The
Latin of Gregory of Tours (538 – 594) is probably the worst possible: carelessness
in the use of cases and gender, contaminations of construction, errors in
spelling, as well as the use of new words. For a linguist however such texts
are precious as they show the transition from Latin to Romance languages. The
Latin of Gregory shows that word order is taking over the function of cases in determining
the grammatical function of a word. One can almost treat his sentences as if it
were English: forget Latin school
grammar and read the sentences as if they are depending on word order.
The
following story tells about the daughter of Theodoric the Great (454-526),
whose marvellous tomb can still be seen in Ravenna. For political reasons
Theodoric married Audofleda (around 470 – after 526), sister of king Clovis,
and they had only one child, Amalasuntha (c. 495 – 30 April 534/535). Gregory tells us that at the death of
Theodoric, Amalasuntha was still a little child and that when she was an adult
she fled away with her servant Tragulila as lover. Her mother was enraged as
she had a prince in mind for her daughter and sent an army after them. Traguila
was killed and Amalasuntha was brought back to her mother. Amalasuntha took
revenge on her mother by poisoning the wine used for the Eucharist. To his
great satisfaction Gregory noticed that the poison worked. Theodoric and his
family were Goths and the Goths had the Arian form of Christianity. Arians
denied the holy trinity in its catholic form. Father, Son and Holy Ghost had
not an equal position (in una aequalitate
pariter), but Jesus was subordinate to God. So Arian Christians were heretics
in the eyes of the pious Catholic Gregory. The poison would not have worked if Audofleda
would have been Catholic, as God would surely have protected her!
The
whole story is completely unfounded: Amalasuntha was already an adult when her
father died and other sources say nothing about a servant as lover or having
trouble with her mother. Actually she served as a regent for her young son
after the death of Theodoric. Her husband died in the early years of her
marriage when Theodoric was still alive and she did not marry again. Even the
way of her death is uncertain. At the end of this chapter, which I have not
included, Gregory tells that Amalasuntha was killed while taking a bath. This
is possible, but according to the historian Jordanes she was strangled. Fact is
that she could not control the intrigues and fight for power by the various
factions at her court and she was sent into exile to Bologna. There she was
murdered by some men whom she had ordered earlier to be killed: revenge! A fate
she shared with many others of Germanic royalty in the early Middle Ages.
Gregory
of Tours, Historia Francorum. book
3, chapter 31 (first half)
Et quia
Theudoricus Italiae Chlodovechi regis sororem in matrimonio habuit, mortuus
parvolam filiam cum uxore reliquid. Hic autem cum adulta facta esset, per
levitatem animi sui, relicto matris consilio, quae ei regis filium providebat,
servum suum Traguilanem nomen accepit et cum eum ad civitatem, qua defensare
possit, aufugit. Cumque mater eius contra eam valde frenderet petiretque ab ea,
ne humiliaret diutius nobile genus, sed, demisso servo, similem sibi de genere
regio, quem mater providerat, deberet accipere, nullatinus voluit adquiescere.
Tunc mater eius contra eam frendens, exercitum commovit. At illi venientes
super eos, Traguilanem interfecerunt gladio, ipsam quoque caedentes, in domo
matris reduxerunt. Erant autem sub Arriana secta viventes, et quia consuetudo
eorum est, ut ad altarium venientes de alio calice reges accepiant et ex alio
populus minor, veninum in calice illo posuit, de quo mater commonicatura erat.
Quod illa hausto, protinus mortua est. Non enim dubium est, tale maleficium esse
de parte diabuli. Quid contra haec miseri heretici respondebunt, ut in sanctam
eorum locum habeat inimicus? Nos vero Trinitate in una aequalitate pariter et
omnipotentia confitentes, etiam si mortiferum bibamus, in nomine Patres et
Filii et Spiritus sancti, veri atque incorruptibilis Dei, nihil nos nocebit.
quia: (here) when (not classical!)
in matrimonio habeo: to be married
reliquid = reliquit
hic = haec
cum adulta facta esset: when she became an adult
levitas, -atis (f.): lightness, light-mindedness
provideo providi provisum: to look out, to have in mind
cum eum = cum eo
valde: very much, strongly
frendo and frendeo
, frendui, frēsum and fressum (2
and 3): to gnash, rage
nullatinus: in no way
Cumque mater eius contra eam valde frenderet
petiretque ab ea, ne humiliaret diutius nobile genus, sed, demisso servo,
similem sibi de genere regio, quem mater providerat, deberet accipere,
nullatinus voluit adquiescere: a good example of a sentence as if Latin syntax were almost English
`And when her mother raged strongly against her and asked her not to humiliate a
noble family any longer but, having sent away the servant, should accept an
equal to her from a royal family, whom her mother had in mind, she definitely
didn’t want to comply.
interficio interfeci interfectum: to kill
caedo cecidi caesum: to strike down
ut ad altarium venientes de alio calice reges
accepiant et ex alio populus minor: that coming to the altar kings received from one cup (calix, m.) and the lower people from
another. (A missing vinum `wine’ must
be understood. Note also the word alterium, which is not found in
Classical Latin.)
veninum = venenum:
venom, poison
de quo mater commonicatura erat: from which her mother was about to
receive communion
haurio hausi haustum: to drink, consume, swallow
Quod illa hausto is a contamination of quo hausto and cum illa hauriret,
but the meaning is clear: when she drank that.
protinus: immediately
locum habeo: to find a place
inimicus: the Fiend,
Satan
confiteor confessus sum: to confess, believe
mortiferus: deadly
bibo bibi: to drink
noceo nocui: to harm
Translation:
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