Page 146 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

Envoys and Political Communication,411–533

members of senior officials’ households; some of these cures precipitate
19
the successful conclusion of Germanus’ missions. Like other late antique
saints’ lives, each of these incidents vividly demonstrates the working of
20
divine power in the world. Buteach miracle accountcould have been
related in isolation, without a narrative framework, and its didactic value
perhaps enhanced by being presented in an isolated tableau, as Sulpicius
Severus and many other hagiographers chose. Constantius provides Vita
Germani with an unusually strong context for the individual tableaux it
presents, through his strongly articulated narrative sequence.
A second aspect of Constantius’ narrative is the sense of urgency which
arises from this sequence. Constantius specifies not only that each voy-
age occurs after the preceding account, but that it occurs immediately
afterwards. Each new journey is introduced with a time-indicator phrase
which, while providing no details to establish an absolute chronology
for the events of Germanus’ episcopate, creates an internal progression. 21
When Germanus returns from his first voyage to Britain, he meets the
‘anticipation’ of the populace of Auxerre, already waiting to ask him to
travel to Arles; the resurgence of the Pelagian bishops in Britain ‘at the
same time’ as Germanus is in Arles prompts his second mission to Britain;
‘barely had he returned’ from this trip when ‘already’ the Armorican lega-
tion seeks his aid against Goar; and, after halting the assault on Armorica,
22
he ‘straightaway’ sets out for the imperial court in Italy. By thus com-
23
pressing the events of Germanus’ life – artificially – Constantius creates
a sense of urgency and haste, which provides an underlying timbre to the
individual embassy narratives and their events. This tension is central to
the image of Germanus developed by Constantius.

19 Constantius, Vita Germani, 15 (first trip to Britain: daughter of a vir tribuniciae potestatis); 24 (Arles:
wife of the praetorian prefect of Gaul Auxiliaris); 26–7 (second trip to Britain: son of Elafus,
quidam regionis illius primus). Germanus cures household members of other men of rank during his
ultimately unsuccessful embassy to Ravenna; 33–4 (en route from Milan to Ravenna: entire familia
of the vir spectabilis Leporius); 38 (Ravenna: son of Volusianus, patricii Segisvulti cancellis praeerat);
39 (son of Acolus, praepositus regalis cubiculi). New Testament models for miraculous healings of
members of eminenthouseholds: John iv.46–54 (nobleman’s son); Matt. viii.5–13, Luke vii.1–10
(centurion’s servant); Matt. ix.18–26, Mark v.22–42, Luke viii.41–56 (priest’s daughter).
20
Gessel, ‘Die Vita des Konstantius als homiletische Par¨ anese’, 9–11.
21
Lack of absolute chronology: Bardy, ‘Constance’, 107: ‘une impr´ ecision d´ esesp´ erante’. But Bardy
uses the Bollandists’ text, which obscures Constantius’ structure; he also presupposes a New Testa-
ment model of ‘relative chronology’ (cf. Marc van Uytfanghe, ‘Heiligenverehrung ii’, Reallexikon
f¨ ur Antike und Christentum 14 (1988), 164). The ‘formules de transition’ he cites do not include
any of the connective phrases between journeys (see next note).
22
Constantius, Vita Germani, 19 (return from Britain: expectatio propriae civitatis); 25 (resurgence of
Pelagianism in Britain interea Germanus is in Arles); 28 (Armoricans seek Germanus’ aid vixdum
domum de transmarina expeditione remeauerat,et iam . . . legatio ...fatigationem . . . antistis ambiebat);
29 (exin Italiam petiturus egreditur). This technique is more emphatic than Sidonius’ similarly
misleading practice in the Pan. on Avitus; above, chapter 3,atnn. 54–5.
23
See Appendix i.
120