Content

The main theme of the letter is the friendship between two men of culture, Sapaudus and Pragmatius. The complex structure of this text can be summarised as follows:

• § 1 praise of the friendship between the addressee, Sapaudus, and Pragmatius, who was drawn to him out of his love of letters;

• § 2 praise of Pragmatius, who became successful because of his oratorial skills, which led to his marriage with Priscus Valerianus’ daughter;

• § 3 praise of Sapaudus’ oratorial prowess and list of renowned rhetors he surpassed;

• § 4 the friendship between the two is a beacon of hope amid pervasive literary decline.

The addressee Sapaudus

Sapaudus is praised for his knowledge by both Sidonius and Mamertus Claudianus, whose Ep. 2 is addressed to doctissimo uiro Sapaudo rhetori. In the same letter, Sapaudus is said to be working as a teacher of rhetoric in Vienne: Viennensis urbis … ciuis et doctor. There is no element to ascertain whether Sapaudus is also identifiable with a namesake, the addressee of a letter from Leonianus, which is preserved in the collection of Avitus of Vienne (Ep. 86); and yet, as advocated by Shanzer and Wood 2002, 279–80, this seems unlikely. Sidonius appears to be in good terms with the addressee, and no trace of tension emerges from this friendly letter, as is confirmed by the consistent use of the second person singular throughout the text.

Genre: literary matters and praise of intellectuals

As is argued in the General Introduction, this letter can be ascribed to the category of ‘epistles on literary matters’, which in this book includes Ep. 5.2 to Nymphidius and Ep. 5.8 to Secundinus. The common theme of these texts is the praise of friendships between admirable intellectuals – in the case of Ep. 5.10, Sapaudus and Pragmatius. Unlike Epp. 5.2 and 5.8, in this letter Sidonius seems to be only an observer and an admirer of the close friendship between the two, and is not personally involved as a third member of this close circle.

Therefore, despite the semblance of a congratulatory letter written at the news of their shared brotherhood, Ep. 5.10 reveals its nature as a display piece with the aim of praising both Sapaudus and Pragmatius.