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
But the passage just quoted from _Juvenal_ is of still greater
importance for another reason. In it the vice of the cinaedus is
called _morbus_ (a disease); and in virtue of its explicitness it is
sufficient by itself to settle all doubts as to this being a usual
mode of expression with the Romans, who ordinarily designated any
vice by this name[342]. The only question remaining will be, Did the
_Greeks_ also use this form of expression? Any scholar possessed of a
special acquaintance with the Greek language will most certainly not
hesitate an instant to answer this question in the affirmative, the
Lexicographers having long ago collected an exhaustive list of examples
of such use[343].
_Plutarch_[344] says, comparing the action of the Sun with that of
Love:— Καὶ μὴν οὔτε σώματος ἀγύμναστος ἕξις ἥλιον, οὒτε Ἔρωτα δύναται
φέρειν ἀλύπως τρόπος ἀπαιδεύτου ψυχῆς· ἐξίσταται δ’ ὁμοίως ἐκάτερον καὶ
_νοσεῖ, τὴν του θεοῦ δύναμιν, οὐ τὴν αὑτοῦ μεμφόμενον ἀσθένειαν_.—(ch.
XXIII.) Τὴν μὲν πρὸς ἄῤῥενα ἄῤῥενος ὁμιλίαν, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀκρασίαν καὶ
ἐπιπήδησιν εἴποι τις ἂν ἐννοήσας,
_Ὕβρις_ τάδ’ _οὐχ_ ἡ Κύπρις ἐξεργάζεται.
Διὸ τοὺς μὲν ἡδομένους τῷ πάσχειν εἰς τὸ χείριστον τιθέμενοι γένος
κακίας, οὔτε πίστεως μοῖραν, οὔτε αἰδοῦς.... Ἀλλὰ πολλὰ φαῦλα καὶ
μανικὰ τῶν γυναικῶν ἐρώτων· Τὶ δὲ οὐχὶ πλείονα τῶν παιδικῶν; Ἀλλ’
ὥσπερ τοῦτο παιδομανία _τὸ πάθος_, οὐδέτερον δὲ Ἔρως ἔστιν. (And in
fact neither can an untrained body bear the sun, nor can any fashion
of uneducated soul bear Love (Eros) without pain; but each equally is
disorganized and grows sick, having to blame the power of the god,
not its own weakness.—ch. XXIII.—Now intercourse of male with male
one would rather call, after due reflection, incontinence and violent
assault.
“’Tis _overmastering insolence_ works this result, not love
(Cypris).”[345]
Wherefore such as take pleasure in pathic lust, devoting themselves
to the vilest kind of wickedness, have no portion in honour or in
modesty.—Indeed much there is base and insane in amours with women; how
much more so in those with boys! Now the name of the latter passion is
paedomania—[346]madness for boys,—but _neither_ kind is Love—Eros).
These passages are of the highest importance in connection with our
subject, as confirming in the most distinct manner what has been said
above as to the wrath of Venus; but for the sake of greater clearness
they had to be held over for discussion till now. It is clearly stated
in them: that paederastia is no work of Venus, i.e. not an expression
or consequence of the customary activity of the goddess, but a ὕβρις
(act of insolent violence) and the consequence of ὕβρις i.e. of some
act that has roused the anger of the gods. Here we have the oldest
view of all: that paederastia is a consequence of the vengeance of
Venus, arising in consequence of a ὕβρις, and again in turn itself
constituting a ὕβρις.[347]
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