"Camillus is finally here!" After entering the city of Rome and resting for the night, the pressure of the history of his previous life had been exhausted, and at this moment he looked calm, and gave an order to Tolmid: "Inform the commanders of the legions to prepare for defense." With that, he continued to eat breakfast quietly.

Just after breakfast, another guard came to report: "Priest Caldias asks to see you." ”

Caldias...... Let him in. Davers touched his chin and said that he was interested in the priest of Hades, who had been strongly recommended by Plesinas to come to Rome with the army, because his experience was quite legendary.

According to Greek tradition, the priesthood of the temple was usually innate, either born into a family of priests or identified by a dying priest, and the rest of the population had no luxury of taking on this sacred profession. Of course, in the Kingdom of Dionia, the situation is different, because Davers wants to vigorously promote the development of the temple of Hades in the territory, so many attendants who are willing to serve the temple are selected among the common people, but in the end they want to become priests, and finally they must go through a sacred ceremony presided over by Davers himself to take effect, not only because Davers also serves as the high priest of the kingdom, but also because he is a descendant of Hades, given by him personally, naturally the priests of Hades have the spirituality to communicate with God.

Caldias is a native of Siritin, but he is not from a traditional Greek sacrificial family, but an ordinary citizen, but because he was favored by the temple of Hades, he decided to come to Turii to serve as a temple attendant, and then the slaughter of Silitin by the Syracuse made him double his study in the temple, and within a few years, because he was proficient in the sacred scriptures, good at communication, and won the trust of the believers, and was finally promoted to priesthood.

He then offered to go to Katanai to preside over the Temple of Hades. During his tenure, the number of Hades in Qanet increased dramatically, and even spread the Hades faith to Syracuse. Of course, he was also accused of 'using the money donated by his followers to entrust people with the purchase of slaves from Siritin, who had been born in Siritin, and then to give them freedom'. So a few years later, he was transferred back to Turii, but was promoted to chief priest because of his outstanding performance.

Before the army set out, Plecinas selected the priests of Hades who had come to establish the temple in Latim, and although there were risks, there were many applicants, as the people who could be promoted to the priests in charge were all believers who wanted to preach for the temple. The reason why Caldias was chosen was because more than a year ago, when Davers presided over the annual meeting of the Hades priests as high priest, he consciously or unconsciously talked about the Latin region of central Italy and Rome as the next target of the expansion of the Dionian kingdom. After that, Caldias actually went to great lengths to buy a Latin slave, and the main job given to this slave was to teach him to speak Latin, so he became the only one among the Hades priests who was proficient in Latin and was finally selected, after all, relying on translators to develop Hades' followers among foreign people would undoubtedly make it more difficult.

After Caldias came to Rome, he did not listen to the persuasion of others, and insisted on going deep into the Roman people to communicate, and Davos was worried about his safety, but he did not expect him to find him so quickly.

Devos, contrary to what he had done with officials and generals the day before, immediately stood up and strode out.

Caldias, who was nearly 50 years old, had already hurried into the Roman Senate, bowed, raised his hands flat, palms up, and respectfully priestly saluted Davers: "Good morning, High Priest!" (Since the establishment of the kingdom, the priests of the temple of Hades have addressed Davers not by the title of 'His Majesty' in an administrative position, but by the high priest of his highest position in the kingdom's religious sacrifices, which was initially a strict rule of the temple of Hades, and later began to be practiced by other temples of the kingdom.) ”

"Good morning, Priest Caldias." Davers also solemnly returned the priestly salute, and said with a smile: "Did you find anything when you came to see me so early?" ”

"High Priest, I have come to advise you." Caldias said directly.

"What advice?" Davers asked curiously.

"You gave a speech in the square yesterday that 'I want the Roman commoners to become citizens of Ionia,' but I found in my conversation with them yesterday that they were upset that we might destroy their temples and sacrifices."

"Oh?!" Caldias reminded Davers that yesterday he had indeed only announced some benefits for Roman civilians after they became citizens of Dionia, and was originally going to tell them about the religious tolerance of the Kingdom of Dionya after they became citizens, because this was done in the process of conquering the Mesapi, Puchetti, and Douni in the Apulia region, so this practice was still continued in Rome, but it was obvious that the situation in Rome was much more tense and dangerous than in Apria back then, which made the Roman civilians even more uneasy.

So, Davos hurriedly asked, "Caldias, what is your proposal?" ”

"High priest, in my contacts with the Roman commoners, I have found that they have a great faith in Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt, Vesta, the goddess of the stove, and the gods Keles, Liber, and Libera, which belong exclusively to the Roman commoners—"

"Roman civilians have their own gods?!" Davers was a little surprised, it was the first time he had heard about it.

"Yes, although the Romans also believed in many gods, they believed in more gods than we in Greece, and the Roman nobles and commoners each had their own exclusive gods, and these gods were only the ones they revered." Caldias recounted earnestly: "Moreover, the five Roman gods Diana, Vesta, Keres, Libere, and Libera all have temples on Aventine Hill in the city, especially the Temple of Diana, and I heard that they are also worshipped by the common people of the entire Latin Tim region......"

Avinting ...... It was the main residential area of the Roman populace...... Davers fell into thought: for Rome, in the past, he paid more attention to the collection of political, economic, military and other intelligence, and less to religion, also because there were too many gods in Rome, every river, every road, every forest, every crossroads, every door, every house had its own gods, and even the priests of Rome could not figure out how many gods there were in Rome. Moreover, the Romans were far less religious in their worship of gods than the Greeks, they were more practical and utilitarian, so he neglected the in-depth study of this area, and did not know that the Roman commoners also had their own exclusive gods!

But it seems like a good thing! As the ruler of the kingdom, Davers immediately understood the importance of this matter, and he asked, "Do you mean that I should go and worship these gods as a sign of Dionia's respect for the faith of the Roman plebeians themselves?" ”

"Yes, High Priest." Caldias replied affirmatively that it seemed ridiculous that as the chief priest of Hades, he would want his high priest to go and sacrifice to the gods of the aliens.

But in fact, in the kingdom of Dionia, King Davers was not just the high priest of Hades, but was in charge of the sacrifices of all the temples of the kingdom. In addition, Davers established the dominance of the temple of Hades in the religion of the kingdom in the Law of Dionia, gave them the power to supervise other temples in the kingdom, and held a meeting of the kingdom priests at the main temple of Hades in Turii every year, presided over by the high priest Davers, and attended by the priests of the scepter of the temples throughout the country, to negotiate and solve some problems encountered.

If Rome is conquered, these Roman gods may be incorporated into the popular beliefs of the kingdom, and as the priest of Hades, who is the leader of the religion of the kingdom, Caldias, of course, must understand them clearly, and at the same time develop Hades here, he must also try to ensure that these temples are supervised and get along more harmoniously.

"Then I'll go to the temple on Aventine Hill to worship these Roman gods worshiped by the Roman commoners, and I'll go today!" Davers made a decisive decision and asked, "Do you know all about the rituals of these temples?" ”

"It's got it." Caldias replied.

I'm very well prepared! Davos gave him an approving look, then turned back and said, "Heni, immediately send someone to the priests of these temples on the mountain of Aventine, and arrange for someone to announce to the whole city, 'I am going to worship the Roman gods.'" ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Henipolis stood up knowingly.

Davers remembered something more and continued: "There are ...... Go and call me Amylius at once. ”

Davers suddenly realized that this trip into the city of Rome might be a good opportunity to lure the snake out of its hole.

……………………………………

Roman civilians who had just joined Dionya and became members of the patrol marched through the streets of Rome under the guidance of legionnaires, armed with shields and spears, while shouting loudly.

On the gentle slopes of Mount Sirio, in a house that appeared to be larger than the surrounding buildings and had more ornate facades, a young Roman lay in the bedroom of the main building, his young wife was changing the bandages of his wounds, and he had a long, freshly healed scar on his left thigh.

He vaguely heard a shout outside, and listened attentively, but he couldn't hear it clearly, so he said, "Konya, go see what's going on outside?" ”

His wife immediately went out of the bedroom and soon returned, with a strange expression on her face, and said, "The untouchables who have taken refuge in the enemy say, 'That damned king of Dionya is going to sacrifice to their gods.'" ”

。 Museum of Literature