De conviviis barbaris

De conviviis barbaris or De convivis barbaris (Latin for "On banquets of barbarians" or "On barbarian guests") is an epigram preserved in the Codex Salmasianus (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Codex Parisinus Latinus, 10318) of the Latin Anthology, copied in Italy c. 800 AD.[1] It is noted for containing a few terms in a Germanic language that historians believe to be Gothic or Vandalic: in either case, this makes it a rare attestation of medieval East Germanic.[2][3]

Origins and language

The poem's date of composition is unknown, but postulated to be penned between the sixth and eighth century AD.[4] Although the text states that it is referring to Goths per se, several features mark the Germanic words as Vandalic, and it is likely that the text simply uses the term 'Gothic' loosely: correspondingly, Procopius refers to the Goths, Vandals, Visigoths, and Gepids as "Gothic nations" and opines that they "are all of the Arian faith, and have one language called Gothic".[5][6][7]

Text

Translation of the Germanic words in the epigram is disputed, but the text means something like:[8]

Inter "eils" Goticum "scapia matzia ia drincan!"
non audet quisquam dignos edicere versus.
Calliope madido trepidat se iungere Baccho.
ne pedibus non stet ebria Musa suis.

Amid the Gothic "Hail! Let's get [something to] eat and drink"
nobody dares to put forth decent verses.
Calliope hurries to depart from tipsy Bacchus.
A drunken Muse may not stand on her feet.

Metre

There is no doubt that the text is hexametrical, although there has been dispute about the scansion. One likely interpretation is thus:[9]

Īntĕr "ĕ|īls" Gŏtĭ|cūm "scăpĭ|ā mătzĭ|ā iā | drīncăn!"
nōn āu|dēt quīs|quām dīg|nōs ē|dīcĕrĕ|vērsūs.
Cāllĭŏ|pē mădĭ|dō trĕpĭ|dāt sē | iūngĕrĕ | Bācchō.
nē pĕdĭ|būs nōn | stēt || ēbrĭă | Mūsă sŭ|īs.

gollark: The alternative would be to actually engage it in combat and use a lot of Last Stand enchantments, but no.
gollark: As such, assuming I could do all the infrastructural setup, I can just set up the ritual thing very carefully, bait the chaos guardian into going near its area of effect, and then [REDACTED] it utterly.
gollark: Astral Sorcery has something which can freeze nearby mobs. It appears to work on chaos guardians.
gollark: So I don't like it, and I don't want to do the boring thing of making draconic armor and using its "literally unable to die" capabilities.
gollark: That was a rhetorical question which you were expected to answer in some way. Regardless, I will keep expositing.

References
  1. Magnús Snædal, 'The "Vandal" Epigram', in Filologia Germanica/Germanic Philology, 1 (2009), 181-213 (p. 182).
  2. "Indogermanistik Wien: Quellentexte". Archived from the original on October 4, 2012. Retrieved 2017-09-02.
  3. Greule, Albrecht and Matthias Springer. Namen des Frühmittelalters als sprachliche Zeugnisse und als Geschichtsquellen. P. 49-50.
  4. Magnús Snædal, 'The "Vandal" Epigram', in Filologia Germanica/Germanic Philology, 1 (2009), 181-213 (p. 191).
  5. Procopius of Caesarea, THE VANDALIC WAR I,2-8
  6. Greule, Albrecht and Matthias Springer. Namen des Frühmittelalters als sprachliche Zeugnisse und als Geschichtsquellen. P. 48
  7. Magnús Snædal, 'The "Vandal" Epigram', in Filologia Germanica/Germanic Philology, 1 (2009), 181-213.
  8. Magnús Snædal, 'The "Vandal" Epigram', in Filologia Germanica/Germanic Philology, 1 (2009), 181-213 (pp. 183-84).
  9. Magnús Snædal, 'The "Vandal" Epigram', in Filologia Germanica/Germanic Philology, 1 (2009), 181-213 (p. 207).
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