Venantius Opilio (''

floruit ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

'' 500–534) was a Roman politician during the reign of Theodoric the Great. Although he was

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

as the junior colleague of emperor Justin I in 524, Opilio is best known as one of the three men whom

Boethius Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known simply as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480–524 AD), was a Roman Roman Senate, senator, Roman consul, consul, ''magister officiorum'', polymath, historian, and philosopher of the Early Middl ...

claimed in his '' De consolatione philosophiae'' provided evidence of his treason against king Theodoric, an act which led to Boethius' imprisonment and death.''De consolatione'' I.4.3; translated by V.E. Watts, ''Boethius: The consolation of philosophy'' (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1969), p. 42

Life

According to one of the letters written by

Cassiodorus Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c. 485 – c. 585), commonly known as Cassiodorus (), was a Christian Roman statesman, a renowned scholar and writer who served in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. ''Senato ...

, Opilio was the brother of Cyprianus, and brother-in-law to Basilius; this Basilius is commonly identified with the Basilius who appears in two of Cassiodorus' letters as accused of practicing black magic. Cyprianus was the '' referandarius'' who accused Boethius of treasonous correspondence with the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, while Boethius names Basilius as another of the three witnesses against him. Boethius alleges that Opilio, along with the last of the three witnesses, Gaudentius, had been banished for fraud by Theodoric, and had taken sanctuary within Ravenna, when the two of them denounced Boethius. However, John Moorhead has listed a number of sources which portray Opilio in a far different light. He received two letters from Magnus Felix Ennodius, the bishop of Pavia, which were probably written in the first decade of the sixth century (''Epistulae'' I.22; V.3); neither contains anything disreputable about Opilio. In 524 he was appointed consul. The Ostrogothic monarchs selected him in 526 to announce the accession of Theoderic's successor to the inhabitants of Liguria in 526. A few years afterwards he was picked to accompany the patrician Liberius on an embassy to

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

. Moorhead notes that Opilio also appears to have been in good standing with the contemporary church: in 529 he was a lay signatory at the Second Council of Orange, and in 534 he was included among the addressees of a circular on christology distributed by Pope John II. The last item Moorhead provides is an inscription from

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

suggesting Opilio had constructed a number of churches. "We may," observes Moorhead, "therefore say that Opilio lived the life of a typical Roman noble and was accepted as such by Ennodius, Faustus, Liberius, Pope John II and the Ostrogothic government."Moorhead
"Boethius and Romans in Ostrogothic Service", ''Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte''
27 (1978), p. 610 His life following his diplomatic mission to the Imperial court is unknown.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Venantius Opilio 5th-century births 6th-century deaths 6th-century western Roman consuls