Yes, that is a good example. RE On Sat, 12 Dec 1998, Caroline Butler wrote:
> cf I think the speech he gives to Boudicca in Annals XIV, where she puts > her case in a far more cogent and classically-rhetorical way than could > possibly have been realistic. Here, and in the account of the Britons' > grievances, we see Tacitus 'imaginatively projecting aspects of old-style > Romanitas.' > > >It is generally agreed that Tacitus idealized the Germanic barbarians to > >some extent, in order to make the point that his fellow Romans couldn't > >afford to fall into slackness and decadence. Whenever a writer belonging > >to an imperialistic people praises certain virtues that the conquered have > >and the conquerors lack, it should probably be viewed as a rhetorical > >trope--i.e., "If THEY can live a moral life, then WE, who are really their > >superiors, ought to be able to do so _a fortiori_." In other words, the > >writer doesn't really believe deep down that the Others are better than > >his own people, but he wants to shame his own people into living up to > >higher standards. Aphra Behn does this sort of thing in _Oroonoko_, a > >work written just when the English were on the cusp of empire; no doubt > >many other British writers of the last three hundred years have done > >likewise. So, you see, it's not that Tacitus wants to abandon Romanitas > >and "go native"; rather, he is imaginatively projecting onto the > >Germanic peoples some aspects of old-style Romanitas that the Romans > >themselves have, to his regret, been neglecting. _Germania_ therefore is > >not an altogether reliable source of factual information about the > >Germanic peoples; it is more a wake-up call for the Roman people. > >Randi Eldevik > >Oklahoma State University > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. > Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message > "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You > can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
