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Sidonius Apollinaris: Selected Letters
by Joop van Waarden
Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics, Cambridge: CUP, 2026
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Summary
Sidonius Apollinaris' fifth-century Letters are a highpoint of Latin literature. They are also a unique document from the end of the Western Roman Empire on the brink of the Middle Ages. They have a direct appeal to modern readers for the struggle between tradition and innovation, dominant and immigrant culture, and shifting balances of power. This book is the first selection from Sidonius' correspondence that goes beyond the anecdotal to reveal its depth and coherence. It applies insights brought to light by research on Sidonius in the last half-century, as well as by functional grammar, text linguistics and narratology. Based on an updated Latin text and attentive to intertextuality throughout, it introduces a number of interpretative innovations. With an Introduction and detailed Commentary providing help down to the level of individual words, it caters for the needs of students and instructors, while also offering much to scholars.
Selection Letters
1.1: dedication
1.5: travelling to Rome
1.9: becoming City Prefect
2.9: villa life
2.10 with Poem 27: a poem for the cathedral of Lyon
2.12: his daughter’s illness
3.9: supporting a slave-owner
3.12 with Poem 28: restoring grandfather’s grave
4.19: coming soon
4.20: exotic pageantry
5.5: a Roman speaking Burgundian
5.16: excellent news for the family
6.11: recommending a Jew
7.1: the resistance of Clermont and the Rogations
7.7: Clermont surrendered
7.17 with Poem 33: Clermont and the monks
7.18: envoi for the seven-book collection
8.3: sending a Life of Apollonius of Tyana
8.15: in praise of the bishop of Orléans
9.16 with Poem 41: his spiritual testament
Appendix: Sidonius’ (presumed) epitaph and death date
Updates and corrections
Page xvii, ODCC: “5th” should be “4th”.
Page 42 line 7: mediocrum should be medicorum.
Page 54 verse 7: osculandum should be osculandam.
Page 55 verse 45: delete comma.
Page 59 2nd para, line 11: add another closing parenthesis after “Intro 4.1)”.
Page 73 lemma Litteras tuas Romae positus accepi, add: “right from the start, hints at Hor. Sat. 1.5.1 accepit … Roma.”
Page 76 lines 9-10 delete “but the Peutingeriana does not indicate a postal road.”
Page 76 lemma sic Alpium iugis appropinquatum: after “peruentum est“, add “cf. 4.15.3 Alpinis rupibus cinctum, as Sidonius undertakes another mountainous voyage.”
Page 79 lemma largum suspirata proximitas, line 4: read Cremonae instead of Cremona.
Page 83 lemma febris sitisque, line 3: division peri-culosissima.
Page 85 lemma triumphalibus apostolorum liminibus affusus, keyword limen, add: “cf. Hor. Sat. 1.5.99 limine sacro: whereas Horace parades his disbelief, Sidonius does the opposite.”
Page 107 lemma sagacissimis … exploratoribus, add sublemma “destinatis ‘sent out’ (cf. OLD 4).”
Page 113 lemma per spatia clepsydrae, line 4: name should be nam.
Page 126 at the end of §2, add lemma “culmina leuet: the clausula dactyl + iambus is a speciality of Sidonius, see Kelly in Van Waarden & Kelly 2020, 472, sect. 4.2, para 2.”
Page 137 line 12 from bottom: turba should be turbam.
Page 143 lemma Chironica … Machaonica, line 4: division chirur-gicam.
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