The Presbyters Project

Letter 2.1

3. Totum quod concupiscit quasi comparat nec dat pretia contemnens nec accipit instrumenta desperans; in concilio iubet, in consilio tacet, in ecclesia iocatur, in conuiuio praedicat, in cubiculo damnat, in quaestione dormitat; implet cotidie siluas fugientibus, uilias hospitibus, altaria reis, carceres clericis; exsultans Gothis insultansque Romanis, inludens praefectis conludensque numerariis, leges Theudosianas calcans Theudoricianasque proponens ueteres culpas, noua tributa perquirit.

(ed. Loyen 1970: 44)

Letter 2.1

3. Everything that he lusts to possess he makes a pretence of purchasing; he is to arrogant to pay the price and too diffident to agree to a contract of sale. In the council he gives orders, among his counsellors he is mute; in the church he jests, at the banquet he preaches; in his chamber he convicts, in the court he dozes; each day he crowds the woods with fugitives, the farms with barbarian occupants, the altars with accused persons, the prisons with clerics; he brags to the Goths and insults the Romans, mocks the magistrates and plays tricks along with the public cashiers; he tramples on the laws of Thedosius and issues laws of Theodoric, searching out ancient offences and brand-new taxes.

(trans. Anderson 1936: 415, 417, adapted)

Discussion:

Seronatus is a figure known only from the letters of Sidonius Apollinaris (2.1, 5.13), both of which offer a very one-sided and critical portrait. He was some kind of high official in Gaul, possibly the vicarius of Aquitanica (so Goffart 1980: 246). In 475 he was accused of high treason by the provincials and executed. He had dealings with both the Roman and Gothic authorities in Gaul and was apparently involved in tax collection.

Sidonius mentions in 5.13.3 that Seronatus treated prisoners badly. However, he does not mention or allude to any specific case involving a cleric. It is possible that Sidonius is exaggerating, and that by saying "he throws clerics in prison" he means to say that Seronatus, as the person responsible for enforcing the law, was generally unreliable and often acted unjustly and violently.

The passage is widely commented on in the secondary literature because of the mention of "hospes" (are they barbarian settlers housed in Roman villas?) and the laws of Theoderic. On the hospes, see Goffart 1980: 245-47, Harries 1996:40, Wolfram 2009: 226; Mratschek 2020: 232. On the laws and whether the mention refers to the Breviary of Alaric: Harries 1994: 126.

Place of event:

Region

Gaul

City

Clermont

About the source:

Author: Sidonius Apollinaris
Title: Epistulae, Letters
Origin: Clermont (Gaul)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

Sidonius Apollinaris was a member of an important noble Gallic family. He was also a son-in-law of the emperor Eparchius Avitus (455-56). He himself was praetorian prefect in Rome in 469, but later became bishop of Clermont in his native Auvergne. He wrote panegyrics to the emperors (Anthemius, Majorian, Avitus), which were published in the book of Carmina and the nine books of letters. Both his poems and his letters are important documents of the history of the last Western emperors and of the rise of Gothic power in Gaul. They are also important as monuments of literary culture and education in the fifth-century West.

See PLRE II, Apollinaris 6; PCBE IV /2, Sidonius 1; Oxford Dicionary of Late Antiquity, s.v. Sidonius Apollinaris (by J. Harries).

Edition:

A. Loyen (ed.), Sidoine Apollinaire. Lettres (livres I-V), Paris 1970

Translation:

W. B. Anderson (trans.), Sidonius. Poems and Letters, vol. 1, Cambridge Mass., 1936

Bibliography:

W. Goffart, Barbarians and Romans: A.D. 418–584. the Techniques of Accommodation, Princeton 1980.

J. Harries, Sidonius Apollinaris and the Fall of Rome, AD 407–485, Oxford and New York 1994.

S. Mratschek, "Sidonius’ Social World”, [in :] The Edinburgh Companion to Sidonius Apollinaris, ed. G. Kelly, J. van Waarden, Edinburgh 2020, 214–236.

H. Wolfram, Die Goten: von den Anfängen bis zur Mitte des sechsten Jahrhunderts, München 2009.

Categories:

Described by a title - Clericus

Administration of justice - Imprisonment

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2426, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2426