Bloomsbury (2015) h/b 182pp £50 (ISBN9781780937175)
W. frets that Bonifatius has not been properly recognised by historians ancient and modern. He sees reasons for this—he’s rather a shadowy figure, and the source materials are thin, dodgy or both. But is there room for him in our historical thinking when we have generalissimos like Belisarius, Stilicho Constantius, Aetius and Ricimer striding the late antique stage, exerting political power way beyond their military titles? Procopius puts Bonifatius together with Aetius when he calls them ‘the last of the Romans’. But what precisely did he mean by that? And why, then, does Peter Heather relegate Bonifatius to a footnote whilst endowing Aetius with more than enough text?
These generalissimos were extraordinary people with huge influence on emperors eastern and western. Some were effectively regents in the case of young or weak rulers, and as often as not rewarded with death. In the case of Gallia Placidia/Valentinian, Bonifatius was true to her cause, but then became the victim of a political game when she wished to thin out those generalissimos seeking position in the western empire. For instance, in 422 she sends Bonifatius to Spain, presumably to help his rival Castinus deal with the Vandals. Whatever happened between them, Bonifatius returned to his home turf in Africa and Castinus got a good thrashing.
To add to the possibilities, Bonifatius and the others like him had what looks like an almost personal retinue of troops (buccellarii), a situation making maverick behaviour all the more possible and dangerous. When declared hostis publicus in 427, he sends packing the Roman army dispatched to Africa against him. Yet in 429 he invites Vandals from Spain to Africa to help him stabilise the place in return for land, and found himself in a position not unlike that of Aethelred and the Danes. Then in 432 he was recalled to Italy and given the exalted rank of magister militum.
His behaviour seems to veer from great Roman true to Gallia Placidia, to being one who will sell out his country’s interests when it suits him. He is part product of his time, part initiator of late antique warlordism. He’s certainly worth the monograph, not least for the frequent surprises; for instance, when we read Augustine’s letter to him encouraging him not to become a monk on the death of his wife, but to continue doing what he did best as a warrior for Rome!
The book is beautifully produced, with timeline, and some excellent notes. It is £50, but Classical Asociation members get 35% off the hardback, so it’s not inaccessible. But at that price one would have expected proofing of a higher standard. Let me quote my favourite two typos: a sub-heading Inbictissimo, and in a letter from Augustine, ‘prostated as I was by bodily weakness’.
W. concludes that, whether or not the last of the Romans, Bonifatius may well have been the first western imperial warlord.
Adrian Spooner