Intertextuality and allusion in the epistles of Sidonius Apollinaris

Abstract

Bishop, diplomat, letter-writer, poet and saint, Sidonius Apollinaris was an incredibly influential author in fifth-century Gaul. In Sidonius’ epistles literary allusions are employed to great and varying effect. This thesis examines Sidonius’ use of literary allusions in selected epistles, chosen to show the variety of their use. The first chapter examines how Sidonius alludes to programmatic remarks by other authors to develop his own unique programmatic message. Chapter two argues that Sidonius’ allusions in Ep. 1.5 (which describes his journey from Gaul to Rome in 467CE) amount to a critique of the destabilization of the Roman Empire in the West. The third chapter argues. Sidonius’ response to the controversial Gallic presbyter and philosopher Claudianus Mamertus carefully avoids philosophical debate by praising him in deliberately superficial terms, using allusions to refute and distance himself from Claudianus’ polemical claims with minimal offense. Chapter four analyses Sidonius’ allusion to a plethora of other descriptions of buildings and art in Latin literature to create a complex ecphrasis of his villa which balances claims for humility with aristocratic display. The final chapter argues that Sidonius uses literary allusions in his last letters to ameliorate the reception of his early poetic career by linking his poetics to his prose corpus. These letters have been chosen to demonstrate the broad range of authors and texts which constitute Sidonius’ allusions; to show his use of allusions cover a range of literary strategies; and to demonstrate his literary reaction to changing events, spanning his epistolary career, from the first letter of book one circulated in the 460s, to the last letter of book nine, distributed in the last years of his life in the 480s. During this period Sidonius became a bishop, Clermont-Ferrand fell to the Visigoths, and the last Roman emperor in the West held office.