Gaius Sollius Modestus Apollinaris Sidonius, better known as Sidonius Apollinaris (5 November of an unknown year, 430 – 481/490 AD), was a
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
,
diplomat
A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...
, and
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
. Sidonius is "the single most important surviving author from 5th-century Gaul" according to Eric Goldberg. He was one of four
Gallo-Roman
Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, language, morals and way of life in a uniquely Gaulish context ...
aristocrats of the 5th- to 6th-century whose letters survive in quantity; the others are
Ruricius
Ruricius I (c. 440c. 510) was a Gallo-Roman aristocrat and bishop of Limoges from c. 485 to 510. He is one of the writers whose letters survive from late Roman Gaul, depicting the influence of the Visigoths on the Roman lifestyle. He should not ...
,
bishop of Limoges
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Limoges (Latin: ''Dioecesis Lemovicensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Limoges'') is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the '' départments'' of Haute-Vienne and Cr ...
(died 507),
Alcimus Ecdicius Avitus,
bishop of Vienne
The Archbishopric of Vienne, named after its episcopal seat in Vienne in the Isère département of southern France, was a metropolitan Roman Catholic archdiocese. It is now part of the Archdiocese of Lyon.
History
The legend according to whi ...
(died 518) and
Magnus Felix Ennodius
Magnus Felix Ennodius (473 or 47417 July 521 AD) was Bishop of Pavia in 514, and a Latin rhetorician and poet.
He was one of four Gallo-Roman aristocrats of the fifth to sixth-century whose letters survive in quantity: the others are Sidonius Ap ...
of Arles, bishop of Ticinum (died 534). All of them were linked in the tightly bound aristocratic
Gallo-Roman
Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, language, morals and way of life in a uniquely Gaulish context ...
network that provided the bishops of Catholic Gaul. His feast day is 21 August.
Life
Sidonius was born in
Lugdunum
Lugdunum (also spelled Lugudunum, ; modern Lyon, France) was an important Roman city in Gaul, established on the current site of Lyon. The Roman city was founded in 43 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus, but continued an existing Gallic settle ...
(modern
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
). His father, whose name is unknown, was
Prefect
Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area.
A prefect's ...
of
Gaul
Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...
under
Valentinian III
Valentinian III ( la, Placidus Valentinianus; 2 July 41916 March 455) was Roman emperor in the West from 425 to 455. Made emperor in childhood, his reign over the Roman Empire was one of the longest, but was dominated by powerful generals vying ...
(Sidonius recalls with pride being present with his father at the installation of
Astyrius
Flavius Astyrius or Asturius ( 441–449) was a general and a politician of the Western Roman Empire.
Biography
Astyrius was the father-in-law of Merobaudes and belonged to an aristocratic family.
He followed a military career: between 441 an ...
as
consul
Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...
for the year 449.) Sidonius' grandfather was
Praetorian Prefect
The praetorian prefect ( la, praefectus praetorio, el, ) was a high office in the Roman Empire. Originating as the commander of the Praetorian Guard, the office gradually acquired extensive legal and administrative functions, with its holders be ...
of
Gaul
Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...
sometime prior to 409 and a friend of his successor
Decimus Rusticus Decimus Rusticus (sometimes Rusticus Decimus) of Treves (then ''Augusta Treverorum'') and Lyon ('' Lugdunum'') (c. 370 – before 423) was a Master of the Offices and the praetorian prefect of Gaul between 409 and 410 or 413. He was one of those ...
. Sidonius may be a descendant of another Apollinaris who was Prefect of Gaul under
Constantine II between 337 and 340.
Sidonius married
Papianilla, the daughter of Emperor
Avitus
Eparchius Avitus (c. 390 – 457) was Roman emperor of the West from July 455 to October 456. He was a senator of Gallic extraction and a high-ranking officer both in the civil and military administration, as well as Bishop of Piacenza.
He o ...
, around 452. This union produced one son,
Apollinaris, and at least two daughters, Severina and Roscia, whom Sidonius mentions in his letters. A daughter Alcima is mentioned much later by
Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Florenti ...
, and
Theodor Mommsen
Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th cent ...
speculated that Alcima may be another name for one of his other daughters. His known acquaintances include bishop
Faustus of Riez
Saint Faustus of Riez was an early Bishop of Riez (Rhegium) in Southern Gaul (Provence), the best known and most distinguished defender of Semipelagianism.
Biography
Faustus was born between 400 and 410, and his contemporaries, Avitus of Vienne ...
and his theological adversary
Claudianus Mamertus
Claudianus Ecdidius Mamertus (died c. 473 AD) was a Gallo-Roman theologian and the younger brother of Saint Mamertus, Bishop of Vienne.
Biography
Descended probably from one of the leading families of the country, Claudianus Mamertus relinquished ...
; his life and friendships put him in the center of 5th-century Roman affairs.
In 457
Majorian
Majorian ( la, Iulius Valerius Maiorianus; died 7 August 461) was the western Roman emperor from 457 to 461. A prominent general of the Roman army, Majorian deposed Emperor Avitus in 457 and succeeded him. Majorian was the last emperor to make ...
deprived Avitus of the empire and seized the city of Lyons; Sidonius fell into his hands. However, the reputation of Sidonius's learning led Majorian to treat him with the greatest respect. In return Sidonius composed a panegyric in his honour (as he had previously done for Avitus), which won for him a statue at Rome and the title of ''
comes
''Comes'' ( ), plural ''comites'' ( ), was a Roman title or office, and the origin Latin form of the medieval and modern title "count".
Before becoming a word for various types of title or office, the word originally meant "companion", either i ...
''. In 467 or 468 the emperor
Anthemius
Procopius Anthemius (died 11 July 472) was western Roman emperor from 467 to 472.
Perhaps the last capable Western Roman Emperor, Anthemius attempted to solve the two primary military challenges facing the remains of the Western Roman Empire: ...
rewarded him for the panegyric which he had written in honour of him by raising him to the post of
Urban Prefect of Rome, which he held until 469, and afterwards to the dignity of
Patrician
Patrician may refer to:
* Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage
* Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...
and
Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
. In 470 or 472, he was elected to succeed
Eparchius in the
bishopric of Averna (Clermont).
When the Goths captured Clermont in 474 he was imprisoned, as he had taken an active part in its defense, but he was afterwards released from captivity by
Euric
Euric (Gothic: ''* Aiwareiks'', see '' Eric''), also known as Evaric, or Eurico in Spanish and Portuguese (c. 420 – 28 December 484), son of Theodoric I, ruled as king (''rex'') of the Visigoths, after murdering his brother, Theodoric II, ...
, king of the Goths, and continued to serve as bishop until his death.
Sidonius's relations have been traced over several generations as a narrative of a family's fortunes, from the prominence of his paternal grandfather's time into later decline in the 6th century under the
Franks
The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...
. Sidonius's son Apollinaris, who was a correspondent of
Ruricius
Ruricius I (c. 440c. 510) was a Gallo-Roman aristocrat and bishop of Limoges from c. 485 to 510. He is one of the writers whose letters survive from late Roman Gaul, depicting the influence of the Visigoths on the Roman lifestyle. He should not ...
of
Limoges
Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...
, commanded a unit raised in
Auvergne
Auvergne (; ; oc, label=Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Auverg ...
on the losing side of the decisive
Battle of Vouille
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
, and also was bishop of Clermont for four months until he died. Sidonius's grandson Arcadius, on hearing a rumor that the Frankish king
Theuderic I __NOTOC__
Theuderic I (c. 485 – 533/34) was the Merovingian king of Metz, Rheims, or Austrasia—as it is variously called—from 511 to 533 or 534.
He was the son of Clovis I and one of his earlier wives or concubines (possibly a Franc ...
had died, betrayed Clermont to
Childebert I
Childebert I (c. 496 – 13 December 558) was a Frankish King of the Merovingian dynasty, as third of the four sons of Clovis I who shared the kingdom of the Franks upon their father's death in 511. He was one of the sons of Saint Cl ...
, only to abandon his wife and mother when Theuderic appeared; his other appearance in the history of Gregory of Tours is as a servant of king Childebert.
Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Florenti ...
speaks of Sidonius as a man who could celebrate
Mass
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...
from memory (without a
sacramentary
In the Western Church of the Early and High Middle Ages, a sacramentary was a book used for liturgical services and the mass by a bishop or priest. Sacramentaries include only the words spoken or sung by him, unlike the missals of later cent ...
) and give unprepared speeches without any hesitation.
Sidonius was still living in 481. He was dead before 490, when his successor as bishop, Aprunculus, died. His date of death was 21 or 23 August.
Works
His extant works are his ''
Panegyric
A panegyric ( or ) is a formal public speech or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing. The original panegyrics were speeches delivered at public events in ancient Athens.
Etymology
The word originated as a compound of grc, ...
s'' on different emperors (in which he draws largely upon
Statius
Publius Papinius Statius (Greek: Πόπλιος Παπίνιος Στάτιος; ; ) was a Greco-Roman poet of the 1st century CE. His surviving Latin poetry includes an epic in twelve books, the ''Thebaid''; a collection of occasional poetry, ...
,
Ausonius
Decimius Magnus Ausonius (; – c. 395) was a Roman poet and teacher of rhetoric from Burdigala in Aquitaine, modern Bordeaux, France. For a time he was tutor to the future emperor Gratian, who afterwards bestowed the consulship on him. H ...
and
Claudian
Claudius Claudianus, known in English as Claudian (; c. 370 – c. 404 AD), was a Latin poet associated with the court of the Roman emperor Honorius at Mediolanum (Milan), and particularly with the general Stilicho. His work, written almost ent ...
), which document several important political events. Carmen 7 is a panegyric to his father-in-law Avitus on his inauguration as emperor. Carmen 5 is a panegyric to
Majorian
Majorian ( la, Iulius Valerius Maiorianus; died 7 August 461) was the western Roman emperor from 457 to 461. A prominent general of the Roman army, Majorian deposed Emperor Avitus in 457 and succeeded him. Majorian was the last emperor to make ...
, which offers evidence that Sidonius was able to overcome the natural suspicion and hostility towards the man who was responsible for the death of his father-in-law. Carmen 2 is a panegyric to the emperor
Anthemius
Procopius Anthemius (died 11 July 472) was western Roman emperor from 467 to 472.
Perhaps the last capable Western Roman Emperor, Anthemius attempted to solve the two primary military challenges facing the remains of the Western Roman Empire: ...
, part of Sidonius' efforts to be appointed Urban Prefect of Rome; several samples of
occasional verse
Occasional poetry is poetry composed for a particular occasion. In the history of literature, it is often studied in connection with orality, performance, and patronage.
Term
As a term of literary criticism, "occasional poetry" describes the work ...
; and nine books of ''Letters'', about which
W.B. Anderson notes, "Whatever one may think about their style and diction, the letters of Sidonius are an invaluable source of information on many aspects of the life of his time." While very stilted in diction, these ''Letters'' reveal Sidonius as a man of genial temper, fond of good living and of pleasure. A letter of Sidonius's addressed to
Riothamus
Riothamus (also spelled Riutimus or Riotimus) was a Romano-British military leader, who was active circa AD 470. He fought against the Goths in alliance with the declining Western Roman Empire. He is called " King of the Britons" by the 6th-century ...
, "King of the Brittones" (c. 470) is of particular interest, since it provides evidence that a king or military leader with ties to Britain lived around the time frame of
King Arthur
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...
. An English translation of his poetry and letters by W.B. Anderson, with accompanying Latin text, have been published by the
Loeb Classical Library
The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a series of books originally published by Heinemann in London, but is currently published by Harvard University Press. The library contains important works of ancient Greek and L ...
(volume 1, containing his poems and books 1-2 of his letters, 1939; remainder of letters, 1965). Among his lost works, is the one on
Apollonius of Tyana
Apollonius of Tyana ( grc, Ἀπολλώνιος ὁ Τυανεύς; c. 3 BC – c. 97 AD) was a Greek Neopythagorean philosopher from the town of Tyana in the Roman province of Cappadocia in Anatolia. He is the subject of ''L ...
.
Manuscript tradition
Although Sidonius' works may have been published in part during his lifetime (5th century), there is no textual evidence of this and all manuscripts can be traced back to a single archetype, which is estimated as dating to roughly the 7th century. The oldest witness dates to the 9th century and is likely a fourth-generation copy. Although the archetype contained poems, they were omitted in most copies, and most extant manuscripts contain only his letters, often jumbled together with a garbled transcription of another writer,
Ausonius
Decimius Magnus Ausonius (; – c. 395) was a Roman poet and teacher of rhetoric from Burdigala in Aquitaine, modern Bordeaux, France. For a time he was tutor to the future emperor Gratian, who afterwards bestowed the consulship on him. H ...
. Most of the work on textual variants was done by in the 1870s, but Lütjohann died prematurely before he had developed the
stemmatics, which are crucial for reconstructing Sidonius' idiosyncratic Latin. Lütjohann's work is published in the 1887 ''
Monumenta Germaniae Historica
The ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica'' (''MGH'') is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published primary sources, both chronicle and archival, for the study of Northwestern and Central European history from the end of the Roman Empire ...
'' with inferior stemmatics provided by other scholars. Franz Dolveck provided a partial new stemma, including only those editions complete with poetry, in 2020.
[Franz Dolveck, "The Manuscript Tradition of Sidonius," in ''Edinburgh Companion to Sidonius Apollinaris'', ed. Gavin Kelly (Edinburgh University Press, 2020).]
Notes
Sources and further reading
* C.E. Stevens, ''Sidonius Apollinaris and his Age''. Oxford: University Press, 1933.
*K.F. Stroheker. ''Der senatorische Adel im spätantiken Gallien.'' Tübingen, 1948.
* Nora Chadwick, ''Poetry and Letters in Early Christian Gaul'' London: Bowes and Bowes, 1955.
*
*
*
* Sigrid Mratschek, "Identitätsstiftung aus der Vergangenheit: Zum Diskurs über die trajanische Bildungskultur im Kreis des Sidonius Apollinaris", in Therese Fuhrer (hg), ''Die christlich-philosophischen Diskurse der Spätantike: Texte, Personen, Institutionen: Akten der Tagung vom 22.-25. Februar 2006 am Zentrum für Antike und Moderne der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freibur''g (Stuttgart, Franz Steiner Verlag, 2008) (Philosophie der Antike, 28),
* Johannes A. van Waarden and Gavin Kelly (eds), ''New Approaches to Sidonius Apollinaris, with Indices on Helga Köhler, C. Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius: Briefe Buch I''. Leuven: Peeters, 2013.
*M. P. Hanaghan,
Reading Sidonius' Epistles', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019.
*Gavin Kelly and Joop van Waarden (eds),
', Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2020.
External links
Lynn Harry Nelson.
1887 critical Latin edition of the works of Sidonius ''
Monumenta Germaniae Historica
The ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica'' (''MGH'') is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published primary sources, both chronicle and archival, for the study of Northwestern and Central European history from the end of the Roman Empire ...
''
Biographical introduction to the ''Letters'' O. M. Dalton (1915)
Complete English translation of the Letters of Sidonius Apollinaris O. M. Dalton (1915)
Sidonius Apollinaris, dedicated site, with bibliography and complete Latin text of the correspondence and the poetry maintained by Joop van Waarden since 2003, frequently updated
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sidonius Apollinaris
Bishops of Clermont
Latin letter writers
5th-century Roman poets
People from Lugdunum
Urban prefects of Rome
5th-century Latin writers
5th-century bishops in Gaul
5th-century Christian saints
430 births
480s deaths
Occasional poets