Wrogowie porządku rzymskiego mogą być definiowani jako ci, wobec których
cesarze rzymscy w swoich ustawach przywoływali swoistą, agresywną retorykę,
charakterystyczną dla języka ustaw późnoantycznych. Heretycy i poganie,
barbarzyńcy i uzurpatorzy, skorumpowani urzędnicy i przestępcy byli na różne
sposoby piętnowani przez ustawodawcę. Autor śledzi przyczyny zjawiska i
analizuje język agresji skierowany przeciw poszczególnym wrogom rzymskiego
porządku.
The book deals with the presence of language aggression in the postclassical
Roman law, in common opinion one of the characteristic features of the
decadence in the dawn of the Byzantine culture. In his analysis of normative
sources, the author makes use of an original research method whereby he
concentrates on seeking out particular ideologically charged terms in the
relevant articles of law, in order to analyze, throughout each selected corpus
of legal documents, the context in which they appear and, on that basis, to
determine their specific semantic fields. Notably, in his thorough analysis of
the statements which are definitely negative in relation to those who are
regarded as enemies of the state, he proceeds to examine such expressions
semasiologically, as based on the traditional forms of invective present in
Greek and Roman literature. The book consists of three parts: the first
consider the methodological assumptions of the work, the second is devoted to
an analysis of the negatively marked vocabulary as found in the relevant
constitutions, the third identifies the groups of enemies of the Roman order
and presents conclusions resulting from the authors analysis of the quantities
of terms and expressions of invective in the relevant sources. The author
attempts to determine semantic fields of the invective-forming expressions on
the basis of a wide range of reference material, at times reaching as far as
several centuries back (from the perspective of the Late Antique period). The
book is meant to scholars and students of postclassical law, historians, and
philologists.
