The fifth century AD was a period of military turmoil and political upheaval in Western Europe. The career of the Gallo-Roman senator and bishop, Sidonius Apollinaris (c. 430-c. 485), holder of government office under three Roman emperors and later bishop of Clermont Ferrand, vividly illustrates the processes which undermined Roman rule. A champion of Latin letters and Roman aristocratic values, Sidonius was also for most of his
career an advocate of co-operation with the Goths of Aquitaine. Both a career politician and an ardent Christian, Sidonius in his writings reveals both the confusion of loyalties afflicting an aristocracy under threat and the compromises necessary for survival. This book, the first in English on its subject for sixty years, argues that
Sidonius adapted literary conventions and exploited accepted techniques of allusion to explain his dilemmas, justify his own role, and convey his personal understanding of, and response to, the fall of Rome.
- ISBN10 0198144725
- ISBN13 9780198144724
- Publish Date 5 January 1995 (first published December 1994)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Oxford University Press
- Imprint Clarendon Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 306
- Language English