Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 819 Theodora persecutes Saint Guo Kang through pregnancy and childbirth.

After a brief greeting with hands clasped together, the Great Lama Wang took out the letter and handed it to the Empress.

"Kang'er sent another letter?" Madam Huang was the first to speak.

“Yes.” Lama Wang nodded and said, “This is the information he recently collected, which was sent over through our church’s channels.”

Although he didn't say it explicitly, everyone present clearly understood his meaning. The Empress broke the seal and began to examine it. Madam Huang shook her head and said to Princess Ma, "Oh dear, what time is it? He should be thinking about work first. His wife is about to give birth, and he's not even here. What kind of husband is that? I think this boy is too immature. He doesn't even have the awareness of being a father, and he doesn't know how to take care of the household. It's really unfair to the young lady to be with someone like him."

“It doesn’t have to be like that,” Lama Wang quickly tried to smooth things over for Guo Kang. “It’s mainly because his work there is extremely important. And he did it exceptionally well. Now, people in Egypt are saying it’s a miracle.”

“Back then, Yu the Great passed by his home three times without entering, a story that has been passed down as a legend.” He further explained, “A great man considers the world his home. Young Master Guo has already demonstrated such great talent, and he will be involved in governing the country in the future. Such a person is meant to govern Rome as a ‘father,’ treating all people as his children and the revival of Rome as his family’s mission. Compared to that, the little things between children are far too insignificant.”

"Hey, Lao Wang, what are you saying?" Madam Huang couldn't help but laugh. "Don't let little Dido hear this, otherwise she'll probably turn against you after all the suffering she's endured these past few months."

“Uh…” Lama Wang and Father Peter exchanged a glance and smiled awkwardly.

Actually, he had already been quite restrained in his words; he was merely offering some general principles and defending Guo Kang. If it were according to some common parlance within the church, it would be much more complex. Neither of them dared to tell anyone…

In fact, the church frequently encouraged and sponsored philosophical studies, especially in the Greek region.

Contrary to many later narratives, even when the Eastern Empire had declined to the point of being reduced to a single city, this area remained one of the centers of thought at the time. Throughout the Classical Age, and even the Middle Ages, this region was the cultural heartland of Europe. However, due to the poor performance of the Greeks in later periods, the Greek region lost its prominence in subsequent historical accounts after the Roman Empire.

The shift of philosophical focus to Italy was not the result of spontaneous research in the Catholic regions of Western Europe, nor was it a case of "always being ahead," but rather an acceptance of the transfer from Greece. This turning point was actually in 1453. A large number of Greek philosophers, fleeing war and religious persecution, escaped from Constantinople, Morea, and even Trapsong, to Italy, bringing with them a wealth of literature and philosophical theories.

Later, the research center moved from Italy to France, completely achieving "Westernization." However, this had nothing to do with philosophical research itself; it was mainly because the academic centers in Italy had been almost wiped out by various warlords, so naturally they moved away...

Therefore, analyzing whether Western European culture, political system, and even religious beliefs are "beneficial" to the development of philosophy—including natural philosophy—while it may have been a prominent field of study in certain eras, would seem purely ridiculous to a true Greek philosopher today, perhaps even as a form of irony.

Of course, Western Europeans would likely find this "transfer theory" unacceptable. Just like other eras where some research centers, relying on transferred academic resources, became self-proclaimed superior, believing they possessed some innate advantage in their systems or even their race—the truth is sometimes too painful, so all that's left is to spout some ridiculous theories…

In this era when Rome still existed, the study of Greek philosophy never truly declined. Just as history is continuous and rarely undergoes sudden changes, so too is philosophical research. Even after Christianity replaced polytheism, philosophers continued to inherit the doctrines of Aristotle and others, exerting a significant influence on theology itself. Research in various fields also continued uninterrupted.

Therefore, both the church and the people, and all kinds of theories, were naturally deeply influenced by native Greek philosophy.

From the Greek perspective, experience tells us that pregnancy and childbirth are immense ordeals in a woman's life, filled with pain, danger, and even the possibility of death. Philosophers and tragedians have described the risks and suffering associated with childbirth. Hippocrates, practicing on the front lines, meticulously documented various obstetric conditions and complications, highlighting the high risks involved.

However, knowing these phenomena does not mean that one will acknowledge that pregnant and postpartum women suffer greatly and deserve special respect.

Hippocratic medical theory offers a theoretical explanation for these issues: they believe that women are inherently less perfect than men, and therefore, the female body is more unstable and prone to pain. Childbirth is the concentrated manifestation of this pain—in short, if pregnancy is so painful, it's purely because you're not good enough, and you can't blame anyone else.

From the perspective of city-state politicians, procreation was an obligation. A woman's greatest contribution was to bear a legitimate male heir for her husband's family. In doing so, she ensured the continuation of the family name, bloodline, and property. Based on the principle of the equality of power and responsibility, the status and rights of female citizens were closely related to procreation, especially the bearing of sons.

Therefore, city-states often used customs and laws to issue "childbearing warnings" to women: a wife's inability to bear children, especially male offspring, was the most common and socially accepted reason for divorce. Such infertile wives were usually sent back to their parents' home, causing the entire family to suffer shame, as they were seen as useless failures to the family and the city-state. Conversely, only by bearing male offspring, providing an heir for the family, and fulfilling this ultimate mission, could women be considered "one of their own" and gain some say in property and other family power.

Similarly, because childbirth was considered a woman's natural function and duty, the pain that accompanied this process was not an extra sacrifice to be rewarded. On the contrary, these experiences were taken for granted, part of a woman's destiny. After all, men also had to fight for the city-state and face casualties in war; who could enjoy rights without fulfilling obligations? Therefore, for the Greeks, this was an inherent duty, without any "why"—if they didn't accept it, they could leave the city-state and become "foreigners" elsewhere, or even establish their own colony. As for whether they would be killed, the city-state wouldn't care.

Philosophers offer a more direct explanation: the Aristotelian school has always believed that the mother provides only the "material" of the embryo, while the father provides the "form" that gives life. They also proposed a famous analogy: the father is the carpenter, and the mother is the wood. The shape of the wooden object is, of course, determined by the father.

Within this framework, the processes of pregnancy and childbirth, however tumultuous, are merely passive, material processes of nurturing, rather than creative contributions. Similarly, the pain of childbirth, in the eyes of philosophers, is simply a phenomenon accompanying a lowly, animalistic, and inevitable physical process, rather than the price of a noble, formalized creative act.

Therefore, even if suffering is real, it doesn't need to be emphasized, let alone sanctified or elevated: people's morally motivated actions and the costs they pay—such as fighting to defend a city-state and being wounded in the process—are what deserve respect; and the suffering women endure for providing the city-state with its population is no different from the suffering livestock endure for providing it with meat. So, humans can be morally grateful to cattle and sheep, and similarly, they can be morally grateful to women. However, this sentiment should only go so far—one can't sanctify cattle and sheep simply because they eat meat, can one?
Of course, this was only one of the prominent schools of thought at the time and cannot fully represent all schools. For example, compared to the more moderate and secular Aristotelian school, the ideas of Platonists were even more radical.

Plato himself didn't elaborate on this much. In his *Republic*, considering the overall efficiency of the city-state, he also argued that eugenics should be taken into account, allowing women to join the "protectors" class. However, Plato's later followers went a step further.

Plato famously proposed the "Allegory of the Cave" to illustrate the relationship between human cognition and the real world. Platonists further developed this idea, arguing that the body is the prison of the soul, and the material world is a poor imitation of the ideal world.

This theory has had a profound impact on the religious world. Philosophy is inherently closely related to theology, and this type of theory has been accepted by many church theorists. Under this theory, pregnancy and childbirth are essentially processes of "imprisoning" another soul into the body. Therefore, it is not a contribution, but rather a link that drags the soul into reincarnation and suffering, and its value is naturally questioned.

This theory, combined with the asceticism inherent in Christianity, later led to a trend advocating for the abolition of marriage and procreation. The renowned theologian St. Augustine advocated this view early in his life, believing that human society should ideally not marry. According to his logic, unmarried people could be completely devoted to God, while married people would be compelled to please their spouses. This desire diminished people's devotion to their faith, therefore, it was best not to marry or have children.

Some people have raised the question: What will happen to human society if everyone stops having children? Theologians have offered an explanation—just entrust it to the wisdom of the Heavenly Father.

Augustine believed that without original sin, procreation would not require marriage. Moreover, if everyone practiced celibacy, the "City of God" would descend, and the Heavenly Father would naturally create other ways to procreate, without requiring anyone's intervention.

As for how God the Father solves this problem, we don't know... However, the earliest humans were created from nothing by God the Father, so he must be able to solve this problem, and mortals don't need to worry about it.

Later, as the church gradually became more formalized and began to participate in its management, it paid more and more attention to practical needs in various matters. In many aspects, the church began to try to compromise, offering some "compromise" suggestions and allowing everyone to act flexibly in certain areas.

Augustine himself later changed his attitude, suggesting that people could marry and have children, as long as the purpose of marriage was pure, simply to have children, which was considered good. Sometimes, the church even had to intervene to crack down on those extreme heretical sects that demanded that everyone refrain from having children.

In the 13th century, the Cleans sect in southern France claimed that physical intimacy was "a trap carefully laid by the devil," and that even married couples must live separately. The Cleans doctrine explicitly stated: "If a couple has sex more than three times a year, they must publicly confess in church, because they have tainted their souls three times with the dust of the world." The Church deeply abhorred this, preferring to enrich the French rather than abandon the Crusades. Ultimately, it was through a long war and massacres that the sect was eradicated.

If their attitude towards sexual intercourse is like this, then their attitude towards childbirth itself is even worse. It's already a miracle they don't discriminate against you; you expect everyone to speak well of you, huh...?

Guo Kang now held a special status, with some priests even regarding him as a prophet. Especially after the end of the "plague war" in Egypt, with the reopening of ports and the restoration of communication, more and more news reached Dadu (Beijing) and Rome. Learning of Guo Kang's deeds during this period, many priests admired him even more, and this fervent admiration intensified.

Many clergy members had hoped that Guo Kang could officially become a clergyman, preside over the work of the church, and lead everyone in serving the Father wholeheartedly. Many people worked diligently for him, studying obscure and difficult theories every day and tinkering with huge and complex projects such as the "Steam Heavenly Brother," all in order to respond to his call to build a better world and realize the "Perfect City" as soon as possible.

In this situation, Theodora not only repeatedly and publicly obstructed Guo Kang's path, declaring that he was not allowed to become a priest, but also insisted on marrying him, having sex with him, and even having children with him. This behavior was undoubtedly a defilement of Guo Kang.

To the fanatical priests, Guo Kang's actions were nothing more than a sacrifice he had been forced to make in order to gain more support from the Roman government for the greater cause.

Some people, therefore, have even compared their relationship to that between saints and the Roman Empire, with some even calling her the embodiment of the "Great Harlot of Babylon." In this climate of public opinion, it's no wonder that her pregnancy was considered "difficult"; not criticizing her is already a favor to the empire…

(End of this chapter)