232. Cf. IX. xxi, and Dill, p. 347.
233. V. xiii.
234. Horace, like Cicero, was 'caned into' Sidonius and his schoolmates at Lyons (IV. i; V. iv).
235. R. Bitschofsky, De C. Sollii Apollinaris Sidonii studiis Statianis.
236. Cicero seems to have been regarded as hopelessly beyond imitation. This appears to be the real sense of the remark in I. i, which irritated Petrarch (see note, I. i, p. 215).
237. I. 1; IV. xxii. In IX. i. 1 Sidonius states that Firminus has called him a second Pliny.
238. A list of the quotations from Latin authors in Sidonius, or obvious loans from them, is given by Mommsen, Monumenta Germaniae Historica (Auctores Antiquissimi], viii, pp. 352 ff.
239. Cf. above, p. lxxvi. The address of Sidonius at Bourges (VII. ix. 5) shows what skilful rhetoric could still accomplish.
240. The oration of the young Burgundio on Julius Caesar is a case in point (IX. xiv). Sidonius promises to attend with a claque of applauding supporters (IX. xiv). This at least was a sensible subject: those of 'school declamations' were often far-fetched or absurd (cf. Dill, p. 370). On the Declamatio, cf. Nettleship, Lectures and Essays, 2nd series, 112, 113.
241. Ausonius taught Gratian rhetoric, and the emperor made splendid provision not only for him, but for all his relations. Gaul had a special reputation for rhetoric; the blending of the Latin and Celtic strains appears to have been favourable to the art.
242. In the passage relating to education in the Panegyric on Anthemius ( Carm. i. 156 ff.) there is no mention of the Bible or of Christian works.
243. VI. xii.
244. VI. i. 6; VII. i. 3; VIII. xiv. 3; IX. viii. 2, A single letter has allusions to Lazarus, Pharaoh, Babylon, and Assur. All this is in complete contrast with the old indulgence in mythological allusion; it is the language of another world.
245. VIII. xiii. 4.
246. IX. ix. 12.
247. VII. ix.
248. Ibid. St. Luke is also quoted in VI. i. 2.
249. Claudianus Mamertus, Preface to the De Statu Animae; Gennadius, De Script. Eccl. c. 92.
250. Yet he credits himself with facility rather than talent: Scribendi magis est facilitas quam facultas (III. vii).
251. Casaubon said: Sidonius . . . in re Latinitatis improbus intestabilisque (cf. Germain, p. 114).
252. Appreciations of Sidonius' style will be found in all writers who deal with his works. The substance of their criticisms is contained in the severe judgement of the Benedictines: Sa diction est dure, ses phrases obscures; en un mot, sa prose est insupportable (Hist. litt, de la France, ii, p. 570).
253. He was asked by Prosper of Orleans to write on events in the war with Attila (VIII. xv), and by Leo on the later history of Gaul (IV. xxii); in each case he refused, either from disinclination, a sense of incapacity, or from worldly wisdom. In his reply to Leo he gives his reasons why a cleric should not turn historian. In this case Sidonius may have been doubly impressed by the need for caution, as Leo may have been the mouthpiece of Euric.
254. The Poems, especially the Panegyrics, are as rich in historical fact and allusion as the Letters.
255. Cf. Baret, pp. 68 ff. Sidonius is the sole authority for the tradition that Horace was saved after Philippi by the intervention of Maecenas (Pref. to the Panegyric of Majorian), and that Crispus was poisoned by Constantine (V. viii). He alone relates the attacks of Euric on Auvergne, the war waged by Leo I against the Huns (Panegyric of Anthemius, 1. 236), the victory of Aëtius and Majorian over Cloio (Panegyric of Majorian, 1. 212), and the campaign of Euric against Auvergne (Letters, passini). All that we know of the life of Bishop Patiens is derived from him; so is our knowledge of the priests Constantius and Claudianus Mamertus; Prosper of Orleans is only mentioned in his pages, and he has preserved the names of numerous Gallo-Roman philosophers and poets otherwise unrecorded or hardly known. The names of Ragnahild and Sigismer are given only by him. He has clone similar service in his literary allusions. We can infer from IV. xii. 1 that the Epitrepontes of Menander, of which we have now recovered a great part, was preserved intact in his time. Through him we learn of works now wholly lost, e. g. an account of Julius Caesar by Livy, a history of Caesar by Juventius Martialis, and the Ephemerides of Caesar's lieutenant, Balbus (all IX. xi). He also mentions works of Palaemon and Junius Gallio, brother of Seneca, which are no longer extant (V. x). An epigram attributed by him to Symmachus does not occur in the works of that author as we now possess them (VII. x. 1).
256. VII. ii. 1; IV. x. Cf. VIII. xvi Nos opuscula sermone condidimus arido exili, certe maxima ex parte vulgato.