Primus\u00a0grated Julia with a chaste kiss on the cheek. \u201cOnly one little slave and a box of jewels?\u201d he said. \u201cIt was bad, wasn\u2019t it? I\u2019ve found Marcus intolerant about certain things. He\u2019s never allowed me to bring Prometheus to one of his feasts. I suppose he tried to stop you from moving in with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDear Julia. Your brother isn\u2019t the man he appears to be. Beneath that epicurean mask he wears beats the heart of a traditionalist.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
There is more truth packed into that statement than\u00a0the last three chapters. Rivers may want\u00a0her evangelical readers to despise Primus\u2014and you may, too, in a moment\u2014but that hasn\u2019t stopped her from allowing him to speak truth.<\/p>\n
Just then, a young man of no more than fourteen entered the room. \u201cAh,\u201d Primus said, holding out his hand. The boy took it and allowed himself to be pulled forward and presented to Julia.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my beloved Prometheus,\u201d Primus said, watching proudly as the boy bowed respectfully to Julia. \u201cI\u2019ll be with you shortly,\u201d he said, smiling at the boy, who bowed again and left.<\/p>\n
Julia felt an unpleasant sensation curling in the pit of her stomach.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This is one of those moments where the whole story could have gone in a different direction. We\u2019re to believe, I think, that Julia\u2019s revulsion is due to the whole gay<\/em> thing. But what if instead she looked at Prometheus and saw herself? After all, she was the same age he is when she was given in marriage to Claudius. What if she left Primus at this point, recognizing that Prometheus was a child, taken without a choice, like she was?<\/p>\nIt\u2019s possible, of course, that Rivers means the revulsion to be due to Prometheus\u2019 age, and that we\u2019re to despise Primus not for being gay but for being a pedophile. I don\u2019t think so, though, for two reasons. First, at several points earlier in the book we have seen the Valerians express revulsion at homosexual relationships between adults. Second, Prometheus is the same age Julia was when she was given in marriage, and Rivers portrayed her parents as perhaps misguided in thinking the marriage would suit her, but pinned the blame for it not working out on Julia.<\/p>\n
It is wrong for Primus to have a child as a catamite. It was wrong for Claudius to have a child as a wife. But the moral compasses of the characters in this book are\u00a0somewhat askew. It is wrong for Primus to be gay, they read. It was wrong for Julia to not try to be a better wife to Claudius.<\/p>\n
Later in this book, Hadassah \u201cpoisons\u201d Prometheus against Primus. We do not learn what she tells him, only that she was sitting with him and talking to him, and that he later becomes agitated and tense whenever Hadassah enters the room. My read is that Hadassah tells him that homosexuality is wrong, that what he is doing is sinful. After all, if\u00a0the issue were his age\u2014If Hadassah were telling him that it was wrong for Primus to prey on him\u2014one imagines that she would have said the same to Julia when she was his age and given in marriage, and she did not.<\/p>\n
But what if this book had taken a different direction entirely? What if Julia<\/em> had gotten to Prometheus, not with a message with sin but with a message about his own worth, as told from her experience with Claudius as a child herself?<\/p>\nOf course, Prometheus is not just a child, he is also a slave, and that sets him apart from Julia. After all, Julia\u2019s emphasis on securing her own freedom rides on the comparison she has drawn between her state in her father\u2019s household, and slavery. She has determined that she will be no one\u2019s<\/em> slave, but this is a personal stance and not a condemnation of slavery writ large.<\/p>\nHaving met Prometheus, Julia heads\u00a0to her new quarters in Primus\u2019 villa. She declares them too small, but no mind; she will buy a bigger villa once she has control of her money. Hadassah speaks up, begging Julia to reconsider.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy lady, you\u2019re in love with Atretes.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This would be more convincing\u00a0if we\u2019d been given a believable love story. Instead, the only times we\u2019ve seen the two together, Atretes has been angry or violent, and Julia scared and upset.<\/p>\n
Julia sends Hadassah to fetch Atretes to her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want you to find Atretes and tell him I\u2019ve arranged for a permanent residence where we may be together as often as we want. Don\u2019t tell him anything about Primus. Do you hear me? He might not understand. Not yet. He\u2019s still very uncivilized. It\u2019s best if I explain everything when I see him. Just tell him he must<\/em> come to me. I need him.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\nAfter some consideration of whether she needs to be sending Sertes jewelry in order to bring Atretes\u00a0to her\u2014she determines that she does not\u2014she reiterates:<\/p>\n
\u201cDeliver the message exactly as I\u2019ve given it to you. Nothing about Primus. Do you understand? I\u2019ll tell Atretes about Primus later.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Hadassah turned to do her mistress\u2019s bidding, she wondered how Julia, who had spent so much time with Atretes, could not know the man at all.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And here we have a problem\u2014Hadassah\u2019s extremely literal moral compass refuses to temper or adjust the message Julia gave her to smooth some of its rough edges, as it might appear to Atretes. Instead, Hadassah delivers it exactly as Julia told her, knowing full well how Atretes would respond to Julia\u2019s\u00a0use of the word \u201cmust,\u201d making her message a command rather than a request.<\/p>\n
\u201cMust?\u201d<\/em> he said coldly. \u201cTell your lady it will not be as before. I<\/em> will send for her<\/em> when I<\/em> am ready.\u201d He turned away and headed back to the barracks.<\/p>\n\u201cAtretes,\u201d Hadassah said, hastening after him. \u201cPlease. Don\u2019t turn from her now.\u201d<\/p>\n
He glared down at her. \u201cRemind your lady that I\u2019m no longer a slave to be summoned at her whim and for her pleasure.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Swell.<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cSpeak with her gently, Atretes, and she will do whatever you ask.\u201d Hadassah knew this was the truth. A gentle, loving word from Atretes, and Julia would even turn away from the terrible path she was now following.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The priorities here are stunning. Remaining in a common law marriage to a gay man who allows her to make her own choices and decisions is a \u201cterrible path,\u201d but marrying\u00a0who has already displayed both jealousy and violence toward Julia is totally preferable. (As much as I\u2019m extremely unhappy that Primus has a child as a catamite, it is more than clear\u00a0that that Prometheus\u2019 age is not Hadassah\u2019s objection to Primus\u2019 actions.)<\/p>\n
Atretes responds\u00a0with this:<\/p>\n
\u201cTell your mistress I\u2019ll send for her when I have a house and can take her into it as my wife.\u201d So saying, he strode away.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
As it turns out, Atretes does not know Julia any better than she knows him. And as obsessed as she is with Atretes, it\u2019s crystal clear that Julia has\u00a0dodged a bullet in taking steps to make sure that she will not become his wife.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is one of those moments where the whole story could have gone in a different direction. We’re to believe, I think, that Julia’s revulsion is due to the whole gay thing. But what if instead she looked at Prometheus and saw herself? After all, she was the same age he is when she was given in marriage to Claudius. What if she left Primus at this point, recognizing that Prometheus was a child, taken without a choice, like she was? <\/p>\n
Click through to read more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":34878,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[630],"class_list":["post-34580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-voice-in-the-wind"],"yoast_head":"\n
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