Page 143 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

The saint as envoy: bishops’ Lives

Little certain is known about the author. He is usually identified with
a correspondentof Sidonius Apollinaris and dedicatee of eightoutof
his nine books of letters, possibly Sidonius’ former teacher in rhetoric,
and said to be a priest from Lyons. Each element of this description is
speculative. 10 Sidonius never explicitly refers to Vita Germani, though
11
possibly he alludes once to the work. None the less, it is safe to picture
Constantius in the same circle as Sidonius; the dedicatees of Vita Germani
were correspondents of Sidonius; Constantius’ style, though far more
limpid than Sidonius’, reflects the same preciosity; and Vita Germani
shares motifs with certain of Sidonius’ letters and especially his Panegyric
on Avitus.

10
Description: e.g. T. Mommsen, ‘Index personarum’ to Sid. Ap., Epistulae et carmina, MGH AA 8,
423; Bardy, ‘Constance’, 89; Borius, Introduction to Vie de Germain, 13–16; PLRE ii, ‘Constan-
tius 10’, 320. Cf. Levison, Introduction to Vita Germani, 230 n. 8; Thompson, Saint Germanus,
78–9.
Sidonius’ Constantius: Sid. Ap., Epp. i, 1; iii, 18; vii, 18; viii, 16; ix, 16.1 (dedications and
invitation to correction). Priest of Lyons: based on the sole poetic composition of Constantius
mentioned by Sidonius, a set of verses written to be inscribed on the walls of a basilica newly
built in Lyons (Sidonius mentions this in the context of passing on to a friend his own verses
for the same church); Sid. Ap., Ep. ii, 10.3; and Sidonius’ reference to Constantius’ ‘continual
reading of sacred literature’ and description as ‘venerable in your faith’; Sid. Ap., Epp. vii, 18.4;
iii, 2.3. This is insufficient proof of Constantius’ position, for the following reasons:
Sidonius never alludes to any clerical office occupied by Constantius; the lack of such detail
is striking in the panegyrical letter Sidonius wrote to Constantius after the latter travelled to
Clermont to help resolve civic discord in the town; Sid. Ap., Ep. iii, 2 (the closest is the de-
scription of Constantius as nobilitate sublimis religione venerabilis, iii, 2.3). Constantius’ reading and
composition of Christian literature need not mark him as ordained; laity as well as clergy read
sacred literature (e.g. Sid. Ap., Epp. ii, 9.4; iv, 9.3; Sulpicius Severus, author of the Vita of St
Martin of Tours, was a layman). The basilica in Lyons featured verses written by three poets,
Constantius, Sidonius, and one Secundinus, of whom the latter two at least were at the time
laymen; Constantius may well have been also (Harries, Sidonius Apollinaris, 112, 115–17; PLRE
ii, ‘Secundinus 3’, 985; Heinzelmann, ‘Gallische Prosopographie’, Secundinus 2, 690). The verses
for the basilica do not localise Constantius in Lyons; cf. poetic works written for the cult of St
Martin by poets who were not resident in Tours (Sidonius, who also wrote verses for inscription
in the Tours basilica of St Martin as a layman; Paulinus Petricordus, possibly from Aquitania, who
setSulpicius’ Vita Martini to verse). Fifth-century lay poets wrote to support the flourishing cults
of certain Gallic saints without necessarily living in the town hosting the cult.
Identification of the two Constantii: the name was common (eighteen Constantii in PLRE ii,
plus two cases of ‘Constantius’ standing other than in the final position of a name; four Gallic
Constantii in Heinzelmann, ‘Gallische Prosopographie’ (all in PLRE ii); five Constantii in Andr´ e
Mandouze, Prosopographie chr´ etienne du bas-empire, i: Prosopographie de l’Afrique chr´ etienne (303–533)
(Paris, 1982) (none in PLRE ii); cf. Bardy, ‘Constance’, 89–90, dismissing other known Gallic
Constantii as possible authors of Vita Germani). To be sure, the Latinity of the hagiographer is
such as would warrant the deference of Sidonius to his friend (Sid. Ap., Epp. i, 1.1; ix, 16.1;for
appreciations of Constantius’ Latinity: Levison, Introduction to Constantius, Vita Germani, 231;
Bardy, ‘Constance’, 98–9; Borius, Introduction to Vie de Germain, 23–4, 60–1). The identification
is at best a comfortable hypothesis; even if correct, we know less than is often assumed about
Sidonius’ friend.
11
See Appendix i.
117