Page 181 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

The saint as envoy: bishops’ Lives

of Pavia; Epiphanius’ appeal to Theoderic for restoration of legal rights
is the springboard for the mission to Gundobad, which then prompts
first the letter, then the final legation to Theoderic; this mission, in turn,
is the occasion for Epiphanius’ death-scene. References forward and back
tie the scenes closely together. 165 Like Constantius, Ennodius presents his
hero in an almost constant state of travel and mediation. The presentation
of the bishop as a legate is not an element of historical record so much as
a plot device, a structural integration of character and narrative borrowed
from Vita Germani.
Ennodius incorporated more specific borrowings and motifs from Vita
Germani also. Epiphanius’ death-scene is modelled on Germanus’: both
bishops’ deaths result from illness contracted while on an embassy, in both
cases to Ravenna (though Epiphanius manages to return to his own see
before dying); both suffer for seven days before passing away; the Holy
Spirit reveals their imminent deaths to both beforehand (developed at
greater length in Vita Germani); the multitudes of the towns where both
lie ill are disturbed; high officials visit the dying bishops; both chant psalms
during their final days. 166 Like Constantius, Ennodius details the separate
stages of each embassy undertaken by Epiphanius: the initial request to the
bishop; the journey, with reference to events and the fame of the bishop
en route; 167 the bishop’s adventus at his destination, and reception either by
fellow bishops or palatine officials; the saint’s return and greeting at his
own see. Each stage is exploited to indicate the high respect in which the
bishop is held. As in Vita Germani, the account of Epiphanius’ episcopal
election is followed by a general description of the ascesis he practised
as bishop, before beginning the account of his embassies. 168 Elements of
imagery and vocabulary recur: Ennodius frequently uses labor,aword
favoured by Constantius, to describe the embassies, and stresses the mira
celeritate with which Epiphanius completes his journeys. 169 The familiar

165 E.g. Ennodius, Vita Epiphani, 110 (Theoderic in Milan, anticipating the use of Pavia as a refuge
in § ix); 127, 131 (Epiphanius and Theoderic in Ravenna recall the siege of Theoderic’s forces
in Pavia).
166
Constantius, Vita Germani, 41–2; Ennodius, Vita Epiphani, 190–5.(For Vita Epiphani, 191:
tamquam ad sepulchri receptaculum properans,cf. 39: quasi ad sepulchrum festinans [sc. Crispinus]
regressus est.)
167
Ennodius does notdevelop any scenes of the journeys, exceptbriefly (Vita Epiphani, 177, one
of the few miracle accounts). The lengthy accounts of incidents during Germanus’ travels are
mostly healing miracles; Ennodius does not present Epiphanius as a thaumaturge.
168
Constantius, Vita Germani, 3–5; Ennodius, Vita Epiphani, 47–50.
169
Labor: e.g. Ennodius, Vita Epiphani, 5, 57, 82, 95, 124, 140, 175, 179, 181; Ennodius uses
studium and molestiae as synonyms (e.g. Vita Epiphani, 58, 83). Cf. above, atnn. 48–54 and Cesa,
Commentary to Vita del Epifanio, 154. Celeritas: 151;cf. 51, 57, 58, 59, 72 (mox,statim,festinans),
86, 107 (alacer ambulavit poposcit obtinuit), 147 (ex tempore), 183 (protinus); Cesa, Commentary to
Vita del Epifanio, 161, 200.
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