Protecting the Civitas, Warning the Civis: Spiritual Defences in Two Sermons by Maximus of Turin

The late antique world and the Scriptures both provided late antique bishops with potent civic imagery to apply in their sermons. Often preaching in an urban context the bishop could rhetorically deploy civic terminology and imagery to relate to his listeners’ experiences and expectations as citizens or inhabitants of their civitas with the aim of making his instructions and exhortations effective. This chapter zooms in on two sermons by Maximus of Turin (d. ca. 408–423) where civic imagery is applied. In both sermons the bishop works with the notion of a city community under threat and connects this to the spiritual threat of Judgement Day. Zooming in on the application of civic imagery in the two sermons this chapter will show how Maximus connects to his congregants’ expectations and concerns with regard to their well-being and their city’s protection to make them acknowledge the necessity of their spiritual safety and to take proper action to procure this.