ancient high-arched bridges over the River Flone;
barges and pleasure boats on the Julian Canal and its tributaries;
green parks beside the canals;
the garish modern buildings of the industrial Web whose manufacturing, mercantile and managerial classes have more in common with the Empire than with Aenean scholars and squires;
beyond the city, hamlets, manors, water traffic, croplands, pasture, yellow cliffs, black basalt ridges, ocherous dunes, a purple sky, sharp shadows cast by the sun, Virgil.
2 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Indeed, the image you selected here reminded me of the side streets I took some pains to see in Rome. And those STAIRS brings to mind how HILLY the City is. And the obviously old, time worn buildings seen here is also familiar.
I also recall the Web, seen in THE DAY OF THEIR RETURN, and of how the "new people" becoming prominent there felt themselves having more in common with the Empire than with Aenaean squires and scholars. And many of the people in the Web were unenthusiastic about McCormac's Rebellion.
Sean
Kaor, Paul!
Another thought I had was to wonder if Poul Anderson had ever visited old Rome. His description of old Nova Roma was so much like what I saw in the original Rome that I'm wondering if he had ever visited the Eternal City. And his four volume novel, THE KING OF YS (co-written with Karen Anderson), certainly shows how he made an exhaustive study of Roman history.
Sean
Post a Comment