Page 118 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

Envoys and Political Communication,411–533

of Avitus’ homeland, ancestry, birth, and education, are followed by his
public deeds, the main part of the poem; a brief epilogue concludes the
work. 30
Sidonius’ structure is copied directly from his undoubted model,
Claudian, rather than from a rhetorical handbook. 31 The poetic pan-
egyrics of Claudian, panegyricistatthe western imperial courtand propa-
gandistfor the magister utriusque militiae Stilicho from 396 to 404, differed
structurally from the prose panegyrics of the third and fourth centuries.
His epic style transformed the lengthiest part of the encomium, the
account of the subject’s deeds, from a list categorised under different the-
matic subheadings into a narrative, comprising sequential speeches and
tableaux. Sidonius closely follows Claudian, borrowing his dramatic set-
ting for the Panegyric on Avitus, the council of Olympians and Roma’s
supplication before Jupiter, from Claudian’s epic De bello Gildonico and his
32
mythological poem De raptu Proserpinae. ButSidonius’ debtto Claudian
goes deeper than structure and imagery. Claudian was a master propagan-
dist; like him, Sidonius employs rhetorical bombast, narrative structure,
allusion, and omission for the purposes of propaganda.
Claudian’s success not only revived the genre of Latin poetic pan-
egyric, but created a new role for political poetry in the West. The prose
panegyrics of the fourth century, ubiquitous in public ceremonies, gave
many aspiring orators entry into public life; offices were granted to pan-
egyricists both as reward for praise and in recognition of rhetorical virtu-
osity. Stilicho’s relationship with Claudian, however, was more sustained
than was customary between patron and panegyricist. After discovering
Claudian, Stilicho used the poet as a mouthpiece not just once or twice,
but continuously throughout most of a decade; the stream of propa-
33
ganda was cutoff probably by Claudian’s death. Stilicho’s successors as
generalissimo followed his lead in securing the exclusive services of a single
poet to produce panegyrics and other works on their behalf. The magistri
utriusque militiae Boniface and Sebastian had a Gallic panegyrist to sing
their praises, while their rival, Aetius, was lauded by an Italian soldier-
poet, Quintianus. Valentinian III, too, enjoyed the praises of a panegyrist,

30
Introduction: Sid. Ap., Carm. vii, 123–38; patria: 139–52; gens: 153–62; birth and youth: 162–206;
deeds: 207–584; epilogue: 585–98. Cf. Harrison, ‘Verse Panegyrics of Sidonius’, chapter 4, 100–56.
31
Andr´ eLoyen, Sidoine Apollinaire et l’esprit pr´ ecieux en Gaule aux derniers jours de l’Empire (Paris,
1943), 32–3; Cameron, Claudian, 255.
32
Cameron, Claudian, 253–66; MacCormack, ‘Latin Prose Panegyrics’, 186; MacCormack, Art and
Ceremony, 6–7. Sidonius on Claudian: Carm. ix, 274–6.
Council of Olympians in Claudian: Claudian, De raptu Proserpinae iii, 1–17;Romabefore
Jupiter: In Gildonem, 17–127; cf. Portmann, Geschichte in der sp¨ atantiken Panegyrik, 99–100.
33
Panegyrics as entry to public office: Cameron, ‘Wandering Poets’, 484–91, 497–507. Stilicho and
Claudian: Cameron, Claudian, 37–62, 415–18.
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