Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 322 Causing Trouble
Although Greek mythology is indeed not serious, to the point that the god of desire was born together with heaven, earth and underworld (that is, Eros), but as a relatively recognized belief, they were still quite pious and serious when offering sacrifices to the gods.

Some records in "Theogony" are as follows, which is a relatively authoritative document reflecting the Greek people's beliefs.

Because of the Muses, because of Apollo the Archer,
Singers and harpists were born on earth,

Because of Zeus, there is a king on earth.

Daughters of Zeus, please give me a beautiful song,
Praise the holy race of the Eternals,
They are the children of the earth and the starry sky,

They are the children of the night Nyx and the offspring of the salt sea Pontus!

Including the records in Hesiod's other works, we can also see these words:
So it is the will of great Zeus

Zeus's plans never fail
Zeus' will cannot be deceived or escaped.
This is the will of Zeus, the cloud-gathering god.
The will of great Zeus was fulfilled.
All at the will of great Zeus

Zeus the Thunderer wishes this.

If you are willing to look, you can find it in more than a dozen places, and these are just his surviving works.

Hesiod lived nearly a thousand years ago, and at that time he emphasized the image and political status of Zeus, the father of gods. This was an attempt to unify thoughts. We can see similar story structures in the island countries on the other side of the Eurasian plate. We can only say that polytheism does sometimes have similar ideas.

All in all, the current Zeus or Greek polytheism is actually quite serious in terms of politics, at least they are not full of XX. Although the gods have done many dirty things, in the eyes and hearts of mortals on earth, gods are still gods, and they are worshipped with fear and trepidation.

Under this premise, Ovid published a very controversial book, the famous "Metamorphoses", which unsurprisingly caused an uproar.

Ovid and his "Metamorphoses" have been introduced in the previous article. In short, a considerable number of abstract stories in modern Greek mythology were compiled by him. The gods actually refer to Roman nobles, whose morals are extremely despicable. Compared with the gods, mortals who live a peaceful life are considered sages with noble morals.

When this book came out, the most dissatisfied people were definitely the believers of the Greek gods. The next most dissatisfied were the Roman nobles who realized that Ovid was making a veiled criticism. In Rome, both of them were very powerful and were considered the elite or even the ruling class. This kind of book probably made them feel uncomfortable, and they were unhappy no matter how they read it.

The matter became so serious that even the emperor had to take time out to deal with it. To be fair, Vespa didn't care about these things at all, but the overwhelming public opinion forced him to pretend that he cared a lot and said that he would deal with Ovid's matter seriously.

Ovid complained in the letter that someone in the royal family was very dissatisfied with him. That person was Domitia, who was a devout believer in Athena and Minerva and also belonged to the aristocratic class. She was very angry about this matter and complained to Tia and Vespa several times. Tia, who was now the consul, was also a traditional and serious person. She had never liked Ovid, a romantic and talented man. In addition, her sister also supported her and was inclined to give Ovid a heavy sentence this time.

Vespa was the one who made the final decision, but the opinions of some people in the Senate could not be ignored. In addition, his two daughters both supported a heavy sentence. He didn't know Ovid at all, so this man had no weight in his heart. Vespa certainly would not go against these people, and in the end he would definitely choose to follow the crowd and impose a heavy sentence as a punishment.

Judging from the situation in the letter, as the verdict was about to come out, Ovid realized that things were going badly and chose to ask Orville for help. After all, Orville was probably the only one who could save him now.

Orville read the letter and shook his head repeatedly - it was not because he was afraid of offending people, but mainly because what Ovid did was really suicidal. The blasphemy was indeed a big deal, and the key was that it was done so thoroughly.

To be fair, if Orwell really believed in the goddess Minerva like his family, and then saw Ovid write that she was jealous of the weavers, accused them of blasphemy, turned the weavers' entire family into spiders, and did many other abstract things, he would have been angry too, and it would have been good enough if he didn't sentence her to exile on an island in the Indian Ocean.

It seems that the world line correction force is still quite strong. If nothing unexpected happens, Ovid should not be sentenced to death, but exile. In this situation, it is impossible to sentence him to spend his twilight years on vacation on a Mediterranean island. If the sentence is too severe, he will be exiled to the Kingdom of Bosphorus (Crimean Peninsula), one of the most remote and backward places known to the Romans.

Although places like Britain are backward, they still have several legions stationed there. The Romans are plotting their strategic location and mineral resources there, and will build colonial cities and road networks there. The Kingdom of Bosphorus is truly a lawless area, and it would not be surprising if it were completely conquered by the barbarians coming from the south. The locals would not react to this, as this was originally a place that was conquered upon hearing the news, and the Romans had no expectations, protection, or construction for it.

According to historical circumstances, Ovid would have stayed here for his entire life. He wrote several letters of request, hoping to be able to return to his hometown, but all his responses fell on deaf ears. In the end, he died in depression on the edge of civilization, which was the most terrible way for such a romantic and elegant man to die.

After all, people like them are not so afraid of death. They are just afraid that their death is not ceremonial enough and not romantic enough. This kind of unknown death is scary to them. That's why Ovid wrote a long letter to Orwell to plead for mercy, saying nice words to show his submission and promising that he would not make the same mistake again. He seemed really scared.

Orville was powerless to do anything about this. He couldn't offend half of the senators and his own family members for the sake of a poet. He just wrote a letter to the other party asking him to hold on for a few more years. He would find a chance to pardon him when the storm had passed and bring him to a more normal place.

This is a good thing. It allows the other party to calm down and use his brain. Not everything can be written carelessly.

Having said that, Orwell still gave orders to his secretary, asking his people in Rome to preserve "Metamorphoses" to prevent any accidents from losing this treasure. It is not the book itself, but the person. The artistic value of the book is still very high. If it is lost, it will be a loss to human civilization.

After reading the letter and replying to it, before Orville had time to catch his breath, Agricola handed him another letter that looked even more gorgeous. This letter was sent by Domitia.

(End of this chapter)