Short Fiction · Chapter
Slayers of Innocent Babes explained
A troop of Roman soldiers, led by Centurion Marcellus, slaughters a group of children after the boy Lin curses them as murderers.
What happens
A troop of Roman soldiers, led by Centurion Marcellus, slaughters a group of children after the boy Lin curses them as murderers. The soldiers are then haunted by Lin's vengeful spirit, which repeatedly returns after they kill him again and again. In their madness, they ride into the sea and perish, while wolves devour the children's bodies.
Themes in this chapter
Innocence and Corruption
The innocent children are brutally murdered by the corrupt and merciless Roman soldiers, highlighting the destruction of purity by evil.
Power and Control
The Centurion and his soldiers wield absolute power over the defenseless children, but their control unravels as they are haunted and ultimately destroyed.
Death and Mortality
The chapter is saturated with death: the slaughter of the children, the repeated killing of Lin's spirit, and the final demise of the soldiers.
Characters to notice
- Lin
The beautiful boy who bravely curses the Roman soldiers as murderers and executioners, is killed, and returns as a vengeful spirit.
- Centurion Marcellus
The Roman centurion who orders the slaughter of the children and later perishes with his troop.
- Lucillus
A young soldier who is terrified by the haunting spirit of Lin and confesses his fear.
Key passages
“Murderers! Slayers of innocent babes! Merciless soldiers; ye yourselves shall not receive mercy!”
The ghost of Lin curses the soldiers, calling them killers of innocent children and prophesying that they will be shown no mercy.
This haunting cry drives the soldiers to madness and their eventual doom.
“I will go and meet them. They will kill me only, and I have no wish to go on living in a world where such ugly things are done.”
Lin chooses to sacrifice himself rather than live in a world of such cruelty, offering himself to the soldiers to save his companions.
Lin's courageous defiance underscores his moral purity and the depth of his despair.