The Plague of Lust, Vol. 1 (of 2): Being a History of Venereal Disease in Classical AntiquityRosenbaum, Julius
History
The Plague of Lust, Vol. 1 (of 2): Being a History of Venereal Disease in Classical Antiquity
Rosenbaum, Julius
Sexually transmitted diseases -- History
[120] _Demosthenes_, Orat. in Neaeram, edit. Wolf, p. 534., τὰς μὲν γὰρ
ἑταίρας ἡδονῆς ἕνεκ’ ἔχομεν, τὰς δὲ παλλακὰς τῆς καθ’ ἡμέραν θεραπείας
τοῦ σώματος, τὰς δὲ γυναῖκας τοῦ παιδοποιεῖσθαι γνησίως καὶ τῶν ἔνδον
φύλακα πιστὴν ἔχειν. (for hetaerae—lady-companions—we keep for our
pleasure, but concubines for the daily service of the person, and wives
for the procreation of lawful children and to have a trusty guardian
of household matters). The same sentence is quoted from Demosthenes
by _Athenaeus_, Deipnos., bk. XIII. ch. 31., but with the difference
that he says παλλακὰς τῆς καθ’ ἡμέραν παλλακείας (concubines for daily
concubinage). Comp. _Plutarch_, Praecept. Coniugal., ch. 16. 29. It is
true this purely moral view, as it was originally, of marriage, came in
times subsequent to just the flourishing period of Greece to contrast
so sharply with the rest of the Greeks, full and imaginative as it was,
that it appears an exceedingly homely bit of prose, and one is led away
to pass a not exactly favourable judgement as to the position of Greek
married women and their level of culture. But is this quite fair?
[121] _Aristotle_, Politics bk. IV. ch. 16., Viri autem cum alia muliere
aut aliorum concubitus omnino indecorus et inhonestus habeatur, cum sit
apelleturque maritus. Quod si quid tale tempore procreandis liberis
praescriptio quispiam facere manifesto deprehendatur, ignominia scelere
digna notetur. (But as to the connexion of a man with a woman who is
not his wife or of a woman with a man who is not her husband, while
such intercourse in whatever form or under whatever circumstances must
be considered absolutely discreditable to one who bears the title of
husband or wife, so especially any one who is detected in such action
during the time reserved for the procreation of children should be
punished with such civil degradation as is suitable to the magnitude of
his crime).—_Seneca_, Controvers. bk. IV. Preface, says: Impudicitia in
ingenuo crimen est, in servo necessitas, (Immodesty in a free-man is a
vice, in a slave a necessity).
[122] _Athenaeus_, Deipnos. bk. XIII. p. 374.
[123] In the time of _Xenarchus_ immorality with married women was
particularly universal. _Athenaeus_, XIII. p. 569.
[124] _Athenaeus_, Deipnosoph. bk. XIII. p. 569., καὶ Φιλήμων δ’ ἐν
Ἀδελφοῖς προιστορῶν, ὅτι πρῶτος Σόλων, διὰ τὴν τῶν νέων ἀκμὴν, ἔστησεν
ἐπὶ οἰκημάτων γύναια πριάμενος· καθὰ καὶ Νίκανδρος ὁ Κολοφώνιος ἱστορεῖ
ἐν τρίτῳ Κολοφωνιακῶν, φάσκων αὐτὸν καὶ Πανδήμου Ἀφροδίτης ἱερὸν πρῶτον
ἱδρύσασθαι ἀφ’ ὧν ἠργυρίσαντο αἱ προστᾶσαι τῶν οἰκημάτων· ἄλλ’ ὅ γε
Φιλήμων οὕτως φησί·
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