Simmaco, Sidonio Apollinare e la gloriosa genealogia dei Syagrii di Lione

Abstract

The movement of aristocratic people and their literary production between Italy and Gaul during the 4th and 5th centuries progressively restricted itself within different regional horizons. Ammianus, Symmachus and Ausonius offer important information on the career of (Afranius) Syagrius, ordinary consul in 381 AD and praetorian prefect in 380-382 AD, enhanced by the emperor Gratianus. This evidence shows a constant and fluid dialogue between aristocrats located in Italy and in Gaul. Almost a century later, around 470 AD, Sidonius Apollinaris celebrates this Syagrius in some letters and in his carmen 24, as the progenitor of a noble family of his time. The descendants of Syagrius, especially the praetorian prefect of Gaul in 451-453 AD, Tonantius Ferreolus, are praised by Sidonius as a rare example of family continuity at the top of the senatorial administration of Gaul. In the space of less than a century the movement of members of the senatorial order and the circulation of their writings between Italy and Gaul seems to have ceased. Sidonius interprets the political, social and cultural environment of his times within a closed Gallic horizon.