Page 115 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

The hero as envoy: Sidonius Apollinaris

Avitus travelled to Toulouse to convince the Goths – so Sidonius says –
to maintain the alliance they had observed under Valentinian III. 15 Just
then, Sidonius adds, news of Maximus’ death and the Vandal attack on
Rome arrived in Toulouse. The Gothic king Theoderic II urged Avitus
to assume the purple; Avitus displayed the reluctance for advancement
becoming to imperial candidates. 16 Soon after, an assembly of Gallic
nobles at Beaucaire, near the provincial capital Arles, nominated Avitus
as emperor, and two days later, on 9 or 10 July, Avitus was proclaimed by
the ‘Gallic army’. 17
Avitus travelled to Rome later in the summer, entering Italy on
18
21 September. In Rome, he was received and recognised by the Senate.
Proclaiming himself consul for the following year, in accordance with the
usual practice of new emperors, Avitus was accordingly voted consular
honours by the Senate. 19 During the celebrations for the beginning of
Avitus’ consular year, 1 January 456, his son-in-law Sidonius delivered
before the Senate the extant Panegyric on the emperor’s consulate. 20
Sidonius’ Panegyric was delivered six months after Geiseric had system-
atically looted the imperial city and seized the family of Valentinian III,

15
PLRE ii, 198 incorrectly states that Maximus ‘immediately sent [Avitus] as his envoy to the Goths
atToulouse’ (my emphasis).
16 News of Maximus’ death: Sid. Ap., Carm. vii, 450–1: captivum imperium ad Geticas rumor tulit aures
(cf. 378: the announcement to Avitus of his appointment as magister utriusque militiae is described as
collati rumor honoris; Anderson misleadingly translates rumor at 451 as ‘rumour’, at 378 as ‘tidings’;
Loyen better translates both as ‘la nouvelle’). Theoderic II and Avitus: Carm. vii, 506–19.Onthe
topos of reluctance: MacCormack, Art and Ceremony, 180 with 348 n. 105, 199, 209, 223, 249.
Cf. Gregory of Tours, Hist. ii, 11: [Avitus] Romanum ambisset imperium.
17 Sid. Ap., Carm. vii, 519–80. Date: Addit. ad Prosp. Havn., s.a. 455 (9 July); Fasti Vind. Priores, s.a.
455 (10 July); cf. Continuatio Prosperi Reichenaviensis ad a. 457 (MGH AA 9, 490), cc. 29–30: Avitus
elevated post aliquos dies after Geiseric occupied Rome (2–14 July).
Victor of Tunnuna, Chron., s.a. 455 states that Avitus came to power on the 75th day after
Geiseric entered Rome, i.e. 14 August, which contradicts all other sources. This appears to
be an error, accepted only by Bury i, 326. Seeck, RE ii.2, 2396 and Untergang vi, 476 n. 18,
explains the figure lxxv as a scribal error for xxv, i.e. Avitus came to power on the 25th day after
Geiseric left Rome. The figure could also be an erroneously transferred duplicate of the length
of Maximus’ reign, given by Victor as diebus lxxvii (cf. other records of the length of Maximus’
reign: Continuatio Prosperi ad a. 462 (MGH AA 9, 491), line 4: 75 days; Cont. Prosp. Reich.,s. 28:
72 days; Chron. Gall. a. 511,c. 623: 70 days). Hodgkin, Italy ii, 376, takes 14 August as the date
on which the news of Avitus’ elevation reached Rome, but a delay of five weeks from southern
Gaul to Italy is unlikely, and Victor’s sources were probably eastern, not Roman.
Presumably 9 or 10 July is the date of Avitus’ acclamation by the army. On Avitus’ acclamation:
MacCormack, Art and Ceremony, 223–4 and below, atnn. 90–9.
On Avitus’ accession: Bury i, 326; Seeck, Untergang vi, 328; Stein i, 368; Jones, LRE i, 240;
Demougeot ii.2, 576–7; Stevens, Sidonius, 28–9;Loyen, Recherches, 55; Karl Friedrich Stroheker,
Der senatorische Adel im sp¨ atantiken Gallien (T¨ ubingen, 1948), 53, 153; Harries, Sidonius, 54.
18
Addit. ad Prosp. Havn., s.a. 455.
19
Hyd., c. 163 [156]: Avitus . . . Romam pergit et suscipitur;Sid.Ap., Carm. vii, 7–10. Avitus’ consulate
was not recognised in the East, nor by Majorian; Bagnall et al., Consuls LRE, s.a. 456.
20
Date: Sid. Ap., Carm. vii, 10–13.
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