Page 152 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

Envoys and Political Communication,411–533

one vehicle among several for the construction of central literary elements
of his work, notably the persona of Germanus.
Late antique hagiography, though generally offering little in the way
of characterisation of subjects, does present firmly delineated personae,
largely idealised and static, expressed through the actions and ‘patterned
43
lives’ of its subjects. Severe ascesis, prophetic candour, miraculous pow-
ers, authority, and respect are dominant characteristics of such portraits.
Though lacking the abrasive outspokenness of biblical prophets, the
persona of Germanus exhibits these other conventional elements. If any
of these qualities has a claim to historical verisimilitude, it is ascesis.
It is likely that Germanus was associated with the monastic movement
of southern Gaul which radiated out from L´ erins and Marseilles. This
is suggested by his establishment of a monastery adjacent to Auxerre,
and perhaps by his connection with Hilary of Arles. The only con-
temporary attestation of Germanus, a brief entry in Chronica Gallica of
452, praises his miracles and ‘the strictness of his life’. 44 Butascesis is
nota major theme of Vita Germani. A short section of the early part
of the work describes how Germanus ‘preserved the desert while en-
gaged with the world’; there are a few later references to his modesty. 45
Germanus the thaumaturge is a far more dominant image, very closely ad-
hering to the pattern provided by Sulpicius Severus; many of Germanus’
miracles are directly modelled on those of Martin in Vita Martini and
Dialogi.
One major aspectof the persona of Germanus in the Vita is less conven-
tional than ascesis or miracle-working. Constantius presents Germanus as
a hero in a classical sense, a leader who performs strenuous deeds on behalf
of his community. This image is cultivated through a range of techniques,
including the exploitation of the narrative structure of the Vita. Atthe
simplestlevel is vocabulary. Germanus is twice described as a heros,aterm
43 Two partial exceptions to the undifferentiated presentation of saints are Possidius’ occasionally
intimate portrait of Augustine (Vita Augustini, PL 32, 33–66), and the Vita Fulgentii of Ruspe
(PL 65, 117–50), which exhibits an unusual degree of individual psychological development.
Quotation: Elissa R. Henken, The Welsh Saints: A Study in Patterned Lives (Cambridge, 1991).
44
Germanus and L´ erins: Gessel, ‘Die Vita des Konstantius als homiletische Par¨ anese’, 8; R. Mathisen,
‘Hilarius, Germanus, and Lupus: The Aristocratic Background of the Cheldonius Affair’, Phoenix
33 (1979), 160–9, with Wood, ‘End of Roman Britain’, 15 (on the limited value of Vita Hilarii).
Hilary of Arles: Constantius, Vita Germani, 23. Chron. Gall. 452, s.a. 433: Germanus episcopus
Altisiodori virtutibus et vitae districtione clarescit. Some eighth-century authors believed Germanus
was a monk of L´ erins: Levison, ‘Bischof Germanus von Auxerre’, 150.
45
Ascesis: Constantius, Vita Germani, 3–4, 6 (heremum in saeculi conversatione servavit). Modesty: 5
(washes feetof guests); 19 (content with a small company for journey to Arles); 21, 31, 32, 35
(attempts to keep his actions anonymous); 33 (charity); 38 (embarrassed atbeing asked to perform
miracle). Vita Germani, 3–4, 6 loosely parallels Sulpicius, Vita Martini, 10, as an accountof the
ascetic practices of the bishop and his monks, following the subject’s episcopal election. Gessel,
‘Die Vita des Konstantius als homiletische Par¨ anese’, 7–9.
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