In the introduction to Anderson's most famous work he descriebes three paratoxes which have perplexed those who work in the area of nations and nationalism for a long time. The first he notes is "The objective modernity of nations to the historians' eye vs. their subjective antiquity in the eyes of nationalists."

Now, of course the Nation-State is a modern beast, but what is he refering to when he says the different entity, the just-nation, is modern in the eyes of historians and ancient in the eyes of nationalists?
The Declaration of Arbroath seems to make reference to a Scottish Nation ^{distinct from the Gaelic race shared with Ireland, as is refered to in Bruce's letter, iirc, 5 years prior}.
I am less well read in the history of Japan, but can we not see a Nation in japan long before the modernist "state" emerges? Similar in parts of china?

Any insights here would be useful, because whilst I am broadly persuaded by Anderson's argument, this has long confused me. :)