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The Date and Literary Context of Ausonius's "mosella": Valentinian I's Alamannic Campaignsand an Unnamed Office-HolderAuthor(s): Danuta ShanzerSource: Historia: Zeitschrift fr Alte Geschichte, Bd. 47, H. 2 (2nd Qtr., 1998), pp. 204-233Published by: Franz Steiner VerlagStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4436502.
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THE DATEAND LITERARY
CONTEXT
OF AUSONIUS'S MOSELLAI
Valentinian I's Alamannic
Campaigns and an Unnamed Office-Holder
In Ausonius's
most famous poem,
the Mosella, the
laudesfluminis
generically
mixed with
an
itinerarium, not wholly dissimilar
to Hor. S. 1.5,
elaborate the
relationship between man and
nature, and between poet and emperor-patron.2
Interpretationsof the Mosella
exhibit some of the
same tensions that appear in
the scholarship of the Iter
Brundisinum: do these
itinera of poets, close to
matters of state, show the political undermined
by the personal,
or the personal
by
the
political?3
Interpretations
have
ranged
from the exclusively political to
the ironist. 4
There has likewise been
speculation
about the date of the poem.
In the following paper,
I will discuss some historical evidence for the date of the
Mosella. Elsewhere I will turn
to its literary genre
and
context,
both in Auson-
ius's ceuvre and
in relation to the
Orations
of
Symmachus.5
Knowledge
of its
date and of its literary setting
are essential for
a
valid
interpretation.
As a
bonus,
it should become clear
that a correct
interpretation
of evidence in the Mosella
and in texts related to
it can shed
light
on various historical
and
prosopograph-
ical problems.
Ausonius
himself was of two minds
when he wrote the Mosella. It seems
to
start
as a
personal poem,
an itinerarium. It soon modulates
into a
hymn
to
the
river
(v. 22)
and
praises
of
its natural
beauties,
the
opus
naturae
(v. 51),
its
clear
water, fish,
vineyards, boat-men, nymphs
and
satyrs,
and rustic
regattas.
But
even these
descriptive passages
exhibit
discordances:
the
catalogue
of fish
has
clear
mock-epic overtones,
while the rustic
water-games
are
compared
to
I T.
D. Barnes,
S.
J.
B. Barnish,
A. R. Birley, and
R. S.
0.
Tomlin
all
readdrafts
of
this
article.
I am
mostgrateful
or theircriticism
and
for helpfulargument
nd
comments.
2
The
Moselle
is
classified
as a
satura
odeporica
by L. Illuminati,
La Satira
odeporica
latina (Milan
1938).
3
See
W.S.
Anderson,
The Roman
Socrates:
Horace
and his
Satires,
n W.S.
Anderson,
Essays
on
Roman
Satire
(Princeton
1982)
p. 20; I.M.
Le
M. Du Quesnay,
Horace
and
Maecenas
... Sermones
1, in
Poetry
and
Politics
in the
Age
of
Augustus,
ed.
A.
Woodman
and
D.
West
(Cambridge
1984).
4 See F. Marx,
Ausonius'
Lied
von
der
Mosel,
RhM
80
(1931)
pp.
368-92
and
M.
Roberts,
The
Mosella
of
Ausonius:
an
Interpretation,
APA
114
(1984)
pp.
343-53
as
examples
of both
poles.
5 The companion-piece
to this article,
The
Date
and
Literary
Context
of
Ausonius's
Mosella:Ausonius,Symmachus, ndtheMosella, hasbeenpublishedn P. Knox andC.
Foss,
eds., The
Discipline
of
the
Art. Studies
of Style
and
Tradition
n LatinLiterature
n
Honor
of
Wendell
Clausen (Stuttgart
1997) pp.
286-307.
Historia,
Band XLVII/2
1998)
C)
Franz
Steiner
Verlag
Wiesbaden
GmbH,
Sitz
Stuttgart
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The Date and
Literary
Contextof Ausonius's
Mosella 205
weightier historic
naval events. The section on the naturalbeauties
of the river
ends with a poignant fishing scene. Then the poet praises the works of men,
above
all villas and
baths,
in
highly
overblown terms. Yet
up
to this
point
nothing openly historico-political has
appeared.
It is
only
in the
second part of
the
poem (vv. 349ff.)
that historical
reality impinges
on the
shimmering pasto-
ral world of the river. Ausonius follows the tributaries of the Moselle and
mentions the imperial
villa
at
Konz, lapped by
the waters of the Saar. The
tributariesall exhibit humanambitus and mores in their
longing to be part of the
Moselle.6 Ausonius then turns to the denizens of the
Moselle-region (vv. 381-
417) and unashamedly includes
the praises of various men, but all in veiled and
allusive terms: no names are mentioned. The rhetoric of the end of the poem
exemplifies
the two directions in which the
poet
is torn. Vv.
418-437
are
addressed to the
Rhine,
the
great northward-thrustingriver, site of recent
imperial military
activities. Yet the
sphragis
which identifies the
poet
and
alludes to his
consulship,
ends on a different and more
personal
note. He
commends the Moselle to his home
river,
the tidal Garonne.
The date
of
the Mosella
has
never been established with complete preci-
sion. The
general
consensus is that
it
was written between 371 and
375.7
In
1990, however,
H. Sivan advocated a
composite
date: the
Mosella was written
very early (pre-368), but
retouched and published considerably later at the end
of Valentinian's
reign.8
Sivan states
(p. 383), By scholarly consensus, then,
Ausonius
composed
Moselle in 370/371.
Not strictly so,
9
for, although some
scholars
accept
a date of
370/371,10 many regard
370/371
merely
as a terminus
post quem,
and would
suggest
371/75 A.D. It has
long
been known that there
are internal contradictions in the
poem, e.g. Ausonius optimistically looks
ahead to a
consulship
which he
actually
held in 379 in a
poem
that alludes to
Valentinian's Alamannic victories of 368 as
recent. 1
Sivan's
dating
is
based
largely
on
military
and
prosopographical
concerns.
Since I will
question
some of her
interpretationsof the usual evidence, I will
begin by reviewing
the treatmentof the
key passages used for dating the poem.
Subsequently, however,
I
would
also
like to turn
to less
explicit evidence,
such
as possible sources
for
the piece.
6 See Mosella 360 and 374.
7 For a concise statement f the datasee R. Herzog,ed.,Restauration und Erneuerung:
Die
lateinische Literatur von 284 bis 374 n. Chr. (Munchen1989)
p.
300.
8 H. Sivan, RedatingAusonius'sMoselle, AJP 111 (1990) pp. 383-94.
9 The same misinterpretationppearson p. 386.
10 R.S.O. Tomlin,
The Emperor Valentinian I (unpublished
D. Phil. thesis Oxford 1973)
p. 507.
1
1 Marx
n. 4) p. 386
thinks hatat the end of theMosella we see Ausonius'sclear intentions
of makinga second edition of the poem, but assumes thatAusoniushad beenpromiseda
consulship.See also C. Hosius,Die Moselgedichte des Decimus Magnus Ausonius und
des Venantius Fortunatus3
(Marburg 926) p.
22.
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206
DANUTASHANZER
The Mosella's
date has traditionallybeen established by various significant
internal features of the poem.'2
1. Vv. 420-25 allude
to recent victories of Valentinian
I and Gratian on the
Neckar at
Lopodunum. This victory is usually identified as Valentinian I's
battle
near Solicinium in 368.
2. Vv. 409-411
provide a terminus post quem by
describing an important
unidentified
office-holder in a way that can only be topical.
3. Vv. 1-22 describe a journey of Ausonius from
Bingen on the Rhine down
towards Trier on
the Moselle. Ausonius, it is generally supposed, accompa-
nied
Valentinian I on his campaigns of 368 on the
Rhine and Neckar.
4. Vv. 448-453 allude apparently to Valentinian I and both of his sons. The
birth of Valentinian II thus
provides a terminuspost quem of 371.
5.
Ausonius's own
consulate fell in 379, and he alludes to it at Mosella 451.
Ausonius
is
most unlikely to have mentioned his
consulship until it had
happened,
or was at least a sure
thing (Sivan p. 386).
I
would like to review all of the above
points.
I. IMPERIAL VICTORIES
1. Mosella
vv.
420-25
...
Nec
praemia
in undis
sola,
sed
Augustae
veniens a moenibus urbis
spectavit
iunctos
nati
patrisque triumphos
hostibus exactis Nicrum
super
et
Lupodunum
etfontem
Latiis
ignotum
annalibus
Histri
haec
profligati
venit
modo laurea belli.
Ep. 4
Illyricis regnator aquis, tibi, Nile,
secundus
Danuvius laetum
proferofonte caput.
salvere
Augustos
iubeo, natumque patremque,
armiferis
alui
quos ego
Pannoniis.
nuntius
Euxino iam
nunc volo currere
ponto,
ut
sciat
hoc
superum
cura secunda Valens.
caede
fuga flammis
stratos
perisse
Suebos
nec
Rhenum Gallis
limitis esse loco.
quod si lege maris refluuusmihi curreretamnis,
huc
possem
victos
inde
referre
Gothos.
12 In
this
listing,
for
points
1-4,
1
follow Sivan's
(n. 8)
order
p. 382), though
not necessarily
her
wording.
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The Date and
Literary
Contextof
Ausonius's
Mosella 207
Ep. 5
Danuvius penitis caput
occultatus in oris
totus sub vestra
iam
dicionefluo.
qua gelidum
fontem
mediis
effundo Suebis,
imperiis gravidas
qua
seco Pannonias
et qua dives
aquis Scythico
solvo ostia
ponto:
omnia sub
vestrumflumina
mitto
iugum.
Augusto dabitur sed
proxima palma Valenti:
invenietfontes
hic
quoque, Nile, tuos.
Sivan (384) identifies the victories of the Mosella and those mentioned by
Ausonius in
Ep.
4 and
5,
and notes
that the foe is not named in the
Mosella, but
that the
epigrams
refer to the Suebi.13 This identification
seems reasonable.
Mos. 424
etfontem
Latiis
ignotum annalibus
Histri
clearly
alludes to
the source
of the
Danube,
as do the
epigrams.
Yet,
while
Ep.
4.7 and 5.3
certainly mention
the defeat of
Suebi, Ep.
4.8 adds to their death a
more
general point: nec
Rhenum Gallis limitis esse loco. This could
be
a
consequence
of the defeat of
the Suebi near
the
source
of
the
Danube,
but it could also be
additional news
relating
to
other
victories further north near the
mouth
of
the Neckar. In either
case the Romanspenetratedeast of the rightbank of the Rhine. In the epigrams,
however, the rhetorical emphasis falls on
the
Suebi. Both
poems speak in
the
voice
of the
Danube and announce both victories
over
Suebians (stratos
peri-
isse
Suebos Ep.
4.7)
near
its source in Suebia
(Ep.
5.3)
and
(with far less
emphasis) victory
on the
right
bank of the Rhine
(Ep. 4.8).
The conceit of these
epigrams
is that the two brothers are
fighting
at
opposite
ends of the
mighty
river.
The river flows one way and
brings
Valentinian's news to Valens. If it
could flow both
ways,
like the
sea,
it could
bring
equally joyful
tidings
from
East to West.
Hence the fact that the victories were in
Suebia
(at
the source of
the
Danube)
is
all-important.'4
The
epigram
provides
a nice resolution to the
account of the
beginning
of both of these
troubles
in
Ammianus 26.5.7
(the
invasion of the
Alamanni)
and 26.5.8
(the
revolt
of
Procopius),
where the news
of both disasters reaches
Valentinian
on the same
day.'5
Thus Ausonius mentions victories
against
the Suebi and
beyond the Neckar
near Lopodunum. But Sivan is disturbed that
Ammianus
Marcellinus,
our one
13 Sivan (n. 8)
p.
384 Moreover he chief source of trouble was not the Suevi, but the
Alamanni.
14 Ausonius's Bissula herself was Suebian Bissula 2.2), and she was bornacrossthe Rhine
near he sourceof the Danube Bissula4.1 4), so the areanear he sourceof the Danube s
clearly
what Ausoniusthinksof as Suebia.
15 Note however that Symmachus (Or. I. 17 et tu quidem bellico intentus operi dudum
ferocis
Alamanniae
erga vertebas,
ed
parte aliafraterni imperii
iberam
pacem
rebellis
exul inruperat) implies
that the attacks of the Alamanni
preceded Procopius's
revolt.
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208
DANUTASHANZER
other source for Valentinian
I's campaigns, says nothing of victories against
the
Suebi, while concentratingon campaigns against the Alamanni, and a victory at
an unidentified place called Solicinium. She notes
the discrepancy between
the geography of the battle
in Ausonius and Ammianus and Ausonius' complete
ignorance of the true identity of Rome's chief
enemy. '6 By discrepancy I
assume she means Solicinium
(Ammianus) vs. Lopodunum
(Ausonius), and by
complete ignorance
that Ausonius seems unaware that Valentinian and
Gra-
tian were fighting the
Alamanni, and mentions only
the Suebi.
S. concludes from the discrepancy and the
ignorance that Ausonius
was not talking about
the victory at Solicinium in 368, but about victories
that
preceded the more decisive
engagement at Solicinium. She attributesAmmi-
anus's silence about the Suebi to the indecisive
nature of the early phases of
the campaign.
Thus she hopes to move the terninus post quem for the Mosella
earlier
than 368.17
A number of objections may be raised.
a)
Ammianus's
silence about the Suebi cannot be
explained by
the indeci-
sive
nature of the
early phases
of the
campaign.
Book 27 was not written
concurrently
with the events it describes.
Ammianus was
writing
after the
event,
when he had what information
was available -
probably
in 389/92.18
b)
If the victories
against
the Suebi of
Epigrams
4 and 5 and the victories of
the
Mosella are one and the
same,
but are not the same as the events narrated
by
Ammianus,
it
is
odd
that S. can describe
them
as indecisive. The
titles of the
epigrams proclaim
that
they
were
written
iussu Valentiniani
Aug.,
and their
tone
is
triumphant (as
is that of the
Mosella).
This
may
be
pure panegyrical
exaggeration,
but unless there is counter-evidence
that
proves
it to be
so,
it
should
be taken at face
value: there was some sort of successful
campaign
against
the Suebi
fought
near
the source of
the Danube.
Ausonius's Bissula was
a Suebian
war-captive,
no doubt
a
product
of this
campaign.19
c)
It is
wrong
to
suppose
that Valentinian's
Alamannic
campaigns
became
increasingly
successful,
and thatAusonius's
hope
for futurevictory means that
16
Sivan
(n. 8)
p.
384.
17
Sivan
(n.
8)
p. 385.
18
E.
Gerland, Valentinians
eldzug
des
J. 368
und die Schlacht
bei
Solicinium,
Saalburg
Jahrbuch
7
(1930)
p.
115 insists
that Ammianus
must
havebeen
present.
Matthews,
The
Roman
Empire
of
Ammianus
Marcellinus
(London
1989)
p. 21 also
seems to
suggest
autopsy,
Its author
must have
come
to the
West,
but
equivocates
omewhat
a
look
at
the larger context (e.g. p. 22) suggests
Matthews
means
that
Ammianus
pursued
wit-
nesses.
Yet
p. 377
suggests
that
he
used
a communique
orthe battle.
But
when
was
Ammianus
n the
West?He
was with
Valens
in
the
East in
370.
Thompson
n.
86) p.
19
suggests
392/4
as
a
hypothetical
date
for
Books
26-31.
Matthews
p.
22
puts
the
composi-
tion
of
Books
26-31
ca.
390.
On
p.
24 he
suggests
388/90
as
a date
for
Books
26
and
27.
19 See
Ausonius,
Biss.
4.3-4
and
4.2 conscia
nascentis
Bissula
Danuvii.
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The Date
and
LiteraryContext
of
Ausonius's
Mosella
209
he
must have been
writing earlier
(pre-368
A.D.) rather than
later.20 All of
Valentinian's Alamannic campaigns, not just the earlier parts, could be de-
scribed
as
indecisive: in
the
course of his
struggles,
Valentinian's fortunes
varied.21Ammianus
attests an
early
victory
at
Solicinium in
368, but this
was
not
the
end. Valentinian
fortified the
Rhine and
Neckar
in 369
and
suffered
a
bad
loss
at Mons
Piri
(Amm. Marc.
28.2.8-9);
in 370
he
negotiated with the
Burgundians
against
the
Alamanni,
and
missed a
rendez-vous with
the
former,
while
Theodosius
campaigned
against the
latter n
Rhaetia
(Amm.
Marc.
28.5.8-
15).22 His activities in 371
are not clear.
He is
attested at
Contionacum
(Konz)
between 12
July
and 16
August,
and on the 6th
of
September at
Mainz,
and on
the 11th of December at Trier.23 A campaign (of disputed date)24 against
Macrianus near
Wiesbaden
failed,25
and
it was
not until
autumn of
374
that
Valentinian
made a
truce
with
him near
Mainz
(Amm.
Marc.
30.3.40-45). Even
the
victory
at
Solicinium
(Amm.
Marc.
27.10.5-16)26
is
described as a
close
call.
When Ammianus
mentions it
again
at
30.7.7,
he relates
that the
coming
of
darkness saved a
few
Alamanni,
but that
the
Emperor was
nearly
captured.
Indecisiveness is no
evidence for
an
early
date.
Reference
to
future
victories
merely puts the
poem
anytime
before
375. Valentinian
never
seems to
have
given
up
hope
of better luck
-
perhaps
even the
capture
of
Macrianus.27
d)
Epigrams
4
and 5
must date to
369,
or
shortly thereafter, because they
mention a
victory
of
Valens over
the Goths
(Ep.
4.10).28 If
they
describe the
20 Sivan
(n.
8) p. 385.
21 A.
Demandt,
Die
Feldzugedes
alteren
Theodosius,
Hermes 100
(1972) p. 92
goes so far
as to
say
Andem
rein
defensiven
Charakter
ller
Kriege
Valentinianskann
kein
Zweifel
bestehen.
See
also C.M.
Ternes,
Paysage
r6el
et
coulisse
idylliquedans la
Mosella
d'Ausone,
REL48
(1970-7
1) p.
390, andA.
Nagl,
Valentinianus,
PWRE 4A
(1948)
2174.
22
Valentinian tayed in
Trieruntil
June 1, at
least.
After that
his
whereabouts
re not
clear
until the 15thof
August,when
he was
at Alteia
(Alzey).
Afterthathis
movements
annot
be
traced.He is
next
attested n
Trieron
1
December.See
0. Seeck,
Regestender
Kaiser
und
Papste
(Stuttgart
1919) pp.
238 and
240.
23
Seeck,
Regesten(n.
22) pp.
240
and 242.
24
See NagI
(n. 21)
2179-80;
Demandt n. 2
1
pp.
92-93.
Some date
it to 371,
others o 372.
Demandtprefers371.
25 See
Amm. Marc.
29.4.1-7
especially for
Valentinian's
discouragement.The
passage
contains
two
major
acunae.
26
PWRE
1927)
Solicinium
20 providesno definite
identification,
but
rejects
dentifica-
tions with
either Sumelocenna
Rottenburg)
r with Sulz. Tomlin
(n.
10) p.
155 n.
50
identifiesSoliciniumwithSpitzbergnearRottenburgnd gives a full listingof bibliogra-
phy on the
problem.
27
See
Amm. Marc.30.7.1 1.
28
See
Amm. Marc. 27.5.5-6
for
a
successful
campaign against
Athanaric
n
369.
The
campaign
of 367 was abortive
(Amm.
Marc. 27.5.2
redit
...
nec inlato
gravi
vulnere
nec
accepto;
likewise thatof
368: Amm Marc.
27.5.5).
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210
DANUTA
SHANZER
same
events
as
the
Mosella,
hen
here
s agoodchance
hat heywere
written
t
the same time, with a similar series of concerns
-
hence, perhaps,a terminus
post
quem
of
369.
They
exhibit
the same
fluminal propaganda
as
appears
in
Mosella
418ff.
In
Ep.
5.6 the Danube
subjects
all its tributaries
o the
emperors.
Amm.
Marc.
27.5.9
may further
explain
the importance
of the Danube.
Athanaric
would
not
make
peace
on
Roman
soil,
so a
treaty was
signed
from
boats
in
medioflumine.
e) There
does
not
have
to be
a geographical
discrepancy
between
Lopo-
dunum
and
Solicinium.
Let
us look
at
Ausonius's
precise
wording
in
the
Mosella:
420ff.
... Nec praemia
in
undis
sola,
sed Augustae
veniens
quod
moenibus
urbis
spectavit
iunctos
nati
patrisque
triumphos
hostibus
exactis
Nicrum
super
et Lupodunum
etfontem
Latiis
ignotum
annalibus
Histri.
haec
profligati
venit
modo
laurea
belli.
Nicrum
super
et
Lupodunum
and
etfontem
...
Histri
could
mean
beyond
the
Neckar,
beyond
Lopodunum,
nd
beyond
the source
of the
Danube
and
refer
to three places
and
events,29
but
it is
more
likely
that
it
means
beyond
the
Neckar
near Lopodunum
and beyond
the source
of the
Danube.
A river
is
a
line,
not
a point,
and,
whereas
the source
of
a
river
is a precise
geographical
location,
a river
in and
of itself
is
not,
unless
it is specified
at
what
point
on
the
river
an
event
occurred.
Beyond
the
Neckar
is
excessively
vague
(where
along
the
Neckar?),
and
the second translation
is
almost
certainly
the
correct
one. Super
Nicrum
et
Lupodunum
is
a
zeugma
cum hendiadys,
and
Lopo-
dunum
tells
us
where on
the
Neckar
the
victory
took place.30
The
correct
translation
is
Nor
are the
only
rewardsit brings in its waters, but also because,
on
its
way
from
the
ramparts
of Trier,
it beheld
the
joint triumphs
of father
and
son,
the
enemy
driven away,
beyond
the Neckar
near
Lopodunum,
and
near
the
source
of
the
Danube,
unknown
to Latin
annals.
This
laurel-crowned
letter
bearing
news
of this
decisive
turn
in the
war has recently
come.
Thus
we
have
29
Sivan (n. 8)
P.
384
seems
to be
translating
t this
way,
as did
H. G.
Evelyn-White,
Ausonius
(Cambridge,
M.A.
&
London
1958)
v.
I
p.
259
the
united
triumphs
f
father
andsonoverfoes vanquishedbeyondNicerandLupodunum
nd
Ister's
source,
unknown
to
Latin
chronicles.
30
R.
P. H. Green,
The
Works
of
Ausonius
(Oxford
1991)
ad
loc.
cites
an
exceedingly
attractive
emendation
of
Mommsen's,
ad
for et.
He
misinterprets
Mommsen's
sugges-
tion,
however:
ad surely
means
at,
not
to;
see
Lewis
&
Short
s.
v.
ad
A
3.
Marx
(n.
4)
p.
385
gets
it
right.
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The Date and
Literary Context of
Ausonius's Mosella
211
allusions not to
one,
or
three,
but
to two
military
events. The
first occurred on
the Neckar near its confluence with the Rhine, the second nearthe source of the
Danube
in
the Swabian Juranear
Donaueschingen.31
Although
Ausonius refers
to the news as laurea
profligati
belli
(note the
singular of
bellum),
because he
alludes to a
minimum of two
events, he must be
using bellum to mean
a series
of
campaigns considered as a
unit. 32
The
location of
Lopodunum (modern
Ladenburg), one
of the
main
Roman
towns
on the
right
bank of the
Neckar,
midway
between
Heidelberg and
the
confluence of the Neckar
and the
Rhine,33
s
known,
as is that of the
source of
the
Danube (near
Donaueschingen).
The
identification of
Solicinium,
however,
is much disputed. Candidateshave included Rottenburg,34
SUlZ,35
Schwetzin-
gen,36
Altk6nig,37and
Spitzberg.38Three of
these
candidates
are
on the
upper
Neckar
(Sulz,
Rottenburg,and
Spitzberg),39
one
is
far to the
north in the
Taunus
(Altkonig),
and the
other
on the lower
Neckar near
Heidelberg
(Schwetzingen).
31
Marx(n.
4) p.
385
interpretshe
evidence
correctly.
32
Given
the
presenceof
bellum,one
cannot
accept
the
interpretationf
H.
Maurer,
Kaiser
Valentinians
Aufenthalt
mRhein
m
Sommerdes
Jahres
369,
Zs. ur die
Geschichte
des
Oberrheins25
(1910) pp. 13-14
who
claims
thatno
fighting
occurredat
Lopodunum.
33 See PWRE 1927) Lopodunum 428, site of a castellum, he main townof the Civitas
Ulpia
Sueborum
Nicretum, which
supposedly
stayed in Roman
hands after
260
and
commanded he main
road
from
Mainz to
theUpper
Neckar,now
Ladenburg;
ee Army
Map
Service
Germany
1:100,000, 1st
edition,
1943.
U-3
=
Mannheim: 490
28
N
80
37 E on the
right bank of the
Neckar,
directly
N. of
Schwetzingen.
P.
Goessler, ed.,
Tabula Imperii
Romani
M32
Mogontiacum,
Archaologisches
Institut des
deutschen
Reiches
(Frankfurt
940) 49/8. P.
Filtzinger,
D.
Planck,& B.
Cammerer, ds., Die R6mer
in
Baden-Wurttemberg
Stuttgart& Aalen
1976)
p. 350 thinks that the site was
aban-
doned
after 259/60 and
plundered or
building
Altrip, but that
there is some
slight
evidencefor continued
nhabitation y
provincial
Romansand
continuity n the transmis-
sion of
its name.
34 1. von
Jaumann,
ColoniaSumlocenna
Stuttgart,
Tubingen
1840)
p. 128ff.
Baden-Wurt-
temberg;
ee Army
Map
Service
Germany
1
100,000, I st
edition,
1943.
W-3
=
Reutlin-
gen:
480
28
N
80 56 E elev. ca.
400
metres;on
a hill
SW of
Tubingen.TIR48/8.
35
Hosius, (n.
I
1)
ad
loc.
Sulz
(on the
Neckar),
ee
ArmyMap
Service
Germany
1:
100,000,
1
t
edition,
1943.W-3
=
Reutlingen:
80 22 N
and
8? 38 E, a
townon
the left
bankof
the
Neckar,
elev. 562 m.
TIR48/8.
36
J.C.
Rolfe,
Ammianus
Marcellinus,
v.
3
(Cambridge,M.A.
1939) p.
66
n.
2.
37
Gerland
n.
18) pp.
1
3-123
arguing
or
Altkonig
n the
Taunus
Hessen), see
Army
Map
Service
Germany
1:100,000, 1st edition
1943,
T-3
=
Frankfurt:
00
13 N
80
29
E;
Germany,
a wooded
hill, NW of
Frankfurt,
lev. 798 metres.
38 Spitzberg,Baden-Wurttemberg,ee ArmyMapServiceGermany1:100,000,1st edition
1943, W-3
=
Reutlingen:
8?
31 N 90 01
E, elev. ca.
470
metres,a
wooded
ridge
directly west of
Tubingen.
Tomlin
(n. 10) p.
155 n. 50 identifies
Solicinium with
Spitz-
berg near
Rottenburg
nd
gives
a full
listing
of
bibliography
n the
problem.
39
These
scholarswere
presumably
aking Nicrum
superand
Lupodunum s two
different
engagements,
and were
looking
for
sites on the
upper
Neckar.
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212
DANUTA
SHANZER
There
are various
ways
of treating
the apparently
contradictory
evidence
in
Ausonius and Ammianus. 1. We may assume that for whatever reason Ammi-
anus
omits
any
mention
of
the
victories
at Lopodunum
and
at the source
of
the
Danube.
2.
We
may
attempt
to identify
the
battle
at Solicinium
either
with
the
former
or
the latter.
Ammianus
does
not tell
us the
emperor's
starting
point, but
in the spring
of
368
Valentinian
crossed
the
Rhine
(Amm.
Marc.
27.10.6
[Main:acc.
to
Gronovi-
us's
emendation]),
and
marched
throughabandoned
territory
until he came
to
a
place
called
Solicinium,
which
was near
a high
hill
or
mountain.40
The
moun-
tain
had steep
cliffs
that
rendered
it impregnable
from
all
directions
except
the
north, where there was a smooth and gentle gradient. There must have been
woods
and
swampland
somewhere
not
far
from
the
circumference
of the
hill.
The
Romans
attacked
from the
north,
and,
despite
the
unfavourable
territory,
were able
to
execute
a frontal
assault
in which
the
enemy
were enveloped
and
partly
outflanked
when
they
retreated.
The
routed
barbarians
made
for
the
forest.
Ammianus
mentions
no rivers,
and says nothing
about
where
the
soldiers
headed
when
they made
for
their
hiberna
castra
and
the
emperors
for
Trier.41
From
Cod.
Theod.
1.6.6
we
know that
Valentinian
was
in
Nova
Mansio
(?Neu-
magen)
on
the 20th
of September,
368.42
If, for the time being, one tried to make a case
for
the
identification
of
the
battle
at Solicinium
(368)
with one
of
the
events
mentioned
by Ausonius,
we
would
have
an
important
point
in our
favour.
Valentinian
had been
gravely
ill
in
367 (Amm.
Marc.
27.6.1),
an occasion
on
which
other candidates
for
Emperor
had been
suggested.
When he
recovered
(27.6.4),
he
unexpectedly
elevated
the
child
Gratian
to
the
rank of
Augustus.
In his
speech
to the army
as
reconstructed
by
Ammianus,
Valentinian
emphasised
the fact
that Gratian
had not
cam-
paigned.43
Hence
it
became important
hat Gratian
as new Augustus
campaign
as
soon
as
possible
-
Valentinian
had promised
as
much
(27.6.9).
And this
he
did the
following
spring.
Since
Gratian's
presence
on
campaign
is
mentioned
by
both
authors,
and
it
is
only
on
the Alamannic campaign
of 368 that
there
is
positive
evidence
that Gratian
was present,44
and
since
Gratian
had
clearly
not
taken
part
in
any
military
expeditions
before 368,
a
date
before
368
for
the
victories
of
the Mosella
is untenable.
Given
that Solicinium
almost
certainly
cannot
be
scanned
in
a
hexameter,
one
might
seek
to
identify
Solicinium
with
a
place
on the lower
Neckar
in
the
40
1
am paraphrasing
mm.
Marc.
27.10.6ff.
41 Amm.Marc.27.10.16.
42
Demandt
n. 21) p.
I
10.
43
27.6.8
non
rigido
cultu
ab
incunabulis
ipsis
ut
nos
educatum
nec
tolerantia
rerum
coalitum
asperarum,
nec
capacem
adhuc
Martii
pulveris,
ut
videtis.
44
Amm.
Marc.
27.10.6
cum Gratiano.
Gratian
was
still
too
young
to
fight
and
observed
he
campaign
(Amm.
Marc.
27.10.10).
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The
Date andLiteraryContextof Ausonius' Mosella
213
vicinity
of Lopodunum
-
in
which
case Schwetzingen
is
the only
one
of the
suggested places that might match. Ausonius might well have mentioned the
better
known place
in
very general terms.45
Schwetzingen is very
near
Heidel-
berg46
and directly
south
of Lopodunum. If the
Alamannic
hostages mentioned
in
Ammianus 28.2.5
were
indeedhostages from
Solicinium the
previous year,47
then
their
fathers' presence
near
Lopodunum
might suggest
that
this was
indeed
where
the battle had taken place.
The only difficulty is
that,
if
the
mountain near
Solicinium which the Romans attacked was Mons
Piri
(Heidelberg),
as
Rolfe
suggested, it
is
odd that Ammianus
did
not
mention
the
battle
of
the
previous
year
at
28.2.5
or know
the name
of
the mons at 27.10.9.48
One
could,
however,
take the battle of Solicinium as the event to which Ausonius alludes in Nicrum
super
et
Lupodunum,
and assume
a
terminus
post quem
(but
not
necessarily
a
date)
of
368 for the
Mosella.
The victories of
Valentinian
I
near the source of the
Danube attested by
Ausonius may
also
find
confirmation
in the
duplicitous Historia Augusta.49 In
the
Vita Probi
13.7 Germans are driven
beyond
the
Neckar
and the
Swabian
Alb.50
The
latter lies
S.
of
the
Neckar
and
E.
of
the
Black
Forest,
and
thus
45 This,
however, is the first literaryallusion to
Lupodunum ccording o Tomlin (n.
10)
p. 165.
46
M.-A. Marid,AmmienMarcellin
Histoire,
t.
5, Livres 26-28
(Paris 1984) p. 267
puts
SoliciniumnearHeidelbergbut
notes that ts exactlocation s still
unknown.
47 So Nagl (n. 21) 2177.
48
Ammianus
does
sometimes
show
odd
sorts of
amnesia.
At
15.8.19,
for
example, he
identifies
Cologne in some
detail,as if it werea new place in his
narrative, espitethe fact
that he
has just described the
usurpation f Silvanus in 15.5, and
referred o
Cologne
several times.
49 See E. Norden,Altgermanien
Leipzig 1934) p.
31-37: Germania rovincia,eine
Fal-
schungder
Probusvita, nd
(agreeing)
W.
Hartke,Geschichteund
Politik m spatantiken
Rom:
Untersuchungen ilber die Scriptores
Historiae Augustae,
Klio Beiheft 45 (Leipzig
1940) pp.
82-84.
G.
Kerler, however, (Die
Aufenpolitik in der
Historia Augusta
[Bonn
19701
pp.
246-47 esp. n. 47), believes the HA
implicitlyhere.
50
HA Probus 13.7-8 reliquos
ultra Nicrum fluvium et Albam
removit; tantum his praedae
barbaricae tulit quantum ipsi
Romanis abstulerant.
This interpretation, however,
depends
on
the
identificationAlba
=
Alb,
not Alba
=
Elbe. Supporting he latter see J.
Straub,
Alba
=
Elbe oder Alb?
Bonner Jahrbucher 155/56 (1955-56) pp.
136-55. (Straub is
followed by Kerler
pp.249-50.) E.g.: He seeks to
prove
that Alba
is
not
attested in
Classical
Latin
with
the
meaning
Swabian
Alb,
and tries
to do so
by editing possible
referencesout of some texts and
reinterpreting
thers to
provethat
Alba
always
means
Elbe.
Not all of
Straub's nterpretationseem
plausible
and some
of the
steps
in his
argumentarequestionable.E.g.: He wishes to supportValesius's conjecturealveumat
Claudian, 3 Cons. Stil.
1.226 pascat Belga pecus,
mediumque
ingressa per Albam (Hall's
text; Bouquet's
emendation)/Gallica
Francorum montes
armenta
pererrant. Yet
he
ignores
the
flow of the
passage and the
fact that
t is
not describinga
water-crossing dynaton.
t
is
clear hat
Alb*m is ot a river,nor s it
something dentical
o themontes.
Therhetorical
force
is
on
themontes Francorum.
The Alb as a land areamakes he
best sense
here.
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214
DANUTA
SHANZER
corresponds closely
to the area near the sources of the Danube.
These victories
may have been completely omitted by Ammianus. But, if Solicinium were far
enough south near the upper
Neckar for Ausonius to consider
it as virtually
on
or near the source of the Danube,
then it
might be possible to identify Solicin-
ium with
Ausonius's et fontem Latiis ignotum
annalibus
Histri. In the latter
case,
it
would
then
appear
that Ammianus omitted the
engagement
at Lopo-
dunum.
This
might
seem
surprising,
since the event was
of
sufficient magnitude
to attract
the
attention both of Ausonius
and of
Symmachus.51
But both of these
were writing panegyrics;
After all Ammianus
at 27.2.11 admitted that there
were engagements in Gaul
he
was
going
to leave out.52
For him the
engagement
might have been no more importantthan the exigua castella he intentionally
omits.53
But it is
a
possibility.
Above
all,
it is worth
remembering
hat
there
are
instances where
Ammianus's account
of Julian's
Alamannic
campaigns
leaves
a
great
deal
to be desired.54
Given
the
context
of
the HA
passage
it
seems
very unlikely
to me that Alba=Elbe
n
it.
First
of
all the
Elbe
is generally
Albis
in Latin,
notAlba.
(The text
in Pan. Lat.
12.21.5
is
uncertain:
M has
Album,
which
could
easily
be
a
corruption
f
Albim.
Alba
appears
at
Pan.
Lat.
1
1.16.4
and
clearly
refers
o
the Elbe, but
is also often
emended
o Albis.)
Since
the Elbe is decisively East of theNeckaranda muchgreater iver,it rendersallusionto
the Neckar
superfluous.
The
author
of
theHA wanted
o specify
two different
directions:
East
and South.
In
other
passages
mentioned
by Straub
p. 149,
e.g. Res Gestae
5.1
1,
Suet.
Aug.
21 Germanosque
ltra
Albimfluvium
ummovit,
Eutropius
.9
ipsos quoque
trans
Albim
fluvium
summovit
qui in barbarico
longe
ultra Rhenum
est,
Tac.
Ann.
4.44.2
fluvium
Albim
ranscendit
ongius
penetrata
Germania
uam
quisquam
riorum,
he
Elbe
is a boundary
arEast
of
the
Rhine,
and
these
passages
do
not
mention
another
river
in
conjunction
with
the
Elbe.
Already
by Tacitus's
time
(Germania
41)
no one
saw
the
Albis:
flumen
inclitum
et
notum
olim,
nunc
tantum
auditur.
In
Claudian,
Epith.
Hon.
et
Mar.
227-229
where
the
Elbe
also appears
with
the Rhine,
it is cited
purely
figuratively
as
one of several
great
rivers
ncompany
with
the
Danube.
The
pairing
with
a
fairly
minor
and,
above all,
unknown
iver
ike
the
Neckar
represents
ot rhetorical
mplificatio
pace
Straub
p.
152)
but real geography.
Auxesis
would
have
used
the
distant
Elbe
alone.
Indeed,
the passages
cited
by
Straub
n
p.
150show
that
Germania
as
used
by
panegyri-
cists
has no
precise
significance:
one
cannot
assume
hat
t
includes
all
land
from
Rhein
to
Elbe.
The
HA author
did not
intend
he
Elbe.
See
now
in
agreement
with
me A.
Chastag-
nol,
Histoire Auguste
Paris
1994)
p.
1088
n.
3.
51
For
Symmachus
see
The
Date
and Literary
Context
of
Ausonius's
Mosella:
Ausonius,
Symmachus,
and
the Mosella
above
n.
5).
52
Praeter
haec
alia
multa narratu
minus
digna
conserta
sunt
proelia
per
tractus
varios
Galliarum,
quae
superfluum
est explicare,
cum
neque
operae pretium
aliquid
eorum
habuere proventus, nec historiam producere per minutias ignobiliter decet.
53
Amm.
Marc.
26.1.1 super
exiguis
silere castellis.
H.
Maurer above
n.
32) p.
14
misguid-
edly
tried
to make
an argument
x
silentio
on
the
basis
of
Ammianus's
omissions.
54
Take Constantius's
Alamannic
ampaign
f
356/357.
There
s
no
explicit
narrative
f
the
emperor's
actions.
Ammianus
makes
two retrospective
llusions:
at
16.11.2-3
he
speaks
of
a
pincer
action
that nvolved
Barbatioattacking
he
Alamanni
ussu
principis
from
the
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13/31
The
Date
and
Literary
Context
of
Ausonius's
Mosella 215
We need not convict
Ausonius
of not
knowing the identity of
Rome's
enemy. The Tabula Peutingeriana puts Suevia on the right bank of the Rhine
between Mainz
and StraBburg.55
he
name
Alamanni is a
later
term, and first
appears
in
the 3rd
C. A.D.
denoting
a federation of German
tribes and
splinter-
groups.56
The
Semnonian Suebi
became known
as
Alamanni,
and there
is
abundantevidence (including
Ausonius and
Claudian)
for confusion
of the
two
names.57
Seeck
has
pointed
out a
complete
lack
of
consistency
in
emperors'
adoption
of
triumphal
titles.58 This same inconsistency appears
in Ausonius's
Grat. Act. 8.2.8 possum ire per omnes appellationes
tuas ... vocare
Germani-
cum deditione gentilium,
Alamannicum
traductione captorum, vincendo
et
ignoscendo Sarmaticum. Ladenburgwas the main town of the Civitas Ulpia
Sueborum
Nicrensium,59
and it is
quite possible
that, although
Ammianus
called Valentinian's enemies Alamanni,60
Ausonius
might
have
called
the
same
people Suebi.
Thus
we may draw the following conclusions.
First, Ausonius knew
whom
Valentinian was fighting. Second,
since Gratian's
presence is securely attested
first, and only,
on the
campaign
of
368,61
there is a strong presumption
that the
joint triumphs
of
father
and
son belong to
that
year, or
to the beginning
of
369.
If
we
thus
agree
that the Mosella
reflects
the
campaigns
of
the summer of
368, then we are justified in trying to identify either of the two theatres he
mentions (the Neckar
near Lopodunum
or
the
source
of the Danube)
with
Solicinium.
Hopes should
not run
high.
None of the cases for various towns
and
hills
is
truly
convincing.
There must be countless
places
in
Germany
that
would
fit Ammianus's
topographical description.
Matthews
has
recently noted
that
Solicinium
seems similar
to
the average
hill-fort
site.62
Depending on
its
longitude (which
we do
not
know),
Solicinium
could,
without wrenching
evi-
dence,
be
identified
either with the
conflict
near
Lopodunum
or
with
the
campaigns
near
the
source
of
the
Danube.
In
any
event
it
is
Ammianus whose
account
is
defective. He
omitted either
Lopodunum
or
the
Southern Alamannic
south.
At 16.12.15/16 Constantius's
strategy
is alluded
to explicitly.
Ammianus has, no
doubt, deliberately
put Julian's
heroics in the
foreground.
55
L. Schmidt, Allgemeine
Geschichte
der germanischen
Stamme
(Osnabruck 1971)
p. 172.
56 Ihm in PWRE
1.1 (1893) sv.
Alamanni 1277ff.
57
Schonfeld
in
PWRE
4A
I
(1931)
sv. Suebi
570.
58
Seeck
in PWRE
1.1
(1893)
sv. Alamannicus 1280. See also
A.
Chastagnol,
La
signification gdographique
et ethnique
des mots Germani
et Germania
dans les
sources
latines,
Ktema 9
(1984) pp. 98-99.
59 For the name (not Nicretum ) see M. Speidel and B. Scardigli, Neckarschwahen (Suebi
Nicrenses),
Archaologisches
Korrespondenzblatt
20
(1990)
pp.
201-207.
60
So too
an
inscription
of 369,
see Dessau,
ILS 771.
61 See my The
Date
and
Literary
Context of Ausonius's Mosella: Ausonius, Symmachus,
and
the
Mosella (n. 5)
for the
possibility
of his having campaigned
in
369.
62 Matthews
(n. 18 ) pp. 311-12.
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14/31
216
DANUTA
SHANZER
campaigns.
As
we have
seen, however,
the reasoning
in
support
of an early
date
(pre-368) for the campaigns described by Ausonius is faulty. The scholarly
consensus
should
stand.
The
events described
by
the Mosella occurred
in
or
after
368,
which
still
remains
a
terminus
post
quem.
II. THE tMINENCE
GRISE
OF
MOSELLA
05FF.
quique
suas
rexere
urbes
purumque
tribunal
sanguine
et
innocuas illustravere
secures:
aut
Italum
populos
aquilonigenasque
Britannos
praefecturarum
titulo
tenuere
secundo:
quique
caput
rerum
Romam,
populumque
patresque
tantum non
primo
rexit
sub nomine,
quamvis
par fuerit
primis:
festinet
solvere tandem
erroremfortuna
suum libataque
supplens
praemia
iam
verifastigia
reddat
honoris
nobilibus
repetenda
nepotibus.
Those
who ruled their
own cities63
and
who have distinguished
a
tribunal
free of
blood and
harmless
axes,
or
governed
the peoples
of Italy
and
the
northern-bornBritons with a title second to that of prefectures,64and he
who ruled
Rome, the
head of the
world,
its
people
and
its senators
in an
office
that
was first in everything
but name,
however
much
he
was the
equal
of those
who were
first. Let fortune
hasten finally
to
undo her
error,
and
supplying
the
prize
that he
has
tasted,
now
give
him the heights
of
true
honour,
to be
sought
again by
his noble
grandchildren.
Ausonius begins
with
praise
of
provincial
governors
and vicarii
of
Italy
and
Britain.65
He then
narrows
his focus
to
concentrate
on one office and
one
man.
There
are three
problems
in the
passage,
and
unfortunately
all are
interconnect-
ed: the office, the man, and the date. In the past various offices and candidates
have
been
suggested
to
explain
the allusions
of vv.
408-11,
and scholars
have
clearly
not
found it
possible
to limit Ausonius's
phraseology
in and of itself
to
any
one office
beyond
the
shadow
of a doubt. The
office,
however,
has to be
a
63
This could
also
mean
the
cities
to
which they
were
assigned.
64
The
awkward
phrase
must
refer to
the
vicarii
of
the
praetorian
prefects,
specifically
the
diocesan
governors
of
Britain
and
Italy, governing
pro praefectis.
See
Amm.
Marc.
27.8.10
and
A.
H.
M. Jones,
Later
Roman
Empire
(Oxford
1964)
v.
I
p.
373.
Ausonius
does not use the plural of praefectura anywhere else. Oblique cases of vicarius cause
problems
in
dactylic
hexameters.
H. de
La
Ville
de
Mirmont,
La
Moselle
d'Ausone
(Bordeaux
1889)
p.
116
mistakenly
cites
Gronovius,
who
interprets:
hoc
estfelici,
non
falsis
iudiciis
eligentium.
65
Green
(n.
30)
p.
506
inexplicably
seems
to
suggest
that
he
cannot
have
specific
people
in
mind.
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15/31
The Date and Literary
Context of Ausonius's
Mosella
217
high
one connected
with the city of Rome.
The
Urban Prefecture
is the
most
obvious possibility. The vicariate of Rome or a prefectureof the annona have
also been
suggested.
So
too the Praetorian
Prefecture
of
Italy, Africa,
and
Illyricum.66
Candidates
nominated have
varied
accordingly.
The lines
have
been
interpreted
as an allusion
to
Bappo (Seeck),
67
Petronius
Probus (Boeck-
ing,
Hosius,
and
others),68
Maximinus
of
Sopianae (de
la Ville de Mirmont),69
Probus and others
(Green),70
or
an unsolved
mystery
(Sivan). 71
I shall
try
to
avoid circularity
in
reasoning
by separating
the man
from the office. But
this
knotty problem
still
presents
some
of the difficulties
of a crossword:
one may
obtain the best
results
by working
both vertically
and horizontally (on
man and
on office) at the same time.
The profile
of the
mysterious
office:
We should
begin by reviewing
the description
of the office itself. It must
in
some sense
have fallen short
of the
highest
possibilities,
because
fortune can be
said
to have made an error
that she could make
good.
The office
may
also be
one
that the office-holder
can be said to have
tasted,
(libataque
supplens
praemia).
It involved ruling
Rome,
its
people,
and its senators
(Romam, popu-
lumque
patresque
...
rexit).
The office above
it
is one that can be called
the
fastigium
veri
honoris (the peak
of true
honour/office)
and a fit
prize
for the
owner's noble grandchildren.Here there is an additionalproblem in interpreta-
tion. If the
person
addressed is noble, then
nobilibus
nepotibus
can be read as a
66 See
below nn.
95-96.
67
0. Seeck, Q.
Aureli Symmachi
Opera
quae supersunt, MGH
aa
6
p.
cxli n. 716
interprets
quique suas
rexere urbes
as
consulares
Germaniae
primae,
aut Italum
populos
aquiloge-
nasque Britannos
praefecturarum
titulo
tenuere secundo
correctly
as the
vicarii praefec-
torum per
Britannias et per Italiam,
and the
mysterious
personage
who was
par primis
as
the vicarius
urbis.
He argues
that Ausonius
would not
have failed
to
mention
an important
man from
Trier, and
that this must
be an allusion
to Bappo (the
name must
be Gallic or
Germanic),
who became urban prefect
in
372.
There is however
no
evidence
that Bappo
was
from Trier,
or that he
was ever vicarius
urbis, and there
is no gap
in thefasti
of the
urban vicariate before
366. So this
identification
must be dismissed
as
improbable,
given
the state of our
evidence.
Bappo
had previously
been dismissed
by
Tomlin (n.
10) p. 509.
68 Eduard
Boecking,
Des Decimus
Magnus
Ausonius Mosella, lateinisch
und
deutsch
(Ber-
lin
1828)
(non vidi);
Ausonius, ed.
C. Schenkl,
index 2 p. 281;
Hosius
(n.
I I) pp. 18-23.
W.
Seyfarth,
Sextus
Petronius
Probus, Legende
und
Wirklichkeit,
Klio
52 (1970)
p.
415 n. 3; D.
M.
Novak,
Anicianae
domus culmen,
nobilitatis culmen,
Klio 62
(1980)
p.
488.
69 De La
Ville
de Mirmont
(n.
64) p.
122
who,
like Seeck,
thinks
that tantumn
non primo
sub
nomine must refer to the vicariate of Rome.
70 R.P.H.
Green,
The Eminence
Grise of Ausonius' Moselle,
Res Publica Litterarum
1
(1978)
pp.
89-94 and
in his (n. 30) p.
506 asserting that
the reference
is a more open
one
and that it
may
have been
designed
so as to allow
other
dignitaries
to see
them-
selves
here. This
notion
(unsupported
as it
is)
is
highly questionable.
71 Sivan (n.
8) p. 391.
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16/31
218
DANUTA
SHANZER
matter
of fact.
If the
person is not
noble, then
the usage must
be
proleptic, and
thehigherofflce mustbe onethatconfersnobilitas.72Green p. 507) confuses
matters
by stating hat,
Again here
s
a studiedambiguity.
The new
honour
mightbe seen
as a prefecture
or
a consul,or
a consulship
or a prefect,
or
a
repetition of
either
honour. His
first alternative
is impossible:
the second
office
is
clearly
in some sense
higher
than the current
one
(cf. Cod.
Theod.
6.1.1).
Furthermore
he
duties
and functions
of the higher office
and those
of the
one immediately below
it
must be substantially
identical,
either
as a
general
matter of fact,
or in a special
situation.
Ausonius
states that
the person
who held
the lower office
(and
ruled
Rome,
etc.)
did so
in effect
-
only
not
under
the
primum nomen. This statement implies that the higher office also involved
ruling
Rome, its
people, and
its senators, but
under the primum
nomen
instead.
It would be
convenient
to narrow
the field by
eliminating
either certain
candidates
or certain
offices.
Sivan
suggested
that the
office-holder
had
to be
Gallic,
and
points
out
that Ausonius
appears
to extol
people
associated
with
Gaul
at
vv.
394ff.:
it seems
to
be clearly implied
that these
personalities
had
some
sort
of
link
with
Belgica,
probably by
virtue of
living
there
if not
of
having
been born
there.
If
we look
at the
passage
it is true
that it is
introduced
by (394)
cum
facta
viritim
Belgarum patriosque
canam,
decora
inclita,
mores,
but it is by no means clear that this idea of singing thefacta Belgarum and the
mores patrii
is carried
on all
the
way
down
to
line 399ff.
memorabo
quietos
agricolas,
etc.
Nothing
is said
of the
heavy-handed
hint of vv. 398-399
dabitur
nostris
quoque
purpurafusis.
Iquis
mihi
tum non dictus erit? Ausonius
is
surely
suggesting
that
he will
be
given
a chance
to
write an
imperial
panegyric.73
Unless
the
envisaged mperial
panegyric
was to
sing
a Gallic
emperor
a
rather
imprudent
offer
for
the
court-poet
of a
notoriously
irascible Pannonian
-
then
there
is
a break
in
the
sequence
of
Gallic
notables,
and no
guarantee
that
Ausonius
returned
pedantically
to
praise
Gallo-Roman
office-holders
alone
in
72
See
Amm.
14.11.27 quos
trabeae
consulares
nobilitarunt
et
praefecturae
and
T.
D.
Barnes,
Who
were the
nobility
of the Romanempire?,
Phoenix
28
(1974)
pp.
444
49
who
points
out
on
p.
446
that
n the
4thC.
one was
a
nobilis
if one
(or
one's
ancestor)
held
an
ordinary
onsulship,
a
prefecture
f
Rome,
or
a
praetorian
refecture.
73
Although
thefusus
is
often
a
metaphor
or
a
man's
fate,
Ausonius
can
hardly
be
suggest-
ing
that
he
will be
emperor.
nstead
hefusus
is the
instrument
f
his
poetic
capabilities.
The
colour
of the wool
on
a
spindle
is
determined
by
the
subject
of
the
spinner.
See
Seneca,
Apocol.
4.5-9
where
the
wool spun
by
the
Fates
changes
o
gold
at the
beginning
of the
quinquennium
eronis;
also Claud.Rapt.
1.
53ferratis
evolvunt
aeculafusis;
Sid.
Carm.22.199staminefulvo/praegnantisfusimollitumnesse metallumorspinningwith
gold
thread.
For
a
parallel
in
Ausonius,
see
Griphus
11
ter
nova
purpureos
implevit
purpura
usos.
It is
often
difficult
to
tell
how
the
translator
s
interpreting
Ausonius's
lines.
A.
Pastorino,
Opere
di
Decimo
Magno
Ausonio
(Torino
1971)
p.
531
translates
Anche
miei
fusi
avranno
'onore
della
porpora.
velyn-White
n. 29)
commits
himself
(correctly,
p.
257)
to ourspindles
also
shall
not
lack
for
purple.
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17/31
The
Date
and
Literary
Contextof Ausonius'sMosella
219
vv. 399-414. Since
the objections to a
non-Gaul
have been shown to
be
questionable, we may return to the unknown office preparedto consider all
possibilities
and all holders.
Two lower
offices were
suggested by
Sivan
(p.
390):
a
Prefecture
of the
Annona
or
a
Vicariate of Rome
The
Prefecture of the Annona:
This office
is
particularly
unlikely
in
that
the one above it, the urban
vicariate,
was not
a
prime
one (hardly a veri fastigium
honoris), nor did
the
prefecture
of the annona
form a standard part of an upmarket
senatorial ca-
reer.74One might
also wonder
why
Ausonius would try
to
curry
favour at
a
long
distance with someone who was not important for him in some fairly obvious
way. Except for the
exceptional Maximinus
7, little seems
to be known of the
Praefecti
Annonae VR from 366 to 375/8,
and there seems
to be no obvious
presumption
that they
would move on
up
to be the
Vicarius
VR,
or the
PVR.75
This office
is a
poor
match for Ausonius's
description.
The Vicariate
of Rome:
The vicariate
of
Rome is more
likely
for the following reasons: the office
above
(PVR)
is
a major
ennobling
honour and it is an office
(VVR)
hat is clearly
second in name to it.76 (It
is
unlikely
that Ausonius intended a vicar of the
PVR.)77In at least one case, the verb regere is used of the office (cf. urbem
rexit),
78
and it is known that there could
be
friction between the PVR and the
Vicarius
VrbisRomae.79In addition,
as
we have seen,
Ausonius uses periphras-
es involving
secundus to characterise offices that were vicariates,
and
here we
have non
primo
sub
nomine.80
Between 365 and 375 two people
with
known
later careers
held the office.81
Aginatius, though
an Anician and so at the time
worth flattering,
seems a poor
choice for someone
who ruled tantum non
74 W. Kuhoff,
Studien zur zivilen
senatorischen
Laufbahn
im 4.
Jahrhundert
n. Chr.
(Frank-
furt
am Main 1983) p. 252
Die
praefectura
scheint in jener Zeit
eine
Domane
von
Aufsteigern
und
weniger angesehenden
Senatoren geworden
zu
sein.
Cod.
Theod.
1.6.5
(365) and Cod.
Theod. 1.6.7
(376)
indicate conflict
between the
Praefectus Annonae
and
the
PVR.
75 See PLRE
I
lulianus 16, Aurelianus
2,
Ursicinus 7, and Sempronius
Faustus
9. Ursicinus,
however,
did become Vicarius
after Maximinus,
see
Amm. Marc. 28. 1.44.
76 Tomlin (n. 10)
p.
509 settles
for
it,
The vicarii
of Italia (Annonaria),
Britain, and
of urbs
Roma are
clearly
meant
- not of course the PVR himself,
for he was the
Emperor's
direct
representative,
and the primo
nomine
open to Ausonius's
man would be
the purple itself,
which is
absurd.
77 None are known by name between 359 and 394. See PLRE I p. 1078-79.
78 See Amm. 28.1.5
Maximinus regens
quondam
Romae vicariam
praefecturam.
But then
Ammianus
uses curantium vicariam
praefecturam
at
28.1.43 immediately
below.
79
See
Jones
(n. 64)
v.
2
p.
690.
80 Above
n. 64.
81 The others are
PLRE I Volusianus
1, Magnus
5,
Ursicinus
6,
and Fl.
Simplicius
7.
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220
DANUTA
SHANZER
primum
sub nomine,
since to
his pique he was
displaced by his
inferior, the
Praefectus Annonae Maximinus7.82Maximinussubsequentlyobtained a death-
warrant or
Aginatius from
Valentinian
and had him
ignominiously executed.83
The
situation pertaining at the
time of the magic
and
adultery trialswas a rather
exceptional
one
-
it was not
that the office of the
Praefectus Annonae
or that of
the vicariate became
more powerful in
itself, but that,
because of
Olybrius's
awkward
situation
and Maximinus's
force of personality and
connections at the
court at
Trier, the latter
gained
considerable
influence.84
Maximinus 7 himself, de
la Ville de
Mirmont's
candidate, might be a better
possibility,
given that
exceptionally he
conducted the
trials at Rome, both as
Praefectus Annonae and as Vicarius.85Olybrius,thoughPVR, had to stay in the
background;allegedly because of
illness,
but
perhaps because of
family con-
nections to Anician malefactors. 86
Par (in power, though
not
birth) to the
primi (Olybrius)
might fit. But if the
unknown were
Maximinus,
unless used
proleptically,
the words nobilibus
repetenda nepotibus
would
ring
oddly.
Ac-
cording
to Ammianus
(28.1.5)
he was obscurissime natus and
he
characterises
him as one of those who were
despicatissimae
sortis
(28.1.42).
Even
though
Ausonius
might
well be found
toadying
to one of Valentinian's
less
pleasant
Pannonian
heavies,
it would also be
curiously
inept
to find him
exalting
the
bloody
Maximinus of
Sopianae
immediately
after
praising governors
graced by
innocuas
secures.87
Maximinus was
equally
harsh after his
appointment
as
praetorian
prefect
when Ausonius could have
met
him in Gaul.88And
since the
final edition of the Mosella that exists
must be dated after late fall
378,89
had
the
anonymous
been
Maximinus
7,
it would have been
very
odd for Ausonius
to
leave in the laudes Maximini:
Maximinus
was executed under Gratian
n
376.90
Symmachus rejoiced
at his demise
immediately
thereafter.91
Would
Ausonius
have
eagerly praised
someone
so detested
by
his dear Roman
friend?
The PraetorianPrefecture of
Italy:
Chastagnol92
cites
Bocking, Jouai,
and
Piganiol,93
all
of
whom
appear
to
accept
urbemrexit as an allusion to Probus's
praetorianprefecture
of
Italy,
and
82
See
Ammianus
28.1.32.
83
See Ammianus
28.1.51-56.
84
See
Ammianus
28.1.9.-10.
85
De La
Ville de
Mirmont
n. 64)
p.
122according
o whom
tantumnon primo
sub
nomine
refers
to the
vicariate
of Rome.
He identifies
the
unknown
as
Maximinus
7.
86 E.A. Thompson,
The Historical Work
of
Ammianus
Marcellinus
(Cambridge
1947)
p.
104.
87
The
same
praise
s
accorded
Gratian
by
Symmachus,
Or. 3.2
incruentas
ecures.
88 Ammianus28.1.41.
89
See Section
V
below
, Ausonius's
Consulate.
90 See
Ammianus
28.1.57.
91 See Symm.
Ep.
10.1.3
and Or. 4.5
and
I
1.
92
Les Fastes de
la prefecture
de
Rome
au
Bas-Empire
(Paris 1962)
p.
189.
93
A.
Piganiol,
L'Empire
chretien (325-39S)2
(Paris 1972)
p.
204
n.
2.
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The Date
and Literary
Contextof Ausonius's
Mosella
221
to interpret this
passage
of the Mosella
as a wish for the consulship.
This
interpretationwould imply a dating between March368 and mid-to late 370.94
But
it is unclear to
what extent
there was any formal association
between
the
PPO
of Italy and the
City of Rome,95 and the PPO
of Italy, Africa,
and
Illyricum
would
have been based
at Sirmium
or
Milan,
not at Rome.96
The Urban
Prefecture:
An urban prefecture
is
obviously
a
strong
contender, given the
apparently
familiar phrase
urbem
rexit.97 Such a
PVR
is
likely
to have
been
the sort of
person
with whom
Ausonius was connected, or at least
might desire
to be
connected, given the
fact that Ausonius praised
him
allusively.
A number of
aristocrats held the PVR in the late 360's: C. Ceionius Rufius Volusianus 5
signo Lampadius
(365),
Praetextatus
(367-68),
Olybrius
3
(368-70).98
But
in
none of these cases
do we know of any
connection
between the PVR and
Ausonius. Given
the tragicdisturbances
affecting the patres
in Rome
in
368-73
with the trials
for magic
and adultery,99
t would
be odd for Ausonius
to praise
a PVR who
had
ruled then.
Ampelius
3 (1 Jan.
371-5 July 372)100
might be a
possibility,
but has
no
apparent
connection to
Ausonius.
Bappo
2
(22 August
372),101
and
Principius
(29 August
373) are,
in
effect,
unknowns.102
Flavius
Eupraxius
(