Again, I am not sure on Roman religion stance here ( I mean with the killing of unfaithful wife).]
Totally within his purview - this is what Niobe has feared all along after all, that he would kill not only her but Lucius as well (remember when Vorena said they should just explain everything to her father?) Indeed, people would be surprised and somewhat dismissive of him, I think, for NOT killing his unfaithful wife (and her lover.) This is why Pullo killed Evander quietly - because I think he knew Vorenus would feel compelled to kill Niobe and he knew from Vorenus's own words that "I'd rather die than leave her." So in his own way, I think he felt he was making things work out for Niobe and Vorenus, because not-knowing meant that Vorenus didn't have to act.
(What has always puzzled me, though, is the UTTER silence of all of Niobe's neighbors regarding her unfaithfulness - I felt like it was a little incredible that none of the gossipy ladies would ever drop a single hint about Lucius's parentage. Especially after Niobe got so hoity-toity with them after Vorenus became a magistrate, I felt sure one of them would burst out with something. Or blackmail her! :P)
I do feel like Vorenus is telling the truth to Pullo - he WAS going kill Niobe. And possibly the boy as well - but I think this is why Niobe killed herself - thinking that there is nothing she can say that will sway Vorenus not to kill HER but perhaps she can stop him frmo killing her son.
Thankfully, both his grief for Niobe and Pullo's lovely way of reminding him that "honor" is less important than his daughters' happiness and his own grief for Niobe ("honor" caused her death too!) really changed his feelings for little Lucius. Instead of all the anger he feels towards the little boy right after Niobe's death, he only sees that this is Niobe's son and remembers how much he loved Niobe and how terribly sad he is that she's dead and he accepts the boy as his own (and that's one of the most moving moments in this series, IMO!)
she is sure to blame him
Well, it's not JUST that she thinks he killed her mother (regardless of whether he was actually going to do it or not), it's also that he cursed the children and essentially wandered off, leaving them to the mercy of Erastes Fulmen - and the elder Vorena ends up a slave, and raped in a brothel (for all I know, she was even a virgin before that, since the story about her and that boy was a lie to hide Lucius's parentage.) This is an awful and perhaps irrevocably traumatic thing for her, and although WE know how much Vorenus regrets this and how he went crazy from grief and guilt and WE know that he would do ANYTHING to take this back, still, he cannot. And Vorena has not seen her father crazed with grief for her fate, either.
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Date: 2007-02-07 04:40 pm (UTC)Totally within his purview - this is what Niobe has feared all along after all, that he would kill not only her but Lucius as well (remember when Vorena said they should just explain everything to her father?) Indeed, people would be surprised and somewhat dismissive of him, I think, for NOT killing his unfaithful wife (and her lover.) This is why Pullo killed Evander quietly - because I think he knew Vorenus would feel compelled to kill Niobe and he knew from Vorenus's own words that "I'd rather die than leave her." So in his own way, I think he felt he was making things work out for Niobe and Vorenus, because not-knowing meant that Vorenus didn't have to act.
(What has always puzzled me, though, is the UTTER silence of all of Niobe's neighbors regarding her unfaithfulness - I felt like it was a little incredible that none of the gossipy ladies would ever drop a single hint about Lucius's parentage. Especially after Niobe got so hoity-toity with them after Vorenus became a magistrate, I felt sure one of them would burst out with something. Or blackmail her! :P)
I do feel like Vorenus is telling the truth to Pullo - he WAS going kill Niobe. And possibly the boy as well - but I think this is why Niobe killed herself - thinking that there is nothing she can say that will sway Vorenus not to kill HER but perhaps she can stop him frmo killing her son.
Thankfully, both his grief for Niobe and Pullo's lovely way of reminding him that "honor" is less important than his daughters' happiness and his own grief for Niobe ("honor" caused her death too!) really changed his feelings for little Lucius. Instead of all the anger he feels towards the little boy right after Niobe's death, he only sees that this is Niobe's son and remembers how much he loved Niobe and how terribly sad he is that she's dead and he accepts the boy as his own (and that's one of the most moving moments in this series, IMO!)
she is sure to blame him
Well, it's not JUST that she thinks he killed her mother (regardless of whether he was actually going to do it or not), it's also that he cursed the children and essentially wandered off, leaving them to the mercy of Erastes Fulmen - and the elder Vorena ends up a slave, and raped in a brothel (for all I know, she was even a virgin before that, since the story about her and that boy was a lie to hide Lucius's parentage.) This is an awful and perhaps irrevocably traumatic thing for her, and although WE know how much Vorenus regrets this and how he went crazy from grief and guilt and WE know that he would do ANYTHING to take this back, still, he cannot. And Vorena has not seen her father crazed with grief for her fate, either.