Content

A stream of fierce invective against the accusers of Apollinaris, whose name has just been cleared thanks to the intervention of the Burgundian queen.

The addressee Thaumastus

From Ep. 5.6 it can be gathered that Thaumastus lived in Vienne at the time Sidonius visited him, and had recently been widowed. Sidonius’ remarks concerning his deference for him by virtue of his age could suggest Thaumastus was probably Apollinaris’ older brother, and older cousin of Sidonius.

Mathisen mentions part of Ep. 5.6.1 as evidence that Thaumastus and Sidonius were cousins of the same age and that he is to be identified with the younger Thaumastus, son of the elder Thaumastus mentioned in Carm. 24. As much as the possibility that Sidonius and Thaumastus were cousins commands more assent, the passage of Ep. 5.6.1, on the whole, hints at a difference in age between them. Thaumastus seems to be an older brother of Apollinaris, and older cousin of Sidonius, which wins him some extra deference on Sidonius’ part: pro iure uel sanguinis uel aetatis reuerenda familiaritate complector (5.6.1).

Moreover, a Thaumastus was one of the three delegates sent from Gaul with the purpose of impeaching Arvandus. As Sidonius himself recalls in Ep. 1.7, along with Thaumastus there were the ex-prefect Tonantius Ferreolus and Petronius, addressee of the first letter of Book 5 (see the introduction to Ep. 5.1). These same Thaumasti are also mentioned (in Carm. 24.84–9) at the estate at Tres Villae, probably Saint Mathieu de Tréviers.

The models: Cicero, Tacitus, Juvenal and Apuleius

Various genres and allusions to a wide range of sources, from oratory to historiography, contribute to the creation of the architecture of this layered text. It will be useful to offer a comprehensive view of the most significant and recurring models.

Oratory provided Sidonius with a repertoire of invectives against informers, and, as Cicero states in his de Orat. 2.236–7, irony, if placed in the right hands, is a most powerful weapon. Making a witness unreliable through mockery allows the lawyer to project a positive image of the defendant, and although Ep. 5.7 is not a piece of oratory, it avails itself of oratorical techniques. One may think for instance of the criticism of social background, thievishness, unusual clothing, behaviour and cowardice in this letter, which are all standard features of those subject to uituperatio.