Page 226 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

Envoys and Political Communication,411–533

of the network of patronage, emanating from Ravenna, which features
prominently in Ennodius’ correspondence. 81
Senarius’ contacts, as revealed by the letters of Ennodius, range from
up-and-coming court officers to members of the most important families
of Rome. 82 Among the latter was Fl. Anicius Probus Faustus Niger,
Ennodius’ patron. Twice, Ennodius wrote to Senarius enquiring after
83
Faustus’ well-being. Faustus was a member of a senatorial family with an
impressive listof official honours. His father, Gennadius Avienus, consul
in 450, was described by Sidonius Apollinaris as one of the two most
influential men in Rome in the 460s. 84 Faustus himself was nominated
consul by Odoacer in 490. Theoderic also honoured Faustus, appointing
or retaining him as magister officiorum when he took power in 493 and
later making him quaestor c. 505/6, about the time of Ennodius’ letters
to Senarius. In the late 500s, Faustus was made patricius and appointed
praetorian prefect of Italy. His sons shared his prestige. Rufius Magnus
Faustus Avienus held the consulate as a youth in 502, and his brother
Fl. Ennodius Messala was also consul, in 506. 85
A letter of Ennodius written in early 508 is addressed jointly to five
correspondents in Ravenna: Liberius, Eugenes, Agapitus, Senarius, and
86
Albinus. It is the only one of Ennodius’ letters written to a group, and
suggests that the five individuals are closely associated. All were current
or former holders of palatine offices. Liberius, the first named, was of
an unknown family buthad held importantoffices under Odoacer. He
was courted by Theoderic when he and Odoacer shared rule of Italy. 87
Liberius served as Theoderic’s praetorian prefect of Italy throughout most
of the 490s and was made patricius in 500. He held no known offices in
the 500s, but, upon the Ostrogothic acquisition of Provence from the
Franks in 508/9, was appointed praetorian prefect of Gaul. He adminis-
tered Provence throughout the remainder of Theoderic’s reign and that

81 Relations: Ennodius, Ep. i, 33, lines 9–10: inter nos gemina vincula . . . caritatis et sanguinis. Patronage
network: Moorhead, Theoderic, 156–8.
82
Junior officers: Pamphronius, who entered court service c. 506, with the aid of Ennodius: En-
nodius, Epp. v, 16,cf. ii, 16; iv, 14, 16; vii, 2; Sundwall, Abhandlungen, 16, 29; PLRE ii, 285;
Moorhead, Theoderic, 156.
83
Ennodius, Epp. iv, 27,cf. 28; vii, 5, dated 506 and mid-508 by Sundwall, Abhandlung, 31–2, 51,
cf. table 76, 79. Ennodius and Faustus: above, chapter 4 atn. 142.
84
Faustus: PLRE ii, ‘Fl. Anicius Probus Faustus Niger 9’, 454–6. Avienus: PLRE ii, ‘Gennadius
Avienus 4’, 193–4; Sidonius, Ep. i, 9.
85
PLRE ii, ‘Rufius Magnus Faustus Avienus iunior 2’, 192–3; ‘Fl. Ennodius Messala 2’, 759–60.
86
Ennodius, Ep. vi, 12. Though there are are no other joint letters in his extant works, Ennodius
several times wrote groups of letters simultaneously to members of this group at Ravenna, e.g.
iv, 26–8 to Eugenes, Senarius, and Agapitus; vi, 7–9 to Faustus, his son Avienus, and Senarius;
Sundwall, Abhandlungen, 31, 44.
87
PLRE ii, ‘Petrus Marcellinus Felix Liberius 3’, 677–81; O’Donnell, ‘Liberius’.
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