Relationes 10-12 of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus as an Elogium to Commemorate Vettius Agorius Praetextatus
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12797/CC.25.2022.25.04Keywords:
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, Roman political prose of the 4th century AD, relationesAbstract
Relationes 10−12 stand out from Q.A. Symmachus’ reports written to give an account of his activities at the position of the prefect of Rome (praefectus urbis Romae). These three relationes were written and sent by Symmachus to Roman emperors to inform them of the death of V.A. Praetextatus, who was a famous and influential Roman dignitary as well as Symmachus’ close friend. Rel. 10−12 are not only thematically related, but also – unlike the rest of the reports − clearly marked with personal and laudatory accents and thus their nature significantly differs from the formal documents sent to emperors from the chancellery of an imperial administrative dignitary. In this paper, we aim at presenting Rel. 10−12 as an elogium, in which in three separate reports Symmachus included a coherent eulogy of Praetextatus and presented his idealized portrait tinged with his own personal feelings, underpinned by the aspects of conservative ideology cultivated then within the circles of the Roman senatorial aristocracy.
References
Primary sources
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, Relationes, ed. W. Meyer, Leipzig 1872.
Secondary sources
Abram S.L., 1998, ‘Brevity in Early Medieval Letters’, Florilegium 15, pp. 23−35, https://doi.org/10.3138/flor.15.002. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/flor.15.002
Alfӧldi A., Alfӧldi E., 1999, ‘The Antiquity of the Symmachi’, Historia 48, pp. 477−505.
Barrow R.H., transl. 1973, Relationes: Prefect and Emperor; the Relationes of Symmachus, A.D. 384, Oxford.
Beck H., 2007, ‘The Early Roman Tradition’, [in:] A Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography, Vol. 1, J. Marincola (ed.), Oxford, pp. 259−265.
Brodka D., 1998, Die Romideologie in der rӧmischen Literatur der Spätantike, Frankfurt am Main.
Cameron A., 2004, ‘Poetry and Literary Culture in Late Antiquity’, [in:] Approaching Late Antiquity: The Transformation from Early to Late Empire,
S. Swain, M. Edwards (eds), Oxford, pp. 327–354.
Cameron A., 2011, The Last Pagans of Rome, Oxford, https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199747276.001.0001. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199747276.001.0001
Gärtner H., 1968, ‘Einige Überlegungen zur kaiserzeitlichen Panegyrik und zu
Ammians Charakteristik des Kaisers Julian’, Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur in Mainz. Abhandlungen der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Klasse 10, pp. 497−529.
Haverling G., 1988, Studies on Symmachus’ Language and Style, Gӧteborg.
Jones A.H.M., Martindale J.R., Morris J., 1971, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Vol. 1: A.D. 260−395, Cambridge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/4347658
Kahlos M., 1995, ‘The Restoration Policy of V.A. Praetextatus’, Arctos 29, pp. 39−47.
Kahlos M., 2002, Vettius Agorius Praetextatus, Rome.
Korpanty J., 1976, Studia nad łacińską terminologią polityczno-socjalną okresu republiki rzymskiej, Wrocław.
Lausberg H., 2002, Retoryka literacka. Podstawy wiedzy o literaturze, transl. and ed. A. Gorzkowski, Bydgoszcz.
Lind L.R., 1979, ‘The Tradition of Roman Moral Conservatism’, [in:] Studies in Latin Literature and Roman History, 1, C. Deroux (ed.), (Collection Latomus 164), Bruxelles, pp. 7−58.
Matthews J., 1986, ‘Symmachus and His Enemies’, [in:] Colloque génévois sur Symmaque à l’occasion du mille six centième anniversaire du conflit de l’autel de la Victoire, F. Paschoud (ed.), Paris, pp. 163−175.
Miozga S., 2008, Konserwatyzm ideowy rzymskiej arystokracji senatorskiej późnego cesarstwa w pismach Kwintusa Aureliusza Symmacha, diss., Kraków.
Mleczek A., 2018, Dekadencja moralna społeczeństwa rzymskiego w Res Gestae Ammiana Marcellina, Kraków.
Olszaniec S., 2014, ‘The Two Prefects of 384 – Symmachus and Praetextatus’, [in:] Within the Circle of Ancient Ideas and Virtues: Studies in Honour of Professor Maria Dzielska, K. Twardowska et al. (eds), Kraków, pp. 233−242.
Omissi A., Ross A.J. (eds), 2020, Imperial Panegyric from Diocletian to Honorius, Liverpool.
Sogno C., 2006, Q. Aurelius Symmachus: A Political Biography, Ann Arbor, https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.135836. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.135836
Styka J., 2008, Sydoniusz Apollinaris i kultura literacka w Galii V wieku, Kraków.
Trout D., 2001, ‘The Verse Epitaph(s) of Petronius Probus: Competitive Commemoration in Late-Fourth-Century Rome’, New England Classical Journal 28, pp. 157−176.
Vera D., 1981, Commento storico alle Relationes di Quinto Aurelio Simmaco, Pisa.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.