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The saint as envoy: bishops’ Lives

in itself not unusual as a Christian epithet in late antiquity. 46 He is also
referred to several times as dux, a term with resonances of the common-
47
place imagery of miles Christi. More specific to Constantius’ description
of Germanus are the terms used to describe the bishop’s deeds. Germanus
performs many labores: ‘itsufficed for him thathe should never be free
48
from labour to enjoy peace’. Other than virtus, ‘miracle’, the character-
istic terms associated with Germanus’ actions are labor and its synonyms,
49
discrimina and necessitas. These terms, mostly clustered at the outsets of
Germanus’ travels, are specifically identified with his voyages, and repeat-
edly set in opposition to the quies et requies, ‘peace and rest’, from which
Germanus is kept by the constant flow of petitions for his aid. 50 Con-
stantius’ narrative structure, with its succession of scenes of Germanus
undertaking one journey after another, contributes to the building-up of
this aspect of Germanus’ persona, and is reflected in the author’s descrip-
tive language. Just as the bishop’s five voyages follow immediately one
after the other, so too Germanus undertakes each journey as soon as it
is enjoined upon him: his labours are shouldered festinus, promptius,with
46
Heros: Constantius, Vita Germani, 12 (Germanus and Lupus are eroes devotissimi), 42 (eroas). For this
orthography: ThLL vi, 2661; for other Christian usages: ibid., 2663. Wolfgang Speyer, ‘Heros’,
Reallexikon f¨ ur Antike und Christentum 14 (1988), 875.
47
Dux: 9, 13, 17 ter. Dux is also used of Christ: ibid., 13;cf. 17: Christus militabat in castris; and of
Goar: 28.Cf. 2 (deseritur mundi militia,caelestis adsumitur), 18 (the British army is miles religiosus).
Miles Christi: A. Harnack, Militia Christi: The Christian Religion and the Military in the First Three
Centuries, trans. I. M. Gracie (Philadelphia, 1981), chap. 1, 27–64; in fourth-century hagiography:
e.g. Sulpicius, Vita Martini iv, 3.In Vita Germani: Chadwick, Poetry and Letters, 263–5.
Constantius, Vita Germani, 1, states that the apex of Germanus’ secular career was ducatus culmen
et regimen per provincias. This has been variously accepted as evidence of a military post, the dux
tractus Armoricani et Nervicani, attesting an unusual civilian, military, and ecclesiastical career (e.g.
Chadwick, Poetry and Letters, 257; PLRE ii, ‘Germanus 1’, 504–5); as an error (Levison, ‘Bischof
Germanus von Auxerre’, 117; Levison, Introduction to Constantius, Vita Germani, 231, 251–2
n. 5; cf. Griffe, ‘La Vie de saint Germain d’Auxerre’, 289–94); or as a carry-over from a parallel
section of Vita Ambrosii (J. Gaudemet, ‘La carri` ere civile de saintGermain’, in Saint Germain
d’Auxerre et son temps, 114–16; Borius, Introduction to Vie de Germain, 34–5). The problem
remains intractable, but it should be noted that the passage serves a literary purpose. In the lines
immediately following the reference to his ducatus, each elementof Germanus’ prior secular life
is assigned a divinely planned purpose preparing him for episcopal office: ‘He was instructed,
by the secret design of God, so that he should want nothing to perfect him in his imminent,
apostolic priesthood. His eloquence was in preparation for preaching, his knowledge of law for
justice, and the company of his wife as proof of his chastity’ (Constantius, Vita Germani, 1). The
only exception is the most important, the ducatus, implying that the ducatus is preparation for the
episcopate itself.
48
Constantius, Vita Germani: cui [sc. Germano] id solum sufficeret,ne umquam labore vacuus quiete frueretur.
49
Virtus: Borius, ‘Index de quelques mots latins’, in Vie de Germain, 220. Labor (notin Borius’
index, nor Levison, ‘Lexica etgrammatica’, MGH SRM 7): 12 (labroriosior necessitas), 16, 19, 25,
29, 42. Discrimina,necessitas: 12, 19, 40.
50
Constantius, Vita Germani, 16 (itineris labor). Quies et requies: 19, 29.At 32, a possessed member
of the congregation in Milan urges Germanus to cease exorcising demons: ‘Quiesce,ut nos quieti
esse possimus’; quiescere is the opposite of Germanus’ working of virtutes.Cf. 10, 41 (quies as eternal
life).
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