Content

A letter in praise of Secundinus, described as author of hexameters, epithalamia and panegyrics. Sidonius’ interest is most captivated by his phalaecian hendecasyllables, written against the people of Lyon and praised for their piperata facundia, their ‘spiced eloquence’.

The addressee Secundinus

The informality of the author's way of addressing Secundinus in this letter testifies that the two are on good terms, as the commentary further explains. Sidonius is the only source of information on Secundinus, mentioned as a distinguished poet also in Ep. 2.10, where Sidonius tells Hesperius of the dedication of the Lyon cathedral, which featured three inscribed poems, one written by him, one by Constantius and one by Secundinus.

In this passage Constantius and Secundinus are called eminentes poetae and their respective inscriptions are said to be both in hexameters and located on either side of the altar, while Sidonius’ is in ‘triple trochees’ (i.e. hendecasyllables) and on ‘the outermost part of the church’: the apse. Unfortunately, Sidonius chooses not to transmit the text of his colleagues’ inscriptions, ascribing his reticence to the shame (uerecundia uetat) of having his ‘unworthy text compared to such superior compositions’.

Genre

The beginning of the letter (‘it has been a long time since we … eagerly read the hexameters’) immediately evokes the features of letters on epistolary silence, a standard way, in particular in Symmachus’ collection, of writing to friends. As stated before in this commentary, complaining about epistolary silence did not necessarily mean that the addressee had been reluctant to write, but rather was, most often, a polite way of claiming a friend's attention and of showing one's affection.

But this letter is also ascribable to the category of ‘epistles on literary matters’ theorised by Cugusi, a type of letter already mentioned in the introductory section to Ep. 5.2.