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321 difficult if not impossible. In the human case, the task of governance did become more difficult as empires extended themselves. In order to rule vast and widely separated domains, imperial governments generally found themselves compelled to be broadly tolerant of a diversity of cultures and sometimes of beliefs, as long as those posed no threat to their authority.'°° In the first human empire on which the sun never set, the Spanish empire of the sixteenth century, conveying messages or people between Spain and ar-flung outposts required months of sailing each way. The numbers of Spaniards stationed overseas was, in most cases, small. Yet, the empire held ogether for centuries, in part because its continued existence was conve- nient to other powers.'”” At the high point of their empire, the Romans used a sophisticated system of hegemonic control without occupying all the territories under heir sway. They persuaded local rulers that it was in their interest to co- operate. When necessary, they intimidated by example; local rulers knew hat rebellion would provoke—sooner or later—a punitive expedition.'** Empires do not always have sovereignty over their domains; some have been satisfied with enough preponderance to accomplish their political and economic objectives. Both the Soviet Union and the United States estab- ished imperial rule through “hub and spoke” systems of client states and political dependencies. The modern American empire has been seen as innovative because it is not based on the acquisition of territory; it is an empire of bases.'”” Most empires rely heavily on collaborators, observed historian Paul Kennedy. Imperial governance required proconsuls; around the necessity of delegation grew up cultures of initiative, authority, and responsibility, without which empires would not have survived. David Abernethy noted a behavioral pattern that might be expected when a more technologi- cally advanced species imposes its will on others—the psychology of self- abasement that played into European hands.”” We cannot assume that more technologically advanced aliens will reject imperialism as immoral or outmoded. Some human imperialists—notably the British and the French—believed that they were doing good; they thought they had a civilizing mission. Throughout European history, expansion was generally popular with the majority of the people, so long as it was going well and did not involve too onerous a tax burden. Adventures beyond the boundaries of the homeland were a way for rulers to give their subjects what Machiavelli called “great expectation of themselves.” Interstellar empires may depend on means far more effective than any we now think feasible. Even a very advanced technological species would face an apparent fundamental limitation on exerting physical influence: the light speed limit. Whether civilizations thousands or millions of years more advanced than our own can overcome this barrier is simply unknown. Interstellar Empires Do Not Exist