Roman views of \'Barbarians\'

[sonic]

Does their being 'more receptive to barbarian influence than the rich and powerful' mean that they had a different attitude to 'barbarians'?

If so, this brings us back to my original question in the first post:
We all know that, in general, 'barbarians' were regarded as inferior by the Roman elites. I also know that there is evidence that the lower classes had a different view ... is there anybody who can give me original sources for the views of the lower classes to the use of 'barbarians' within the army etc? I've just got hold of Augustine's Letters, but are there any others which can help?

I posted 3 mins before you..

As I said above, I'm not convinced this is the case - it seems like military and higher classes connected to them may have been the ones donning 'barbarian clothing' before the lower classes did.

....

I'm aslo not convinced of the supposed 'sub-human' view of barbarians by Romans.

Thanks for the bibliography. I think I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and do a heck of a lot of reading.

When discussing the military and higher classes connected to barbarians, are we necessarily talking about the 'elites' as defined by traditional classicists? I would suggest that military men such as Ammianus, trained in the classics and writing history, would tend to follow traditional topoi - although Ammianus himself may be exceptional in that he attempts to be honest.

Yet from what I can gather doesn't the vast majority of literature that survives come from the educated elite who pursued civilian posts? These men weren't connected to the barbarians and so dismissed them and all who were influenced by them.

When you say that you're not convinced by the 'supposed 'sub-human' view of barbarians by Romans', you are going against the view held by many classicists and historians, who base their views almost entirely on a biased reading of Sidonius and others like him who were not involved in military affairs.

I also am not convinced that all Romans shared this view - hence the thread!! Yet I am struggling to find primary sources to support this.