When Augustus drew the boundary of the Empire at the Rhine, a few German tribes continued to be ruled by Rome but the outermost territories were not occupied. Instead, those tribes paid tribute, obeyed the nearest proconsul and provided auxiliary troops although they eventually revolted, gaining allies from the east, while at the same time, to the south-west, the Gauls also rebelled.
Poul Anderson's text compares these outermost tribes to native states in British-ruled India. Anderson readers also recognize a similarity to provinces of the Terran Empire where entire planets pay taxes, heed a governor, receive protection and can participate in trade but may also find reason to revolt. The Terran Empire is modelled on the Roman Empire and some of its colonial personnel remind us of Brits.
While reading about one historical context, we are always aware of multiple timelines.
4 comments:
Well, Augustus only did that after Verus screwed up royally and lost three legions. If Agrippa had lived longer, he'd have had that spot -- and wouldn't have screwed up. Germania would have stayed a Roman province, or provinces.
Agrippa would have had a grip.
Paul: Precisely. Of course, Augustus had to confine multi-legion commands to people who were a) able and b) loyal. And if he had to pick one of those two...
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Turtledove's GUNPOWDER EMPIRE had a similar premise, Agrippa lived to reverse the Varus disaster and reconquer Germany. Not only that, Marcus Agrippa succeeded his father-in-law as Emperor, and was succeeded in turn by his son Lucius, the grandson of Augustus.
Ad astra! Sean
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