Editing Sidonius Apollinaris

{{short description|5th-century Gallic poet, diplomat, bishop, and Catholic saint}}
{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix = [[Saint]]
|name= Sidonius Apollinaris
|birth_date= {{circa|lk=no}} 430 
|death_date= {{circa|lk=no}} 485
|feast_day= 21 August 
|venerated_in= [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]<br>[[Roman Catholic Church]]
|image= SidonClermont.jpg
|caption= 
|birth_place= [[Lugdunum]], [[Gaul]], [[Western Roman Empire]]
|death_place= [[Clermont-Ferrand]], [[Kingdom of the Visigoths]]
|titles= 
|beatified_date=  
|beatified_place=
|beatified_by=
|canonized_date=
|canonized_place=
|canonized_by=
|attributes=
|patronage=
|major_works=''Carmina''; ''Epistles'' 
|suppressed_date=
|issues= 
}}
'''Gaius Sollius Modestus Apollinaris Sidonius''', better known as '''Sidonius Apollinaris''' (5 November,<ref>Apollinaris alludes to the date of his birthday in a short poem addressed to his brother-in-law Ecdicius, Carmen 20.</ref> {{circa}} 430 – 481/490 AD), was a [[poet]], [[diplomat]], and [[bishop]]. Born into the [[Gallo-Roman]] aristocracy, he was son-in-law to Emperor [[Avitus]] and was appointed [[Urban prefect]] of Rome by Emperor [[Anthemius]] in 468. In 469 he was appointed Bishop of Clermont and he led the defence of the city from [[Euric]], King of the [[Visigoths]], from 473 to 475. He retained his position as bishop after the city's conquest, until his death in the 480s. He is venerated as a [[saint]] in the [[Catholic church]], the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Church]], and the [[True Orthodox Church]], with his feast day on 21 August.

Sidonius is "the single most important surviving author from 5th-century Gaul" according to Eric Goldberg.<ref>[http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/journals/EH/EH37/Goldberg.html The Fall of the Roman Empire Revisited: Sidonius Apollinaris and His Crisis of Identity] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090902221243/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/journals/EH/EH37/Goldberg.html |date=September 2, 2009 }}</ref> He is one of four [[Gallo-Roman]] aristocrats of the 5th- to 6th-century whose letters survive in quantity; the others are [[Ruricius]], [[bishop of Limoges]] (died 507), [[Avitus of Vienne|Alcimus Ecdicius Avitus]], [[bishop of Vienne]] (died 518) and [[Magnus Felix Ennodius]] of Arles, bishop of Ticinum (died 534). All of them were linked in the tightly bound aristocratic Gallo-Roman network that provided the bishops of Catholic Gaul.<ref>Ralph W. Mathisen, "Epistolography, Literary Circles and Family Ties in Late Roman Gaul" ''Transactions of the American Philological Association'' '''111''' (1981), pp. 95-109.</ref> His writing is characterised by an extremely dense network of classical and biblical allusions, which was central to his self-presentation as a Roman aristocrat.

== Life ==
[[File:Lac_Aydat_2001-06-23.jpg|thumb|[[Lac d'Aydat]], site of Sidonius' villa, Avitacum.]]
[[File:Solidus_Avitus_Arles_(obverse).jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|[[Solidus (coin)|Solidus]] depicting [[Avitus]] (r. 455), father-in-law of Sidonius.]]
[[File:Solidus of Anthemius.png|thumb|upright=0.75|[[Solidus (coin)|Solidus]] depicting Anthemius (r. 467-472).]]
Sidonius was born in [[Lugdunum]] (modern [[Lyon]]). His father, whose name is unknown, was [[Prefect]] of [[Gaul]] under [[Valentinian III]] (Sidonius recalls with pride being present with his father at the installation of [[Astyrius]] as [[Roman consul|consul]] for the year 449.<ref>''Epistulae'', VIII.6.5; translated by W.B. Anderson, ''Sidonius: Poems and Letters'' (Harvard: Loeb Classical Library, 1965), vol. 2 p. 423</ref>) Sidonius' grandfather, [[Apollinaris (praefect)|Apollinaris]], was [[Praetorian Prefect]] of [[Gaul]] from May 408 or earlier until 409, when he was succeeded by his friend [[Decimus Rusticus]].<ref>Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin, John Robert Martindale, John Morris, ''The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'', vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, 1992, {{ISBN|0-521-20159-4}}, p. 113</ref> Sidonius may be a descendant of another Apollinaris who was Prefect of Gaul under [[Constantine II (emperor)|Constantine II]] between 337 and 340.

Sidonius married [[Papianilla, Wife of Sidonius Apollinaris|Papianilla]], the daughter of Emperor [[Avitus]], around 452.<ref>Gregory of Tours, ''History of the Franks'', 2.21. This is confirmed by the otherwise oblique allusion in Sidonius' own ''Epistuale'' 2.2.3.</ref> This union produced one son, [[Apollinaris of Clermont|Apollinaris]], and at least two daughters, Severina and Roscia, whom Sidonius mentions in his letters. A daughter Alcima is mentioned much later by [[Gregory of Tours]], and [[Theodor Mommsen]] speculated that Alcima may be another name for one of his daughters.<ref>Severina, ''Epistulae'' II.12.2; Roscia, ''Epistulae'' V.16.5; Alcima, Gregory of Tours ''Decem Libri Historiarum'', III.2</ref> As part of Papianilla's dowry, Sidonius received a summer villa on [[Lac d'Aydat]], named Avitacum.{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=249-253}} He describes the villa in detail in his letters, as an L-shaped villa with three baths, located on a hill overlooking the lake, but the description draws heavily on [[Pliny the Younger]]'s depiction of his own villas and is carefully crafted to present his cultural identity.{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=249-253}}

===Gallo-Roman aristocrat===
Sidonius' letters reveal him to have been part of a wide-reaching network of Roman aristocrats in Gaul.{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=218}} His correspondence focused on his own region of [[Auvergne]], where his main interlocutors were based in Clairmont (like him) and the provincial capital of Lyon. Other key contacts were the aristocrats of [[Narbonne]] and [[Bordeaux]], but some of his letters are addressed as far afield as [[Ravenna]], [[Rome]], and [[Hispania]].{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=217-218, 221}} Notable acquaintances include bishop [[Faustus of Riez]] and his theological adversary [[Claudianus Mamertus]]. He was recognised in life for his literary accomplishments; in 456 his bronze portrait was added to the gallery of writers in the libraries of [[Trajan's Forum]], the last statue to be erected there.{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=214}}

Sidonius spent time in the court of [[Theodoric II]], king of the [[Visigoths]], in 455 or 456, and wrote a letter about the experience to his brother-in-law [[Agricola (vir inlustris)|Agricola]]. This letter, placed first in Sidonius's anthology of his correspondence, praises Theodoric as an ideal king.{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=214}}

Sidonius's father-in-law, Avitus became emperor in 455 and Sidonius wrote a panegyric for him. In 457 [[Majorian]] deprived Avitus of the empire and seized the city of Lyons; Sidonius fell into his hands. However, the reputation of Sidonius's learning led Majorian to treat him with the greatest respect.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} In return Sidonius composed a panegyric in his honour (as he had previously done for Avitus), which won for him a statue at Rome and the title of ''[[comes]]''.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} In 468 the emperor [[Anthemius]] appointed him [[Praefectus urbi|Urban Prefect of Rome]], a post he held until 469. Sidonius presents this as a reward for his literary ability and especially the panegyric which he had written in honour of Anthemius, but the appointment was probably also part of Anthemius' efforts to win the support of the Roman aristocrats in Gaul.{{Sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=220}} Afterwards, Anthemius made him a [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|Patrician]] and [[Roman Senator|Senator]].

===Bishop===
[[File:Gaule_en_475.png|thumb|left|upright=1.125|Map of Gaul in 475, on the eve of [[Euric]]'s conquest of Clermont. Yellow: [[Visigothic kingdom]]; Orange: [[Western Roman Empire]]; Green: [[Burgundian kingdom]].]]
In 469, Sidonius was elected to succeed [[Eparchius (bishop)|Eparchius]], a relative of his wife, as [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Clermont|Bishop of Averna (Clermont)]]. He says little about this in his writing and it appears that he had not desired the role.{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=220}} Writing to the former praetorian prefect [[Tonantius Ferreolus (prefect)|Tonantius Ferreolus]], he encourages him to exchange his secular life "among [[Valentinian III|Valentinian's]] prefects" for a religious life "among Christ's perfected men".{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=223}} Gregory of Tours speaks of Sidonius as a man who could celebrate [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] from memory (without a [[sacramentary]]) and give spontaneous speeches without any hesitation.<ref>Gregory of Tours, 2.22</ref> He writes in praise of the aristocrats who supported the Church, ascetics, and authors of theological works, including those who incorporated pagan philosophy.{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=224}} On becoming a bishop, he publicly declared that he would give up pagan poetry, as incompatible with a religious life, but he continued to write and exchange poetry privately.{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=225}}

For three years, from 473 to 475, Sidonius and his brother-in-law Ecdicus led the defense of Clermont, which was attacked annually by the [[Visigoths]] under king [[Euric]].{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=230}} He compared the conflict to the [[Ancient Carthage|Carthaginian]] capture of [[Capua]] during the [[Second Punic War]], casting Euric in the role of [[Hannibal]] and himself as Decius Magius, loyally defending the city on behalf of Rome.{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=239}} When the city was finally conquered, he was imprisoned and exiled to Liviana, but Euric allowed him to return and resume his office as bishop in 476 or 477, following an intervention by the king's advisor Leo.{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=230 & 246}} Sidonius maintained connections with Euric's court thereafter.{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=230}} Euric favoured [[Arianism]] over [[Catholicism]] and Sidonius maintained contacts with Catholic clergy throughout Gaul and beyond, in order to support them in legal disputes and with recommendations.{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=222}}

Sidonius accepted a degree of collaboration with Euric's court as necessary to maintain the unity of the Roman aristocracy in Gaul,{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=230}} but he was hostile to the Goths, writing to a senator "You shun barbarians because they have a bad reputation; I avoid them, even when they have a good one."{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=232}} He mocks the literary pretensions of Euric's court, which was known as the ''Athenaeum'', and presents the Visigothic conquest as responsible for a reversal of the social order, which had placed the uneducated in power over the educated.{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=233-234}} He was involved in legal disputes with a Gothic noble who had seized the majority of his mother-in-law's lands and clashed with Seronatus, whom he considered a collaborator, for encouraging them to billet their troops in the [[Roman villa|villa]]s of Roman aristocrats.{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=231-232}} His hostility to Euric is reflected in his decision to open his letter collection, published around 477, with a letter enthusiastically praising Theoderic II, whom Euric had murdered in order to assume the Visigothic throne.{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=234}}

Sidonius was still living in 481,{{sfn|Harries|2018}} but had died by 490, when his successor as bishop, Aprunculus, died. His date of death was 21 or 23 August.{{sfn|Martindale|1980|p=118}} Following his death he was venerated as a saint in [[Aremorica]].{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=224}}

===Descendants===
Sidonius's relations have been traced over several generations as a narrative of a family's fortunes, from the prominence of his paternal grandfather's time into later decline in the 6th century under the [[Franks]]. Sidonius's son Apollinaris, who was a correspondent of [[Ruricius]] of [[Limoges]], commanded a unit raised in [[Auvergne (province)|Auvergne]] at the [[Battle of Vouille]] in 507, where the Goths were decisively defeated by the Franks.{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=231}} He was also bishop of Clermont for four months before his death.<ref>Gregory of Tours, 2.37, 3.2</ref> Sidonius's grandson, Arcadius, on hearing a rumor that the Frankish king [[Theuderic I]] had died, betrayed Clermont to [[Childebert I]], only to abandon his wife and mother when Theuderic appeared; his other appearance in the history of Gregory of Tours is as a servant of king Childebert.<ref>Gregory of Tours, 3.9, 11</ref>

==Works==
===Carmina===
[[File:Caii Sollii Apollinaris Sidonii Opera.tif|thumb|''Opera'' (1598)]]
A collection of twenty-four ''Carmina'' by Sidonius survives, consisting of [[occasional verse]], including ''[[panegyric]]s'' on different emperors , which document several important political events and draw largely upon [[Statius]], [[Ausonius]] and [[Claudian]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} Sidonius emphasises Rome's past successes and glories as a "[[mirror of princes|crisis mirror]]" for contemporary rulers, suggesting both the degree to which Rome had declined but also the possibility of revitalisation. In both ''Carmen'' 7 for Avitus and ''Carmen'' 5 for Majorian, Sidonius reviews past emperors and concludes that only those who earnt the title through virtue, especially the military virtue of [[Vespasian]] and above all [[Trajan]], deserved praise – an implicit challenge to the new emperors.{{Sfn|Mratschek|2020|pp=240-241}} Other virtues are also important; ''Carmen'' 2 praises Anthemius for his mastery of the [[liberal arts]].{{Sfn|Mratschek|2020|pp=241}}

Other poems have different subjects. For example, ''Carmen'' 22 is an [[ecphrasis]] of a painting of the [[Third Mithridatic War]] on the wall of the villa of Pontius Leontius "Dionysus", one of Sidonius' friends, at Burgus. Sidonius' visit to the villa is compared to a meeting of [[Apollo]] with Dionysus, at which they decide to settle in [[Aquitania]] and establish learned symposiastic culture there.{{Sfn|Mratschek|2020|pp=241}}

===Letters===
Nine books of ''Letters'' are preserved, containing a total of 147 documents, addressed to 117 different individuals.{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=218}} Sidonius worked on his letter collection over a protracted period, publishing some of them in the early 470s and producing the final version of his collection around 477.{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=234}} The collection was dedicated to Constantius, a priest in Lyon, who was a personal friend, with apologies to the Praetorian Prefect [[Tonantius Ferreolus (prefect)|Tonantius Ferreolus]], on the grounds that even a minor priest ought to be put before even the greatest members of the laity, because Constantius had helped to edit the volume, and because of Constantius' advice following the siege of Clairmont in 473.{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=219-220}}

Sidonius' Latin style was highly praised in his own time. His contemporary, [[Claudianus Mamertus]], dubbed him the "resuscitator of ancient eloquence." By contrast, in his introduction to his translation of Sidonius' letters in 1939, [[W.B. Anderson]] characterised them as very stilted in diction, but revealing him as a man of genial temper, fond of good living and of pleasure.<ref name="WBS"/> [[Sigrid Mratschek]] characterises Sidonius' Latin as intentionally elaborate and learned, calling it 
{{blockquote|... a language artfully and artistically fashioned from a complex intertextual weave of classical and biblical allusions, and the exclusive preserve of the cultural elite to whom alone it made sense. For Sidonius and his circle the beauty of the Latin language (''sermonis pompa Latini'') ... refined sensibility and the intellectual life were a bulwark against the barbarians and a last refuge from the progressive dissolution of the old order.|{{harvnb|Mratschek|2020|pp=237–238}}}}
The complexity of the allusions to mythical, historical, biblical [[exempla]] often makes his writing very difficult to understand, but the difficulty was intentional and Sidonius disparages those unwilling to put in the effort necessary for a complete education in Roman language, literature, and culture.{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=237 & 239}} For Sidonius, familiarity with Classical Latin authors was the central point of education and the justification for the social position of the aristocrat; he says that difference between educated and uneducated men is the same as the difference between men and animals.{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=242}}

W.B. Anderson notes, "Whatever one may think about their style and diction, the letters of Sidonius are an invaluable source of information on many aspects of the life of his time."<ref name="WBS">In his introduction to ''Sidonius: Poems and Letters'' (Cambridge: Loeb, 1939), vol. 1, p. lxiv.</ref> Many studies have used the letters in order to reconstruct the social networks of the intelligentsia in fourth-century Gaul. However, the letters cannot be treated as straightforward depictions of Sidonius' times. Sidonius actively models his letters and their representations of his contemporary world on those of earlier epistolographers, notably [[Pliny the Younger]].{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=215}} He represents Rome as a model society. Peter Brown argues that the resulting picture of continuity is actually a response to the rapidity of change in his contemporary Gaul.{{sfn|Brown|2012|p=404}} Sigrid Mratschek says that through his literary work, he sought to build up the literary and cultural element of Roman identity, as compensation for Rome's military and political collapse, to reinforce the position of the Roman aristocracy in Gaul, and the church.{{sfn|Mratschek|2020|p=216-218}}

A letter of Sidonius's addressed to [[Riothamus]], "King of the Brittones" ({{Circa|470}}) is of particular interest, since it provides evidence that a king or military leader with ties to Britain lived around the time frame of [[King Arthur]]. An English translation of his poetry and letters by W.B. Anderson, with accompanying Latin text, have been published by the [[Loeb Classical Library]] (volume 1, containing his poems and books 1-2 of his letters, 1939;<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/L296SidoniusI12PoemsLetters|title = L 296 Sidonius I: 1 2 Poems Letters}}</ref> remainder of letters, 1965).

===Manuscript tradition===
{{Overly detailed|section|details=technical language|date=January 2024}}
Although Sidonius' works may have been published in part during his lifetime (5th century), there is no textual evidence of this and all manuscripts can be traced back to a single archetype, which is estimated as dating to roughly the 7th century. The oldest witness dates to the 9th century and is likely a fourth-generation copy. Although the archetype contained poems, they were omitted in most copies, and most extant manuscripts contain only his letters, often jumbled together with a garbled transcription of another writer, [[Ausonius]]. Most of the work on textual variants was done by {{Interlanguage link|Christian Lütjohann|de}} in the 1870s, but Lütjohann died prematurely before he had developed the [[stemmatics]], which are crucial for reconstructing Sidonius' idiosyncratic Latin. Lütjohann's work was published in the 1887 ''[[Monumenta Germaniae Historica]]'' with inferior stemmatics provided by other scholars. Franz Dolveck provided a partial new stemma, including only those editions complete with poetry, in 2020.<ref>Franz Dolveck, "The Manuscript Tradition of Sidonius," in ''Edinburgh Companion to Sidonius Apollinaris'', ed. Gavin Kelly (Edinburgh University Press, 2020).</ref>

==Notes==
{{sfn whitelist|CITEREFHarries2018}} 
{{reflist|2}}

==Editions and commentaries==
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Hindermann |editor1-first=Judith |title=Sidonius Apollinaris' letters, book 2: text, translation and commentary |date=2022 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |location=Edinburgh |isbn=9781399506304}}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Marolla |editor1-first=Giulia |title=Sidonius - Letters book 5, part 1: text, translation and commentary |date=2023 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |location=Edinburgh |isbn=9781399510776}}
*{{cite book |last1=Waarden |first1=Johannes Alexander van |title=Writing to survive: a commentary on Sidonius Apollinaris letters book 7 |date=2016 |publisher=Peeters |location=Leuven Paris Bristol |isbn=9789042933538}}

==Sources and further reading==
* {{cite book |title=Through the Eye of a Needle: Wealth, the Fall of Rome, and the Making of Christianity in the West, 350-550 AD |last=Brown |first=Peter |date=2012 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-15290-5}}
* Nora Chadwick, ''Poetry and Letters in Early Christian Gaul'' London: Bowes and Bowes, 1955.
*{{cite book |last1=Egetenmeyr |first1=Veronika |last2=Wiesehöfer |first2=Josef |title=Die Konstruktion der "Anderen": Barbarenbilder in den Briefen des Sidonius Apollinaris |date=2022 |publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag |location=Wiesbaden |isbn=9783447119061}}
*M. P. Hanaghan, ''[https://www.cambridge.org/nl/academic/subjects/classical-studies/classical-literature/reading-sidonius-epistles?format=HB Reading Sidonius' Epistles]'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019.
*{{cite book|first=Jill |last=Harries|title=Sidonius Apollinaris and the Fall of Rome, AD 407-485|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kB9pAAAAMAAJ|year=1994|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-814472-4|author-link=Jill Harries}}
*{{ODLA |first=Jill |last=Harries|title=Sidonius Apollinaris |pages=1379–1380 |volume=2}}
* {{cite book |last1=Kelly |first1=Gavin |title=Edinburgh Companion to Sidonius Apollinaris |date=18 March 2020 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-1-4744-6170-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W6QxEAAAQBAJ |language=en}}
*Gavin Kelly and Joop van Waarden (eds), ''[https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-edinburgh-companion-to-sidonius-apollinaris.html The Edinburgh Companion to Sidonius Apollinaris]'', Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2020.
* Sigrid Mratschek, "Identitätsstiftung aus der Vergangenheit: Zum Diskurs über die trajanische Bildungskultur im Kreis des Sidonius Apollinaris", in Therese Fuhrer (hg), ''Die christlich-philosophischen Diskurse der Spätantike: Texte, Personen, Institutionen: Akten der Tagung vom 22.-25. Februar 2006 am Zentrum für Antike und Moderne der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freibur''g (Stuttgart, Franz Steiner Verlag, 2008) (Philosophie der Antike, 28),
*{{cite book |last1=Mratschek |first1=Sigrid |editor1-last=Kelly |editor1-first=Gavin |editor2-last=van Waarden |editor2-first=Joop |title=The Edinburgh Companion to Sidonius Apollinaris |date=2020 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |location=Edinburgh |pages=214–260 |url=https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-edinburgh-companion-to-sidonius-apollinaris.html |chapter=Sidonius' Social World / Creating Culture and Presenting the Self in Sidonius}}
* C.E. Stevens, ''Sidonius Apollinaris and his Age''. Oxford: University Press, 1933.
*K.F. Stroheker. ''Der senatorische Adel im spätantiken Gallien.'' Tübingen, 1948.
* {{cite book |last1=Waarden |first1=Johannes Alexander van |last2=Kelly |first2=Gavin |title=New approaches to Sidonius Apollinaris: Briefe Buch I |date=2013 |publisher=Peeters |location=Leuven Paris Walpole |isbn=9789042929289}}
*{{PLRE|volume=2}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
*[http://www.vlib.us/medieval/lectures/sidonius.html Apollinaris Sidonius (5 November {{Circa|430}} – 21 August {{Circa|483}}) – Medieval Lectures]. Lynn Harry Nelson. 
*[https://www.dmgh.de/mgh_auct_ant_8/ 1887 critical Latin edition of the works of Sidonius], ''[[Monumenta Germaniae Historica]]''
*[http://www.ccel.org/p/pearse/morefathers/sidonius_letters_00_3_intro.htm Biographical introduction to the ''Letters''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090917040005/http://www.ccel.org/p/pearse/morefathers/sidonius_letters_00_3_intro.htm |date=2009-09-17 }}, [[Ormonde Maddock Dalton|O. M. Dalton]] (1915)
*[http://www.tertullian.org/fathers#sidonius_apollinaris Complete English translation of the Letters of Sidonius Apollinaris], O. M. Dalton (1915)
*[https://sidonapol.org Sidonius Apollinaris, dedicated site, with bibliography and complete Latin text of the correspondence and the poetry], maintained by Joop van Waarden since 2003, frequently updated
*[https://www.propylaeum.de/en/subjects/sidonius-apollinaris Subject portal on Sidonius Apollinaris with bibliography, directories of research materials, reception and research history as well as publications], a continuation of sidonapol.org
*[http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/30_10_0430-0489-_Sidonius_Apollinaris_Episcopus.html Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina with analytical indexes]
*{{cite DCBL|wstitle=Sidonius Apollinaris, St }}
*{{CathEncy|wstitle=Sidonius Apollinaris}}
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Apollinaris Sidonius, Caius Sollius|volume=2|page=183}}

{{Subject bar |portal1=Saints |portal2= Biography |portal3= Christianity |portal4= Europe}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sidonius Apollinaris}}
[[Category:Bishops of Clermont]]
[[Category:Letter writers in Latin]]
[[Category:5th-century Roman poets]]
[[Category:People from Lugdunum]]
[[Category:Urban prefects of Rome]]
[[Category:5th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:5th-century bishops in Gaul]]
[[Category:5th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:430 births]]
[[Category:480s deaths]]
[[Category:Occasional poets]]