Page 240 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

Envoys and Political Communication,411–533

A final source, which contains a fragment of a letter by Senarius, reveals
another aspect of this late Roman civil servant’s relations with the court
of the Ostrogothic king: the problem of divergent faiths. At some time
between 509 and 523, Senarius wrote to John, one of the seven deacons of
Rome, generally identified as the later Pope John I. 142 Senarius’ letter is
lostbutJohn’s reply is preserved. 143 John had played an active if ambivalent
role in the Laurentian schism following the disputed papal election of 498.
He was a close friend and spiritual adviser of Boethius. 144 From John’s
letter it is clear that he and Senarius were previously acquainted. The
old favour done by Senarius, to which John refers, might have been
performed in an official capacity, perhaps in the troubled times of the
Laurentian schism. 145
Like Boethius, Senarius sought religious instruction from John, but of
a liturgical rather than theological nature. Senarius made two requests:
he asked for copies of certain texts, and wanted John’s reply to a series
of questions. One of the texts he requested was De haeresibus, possibly
Augustine’s work of that title to which a continuation had been added
in the mid-fifth century. 146 The original questions Senarius asked cannot

142 7 2
Identity of John the Deacon and Pope John I: Altaner, Patrologie , 464; Clavis patrum latinorum ,ed.
Eligius Dekkers (Bruges, 1961), § 950; Chadwick, Boethius, 28; Moorhead, Theoderic, 204–11;
reservations in PCBE ii, ‘Iohannes 18, 22, 26, 28’, 1070–1, 1072, 1074–5, 1080. Date: John
addresses Senarius as Dominus meritus illustris, Ep. 1, therefore after illustris rank was conveyed on
Senarius in September 509; and before John’s election as pope on 13 August 523. The reference
to unorthodox liturgical practices in Africa in Ep. 8 does notnecessarily refer to Arian oppression
of the Catholic church, and so does not help date the letter, contra Delmaire, Les Responsables,
296.
143 Editions: John the Deacon, Epistola ad Senarium, ed. Jean Mabillon, PL 59, 399–408; Andr´ e
Wilmart(ed.), Analecta Reginensia: extraits des manuscripts latins de la reine Christine conserv´ es au
Vatican (Studi e Testi 59; Vatican City, 1933), 170–9; Wilmart’s edition is cited here. On the
transmission of the text: ibid., 153–7.
144 Boethius describes John as his spiritual father and dedicates to him three of his theological trac-
tates. At the time Boethius wrote the fifth tractate (an early theological work), John already
possessed a collection of Boethius’ writings, which might have been the earlier dialectical writ-
ings rather than the theological works; Boethius, Tractates, ed. E. K. Rand, trans. H. F. Stewart
and S. J. Tester in The Theological Tractates and Consolation of Philosophy (LCL; London, 1973), ii
dedicatio and praef ., iii dedicatio, v dedicatio; cf. Chadwick, Boethius, 180; Moorhead, Theoderic,
205–6. John shared an interest in Aristotelian philosophy with Boethius: John the Deacon, Ep.
14, cf. Boethius, Philosophiae consolatio i, 16.15; Joachim Gruber, Kommentar zu Boethius,De
consolatione philosophiae (Berlin, 1978), 155–6; Chadwick, Boethius, 27; Moorhead, Theoderic,
210.
The bearer of Senarius’ letter, Renatus, played an important role in the preservation of
Boethius’ dialectical works; Chadwick, Boethius, 255–7; PLRE ii, ‘Marcius Novatus Renatus
1’, 939.
145
John the Deacon, Ep. 1. The statement of Delmaire, Les Responsables, 294 that Senarius had rep-
resented Theoderic at the Synod of Rome in 502 is only conjectural; cf. Sundwall, Abhandlungen,
11 on Ennodius, Ep. i, 23.
146
Request: John the Deacon, Ep. 1, lines 8–9. De haeresibus: 9, lines 17–19: De Pelagianis autem,
Eutycianis sive Nestorianis aperta et vulgata sunt omnia,quae,in libro de haeresibus cum legeritis,plenius
214