The Villain of Ancient Greece

Several days later, on the isolated island.

The starry river hung in the sky, the night was like water. Themis leaned back in her chair, flipping through the dozens of sheepskin scrolls titled ”Aesop’s Fables Collection.”

The stories inside were short and concise, the metaphors apt, the imagery vivid, and the language witty and humorous. When read seriously, each one contained philosophy. Different people of different ages and different states of mind would gain different insights from them.

Soon Themis finished the first dozen or so fables. Her gaze was then drawn to one of the interesting anecdotes.

The general content was: a father killed his daughter for a sacrifice. The mother, harboring a grudge, colluded with her lover to kill the father. The son, seeking revenge, then killed the mother.

The arbitration result was that the son should be acquitted.

Such a righteous revenge should be forgiven.

”Is this kind of judgment too absurd?”

After pondering for a moment, Themis raised her head and looked at the figure beside her, frowning and shaking her head.

As the author, Lorne thoughtfully poured the Justice Goddess a cup of iced honey water and smiled as he explained.

”In the son’s eyes, the mother was simply the murderer who killed his father, an enemy. Setting aside the concept of ’mother,’ isn’t avenging his father a righteous act?”

Themis thought briefly and gave a serious rebuttal.

”If the son is innocent, then what fault does the mother who avenged her daughter have?

There is no need to whitewash the act of killing one’s own kin. If the sins of both sides cancel each other out, he simply killed an innocent woman.”

Lorne paused for a moment, thought, and countered by quoting the story.

”According to the judge, the father is the true sower, the mother only a vessel for conception, so the father is more important than the mother.

The son’s righteous act of avenging his father is nobler than the mother’s act of venting personal resentment, and thus deserves forgiveness.”

The Justice Goddess’s fingertips slid across the sheepskin scroll, her expression calm and solemn.

”Children are raised with the father providing the seed and the mother providing the womb.

The bloodline in these descendants is jointly nurtured by both.

The maternal instinct to breed offspring and protect children is the foundation of the world’s birth. Shouldn’t the mother’s act of seeking justice for her daughter be even nobler?”

Then Themis seemed to think of something, and the corners of her lips curved slightly.

”Moreover, if we judge from the justice of parental status... a child can live without a father, but cannot live without a mother.

Even the sky father Uranus was bred by the earth mother Gaia.

Doesn’t that mean the mother created the father? Isn’t the mother’s revenge for her daughter even more justified?”

After listening to this theory, Lorne could not help but feel convinced and a subtle glint flashed deep in his eyes.

In fact, this case anecdote was taken from the drama ”Oresteia,” adapted by the ancient Greek writer Aeschylus from mythological stories.

In the future famous Trojan War, the army led by the Greek commander King Agamemnon encountered storms.

To calm the winds brought by the sea god, this father sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to Poseidon (originally Artemis, but of course, the sea god took the blame).

Agamemnon’s wife, Clytemnestra, to avenge her daughter, committed adultery and, ten years later, when Agamemnon returned in triumph, she assassinated him at home, and her lover seized power.

Agamemnon’s youngest son, Orestes, was only twelve at the time.

He fled to another land and swore to avenge his father when he grew up. Years later,

Orestes indeed returned home and, together with his sister Electra, killed his mother and her lover.

Having avenged his father but fallen into the grave crime of matricide, the man went mad and was relentlessly hounded by the three Furies and could find no peace, forced to wander everywhere.

In the end, Apollo guided him to Athens to seek a fair judgment from the goddess of wisdom, Athena.

The sun god who defended Orestes claimed that the father was the true sower; a person could have a father but no mother, just as Athena was born from Zeus’s head.

In the end, Athena, forced to take a side, cast the decisive vote.

The matricidal Orestes was declared innocent and returned to Mycenae to ascend the throne.

If this Goddess of Justice had also participated and thrown the rebuttal that the earth mother Gaia single-handedly created the sky father Uranus into Apollo’s face, the sun god’s expression would surely have been quite wonderful.

After all, the primordial sky father was created by the mother.

A mother seeking revenge for her daughter and killing the heartless father, shouldn’t that be even more worthy of advocacy?

Don’t forget that the sky father was castrated by his son, Cronus, at Gaia’s behest.

If Apollo dared to claim again that the father’s status was higher than the mother’s and that avenging the father was more righteous, he would be slapping the face of that Greek grandmother.

Of course, Lorne could also use this theory for himself.

After all, there was a blood feud of matricide between him and Zeus.

Hm...so all in all.

If the goddess Themis, who upheld ”justice,” believed that the mother’s status was higher than the father’s, then avenging the mother and taking down that old thing on Olympus, wasn’t that also perfectly justified?

Thinking of this, Lorne narrowed his eyes and asked with ill intent.

”So in your view, the son who killed his mother to avenge his father should be sentenced to death?”

The Justice Goddess Themis still shook her head.

After pondering for a moment, she gave her reply.

”If I were to judge, I would choose exile rather than the death penalty.”

”Oh? Why? This is the grave crime of matricide.”

A trace of surprise appeared in Lorne’s eyes as he curiously asked for the reason.

Themis’s white, slender fingers gently stroked the sheepskin scroll, radiating a serene temperament as she pursed her lips and pondered.

”The mother avenging her daughter was originally understandable.

However, she placed her lover on the throne. The prince, who was only twelve at the time, would naturally become a thorn in the rebels’ eyes. The reason for avenging the father indeed does not hold water.

But when one’s own life safety is threatened, the excessive actions taken in forced self-defense should receive the forgiveness and understanding of justice.”

The Justice Goddess paused, her brows lightly furrowed, her tone gentle and calm.

”However, that prince was threatened in his childhood, ultimately escaped safely, and only came for revenge as an adult, killing both his mother and her lover.

This somewhat exceeded the time limit and scope of self-defense.

So, although emotionally sympathetic, he cannot be completely exonerated by law.

But before his trial, he was cursed and hounded by the Furies and had already been mad for several years.

Therefore, the sentence should be appropriately reduced.

Considering all the above factors, stripping him of everything except the most precious right to the throne and exiling him forever is the most appropriate punishment I can think of.”

After the trial, Themis felt refreshed and satisfied.

However, the quiet gaze from across the table made the Justice Goddess pause and she subconsciously glanced at the sheepskin scroll in her hand a few more times.

”What’s wrong? Did I judge incorrectly?”

Lorne came back to his senses and shook his head like a rattlesnake, sincerely exclaiming.

”No, no! Correct! Absolutely correct! Your understanding and intuition regarding legal arbitration are beyond my imagination!”

These praises were genuine, without a single drop of water.

Because in the ancient Greek divine generations, relying solely on her own feelings and experience, this Justice Goddess had introduced concepts such as [legitimate defense] and [excessive defense] into cases.

Moreover, the logic of her judgment was self-consistent, and the sentencing result was convincing.

Even in future societies with relatively complete judicial systems, few could achieve this level.

Furthermore, classifying the matricide as excessive defense, combined with the powerful weapon of a history of mental illness...

That Mycenaean prince would at most lose his political rights for life, plus life imprisonment.

He might even be granted medical parole, stay in a psychiatric hospital, have a private room, and be isolated from the world.

Wasn’t that equivalent to exile and revocation of inheritance rights?

In the barbaric divine generations, one could actually see a judgment similar to that of a modern court.

What else was there to say?

Even though the result did not fully match his malicious guiding intent, Lorne was already madly giving Themis a string of ”66666” in his heart.

By the way, he inevitably deeply despised the other Justice Goddess, Astraea, standing guard outside the door.

Astraea had also read the same case, but the punishment she gave was: the prince could be released, but only after first beating Poseidon up.

Because he was the real culprit.

Listen to what others say...

Well, that did indeed fit Astraea’s usual style.

What could Lorne say?

He could only silently respect it and offer his blessings in his heart.

”Public Law One: Law is a gift from the gods, universal and applicable.

No special laws may be made for the benefit of any individual.”

”Public Law Two: No sentient being may be executed by private punishment without a trial.”

”Public Law Three: Under the witness of the mother goddess Gaia, men and women form a family relationship under law through marriage.

Both parties must not harm each other without cause. They should respect and support each other.

Glory and hardship, property and poverty, responsibility and duty shall be shared by both...”

The content on the last page of the sheepskin paper came to an abrupt stop and Themis suddenly felt as if a hundred claws were scratching her heart as she jerked her head up and asked urgently.

”What comes after?”

”It’s gone...”

Lorne spread his hands and answered honestly.

Themis could not help but feel anxious and she stared straight at the young god before her.

”Why didn’t you write it?”

”Uh, this is a fable collection.

The last page was accidentally slipped in...”

Lorne blinked, looking innocent.

Themis realized her loss of composure.

Her breathing hitched, and she reluctantly put down the sheepskin scroll in her hand, sighing helplessly.

”Merely a few fables are nothing more than after-dinner entertainment.

Even a hundred or a thousand would not, in my view, be as valuable as these last few sentences...”

Lorne nodded and answered candidly.

”Mm, I think so too. The deeper and longer my contemplation of the two things, the more the wonder and awe they awaken in my soul grows day by day. That is the starry sky above my head and the moral law within my heart.”

Hearing this, Themis could not help but look at the young god beside her in surprise and her face showed thick admiration.

”In the divine generations that pursue power, there is actually someone who holds the law in reverence. How rare...”

”Of course. He is the former secretary of Crete, the heir to the teachings of King Minos, the foremost of the three judges of the underworld.

His accomplishments in jurisprudence

are praised endlessly even by King Minos himself.”

Accompanied by a lazy voice,

Hecate walked out from the inner hall, her smile carrying a trace of subtlety.

Thetis, who had only just become able to get out of bed and walk, followed behind her, carrying honey water and pastries, preparing to publicly express her gratitude to Themis.

Seeing the gradually healthier color returning to the ocean goddess’s face, Lorne’s heart sank.

There was not much time left to stay here.

He had to hurry!

”You flatter me. It is all thanks to King Minos’s excellent teaching.”

Lorne first smiled at Hecate, who had just given him heavy praise, then turned to Themis with a regretful and troubled expression. ”In fact, to repay that lord’s kindness, I originally wanted to complete a written code of laws so that this chaotic world would have laws to follow and justice could be upheld...”

”A written code of laws?”

Themis’s eyes lit up as if she had grasped something crucial, and stared straight at the young god.

Under the Justice Goddess’s gaze, Lorne gave an embarrassed smile and casually explained.

”Mm. Previously, the various city-states had no written laws, only traditional customs.

The nobles who carried divine blood used the power in their hands to interpret and explain the law arbitrarily, distorting it at will.

This was not fair.

So I wanted to take the more practical laws I had seen from experience and engrave them in written form on stone walls or bronze tablets, to be publicly announced to the people.

That way, every judgment would have a traceable basis. It would no longer depend entirely on the personal likes and dislikes of judges or nobles, preventing countless wrongful convictions and effectively curbing favoritism and perversion of the law.”

”Excellent idea!”

Themis once again marveled at the young god’s novel thinking, her words full of praise.

However, Lorne immediately showed a troubled expression again.

”Only, my own experience and ability are still lacking, and I have seen too few precedents.

Trying to complete an entire code of laws by myself is truly beyond my reach...”

Then he paused, picked up the last sheepskin paper, pointed at the third clause, and said embarrassedly.

”To be honest, the content regarding marriage law here was still thanks to your wisdom...”

Themis was silent for a moment, then looked quietly at the young god before her, as a trace of scrutiny appeared in her eyes, and her attitude cooled a little.

”So you want me to help you?”

As expected, this first-generation Justice Goddess was very sharp and not as easy to fool as her disciple.

However, just like the time in the Memory Temple, he was still using an open and upright plan.

He was not afraid she would not take the bait.

Facing Themis’s scrutiny, Lorne nodded frankly.

”To be honest, although Crete was destroyed, the civilization of the Minoans did not end.

Some of them migrated to Athens and established the [Academy of Athens] there.

These survivors have always hoped to pass on the legal civilization of Minos, but unfortunately, the things related to jurisprudence are too fragmented. Even if I wanted to help, I was powerless.

So recently, I have been traveling through the Greek city-states, hoping to find like-minded partners to jointly complete a code of laws with universal significance and practice justice.

If you could participate, I believe this code would surely bring more fairness and justice to the world!”

However, Themis shook her head, her expression dim.

”What use is making it?

A law without binding force cannot truly be practiced. In the end, it would only be empty words on paper.”

With that, the Justice Goddess put down the sheepskin scroll in her hand, rose somewhat listlessly, and walked silently into the room without another word.

’It seems she’s really disappointed, but ..’

Looking at that lonely back and at the sheepskin paper on the table from which the page with the three legal clauses had been separately taken, Lorne’s eyes flickered quietly.

’Disappointed is disappointed, but as long as her heart was not dead, that was enough.’

(End of this chapter)