Or Niobe tragically misread the situation :P In any case, at least her dying wish was finally fulfilled, and Vorenus realized that the boy is blameless.
I know it was their MOTHER, but basically her killing by Vorenus could not be seen upon as some crime from their POV, right?
No, but remember that Vorena had faith that Vorenus would forgive them, and her mother told her that he would kill them all - and now she feels that her mother was right. Even if he was justified, I'm sure she can feel resentful (plus, he hit her just before that) - if he had not cursed them, Erastes wouldn't have taken them (or some such logic.) She can still hate him for cursing them while knowing he was in his rights to do so (a Roman father was pretty much all-powerful - if, for example, Niobe had presented baby Lucius to Vorenus and he had had doubts about the paternity, he could have tossed the kid out to die on a garbage heap and been within his rights as the paterfamilias, but Niobe would still - had she not been dead - probably been quite resentful of that act.)
And even cursing could have been viewed as something that is sort of applicable to the situation.
But again, just because Vorenus was within his rights to curse his children, doesn't mean HE doesn't regret doing it or THEY don't resent that he did it - nor does it negate the psychological power for him and for his children of his having done that.
If the curse is just words - and the characters believe it too - then Vorenus has nothing to feel guilty for, really. He is drowning in guilt because of the children - this is what he keeps coming back to with Pullo, saying that he should not have "done that" (i.e. cursed the children.) And because they "died", he feels he can never revoke the curse. He is always talking about how he caused the death of his children, and I think he is not talking about how he provoked Erastes Fulmen's anger against him that Erastes took out against the defenseless children - but of his own words of which Erastes was an instrument of fulfilment.
I think it is not possible to overestimate the meaning of words (how else does Antony get him on his feet? By calling on an oath - one that Vorenus swore under the standards of the Thirteenth - which is also "just" words. But Vorenus believes those words.)
no subject
Date: 2007-02-08 03:01 pm (UTC)I know it was their MOTHER, but basically her killing by Vorenus could not be seen upon as some crime from their POV, right?
No, but remember that Vorena had faith that Vorenus would forgive them, and her mother told her that he would kill them all - and now she feels that her mother was right. Even if he was justified, I'm sure she can feel resentful (plus, he hit her just before that) - if he had not cursed them, Erastes wouldn't have taken them (or some such logic.) She can still hate him for cursing them while knowing he was in his rights to do so (a Roman father was pretty much all-powerful - if, for example, Niobe had presented baby Lucius to Vorenus and he had had doubts about the paternity, he could have tossed the kid out to die on a garbage heap and been within his rights as the paterfamilias, but Niobe would still - had she not been dead - probably been quite resentful of that act.)
And even cursing could have been viewed as something that is sort of applicable to the situation.
But again, just because Vorenus was within his rights to curse his children, doesn't mean HE doesn't regret doing it or THEY don't resent that he did it - nor does it negate the psychological power for him and for his children of his having done that.
If the curse is just words - and the characters believe it too - then Vorenus has nothing to feel guilty for, really. He is drowning in guilt because of the children - this is what he keeps coming back to with Pullo, saying that he should not have "done that" (i.e. cursed the children.) And because they "died", he feels he can never revoke the curse. He is always talking about how he caused the death of his children, and I think he is not talking about how he provoked Erastes Fulmen's anger against him that Erastes took out against the defenseless children - but of his own words of which Erastes was an instrument of fulfilment.
I think it is not possible to overestimate the meaning of words (how else does Antony get him on his feet? By calling on an oath - one that Vorenus swore under the standards of the Thirteenth - which is also "just" words. But Vorenus believes those words.)