The perfect general according to the late Roman Latin panegyrics

Adrian Szopa

Uniwersytet Pedagogiczny im. Komisji Edukacji Narodowej w Krakowie , Poland


Abstract

In this article I am describing how Roman panegyric’s writers of Late Antiquity (XII Panegyrici Latini, Claudius Claudianus, Sidonius Apollinaris, Flavius Merobaudes, Priscian, Ennodius, Corippus and others) presented an im­age of the perfect general with reference to their object of praise. On the ground of detailed analysis of those features I am going to indicate the most expected ones according to the social reception. Moreover, I will point out those means which were used by the authors to create the image of the ideal general. Next, I will pay attention to how the authors change their way in presenting the perfect general and how this development was connected with the general evolution of the genre. Lastly, I will answer a quite perverse question: if the perfect general could lead his soldiers to a victory in a real battle. In the background there will be a continu­ous question, if the panegyric – despite its limitation – can or can’t be treated as a valuable historical source.

Keywords:

perfect general, Late Antiquity, latin panegyric, propaganda, autopresentation

Ammian Marcelin, Res gestae, ed. J.C. Rolfe, Ammianus Marcellinus, [Res gestae], vol. 1: (Books XIV-XIX), LCL 300, London – Cambridge 1950, tłum. I. Lewandowski: Ammianus Marcellinus, Dzieje Rzymskie, t. 1, Warszawa 2002

Arystoteles, Ars rhetorica, w: tenże, Opera, ed. I. Bekkerus, vol. 2, Berolini 1831, 1358, tłum. H. Podbielski: Arystoteles, Retoryka, Warszawa 1988

Augustyn, Confessiones, ed. L. Verheijen, CCL 27, Turnholti 1981, tłum. Z. Kubiak: Św. Augustyn, Wyznania, Kraków 1998

Barr W., Claudian’s Panegyric of the Fourth Consulate of Honorius. Introduction, Text, Translation and Commentary, Liverpool 1981

Born L.K., Perfect Prince According to the Latin Panegyrist, „The American Journal of Philology” 55 (1934) nr 1, 20-35 (Crossref)

Bruzzone A., Flavio Merobaude. Panegirico in Versi, Roma 1999

Cameron A., Claudian. Poetry and Propaganda at the Court of Honorius, Oxford 1970

Claudianus, Panegyricus de quarto consulatu Honorii Augustii, ed. M. Platnauer, vol. 1, London – Cambridge 1990

Clover F.M., Transactions of the American Philosophical Society N.S. 61/1, Philadelphia 1971 (Crossref)

Constantini Pophyrogeniti imperatoris de ceremoniis byzantini, libri duo, ed. J.J. Reiske, CSHB 5, Bonn 1829 (Crossref)

Corippus, In laudem Iustini, ed. A. Cameron: Flavius Cresconius Corippus, In laudem Iustini Augusti minoris (in praise of Justin II), London 1976

Ennodius, Panegyricus, ed. Ch. Rohr: Der Theoderich-Panegyricus des Ennodius. Überlieferungs- und Wirkungsgeschichte – Allgemeine Einführung – Edition – Übersetzung – Erläuterungen, Wien 1994

Felices Arcadiani seniores, Notitia dignitatum, ed. O. Seeck, Frankfurt am Main 1962

Gratiarum actio, ed. w: Ausonius with an English translation by H.G. Evelyn-White, vol. 2, LCL 115, London – New York 1921

Greek and Roman Military Writers. Selected Readings, ed. B. Campbell, London – New York 2004

Hägg T. – Rousseau P., Greek Biography and Panegyric in Late Antiquity, Berkeley – Los Angeles – Oxford 2000 (Crossref)

Hofmann H., Überlegungen zu einer Theorie der nichtchristlichen Epik der lateinischen Spätantike, „Philologus” 132 (1988) (Crossref)

In Praise of Later Roman Emperors. The Panegyrici Latini, Introduction, Translation and Historical Commentary with the Latin Text of R.A.B. Mynors, ed. C.E.V. Nixon and B.S. Rodgers, The Transformation of the Classical Heritage 21, Berkeley – Los Angeles – Oxford 1994

Jones A.H.M., The Later Roman Empire, Oxford 1964

Lee A.D., War in Late Antiquity. A social history, Malden – Oxford – Carlton 2007

Lehner J., Poesie und Politik in Claudians Panegyrikus auf das vierte Konsulat des Kaisers Honorius. Ein Kommentar, Beiträge zur Klassischen Philologie 163, Königstein im Taunus 1984

MacCormack S., Art and Ceremony in Late Antiquity, Berkeley – Los Angeles – London 1981

MacCormack S., Latin Prose Panegyrics, w: Empire and Aftermath, Silver Latin 2, ed. T.A. Dorey, London – Boston 1975

MacMullen R., Some pictures in Ammianus Marcellinus’ last books, „Art Bulletin” 46 (1964) 435-455 (Crossref)

Merobaudes, Panegyricus, w: tenże, Carminum fragmenta. Panegyricorum in consulatu Aetii fragmenta, ed. F. Vollmer, MGH Auctores Antiquissimi XIV, Berolini 1905

Nicasie M.J., Twilight of Empire. The Roman Army from the Reign of Diocletian until the Battle of Adrianople, Amsterdam 1998

Nissen T., Historisches Epos und Panegyrikos in der Spätantike, „Hermes” 75 (1940) 298-325

Pliny’s praise: the Panegyricus in the Roman World, ed. P. Roche, Cambridge 2011

Portmann W., Geschichte in der Spätantiken Panegyrik, Europäische Hochschulschriften: Reihe 3: Geschichte und ihre Hilfswissenschaften 363, Frankfurt am Main 1988

Roche P., Pliny’s Thankgivings: an introduction to the Panegyricus, w: Pliny’s praise: the Panegyricus in the Roman World, ed. P. Roche, Cambridge 2011 (Crossref)

Rogowski J., Nauczyciel cesarza. Auzoniusz w „Gratiarum actio”, „Symbolae Philologorum Posnaniensium Graecae et Latinae” 19 (2009) 249-279

Russell D., The Panegiryst and their Teachers, w: The Propaganda of Power. The Role of Panegyric in Late Antiquity, ed. M. Whitby, Mnemosyne. Supplementum 183, Leiden – Boston – Köln 1998, 17-49

Schindler C., Per Carmina Laudes. Untersuchungen zur spätantiken Verspanegyrik von Claudian bis Coripp, Beiträge zur Altertumskunde 253, Berlin – New York 2009 (Crossref)

Seneka, De clementia, w: tenże, De la clémence, texte établi et traduit par F. Préchac, Collection des Universités de France, Paris 1967

Stickler T., Aëtius. Gestaltungsspielräume eines Heermeisters im ausgehenden Weströmischen Reiches, Vestigia 54, München 2002

Straub J.A., Vom Herrscherideal in der Spätantike, Forschungen zur Kirchen- und Geistesgeschichte 18, Stuttgart 1939

Styka J., Sydoniusz Apollinaris i kultura literacka w Galii w V wieku, Kraków 2008

Sydoniusz Apolinary, Carmen, ed. W.B. Anderson, Sidonius Poems and Letters, vol 1, London – Cambridge 1936, tłum. M. Brożek: Sydoniusz Apollinary, Listy i wiersze, Kraków 2004 (Crossref)

Synezjusz z Cyreny, De regno ad Arcadium imperatorem, PG 66, 1073A - 1076C, tłum. A. Kempfi: Synesios z Kyreny, Mowa do cesarza Arkadiusza czyli Zwierciadło doskonałego króla, „Meander” 17 (1962) z. 9

Szopa A., Flavius Merobaudes. Wódz i poeta z V wieku, Kraków 2014

The Prosopography of Later Roman Empire, vol. 2: A.D. 395-527, ed. by J.R. Martindale, Cambridge 1980

Warmington B.H., Aspects of Constantinian Propaganda in the Panegyrici Latini, „Transactions of the American Philological Association” 104 (1974) (Crossref)

Wilczyński M., Germanie w służbie zachodniorzym¬skiej w V w. n.e. Studium historyczno-prosopograficzne, Kraków 2001


Published
2015-07-15


Szopa, A. (2015). Wódz doskonały w świetle łacińskich panegiryków późnoantycznych. Vox Patrum, 63, 307–329. https://doi.org/10.31743/vp.3566

Adrian Szopa 
Uniwersytet Pedagogiczny im. Komisji Edukacji Narodowej w Krakowie



License

Papers published in Vox Patrum are covered by the Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0) licence. Authors and users can use published works licensed under the CC-BY-ND since 2018. For earlier publications, copyrights are available under fair use rights in accordance with the Act of February 4, 1994 on copyrights and related rights.