Flandry expects barbarians to howl among smashed buildings, burning books and dead men when the Empire falls (p. 190). In the previous volume, he had anticipated:
"...when the Empire goes under and the howling peoples camp in its ruins." (Young Flandry, p. 381)
Why howl? A mere barbarian assault might have this effect. However, when the Empire does go under, I would expect a lot of people on Earth to set about building something better out of the ruins.
Coincidentally, I read these lines today:
Robert Huntoon to John Constantine: "SHE WAS A NICE GIRL! FROM A GOOD FAMILY AND I WAS GOING TO MARRY HER, UNTIL YOU GOT HER MIXED UP IN ALL THAT SEX AND MAGIC CRAP YOU WERE INTO...YOU RUINED MY WHOLE LIFE..."
-Rick Veitch, Swamp Thing: Regenesis (New York, 2004), p. 46, panel 4.
Flandry thinking about Fenross: How the devil did this feud get started? Is it only that I took that girl...what was her name, anyway? Marjorie? Margaret?...was it only that I once took her from him when we were cadets together? (Sir Dominic Flandry, p. 167)
However, this is all that Constantine and Flandry have in common.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I think it was obvious! Flandry was using terms like "howling peoples" to refer to primitives smashing things far greater and higher than what they had achieved because they were barbarians. And the fall of the Empire and the destruction of Admiralty Center meant "something of beauty and gallantry had departed the universe." A very Hordian touch and insight.
And I think many, many people who had to struggle for survival during the chaos of the Long Night would far rather the Empire had not fallen. Indeed, I get the impression Roan Tom, whom we see in "A Tragedy of Errrors," would agree with me. It's all very well to talk about something better POSSIBLY arising in the future, but what about the people who had to live before then???
Sean
Sean,
I agree that it is not good enough merely to hope that something better will arise but I am confident that many people would be working for a better future, like Grallon after the fall of Ys and the withdrawal of Roman troops.
Paul.
Hi, Paul!
Except I'm sure that many people, both in the real history example of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and, "later", the Long Night following the fall of the Terran Empire, were simpy struggling to get by as best they could, giving little or no thought to hypothetical future societies.
I think it's far more likely, both in the centuries after the Fall of Rome and, "later," the Fall of Terra, many people continued to look back wistfully to the days when these realms were still strong and powerful, and wished they had not fallen. The MEMORY of Rome continued to linger and inspire many in our real history, after all. Not always with good results. Roman law, for example, allowed for judicial torture, something which was seldom or never used in many of the successor states. The revival of Roman law in the 1200's led to the unfortunate use of torture due to the high status, admiration, and prestige it had.
No, I think many of the new societies which eventually arose after the Fall of Terra were more likely to have gotten to what they later achieved by trial and error, ad hoc improvisations, sheer accident, local precedents, etc., as by deliberate planning.
Sean
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