458 Lizzi Testa
Pope Gelasius (492–6).30 It was the bishops holding the most important sees,
however, who were more likely to transgress Rome’s strictures. Ecclesius of
Ravenna, for example, defrauded his clerics—sixty of whom formed a delega-
tion that appealed to Pope Felix IV (526–30) for justice—of 3,000 solidi a year
in order to fund his building ambitions.31
Some episodes in the Life of S. Caesarius suggest possible accusations. One
recounts how Caesarius had striven to bring all prisoners captured by Ibba’s
soldiers into the city and to welcome them at the bishop’s palace.32 As most
were Burgundians, the kings Gundobad and Sigismund sent three large ships
full of grain.33 However, when that aid proved insufficient, the bishop used the
treasure that his relative and predecessor Eonius had accumulated, selling the
valuable objects of the church, even the sacred vessels.34 Ambrose, bishop of
Milan from 374 to 97, had done the same to pay the ransom for prisoners in the
aftermath of the imperial defeat at Adrianople.35 There is a difference between
the actions of Ambrose and those of Caesarius, however, and this demon-
strates the developments that a bishop of the 5th and 6th centuries had to
negotiate, and turn to his favour when possible. Ambrose had broken and sold
sacred vessels to ransom Roman citizens who were faithful Nicene Christians.
Caesarius, by contrast, made no distinction between Nicene prisoners, Arians,
and apparently even pagans.36 Such a charitable deed, even discounting the
gratitude it would earn from the Burgundian king, was not the disinterested
gesture it may seem. Caesarius imposed baptism in exchange for the release of
the captivi infideles brought into the city in the autumn of 508, resulting in a
considerable increase in the faithful and future clientes of the church in Arles.37
If the Burgundian rulers were grateful, then Theoderic was no less pleased and
he immediately recognized the signs of holiness in the bishop:
30 Gelasius, Ep. 15.2, ed. Thiel, p. 380.
31 Agnellus, Liber Pont. 60, ed. C. Nauerth, pp. 268–80; Pietri, “Aristocratie”, pp. 461–65;
Brown, Through the Eye of a Needle, p. 488.
32 Vita S. Caesarii 1.32, ed. Bona, p. 98.
33 Vita S. Caesarii 2.9, ed. Bona, p. 144.
34 Vita S. Caesarii 1.32, ed. Bona, p. 98.
35 Ambrose, De officiis 2.70 and 136, PL 16, col. 140. McLynn, Ambrose, pp. 55–6 seems to ques-
tion the historical setting of the episode.
36 Vita S. Caesarii 1.32–33, ed. Bona, pp. 98–100. Klingshirn, “Charity and Power” identified
the captivi with the Franks who were still pagan.
37 From the text it would seem that the bishop only rescued those prisoners who agreed to
be baptized. See De Giorgio, “Cesario di Arles e la redemptio dei captivi infedele”.