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Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.
Quote:"iam". This means literally "at that (or this) time", which would seem to suggest that the situation had changed... Therefore, although Tacitus does not say specifically that Paulinus had been reinforced, the implication is pretty clear.

Aha, very smart! However, I'm still not fully convinced... If you could make it mean 'By this time' then I might be - but 'at this/that time' could refer to the time that he pulled back from London... The timescale is not sufficiently exact to say more. In fact it's almost deliberately vague...

Similarly the 'nearest forts' could be those nearest London, just as easily as those nearest to some other undisclosed location... The explanation that Paulinus collected men from posts along Watling Street on his march south seems quite sufficient here.


Quote:Is there any known evidence, from the 'Annals' about how accurate T's accounts have been?... Are there any other instances where CD has known to have embroidered other Author's accounts?

Unfortunately not, I think. As none of the sources of these authors survive there's no way for us to check whether they changed anything or not.

I am struck by the idea that Tacitus was relying on an account by Suetonius Paulinus himself though. There are a couple of places in the narrative of the rebellion where we do seem to be getting the 'general's eye view' more than is usual in Roman history writing (T and Dio both supposedly used Corbulo's memoirs for their accounts of his campaigns too).

As an example, the bit in Annals 14.33, where Paulinus is in London: Uncertain whether he should choose it as a seat of war, as he looked round on his scanty force of soldiers... That does read like it was taken directly from the general's own account of the situation, just changed into third person. You can almost sense the shift of tone when Tacitus starts describing the huge numbers slain by the rebels, like he's switched to a different voice entirely...

Same with the description of the battle plan, actually: He chose a position approached by a narrow defile, closed in at the rear by a forest, having first ascertained that there was not a soldier of the enemy except in his front... Perhaps wishful thinking, but that certainly feels like the way a military man would explain his tactical planning to the reading public!
Nathan Ross
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Messages In This Thread
Re: Calling all armchair generals! - by Ensifer - 03-11-2010, 03:13 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-18-2012, 06:26 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 12:02 AM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 02:50 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 05:40 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 11:26 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 05:11 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 09:42 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 10:10 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 03:11 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 03:25 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 08:36 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-26-2012, 02:57 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-27-2012, 01:50 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 08-05-2012, 02:24 PM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Nathan Ross - 09-08-2013, 10:53 PM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-07-2014, 02:18 PM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-08-2014, 01:50 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-11-2014, 02:03 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-18-2014, 07:54 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-20-2014, 02:37 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-25-2014, 08:29 AM

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