02-16-2012, 10:31 PM
Well done Michael - that's the most succinct and convincing defence of the 'western route' I've yet read!
It also explains Paulinus' decision to 'break off delay' and fight - why would he be delaying, if not due to the possibility that the indecisive Postumus and his Legio II were somewhere on the road and might arrive in support? Good point about the unattractive prospects back home in Icenia too.
Of course, as with any discussion of the western route, we arrive back at a certain novelist, whom we are forbidden by the terms of the original post to mention, who outlined precisely this scenario back in 1968... :wink:
It also explains Paulinus' decision to 'break off delay' and fight - why would he be delaying, if not due to the possibility that the indecisive Postumus and his Legio II were somewhere on the road and might arrive in support? Good point about the unattractive prospects back home in Icenia too.
Of course, as with any discussion of the western route, we arrive back at a certain novelist, whom we are forbidden by the terms of the original post to mention, who outlined precisely this scenario back in 1968... :wink:
Nathan Ross