Isolt sighed lightly: "My father is only one son, and I have been away from my hometown for almost sixty years, and I am afraid that there are no relatives there for a long time, I just want to see what it feels like to find fallen leaves in my homeland." My father, a businessman, often took me with him when he was out and about, and I spent a lot of time in the city of Aaron as a child. This is the most representative city-state in the United Kingdom of Heaton, so you might as well stay in Yalun City for a few more days, there are many situations here that are different from the countries of the Tianshu Continent. ”

The carriage continued under Aesop's guidance. When the clouds fell in the United Kingdom of Heaton, Medanzo did not continue to sit in the car with Aesop, but got a horse outside the city and rode it with him. Medanzo was handsome and free-spirited, and he looked like a warrior who had been hired by Aesop to pay a lot of money to return home, while Amun, who was driving in the car, looked inconspicuous.

As he walked through the streets of Aaron, Medanzo looked left and right, nodded to the eldest girl and little daughter-in-law who were staring at him, and when he reached the place where there was no one, he asked Aesop: "It seems to me that the city of Aaron is only a small city-state, but it seems to be rich, the nobles are leisurely, and the commoners are busy.

Listening to the discussions of their citizen representatives in the council halls of the city-states, they attached great importance to trade with the outside world, and demanded that not only the states that joined the alliance be open to trade, but also those who were very wealthy and wealthy also earned the benefits of each state by various means. The citizens' representative council here is also reluctant to scrutinize the improper profit-making practices of their wealthy businessmen outside. ”

Aesop explains: "There are no large tracts of plains to cultivate, there are a lot of materials to import, and the rulers here are mostly shrewd merchants, like the Salemites in the city of Salem, who prefer to work in higher value and earn more wealth with limited labor. Aaron was a trading hub between the United Kingdom of Heaton and the nations of the Celestial Continent, and it was a hub where half of the city-state's own income came from the profits of the seafaring trade, and many people here were also well-informed. ”

Medanzo: "Hearing you say that, I think back to the past, when I traveled thousands of miles to Link's tribe to trade horse leather steel billets with things that were not available in the mountains, so what did the people here trade with the outside world?"

Aesop: "The most important product here is olive oil, the surrounding mountains are not suitable for cultivating grains, but they are very suitable for growing olive trees, and the olive oil produced by the city-state of Aaron is expensive, and it is sold all over the continent, and the staff in the hand of their patron saint of the city-state, Alenna, is an olive branch. They also exported wine, pottery, marble, and also mined silver mines to mint silver coins and various handicrafts.

Other commodities on the continent, including the papyrus and spices of Eju, the timber and cloth of the Hati and Barun, and all kinds of grain, were imported not only for their own use but also resold to the city-states for profit. In this city-state, there were people who lived a leisurely life, chatting in the temple squares every day, while others were very busy, often sailing on the seas and trading in the merchants. ”

Amun, who had been squinting his eyes, spoke again: "I saw the seaside outside the city, with stones in their mouths, talking incessantly to the empty sea, but not praying but calling and agitating for something, they had no clear convictions, and they preached irrelevant or contradictory remarks. ”

Amun used his detective magic to see the scene in the distance outside the city, and Aesop explained with a smile, "Those are orators and sophists, and they are exercising their tongues. ”

Medanzo asked, "What are they doing this for?"

Aesop replied, "In such a city-state, the ability to proclaim a variety of opinions and make them accessible to the people is one of the most important abilities. Don't you hear the discussion in the council of the city-states, sometimes whether a proposal is passed or not is not all about the proposal itself, but on who and in what way it is proclaimed. Merchants often hired special orators to make proposals in their favor, so some people considered oratories and sophistry to be one of the greatest techniques in the world. ”

Amon asked with great interest, "This is indeed a very interesting place, besides the orators, what else do you think is the most distinctive person in the city?"

Aesop replied, "And the wise and the wise. The so-called wise men are not necessarily wise, but they like to ask all kinds of questions and try to answer them, and they also travel to various places to learn all kinds of knowledge; the so-called wise people are not necessarily wise, but they are good at interrogating and doubting, and they try to refute any known knowledge. These people often gathered in the temple square to preach to passers-by or ask questions to the crowd, and that was the liveliest place in Aaron. ”

Amon laughed and said, "Successful sages and wise men should also be excellent orators. It is also an achievement to be able to clearly present the thoughts in the soul and enable the listener to understand the profound thoughts. But to ignore the very thing they preach, to sophistry purely for the sake of achieving an end, is to become a different kind of person.

But it is useless to question without giving an answer, even though the answer may not be perfect, just as a mortal cannot be sure of whether there is a god in this world, but he can perceive the existence of a god in a person's surname. ”

Aesop replied, "You are my God." ”

Amon laughed and said, "I'm just your chauffeur in the city of Aaron. ”

While talking, the carriage stopped in front of an inn with a tavern and public bath in front where people drank and chatted, and a room in the courtyard behind where they could stay. "Decades later, this place has changed a lot, but it's still an inn," says Aesop. ”

Medanzo asked, "Aesop, why are you staying here, there are so many places to stay on the way here?"

Aesop sighed, "Please be considerate of me as an old man! The last time I went to sea with my father, I lived here in the city of Aaron, and although they are no longer the same inn, I can still find the breath of memory. ”

Medanzo jumped off his horse and helped Aesop out of the car, and shouted, "Come, prepare the best room for my lord, and we will stay overnight." ”

Amon heard Aesop's "breath of memory" and watched his back walk into the inn, quietly unleashing an unbelievable divine spell in his soul, which was similar to the legendary Great Prophecy and was said to be available only to gods. And the great magicians in the world can barely get a glimpse of its mystery, which is one of the highest realms of information magic.

He saw a scene in his soul of Aesop becoming a teenager, overlapping with the back of Aesop in front of him, and walking with his father into another inn in the same place as it is now.

Aesop was rich, could afford to live in the best rooms, and with a majestic escort and a simple and capable groom, she looked like an old nouveau riche who had returned from an expedition in the Tianshu Continent. The innkeeper's attitude is very respectful, and he always greets him with a smile when he goes in and out, but in addition to envy, he also has a little jealousy and even disdain in his heart.

The people around him saw that Aesop had more or less this mentality, Amon felt it clearly, and Aesop himself probably understood it too, but this old man was calm. The three of them lived in the city of Aaron, and ordinary people didn't see any magic.

Amédany told Medanzo that this was already the domain of the Olympian gods, and although he had not yet made any clear agreement with Zeus, it was tantamount to entering someone else's domain without permission. In order to abide by the traditional covenants between the gods and not cause unexpected conflicts, he will not show any miracles or use any divine powers here, and Medanzo must also be careful not to act as an oracle.

Did Zeus and the gods of Olympus know that Amun had come to Aaron? Amun himself was not sure, for he did not feel the feeling of being specifically noticed or locked in. He was a presiding god himself, and he knew very well that if all beings only acted in their usual ways, they would not attract special attention from the gods in the divine realm. He came here just to listen, to see, to feel, as an ordinary car driver.

...... The next day, Amun came to the famous Temple Square in Aaron, which is located in the "High City" of Aaron. It is called Takajo because of the three hills that are located on a high level overlooking the port by the sea. On the top of the hill in the middle stands the famous Temple of the Virgin, dedicated to Aaronna, the patron goddess of the city of Aaron, the goddess of wisdom, the goddess of war, and the goddess of virgins in the Olympian lineage.

Amon didn't want to go into the temple to attract the attention of the gods, so he just stood in the square and looked into the distance, nodding in admiration. The outline of the magnificent marble building could not be seen in a straight line, the four walls were slightly curved, and all the columns were slightly curved inward. Although the huge stone building is heavy, it looks light and agile, and the temple building is also the result of the wisdom of the people.

Amon was looking from afar in the square, when suddenly a man came over and asked, "Are you a foreigner?"

Amon nodded and replied, "Yes, I'm a driver from a foreign country. ”

This man did not come to interrogate Amun's identity, but seemed to be just trying to talk to someone, and then asked, "Are you looking up at the temple, do you believe in the gods?"

This sentence made it difficult for Amon to answer, so he could only smile: "When you perceive your soul, you can witness the existence of gods." ”

At this time, there was already a crowd of people watching the excitement around, and the man continued to ask: "Oh, how did you witness the existence of the gods? Did you see the gods in the temple, or did you hear the voices of the gods? Have you seen the gods themselves, and even if you hear its voice, how do you know that it is not an illusion, and even if you see a person who claims to be a god, how can you prove that he is a god?"

Amon frowned slightly, the atmosphere here is very open, there are people who openly question the existence of the gods in the temple square, and casually ask questions to the strangers on the side of the road, and there are people waiting to watch the excitement. Amon asked rhetorically, "Then do you think the gods in the temple exist?"

The man replied, "The question is too complicated, and human life is too short, and I can't be sure if there are gods in this world." ”

Amun asked again, "Then why do you ask me this question again, do you want to get an answer from me?"

Seeing that there were more people gathered around, the man came to his senses, opened his arms and said loudly, "People passing by, I'm just asking a question. Is it the will of the gods that we use to measure everything in the world? No, whether a thing is right or wrong, good or bad, depends on people's ** and needs. Isn't that what you think in your hearts?"

Some of the onlookers nodded in agreement, but the man changed his words and said: "Then do you think that your own ** and needs should be correct, and whether the truth exists? If you believe in the former, can you vote at the citizens' assembly on whether the gods exist?"

The man put forward two positive and negative theories one after another, and some people in the audience were already confused. Amon replied with a smile, "The temple stands here, and the people here have already indicated their choice in their way. And if you want to discuss the topic of existence today, you might as well say all your questions, in fact, what you want to ask is, if a god exists, what kind of existence should he be? To be honest, this is the first time I have encountered such a debate, can I ask your name?"

The man straightened up and replied, "My name is Parmenides." Stranger, are you also a traveling sage? Answer me one more question, can you tell me what does not exist? Can you describe things that are beyond thinking and perception? When you think of something and say it in words, there must be a correspondence, can you really say what does not exist?"

Amon smiled again: "I think you have answered the question you asked, why do people think that this is the meaning of the soul of living beings, they can imagine, have yearning, abstract intuitive knowledge into the vow of the soul, and find their existence in the complex world. One of the answers to this question is what you call the gods, and while you have been questioning the gods, you are also assuming the gods. ”

Parmenides couldn't help blinking, he often drew people to debate in the square, but he didn't expect this humble foreigner to respond like this.

Amon looked at him, his gaze penetrated Parmenides' figure and looked at the entire square, and quietly launched the tracing magic again, as if witnessing a time lapse in his soul, he saw the "breath of memory" in the square. INTERVIEWER Countless people have been talking about all sorts of topics here.

Eventually, the god's gaze lingered on a certain scene, decades ago, when an old man stopped passers-by in the same position to ask questions.

The old man was bloated and wore a stained robe, but his muscles and blood were unusually strong, and he turned out to be a great warrior. His hair was messy, he had a garlic nose, and he was wearing thin clothes on a cold day, but he didn't feel cold at all, and he was asking passers-by, "Does man have a soul, and if so, can it be immortal? If so, what kind of existence is an immortal soul?...... Why can anyone have an immortal soul, and why should anyone refuse to acknowledge it?...... What is the difference between one olive and another, and why is a cat not another?

If you answer that the color of the coat is different from the pattern, what is the reason for the difference?Noble lord, what is the difference between the flesh and blood under your robe and that of the coachman who passes by?How can you prove that you are nobler than him if you have both gone to a distant land that no one knows, or if your parents have exchanged babies at birth?...... Please answer another question, what is noble in this world?"

Amon used his magic to see the scene in his memory, and with a smile on his face, he asked a series of questions that the old man had asked to see how Parmenides, who was standing in the same position in the square, reacted.

Parmenides' face changed, and he suddenly asked, "Who are you, are you also from Plato's Academy?"

A frightened voice in the crowd shouted, "Oh my God, Socrates' problem, that foreigner is possessed by Socrates' spirit!"

For some reason, the crowd of onlookers suddenly dispersed, and Amon was in front of a surprised Parmenides. Amon smiled again and asked, "Let's go back to your question, if I say I'm a god, do you believe me?"

Parmenides breathed a sigh of relief, seemed to have come to his senses, and asked rhetorically, "Do I believe it or not, does it make sense for you to be a god or not?"

Amon pointed to the temple in the distance and said, "It depends on what kind of gods people need, whether you believe it or not, I am standing in front of you, and I may not change anything about me and nothing about you." Your soul is the measure of the world, yes, but it is also the measure of the world. You can not care about what exists outside of this world, but you have to care about how you exist, and that's my answer. ”

At this time, the last person left of the onlookers could not help but interject and shout: "Isn't it boring for a coachman to discuss such a problem with people in the temple square?

Amon laughed out loud and turned his head to the man, "Thank you for the reminder, what is your name?"

The man replied, "My name is Dewey! I just want to remind you that all that people learn is only to cope with their own situation." Listening to you should be a smart person, instead of thinking about these boring questions, it is better to improve your situation. ”

Parmenides heard that someone else had taken over the conversation, and turned to Dewey and said, "In your opinion, the existence of gods is meaningless, and people only live in their own perceptions and situations. It's like if this charioteer calls himself a god, if he's not your god, he's not there, if he can give you the miracles you want, then he's a god, right?"

Dewey shook his head and said, "I'm just reminding a coachman what to do, and I don't want to talk to you." ”

Barnimend asked, "And what do you do?"

Dewey replied, "I like to watch the excitement in the temple square every day, and it is my pleasure to listen to you people's nonsense." ”

**

(To be continued)