Eusebia and Encomium: Julian Writes the Power of Praise
By Jacqueline Long
This paper applies to late-antique imperial panegyric the maxim that a thoughtfully engaged outlier defines its field. Julian’s Speech of Thanks to Eusebia is the sole example preserved from antiquity of a prose address ostensibly celebrating a living empress. Arguably the speaker, as a Caesar, outranked his honoree. He represented not a community but himself. He spoke not to Eusebia but about her, in the third person throughout. He was not present when the speech was delivered before her, if ever it was delivered at all.
Praising the rich: Jerome’s consolation for the widow Salvina in Ep. 79
By Philip Polcar
Around the year 400 Jerome wrote a letter to the young noblewoman Salvina, the wife of Nebridius. the nephew of Aelia Flaccilla. Although Salvina was a hostage, she secured her position at the court of Arcadius by giving birth to two imperial children, successors of the gens. When her husband Nebridius died, Jerome used this opportunity to write her a letter. To address a lady of the imperial family was quite daring – even for someone who regularly corresponded with noblewomen. Ep. 79 is Jerome’s second libellus about chaste widowhood, aimed at a wider audience.
Celestial Celebrity: The Multifaceted Fama of Jerome’s Epistles
By Angela Kinney
This paper will examine the use of personified divine rumor (Fama) as a vehicle for praise in the letters of Jerome of Stridon. Although Jerome incorporates allusions to the classical goddess Fama in a number of his works – including his translation of the Latin Bible – the most richly textured depictions of personified Fama can be found in his epistles, where the Virgilian goddess is tasked with praising high-profile Christians.
Praising the Emperor and Promoting his Religious Program: The Panegyrics of Claudius Mamertinus, Himerius, and Libanius to Julian, 362–3 CE
By Moysés Garcia Marcos
On 1 January 362 CE, Claudius Mamertinus, the Latin rhetorician and consul prior for that year, delivered an imperial “speech of thanks” (Gratiarum Actio) for his consulship to the Roman Emperor Julian in the senate house of Constantinople. This panegyric of Mamertinus’, who was also the emperor’s praetorian prefect of Illyricum, Italy, and Africa, is a vital document for understanding the beginning of Julian’s brief reign from one who served under the emperor in the highest imperial offices.