Villas and Monasteries in Late Roman Gaul
John Percival
On one of his numerous journeys, Sidonius Apollinaris, by now bishop Clermont Ferrand, turned aside to visit an old acquaintance, a former Palatine official, name Maximus. He found him much changed: villa, rather remote several miles from the main road, was sparsely furnished, with three-legged stools, hard couches and simple hangings goat hair. His diet frugal, more vegetables than meat; dress simple, beard long. Clearly, this not result poverty (Sidonius' reason for visiting plead flexibility in matter loan made ten years earlier mutual friend), but deliberate choice. himself had little doubt that there religious explanation, so it proved: Maximus been compelled fellow citizens, somewhat against will, accept ordination priesthood.
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History