Alaric - 'Roman Officer'?

[Sean Manning]

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.

I think I have that book... 'Lest Darkness Fall'? Love it.

Glad you enjoy it!

Nathan, people resisted the introduction of professional soldiers from the age of the Greek tyrants onwards because they could see the rapes and robberies and murders coming (and because the people, the free property-owning men of military age, liked swaggering around with weapons and intimidating the day labourers and the slaves and the resident aliens). Its all over discussions of the strengths and weaknesses of different political systems from Herodotus to the beginning of the 20th century, and the literature of the Principate has a lot to say about it.

Ancient people were conservative, but they were not automatons: if you look closely, you see signs that a wide variety of people had opinions about the development of their society, and pushed for some and against others while trying not to cross any red lines (so by the fifth century CE most people in Europe call themselves Christians, but the sect they chose and the bits of the Bible they cite often has political implications).