Manual of Classical Erotology (De figuris Veneris)
General
Manual of Classical Erotology (De figuris Veneris)
Erotic literature; Sex customs -- Greece; Sex customs -- Rome
“It is even said, that during a sacrifice, he could not restrain
himself, smitten with the pretty face of the incense-bearer; the
divine service barely finished, he took the youth aside, and debauched
him, and then did as much for his brother, who played the flute. Soon
afterwards he ordered their legs to be broken, because they reproached
each other with their infamy.” (Suetonius, _Tiberius_, ch. 44). The
act of this madman is represented on pl. XX. in the work of
d’Hancarville, cited on a previous page.
Footnote 36:
And also Pythagoras. “One would have thought that nothing was left for
him in the way of debauchery, and that he had reached the limits of
depravity, if he had not a few days later chosen out of this infamous
herd a certain Pythagoras, whom he took for his husband with all the
solemnity of a marriage. The _flammeum_ was put on the Emperor’s head,
the auspices were consulted, neither dowry nor nuptial torches were
forgotten; all was done openly, even those things, which, if done with
a woman, are hidden by the night.” (Tacitus, _Annals_, XV., 37). The
man called Pythagoras by Tacitus, appears to be the same to whom
Suetonius (_Nero_, ch. 29), gives the name of Doryphorus, either on
account of his services, or by mistake. “He took for husband the
freedman Doryphorus in the same way in which Sporus had taken him
himself for husband, and he counterfeited the cries and sobbings of
virgins when losing their maidenhead.” Plate XXXVIII of the above
quoted work shows an illustration of this anecdote.
Footnote 37:
“He went so far as to try to change a young man into a woman; his name
was Sporus, and he had him castrated; having given him a dowry, he
caused him to be brought to him with the _flammeum_ on his head, and
married him with all the nuptial solemnities. There has come down to
us an appropriate saying on somebody’s part, namely, whether it might
not have been better for human kind if Domitian, his father, had
married a woman of that sort. He made Sporus dress himself in the
costume of the Empresses, and had him carried in his litter; he
travelled with him in that way, taking him through the meetings and
markets in Greece, and soon after in Rome, about the time of the
Sigillarian festivities, kissing him from time to time.” (Suetonius,
_Nero_, ch. 28). Plate XXXIV in the repeatedly quoted French work,
gives a representation of the abominable wedding.
Footnote 38:
“He (Hadrian) enjoyed the affection of Trajan, but this did not save
him from the malevolence of the pedagogues of the young boys Trajan
loved so ardently” (Spartianus, _Hadrian_, ch. 2).
Footnote 39:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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