Page 132 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

Envoys and Political Communication,411–533

no acclamation in Toulouse, only those of Arles. According to Marius of
Avenches, when Avitus was proclaimed emperor, Theoderic II entered
Arles ‘in peace’. 96 The presence of the Goths at Arles when the Gallic
nobles agreed to Avitus’ elevation does not feature in Sidonius’ version
of events. 97
The ability to mobilise the military strength of the Goths was the basis
of Avitus’ claim to authority. Sidonius, however, carefully distances the
Goths from the legitimate acclamations of Avitus, just as he is particular
to employ the familiar topos of the new emperor unwillingly sought
out. The description of the acclamations in Arles is unusual amongst
late antique panegyrics for its ‘legalistic emphasis on the constitutional
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process of election’. The scene presents a claim: despite Avitus’ unusual
basis for authority, his election was a purely Roman affair, observing
all traditional norms. 99 By recognising Avitus, the Senate accepted this
misrepresentation as true.
This claim is the climax of the poem. The narrative ends in Arles,
rather than continuing to recount Avitus’ journey to Italy and arrival in

96
Marius of Avenches, Chron., s.a. 455.
97
Avitus was accompanied by a Gothic bodyguard, in addition to part of the Gallic army, when he
went to Italy; Priscus, Fr., 32 = John of Antioch, Fr., 202.
98 MacCormack, Art and Ceremony, 232,cf. 223–34.
99 Avitus, arriving at the assembly of Gallic nobles greeting his return from Toulouse, is addressed
by procerum . . . maximus unus,/dignus qui patriae personam sumeret (Carm. vii, 530–1). Whereas the
Gothic warrior who speaks at Carm. vii, 411–30 is a fictitious, composite character (cf. Claudian,
De bello Gothico, 485–517), the Gallic spokesman is probably real. Loyen identifies this person
as Tonantius Ferreolus, praetorian prefect of Gaul in 451;Loyen, Sidoine i, 186 n. 91, followed
by Reydellet, La Royaut´ e, 56; Rouche, L’Aquitaine, 30. There is no evidence to support this
identification, which seems based solely on the assumption that the description of the speaker is
flattery, consistent with Sidonius’ praise of Tonantius elsewhere (Carm. xxiv, 35; Ep. vii, 12). But
Sidonius’ terminology is more exact. Proceres refers to imperial office holders, notjust‘magnates’;
cf. Carm. vii, 210: Constantius, then senior magister utriusque militiae and patricius,is procerum . . .
potentior. The ‘greatest of [civil] leaders’ in Gaul must be the current praetorian prefect of Gaul.
Only the praetorian prefect would be fit to ‘assume the character of his homeland’. The description
invokes the familiar figures of the personifications of provinces, as seen e.g. in the illustrations
to Not. dig. Oc. ii and Or. iii, and probably appearing on the codicils of office. Unfortunately,
the identity of the praetorian prefect of Gaul for 455 is unknown; he may have been Priscus
Valerianus, a relative of Avitus (PLRE ii, ‘Priscus Valerianus 8’, 1142–3;Sid.Ap., Carm. viii,
title, 1–2).
Avitus was formally nominated as emperor by the highest civil officer in the Gallic prefecture.
This is another aspect of the ‘legalism’ of the Arles scene.
The assembly at which Avitus is elevated has been identified as a regular meeting of the
Concilium septem provinciarum (Gibbon, Decline and Fall ii, 364; Demougeot ii.2, 576; cf. Bury’s
note to his edition of Gibbon (7 vols., London, 1926), iv, 10 n. 21), butthis is unlikely. When
established in 418,the Concilium metfrom mid-Augustto mid-September, notin July, when
Avitus was proclaimed; MGH Epp. 3, 13–15. The 455 assembly included nobles from the Rhine
provinces, which do not appear to have been included in the Concilium;Sid.Ap., Carm. vii,
527. Moreover, Sidonius states that the meeting was assembled solely to welcome Avitus (and,
no doubt, proclaim him emperor); Carm. vii, 521–30.
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