uptials of
his daughter and the patrician Ricimer; a fortunate event, which was
considered as the firmest security of the union and happiness of the
state. The wealth of two empires was ostentatiously displayed; and many
senators completed their ruin, by an expensive effort to disguise their
poverty. All serious business was suspended during this festival; the
courts of justice were shut; the streets of Rome, the theatres, the
places of public and private resort, resounded with hymeneal songs and
dances: and the royal bride, clothed in silken robes, with a crown on
her head, was conducted to the palace of Ricimer, who had changed
his military dress for the habit of a consul and a senator. On this
memorable occasion, Sidonius, whose early ambition had been so fatally
blasted, appeared as the orator of Auvergne, among the provincial
deputies who addressed the throne with congratulations or complaints.
[74] The calends of January were now approaching, and the venal poet,
who had loved Avitus, and esteemed Majorian, was persuaded by his
friends to celebrate, in heroic verse, the merit, the felicity, the
second consulship, and the future triumphs, of the emperor Anthemius.
Sidonius pronounced, with assurance and success, a panegyric which is
still extant; and whatever might be the imperfections, either of the
subject or of the composition, the welcome flatterer was immediately
rewarded with the praefecture of Rome; a dignity which placed him among
the illustrious personages of the empire, till he wisely preferred the
more respectable character of a bishop and a saint. [75]

[Footnote 71:

Tali tu civis ab urbe
Procopio genitore micas; cui prisca propago
Augustis venit a proavis.

The poet (Sidon. Panegyr. Anthem. 67-306) then proceeds to relate the
private life and fortunes of the future emperor, with which he must have
been imperfectly acquainted.]

[Footnote 72: Sidonius discovers, with tolerable ingenuity, that this
disappointment added new lustre to the virtues of Anthemius, (210, &c.,)
who declined one sceptre, and reluctantly accepted another, (22, &c.)]

[Footnote 73: The poet again celebrates the unanimity of all orders of
the state, (15-22;) and the Chronicle of Idatius mentions the forces
which attended his march.]

[Footnote 74: Interveni autem nuptiis Patricii Ricimeris, cui filia
perennis Augusti in spem publicae securitatis copulabator. The journey
of Sidonius from Lyons, and the festival