Gregory of Nazianzus and Q. Aurelius Symmachus: The Conflict between East and West and Elite Self-Presentation in the Later Fourth Century AD Rome and Constantinople

Abstract

This article compares the literary self-presentations in the De vita sua of Gregory of Nazianzus and the Letters of Symmachus as their respective authors responded to public perceptions in Constantinople and Rome, respectively. It reads these works in the light of Gregory’s and Symmachus’ involvement in crisis management at two flashpoints in East–West relations in the last quarter of the fourth century ad, the dispute over the see of Antioch and the rebellion of Gildo in Africa. Both authors, by cooperating with regimes without strong local roots—in the case of Symmachus at the direct request of the regime—had compromised the real or perceived interests of their own cities; both argue in the works in question that they had nonetheless acted in line with locally accepted values and ideals. The Roman empire had long depended on well-connected local elites to mediate between central priorities and local interests in this way, but the sorts of challenges posed by East–West relations in the later fourth century were particularly difficult and the resulting works of self-presentation are both fundamentally novel. These works and the circumstances that led to their creation suggest that successful crisis management between East and West was far from easy, but remained a real possibility as late as the end of the fourth century.