Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

soldier and civilian 487
been subjected. 66 In the provinces local officials might take the law into
their own hands: Dioscorus of Aphrodito complained against the depredations
effected by the pagarch Menas’ henchmen – though here, as often,
it is essential to remember that we only have the ‘victim’s’ side of the
dispute. 67
Churchmen also deployed violence for their own ends. Dioscorus
brought soldiers to Ephesus to ensure the ratification of his doctrinal
views, while Severus of Antioch obtained support for his Monophysite
views from Asiaticus, the dux of Phoenicia Libanensis, who expelled the
bishops of Epiphania and Arethusa for insulting Severus. Severus was also
assisted by Conon the bandit-chaser, lestodioktes, who had received instructions
from Calliopus, a deputy magister militum and correspondent of
Severus. 68 Hilary of Arles, when making ordinations in outlying parts of his
diocese, was accompanied by an armed escort to see that his nominees were
imposed. Such use of force in church affairs was prohibited by pope Leo;
Valentinian III backed the pope and required provincial governors to cooperate
in disciplining unruly bishops, but at local level, violence appeared
normal and effective. If a bishop did not use force to secure his nominations,
it was quite possible that a magister militum would use troops to install
his man: bishops were important leaders of secular society, a dual role symbolized
by Germanus of Auxerre’s decision to retain his general’s cloak as
a reminder of his previous career. 69
Leading clerics used violence, and others used it against them. Bishop
Cautinus of Clermont abandoned an annual pilgrimage to Brioude for fear
that the prince Chramn’s men would not respect the holy occasion; rules of
sanctuary were manipulated to the benefit of the powerful, so that
Merovech and Guntram Boso camped with their armed followers in
Gregory’s church at Tours, bringing royal retaliation on the city, while
Guntram moved his daughters in and out of sanctuary according to the
vagaries of his career; 70 murder might be committed in the forecourt of a
church, and the cleric Quintanus was killed at the altar. 71
Army, church and court were the three great consumers of resources in
the late Roman world, with the army as the greatest of these, a highly
complex mechanism for the appropriation, consumption and hence redistribution
of resources, economic and human; its requirements affected
every tax-payer, or even tax-defaulter. In these days of military retrenchment
and consequent hopes of extra resources for reallocation, it is worth
66 Procop. Secret History 1.14; Liber Pontif. Silverius, Vigilius; John Eph. Lives 24 (John of Tela), 25
(John of Hephaestopolis), 47 (refugees in Constantinople).
67 MacCoull, Dioscorus 23–8. 68 PLRE ii.164 s.v. Asiaticus and ii.252–3 s.v. Calliopus 6.
69 Heinzelmann (1992) 241–2, 246; Van Dam (1992) 326.
70 Bachrach (1972) 48–9; Wood, Merovingian Kingdoms 83.
71 Wood, Merovingian Kingdoms 75, 82; each story included an element of divine retribution which
marked historiographically what was acceptable behaviour.
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