Edge of empire

"Every ancient author writing about the Low Countries was preoccupied with the complete contrast between the civilized people of the Roman Empire and the tribes of noble savages or barbarians living outside it ... The reality was different. The presence of the Roman army along the River Rhine radically changed the way of life in the small Roman province of Germania Inferior, and the need to maintain and feed this large army became a significan incentive for economic change. The tribes living along the lower reaches of The Rhine and close to the North Sea gradually began to resemble their occupiers."--P. [4] of cover.