Ed Moise: "Is War Our Biological Destiny?"

I was startled by the statement attributed to Victor Hanson, in"Is War Our Biological Destiny?" (Nov. 11)."He cites a brief period between A.D. 100 and A.D. 200 as perhaps the only time of world peace, the result of the Roman Empire's having everyone, fleetingly, it its thrall."

Ignore for the moment Rome's lack of dominion over distant lands like India and China, and consider only the part of the world with which Rome had direct contact. The Roman Empire always had borders. There was peace along the borders for substantial portions of the century to which Hanson referred, but this was not because all the neighboring kingdoms and tribes were in thrall. Rome had to get along with neighbors that were not in thrall. And Rome fought wars in that century also. The campaigns of Trajan in Mesopotamia, and those of Marcus Aurelius against the Germans, spring to mind.

Edwin E. Moise
History Department
Clemson University