HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor

CHRISTIAN BIOGRAPHY: FOUNDATION TO MATURITY 137emphasis on living a life of daily martyrdom through ascesis and thevariety of experiences Jerome saw in the depictions of Christ’s lifein the gospels provided the basis for his interest in portraying thetemptations, healings, visions, and interaction with disciples of Paul,Hilarion, and Malchus.Miles ChristiImperauit potius quam rogauit/He commanded rather than requestedSulpicius Severus, Life of Saint Martin.Sulpicius Severus (ca. 363–420?) wrote his influential Life of St. Martin(ca. 396) little more than four years after Jerome completed his Lifeof St. Hilarion. 55 Sulpicius, an educated Gallo-Roman from a goodfamily, was trained in the traditions of Latin rhetoric, perhaps inBordeaux, and displayed his considerable skill in his Life of St. Martin.Ambitious, Sulpicius used his study of law combined with his obviousgifts in rhetoric to gain employment in the imperial administration.He married into a senatorial family. On the unexpected earlydeath of his wife, he retired from public life. Listening to his friendPaulinus of Nola describe Martin likely prompted his first trip tovisit the saint in 393–94. Sulpicius may have become a monk before395, possibly following the example of Paulinus. He was working onhis biography of the saint shortly after that date, and it was clearlyfinished before Martin died in November 397.Called the “Christian Sallust”, Sulpicius was indebted to the Romanhistorian, likely sympathized with his repugnance with and withdrawalfrom public life, and, following Martin’s example, became amonk. Suetonius’s influence is also apparent, especially the latter’suse of the narrative technique of divisio, used most notably in his Lifeof Caesar. Sulpicius took from Suetonius the practice of briefly representingthe salient moments in a subject’s life, chronologically untilmaturity. After that was accomplished, the biographer was free toselect at random the anecdotes that best reflect the argument beingmade. Sulpicius’s Life of Martin follows this pattern, beginning withMartin’s birth in Pannonia, his time in the army and subsequent55Sulpicius Severus, Vie de saint Martin, ed. and trans. J. Fontaine, Sources Chrétiennes,3 vols. (Paris, 1967–69).