Page 116 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

Envoys and Political Communication,411–533

and three months after Avitus had arrived from Gaul as emperor. Like all
imperial panegyrics, itwas the productof a specific ceremonial occasion.
As part of the consular celebrations, the Panegyric addressed the civilian
aristocracy of Rome with an account of Avitus’ accession, emphasising
the legitimacy and efficacy of his authority. Panegyrics were deployed
in imperial public events for functions ranging from ceremonial flour-
ish and affirmation of dominant sociopolitical values, to propaganda ad-
vancing specific policies or claims to legitimacy. Authors of panegyrics
may often have had little official or personal connection with the em-
perors they praised; few late antique panegyricists were, like Sidonius,
personally related to their imperial subjects. 21 There is no doubtthat
the panegyric to Avitus was propaganda, addressed to a specific, Roman
audience.
Rome’s status as a political centre, eclipsed during the later third and
early fourth centuries, had improved since the late fourth century. This
steady revival reached its zenith in the mid-fifth century, as Rome again
became the regular residence of the western emperors. Although Ravenna
was the administrative capital of the West under Honorius and the early
partof Valentinian III’s reign, from about 440 Valentinian frequently
resided in Rome, and relocated there definitively in 450. 22 This shift
is reflected also in the role of the senatorial aristocracy. Roman aristo-
crats of the mid-fifth century were more frequently honoured than their
predecessors with the western consulate. 23 The ambitions of Petronius
Maximus, and the machinations in Rome following the death of Valen-
tinian, are only the most melodramatic evidence of increased senatorial
participation in imperial administration and politics. 24 Avitus’ establish-
ment in Rome, and the celebration of his consulate there, attests his
recognition of the need to placate interests in the ancient capital. 25 The
Panegyric is testimony of the emperor’s relations with the aristocracy of
Rome.

21
Sabine MacCormack, ‘Latin Prose Panegyrics’, in T. A. Dorey (ed.), Empire and Aftermath: Silver
Latin II (London and Boston, 1975), 163; MacCormack, Art and Ceremony, 223–4; modified
by C. E. V. Nixon and Barbara Saylor Rodgers (trans.), In Praise of Later Roman Emperors: The
Panegyrici Latini (Berkeley, 1994), 7, 26–33. Imperial panegyric delivered by a relative: Julian,
Panegyric on the Emperor Constantius II and On Royalty,in Œuvres compl` etes, ed. and trans. J. Bidez,
i (Bud´ e; Paris, 1932).
22
Seeck, Regesten, 368–400; Stewart Irving Oost, Galla Placidia Augusta: A Biographical Essay
(Chicago, 1968), 254 n. 11; Gillett, ‘Rome, Ravenna’, 142–8.
23
Bagnall et al., Consuls LRE, 4–6, 354–445; Gillett, ‘Rome, Ravenna’, 163 n. 145.
24
Priscus, Fr., 30.1 = John of Antioch, Fr., 201. For the background to the Senate’s rising influence
in the early fifth century: Matthews, Western Aristocracies, esp. 253–7, 352–61, 381–8.
25
Cf. Portmann, Geschichte in der sp¨ atantiken Panegyrik, 105. Avitus remained in Rome until forced
to leave Italy: Priscus, Fr., 32 = John of Antioch, Fr., 202; Gillett, ‘Rome, Ravenna’, 149.
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