themselves at the
furnace-door.185 The
different chambers used by the bathers, some of which were adorned with
frescoes, are described in some detail; one had a pyramidal roof; another a
basin filled from pipeheads cast to resemble lion-masks, through which the
water comes in such a tumult that the master of the house and his fellow
bathers have to converse at the top of their voices to be heard. Sidonius
clearly prided himself on his baths, saying that they need fear no comparison
with public establishments.186 The
house of |xcvii Avitacum must have been a charming
place, situated on rising ground with a wide prospect over a lake, perhaps the
Lake of Aydat (see note, 36. 2, p. 222); it is not wonderful that the owner
should describe it with enthusiasm. But there are curious omissions in the
description of its amenities. It is remarkable that so bookish a man should say
nothing of his own books, though he could certainly have quoted Cicero's words
about his library (Ep. VI. viii), and in another letter dwells at some
length on that of a friend. Again, while there must have been extensive gardens
round such a residence, not a word is said of them, though, here again, the
gardens of a friend are praised in another place. How different Pliny, who
dwells with delight upon his fountains and trim walks, his cypresses and roses!
We are tempted to doubt whether Sidonius really loved flowers.187 Nothing,
again, is said of stables; nor is there a word of domestic pets: we doubt
Sidonius as |xcviii a lover of animals. Yet, for
its freshness and solitude, Avitacum was evidently near to his heart; there he
enjoyed the tunicata quies,188 which
to the Roman was the equivalent of the ease in 'flannels' so delightful to the
city dweller of to-day. We gather that the villa of Avitacum was as undefended
as Roman country-houses usually were. But it is a sign of this unsettled period
that some seats were already fortified, rather, perhaps, to resist sudden
attack by brigands than assault by barbarian invaders.189 We
learn nothing precise from the Letters of the architectural features of town
dwellings. It would have been interesting to know the disposition of the houses
in such a place as Lyons, and how those of the chief citizens resembled the
larger residences in Italy on the one side and Britain on the other.190 |xcix
Of the interior
furnishing of the house, little is said; apart from the description of baths,
what details we have concern almost exclusively the dining-room. Here were
the stibadium (horseshoe couch) and 'gleaming sideboard' (nitens
abacus); here couches for the diners, decked perhaps, like those of
Theodoric, with linen coverings on ordinary days, and silk on great occasions
(I. ii). The best accounts of dining-room arrangements are given where Sidonius
describes the banquets at Arles already mentioned (p. lxiv). In I. xi the
arrangement of the company on the stibadium. in strict order of
precedence is clearly noted, the host being at one 'horn', his principal guest
at the other, followed by the remaining guests in order of their official rank,
so that the junior (in this case, Sidonius himself) reclined next to the host.191 The
poem of IX. xiii enters with some detail into the luxurious accessories of a
Roman banquet in the capital of the province. The couches are draped with
hangings of purple silk, or with figured silk textiles bearing representations
of mounted huntsmen in Sassanian style,192 which
proves the importation of oriental stuffs into the West as early as the
mid-fifth century (see note, 203. I, pp. 251-2). There are flowers on the
sideboards and even on the couches. Burning frankincense rolls its perfume to
the roof; the |c lamps, knowing nothing of common
oil (oleum nescientes), are fed with scented opobalsamum. When the
feast begins the servants appear, bowed under the weight of the chased silver
plate.193 Wine
gleams in rose-wreathed cups and bowls of various form, and is spiced with
nard. When the meal is done, some of the guests are stimulated to the imitation
of Bacchantes, and dance among garlands that hang from the unguent-vases.194 But
the chief entertainment comes with the introduction of Corinthian girls, who
sing to the accompaniment of the cithara, and of other flute-players and
singers. It is a scene of lavish extravagance. The midday meal of a senatorial
family in every-day life is described as consisting of dishes few in number but
varied in contents; the evening meals seem to have been more elaborate (II. ix.
6, 10). A high standard of comfort and a good cuisine were evidently the rule.
Introducing to Simplicius a person unused to the manners of society (IV. vii),
Sidonius pictures the man's astonishment when invited, as the acquaintance of
so old a friend |ci as himself, to sit at the family
table: 'it will abash this rustic to be entertained with an elegance which will
make him think himself among the delicate guests of Apicius, and served by the
"rhythmic carvers of Byzantium".'195 The
one indispensable article of furniture, not necessarily placed in the
dining-room, which receives special mention is the water-clock or clepsydra;196 even
here, however, it is in one case brought in as having announced to the chef the
hour for lunch. Of bedrooms nothing is said: one passage rather leads us to
suppose that sleeping accommodation was less extensive than we should have
expected (II. ix. 7).
Such artistic references
as occur seem to show that Sidonius, though fond of all refinement, was not a
connoisseur.197 It
may perhaps be surmised that provincial art in Gaul in the second and third
quarters of the |cii fifth century resembled the
literature of the same period, and that its work was uninspired and imitative,
coldly reproducing at second-hand traditional classical models. It probably did
not share the great prestige accorded to literature; though Sidonius mentions a
score of contemporary orators and poets, artists are to seek in his pages. The
wealthy Gallo-Romans may have chiefly concentrated their enthusiasm upon
Letters, and have regarded art as a secondary matter. Such comparative
indifference could only have hastened the downfall of the academic Roman style
before the invading oriental motives which now entered Gaul in increasing
numbers, and were naturally more congenial to barbaric taste. Of sculpture we
learn even less than painting. The author gives no description of his own
statue erected at Rome after the delivery of his Panegyric of Avitus, nor does
he allude to the sculptor. His mention of stereotyped attitudes when
enumerating the |ciii principal philosophers of
antiquity (IX. ix. 14) suggests that he had well-known sculptural types in his
mind, but he does not himself assert it. On the subject of architecture
Sidonius does not seem to write with understanding. The account of the villa of
Avitacum is not that of an expert; and his descriptions of two churches, that
erected by Patiens at Lyons (II. x) and that by Perpetuus at Tours (IV. xviii.
4) are rather slight: we do, however, gather that the first was an orientated
basilica, preceded by an atrium, and with a coffered ceiling in the interior,198 though
there is no clear statement as to the number of aisles or the form of the bema. The
second, which replaced the older building erected by St. Brice over the shrine
of St. Martin, seems to have presented most exceptional features; it may have
introduced into Gaul a type of choir which was destined to influence the whole
course of Romanesque and even Gothic building (see note, 33. 1, p. 231). Yet
nothing that Sidonius says would lead us to infer that the church of Perpetuus
was an epoch-making |civ structure; we infer it only
from the later description by Gregory of Tours.199 In
connexion with the churches mentioned by Sidonius, we must not forget the
metrical inscriptions which he and his rival poets composed at the bishop's
request to be engraved upon the walls. These are of such a length that they
were probably cut in rather small characters upon panels or executed in mosaic.
In the case of Patiens' church, the verses of Constantius and Secundinus were
to be placed to right and left of the altar, those of Sidonius himself perhaps
opposite on the west wall, though the words he uses are not clear (in
extimis).200 Monastic
buildings are not described by our author. Yet, as we have already seen, he had
a personal knowledge of Lerins, and any details of its architectural features,
plan, and internal arrangements would have been of the highest interest. He
could have described to us, too, the process by which the simple cell of the
Syrian monk Abraham near Clermont developed into the monastery of St. Cirgues,
for at the time of Abraham's death the community was evidently of some size
(VII. xvii. 3, 4).201 Altogether,
we could wish that Sidonius shared the |cv architectural
interest of one of his friends, who was fond of reading Vitruvius (VIII. vi.
10). Perhaps, however, he would only have reiterated his preference for the
traditional in all things, and, like the accepted oracles of the eighteenth
century, to whom Gothic architecture was all contemptible, have regarded all
divergences from Vitruvian precept as wholly beneath his notice. His
indifference to the really important features of Perpetuus' church lends some
colour to the supposition. In relation to the art of music, our author again
reveals no personal enthusiasm. His references to secular music usually concern
the performances enlivening banquets, which then, as now, were intended rather
to distract than to inspire. But we are told that Theodoric II only cared for
serious strains at table, and that he dispensed alike with the hydraulic
organs 202 and
with vocalists---- the negative statement here suggesting that in other houses
neither was disdained (cf. above, p. lxiv). Perhaps at no period of his life
was Sidonius a patron of musicians.203 Church
music receives just enough attention to tantalize the reader. Among the merits
of the accomplished priest-philosopher Claudianus Mamertus, Sidonius records
his zeal in training the choir for his brother the Bishop of Vienne;204 again,
in connexion |cvi with the celebration of the
festival of St. Just at Lyons, we hear of antiphonal singing (V. xvii. 3).
There is no definite allusion to the use of musical instruments in churches.
In the matter of costume,
we learn more of barbarian than of Roman dress, and more of the garb of laymen
than of clerics. It may be taken for granted that the tunic remained the usual
garment for the house among the Gallo-Romans; sometimes the girdle or belt
which held it round the waist offered scope for ornament of a particular
fashion (IV. ix. 2).205 Over
the tunic were probably worn the mantles most commonly in use in late-Roman
times----the pallium, of Greek origin,206 and
the paenula (a kind of poncho) for bad weather. The toga was now a
ceremonial garment, of which the most sumptuous form was the toga
palmata, or embroidered robe worn by the Consul.207 Sandals
or boots are only |cvii mentioned in relation to a
symbolic figure of a Muse; the description of the method of lacing is not easy
of comprehension (VIII. xi., 11. 12 ff. of the poem). It is just possible that
there is an allusion to a professional dress in the letter which Sidonius sends
to Domitius, the grammarian of Ameria, inviting him to the cool retreat of
Avitacum in a very hot summer. Domitius is depicted as expounding Terence to
his pupils wrapped in a thick cloak, while others were perspiring in thin linen
or silk; it may be, however, that Domitius was extremely sensitive to draughts,
for even under the thick cloak he is said to be swathed round and round, a fashion
which would be no necessary accompaniment of a master's gown.208 Armour
is mentioned in the letter which recounts the prowess of Ecdicius in breaking
through the Gothic lines round Clermont. The hero is described as wearing
greaves, a cuirass, and a helmet with cheek-pieces (III. iii. 5), the whole
equipment following the Roman model. The most careful description of barbarian
costume concerns not the Visigoths or Burgundians, with whom Sidonius was in
frequent contact, but in all likelihood the Franks, with whom he had had
probably no regular relations. It has been already noticed (p. xciii) that the
weapons borne by the guards of the young Sigismer, whom Sidonius saw at Lyons,
are characteristic of that nation (note, 35. 1, p. 233). The prince himself
wears a flame-red mantle over a white silk tunic, and a wealth of |cviii gold ornaments.209 His
companions wear high, close-fitting, short-sleeved, parti-coloured (?) tunics
scarcely reaching to their bare knees, and low boots of hide with the hair
adhering; their legs are left uncovered. Each has a green cloak (sagum) with
a purple border, and apparently a skin mantle over all, brooched on the right
shoulder to leave the sword-arm free. The sword is worn on a baldric; the other
weapons are barbed lances and missile axes (lancet uncati, secures
missiles). Circular shields enriched on the field with silver, and on
the umbo with gold, complete the equipment of the brilliant train. In
general it recalls the Frankish warrior as he is depicted in Carolingian
illuminated manuscripts of the ninth and tenth centuries; though at this later
date |cix the legs are commonly protected by tight
bandages. The skin garment is the great characteristic of the barbarian in the
Roman's eyes; the adjective pellitus is used almost as a synonym for
barbarian.210
Especial importance was
attached by the different tribes to the manner in which the hair was cut.
Theo-doric's hair is withdrawn from the forehead and long over the ears (I. ii.
2).211 The
Saxons have the whole fore-part of the skull shorn, a fashion which at a
distance seems to increase the length of the face and reduce that of the head
(VIII. ix, 11. 23-7 of the poem). The Sigambrian normally wears his hair long
at the back; the old warrior of this tribe, whom Sidonius sees at Bordeaux, has
had his long locks cut off, and will not feel a true man until they have grown
again (ibid. 1. 28).
Of clerical vestments, unfortunately,
nothing is said; at this early period, differentiation between clerical and lay
garb may not have gone very far; but it had begun, and even a few words would
have had their importance. Monks are described as wearing the palliolum, which |cx would seem to indicate that the monastic dress at first
resembled that of the philosopher (IV. ix. 3). The cowl was apparently at this
time an independent covering for the head, as Sidonius sends a thick one as a
present to the abbot Chariobaudus (nocturnalem cucullum, VII. xvi.
2).212 The
tonsure is described by the usual word corona, which is ultimately
transferred to the tonsured: corona tua is used very much as we should
say 'your reverence'.
The allusions to sport
and games are fairly numerous. In the chase the bow is the principal weapon (I.
ii), but for encountering the boar and other beasts the spear comes into play,
the game being driven into nets (VIII. vi. 12). Namatius is bantered on the
over-merciful temperament of the hounds with which he pursues the hares of
Oleron (ibid.).213 The
hawk is more than once mentioned as an essential possession of the young
country gentleman with sporting tastes (III. iii. 2). In one place we hear of a
fishing expedition to which Agricola, his brother-in-law, invites Sidonius (II.
xii. i).214 Racing
in small boats took |cxi place in former times on
the lake below Avitacum, in recollection of Aeneas' regatta at Drepanum, the
people of Auvergne claiming a Trojan descent (II. ii. 19). Large comfortable
river-boats manned by rowers ply on the Garonne (VIII. xii. 5).215
References to games are
of much interest, but unfortunately they are seldom precise, and where they
seem to give detail, only confuse by uncoordinated facts. A board-game of some
kind resembling backgammon, possibly that known as duodecim scripta,216 is
indicated in the difficult passage in I. ii, where Theodoric is described at
play. Dice-boxes are frequently mentioned, and one would assume that games of
hazard were a little too popular with the aristocracy of Gaul.217 Outdoor
games with balls were evidently pursued with ardour, |cxii and
Sidonius, similar in this to Augustine, admits himself a devotee (V. xvii. 6).
But here again it is difficult to form an idea of the rules. There is no
mention of any apparatus beyond the ball itself, so that to translate by
'tennis' is misleading to a modern reader: the players seem simply to have
required an open space in a courtyard or on the grass, with perhaps lines
marked upon the ground. Sometimes two players were enough, as when Sidonius and
Ecdicius play in the meadow by the lake (II. ii. 15)218;
at others there are opposing pairs (II. ix. 4); in one place we read of whole
'sides', when at the festival at Lyons the elderly Filimatius is knocked down
(V. xvii. 7). The reference to collisions shows that the game was fast.219 The
great games of the Circus were still held in Gaul in the second half of the
fifth century, but possibly not after Majorian's time.220
Turning to the apparatus
of more serious pursuits, we find various references to writing materials.
Letters and manuscripts were written upon parchment or paper; the words membrana,
papyrus, and charta are all employed, the two latter being
synonymous.221 But
tablets (codicilli, pugillares) and a stylus were used for the first
notes or |cxiii rough drafts (e. g. IV. xii. 4,
and cf. Cicero, Ad fam. IX. xxvi). Literary people were sometimes
accompanied by a secretary, who kept the tablets always ready for their use, or
himself wrote from their dictation, as did the secretary of Filimatius on the
famous occasion when Sidonius composed his epigram upon the towel (V. xvii. x).222 From
IX. xvi it would appear that ink was allowed to dry, and that the process was
not accelerated by the use of sand, or by any other substitute for blotting-paper.
In the same passage there is a reference to ink freezing on the pens in very
cold weather.223
A few miscellaneous facts
may be noted which bear upon contemporary custom and observance. From I. v. 10
we gather that the old Thalassio still held its own in 468, the year of the
wedding of Ricimer and Alypia, and that the crown was still worn by the
bridegroom at the ceremony. For all that is said to the contrary, it might have
been a pagan marriage of |cxiv Catullus' day,
whereas both the contracting parties were Christians.
An interesting point is
raised with regard to the disposal of the dead. The spade of the excavator
seems to show that in the Roman provinces cremation went out of fashion about
the year A. D. 250. We should infer the opposite from those passages in
Sidonius, where the machinery of cremation is mentioned as if it were still in
use, or had been so within living memory (III. iii. 13; III. xiii; Carm. xvi.
123). Perhaps we may hazard the conjecture that a few aristocratic families
preserved an old custom after it had been abandoned by the mass of the people,
just as, in more ancient times, they had maintained burial when incineration
was first introduced. The evidence of Sidonius with regard to epitaphs also
deserves notice. Those which he himself composed are of inordinate length, and
imply monuments with abundance of plane surface.224 That
they are not merely literary exercises, but really meant to be used, is shown
by his desire that the work of the monumental mason who was to cut the epitaph
on the tomb of the prefect Apollinaris should be |cxv carefully
checked, for fear that any error committed might be imputed to the writer and
not to the artisan. Altogether, the epitaphs are of most formidable length,
eclipsing in this respect those of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, or
the longer effusions of our country churchyards.
The imperial road system
was still apparently maintained on a satisfactory footing in the year 467, when
Sidonius travelled from Lyons to Rome, and, as bearer of an imperial summons,
was entitled to the free use of post-horses. The mansiones, or
rest-houses, and the veredarii, or mounted letter-carriers, are
mentioned in different Letters (III. ii. 3; V. vii. 3).225 In
more than one place Sidonius alludes to inns which were patronized by nobles
when no better accommodation was to be had, but they seem to have been of
indifferent quality.226
The above are but
examples of a much larger number of points which the archaeologist may discover
in the Letters. But even these will suffice to show that the study of Sidonius
is not altogether unprofitable to archaeological research.
The preceding pages have
sketched in outline the |cxvi life of Sidonius and
the surroundings in which it was passed. But the conditions under which he grew
to manhood will be imperfectly understood unless something is said of the
system under which the young Gallo-Roman was prepared for his career. For the
education which the boy Sidonius received, the typical education of his class
and time, exerted a lasting influence upon the man. It coloured his whole
outlook upon the world, not always to his advantage, since his very loyalty to
academic ideals obscured those natural powers of observation which he certainly
possessed. It controlled his literary prospects, determined his interests, and
created the astonishing style which seemed to him worth so many vigils, but to
us is like a faded finery, hampering the free movement of his thought. Some
idea of the intellectual training which produced such strange results is thus
essential to our purpose.
The education of the
young Gallo-Roman in the fifth century differed but little from that which his
father and grandfather had received.227 The
whole training was rooted in traditions no longer vital; it was essentially
bookish, uninterested in facts, almost exclusively absorbed in words. Before
all other things it set Grammar and Rhetoric; in many schools these two
subjects represented almost the whole curriculum. Law had of course to be
learned by candidates for the bar; |cxvii philosophy
was studied perhaps more as an accomplishment and a discipline of the mind,
than for the problems with which it was properly concerned;228 there
was some musical instruction, perhaps more of a theoretical than of a practical
nature. But for most youths education meant a proficiency in the Latin
classics, a knowledge of the structure of the Latin language, and of the art of
speaking before an audience upon a given subject. The interest was directed not
to the synthesis of life, but the antithesis of clauses. Science, as we
understand the term, was practically unknown; the mathematics, the geography,
the astronomy of the schools had as much relation to mythology as to fact. The
interesting letter on the death of the rhetor Lampridius shows that even on the
most brilliant products of the late Roman schools, astrologers 229 could
still exert their baneful influence (VIII. xi. 9). Perhaps the decline in the
study of Greek prejudicially affected the power and inclination to observe or
think naturally. That language was still taught in Gaul; Sidonius noted the
fluency of Lampridius in both Greek and |cxviii Latin;230 and
at Narbonne there were men of culture who appreciated Greek poetry.231 But
the Theodosian Code shows that the Latin grammarians received higher salaries
than the Greek, enjoyed a higher position, and probably instructed larger
classes.232 Their
lectures consisted for the most part in commentaries on classical authors,
chiefly the Roman poets. Style was analysed; the vocabulary of each writer
examined; metaphors and expressions were carefully discussed. Points of
etymology and antiquarian knowledge were raised, and pursued along the by-paths
of erudition; it was a golden age for commentators. Not all, however, was
learned trifling. Some of the criticism upon Virgil and Homer was acute and
penetrating, as, for example, the fifth book of the Saturnalia of
Macrobius.
The great text-book in
the schools of the fourth and fifth century was Virgil. To Sidonius, as to
Augustine, he is the prince of poets.233 Terence
was evidently popular in Gaul; the Letters allude to his characters, and in the
passage on the home-education of Apollinaris, Sidonius reads the Hecyra with
his son, uncertain which delights him most, the fine style of the author, or the
youthful grace and ardour of the boy. The influence of Horace is also evident
in our author; he is second to Virgil among the poets.234 The
opulent and elaborated |cxix style of Statius
naturally commended him to such a society as that of fifth-century Gaul; he had
been popular with Ausonius; and his influence on Sidonius as poet is
undeniable.235 It
is the same with Claudian; the Panegyrics which charmed the ears of an Avitus
or an Anthemius owe him much, but the splendour of the original is gone. Among
prose-writers, not Cicero,236 but
the younger Pliny was the favourite. In the introductory Letter of the fifth
book, Sidonius acknowledges him as his master; and in a later book again refers
to this professed allegiance.237 Pliny,
the agreeable letter-writer, was the inevitable model of a society in which
correspondence with friends was a main interest of existence: no less
inevitable was the reproduction of his mannerisms rather than his excellences
by purely imitative writers. In his introductory epistle to Constantius,
Sidonius quotes as a warning the nickname given to Julius Titianus for his
sedulous efforts to reproduce the style of Cicero: he was called 'the ape of
orators' (pratorum simia). Yet he and his own contemporaries fell
into the same error; they were apes of the second great Roman letter-writer,
caricaturing their master by accentuating all his faults. Features of Sallust's
style were distorted by them in the same manner.238 |cxx
Grammatical criticism of
the classics was followed by specialized study of the great orators, with a
view to proficiency in public speaking: this was the course of Rhetoric. The
rhetor was a more important person in society than the grammarian. But, as
noted above, he professed an art which, except in the Church, had little
prospect of great or serious audiences; it was divorced from real life; it was
the accomplishment of the speech-room.239 The
training was still, no doubt, a good one; rhythm, prosody, voice-production,
division of the subject, were all thoroughly taught, and proved their value
when there was a worthy occasion for their use. But most opportunities were
hardly worth the taking; the speaker eulogized the great dead or the Epigoni of
the present; he took part in academic displays or competitions before small
circles, in which ancient or unreal issues were treated in the style of the
class-room declamation.240 An
unbounded respect for certain models, a good memory with an endless stock of
figures, metaphors and mythological examples always at command----these, and
not the power to read hearts and |cxxi sway them to
a genuine emotion, were the essentials of oratorical success. These were the
qualities which carried Ausonius, the rhetor of Bordeaux, to the highest office
in the State.241 The
enthusiasm for letters which such promotion implies is laudable in itself; but
in the time of Roman decadence the reward fell to an artifice which sterilized
instead of fertilizing the mind, and drove hearts capable of valiant action
into channels of sentimental retrospect. The fine flower of all this education
was the panegyric, and it was an artificial flower.
It has been already noted
that the Church was beginning a new education of her own (p. lxxvi), and that
in some cases boys were placed under a religious teacher, as Sidonius' own
brother studied under Faustus at Lerins. But as a rule, sacred learning would
seem to have been neglected in the schools attended by wealthy pupils.242 Some
of the great families were probably still pagan: others appear to have shown
little zeal for the religion which they nominally professed; the old mythology
dominated literary culture. Perhaps Sidonius was never really grounded in the
study of the Scriptures till after his consecration. Only after that event do
his letters show a familiarity with |cxxii Holy
Writ; examples and illustrations derived both from the Old and New Testament
then accompany or displace the mythological figures dear to his earlier years.
By the side of Triptolemus, we hear of Joseph.243 Moses,
Aaron, and Solomon, Joshua, the Gibeonites, and the people of Nineveh are
introduced in illustration.244 The
Church is the spiritual Sara; 245 Philosophy
is the fair woman captured from the enemy and espoused by the captor; 246 the
story of Peter and Simon Magus points its obvious moral.247 St.
Luke is quoted as a believer in the advantage of long descent.248
In no capacity did this
scholastic education so harm Sidonius as in that which it was designed to
advance---- his quality as man of letters. He was too good a pupil of his
peculiar masters to be anything but a bad writer. The curse of the rhetorical
tradition clung to him like a chronic disease; it destroyed the originality of
a genius never too spontaneous. In an age when it was improper for a literary
man to be himself, he thought too faithfully of the proprieties. His age was
just to him: he had the reward of his obedience. The society whose conventions
he defended saw in him the mirror of contemporary writers; 249 in
his heart, he |cxxiii himself was sure that the
vote of posterity was won.250 Though,
soon after his death, a Ruricius might whisper a doubt, it was long before the
general verdict turned against him. The Middle Ages approved; and even after
Petrarch's misgivings, the voice of admiration continued to be heard. But the
Renaissance grew critical, the eighteenth century dared to attack.251 If
the value of Sidonius really lay in his style and diction, as he himself
believed, then his credit would indeed be dead beyond resuscitation. Hardly any
Latin author has received so short a shrift at the hands of modern criticism as
this professed champion of the Roman tongue. When good Latinity was once more
understood, our author's pedestal became a pillory; and the works of every
writer upon style, from Horace to Boileau, provided missiles wherewith to pelt
him. Gibbon, preferring his prose to his 'insipid verses', pays it a
back-handed compliment after his manner. Even those who uphold particular
merits are forced to draw upon the arsenal of epithets forged against the
affected and the turgid writer. The most recent critics are the most severe of
all. Hodgkin says that Sidonius has achieved nothing beyond a fifth-rate
position as a post-classical author; Dill sees in him one of the most tasteless
writers who ever lived. In the matter of depreciation the last word has been
spoken; nothing fresh can now be said. The Latin style of Sidonius is condemned
as finally as the French style of Voiture.252 |cxxiv
But the position of
Sidonius no longer depends on his manner; his style is to-day brushed aside as
a tiresome veil, obscuring what he has to say. He refused to write
history; 253 he
survives as the historian malgré lui. Though he missed one of the
great opportunities in literature; though he failed to record much that was
most worth recording in the world about him, and instead of the new drama of
his times preferred to transmit for the hundredth time the vapid and worn-out
stories of Greek mythology, he has yet preserved for us facts enough to
constitute him a chief authority on the century in which he lived. His literary
fate is indeed a paradox; he is one of those men whose parergon alone
is valued, and who are esteemed for the very part of their work which they
themselves deemed least important. By a careful sifting of the Letters and the
Poems,254 modern
writers have extracted much material which, classified and co-ordinated, has
thrown useful |cxxv light on one of the darkest
periods of history; on many points, Sidonius is the sole source of information.
Nor is his mannerism always with him.255 The
Letters which yield most with least trouble are precisely those in which an
eager personal interest in his subject, or the pressure of a busy life, or some
unexpected necessity for haste have forced the writer to abandon his
preoccupation with style and tell his business in a natural way. At such times
he speaks directly: tam nunc dicit tam nunc debentia dici. The most
efficient cause of plainer writing |cxxvi was
probably the stress of episcopal work; to this our debt is large. We are
infinitely relieved when amid the familiar affectations we come upon the stilus
rusticans or the sermo usualis for which he apologizes as a
degradation of his pen.256 We
almost lose sympathy with him in his personal troubles, as soon as it appears
that it is misfortune which has simplified his diction.257 Appreciating
to the full the honourable solicitude of Sidonius for the purity of Latin, and
his ever-present fear of Celtic or Teutonic encroachments,258 we
are willing to condone any intrusions from the vulgar tongue to be rid for a
while of the alliterations, the inversions, the forced antitheses, and to see
the meaning quickly in a simple dress. What we want of Sidonius is plain fact,
and it is pleasant to admit that occasionally we get it without too much
exasperation; sometimes the actor removes the mask and speaks in unaffected
tones. Let it therefore be recorded to his credit that he does not always
offend, and that not once or twice, but many times, he writes in a manner
worthy of Roman literature at an earlier day. Let it also be remembered that
his |cxxvii subject-matter is often well
presented; when his narrative interests him, he can tell a story brightly and
with effect. Nor should we overlook the fact that Sidonius has a gift for
portraiture, which frequently lends animation to his pages. Sometimes a
character is sketched in a few sentences, as in the case of Paeonius the
parvenu, the malicious old Athenius,259 the
lively veteran Filimatius who plays ball with the younger men (V. xvii), and
Himerius the model priest (VII. xiii). At other times the description is at
greater length, and details are drawn with a free hand. We have amusing
pictures of the young fortune-hunter Amantius (VII. ii), and of Ger-manicus the
juvenile sexagenarian (IV. xiii), who dresses in the fashion, who will hear
nothing of age except the increased respect it brings, and grows more boyish
every day (non iuvenescit solum sed quodammodo repuerascit). We have
the interesting sketch of Vectius the country gentleman, whose girdles are of
exquisite design, who hunts, hawks, and entertains his friends, but listens to
the Psalms at meals, and is more priestly in spirit than many of those who wear
priests' garments (IV. ix). We have the memoir of Claudianus Mamertus who does
all the hard work for his brother St. Mamertus, to which allusion has been made
above (p. lxxxi); we have the reminiscences of Lampridius, the quicktempered
rhetor, murdered by his slaves (VIII. xi). In other cases classes of men are
portrayed with the same precision; for instance, informers, or
popularity-hunting candidates for municipal appointments (XV. xix). A writer
possessing such penetration and such graphic |cxxviii powers
as these deserves something more than an untempered ridicule.
Yet the counts in the
indictment are sufficiently numerous. First and foremost there is the mania for
antithesis, and plays on words which degenerate into the most lamentable of
puns, for paronomasia, antonomasia, and all the other obliquities of
language which sound like the infirmities which they are. A critical
examination of Sidonius' work resembles literary pathology; his language is
often diseased language, which could only regain a semblance of health by a
free use of the knife. It calls aloud for amputation of the platitudes,
pomposities, and verbal conceits which the euphuist himself would renounce as
foolish. It is unnecessary to dwell long on a subject which has its pathetic side,
yet concrete instances must be adduced in evidence.
First, we may take
examples of the ruling passion for antithesis. The abuse of this is persistent,
and sometimes verbal oppositions are cumulated with almost incredible
pertinacity, as, for instance, in the description of Ravenna (I. viii).
Sidonius pits against each other the words novus and vetus or antiquus, until
the staleness of the trick infuriates. Thus novus clericus, peccator
antiquus (IX. ii); novo exemplo amicitiarum vetera iura (VII.
vi. l), in famillari vetusto novum ius potestatis (V. xviii). But no
glaring contrast of word or sense, however elementary, comes amiss; for
instance: pingues caedibus gladii, macri ieiuniis praeliatores (VII.
vii. 3); confitetur repulsam qui profitetur offensam (VII. ix); pharetras
sagittis vacuare, lacrimis oculos implere (V. xii); Cuius parva
tuguria magnus hospes implesti (III. ii); Itinerum longitudinum,
brevitatem dierum, &c. (III. ii. 3). |cxxix
And so on, and so on. The
reader who desires more of this misplaced ingenuity will find instances on
every other page. Plays upon words are no less common. Inferre calumnias,
deferre personas, afferre minas, auferre substantias (V. vii); scientia
fortis, fortior conscientia (IX. iv); at non remaneamus terrent quibus
terra non remanet (IX. iii); iuste iusta solventes (III. iii.
8); indidit prosecutionibus, edidit tribunalibus, prodidit partibus,
additit titulis, &c. (VIII. vi. 7); seu sic sentiente concordia,
seu sic concordante sententia (IV. xxv. 5); inconsulte consultat. (VIII.
ix. 13); praedae praedia (IV. xxv. 2); suspicere iudicium,
suscipere consilium (IV. xxii. 1). The changes are continually rung upon
such words as dicere and ducere, suspicere despicere, orare
perorare, ambiendus ambitiosus, providere praevidere, &c. The list of
such things is endless, but we are not yet at the worst; we have to endure puns
from which a schoolboy would recoil. A proper name like Faustus, Perpetuus, or
Rusticus is seldom allowed to escape: let two of them represent the series: Perpetua
durent culmina Perpetui (IV. xviii----this to be carved on the wall of a
church); rusticans multum quod nihil rusticus (VIII. xi. 6, cf. Rusticus). It
is pardonable for a man once in a way, in intimate conversation, to indulge a
weakness of this kind, but how can a bishop be forgiven who puns for
publication, and in work carefully revised not only by himself but by his
friends? From a long list we may cite the following specimens: non tam
honorare censor quam censetor onerare (VIII. viii); honoris . .
. oneris (IX. ii); ex more . . . ex amore (IX:
iv. 1); classicum in classe cecinisse (VIII. vi. 13); Aptae
fuistis, aptissime defuistis |cxxx (IX.
ix)----perhaps the worst of all. It is time to draw the. veil over faults which
it is impossible to condone; we may conclude with the following instances of
paronomasia and antonomasia. Leges Theodosianas calcans,
Theudoricianasque proponens (I. ii. 3); flumen in verbis, fulmen in
clausulis (IX. vii); inter perfectos Domini quam inter praefectos
Valentiniani (VII. xii. 4).
The reader may be spared
illustration of the overloaded interminable sentences;. or of the strings of
illustrative instances and persons, sometimes eight or ten where two would have
sufficed, till the tail is out of all proportion to the kite; or of the
mannerism which declares for silence on things which might be praised, and then
enumerates them to the bitter end; or of the labouring of points till they are,
so to speak, hammered blunt; or the tautologies recalling the 'which here thou
viewest, beholdest, surveyest or seest' of Armado: to insist on these things is
to waste time; there is no possible defence. We may pass to other features, not
reprehensible in themselves, but made so by immoderate or tasteless use. The
metaphors of Sidonius for the most part are familiar, and worn in service. The
world is a threshing-floor, spiritual exhortation a harrow. Life is like a
river; a literary career is a sea-voyage; the mind of man is a sea, suddenly
disturbed by the squall of adverse tidings. Silence is a curb; evil tongues are
like barbed hooks. Verse written in sorrow is like the song of swans, or the
music of very tense strings (VIII. ix. 4). A king's favour is a flame, which
illuminates afar, but in neighbourhood consumes (III. iii. 9). A friendship not
maintained is like a |cxxxi sword that rusts if
not frequently polished.260 The
schools of Lyons resemble a mint, in which youthful natures are struck on a
philosophical die (IV. i. 3). Where originality is attempted, the result is
often either crude 261 or
over-intricate. As an example of the latter fault we may take the passage
comparing the scion of a clerical family to a rosebush, for if he be not holy
he stands amid all the roses armoured in the thorns of his sin (IV. xiii. 4);
or that comparing Lupus, the generous discoverer of hidden talent, to the sun,
whose searching rays will detect and draw up a moisture hidden deep under
ground (IX. xi. 9); again, that which likens an author who is always writing
but never publishes, to a dog who only snarls but never barks out (VII. iii.
2). Sometimes we find similitudes extraordinary to our taste, like the mysticus
adeps et spiritalis arvina, which recalls the startling similitudes of a
Crashaw or a Donne (VI. vi. 2). It is not surprising to find that
Sidonius will mix metaphors with any man. Salsi sermonis libra (III.
ii. 1); lacrimis habenas anima parturients laxavi (IV. xi. 7); manum
linguae porrigis (IV. i. 3); quibus . . .faece petulantiae
lingua polluitur infrenis (III. xiii. 2), may suffice to show his quality.
There are other defects or affectations, not immediately concerned with words,
but equally due to the same imitative contentment with bad rhetorical
tradition. There is the tiresome realism which insists upon elaboration of
unessential details offensive to the finer sense----what Chaix has called la
manie de tout |cxxxii peindre;262 there
is the parade of erudition which, if less obtrusive than the determined
pedantry of Cassiodorus, is yet a weariness to the reader; there are the
hyperbole in flattery, the perverse preference of the inappropriate, the joy in
'combinations of confused magnificence'. We cannot more justly stigmatize the
work of Sidonius at his worst263 than
by continuing the criticism from which the last phrase was quoted, a criticism
directed against certain English poets of the seventeenth century,264 but
equally applicable to our author of the fifth. For his style too is marred 'by
descriptions copied from descriptions, by imitations borrowed from imitations,
by traditional imagery and hereditary similes'. The thing could not be better
said.
The result of all these
artifices, applied with an unshrinking hand, is that Sidonius is often hard to
construe.265 Ruricius,
his younger contemporary and |cxxxiii partial
imitator, was the first to complain of his obscurity, Petrarch confessed that
he often found him unintelligible; 266 and
the most accomplished modern editors of his text admit that he presents some
problems which they cannot be sure of having solved.267 While
diffuseness is his besetting sin, some of his phrases are condensed to the
point of impenetrability, and his constructions are rendered obscure by the
imperfect development of his thought. Petrarch wondered at the audacity of his
style; yet, as Baret has remarked, when it is examined, it is found that in
prose he has fewer direct irregularities than Tacitus, and, in verse, than
Virgil. It is rather a certain strange exotic character, instinctively felt,
but not easily defined, which characterizes our author's work, compared not
only with that of the golden age, but with that of a late writer like
Symmachus. He is 'heteroclite' 268;
his cadences have an unfamiliar ring; when they are read aloud, they strike us as
differing not in degree, but in kind from those of the classical authors. Were
it not that an early critic has given blunt utterance to the suspicion,269 |cxxxiv we should hardly dare to hint that some subtle
Celtic influence had really affected his manner, and that, unknown to himself,
the older Gaul was secretly revenged upon this son of hers who had only ears
for an Italian idiom. Is it merely a fancy that indigenous turns of thought
have been unconsciously adopted by this champion of the classics? Do we witness
the first movement towards the changes which were to issue in the Romance
language in the South of France? Various indications seem to point that way. The
synthetic structure of the older Latin tends to pass into analysis: the
conjunctions quia or quod replace the complementary
infinitive; the abstract replaces the concrete term. Prepositions grow more
indispensable to inflected cases; the genitive is used in a manner which is
almost French. The reader of the Latin text will discover a number of words or
turns of expression used in a mediaeval or modern way. In one place, if not in
two, the word familia is employed in the French, in place of the old
Latin sense (VI. vii). Vir litterarum is homme de lettres; |cxxxv nebula de pulvere is nuage de
poussière. Baret records a number of these peculiarities, and gives a list
of the archaisms and neologisms in the text.270 We
may note a few favourite or peculiar words: e. g. tumultuarius, used
of rapid or impromptu composition; lenocinari, to coax or
flatter; fatigatio, chaff or banter; eventilare, to go
over, or search through; humanitas, hospitality; piperatum, 'piquant'
or caustic. To some words Sidonius appears to give a new sense; thus it is hard
to avoid the conclusion that more than once he employs toreuma where toral is
alone appropriate. In his complimentary formulae he is as a rule correct and
Roman; though he is fond of abstract terms like celsitudo or Sanctitas
tua as honorific appellations.271 His
superscriptions give the name of his correspondent in the dative, with the
addition of suo, if the person is a friend, or of the title domino
papae if he is a bishop.272 Sidonius
does not employ the affectionate modes of address adopted by Ruricius, e.
g. domino pectoris sui Lupo; domino animae suae Pomerio; domino
venerabili, admirabili, et sanctis omnibus aequiparando Sidonio. As a
rule, the letter ends with a Vale; but when the correspondent is a
bishop, the formula is: memor nostri esse dignare, domine Papa. In
one instance he closes with an ora pro nobis (VII. xii----to
Ferreolus).
So much for the more
obvious characteristics which |cxxxvi mar the
style of Sidonius; we have now briefly to estimate his merits as a
letter-writer. It need hardly be said that he cannot be placed in the first
rank; he is not, as his friends averred, a second Pliny, far less a second
Cicero. But he touches so many sides of contemporary life; he lived through such
momentous times; he is so exceptional in speaking with two voices, first as man
of letters, nobleman and high official, then as a prominent Churchman, that in
spite of his deterrent style, he has an interest somewhere for almost every
reader.273 In
most things but the cultivation of brevity, he is superior to his predecessor
Symmachus, whose letters seldom touch either great or entertaining issues, but
are written to discharge the obligations of a punctual correspondent, and are
often brief as memoranda, and of an unsurpassed aridity.274 It
will be more easy to understand the level on which Sidonius should be placed if
we consider a few of the gifts which make the letter-writer, and then ask
whether he possessed them. The master in this art must not be argumentative, or
his letters become treatises; he must not always be serious, or they may
insensibly change to sermons. He must know, as one of the greatest of the craft
has said, how |cxxxvii to approach great matters
by their small side----prendre les grandes choses par les petits cotes. If
he confines himself chiefly to questions of public concern, he must be doubly
careful to be individual, terse, and vivid; above all, he must have the light
touch, and the latent gaiety, which never permit the tale to drag. He must be
skilled in expression; things must be put, they will not put themselves. But
the art must be so concealed that what he writes affects us like the prompt
phrases of an unpremeditated conversation. He must be catholic in taste and
subject. He must interest most men and not a few; the greatest letter-writers
play upon an instrument of many strings. And, in the modern view, at any rate,
his letters should be often intimate, revealing the writer's own mind, and
telling something of his private life. We thus require of the perfect
correspondent much that even the greatest of the ancient letter-writers cannot
give. They are mostly Romans; and Roman manners entailed reticence on intimate
things; hence a certain preoccupation with intellectual themes and public
affairs, which tends to reduce the human interest of their letters. It is not
that human interest is absent; there is evidence enough, especially in the case
of Cicero, to prove the contrary. But it is often too much in the background,
and a correspondence which is too objective is not letter-writing at its very
best: it is one-sided; it lacks the perfect balance. For these reasons, even
the first among the ancients will sometimes disappoint a modern reader familiar
with the achievement of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but
approaching the classics for the first time. In many ways Cicero is almost
modern; his lively |cxxxviii sympathies bring
him nearer to natural unreserve than any letter-writer of antiquity; he stands
in a class by himself. But if we are conscious of a something wanting when
reading Cicero, with all his ardour, his mobility, his colour and conciseness
of phrase, it is inevitable that the same deficiency in the less admirable
Sidonius should cause a more conspicuous void. The studied care for form which
makes the agreeable Pliny sometimes tire, is exaggerated in his last disciple
until all spontaneity is lost. And while the manner is frequently repellent,
the matter often wearies in its turn; there is too much laudation of obscure
literary efforts, too little talk of home affairs, of country life, of details
of travel, of the natural beauties of southern France. Nature is overlooked, or
regarded, as it were, with the eyes of a duke or cardinal of the Renaissance,
seated at a comfortable point of vantage and with quotations from Virgil nearer
to his lips than true feeling to his heart.275 When
Sidonius visited Rome in the time of Anthemius, his route followed the
Flaminian Way from Rimini; and the latter part of it was the wonderful hundred
and fifty miles beginning at Foligno, the stage which travellers from northern
Europe used to cover before the days of railways. Goethe followed it when he
first approached Rome; Shelley came down it in 1818, and felt the charm to the
full. But of that charm the Gallo-Roman |cxxxix poet
is silent, betraying no interest in these things, and assuming none in his
correspondent. He has nothing to say of Spoleto, or the falls of the Velino; we
should never guess that he had seen Soracte from Civita Castellana, or looked
from Castelnuovo across the valley of the Tiber towards the distant Alban
hills. And on his river journey down the Ticino and the Po, though the song of
the birds in the bulrushes gives him pleasure, his thoughts are soon diverted
to Tityrus and the metamorphosis of Phaethon's sisters. For these and other
reasons Sidonius cannot be placed very high among the masters who have
expressed themselves through the medium of letters. It is in vain to seek in
his pages the unstudied brilliance of Mme de Sévigné, the wit and vivacity of
Voltaire, the light irony of Horace Walpole, or the natural gaiety of Cowper.
We feel that Sidonius would never christen a path or copse 'La Solitaire' or
'La Sainte Horreur';276 or
stay alone in the woods all day for sheer love of verdure. His is not the art
to throw off a likeness in half a dozen words, or to resume an affair of State
in a pair of sentences; nor is it his to make a hearthside event like the
escape of a pet hare an absorbing and complete adventure. In edification, he
lacks the winning simplicity, the amiable grace of St. Francis of Sales. He
cannot restrain his scholarship like Gray, or expand in confidences like Lamb.
His humour often strikes us |cxl as forced;277 he
has compliments like those of the Hôtel de Rambouillet, but less adroitly
turned. In fine, he was the victim of an artificial training; he lived in times
not of renaissance but of dissolution; his was an age more eager for epistolary
honours than any other, but more obviously debarred by circumstance from their
attainment.278
Though we are not
primarily concerned with Sidonius as poet, the inclusion in the Letters of some
dozen epigrams and short pieces compels us to ask whether Gibbon's contemptuous
phrase is deserved. Were these verses all that remained to us, there could be
but one answer; ' insipid ' is a temperate epithet for some among them. Of the
two impromptu epigrams, one on the imputed satire (I. xi. 14), the other on
Filimatius' towel (V. xvii. 10) we can only say that, like other couplets
written against time, they should not |cxli have
been exposed to time's revenge. The epitaphs, elegies, and church inscriptions
have the mechanical correctness to be expected of one whose mind was continually
exercised by questions of metre. But they are mostly written out of good
nature, or out of kindness of heart, motives which in all ages have often left
the imagination uninspired. In truth, some of them come near to deserving the
title of naenia epltaphistarum which their author almost feared for
them himself. The poet's reputation cannot, however, be judged by these
secondary efforts; it rests upon the Carmina, the twenty-four poems
issued in 468,279 and
chiefly upon the three panegyrics in honour of Avitus, Majorian, and Anthemius.
In these more ambitious works, which challenge, if unsuccessfully, a comparison
with Claudian and Statius, we find the same faults so conspicuous in the
writer's prose, with others added----the glittering antitheses, the far-fetched
metaphors, the forced emphatic utterance, the unquestionable facility, the lack
of emotional inspiration, the tiresome parade of knowledge, making whole parts
read 'like versified chapters out of Livy'. But though over the greater part
hangs the curse of an implacable memory that cannot forget the Schools, though
Pegasus is ever reined to the manège, the whole achievement cannot fairly be
dismissed as bad because the bad preponderates.280 It
may be that here, as in the stilted periods |cxlii of
the Letters, the ear is arrested by unfamiliar rhythms and strange sonorities;
here, too, a breath of barbarism has passed. But where the author feels his
conscious power, there is dexterity, opulence and movement, there is a
pageantry of changing form and colour to which the name of poetry cannot be
denied. There are narrative passages which seize and hold the interest; for
example, the description of the Vandals, or of the Roman army crossing the
Alps. Parts of the Panegyric of Majorian advance with an ardour worthy their
theme, while here and there flash out gnomic phrases after the glittering style
of Lucan.281 The
declamatory manner of these hexameters, so far removed from the suave Virgilian
grandeur, admits of frequent brilliance in description; the effect is that of
historical painting on a large scale by a skilful but uninspired master. Some
of the pieces on less ambitious subjects are not without occasional grace. The
verses to Majorian, pleading for remission of the triple tax, strike a light
vein with more success than the humour of the Letters would lead us to expect;
but the Epithalamia would damage any reputation.282 Sidonius
is at his best in the rhetorical vein; he is the rhetor through and through. In
his never-failing fluency, his adroit use of mythology and proverbial wisdom,
he is the natural successor of Ausonius, and takes his place after him among
the poets of the Roman decadence.
The literary reputation
of Sidonius long survived his death. Ruricius of Limoges, in some
respects |cxliii a pupil, refers to him in
eulogistic terms, though conscious, as we have seen, of a certain obscurity in
his style;283 so
does Avitus of Vienne, another late writer of letters.284 Gregory
of Tours praises his eloquence and power of improvisation.285 Cassiodorus
regards him as a master; Ennodius and Fortunatus are his frank admirers;286 Jornandes
had clearly read his poems.287 Savaron
has illustrated his popularity during the Middle Ages, when John of Salisbury,
Abelard, and other scholars were familiar with his works, and mediaeval writers
sought to imitate his manner.288 But
in the fourteenth century, the growing familiarity with Classic models reacted
unfavourably upon his reputation. We have already noted that Petrarch was
critical; and the Renaissance more critical still. Politian was unimpressed by
his style; Vives called his prose ridiculous (absurdissima); Casaubon
is severe, though Scaliger can still find words of praise.289 The
editions of Savaron and Sirmond revived an interest in his works; but with the
eighteenth century he finally lost credit as a writer of Latin, while securing
a permanent place as an authority for the history of his times. From Tillemont
and Gibbon to Amédée Thierry, Guizot and more recent historians of his
age, |cxliv all have rendered homage to his
involuntary merit, while one man of letters at least, Chateaubriand, has
borrowed material from his pages (p. xciii above). Despite his chastisement as
stylist, Sidonius has not fared ill at the hands of the posterity to which he
entrusted his fame. Though his periods will never be recited either for
pleasure or instruction, neither his name nor his work is forgotten; and in our
greater libraries, while men pursue research, the Letters and the Panegyrics
will always hold their undisputed place.
Of Sidonius as a man it
is almost unnecessary to speak; the Letters prove his noble qualities, and
those written after his entry into the Church reflect the saintliness which won
him the honour of canonization. His chief fault, a defect of his ambitious early
life, was an over-readiness to flatter where flattery, if given at all, should
not have come from him. There were times when he too conveniently forgot the
antecedents of the great, or their connexion with men whom honour forbade him
to conciliate. Majorian was the comrade and the nominee of that Ricimer who had
murdered Avitus; Sidonius forgets the fact too soon. Theodoric II had murdered
his own brother; Sidonius, perhaps for a political end, appears oblivious of
all save the royal virtues. Such flexibility is unworthy of the man who was to
write the stern letter of rebuke to Graecus; nor was it a true part of the
nature which trials and disillusions proved to be really his. This is the worst
charge which can be brought against him; his other failings are little
weaknesses which make him real to us, and which he never seeks to conceal.
Thus |cxlv he sometimes appears too lenient towards
unworthy action: for instance, towards the deception of the young adventurer
Amantius; but he confesses with a charming frankness that he does not like
censorious rigour (VII. iv 3). His literary vanity is now and then accentuated
by false modesty (VII. iii, IX. xiii); but as a rule his simple confidence
disarms resentment. When he assured his friend Fortunatus that the appearance
of his name on the superscription of one of the Letters would ensure its
immortality, he was probably more serious than not; after all, he spoke the
truth, for the name of Fortunatus is preserved (VIII. v). He probably had no
objection to being called a second Pliny (IX. i), and was quietly convinced
that his critics were in the wrong.290 But
no doubt he discounted the eulogy which he received; much of it was
complimentary verbiage, belonging to the etiquette of his day; and he himself
was so profuse of it to others, that he can have been under no illusion as to
its current value. The age allowed a great latitude in exaggeration; but it
must be admitted that Sidonius availed himself of it upon occasion to an extent
which is revolting to modern sentiment. His letter to Claudianus Mamertus
reaches the limit of extravagance,291 and
with all allowance for the influence of an eulogistic time, we cannot read
it |cxlvi without continual irritation. When we
are told that the subject of his praise can hold his own with the first names
in every field, with Orpheus, Aesculapius, Archimedes, Vitruvius, Thaïes,
Euclid, Chrysippus, and all the greatest Fathers of the Church as well,
credulity is too obviously taxed, and we wish that Sidonius had remembered more
often the gnomic saying which he ascribes to Symmachus: ut vera laus ornat,
ita falsa castigat. Nevertheless it must be remembered that eulogies
almost as absurd have been perpetrated in periods very near our own. Thus
Prior, in his Carmen Saeculare so grossly flattered William III that,
in Johnson's phrase, he exhausted all his powers of celebration.292 We
may dismiss the present subject by once more applying to Sidonius the words of
the same critic, and say of him that in these matters he 'retained as much
veracity as can be properly exacted from a writer professedly encomiastic'.293 Again,
Sidonius was quickly moved, and sometimes allowed his temper to impair his
dignity. He 'blazes out'294 when
views are expressed which controvert a pet opinion; and when more seriously
offended, does not confine himself to words. The apparently innocent disturbers
of his grandfather's grave feel the weight of his fists or the lash of his whip
(III. xii); he explodes at the |cxlvii carelessness
of a slave who lost some letters, and will not speak to him for days (IV. xii.
2).
But these are the small
defects of great qualities. The most affected of writers is the most natural of
men. Though uncommunicative about his home, he says enough to show that he was
a good father of his family, affectionate to his wife, solicitous for the
health and welfare of his children. There is real charm in the passage, already
noted, in which he describes himself as sitting reading with his son,
distracted between delight in the boy's ardour, and in the fine passages of the
poets (IV. xii); there is real regret when in later years the enthusiasm of the
young Apollinaris waned (V. xii).
He was a loyal friend.
Mention has been made of his fidelity to Arvandus in the dangerous hour of
disgrace (V. vii). Similar qualities are apparent in the letter on the death of
Lampridius, another friend to whose faults he was by no means blind. At a time
when his own anxieties were great, he exerts himself to the utmost at the
Burgundian court to foil the informers who had brought Apollinaris into danger
(V. vii). A large number of the Letters illustrate his anxiety for the health
and prosperity of those for whom he felt regard, or his sympathy with them in
their misfortunes.295 When
he became bishop, this fellow feeling was extended to a wider circle, and
Claudianus Mamertus bears the highest possible testimony to the unselfishness
of his life, when he complains that Sidonius is so busy attending to those who
have no real claim upon him, that he finds too little time to answer |cxlviii the letters of old associates. He, too, like
this venerated friend, 'remembered through good and evil the necessities of the
human lot.'296 He
was generous alike in the distribution of gifts and in the sentiment which is
always ready to recognize the qualities of others. Gregory of Tours relates, in
a passage often quoted, how he gave away his silver plate to relieve distress,
and how, when Papianilla insisted on the recovery of the silver, the poor were
compensated in other ways.297 An
example of his kindly thought for others is seen in VII. xvi, where he sends
the winter cowl to Chariobaudus. He is ever ready to encourage the literary
efforts of younger men (II. x, IX. xi), and even to lend them most precious
volumes in his library, a supreme test of human kindness. He was capable of
tolerance298 towards
those whose religious views he most detested; the Letters concerning the two
Jews Gozolas and Promotus exhibit him in a pleasing light, and his dictum that
a man may be a Jew and yet be sound in judgement does credit to his breadth of
vision. He was sociable and friendly,299 possessed
of tact and patience, accommodating affairs to men in a manner which would have
won the approval of his favourite Horace. Nor was he devoid of humour; though
the examples of his wit which have come down to us are sometimes tiresome, he
was probably |cxlix good company when in the mood.
Throughout the Letters he appears as the kindly intermediary who endeavours to
help others in the practical difficulties of life. As bishop, his benevolence
is always active. We see him receiving a truant son and bringing about a
reconciliation with the injured father (IV. xxiv); securing the remission of
interest on an old debt for the advantage of an orphaned family (IV. xxiv);
persuading a delinquent husband to return to his wife (VI. ix). But he never
countenanced favouritism. He saw clearly that reward should only follow
efficient service, and expressly opposed the plea that promotion should go by
seniority (VII. ix; VIII. vii). He was a man of insight and common sense, upon
whom people relied for good advice. Many reflections and maxims in the Letters
attest his practical wisdom. He insists that the safeguard of enduring
friendship lies in community of likes and dislikes (III. i); he sees that
self-depreciation may be pushed to the verge of folly (IX. iii. 7); he knows
that the most bitter family quarrels are those which arise over the division of
estates (IV. i), and that at a Burgundian court, as at most others, proximity
to kings is dangerous (III. ix).300
He was a patriot both as
Roman and Arvernian. In the earlier part of his career we find him always
urging the strenuous life for the credit of the Roman name. We have seen that
more than once he rebukes the men of family who allow all interest to centre in
their estates or pleasures, while the imagines of trabeated |cl ancestors look down on their degeneracy (I. vi); even
philosophy is not accepted as an excuse for inactive contemplation (VI. vi). He
did not despair of the empire even in the days of Julius Nepos; he thought that
if only patriotism were fairly rewarded, as good men would appear to show it as
in the great days of the past (III. viii). When Auvergne was attacked by Euric,
his spirit was worthy of Roman tradition at its best. Both during the siege of
Clermont and after it, he evinced a courage and a fortitude which proved him
worthy of his ancestors. It is unnecessary to dwell upon this crisis of his
life; his nature issued from it confirmed in strength and refined as by fire.
He possessed to the full the moral strength which enables men to overcome old
prejudice in the service of a changed ideal. The exclusive magnate who chose
his acquaintances with such care became the friend of all men; the proud noble
could beg for the Church (III. i; VIII. iv). He was consistent in his loyalty
to his new profession, and resolutely maintained the dignity of the priesthood
even against the high worldly rank which he never ceased to respect (IV. xiv;
VIII. vii). He was sincerely humble in his sense of his own unworthiness to be
the shepherd of others at a time when he felt the need of guidance for himself:
in his Letters to Lupus and other bishops after his election to the see of
Clermont, the language is emphatic but the contrition is sincere (V. iii; VI.
i; VII. vi). The devotion which in earlier years had perhaps depended much on
formality of observance was now the guiding principle of his life; the
reputation for piety which he gained among |cli his
contemporaries and immediate successors is sufficient proof of his sincerity.
History records no career precisely comparable to this. Conspicuous alike for
his rank and literary celebrity, Sidonius was in many ways the first personage
in his native land, yet he fulfilled his arduous and unfamiliar duties in a
spirit of abnegation equal to that of colleagues trained to the renunciations
of monastic life. In the evil days which fell upon his country, he never
abandoned his people; when his own fortunes were darkest, he rejoiced that
others escaped affliction (IV. ii). If Sidonius failed of greatness as a
writer, he surely attained it as a man.
There are extant more
than sixty manuscripts containing the whole or the greater part of the works of
Sidonius, and some twenty containing a small part of them.301 Out
of this large number, Lütjohann, when editing the text for the Monumenta
Germaniae Historica, selected six as of superior importance, some of these
having affinities to a few other manuscripts, which for this reason were
occasionally employed. The six manuscripts are:
1. Codex
Laudianus, (Bodleian Library, MS. Lat. 104) 9th or 10th century. Known as
L. Related to this book are Parisinus 1854 of the 10th century, known
as N, and Vaticanus 1783, 10th century, known as V.
2. Marcianus. (Marcian
Library, Venice, 554.) 10th century. Known as M. |clii
3. Laurentianus. (Laurentian
Library, Florence, Plat. XLV. 23.) 11th-12th century. Known as T.
4. Matritensis. (Madrid.)
10th-11th century. Known as C. (Related to this is Vaticanus 3421,
10th century.)
5. Parisinus. (Bibl.
Nat., Paris, 9551.) 12th-13th century. Known as F.
6. Parisinus. Bibl.
Nat., Paris, 2781.) 10th-11th century. Known as P.
Of these, the first is
the most valuable, with the two related, manuscripts in Paris and at the
Vatican, and with M and T for use where it fails; the other three are of
subsidiary importance. It may be noted that certain lacunae are
common to all; this would seem to indicate that they had a single archetype,
which in these places presented difficulties to the copyist or had perhaps been
damaged by fire.
Printed editions of
Sidonius begin with the last quarter of the fifteenth century, at which period
one was issued from Utrecht and another from Milan, the latter being reprinted
at Basel in 1542 and 1595. E. Vinet's edition appeared at Lyons in 1552, and
Wouweren's in Paris in 1598. The same year saw Savaron's first edition; his
second (the first of critical value) followed in 1609. J. Sirmond's valuable
edition, with notes from which every one has something to learn, was issued in
1614; Elmenhorst's five years later. Complete translations have hitherto
appeared only in French; the first, by R. Breyer, Canon of Troyes, was printed
in 1706; that of |cliii E. Billarden de Sauvigny
in 1787 and 1792; Grégoire and Collombet's version dates from 1836. The
last-mentioned work has often been criticized for inaccuracy, but it is not for
one who knows by experience the difficulties of their task to join in censure
upon this point. Single Letters, or parts of Letters, are summarized or
translated by many writers on Sidonius or his age.
The arrangement of the
Letters in nine books is, as far as is known, that of Sidonius himself. Seven
books were issued at different times at the request of Constantius, the first
appearing in 478.302 The
Poems had already seen the light, perhaps as early as 468 (see above, p. cxli).
The eighth book was added at the request of Petronius the jurisconsult of Arles
(VIII. i),303 and
the ninth at that of Firminius (IX. i), perhaps about the year 484.304 It
soon becomes apparent to any reader familiar with the history of the times,
that the order of the Letters is not chronological; most books contain Letters
from the earlier and later parts of Sidonius' life; and within the limits of
the several books the arrangement often seems capricious, Letters logically and
historically connected being separated by others unrelated to them in subject.
This confusion is partly due to the fact that, to complete his tale of nine
books,305 Sidonius
had to ransack all his drawers |cliv and cases at
Clermont for drafts of letters written long years before: this explains the
inclusion in the two last books of Letters referring to his early manhood. But
it is also true that in preparing for publication he was not primarily
concerned with chronological sequence; he brought his letters together for
other reasons, by associations of idea which to us are often obscure. One of
them probably was to ensure to each book a wide variety of subject, that his
readers might not accuse him of monotony.306 Again,
he regarded it as an advantage of the collection of Letters as such that it is
essentially discontinuous, and provides reading for odd moments: from this
point of view, lack of logical order is not of prime importance. It has before
now been suggested that the author's arrangement should be disregarded, and
that an edition should be issued with every letter in its proper order. If it
were possible to give a precise and certain date to the majority of the
letters, the overriding of the order approved by Sidonius might be justified on
utilitarian grounds. But although certain Letters date themselves by recounting
known events, while the period of others can be inferred from personal or other
allusions, there remains a large proportion to which nothing more than
conjectural or approximate dates can be given. This being so, it is hardly
justifiable to upset the sequence which received the author's sanction, and has
been retained for fifteen hundred years. Moreover, the convenience gained in
one direction would be lost in another; for the references to Sidonius in
historical |clv and critical literature all follow
the old system; and, were it changed, the reader, driven to consult a table of
concordance at every turn, would soon wish the old order back. It has therefore
seemed best to keep the nine books as they stand in the texts, placing at the
head of each letter its certain or conjectural date wherever such can be
reasonably assigned.
In many cases the year is exactly or approximately indicated by the contents. In others, a particular allusion, or the general tone, may enable us to infer the period: for instance, it is often possible to say with some confidence that a given letter must have been written before or after the entrance of Sidonius into the Church, or the abandonment of Auvergne by the empire. Again, there is a long interval of leisure in the author's career between A.D. 461 and 467, within which many letters descriptive of provincial life seem naturally to fall: a few of these might be transferred to the years between A.D. 456 and 459, though I have not actually suggested this. It will thus be seen that the date of the majority of letters can only be regarded as approximate.
[Footnotes have been
renumbered and placed at the end]
1. 1 Sidonius
is the principal name, and by it he is properly designated. He himself (Carm. ix)
gives the order of his names as Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius. Caius is
substituted for Apollinaris by Claudianus Mamertus in the dedication of
the De Statu Animae. Modestus is derived from the MS. of the Abbey of
Cluny, in which Savaron discovered the epitaph (see p. lii below); but our
author himself does not mention it. The description 'Sidonius Apollinaris'
dates from the thirteenth century, and became general through its adoption by
Politian (Fertig, p. 5; Germain, pp. 178-80).
2. 2 Mommsen (Praefatio, p.
xlvii) gives the year of his birth as between 430 and 433. Hodgkin (Italy and
her Invaders, ii. 304) is in favour of about 430.
3. 1 His
father, whose name may have been Apollinaris, was a secretary of state under
Honorius, and prefect in Gaul under Valentinian III in 448-9 (V. ix. 2). His
grandfather, the first member of his family to be converted to Christianity
(III. xii), was prefect in the time of the usurper Constantine (the 'Tyrant'),
A. D. 408.
4. 1 Among
the connexions of Sidonius were Tonantius Ferreolus, Philagrius, Magnus and his
sons Probus and Felix, Priscus, and Valerianus. For his pedigree, see
Mommsen, Praefatio, p. xlvii.
5. 2 Carm. xvi.
70 ff., where Faustus is thanked for the care bestowed on his education.
6. 3 Agricola
seems to have led a country life and taken no prominent part in affairs (II.
xii).
7. 4 In
this display of personal courage he was but following the example of his father
Avitus, who once challenged a Hun trooper to single combat, and slew him in the
sight of two armies (Carm. vii. 246). Several allusions in the
Letters present Ecdicius in the light of a lover of outdoor sports and physical
prowess. He had other moral qualities besides courage; he rivalled Bishop
Patiens in the generosity with which he relieved the distress of Auvergne after
the Visigothic invasion (see below, p. xl), and is thought by some to have
ultimately become a bishop.
8. 1 Though
a single letter is addressed to Papianilla, who is there praised as a good
wife, she too remains a rather shadowy figure. The only actions attributed to
her which at all suggest a personality are related by Gregory of Tours (see
below, p. cxlviii).
9. 2 Unless,
as Mommsen has suggested, the three names all belong to a single person.
10. 3 Apollinaris
associated himself with Victorius whom Euric appointed governor of Auvergne,
and accompanied him on his flight to Italy, where he almost shared his fate.
From Milan he managed to effect his escape, and returned to Auvergne, where he
was reconciled to his father, reformed his ways, and married Placidina
(Ruricius, Ep. II. xxv; and cf. Chaix, ii. 289 ff.). Gregory of Tours
in one place relates that in A. D. 507 he led the nobles of Auvergne at the
battle of Vouglé or Vouillé near Poitiers, in which the forces of Alaric II
were defeated by Clovis. In another place he mentions him as one of the
successors of Sidonius in the see of Clermont, stating that he died four months
after his election. The two passages are reconcilable, because Gregory never
says, as some critics have assumed, that Apollinaris died at Vouillé, only that
he was present at the battle (Gregory of Tours, De gloria martyrum, lxv;
cf. Hist. Franc. II. xxxvii. Cf. also Chaix, ii. 379; L.
Schmidt, Geschichte der deutschen Stämme, p. 276).
11. 1 Gregory
of Tours, Hist. Franc. III. ii. 12; De gloria martyrum, c.
64.
12. 2 Among
his teachers were Hoënius (Carm. ix. 313) and Eusebius (VI. i. 3);
among the comrades of his youth, Probus, Avitus (III. i), Faustinus (III. iv),
and Aquilus (V. ix).
13. 1 Sidonius
describes himself as always a great devotee of all games (on which see pp. cxi,
cxii). He also rode, hawked, and hunted (IV. iv). Cf. Chaix, i. 69 ff.
14. 2 The
consistently eulogistic nature of the letter is sufficient indication that it
was written with an ulterior purpose. We may compare Carm. xxiii. 70
ff.:
Martius ille rector atque
Magno patre prior, decus Getarum,
Romanae columen salusque gentis
Theudoricus . . .
15. 3 He
is even said to have taught the younger Theodoric to appreciate Virgil (Carm. vii.
497; Jornandes, De reb. Get. xl, xli). Cf. Hodgkin, ii, p. 379.
16. 1 As
noted above, Avitus' attitude towards the barbarians was shared by his son
Ecdicius. It was also shared by other members of his house, for at the time of
Euric's aggression, Sidonius appealed to a younger Avitus to dissuade the
Visigothic king from his provocative policy (III. i. 5).
17. 1 In
the Panegyric of Avitus, Sidonius describes the part taken by the Goths in the
elevation of that prince (Carm. vii. 441 ff., 508 ft, 570 ff.).
18. 2 The
Seven Provinces formed the Dioecesis Viennensis, the second of the
two 'dioceses' into which Gaul was divided. They were: Viennensis, Narbonensis
Prima and Secunda, Novempopulana, Aquitanica Prima and Secunda, Alpes Maritimae
(Marquardt, Römische Staatsverwaltung, i. 261, 509). In 418 Honorius
had issued a Constitution renewing the Council of Representatives of the
Provinces, which under normal circumstances met at Arles (cf. L. Schmidt, Geschichte, as
above, pp. 288-9, and p. xxx below.
19. 3 Cf.
IX. xvi; Carm. viii. 8:
Ulpia quod rutilat
porticus aere meo.
The statue, which was
placed between the Greek and Latin Libraries, is now lost. As a work of art
illustrative of the decadence, it would have possessed for us an interest almos
equal to that of the Panegyric which has survived.
20. 1 For
the career and character of Avitus see Gibbon, Decline and Fall, ch.
xxxvi; Hodgkin, as above, pp. 374 ff.; L. Schmidt, Geschichte der
deutschen Stämme, i, 1910, pp. 252 ff. Gibbon's accusations of immorality
are not now regarded as justified (Hodgkin, p. 393; and Bury, Gibbon, vol. iv,
p. 14, note). Avitus seems to have been a man of a simple nature, whose
inaptitude for empire lay rather in lack of subtlety than want of virtue. His
greatest claim to distinction was probably his action (already noticed) in
bringing about the rapprochement between the Gallo-Romans and the Visigoths.
21. 1 L.
Schmidt, as above,"p. 254; C. M. H. i. 421.
22. 2 John
of Antioch (Fr. 202) says that he was either starved or strangled. Gregory of
Tours (Hist. Franc, II. xi) relates that he attempted to escape from
Italy and take sanctuary at the shrine of S. Julianus at Brioude (Brivas) in
his native country of Auvergne, but that he died on the road, his remains being
carried for burial to the church which he had attempted to reach alive.
23. 3 The,
episode of the conspiracy is obscure, and the commentators are strangely
silent. It should be observed that Sidonius alludes to it as coniuratio
Marcelliana (I. xi, 6), the adjective (if this is the word he really
wrote), pointing rather to a Marcellus than a Marcellinus. Marcelliniana is
a possible emendation, or Marcellini, as suggested by Mommsen (cf. P.
Allard, Revue des questions historiques, lxxxiii, 1908, pp. 438 ff.).
24. 1 Barker,
in C. M. H. i. 425.
25. 2 Mommsen, Praefatio, p.
xlviii, places this first visit of Majorian to Gaul in the autumn of 458. Cf.
also Schmidt, C. M. H. i. 202.
26. 3 Carm. v.
572 ff.; Schmidt, Geschichte der deutschen Stämme, Part i, pp. 256,
373.
27. 4 The
miseries of Lyons may have been in part due to internal feuds breaking out when
the hopelessness of the rebellion became apparent.
28. 1 Carm. iv.
n, 12, and v. 572 ff.:
Mihi diverso nuper sub
Marte cadenti
Iussisti placido, Victor, ut essem animo.
30. 3 The
failure of Gaul to establish a state based in the last resort upon Visigothic
support, was perhaps a loss to civilization. Hodgkin has observed that had the
effort resulted in a Visigothic power sufficiently strong to resist the Franks,
the empire of Charlemagne might have been anticipated by a nobler nation.
31. 1 It
must be remembered in this connexion that the eulogistic description of
Theodoric II (I. ii) was written in full consciousness of the fact that the
Visigothic king had succeeded to the throne by murdering his brother Thorismond
(Thorismud).
32. 2 It
is Carm. vii: an abstract of it is given by Hodgkin, ii. 410. The
kind of flattery which was expected from an imperial panegyrist in the fifth
century is illustrated by the words: Fuimus vestri quia causa triumphi,
Ipsa ruina placet.
33. 3 This
is the date accepted by Mommsen (Praefatio, p. xlviii), and by
Clinton. The Circus games which were just over (I. xi. 10) are taken by the
latter authority to be the Quinquennalia of Majorian. But Hodgkin considers
that the emperor was probably in Spain and Italy during the season 460-1.
34. 1 This
is one of the best of the descriptive letters. It is probable that the intimacy
of Sidonius with Majorian had aroused the jealousy of others who, like
Paeonius, were less successful in winning the emperor's good graces. These men
were glad to use any opportunity to disgrace their brilliant rival, and used
the episode of the lampoon to suit their own ends (cf. Chaix, i. 132). Hodgkin
thinks that Sidonius may really have written the satire. It is true that he
does not explicitly deny the charge brought against him; but the balance of
probability seems against his authorship.
35. 2 Majorian
was dethroned and put to death at Tortona in Piedmont in August 461. During the
disturbances following his death Theodoric obtained possession of Narbonne
(Schmidt, Geschichte, as above, p. 258). Before his murder in 466,
this king had very probably seized Novempopulana and a great part of
Narbonensis Prima (ibid. p. 263). The death of Majorian seems also to have been
the signal for encroachment on the Burgundian side. Gundioc reoccupied Lyons,
and by 468 his frontiers had been widely extended towards the south, more or
less with Roman consent (ibid, p. 375).
36. 1 For
the events attending this change of policy, see Hodgkin, ii. 440; C. M. H. i.
426.
37. 2 The
name of the bride was unknown until the discovery of the (fragmentary) History
of John of Antioch (cf. C. Müller, Fragt. Hist. Gr. IV, pp. 535
ff., Frag. 209; Bury's edition of Gibbon's Decline and
Fall, vol. iv, appendix, p. 552). For the pedigree of Anthemius, see
Hodgkin, p. 461. For Sidonius' description of Rome at the time of the wedding,
see I. v. 10.
38. 1 These
are dated 461-7 in the translation. Chaix would reduce the number by assigning
a few to the period after 475. In a few cases 1 have followed his opinion in
preference to that of Baret, whose dating I have generally accepted.
39. 2 He
probably felt in his own person all the discontent with which, in the moment of
his success, he endeavoured to inspire his friend Polemius (I. vi).
40. 1 Successor
of Theodoric in 466. The imperial policy included an alliance with the
Armoricans under Riothamus (cf. III. ix), whose part it would be to hold Berry
against the Visigoths; and also an understanding with the Franks.
41. 2 The
enlarged Burgundian territory was bounded, now or shortly afterwards, on the
south by the Visigoths of Aquitanica Prima and by Narbonensis Secunda, on the
north by the weak state of Aegidius and Syagrius in Belgica, soon destined to
be absorbed by the Franks (Schmidt, Geschichte, pp. 375-7). It
included the Viennensis, Maxima Sequanorum, Alpes Graiae et Poeninae,
Lugdunensis Prima, including Nevers, and part of Narbonensis Secunda between
the Rhône and the Durance.
42. 1 Anthemius
had been consul for the first time thirteen years earlier, at Constantinople.
43. 2 Cf.
I. i: sufficientis gloriae anchora sedet.
44. 1 The
letters to Polemius and Gaudentius illustrate this (IV. xiv; I. iii, iv). In
the case of both, the persuasion appears to have been effective. Gaudentius
became a vicarius; Polemius was the last Roman prefect in Gaul.
45. 2 The
duties of the Prefect of Rome are defined in the Notifia Dignitatum, c.
iv; cf. also Cassiodorus, Var. vi. 4; Marquardt, Römische
Staatsverwaltung, ii. 131; C. M. H. i. 50.
46. 3 The
impeachment was decided upon by the Council ot the Seven Provinces, established
by Honorius (Carette, Les assemblées provinciales de la Gaule
romaine, 1895, p. 333; cf. also above, p. xviii). For the whole affair cf.
Gibbon, ch. xxxvi ff.; Chaix, i. 299 ff. Arvandus seems to have completed a first
tenure of office with credit; his disgrace began with the second. He was
perhaps a man with certain good qualities, but a spendthrift, and incurably
vain. During his second tenure he was embarrassed by debt, and this was the
origin of his downfall. Äs we shall see, the advice which he gave to Euric was
actually carried out by that king.
47. 1 Decline
and Fall, ch. xxxvi.
48. 1 Cf.
Chaix, i. 303. Yet the leanings of Arvandus towards the Goths can hardly have
been altogether unknown to any of his acquaintances.
49. 2 It
has been suggested by Martroye (Genséric, pp. 234-5) that Arvandus may not
have been so stupid as he appeared, and that the correspondence with Euric may
have been undertaken with the approval of Ricimer. The king-maker's privity to
his treason would explain Arvandus' arrogant confidence on his arrival in Rome,
as well as his sudden dejection, when he found himself left in the lurch by the
powerful personage on whom he counted (cf. Prof. Bury's note in his edition of
Gibbon's Decline and Fall, iv. 44, n. 108).
50. 1 When
the breach soon afterwards occurred Ricimer alluded Anthemius as Graeculus, while
the emperor deplored the necessity which had made him give his daughter in
marriage to a 'skin-clad barbarian' (pellito Getae). In 470 a rupture
was averted by the intercession of St. Epiphanius, Bishop of Pavia; but in 472
Ricimer proclaimed Olybrius, and marched on Rome. Anthemius was slain, but
after little more than a month the victor himself died (Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopadie, s.
v. Anthemius).
51. 2 It
is generally assumed that he retired in 469. Fertig (i. 19) thinks he may have
remained till 471.
52. 1 A
similar conversion occurred in the case of Sidonius' friend Maximus, who also
was called to the Church by the voice of his fellow citizens (IV. xxiv. i); cf.
Fertig, ii. 6.
53. 2 He
may have passed the lower ecclesiastical grades per saltum like
Ambrose, who rose from baptism to the episcopate in a week (C. H. Turner, in C.
M. H. i. 151).
54. 3 The
length of the interval between the return of Sidonius from Rome and his entry
into the Church depends upon the view adopted as to the date of his retirement
from the prefecture. Mommsen reduces it to less than a year (Praefatio, p.
xlviii). Schmidt seems to be of the same opinion (Geschichte, p.
264). Others, while accepting the date of departure from Rome as 469, consider
that three years elapsed, and that the episcopate of Sidonius began in 472.
They argue from the passage in VI. i, where Sidonius says that at this time
Lupus had been a bishop for forty-five years; now Lupus was elected to the see
of Troyes in 427 (cf. Chaix, i. 439; Dill, p. 179). Tillemont (Mémoires, p.
750), followed by Germain (p. 19), makes Sidonius' ecclesiastical career begin
a few months earlier, at the close of 471, on the ground that when the letter
was written he must already have been bishop some little time.
55. 1 V.
viii. 3 Utpote cui indignissimo tantae professionis pondus impactum
est. Cf. VII. ix; VI. vii. This language, as Germain remarks, recalls that
of St. Ambrose, when raised in a similar manner to the episcopal throne of
Milan.
56. 1 The
see of the Metropolitan was at Bourges.
58. 3 Cf.
note, p. xxviii above. About this time Gundioc was succeeded by his brother
Chilperic I, who had no children. Gundioc left four sons, called on Chilperic's
death the 'tetrarchs': Gundobad ruling at Lyons, Chilperic II at Vienne,
Godgisel at Besançon, and Gundomar at Geneva.
59. 4 Riothamus,
to whom one of the letters (III. ix) is addressed, foolishly provoked the
attack of Euric and was crushed at Bourg-de-Déols on the Indre, not far from
Châteauroux, whence he fled with the remnant of his force to the Burgundians.
This may have been in 470, or perhaps in 469, for Euric's aggression was
probably hastened by the failure of the Roman expedition against the Vandals in
468. Cf. Gregory, Hist. Franc. II. xviii; Jornandes, Getica, xlv;
Dill, pp. 302, 316; Fauriel, v. 314; Schmidt, in C. M. H., p. 283.
60. 1 The
Burgundians may even have driven him by force from this district
(Schmidt, Geschichte, p. 377). It may be that Euric was to some
degree influenced by a desire to avenge Arvandus and Seronatus, who had given
him such practical advice. Except that he had not come to terms with the
Burgundians, his present policy was that recommended by Arvandus in the famous
letter which caused his condemnation (cf. p. xxxi above, and Fauriel, Hist.
de la Gaule méridionale, i. 214).
61. 1 The
claim of Trojan descent is more than once mentioned by Sidonius (cf. II. ii.
19; VII. vii. 2. Cf. also Pliny, Nat. Hist. IV. xxxi).
62. 2 Seronatus
was perhaps governor of Aquitanica I (Schmidt, Gesch., Part I, p.
261), where he openly acted in the interests of the Goths (cf. VI. i. l; V.
xiii. i, 4; VII. vii. 2). He also was brought to justice, and lacking Arvandus'
useful friendships, underwent sentence of death (cf. Chaix, i. 377).
63. 3 Arverni
is the general form for Clermont, though Jornandes uses Arverna. The earlier
name was Augustonemetum. When autumn set in the Goths raised the siege, and
drew off into winter quarters.
64. 4 Cf.
VIII. vii, addressed to Audax, Prefect of Rome.
Nepos, nephew of Verina,
consort of the Emperor Leo, was proclaimed in Constantinople in 473, and landed
in Italy in the following year, Glycerius being consecrated bishop of Salona.
He only reigned a year and two months; in 475 he was dethroned by Orestes, who
invested his own son Romulus Augustus with the purple. Nepos, at the beginning
of his reign, appears to have endeavoured to rejuvenate the Civil Service, and
secure a more efficient administration. But the effort came too late.
65. 1 III.
i. 5. The efforts of Avitus may have been made in concert with Licinianus
(Schmidt, Geschichte, as above, p. 265). The memory of the Emperor
Avitus, the friend of the first Theodoric and instructor of the second, must
still have been fresh among the Visigoths. This younger Avitus may himself have
had a personal influence among them; the degree of his kinship to the emperor
is unknown.
67. 1 III.
iii. The episode is also related by Gregory of Tours (Hist. Franc, II.
xxiv), who allows Ecdicius only ten men. Ecdicius seems to have been
successful, at some time during the operations, in bringing up Burgundian
support (Chaix, ii. 176); he also engaged troops at his own expense (III. iii.
7).
68. 2 VI.
xii. Cf. Gregory of Tours, loc. cit.
69. 3 This
may have been done by letter. It is possible that the personal visit of
Sidonius to Lyons and Vienne took place in some interlude between the sieges,
though we may doubt whether he would have left the city at so critical a
moment. Cf. below, p. xlii.
70. 1 III.
ii. This is the same Constantius to whom the earlier books of the Letters are
dedicated.
72. 3 The
dignity had been promised by Anthemius. Several writers have remarked that
though the Roman dominion was on the point of disappearing, and though the
titles which Rome conferred were about to become emptier names than ever,
Sidonius and Papianilla regarded the augmentation of the family honours as a
matter of serious importance. In spite of the threatening aspect of affairs,
they could not even now persuade themselves that Auvergne was really to be
abandoned by the empire. Perhaps it was this ineradicable confidence in Roman
stability which enabled Sidonius to write several cheerful letters during this
time of suspense, e.g. III. viii and VII. i. We may note as an example of a
similar confidence manifested by others, that a friend whom he asks to attend
the Rogations is taking the waters at a bathing resort (V. xiv. 1).
75. 3 Schmidt, Geschichte, as
above, p. 265. But if the four bishops made a firm stand for Auvergne, why was
Sidonius so indignant with Graecus? The account of Epiphanius' proceedings
given by Ennodius is uninforming (Vita Epiph. §81).
76. 1 Sees
had been left vacant; churches were allowed to fall in ruins; cattle grazed
about the altars (VII. vi). Gregory of Tours (Hist. Franc, ii. 25) says
that bishops and priests were actually put to death, but it is doubtful whether
things were pushed to this extremity; cf. Chaix, ii. 182.
77. 2 VII.
vii. Hodgkin compares the protest of betrayed Auvergne with that of the city of
Nisibis, surrendered to Persia by Jovian against the will of the inhabitants.
The reproach directed by Sidonius against Graecus, that he considered nothing
but his own interest, seems hardly justified. It is probable that as a result
of the treaty, to which the Burgundians appear to have been parties, the whole
territory between the Loire, the Rhône, the Pyrenees, and the two seas passed
to Euric, who now possessed Aquitanica I and II, Novempopulana, Narbonensis I,
and part of Lugdunensis III (Schmidt, p. 265).
78. 1 The
treaty still left Rome the country between the Mediterranean and the Durance,
and from the Rhône to the Alps; but a part of this at least was taken by Euric
in 476, when he renewed the war, and drove the Burgundians beyond the Durance
(Schmidt, Geschichte, p. 377).
79. 2 Victorius
may have degenerated (cf. Chaix, ii. 504). Gregory (Hist. Franc. II.
xx) states that he was obliged to fly to Italy; the young Apollinaris followed
him (cf. note 3, p. xiv, above).
80. 3 In
the Peutinger chart it is called Liviana, and placed twelve miles
from Carcassonne. Cf. the Index Locorum in Mommsen's Praefatio.
81. 4 In
VIII. iii and IX. iii Sidonius speaks of officia which occupied a
great part of his day during his captivity.
82. 1 The
task which he suggested was an edition of Philostratus' work in honour of
Apollonius of Tyana (VIII. iii. i; cf. Fertig, ii. 22). Sidonius had a far
higher opinion of Apollonius than that entertained by the Catholic Church in
later times (cf. note, 140. i, p. 245). It is questioned whether he undertook a
regular translation from the Greek, or merely a transcription, as Sirmond
thought.
83. 2 Chaix
thinks that Sidonius returned to Clermont on his release from Livia; and that
the visit to Bordeaux was undertaken later, with the express object of
presenting a petition with regard to his confiscated property (ii. 227).
84. 3 VIII.
ix. The Visigoths, in accordance with precedent, probably appropriated a fixed
proportion of the conquered territory (cf. p. lvi below). But Sidonius' active
share in the war may have led to the confiscation of his land.
85. 1 Sidonius
may have been really impressed by the visible signs of Euric's power, and
forced into a kind of enthusiasm, despite his private feelings. But the verses
bear the signs of exaggeration, and historical evidence hardly confirms their
claim that Euric was arbiter of the destinies of half the world.
86. 2 Another
letter containing verses (IV. viii) addressed to Evodius was probably composed
at Bordeaux. Evodius, who at a later time may have risen high in the Gothic
service (Chaix, ii. 290), was presenting a silver cup to Ragnahild, Euric's
consort, for which he desired a poetical inscription. Sidonius, who realized as
fully as his friend the great influence wielded over their lords by the
Teutonic queens, complied with a few couplets well calculated to attain their
object. But in a tone of irony which betrays his real sentiment with regard to
Teutons, he remarks at the end of the letter that the verses themselves hardly
matter, since in the place where the cup is going there will be eyes only for
the silver of which it is made.
87. 1 Cf.
the visits to Vectius and Germanicus (IV. ix, xiii; cf. Chaix, ii. 239, 241).
He paid other visits beyond his diocese, e.g. those to Elaphius and Maximus
(IV. xv, xxiv; cf. Chaix, ii. 234, 236).
91. 3 He
says himself that after his entrance into the Church, his prose style suffered,
but he was ' more of a bad poet than ever ' (IV. Hi. 9).
92. 4 Cf.
the convivial verses written at a late period for Tonantius, son of Tonantius
Ferreolus (IX. xiii).
93. 5 The
request came from Prosper, Bishop of Orleans (VIII. xv).
94. 1 De
scriptoribus ecclesiasticis, xcii. The theological writings of Sidonius
are not the only works of his which are lost to us. He mentions epigrams and
satires from his pen----evidently composed in earlier life (cf. Chaix, ii.
310). In the verses included in the last of all his letters, he alludes to
certain juvenile productions: unde pars maior utinam faceri | possit et
abdi!
95. 2 V.
xv; cf. Germain, p. 117.
96. 3 It
is argued that he must have been writing after 480, because in a letter to
Oresius (IX. xii) he says that he has given up secular poetry for three
Olympiads, and the period of abandonment to which he alludes must be the year
of his election as bishop. Mommsen, however, considers him to have died in 479
(Praefatio, p. xlix), in which Prof. Schmidt follows him (Geschichte der
deutschen Stämme, p. 378). But his argument is chiefly based on a
conjectural emendation of the vague date at the end of the epitaph (XII Kal.
Sept. Zenone imperatore), and his conclusion appears to accord no better with
facts than that of Tillemont (see next page).
97. 1 The
Catholicism of the Franks was of great assistance to them in their final
struggle with the Arian Teutonic tribes. There is no doubt that their orthodoxy
led the Gallo-Roman population to favour their projects and to desire their
supremacy, and that Alaric II regarded the Catholic bishops as formidable, if
secret adversaries.
98. 2 Earlier
authorities, the Benedictines (Histoire litt. de la France, ii. 557) and
Tillemont (Mémoires, xvi. 274 and 755), were in favour of about 489
as the date of Sidonius' death. Gregory of Tours says that in Sidonius'
lifetime the echo of Frankish arms resounded in Gaul, and that Arvernians
desired their arrival in Auvergne: this seems to point to a period later than
the battle of Soissons (cf. Germain, p. 181). It might also be contended that
the references which Sidonius himself makes to advancing age seem difficult of
explanation if he did not survive the year 479, when he would only have been
about fifty (V. ix. 4; IX. xvi, line 45 of the poem. Cf. also Hodgkin, ii, p.
317).
99. 3 Gregory
of Tours, Hist. Franc. II. xxiii.
100. 1 Gregory,
as above. On Sidonius' decease, the infamous Hermanchius usurped the bishopric,
but was struck dead at a banquet while he was celebrating his success.
Aprunculus, formerly Bishop of Langres (cf. IX. x), only held the see for a
short time, being succeeded by Euphrasius, whose tenure was also brief. Cf.
Gregory of Tours, Hist. Franc. III. ix, xii, xviii.
101. 2 Cf.
p. xiv above, and Gregory, III. c. ii; Chaix, ii. 379. Placidina, the wife, and
Alcima, the sister, of Apollinaris, are said by Gregory to have visited the
newly-elected bishop and persuaded him that he did not possess the qualities
required for the efficient government of the see; it would be better,
therefore, if he withdrew in favour of Apollinaris. He agreed with them, and
effaced himself.
102. 3 Gregory
tells us that the younger Apollinaris had a son, Arcadius, whose daughter was
named, like her grandmother, Placidina, and is mentioned by Venantius
Fortunatus (Carm. i. 15, 45). It has been supposed that the family of
Polignac represents the line of Apollinaris, but this is disputed.
103. 1 Codex
Matritensis, known as C; tenth to eleventh century (see p. clii below; and
cf. E. Le Blant, Inscriptions chrétiennes de la Gaule, I, no. 562).
It is quoted by Sirmond, and by later writers on Sidonius, e. g. Germain, p. 36
(cf. Baret, Introduction, p. 101). The placing of this long metrical
epitaph over his remains would probably have accorded with his own wishes. Did
he not compose one of similar length for his grandfather's tomb, with the
comment that 'a learned shade does not reject a poetic tribute' (Anima perita
musicas non refutat inferias. III. xi)?
104. 2 But,
as observed below (p. cli), the Letters have never ceased to be accessible, if
only to a limited number of readers.
105. 1 Sidonius'
description of Avitacum, with its fine baths, winter and summer dining-rooms,
women's quarters and weaving-chamber, imitates Pliny's accounts of his two
chief country-homes, the Laurentinum near Ostia, and the larger Tusculanum at
the foot of the Apennines in the upper Tiber valley (Ep. II. xvii;
VI. vi). It is rather curious that he makes no mention of his garden, though
such must surely have existed. Pliny, on the other hand, is very detailed in
his description of the gardens of his villas. He speaks of walks bordered with
box and rosemary, topiary-work, a 'wilderness', fountains and marble seats,
summer-houses, &c. (cf. also Sir A. Geikie, The Love of Nature among
the Romans, pp. 132ff.).
107. 2 Even
Theodoric II had shown his desire of territorial aggrandizement in Gaul
(Schmidt, in C. M. H. i. 283).
108. 1 It
is generally held that when the Visigoths first settled in Aquitaine, they
appropriated two-thirds of the tilled land, and one-half of the woodland, while
such land as was not thus partitioned was divided equally between Goth and
provincial. When the Goths annexed large new territories, the division probably
became less ruinous to the Gallo-Roman, because the barbaric numbers had not
increased in proportion to the fresh land seized (Schmidt, Geschichte, pp. 281,287).
For the Burgundian division, see Dahn, Die Könige der Germanen, vi.
56; and for the partition of lands in Italy by the Ostrogoths, cf. Dumoulin,
ibid. p. 447. The Visigothic Code issued by Euric in 475, of which only a part
is preserved, was drawn up by Roman jurists. It borrowed much from the
provisions of Roman law with regard to property; with regard to moral offences,
it retained much of the old Teutonic severity. From the time of Theodoric I,
Gothic law had already begun to be romanized, but the effect of long contact
with Roman custom was now much more obvious (cf. C. Zeumer, Leges
Visigothorum antiquiores, 1894; L.Schmidt, Geschichte, pp. 296ff.; F.
Dahn, as above, vi. 226 ff.).
109. 1 e. g. at
the house of Magnus at Narbonne ( Carm. xxiii).
110. 2 Theodoric
II, the Visigoth, who evidently conformed in many ways to Roman usage, hunted
before the midday meal; he too began the day very early with a religious
service, and then transacted state-business, which must have been over before
10 A. M. (I. ii). Sport with hawk and hound is mentioned in connexion with the
beautiful country-house of Gonsentius near Narbonne (VIII. iv), and with the
estates of Namatius, Euric's admiral in Oleron (VIII. vi).
111. 3 II.
ix; villas of Tonantius Ferreolus and Apollinaris. For the disposition of the
wealthy Roman's day, little changed from early imperial times, cf. J.
Marquardt, Privatleben der Römer, p. 258.
112. 1 It
is hard to say from the writings of Sidonius whether or not the Roman matron
was still the commanding figure of the earlier empire. She was much occupied
with domestic concerns: thus the wife of the wealthy Leontius of Bordeaux spins
Syrian wool, and works embroidery (Carm. xxii. 195). But there are
examples of ladies with intellectual interests. Sidonius expects Eulalia, wife
of his friend Probus, to read his poems; and the expectation implies in her
more than a slight tincture of letters (Carm. xxiv. 95). He tells a
friend about to marry, that wedlock need imply no break in his literary work,
since his future wife may encourage and aid his studies. Probably the influence
of the materfamilias was none the less effective for being exerted in
an inconspicuous way.
113. 1 I.
vi; II. xiv. For Eutropius, who bade fair to become a 'country bumpkin', Sidonius
draws an admonitory picture of the future, when the man who has allowed all his
opportunities to go by, will have to stand in his old age silent at the back of
the hall, an inglorius rusticus, while younger men, without his
advantages of birth, sit in the front places and express their judgement.
114. 2 Verses
were often enclosed or incorporated in letters until, as in the correspondence
of M. de Coulanges, they must have seemed 'as numerous as Sibylline leaves'
(Mme de Sévigné, Letter 1177).
117. 2 His
friends are mostly of his own rank, but he may make exception in favour of
rhetors or grammarians, a class whose company was eagerly sought in a society
devoted to parlour-rhetoric. Cf. the cordial invitation to Domitius, the
Grammarian of Camerius (II. ii).
118. 1 But
even as late as the end of the fifth century the Christianity of some among the
nobles was probably more a matter of conformity than conviction, as it had been
with Ansonius at an earlier date (cf. Ausonius, Ep. ii. 15; X. xvii).
119. 2 Cf.
II. xiii, where Sidonius speaks of doctors who conscientiously kill off their
patients, and quarrel across the invalid's bed.
120. 1 Cf.
Sidonius' apologia for the long neglect to erect a monument over his
grandfather's remains (III. xii. 6).
121. 2 Gallula
Roma Arelas: Ordo urbium nobilium, X. 2.
122. 3 The
banquet of Majorian (II. xi) and that of a sodalis quidam at Arles
during the imperial sojourn in the town (IX. xiii).
123. 1 VIII.
xii. copiosissima penus aggeratis opipare farta deliciis.
124. 2 Difficile
discernitur, domini plusne sit cultum rus an ingenium (VIII. iv. i).
125. 1 The
distinction of 'senatorial' rank had ceased to bear any direct relation to the
Senate; the title implied the status conferred by the possession of a certain
amount of landed property, or the previous tenure of some honorary office or
dignity. After Constantine's time the class rapidly increased in the provinces
(cf. J. S. Reid, C. M. H. i. 49).
126. 2 The
Gallic estates were not so large as the Italian, but Ausonius had one,
described as small, which exceeded a thousand acres; and the great nobles owned
numerous properties. It may be assumed that Sidonius was a proprietor on rather
a large scale. Symmachus is thought to have had about £60,000 a year of our
money; if Sidonius had only a third of that amount, he would still be a wealthy
man according to our ideas. The really opulent members of the senatorial class
had anything between £100,000 and £200,000 a year (cf. Dill, p. 126).
127. 3 Though
they paid a land-tax (follis senatorius), the aurum
oblaticium, and other taxes imposed in the province where they resided
(cf. J. S. Reid, C. M. H. i. 50).
128. 1 The
mortgagor generally became dependent on the mortgagee. In this relation may be
sought one of the beginnings of the feudal system (Dill, p. 218).
129. 2 Cf.
Dill, pp. 224 ff. The less scrupulous among the senatorial class, indirectly
engaged in commerce though trading was forbidden to them, patronized usurers
and fraudulent creditors, winked at dishonest action on the part of their
agents, and overbore the lesser officials of the state by their local prestige.
130. 1 A
great part of the estate was tilled by slaves; and such part as was cultivated
by coloni must have yielded the landowner a very handsome profit.
Some labour was paid by wages, but not a high proportion (J. Marquardt, Privatleben, p.
139).
131. 2 Probably
the relations of the average master to his servants were as a rule not
unkindly: but there are exceptions, both good and bad. The admirable Vectius
has a devoted household (IV. ix. 1); the violent Lampridius is murdered by his
slaves (VIII. xi. 11). Sidonius was almost certainly a good master, though once
at least he shows excitability (IV. xii. 2). An interesting Letter (V. xix)
deals with the abduction of a freed woman by a man in the servile state.
Sidonius, from whose house she had been taken, insists with Pudens, whose slave
the abductor was, that the man should be also freed and so be promoted from the
class of coloni to that of plebeian clients (mox cliens factus, e
tributario plebeiam potius incipiat habere personam quam colonariam). The
tenth Letter of Book IX is also of interest in this regard. Injuriosus, who may
have been a clerk, left Sidonius for Aprunculus, bishop of Langres, without
ceremony and without the proper litterae commendatoriae, Sidonius
stipulates that if the offender should ever treat Aprunculus in a similar way,
both of them should prosecute him as a fugitive servant.
132. 1 The
reader will find references to the principal works on the subject in Dill, p.
208; cf. also C. M. H. i. 52; J. Marquardt, already quoted, Römische
Staatsverwaltung, i. 92 ff. For the municipality,see Prof. J.S.
Reid, The Municipalities of the Roman Empire, 1913. The decurions had
not only to control municipal finance, but were responsible for the collection
of imperial taxes. They had liabilities in connexion with enlistment for the
army, and with the maintenance of the posting service on the great roads.
During the fifth century the imperial government made worthy efforts to improve
jurisdiction and administration, but over-centralization neutralized their
effect in the provinces, where old abuses persisted and reforms were not easily
applied (cf. C. M. H. i. 396).
133. 1 Hist.
de la civilisation en France, ed. 1846, i. 91. For the organization of the
Church, see C. H. Turner, in C. M. H. i. 145. For the Catholic Church in
barbaric territory, see F. Dahn, Die Könige der Germanen, vi. 367
ff.; L. Schmidt, Gesch. der deutschen Stamme, Part I, p. 300 f. Of
Arian organization, either in the Visigothic or the Burgundian State,
practically nothing is known.
134. 2 We
see from VIII. xi (line 8 in the poem) that visitors to the town who could not
find accommodation with their friends sometimes expected the bishop to find
room for them. Many letters show the bishop in a most pleasant light as
mediator in family disagreements, or as patron of worthy aspirants.
135. 3 The
Constitutions of 408 gave bishops civil jurisdiction in their dioceses (C. M.
H. i. 396). Several passages of Letters in Book VI illustrate episcopal
influence. As Baret remarks, Sidonius always seems to assume that the pondus of
the bishop will settle the matter when it is placed in the scale.
136. 1 Cf. Hist.
franc. IV. xii; V. xxi. Sidonius does not conceal his sentiments when he
finds ground for disapproval of the clergy, as in the case of the dissentient
priests at Bourges (VII. ix. 3). In IV. viii. 9 he implies that many who wore
clerical garb 'imposed upon the world', and that he personally inclined to
prefer the man 'who is priestly in morals to one who merely bears the priestly
title'.
137. 1 It
was the same in the case of men distinguished in the professions: Germain of
Auxerre was once a soldier; Lupus of Troyes an advocate.
138. 1 Cf.
IV. iii; and Chaix, i. 438.
139. 1 Cf.
the effect produced by the address of Faustus at the consecration of Patiens'
new church at Lyons (IX. iii. 5).
140. 2 For
Church schools, see G. Kaufmann, Rhetorenschulen und Klosterschulen,
&c., in Raumer's Historisches Taschenbuch, Ser. IV, vol. x,
1869, pp. 54 ff.
141. 3 For
the growth of the influence of the Church as a body, cf. C. H. Turner in C. M.
H., as above, pp. 145, 152, 155.
142. 1 If
the bishops of the province could not attend, the canon provided that those of
neighbouring provinces should be summoned. Thus at Bourges, Sidonius invites
the cooperation of Agroecius of Sens. Cf. Chaix, ii. 2 2.
143. 2 Bourges
had been in Gothic hands since about 470. Of the bishops present at the
election, two came from territory which was still Roman, one from a diocese in
Burgundian territory. The fact illustrates both the universal character of the
Church, and the tolerance of the barbaric governments.
144. 1 For
the gradual elimination of the popular element see C. H. Turner, as above, p.
152.
145. 2 Though
the authority of Rome was unquestioned, throughout the Letters there is no
mention of appeal to, or intervention by, the Pope.
146. 3 In
the sixth century, though the Frankish kings exerted an influence over the
elections, scandals continued to occur, if not quite in the same way as at
Bourges and Châlon (Gregory of Tours, Hist. Franc. IV. xxxv; VI. vii,
xxxviii).
147. 4 Erant
quidem prius, quod salva fidei face sit dictum, vagae, tepentes,
infrequentesque, utque sic dixerim, oscitabundae supplicationes, quae saepe
interpellantum prandiorum obicibus hebetabantur.
148. 1 Sometimes
festivals were protracted for many days. That which celebrated the consecration
of Patiens' church lasted a whole week (IX. iii. 5, festis
hebdomadalibus). Cf. the long festival at Gaza: G. F. Hill, The Life
of Porphyry, Bishop of Gaza, by Mark the Deacon, 1913, ch. 92.
149. 2 Thus
Lupus of Troyes transferred to his diocese prayers in use at Lerins (IX. iii).
The austerities of Faustus have been already mentioned. For the development of
monastic life in the West in the early Christian centuries, see Dom Butler in
C. M. H. i. 531 ff. There was no ordered code or written rule, except the short
rule of Caesarius of Arles, until the seventh century. Before that time the
eremitical type of monachism practised in Egypt and Syria prevailed, sometimes
with the extreme austerities habitual in the latter country. It is even
doubtful whether Honoratus wrote a rule for Lerins.
150. 1 Cf.
Gregory of Tours, Hist. Franc. II. xxi, and Vit. Patr. iii.
In Bk. VI, ch. vi, of the former work, Gregory alludes to the miracles of the
saintly recluse Hospicius of Nice, who in the second half of the sixth century
made his usual diet of bread and dates, and in Lent subsisted on roots brought
in merchant-ships from Egypt. In Gregory's time Auvergne still contained
hermits practising extreme asceticism.
151. 1 IV.
ii, iii. Tertullian, Jerome, and Cassian had given support to the doctrine thus
proclaimed by Faustus, and Augustine had taken a prominent part on the other
side. A chief argument used by Faustus was that to call the soul of man
immaterial is to claim for it a quality belonging only to God (cf. Dill, p.
184). For the treatise of Faustus, see Gennadius, De Script. Eccles. 85.
In Engelbrecht, Corpus Script. Eccles. Lat., the treatise and
Claudianus Mamertus' reply are printed together.
152. 2 Among
them Fonteius, Auspicius, Agroecius, Principius, and Aprunculus, the successor
of Sidonius at Clermont.
153. 1 It
has been already noticed that previous to their election to the sees of Troyes
and Riez, Lupus and Faustus had both occupied the position of Abbot of Lerins.
Hilary of Arles and Eucherius of Lyons had been members of the same community. A
brief description of a visit paid by Sidonius to Lerins is given in Carm. xvi.
105 ff., and the visit is alluded to in IX. iii. For Lerins, cf. note, 80. 1,
on p. 239. Cf. also VI. i; VII. xvii. 3; VIII. xiv. 2; IX. iii. 4. For the Jura
monasteries, see note, 47- 2, p. 235.
156. 1 But
in their family relations both the Visigothic and Burgundian royal houses were
guilty of murderous brutality. It has been noted that Theodoric II assassinated
his brother Thorismond, and was in turn assassinated by Euric. Gundobad the
Burgundian in like manner murdered two of his brothers, destroying at the same
time the wife and children of Chilperic under circumstances of such cruelty
that public opinion became indignant, and Sidonius' friend Secundinus, the poet
of Lyons, wrote a satire against the king (V. viii).
157. 1 The
hostility of the clergy was always a danger to Alaric II before the final
conflict with Clovis (cf. L. Schmidt, Geschichte der deutschen
Stämme, p. 302).
158. 2 Dill,
Bk. IV, chs. i and ii.
159. 3 The
Visigoths had been granted Aquitanica Secunda and Toulouse by Honorius. The
Burgundians were established south of Lake Leman by Aëtius.
160. 4 Cf.
V. vi. 2, where Chilperic is described as magister militum (V. vi; cf.
VII. xvii).
161. 1 Cf.
L. Schmidt, Geschichte, p. 271. Prof. Schmidt considers that the
Visigoths treated the Gallo-Romans almost on a footing of equality before the
law (ibid. p. 279), while the Burgundians certainly conceded equal rights
(ibid. p. 403).
162. 2 Salvian,
holding a brief for barbaric integrity against Roman corruption, may exaggerate
the virtue of his clients; but his attribution of hospitality, chastity, and
honesty to various tribes was probably founded on contemporary experience. He
does not altogether close his eyes to their faults, styling the Goths
perfidious, and the Franks untruthful. (For Salvian, see Hodgkin, i. 504.)
Ammianus (XXII. vii) confirms Salvian on the national perfidy of the Goths
(XXII. 7); and it is interesting to note that after the Frankish Conquest the
Goths were regarded as poor fighting men, shunning close quarters, and relying
on the bow (Gregory of Tours, Hist. Franc. ii. 27, 37).
163. 1 As
already noted, Avitus' son Ecdicius showed, during the last struggle for
Auvergne, that the race of heroes was not extinct (III. iii). Under Gothic
rule, Gallo-Romans were probably exempt from military service (see note 64. 1,
p. 238), but they served in the Burgundian ranks (Schmidt, Geschichte, p.
40).
164. 1 Cf.
VI. iv. 1. The Vargi in many ways resembled the Bagaudae of an
earlier time. Cf. Salvian, De Gub. Dei, v. 24, 25; Sirmond, Notes, p.
65; Dill, p. 315; Hodgkin, ii. 104.
165. 2 But
at its worst how different from the fate which ultimately befell our own
country (cf. Haverfield in C. M. H., pp. 378 ff.; C. W. C. Oman, England
before the Norman Conquest, Bk. III, ch. xi).
166. 3 Sidonius
says that Euric was not so much the prince as the chief-priest of his nation
(VII. vi. 6 ut ambigas, ampliusne suae gentis an suae sectae teneat
principatum).
167. 1 Leo
probably combined in his own person the functions of the Quaestor Sacri Palati
(the highest legal officer) and the magister officiorum or head of
the Civil Service (cf. Schmidt, C. M. H. i. 290).
168. 2 For
the Visigothic administration of justice, with its twofold system for Goth and
Gallo-Roman respectively, see L. Schmidt, Geschichte, pp. 295-6; for
the Burgundian, ibid. p. 423.
170. 4 Syagrius,
if not an official, was a persona grata at Lyons (V.v).
171. 1 Sidonius'
rather fulsome poem on Euric reached the king's eyes through being written in a
letter to Lampridius, who was intended to exhibit it (VIII. ix). Cf. above, p.
xlvi.
172. 2 V.
vi, vii. Sidonius' denunciation of these men, though written in his most
artificial style, breathes a genuine and righteous indignation.
173. 3 So,
perhaps, the Vandals, whose raiding habits he describes in the Panegyric of
Majorian (11. 386 ff.).
174. 1 VII.
xiv. In Carm. XII. vi he asks how he is to write verses in six feet,
with seven-foot giants all about him. The Burgundians also greased their hair
with rancid butter, had enormous appetites, and spoke in stentorian tones. The
poem is translated by Fertig (Part ii, p. 17).
175. 2 We
may recall Anthemius' complaint (cf. p. xxxiii above).
176. 1 Hodgkin
has accentuated this point (ii, p. 372).
177. 2 See
below, note 35. I, p. 233. Chateaubriand, in Le Martyrs, adapts
Sidonius' description of the Franks.
178. 3 Cf. Carm. vii.
236. Cf. note 155. 2, p. 247.
179. 4 VIII.
vi. 15, and cf. Carm. vii. 369.
180. 5 Carm. vii.
236: also Pan. Mai, 210 ff.
181. 1 VIII.
ix, 11. 28 ff. of the poem. The term 'Sigambrian' is used generically for the
tribes of the lower Rhine (W. Schul tze, Deutsche Gesch. ii. 38), and
the present captives may have been taken during some expedition of Euric's
troops against the Franks.
183. 3 In
the letter to Namatius, VIII. vi.
184. 1 Perhaps
there were sleeping-rooms for the daily siesta as well as for the nightly rest,
as was the case at the villa of Caninius Rufus on the shores of Como, described
in one of Pliny's letters (Ep. I. iii). The account of the open apartment
at Avitacum looking out on the lake, where the guest might sit in contemplation
at any hour, suggests a place adapted for the siesta.
185. 1 As
excavations in more than one country sufficiently prove, the hypocaust was
commonly used for other rooms beside the bath. Cf. Carm. xxii. 188,
where the hiberna domus of Leontius is described; here the wood-fed
furnace spargit lentatum per culmina tota vaporem----in fact, central
heating.
186. 2 He
mentions also the baths in the Octaviana of Consentius at Narbonne,
and those in the Burgus of Leo near Bordeaux (Carm. xxii.).
Almost more interesting
than Sidonius' description of these elaborate structures, is the account which
he gives of the extemporized vapour-baths used by him at Vorocingus and
Prusianum, where the baths of his hosts were for some reason unavailable. He
there caused a pit to be dug and enclosed by an arched roof of wattling, upon
which coverings of Cilician goat's-hair were laid. Red-hot stones were placed
in the pit and upon these warm water was thrown, with the result that the
improvised chamber was filled with vapour. In this the bather sat for some
time, receiving when he came out a douche of cold water. The whole procedure
recalls that employed in Russia, the East, and in primitive America (cf. note,
52. 2, p. 225). For the general arrangement of Roman baths, see
Daremberg and Saglio, Dict. des ant. grecques et rom. i. 651;
Marquardt, Privatleben, pp. 279 ff. It is interesting to contrast
Sidonius' descriptions of Roman country-houses with what he has to say of the
palace of Theodoric II at Toulouse (I. ii). There he describes a large hall of
audience, a treasure-chamber, and a stable, but nothing is said of any baths.
187. 1 But
cf. Carm. xxiv. 56 ff., where the garden of Apollinaris is mentioned.
188. 1 Leaving
off the toga was one of the first delights of country life. Pliny (Ep. V.
vi. 45) says of one of his haunts nulla necessitas togae (cf.
Juvenal, Sat. iii. 171).
189. 2 The
Burgus of Leontius was fortified. Dill (p. 310) notes the fact that in isolated
cases such fortification seems to have begun at the time of the Visigothic
settlement in Gaul. The remains of the castle built by Dardanus, Prefect from
409 to 413, were identified by an inscription found on the spot (C. I. L. xii.
1524). Cf. Fauriel, Hist, de la Gaule méridionale, i. 560. The
foundation of these strongholds in difficult country heralded the approach of a
feudal system.
190. 3 The
absence of information about the towns themselves is also disappointing.
Several allusions show that they were protected by walls: thus Vienne (VII. i.
2) and Clermont (III. ii. 1). The mention of the statues in the forum at Arles
is interesting (I. xi. 7), and the allusion to the deer which took refuge in
the forum at Vienne (VII. i. 3) seems to show that the forum of that place
still stood in the late fifth century.
191. 1 For
Roman dining arrangements, see Marquardt, Privatleben, pp. 302 ff.
192. 2 Or
at any rate with subjects familiar on Sassanian textiles of the sixth to eighth
centuries. Similar motives, however, were favoured in other places in the Near
East, among others probably in Alexandria (O. von Falke, Kunstgeschichte
der Seidentextilien; Berlin, 1913).
193. 1 Silver
plate, as we should expect from a wealthy Roman writer, is often mentioned.
Theodoric's was unostentatious (I. ii); but there were families who thought
more of their old plate than of being useful in the world (VIII. vii. 1). A
silver cup with fluted sides, like a shell, is considered an appropriate gift
for Ragnahild, queen of Euric (IV. viii. 4, 5). Sidonius is silent as to his
own plate; to Gregory of Tours we owe the story that in the time of greatest
distress at Clermont the bishop disposed of his silver to relieve the poor (see
p. cxlviii).
194. 2 Iuvat
et vago rotatu | dare fracta membra ludo, | simulare vel trementes | pede veste
voce Bacchas: lines 64-7 of the poem. It is here implied that even the
costume of the Bacchante was assumed.
195. 1 The
reference probably is to carvers who officiated with a studied style and
flourish, as if they worked to music (see note, 15. 1, p. 230).
196. 2 II.
ix. 6, xiii. 4. For the clepsydra, see note, 51. 2, p. 224.
197. 3 His
visits to Rome inspire him with no desire to dwell upon the artistic treasures
of the capital. He dismisses the frescoes in his baths with the remark that
there was nothing in them to offend modesty. K. Purgold has shown that most of
the descriptions in his poems which seem to suggest observations of works of
art are really borrowed from Claudian and other Roman poets (Claudianus
und Sidonius, 1878). Some of these are elaborate, but in no case does the
poet speak with enthusiasm or evident personal comprehension. In Carm. xxii
he enumerates frescoes and pictures in the house of Pontius Leontius rather in
the style of an abstract inventory, and without any critical appreciation: the
chief subjects were: Mithridates sacrificing his horses to Neptune; an episode
from the siege of Cyzicus; the infant Hercules strangling the serpents; and (an
interesting point) episodes from Jewish history. In the epithalamium of
Polemius and Araneola (Carm. xv. 159ff.) a number of classical
episodes are woven by Araneola on a toga palmata for her father,
themes perhaps derived from familiar pictures.
Sidonius refers more than
once to encaustic painting (VII. xiv. 5; and Panegyric of Majorian, 1. 590).
The description of the mosaics in the church of Patiens is difficult (see
notes, 54. I, 55. 1, pp. 225-6). But whatever the exact translation of the
author's words may be, it seems certain that no figure-subjects were depicted,
but only ornamental or conventional designs, in which the colours of blue and
green preponderated. As Hodgkin has observed, their parallels may perhaps be
sought in some of the purely decorative designs in the mosaics of churches at
Ravenna.
198. 1 Sidonius
says that the sunlight was reflected from the gilded roof, which, at a period
when gold backgrounds were not yet employed in mosaic, certainly implies the
ceiling of painted and gilded wood usual in early basilicas. It may be noted,
however, that he speaks of mosaics covering the camera, a word which
implies vaulting, but is probably here applied to the concha of the
apse (cf. note, 54. 1, p. 226, below). Sir T. G. Jackson, Byzantine and
Romanesque Architecture (Cambridge, 1913), ii. 31, also regards the church
as ceiled. He draws attention once more, as Viollet-le-Duc in an earlier
generation, to the poverty of our information on the churches built in Gaul
before the tenth century. Neither Sidonius nor any other writer gives us a
tithe of the facts which they might so easily have presented.
199. 1 Hist.
Franc. II. xiv. In IV. xx Gregory mentions its destruction by fire. He
himself restored it; and as he must have been familiar with its details, should
be regarded as a competent witness.
200. 2 This
was a position where inscriptions are known to have been placed (H. Holtzinger, Die
altchristliche Architektur, &c., p. 184).
201. 3 The
monastery must have been of the eremitic type, like those of St. Martin at
Marmoutier and Tours, and based on oriental prototypes (cp. p. lxxix above).
The church was completed by Abraham (Petits Bollandistes, vii. 59,
60).
202. 1 For
these, cf. note, 6. i, p. 216.
203. 2 He
liked the music of birds, to which he refers more than once. He also mentions
without resentment the piping of the local 'Tityri', heard on the hills near
Avitacum.
204. 3 IV.
xi, lines 13-15 Psalmorum hic modulator et phonascus | Ante altaria fratre
gratulante | Instructas docuit sonare classes. St. Amabilis of Auvergne
was in early life cantor in the church of St. Mary at Clermont (Chaix, ii. 66).
205. 1 Summus
nitor in vestibus, cultus in cingulis, splendor in phaleris. The lively
sexagenarian Germanicus is said to have accentuated his youthful appearance by
wearing 'tight clothes' (IV. xiii. 1). This may refer only to the tunic; but it
is conceivable that the influence of Teutonic or Celtic fashions may have made
itself felt, and that some garment for the leg may be indicated; or did he wear
a buttoned garment? Cf. Fertig, i. 24.
206. 2 The pallium was
first distinctive of philosophers, who continued to wear it after it came into
general use, differentiating themselves from the unlearned by carrying a staff
and wearing the hair and beard long. From IV. xi. I we infer that this costume
was still affected by philosophers in Gaul in the middle of the fifth century.
207. 3 Cf.
VIII. vi. 6; and Carm. xv. 145 ff., where Araneola embroidered
a toga palmata for her father; for this garment, cf. Marquardt, Privatleben, p.
549. It has been noticed
above that, even in
earlier times, the cumbrous toga was discarded as soon as possible.
208. 1 II.
ii. 2 Endromidatus exterius, intrinsecus fasceatus.
209. 1 IV.
xx. 1. The Teutonic princes and nobles became very fond of wearing silk in
later times; but the mention of it here is interesting from the comparatively
early date (perhaps A. D. 470) at which the letter was written. Cf. what has
been said above of the silk textiles of oriental style used by contemporary
Gallo-Romans. The excavation of Frankish graves has abundantly illustrated the
fondness of the Franks for gold ornaments, a taste which was shared by all the
Teutonic peoples, notably the Goths. The whole passage is so important for the
student of early Teutonic archaeology that it is worth while to give the
original words: pedes primi perone saetoso tales adusque vinciebantur;
genua crura suraeque sine tegmine; praeter hoc vestis alia stricta versicolor,
vix appropinquans poplitibus exertis; manicae sola brachiorum principia
celantes; viridantia saga limbis marginata puniceis; penduli ex humero gladii
balleis supercurrentibus strinxerant clausa bullatis latera rhenonibus. . .
. For Visigothic and Burgundian weapons and personal ornaments, see
Barrière Flavy, Les arts industriels des peuples barbares de la
Gaule, vol. 1; Feuvrier et Févret, Les cimetières bourgondes de
Chaussin et de Wriande, 1902.
210. 1 Cf.
above, p. xxxiii, also I. ii. The Greeks had a similar notion that the use of
furs was a barbaric habit.
211. 2 The
Gothic princes do not seem to have allowed their hair to grow so long as to
fall on their shoulders as the Merovingians did (Lindenschmit, Handbuch
der deutschen Altertumskunde, i. 330). The Gallo-Roman Germanicus had his
hair cut 'wheel-fashion', whatever that may mean (IV. xiii. I crinis in
rotae specimen accisus): perhaps the effect was similar to that of the
male coiffure on late Roman diptychs and on tombs of the fifteenth century, as
exemplified by the monuments of English knights whose hair is cut across the
forehead, as if a basin had been used by the barber.
212. 1 The
hood is said by Cassian to have been adopted in imitation of children's dress,
to suggest innocence and simplicity (Inst. Coen. I, ch. iii).
213. 2 The
none too serious sportmanship of Namatius may perhaps be compared to that of
the younger Pliny, who sat by the net armed, not with a boar-spear, but with
his tablets, and recommended Tacitus to do the same, providing himself in
addition with a luncheon-basket and a bottle of wine (Ep. I. vi).
214. 3 The
peasants set night-lines in the lake at Avitacum, where fish were plentiful and
of good quality (II. ii. 12); in other places Sidonius alludes to streams
containing good fish. Beyond the fact that Euric had ships on the Atlantic to
protect his shores from the attack of the swift myoparones of the
Saxons (VIII. vi. 13), we learn nothing of naval matters: Sidonius enters into
no particulars as to the style of the ships or the tactics pursued. His
reference in the Poems to the Vandal raiders has been already noticed (p. xci
above).
215. 1 On
the Ticino and Po in Italy there was a service of 'packet' boats (cursoriae) (I.
v. 3). Such services were kept up in Italy under Theodoric the Great. Cf.
Cassiodorus, Varias, II. xxi, IV. xv, where the crews (dromonarii) are
in question.
216. 2 In
this there was a board (tabula) used both with dice and men, as
appears to have been the case with Theo-doric's game (see note, 5.1, p. 216).
A tabula, with 'men' of two colours, is again mentioned as one of the
attractions on the river-boat in which the luxurious Trygetius is to travel
(VIII. xii. 5).
217. 3 Pyrgi (V.
xvi. 6); fritiili (II. ix. 4). But in the second of these
passages tesserae are mentioned as well as the dice-boxes; and in the
first there is also a tabula, so that perhaps in neither case have we
to do with mere hazard. Cf. I; V. xvii.
218. 1 There
were regular grounds, sphaeristeria, at all considerable villas.
Pliny had them at both his principal country-houses (Ep. II. xvii; V.
vi).
219. 2 It
may have been the harpastum ( a(rpasto&n). See note 73-
2, p. 239.
220. 3 Majorian
held them at Arles (I. xi. 10). Cf. Carm. xxiii. 268.
221. 4 Papyrus
was the common material for letters; it was not adapted for use on both sides,
as parchment was (cf. Marquardt, Privatleben, pp. 807 ff.).
222. 1 Possibly
shorthand was used on such occasions. Shorthand was certainly employed by
copyists of manuscripts; and in the episode of Sidonius' chase after the
mysterious book by Lupus, which Riochatus had concealed from him, shorthand
writers were used to make excerpts on the spot (IX. ix. 8 Tribuit et
quoddam dictare celeranti scribarum sequacitas saltuosa compendium, qui
comprehendebant signis quod litteris non tenebant): Exceptores were of
great service in the Church, and Ennodius in his life of Epiphanius relates
that the Bishop of Pavia in his youth was an expert in tachygraphy. For the
class of civil servants named exceptores see Hodgkin, The
Letters of Cassiodorus, p. 110.
223. 2 Mme
de Sévigné records the same thing as occurring at Grignan in Provence during
her visit to her daughter, the Comtesse de Grignan.
224. 1 It
would seem from III. xii. 5 that the tomb of Apollinaris was to be a flat slab,
and therefore unlike the large structural tombs erected by the earlier Romans,
and perhaps exemplified in Lyons by the Conditorium of Syagrius,
mentioned in V. xvii. 4. This Conditorium was perhaps one of the
monuments lining the high road, which ran close to the church; but the grave of
Sidonius' ancestor would appear to have been in a crowded cemetery. It is a
rather curious fact that Sidonius and his father should have allowed the remains
of the elder Apollinaris to lie unmarked until the traces of the mound above it
were almost obliterated.
225. 1 From
the phrase used in III. ii, angustiae mansionum, we may infer that
the accommodation was not luxurious. In Italy, as we should expect from the
continuance of the river service, the Cursus publicus was maintained
under the Ostrogoths as the references in the Variae of Cassiodorus
show (e.g. I. xxix; IV. xlvii).
226. 2 e.g.
VIII. xi, lines 41 ff. of the poem: Ne, si destituor domo negata, Maerens
ad madidas eam tabernas, Et claudens gemmas subinde nares Profiter fumificas
gemam culinas, &c., &c.
227. 1 On
education in the fifth century, see Dill, pp. 338 ff. The principal academic
centres in Gaul were now Bordeaux, Toulouse, Narbonne, Arles, Lyons, Clermont
(Arverni), and Vienne. The first had been the most important, prior to the
Visigothic occupation.
228. 1 As
already observed, the most original work in philosophy was done by
ecclesiastics like Claudianus Mamertus and Faustus. Sidonius had perhaps more
than a smattering of philosophy. Several passages indicate his general
information, and one of his letters (VII. xiv) contains long passages in the
sententious style of Seneca. In certain Gallic circles there was an interest in
Platonism (Collegium Conplatonicorum, IV. xi. 1), and there were real
enthusiasts for abstract thought, but the spirit which governed much
philosophizing of the day was evidently that of Martianus Capella.
229. 2 Cf.
Cassiodorus, Varias, IV. xxii, xxiii, where Theodoric orders the
trial of two Romans of rank, Basilius and Praetextatus, for practising magical
arts.
230. 1 IX.
xiii. If Sidonius translated Philostratus, and did not merely transcribe him,
he must himself have been an adequate Greek scholar.
232. 3 Cf.
IX. xxi, and Dill, p. 347.
234. 5 Horace,
like Cicero, was 'caned into' Sidonius and his schoolmates at Lyons (IV. i; V.
iv).
235. 1 R.
Bitschofsky, De C. Sollii Apollinaris Sidonii studiis Statianis.
236. 2 Cicero
seems to have been regarded as hopelessly beyond imitation. This appears to be
the real sense of the remark in I. i, which irritated Petrarch (see note, I. i,
p. 215).
237. 3 I.
1; IV. xxii. In IX. i. 1 Sidonius states that Firminus has called him a second
Pliny.
238. 4 A
list of the quotations from Latin authors in Sidonius, or obvious loans from
them, is given by Mommsen, Monumenta Germaniae Historica (Auctores
Antiquissimi], viii, pp. 352 ff.
239. 1 Cf.
above, p. lxxvi. The address of Sidonius at Bourges (VII. ix. 5) shows what
skilful rhetoric could still accomplish.
240. 2 The
oration of the young Burgundio on Julius Caesar is a case in point (IX. xiv).
Sidonius promises to attend with a claque of applauding supporters
(IX. xiv). This at least was a sensible subject: those of 'school declamations'
were often far-fetched or absurd (cf. Dill, p. 370). On the Declamatio, cf.
Nettleship, Lectures and Essays, 2nd series, 112, 113.
241. 1 Ausonius
taught Gratian rhetoric, and the emperor made splendid provision not only for
him, but for all his relations. Gaul had a special reputation for rhetoric; the
blending of the Latin and Celtic strains appears to have been favourable to the
art.
242. 2 In
the passage relating to education in the Panegyric on Anthemius (Carm. i.
156 ff.) there is no mention of the Bible or of Christian works.
244. 2 VI.
i. 6; VII. i. 3; VIII. xiv. 3; IX. viii. 2, A single letter has
allusions to Lazarus, Pharaoh, Babylon, and Assur. All this is in complete
contrast with the old indulgence in mythological allusion; it is the language
of another world.
248. 6 Ibid.
St. Luke is also quoted in VI. i. 2.
249. 7 Claudianus
Mamertus, Preface to the De Statu Animae; Gennadius, De Script. Eccl. c.
92.
250. 1 Yet
he credits himself with facility rather than talent: Scribendi magis est
facilitas quam facultas (III. vii).
251. 2 Casaubon
said: Sidonius . . . in re Latinitatis improbus
intestabilisque (cf. Germain, p. 114).
252. 3 Appreciations
of Sidonius' style will be found in all writers who deal with his works. The
substance of their criticisms is contained in the severe judgement of the
Benedictines: Sa diction est dure, ses phrases obscures; en un mot, sa
prose est insupportable (Hist. litt, de la France, ii, p. 570).
253. 1 He
was asked by Prosper of Orleans to write on events in the war with Attila
(VIII. xv), and by Leo on the later history of Gaul (IV. xxii); in each case he
refused, either from disinclination, a sense of incapacity, or from worldly
wisdom. In his reply to Leo he gives his reasons why a cleric should not turn
historian. In this case Sidonius may have been doubly impressed by the need for
caution, as Leo may have been the mouthpiece of Euric.
254. 2 The
Poems, especially the Panegyrics, are as rich in historical fact and allusion
as the Letters.
255. 1 Cf.
Baret, pp. 68 ff. Sidonius is the sole authority for the tradition that Horace
was saved after Philippi by the intervention of Maecenas (Pref. to the
Panegyric of Majorian), and that Crispus was poisoned by Constantine (V. viii).
He alone relates the attacks of Euric on Auvergne, the war waged by Leo I
against the Huns (Panegyric of Anthemius, 1. 236), the victory of Aëtius and
Majorian over Cloio (Panegyric of Majorian, 1. 212), and the campaign of Euric
against Auvergne (Letters, passini). All that we know of the life of
Bishop Patiens is derived from him; so is our knowledge of the priests
Constantius and Claudianus Mamertus; Prosper of Orleans is only mentioned in
his pages, and he has preserved the names of numerous Gallo-Roman philosophers
and poets otherwise unrecorded or hardly known. The names of Ragnahild and
Sigismer are given only by him. He has clone similar service in his literary
allusions. We can infer from IV. xii. 1 that the Epitrepontes of
Menander, of which we have now recovered a great part, was preserved intact in
his time. Through him we learn of works now wholly lost, e. g. an account of
Julius Caesar by Livy, a history of Caesar by Juventius Martialis, and
the Ephemerides of Caesar's lieutenant, Balbus (all IX. xi). He also
mentions works of Palaemon and Junius Gallio, brother of Seneca, which are no
longer extant (V. x). An epigram attributed by him to Symmachus does not occur
in the works of that author as we now possess them (VII. x. 1).
256. 1 VII.
ii. 1; IV. x. Cf. VIII. xvi Nos opuscula sermone condidimus arido exili,
certe maxima ex parte vulgato.
258. 3 Cf.
VIII. ii; and III. iii, where he uses the phrase: Sermonis Celtici
squama. The Latin language stood in a more impregnable position than the
pessimists supposed. Not only was it the most efficient instrument of
expression in law, theology, and the sciences, but it was indispensable as the
language of diplomacy between the varions Teutonic courts. Probably most of the
principal barbarians could speak it, at any rate among the Visigoths. Cf.
Germain, p. 133.
260. 1 The
rusty sword or rusty armour is used more than once in different comparisons (cf.
VI. vi. i).
261. 2 Fortunae
nauseantis vomitu exsputus (I. vii. 12).
262. 1 ii,
p. 97. Cf. the description of the parasite (III. xiii).
263. 2 It
need hardly be said that Sidonius is at his worst when he believed himself at
his best. His calculated effects are almost all tedious in form and redolent,
not (to use a phrase of his own) of the Muses, but of the rhetor's lamp. Among
such show-pieces are (in addition to the description of the parasite): the
reply to the complaint of Claudianus Mamertus (IV. iii), the letter on
Claudianus Mamertus' death (IV. xi), that on the informers at Chilperic's court
(V. vii), that with the disquisition on necessary affinity between the cultured
(VII. xiv). Even the letters on Theodoric (I. ii) and Petronius Maximus (II. xiii)
are not free from these defects.
264. 3 Johnson, Lives
of the Poets: Life of Cowley.
265. 4 For
instance, the translator will be confronted by sentences like the
following: Nam cum viderem quae tibi pulchra sunt non te videre, ipsam eo
tempore desiderii tui impatientiam desideravi (IV. xx. 3).
266. 1 Sidonii
temeritatem admirari vix sufficio, nisi forte temerarius ipse sim, qui
temerarium ilium dicam, dum sales eius, seu tarditatis meae, seu illius styli
obice, seu fortassis (nam unumquodque possibile est) scripturae vitio, non
satis intelligo (Preface to Epistulae ad fam.).
268. 3 The
word is Baret's, p. 106.
269. 4 Giraldus
of Ferrara (quoted by Baret), who says that both in prose and verse Sidonius
strikes him as having something of the Gaul and the barbarian: in utroque
dicendi genere, Gallianum nescio quid et barbarum redolere videtur. (De poet.
hist. Dialog, v; in Opera, ii, p. 114.) Sidonius would himself
have borne any reproach rather than this. For the lifelong guardian of pure
Latin in Gaul, the contemner of the Celtica squama, to be told that
his own style smacked of barbarism, would have been a blow too grievous for
endurance. His zealous interest in Latinity and his uneasiness at the
indifference of certain fellow nobles to correct diction, deserved a better
reward (II. x; III. iii. 2; IV. xvii; VIII. ii). Discussing the influence of
Celtic dialect, Fertig asks what kind of Latin the middle classes spoke, if
even nobles were so careless? (Part iii, p. 24). It is perhaps significant that
Sidonius himself insists on his preference for current words, and on his
avoidance of archaisms or far-fetched terminology (VIII. xvi).
271. 2 But
after Diocletian, such epithets as 'your sublimity', 'your magnificence',
became the common mode of addressing great officials of State.
272. 3 The
word papa is applied to bishops throughout.
273. 1 Sidonius
tends to avoid the deeper subjects which occupy the thoughts of Jerome and
Augustine. But in the ordinary field of life his range is very wide.
274. 2 Cf.
Dill, Book ii, ch. 2. The successors of Sidonius as representatives of the art
of letter-writing in Gaul, Ruricius of Limoges and Avitus of Vienne, both share
his defects of over-elaboration and tumidity. Cassiodorus, the Italian, writing
in the first half of the sixth century is no improvement; he has been described
as 'concealing commonplaces within fold after fold of verbosity '.
275. 1 Though,
as Sir A. Geikie has once more demonstrated (The Love of Nature among the
Romans, 1913), several of the great writers had a true passion for natural
beauty, yet, taking Latin literature as a whole, we find the spectacular aspect
of nature rather too prominent; landscape and 'scenery' are the same thing.
276. 1 Though
Pliny nicknamed his villas on Lake Como 'Tragedy' and 'Comedy', because one was
on a high rock, the other on a low. Yet here again the Stage intrudes on
Nature.
277. 1 Germain,
in defence of Sidonius' humour, cites the letter to Graecus on Amantius (VI.
viii), and the letter to Trygetius (VIII. xii). The former is probably the best
which our author achieved in this field. In the second, as in that to Namatius,
there is a certain straining after effect which tires the reader and defeats
the humorist's end. We may add the remarks about doctors (II. xii) and
incompetent sportsmen (VIII. vi). Cf. also IV. xviii; IX. vii.
278. 2 In
many ways Sidonius recalls the Seigneur de Balzac (Jean-Louis de Guez, b. 1594,
d. 1654), just as much as Voiture. The following passage from Balzac's letter
to Corneille acknowledging a copy of 'Cinna' will illustrate the
affinity: Votre Cinna guérit les malades; il fait qtie les paralytiques
battent des mains; il rend la parole à un muet . . . S'il était vrai qu'en
quelqu'une de ses parties vous eussiez senti quelque faiblesse, ce serait un
secret entre vos Muses et vous, car je vous assure que Personne ne l'a
reconnue.
279. 1 The
poems were published at the request of Magnus Felix. The fact that the
panegyric of Anthemius is placed first, out of its historical sequence, is in
favour of the date mentioned above.
280. 2 Fertig,
Part ii, p. 15.
281. 1 Cf.
the often quoted lines: Has inter clades et funera mundi | Mors vixisse
fuit.
283. 1 Baret,
p. 102; Germain, pp. 112, 113.
286. 4 Ennodius,
in his In Natali S. Epiphanii, adapts four lines from the Panegyric
on Anthemius, v. 69 ff.
287. 5 The
portrait of Attila (Get. c. 24, 25) is indebted to the Panegyric of
Avitus.
288. 6 In
the excerpts from mediaeval writers (Elogia Veterum) at the beginning
of his edition.
290. 1 Sidonius
had critics, and apparently sharp ones. Cf. I. i; III. xiv; IV. xxii; VIII. i;
IX. iv. But his attitude to criticism is sane: namque aut minimum ex hisce
metuendum est, aut per omnia omnino conticescendum,
291. 2 Unless
it is excelled by the poem to Consentius (Carm. xxiii), of which Dill
says that he is ashamed to transcribe the absurdities (p. 362). Cf. also IV.
iii. 22; VIII. i, x, xi, xiii; IX. iii, vii.
292. 1 We
may remember, too, that even Mme de Sévigné once compared her daughter's style
to that of Tacitus.
293. 2 That
such indiscriminate eulogy was really a convention, and not natural to
Sidonius, is shown by his readiness at all times to speak a frank word in
season (IV. iv, xiv; V. xix; VII. vii). His practice did not contradict his
theory that outspokenness is generally best (VII. xviii).
294. 3 Incandui (VII.
xiv. i).
295. 1 Cf.
V. iii, vi, ix, xii.
296. 1 Condicionis
humanae per omnia memor (IV. xi. 4).
298. 3 In
his judgements of Origen and Apollonius of Tyana (II. ix. 5; VIII. iii. 4) we
mark a distinct freedom of judgement.
299. 4 In
his earlier life he could enjoy good cheer, and evidently appreciated the
refinements of luxury.
300. 1 Cf.
his remarks on friendship (V. iii; IX. xiv), on happiness (VI. xii), and
prudence (IV. vi).
301. 1 See
the Summary by Dr. P. Mohr, Praefatio to the Teubner edition, pp.
iii-vi; and Lutjohann and Löwe in Mon. Germ. Hist. VIII (Auct.
Antiq.), pp. vi-xiv.
303. 2 Petronius
had the privilege of revising this book, but, like those which had preceded, it
appeared under the auspices of Constantius.
305. 4 The
number was imposed upon him as a professed admirer and imitator of Pliny. Cf.
note, 176. i, p. 250.
306. 1 Pliny
seems to have acted on the same principle: his letters in like manner are not
chronological.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. WORKS SPECIALLY
RELATING TO SIDONIUS.
Baret, M. E. C. S.
Sidonii Apollinaris Opera: Œuvres de Sidoine Apollinaire. Paris, 1878.
Bitschofsky, R. De
C. Sollii Apollinaris Studiis Statianis. 1881.
Brakman, C. Sidoniana
et Boethiana. 1904.
[Breyer, R. Letters of
St. Lupus of Troyes and St. Sidonius of Clermont, translated by R. B., Canon of
Troyes. Troyes, 1706.]
Büdinger, M. Apollinaris
Sidonius als Politiker, in Sitzungsberichte der Wiener Akad. xcvii.
1880.
Chaix, L. A. Saint
Sidoine Apollinaire et son siècle. 1867.
Crégut, G. R. Avitacum,
essai de critique sur remplacement de la villa de Sidoine Apollinaire. 1890
[in Mém. de l'Acad. des Sciences de Clermont-Ferrand, 2nd Series, fasc. 3.]
Dill, S. Roman
Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire. 1898. [Especially pp.
157 ff. and 270 ff.]
Ellis, R. Glossae in
Apollinarem Sidonium ex Codice Digbeiano 172: in Anecdota
Oxoniensia i, pt. v. 1882.
Elmenhorst, G. C. S.
A. Sidonii Opera, expostrema recogni-tione Io. Wovverii, &c., Geverhartus
Elmenhorstius edidit ex vet. cod. textum emendavit et indicem copiosum
adiecit. Hanoviae, 1617.
Eshevsky, S. V. C.
S. Apoll. Sidonius: Episodes of the Literary and the Political History of Gaul
in the Fifth Century. St. Petersburg, 1855 (in Russian).
Fertig, M. Caius
Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius und seine Zeit, nach seinen Werken
dargestellt. Würzburg, 1845-8 (unfinished: three parts issued). |clvii
Germain, A. C. Essai
historique et littéraire sur Apollinaris Sidonius. Montpellier,
1840.
Grégoire, J. F., and
Collombet, F. Z. Œuvres de C. Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius. Paris,
1836.
Grupe, E. Zur
Sprache des Apollinaris Sidonius. 1892.
Gustaffson, F. V. De
Apoll. Sidon. emendando. 1882.
Kaufmann, G. Die
Werke des Apollinaris Sidonius als eine Quelle für die Geschichte seiner
Zeit. Göttingen, 1864.
Péricaud, A. Notice
historique sur Sidoine Apollinaire. Lyons, 1825. [Notices extracted from
the Archives du Rhône, and used, with additions and alterations, by
Grégoire and Collombet.]
Purgold, K. Archäologische
Bemerkungen zu Claudian und Sidonius. Gotha, 1878.
Sauvigny, E. Billardon
de. Lettres de Caius Sidonius Apollinaris. Paris, 1787.
Sauvigny, E. Billardon
de. Œuvres de Caius Sidonius Apollinaris. 1792.
Savaron, J. C. Solli
Apollinaris Opera, Jo. Savaronis studio et diligentia castigatius
recognita. Paris, 1598. [Text, with Life.]
Savaron, J. C. S.
Apollinaris opéra; Jo. Savaro Claromontensis multo quam antea castigatius
recognovit et librum commentarium adiecit. Paris, 1609. [Another edition
in 1614. Savaron's commentary is still of value.]
Sirmond, J. C. S.
Apollinaris opera, Jac. Sirmundi Soc.Jesu. presb. cura et studio recognita
notisque illustrata. Paris, 1614.
Sirmond, J. Opera,
Jac. Sirmundi cura et studio recognita notisque illustrata. Editio
Secunda. (Curante Ph. Labbeo.) Paris, 1652. [Sirmond's work, which passed
through later editions, is an example of seventeenth-century scholarship at its
best, and the notes are excellent]
Yver, G. Euric, roi
des Wisigoths, in Études d'histoire du moyen âge dédiées à G.
Monod. 1896. |clviii
TEXTS
The two important
critical texts are the Teubner text, edited by Mohr, and that of Lütjohann,
Löwe, and Mommsen: viz.:—
C. Sollius Apollinaris
Sidonius, recensuit Paulus Mohr. Leipzig, 1895.
C. Sollii Apollinaris
Sidonii Epistulae et Carmina, recensuit et emendavit C. Lütjohann. [Completed
by F. Löwe and Th. Mommsen, who contribute the preface. The Praefatio of
Mommsen, dealing with the life, &c., of Sidonius, is important.]
Among texts of less value
not already noted in the bibliography may be mentioned that printed by J. P.
Migne in his Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Latin Series, vol. xviii,
1844; Sidonius is included in J. M. Nisard's Collection des auteurs
latins, 1850; in the Bibliotheca Veterum Patrum of A.
Gallandius, vol. x, 1765; in P. Amati's Collectio Pisaurensis, &c.,
vol. vi, 1766. The Corpus omnium Poetarum Latinorum, 1627, and
the Chorus Poetarum Classicorum duplex, &c., pt. I, 1616, include
the Poems.
The sixteenth century
produced the texts of J. de Wouweren, with notes by Wouweren and P. Colvius,
Paris and Lyons, 1598; E. Vinetus, Lyons, 1552; G. P. Pio, Basel, 1542.
To the fifteenth century
belong an imperfect text with Pio's commentary, produced at Milan in 1498; and
an edition issued at Utrecht by N. Ketelaer and G. de Leempt in 1473 (?).
B. WORKS OF GENERAL
REFERENCE.
Bury, J. B. History
of the Later Roman Empire. 1889. The Cambridge Mediaeval
History, vol. i. 1911. (Quoted as C.M.H.)
Dahn, F. Die Könige
der Germanen. Pts. V and VI. 1870, 1871.
Duchesne, L. Fastes
épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule. 1907. |clix
Fauriel. Histoire de
la Gaule méridionale sous la domination des conquérants germains. 1836.
Freeman, E. A. Western
Europe in the Fifth Century. 1904.
Gibbon, E. Decline
and Fall of the Roman Empire. Ch. xxxvi. (Ed. J. B. Bury, 1909; vol.
iv.)
Guizot, F. P. Histoire
de la civilisation en France depuis la chute de l'Empire romain. 1846,
vol. i.
Hodgkin, T. Italy
and her Invaders. Vols, i and ii (second ed. 1892).
Histoire littéraire de la
France . . . par les Religieux de S. Maur. 1738, &c. Vols,
i-iii.
Lavisse, E. Histoire
de France depuis les origines jusqu'à la Révolution. Vols. i. and ii,
1900.
Schmidt, L. Geschickte
der deutschen Stämme. 1910.
Thierry, Amédée. Récits
de r histoire romaine au cinquième siècle. 1860.
Tillemont, L. S., Le Nain
de. Mémoires pour servir à l' histoire ecclésiastique des premiers
siècles. 1701-12, vol. xvi.
This text was transcribed
by Roger Pearse, 2003. All material on
this page is in the public domain - copy freely.
Greek text is rendered using the Scholars Press SPIonic font, free from here.
SOURCE : Early Church
Fathers - Additional Texts. Edited by Roger Pearse : https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/#sidonius_apollinaris
San Sidonio Apollinare Vescovo di Clermont
(ca. 423-480)
Martirologio
Romano: A Clermont-Ferrand in Aquitania, in Francia, san Sidonio
Apollinare, che, da prefetto della città di Roma ordinato vescovo di Clermont,
versato tanto nelle scienze sacre come in quelle profane, da vero padre
universale e dottore insigne, forte di cristiano coraggio si oppose alla
ferocia dei barbari.
Gaio Sollio Apollinare era un gallo-romano nato da una famiglia nobile di Lione verso il 430. II padre e il nonno erano stati entrambi prefetti del pretorio. Sidonio non solo mantenne la carica ma innalzò la sua posizione, nonostante tutti i problemi dell'epoca, a cui egli sopravvisse con successo e onorevolmente. Per questo motivo si hanno molte notizie sulla sua vita, più di molti altri santi di quel periodo.
Sidonio non solo era astuto dal punto di vista politico e sociale, ma anche un ottimo compositore di versi per le ricorrenze. Questo fu probabilmente uno dei fattori maggiori che gli assicurarono la sopravvivenza. Ricevette un'educazione classica a Aries, studiando sotto Claudiano Mamerto di Vienna. Sposò Papianilla, figlia di Avito, erede della tenuta di Avitacum nell'Alvernia. Da lei ebbe un figlio e tre figlie. Avito, scelto dall'aristocrazia della Gallia, divenne imperatore nel luglio 455. Sidonio si recò a Roma con il neo imperatore e il primo gennaio 456 recitò un panegirico in suo onore (alla maniera di Claudiano, che avrebbe mantenuto da quel momento in avanti). Come ricompensa per questo servizio fu eretta una sua statua tra i poeti nel Foro Traiano. Sidonio attirò sempre questo tipo di riconoscimenti, sia durante che dopo la sua vita.
Poco tempo dopo Avito fu deposto, e Sidonio partecipò a una rivolta con centro
a Lione a favore del suocero. Fu una pessima scelta: l'insurrezione, infatti,
falli. Di conseguenza ci si sarebbe dovuti aspettare la scomparsa di Sidonio
dalla scena politica, invece riuscì a guadagnarsi i favori del nuovo
imperatore, Maggiorano, e nel 458 a Lione, recitò un panegirico in suo onore.
Questo gli guadagnò un posto come impiegato statale a Roma, a partire dal 459 o
460. Nel 461 Maggiorano fu ucciso da Ricimer il Goto, che nominò imperatore
Severo. Sidonio fece ritorno in Francia per alcuni anni. Nel 465 Ricimer
avvelenò Severo, e nel 467 fu scelto Antemio al suo posto. Lo stesso anno
Sidonio si recò a Roma alla testa di una delegazione gallo-romana e, l' 1
gennaio 468, recitò un panegirico in onore del nuovo imperatore. Come
riconoscimento venne nominato praefectus urbi, prefetto di Roma. Sidonio, nel
469, ritornò in Gallia e accettò riluttante - dal momento che non aveva alcuna
esperienza ecclesiastica - la nomina a vescovo dell'Alvernia, con Clermont-Ferrand
come sede. Caratteristica fondamentale per un vescovo era godere di una certa
autorità per opporsi agli interessi dei potenti, per questo motivo molti
vescovi appartenevano a famiglie senatoriali. Si dice che Sidonio fu un pastore
serio ed efficiente, che dedicò ai suoi sacerdoti e alla diocesi le stesse
energie che aveva mostrato per il benessere morale dei suoi schiavi. Rinunciò
alla poesia, iniziò a digiunare a giorni alterni, donò molti dei suoi beni ai
monasteri e ai poveri, contribuendo a sostentare più di quattrocento abitanti
della Burgundia colpiti dalla carestia; organizzava processioni in tempo di
guerra, difendeva la sua gente con coraggio, specialmente contro i visigoti
quando assediarono Clermont. La sua abilità come uomo di stato e il suo
patriottismo furono probabilmente elementi decisivi per la scelta di qualcuno
che, come lui, avrebbe difeso gli interessi del potere centrale davanti ai
nemici. La città tuttavia cadde nel 474. Sidonio fu spaventato dall'eresia
ariana e ancora di più quando vide che l'autorità romana cedette formalmente
l'Alvernia a Eurico il Goto nel 475 ed egli fu esiliato nella fortezza di
Liviana, vicino a Carcassonne. Venne trattato umanamente e fu rilasciato nel
476, con il permesso di ritornare ad adempiere il suo incarico di vescovo fino
alla morte, avvenuta probabilmente nel 479-480, se non più tardi, nel 489-490.
Dedicò la maggior parte del tempo in quegli ultimi anni alla raccolta e alla
pubblicazione delle sue lettere. Diversi scritti di Sidonio sono sopravvissuti:
principalmente tre lunghi panegirici e alcuni poemi giovanili dedicati ad
amici. Si conoscono anche nove libri delle Epistolae, lettere ad amici e
relazioni e sette libri scritti durante gli anni di episcopato. Le lettere sono
prodotti letterari sullo stile di Plinio il giovane, e se mai sono state
scritte nelle date indicate, devono essere state sicuramente attentamente
rimaneggiate. Da queste si ricavano numerosi spaccati della vita cristiana
dell'epoca: gli aristocratici locali raccolti intorno alla tomba del console
Siagrio il giorno di S. Giusto, all'ombra di un pergolato in un caldo giorno
d'autunno; l'interno variopinto della nuova cattedrale di Lione, con uno dei
poemi di Sidonio nella decorazione musiva del muro della basilica; Claudiano Mamerto,
filosofo, architetto, oratore, esegeta, poeta e musico mentre prova
meticolosamente i suoi arrangiamenti musicali dei salmi (instructas docuit
sonare classes). Gli scritti di Sidonio lo ritraggono come un patriota
gallo-romano fiero e come un aristocratico estremamente consapevole della sua
posizione ma anche dei doveri dell'amicizia. Possedeva uno stile molto formale,
era pronto a mostrare la conoscenza degli artifici retorici e del discorso
ornato con una abbondanza di metafore eccessive per il discorso. Tuttavia pochi
sono gli scrittori veramente originali e le sue poesie, come le lettere, sono
spesso esecuzioni piacevoli e tentativi letterari ben riusciti. Il contenuto
spirituale delle sue opere è minimo, anche se vi sono numerosi ed edificanti riferimenti
alla mitologia classica. Nei secoli durante i quali furono pubblicati alcuni
compendi di autori latini, sacri e profani, per l'istruzione dei giovani
cristiani, un tipico Chorus Poetarum (simile a quello pubblicato da Louis Muget
a Lione nel 1615), considerava le opere di Sidonio, insieme a quelle di
Claudiano e Ausonio, come "profane", mentre Prudenzio, Venanzio,
Lattanzio ed altri erano considerati autori "religiosi". Per un lungo
periodo, perciò, Sidonio fu (e in un certo senso rimane) l'ultimo
rappresentante della cultura classica alla fine di un'epoca che aveva
annoverato Lucrezio, Orazio, Catullo, Properzio e Marziale. S. Gregorio di
Tours (17 novembre) fece una collezione (oggi perduta) delle sue Preghiere
Eucaristiche, le Contestatiunculae.
Sidonio venne venerato in tutta la Gallia, probabilmente, come è stato detto,
perché come altri molti santi fu un vescovo che non lasciò tristi memorie del
suo operato.
Autore: Alban Butler
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/67120
SIDONIO Apollinare, santo
Enciclopedia Italiana
(1936)
SIDONIO Apollinare, santo (Caius Sollius Modestus Apollinaris Sidonius)
Vescovo e scrittore gallo-romano, nato a Lione il 5 novembre 431 o 432, morto
verso il 487. Il nonno e il padre di S., ricchi proprietarî fondiarî della
Gallia, avevano ricoperto la carica di prefetto del pretorio delle Gallie
all'epoca rispettivamente di Teodosio e di Valentiniano III. La stessa moglie
di S., Papianilla, apparteneva a una nobile famiglia dell'Alvernia. Il 1°
gennaio 456, S. recitò davanti al senato il panegirico ufficiale di suo
suocero, l'imperatore Avito, e questo fatto gli valse l'onore di una statua nel
Foro Traiano. Quando Avito, osteggiato da una parte dell'aristocrazia romana,
abbandonò il trono, S. si affrettò a salvare la sua pericolante situazione
recitando anche il panegirico del successore Maggioriano. Un terzo panegirico,
quello di Antemio, gli meritò nel 468 la carica di prefetto di Roma e il titolo
di patrizio. Nel 471 o 472, per quanto semplice laico, fu eletto vescovo
di Arverna (Clermont-Ferrand) e portò nella sua nuova dignità la più
grande serietà di propositi organizzando anche la resistenza contro Eurico e i
Visigoti. Ma quando questi ebbero ottenuta l'Alvernia, mediante regolare
trattato con l'imperatore Nepote, S., dopo un periodo di cattività, riusci a
guadagnarsi con un poema in versi anche la simpatia del re Eurico.
Largamente nutrito di
cultura classica, spesso scolasticamente assimilata; educato al culto delle
tradizioni romane, ma, d'altra parte, attaccato per mille guise alla sua terra
natale, Sidonio Apollinare è il più tipico esponente della cultura e della
civiltà latina nella Gallia romanizzata, combattuta fra il sentimento della
romanità - così viva specialmente in Sidonio - e l'incipiente nazionalismo. Ma
se questo latente contrasto, acuito dalla sensazione di vedersi ormai separato
dalla realtà vivente di Roma, spiega alcuni atteggiamenti nell'attività
pubblica di S., e spesso il tono della sua stessa opera letteraria, esso non è
ultimo motivo del grande interesse che presentano gli scritti di S. quale
espressione fedele della vita, della cultura e dei sentimenti della Gallia
romana al tramonto del sec. V. E del resto l'opera letteraria di S., acuto
osservatore e saporito espositore di fatti e fattarelli, è quasi l'unica fonte
a cui è possibile attingere largamente notizie concrete sulla storia politica,
sociale e letteraria della Gallia in quel periodo.
L'opera letteraria di S.
consta di 24 poemi in esametri, distici elegiaci ed endecasillabi, e in 147
lettere da S. stesso raccolte in IX libri pubblicati successivamente fra il 469
e il 479. Letterariamente questi scritti (in Patrologia Lat., LVIII, col.
435 segg., e in Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auct. antiq.,
VIII, a cura di A. Lütj) ohann con introd. di Th. Mommsen, Hannover 1887; ed.
teubneriana a cura di P. Mohr, Lipsia 1895) hanno scarso valore, e nella loro
studiata e scolastica imitazione di schemi e modelli letterarî oramai da gran
tempo defunti, nell'ingombro dell'erudizione non sempre bene assimilata né mai
illuminata da senso critico, nella frase ricca così di preziosità come di
barbarismi lessicali, grammaticali e sintattici, testimoniano la profonda
decadenza di una lingua e di una cultura. Ciononostante, anzi forse per questo,
solo con l'umanesimo S. cessò di essere quell'autore letto e imitato ch'era
stato durante tutto il Medioevo.
Bibl.: W. Teuffel, Geschichte
der römischen Literatur, III, Lipsia 1913, p. 438 segg.; P. Allard, Saint
Sidoine Apollinaire, Parigi 1910; E. Merchie, Notes sur le style de
Sidoine Apollinaire, in Musée Belge, XXVII (1923), pp. 83-89; rassegna
sugli studî apparsi fra il 1900 e il 1920, in Jahresbericht über die
Fortschritte der klass. Altertumswiss., CCXXI (1929), pp. 133-36; A.
Jäger, S. A., ein Beitrag zur vor mittelalt. Bildungskrise, in Pharus (1928),
pp. 241-266; A. Loyen, L'Albis chez Claudien et S. A., in Revue des
études latines, 1933, pp. 203-211; id., Qu'est-ce que l'Albis?, ibid.,
pp. 322-24; A. Macé, Qu'est-ce que l'Albis?, ibid., pp. 321-22.
SOURCE : https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/santo-sidonio-apollinare_(Enciclopedia-Italiana)/
Sidonius Apollinaris
eigentlich: Gaius Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius
auch: von Clermont
Gedenktag katholisch: 21.
August
Name bedeutet: G: römischer Vorname (latein.)
So: der Wachsame (latein.)
A: dem Lichtgott (Apollon) geweiht (griech. - latein.)
Si: der Purpurrote oder: aus Sidon/Saida in
Phönizien stammend (latein.)
Präfekt, Dichter, Bischof von Clermont
* um 432 in Lyon in Frankreich
† 481 oder 486 in Clermont, heute Clermont-Ferrand in
Frankreich
Der als Sidonius
Apollinaris bekannt gewordene, früh schon als Dichter Berühmte hieß mit vollem
Namen Gaius Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius. Er stammte aus gallisch-römischem
Adel, erhielt eine gute rhetorische Ausbildung und heiratete die Tochter des
späteren Königs Avitus. Er wurde 468 römischer Präfekt; für die Dichtung seiner
Elogen auf den Kaiser erhielt er eine Statue im Forum
Romanum in Rom.
469/470 wurde er zum
Bischof von Clermont - dem heutigen Clermont-Ferrand -
gewählt, dem zugleich auch die weltliche Verwaltung oblag. Als die Westgoten
die Stadt belagerten, trat Sidonius 475 die Auvergne an
König Eurich ab; er musste deshalb sein Amt niederlegen, konnte aber bald
wieder zurückkehren. Sidonius setzte sich mit dem westgotischen König, einem
Anhänger des Arianismus,
auseinander und forderte die Wiederbesetzung der Bistümer mit katholischen
Amtsinhabern. In seinem eigenen Bistum kümmerte er sich um Notleidende und
förderte das geistliche Leben.
Besonders die Dichtung
von Sidonius wirkte nach, bis ins 13. und und 17. Jahrhundert. Überliefert sind
24 Gedichte, die er 469 veröffentlichte, und eine Sammlung von Briefen in neun
477 bis 481 publizierten Büchern.
Stadlers
Vollständiges Heiligenlexikon
Schriften
von Sidonius und seine Lebensgeschichte gibt es online zu lesen in den
Documenta Catholica Omnia.
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SOURCE : https://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienS/Sidonius_Apollinaris.html
Sidonius Apollinaris (von
Clermont)
S. Sidonius
Appollinarius, Ep. Conf. (23. Aug. al. 11. Juli). Dieser hl. Bischof von
Clermont en Auvergne (Claromontanum in Arvernia) ist der eilfte in der
Reihenfolge der Bischöfe dieses Sprengels (Gall. chr.) und eine Zierde der
Kirche seines Jahrhunderts. In seinem ganzen Wesen war er eine außerordentliche
Erscheinung und ist im Leben wie nach dem Tode, nach dem Zeugnisse des
hl. Gregorius
von Tours (hist Fr. II. 22 ff.) durch Wunder verherrlichet worden. Er
stammte aus einem angesehenen und reich begüterten Geschlechte. Sein voller Name
hieß Cajus Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius (Modestus). Die Geschichtsforscher sind
nicht einig, ob er zu Lyon oder Clermont geboren wurde. Ersteres ist nach
seinem eigenen Zeugnisse das Wahrscheinlichste. In der Angabe des Geburtsjahres
schwanken sie zwischen 430 und 431. Er erhielt eine sorgfältige Erziehung und
eine alle damals bekannten Wissenschaften umfassende Bildung. Seine Lehrer
verstanden es, ihm nicht bloß reiche Kenntnisse beizubringen, sondern auch
einen so regen Fortbildungsdrang einzupflanzen, daß er bis zum Ende seines
Lebens dem Studium treu blieb. Mit allen gelehrten Größen damaliger Zeit stand
er in freundschaftlichem Verkehre. Seine Gemahlin Papianilla erkor er sich aus
den höchsten Ständen; sie war die Tochter des Senators Flavius Eparchius
Avitus, der im J. 455 von den Westgothen für kurze Zeit mit dem Purpur
bekleidet wurde. Schon nach sechs Monaten mußte er aber dem Sueven Ricimer den
Platz räumen, welcher den Majorianus erhob. Auch dieser, obwohl Anfangs ihm so
wenig gewogen, daß er ihn seiner Güter beraubte, bediente sich bald des jungen
Mannes in Staatsangelegenheiten als Rathgebers und Mittelperson, und ernannte
ihn zum »Comes.« So lernte der Heilige allmählich die Gefahren irdischer Ehren
und Aemter kennen (nach ihnen streben, meinte er, sei ein zweifelhaftes Gut,
sie erlangen ein entschiedenes Unglück) und fühlte sich glücklich, mit den
Seinigen (er hatte einen Sohn, Namens Apollinaris, und zwei Töchter, Roscia und
Severiana) auf der Villa Avitacum (wahrscheinlich das heutige Aydat, einige
Stunden s.-w. von Clermont) in ruhiger Einsamkeit leben zu können. Er führte
hier das Leben eines vornehmen Adeligen im besten Sinne des Wortes: er war ein
Wohlthäter der Armen, ein Beschützer der Schwachen, ein Friedensstifter für die
Streitenden, ein gesuchter Vertheidiger des Rechts und der Wahrheit, ein Freund
der schönen Künste und Wissenschaften. Doch blieb er dem öffentlichen Leben
auch jetzt nicht ferne, ging im J. 459 zum Gothenkönig Theodorich in Spanien
als Gesandter des Kaisers Majorianus, und stand noch um das J. 467 zu dem
römischen (Schatten-) Kaiser Anthemius in nahen Beziehungen. Dieser ernannte
ihn zum Präses des Senates und zum Präfecten von Rom. Aber schon im J. 469
verließ er Rom wieder und kehrte nach Gallien zurück. Seine nicht im geringsten
auffallende, tief gegründete Frömmigkeit blieb Niemanden verborgen, obschon er
nichts that, sie zu zeigen. So kam es, daß er nach dem Ableben des Bischofs
Eparchius im J. 472 auf den bischöfl. Stuhl von Clermont erhoben wurde. »Ich
Unglücklicher«, schrieb er bald nachher, »bin gezwungen, ein Lehrer zu sein,
bevor ich gelernt habe, und soll das Gute predigen, ehe ich dasselbe geübt habe
- ein Baum, der statt der Früchte nur Blätter hat!« Die Zeitlage war schwierig.
Feindliche Heerschaaren standen an den Grenzen und was noch ärger war, weil es
das Seelenheil Tausender bedrohte, die siegreich vordringenden Westgothen
huldigten der arianischen Ketzerei. Der hl. Bischof begann seine Wirksamkeit
mit sich selbst. Er unterwarf sein Leben einer strengen Prüfung und fand, daß
es bis dahin eines Bischofes unwürdig war: »Ich bin ein junger Kleriker ,«
sagte er, »aber ein alter Sünder.« Und: »Selbst mit schweren Sünden beladen,
soll ich für die Sünden des Volkes beten!« Er bat um die Fürbitte seiner
Freunde, es möge ihn Gott lieber durch einen glückseligen, frommen Tod von den
Aengsten und der Last des gegenwärtigen Lebens befreien. Durch die Gebete,
welche Andere für ihn verrichteten, hoffte er Heilung seiner Seelenwunden.
Seine Gattin Papianilla blieb bei ihm, aber er lebte mit ihr für die Zukunft
wie mit einer Schwester. Seine Vatersorge dehnte er jetzt auf die ganze durch
den hl. Geist ihm zur Leitung übergebene Heerde aus. Er sah alle Bedürfnisse,
alle Nöthen und Gefahren, und schreckte auch vor den größten nicht zurück.
Ueberall, an den bedrohtesten Punkten, fand er sich persönlich ein, um zu
helfen, zu retten, zu trösten. In der Liebe zu den Armen übertraf er auch die kühnsten
Hoffnungen. Einmal, zur Zeit großer Hungersnoth, ernährte er 4000 Arme
zugleich. Mit allem Ernste betrieb er die biblischen Wissenschaften und
studirte besonders die Commentare des Origenes und des hl. Hieronymus.
Die Stadt Bourges dankt ihm die Erhebung des hl. Simplicius zum
Bischofe. Er reformirte die Sitten der Geistlichen und des Volkes und verlegte
sich mit dem größten Eifer auf die Wiederherstellung und Reinigung des
Gottesdienstes. Die silbernen Gefäße seines Hauses verkaufte er zu Gunsten der
Armen. Seine Gastfreundschaft kannte keine Grenzen. Weltliche Gedichte verfaßte
er jetzt nicht mehr, aber er dichtete mit großer Vorliebe Lobgesänge zu Ehren
der Heiligen. Als ein besonderes Mittel einer fruchtreichen Thätigkeit
betrachtete er den ununterbrochenen geistlichen Verkehr mit den berühmtesten
Bischöfen seiner Zeit. Besonders nahe standen ihm Euphronius
von Autun, Verpetuus von Tours und Lupus von Troyes.
Was der Letztere bei seiner Erhebung zum Bischofe an ihn geschrieben hatte: »Du
mußt Aller Diener werden«, war die Wurzel der schönsten und fruchtbarsten
bischöflichen Wirksamkeit geworden. So strahlte er bald als ein neues Licht der
Kirche in weitem Umkreise. Alle weltliche Thätigkeit legte er auf die Seite.
Als er aufgefordert wurde, die Geschichte seiner Zeit zu schreiben, gab er zur
Antwort: »Ich muß auf den Dienst Gottes bedacht sein; ich sehe wohl den Gang
der Welt und ihre Ereignisse, aber ich geize nicht mehr darnach, mir als
Schriftsteller einen Namen zu erwerben.« Das J. 475 war für ihn eines der
schwersten. Der Westgothenkönig Alarich belagerte die Stadt Clermont. Der hl.
Bischof betete und ordnete, wie der heil. Mamertus (s. d.) von
Vienne, Gebete an, fastete und ließ fasten. Darauf aber beschränkte sich sein
Eifer nicht. Er feuerte die Bürger zur Gegenwehr an und rüstete zur
Vertheidigung. Da kam die Nachricht, daß der römische Kaiser den Frieden um die
Uebergabe von Clermont erkauft habe. Mit thränenden Augen sah der hl. Bischof
die Westgothen am 28. August die Stadt besetzen. Er selbst wurde als
Kriegsgefangener nach Livia, später Campendu genannt, abgeführt und dort
eingesperrt. Nach seiner Befreiung, die durch göttliche Fügung schon nach
kurzer Zeit erfolgte, und nur noch einmal durch den Verrath zweier Priester,
die ihn als Verschwender der Kirchengüter ausschrieen und sogar zwangen, auf
kurze Zeit sein Bisthum zu verlassen, ernstlich bedroht war, nahm er alsbald
seine bischöfl. Thätigkeit wieder auf, indem er seinen Sprengel neuerdings
bereiste und seine Angehörigen zur Ausdauer in allen Prüfungen und
Widerwärtigkeiten ermunterte. Dabei vergaß er nicht seine eigene Heiligung.
Besonders die letzten Jahre seines Lebens brachte er in beständigem Gebete zu.
Noch bei Lebzeiten bestellte er sich seinen Bruder Aprunculus zu
seinem Nachfolger und entschlief am 23. August des J. 489 (488), wie man
gewöhnlich annimmt, in Frieden. (Einige Schriftsteller gehen bis ins J. 482
zurück.) Seine irdischen Reste wurde in der benachbarten Kirche St. Saturnin,
die noch im 10. Jahrh. erhalten war, beigesetzt. Hierauf wurden sie in die
St. Genesiuskirche,
von welcher die Revolution nur den Platz d. N. übrig gelassen hat, übertragen.
Das Gedächtniß dieser Translation wurde am 11. Juli gefeiert. Einige Theile
seiner Reliquien kamen auch in andere Kirchen, namentlich in die Kathedrale und
nach Aydat. Jetzt weiß man nichts mehr von denselben. Nur seine dankbare
Verehrung und seine Schriften (Gedichte und Briefe) sind bis auf unsere Zeit
gekommen. Er steht am 23. August im Mart. Rom. Zu Clermont wird sein Fest am
11. Juli gefeiert.17 (IV. 597-624)
SOURCE : https://www.heiligenlexikon.de/Stadler/Sidonius_Apollinaris.html
Françoise Prévot. « Sidoine
Apollinaire et l'Auvergne ». Revue d'histoire de l'Église de
France Année 1993 203 pp.
243-259
: https://www.persee.fr/doc/rhef_0300-9505_1993_num_79_203_1114
Sidoine APOLLINAIRE –
l’Art du repli nostalgique en temps barbare (Cours d’université, v.
1990) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQy2QHsD_qY&ab_channel=%C3%89CLAIRBRUT
Étienne Wolff. « Sidoine
Apollinaire et la poésie épigraphique », https://edizionicafoscari.unive.it/media/pdf/books/978-88-97735-95-3/978-88-97735-95-3-ch-09.pdf
Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts. Edited by Roger Pearse : https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/#sidonius_apollinaris
Voir aussi : http://orthodoxievco.net/ecrits/vies/synaxair/aout/sidoine.pdf
https://www.histoiresdauvergnats.com/2018/06/sidoine-apollinaire.html
