Page 272 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

Envoys and Political Communication,411–533

which day Epiphanius wishes to come to court. 114 One embassy scene
concludes with Epiphanius departing as soon as his audience is over, but
twice Ennodius refers to actual or potential delays, to accommodate infor-
mal discourse: an invitation to the envoy to attend a royal convivium some
days after his audience with Euric, and Epiphanius’ many visits to and
from local figures in Ravenna, after his final meeting with Theoderic. 115
(Envoys to the imperial court of Constantinople suffered much more re-
stricted latitude; Procopius has one legate say that ‘it is not easy for an
envoy even to drink except by the will of those who watch over him’. 116 )
These details are included solely for literary purposes: Euric’s invitation
is an opportunity for the display of Epiphanius’ good judgement in po-
litely declining the opportunity to share a table with Arian clergy; the
bishop’s busy visits to friends in Ravenna are prompted by prescience
of his death. The reader is more likely to be impressed by the alacrity
with which Epiphanius completes his purposes than by these auxiliary
contacts. Ennodius generally compresses the successive stages of the re-
ception and audience of the embassies for literary effect, similarly to the
way Constantius telescopes Germanus’ episcopal career.
There are no references in Vita Epiphani to the presentation of letters
from the envoy’s principals to the various rulers in their consistoria, prior
to the delivery of Epiphanius’ speeches. This omission is probably literary
licence. Late fourth-century imperial legislation specified the presenta-
tion of letters from an embassy’s principal, stating the mission entrusted
to envoys (mandata), as a prerequisite for securing an audience at court. 117
Descriptions of receptions in other sources indicate that letters were rou-
tinely presented after the envoy entered his host’s presence and greeted
him, and before he received permission to speak. 118 Peoples outside the

114 Ennodius, Vita Epiphani, 152–3 (constitutus ergo videndi regem dies).
115 Hasty departure: Ennodius, Vita Epiphani, 72:(discessit festinans ad Liguriam reverti). Delays: 92
(Epiphanius declines an invitation from Euric to his convivium, because he is planning to depart
for Italy the day after the next, i.e. two days after his interview with the king – the implica-
tion being that the convivium would not be organised until after that time, and that an embassy
was expected to remain for longer than a few days after completion of the formal audience);
190 (Epiphanius pays visits to omnibus, including Christianae multitudinis turbas, before his final
departure from Ravenna). Cf. Collectio Avellana, 116.4 (Hormisdas envisages his envoys in Con-
stantinople receiving guests at their lodging after their imperial audience). But cf. Gregory of
Tours, Hist. viii, 44 (failure of envoys to depart immediately is suspicious); ix, 20 (the Frankish
king Guntram and two envoys proceed directly from their audience to a church service for Easter
Sunday, then to the king’s convivium).
116
Procopius, Wars v, 7.18; cf. Procopius’ outrage at the freedom of movement allowed to Isdigous-
nas in Constantinople, Wars viii, 15.20.
117
CTh xii, 12.4, 10, 11.
118
To the sources at n. 29 above, add: Collectio Avellana 116 ( = Hormisdas, Indiculus of 515),
5–7 (Praesenti itaque imperatori lietteras porrigite cum tali allocutione ‘salutat pater vester,deum cotidie
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