ABSTRACT
From Eat, Drink, and Be Merry (Luke 12:19) – Food and Wine in Byzantium. Copyright © 2007 by the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies. Published by Ashgate Publishing Ltd,
Emperor Maximus had made himself the master of Gaul through a civil war in the 380s, but his position was tenuous because he still had two imperial rivals. At this time, Maximus turned to other means of strengthening his position than by force of arms. He entreated all the bishops of his realm to visit him at Trier and to dine with him in order to show their support for the new regime. However, Bishop Martin of Tours was not cowed that easily and refused the emperor’s bidding, denouncing Maximus as a usurper. Maximus, however, maintained ‘that he had simply defended by arms the necessary requirements of the empire’, and that his office had been imposed upon him by the soldiers and divine appointment. Perhaps convinced by these arguments, Martin yielded and journeyed to Trier, but, as we shall see, he still held trumps. The emperor was very pleased with Martin’s appearance at Trier and showed him great honour by inviting him to his own dining couch, which was otherwise reserved for only the highest of dignitaries and relations of the emperor. But Martin declined the honour, and by demonstratively sitting down on a stool he showed both his asceticism and his independence. However, Maximus would not yet admit defeat. As custom dictated, a servant presented a goblet of wine to him, in order that he might be the first to drink. But instead of raising it to his lips, in an act of outstanding honour, he ordered it to be given to Martin. The emperor expected that after Martin had drunk from it, he would then return the cup to Maximus as a sign of allegiance. But Martin, when he had drunk, handed the goblet to his own accompanying priest, invoking
1 I am very grateful to Professor Leslie Brubaker and the Centre of Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies at Birmingham University for inviting me to the symposium ‘Eat, Drink and Be Merry’, and for giving me the opportunity to deliver one of the main papers there. I am also indebted to my tutor Dr Mats Cullhed and Dame Professor Averil Cameron who examined my doctoral thesis, ‘Dazzling Dining’ (unpublished PhD dissertation, Uppsala, 2003), from which this article is derived.
