The Romans have already defeated the Teutones and Ambrones. (Displaced populations clash with the Terran Empire in Poul Anderson's Technic History.) The Roman general is Marius. For previous blog references, see here.
Eodan has grown to adulthood while the Cimbri have traveled:
through forests;
through rivers;
over mountains;
along the Danube for several years;
to Shar Dagh;
to Noreia, where they smote the Romans twelve years ago;
to the Adige, where, with other barbarians, they pushed a Roman army across;
to the Balkan spine;
to the Belgic plains;
to the orchards of Gaul;
to Spanish uplands -
- but never found a land empty enough for them to settle.
The older warrior, Ingwar, says that Eodan will:
"'...be aking or whatever they call it.'" (p. 13)
Does he mean "a king"?
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I checked my copy of THE GOLDEN SLAVE, at the same page 13, and it too had Ingwar saying "aking." I think this was merely a misprint for "a king."
What interested me was how Ingwar seemed a bit hazy on what a "king" was. Which indicated the Cimbri had barely reached a socio/political level more sophisticated than that of tribal chieftains. Albeit, it's fairly plain that was changing, largely due to the need for a more clearly defined political organization caused by years of wandering and war.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I have been trying to find a verb, "to ake."
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
It doesn't ring any bells to me, whether or not "ake" is modified by "to." I mean, "to ake" doesn't seem familiar.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
As a matter of fact, "to ake" is an archaic form of "to ache" but, of course, PA's text should read "a king," not "aking."
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
So "to ake" did mean something at one time! And any editor of a COMPLETE COLLECTED WORKS OF POUL ANDERSON should be careful to correct misprints like "aking" to "a king" for THE GOLDEN SLAVE. Needless to say, such misprints should be corrected in all of the works of Anderson!
Ad astra! Sean
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