Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2003 21:52:30 -0700
From: maa32 
Subject: (urth) Arete questions

Andrew Bollen brought up some very good questions.  
Here are a few SPECULATIVE answers:

Why does Pausanius have to lose?  It all goes back to the powers at the Trojan 
War.  The Achaens, led by Achilles, have been displaced by Pausanius' people.  
Latro is the agent of Achilles revenge - he is the one who gets close to 
Pausanius to destroy the Dorian leader.  When Odysseus helps Latro, he is very 
careful to say "For the wrath of Achilles!" when he rips out a dude's throat.  
Latro represents a new order to replace the Doric greeks, and as such he is 
loyal to that order no matter how he serves the older paths (like the gods 
ultimately serve the will of God)

Why does Aphrodite get involved with Latro and bring up the Golden Apple?
The apple invokes Achilles and the Trojan War again, and I'm pretty sure that 
Latro is no ordinary mortal - he is her lover already, but the other gods have 
punished him by removing the memory of his pre-mortal divinity.

Why does the Great Mother like Latro at the end?
The answer to this is in the poem that Latro recites at the end of Arete: Fell 
Ares quits the war proud throng - Latro has learned the lesson of love and put 
aside the ways of war, and so all the goddesses love him anew, even though he 
still needs to go to his mortal home to realize how far removed he is from his 
divinity, before he can reclaim it.

I'm not saying that Latro isn't mortal - I'm saying he is a 
proto-theoanthropos who bridges the gap between mortal and god, and can't 
remember because he must know what it is to be truly human, without memory of 
divine arrogance, to change enough to bring about the Pax Roman which will 
hasten in the age of Christ - when the world is at peace.  War must cease for 
Christ to come into the world - but it takes warriors to forge that peace.  
Latro is one of those warriors.

Marc Aramini



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