Reference no: EM131735147

Read the quote and answer the question :

"Of this unrest I myself saw nothing. In private I observed that once in every generation, without fail, there is an episode of hysteria about the barbarians. There is no woman living along the frontier who has not dreamed of a dark barbarian hand coming from under the bed to grip her ankle, no man who has not frightened himself with visions of the barbarians carousing in his home, breaking the plates, setting fire to the curtains, raping his daughters. These dreams are the consequence of too much ease. Show me a barbarian army and I will believe"

Question : The Magistrate is describing episodes of communal hysteria. The Empire is frightened of the barbarians so much so that the barbarians occupy their dreams. What do you make of thishysteria? What does Coetzee mean in saying that "these dreams are the consequence of too much ease"?