Studia Antiquitatis et Medii Aevi Incohantis (Dec 2023)
Kim są „superiores barbari” w Vita Marci Antonini (14.1)
Abstract
(What does “superiores barbari” mean in Vita Marci Antonini [14.1])?: The phrase Profecti tamen sunt paludati ambo imperatores et Victualis et Marcomannis cuncta turbantibus, aliis etiam gentibus, quae pulsae a superioribus barbaris fugerant, nisi reciperentur, bellum inferentibus was translated by David Magie in the Loeb Classical Library series as “Clad in the military cloak the two emperors finally set forth, for now not only were the Victuali and Marcomanni throwing everything into confusion, but other tribes, who had been driven on by the more distant barbarians and had retreated before them, were ready to attack Italy if not peaceably received.” The term “by the more distant barbarians” follows the interpretation of the words pulsae a superioribus barbaris adopted by Guillaume de Moulines in his 1783 French translation. A similar line of interpretation with an additional indication of the distant north was also proposed by Karl Mannert in 1792. This unrest was supposed to have translated into the general agitation of the Germanic peoples of the Danube limes, contributing to the launching of attacks on the Roman side of the Danube River. A semantic analysis of the adjective superior, however, indicates that it does not mean further away, let alone from the distant north, but only: higher in position, upper, i.e. in the case of ethnic names it refers either to certain barbarians having the upper hand over others, or to the barbarians mentioned above in the source text. Consequently, the superiores barbari that appear in the sentence do not have much to do with the Polish lands, as it is probably precisely the Victuals of the Dacian section of the limes and the Marcomanni of the Pannonian section who took the upper hand over other barbarians in their regions close to the Danube.
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