Page 128 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

Envoys and Political Communication,411–533

treats with the Goths only in a private or civilian capacity, and only in a
context of alliance, never of aggression. 76
The narrative returns to the Goths with the fifth episode. In 439, after
three years of conflict between the Goths and the imperial forces in Gaul,
peace is concluded through the agency of Avitus. The former general is
now praetorian prefect of Gaul, an exceptional transition from military
to civil authority. This is the first of three occasions on which Avitus
bends the Goths to cooperation with the empire. Though Sidonius may
exaggerate the seriousness of the Gothic threat, there is no reason to
doubt the historicity of Avitus’ central role in the settlement. 77
The significance of this episode, however, is the nature of Avitus’
relations with the Goths as depicted by Sidonius. The respect which
Avitus previously had earned from Theoderic I has blossomed into a
commanding authority. It is a sleight of hand; the two intervening military
accounts enable Sidonius to redefine the nature of the relationship he had
earlier established. Avitus did not travel to Toulouse himself in 439.The
peace was achieved by his pagina. But the constant imagery of Avitus’
eloquence and authority assimilates this episode with earlier and later
embassies to the Goths.
Avitus’ success is contrasted with the failure of the military to resolve
the conflict. Litorius is captured; Aetius’ military and diplomatic ap-
proaches have failed. 78 But Avitus can resolve the conflict peacefully. In
this instance, Sidonius explicitly distances Avitus, whose martial prowess
he has recently praised, from ‘savage battles’. 79
The sixth episode develops this presentation of Avitus. Again Aetius
is at a loss, now unable to secure the support of the Goths against Attila

76 J¨ ulicher, ‘Eparchius Avitus’, 2396 makes Avitus’ involvement in the relief of Narbo an embassy
to Toulouse, which is certainly the impression Sidonius wishes to give.
77 While most sources focus on the defeat and capture of the pagan Litorius at Toulouse (e.g.
Cassiodorus, Chron., c. 1232; Salvian, De gubernatione Dei vii, 9.39–10.44; Vita Orientii 62), the
subsequent settlement between the empire and the Goths is recorded by Prosper, Chron., 1335;
Hyd., c. 116–17 [108–9]; Jordanes, Get. xxxiv, 177; possibly Merobaudes, Pan. ii, 144–97, esp.
186–7 (cf. Clover, Merobaudes, 58–9 and Harries, Sidonius, 69, though PLRE ii,‘Avitus 7’, 25
identifies the passage with Avitus’ victory the previous year). Jordanes states that the conflict
had reached a stand-off (utrique fortes et neuter infirmior esset) and this is implied also by Prosper’s
account(anceps pugna). Prosper makes the Goths the initiators of the settlement, but this does not
necessarily mean that they were overwhelmed by the imperial forces. Both Salvian and the Vita
Orientii state that the Goths also had sought peace before Litorius’ ill-fated attack on Toulouse.
The death of Litorius, who had refused these overtures, may have enabled a settlement desirable
to both sides to be reached (cf. Loyen, Recherches, 49–50 and 50 n. 2). Jordanes clearly refers to
a negotiated, mutually agreed settlement. On Jordanes’ account: Olivier Devillers, ‘Le conflit
entre Romains et Wisigoths en 436–439 d’apr` es les Getica de Jordan` es: fortune et infortune de
l’abr´ eviateur’, Revue de Philologie de Litt´ erature et d’Histoire Anciennes 69 (1995), 111–26.
78
Sid. Ap., Carm. vii, 299–300: nil prece,nil pretio,nil milite fractus agabat/Aetius.
79
Sid. Ap., Carm. vii, 312–15: fera proelia.
102