The Carmina by the Gallo-Roman late antique author Sidonius Apollinaris is divided into major and minor poetry: The first eight Carmina (Carm. 1–8) contain three extensive eulogies to contemporary emperors; There are also sixteen more so-called Carmina Minora (Carm. 9–24), dedication and wedding poems, petitions, letters of thanks and epigrammas. Researchers do not agree on the question of whether Carmina 1–24 were edited in groups of poems or as a complete work.
The author shows how the poet metapoetically expresses the division and cohesion of Carmina and thus communicates that he plans his work in a planned manner. The focus of the investigation is on the paratextuality and work conception of Sidonius’s Carmina. Mythical examples function as poetological allegories or parables and gain meaning by clarifying the division into large and small poetry and illustrating the poet’s specific poetics. In addition to parable and allegory, the elements announced in the programmatic paratexts such as ekphrasis, catalog and change of genre also have a function for the poet’s poetics and work conception.
