Imperial Phases: Terra

 

Technic civilization was first a republic (the Solar Commonwealth), then an empire (the Terran Empire).

Our main sources are two conversations of Dominic Flandry:

With Chunderban Desai

Poul Anderson, A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows IN Anderson, Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight Of Terra (Riverdale, NY, Riverdale, NY, December 2010), pp. 239-426 AT III, pp. 271-276.

With Miriam Abrams

Poul Anderson, A Stone In Heaven IN Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (Riverdale, NY, June 2012), pp. 1-188 AT VI, pp. 70-76.

Flandry tells Miriam that the "'...earlier order...,'" (p. 73) i.e., the Commonwealth, had committed suicide, bringing on chaos:

"'So again, as before, came Caesar.'" (ibid.)

However, in the case of Rome, the Republic, although maybe (?) heading towards suicide, had not committed it yet. Julius Caesar did not restore order after the Republic but instead accumulated power during that period and his successor, Octavius, continued this process, gradually transforming the Republic with a princeps senatus into a Principate with a princeps.

If the Principate was the continued appearance of republican government, then how could there have been a Principate under Manuel I who merely imposed his own imperial rule directly onto the chaos of the post-Commonwealth Troubles?

Desai tells Flandry that the Terran Empire is:

"'...well into our anarchic phase... Or our interregnum, or whatever you wish to call it.'" (p. 273)

Interregnum between what? Flandry spells out to Miriam that she and he:

"'...happen to be living in a critical stage of the Empire's decline, the interregnum between its principate and dominate phases.'" (p. 74)

Again, how can there have been a principate? And surely they are already well into the dominate phase? - since Flandry also tells Miriam that:

"'Now nobody can claim power by right - only by strength.'" (p. 75)

Sandra Miesel's Chronology of Technic Civilization seems to place the Dominate phase much later.

Imperial Phases: Rome

(When I was an unskilled labourer at Lancaster Royal Infirmary, landscaping a car park, there was new construction work going on at the RLI at the same time and one of the cleaning staff told me that the then current building work was "phrase one." I relayed this to Sheila who responded, "I see. How many phrases will there be?" A cleaner does not need to know her phrases from her phases but such linguistic errors are unacceptable in other lines of work. I attended a College where it was noticed that the headed notepaper described the Principal as the "Principle." When this mistake had been spotted, that notepaper had to be used only as scrap paper for handwritten notes, telephone messages etc. This parenthetical paragraph has become a miniature essay.)

Rome was a monarchy, then a republic, then an empire. "Princeps" meant "first" and, during the Republic, the "princeps senatus" was the leading member of the Senate. In the Empire, "princeps" became an Imperial title, I think the main such title although I am still finding this confusing.

In the Republic, because of foreign wars and civil strife, a successful general, Julius Caesar, accumulated personal political power and was assassinated to prevent him from acquiring even more such power. However, this resulted in what we know as the Empire being founded by his heir and successor, Gaius Octavius. 

In 38 BC, Octavius replaced "Gaius" with "Imperator," which meant "Commander" and has come to mean "Emperor." The King of England was "Rex Imperator." In 27 BC, the Senate granted him the name, "Augustus," and he also adopted the unofficial title, "princeps." The Empire is deemed to have begun then, not earlier when Octavius became "Imperator."

The Empire had two phases, Principate and Dominate. This statement may or may not be an accurate analysis. However, (i) it is one analysis that has been made and (ii) it is relevant to Poul Anderson's account of the Terran Empire to which we will turn next. 

The Principate was the appearance of continued republican government whereas the Dominate, beginning with Diocletian, was more autocratic.

The next question is: to what extent does the Terran Empire parallel the Roman Empire?

Roads, Footprints And Ghosts

"Losers' Night."

A Tudor woman says:

"'Christ will receive you...'" (p. 120)

A turbaned white man asks which Christ: Catholic, Lutheran, Greek etc? These indeed differ. Does any objective reality correspond to any of these beliefs? Nothing is known about the historical Jesus who died a long time ago. On the other hand, people have, if not always, then for a very long time, projected deities which have taken different forms. In that sense, Christ is no different from Jupiter whom he replaced in the Roman Empire.

A Native American offers:

"'All roads up a mountain lead to heaven.'" (p. 121)

I agree up to a point. Some roads are dead ends but, but by walking such a road to its end, we can turn back and find another road that will take us further. All roads up point towards heaven by which I mean greater understanding, not a hereafter. 

He continues:

"'Let each walk the one his forefathers trod.'" (ibid.)

I disagree. Let each walk the one that he finds for himself.

"'On mine, I see their footprints in the dust before me, and in the wind I hear their ghosts singing the olden songs -'" (ibid.)

There is that wind again. This Native American remains close to his ancestral way but not all of us do that.

Garbage, Gust And Gates

"Losers' Night."

Villon mixes so many metaphors when complaining that a ballad that he is composing will not take form that he resorts to two more:

"'At least let the wind of your words blow away the garbage clutter of my metaphors! Sit.'" (p. 113)

Then a real wind enters the inn:

"A cold gust made the fire jump and snap. Turning our heads, we saw the front door had opened again. Taverner was greeting a new arrival. We couldn't see past him to that person, but the entrance was full of gray fog and drizzle. I judged the time yonder to be near sundown of a winter's day in a northern land." (pp. 114-115)

My land, as a matter of fact. The man who enters is easily recognizable and is in any case named in the second last sentence.

And it is he that tells a famous painter that his paintings will win something that:

"'...the gates of hell shall not prevail against.'" (p. 122)

And there is one more Biblical reference in a work by Poul Anderson!

It will be a long time before we have squeezed out every detail, implication, reference etc.

Kinds Of Problems And Chesterton

"Losers' Night."

What is the cause of the narrator's mood? An Irish politician who, we happen to know, was disgraced by an adultery scandal, asks him:

"'Woman trouble?'" (p. 110)

- and he, the narrator, responds:

"'In a way... Not as simple as I wish it were.'" (ibid.)

That puts him in the same category as Olaf Stapledon's narrator. (See the above link from "mood.")

Villon proposes to recount a story from his own recent experience involving a woman but pauses, considers the narrator and suggests that that might:

"'...salt the wound, eh?'

"He was too perceptive. In his kind of life, you have to be." (p. 113)

Perceptive? Almost telepathic.

Where does Chesterton come into it, you may well ask. The narrator, describing Villon's "...old nasal French...," (ibid.) quotes Chesterton and a character in Gaiman's The Sandman models himself on Chesterton. Parallels hold.

Turning the page, we find Villon singing about, among others, Harald Hardrada, the title character of Anderson's The Last Viking Trilogy. "Losers' Night" pulls together a lot.

Kit Marlowe In Two Inns

"Losers' Night."

"...I'd heard of what happened when Kit Marlowe showed up in [Francois Villon's] presence - one of Taverner's few mistakes, letting two alley tom-cats into the same room -" (pp. 111-112)

In another fictional inn, the White Horse, Shakespeare praises Marlowe's Doctor Faustus whereas Marlowe denigrates Shakespeare's first play. The same author informs us that the Library of Dreams contains Marlowe's dreamed but unwritten The Merrie Comedie of The Redemption of Doctor Faustus.

This author is, of course, Neil Gaiman. Anderson and Gaiman continue to parallel each other as we, editorially speaking, continue to reread both.

I have yet to reread my way to the end of "Losers' Night."

Old Phoenix POV's

Careful rereading is necessary. The first person narrator of Poul Anderson's "House Rule" informs us that the Peter Abelard whom he sees in the Old Phoenix Inn is:

"...still a whole man."

-Poul Anderson, "House Rule" IN Anderson, Fantasy (New York, September, 1981), pp. 9-20 AT p. 16 -

- i.e., has not been castrated, as he was in our history. 

The first person narrator of Anderson's "Losers' Night" informs us that he has:

"...heard, or seen for myself..."

-"Losers' Night," p. 111. (my emphasis)

- that several legendary, mythical, fictional, literary or historical persons have visited the Old Phoenix and that these include:

"...an Abelard who remained a whole man..." (ibid.)

I had to check. The absence of that phrase, "...or seen for myself...," would have implied different narrators for these two stories.

That narrator is absent from the Old Phoenix passages in A Midsummer Tempest which are all in the third person. Chapter xi begins with Prince Rupert's point of view (pov) but becomes omniscient narrator when he leaves the taproom. In xii, Rupert returns to the taproom and the narrative returns to his pov. In both cases, Valeria Matuchek is present. In the Epilogue, Rupert and his companion, Will, are long gone, Valeria has just finished recounting their story to a larger group of guests and the narration is from her pov.

And that is it for Old Phoenix povs. As Valeria concludes:

"'I hope you've enjoyed my story.'"

-Poul Anderson, A Midsummer Tempest (London, 1975), p. 229.

Here the author addresses his readers.

Wind, War And Wisdom At The Old Phoenix

Poul Anderson, "Losers' Night" IN Anderson, All One Universe (New York, May 1997), pp. 105-123.

As the narrator approaches the Old Phoenix:

"The signboard creaked faintly overhead in the wind." (p. 107)

Faintly, not loudly or threateningly: it is ambiguous as yet what kind of reception he will have in the inn. (By now, I notice any reference to the wind whether it is meaningful or not.)

Inside, an overheard conversation:

"'- battle tomorrow or the day after,' said he in the toga. 'At Philippi, I think. Harder will be what comes after, to restore the Republic." (p. 109)

- spoken in classical Latin. Highly relevant after our recent discussion in Ecce Romani. 

The barmaid to the narrator:

"'Three score and ten summers, the Book says. I should think yer couldn't afford ter waste time.'" (pp. 109-110)

Sound advice in any text. In our meditation group, we recite a text by Zen Master Dogen which says:

"If you want to find it quickly, you must start at once."

That was a quick breakfast post on a Saturday morning before proceeding into town for some usual weekend activities which might include a curry from a market stall.

Onward, Earthlings.

Three Free Houses

In England, a "free house" is a public house that is not tied to any one brewery and therefore is free to sell any brand of beer. Neil Gaiman extended this term to mean an inn that owes no allegiance to any one time or dominion. There are a few such in fiction, notably Gaiman's Inn of the Worlds' End and the same author's The Toad-Stone as well as Poul Anderson's Old Phoenix. However, we find that we have posted about these three before! Now is the time of evening to stop reading and to watch topical videos forwarded by former fellow student, Peter Bann. (But what a range of topics we cover.)

Bitterness, A Mood And Stars

What is the inner/psychological/spiritual state of a fantasy or sf character when he leaves this world and enters another? Much such fiction is in no way introspective so that questions about inner states rarely arise. However:

"One night when I had tasted bitterness I went out onto the hill."

-Olaf Stapledon, Star Maker (Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England, 1972), p. 11.

After several pages of looking at the stars and questioning the validity of his marital life and domestic existence, this first person narrator embarks on a cosmic spiritual journey. 

Again:

"I was on the walk that most men take at least once in their lives, until sunrise, and no wish was in me for any society other than that of the stars."

-Poul Anderson, "Losers' Night" IN Anderson, All One Universe (New York, 1997), pp. 105-123 AT p. 107.

This first person narrator sees the inter-universal inn, the Old Phoenix, and thinks that accepting its hospitality should shake him out of his (unspecified) mood.

Disclosure of inner states adds depth.