Page 182 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

Envoys and Political Communication,411–533

motif of the envoy’s advanced age is used, as is the conceit that respect for
the envoy ensures that his request is granted before being asked. 170 Like
Germanus, Epiphanius twice travels with companion bishops, including
in each case a figure of great influence at the time of composition. 171
Finally, like Germanus butunlike Martin or Ambrose (or Severinus, in
the slightly later Vita of Eugippius), Epiphanius is presented as achieving
his aims through gaining consensus, not by prophetic castigation; he is,
as King Gundobad addresses him, a ‘proponent of peace’, the ‘author
of concord’, an ‘outstanding peace-maker’. 172 Old Testament imagery
of divine castigation of unjust kings appears only once in Epiphanius’
speeches; Theoderic, his interlocutor, is able to counter with biblical
allusions of his own, but none the less grants the bishop’s request, out
of respectfor Epiphanius himself. 173 Germanus and Epiphanius offer
consensus, not authority over secular rulers.
Notwithstanding the shaping influence of Vita Germani on Ennodius’
Vita Epiphani, there are significant differences between the composition
of the two works. The most striking is the near-absence of miracles from
Vita Epiphani. While embassy narratives provide the structure for Vita
Germani, miracle accounts form the bulk of the narrative. Vita Epiphani,
however, is almost devoid of miraculous elements. Those supernatural
events included are mentioned only very briefly. By contrast, Ennodius
had already recounted one prodigy, a heavenly light which shone over
Epiphanius’ cradle when he was a baby, at greater length in his much
briefer eulogy of Epiphanius in 496. 174 In one instance, Ennodius states
that he will pass over miracles which he knows Epiphanius performed
while en route to the court of Anthemius in Rome, in favour of recount-
ing the bishop’s ‘greater deeds’ there. This is perhaps a reminiscence of
Constantius’ explicit omission of miracles worked by Germanus during
his travels, but in the context of the paucity of accounts of Epiphanius’
miracles, as opposed to the plethora of Germanus’, Ennodius seems to

170
Age: Ennodius, Vita Epiphani, 183. Conceit: Constantius, Vita Germani, 23; Ennodius, Vita
Epiphani, 54, 61, 71, 141.
171
Constantius, Vita Germani, 12 (Lupus of Troyes, on whom see e.g. Sid. Ap., Epp. vi, 1; ix, 11),
25 (Severus of Trier). Ennodius, Vita Epiphani, 123–4 (Laurence of Milan; cf. Acta synhodorum
habitarum Romae ii, Praeceptio i of Theoderic (MGH AA 12), and the signature lists of the acta of
the councils of 501 and 502); 146, 153 (Victor of Turin).
172
Ennodius, Vita Epiphani, 165: pacis suasor; concordiae auctor; egregie moderator (also: Christianae lucis
iubar). Cf. Reydellet, La Royaut´ e, 148; Muhlberger, ‘Eugippius and the Life of St. Severus’, 118–20.
173
Ennodius, Vita Epiphani, 129, 132.
174
Miracles: Ennodius, Vita Epiphani, 8 (glowing lightover his cradle; cf. Ennodius, Carm. i, 9 =
opus 43, lines 88–106); 58 (virtutes performed en route to Rome, mentioned but passed over); 103
(collapsing church vaultdoes notstrike workmen); 105 (expulsion of a ‘crowd of demons’); 177
(exorcism).
156