APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS. — Gaius Sollius Modestus A. S. was born in Lyons between 430 and 433. After completing his usual course of studies, in which he cultivated poetry with particular passion, he married Papianilla, daughter of Avitus, who had already been Prefect of the Gauls and who in 455 was proclaimed Emperor. A. S. accompanied him to Rome, where on 1 January 456 he delivered a panegyric in his honour. After Avitus was defeated by Ricimer and died in October 456, the poet read a panegyric for the new emperor, Majorian. When Majorian too was assassinated in August 461, the poet spent the reign of Emperor Severus in the quiet of his estates at Avitacum. He returned to political life in 467, when Anemius was raised to the throne and A. S. was sent as an ambassador from Auvergne to him; he also delivered a panegyric for the new sovereign in Rome on 1 January 468, and in return was appointed Prefect of Rome and later Patrician. Returning to Gaul, he went to Arvernum (Clermont-Ferrand) and worked to repair the misdeeds of the Prefect Seronatus; the citizens, grateful, elected him bishop around 470, overcoming his reluctance. His episcopate was difficult, especially because of the threats from Euric, King of the Visigoths, who coveted Auvergne and took possession of it in 474. A. S., who was also the effective civil governor of the region, suffered imprisonment and exile; he spent his final years devoting himself to his flock, venerated by the faithful and his fellow bishops. He died around 489 in the church, where he had asked to be taken.
A. S.’s literary activity is a typical example of that superficial education which regarded fine form—produced by the contrived artifices of the school—as an end in itself, without knowing how to direct it toward sincere and strong inspiration. This character is evident in the 24 poems that constitute his entire output before his episcopate. The most important are the three panegyrics for the emperors already mentioned; there are also two epithalamia, encomia of cities and villas, brief epigrams, and so on. His work abounds in mythological elements, while the Christian note is sought in vain, except in the sixteenth poem, addressed to Bishop Faustus of Riez. Once made bishop, he deemed it right to bid farewell to poetry; the brief metrical compositions he inserted into his collection of letters are mostly of Christian inspiration. Even in his letters, published during his episcopate, A. S. devoted meticulous care to their formal aspect. In nine books, issued at various times, he collected 147 letters addressed to friends; some were written solely with an eye to publication. The subjects are varied: congratulations, recommendations, business matters, and so forth. The 12 letters of Book VI and the first of Book VII are addressed to bishops. There is no evidence that A. S. carried out the announced plan (Ep. 9, 16) to compose hymns in praise of the Martyrs. Lost works include: his Latin translation of the Apollonius romance by Philostratus, which A. S. declares (Ep. 8, 31) he revised, and the *contestatiunculae* sent to Bishop Megethius (Ep. 7, 3, 1), probably prayers for the Mass or sermons.
The writings of A. S. reveal no originality of thought nor vigour of inspiration, but they are of considerable historical and cultural interest, providing information about political and ecclesiastical figures, and especially about rhetoricians and poets otherwise unknown, while vividly depicting the customs of Roman society in Gaul and among the invading barbarians. Among his contemporaries and immediate successors, his works enjoyed great popularity and were widely imitated. Yet it would be unjust to judge A. S. solely on these grounds: while the man of letters, bound to the fashions of his time and to the school, appears vacuous and concerned only with external matters, the bishop stands worthy beside those many shepherds of his age who were keenly aware of their mission, promoting with wisdom and strength the good of the people in the early adjustment of relations between Roman society and the barbarian world.