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People, Personal Expression, and Social Relations in Late Antiquity, Volume II
Selected Latin Texts from Gaul and Western Europe

For late Roman aristocrats, rank and status were everything. Nor was it sufficient simply to possess them. It was necessary not only to advertise that one had them, but also to demonstrate their efficacy through the exercise of potentia: the ability to compel others to fulfil one's wishes. Senators lost no opportunity to parade their ranks, titles, and offices.

11 Diptych of the consul Fl. Astyrius. CIL 13:10032.2; R. Delbrueck, Die Consulardiptychen und verwandte Denkmäler (Berlin, 1926-29). A.D. 449.

A diptych (a folded ivory plaque) announcing his appointment as consul allowed Flavius Astyrius, who assumed the consulate at Arles on 1 January 449, to advertise to his senatorial confrères the height of rank and status that he had attained. It had engraved on it a scene of Astyrius seated on the curule chair in full consular regalia, and read as follows, using typical abbreviations in order to conserve the very limited space at the top of the diptych:

(second leaf) COMESEXMAGUTRIVSQMIL (first leaf) FLASTVRIVSVCETINL

Or, with the words spaced out and the abbreviations filled in,

Flavius Asturius v(ir) c(larissimus) et inl(ustris) comes ex mag(istro) utriusq(ue) mil(itiae) cons(ul) ord(inarius)

1.2 Subscription of the consul Turcius Rufius Apronianus Asterius. O. Jahn, "Die Subscriptionen in den Handschriften römischer Classiker," Koniglichen-Sachsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaft zu Leipzig. Berichte 3 (1851): 348-51. A.D. 494.

The senator Turcius Rufius Apronianus Asterius of Rome, perhaps a relative of the preceding, itemized his career (cursus honorum) in his subscription to a copy of a manuscript of Vergil that he had copied himself in A.D. 494, the same year as his consulate:

TVRCIVS RVFIVS APRONIANVS ASTERIVS V.C. ET INL. EX COMIT. DOMEST. PROTECT EX COM. PRIV. LARGIT. EX PRAEF.VRBI PATRICIVS ET CONSVL ORDIN. LEGI ET DISTINCXI CODICEM FRATRIS MACHARII V.C. NON MEI FIDVCIA SET EIVS CVI SI ET AD OMNIA SVM DEVOTVS ARBITRIO XI KAL. MAI. ROMAE

Or, written with the abbreviations filled out:

Turcius Rufius Apronianus Asterius v(ir) c(larissimus) et inl(ustris) ex comite domest(icorum) protect(orumque) ex com(ite) priv(atarum) largit(ionum) ex praef(ecto) urbi patricius et consul ordin(arius) legi et distincxi codicem fratris Macharii v(ir) c(laris-simus) non mei fidicia sed eius cui si et ad omnia sum devotus arbitrio. XI Kal(endas) Mai(as) Romae

ritory surrounding the city of Rome, which was excluded from the jurisdiction of the praetorian prefect of Italy.

consul ordinarius: Asterius was consul in A.D. 494. fratris Macharii: A senatorial friend of Asterius, not his actual kinsman. eius cui: That is, God.

1.3 Inscription honoring Anicia Faltonia Proba. CIL 6:1754 = H. Dessau, ed., Inscriptiones Latinae selectae, 5 vols. (Berlin: Weidmann, 1954-55), no. 1269. Ca. A.D. 400.

The status of senatorial women, who partook of the rank of their husbands, also was publicized. Proba, the wife of Sextus Petronius Probus (consul in 371), was lauded in an inscription put up by two of her sons, Probinus, consul in 395, and Probus, who subsequently became consul in 406:

Aniciae Faltoniae Probae, Amnios Pincios Aniciosque decoranti, consulis uxori, consulis filiae, consulum matri, Anicius Probinus v.c. consul ordinarius et Anicius Probus v.c. quaestor candidatus filii devincti maternis meritis dedicarunt.

1.4 Perceptions of potentates. Carmen de providentia dei (Poem on the providence of God), 67-80: PL 51:617-22; M. P. McHugh, trans., The Carmen de providentia dei Attributed to Prosper of Aquitaine: A Revised Text with an Introduction, Translation, and Notes (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1964), 263. Early fifth century.

Popular perceptions of powerful persons were not always positive. The anonymous author of the Carmen de providentia dei, written in elegaic couplets in Gaul in the early fifth century, provides a different viewpoint regarding attitudes toward powerful persons:

Maximus inustis locus invenietur in orbe Oppressis autem pars prope nulla bonis Qui fuerit violentus, atrox, versutus, avarus Cuius corde fides cesserit, ore pudor Hunc omnes mirantur, amant, reverentur, honorant Huic summi fasces, huic tribuuntur opes ... Falsa valent in iudiciis, et vera laborant Insontes sequitur poena, salusque reos.

1.5 "Let's Do a Play." Querolus (The complainer), praef.: R. Peiper, ed., Aulularia sive Querolus. Theodosiani aevi comoedia Rutilio dedicata (Leipzig: Teubner, 1875), 3-5; L. Herrmann, ed., "Querolus (Le Grognon)," Latomus 96 (1968): 67-167; and C. Jacquemard-Le Saos, ed., Querolus (Aulularia) Le Grincheux (Comédie de la petite marmite) (Paris, Budé, 1994), 3. Early fifth century. The best manuscript of the Querolus was consumed in a fire at Reims on 17 January 1774. Citations here and elsewhere include the act and scene numbers from Peiper, followed by the paragraph numbers from Jacquemard-Le Saos.

A favorite aristocratic avocation, as already seen in the case of Turcius Asterius above, was to indulge one's literary interests. This involved, if not actual composing or copying, serving as the sponsor of those who did. Aristocratic authors often introduced their compositions with a dedicatory preface. One such began the Querolus, a comedy written in Gaul in the early fifth century ostensibly in the style of the Republican comic poet Plautus (ca. 254-184 B.C.), whose twenty-one surviving comedies are full of slapstick and earthy humor. The author expresses his gratitude to the vir inlustris Rutilius, who had sponsored both the composition and the production.

Rutili, venerande semper magnis lauudibus, qui das honoratam quietem quam dicamus ludicris inter proximos et propinquos, honore dignum putas, duplici fateor et ingenti me donas bono: hoc testimonio hoc collegio; haec vera est dignitas. quaenam ergo his pro meritis digna referam praemia? pecunia illa rerum ac sollicitudinum causa et caput neque mecum abundans neque apud te pretiosa est. parvas mihi litterulas non parvus indulsit labor. hinc honos atque merces, hinc manabit praemium. atque ut operi nostro aliquid adderetur gratiae, sermone illo philosophico ex tuo materiam sumpsimus. meministine ridere tete solitum illos qui fata deplorant sua atque academico more quod libitum foret destruere et adserere te solitum? sed quantum licet? hinc ergo quid in vero sit qui solus novit noverit: nos fabellis atque mensis hunc libellum scripsimus ... tuo igitur inlustris libellus iste dedicatur nomini. vivas incolumis atque felix votis nostris et tuis.

1.6 The dedication of a grammatical treatise. Agroecius, De orthographia (On orthography), praef.: Heinrich Keil, ed., Grammatici latini (Leipzig, 1880), 7:113-14. Ca. 440s.

The conscious mimicry of the literary efforts of the past was common in the Late Roman west. The dedicatory preface of another classically based work, entitled De orthographia, was written circa the 440s by Agroecius-perhaps the elderly and learned Agroecius who was bishop of Sens circa 470-and was addressed not to a secular aristocrat, but to Eucherius (ca. 432-51), the cultured bishop of Lyon.

Domino Eucherio episcopo Agroecius. Libellum Capri de orthographia misisti mihi. haec quoque res proposito tuo et moribus tuis congrua est, ut, qui nos in huius vitae actibus corrigere vis, etiam in scribendi studiis emendares. nihil ergo quod in nobis est alienam a castigatione tua credis: omnia nostra, et quae dictu parva sunt, sollicita indage rimaris, a vivendo ad scribendum, ab animo ad manum, a corde ad articulum pervenis. hoc est vere summum dei sacerdotem esse, commissos sibi homines, ut ipsi dicitis, et secundum spritum imbuere et secundum litteram perdocere. huic ergo Capri libello, qui est de orthographia et de proprietate ac differentia sermonum, quaedam adicienda subieci, non quod vir tantae peritiae aliquid praetermiserit, tam multis praesertim litterarum operibus, celebratus et in commentando etiam Cicerone praecipuus, sed quia nos difficilia putamus quae ille ut facilia neglexit. ego autem credidi haec ambigua aliquantis videri, quia mihi obscura frequenter fuissent. ad te igitur hoc opusculum mittitur, in quo laborabis plurimum, cui necesse est emendare ipsum qui aliquid emendare praesumpsit. donabit divina pietas ut, qui scriptum a te observare volumus, etiam praescriptum tuum servare possimus.

vale memor nostri, decus et praesidium meum.

1.7 Manuscript copying. Rusticus, Epist. "Transcriptis exultanter": C. Wotke, ed., CSEL 31.1 (Vienna, 1894), 198-99; see J. Pitra, "Sanctus Eucherius Lugdunensis," Analecta sacra 2 (1884): 492. Ca. A.D. 435/440. The letter survives only in a small family of manuscripts based on the sixth-century Codex Sessorianus 77 ("S"), now in the Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele in Rome.

The pleasure taken by aristocrats in their literary pursuits is seen in a letter written circa 435 to Eucherius by Rusticus, a classically trained priest who would have belonged to the Rustici, one of premier families of late Roman Lyon. The letter was preserved only because it was incorporated, along with letters of Hilary of Arles and Salvian of Marseille (cited in chapter 5 below), into a manuscript of Eucherius's De spiritalis intellegentiae (On spiritual understanding). Perhaps Rusticus himself was the copyist of the manuscript that served as the exemplar for the surviving sixth-century copy, and this is how his cover letter happened to be incorporated.

Domino vero sancto atque amico dei et mihi in Christo omni cultu suscipiendo papae Eucherio Rusticus presbyter.

Transcriptis exultanter ac raptim quae deprecante me exemplanda misisti illico ad beatitudinem vestram volumen utrumque direxi, unica vero illa et sine comparatione doctrina, qua ex utroque testamento magnorum aenignatum absolutissime aperiens quaestiones amoto velamine oculis cordis verum spiritalis intellegentia lumen infundit, quam admirationi mihi fuerit, manifestius declarare non potui, quam ut eam a me faterer digne non posse laudari. quamquam quid ego ad adtollenda ea quae editis solum me esse imparem dicam? pace dictum sit omnium qui sunt optime his quae liberalia appellant studia instituti, nec ab his quidem mira librorum tuorum praeconia satis digne excoli posse existimo. quia licet facilius esse decernant indicare quam dicere, mihi tamen adeo persuasum est non esse hoc facile, ut merito definiam, quod nemo rectius tam praeclari operis praedicator existeret quam eius inventor et conditor, quia, quod nemo sic potuit invenire, utique sic nemo laudat. sed dum haec tacitus mecum revolvo, occurrit mihi quod in bibliothecis studiosi saecularium litterarum puer quondam, ut se aetatis illius curiositas habet, praetereundo legissem. nam cum supra memoratae aedis ordinator ac dominus inter expressas lapillis aut ceris discoloribus formatasque effigies vel oratorum vel etiam poetarum specialia singulorum autotypis epigrammata subdidisset, ubi ad praeiudicati eloquii venit poetam, hoc modo orsus est:

Virgilium vatem melius sua carmina laudant, In freta dum fluvii current, dum montibus umbrae Lustrabant convexa, polus dum sidera pascet, Semper honos, nomenque tuum laudesque manebunt.

et vere, dummodo orationibus tuis culpa caream,26 quod inter sacros apices, commemorationesque sanctorum mundialium a me scripturarum promuntur exempla, merito mihi domnum Eucherium mente recolenti memoratam in memoriam opus recurrit. nam dum erunt superius conprehensa, omnium Christianorum ore et amore celebrabere praedicandus in posterum, dum doces posteros. Ora pro me, domine vere sancte atque amice dei et mihi in Christo omni cultu suscipiende pater.

1.8 Taurentius's lending library. Taurentius, Epist. "Litterae sanctitatis": B. Krush, ed., MGH AA 8:272; A. Engelbrecht, ed., CSEL 21 (Vienna, 1891), 444-46; CCL 64:398-400. Ca. 480/505. The letters written by and to Bishop Ruricius of Limoges (ca. 485-510), such as those of Taurentius and Sedatus below, survive only in a single manuscript, the Codex Sangallensis 190 ("S"), written in the late eighth or early ninth century and preserved at St. Gallen.

Rusticus was not the only one to copy manuscripts. Indeed, this was a favorite aristocratic pastime. Another example is found in a letter written to Ruricius of Limoges by his friend Taurentius, which indicates that Ruricius and others were in the habit of borrowing from his library on a regular basis.

Domino sancto ac beatissimo et omni mihi cultu atque honore venerando patri et in Christo domino patrono Ruricio episcopo Taurentius.

Litterae sanctitatis vestrae me spiritali cibo pastum incitaverunt ad spem futurorum et verba prophetica claritate radiantia ad discutiendas errorum tenebras purissima luce fulserunt. recognosco plenum caritatis affectum et sinceritatem piae castigationis amplector: eloquentiam in verbis, in exemplis perfectionem, in consilio gratiam, in officio diligentiam, in veritate constantiam, in admonitione veritatem, scientiam probatis in dogmate. vos antiquos scripturarum interpretes et divinorum voluminum tractatores, veneranda mihi nomina, Cyprianum, Augustinum, Hilarium, Ambrosium rettulistis, alios facundiae flore vernantes, alios et in revelandis occultioribus spiritales, alios mulcendis imperitorum sensibus blandientes, alios in fidei assertione pugnantes. praeteritae calumniamur aetati, quod viros illos admiratione dignissimos haec saecula non tulerunt: pro certo doctrinam iunioris ambierant qui ante docuerunt. ego autem aetateem meam non de canentium putamine capillorum nec, sicut beatitudo vestra de saeculari auctore mutuata est, de colore barbae albentis agnosco, cum, etiamsi esset error in computo, senescentis32 annos de torpore membrorum per morbi incrementa sentirem. sed omnium precum humilitate deposco, ut pro correctione morum meorum, pro inspirando mihi desiderio paenitendi, pro domini nostri propitiatione in sanctis vestris orationibus supplicetis, ut qui ad vitandum proclive illius viae in perniciosa vergentis erectum et cum labore gradiendum iter ostenditis, et ingressum boni operis et piae emendationis obtineatis effectum non in verbere disciplinae, sed in indulgentiae medicina et misericordiae lenitate. hanc quoque vobis conferte mercedem: debetis enim fenus domino de thesauro, qui fidei vestrae traditus et a vobis illo commendante susceptus est. adquirite desperantes, arguite neglegentes, deditos somno ignavae securitatis excutite, resides excitate. decet ovem perditam in umeris suis bonum reportare pastorem et munitioribus caulis eas quibus lupus insidiatur includere. sanctum Augustinum, sicut iusseratis, inveni, quem cum filio communi Rustico presbytero esse credebam. operae pretium est ut admiremini studium meum, quod quae opuscula contineret hucusque nescivi sane capitulatim iam librum traditurus inspexi. chartaceus liber est et ad ferendum iniuriam parum fortis, quia citius charta, sicut nostis, vetustate consumitur; legite, si iubetis, atque transcribite. et spero, ut, postquam vobis bene cognitus fuerit, ad me, cui est incognitus, remittatur, quia corrigere neglentiam meam frequentata membranae ipsius lectione dispono. ora pro me.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from People, Personal Expression, and Social Relations in Late Antiquity, Volume II by Ralph W. Mathisen
Copyright © 2003 by University of Michigan . Excerpted by permission.
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