Background
As a son of the Emperor Avitus, Ecdicius was educated at Augustonemetum (modern Clermont-Ferrand), where he lived and owned some land.
politician Ancient Roman senator
As a son of the Emperor Avitus, Ecdicius was educated at Augustonemetum (modern Clermont-Ferrand), where he lived and owned some land.
In the 460s he was one of the richest and most important persons in the western Empire and he was present at the court of Anthemius until 469. Ecdicius and his brother-in-law Sidonius Apollinaris, the Bishop of Clermont, took charge of the defence of the Auvergne against the Visigoths from 471 to 474. The Visigothic king Euric besieged many cities, but Ecdicius, with a private army of horsemen paid for out of his own wealth, brought provisions to those cities, lifted their sieges, and federal a multitude of poor.
The size of his warband seems to have been quite small --- he broke a Visigothic siege of Clermont-Ferrand with only eighteen horsemen, or ten according to the non-contemporary account of Gregory of Tours
Ecdicius also obtained the submission of Chilperic II of Burgundy on behalf of the Empire.
However, just as Ecdicius embarked on his campaign against the Visigoths (475), he was recalled to Italy by Julius and Flavius Orestes replaced him as head of the Roman army. The emperor then exchanged the Auvergne for Provence, giving the Visigoths the territories they had long desired.
The reason for Nepos"s about face is puzzling, as Ralph West. Mathisen admits then accuses the Senate in Rome as being responsible. After he was replaced, Ecdicius practically vanishes from the historical record.
A letter written by Sidonius Apollinaris survives, in which he pleads with his brother-in-law to return to the Auvergne.
But if Ecdicius did return -- or even if Sidonius sent the letter -- is unknown. Some evidence suggests that he remained in Italy: there is a letter in the Variae of Cassiodorus (2422), written after the Battle of Vouille in 507, concerning the sons of one Ecdicius who wanted to return to Gaul where they had property. In a 1984 article Matthisen argued for the identification, pointing out that "not only is the Arvernian Ecdicius known to have been in Rome earlier, but Ecdicius also is a rare name.".