Page 138 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

Envoys and Political Communication,411–533

severitas rather than linguae rotunditate), and he is faithful. At the same time,
Sidonius criticises the faults of plurimi undesirable envoys: unimpressive
in their delivery, more concerned for their reputation than the success
of their mission, and worst, treacherous and profiteering: ‘those who,
bartering the secrets of the princes who have sent them, hope to do well
from the barbarians for the legate rather than for the legation’. 119 In his
well-known letter to the bishops involved in the negotiations with Euric
which resulted in the ceding of the Auvergne to the Goths, Sidonius simi-
larly accuses the bishops of using their role in the communications ‘not
to relieve public dangers so much as to pursue their private fortunes’. 120
The heroic image of the envoy which Sidonius drew upon in the Pan-
egyric on Avitus is echoed in these minor eulogies and invectives of the
460s and 470s. Though there are no lengthy analogues to Sidonius’ liter-
ary exploitation of the status of envoys in extant panegyric, there are close
comparanda in contemporary works of another eulogistic genre: hagiog-
raphy. Sidonius’ letters, like Hydatius’ Chronicle, indicate the importance
of negotiation in the duties of bishops. Adjudicating a disputed episcopal
election in the 470s, Sidonius claims thata monk would notbe accept-
able to the laity (notwithstanding the Gallic tradition of monk-bishops
trained at L´ erins) for fear that a monk ‘would be better able to intercede
with a heavenly judge on behalf of souls than with an earthly judge for
bodies’. 121 Contemporary Gallic hagiography not only demonstrates the
importance of bishops’ secular intercessions, but exploits the same image
of the envoy used by Sidonius – of the legate as eloquent, repeatedly
undertaking missions, and delivering his communities from the greatest
calamities – in order to praise their subjects.

119 Linguae rotunditate: Carm. xxiii, 237. Treachery and profiteering: Sid. Ap., Ep. iii, 7.2–3: qui
secreta dirigentium principum venditantes ambiunt a barbaris bene agi cum legato potius quam legatione.
120
Sid. Ap., Ep. vii, 7.4: non tam curae est publicis mederi periculis quam privatis studere fortunis.
121
Sid. Ap., Ep. vii, 9.9: intercede magis pro animabus apud caelestem quam pro corporibus apud terrenum
idicem potest.

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