Amicitia Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Taking into account the fact that amicitia and the importance of amici as inspiring models on the road to wisdom are strongly emphasized from the beginning of Seneca’s Epistulae Morales, the present paper analyzes how the epistolary ego,... more

Taking into account the fact that amicitia and the importance of amici as inspiring models on the road to wisdom are strongly emphasized from the beginning of Seneca’s Epistulae Morales, the present paper analyzes how the epistolary ego, after redefining amicitia and the epistolary genre, actively appropriates exemplary discourse, a key cultural device which plays a central role in Román memory building (Roller, 2004). Our hypothesis is that, from the beginning of the letter collection, in the very text of the Epistulae an ideal of philosophical uera amicitia is built, and that, in all instances, the epistolary ego intends to direct the reader’s attention to his own exemplarity.

The Paper discusses the Roman concept of political amicitia in the context of foreign relations in the Middle and Far East and its impact on the Indo-Mediterranean trade. The paper argues that contrary to a widely held opinion (favored... more

The Paper discusses the Roman concept of political amicitia in the context of foreign relations in the Middle and Far East and its impact on the Indo-Mediterranean trade. The paper argues that contrary to a widely held opinion (favored and promoted by Moses Finley) Rome concluded international agreements of political amicitia with rulers of places as far away as India as a means to further the flow of long distance trade, which added substantially to the income of the Roman imperial treasury .

Az Árpád-ház családi összeköttetései mindig is élénken foglalkoztatták a magyarországi történetírást és az e kor iránt érdeklődő nagyközönséget is. E kötettel az olvasó tulajdonképpen két, a témába vágó könyvet is a kezében tart. Az első... more

Az Árpád-ház családi összeköttetései mindig is élénken foglalkoztatták a magyarországi történetírást és az e kor iránt érdeklődő nagyközönséget is. E kötettel az olvasó tulajdonképpen két, a témába vágó könyvet is a kezében tart. Az első rész a korai Ár pád-kor dinasztikus kapcsolatain keresztül tárja elénk a korszak eseményeit. Az Árpádok Géza fejedelemtől egészen Kálmán király koráig tartó időszakának családtörténetét és dinasztikus konfliktusait a lengyel Piast- és a cseh Přemysl-házzal összehasonlításban mutatja be olyan társadalomtörténeti fogalmakkal egyetemben, mint a senioratus és a primogenitura, illetve olyan, eleddig Magyarországon csak kevésbé kutatott jelenségekkel összhangban, mint az amicitia, a consilium és az auxilium. A második részt az Árpádok genealógiai adatbázisa alkotja, amely a lehető legszélesebb forrásbázisra és a vonatkozó szakirodalmi áttekintésre alapozva taglalja a dinasztia valós és vélt rokoni kapcsolatait. A könyvet a három dinasztia összekapcsolt genealógiai táblája is gazdagítja.

La correspondance de Cicéron révèle l’originalité des relations nouées par les Romains de l’époque tardo-républicaine entre les pratiques de santé, les pratiques épistolaires et la présentation de soi. Non seulement la santé joue un... more

La correspondance de Cicéron révèle l’originalité des relations nouées par les Romains de l’époque tardo-républicaine entre les pratiques de santé, les pratiques épistolaires et la présentation de soi. Non seulement la santé joue un rôle-clé dans le fonctionnement pragmatique de la lettre, mais le récit de maladie contribue à la
construction d’un « je » socialisé qui permet à Cicéron de partager les valeurs de ses correspondants. Réciproquement, les conseils qu’il adresse à ses destinataires sont inséparables d’un désir d’afficher son propre statut. Souci de soi et souci de l’autre apparaissent donc comme les deux facettes d’une même construction sociale. Cette correspondance témoigne d’autre part des vertus thérapeutiques
prêtées à l’échange épistolaire et plus largement des liens étroits existant entre le corps, l’écriture et la lecture dans le monde romain.
Cicero’s letters reveal the special links between healthcare, epistolography and self-presentation during the late Roman Republic. Health is not only playing a key-role in the pragmatic functioning of the letter, but the narrating of the disease contributes also to the elaboration of a socialized « I », who asserts and shares his
correspondents’ values. Reciprocally, the health advices given by Cicero to his addressees is inseparable from the desire to display his own social rank and authority.
Self-concern and caring for others appear then as the two facets of a single social construction. Cicero’s correspondence also reveals the therapeutic virtues attributed to the epistolary exchange and underlines the close link between body practices and writing/reading activities in the Roman world.

Historians regard the twelfth century as the golden age of friendship. Nevertheless, the correct interpretation of this culture of friendship and its literary manifestations is under debate. Researchers into the amicitia debate... more

Historians regard the twelfth century as the golden age of friendship. Nevertheless, the correct interpretation of this culture of friendship and its literary manifestations is under debate. Researchers into the amicitia debate increasingly rely on the "network approach", which is centered on the use of the language of friendship. In the present article, this quantitative approach is applied to a late twelfth-century collection of letters by a Benedictine monk, Guibert of Gembloux, and is complemented by a close reading of four case studies. Guibert's correspondence attests to a spiritual interpretation of friendship that can function as an identifying discourse within a horizontal network among a monastic elite.

This paper is the second part of a longer study to which I gave the title “False Brotherhood in Chaucer’s ‘The Knight’s Tale.’” In the first part (“Sworn Brotherhood and Chaucer’s Sources on Friendship”) I explored the traditions of sworn... more

This paper is the second part of a longer study to which I gave the title “False Brotherhood in Chaucer’s ‘The Knight’s Tale.’” In the first part (“Sworn Brotherhood and Chaucer’s Sources on Friendship”) I explored the traditions of sworn brotherhood and the sources through which Chaucer got acquainted with it, from classical Antiquity (the Aristotelian‒Ciceronian model) to contemporary romances (e.g. Amis and Amiloun), and to real-life sworn brothers (e.g. Sir William Neville and Sir John Clanvowe, who belonged to Chaucer’s circle). I also touched upon Ovid, Boccaccio, Aelred of Rievaulx’s De spiritali amicitia, and Le Roman de la Rose, and showed how all these works are interrelated. I needed to write that first part in support of my argumentation in this second part of the study, in which I analyse the specific case of Chaucer’s most famous pair of friends, Palamon and Arcite’s brotherhood.

El presente trabajo tiene como propósito contrastar el léxico de los poemas de amistad de Catulo con parte del léxico existente en lengua latina para este ámbito de las interacciones sociales. La hipótesis de trabajo es que los poemas de... more

El presente trabajo tiene como propósito contrastar el léxico de los poemas de amistad de Catulo con parte del léxico existente en lengua latina para este ámbito de las interacciones sociales.
La hipótesis de trabajo es que los poemas de esta temática poseen un léxico específico que refleja el tipo de relaciones que el poeta mantenía con su grupo de amigos más cercanos. No se pretende, con esto dar una respuesta definitiva a la polémica cuestión del supuesto círculo de poetae novi, sino, simplemente, trazar una línea de investigación que posibilite el análisis de las relaciones amistosas a partir de sus versiones literarias.

Retoma-se, para o grande público, a inscrição IRCP 241, a salientar a relevância histórica que detém a homenagem perpetuada numa estátua dedicada pelos seus amigos ao pacense Lúcio Márcio Píero, augustal da colónia pacense e do município... more

Retoma-se, para o grande público, a inscrição IRCP 241, a salientar a relevância histórica que detém a homenagem perpetuada numa estátua dedicada pelos seus amigos ao pacense Lúcio Márcio Píero, augustal da colónia pacense e do município eborense.

Book Description by the Editors (Stefan Esders, Yitzhak Hen, Pia Lucas, Tamar Rotman): The book explores the place of the Merovingian kingdoms in Gaul within a broader Mediterranean context. Their politics and culture have mostly been... more

Book Description by the Editors (Stefan Esders, Yitzhak Hen, Pia Lucas, Tamar Rotman): The book explores the place of the Merovingian kingdoms in Gaul within a broader Mediterranean context. Their politics and culture have mostly been interpreted in terms of a local phenomenon, but as this book shows, the Merovingian kingdoms had complicated and multi-layered political, religious, and socio-cultural relations with their Mediterranean counterparts, from Visigothic Spain in the West to the Byzantine Empire in the East. The papers provide new insights into the history of the Merovingian kingdoms in their late-antique and early-medieval Mediterranean context, examining subjects from the formation of identity to the shape and rules of diplomatic relations, social, legal, and religious aspects that reflect cultural transfer, as well as voiced attitudes towards the other. The perspectives of the individual sources and their contextualization are at the centre of this analysis, and each paper thus begins with a short excerpt from a relevant source text, which then serves as a jumping board to the discussion of broader issues. This innovative structuring principle ensures discussions are accessible to students and non-specialists, without jeopardizing the high standard of academic debate and diligent historical analysis.

Since Finley’s ‘World of Ulysses’ gift-exchange has been widely used by classicists to explain social relations and interactions in Greco-Roman society. It has been interpreted as the underlying rationale of Greek philia and Roman... more

Since Finley’s ‘World of Ulysses’ gift-exchange has been widely used by classicists to explain social relations and interactions in Greco-Roman society. It has been interpreted as the underlying rationale of Greek philia and Roman amicitia, of ritualized guest-friendship, patronage, inter-state relations, political alliances, credit and sureties, and so forth.
In this paper, I argue that the explanatory force of the concept has been overstretched. Although gift-exchange was important both morally and practically it was not the only or even the dominant principle of interpersonal relations in Greco-Roman society. In many cases it was no more than a symbolic frame of reference actively used to justify social claims and actions that had little to do with gift-exchange as such.

Zusammenfassung der wesentlichen Ergebnisse und Zusammenhänge der "Forschungen I-IX, 2011-2017".

Pliny the Younger was, as well as most other members of the aristocracy of the early and high Roman Empire, a very politically active figure. This political existence was expressed through literary communication, which was, however, no... more

Pliny the Younger was, as well as most other members of the aristocracy of the early and high Roman Empire, a very politically active figure. This political existence was expressed through literary communication, which was, however, no compensation for an assumed depolitization of the ordo senatorius, but rather a means to an end for the political goals of the aristocracy. In Pliny’s letters, we can witness this literary communication. It is apparent how he used the epistolographic literature in connection with his social network to further his career, promote friends, influence political decisions and propagate fundamental values and moral standards. Literature and politics were therefore inseparably connected to each other.

La fin du IVe siècle et le début du Ve siècle après J.-C. voient le christianisme triompher et naître une "réaction" ou une "résistance" des derniers païens, aristocrates lettrés, hauts fonctionnaires pour la plupart, profondément... more

La fin du IVe siècle et le début du Ve siècle après J.-C. voient le christianisme triompher et naître une "réaction" ou une "résistance" des derniers païens, aristocrates lettrés, hauts fonctionnaires pour la plupart, profondément attachés à la religion et à la culture traditionnelles et défendant le respect du mos maiorum. Conscients d'être le dernier bastion de lutte contre la nouvelle religion ils s'insurgent contre la façon dont elle les dépossède de la culture et des références qu'ils croyaient exclusivement leurs. Dans cette "citadelle des lettres" se joue un conflit constant qui influence en profondeur les données de l'héritage dont ces hommes s'imaginent être les seuls dépositaires. La conception et la pratique de l'amicitia sont l'un de ces sujets polémiques, sujet d'autant plus important qu'à travers lui, c'est la question du lien unissant les hommes entre eux et du fondement de la société qui est débattue. En reprenant cette question, nous voudrions redonner toute sa portée polémique à un texte de cette époque, un poème de voyage écrit sans doute en 417 par un aristocrate gaulois, Rutilius Namatianus, ancien Préfet de Rome, contraint de retourner dans sa patrie dévastée par les invasions. La critique, étonnée du nombre d'éloges consacrés par le poète à ses amis, a souvent vu là le signe d'une composition relâchée et digressive. Il nous semble au contraire que la célébration de l'amitié par Rutilius, tout en révélant les conceptions propres à son milieu et à son époque, est loin de constituer un écart dans cet itinéraire à la première personne. Le projet même du texte est intimement lié à la pratique de l'amicitia. La comparaison avec un auteur chrétien contemporain, Paulin de Nole, qui convertit dans certains de ses poèmes les rapports littéraires unissant traditionnellement le voyage et l'amitié, nous permettra de mieux cerner la teneur idéologique et les implications poétiques de ce débat.

Die magistratischen edicta und decreta und ebenso die leges, plebis scita, senatus consulta und privilegia mit „außenpolitischem“ Inhalt – also die Dokumente, in denen regelmäßig die intergesellschaftlichen Verhältnisse der amicitia und... more

Die magistratischen edicta und decreta und ebenso die leges, plebis scita, senatus consulta und privilegia mit „außenpolitischem“ Inhalt – also die Dokumente, in denen regelmäßig die intergesellschaftlichen Verhältnisse der amicitia und der amicitia et societas anfänglich vereinbart werden – sind wechselseitig verbindliche und förmliche Verträge. Die Parteien bringen, wie aus der zugehörigen „Urkundenhandlung“ der Dokumente erschlossen werden kann, den wechselseitigen Konsens über das Ergebnis der vorherigen Verhandlung unmissverständlich zum Ausdruck. Die genannten Dokumententypen erfüllen also die rechtlichen Voraussetzungen eines förmlichen Vertrages. Sie werden weiterhin, wie die Quellendokumentation gelegentlich schlaglichtartig zeigt, in der Rechtsanschauung und politischen Praxis als wechselseitig verpflichtende Verträge angesehen bzw. bei strittigen Rechtsfragen dementsprechend als Rechtsquellen (iura) zu Rate gezogen. In ihrer intergesellschaftlichen Rechtswirkung und wechselseitigen Verbindlichkeit unterscheiden sich die genannten Dokumententypen nicht von den foedera, lediglich die Förmlichkeiten des Vertragsabschlusses waren andere!
Der Begriff amicitia und die Wortverbindung amicitia et societas waren demnach – wie auch die Wörter pactio, sponsio und foedus – die Benennungen für eine vom Senat und/oder vom Magistrat, auf Anfrage entweder einer Einzelperson oder eines fremden Gemeinwesens, förmlich herbeigeführte und vertragliche Verbindung mit Rom. Der Gegenstand des Vertrages war, soweit wir es bisher erschließen konnten, die individuelle oder kollektive Gewährung eines Personenstandes in der römischen Rechtsordnung, womit von Seiten Roms zugleich für die so ausgestatteten Einzelpersonen und Personengruppen die Rechtssicherheit im wechselseitigen Verkehr garantiert wurde. Im Fall der amicitia et societas wurde im Unterschied zur „bloßen“ amicitia der beschriebene Vertragsgegenstand durch die prinzipielle politische Bereitschaft der Vertragspartner zu gegenseitiger militärischer Hilfeleistung erweitert, und dies ohne dass der Abschluss eines foedus mit der Vereinbarung der amicitia et societas notwendigerweise einhergehen musste. Begegnet in der Quellendokumentation der Begriff societas alleinstehend, dann ist dies der verkürzte Ausdruck für das zugrunde liegende Verhältnis der amicitia et societas. Die skizzierte Deutung zur rechtlichen Form und zum rechtlichen Inhalt der amicitia und amicitia et societas befindet sich in mehrfacher Hinsicht im Widerspruch zu der heute gültigen und von Alfred Heuss (1933) begründeten communis opinio, wonach der Begriff amicitia prinzipiell ein formlos und vertragslos herbeigeführtes „zwischenstaatliches“ Verhältnis bezeichne, das den bloßen Friedenszustand, den diplomatischen Kontakt und die politisch unverbindlichen formellen guten Beziehungen fremder Gemeinwesen mit Rom benennen. Erstens unterscheidet die hier vorgestellte Deutung zwischen der amicitia und der amicitia et societas, und sie erkennt zweitens im Begriff societas lediglich einen verkürzten Ausdruck der Quellendokumentation für das Verhältnis der amicitia et societas. Drittens hält die hier vorgetragene Interpretation beide Begriffe für Benennungen eigener Varianten des förmlichen Vertrages, die viertens gleichermaßen mit konkreten rechtlichen Inhalten des intergesellschaftlichen Personenverkehrs verbunden waren.

Rezension zu Linda ZOLLSCHAN, Rome and Judaea. International law relations, 162-100 BCE (2017)

In De Amicitia Cicero provides an account of amicitia with which he gives the impression that he is criticizing both Epicurus and his followers for the kind of relationships that they were interested in developing. His attack on the... more

In De Amicitia Cicero provides an account of amicitia with which he gives the impression that he is criticizing both Epicurus and his followers for the kind of relationships that they were interested in developing. His attack on the Epicurean school and his dedication of De Amicitia to Atticus create a paradox, since Atticus is considered to have been an Epicurean. This paper argues that certain passages mainly from De Finibus and his correspondence suggest that the chief target of Cicero’s attack in De Amicitia was not Epicurus or all of his followers, but specifically men who chose to pursue friendships that were based on personal advantage in favour of relationships grounded in virtue. As a result, his treatise must not have been perceived by Atticus as an insult, as Atticus’ conduct and amicitia with Cicero was at variance with the Epicurean principles on φιλία

Published on: http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/COL/index The article studies the reception of Cicero's Laelius in Isidore of Seville's sententiae 3, 28-32, that offers the only extant theoretical conceptualization of amicitia as a form... more

Published on: http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/COL/index
The article studies the reception of Cicero's Laelius in Isidore of Seville's sententiae 3, 28-32, that offers the only extant theoretical conceptualization of amicitia as a form of interpersonal relation during the 6th and 7th centuries AD. Over the period, caritas was regularly used to describe social relations. Accordingly, the study s key question is: how was classical concept of amicitia reintegrated into the Christian discourse of 7th century Roman-Barbarian Spain? The article suggests that the question of true unity in friendship was central for Isidore:
he reconsiders patristic model of grounding amicitia in caritas that was interpreted as both the principle of right behaviour towards the neighbour and a ground of general political and religious unity of gens Gothorum. Thus, Isidore attempts to correlate the personal relations of amicitia with the principle of caritas that rules and unites the society. This suggestion helps to explain why Isidore pays attention to the ideal of friendship represented in Cicero s Laelius. In the final analysis, the study tries to explain why Isidore builds the chapters on friendship from quotations and allusions on Laelius, suggesting that by these means Isidore's text according to the principles of writing of Late Antiquity, established a set of references between relevant problems of unity and relations in 7th century Visigothic Spain and the authoritative text of the tradition.

Cicero’s correspondence with Atticus and his family has received considerable attention from modern scholars. His display of affection towards them, especially during his exile, is perceived as a genuine expression of his feelings for... more

English title : "Geo-literary and geo-historical mapping the aristocratic mobility in the Vth century a. D. The correspondance of Sidonius Apollinaris : from official travel to epistolary travel" This paper is novel in combining... more

English title : "Geo-literary and geo-historical mapping the aristocratic mobility in the Vth century a. D. The correspondance of Sidonius Apollinaris : from official travel to epistolary travel"
This paper is novel in combining geographical and litterary approaches to shed light on the mobility of a Gallic aristocrat, Sidonius Apolinaris, in the fifth century a. D., in its real and ideal dimensions. Famous in his lifetime for his writings and his political role, Sidonius lived in troubled times: the Western Roman Empire was weakened by barbarian attacks and the gradual loss control of its territories. Thus, born a Roman citizen, Sidonius died a subject of a barbarian king. The collaboration between a latinist and a geographer propose a study of correspondance of Sidonius in his real and ideal spatial environment to highlight the complexity of political issues related to the places traveled or known by the author, based on a novel method: a mapping of Sidonius’s world in a predominantly heuristic goal. Using a geo-historical and geo-literary mapping, we intend to show the continuities and changes in aristocratic mobility and in the real and mental representations of space, as illustred by the correspondance of Sidonius Apollinaris.

Resumo: Catulo e Ovídio, poetas latinos que vivenciaram os anos fronteiriços entre finais da res publica de Júlio César e o início do Principado augustano, versaram em seus escritos a preocupação de que seus versos chegassem a outros... more

Resumo: Catulo e Ovídio, poetas latinos que vivenciaram os anos fronteiriços entre finais da res publica de Júlio César e o início do Principado augustano, versaram em seus escritos a preocupação de que seus versos chegassem a outros ouvidos e transpusessem os mares. Ao pensarmos na forma como obras em geral circulavam na urbs romana deste período, pensamos na intrínseca relação entre a palavra escrita e a forma como tais registros foram guardados – ou almejados a se fixar em algum lugar. Tendo em vista tais aspectos, propomo-nos, no presente artigo, a realizar considerações acerca dos processos de circulação e de propagação das obras em Roma ao final do século I a.C. e início do I d.C. a partir dos poemas de Catulo e de Ovídio. A saber, a partir das relações de amicitia e de patronato que, possuindo semelhanças, também possuem suas singularidades e marcações próprias do contexto em que cada poeta pautou suas experiências.
Abstract: Catullus and Ovid, Latin poets who lived in the years between the end of Julius Caesar’s res publica and the beggining of Augustan Principate, expressed in their verses the intention to reach other audiences and cross the seas. To think of Roman urbs oeuvres circulation in that time allows us to consider the intrinsic relation between written text and the way records were kept – or how they intended for posterity. With that in mind, in this paper we want to address both circulation and propagation processes of oeuvres in general in such period. We study Catullus and Ovid poems examining amicitia and patronage relations, which are alike yet different, as they bring each poet context and experiences.

In I B.C., Rome, the poet Catullus, pejoratively described as a poetae novi, uses elegiac couplets to express his mourning, political figures debauchery and, mostly, loving outrage. In his work that gathers the poetry, demonstrates its... more

In I B.C., Rome, the poet Catullus, pejoratively described as a poetae novi, uses elegiac couplets to express his mourning, political figures debauchery and, mostly, loving outrage. In his work that gathers the poetry, demonstrates its “hate and love” related to Lesbia, source of most of his poetic chansons. In this article, we aim to analyze how the poet that lived in a time that marital love was given as improbable, cultivates affection, odium and love for Lesbia, even not being more than a lover of hers.

Este artigo explora uma série de representações de amicitia, categoria romana que expressava, em partes, o que se compreende modernamente como amizade. Para tanto, utiliza-se como documento o Satyricon, de Petrônio, texto ficcional e... more

Este artigo explora uma série de representações de amicitia, categoria romana que expressava, em partes, o que se compreende modernamente como amizade. Para tanto, utiliza-se como documento o Satyricon, de Petrônio, texto ficcional e satírico composto no século I da Era Comum. Procura-se demonstrar que a gramática em torno do termo amicitia foi empregada, no documento, de modo ambíguo: de um lado, como dispositivo que possibilita a invenção de uma forma particular de modo de vida homossocial; de outro, como dispositivo que expressa, igualmente, um processo de construção de normas (ou seja, de normalização). A amicitia, desse modo, pode ser compreendida como, simultaneamente, inventiva e normalizadora.

In Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the term amicitia both marked and shaped social relations as mutual, value-based and binding obligations. Thus, amicitia is multi-layered: It did not only describe personal friendship, but also a... more

In Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the term amicitia both marked and shaped social relations as mutual, value-based and binding obligations. Thus, amicitia is multi-layered: It did not only describe personal friendship, but also a symmetrical or pseudo-symmetrical bond between supposedly equal, functional, social, and political elites. Amicitia also provided a foreign policy instrument. Such individual and collective ties were primarily confirmed through the exchange of tangible as well as intangible gifts. This section deals with the socio-political dimension of amicitia and gift-exchange in the later and Post-Roman West. The papers focus on the objects, practices, rhetorics and strategies of gift-exchange as a means of diplomacy, as a phenomenon of in- and exclusion, and as a status symbol. Finally, they touch upon the impact of socio-political transformation on a late antique and early medieval culture of gift exchange.

Links of amicitia were essential element of Roman elites’ inner relations and mark of belonging to this group. These political alliances were performed and sustained by exchange of gifts and letters revolving around participation in the... more

Links of amicitia were essential element of Roman elites’ inner relations and mark of belonging to this group. These political alliances were performed and sustained by exchange of gifts and letters revolving around participation in the high culture, recommendations of friends and seeking favours. Forms established in the late Roman republic, exemplified in letters of Cicero and others continued into the late Roman empire, were performed as a signifier of a Roman identity of the elites. With the increase of numbers of military officials of foreign – ‘barbarian’ background in the 4th and 5th century, a new group of potential amici appeared. Achieving such high honours as consulate and exercising considerable power, these ‘immigrants’ were expected to take part in the very same set of conventions, which integrated the imperial elites for centuries. However, it did not necessary mean moving them from the category of ‘Others’ to the one of ‘Us’.
This paper will examine cases of Romano-barbarian amicitia in letters of Symmachus, Gregory of Nazianzus, Sidonius Apollinaris and Auspicius of Toul. It will analyse how ‘barbarians’ such as Bauto, Ricimer, Stilicho, Modares and Arbogast fared in the game of amicitia, essential for retaining recently gained social importance and political power. Some of them were first generation ‘immigrants’ who did not possess upbringing and familial connections that would prepare them for it. Others were fully armed with the tools of the Roman culture, yet still framed as foreigners by their correspondents. Particular focus will be brought to the impact of perceived ‘otherness’ on the power dynamics of the amicitia, the shaping of letters’ discourse and its evolution over the period from the second half of the 4th century AD to the end of the 5th century.