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.