Page 71 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

The provincial view of Hydatius

dates, as it does the adventus of emperors and relics, Hydatius records
30
no precise dates for events concerning embassies. Instead he sets down
a range of differentdetails abouteach embassy: the sender and recipi-
ent; details of the envoys themselves, such as their name and social rank,
whether they had undertaken similar journeys before, and whether they
travelled with a party; the return of the embassy, its route, duration, and
incidents during the journey; the purpose, the recipient’s response, and
the success or failure of the mission; whether the embassy repeated an
earlier mission or responded to previous contact; whether the embassy
was undertaken jointly with representatives of a second power, or if it
coincided with representatives dispatched by a third party on the same
issue. Hydatius describes some missions at length, but merely notes the
occurrence of others. Most other sources refer only to the arrival of an
embassy at its destined court, but Hydatius regularly notes the envoys’
return journey also. 31
The embassies in the Chronicle primarily concern Gallaecian affairs.
Hydatius records twelve missions involving relations between the
Gallaecians and the Sueves, twenty-one other embassies to or from the
32
Suevic kings, and one to a Gothic king while in Gallaecia. The num-
ber of other embassies he records is small. 33 Hydatius knows the name
of the principal envoy of every mission representing the Gallaecians, and
of the envoys sent by imperial authorities in reply to the Gallaecians. He
also names one of the Gothic envoys sent in reply to the Gallaecians,
and several of the imperial and Gothic envoys to the Sueves. But of the
envoys sent by the Suevic kings, only two are named; both are Roman
provincials, notSueves. 34

30 For Cons. Const.:n. 3 above. Hydatius did record precise dates for certain other events, e.g. the
entry of the Vandals, Sueves, and Alans into Spain (c. 42 [34], preserving two different dates);
eclipses and comets (cc. 64, 136, 151, 191, 214, 225 [56, 128, 143, 184, 209, 221]); the capture
of Carthage (c. 115 [107]); an earthquake in Gallaecia (c. 149 [141]); battles during Theoderic
II’s campaign againstthe Sueves (cc. 173, 174, 186 [166, 167, 179]); and Hydatius’ own captivity
(c. 201 [196]).
31
Return journeys: Table 1 nos. 1–3, 6, 10–11, 14–15, 21–2, 24–7, 31–3, 35–6, 38–40.
32
Concerning Gallaecians and Sueves: Table 1 nos. 1, 3–5, 16, 24–6, 32, 40; probably 6, 33.Other
embassies to or from the Sueves: nos. 2, 7, 8, 10–12, 14–15, 17, 19, 21–2, 28–31, 35, 36–8, 41.
To Theoderic II in Gallaecia: no. 13.
33
Seven in all. Hydatius would have known of several of these non-Spanish embassies from simul-
taneous embassies to the Sueves, i.e. Table 1 nos. 18, 20 (to the Vandals; cf. nos. 17, 19), 34, 39
(to the western emperor and the Vandals; cf. no. 35). Other embassies: nos. 9 (between the western
and eastern emperors), 23 (between Geiseric and the western emperor), 27 (between the comes
Aegidius and Geiseric).
34
Gallaecian envoys: Table 1 nos. 1 (bishop Hydatius), 24 (the vir nobilis Palogorius, notexplicitly
named as legatus), 40 (Opilio – assuming that he represented the plebs Aunonensis). Imperial envoys
responding to Gallaecians: nos. 3 (the comes Censorius), 5 (Censorius and Fretimund). Gothic
envoy responding to Gallaecians: no. 25 (Cyrila); cf. nos. 11, 12, 32 (unnamed Gothic envoys).
45