This commentary on Sidonius’ second book of letters is part of a larger international project that gives a comprehensive overview of Sidonius’ work and builds upon the preliminary research published in the Edinburgh Companion to Sidonius Apollinaris, edited by Gavin Kelly and Joop van Waarden (2020a). As Sidonius’ life and many aspects of his work are covered in that volume, I will keep this introduction brief and limit myself to four important themes of the second book of letters: (1) Sidonius’ life between otium and negotium and the position of Book 2 in the collection of letters; (2) the date and order of letters in Book 2; (3) Book 2 as a response to Pliny the Younger's Letters and the question of intertextuality; and (4) the epigrams in Sidonius’ letters. I shall also (5) discuss the basis of the text and the aims of the translation. Here I will briefly present my theses and the grounds for them; the details will be found in the commentary.

Sidonius’ second book of letters is devoted to the subject of otium. The question of how to spend one's leisure time honourably is a literary motif explored by many famous Romans before Sidonius – Cato, Horace, Sallust, Cicero, Seneca and Pliny the Younger among them – and was also addressed by Christian authors. The authors before Sidonius who devoted themselves to the subject denoted different things by otium, depending on the genre of their literary works. The meaning of otium ranges from the negatively connoted ‘idleness’ to the otium honestum, ‘honourable retirement’, after a fulfilled political or military career. Otium is also associated with concepts such as ‘freedom’, ‘idyll’ and ‘happiness’. It is often opposed to negotium, that is, occupation and professional commitment.

Sidonius is aware that he is part of a long tradition and demonstrates his knowledge of otium as a literary motif through intertextual allusions. Pliny the Younger, in particular, who in his letters extensively dealt with life in the villa, is a central role model for Sidonius’ discussion of otium in the second book. Sublime literature, according to Pliny, cannot be produced in the hustle and bustle of the city, but only in peace and solitude, the otium of the countryside