Venantius Fortunatus's Life of Saint Martin

VENANTIUS FORTUNATUS'S LIFE OF SAINT MARTIN By MICHAEL ROBERTS When Venantius Fortunatus agreed to the request of Radegund and Agnes to versify the Vita Sancti Martini (VSM, pr. 29-30), he was well aware that he was not the first to write such a poem. About a century earlier Paulinus of Périgueux had versified Sulpicius Severus's Life of Martin (Vita) and books 2 and 3 of the Dialogues (Dial.), which contained supplementary stories about Martin's life.1 Fortunatus cites Paulinus's poem in the introductory section to the VSM (1.20-21)2 and, as frequent parallels in language demonstrate, clearly knew his predecessor's work well.3 But, as successive scholars have noted, the two poems, though sharing the same subject matter, create a very different impression. The VSM is unusual in Fortunatus 's poetic corpus in its use of the hexameter and its narrative content. In this paper I will analyze the structure and style of Fortunatus's single venture into hagiographical epic in order to demonstrate the special qualities he brings to his narrative of the life of Saint Martin.4 I move from considering 1 Sylvie Labarre, Le manteau partagé: Deux métamorphoses poétiques de la Vie de saint Martin chez Paulin de Périgueux (Ve s.) et Venance Fortunat (vi' s.), Collection des études augustinennes, série antiquité, 158 (Paris, 1998), 19-20, dates Paulinus's poem to the 460s. Paulinus also versified, in a sixth book, a collection of posthumous miracles of Martin made by Bishop Perpetuus of Tours. Unless otherwise noted I cite Fortunatus's Vita Sancti Martini (VSM) from the edition of Solange Quesnel, Venance Fortunat, oeuvres: Tome IV, Vie de Saint Martin, Collection des universités de France (Paris, 1996), with occasional minor changes in spelling and punctuation. For books 1-8 of Fortunatus's poems I use Marc Reydellet, ed., Venance Fortunat: Poèmes, vols. 1 and 2 (Paris, 1994-96), and for books 9-11 and the Appendix the edition of Friedrich Leo, Venanli Honori Clementiani Fortunati presbyteri Ilalici opera poética, MGH, Auetores Antiquissimi (henceforth, AA), 4.1 (Munich 1881). Paulinus of Périgueux is cited from the edition of Michael Petschenig, Paulini Petricordiae quae supersunt, CSEL, 16 (Milan, 1888), 1-190, and Sedulius from Johann Huemer, ed., Sedulii opera omnia, CSEL, 10 (Vienna, 1885). Hereafter I will cite Labarre's book solely by the name of the author and the editions of Leo and Quesnel by the names of the editors. 2 Fortunatus here confuses Paulinus of Périgueux with Paulinus of NoIa. Gregory of Tours (Liber in Gloria Confessorum [GC] 108, Libri de virtutibus Sancti Martini [VM] 1.2) makes the same mistake. 3 For a list of textual parallels see Labarre, 247-51. Numerous other passages, as she says, display clearly the influence of Paulinus. 4 For the VSM as a hagiographical epic see Michael Roberts, "The Last Epic of Antiquity : Generic Continuity and Innovation in the Vita Sancti Martini of Venantius Fortunatus ," Transactions of the American Philological Association 131 (2001): 257-85. I will 130TRADITIO narrative structure, in the poem as a whole and in individual episodes, to a close analysis of style, concluding with a discussion of the function and distinctive features of the scenes in heaven with which books 2, 3, and the Martin portion of book 4 conclude. In so doing I will argue that the particular qualities of Fortunatus's poem, far from being extrinsic rhetorical flourishes , contribute to the poem's efficacy as an epic of meditation on Martin and his powers. Narrative Structures The VSM is in four books. Books 3 and 4 correspond to the second and third Dialogues of Sulpicius Severus; the only book division in Fortunatus's poem not corresponding to an equivalent break in the prose original occurs between books 1 and 2, which comes after section 18.3 of Sulpicius's prose Vita. Fortunatus signals this distinction by omitting an elaborate concluding section to book 1. Whereas in the other books he steps outside the narrative to praise in gorgeous terms Martin's virtues and paint a highly colored picture of the court of heaven, where Martin enjoys...