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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 March 2025
Content
Sidonius reproaches Apollinaris for his silence and informs him of his precarious state of health due to a recent fever.
The addressee Apollinaris
Apollinaris was a relative of Sidonius – according to Mathisen's recent theory, his cousin, brother of Thaumastus (the addressee of Ep. 5.7). Apart from Ep. 5.3, Apollinaris received from Sidonius Ep. 4.6, a short note in which he expressed relief for Apollinaris’ decision to put off his family's pilgrimage; and Ep. 5.6, for the content of which see the commentary ad loc. He also received Epp. 4.4 and 4.12, addressed jointly to Simplicius. While Ep. 4.4 has the features of a commendation letter, Ep. 4.12 is a formal request to send Sidonius a second letter, since the initial copy was lost before delivery. Apollinaris owned the estate of Vorocingus (near Nîmes), where Sidonius himself was a guest at some time between 462 and 464. In Carm. 24.52–74 Sidonius depicts a vivid image of the luxurious life Apollinaris led in his manor, fighting to protect his house from the summer heat, strolling around his magnificent gardens filled with blooming flowers and vineyards, whose splendour was reminiscent of the renowned gardens of the Indian king Porus.
After 469, Apollinaris left the region of Nîmes because of the attacks led by the Visigoths and moved to Vaison with Simplicius, as is attested in Ep. 7.4.4. It was in Vaison that in 474 Apollinaris was charged with conspiracy against the Burgundian Chilperic I, in support of the emperor Julius Nepos. Informed of the precarious situation by Thaumastus, Sidonius wrote to Apollinaris (Ep. 5.6), reassuring him of his intention to intercede for him. The mission to the Burgundian court at Lyon turned out to be a success and, as Sidonius wrote in Ep. 5.7 to Thaumastus, Apollinaris was acquitted thanks to the mediation of Chilperic's anonymous Catholic wife.
The proposal (in PCBE 4, 162) that, because of the presence of the term uos, Ep. 5.3 might be addressed also to Simplicius is not particularly convincing. Sidonius might be referring to both when employing the term uos, but it seems possible that tu and uos are simply alternatively employed to indicate a second person singular, as will be discussed in detail in this introduction.
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