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Asceticism, and the antidote it offers to contemporary secular disappointments in fifth-century Gaul, is the central theme in the second part of Book 7 of Sidonius Apollinaris' correspondence. Addressing a state of ferment in which the closely-knit Gallo-Roman elite is shifting its moral and religious parameters along with its political certainties, these letters only reveal their full significance - this commentary claims - when read as ascetic documents mirroring the mentality of the monks of Lérins.
This second volume of Writing to Survive follows the first (LAHR 2) in scope and method, providing detailed philological underpinning as well as a wealth of thematic research. Together, these two volumes constitute an important contribution towards the comprehensive range of commentaries on Sidonius' work planned by the 'Sidonius Apollinaris for the Twenty-First Century' project for publication in the LAHR series.
Like its companion volume, this work will be of interest to classicists and medievalists, to literary scholars and church historians, to those concerned with philological and historical intricacies and those interested in the broader development of literature and mentalities in Late Antiquity.