"Andre Norton - Empire of the Eagle" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

ANDRE NORTON
AND
SUSAN SHWARTZ
A TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES BOOK
NEW YORK
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious, and any
resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental.
EMPIRE OF THE EAGLE.
Copyright ┬й 1993 by Andre Norton and Susan Shwartz.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.
Cover art by Peter Goodfellow.
A Tor Book.
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, Inc.
175 Fifth Avenue.
New York, NY 10010.
Tor is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, Inc.
ISBN: 0-812-51393-2
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 93-26551
First edition: November 1993
First mass market edition: May 1995
Primed in the United States of America.
098765432
 Introduction
by
Andre Norton

It was a soldier of hardly more than peasant birth, but possessing the spark of
military genius and practical knowledge, who forged that steel-hard backbone which
upheld first the Roman republic, and then the EmpireтАФ the Legion. Up to the time of
Marius, men had fought hard and well, but the loose formation of an army founded on
what had been a militia of citizens called out in times of national danger was not the
weapon a leader convinced of his own destiny neededтАФor wanted.
The concept of the professional soldier, whose home was truly the army itself and
whose god was the Eagle of the Legion to which he was oathed, was born. In spite of the
bloodbath ordered by Sulla, jealous of his predecessor's power, the idea of the
LegionтАФand the EagleтАФ remained until it was accepted as the only possible answer to
warfare with both barbarians of the borders and the trained armies of any others who
dared to resist the expansion of Rome.
To suffer such defeat as to lose an Eagle was a shame so dark that it could only be
washed out in blood. Probably the most notable of such losses was the massacre of three
of Augustus Caesar's LegionsтАФand the loss of their EaglesтАФby Quinctilius Varus in the
Teutoberger Wald; Augustus is said to have lamented, "Varus, Varus, give me back my
Legions!"
But an earlier defeat was suffered by the Proconsul Crassus (of the first Triumvirate).
Envious of Julius Caesar and greedy for the fabled treasures of the Middle East, he
marched his army to a bloody defeat at Carrhae in 43 b.c.
It is always wise to explore the footnotes in any history. While gathering material for
the novel Imperial Lady, we found it necessary to read the history of the Han DynastyтАФa
remnant from nearly two thousand years ago. And in a translation of those very ancient
pages, there exists a footnote that proved to be an open door for imagination's sweep.