Page 178 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

Envoys and Political Communication,411–533

work was the first lengthy hagiography Ennodius had written, though
he had composed at least the two shorter eulogies for Epiphanius and for
Laurence of Milan. He was to write a second Vita, of Antony, a monk
of L´ erins, several years later; this work has resonances with the other
well-known hagiographic product of Ostrogothic Italy, Eugippius’ Vita
of Severinus of Noricum. 156 Proximity in time alone makes Ennodius
closer to his subject than Constantius was to Germanus; it also signifi-
cantly affects the presentation of the subject of the biography.
The Vita includes lengthy accounts of six embassies undertaken by
Epiphanius, brief descriptions of another three, and references to ‘many’
others; the bishop is also once shown dealing with a ruler on behalf of his
province by letter, and four times negotiating other situations of conflict.
The following outline indicates the structure of the work: 157
i Introduction. 1–6
ii Family; miracle in childhood; entry to church; appearance;
subdeaconate. 7–20
1st embassy: on behalf of church of Pavia, to the land-owner
Burco (property dispute; 456/8). 21–5
Deaconate; ascesis and reading. 26–35
Episcopal election; ascesis as bishop. 36–50
iii 2nd embassy: on behalf of province of Liguria and the magister
utriusque militiae Ricimer, to the emperor Anthemius in
Rome (prevention of civil war; 471). 51–75
iv His sister Honorata; his alms-giving. 76–8
v Brief account: supplication to emperor Glycerius
(473/4). 79
3rd embassy: as representative of consilium of Liguria and the
emperor Nepos, to the Gothic king Euric in Toulouse
(prevention of Gothic raids; 474). 80–94
vi Siege of Pavia during Odoacer’s revoltagainstOrestes
(476). 95–100
Restoration of damage; two miracles. 101–5
vii Two brief accounts of embassies: on behalf of Pavia to Odoacer
for tax relief (probably not undertaken by Epiphanius
personally); on behalf of Liguria to Odoacer for relief from

156
Vita Antoni: Ennodius, opus ccxl = opusculum iv, written 506 according to Sundwall, Adhandlun-
gen, 77; PCBE ii, ‘Antonius 5’, 161. Eugippius, Vita Severini, ed. P. Regerat(Sources chr´ etiennes
374; Paris, 1991), begun 509 and completed 511 (Eugippius, Epistola ad Paschasio, 1,in Vita
Severini). For literary comparison and contrast: Steven Muhlberger, ‘Eugippius and the Life of
St. Severus’, Medieval Prosopography 17 (1996), 107–24.
157
Numbering on right from Vogel’s edition; section chapter headings in Roman numerals on left
are my own, for convenience of reference.
152