Sallust's Works in Anonim Called Gall's Workshop

Abstract

Various studies of the 12^th century chronicle written by Anonim called Gall also include to a certain degree the problem of the influence of classical literature on its language. I. Znamirowski's and K. Maleczyński's works devoted to this subject, showing numerous accidental borrowings, induced contradictory opinions among researchers. According to them in Anonim's chronicle references to Caius Sallust Crispus' works appear most often. The chronicler himself refers to one of his works (Bellum Iugurthinum). According to my calculations Anonim included in the chronicle 28 probable borrowings from Bellum Catilinae and 21 from Bellum Iugurthinum. Some of them, like the descriptions of the main characters or battles, are connected with linguistic similarities and they may be credited with the character of Anonim's education. It is similar with the chronicler's speeches for which Catiline's speech recorded by Sallust was the model. It is more difficult to forget about similarities when comparing the events in Numidia after Micipsa's death as described by Sallust and after Władysław Herman's death in Anonim's chronicle. They give the impression that Anonim knew this fragment of Sallust's work well and `directed' the course of events in Poland in a similar way. Also, a comparison between the borrowings used by Anonym and the Czech chronicler Kosmas of Prague shows great quantitative and qualitative differences in using Sallust's works to the chronicler of Poland's advantage. Hence, despite some uncertainty still prevailing, it should be stated that Anonim called Gall knew Sallust's works not only from grammar or rhetoric handbooks; he used his language and imitated his descriptions of various situations. In no way does it depreciate Anonim's contribution but it certainly helps to understand his workshop.