Page 186 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

Envoys and Political Communication,411–533

captives were part of their war booty. 190 One of the extant fragments
of the Byzantine History of Malchus of Philadelphia, who was probably
an exact contemporary of Ennodius, reports an almost identical story
about the Constantinopolitan senator and patricius Severus, sentby the
emperor Zeno to the Vandal king Geiseric in 474. Geiseric, impressed
by Severus’ moderation and integrity, particularly his refusal of the con-
ventional gifts offered to him, agrees to release all the Roman captives
held by himself and his sons, and to permit Severus to purchase those
captives held by his followers, if they are willing to sell. 191 The situation,
qualifications, and means of persuasion are almost identical between the
two narratives; it is the envoy, not the principal, who earns the king’s
respect. Malchus, a sophist who wrote from a purely secular, classicis-
ing perspective, may have enjoyed contacts with senior court officials at
Constantinople, including another of Zeno’s envoys. His portrait of the
prudentenvoy appeals to both the sophistic tradition and the professional
ethos of palatine officials. 192 There is no qualitative difference between
his presentation of Severus and Ennodius’ portrait of Epiphanius in these
scenes. 193
Ennodius could have chosen to portray Epiphanius differently. 194 His
poetic declamation in honour of the thirtieth anniversary of Epiphanius’
episcopal election was delivered in 495/6, some six to nine years be-
fore the composition of the Vita. 195 The dictio uses, at greater length,
themes and images which reappear in the sections of the Vita concerning
Epiphanius’ youth and election: the introductory conceit, the miracle
of the glowing light above the cradle, Epiphanius’ physical beauty and
modesty, his popular election. 196 There may be manuscriptevidence that
Ennodius consulted the earlier work while composing the Vita. 197 But
the emphasis of the dictio is almost entirely on Epiphanius’ election. Only

190 Ennodius, Vita Epiphani, 170. For the historical context: Cesa, Commentary to Vita del Epifanio,
195–6.
191 Malchus, Fr. 5; for date of composition: Blockley, Fr. Class. Hist. i, 72–3. Cf. Victor of Vita,
Historia persecutionis Africanae provinciae, ed. K. Halm, MGH AA 3.1 (Berlin, 1879), i, 51.
192
Contact: Blockley, Fr. Class. Hist. i, 78. Professional ethos: below, chapter 5, e.g. following
n. 60.
193
Cf. Faustus of Riez, De gratia Dei et libero arbitrio i, 16 (PL 58, 809): in a comparison with Christ’s
redemption of humanity, Faustus envisages an ‘envoy or bishop’ (legatus aliquis vel sacerdos), who
seeks the redemption of a city captured in war, receiving the whole population without payment
of ransom by a gratuitous act of the victor. (Faustus was one of the four Gallic bishops involved
in the ceding of the Auvergne to Euric in 475,Sid.Ap., Ep. vii, 6.10; he was himself exiled after
Euric took control of Provence; Heinzelmann, ‘Gallische Prosopographie’, 607.)
194
Ennodius’ choice on mode of presentation of Epiphanius: Reydellet, La Royaut´ e, 148.
195
Ennodius, Carm. i, 9 = opus 43. Editions: ed. Sirmond, PL 63, 322–6; ed. Vogel, MGH AA 7,
40–5; ed. Hartel, CSEL 6, 531–9. On the date: Hasenstab, Studien zur Ennodius, 15–18; Benjamin,
‘Ennodius’, 2631; Sundwall, Adhandlungen, 13–14, 73; Schanz-Hosius iv, 2, 145.
196 197
Hasenstab, Studien zur Ennodius, 15. Benjamin, ‘Ennodius’, 2631.
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