The Tale of Roman General and the Greek princess
Once a renowned Roman general came across Greek lady in the plains of Peloponnesus, “who is that woman standing over there?” He asked his guards, I think she is from Macedon, she is a Greek lady,” one of the bodyguards said, “And what is she doing here alone, all by herself?” Inquired the general further, “let’s go and find out anyway,” added the general, they approached the woman, kindly greeted her, then proceeded with their interrogation, “what in the world could bring such an energetic young woman out to these treacherous plains, are you lost?”
“No,” she replied, “Early this morning I sent out my servants to get me some medicinal herbs, I urgently needed to use them to treat my aging father, it’s now late in the evening, I haven’t heard from them since, I hope they have not been kidnapped by mercenaries, I really care for them,” she later went on to describe how they looked like and what they were wearing that morning. The general then split his guards into two groups one was sent out to search for the two servants while the other accompanied the general while they were being led back into Pylos.
As they walked along the path, the general noticed something he had never seen back in his small home village, the lady wore a long beautiful silk garment adorned partly with golden stripes, it also had a high slit that constantly revealed her thighs as she walked, then one of the guards noticed that the general could not get his eyes off the woman’s legs, he went over close to him, murmured to his ears,” I told you master, Greek women are very attractive,” the general shunned him off and acted as if he never heard anything. They went on with their journey and entered the city gates, and were received by the steward as the king was away on his regular expeditions, they were given a comfy resting place, later that night, the other guards came in with good news that the missing servants had been found, they had lost their way back into the city gates, a great misfortune.
The following morning, the general walked through the city with the curious eyes of an adventurer, he greeted back everyone that passed him greetings, and answered every curious question thrown at him, he also noticed that every other woman in the city wore a high slit garment like the first one they met, he wondered greatly about the nature of this strange imperial city, as he waved every citizen goodbye heading his way back home.
Several months later, he returned to the same city to find a bride, everyone thought he was going to pick the pretty young woman who had brought him into the city, in contradiction and a great surprise to the city dwellers, he went ahead and picked the daughter of a slave, she was the only one in the entire city who did not have neither shining linen garments nor a high slit through her dress, when the people tried to stop him saying she was nothing more than a worthless slave, and forbidding him from touching the barbarian filth, he replied this way, “I have been a citizen of Rome since the day I was a child, I and my other combatants have served in the army for more than two decades, yet the Republic treats us as slaves, simply because of where we were born, If you will not let me marry her because she is a slave, please know that I too am a slave in a general’s cloak.” He finished these words and went on with his marriage proceedings, “you now rule the Ionian and Aegean Seas, a time will come when the Republic will rob you of all your slaves,” he said to them.
When the general went back home, he had thought unto himself, “this woman has a beauty and attraction undeniable before the eyes of any man,” then he thought again, “I am not likely the only one who has noticed this, where she came from aren’t there men also? They probably have showered her with tons of praises, she is already aware of her physical beauty and may demand every man around her to treat her like a queen, she might demand that I should give her special care and attention because of that, what if she is stepping on the backs of other women whom she thinks don’t match her elegance, treating them like sac clothes?” the general had thought long and hard about this, before making his mind that he should go for the slave’s daughter even though he knew there would be repercussions.
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