¹ Fulgentius’ chief polemical works against the Vandals are Responsiones ad objectiones regis Thrasamundi, Ad Thrasamundum libri III, and Adversus Pintam (now lost). The most recent edition of his complete works is that of Fraipont, J., Sancti Fulgentii episcopi Ruspensis opera (CCL 91 and 91a; Turnhout 1968), to which all references to the works of Fulgentius in this study are made. Good general discussions of Fulgentius’ importance are Schanz-Hosius, Geschichte der römischen Literatur IV 2 (Munich 1920) 575f., Bardenhewer, O., Geschichte der altkirchlichen Literatur 5 (Freiburg 1932) 303f., Proja, G. B., ‘Fulgenzio Claudio Gordiano,’ Bibliotheca sanctorum 5 (Rome 1965) 1304–16. Lapeyre, G. G., S. Fulgence de Ruspe, un évěque catholique sous les Vandales (Paris 1929), and more recently Diesner, H. J., Fulgentius als Kirchenpolitiker und Theologe (Berlin 1966), ‘Fulgentius von Ruspe und einige Probleme der vandalzeitlichen Patristik,’ Studia Patristica 10 (1967) 285–90, have made Fulgentius the focus of their investigation.Google Scholar

² Lapeyre (n. 1 supra) 266f. recognized that Fulgentius’ theological importance was his restatement and definition, for laymen, of the theology of his predecessors and opponents.Google Scholar

³ The primacy in Byzacena was probably determined at this date by seniority, as the title ‘senex provinciae,’ which accompanied it, suggests. See Diesner, (1966) (n. 1 supra) 58, and Courtois, C., Les Vandales et l'Afrique (Paris 1955) 142 n. 8.Google Scholar

⁴ For his eloquence, see, e.g., Vita Fulgentii 20 (PL 65.127b6–13); cf. note 32 below. It is difficult to concur with Diesner (1966) 33 (n. 1 supra) that Fulgentius was just a secretary. To describe Fulgentius’ position among the exiles, Ferrandus draws an analogy with Eugenius (480–505), who also drafted letters for his colleagues in exile. This comparison is revealing because Eugenius was the bishop of Carthage, Africa's largest city, and the most important leader of the African church after Augustine. That Fulgentius enjoyed a similar prominence among the exiles of his time is suggested by the decision of the Council of Junci in 523 to honor him by giving him precedence over a senior colleague, Bishop Quodvultdeus: Mansi 8.633–34. Thrasamund, who recalled Fulgentius from exile ca. 515 to take part in the two-year-long debate, and the bishops who commissioned him to write the treatise De veritate praedestinationis after his return from exile, all implicitly acknowledge Fulgentius’ authority.Google Scholar

⁵ Fulgentius the mythographer and Fulgentius the bishop are probably the same person. For the evidence of this and a discussion of Fulgentius’ numerous secular works, written probably before his ordination, see Langlois, P., ‘Les œuvres de Fulgence le mythographe et le problème des deux Fulgences,’ Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum 7 (1964) 94–105. Perhaps his secular writings are part of the ‘antiqua deliciarum consuetudo,’ to which Fulgentius’ mentor Faustus took exception (Vita Fulgentii 9). An instructive parallel to Fulgentius is Sidonius Apollinaris in Gaul, whose secular writings in no way deterred him from becoming bishop of Clermont (470–485) in later life.Google Scholar

⁶ Vita Hilarii Arelatensis 14 (ed. S. Cavallin, Vitae SS. Honorati et Hilarii [Lund 1952] 93). For Hilarius’ aristocratic ties see Mathisen, R., ‘Hilarius, Germanus and Lupus: The Aristocratic Background of the Chelidonius Affair,’ Phoenix 33 (1979) 160–69. He discusses other Gallic letter-writers and their ties at greater length in ‘The Ecclesiastical Aristocracy of Fifth Century Gaul’ (Diss. University of Wisconsin 1979). For a discussion of epistolography in Italy, see McGeachy, J. A., Q. Aurelius Symmachus and the Senatorial Aristocracy of the West (Chicago 1942).Google Scholar

⁷ Letters and treatises in Gaul, like those of Fulgentius in Africa, were published and circulated. See Apollinaris, Sidonius, Epistulae 1.1, 8.1, 9.1 (Anderson, W. B., Sidonius: Poems and Letters [Cambridge, Mass. 1936–1965] 1.330–34; 2.398–402, 500–4) and the letters of Salvian, Hilarius, and Rusticus to Eucherius of Lyons (ed. C. Wotke; CSEL 31.197–99). I am indebted to Ralph Mathisen for the Gallic parallels in this study: see n. 6 supra. Augustine also circulated his letters, e.g. Epistula 228.Google Scholar

⁸ Fulgentius, Epistula 9.4–5. Augustine, Epistulae 225 and 226 provide a parallel to this, in that the authors of these letters were Prosper and Hilarius, whose letters of request were used as an introduction to Augustine's De praedestinatione sanctorum (PL 44.947–60).Google Scholar

⁹ The author of Epistula 16 is Peter the deacon, the recipient of Epistula 17. On the Scythian monks, see Schurr, V., Die Trinitätslehre des Boethius im Lichte der skythischen Kontroversen (Paderborn 1935) 129–97.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Some examples of these lost letters are a letter to the Carthaginians (Vita Fulgentii 54), one to other congregations in Africa (Vita Fulgentii 42), one to John of Thapsus (Fulgentius, Epistula 13.3) and another to Stephania (Fulgentius, Contra Fastidiosum 10).Google Scholar

¹¹ On the characteristics of Lehrbriefe, see Sykutris, ‘Epistolographie,’ RE Suppl. 5.202f.Google Scholar

¹² Fulgentius, Epistula 6.1.Google Scholar

¹³ This man is probably the devoted Januarius who first joined Fulgentius’ monastic house in Cagliari (Vita Fulgentii 43).Google Scholar

¹⁴ For a discussion of this MS, Basilicanus D 182, now in the Vatican, see Wilmart, A., ‘L'odysée du manuscrit de San Pietro qui renferme les œuvres de s. Hilaire,’ Classical and Medieval Studies in Honor of E. K. Rand (New York 1938) 293–305.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Apollinaris, Sidonius, Carmen 23.439f. and Epistula 9.13.4.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Victor calls Fulgentius’ style mellifluens (Fulgentius, Epistula 9.4) and contrasts it with his own lack of finesse (ibid. 9.5). Victor also tells the reader whence this eloquence comes: from peritia (skill in speaking) and from doctrina (knowledge of holy writ) (ibid.). Scarila, too, recognized these combined talents in the bishop (Fulgentius, Epistula 10.1).Google Scholar

¹⁷ See the detailed analysis of Fulgentius’ style by Friebel, O., ‘Fulgentius der Mythograph und Bischof,’ Studien zur Geschichte und Kultur des Altertums 5.1–2 (Paderborn 1911). For the frequency of scriptural and exegetical quotations in Fulgentius’ work, see the edition of Fraipont (n. 1 supra) 963–1047.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Most of Fulgentius’ correspondents are known by little more than their names. The addressee of Epistula 1 was probably a certain Optatus, but not even this is certain in the manuscripts. Because of the inclusion of this letter with the epistulae asceticae et morales, which are addressed to Italians on personal subjects, one might speculate that Optatus too was an Italian. Donatus, the recipient of Epistula 8, Faustinus, the addressee of Epistula 19, and Victor, author of Epistula 9, all have names which occur frequently in Africa in the Christian period: see Marrou, H. I., ‘Problèmes généreaux de l'onomastique chrétienne,’ Onomastique Latine (Paris 1977) 434. The subject of these three letters is the definition of the Catholic doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation, key issues in North Africa; hence Donatus, Faustinus, and Victor may well be African. This hypothesis is further strengthened by the fact that Victor claimed ‘antiquam familiaritatem’ (Fulgentius Epistula 9.4) with the bishop. Furthermore, Lapeyre 227 (n. 1 supra) tentatively identified Donatus as the African monk who later took refuge in Spain. Scarila, the author of Epistula 10, has a name which is neither Greek nor Roman, but probably Vandal or Punic, so he too is probably African.Google Scholar

¹⁹ Both Gordian I and Gordian II were surnamed Africanus: Scriplores Historiae Augustae, Gordiani tres 9 (ed. E. Hohl [Leipzig 1965] 36.3–7); there is, however, no secure link between them and Fulgentius’ family besides the name Gordianus, which is more strongly attested in Africa than elsewhere.Google Scholar

²⁰ Claudius, T. Gordianus was legatus Augusti pro praetore of Numidia in 181: see Prosopographia Imperii Romani ² C 880. Claudius was the name of Fulgentius’ father; Gordianus, of his grandfather (Vita Fulgentii 4).Google Scholar

²¹ Marucchi, M. O., Nuovo Bullettino di Archeologia Cristiana 10 (1904) 101.Google Scholar

²² Both Theodorus (Lippold, ‘Theodorus (86),’ RE 5A², 1903f.) and Fulgentius (Vita Fulgentii 27) were in Rome when Theoderic visited the senate ca. 500.Google Scholar

²³ Magnus, Gregorius, Dialogus 4.13 (PL 77.340–41).Google Scholar

²⁴ Jones, A. H. M., Martindale, J. R., and Morris, J., Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (hereafter PLRE) 2 (Cambridge 1980), consider Galla (5), p. 491, and Proba (1), p. 907, probably erroneously, to be biological sisters; see M. Van den Hout's review of J. J. Van den Besselaar's Cassiodorus Senator en zijn Variae in American Journal of Philology 69 (1948) 234.Google Scholar

²⁵ Fulgentius Epistula 2.31. For the frequency of the name Probus/a among the Anicii and Petronii see PLRE 1 (Cambridge 1971) stemmata 24 (p. 1144) and 7 (p. 1133). On the African origins of the Anicii, see Novak, D., ‘Cirta and the Anicii of Uzappa: A Note,’ Klio 58 (1976) 21–24. On the Domus Aniciana see Llewellyn, P. A. B., ‘The Roman Clergy during the Laurentian Schism (488–506): A Preliminary Analysis,’ Ancient Society 8 (1977) 262.Google Scholar

²⁶ The poetess is Proba (2) PLRE 1.732; Proba (3) is the correspondent of Augustine: ibid. Google Scholar

²⁷ Eugippius, Excerpta ex operibus s. Augustini: Epistula ad Probam (ed. P. Knoell; CSEL 9.1.1–4).Google Scholar

²⁸ Cassiodorus Senator, Institutiones 1.23.1 (ed. R. A. B. Mynors [Oxford 1937] 62.2–6).Google Scholar

²⁹ JK Epistula 645.Google Scholar

³⁰ Ennodius, Epistulae 8.17; 9.15, 18 (ed. W. Hartel; CSEL 6. 211f., 239, 241f.); see also ‘Stephania,’ PLRE 2.1028.Google Scholar

³¹ See Jülicher, A., ‘Eugippius,’ RE 6.1.988–90, and Vita s. Severini, Epistula ad Pascasium (ed. P. Knoell; CSEL 9.2.1–6).Google Scholar

³² Ferrandus, Epistulae 4 and 11 (edd. Mai, A. and Reifferscheid, A., Florilegium Casinense 1 [1873] 193–202). Again, these are only the surviving letters. Ferrandus’ complete correspondence must have been very extensive. A new edition of his Vita Fulgentii and Epistulae (Appendix Fulgentiana; CCL 92) is forthcoming. In addition, there are two modern translations of the Vita: into French by Lapeyre, G. G., La vie de s. Fulgence de Ruspe par Ferrand (Paris 1929), and into German by Kozelka, L., Bibliothek der Kirchenväter 9.9 (Munich 1934). The text of both is substantially that of PL 65.Google Scholar

³³ See ‘Flavius Theodorus (62),’ PLRE 2.1097.Google Scholar

³⁴ For the frequency of the name Venantius/a among the Decii see stemma 26, PLRE 2.Google Scholar

³⁵ Stein, E., ‘Le questeur Junillus et la date de ses Instituta,’ Bull. Académie royale de Belgique, 5th series, 23 (1937) 378–83. Procopius reported that Junillus was a Libyan, perhaps another way of describing someone from the southernmost part of Byzacena, on the border with Tripolitania (Anecdota 20.17, ed. H. B. Dewing [Cambridge, Mass. 1935] 240.6). Junillus’ Epistula ad Primasium (PL 68.15f.) is the dedication of the Instituta to Primasius of Hadrumetum, the author of Commentarius in Apocalypsin (ibid. 793–936).Google Scholar

³⁶ Victor of Vita, Historia persecutionis Africae provinciae 2.38f. (ed. M. Petschenig; CSEL 7.1.38f.), describes the persecutions of Huneric. To this is appended the Notitia provinciarum et civitatum Africae, which records the names and cities of the exiles.Google Scholar

³⁷ Fulgentius’ ties with Carthage were strong and he may have recommended the appointment there of his friend Ferrandus as deacon. The latter acted as Carthage's spiritual guide in the absence of a Catholic bishop. Eugenius, the previous bishop of Carthage, died as an exile in Albi in 505 and was not replaced until the election of Boniface in 523.Google Scholar

³⁸ This Pelagius was probably the Roman deacon whom Justinian appointed as successor to Vigilius, bishop of Rome. At first Pelagius supported, then condemned the Three Chapters.Google Scholar

³⁹ Ed. C. Munier; CCL 149.287–306 (Turnhout 1974).Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Butler, C. E., ‘Monasticism,’ CMH 1.531f., gives a brief but useful summary of monastic activity in the West.Google Scholar

⁴¹ Diesner (1966) (n. 1 supra) 64.Google Scholar

⁴² See Gavigan, J. J., De vita monastica in Africa septentrionali inde a temporibus s. Augustini usque ad invasiones Arabum (Rome 1962), and Diesner, H. J., ‘Jugend und Mönchtum des Fulgentius,’ Helikon 1 (1961) 677–85.Google Scholar

⁴³ Pietri, C., ‘Le Senat, le peuple Chrétien et les partis du cirque à Rome sous le Pape Symmaque,’ Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire 78 (1966) 123–39.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Liber Pontificalis 12 (ed. L. Duchesne [Paris 1886–92] I 263); Ennodius, Epistula 2.14; JK Epistula 793.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ Llewellyn (n. 25 supra) 258–63.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ ‘Probus Faustus (9) Niger,’ PLRE 2.456.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ ‘Ennodius (3),’ PLRE 2.393.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ ‘Symmachus (9),’ PLRE 2.1045.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Vita Fulgentii 4. Gordian was the father of Agapetus, later bishop of Rome (535–536), and was probably related to the family of Felix III, bishop of Rome 483–492, whose concern for the African exiles is attested in the Council of Rome which [convened in 487 to discuss their plight. See Llewellyn, (n. 25 supra) 254, and Maier, J. L., L’Épiscopat de L'Afrique Romaine, Vandale et Byzantine (Rome 1963) 72.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ On the chronology of the letters see Fraipont (n. 1 supra) 6f.Google Scholar

⁵¹ Mathisen, R., ‘Ecclesiastical Factions and Regional Particularism in Gaul ca. 470–475,’ Classica et Mediaevalia (forthcoming).Google Scholar

⁵² Mathisen, R., ‘Epistolography, Literary Circles and Family Ties in Late Roman Gaul,’ Transactions of the American Philological Association 111 (1981) 95–109.Google Scholar

⁵³ See Mathisen, (nn. 6, 51, and 52 supra).Google Scholar

⁵⁴ Llewellyn (n. 25 supra) 260f.Google Scholar