Siburius ( fl. 370s), for whom only the single name survives, was a high-ranking official of the Roman Empire. He was one of several Gauls who rose to political prominence in the late 4th century as a result of the emperor Gratian's appointment of his Bordelaise tutor Ausonius to high office. [1]
Like Ausonius, Siburius came from Bordeaux. The medical writer Marcellus, their countryman, places Siburius in the company of the historian Eutropius and Julius Ausonius, father of the political scholar-poet, as peers with a literary expertise in medicine. [2]
In early 376, Siburius was magister officiorum under Gratian. [3] He succeeded Ausonius as praefectus praetorio Galliarum ( praetorian prefect of Gaul) sometime before December 3, 379, [4] and held the office until 382, when he was succeeded by Mallius Theodorus. [5]
Other scanty evidence of Siburius's life comes from the correspondence of the Antiochan scholar Libanius, who has one letter addressed to him [6] and two to his son, who had the same name. [7] Libanius also mentions Siburius once elsewhere. [8] The son was proconsul of Palaestina Prima around 390. [9]
Siburius is the addressee of three letters among the correspondence of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, the advocate of religious tolerance who attempted to preserve the traditional religions of Rome at a time when Christianity had become dominant. [10] Symmachus teases Siburius about his archaic writing style (ἀρχαϊσμὸν scribendi): [11]
If you're so in love with the old days, let's return with an equal amount of attention to the time-honored words in which the Salian priests chanted and the augurs pronounced on a bird-omen and the Commission of Ten established the legal code. [12]
In the assessment of commentator Andrea Pellizzari, Siburius was indeed "un uomo di grande cultura," a highly cultured person. [13]
Siburius's son still practiced the traditional religions of antiquity; Libanius refers to his Hellenism. If the father, as seems likely from Symmachus's remarks, also had not converted, [14] Siburius would have been the first non-Christian to hold the prefecture of Gaul since the death of the emperor Julian, and the last to hold the office. [15]
Siburius ( fl. 370s), for whom only the single name survives, was a high-ranking official of the Roman Empire. He was one of several Gauls who rose to political prominence in the late 4th century as a result of the emperor Gratian's appointment of his Bordelaise tutor Ausonius to high office. [1]
Like Ausonius, Siburius came from Bordeaux. The medical writer Marcellus, their countryman, places Siburius in the company of the historian Eutropius and Julius Ausonius, father of the political scholar-poet, as peers with a literary expertise in medicine. [2]
In early 376, Siburius was magister officiorum under Gratian. [3] He succeeded Ausonius as praefectus praetorio Galliarum ( praetorian prefect of Gaul) sometime before December 3, 379, [4] and held the office until 382, when he was succeeded by Mallius Theodorus. [5]
Other scanty evidence of Siburius's life comes from the correspondence of the Antiochan scholar Libanius, who has one letter addressed to him [6] and two to his son, who had the same name. [7] Libanius also mentions Siburius once elsewhere. [8] The son was proconsul of Palaestina Prima around 390. [9]
Siburius is the addressee of three letters among the correspondence of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, the advocate of religious tolerance who attempted to preserve the traditional religions of Rome at a time when Christianity had become dominant. [10] Symmachus teases Siburius about his archaic writing style (ἀρχαϊσμὸν scribendi): [11]
If you're so in love with the old days, let's return with an equal amount of attention to the time-honored words in which the Salian priests chanted and the augurs pronounced on a bird-omen and the Commission of Ten established the legal code. [12]
In the assessment of commentator Andrea Pellizzari, Siburius was indeed "un uomo di grande cultura," a highly cultured person. [13]
Siburius's son still practiced the traditional religions of antiquity; Libanius refers to his Hellenism. If the father, as seems likely from Symmachus's remarks, also had not converted, [14] Siburius would have been the first non-Christian to hold the prefecture of Gaul since the death of the emperor Julian, and the last to hold the office. [15]