Page 265 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

Negotium agendum

with a travel warrant (evectio), but took accommodation in Rome first
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at an inn, then with a leading private citizen. Germanus too, who also
enjoyed evectio, lodged ata diversorium when in Ravenna, and Vivianus
resided in a humble hospitium in Toulouse, chosen for its proximity to the
tomb of St Saturninus. The mundanity of these accommodations could
be exploited as signs of the humility of the bishops by their eulogists. 73
The same is true of their transport. Germanus’ transportation by horse
is exigua; Vivianus travelled by ox-drawn carriage, ‘though high in his
mind, yet lowly in his custom, so that the priest could trample underfoot
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with holy humility the pomp of the proud’. In fact, bishops undertaking
embassies could expect to receive hospitality from their peers, including
transport, accommodation, and invitations to meals. 75
Evectio, including transport by horse or boat and food, was provided
for subjects of the Ostrogothic kings to travel to court, and for emissaries
of other kings. 76 It is uncertain whether other western kings provided
transport to their courts for their own subjects, and if so, for how long
the resources of the cursus publicus operated outside Italy. The title in the
Theodosian Code concerned with transport provisions for provincial and
other embassies travelling on embassies to court is amongst those not
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included in the Breviarium of Alaric II. The Code also omits the parallel
provisions for the transport and accommodation of government officials
in the course of their duties, and the role of the cursus publicus in the sup-
ply of the army (along with all other references to the Roman army). 78

72 Evectio:Sid.Ap., Ep. i, 5.2;cf. v, 20.2–3. Inn: Ep. i, 5.9: devorsorium. Citizen: Ep. i, 9.1:the
former prefectof Rome Paulus (cf. PLRE ii, ‘Fl. Synesius Gennadius Paulus 36’, 855, though if
this identification is correct, it is odd that Sidonius’ friend Paulus directed him to the patronage
of Caecina Basilius, notGennadius Avienus, who would have been his relative; cf. Ep. i, 9.2). Cf.
Duncan-Jones, Structure and Scale in the Roman Economy, 146–50. Imperial provisions for evectio:
CTh vii, 1.9; viii, 5.57; xii, 12.6.
73 Constantius, Vita Germani, 19, 20, 44 (evectio); 35 (diversorium); Vita Viviani, 5.
Ennodius suggests less humble lodgings for Epiphanius at Lyons and Ravenna: Vita Epiphani,
167; 190: domus; by the sixth century, domus often referred to a substantial dwelling, including a
royal or episcopal palace.
74
Constantius, Vita Germani, 19. Vita Viviani, 4 (quamvis altus mente,humilis habitu . . . ut superborum
pompam sacratissimus pontifex sancta quadam abiectione calcaret), 5 (boves). Vivianus’ carriage, however,
was presumably notprovided atpublic expense.
75
Collectio Avellana, 116.3, 158.2 ( = Hormisdas, Indiculi of 515, 519). Gorce, Les Voyages, esp.
137–89. For the central Middle Ages, cf. Ciggar, Western Travellers to Constantinople, 39–42.
76
Cass., Variae vi, 6.4; vii, 33 (the term subvectio is also used, e.g. iv, 45).
77
CTh xii, 12: De legatis et decretis legationum; Mommsen, Theodosiani libri XVI, i, 2: tituli. The
omission of this title may indicate the end of public financing of municipal embassies within
Gothic territories, but hardly of embassies themselves; cf. John F. Matthews, ‘Interpreting the
Interpretationes of the Breviarium’, in Mathisen (ed.), Law,Society,and Authority in Late Antiquity.
78
Travel warrants for officials (tractoria): CTh viii, 6.1–2. Omission of provisions for army: Matthews,
‘Interpreting the Interpretationes’, 19–20.
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