PART
7 –
Ch.XLI.9
The
great Pelasgian empire
(The
Pelasgian language)
XLI.
9. The barbarian language in
The Macedonians
were also a Pelasgian people (Justinus, lib. VII. 1). Their language
though was not so Latin as was the dialect of the Dacians and the Sarmatians,
because neither the Macedonians, nor the populations of
In 196bc, after the
Romans defeated king Filip of Macedonia, there were celebrated with great
solemnity the so-called Isthmic games, where an immense multitude of
inhabitants of all the lands which had been subjected to king Filip of
Macedonia had gathered. On this occasion, after the proconsul Titus Quinctius
Flaminius and the Romans commissaries occupied the seats reserved for them at
this festivity, the herald, stepping in the center of the arena, spoke in the
Latin language these words: that the Roman Senate and the general Titus
Quinctius Flaminius, following the defeat of king Filip, order that all the
inhabitants of the provinces which had been under the rule of king Filip, be
exempted from all the taxes, and live according to their own laws. Hearing the
voice of the herald, an extraordinary joy got hold of the entire mob. They
could not believe that they had
understood well what had been said, and looked at one another with
astonishment, as if all this were only the illusion of an empty dream….and
being unable to believe their own ears, they asked their neighbors.
The herald was
called again, because each of them wanted, not only to hear, but also to see
the one who announced their freedom; then the herald pronounced again the same
words. The mob, in its excess of joy, started to applaud with repeated shouts,
which seemed without end, so that is was easy to understand that for this mob
the dearest of all riches was freedom (Livy,
Hist. rom. I. XXXIII. 92).
Also in Latin was
made the publication of the new organization of Macedonia, and in 167bc the
consul Emilius Paulus, after defeating king Perseus of Macedonia, convoked an
assembly at Amphipolis. Here, in the middle of an immense multitude of
Macedonians, and in the presence of the 10 representatives sent by Rome to
regulate the affairs of the conquered country, the consul Emilius Paulus
presented in Latin language the wish
of the Senate and its decisions, while the praetorian Octavius, who was also
present, repeated the same words, interpreting them in Greek language (Livy, Hist. rom. I. XLV. 29).
Both proclamations
therefore, that from 196bc, as well as that from 167bc, had been made in the Latin popular language, not in order to
impose onto the freed people the national language of the victor, but because
their idioms were barbarian Latin.
A barbarian Latin language was also
spoken in the provinces of the
The Illyrii,
according to Suidas, were a people of Thracian nationality, and the Thracians,
according to Strabo, spoke the same language as the Getae.
Pannonia was conquered only in 9ad; and 21 years
after this conquest, Velleius Paterculus
wrote the following: “In all the Pannonias, there exist not only Roman customs
and mores, but also a sort of Roman
language, and many also occupy themselves with literature” (II. 110. 5; Vopiscus, Aurel. C. 24).
The Roman language
which was spoken by the inhabitants of