An author can make something sound so authentic that we have to pause to reflect that he has invented it. Thus, when the Emperor Marcus Aurelius begins to address Roman soldiers, their standard response is to bellow:
"'ROMA! ROMA! ROMA!'" (p. 16)
How do we know this? It was taken so much for granted that no one wrote it down or, if anyone did write it down, then that written record has not survived. So, again, how do we know? We don't. But American time traveller, Arthur Vandenberg/Artorius, finds out when he is with Marcus Aurelius as the latter begins to address the troops. For a moment, we accept that this is genuine. Then we realize that SM Stirling cannot have known it either so he has had to make it up - but very plausibly.
In "Delenda Est," Poul Anderson surmises that Cro-Magnons in the Pleistocene would have had the sense to wear protective clothing, including trousers, in snowy terrain.
Sf authors have to think of the logical consequences of their premises, not just share and reinforce their readers' (usual) lack of imagination!
6 comments:
I would point out that trousers were invented on the Eurasian steppe... long after the Proto-Indo-Europeans. Cro-Magnons probably wore "wrappings" -- strips of fur wound around the legs.
Yup, our knowledge of Roman customs is -seriously- incomplete.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
But those Cro-Magnons wearing trousers could be rationalized if we think of them wearing copying the trousers worn by Time Patrol personnel.
The body of Otzi the Ice Man was found wearing trousers.
Ad astra! Sean
The Cro's hadn't copied the Patrol. Everard reflects that they had had "...enough sense to wear jacket, pants, and footgear in a glacial period..." (TP, p. 174)
Yeah, but that was in the Neolithic.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling and Paul!
Mr. Stirling: Granted, of course.
Paul> I know, just trying to rationalize the apparent contradiction.
Ad astra! Sean
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