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Latin text of book VII
(ed. Luetjohann)

Epistula I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII XVIII

The text is provided with the classification and analysis of Conchita Fernández. There is an online version of her book from Murcia and another, with the title Las epístolas de Sidonio Apolinar: estudio literario, from Madrid.
 

Complete Latin text of Sidonius' correspondence

Download here the complete Latin text of the Epistulae according to Luetjohann's authoritative 1887 edition in TXT-format or in PDF-format. The text is mirrored on William Carey's Latin Library.

Document Catholica Omnia presents Sirmond's 1652 edition, as published in Migne's Patrologia Latina, in PDF-format.

Perseus contains the Carmina (Anderson's text), the Epistulae I-VII (Anderson), and VIII-IX (Luetjohann), all clickable on word level.

Dutch translation of book 7
(ed. Loyen)

Brief 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (11 Luetj.) 11 (10 Luetj.) 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

These translations aim at being as close to the original as possible, as a starting point for interpretation, without having any literary pretensions.
 

Inventory of the letters

Download here an inventory of the letters with their addressees, Loyen's places and dates of writing and thematic summary, and Fernández' categories.

Epitaphium Sidonii

Sanctis contiguus sacroque patri

vivit sic meritis Apollinaris,

inlustris titulis, potens honore,

rector militiae forique iudex,

mundi inter tumidas quietus undas,

causarum moderans subinde motus

leges barbarico dedit furori;

discordantibus inter arma regnis

pacem consilio reduxit amplo.

Haec inter tamen et philosophando

scripsit perpetuis habenda saeclis;

et post talia dona Gratiarum

summi pontificis sedens cathedram

mundanos suboli refundit actus.

Quisque hic dum lacrimis deum rogabis,

dextrum funde preces super sepulcrum:

nulli incognitus et legendus orbi

illic Sidonius tibi invocetur.
 

XII k(a)l(endas) Septembris Zenone imperatore.

Written in the interior margin of the last page of codex C (Matritensis Ee 102, saec. X/XI), as printed by Luetjohann in the introduction to his edition p. vi,  with the corrections of Sirmond. In 1991 part of this epitaph (CLE 1516) was discovered at Clermont, which testifies to its authenticity. See Prévot 1999: 77ff. and Patrice Montzamir,'Nouvel essai de reconstitution matérielle de l'épitaphe de Sidoine Apollinaire (RICG, VIII, 21)', Ant.Tard. 11 (2003) 321-327 ill. plan. See also Le Guillou 2002: 280 ff. For the metre (phalaecean hendecasyllabics, the same as used by Sidonius in the epitaph of his grandfather, Ep. 3.12.5), see P. Cugusi, Aspetti letterari dei Carmina Latina Epigraphica, Bologna, 1985: 111-13.

Epitaph of Sidonius

Close to the saints and his venerable father ¹), thus lives Apollinaris by his merits;
noble through his titles, powerful through his office, head of the public administration, magistrate at the court,
quiet amid the world's billowing waves, then managing the turmoil of lawsuits, he imposed laws on the barbarian fury ²);
for the realms that were involved in an armed conflict he restored peace by his great prudence.
Amid all this however, he also wrote learned works which will be handed down through the ages;
and after these gifts of the Graces, sitting in the chair of the supreme pontiff, he discharged wordly affairs for posterity ³).
Whoever you are, when you come here to implore God with tears, extend your prayer over this propitious ⁴) grave:
may Sidonius, unknown to nobody and to be read by all the world, be invoked by you there.

August 22, under the reign of Zenon (474-491).

1) Probably his predecessor, bishop Eparchius, is meant.

2) Does this suggest that Sidonius partook in compiling the law code of Euric?

3) Or "handed over his wordly affairs to his son"?

4) Prof. Matthew McGowan, chairof Classical Studiesat the College of Wooster, OH, thinks it possible that dextrum refers to the actual site of the tomb, i.e. to the right of the person reading the inscription. <25 January 2007>

 The epitaph in Musée d'archéologie Bargoin, Clermont-Ferrand