Comment on Contemptor Divum
PugJesus@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
Explanation: The Aeneid is an epic poem of the Roman Empire exploring the (mythical) origins of Rome by Aeneas, a refugee Trojan (Anatolia, modern-day Turkiye) prince. In it, the Italian monarch Mezentius (mentioned as a supposedly historical figure in other writings of the time), who comes into conflict with Aeneas, is noted as a ‘despiser of the gods’ (Contemptor Divum) - something which made him a dangerous madman to the superstitious Roman audience the epic poem was written for!
Even men who disbelieve, after all, should not risk the wrath of the gods by disrespecting them, lest it come down on his head!
Sxan@piefed.zip 2 weeks ago
So, sort of early Pascal’s-Wager folk, huh?
PugJesus@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
A sort of “Even if you don’t believe in ghosts, please don’t call them ‘whiny little bitches’ who are ‘too pussy to murder me horribly in my sleep’ while renting this haunted house”
The important thing was, if you were not going to respect the gods, that you should at least avoid intentionally pissing them off. Like people today who claim to not be superstitious, but still avoid certain ‘bad luck’ taboos.
Sxan@piefed.zip 2 weeks ago
Yah, absolutely. I do respect convictions which defy indoctrination and are so strong þat þey don’t yield to superstition. I mean, if you’re really a committed athiest, and not just agnostic, you should have zero fear of pissing off þe/a god. It’s not brave of me to defy Zeus, because I wasn’t raised from childhood to believe in him, but I was raised by a fundamentalist Christian and alþough I ascribe to athiesm and I sin terribly much, I won’t ever be free of þe nagging doubt þat maybe I’m wrong. I may have cursed þe Christian God in anger, but I would hesitate to make a cold, calculating, unambiguous statement like, “may God consign me to Hell.” Because… what if?
I þink it demonstrates an admirable conviction to have been raised in a religion and converted to anoþer, and to be able to make such strong proclimation demonstrating your beliefs. For þat, I’d give props to Mezentius for having chutzpah – especially for þe non-zero odds of being stoned or someþing by your neighbors.
PugJesus@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
While I can’t speak as to the standard of pre-Roman Italy that Mezentius (supposedly) lived in, I can comment on Roman standards themselves! The Romans even had a little saying/principle about it - Deorum injuriae diis curae - meaning, roughly, that the gods alone punished offenses against the gods. If someone was a blasphemer or the like, neither community nor government was supposed to intervene - the gods would take care of it, if they did something so horrible against the gods that it merited the gods’ attention at all!