15. He is even said to have taught the younger Theodoric to appreciate Virgil (Carm. vii. 497; Jornandes, De reb. Get. xl, xli). Cf. Hodgkin, ii, p. 379.
16. As noted above, Avitus' attitude towards the barbarians was shared by his son Ecdicius. It was also shared by other members of his house, for at the time of Euric's aggression, Sidonius appealed to a younger Avitus to dissuade the Visigothic king from his provocative policy (III. i. 5).
17. In the Panegyric of Avitus, Sidonius describes the part taken by the Goths in the elevation of that prince (Carm. vii. 441 ff., 508 ft, 570 ff.).
18. The Seven Provinces formed the Dioecesis Viennensis, the second of the two 'dioceses' into which Gaul was divided. They were: Viennensis, Narbonensis Prima and Secunda, Novempopulana, Aquitanica Prima and Secunda, Alpes Maritimae (Marquardt, Römische Staatsverwaltung, i. 261, 509). In 418 Honorius had issued a Constitution renewing the Council of Representatives of the Provinces, which under normal circumstances met at Arles (cf. L. Schmidt, Geschichte, as above, pp. 288-9, and p. xxx below.
19. Cf. IX. xvi; Carm. viii. 8:
Ulpia quod rutilat porticus aere meo.
The statue, which was placed between the Greek and Latin Libraries, is now lost. As a work of art illustrative of the decadence, it would have possessed for us an interest almos equal to that of the Panegyric which has survived.
20. For the career and character of Avitus see Gibbon, Decline and Fall, ch. xxxvi; Hodgkin, as above, pp. 374 ff.; L. Schmidt, Geschichte der deutschen Stämme, i, 1910, pp. 252 ff. Gibbon's accusations of immorality are not now regarded as justified (Hodgkin, p. 393; and Bury, Gibbon, vol. iv, p. 14, note). Avitus seems to have been a man of a simple nature, whose inaptitude for empire lay rather in lack of subtlety than want of virtue. His greatest claim to distinction was probably his action (already noticed) in bringing about the rapprochement between the Gallo-Romans and the Visigoths.
21. L. Schmidt, as above,"p. 254; C. M. H. i. 421.
22. John of Antioch (Fr. 202) says that he was either starved or strangled. Gregory of Tours (Hist. Franc, II. xi) relates that he attempted to escape from Italy and take sanctuary at the shrine of S. Julianus at Brioude (Brivas) in his native country of Auvergne, but that he died on the road, his remains being carried for burial to the church which he had attempted to reach alive.
23. The, episode of the conspiracy is obscure, and the commentators are strangely silent. It should be observed that Sidonius alludes to it as coniuratio Marcelliana (I. xi, 6), the adjective (if this is the word he really wrote), pointing rather to a Marcellus than a Marcellinus. Marcelliniana is a possible emendation, or Marcellini, as suggested by Mommsen (cf. P. Allard, Revue des questions historiques, l xxxiii, 1908, pp. 438 ff.).
24. Barker, in C. M. H. i. 425.
25. Mommsen, Praefatio, p. xlviii, places this first visit of Majorian to Gaul in the autumn of 458. Cf. also Schmidt, C. M. H. i. 202.
26. Carm. v. 572 ff.; Schmidt, Geschichte der deutschen Stämme, Part i, pp. 256, 373.
27. The miseries of Lyons may have been in part due to internal feuds breaking out when the hopelessness of the rebellion became apparent.
28. Carm. iv. n, 12, and v. 572 ff.:
Mihi diverso nuper sub Marte cadenti
Iussisti placido, Victor, ut essem animo.
29. Carm. xiii.
30. The failure of Gaul to establish a state based in the last resort upon Visigothic support, was perhaps a loss to civilization. Hodgkin has observed that had the effort resulted in a Visigothic power sufficiently strong to resist the Franks, the empire of Charlemagne might have been anticipated by a nobler nation.
31. It must be remembered in this connexion that the eulogistic description of Theodoric II (I. ii) was written in full consciousness of the fact that the Visigothic king had succeeded to the throne by murdering his brother Thorismond (Thorismud).
32. It is Carm. vii: an abstract of it is given by Hodgkin, ii. 410. The kind of flattery which was expected from an imperial panegyrist in the fifth century is illustrated by the words: Fuimus vestri quia causa triumphi, Ipsa ruina placet.
33. This is the date accepted by Mommsen (Praefatio, p. xlviii), and by Clinton. The Circus games which were just over (I. xi. 10) are taken by the latter authority to be the Quinquennalia of Majorian. But Hodgkin considers that the emperor was probably in Spain and Italy during the season 460-1.
34. This is one of the best of the descriptive letters. It is probable that the intimacy of Sidonius with Majorian had aroused the jealousy of others who, like Paeonius, were less successful in winning the emperor's good graces. These men were glad to use any opportunity to disgrace their brilliant rival, and used the episode of the lampoon to suit their own ends (cf. Chaix, i. 132). Hodgkin thinks that Sidonius may really have written the satire. It is true that he does not explicitly deny the charge brought against him; but the balance of probability seems against his authorship.
35. Majorian was dethroned and put to death at Tortona in Piedmont in August 461. During the disturbances following his death Theodoric obtained possession of Narbonne (Schmidt, Geschichte, as above, p. 258). Before his murder in 466, this king had very probably seized Novempopulana and a great part of Narbonensis Prima (ibid. p. 263). The death of Majorian seems also to have been the signal for encroachment on the Burgundian side. Gundioc reoccupied Lyons, and by 468 his frontiers had been widely extended towards the south, more or less with Roman consent (ibid, p. 375).