Page 237 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

Cassiodorus and Senarius

rare in his correspondence. Itis clear from Ennodius’ words thatSenar-
ius’ mission had been to barbarian peoples, not to Constantinople or
elsewhere in Italy; that it had been potentially dangerous; and that it had
travelled far. There is a break of some months between these letters and
Ennodius’ previous correspondence with Senarius; presumably, Senarius
was absentduring this period. 131 The dates of Ennodius’ letters strongly
suggest that the mission from which Senarius had recently returned was
part of Theoderic’s involvement in Gaul. In no other letter does En-
nodius refer to Senarius’ many journeys. His emphasis on the distance
travelled, and his relief at his friend’s return, would be understandable
if the embassy concerned was the lengthy mission outlined in Variae iii,
1–4. 132
Senarius states that all his missions were effective. Cassiodorus’ praise
for his embassies implies general, or atleastmemorable, success, as does
Senarius’ promotion to comes patrimonii. Though war between the Franks
and Visigoths did break out, there is evidence that Theoderic’s appeals
to the antagonists in Gaul gained a moratorium on the conflict. En-
nodius’ Panegyric on Theoderic, delivered after Ennodius’ letters greeting
Senarius’ return but before the battle of Vouill´ e early in 507, describes
the Burgundians as in perpetual alliance with Theoderic; Ennodius passes
in silence over the Franks and Visigoths. 133 Yetby spring 507 the Bur-
gundian prince Sigismund had setoutwith his army to supportClovis
against the Visigoths. 134 The Panegyric was therefore composed when the
Gothic–Burgundian alliance seemed firm, before it was later reneged.
The sequence of events can be reconstructed as follows: the mission of
Variae iii, 1–4, undertaken late in 506, secured the agreement of the Bur-
gundians, Heruli, Warni, and Thuringians to oppose Clovis; the Panegyric
was composed during the winter of 506/7, when relations between the
Franks and the Visigoths were still unsettled; by spring the Burgundi-
ans had decided to support the Franks instead of the Goths; later in the

Krautschick, Cassiodor, 56,n. 2; PLRE ii, 415). The letters were written before the delivery of
Ennodius’ Panegyric on Theoderic, which pre-dates Vouill´ e, probably early in 507; also before
Carm. i, 3, delivered on 18 April of that year; Sundwall, Abhandlungen, 42–3. Senarius’ return
was therefore c. early September 506.
131
Ennodius, Ep. iv, 33, early 506; Sundwall, Abhandlungen, Table 77, 32–3.
132
Sundwall, Abhandlungen, 37–8, sees the mission mentioned by Ennodius as part of Theoderic’s
diplomacy before Vouill´ e, without associating it with Cass., Variae iii, 1–4;cf. Sch¨ afer, Der
westr¨ omische Senat, 103 n. 727. Ensslin, Theoderich, 368 n. 14, suggests that Senarius might have
undertaken the embassy which carried Variae ii, 41 to Clovis; Shanzer, ‘Two Clocks’, 248–9,
suggests that Senarius may have carried Variae i, 46 to Gundobad.
133
Ennodius, Panegyricus dictus Theoderico x, 54. Date: Sundwall, Abhandlungen, 42–4.
134
Karl Binding, Das burgundisch-romanische K¨ onigreich (von 443–532 n. Chr.) (Leipzig, 1868;repr.
Aalen, 1969), 193–7, 292, based on Avitus of Vienne, Epp., 45, 91, 92 (nos. 40, 81, 82 in
Sirmond’s edition, PL 59). Gregory of Tours, Hist. ii, 28 refers to Clovis sending embassies to
Burgundia saepius.
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