It was never so clear cut. There has always been a mixture of approaches. Let's take Rome. On the one hand you have Tacitus writing about honourable barbari solely for the reason of offering up a mirror to what he saw as Roman character flaws. On the other you have subtle changes in Caesar's Latin when dealing with the...Helvetii I think? either way the language used is reminiscent of animals in places or at the very least impersonal and de-humanising.