Party Time

Okay, so Lucius didn't really get into the party mood in this chapter, but he had a good reason, I think. Believing that you are on trial for murder would get anyone down. The trial was not very interesting for me. What did strike me was the statement, "Dead men tell no tales" (56), by one of the "thiefs." We use that phrase quite often in our time and for us it is probably true because I doubt that many of us believe in going out and raising the dead. For us, it is a truism of highest value because it signifies finality. Once someone is dead, you have lost all chances of learning anymore from them. They become an empty shell with nothing more to say. For Lucius, however, they do believe in bringing the dead back to life. Didn't we just read about someone doing that in the last chapter! How can anyone believe that by killing Lucius, someone wouldn't just bring him back to life to learn the truth? Perhaps, then, we really can't believe that anything is possible? The dead really do stay dead and necromancy is simply a weird story to tell the kids at night? How boring life would be then! Where would be the adventure, the great journeys, the near-death experiences?! Dead men may tell no tales to us, but maybe that's because we simply do not believe.