07-29-2019, 10:19 AM
(This post was last modified: 07-29-2019, 11:15 AM by Sean Manning.
Edit Reason: Added last paragraph
)
Incidentally, I dropped out of this thread after adding Ward-Perkins and Heather (and Ammianus Marcellinus!) to my to-read list. I can't participate in a discussion about authors I have not read, and I think I have said all I can usefully say about Late Antique civilization (not my field!)
Back in 1939, L. Sprague de Camp, could describe Gaul in the time of Thiudahad and Justinian as "firmly under the thumbs of its barbarian 'garrisons.'" That also makes me wonder how much of this debate is new.
As for whether those complaints about abuses by soldiers show that the system was working ... there are lots of letters to Stalin complaining about abuses, there are lots of reports and letters saying something was wrong in the residential school system in Canada (even after the archives were purged and people were ordered to stop putting things on the record). So I don't think that is a good argument. When civilians talk about professional Roman soldiers, whether Romans or provincials or the Talmud, they tell us again and again that they are scared of being beaten or robbed by them.
Back in 1939, L. Sprague de Camp, could describe Gaul in the time of Thiudahad and Justinian as "firmly under the thumbs of its barbarian 'garrisons.'" That also makes me wonder how much of this debate is new.
As for whether those complaints about abuses by soldiers show that the system was working ... there are lots of letters to Stalin complaining about abuses, there are lots of reports and letters saying something was wrong in the residential school system in Canada (even after the archives were purged and people were ordered to stop putting things on the record). So I don't think that is a good argument. When civilians talk about professional Roman soldiers, whether Romans or provincials or the Talmud, they tell us again and again that they are scared of being beaten or robbed by them.
Nullis in verba
I have not checked this forum frequently since 2013, but I hope that these old posts have some value. I now have a blog on books, swords, and the curious things humans do with them.
I have not checked this forum frequently since 2013, but I hope that these old posts have some value. I now have a blog on books, swords, and the curious things humans do with them.
