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The Proper Cultivation of Emperors, Patrons and Friends As Strategy and Mirage in the Works of Q

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The Proper Cultivation of Emperors, Patrons and Friends As Strategy and Mirage in the Works of Q Amicitiae Cultus Ingenuus Est: The Proper Cultivation of Emperors, Patrons and Friends as Strategy and Mirage in the Works of Q. Aurelius Symmachus By Christopher John Lougheed A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in CLASSICAL LANGUAGES Department of History and Classics University of Alberta © Christopher John Lougheed, 2017 ABSTRACT The late fourth-century Roman senator Q. Aurelius Symmachus (c. 340-402 CE), author of the Orations, Relations and Letters, is undoubtedly an important source for late Roman patronage and its cultivation. This thesis seeks to explain why these phenomena should be so clearly visible in these works, through a literary analysis of the works in which they most appear and an examination of their social context. It argues that Symmachus not only cultivated his superiors but was, among Latin authors, uniquely concerned with the question of proper cultivation, deliberately and regularly highlighting proper forms of cultivation – those which he practiced himself – in contrast to common improper forms. In doing so he was responding not only to the practical need to cultivate benefactors to advance and safeguard his career as a prominent senator, but also to a new, primarily negative, attention paid in his own age to cultivation and the unmerited advantages that it could procure, attested in Mamertinus and Libanius. The hypothesis that he responded in this way to particular negative attention to his friendships at court in in Rome in the later 390s explains many details of the organization and inclusion of material in the Letters, Symmachus’ main work of literary self-presentation. This was not, however, Symmachus’ first foray into discussion of cultivation: the explicit description of particular gifts as offering proper cultivation is a recurring and surely useful feature of a series of works delivered decades earlier and for a wholly different audience with its own expectations at imperial anniversaries. It is even found, albeit in a highly anomalous and inverted form, in the famous Relation 3. The cultivation of benefactors, then, is prominent in the works of Symmachus, across his career, not only because he was engaged in cultivation, but also because the activity raised suspicions and generated expectations on the part of his readers. As he responded to these, in his own way, Symmachus defined himself as statesman and friend. ii For Tristan, Amber and James and in memory of Herbert Berry iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have incurred many debts of gratitude in the course of writing this thesis and I am glad to be able to acknowledge a few of them here. The research and writing of this thesis have been greatly facilitated by the generous financial assistance of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and of the endowment for the Walter H Johns Memorial Graduate Scholarship. I would also like to thank Dr. Christopher S. Mackay, my supervisor, for his tireless work and support through several rounds of revisions and a major reconfiguration of the project. His common sense and quite uncommon philological expertise have been invaluable to me. I am similarly grateful to Dr. Frances Pownall and Dr. Adam Kemezis for their timely, insightful and very helpful feedback, on multiple drafts. I am grateful for the collegiality which I experienced in the Department of History and Classics more generally, and for the many conversations which have shaped this thesis. I am particularly indebted in this regard to Dr. Selina Stewart and Dr. Jeremy Rossiter and to Tristan Ellenberger, Amber Latimer, James White, Kathryn Furtado, Meaghan Walker, John Mandersheid and Shaun McKinnon. Outside of the University of Alberta, I owe a continuing debt to my MA supervisor Dr. Christian Raschle of the Université de Montréal for some very useful early feedback and bibliographic suggestions. I would also like to thank ÉTEQ’s Groupe des Thésards for its thorough critique of some early-draft chapter sections and ongoing friendly interest in the project. I am similarly deeply indebted to the members of Holyrood Mennonite Church for suggesting, hosting and enthusiastically participating in a two-hour public presentation of the overall project and its context. I doubt that Symmachus and his world have ever been presented at such length to such an audience, and I am grateful for the genuinely interesting and important questions which emerged from this. iv Finally, I would like to thank my parents, family, extended family and friends for their steadfast support and encouragement, particularly during the writing process. I am particularly indebted to Abraham Rash and to my father for their careful proofreading of the final draft. Their painstaking work is very much appreciated; any remaining errors are my own. v TABLE OF CONTENTS List of abbreviations .................................................................................................................... viii Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1 0.1 Symmachus: the nature of the evidence for his life ................................................................. 3 0.2 Symmachus and late antiquity ................................................................................................ 22 0.3 Scope of the work ................................................................................................................... 29 a) Outline of the work .......................................................................................................... 35 Chapter 1 The cultus of Symmachus in fourth-century Roman society ............................... 38 1.1 Expectations for patronage and cultus in public life, from the works of Symmachus ........... 40 a) Cultus and Gratia ............................................................................................................. 50 1.2 The visibility of Symmachus’ cultus ...................................................................................... 56 1.3 Symmachus as an author: causes to discuss rewards and cultivation .................................... 67 1.4 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 73 Chapter 2 Cultus and public honours in Symmachus’ exemplary material ......................... 75 2.1 Material by period .................................................................................................................. 77 a) Contrasts ........................................................................................................................... 80 2.2 Rhetorical use ......................................................................................................................... 92 a) Benefactions and cultus.................................................................................................. 104 b) Public rewards ................................................................................................................ 113 2.3 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 118 Chapter 3 The usefulness of a discourse of cultus for offering public cultus ...................... 119 3.1 Panegyrics and cultivation through discourse: Orat. 1-3 ..................................................... 123 i) Orat. 1 ..................................................................................................................... 126 ii) Orat. 2 .................................................................................................................... 127 iii) Orat. 3 ................................................................................................................... 130 a) The panegyrics of Symmachus as political communication .......................................... 131 3.2 Discussions of monetary gifts and honours as cultus and benefactions ............................... 135 a) Imperial benefactions ..................................................................................................... 139 b) Gifts from the senate ...................................................................................................... 143 3.3 Cultus defended but disguised: Relat. 3 ............................................................................... 151 3.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 164 Chapter 4 Epistolary cultus and literary self-presentation in the Letters of Symmachus . 171 4.1 The structure and nature of the Letters ................................................................................. 175 a) The Letters as self-presentation .................................................................................... 181 4.2 The nature of the cultus that Symmachus offers in the Letters ............................................ 194 vi a) Frequency ....................................................................................................................... 195 b) Simplicity ....................................................................................................................... 203 c) Cultus in public life: the limits which Symmachus presents himself as observing ....... 212 4.3 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................................
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