"Saxon fleets swarmed oversea to loot and burn along the coasts...
"The Picti and Scoti harried Britannia."
-Poul and Karen Anderson, The Dog And The Wolf, Chapter XIX, section 1, p. 372.
"We were the conquered. They had scattered our armies. They had ravaged our cities. They had hunted us through the streets and the hills and the great deeps of space...
"So far the Baldic League had actually occupied only the outer planets."
-Poul Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2011), p. 331.
Poul and Karen Anderson describe the Fall of the Roman Empire. Poul Anderson describes the Fall of the Solar Commonwealth which is part of the Rise of the Terran Empire.
In both cases, slavery is involved. The Romans are desperate enough to free slaves who join the Army and the Baldics value human slaves with knowledge of science and machinery. History, past and future - or need it be like that in the future?
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Many good analogies can be found in the works of Poul Anderson applicable to real history. Because I don't think real history, as seen in our times and in the future, is going to be different. Weakness, folly, and lunacy can and will destroy any society. Simply recall the lunatic law passed by the Massachusetts lower house pretending to abolish "sex." I say "pretend" because such nonsense cannot change actual, PHYSICAL facts. And such madness will have many bad CONSEQUENCES.
Sean
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