Corippus on the Wakefulness of Poets and Emperors Author(s): Michael Dewar Reviewed work(s): Source: Mnemosyne, Fourth Series,

Vol. 46, Fasc. 2 (May, 1993), pp. 211-223 Published by: BRILL Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4432245 . Accessed: 07/11/2011 17:32
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Mnemosyne, Vol. XLVI,

Fase. 2 (1993)

CORIPPUS

ON

THE

WAKEFULNESS EMPERORS BY

OF

POETS

AND

MICHAEL

DEWAR

In the fourth ippus tion of the turns

book

of his In Laudem

to the ceremonies

on consulship of the auspicious morning day arrives the palace officials convey a of gold and silver to a large hall. Next, the emperor great quantity makes his way there and takes his seat on a splendid throne from which he receives the loyal obeisance of the senate (4. 1-141). This fathers to be loaded with the gifts done, Justin orders the conscript traditional him with the good on this the occasion, whereupon the court orators shower traditional equally panegyrics. fortune of these professionals who, celebrates Corippus in the magnificence of

Iustini Augusti Minons Corthe new emperor's marking assumpthe first of January, 566. When the

have no shortage of material for their compositions, Justin, though with the aid of an elaborate simile he adds that no one orator would be able to absorb so much inspiration any more than one man could drink of several the Nile on his own (4. 142-72). At this point there is a lacuna lines in the manuscript (M), and when the extant text resumes has switched to the first person plural: Corippus quae dum circa habeamus vota, probamus, ovantes, colimusque pios, veneramus laudem de laude meremur, laudamus, maiore nil opus devotosque bono, nam diva eget, sibi pietate sed vota propago clientum (4. 173-8) to the to the dominos

canimus

quos dum et fruimur humanae pens?t,

coronai.

made this generalizing Having narrative of the day's events divine rewards fertilis given by Justin

returns digression, Corippus and now turns his attention for the pietas of his servants: felixque videri

hinc

Augusta

manus

212 plus

MICHAEL DEWAR favore. suo praeferre voluit, nullumque illos donis patribus aequos namque conscriptis noctis esse dedit, cum distet honor, vigilantia hoc meruit carisque favens doctior novit et princeps est pars magna magnusque of those identity with are honored has been the asserts who, gifts subject sapientia quod littera Musis. rerum instat .(4.179-85)

labor scribentibus

The rank, senators

of senatorial not themselves though to the that match the ones presented of some confusion. are either

lines

Partsch, citing tribuni et notant or scrinarli, from the use of the first or perhaps both together1). Furthermore, himself that Corippus 173-6 deduces he in lines person plural 181-5, that they belongs to this class of functionary. tion is rightly disputed by Averil poem: surely be odd if this group came first after the senators and received the same gifts. I suspect rather that Corippus merit a more naturally who would to the orators, is referring "But it would donative equal men to the senate's after the senate. immediately with these writing follow more probably class himself can certainly Corippus is the for what they have in common and who would The weakness Cameron of this interpretaof the in her edition

(11. 173-6), on Justin2)." of panegyrics instinct and reasoning Her commentary,

Cameron's

alike

have

right conclusion. historical Realien that underlie silent

however, the text and is therefore

surely led her to the on the concentrates understand-

in the passage theme whose appearance on a literary ably her suspicion. confirms under discussion of the imperial This second class of recipients largesse is said by of its 'vigilantia virtue its benefactions to have deserved the poet by The first (4. 182-3). 'carisque favens sapientia Musis' time a very here must surely be to what was by Corippus' reference of the learned and devoted old and standard topos, the sleeplessness noctis' and 1) J. Partsch, Corippi Africani Grammatici Libri Quae Supersunt (Monumenta Germaniae Hist?rica Auct. Ant. 3 Pt. 2) (Berlin 1879), XLIV-V. 2) Averil Cameron, Flavius CresconiusCorippus. In Laudem Iustini Augusti minoris Libri IV (London 1976), 200.

CORIPPUS ON WAKEFULNESS Richard of F. Thomas the lover as has traced one

213

poet.

portrayal torments

of his overweening and which naturally in Greek New Comedy and epigrams, spreads The crucial developto Plautus and, in time, Latin love elegy3). ment seems, as in so many other areas, to have been made by from love who its sphere of reference Callimachus, wittily extended to the writing ?s??d?? of poetry:

the origins of this topos to the from sleeping by the prevented which is common a passion, portrayal

t? t' de?s?a ?a? ? t??p??, ?? t?? a??d?? ???' ????? ?? t? ?e?????tat?? ds?at??, t?? ?p??? ? S??e?? ?pe???at?. ?a??ete ?epta? ????p????. (Epigr. 27 ? f.) s??????? (&?s?e?, ???t?? As Thomas causes though to the "so carefully crafted is that poetry...that it observes, in the lover4)", for the poet the same symptom induced note that in this instance a reference there is also probably

subject matter of the Phaenomena: the lover stays awake at in of the contemplation of the charms of his beloved, Aratus, night in the contemplation of the object of his own passion and necessity, the material was soon picked for his verse, the stars. The conceit 105 f.) and entered Roman via, poetry (24. in the neoterics. It most strikingly predictably enough, appears Catullus 50. 10-17, where Callimachus' of erotic playful equation up by activity with poetic composition The Latin terminology used works of Cinna: haec tibi Arateis quis multum ignes invigilata lucernis novimus aetherios. (Fr. is developed by Corippus at exuberant is attested length5). first in the Theocritus

carmina,

11.1

f. Morel)

Instances thereafter and in them it becomes are very common, for Callimachus' quite clear that the best Latin equivalents a???p??a and its cognate verb ????p?e?? were felt to be vigilantia and vigilare. for example, for Memdeclares that it is his friendship Lucretius,

3) Richard F. Thomas, New Comedy, Callimachus and Roman Poetry, HSCPh 83 (1979), 179-206, esp. 195 ff. 4) Thomas, art.cit., 200. 5) Thomas, art.cit., 201 f.

214 mius serenas' that induces 1. him

MICHAEL DEWAR to toil over his Ovid and 'nodes

poem

vigilare

(DRN

carmen' (Ars. hoc

Similarly, 142). 2. 285) and elsewhere curae ingenio

speaks laments of his exile:

of his

'vigilatum

pretium

cepimus:

laborum vigilatorumque est poena reperta meo.

(Trist.

2. 11 f.)

harsh and cynical advice to the On a still gloomier note, Juvenal's ' his command poets of day is the uncompromising vigilataque proelia dele' (7. 27). The noun in this and related senses is somewhat rarer the verb, but a significant is found in the Younger example who attributes the of his Pliny, literary prodigious productivity uncle to his keen intelligence, to the work and also his his devotion 'summa vigilantia' (Ep. 3. 5. 8). Here, of course, there is an important extension of the topos, since the literary activity in question is the writing works. not of poetry but of scholarly This fact prose between clearly the relationship vigilantia and that at the heart of Alexandrian quality poetics, namely lay doctrina. That the learned as poet's night hours were conceived another being spent instructions on the study of his models can be seen from the explicit of Horace in the Ars Poetica: vos exemplaria versate diurna. could care Graeca (268 f.) allows us to see more than

nocturna That

versate

manu,

the terminology

of vigilantia

be extended we saw

similarly painstaking it could easily be applied Naturally enough to the writing of elaborate and so it is no surprise that speeches, admonishes the budding orator with the words 'vigilanQuintilian dae nodes extends et fuligo lucubrationum bibenda' (Inst. 11.3.23). it still further, and applies it to the plastic arts: multum vigilata Myroni/ aera (Silv. 4. 6. 25 f.) Statius

involving

to prose works in Pliny. in these circumstances above

docto

In short, by the time of Corippus the theme of the wakefulness of Muses and of other devotees of the learned and devoted the poet in related as to be entirely fields was so conventional literary If any further of the continued confirmation unmistakeable. and extreme of this presence conventionality be were it could needed, easily provided quity topos in Late Antifrom a quick glance

CORIPPUS ON WAKEFULNESS

215

in that at the De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii of Martianus Capella: her as the servant makes elaborate appearance allegory Agrypnia of Lady Philology (2. 112, 145)6). The examples quoted above surely make it clear that the passage with works of literary is concerned of Corippus under discussion with great care and composed In the context one would predecessors. merit, of to the writings in be feeling surely justified in question, which is said to 'favour attention

that the sapientia of the authors docwith Alexandrian the Muses' is identical (Laud. Just. 4.183), the tribuni et hours trina. In any case, however many night-time the topos is notarti or scribarii may have given to their labours, to them than it is to professional far less approprate obviously whether writers, poets or prose orators. The switch to the first person plural at lines 173 ff. shows clearly with these writers, that Corippus identified sharing as he did their concerns and literary ceremonial occasions. addressed lines their function as official The which be questions of the imperiali largesse in are, first, are the recipients 179 ff. the same individuals as the orators who deliver eulogies at lines 154 ff., and, secondly, that he has common ground with their number? To the first of these Corippus merely or is he actually the answer is questions them is panegyrists now need to on

of Justin indicating among almost

that they are indeed the same group. The lacuna certainly is not great, and hardly seems large enough to complete the Nile orators with a reward of some and introthe simile, dispatch sort, duce a totally different is it at all clear of individuals. Nor group who, other above if not body could the orators, of individuals they could to whom be, since there is hardly any the literary topos considered or meaningfully The second applied. Cameron sees the poem as con-

question

is rather

be reasonably harder to answer.

6) Among other possible examples from Late Antiquity see Symm. Ep. 3. 47 liberis remissus invigila. Robert J. Edgeworth has convincingly argued that this is a reference to the historical writings of the addressee, Eutropius, and suggested the emendation libris (Symmachus III. 47: Books Not Children, Hermes 120 (1992), 127 f.). Much play along the same lines is also made with the metaphorical terms lucerna (e.g. Juv. 1.51), and lucubrare!lucubratio (e.g. Var. L. 5. 9). Indeed, the Elder Pliny mentions a work whose title seems to have been the Lucubrationes(Nat. pr. 24).

216

MICHAEL DEWAR

to the conspiracy references of Aetherius taining thinly disguised and Addaeus 60 68 f. and 4. 2. 348 If this is f., (1. ff.)7). reading then there can be no reference here to the In Laudem Iustini accepted in its present form at least, since that conspiracy was itself, discovered references are actually reflections. ippus cited On the other hand the year8). all for that seem by Cameron, they may pointed, far from specific and can quite easily be read as general It is, moreover, to conceive of Corperfectly possible much later in the

events 'as they happen*. The rigid imaginatively narrating of early Byzantine court ceremonial would easily allow formality him to prepare his text in advance, and the technique is in any case familiar from the of on these extremely panegyrics Claudian9): grounds, the same to the Cameron's could the text then, we could argue that the text as it stands is largely as that delivered on the day and the apparent references Furthermore, conspiracy illusory. view of the supposed references difficulty at a later date even if we accept to the conspiracy, it be imagined that they were introduced into when the poem received its final polishing

without

or even, at a pinch, that on the first of January prior to publication, recited a or largely different Corippus wholly poem altogether. to such a remain scenario, however, considerable, Objections or historical as literary though they are not so much circumstantial and linguistic. Can the term oratores (4. 154) be stretched to include a poet, and how can we account for the change of person with its contrast between in general, implied eulogists including Corippus and the specific orators here honoured and referred to (4. 172-8), as 'tilos' (4. 181)? Both objections are considerable. Normal Latin makes a clear distinction between the and the usage poet orator10),

7) See especially Cameron, op.cit., 2, 131, 154 and 210 f. 8) The conspirators were executed on October 3rd, 566 (Cameron, op.cit., 131). 9) Among a number of possible examples see e.g. VI Cons. Hon. 1 ?T., 603 ff. where, using vivid present tenses, Claudian describes scenes conceived as actually taking place as he speaks or which have just finished. The poem in this case was indeed recited as part of the official ceremonies it relates. 10) See e.g. Cic. Att. 14. 20. 3 nemo umquamnequepoeta nequeorator fuit qui quemquam melioremquam se arbitraretur,Quint. Inst. 10. 1. 90 (of Lucan) magis oratoribus quam poetis imitandus.

CORIPPUS ON WAKEFULNESS and where the term 'orator' and its cognates are used whether in verse

217 it is

in with speeches which, in connection reproduced normally as the text in the form of verse or not, are most naturally imagined while it is true in 'real quite life'11). Similarly, having prose originals of submake very abrupt changes 'we* of 4. and the the 172-8 generalizing ject12), is 'illos' rewarded very by the emperor designated emphatically under which this must be set the circumstances strong. Against that Latin narrative verse can the contrast between The real value of such a poem recited. were normally panegyrics to a large extent the fourth which is how as a consular panegyric, book of the In Laudem Iustini must be classified, clearly lay in its for its a taken as and this may be strong priori evidence topicality, themcelebrations in some form on the day of the consular delivery a share of as is to be selves. Whether envisaged receiving Corippus a vexed question. in the text is, therefore, the rewards indicated thus remain of the poem's If the precise circumstances delivery what is clear is that Corippus closely identified open to dispute, In this connection honoured with the orators by the emperor. another section trays tia, and here poet himself. the orators of the poem is certainly significant. fruits as reaping the well-deserved should call to mind Corippus porof their vigilanof the the aspirations

the reader

Anastasius In the preface to the quaestor Corippus troubles that of old age and other unspecified refers to the weariness afflict him (48 f.). He appeals to the great courtier to help him and and to rewards backs up his claim to consideration by a reference official labours given recognition and his craft: quod alma labor him in the past for his devotion to his

Musis induisit, quod fessis provida insomnes meruit vigilantia noctes, per hi sacri monstrant apices. (Pan. Anast. 42 ff.) No doubt Corippus hoped that the emperor's demonstration in

11) This is conceptually just as true of, for example, the Trojan ambassadors sent by Aeneas to king Latinus at Virg. A. 7. 152 ff. and designated oratoresthere as it is of whatever 'real' speech may have been the inspiration of the one which Callinicus orabat when persuading Justin to accept the diadem at Laud. Just. 1. 130 ff. 12) See e.g. R. Mayer, Lucan. Civil War VIII(Warminster 1981), 92 (on v. 68).

218 Book

MICHAEL DEWAR

4 of the due regard to be shown the labours and the sleepless would serve as nights consecrated by the orators to their eulogies an example. An example, that is, which would be emulated in turn by his servant the quaestor in his dealings with the indigent poet13). The thematic of vigilantia in Corippus* significance poem goes still further, however: it establishes a significant link between the This link is in its simplest form forged by poet and the honorand. orators' the fact that the emperor is explicitly doctrina and understands 184 f.)14), Corippus, existence however, discerned quent more and this between since means their vigilantia in turn that said to be one who and values their is something a relationship shares labours the (4. with into

they share is brought

the poet and the emperor. That particular link, is very tenuous with others which can be compared in the poem. makes use of repeated and freCorippus instances of word play on the names of Justin himself and, of his mother and his wife Sophia, especially, Vigilantia as Sapientia. This word play is evident, and indeed made from the beginning, in fact, in the preface appearing,

Latinized explicit, itself: mater

consilii placidi Vigilantia vestris omni pectore semper inest oculis, quamque gestas, alma Augusta, tui consors Sapientia regni. tu quoque, Iustitiae nomen de nomine sumens, frena regendorum retines firmissima regum. nominibus tribus his regitur quodcumque movetur (Pr. 21 ff.)

If Vigilance and Wisdom, combined also take their they place alongside ippus with his inspiration:

with Justice, the Muses

rule the universe, and provide Cor-

13) Cf. the closing remarks of B. Baldwin, The Careerof Corippus, CQn.s. 28 (1978), 376. 14) Eumenius, in his plea for the restoration of the schools of Autun, says something not dissimilar of Maximian: Pan. Lat. 9. 8. 1 'credo igitur, tali Caesar Herculius et avi Herculis et Herculi patris instinctu tanto Studium litterarum favore prosequitur, ut... pro divina intellegentia mentis aeternae sentiat litteras omnium fundamenta esse virtutum, utpote continentiae modestiae vigilantiae patientiae magistras.' The numbering of the panegyrics here follows that used in the text of R.A.B. Mynors (Oxford 1964).

CORIPPUS ON WAKEFULNESS at quae Vigilantia vos, divae, date verba, et quae summa regens Sapientia protegis vos mihi pro cunctis dicenda ad carmina sufficitis, vos quaeque latent arcana mater orbem. Musis (1.8 ff.)

219

monetis

and Sapientia, Vigilantia characterize the labours

then, characterize Justin's reign as they and compositions of both the orators of 4. 154 ff. and the poet himself15). The frequent use of this word play and system of correspondences would also help account for the noted above, of sapientia for doctrina at 4. 183. substitution, apparent the ruler who is devoted to his people spends in the cares of office is as old as sleepless nights weighing up heavy In Latin epic the theme is perhaps most notably used to Homer16). show the pietas of Aeneas, but it also appears in, for example, and is a major element in Silius* portrayal of Hannibal17). Statius, 15) See Cameron, op.cit., 121, on Pr. 21 and 23 for the repeated use of this theme of allusion to the names of the imperial trio. 16) II. 9. 9 ff. shows Agamemnon, in the intensity of his anxiety and grief over the conduct of the war in Achilles* absence, awake and arranging a night-time assemble of the Achaean leaders. 17) Virg. A. 1. 305 at pius Aeneas per noctemplurima volvens. His sleeplessness is the very proof of Aeneas' pietas: Servius ad. loc. comments decet enim pro cunctis regem esse sollicitum. Statius, as so often, seems to be developing the topic in the Thebaid. At 3.678 ff. Argia, unable to sleep because of her concern for the cares and concerns which are keeping her husband Polynices awake (3. 692 f. semper lacrimis gemituque propinquo/ exturbata quies.), goes to plead with her father king Adrastus for the prosecution of the war against Thebes. Though this is not explicidy stated, she apparently finds him awake too, his mind full of his own great responsibilities: (3. 714 ff.) sed mihi multa dei ? nec tu sperare, quod urges,/desine ?, multa metus regniquevolubilepondus/ subiciunt animo. In an early section of the Punica outlining Hannibal's military qualities Silius remarks noctemque vigil ducebatin armis (1. 246). This is picked up by a generalizing statement at 3. 172 f. (Mercury to Hannibal) turpe duci totam consumerenoctem/ o rectorLibyae: vigili stani bella magistro. Later in the poem the Carthaginian general wakes his brother Mago in the small hours of the night to discuss strategy (7. 282 ff.), while the goddess Anna Perenna, on a mission from Juno, finds him alone and pondering the course of the war vigili...corde (8. 205 ff.). This tireless devotion to duty is undermined and inverted by the wiles of Venus amidst all the luxury of Capua, with a skilful twist that sees the topos revert to its original erotic reference: turndeindemadentitpost epulas sit grata chelys, segnisquesoporasl aut nostrovigiles ducat sub numine nodes (11. 407 ff.). Cf. also Val. Max. 9. 1. Ext. 1. In all this Silius takes his cue either directly from Livy or from the same tradition: see Li v. 21. 4. 6 ff. vigiliarum somniquenec die nec nocte discriminata tempora; id quod gerendis rebus superessetquieti datum; ea neque molli strato nequesilentio accersita;multi saepe militari sagulo opertumhumi iacenteminter custodias stationesquemilitum conspexerunt. The idea that

220 it easily both on prose the finds

MICHAEL DEWAR its way into more explicidy panegyrical about living rulers. Pliny comments

Naturally, writing, repeatedly

and verse,

of Trajan18), and similar is vigilantia praise on Julian19), author of heaped by Mamertinus by the unknown Pan. Lat. 7 on Maximian20), on Theoderic21). and by Ennodius it is in of the this and other such norConversely, part possession that renders enemies of the Roman state, qualities them Hannibal, Catiline and Sejanus, But among dangerous22). for the use of the topos in panegyrical verse Corippus had in particular the decisive of the eulogies showered example upon Stilicho mally Claudian. The idea makes an models, by one of his most important in the which Claudian wrote for Stilicho*s appearance long poem in is said to 400: Vandal there the consulship general keep unceasing watch over the empire with nube soporisl'inmunes oculi23). Stilicho and when the his virtues the nominal are always in the front of Claudian*s mind, even honorand is the ineffectual Honorius. emperor admirable

in the poem which celebrates the repulse of Alaric after of Claudian Alaric as being Pollentia, campaign portrays in his plan to invade Gaul by the cura of the general: thwarted So it is that, fallere pectus quis enim divinum possi t et excubiis vigilantia lumina regni? (VI Cons. Hon. In the In Laudem Iustini, and far more systematic

233 f.)

the idea is applied in a regular however, is intended to be way which undoubtedly read as having We have seen that vigilantia greater significance. characterizes for both Corippus and the official orators honoured their compositions a quality possessed in praise of the emperor's consulship. by far grander persons whose position It is also at court

18) Pan. Lai. 1. 10. 3, 31. 1. 19) Pan. Lat. 3. 13. 3 videbunt enim iustum principatum laboribus curis vigiliis inquietum. 20) Pan. Lat. 7. 11. 6. 21) Pan. Theod. 80 (ed. F. Vogel, Monumenta GermaniaeHist?rica Auct. Ant. 7 (Berlin 1885), 213). 22) Hannibal: see note 17 above. Catiline: Sail. Cat. 5. Sejanus: Tac. Ann. 3. 72. 3, 4. 1. 3, 39. 2. This category also includes Lucan's Caesar (5. 504 ff.). For the dangers of such qualities being misused see R.H. Martin and AJ. Woodman (ed.), Tacitus. Annals Book IV (Cambridge 1989), 86 f. (on 4. 1. 3). 23) Stil. 1. 309 f.

CORIPPUS ON WAKEFULNESS

221

It is found, with parsimilar to that held by Stilicho. is technically as the count of the in ticular Tiberius, who, appropriateness, for the was excubitors, responsible emperor's personal safety who appears to have held the office of Likewise, Narses, (1.221). as vigilans nodesque diesquel pro rerum dominis spatharius24), is described (3. 226 f.). But what in this context is the very conimportant admirable this of on the quality possession emphasis placed is the emperor and his loving wife. His vigilantia indeed is still more

siderable by both

identified as one of the virtues which, to the explicidy according for the throne, fit Justin Blessed Virgin, along with his vigorous youth, his consilium, his stabilis mens, sancta voluntas and sapientia (1. 53 ff.)25). His possession of this quality is amply demonstrated soon of the Mother of God. That night, on the death of a of the senate headed by Callinicus makes its Justinian, delegation house to plead with him to assume the diadem. way to Justin's at the intrusion: They find the doorkeeper indignant hic est, sic ait indignane: temerarius 'quisnam audet dominorum somnos, rumpere nox dulcem quo intempesta quietem tempore qui placidos ingerit, In this own et membro sopor est gratissimus omni?' (1.71 ff.) after his vision

the doorkeeper his however, assumption, merely betrays lack of understanding of his masters' devotion to duty. The senatorial when finally admitted, finds the royal couple delegation, in a private room of the palace, wide-awake in the small hours of the night and its significance: anxiously talking over the vision of the Virgin and

illic e stratis electus atque dum limina Here Wisdom

altis consurgens inpiger secreta in parte sedebat princeps ostensa sibi carae referebat amanti. loquitur pens?t que sacra patres deiectis symbolically keeps pia cum vultibus Justice coniuge intrant. company curas, (1. 112 ff.) in his vigils for

24) See Cameron, op.cit., 189 (on 3. 220). 25) See the note ad loc. in the edition of U.J. St?che (Berlin 1976).

222 the welfare with of the state.

MICHAEL DEWAR The shared vigils of the royal couple reapin the third book of the poem. which marks the beginning of his

still greater prominence pear At the end of the official banquet reign, from Justin, accompanied the table and makes But sleep his

as ever

134 ff.).

is still a long

rises by his devoted empress, to his way private quarters (3. way off:

in segnes solverunt pectora somnos: est animi, invigilant quibus pia cura regendi tot latos populos, duros domitare tyrannos, consiliis uti, causas disponere mundi. (3. 138 ff.)

sed non

At this point the poet is moved to an ecstatic effusion of praise and admiration at the devotion of the pair to the affairs of state. Comsuch superhuman the power of the memorating piety is beyond bard and patroness, he begs the empress, seen here as apparently to show favour to his work and solace to himself: carmine miracula haec digno rerum pandere verbis, qua laude reponat? sanctum et venerabile nomen, his

quis tot divinarum sufficiat? diva

quibus

favens, Augusta inmortale nostrae bonum, Sapientia linguae, haec sacro tua vota canentem tuis; auspiciis r?spice, et oranti clemens solacia praebe.

(3.

144 ff.)

On

as a plea for indulgence primarily to his to do but Corinability justice lofty subject, more us to read rather into the text. We ippus' wording encourages to the other are surely intended to recall the similar plea patron of the surface this can be read for the poet's

which was discussed the quaestor above. Anastasius, in imprecise terms to the miseries that poet referred him and begged Anastasius for aid. His claim for afflicted in on have was seen to rested his labours indulgence part unceasing over his verse and his own alma per insomnes...invigilantia nodes2*). the poem, There the Corippus, his appeal had already revealed himself as being however, of the many favours by the example received from the quaestor's emboldened which to make land his native

generosity:

26) Above, p. 217.

CORIPPUS ON WAKEFULNESS agit Africa grates iam sentit opem, gaudetque referunt solacia cives: Anastasii gaudentem, quaestorum

223

et vestram

quod

ampia

semper me quoque

redde. maxime, Anast. 38 ff.) (Pan. solacia from the hand of

As

Africa

is

said

to

have

received

Anastasius, with relief

so clearly Corippus hoped that he would be provided from his woes. In book 3 of the poem it is to Sophia that he makes his request for solacia, but the context in that passage too in the pursuit of duty. That he burns the midis one of sleeplessness night oil in order contribution ippus' he represents other servants first state is Corto glorify the rulers of the Roman It is a service that to the welfare of the empire.

as linking him, in his humble way, not only with of the Muses such as the orators honoured on the

but also with palace officials, the consulship day of Justin's It is, as a consequence, ruler himself. empress and God's appointed the basis of his claim to consideration and reward from these higher beings. The University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada