Malcolm Lockridge compares life in 1827 BC and 1965 AD:
"Life was physically harder in some places, harder on the spirit in others, and sometimes it destroyed both. At most, the gods gave only a little happiness; the rest was merely existence. Taken altogether, he didn't think the were less generous here and now than they had been to him. And here was where Auri belonged." (p. 53)
I like this use of "gods." Clearly, Lockridge does not believe that gods literally exist but he uses the word in a way that is really about life and that fits with the thought patterns of 1827 BC. Maybe time travellers would naturally do this?
Manse Everard of the Time Patrol does and we have quoted him eight times.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And those who do believe in God will simply say "God," and perhaps add something like "God expects us to do the best we can given the means available to us."
Ad astra! Sean
We do know more about prehistory now. If Poul were writing this series today, he'd have to set it between 3000 and 2500 BCE.
Also, all preindustrial societies have high childhood mortality rates. Which has ramifying consequences -- that women have to spend a lot of time being pregnant and nursing infants, for example.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And the rare exceptions in the past where that was not the case were limited to the wealthy and the upper classes, such as the Rome of the Early Empire. I recall Juvenal's bitingly comic satire, "Against Women," where we see his disapproval of the antics of "liberated" upper class Roman women.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: Roman upper-class familied died out at a high rate. Tho' low birth-rates weren't the only factor; they tended to spend time in Rome, and that was highly dangerous, especially to children. Marcus Aurelius and his empress Faustina had something between 12 and 14 children, and only 4 lived to adulthood.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree, disease and appallingly bad hygiene in Roman cities killed far too many children. I liked how the advice of those stranded Americans to Galen helped to save Marcus Annius Verus, a son of Marcus Aurelius and his Empress.
Ad astra! Sean
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