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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/32022-0.txt b/32022-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e057f15 --- /dev/null +++ b/32022-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4043 @@ +Project Gutenberg's A Problem in Greek Ethics, by John Addington Symonds + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Problem in Greek Ethics + Being an inquiry into the phenomenon of sexual inversion + +Author: John Addington Symonds + +Release Date: April 17, 2010 [EBook #32022] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PROBLEM IN GREEK ETHICS *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This ebook was +produced from scanned images of public domain material at +Google Books.) + + + + + + + + + +A + +PROBLEM + +IN + +GREEK ETHICS + +BEING + +AN INQUIRY INTO THE PHENOMENON OF + +_SEXUAL INVERSION_ + +ADDRESSED ESPECIALLY TO MEDICAL PSYCHOLOGISTS AND JURISTS + +BY + +JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS + +_PRIVATELY PRINTED_ + +FOR + +THE ΑΡΕΟΠΑΓΙΤΙΓΑ SOCIETY + +LONDON + +1908 + +_Privately Printed in Holland for the Society._ + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The following treatise on Greek Love was written in the year 1873, when +my mind was occupied with my _Studies of Greek Poets_. I printed ten +copies of it privately in 1883. It was only when I read the Terminal +Essay appended by Sir Richard Burton to his translation of the _Arabian +Nights_ in 1886, that I became aware of M. H. E. Meier's article on +Pæderastie (Ersch and Gruber's _Encyclopædie_, Leipzig, Brockhaus, +1837). My treatise, therefore, is a wholly independent production. This +makes Meier's agreement (in Section 7 of his article) with the theory I +have set forth in Section X. regarding the North Hellenic origin of +Greek Love, and its Dorian character, the more remarkable. That two +students, working separately upon the same mass of material, should have +arrived at similar conclusions upon this point strongly confirms the +probability of the hypothesis. + +J. A. SYMONDS. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +I. INTRODUCTION: Method of treating the subject. + +II. Homer had no knowledge of paiderastia--Achilles--Treatment of Homer +by the later Greeks. + +III. The Romance of Achilles and Patroclus. + +IV. The heroic ideal of masculine love. + +V. Vulgar paiderastia--How introduced into Hellas--Crete--Laius--The +myth of Ganymede. + +VI. Discrimination of two loves, heroic and vulgar. The mixed sort is +the paiderastia defined as Greek love in this essay. + +VII. The intensity of paiderastia as an emotion, and its quality. + +VIII. Myths of paiderastia. + +IX. Semi-legendary tales of love--Harmodius and Aristogeiton. + +X. Dorian Customs--Sparta and Crete--Conditions of Dorian life--Moral +quality of Dorian love--Its final degeneracy--Speculations on the early +Dorian _Ethos_--BÅ“otians' customs--The sacred band--Alexander the +Great--Customs of Elis and Megara--_Hybris_--Ionia. + +XI. Paiderastia in poetry of the lyric age. Theognis and +Kurnus--Solon--Ibycus, the male Sappho--Anacreon and Smerdies--Drinking +songs--Pindar and Theoxenos--Pindar's lofty conception of adolescent +beauty. + +XII. Paiderastia upon the Attic stage--_Myrmidones_ of +Æschylus--_Achilles' lovers_, and _Niobe_ of Sophocles--The _Chrysippus_ +of Euripides--Stories about Sophocles--Illustrious Greek paiderasts. + +XIII. Recapitulation of points--Quotation from the speech of Pausanias +on love in Plato's _Symposium_--Observations on this speech. Position of +women at Athens--Attic notion of marriage as a duty--The institution of +_Paidagogoi_--Life of a Greek boy--Aristophanes' _Clouds_--Lucian's +_Amores_--The Palæstra--The _Lysis_--The _Charmides_--Autolicus in +Xenophon's _Symposium_--Speech of Critobulus on beauty and +love--Importance of gymnasia in relation to paiderastia--Statues of +Erôs--Cicero's opinions--Laws concerning the gymnasia--Graffiti on +walls--Love-poems and panegyrics--Presents to boys--Shops and _mauvais +lieux_--Paiderastic _Hetaireia_--Brothels--Phædon and Agathocles. +Street-brawls about boys--_Lysias in Simonem_. + +XIV. Distinctions drawn by Attic law and custom--_Chrestoi +Pornoi_--Presents and money--Atimia of freemen who had sold their +bodies--The definition of _Misthosis_--_Eromenos_, _Hetairekos_, +_Peporneumenos_, distinguished--_Æschines against Timarchus_--General +Conclusion as to Attic feeling about honourable paiderastia. + +XV. Platonic doctrine on Greek love--The asceticism of the +_Laws_--Socrates--His position defined by Maximus Tyrius--His science of +erotics--The theory of the _Phædrus_: erotic _Mania_--The mysticism of +the _Symposium_: love of beauty--Points of contact between Platonic +paiderastia and chivalrous love: _Mania_ and Joie: Dante's _Vita +Nuova_--Platonist and Petrarchist--Gibbon on the "thin device" of the +Athenian philosophers--Testimony of Lucian, Plutarch, Cicero. + +XVI. Greek liberty and Greek love extinguished at Chæronea--The +Idyllists--Lucian's _Amores_--Greek poets never really gross--_Mousa +Paidiké_--Philostratus' _Epistolai Erotikai_--Greek Fathers on +paiderastia. + +XVII. The deep root struck by paiderastia in +Greece--Climate--Gymnastics--Syssitia--Military life--Position of Women: +inferior culture; absence from places of resort--Greek leisure. + +XVIII. Relation of paiderastia to the fine arts--Greek sculpture wholly +and healthily human--Ideals of female deities--Paiderastia did not +degrade the imagination of the race--Psychological analysis underlying +Greek mythology--The psychology of love--Greek mythology fixed before +Homer--Opportunities enjoyed by artists for studying women--Anecdotes +about artists--The æsthetic temperament of the Greeks, unbiased by +morality and religion, encouraged paiderastia--_Hora_--Physical and +moral qualities admired by a Greek--Greek ethics were +æsthetic--_Sophrosyne_--Greek religion was æsthetic--No notion of +Jehovah--Zeus and Ganymede. + +XIX. Homosexuality among Greek women--Never attained to the same dignity +as paiderastia. + +XX. Greek love did not exist at Rome--Christianity--Chivalry--The _modus +vivendi_ of the modern world. + + + + +A PROBLEM IN GREEK ETHICS. + + + + +I. + + +For the student of sexual inversion, ancient Greece offers a wide field +for observation and reflection. Its importance has hitherto been +underrated by medical and legal writers on the subject, who do not seem +to be aware that here alone in history have we the example of a great +and highly-developed race not only tolerating homosexual passions, but +deeming them of spiritual value, and attempting to utilise them for the +benefit of society. Here, also, through the copious stores of literature +at our disposal, we can arrive at something definite regarding the +various forms assumed by these passions, when allowed free scope for +development in the midst of refined and intellectual civilisation. What +the Greeks called paiderastia, or boy-love, was a phenomenon of one of +the most brilliant periods of human culture, in one of the most highly +organised and nobly active nations. It is the feature by which Greek +social life is most sharply distinguished from that of any other people +approaching the Hellenes in moral or mental distinction. To trace the +history of so remarkable a custom in their several communities, and to +ascertain, so far as this is possible, the ethical feeling of the Greeks +upon this subject, must be of service to the scientific psychologist. It +enables him to approach the subject from another point of view than that +usually adopted by modern jurists, psychiatrists, writers on forensic +medicine. + + + + +II. + + +The first fact which the student has to notice is that in the Homeric +poems a modern reader finds no trace of this passion. It is true that +Achilles, the hero of the _Iliad_, is distinguished by his friendship +for Patroclus no less emphatically than Odysseus, the hero of the +_Odyssey_, by lifelong attachment to Penelope, and Hector by love for +Andromache. But in the delineation of the friendship of Achilles and +Patroclus there is nothing which indicates the passionate relation of +the lover and the beloved, as they were afterwards recognised in Greek +society. This is the more remarkable because the love of Achilles for +Patroclus added, in a later age of Greek history, an almost religious +sanction of the martial form of paiderastia. In like manner the +friendship of Idomeneus for Meriones, and that of Achilles, after the +death of Patroclus, for Antilochus, were treated by the later Greeks as +paiderastic. Yet, inasmuch as Homer gives no warrant for this +interpretation of the tales in question, we are justified in concluding +that homosexual relations were not prominent in the so-called heroic age +of Greece. Had it formed a distinct feature of the society depicted in +the Homeric poems, there is no reason to suppose that their authors +would have abstained from delineating it. We shall see that Pindar, +Æschylus and Sophocles, the poets of an age when paiderastia was +prevalent, spoke unreservedly upon the subject. + +Impartial study of the _Iliad_ leads us to the belief that the Greeks of +the historic period interpreted the friendship of Achilles and Patroclus +in accordance with subsequently developed customs. The Homeric poems +were the Bible of the Greeks, and formed the staple of their education; +nor did they scruple to wrest the sense of the original, reading, like +modern Bibliolaters, the sentiments and passions of a later age into the +text. Of this process a good example is afforded by Æschines in the +oration against Timarchus. While discussing this very question of the +love of Achilles, he says: "He, indeed, conceals their love, and does +not give its proper name to the affection between them, judging that the +extremity of their fondness would be intelligible to instructed men +among his audience." As an instance the orator proceeds to quote the +passage in which Achilles laments that he will not be able to fulfil his +promise to MenÅ“tius by bringing Patroclus home to Opus. He is here +clearly introducing the sentiments of an Athenian hoplite who had taken +the boy he loved to Syracuse and seen him slain there. + +Homer stood in a double relation to the historical Greeks. On the one +hand, he determined their development by the influence of his ideal +characters. On the other, he underwent from them interpretations which +varied with the spirit of each successive century. He created the +national temperament, but received in turn the influx of new thoughts +and emotions occurring in the course of its expansion. It is, therefore, +highly important, on the threshold of this inquiry, to determine the +nature of that Achilleian friendship to which the panegyrists and +apologists of the custom make such frequent reference. + + + + +III. + + +The ideal of character in Homer was what the Greeks called heroic; what +we should call chivalrous. Young men studied the _Iliad_ as our +ancestors studied the Arthurian romances, finding there a pattern of +conduct raised almost too high above the realities of common life for +imitation, yet stimulative of enthusiasm and exciting to the fancy. +Foremost among the paragons of heroic virtue stood Achilles, the +splendour of whose achievements in the Trojan war was only equalled by +the pathos of his friendship. The love for slain Patroclus broke his +mood of sullen anger, and converted his brooding sense of wrong into a +lively thirst for vengeance. Hector, the slayer of Patroclus, had to be +slain by Achilles, the comrade of Patroclus. No one can read the _Iliad_ +without observing that its action virtually turns upon the conquest +which the passion of friendship gains over the passion of resentment in +the breast of the chief actor. This the Greek students of Homer were not +slow to see; and they not unnaturally selected the friendship of +Achilles for their ideal of manly love. It was a powerful and masculine +emotion, in which effeminacy had no part, and which by no means excluded +the ordinary sexual feelings. Companionship in battle and the chase, in +public and in private affairs of life, was the communion proposed by +Achilleian friends--not luxury or the delights which feminine +attractions offered. The tie was both more spiritual and more energetic +than that which bound man to woman. Such was the type of comradeship +delineated by Homer; and such, in spite of the modifications suggested +by later poets, was the conception retained by the Greeks of this heroic +friendship. Even Æschines, in the place above quoted, lays stress upon +the mutual loyalty of Achilles and Patroclus as the strongest bond of +their affection: "regarding, I suppose, their loyalty and mutual +goodwill as the most touching feature of their love."[1] + + + + +IV. + + +Thus the tale of Achilles and Patroclus sanctioned among the Greeks a +form of masculine love, which, though afterwards connected with +paiderastia properly so-called, we are justified in describing as +heroic, and in regarding as one of the highest products of their +emotional life. It will be seen, when we come to deal with the +historical manifestations of this passion, that the heroic love which +took its name from Homer's Achilles existed as an ideal rather than an +actual reality. This, however, is equally the case with Christianity and +chivalry. The facts of feudal history fall below the high conception +which hovered like a dream above the knights and ladies of the Middle +Ages; nor has the spirit of the Gospel been realised, in fact, by the +most Christian nations. Still we are not on that account debarred from +speaking of both chivalry and Christianity as potent and effective +forces. + + + + +V. + + +Homer, then, knew nothing of paiderastia, though the _Iliad_ contained +the first and noblest legend of heroic friendship. Very early, however, +in Greek history boy-love, as a form of sensual passion, became a +national institution. This is proved abundantly by mythological +traditions of great antiquity, by legendary tales connected with the +founding of Greek cities, and by the primitive customs of the Dorian +tribes. The question remains how paiderastia originated among the +Greeks, and whether it was introduced or indigenous. + +The Greeks themselves speculated on this subject, but they arrived at no +one definite conclusion. Herodotus asserts that the Persians learned the +habit, in its vicious form, from the Greeks;[2] but, even supposing this +assertion to be correct, we are not justified in assuming the same of +all barbarians who were neighbours of the Greeks; since we know from the +Jewish records and from Assyrian inscriptions that the Oriental nations +were addicted to this as well as other species of sensuality. Moreover, +it might with some strain on language be maintained that Herodotus, in +the passage above referred to, did not allude to boy-love in general, +but to the peculiarly Hellenic form of it which I shall afterwards +attempt to characterise. + +A prevalent opinion among the Greeks ascribed the origin of paiderastia +to Crete; and it was here that the legend of Zeus and Ganymede was +localised.[3] "The Cretans," says Plato,[4] "are always accused of +having invented the story of Ganymede and Zeus, which is designed to +justify themselves in the enjoyment of such pleasures by the practice of +the god whom they believe to have been their lawgiver." + +In another passage,[5] Plato speaks of the custom that prevailed before +the time of Laius--in terms which show his detestation of a vice that +had gone far toward corrupting Greek society. This sentence indicates +the second theory of the later Greeks upon this topic. They thought that +Laius, the father of Å’dipus, was the first to practise _Hybris_, or +lawless lust, in this form, by the rape committed on Chrysippus, the son +of Pelops.[6] To this crime of Laius, the Scholiast to the _Seven +against Thebes_ attributes all the evils which afterwards befell the +royal house of Thebes, and Euripides made it the subject of a tragedy. +In another but less prevalent Saga the introduction of paiderastia is +ascribed to Orpheus. + +It is clear from these conflicting theories that the Greeks themselves +had no trustworthy tradition on the subject. Nothing, therefore, but +speculative conjecture is left for the modern investigator. If we need +in such a matter to seek further than the primal instincts of human +nature, we may suggest that, like the orgiastic rites of the later +Hellenic cultus, paiderastia in its crudest form was transmitted to the +Greeks from the East. Its prevalence in Crete, which, together with +Cyprus, formed one of the principal links between PhÅ“nicia and Hellas +proper, favours this view. Paiderastia would, on this hypothesis, like +the worship of the Paphian and Corinthian Aphrodite, have to be regarded +as in part an Oriental importation.[7] Yet, if we adopt any such +solution of the problem, we must not forget that in this, as in all +similar cases, whatever the Greeks received from adjacent nations, they +distinguished with the qualities of their own personality. Paiderastia +in Hellas assumed Hellenic characteristics, and cannot be confounded +with any merely Asiatic form of luxury. In the tenth section of this +Essay I shall return to the problem, and advance my own conjecture as to +the part played by the Dorians in the development of paiderastia into a +custom. + +It is enough for the present to remark that, however introduced, the +vice of boy-love, as distinguished from heroic friendship, received +religious sanction at an early period. The legend of the rape of +Ganymede was invented, according to the passage recently quoted from +Plato, by the Cretans with the express purpose of investing their +pleasures with a show of piety. This localisation of the religious +sanction of paiderastia in Crete confirms the hypothesis of Oriental +influence; for one of the notable features of Græco Asiatic worship was +the consecration of sensuality in the Phallus cult, the _Hiero douloi_ +(temple slaves, or _bayadères_) of Aphrodite, and the eunuchs of the +Phrygian mother. Homer tells the tale of Ganymede with the utmost +simplicity. The boy was so beautiful that Zeus suffered him not to dwell +on earth, but translated him to heaven and appointed him the cupbearer +of the immortals. The sensual desire which made the king of gods and men +prefer Ganymede to Leda, Io, Danaë, and all the maidens whom he loved +and left on earth, is an addition to the Homeric version of the myth. In +course of time the tale of Ganymede, according to the Cretan reading, +became the nucleus around which the paiderastic associations of the +Greek race gathered, just as that of Achilles formed the main point in +their tradition of heroic friendship. To the Romans and the modern +nations the name of Ganymede, debased to Catamitus, supplied a term of +reproach, which sufficiently indicates the nature of the love of which +he became eventually the eponym. + + + + +VI. + + +Resuming the results of the last four sections, we find two separate +forms of masculine passion clearly marked in early Hellas--a noble and a +base, a spiritual and a sensual. To the distinction between them the +Greek conscience was acutely sensitive; and this distinction, in theory +at least, subsisted throughout their history. They worshipped Erôs, as +they worshipped Aphrodite, under the twofold titles of Ouranios +(celestial) and Pandemos (vulgar, or _volvivaga_); and, while they +regarded the one love with the highest approval, as the source of +courage and greatness of soul, they never publicly approved the other. +It is true, as will appear in the sequel of this essay, that boy-love in +its grossest form was tolerated in historic Hellas with an indulgence +which it never found in any Christian country, while heroic comradeship +remained an ideal hard to realise, and scarcely possible beyond the +limits of the strictest Dorian sect. Yet the language of philosophers, +historians, poets and orators is unmistakable. All testify alike to the +discrimination between vulgar and heroic love in the Greek mind. I +purpose to devote a separate section of this inquiry to the +investigation of these ethical distinctions. For the present, a +quotation from one of the most eloquent of the later rhetoricians will +sufficiently set forth the contrast, which the Greek race never wholly +forgot:[8]-- + + "The one love is mad for pleasure; the other loves beauty. The one + is an involuntary sickness; the other is a sought enthusiasm. The + one tends to the good of the beloved; the other to the ruin of + both. The one is virtuous; the other incontinent in all its acts. + The one has its end in friendship; the other in hate. The one is + freely given; the other is bought and sold. The one brings praise; + the other blame. The one is Greek; the other is barbarous. The one + is virile; the other effeminate. The one is firm and constant; the + other light and variable. The man who loves the one love is a + friend of God, a friend of law, fulfilled of modesty, and free of + speech. He dares to court his friend in daylight, and rejoices in + his love. He wrestles with him in the playground and runs with him + in the race, goes afield with him to the hunt, and in battle fights + for glory at his side. In his misfortune he suffers, and at his + death he dies with him. He needs no gloom of night, no desert + place, for this society. The other lover is a foe to heaven, for he + is out of tune and criminal; a foe to law, for he transgresses law. + Cowardly, despairing, shameless, haunting the dusk, lurking in + desert places and secret dens, he would fain be never seen + consorting with his friend, but shuns the light of day, and follows + after night and darkness, which the shepherd hates, but the thief + loves." + +And again, in the same dissertation, Maximus Tyrius speaks to like +purpose, clothing his precepts in imagery:-- + + "You see a fair body in bloom and full of promise of fruit. Spoil + not, defile not, touch not the blossom. Praise it, as some wayfarer + may praise a plant--even so by PhÅ“bus' altar have I seen a young + palm shooting toward the sun. Refrain from Zeus and PhÅ“bus' tree; + wait for the fruit-season and thou shall love more righteously." + +With the baser form of paiderastia I shall have little to do in this +essay. Vice of this kind does not vary to any great extent, whether we +observe it in Athens or in Rome, in Florence of the sixteenth or in +Paris of the nineteenth century;[9] nor in Hellas was it more noticeable +than elsewhere, except for its comparative publicity. The nobler type of +masculine love developed by the Greeks is, on the contrary, almost +unique in[10] the history of the human race. It is that which more than +anything else distinguishes the Greeks from the barbarians of their own +time, from the Romans and from modern men in all that appertains to the +emotions. The immediate subject of the ensuing inquiry will, therefore, +be that mixed form of paiderastia upon which the Greeks prided +themselves, which had for its heroic ideal the friendship of Achilles +and Patroclus, but which in historic times exhibited a sensuality +unknown to Homer.[11] In treating of this unique product of their +civilisation I shall use the terms _Greek Love_, understanding thereby a +passionate and enthusiastic attachment subsisting between man and youth, +recognised by society and protected by opinion, which, though it was not +free from sensuality, did not degenerate into mere licentiousness. + + + + +VII. + + +Before reviewing the authors who deal with this subject in detail, or +discussing the customs of the several Greek states, it will be well to +illustrate in general the nature of this love, and to collect the +principal legends and historic tales which set it forth. + +Greek love was, in its origin and essence, military. Fire and valour, +rather than tenderness or tears, were the external outcome of this +passion; nor had _Malachia_, effeminacy, a place in its vocabulary. At +the same time it was exceedingly absorbing. "Half my life," says the +lover, "lives in thine image, and the rest is lost. When thou art kind, +I spend the day like a god; when thy face is turned aside, it is very +dark with me."[12] Plato, in his celebrated description of a lover's +soul, writes:[13]-- + + "Wherever she thinks that she will behold the beautiful one, + thither in her desire she runs. And when she has seen him, and + bathed herself with the waters of desire, her constraint is + loosened and she is refreshed, and has no more pangs and pains; and + this is the sweetest of all pleasures at the time, and is the + reason why the soul of the lover will never forsake his beautiful + one, whom he esteems above all; he has forgotten mother and + brethren and companions, and he thinks nothing of the neglect and + loss of his property. The rules and proprieties of life, on which + he formerly prided himself, he now despises, and is ready to sleep + like a servant, wherever he is allowed, as near as he can to his + beautiful one, who is not only the object of his worship, but the + only physician who can heal him in his extreme agony." + +These passages show how real and vital was the passion of Greek love. It +would be difficult to find more intense expressions of affection in +modern literature. The effect produced upon the lover by the presence of +his beloved was similar to that inspiration which the knight of romance +received from his lady. + + "I know not," says Phædrus, in the _Symposium_ of Plato,[14] "any + greater blessing to a young man beginning life than a virtuous + lover, or to the lover than a beloved youth. For the principle + which ought to be the guide of men who would nobly live--that + principle, I say, neither kindred, nor honour, nor wealth, nor any + other motive is able to implant so well as love. Of what am I + speaking? Of the sense of honour and dishonour, without which + neither states nor individuals ever do any good or great work. And + I say that a lover who is detected in doing any dishonourable act, + or submitting, through cowardice, when any dishonour is done to him + by another, will be more pained at being detected by his beloved + than at being seen by his father, or by his companions, or by any + one else. The beloved, too, when he is seen in any disgraceful + situation, has the same feeling about his lover. And if there were + only some way of contriving that a state or an army should be made + up of lovers and their loves, they would be the very best governors + of their own city, abstaining from all dishonour; and emulating one + another in honour; and when fighting at one another's side, + although a mere handful, they would overcome the world. For what + lover would not choose rather to be seen by all mankind than by his + beloved, either when abandoning his post, or throwing away his + arms? He would be ready to die a thousand deaths rather than endure + this. Or who would desert his beloved or fail him in the hour of + danger? The veriest coward would become an inspired hero, equal to + the bravest, at such a time; love would inspire him. That courage + which, as Homer says, the god breathes into the soul of heroes, + love of his own nature inspires into the lover." + +With the whole of this quotation we might compare what Plutarch in the +Life of Pelopidas relates about the composition of a Sacred Band;[15] +while the following anecdote from the _Anabasis_ of Xenophon may serve +to illustrate the theory that regiments should consist of lovers.[16] +Episthenes of Olynthus, one of Xenophon's hoplites, saved a beautiful +boy from the slaughter commanded by Seuthes in a Thracian village. The +king could not understand why his orders had not been obeyed, till +Xenophon excused his hoplite by explaining that Episthenes was a +passionate boy-lover, and that he had once formed a corps of none but +beautiful men. Then Seuthes asked Episthenes if he was willing to die +instead of the boy, and he answered, stretching out his neck, "Strike," +he says, "if the boy says 'Yes,'[17] and will be pleased with it." At +the end of the affair, which is told by Xenophon with a quiet humour +that brings a little scene of Greek military life vividly before us, +Seuthes gave the boy his liberty, and the soldier walked away with him. + +In order further to illustrate the hardy nature of Greek love, I may +allude to the speech of Pausanias in the _Symposium_ of Plato.[18] The +fruits of love, he says, are courage in the face of danger, intolerance +of despotism, the virtues of the generous and haughty soul. + + "In Ionia," he adds, "and other places, and generally in countries + which are subject to the barbarians, the custom is held to be + dishonourable; loves of youth share the evil repute of philosophy + and gymnastics because they are inimical to tyranny, for the + interests of rulers require that their subjects should be poor in + spirit, and that there should be no strong bond of friendship or + society among them, which love, above all other motives, is likely + to inspire, as our Athenian tyrants learned by experience." + + + + +VIII. + + +Among the myths to which Greek lovers referred with pride, besides that +of Achilles, were the legends of Theseus and Peirithous, of Orestes and +Pylades, of Talos and Rhadamanthus, of Damon and Pythias. Nearly all the +Greek gods, except, I think, oddly enough, Ares, were famous for their +love. Poseidon, according to Pindar, loved Pelops; Zeus, besides +Ganymede, was said to have carried off Chrysippus. Apollo loved +Ayacinth, and numbered among his favourites Branchos and Claros. Pan +loved Cyparissus, and the spirit of the evening star loved Hymenæus. +Hypnos, the god of slumber, loved Endymion, and sent him to sleep with +open eyes, in order that he might always gaze upon their beauty. (Ath. +xiii. 564). The myths of PhÅ“bus, Pan, and Hesperus, it may be said in +passing, are paiderastic parallels to the tales of Adonis and Daphne. +They do not represent the specific quality of national Greek love at all +in the same way as the legends of Achilles, Theseus, Pylades, and +Pythias. We find in them merely a beautiful and romantic play of the +mythopÅ“ic fancy, after paiderastia had taken hold on the imagination of +the race. The case is different with Herakles, the patron, eponym, and +ancestor of Dorian Hellas. He was a boy-lover of the true heroic type. +In the innumerable amours ascribed to him we always discern the note of +martial comradeship. His passion for Iolaus was so famous that lovers +swore their oaths upon the Theban's tomb;[19] while the story of his +loss of Hylas supplied Greek poets with one of their most charming +subjects. From the idyll of Theocritus called _Hylas_ we learn some +details about the relation between lover and beloved, according to the +heroic ideal. + + "Nay, but the son of Amphitryon, that heart of bronze, he that + abode the wild lion's onset, loved a lad, beautiful Hylas--Hylas of + the braided locks, and he taught him all things as a father + teaches his child, all whereby himself became a mighty man and + renowned in minstrelsy. Never was he apart from Hylas,..... and all + this that the lad might be fashioned to his mind, and might drive a + straight furrow, and come to the true measure of man."[20] + + + + +IX. + + +Passing from myth to semi-legendary history, we find frequent mention +made of lovers in connection with the great achievements of the earliest +age of Hellas. What Pausanias and Phædrus are reported to have said in +the _Symposium_ of Plato, is fully borne out by the records of the +numerous tyrannicides and self-devoted patriots who helped to establish +the liberties of the Greek cities. When Epimenides of Crete required a +human victim in his purification of Athens from the _Musos_ of the +Megacleidæ, two lovers, Cratinus and Aristodemus, offered themselves as +a voluntary sacrifice for the city.[21] The youth died to propitiate the +gods; the lover refused to live without him. Chariton and Melanippus, +who attempted to assassinate Phalaris of Agrigentum, were lovers.[22] So +were Diocles and Philolaus, natives of Corinth, who removed to Thebes, +and after giving laws to their adopted city, died and were buried in one +grave.[23] Not less celebrated was another Diocles, the Athenian exile, +who fell near Megara in battle, fighting for the boy he loved.[24] His +tomb was honoured with the rites and sacrifices specially reserved for +heroes. A similar story is told of the Thessalian horseman +Cleomachus.[25] This soldier rode into a battle which was being fought +between the people of Eretria and Chalkis, inflamed with such enthusiasm +for the youth he beloved, that he broke the foemen's ranks and won the +victory for the Chalkidians. After the fight was over Cleomachus was +found among the slain, but his corpse was nobly buried; and from that +time forward love was honoured by the men of Chalkis. These stories +might be paralleled from actual Greek history. Plutarch, commenting upon +the courage of the sacred band of Thebans,[26] tells of a man "who, when +his enemy was going to kill him, earnestly requested him to run him +through the breast, that his lover might not blush to see him wounded in +the back." In order to illustrate the haughty temper of Greek lovers, +the same author, in his _Erotic Dialogue_, records the names of Antileon +of Metapontum, who braved a tyrant in the cause of the boy he loved;[27] +of Crateas, who punished Archelaus with death for an insult offered to +him; of Pytholaus, who treated Alexander of Pheræ in like manner; and of +another youth who killed the Ambracian tyrant Periander for a similar +affront.[28] To these tales we might add another story by Plutarch in +his Life of Demetrius Poliorketes. This man insulted a boy called +Damocles, who, finding no other way to save his honour, jumped into a +cauldron of boiling water and was killed upon the spot.[29] A curious +legend, belonging to semi-mythical romance related by Pausanias,[30] +deserves a place here, since it proves to what extent the popular +imagination was impregnated by notions of Greek love. The city of +Thespia was at one time infested by a dragon, and young men were offered +to appease its fury every year. They all died unnamed and unremembered +except one, Cleostratus. To clothe this youth, his lover, Menestratus, +forged a brazen coat of mail, thick set with hooks turned upwards. The +dragon swallowed Cleostratus and killed him, but died by reason of the +hooks. Thus love was the salvation of the city and the source of +immortality to the two friends. + + * * * * * + +It would not be difficult to multiply romances of this kind; the +rhetoricians and moralists of later Greece abound in them.[31] But the +most famous of all remains to be recorded. This is the story of +Harmodius and Aristogeiton, who freed Athens from the tyrant Hipparchus. +There is not a speech, a poem, essay, a panegyrical oration in praise of +either Athenian liberty or Greek love which does not tell the tale of +this heroic friendship. Herodotus and Thucydides treat the event as +matter of serious history. Plato refers to it as the beginning of +freedom for the Athenians. "The drinking-song in honour of these lovers, +is one of the most precious fragments of popular Greek poetry which we +possess. As in the cases of Lucretia and Virginia, so here a tyrant's +intemperance was the occasion, if not the cause, of a great nation's +rising. Harmodius and Aristogeiton were reverenced as martyrs and +saviours of their country. Their names gave consecration to the love +which made them bold against the despot, and they became at Athens +eponyms of paiderastia."[32] + + + + +X. + + +A considerable majority of the legends which have been related in the +preceding section are Dorian, and the Dorians gave the earliest and most +marked encouragement to Greek love. Nowhere else, indeed, except among +the Dorians, who were an essentially military race, living like an army +of occupation in the countries they had seized, herding together in +barracks and at public messes, and submitting to martial drill and +discipline, do we meet with paiderastia developed as an institution. In +Crete and Lacedæmon it became a potent instrument of education. What I +have to say, in the first instance, on this matter is derived almost +entirely from C. O. Müllers's _Dorians_,[33] to which work I refer my +readers for the authorities cited in illustration of each detail. Plato +says that the law of Lycurgus in respect to love was _Poikiles_,[34] by +which he means that it allowed the custom under certain restrictions. It +would appear that the lover was called Inspirer, at Sparta, while the +youth he loved was named Hearer. These local phrases sufficiently +indicate the relation which subsisted between the pair. The lover +taught, the hearer learned; and so from man to man was handed down the +tradition of heroism, the peculiar tone and temper of the state to +which, in particular among the Greeks, the Dorians clung with obstinate +pertinacity. Xenophon distinctly states that love was maintained among +the Spartans with a view to education; and when we consider the customs +of the state, by which boys were separated early from their homes and +the influences of the family were almost wholly wanting, it is not +difficult to understand the importance of the paiderastic institution. +The Lacedæmonian lover might represent his friend in the Assembly. He +was answerable for his good conduct, and stood before him as a pattern +of manliness, courage, and prudence. Of the nature of his teaching we +may form some notion from the precepts addressed by the Megarian +Theognis to the youth Kurnus. In battle the lovers fought side by side; +and it is worthy of notice that before entering into an engagement the +Spartans sacrificed to Erôs. It was reckoned a disgrace if a youth found +no man to be his lover. Consequently we find that the most illustrious +Spartans are mentioned by their biographers in connection with their +comrades. Agesilaus heard Lysander; Archidamus, his son, loved +Cleonymus; Cleomenes III, was the hearer of Xenares and the inspirer of +Panteus. The affection of Pausanias, on the other hand, for the boy +Argilus, who betrayed him according to the account of Thucydides,[35] +must not be reckoned among these nobler loves. In order to regulate the +moral conduct of both parties, Lycurgus made it felony, punishable with +death or exile, for the lover to desire the person of a boy in lust; +and, on the other hand, it was accounted exceedingly disgraceful for the +younger to meet the advances of the elder with a view to gain. Honest +affection and manly self-respect were exacted on both sides; the bond of +union implied no more of sensuality than subsists between a father and a +son, a brother and a brother. At the same time great license of +intercourse was permitted. Cicero, writing long after the great age of +Greece, but relying probably upon sources to which we have no access, +asserts that, "Lacedæmoni ipsi cum omnia concedunt in amore juvenum +_præter stuprum_ tenui sane muro dissæpiunt id quod excipiunt: +_complexus enim concubitusque permittunt_."[36] The Lacedæmonians, while +they permit all things except outrage in the love of youths, certainly +distinguish the forbidden by a thin wall of partition from the +sanctioned, for they allow embraces and a common couch to lovers." + +In Crete the paiderastic institutions were even more elaborate than at +Sparta. The lover was called _Philetor_, and the beloved one _Kleinos_. +When a man wished to attach to himself a youth in the recognised bonds +of friendship, he took him away from his home, with a pretence of force, +but not without the connivance, in most cases, of his friends.[37] For +two months the pair lived together among the hills, hunting and fishing. +Then the _Philetor_ gave gifts to the youth, and suffered him to return +to his relatives. If the _Kleinos_ (illustrious or laudable) had +received insult or ill-treatment during the probationary weeks, he now +could get redress at law. If he was satisfied with the conduct of his +would-be comrade, he changed his title from _Kleinos_ to _Parastates_ +(comrade and bystander in the ranks of battle and life), returned to +the _Philetor_, and lived thenceforward in close bonds of public +intimacy with him. + + * * * * * + +The primitive simplicity and regularity of these customs make it appear +strange to modern minds; nor is it easy to understand how they should +ever have been wholly free from blame. Yet we must remember the +influences which prevalent opinion and ancient tradition both contribute +toward preserving a delicate sense of honour under circumstances of +apparent difficulty. The careful reading of one _Life_ by Plutarch, +that, for instance, of Cleomenes or that of Agis, will have more effect +in presenting the realities of Dorian existence to our imagination than +any amount of speculative disquisition. Moreover, a Dorian was exposed +to almost absolute publicity. He had no chance of hiding from his +fellow-citizens the secrets of his private life. It was not, therefore, +till the social and political complexion of the whole nation became +corrupt that the institutions just described encouraged profligacy.[38] +That the Spartans and the Cretans degenerated from their primitive ideal +is manifest from the severe critiques of the philosophers. Plato, while +passing a deliberate censure on the Cretans for the introduction of +paiderastia into Greece,[39] remarks that _syssitia_, or meals in +common, and _gymnasia_ are favourable to the perversion of the passions. +Aristotle, in a similar argument,[40] points out that the Dorian habits +had a direct tendency to check the population by encouraging the love of +boys and by separating women from the society of men. An obscure passage +quoted from Hagnon by Athenæus might also be cited to prove that the +Greeks at large had formed no high opinion of Spartan manners.[41] But +the most convincing testimony is to be found in the Greek language: "to +do like the Laconians, to have connection in Laconian way, to do like +the Cretans," tell their own tale, especially when we compare these +phrases with, "to do like the Corinthians, the Lesbians, the Siphnians, +the PhÅ“nicians, and other verbs formed to indicate the vices localised +in separate districts. + + * * * * * + +Up to this point I have been content to follow the notices of Dorian +institutions which are scattered up and down the later Greek authors, +and which have been collected by C. O. Müller. I have not attempted to +draw definite conclusions, or to speculate upon the influence which the +Dorian section of the Hellenic family may have exercised in developing +paiderastia. To do so now will be legitimate, always remembering that +what we actually know about the Dorians is confined to the historic +period, and that the tradition respecting their early customs is derived +from second-hand authorities. + + * * * * * + +It has frequently occurred to my mind that the mixed type of paiderastia +which I have named Greek Love took its origin in Doris. Homer, who knew +nothing about the passion as it afterwards existed, drew a striking +picture of masculine affection in Achilles. And Homer, I may add, was +not a native of northern Greece. Whoever he was, or whoever they were, +the poet, or the poets, we call Homer, belonged to the south-east of the +Ægean. Homer, then, may have been ignorant of paiderastia. Yet +friendship occupies the first place in his hero's heart, while only the +second is reserved for sexual emotion. Now Achilles came from Phthia, +itself a portion of that mountain region to which Doris belonged.[42] Is +it unnatural to conjecture that the Dorians in their migration to +Lacedæmon and Crete, the recognised headquarters of the custom, carried +a tradition of heroic paiderastia along with them? Is it unreasonable to +surmise that here, if anywhere in Hellas, the custom existed from +prehistoric times? If so, the circumstances of their invasion would have +fostered the transformation of this tradition into a tribal institution. +They went forth, a band of warriors and pirates, to cross the sea in +boats, and to fight their way along the hills and plains of Southern +Greece. The dominions they had conquered with their swords they occupied +like soldiers. The camp became their country, and for a long period of +time they literally lived upon the bivouac. Instead of a city-state, +with is manifold complexities of social life, they were reduced to the +narrow limits and the simple conditions of a roving horde. Without +sufficiency of women, without the sanctities of established domestic +life, inspired by the memory of Achilles, and venerating their ancestor +Herakles, the Dorian warriors had special opportunity for elevating +comradeship to the rank of an enthusiasm. The incidents of emigration +into a distant country--perils of the sea, passages of rivers and +mountains, assaults of fortresses and cities, landings on a hostile +shore, night-vigils by the side of blazing beacons, foragings for food, +picquet services in the front of watchful foes--involved adventures +capable of shedding the lustre of romance on friendship. These +circumstances, by bringing the virtues of sympathy with the weak, +tenderness for the beautiful, protection for the young, together with +corresponding qualities of gratitude, self-devotion and admiring +attachment, into play, may have tended to cement unions between man and +man no less firm than that of marriage. On such connections a wise +captain would have relied for giving strength to his battalion, and for +keeping alive the flame of enterprise and daring. Fighting and foraging +in company, sharing the same wayside board and heath-strewn bed, +rallying to the comrade's voice in onset, relying on the comrade's +shield when fallen, these men learned the meanings of the words +_Philetor_ and _Parastates_. To be loved was honourable, for it implied +being worthy to be died for. To love was glorious, since it pledged the +lover to self-sacrifice in case of need. In these conditions the +paiderastic passion may have well combined manly virtue with carnal +appetite, adding such romantic sentiment as some stern men reserve +within their hearts for women.[43] A motto might be chosen for a lover +of this early Dorian type from the Æolic poem ascribed to Theocritus: +"And made me tender from the iron man I used to be." + + * * * * * + +In course of time, when the Dorians had settled down upon their +conquered territories, and when the passions which had shown their more +heroic aspect during a period of warfare came, in a period of idleness, +to call for methods of restraint, then the discrimination between +honourable and base forms of love, to which Plato pointed as a feature +of the Dorian institutions, took place. It is also more than merely +probable that in Crete where these institutions were the most precisely +regulated, the Dorian immigrants came into contact with PhÅ“nician vices, +the repression of which required the adoption of a strict code.[44] In +this way paiderastia, considered as a mixed custom, partly martial, +partly luxurious, recognised by public opinion and controlled by law, +obtained among the Dorian Tribes, and spread from them throughout the +states of Hellas. Relics of numerous semi-savage habits--thefts of food, +ravishment as a prelude to marriage, and so forth--indicate in like +manner the survival among the Dorians of primitive tribal institutions. + +It will be seen that the conclusion to which I have been drawn by the +foregoing consideration is that the mixed form of paiderastia, called by +me in this essay "Greek love," owed its peculiar quality, what Plato +called its intricacy of "laws and customs," to two diverse strains of +circumstances harmonised in the Greek temperament. Its military and +enthusiastic elements were derived from the primitive conditions of the +Dorians during their immigration into Southern Greece. Its refinements +of sensuality and sanctified impurity are referable to contact with +Phoenician civilisation. The specific form it assumed among the Dorians +of the historic period, equally removed from military freedom and from +Oriental luxury, can be ascribed to the operation of that organising, +moulding and assimilating spirit which we recognise as Hellenic. + +The position thus stated is, unfortunately, speculative rather than +demonstrable; and in order to establish the reasonableness of the +speculation, it would be natural at this point to introduce some account +of paiderastia as it exists in various savage tribes, if their customs +could be seen to illustrate the Doric phase of Greek love. This, +however, is not the case. Study of Mr. Herbert Spencer's Tables, and of +Bastian's _Der Mensch in der Geschichte_ (vol. iii. pp. 304-323), +together with the facts collected by travellers among the North American +Indians, and the mass of curious information supplied by Rosenbaum in +his _Geschichte der Lustseuche im Alterthume_, makes it clear to my mind +that the unisexual vices of barbarians follow, not the type of Greek +paiderastia, but that of the Scythian disease of effeminacy, described +by Herodotus and Hippocrates as something essentially foreign and +non-Hellenic. In all these cases, whether we regard the Scythian +impotent effeminates, the North American Bardashes, the Tsecats of +Madagascar, the Cordaches of the Canadian Indians and similar classes +among Californian Indians, natives of Venezuela, and so forth--the +characteristic point is that effeminate males renounce their sex, assume +female clothes, and live either in promiscuous concubinage with the men +of the tribe or else in marriage with chosen persons. This abandonment +of the masculine attributes and habits, this assumption of feminine +duties and costume, would have been abhorrent to the Doric custom. +Precisely similar effeminacies were recognised as pathological by +Herodotus, to whom Greek paiderastia was familiar. The distinctive +feature of Dorian comradeship was that it remained on both sides +masculine, tolerating no sort of softness. For similar reasons, what we +know about the prevalence of sodomy among the primitive peoples of +Mexico, Peru and Yucatan, and almost all half-savage nations,[45] +throws little light upon the subject of the present inquiry. Nor do we +gain anything of importance from the semi-religious practices of +Japanese Bonzes or Egyptian priests. Such facts, taken in connection +with abundant modern experience of what are called unnatural vices, only +prove the universality of unisexual indulgence in all parts of the world +and under all conditions of society. Considerable psychological interest +attaches to the study of these sexual aberrations. It is also true that +we detect in them the germ or raw material of a custom which the Dorians +moralised or developed after a specific fashion; but nowhere do we find +an analogue to their peculiar institutions. It was just that effort to +moralise and adapt to social use a practice which has elsewhere been +excluded in the course of civil growth, or has been allowed to linger +half-acknowledged as a remnant of more primitive conditions, or has +re-appeared in the corruption of society; it was just this effort to +elevate paiderastia according to the æsthetic standard of Greek ethics +which constituted its distinctive quality in Hellas. We are obliged, in +fact, to separate this, the true Hellenic manifestation of the +paiderastic passion, from the effeminacies, brutalities, and gross +sensualities which can be noticed alike in imperfectly civilised and in +luxuriously corrupt communities. + + * * * * * + +Before leaving this part of the subject, I must repeat that what I have +suggested regarding the intervention of the Dorians in creating the type +of Greek love is a pure speculation. If it has any value, that is due to +the fixed and regulated forms which paiderastic institutions displayed +at a very early date in Crete and Sparta, and also to the remnants of +savage customs embedded in them. It depends to a certain extent also +upon the absence of paiderastia in Homer. But on this point something +still remains to be said. Our Attic authorities certainly regarded the +Homeric poems as canonical books, decisive for the culture of the first +stage of Hellenic history. Yet it is clear that Homer refined Greek +mythology, while many of the cruder elements of that mythology survived +from pre-Homeric times in local cults and popular religious observances. +We know, moreover, that a body of non-Homeric writings, commonly called +the cyclic poems, existed by the side of Homer, some of the material of +which is preserved to us by dramatists, lyrists, historians, antiquaries +and anecdotists. It is not impossible that this so-called cyclical +literature contained paiderastic elements, which were eliminated, like +the grosser forms of myth, in the Homeric poems.[46] If this be +conceded, we might be led to conjecture that paiderastia was a remnant +of ancient savage habits, ignored by Homer, but preserved by tradition +in the race. Given the habit, the Greeks were certainly capable of +carrying it on without shame. We ought to resist the temptation to seek +a high and noble origin for all Greek institutions. But there remains +the fact that, however they acquired the habit, whether from North +Dorian customs antecedent to Homer, or from conditions of experience +subsequent to the Homeric age, the Greeks gave it a dignity and an +emotional superiority which is absent in the annals of barbarian +institutions. Instead of abandoning it as part of the obsolete lumber of +their prehistoric origins, they chose to elaborate it into the region of +romance and ideality. And this they did in spite of Homer's ignorance of +the passion or of his deliberate reticence. Whatever view, therefore, we +may take about Homer's silence, and about the possibility of paiderastia +occurring in the lost poems of the cyclic type, or lastly, about its +probable survival in the people from an age of savagery, we are bound to +regard its systematical development among the Dorians as a fact of +paramount significance. + +In that passage of the _Symposium_[47] where Plato notices the Spartan +law of love as _Poikilos_, he speaks with disapprobation of the +BÅ“otians, who were not restrained by custom and opinion within the same +strict limits. Yet it should here be noted that the military aspect of +Greek love in the historic period was nowhere more distinguished than at +Thebes. Epaminondas was a notable boy-lover; and the names of his +beloved Asopichus and Cephisodorus are mentioned by Plutarch.[48] They +died, and were buried with him at Mantinea. The paiderastic legend of +Herakles and Iolaus was localised in BÅ“otia; and the lovers, Diocles and +Philolaus, who gave laws to Thebes, directly encouraged those masculine +attachments, which had their origin in the Palæstra.[49] The practical +outcome of these national institutions in the chief town of BÅ“otia was +the formation of the so-called Sacred Band, or Band of Lovers, upon whom +Pelopidas relied in his most perilous operations. Plutarch relates that +they were enrolled, in the first instance, by Gorgidas, the rank and +file of the regiment being composed of young men bound together by +affection. Report goes that they were never beaten till the battle of +Chæronea. At the end of that day, fatal to the liberties of Hellas, +Philip of Macedon went forth to view the slain; and when he "came to +that place where the three hundred that fought his phalanx lay dead +together, he wondered, and understanding that it was the band of lovers, +he shed tears, and said, 'Perish any man who suspects that these men +either did or suffered anything that was base.'"[50] As at all the other +turning points of Greek history, so at this, too, there is something +dramatic and eventful. Thebes was the last strong-hold of Greek freedom; +the Sacred Band contained the pith and flower of her army; these lovers +had fallen to a man, like the Spartans of Leonidas at Thermopylæ, +pierced by the lances of the Macedonian phalanx; then, when the day was +over and the dead were silent, Philip, the victor in that fight, shed +tears when he beheld their serried ranks, pronouncing himself therewith +the fittest epitaph which could have been inscribed upon their stelë by +a Hellene. + + * * * * * + +At Chæronea, Greek liberty, Greek heroism, and Greek love, properly +so-called, expired. It is not unworthy of notice that the son of the +conqueror, young Alexander, endeavoured to revive the tradition of +Achilleian friendship. This lad, born in the decay of Greek liberty, +took conscious pleasure in enacting the part of a Homeric hero, on the +altered stage of Hellas and of Asia, with somewhat tawdry histrionic +pomp.[51] Homer was his invariable companion upon his marches; in the +Troad he paid special honour to the tomb of Achilles, running naked +races round the barrow in honour of the hero, and expressing the envy +which he felt for one who had so true a friend and so renowned a poet to +record his deeds. The historians of his life relate that, while he was +indifferent to women,[52] he was madly given to the love of males. This +the story of his sorrow for Hephaistion sufficiently confirms. A kind of +spiritual atavism moved the Macedonian conqueror to assume on the vast +Bactrian plain the outward trappings of Achilles Agonistes.[53] + +Returning from this digression upon Alexander's almost hysterical +archaism, it should next be noticed that Plato includes the people of +Elis in the censure which he passes upon the BÅ“otians. He accused the +Eleans of adopting customs which permitted youths to gratify their +lovers without further distinction of age, or quality, or opportunity. +In like manner, Maximus Tyrius distinguishes between the customs of +Crete and Elis: "While I find the laws of the Cretans excellent, I must +condemn those of Elis for their license."[54] Elis,[55] like Megara, +instituted a contest for beauty among youths; and it is significant that +the Megarians were not uncommonly accused of _Hybris_, or wanton lust, +by Greek writers. Both the Eleans and the Megarians may therefore +reasonably be considered to have exceeded the Greek standard of taste in +the amount of sensual indulgence which they openly acknowledged. In +Ionia, and other regions of Hellas exposed to Oriental influences, Plato +says that paiderastia was accounted a disgrace.[56] At the same time he +couples with paiderastia, in this place, both addiction to gymnastic +exercise and to philosophical studies, pointing out that despotism was +always hostile to high thoughts and haughty customs. The meaning of the +passage, therefore, seems to be that the true type of Greek love had no +chance of unfolding itself freely on the shores of Asia Minor. Of +paiderastic _Malakia_, or effeminacy, there is here no question, else +Plato would probably have made Pausanias use other language. + + + + +XI. + + +Before proceeding to discuss the conditions under which paiderastia +existed in Athens, it may be well to pause and to consider the tone +adopted with regard to it by some of the earlier Greek poets. Much that +is interesting on the subject of the true Hellenic Erôs can be gathered +from Theognis, Solon, Pindar, Æschylus, and Sophocles; while the lyrics +of Anacreon, Alcæus, Ibycus, and others of the same period illustrate +the wanton and illiberal passion (_Hybris_) which tended to corrode and +undermine the nobler feeling. + +It is well known that Theognis and his friend Kurnus were members of +the aristocracy of Megara. After Megara had thrown off the yoke of +Corinth in the early part of the sixth century, the city first submitted +to the democratic despotism of Theagenes, and then for many years +engaged in civil warfare. The larger number of the elegies of Theognis +are specially intended to instruct Kurnus how he ought to act as an +illustrious party-leader of the nobles (_Esthloi_) in their contest with +the people (_Deiloi_). They consist, therefore, of political and social +precepts, and for our present purpose are only important as illustrating +the educational authority assumed by a Dorian _Philetor_ over his +friend. The personal elegies intermingled with these poems on conduct +reveal the very heart of a Greek lover at his early period. Here is one +on loyalty:-- + + "Love me not with words alone, while your mind and thoughts are + otherwise, if you really care for me and the heart within you is + loyal. But love me with a pure and honest soul, or openly disown + and hate me; let the breach between us be avowed. He who hath a + single tongue and a double mind is a bad comrade, Kurnus, better as + a foe than a friend."[57] + +The bitter-sweet of love is well described in the following couplets:-- + + "Harsh and sweet, alluring and repellent, until it be crowned with + completion, is love for young men. If one brings it to perfection, + then it is sweet; but if a man pursues and does not love, then it + is of all things the most painful."[58] + +The same strain is repeated in the lines which begin, "a boy's love is +fair to keep, fair to lay aside."[59] As one time Theognis tells his +friend that he has the changeable temper of a hawk, the skittishness of +a pampered colt.[60] At another he remarks that boys are more constant +than women in their affection.[61] His passion rises to its noblest +height in a poem which deserves to rank with some of Shakespeare's +sonnets, and which, like them, has fulfilled its own promise of +immortality.[62] In order to appreciate the value of the fame conferred +on Kurnus by Theognis, and celebrated in such lofty strains, we must +remember that these elegies were sung at banquets. "The fair young men," +of whom the poet speaks, boy-lovers themselves, chaunted the praise of +Kurnus to the sound of flutes, while the cups went round or the lyre was +passed from hand to hand of merry-making guests. A subject to which +Theognis more than once refers is calumny:-- + + "Often will the folk speak vain things against thee in my ears, and + against me in thine. Pay thou no heed to them."[63] + +Again, he frequently reminds the boy he loves, whether it be Kurnus or +some other, that the bloom of youth is passing, and that this is a +reason for showing kindness.[64] This argument is urged with what +appears like coarseness in the following couplet:-- + + "O boy, so long as thy chin remains smooth, never will I cease from + fawning, no, not if it is doomed for me to die."[65] + +A couplet, which is also attributed to Solon, shows that paiderastia at +this time in Greece was associated with manly sports and pleasures:-- + + "Blest is the man who loves brave steeds of war, + Fair boys, and hounds, and stranger guests from far."[66] + +Nor must the following be omitted:-- + + "Blest is the man who loves, and after play, + Whereby his limbs are supple made and strong, + Retiring to his home, 'twixt sleep and song, + Sports with a fair boy on his breast all day."[67] + +The following couplet is attributed to him by Plutarch,[68] nor does +there seem any reason to doubt its genuineness. The text seems to be +corrupt, but the meaning is pretty clear:-- + + "In the charming season of the flower-time of youth thou shalt love + boys, yearning for their thighs and honeyed mouth." + +Solon, it may be remembered, thought it wise to regulate the conditions +under which the love of free youths might be tolerated. + +The general impression produced by a careful reading of Theognis is that +he entertained a genuine passion for Kurnus, and that he was anxious to +train the young man's mind in what he judged the noblest principles. +Love, at the same time, except in its more sensual moments, he describes +as bitter-sweet and subject to anxiety. That perturbation of the +emotions, which is inseparable from any of the deeper forms of personal +attachment, and which the necessary conditions of boy-love exasperated, +was irksome to the Greek. It is not a little curious to observe how all +the poets of the despotic age resent and fret against the force of their +own feeling, differing herein from the singers of chivalry, who +idealised the very pains of passion. + +Of Ibycus, who was celebrated among the ancients as the lyrist of +paiderastia,[69] very little has been preserved to us, but that little +is sufficient to indicate the fervid and voluptuous style of his art. +His imagery resembles that of Anacreon. The onset of love, for instance, +in one fragment is compared to the down-swooping of a Thracian +whirlwind; in another the poet trembles at the approach of Erôs like an +old racehorse who is dragged forth to prove his speed once more. + +Of the genuine Anacreon we possess more numerous and longer fragments, +and the names of his favourites, Cleobulus, Smerdies, Leucaspis, are +famous. The general tone of his love-poems is relaxed and Oriental, and +his language abounds in phrases indicative of sensuality. The following +may be selected:-- + + "Cleobulus I love, for Cleobulus I am mad, Cleobulus I watch and + worship with my gaze."[70] + +Again:-- + + "O boy, with the maiden's eyes, I seek and follow thee, but thou + heedest not, nor knowest that thou art my soul's charioteer." + +In another place he speaks of[71]-- + + "Love, the virginal, gleaming and radiant with desire." + +_Syneban_ (to pass the time of youth with friends) is a word which +Anacreon may be said to have made current in Greek. It occurs twice in +his fragments,[72] and exactly expresses the luxurious enjoyment of +youthful grace and beauty which appear to have been his ideal of love. +We are very far here from the Achilleian friendship of the _Iliad_. Yet, +occasionally, Anacreon uses images of great force to describe the attack +of passion, as when he says that love has smitten him with a huge axe, +and plunged him in a wintry torrent.[73] + +It must be remembered that both Anacreon and Ibycus were court poets, +singing in the palaces of Polycrates and Hippias. The youths they +celebrated were probably little better than the _exoleti_ of a Roman +Emperor.[74] This cannot be said exactly of Alcæus, whose love for +black-eyed Lycus was remembered by Cicero and Horace. So little, +however, is left of his erotic poems that no definite opinion can be +formed about them. The authority of later Greek authors justifies our +placing him upon the list of those who helped to soften and emasculate +the character of Greek love by their poems.[75] + +Two Athenian drinking-songs preserved by Athenæus,[76] which seem to +bear the stamp of the lyric age, may here be quoted. They serve to +illustrate the kind of feeling to which expression was given in public +by friends and boy-lovers:-- + + "Would I were a lovely heap of ivory, and that lovely boys carried + me into the Dionysian chorus."[77] + +This is marked by a very delicate, though naïf, fancy. The next is no +less eminent for its sustained, impassioned, simple, rhythmic feeling:-- + + "Drink with me, be young with me, love with me, wear crowns with + me, with me when I am mad be mad, with me when I am temperate be + sober." + +The greatest poet of the lyric age, the lyrist _par excellence_ Pindar, +adds much to our conception of Greek love at this period. Not only is +the poem to Theoxenos, whom he loved, and in whose arms he is said to +have died in the theatre at Argos, one of the most splendid achievements +of his art;[78] but its choice of phrase, and the curious parallel which +it draws between the free love of boys and the servile love of women, +help us to comprehend the serious intensity of this passion. "The +flashing rays of his forehead," and "is storm-tossed with desire," and +"the young-limbed bloom of boys," are phrases which it is impossible +adequately to translate. So, too, are the images by which the heart of +him who does not feel the beauty of Theoxenos is said to have been +forged with cold fire out of adamant, while the poet himself is compared +to wax wasting under the sun's rays. In Pindar, passing from Ibycus and +Anacreon, we ascend at once into a purer and more healthful atmosphere, +fraught, indeed, with passion and pregnant with storm, but no longer +simply sensual. Taken as a whole, the Odes of Pindar, composed for the +most part in the honour of young men and boys, both beautiful and +strong, are the work of a great moralist as well as a great artist. He +never fails to teach by precept and example; he does not, as Ibycus is +reported to have done, adorn his verse with legends of Ganymede and +Tithonus, for the sake of insinuating compliments. Yet no one shared in +fuller measure the Greek admiration for health and grace and vigour of +limb. This is obvious in the many radiant pictures of masculine +perfection he has drawn, as well as in the images by which he loves to +bring the beauty-bloom of youth to mind. The true Hellenic spirit may be +better studied in Pindar than in any other poet of his age; and after we +have weighed his high morality, sound counsel, and reverence for all +things good, together with the passion he avows, we shall have done +something toward comprehending the inner nature of Greek love. + + + + +XII. + + +The treatment of paiderastia upon the Attic stage requires separate +considerations. Nothing proves the popular acceptance and national +approval of Greek love more forcibly to modern minds than the fact that +the tragedians like Æschylus and Sophocles made it the subject of their +dramas. From a notice in Athenæus it appears that Stesichorus, who first +gave dramatic form to lyric poetry, composed interludes upon paiderastic +subjects.[79] But of these it is impossible to speak, since their very +titles have been lost. What immediately follows, in the narrative of +Athenæus, will serve as text for what I have to say upon this topic. +"And Æshylus, that mighty poet, and Sophocles, brought masculine loves +into the theatre through their tragedies. Wherefore some are wont to +call tragedy a paiderast; and the spectators welcome such." Nothing, +unfortunately, remains of the plays which justified this language but a +few fragments cited by Aristophanes, Plutarch, Lucian, and Athenæus. To +examine these will be the business of this section. + +The tragedy of the _Myrmidones_, which formed part of a trilogy by +Æschylus upon the legend of Achilles, must have been popular at Athens, +for Aristophanes quotes it no less than four times--twice in the +_Frogs_, once in the _Birds_, and once in the _Ecclesiazusæ_. We can +reconstruct its general plan from the lines which have come down to us +on the authority of the writers above mentioned.[80] The play opened +with an anapæstic speech of the chorus, composed of the clansmen of +Achilles, who upbraided him for staying idle in his tent while the +Achaians suffered at the hands of Hector. Achilles replied with the +metaphor of the eagle stricken by an arrow winged from one of his own +feathers. Then the embassy of PhÅ“nix arrived, and Patroclus was sent +forth to battle. Achilles, meanwhile, engaged in a game of dice; and +while he was thus employed Antilochus entered with the news of the death +of Patroclus. The next fragment brings the whole scene vividly before +our eyes. + +"Wail for me, Antilochus, rather than for the dead man--for me, +Achilles, who still live." After this, the corpse of Patroclus was +brought upon the stage, and the son of Peleus poured forth a lamentation +over his friend. The _Threnos_ of Achilles on this occasion was very +celebrated among the ancients. One passage of unmeasured passion, which +described the love which subsisted between the two heroes, has been +quoted, with varieties of reading, by Lucian, Plutarch, and +Athenæus.[81] Lucian says: "Achilles, bewailing the death of Patroclus +with unhusbanded passion, broke forth into the truth in self-abandonment +to woe." Athenæus gives the text as follows:-- + + "Hadst thou no reverence for the unsullied holiness of thighs, O + thou ungrateful for the showers of kisses given." + +What we have here chiefly to notice is the change which the tale of +Achilles had undergone since Homer.[82] Homer represented Patroclus as +older in years than the son of Peleus, but inferior to him in station; +nor did he hint which of the friends was the _Erastes_ of the other. +That view of their comradeship had not occurred to him. Æschylus makes +Achilles the lover; and for this distortion of the Homeric legend he was +severely criticised by Plato.[83] At the same time, as the two lines +quoted from the _Threnos_ prove, he treated their affection from the +point of view of post-Homeric paiderastia. + +Sophocles also wrote a play upon the legend of Achilles, which bears for +its title _Achilles' Loves_. Very little is left of this drama; but +Hesychius has preserved one phrase which illustrates the Greek notion +that love was an effluence from the beloved person through the eyes into +the lover's soul,[84] while Stobæus quotes the beautiful simile by which +love is compared to a piece of ice held in the hand by children.[85] +Another play of Sophocles, the _Niobe_, is alluded to by Plutarch and by +Athenæus for the paiderastia which it contained. Plutarch's words are +these:[86] "When the children of Niobe, in Sophocles, are being pierced +and dying, one of them cries out, appealing to no other rescuer or ally +than his lover: Ho! comrade, up and aid me!" Finally, Athenæus quotes a +single line from the _Colchian Women_ of Sophocles, which alludes to +Ganymede, and runs as follows:[87] "Inflaming with his thighs the +royalty of Zeus." + +Whether Euripides treated paiderastia directly in any of his plays is +not quite certain, though the title _Chrysippus_, and one fragment +preserved from that tragedy-- + + "Nature constrains me though I have sound judgment"-- + +justify us in believing that he made the crime of Laius his subject. It +may be added that a passage in Cicero confirms this belief.[88] The +title of another tragedy, _Peirithous_, seems in like manner to point at +friendship; while a beautiful quotation from the _Dictys_ sufficiently +indicates the high moral tone assumed by Euripides in treating of Greek +love. It runs as follows:--"He was my friend; and never may love lead me +to folly, nor to Kupris. There is, in truth, another kind of love--love +for the soul, righteous, temperate, and good. Surely men ought to have +made this law, that only the temperate and chaste should love and send +Kupris, daughter of Zeus, a-begging." The philosophic ideal of +comradeship is here vitalised by the dramatic vigour of the poet; nor +has the Hellenic conception of pure affection for "a soul, just, +upright, temperate and good," been elsewhere more pithily expressed. The +Euripidean conception of friendship, it may further be observed, is +nobly personified in Pylades, who plays a generous and self-devoted part +in the three tragedies of _Electra_, _Orestes_, and _Iphigenia in +Tauris_. + +Having collected these notices of tragedies which dealt with boy-love, +it may be well to add a word upon comedies in the same relation. We hear +of a _Paidika_ by Sophron, a _Malthakoi_ by the older Cratinus, a +_BaptÅ“e_ by Empolis, in which Alcibiades and his society were satirised. +_Paiderastes_ is the title of plays by Diphilis and Antiphanes; +_Ganymedes_ of plays of Alkaeus, Antiphanes and Eubulus. + +What has been quoted from Æschylus and Sophocles sufficiently +establishes the fact that paiderastia was publicly received with +approbation on the tragic stage. This should make us cautious in +rejecting the stories which are told about the love adventures of +Sophocles.[89] Athenæus calls him a lover of lads, nor is it strange if, +in the age of Pericles, and while he was producing the _Achilles' +Loves_, he should have shared the tastes of which his race approved. + +At this point it may be as well to mention a few illustrious names +which, to the student of Greek art and literature, are indissolubly +connected with paiderastia. Parmenides, whose life, like that of +Pythagoras, was accounted peculiarly holy, loved his pupil Zeno.[90] +Pheidias loved Pantarkes, a youth of Elis, and carved his portrait in +the figure of a victorious athlete at the foot of the Olympian Zeus.[91] +Euripides is said to have loved the adult Agathon Lysias, Demosthenes, +and Æschines, orators whose conduct was open to the most searching +censure of malicious criticism, did not scruple to avow their love. +Socrates described his philosophy as the science of erotics. Plato +defined the highest form of human existence to be "philosophy together +with paiderastia," and composed the celebrated epigrams on Aster and on +Agathon. This list might be indefinitely lengthened. + + + + +XIII. + + +Before proceeding to collect some notes upon the state of paiderastia at +Athens, I will recapitulate the points which I have already attempted to +establish. In the first place, paiderastia was unknown to Homer.[92] +Secondly, soon after the heroic age, two forms of paiderastia appeared +in Greece--the one chivalrous and martial, which received a formal +organisation in the Dorian states; the other sensual and lustful which, +though localised to some extent at Crete, pervaded the Greek cities +like a vice. Of the distinction between these two loves the Greek +conscience was well aware, though they came in course of time to be +confounded. Thirdly, I traced the character of Greek love, using that +term to indicate masculine affection of a permanent and enthusiastic +temper, without further ethical qualification, in early Greek history +and in the institutions of the Dorians. In the fourth place, I showed +what kind of treatment it received at the hands of the elegiac, lyric, +and tragic poets. + + * * * * * + +It now remains to draw some picture of the social life of the Athenians +in so far as paiderastia is concerned, and to prove how Plato was +justified in describing Attic customs on this point as qualified by +important restriction and distinction. + + * * * * * + +I do not know a better way of opening this inquiry, which must by its +nature be fragmentary and disconnected, than by transcribing what Plato +puts into the mouth of Pausanias in the _Symposium_.[93] After observing +that the paiderastic customs of Elis and BÅ“otia involved no perplexity, +inasmuch as all concessions to the god of love were tolerated, and that +such customs did not exist in any despotic states, he proceeds to +Athens. + + "There is yet a more excellent way of legislating about them, which + is our own way; but this, as I was saying, is rather perplexing. + For observe that open loves are held to be more honourable than + secret ones, and that the love of the noblest and highest, even if + their persons are less beautiful than others, is especially + honourable. Consider, too, how great is the encouragement which all + the world gives to the lover; neither is he supposed to be doing + anything dishonourable; but if he succeeds he is praised, and if he + fail he is blamed. And in the pursuit of his love, the custom of + mankind allows him to do many strange things, which philosophy + would bitterly censure if they were done from any motive of + interest or wish for office or power. He may pray and entreat, and + supplicate and swear, and be a servant of servants, and lie on a + mat at the door; in any other case friends and enemies would be + equally ready to prevent him, but now there is no friend who will + be ashamed of him and admonish him, and no enemy will charge him + with meanness or flattery; the actions of a lover have a grace + which ennobles them, and custom has decided that they are highly + commendable, and that there is no loss of character in them; and + what is strangest of all, he only may swear or forswear himself + (this is what the world says), and the gods will forgive his + transgression, for there is no such thing as a lover's oath. Such + is the entire liberty which gods and men have allowed the lover, + according to the custom which prevails in our part of the world. + From this point of view a man fairly argues that in Athens to love + and to be loved is held to be a very honourable thing. But when + there is another regime, and parents forbid their sons to talk with + their lovers, and place them under a tutor's care, and their + companions and equals cast in their teeth anything of this sort + which they may observe, and their elders refuse to silence the + reprovers, and do not rebuke them; any one who reflects on all this + will, on the contrary, think that we hold these practices to be + most disgraceful. But the truth, as I imagine, and as I said at + first, is, that whether such practices are honourable or whether + they are dishonourable is not a simple question; they are + honourable to him who follows them honourably, dishonourable to him + who follows them dishonourably. There is dishonour in yielding to + the evil, or in an evil manner; but there is honour in yielding to + the good, or in an honourable manner. Evil is the vulgar lover who + loves the body rather than the soul, and who is inconstant because + he is a lover of the inconstant, and, therefore, when the bloom of + youth, which he was desiring, is over, takes wing and flies away, + in spite of all his words and promises; whereas the love of the + noble mind, which is one with the unchanging, is lifelong." + +Pausanias then proceeds, at considerable length, to describe how the +customs of Athens required deliberate choice and trial of character as a +condition of honourable love; how it repudiated hasty and ephemeral +attachments, and engagements formed with the object of money-making or +political aggrandisement; how love on both sides was bound to be +disinterested, and what accession both of dignity and beauty the passion +of friends obtained from the pursuit of philosophy, and from the +rendering of mutual services upon the path of virtuous conduct. + +This sufficiently indicates, in general terms, the moral atmosphere in +which Greek love flourished at Athens. In an earlier part of his speech +Pausanias, after dwelling upon the distinction between the two kinds of +Aphrodite, heavenly and vulgar, describes the latter in a way which +proves that the love of boys was held to be ethically superior to that +of women.[94] + + "The Love who is the offspring of the common Aphrodite is + essentially common, and has no discrimination, being such as the + meaner sort of men feel, and is apt to be of women as well as of + youths, and is of the body rather than the soul; the most foolish + beings are the objects of this love, which desires only to gain an + end, but never thinks of accomplishing the end nobly, and therefore + does good and evil quite indiscriminately. The goddess who is his + mother is far younger than the other, and she was born of the union + of the male and female, and partakes of both." + +Then he turns to the Uranian love. + + "The offspring of the heavenly Aphrodite is derived from a mother + in whose birth the female has no part. She is from the male only; + this is that love which is of youths, and the goddess being older, + has nothing of wantonness. Those who are inspired by this love turn + to the male, and delight in him who is the most valiant and + intelligent nature; any one may recognise the pure enthusiasts in + the very character of their attachments; for they love not boys, + but intelligent beings whose reason is beginning to be developed, + much about the time at which their beards begin to grow. And in + choosing them as their companions they mean to be faithful to them, + and pass their whole life in company with them, not to take them in + their inexperience, and deceive them, and play the fool with them, + or run away from one to another of them. But the love of young boys + should be forbidden by law, because their future is uncertain; they + may turn out good or bad, either in body or soul, and much noble + enthusiasm may be thrown away upon them; in this matter the good + are a law to themselves, and the coarser sort of lovers ought to be + restrained by force, as we restrain or attempt to restrain them + from fixing their affections on women of free birth." + +These long quotations from a work accessible to every reader may require +apology. My excuse for giving them must be that they express in pure +Athenian diction a true Athenian view of this matter. The most salient +characteristics of the whole speech are, first, the definition of a code +of honour, distinguishing the nobler from the baser forms of +paiderastia; secondly, the decided preference of male over female love; +thirdly, the belief in the possibility of permanent affection between +paiderastic friends; and, fourthly, the passing allusion to rules of +domestic surveillance under which Athenian boys were placed. To the +first of these points I shall have to return on another occasion. With +regard to the second, it is sufficient for the present purpose to +remember that free Athenian women were comparatively uneducated and +uninteresting, and that the hetairai had proverbially bad manners. While +men transacted business and enjoyed life in public, their wives and +daughters stayed in the seclusion of the household, conversing to a +great extent with slaves, and ignorant of nearly all that happened in +the world around them. They were treated throughout their lives as +minors by the law, nor could they dispose by will of more than the worth +of a bushel of barley. It followed that marriages at Athens were usually +matches of arrangement between the fathers of the bride and the +bridegroom, and that the motives which induced a man to marry were less +the desire for companionship than the natural wish for children and a +sense of duty to the country.[95] Demosthenes, in his speech against +Neæra, declares:[96] "We have courtesans for our pleasures, concubines +for the requirements of the body, and wives for the procreation of +lawful issue." If he had been speaking at a drinking-party, instead of +before a jury, he might have added, "and young men for intellectual +companions." + +The fourth point which I have noted above requires more illustration, +since its bearing on the general condition of Athenian society is +important. Owing to the prevalence of paiderastia, a boy was exposed in +Athens to dangers which are comparatively unknown in our great cities, +and which rendered special supervision necessary. It was the custom for +fathers, when they did not themselves accompany their sons,[97] to +commit them to the care of slaves chosen usually among the oldest and +most trustworthy. The duty of the attendant guardian was not to instruct +the boy, but to preserve him from the addresses of importunate lovers or +from such assaults as Peisthetærus in the _Birds_ of Aristophanes +describes.[98] He followed his charge to the school and the gymnasium, +and was responsible for bringing him home at the right hour. Thus at the +end of the _Lysis_ we read:[99]-- + + "Suddenly we were interrupted by the tutors of Lysis and Menexenus; + who came upon us like an evil apparition with their brothers, and + bade them go home, as it was getting late. At first, we and the + bystanders drove them off; but afterwards, as they would not mind, + and only went on shouting in their barbarous dialect, and got + angry, and kept calling the boys--they appeared to us to have been + drinking rather too much at the Hermæa, which made them difficult + to manage--we fairly gave way and broke up the company." + +In this way the daily conduct of Athenian boys of birth and good +condition was subjected to observation; and it is not improbable that +the charm which invested such lads as Plato portrayed in his _Charmides_ +and _Lysis_ was partly due to the self-respect and self-restraint +generated by the peculiar conditions under which they passed their life. + +Of the way in which a Greek boy spent his day, we gain some notion from +two passages in Aristophanes and Lucian. The Dikaios Logos[100] tells +that-- + + "in his days, when justice flourished and self-control was held in + honour, a boy's voice was never heard. He walked in order with his + comrades of the same quarter, lightly clad even in winter, down to + the school of the harp-player. There he learned old-fashioned hymns + to the gods, and patriotic songs. While he sat, he took care to + cover his person decently; and when he rose, he never forgot to rub + out the marks which he might have left upon the dust lest any man + should view them after he was gone. At meals he ate what was put + before him, and refrained from idle chattering. Walking through the + streets, he never tried to catch a passer's eye or to attract a + lover. He avoided the shops, the baths,[101] the Agora, the houses + of Hetairai.[102] He reverenced old age and formed within his soul + the image of modesty. In the gymnasium he indulged in fair and + noble exercise, or ran races with his comrades among the + olive-trees of the Academy." + +The Adikos Logos replies by pleading that this temperate sort of life is +quite old-fashioned; boys had better learn to use their tongues and +bully. In the last resort he uses a clinching _argumentum ad +juvenem_.[103] + +Were it not for the beautiful and highly-finished portraits in Plato, to +which I have already alluded, the description of Aristophanes might be +thought a mere ideal; and, indeed, it is probable that the actual life +of the average Athenian boy lay mid-way between the courses prescribed +by the Dikaios and the Adikos Logos. + +Meanwhile, since Euripides, together with the whole school of studious +and philosophic speculators, are aimed at in the speeches of the Adikos +Logos, it will be fair to adduce a companion picture of the young Greek +educated on the athletic system, as these men had learned to know him. I +quote from the _Autolycus_, a satyric drama of Euripides:-- + + "There are a myriad bad things in Hellas, but nothing is worse than + the athletes. To begin with, they do not know how to live like + gentlemen, nor could they if they did; for how can a man, the slave + of his jaws and his belly, increase the fortune left him by his + father? Poverty and ill-luck find them equally incompetent. Having + acquired no habits of good living, they are badly off when they + come to roughing it. In youth they shine like statues stuck about + the town, and take their walks abroad; but when old age draws nigh, + you find them as threadbare as an old coat. Suppose a man has + wrestled well, or runs fast, or has hurled a quoit, or given a + black eye in fine style, has he done the State a service by the + crowns he won? Do soldiers fight with quoits in hand, or without + the press of shields can kicks expel the foeman from the gate? + Nobody is fool enough to do these things with steel before his + face. Keep, then, your laurels for the wise and good, for him who + rules a city well, the just and temperate, who by his speeches + wards off ill, allaying wars and civil strife. These are the things + for cities, yea, and for all Greece to boast of." + +Lucian represents, of course, a late period of Attic life. But his +picture of the perfect boy completes, and in some points supplements, +that of Aristophanes. Callicratidas, in the _Dialogue on Love_, has +just drawn an unpleasing picture of a woman, surrounded in a fusty +boudoir with her rouge-pots and cosmetics, perfumes, paints, combs, +looking-glasses, hair-dyes, and curling irons. Then he turns to praise +boys:[104] + + "How different is the boy! In the morning, he rises from his chaste + couch, washes the sleep from his eyes with cold water, puts on his + chlamys,[105] and takes his way to the school of the musician or + the gymnast. His tutors and guardians attend him, and his eyes are + bent upon the ground. He spends the morning in studying the poets + and philosophers, in riding, or in military drill. Then he betakes + himself to the wrestling-ground, and hardens his body with noontide + heat and sweat and dust. The bath follows and a modest meal. After + this he returns for awhile to study the lives of heroes and great + men. After a frugal supper sleep at last is shed upon his eyelids." + +Such is Lucian's sketch of the day spent by a young Greek at the famous +University of Athens. Much is, undoubtedly, omitted; but enough is said +to indicate the simple occupations to which an Athenian youth, capable +of inspiring an enthusiastic affection, was addicted. Then follows a +burst of rhetoric, which reveals, when we compare it with the dislike +expressed for women, the deeply-seated virile nature of Greek love. + + "Truly he is worthy to be loved. Who would not love Hermes in the + palæstra, or PhÅ“bus at the lyre, or Castor on the racing-ground? + Who would not wish to sit face to face with such a youth, to hear + him talk, to share his toils, to walk with him, to nurse him in + sickness, to attend him on the sea, to suffer chains and darkness + with him if need be? He who hated him should be my foe, and who so + loved him should be loved by me. At his death I would die; one + grave should cover us both; one cruel hand cut short our lives!" + +In the sequel of the dialogue Lucian makes it clear that he intends +these raptures of Callicratidas to be taken in great measure for +romantic boasting. Yet the fact remains that, till the last, Greek +paiderastia among the better sort of men implied no effeminacy. +Community of interest in sport, in exercise, and in open-air life +rendered it attractive.[106] + + "Son of Eudiades, Euphorion, + After the boxing-match, in which he beat, + With wreaths I crowned, and set fine silk upon, + His forehead and soft blossoms honey-sweet; + Then thrice I kissed him all beblooded there; + His mouth I kissed, his eyes, his every bruise; + More fragrant far than frankincense, I swear. + Was the fierce chrism that from his brows did ooze." + + "I do not care for curls or tresses + Displayed in wily wildernesses; + I do not prize the arts that dye + A painted cheek with hues that fly: + Give me a boy whose face and hand + Are rough with dust or circus-sand, + Whose ruddy flesh exhales the scent + Or health without embellishment: + Sweet to my sense is such a youth, + Whose charms have all the charm of truth: + Leave paints and perfumes, rouge, and curls, + To lazy, lewd Corinthian girls." + +The palæstra was the place at Athens where lovers enjoyed the greatest +freedom. In the _Phædrus_ Plato observes that the attachment of the +lover for a boy grew by meetings and personal contact[107] in the +gymnasiums and other social resorts, and in the _Symposium_ he mentions +gymnastic exercises, with philosophy, and paiderastia, as the three +pursuits of freemen most obnoxious to despots. Æschines, again +describing the manners of boy-lovers in language familiar to his +audience, uses these phrases: "having grown up in gymnasium and games," +and "the man having been a noisy haunter of gymnasiums, and having been +the lover of multitudes." Aristophanes, also, in the _Wasps_,[108] +employs similar language: "and not seeking to go revelling around in +exercising grounds." I may compare Lucian, _Amores_, cap. 2, "you care +for gymnasiums and their sleek oiled combatants," which is said to a +notorious boy-lover. Boys and men met together with considerable liberty +in the porches, peristyles and other adjuncts to an Attic +wrestling-ground; and it was here, too, that sophists and philosophers +established themselves, with the certainty of attracting a large and +eager audience for their discussions. It is true that an ancient law +forbade the presence of adults in the wrestling-grounds of boys; but +this law appears to have become almost wholly obsolete in the days of +Plato. Socrates, for example, in the _Charmides_, goes down immediately +after his arrival from the camp at Potidæa into the palæstra of Taureas +to hear the news of the day, and the very first question which he asks +his friends is whether a new beauty has appeared among the youths.[109] +So again in the _Lysis_, Hippothales invites Socrates to enter the +private palæstra of Miccus, where boys and men were exercising together +on the feast-day of Hermes.[110] "The building," he remarks, "is a +newly-erected palæstra, and the entertainment is generally conversation, +to which you are welcome." The scene which immediately follows is well +known to Greek students as one of the most beautiful and vivid pictures +of Athenian life. One group of youths are sacrificing to Hermes; another +are casting dice in a corner of the dressing-room. Lysis himself is +"standing among the other boys and youths, having a crown upon his head, +like a fair vision, and not less worthy of praise for his goodness than +for his beauty." The modesty of Lysis is shown by the shyness which +prevents him joining Socrates' party until he has obtained the company +of some of his young friends. Then a circle of boys and men is formed in +a corner of the court, and a conversation upon friendship begins. +Hippothales, the lover of Lysis, keeps at a decorous distance in the +background. Not less graceful as a picture is the opening of the +_Charmides_. In answer to a question of Socrates, the frequenters of the +palæstra tell him to expect the coming of young Charmides. He will then +see the most beautiful boy in Athens at the time: "for those who are +just entering are the advanced guard of the great beauty of the day, and +he is likely to be not far off." There is a noise and a bustle at the +door, and while the Socratic party continues talking Charmides enters. +The effect produced is overpowering:[111]-- + + "You know, my friend, that I cannot measure anything, and of the + beautiful I am simply such a measure as a white line is of chalk; + for almost all young persons appear to be beautiful in my eyes. But + at that moment when I saw him coming in, I confess that I was quite + astonished at his beauty and his stature; all the world seemed to + be enamoured of him; amazement and confusion reigned when he + entered; and a troop of lovers followed him. That grown-up men like + ourselves should have been affected in this way was not surprising, + but I observed that there was the same feeling among the boys; all + of them, down to the very least child, turned and looked at him, as + if he had been a statue." + +Charmides, like Lysis, is persuaded to sit down by Socrates, who opens a +discussion upon the appropriate question of _Sophrosyne_, or modest +temperance and self-restraint.[112] + + "He came as he was bidden, and sat down between Critias and me. + Great amusement was occasioned by everyone pushing with might and + main at his neighbour in order to make a place for him next to + them, until at the two ends of the row one had to get up, and the + other was rolled over sideways. Now I, my friend, was beginning to + feel awkward; my former bold belief in my powers of conversing with + him had vanished. And when Critias told him that I was the person + who had the cure, he looked at me in such an indescribable manner, + and was going to ask a question; and then all the people in the + palæstra crowded about us, and, O rare! I caught a sight of the + inwards of his garment, and took the flame. Then I could no longer + contain myself. I thought how well Cydias understood the nature of + love when, in speaking of a fair youth, he warns someone, 'not to + bring the fawn in the sight of the lion to be devoured by him,' for + I felt that I had been overcome by a sort of wild-beast appetite." + +The whole tenor of the dialogue makes it clear that, in spite of the +admiration he excited, the honour paid him by a public character like +Socrates and the troops of lovers and of friends surrounding him, yet +Charmides was unspoiled. His docility, modesty, simplicity, and +healthiness of soul are at least as remarkable as the beauty for which +he was so famous. + +A similar impression is produced upon our minds by Autolycus in the +_Symposium_ of Xenophon.[113] Callias, his acknowledged lover[114] had +invited him to a banquet after a victory which he had gained in the +pancration; and many other guests, including the Socratic party, were +asked to meet him. Autolycus came, attended by his father; and as soon +as the tables were covered and the seats had been arranged, a kind of +divine awe fell upon the company. The grown-up men were dazzled by the +beauty and the modest bearing of the boy, just as when a bright light is +brought into a darkened room. Everybody gazed at him, and all were +silent, sitting in uncomfortable attitudes of expectation and +astonishment. The dinner party would have passed off very tamely if +Phillipus, a professional diner-out and jester, had not opportunely made +his appearance. Autolycus meanwhile never uttered a word, but lay beside +his father like a breathing statue. Later on in the evening he was +obliged to answer a question. He opened his lips with blushes, and all +he said was,[115] "Not I, by gad." Still, even this created a great +sensation in the company. Everybody, says Xenophon, was charmed to hear +his voice, and turned their eyes upon him. It should be remarked that +the conversation at this party fell almost entirely upon matters of +love. Critobulus, for example, who was very beautiful and rejoiced in +having many lovers, gave a full account of his own feelings for +Cleinias.[116] + + "You all tell me," he argued, "that I am beautiful, and I cannot + but believe you; but if I am, and if you feel what I feel when I + look on Cleinias, I think that beauty is better worth having than + all Persia. I would choose to be blind to everybody else if I could + only see Cleinias, and I hate the night because it robs me of his + sight. I would rather be the slave of Cleinias than live without + him; I would rather toil and suffer danger for his sake than live + alone at ease and in safety. I would go through fire with him, as + you would with me. In my soul I carry an image of him better made + than any sculptor could fashion." + +What makes this speech the more singular is that Critobulus was a +newly-married man. + +But to return from this digression to the palæstra. The Greeks were +conscious that gymnastic exercises tended to encourage and confirm the +habit of paiderastia. "The cities which have most to do with +gymnastics," is the phrase which Plato uses to describe the states where +Greek love flourished.[117] Herodotus says the barbarians borrowed +gymnastics together with paiderastia from the Hellenes; and we hear that +Polycrates of Samos caused the gymnasia to be destroyed when he wished +to discountenance the love which lent the warmth of personal enthusiasm +to political associations.[118] It was common to erect statues of love +in the wrestling-grounds; and there, says Plutarch,[119] the god's wings +grew so wide that no man could restrain his flight. Readers of the +idyllic poets will remember that it was a statue of Love which fell from +its pedestal in the swimming-bath upon the cruel boy who had insulted +the body of his self-slain friend.[120] Charmus, the lover of Hippias, +erected an image of Erôs in the academy at Athens which bore this +epigram:-- + + "Love, god of many evils and various devices, Charmus set up this + altar to thee upon the shady boundaries of the gymnasium."[121] + +Erôs, in fact, was as much at home in the gymnasia of Athens as +Aphrodite in the temples of Corinth; he was the patron of paiderastia, +as she of female love. Thus Meleager writes:-- + + "The Cyprian queen, a woman, hurls the fire that maddens men for + females; but Erôs himself sways the love of males for males."[122] + +Plutarch, again, in the Erotic dialogue, alludes to "Erôs, where +Aphrodite is not; Erôs apart from Aphrodite." These facts relating to +the gymnasia justified Cicero in saying, "Mihi quidem hæc in Græcorum +gymnasiis nata consuetudo videtur; _in quibus isti liberi et concesi +sunt amores_." He adds, with a true Roman's antipathy to Greek æsthetics +and their flimsy screen for sensuality, "Bene ergo Ennius, _flagitii +principium est nudare inter cives corpora_."[123] "To me, indeed, it +seems that this custom was generated in the gymnasiums of the Greeks, +for there those loves are freely indulged and sanctioned. Ennius +therefore very properly observed that the beginning of vice is the habit +of stripping the body among citizens." + +The Attic gymnasia and schools were regulated by strict laws. We have +already seen that adults were not supposed to enter the palæstra; and +the penalty for the infringement of this rule by the gymnasiarch was +death. In the same way, schools had to be shut at sunset and not opened +again before daybreak; nor was a grown-up man allowed to frequent them. +The public chorus teachers of boys were obliged to be above the age of +forty.[124] Slaves who presumed to make advances to a free boy were +subject to the severest penalties; in like manner they were prohibited +from gymnastic exercises. Æschines, from whom we learn these facts, +draws the correct conclusion that gymnastics and Greek love were +intended to be the special privilege of freemen. Still, in spite of all +restrictions, the palæstra was the centre of Athenian profligacy, the +place in which not only honourable attachments were formed, but +disgraceful bargains also were concluded;[125] and it is not improbable +that men like Taureas and Miccus, who opened such places of amusement as +a private speculation, may have played the part of go-betweens and +panders. Their walls, and the plane-trees which grew along their open +courts, were inscribed by lovers with the names of boys who had +attracted them. To scrawl up, "Fair is Dinomeneus, fair is the boy," was +a common custom, as we learn from Aristophanes and from this anonymous +epigram in the _Anthology_:[126]-- + + "I said and once again I said, 'fair, fair'; but still will I go on + repeating how fascinating with his eyes is Dositheus. Not upon an + oak, nor on a pine-tree, nor yet upon a wall, will I inscribe this + word; but love is smouldering in my heart of hearts." + +Another attention of the same kind from a lover to a boy was to have a +vase or drinking-cup of baked clay made, with a portrait of the youth +depicted on its surface, attended by winged genii of health and love. +The word "Fair" was inscribed beneath, and symbols of games were +added--a hoop or a fighting-cock.[127] Nor must I here omit the custom +which induced lovers of a literary turn to praise their friends in prose +or verse. Hippothales, in the _Lysis_ of Plato, is ridiculed by his +friends for recording the great deeds of the boy's ancestors, and +deafening his ears with odes and sonnets. A diatribe on love, written by +Lysias with a view to winning Phædrus, forms the starting-point of the +dialogue between that youth and Socrates.[128] We have, besides, a +curious panegyrical oration (called _Eroticos Logos_), falsely ascribed +to Demosthenes, in honour of a youth, Epicrates, from which some +information may be gathered concerning the topics usually developed in +these compositions. + +Presents were of course a common way of trying to win favour. It was +reckoned shameful for boys to take money from their lovers, but fashion +permitted them to accept gifts of quails and fighting cocks, pheasants, +horses, dogs and clothes.[129] There existed, therefore, at Athens +frequent temptations for boys of wanton disposition, or for those who +needed money to indulge expensive tastes. The speech of Æschines, from +which I have already frequently quoted, affords a lively picture of the +Greek rake's progress, in which Timarchus is described as having sold +his person in order to gratify his gluttony and lust and love of gaming. +The whole of this passage,[130] it may be observed in passing, reads +like a description of Florentine manners in a sermon of Savonarola. + +The shops of the barbers, surgeons, perfumers, and flower-sellers had an +evil notoriety, and lads who frequented these resorts rendered +themselves liable to suspicion. Thus Æschines accuses Timarchus of +having exposed himself for hire in a surgeon's shop at the Peiræus; +while one of Straton's most beautiful epigrams[131] describes an +assignation which he made with a boy who had attracted his attention in +a garland-weaver's stall. In a fragment from the _Pyraunos_ of Alexis, +a young man declares that he found thirty professors of the "voluptuous +life of pleasure," in the Cerameicus during a search of three days; +while Cratinus and Theopompus might be quoted to prove the ill fame of +the monument to Cimon and the hill of Lycabettus.[132] + +The last step in the downward descent was when a youth abandoned the +roof of his parents or guardians and accepted the hospitality of a +lover.[133] If he did this, he was lost. + +In connection with this portion of the subject, it may be well to state +that the Athenian law recognised contracts made between a man and boy, +even if the latter were of free birth, whereby the one agreed to render +up his person for a certain period and purpose, and the other to pay a +fixed sum of money.[134] The phrase "a boy who has been a prostitute," +occurs quite naturally in Aristophanes;[135] nor was it thought +disreputable for men to engage in these _liaisons_. Disgrace only +attached to the free youth who gained a living by prostitution; and he +was liable, as we shall see, at law to loss of civil rights. + +Public brothels for males were kept in Athens, from which the state +derived a portion of its revenues. It was in one of these bad places +that Socrates first saw Phædo.[136] This unfortunate youth was a native +of Elis. Taken prisoner in war, he was sold in the public market to a +slave-dealer, who then acquired the right by Attic law to prostitute his +person and engross his earnings for his own pocket. A friend of +Socrates, perhaps Cebes, bought him from his master, and he became one +of the chief members of the Socratic circle. His name is given to the +Platonic dialogue on immortality, and he lived to found what is called +the Eleo-Socratic School. No reader of Plato forgets how the sage, on +the eve of his death, stroked the beautiful long hair of Phædo,[137] and +prophesied that he would soon have to cut it short in mourning for his +teacher. + +Agathocles, the tyrant of Syracuse, is said to have spent his youth in +brothels of this sort--by inclination, however, if the reports of his +biographers be not calumnious. + +From what has been collected on this topic, it will be understood that +boys in Athens not unfrequently caused quarrels and street-brawls, and +that cases for recovery of damages or breach of contract were brought +before the Attic law-courts. The Peiræus was especially noted for such +scenes of violence. The oration of Lysias against Simon is a notable +example of the pleadings in a cause of this description.[138] Simon, the +defendant, and Lysias, the plaintiff (or some one for whom Lysias had +composed the speech) were both of them attached to Theodotus, a boy from +Platæa. Theodotus was living with the plaintiff; but the defendant +asserted that the boy had signed an agreement to consort with him for +the consideration of three hundred drachmæ, and, relying on this +contract, he had attempted more than once to carry off the boy by force. +Violent altercations, stone-throwings, house-breakings, and encounters +of various kinds having ensued, the plaintiff brought an action for +assault and battery against Simon. A modern reader is struck with the +fact that he is not at all ashamed of his own relation towards +Theodotus. It may be noted that the details of this action throw light +upon the historic brawl at Corinth, in which a boy was killed, and which +led to the foundation of Syracuse by Archias the Bacchiad.[139] + + + + +XIV. + + +We have seen in the foregoing section that paiderastia at Athens was +closely associated with liberty, manly sports, severe studies, +enthusiasm, self-sacrifice, self-control, and deeds of daring, by those +who cared for those things. It has also been made abundantly manifest +that no serious moral shame attached to persons who used boys like +women, but that effeminate youths of free birth were stigmatised for +their indecent profligacy. It remains still to ascertain the more +delicate distinctions which were drawn by Attic law and custom in this +matter, though what has been already quoted from Pausanias, in the +_Symposium_ of Plato, may be taken fairly to express the code of honour +among gentlemen. + +In the _Plutus_,[140] Aristophanes is careful to divide "boys with +lovers," into "the good," and "the strumpets." This distinction will +serve as basis for the following remarks. A very definite line was drawn +by the Athenians between boys who accepted the addresses of their lovers +because they liked them or because they were ambitious of comradeship +with men of spirit, and those who sold their bodies for money. Minute +inquiry was never instituted into the conduct of the former class; else +Alcibiades could not have made his famous declaration about +Socrates,[141] nor would Plato in the _Phædrus_ have regarded an +occasional breach of chastity, under the compulsion of violent passion, +as a venial error.[142] The latter, on the other hand, besides being +visited with universal censure, were disqualified by law from exercising +the privileges of the franchise, from undertaking embassies, from +frequenting the Agora, and from taking part in public festivals, under +the penalty of death. Æschines, from whom we learn the wording of this +statute, adds:[143] "This law he passed with regard to youths who sin +with facility and readiness against their own bodies." He then proceeds +to define the true nature of prostitution, prohibited by law to the +citizens of Athens. It is this: "Any one who acts in this way towards a +single man, provided he do it with payment, seems to me to be liable to +the reproach in question."[144] The whole discussion turns upon the word +_Misthos_. The orator is cautious to meet the argument that a written +contract was necessary in order to construct a case of _Hetaireia_ at +law.[145] In the statute, he observes, there is no mention of "contract" +or "deed in writing." The offence has been sufficiently established +"when in any way whatever payment has been made." + +In order to illustrate the feeling of the Athenians with regard to +making profit out of paiderastic relations, I may perhaps be permitted +to interrupt the analysis of Æschines by referring to Xenophon's +character (_Anab._ si, 6, 21) of the Strategus Menon. The whole tenor of +his judgment is extremely unfavourable toward this man, who invariable +pursued selfish and mean aims, debasing virtuous qualities like ambition +and industry in the mere pursuit of wealth and power. He was, in fact, +devoid of chivalrous feeling, good taste, and honour. About his +behaviour as a youth, Xenophon writes: "With Ariæus, the barbarian, +because this man was partial to handsome youths, he became extremely +intimate while he was still in the prime of adolescence; moreover, he +had Tharypas for his beloved, he being beardless and Tharypas a man +with a beard." His crime seems to have been that he prostituted himself +to the barbarian Ariæus in order to advance his interest, and, probably +with the same view, flattered the effeminate vanity of an elder man by +pretending to love him out of the right time or season. Plutarch +(_Pyrrhus_) mentions this Tharypas as the first to introduce Hellenic +manners among the Molossi. + +When more than one lover was admitted, the guilt was aggravated. "It +will then be manifest that he has not only acted the strumpet, but that +he has been a common prostitute. For he who does this indifferently, and +with money, and for money, seems to have incurred that designation." +Thus the question finally put to the Areopagus, in which court the case +against Timarchus was tried, ran as follows, in the words of +Æschines:[146] "To which of these two classes will you reckon +Timarchus--to those who have had a lover, or to those who have been +prostitutes?" In his rhetorical exposition, Æschines defines the true +character of the virtuous _Eromenos_. Frankly admitting his own +partiality for beautiful young men, he argues after this fashion:[147] +"I do not attach any blame to love. I do not take away the character of +handsome lads. I do not deny that I have often loved, and had many +quarrels and jealousies in this matter. But I establish this as an +irrefutable fact, that, while the love of beautiful and temperate youths +does honour to humanity and indicates a generous temper, the buying of +the person of a free boy for debauchery is a mark of insolence and +ill-breeding. To be loved is an honour: to sell yourself is a disgrace." +He then appeals to the law which forbade slaves to love, thereby +implying that this was the privilege and pride of free men. He alludes +to the heroic deed of Aristogeiton and to the great example of Achilles. +Finally, he draws up a list of well-known and respected citizens whose +loves were notorious, and compares them with a parallel list of persons +infamous for their debauchery. What remains in the peroration to this +invective traverses the same ground. Some phrases may be quoted which +illustrate the popular feeling of the Athenians. Timarchus is +stigmatised[148] as, "the man and male who, in spite of this, has +debauched his body by womanly acts of lust," and again as, "one who +against the law of nature has given himself to lewdness." It is obvious +here that Æschines, the self-avowed boy-lover, while seeking to crush +his opponent by flinging effeminacy and unnatural behaviour in his +teeth, assumes at the same time that honourable paiderastia implies no +such disgrace. Again, he observes that it is as easy to recognise a +pathic by his impudent behaviour as a gymnast by his muscles. Lastly, he +bids the judges force intemperate lovers to abstain from free youths, +and satisfy their lusts upon the persons of foreigners and aliens.[149] +The whole matter at this distance of time is obscure, nor can we hope to +apprehend the full force of distinctions drawn by a Greek orator +appealing to a Greek audience. We may, indeed, fairly presume that, as +is always the case with popular ethics, considerable confusion existed +in the minds of the Athenians themselves, and that, even for them, to +formulate the whole of their social feelings on this topic consistently, +would have been impossible. The main point, however, seems to be that at +Athens it was held honourable to love free boys with decency; that the +conduct of lovers between themselves, within the limits of recognised +friendship, was not challenged; and that no particular shame attached to +profligate persons so long as they refrained from tampering with the +sons of citizens.[150] + + + + +XV. + + +The sources from which our information has hitherto been +drawn--speeches, poems, biographies, and the dramatic parts of +dialogues--yield more real knowledge about the facts of Athenian +paiderastia than can be found in the speculations of philosophers. In +Aristotle, for instance, paiderastia is almost conspicuous by its +absence. It is true that he speculates upon the Cretan customs in the +_Politics_, mentions the prevalence of boy-love among the Kelts, and +incidentally notices the legends of Diocles and Cleomachus;[151] but he +never discusses the matter as fully as might have been expected from a +philosopher whose speculations covered the whole field of Greek +experience. The chapters on _Philia_, in the _Ethics_, might indeed have +been written by a modern moralist for modern readers, though it is +possible that in his treatment of "friendship with pleasure for its +object," and "friendship with advantage for its object," Aristotle is +aiming at the vicious sort of paiderastia. As regards his silence in +the _Politics_, it is worth noticing that this treatise breaks off at +the very point where we should naturally look for a scientific handling +of the education of the passions; and, therefore, it is possible that we +may have lost the weightiest utterance of Greek philosophy upon the +matter of our enquiry. + +Though Aristotle contains but little to the purpose, the case is +different with Plato; nor would it be possible to omit a detailed +examination of the Platonic doctrine on the topic, or to neglect the +attempt he made to analyse and purify a passion, capable, according to +his earlier philosophical speculations, of supplying the starting-point +for spiritual progress. + +The first point to notice in the Platonic treatment of paiderastia is +the difference between the ethical opinions expressed in the _Phædrus_, +_Symposium_, _Republic_, _Charmides_, and _Lysis_, on the one hand, and +those expounded in the _Laws_ upon the other. The _Laws_, which are +probably a genuine work of Plato's old age, condemn that passion which, +in the _Phædrus_ and _Symposium_, he exalted as the greatest boon of +human life and as the groundwork of the philosophical temperament; the +ordinary social manifestations of which he described with sympathy in +the _Lysis_ and the _Charmides_; and which he viewed with more than +toleration in the _Republic_. It is not my business to offer a solution +of this contradiction; but I may observe that Socrates, who plays the +part of protagonist in nearly all the other dialogues of Plato, and who, +as we shall see, professed a special cult of love, is conspicuous by his +absence in the _Laws_. It is, therefore, not improbable that the +philosophical idealisation of paiderastia, to which the name of Platonic +love is usually given, should rather be described as Socratic. However +that may be, I think it will be well to deal first with the doctrine put +into the mouth of the Athenian stranger in the _Laws_, and then to pass +on to the consideration of what Socrates is made to say upon the subject +of Greek love in the earlier dialogues. + +The position assumed by Plato in the _Laws_ (p. 636) is this: Syssitia +and gymnasia are excellent institutions in their way, but they have a +tendency to degrade natural love in man below the level of the beasts. +Pleasure is only natural when it arises out of the intercourse between +men and women, but the intercourse between men and men, or women and +women, is contrary to nature.[152] The bold attempt at overleaping +Nature's laws was due originally to unbridled lust. + +This position is developed in the eighth book (p. 836), where Plato +directs his criticism, not only against what would now be termed the +criminal intercourse between persons of the same sex, but also against +incontinence in general. While framing a law of almost monastic rigour +for the regulation of the sexual appetite, he remains an ancient Greek. +He does not reach the point of view from which women are regarded as the +proper objects of both passion and friendship, as the fit companions of +men in all relations of life; far less does he revert to his earlier +speculations upon the enthusiasm generated by a noble passion. The +modern ideal of marriage and the chivalrous conception of womanhood as +worthy to be worshipped are like unknown to him. Abstinence from the +delights of love, continence except for the sole end of procreation, is +the rule which he proposes to the world. + + * * * * * + +There are three distinct things, Plato argues, which, owing to the +inadequacy of language to represent states of thought, have been +confounded.[153] These are friendship, desire, and a third mixed +species. Friendship is further described as the virtuous affection of +equals in taste, age and station. Desire is always founded on a sense of +contrast. While friendship is "gentle and mutual through life," desire +is "fierce and wild."[154] The true friend seeks to live chastely with +the chaste object of his attachment, whose soul he loves. The lustful +lover longs to enjoy the flower of his youth and cares only for the +body. The third sort is mixed of these; and a lover of this composite +kind is torn asunder by two impulses, "the one commanding him to enjoy +the youth's person, the other forbidding him to do so."[155] The +description of the lover of the third species so exactly suits the +paiderast of nobler quality in Greece, as I conceive him to have +actually existed, that I shall give a full quotation of this +passage:[156]-- + + "As to the mixed sort, which is made up of them both, there is, + first of all, a difficulty in determining what he who is possessed + by this third love desires; moreover, he is drawn different ways, + and is in doubt between the two principles, the one exhorting him + to enjoy the beauty of the youth, and the other forbidding him; for + the one is a lover of the body and hungers after beauty like ripe + fruit, and would fain satisfy himself without any regard to the + character of the beloved; the other holds the desire of the body to + be a secondary matter, and, looking rather than loving with his + soul, and desiring the soul of the other in a becoming manner, + regards the satisfaction of the bodily love as wantonness; he + reverences and respects temperance and courage and magnanimity and + wisdom, and wishes to live chastely with the chaste object of his + affection." + +It is remarkable that Plato, in this analysis of the three sorts of +love, keeps strictly within the bounds of paiderastia. He rejects desire +and the mixed sort of love, reserving friendship (_Philia_) and +ordaining marriage for the satisfaction of the aphrodisiac instinct at a +fitting age, but more particularly for the procreation of children. +Wantonness of every description is to be made as much a sin as incest, +both by law and also by the world's opinion. If Olympian victors, with +an earthly crown in view, learn to live chastely for the preservation of +their strength while training, shall not men, whose contest is for +heavenly prizes, keep their bodies undefiled, their spirits holy? + +Socrates, the mystagogue of amorous philosophy, is absent, as I have +observed, from this discussion of the laws. I turn now to those earlier +dialogues in which he expounds the doctrine of Platonic, or, as I should +prefer to call it, Socratic, love. We know from Xenophon, as well as +Plato, that Socrates named his philosophy the Science of Love. The one +thing on which I pride myself, he says, is knowledge of all matters that +pertain to love. It furthermore appears that Socrates thought himself in +a peculiar sense predestined to reform and to ennoble paiderastia. +"Finding this passion at its height throughout the whole of Hellas, but +most especially in Athens, and all places full of evil lovers and of +youths seduced, he felt a pity for both parties. Not being a lawgiver +like Solon, he could not stop the custom by statute, nor correct it by +force, nor again dissuade men from it by his eloquence. He did not, +however, on that account abandon the lovers or the boys to their fate, +but tried to suggest a remedy." This passage, which I have paraphrased +from Maximus Tyrius,[157] sufficiently expresses the attitude assumed +by Socrates in the Platonic dialogue. He sympathises with Greek lovers, +and avows a fervent admiration for beauty in the persons of young men. +At the same time, he declares himself upon the side of temperate and +generous affection and strives to utilise the erotic enthusiasm as a +motive power in the direction of philosophy. This was really nothing +more or less than an attempt to educate the Athenians by appealing to +their own higher instincts. We have seen that paiderastia in the prime +of Hellenic culture, whatever sensual admixture it might have contained, +was a masculine passion. It was closely connected with the love of +political independence, with the contempt for Asiatic luxury, with the +gymnastic sports, and with the intellectual interests which +distinguished Hellenes from barbarians. Partly owing to the social +habits of their cities, and partly to the peculiar notions which they +entertained regarding the seclusion of free women in the home, all the +higher elements of spiritual and mental activity, and the conditions +under which a generous passion was conceivable, had become the exclusive +privileges of men. It was not that women occupied a semi-servile +station, as some students have imagined, or that within the sphere of +the household they were not the respected and trusted helpmates of men. +But circumstances rendered it impossible for them to excite romantic and +enthusiastic passion. The exaltation of the emotions was reserved for +the male sex. + +Socrates, therefore, sought to direct and moralise a force already +existing. In the _Phædrus_ he describes the passion of love between man +and boy as a madness, not different in quality from that which inspires +poets; and, after painting that fervid picture of the lover, he declares +that the true object of a noble life can only be attained by passionate +friends, bound together in the chains of close yet temperate +comradeship, seeking always to advance in knowledge, self-restraint, and +intellectual illumination. The doctrine of the _Symposium_ is not +different, except that Socrates here takes a higher flight. The same +love is treated as the method whereby the soul may begin her mystic +journey to the region of essential beauty, truth, and goodness. It has +frequently been remarked that Plato's dialogues have to be read as +poems, even more than as philosophical treatises; and if this be true at +all, it is particularly true of both the _Phædrus_ and the _Symposium_. +The lesson which both essays seem intended to inculcate is this: love, +like poetry and prophecy, is a divine gift, which diverts men from the +common current of their lives; but in the right use of this gift lies +the secret of all human excellence. The passion which grovels in the +filth of sensual grossness may be transformed into a glorious +enthusiasm, a winged splendour, capable of soaring to the contemplation +of eternal verities. How strange will it be, when once those heights of +intellectual intuition have been scaled, to look down again to earth and +view the _Meirakidia_ in whom the soul first recognised the form of +beauty![158] There is a deeply-rooted mysticism, an impenetrable +soofyism, in the Socratic doctrine of Erôs. + +In the _Phædrus_, the _Symposium_, the _Charmides_, the _Lysis_, and the +_Republic_, Plato dramatised the real Socrates, while he gave liberal +scope to his own personal sympathy for paiderastia.[159] In the _Laws_, +if we accept this treatise as the work of his old age, he discarded the +Socratic mask, and wrote a kind of palinode, which indicates more moral +growth than pure disapprobation of the paiderastic passion. I have +already tried to show that the point of view in the _Laws_ is still +Greek: that their author has not passed beyond the sphere of Hellenic +ethics. He has only become more ascetic in his rule of conduct as the +years advanced, importing the _rumores senum severiorum_ into his +discourse, and recognising the imperfection of that halting-point +between the two logical extremes of Pagan license and monastic +asceticism which in the fervour of his greener age he advocated. As a +young man, Plato felt sympathy for love so long as it was paiderastic +and not spent on women; he even condoned a lapse through warmth of +feeling into self-indulgence. As an old man, he denounced carnal +pleasure of all kinds, and sought to limit the amative instincts to the +one sole end of procreation. + +It has so happened that Plato's name is still connected with the ideal +of passion purged from sensuality. Much might be written about the +parallel between the _mania_ of the _Phædrus_ and the _joy_ of mediæval +amorists. Nor would it be unprofitable to trace the points of contact +between the love described by Dante in the _Vita Nuova_ and the +paiderastia exalted to the heavens by Plato.[160] The spiritual passion +for Beatrice, which raised the Florentine poet above vile things, and +led him by the philosophic paths of the _Convito_ to the beatific vision +of the _Paradiso_, bears no slight resemblance to the _Erôs_ of the +_Symposium_. Yet we know that Dante could not have studied Plato's +works; and the specific love which Plato praised he sternly stigmatised. +The harmony between Greek and mediæval mysticism in this matter of the +emotions rests on something permanent in human nature, common alike to +paiderastia and to chivalrous enthusiasm for woman. + +It would be well worth raising here the question whether there was not +something special both in the Greek consciousness itself, and also in +the conditions under which it reached maturity, which justified the +Socratic attempt to idealise paiderastia. Placed upon the borderland of +barbarism, divided from the Asiatic races by an acute but narrow line of +demarcation, the Greeks had arrived at the first free notion of the +spirit in its disentanglement from matter and from symbolism. But this +notion of the spirit was still æsthetic, rather than strictly ethical or +rigorously scientific. In the Greek gods, intelligence is perfected and +character is well defined; but these gods are always concrete persons, +with corporeal forms adapted to their spiritual essence. The +interpenetration of spiritual and corporeal elements in a complete +personality, the transfusion of intellectual and emotional faculties +throughout a physical organism exactly suited to their adequate +expression, marks Greek religion and Greek art. What the Greeks +worshipped in their ritual, what they represented in their sculpture, +was always personality--the spirit and the flesh in amity and mutual +correspondence; the spirit burning through the flesh and moulding it to +individual forms; the flesh providing a fit dwelling for the spirit +which controlled and fashioned it. Only philosophers, among the Greeks, +attempted to abstract the spirit as a self-sufficient, independent, +conscious entity; and these philosophers were few, and what they wrote +or spoke had little direct influence upon the people. This being the +mental attitude of the Greek race, it followed as a necessity that their +highest emotional aspirations, their purest personal service, should be +devoted to clear and radiant incarnations of the spirit in a living +person. They had never been taught to regard the body with a sense of +shame, but rather to admire it as the temple of the spirit, and to +accept its needs and instincts with natural acquiescence. Male beauty +disengaged for them the passion it inspired from service of domestic, +social, civic duties. The female form aroused desire, but it also +suggested maternity and obligations of the household. The male form was +the most perfect image of the deity, self-contained, subject to no +necessities of impregnation, determined in its action only by the laws +of its own reason and its own volition. + +Quite a different order of ideas governed the ideal adopted by mediæval +chivalry. The spirit in its self-sufficingness, detached from the body, +antagonistic to the body, had been divinised by Christianity. Woman, +regarded as a virgin and at the same time a mother, the maiden-mother of +God made man, had been exalted to the throne of heaven. The worship of +woman became, by a natural and logical process, the correlative in +actual human life for that worship of the incarnate Deity which was the +essence of religion. A remarkable point in mediæval love is that the +sensual appetites were, theoretically at least, excluded from the homage +paid to woman. It was not the wife or the mistress, but the lady, who +inspired the knight. Dante had children by Gemma, Petrarch had children +by an unknown concubine, but it was the sainted Beatrice, it was the +unattainable Laura, who received the homage of Dante and of Petrarch. + +In like manner, the sensual appetites were, theoretically at least, +excluded from Platonic paiderastia. It was the divine in human +flesh--"the radiant sight of the beloved," to quote from Plato; "the +fairest and most intellectual of earthly bodies," to borrow a phrase +from Maximus Tyrius--it was this which stimulated the Greek lover, just +as a similar incarnation of divinity inspired the chivalrous lover. Thus +we might argue that the Platonic conception of paiderastia furnishes a +close analogue to the chivalrous devotion to women, due regard being +paid to the differences which existed between the plastic ideal of Greek +religion and the romantic ideal of mediæval Christianity. The one veiled +sodomy, the other adultery. That in both cases the conception was rarely +realised in actual life only completes the parallel. + +To pursue this inquiry further is, however, alien to my task. It is +enough to have indicated the psychological agreement in respect of +purified affection which underlay two such apparently antagonistic +ideals of passion. Few modern writers, when they speak with admiration +or contempt of Platonic love, reflect that in its origin this phrase +denoted an absorbing passion for young men. The Platonist, as appears +from numerous passages in the Platonic writings, would have despised the +Petrarchist as a vulgar woman-lover. The Petrarchist would have loathed +the Platonist as a moral Pariah. Yet Platonic love, in both its Attic +and its mediæval manifestations, was one and the same thing. + +The philosophical ideal of paiderastia in Greece, which bore the names +of Socrates and Plato, met with little but contempt. Cicero, in a +passage which has been echoed by Gibbon, remarked upon, "the thin device +of virtue and friendship which amused the philosophers of Athens."[161] +Epicurus criticised the Stoic doctrine of paiderastia by sententiously +observing that philosophers only differed from the common race of men in +so far as they could better cloak their vice with sophistries. This +severe remark seems justified by the opinions ascribed to Zeno by +Plutarch, Sextus Empiricus, and Stobæus.[162] But it may be doubted +whether the real drift of the Stoic theory of love, founded on +_Adiaphopha_, was understood. Lucian, in the _Amores_,[163] makes +Charicles, the advocate of love for women, deride the Socratic ideal as +vain nonsense, while Theomnestus, the man of pleasure, to whom the +dispute is finally referred, decides that the philosophers are either +fools or humbugs.[164] Daphnæus, in the erotic dialogue of Plutarch, +arrives at a similar conclusion; and, in an essay on education, the same +author contends that no prudent father would allow the sages to enter +into intimacy with his sons.[165] The discredit incurred by philosophers +in the later age of Greek culture is confirmed by more than one passage +in Petronius and Juvenal, while Athenæus especially inveighs against +philosophic lovers as acting against nature.[166] The attempt of the +Platonic Socrates to elevate, without altering, the morals of his race +may therefore be said fairly to have failed. Like his Republic, his love +existed only in heaven. + + + + +XVI. + + +Philip of Macedon, when he pronounced the panegyric of the Sacred Band +at Chæronea, uttered the funeral oration of Greek love in its nobler +forms. With the decay of military spirit and the loss of freedom, there +was no sphere left for that type of comradeship which I attempted to +describe in Section IV. The philosophical ideal, to which some +cultivated Attic thinkers had aspired, remained unrealised, except, we +may perhaps suppose, in isolated instances. Meanwhile, paiderastia as a +vice did not diminish. It only grew more wanton and voluptuous. Little, +therefore, can be gained by tracing its historical development further, +although it is not without interest to note the mode of feeling and the +opinion of some later poets and rhetoricians. + +The Idyllists are the only poets, if we except a few epigrammatists of +the _Anthology_, who preserve a portion of the old heroic sentiment. No +true student of Greek literature will have felt that he could strictly +censure the paiderastic passages of the _Thalysia_, _Aïtes_, _Hylas_, +_Paidika_. They have the ring of genuine and respectable emotion. This +may also be said about the two fragments of Bion which begin, _Hespere +tas eratas_ and _Olbioi oi phileontes_. The _Duserôs_, ascribed without +due warrant to Theocritus, is in many respects a beautiful composition, +but it lacks the fresh and manly touches of the master's style, and +bears the stamp of an unwholesome rhetoric. Why, indeed, should we pity +this suicide, and why should the statue of Love have fallen on the +object of his admiration? Maximus Tyrius showed more sense when he +contemptuously wrote about those men who killed themselves for love of a +beautiful lad in Locri:[167] "And in good sooth they deserved to die." + +The dialogue, entitled _Erotes_, attributed to Lucian, deserves a +paragraph. More than any other composition of the rhetorical age of +Greek literature, it attempts a comprehensive treatment of erotic +passion, and sums up the teaching of the doctors and the predilections +of the vulgar in one treatise.[168] Like many of Lucian's compositions, +it has what may be termed a retrospective and resumptive value. That is +to say, it represents less the actual feeling of the author and his age +than the result of his reading and reflection brought into harmony with +his experience. The scene is laid at Cnidus, in the groves of Aphrodite. +The temple and the garden and the statue of Praxiteles are described +with a luxury of language which strikes the keynote of the dialogue. We +have exchanged the company of Plato, Xenophon, or Æschines for that of a +Juvenalian _Græculus_, a delicate æsthetic voluptuary. Every epithet +smells of musk, and every phrase is a provocative. The interlocutors +are Callicratides, the Athenian, and Charicles, the Rhodian. +Callicratides kept an establishment of _exoleti_; when the down upon +their chins had grown beyond the proper point--"when the beard is just +sprouting, when youth is in the prime of charm," they were drafted off +to farms and country villages. Charicles maintained a harem of +dancing-girls and flute-players. The one was "madly passionate for +lads;" the other no less "mad for women." Charicles undertook the cause +of women, Callicratides that of boys. Charicles began. The love of women +is sanctioned by antiquity; it is natural; it endures through life; it +alone provides pleasure for both sexes. Boys grow bearded, rough, and +past their prime. Women always excite passion. Then Callicratides takes +up his parable. Masculine love combines virtue with pleasure. While the +love of women is a physical necessity, the love of boys is a product of +high culture and an adjunct of philosophy. Paiderastia may be either +vulgar or celestial; the second will be sought by men of liberal +education and good manners. Then follow contrasted pictures of the lazy +woman and the manly youth. The one provokes to sensuality, the other +excites noble emulation in the ways of virile living. Lucian, summing up +the arguments of the two pleaders, decides that Corinth must give way to +Athens, adding: "Marriage is open to all men, but the love of boys to +philosophers only." This verdict is referred to Theomnestus, a Don Juan +of both sexes. He replies that both boys and women are good for +pleasure; the philosophical arguments of Callicratides are cant. + + * * * * * + +This brief abstract of Lucian's dialogue on love indicates the cynicism +with which its author viewed the subject, using the whole literature and +all the experience of the Greeks to support a thesis of pure hedonism. +The sybarites of Cairo or Constantinople at the present moment might +employ the same arguments, except that they would omit the philosophic +cant of Callicratides. + + * * * * * + +There is nothing in extant Greek literature, of a date anterior to the +Christian era, which is foul in the same sense as that in which the +works of Roman poets (Catullus and Martial), Italian poets (Beccatelli +and Baffo), and French poets (Scarron and Voltaire) are foul. Only +purblind students will be unable to perceive the difference between the +obscenity of the Latin races and that of Aristophanes. The difference, +indeed, is wide and radical, and strongly marked. It is the difference +between a race naturally gifted with a delicate, æsthetic sense of +beauty, and one in whom that sense was always subject to the +perturbation, of gross instincts. But with the first century of the new +age a change came over even the imagination of the Greeks. Though they +never lost their distinction of style, that precious gift of lightness +and good taste conferred upon them with their language, they borrowed +something of their conquerors' vein. This makes itself felt in the +_Anthology_. Straton and Rufinus suffered the contamination of the Roman +genius, stronger in political organisation than that of Hellas, but +coarser and less spiritually tempered in morals and in art. Straton was +a native of Sardis, who flourished in the second century. He compiled a +book of paiderastic poems, consisting in a great measure of his own and +Meleager's compositions, which now forms the twelfth section of the +_Palatine Anthology_. This book he dedicated, not to the Muse, but to +Zeus; for Zeus was the boy-lover among deities;[169] he bade it carry +forth his message of fair youths throughout the world;[170] and he +claimed a special inspiration from heaven for singing of one sole +subject, paiderastia.[171] It may be said with truth that Straton +understood the bent of his own genius. We trace a blunt earnestness of +intention in his epigrams, a certainty of feeling and directness of +artistic treatment, which show that he had only one object in view. +Meleager has far higher qualities as a poet, and his feeling, as well as +his style, is more exquisite. But he wavered between the love of boys +and women, seeking in both the satisfaction of emotional yearnings which +in the modern world would have marked him as a sentimentalist. The +so-called _Mousa Paidiké_, "Muse of Boyhood," is a collection of two +hundred and fifty-eight short poems, some of them of great artistic +merit, in praise of boys and boy-love. The common-places of these +epigrams are Ganymede and Erôs;[172] we hear but little of +Aphrodite--her domain is the other section of the _Anthology_, called +Erotika. A very small percentage of these compositions can be described +as obscene;[173] none are nasty, in the style of Martial or Ausonius; +some are exceedingly picturesque;[174] a few are written in a strain of +lofty or of lovely music;[175] one or two are delicate and subtle in +their humour.[176] The whole collection supplies good means of judging +how the Greeks of the decadence felt about this form of love. _Malakia_ +is the real condemnation of this poetry, rather than brutality or +coarseness. A favourite topic is the superiority of boys over girls. +This sometimes takes a gross form;[177] but once or twice the treatment +of the subject touches a real psychological distinction, as in the +following epigram:[178]-- + + "The love of women is not after my heart's desire; but the fires of + male desire have placed me under inextinguishable coals of burning. + The heat there is mightier; for the more powerful is male than + female, the keener is that desire." + +These four lines give the key to much of the Greek preference for +paiderastia. The love of the male, when it has been apprehended and +entertained, is more exciting, they thought, more absorbent of the whole +nature, than the love of the female. It is, to use another kind of +phraseology, more of a mania and more of a disease. + +With the _Anthology_ we might compare the curious _Epistolai Erotikai_ +of Philostratus.[179] They were in all probability rhetorical +compositions, not intended for particular persons; yet they indicate the +kind of wooing to which youths were subjected in later Hellas.[180] The +discrepancy between the triviality of their subject-matter and the +exquisiteness of their diction is striking. The second of these +qualities has made them a mine for poets. Ben Jonson, for example, +borrowed the loveliest of his lyrics from the following _concetto_:--"I +sent thee a crown of roses, not so much honouring thee, though this, +too, was my meaning, but wishing to do some kindness to the roses that +they might not wither." Take, again, the phrase: "Well, and love himself +is naked, and the graces and the stars;" or this, "O rose, that has a +voice to speak with!"--or this metaphor for the footsteps of the +beloved, "O rhythms of most beloved feet, O kisses pressed upon the +ground!" + +While the paiderastia of the Greeks was sinking into grossness, +effeminacy, and æsthetic prettiness, the moral instincts of humanity +began to assert themselves in earnest. It became part of the higher +doctrine of the Roman Stoics to suppress this form of passion.[181] The +Christians, from St. Paul onwards, instituted an uncompromising crusade +against it. Theirs was no mere speculative warfare, like that of the +philosophers at Athens. They fought with all the forces of their +manhood, with the sword of the Lord and with the excommunications of the +Church, to suppress what seemed to them an unutterable scandal. Dio +Chrysostom, Clemens Alexandrinus, and Athanasius, are our best +authorities for the vices which prevailed in Hellas during the +Empire;[182] the Roman law, moreover, proves that the civil governors +aided the Church in its attempt to moralise the people on this point. + + + + +XVII. + + +The transmutation of Hellas proper into part of the Roman Empire, and +the intrusion of Stoicism and Christianity into the sphere of Hellenic +thought and feeling, mark the end of the Greek age. It still remains, +however, to consider the relation of this passion to the character of +the race, and to determine its influence. + +In the fifth section of this essay, I asserted that it is now impossible +to ascertain whether the Greeks derived paiderastia from any of the +surrounding nations, and if so, from which. Homer's silence makes it +probable that the contact of Hellenic with PhÅ“nician traders in the +post-heroic period led to the adoption by the Greek race of a custom +which they speedily assimilated and stamped with an Hellenic character. +At the same time, I suggested in the tenth section that paiderastia, in +its more enthusiastic and martial form, may have been developed within +the very sanctuary of Greek national existence by the Dorians, matured +in the course of their migrations, and systematised after their +settlement in Crete and Sparta. That the Greeks themselves regarded +Crete as the classic ground of paiderastia favours either theory, and +suggests a fusion of them both; for the geographical position of this +island made it the meeting-place of Hellenes with the Asiatic races, +while it was also one of the earliest Dorian acquisitions. + +When we come to ask why this passion struck roots so deep into the very +heart and brain of the Greek nation, we must reject the favourite +hypothesis of climate. Climate is, no doubt, powerful to a great extent +in determining the complexion of sexual morality; yet, as regards +paiderastia, we have abundant proof that nations both of North and South +have, according to circumstances quite independent of climatic +conditions, been both equally addicted and equally averse to this +habit. The Etruscan,[183] the Chinese, the ancient Keltic tribes, the +Tartar hordes of Timour Khan, the Persians under Moslem rule--races sunk +in the sloth of populous cities, as well as the nomadic children of the +Asian steppes, have all acquired a notoriety at least equal to that of +the Greeks. The only difference between these people and the Greeks in +respect to paiderastia is that everything which the Greek genius touched +acquired a portion of its distinction, so that what in semi-barbarous +society may be ignored as vice, in Greece demands attention as a phase +of the spiritual life of a world-historic nation. + +Like climate, ethnology must also be eliminated. It is only a +superficial philosophy of history which is satisfied with the +nomenclature of Semitic, Aryan, and so forth; which imagines that +something is gained for the explanation of a complex psychological +problem when hereditary affinities have been demonstrated. The deeps of +national personality are far more abysmal than this. Granting that +climate and descent are elements of great importance, the religious and +moral principles, the æsthetic apprehensions, and the customs which +determine the character of a race, leave always something still to be +analysed. In dealing with Greek paiderastia, we are far more likely to +reach a probable solution if we confine our attention to the specific +social conditions which fostered the growth of this passion in Greece, +and to the general habit of mind which permitted its evolution out of +the common stuff of humanity, than if we dilate at ease upon the climate +of the Ægean, or discuss the ethnical complexion of the Hellenic stock. +In other words, it was the Pagan view of human life and duty which gave +scope to paiderastia, while certain special Greek customs aided its +development. + +The Greeks themselves, quoted more than once above, have put us on the +right track in this inquiry. However paiderastia began in Hellas, it was +encouraged by gymnastics and syssitia. Youths and boys engaged together +in athletic exercises, training their bodies to the highest point of +physical attainment, growing critical about the points and proportions +of the human form, lived of necessity in an atmosphere of mutual +attention. Young men could not be insensible to the grace of boys in +whom the bloom of beauty was unfolding. Boys could not fail to admire +the strength and goodliness of men displayed in the comeliness of +perfected development. Having exercised together in the +wrestling-ground, the same young men and boys consorted at the common +tables. Their talk fell naturally upon feats of strength and training; +nor was it unnatural, in the absence of a powerful religious +prohibition, that love should spring from such discourse and +intercourse. + +The nakedness, which Greek custom permitted in gymnastic games and some +religious rites, no doubt contributed to the erotic force of masculine +passion; and the history of their feeling upon this point deserves +notice. Plato, in the _Republic_ (452), observes that "not long ago the +Greeks were of the opinion, which is still generally received among the +barbarians, that the sight of a naked man was ridiculous and unseemly." +He goes on to mention the Cretans and the Lacedæmonians as the +institutors of naked games. To these conditions may be added dances in +public, the ritual of gods like Erôs, ceremonial processions, and +contests for the prize of beauty. + +The famous passage in the first book of Thucydides (cap. vi.) +illustrates the same point. While describing the primitive culture of +the Hellenes, he thinks it worth while to mention that the Spartans, who +first stripped themselves for running and wrestling, abandoned the +girdle which it was usual to wear around the loins. He sees in this +habit one of the strongest points of distinction between the Greeks and +barbarians. Herodotus insists upon the same point (book i. 10), which is +further confirmed by the verse of Ennius: "Flagitii," &c. + +The nakedness which Homer (_Iliad_, xxii. 66) and Tyrtæus (i. 21) +describes as shameful and unseemly is that of an old man. Both poets +seem to imply that a young man's naked body is beautiful even in death. + +We have already seen that paiderastia, as it existed in early Hellas, +was a martial institution, and that it never wholly lost its virile +character. This suggests the consideration of another class of +circumstances which were in the highest degree conducive to its free +development. The Dorians, to begin with, lived like regiments of +soldiers in barracks. The duty of training the younger men was thrown +upon the elder; so that the close relations thus established in a race +which did not positively discountenance the love of male for male rather +tended actively to encourage it. Nor is it difficult to understand why +the romantic emotions in such a society were more naturally aroused by +male companions than by women. Matrimony was not a matter of elective +affinity between two persons seeking to spend their lives agreeably and +profitably in common, so much as an institution used by the State for +raising vigorous recruits for the national army. All that is known about +the Spartan marriage customs, taken together with Plato's speculations +about a community of wives, proves this conclusively. It followed that +the relation of the sexes to each other was both more formal and more +simple than it is with us; the natural and the political purposes of +cohabitation were less veiled by those personal and emotional +considerations which play so large a part in modern life. There was less +scope for the emergence of passionate enthusiasm between men and women, +while the full conditions of a spiritual attachment, solely determined +by reciprocal inclination, were only to be found in comradeship. In the +wrestling-ground, at the common tables, in the ceremonies of religion, +at the Pan-hellenic games, in the camp, in the hunting-field, on the +benches of the council chamber, and beneath the porches of the Agora, +men were all in all unto each other. Women meanwhile kept the house at +home, gave birth to babies, and reared children till such time as the +State thought fit to undertake their training. It is, moreover, well +known that the age at which boys were separated from their mothers was +tender. Thenceforth they lived with persons of their own sex; their +expanding feelings were confined within the sphere of masculine +experience until the age arrived when marriage had to be considered in +the light of a duty to the commonwealth. How far this tended to +influence the growth of sentiment, and to determine its quality, may be +imagined. + +In the foregoing paragraph I have restricted my attention almost wholly +to the Dorians: but what has just been said about the circumstance of +their social life suggests a further consideration regarding paiderastia +at large among the Greeks, which takes rank with the weightiest of all. +The peculiar status of Greek women is a subject surrounded with +difficulty; yet no man can help feeling that the idealisation of +masculine love, which formed so prominent a feature of Greek life in the +historic period, was intimately connected with the failure of the race +to give their proper sphere in society to women. The Greeks themselves +were not directly conscious of this fact; nor can I remember any passage +in which a Greek has suggested that boy-love flourished precisely upon +the special ground which had been wrestled from the right domain of file +other sex. Far in advance of the barbarian tribes around them, they +could not well discern the defects of their own civilisation; nor was it +to be expected that they should have anticipated that exaltation of the +love of women into a semi-religious cult which was the later product of +chivalrous Christianity. We, from the standpoint of a more fully +organised society, detect their errors, and pronounce that paiderastia +was a necessary consequence of their unequal social culture; nor do we +fail to notice that, just as paiderastia was a post-Homeric intrusion +into Greek life, so women, after the age of the Homeric poems, suffered +a corresponding depression in the social scale. In the _Iliad_ and the +_Odyssey_, and in the tragedies which deal with the heroic age, they +play a part of importance for which the actual conditions of historic +Hellas offered no opportunities. + +It was at Athens that the social disadvantages of women told with +greatest force; and this perhaps may help to explain the philosophic +idealisation of boy-love among the Athenians. To talk familiarly with +free women on the deepest subjects, to treat them as intellectual +companions, or to choose them as associates in undertakings of political +moment, seems never to have entered the mind of an Athenian. Women were +conspicuous by their absence from all places of resort--from the +palæstra, the theatre, the Agora, Pnyx, the law-court, the symposium; +and it was here, and here alone, that the spiritual energies of the men +expanded. Therefore, as the military ardour of the Dorians naturally +associated itself with paiderastia, so the characteristic passion of the +Athenians for culture took the same direction. The result in each case +was a highly wrought psychical condition, which, however alien to our +instincts, must be regarded as an exaltation of the race above its +common human needs--as a manifestation of fervid, highly-pitched +emotional enthusiasm. + +It does not follow from the facts which I have just discussed that, +either at Athens or at Sparta, women were excluded from an important +position in the home, or that the family in Greece was not the sphere of +female influence more active than the extant fragments of Greek +literature reveal to us. The women of Sophocles and Euripides, and the +noble ladies described by Plutarch, warn us to be cautious in our +conclusions on this topic. The fact, however, remains that in Greece, as +in mediæval Europe, the home was not regarded as the proper sphere for +enthusiastic passion: both paiderastia and chivalry ignored the family, +while the latter even set the matrimonial tie at nought. It is therefore +precisely at this point of the family, regarded as a comparatively +undeveloped factor in the higher spiritual life of Greeks, that the two +problems of paiderastia and the position of women in Greece intersect. + +In reviewing the external circumstances which favoured paiderastia, it +may be added, as a minor cause, that the leisure in which the Greeks +lived, supported by a crowd of slaves, and attending chiefly to their +physical and mental culture, rendered them peculiarly liable to +pre-occupations of passion and pleasure-seeking. In the early periods, +when war was incessant, this abundance of spare time bore less corrupt +fruit than during the stagnation into which the Greeks, enslaved by +Macedonia and Rome, declined. + +So far, I have been occupied in the present section with the specific +conditions of Greek society which may be regarded as determining the +growth of paiderastia. With respect to the general habit of mind which +caused the Greeks, in contradistinction to the Jews and Christians, to +tolerate this form of feeling, it will be enough here to remark that +Paganism could have nothing logically to say against it. The further +consideration of this matter I shall reserve for the next division of my +essay, contenting myself for the moment with the observation that Greek +religion and the instincts of the Greek race offered no direct obstacle +to the expansion of a habit which was strongly encouraged by the +circumstances I have just enumerated. + + + + +XVIII. + + +Upon a topic of great difficulty, which is, however, inseparable from +the subject-matter of this inquiry, I shall not attempt to do more than +to offer a few suggestions. This is the relation of paiderastia to Greek +art. Whoever may have made a study of antique sculpture will not have +failed to recognise its healthy human tone, its ethical rightness. There +is no partiality for the beauty of the male sex, no endeavour to reserve +for the masculine deities the nobler attributes of man's intellectual +and moral nature, no extravagant attempt to refine upon masculine +qualities by the blending of feminine voluptuousness. Aphrodite and +Artemis hold their place beside Erôs and Hermes. Ares is less +distinguished by the genius lavished on him than Athene. Hera takes rank +with Zeus, the Nymphs with the Fauns, the Muses with Apollo. Nor are +even the minor statues, which belong to decorative rather than high art, +noticeable for the attribution of sensual beauties to the form of boys. +This, which is certainly true of the best age, is, with rare exceptions, +true of all the ages of Greek plastic art. No prurient effeminacy +degraded, deformed, or unduly confounded, the types of sex idealised in +sculpture. + +The first reflection which must occur to even prejudiced observers, is +that paiderastia did not corrupt the Greek imagination to any serious +extent. The license of Paganism found appropriate expression in female +forms, but hardly touched the male; nor would it, I think, be possible +to demonstrate that obscene works of painting or of sculpture were +provided for paiderastic sensualists similar to those pornographic +objects which fill the reserved cabinet of the Neapolitan Museum. Thus, +the testimony of Greek art might be used to confirm the asseveration of +Greek literature, that among free men, at least, and gentle, this +passion tended even to purify feelings which, in their lust for women, +verged on profligacy. For one androgynous statue of Hermaphroditus or +Dionysus there are at least a score of luxurious Aphrodites and +voluptuous Bacchantes. Erôs himself, unless he is portrayed according to +the Roman type of Cupid, as a mischievous urchin, is a youth whose +modesty is no less noticeable than his beauty. His features are not +unfrequently shadowed with melancholy, as appears in the so-called +Genius of the Vatican, and in many statues which might pass for genii of +silence or of sleep as well as love. It would be difficult to adduce a +single wanton Erôs, a single image of this god provocative of sensual +desires. There is not one before which we could say--The sculptor of +that statue had sold his soul to paiderastic lust. Yet Erôs, it may be +remembered, was the special patron of paiderastia. + +Greek art, like Greek mythology, embodied a finely graduated +half-unconscious analysis of human nature. The mystery of procreation +was indicated by phalli on the Hermæ. Unbridled appetite found +incarnation in Priapus, who, moreover, was never a Greek god, but a +Lampsacene adopted from the Asian coast by the Romans. The natural +desires were symbolised in Aphrodite Praxis, Kallipugos, or Pandemos. +The higher sexual enthusiasm assumed celestial form in Aphrodite +Ouranios. Love itself appeared personified in the graceful Erôs of +Praxiteles; and how sublimely Pheidias presented this god to the eyes of +his worshippers can now only be guessed at from a mutilated fragment +among the Elgin marbles. The wild and native instincts, wandering, +untutored and untamed, which still connect man with the life of woods +and beasts and April hours, received half-human shape in Pan and +Silenus, the Satyrs and the Fauns. In this department of semi-bestial +instincts we find one solitary instance bearing upon paiderastia. The +group of a Satyr tempting a youth at Naples stands alone among numerous +similar compositions which have female or hermaphroditic figures, and +which symbolise the violent and comprehensive lust of brutal appetite. +Further distinctions between the several degrees of love were drawn by +the Greek artists. Himeros, the desire that strikes the spirit through +the eyes, and Pothos, the longing of souls in separation from the object +of their passion, were carved together with Erôs by Scopas for +Aphrodite's temple at Megara. Throughout the whole of this series there +is no form set aside for paiderastia, as might have been expected if the +fancy of the Greeks had idealised a sensual Asiatic passion. Statues of +Ganymede carried to heaven by the eagle are, indeed, common enough in +Græco-Roman plastic art; yet, even here, there is nothing which +indicates the preference for a specifically voluptuous type of male +beauty. + +It should be noticed that the mythology of the Greeks was determined +before paiderastia laid hold upon the race. Homer and Hesiod, says +Herodotus, made the Hellenic theogony, and Homer and Hesiod knew only of +the passions and emotions which are common to all healthy semi-civilised +humanity. The artists, therefore, found in myths and poems +subject-matter which imperatively demanded a no less careful study of +the female than of the male form; nor were beautiful women wanting. +Great cities placed their maidens at the disposition of sculptors and +painters for the modelling of Aphrodite. The girls of Sparta in their +dances suggested groups of Artemis and Oreads. The Hetairai of Corinth +presented every detail of feminine perfection freely to the gaze. Eyes +accustomed to the "dazzling vision" of a naked athlete were no less +sensitive to the virginal veiled grace of the Athenian Canephoroi. The +temples of the female deities had their staffs of priestesses, and the +oracles their inspired prophetesses. Remembering these facts, +remembering also what we read about Æolian ladies who gained fame by +poetry, there is every reason to understand how sculptors found it easy +to idealise the female form. Nor need we imagine, because Greek +literature abounds in references to paiderastia, and because this +passion played an important part in Greek history, that therefore the +majority of the race were not susceptible in a far higher degree to +female charms. On the contrary, our best authorities speak of boy-love +as a characteristic which distinguished warriors, gymnasts, poets, and +philosophers from the common multitude. As far as regards artists, the +anecdotes which are preserved about them turn chiefly upon their +preference for women. For one tale concerning the Pantarkes of Pheidias, +we have a score relating to the Campaspe of Apelles and the Phryne of +Praxiteles. + +It may be judged superfluous to have proved that the female form was +idealised in sculpture by the Hellenes at least as nobly as the male; +nor need we seek elaborate reasons why paiderastia left no perceptible +stain upon the art of a race distinguished before all things by the +reserve of good taste. At the same time, there can be no reasonable +doubt that the artistic temperament of the Greeks had something to do +with its wide diffusion and many sided development. Sensitive to every +form of loveliness, and unrestrained by moral or religious prohibition, +they could not fail to be enthusiastic for that corporeal beauty, unlike +all other beauties of the human form, which marks male adolescence no +less triumphantly than does the male soprano voice upon the point of +breaking. The power of this corporeal loveliness to sway their +imagination by its unique æthetic charm is abundantly illustrated in the +passages which I have quoted above from the _Charmides_ of Plato and +Xenophon's _Symposium_. An expressive Greek phrase, "Youths in their +prime of adolescence, but not distinguished by a special beauty," +recognises the persuasive influence, separate from that of true beauty, +which belongs to a certain period of masculine growth. The very +evanescence of this "bloom of youth" made it in Greek eyes desirable, +since nothing more clearly characterises the poetic myths which +adumbrate their special sensibility than the pathos of a blossom that +must fade. When distinction of feature and symmetry of form were added +to this charm of youthfulness, the Greeks admitted, as true artists are +obliged to do, that the male body displays harmonies of proportion and +melodies of outline more comprehensive, more indicative of strength +expressed in terms of grace, than that of women.[184] I guard myself +against saying--more seductive to the senses, more soft, more delicate, +more undulating. The superiority of male beauty does not consist in +these attractions, but in the symmetrical development of all the +qualities of the human frame, the complete organisation of the body as +the supreme instrument of vital energy. In the bloom of adolescence the +elements of feminine grace, suggested rather than expressed, are +combined with virility to produce a perfection which is lacking to the +mature and adult excellence of either sex. The Greek lover, if I am +right in the idea which I have formed of him, sought less to stimulate +desire by the contemplation of sensual charms than to attune his spirit +with the spectacle of strength at rest in suavity. He admired the +chastened lines, the figure slight but sinewy, the limbs well-knit and +flexible, the small head set upon broad shoulders, the keen eyes, the +austere reins, and the elastic movement of a youth made vigorous by +exercise. Physical perfection of this kind suggested to his fancy all +that he loved best in moral qualities. Hardihood, self-discipline, +alertness of intelligence, health, temperance, indomitable spirit, +energy, the joy of active life, plain living and high thinking--these +qualities the Greeks idealised, and of these, "the lightning vision of +the darling," was the living incarnation. There is plenty in their +literature to show that paiderastia obtained sanction from the belief +that a soul of this sort would be found within the body of a young man +rather than a woman. I need scarcely add that none but a race of artists +could be lovers of this sort, just as none but a race of poets were +adequate to apprehend the chivalrous enthusiasm for woman as an object +of worship. + +The morality of the Greeks, as I have tried elsewhere to prove, was +æsthetic. They regarded humanity as a part of a good and beautiful +universe, nor did they shrink from any of their normal instincts. To +find the law of human energy, the measure of man's natural desires, the +right moment for indulgence and for self-restraint, the balance which +results in health, the proper limit for each several function which +secures the harmony of all, seem to them the aim of ethics. Their +personal code of conduct ended in "modest self-restraint:" not +abstention, but selection and subordination ruled their practice. They +were satisfied with controlling much that more ascetic natures +unconditionally suppress. Consequently, to the Greeks, there was nothing +at first sight criminal in paiderastia. To forbid it as a hateful and +unclean thing did not occur to them. Finding it within their hearts, +they chose to regulate it, rather than to root it out. It was only after +the inconveniences and scandals to which paiderastia gave rise had been +forced upon their notice, that they felt the visitings of conscience and +wavered in their fearless attitude. + +In like manner, the religion of the Greeks was æsthetic. They analysed +the world of objects and the soul of man, unconsciously perhaps, but +effectively, and called their generalisations by the names of gods and +goddesses. That these were beautiful and filled with human energy was +enough to arouse in them the sentiments of worship. The notion of a +single Deity who ruled the human race by punishment and favour, hating +certain acts while he tolerated others--in other words, a God who +idealised one part of man's nature to the exclusion of the rest--had +never passed into the sphere of Greek conceptions. When, therefore, +paiderastia became a fact of their consciousness, they reasoned thus: If +man loves boys, God loves boys also. Homer and Hesiod forgot to tell us +about Ganymede and Hyacinth and Hylas. Let these lads be added to the +list of Danaë and Semele and Io. Homer told us that, because Ganymede +was beautiful, Zeus made him the serving-boy of the immortals. We +understand the meaning of that tale. Zeus loved him. The reason why he +did not leave him here on earth like Danaë was that he could not beget +sons upon his body and people the earth with heroes. Do not our wives +stay at home and breed our children? "Our favourite youths" are always +at our side. + + + + +XIX. + + +Sexual inversion among Greek women offers more difficulties than we met +with in the study of paiderastia. This is due, not to the absence of the +phenomenon, but to the fact that feminine homosexual passions were never +worked into the social system, never became educational and military +agents. The Greeks accepted the fact that certain females are +congenitally indifferent to the male sex, and appetitive of their own +sex. This appears from the myth of Aristophanes in Plato's _Symposium_, +which expresses in comic form their theory of sexual differentiation. +There were originally human beings of three sexes: men, the offspring of +the sun; women, the offspring of the earth; hermaphrodites, the +offspring of the moon. They were round with two faces, four hands, four +feet, and two sets of reproductive organs apiece. In the case of the +third (hermaphroditic or lunar) sex, one set of reproductive organs was +male, the other female. Zeus, on account of the insolence and vigour of +these primitive human creatures, sliced them into halves. Since that +time, the halves of each sort have always striven to unite with their +corresponding halves, and have found some satisfaction in carnal +congress--males with males, females with females, and (in the case of +the lunar or hermaphroditic creatures) males and females with one +another. Philosophically, then, the homosexual passion of female for +female, and of male for male, was placed upon exactly the same footing +as the heterosexual passion of each sex for its opposite. Greek logic +admitted the homosexual female to equal rights with the homosexual male, +and both to the same natural freedom as heterosexual individuals of +either species. + +Although this was the position assumed by philosophers, Lesbian passion, +as the Greeks called it, never obtained the same social sanction as +boy-love. It is significant that Greek mythology offers no legends of +the goddesses parallel to those which consecrated paiderastia among the +male deities. Again, we have no recorded example, so far as I can +remember, of noble friendships between women rising into political and +historical prominence. There are no female analogies to Harmodius and +Aristogeiton, Cratinus and Aristodemus. It is true that Sappho and the +Lesbian poetesses gave this female passion an eminent place in Greek +literature. But the Æolian women did not found a glorious tradition +corresponding to that of the Dorian men. If homosexual love between +females assumed the form of an institution at one moment in Æolia, this +failed to strike roots deep into the subsoil of the nation. Later +Greeks, while tolerating, regarded it rather as an eccentricity of +nature, or a vice, than as an honourable and socially useful emotion. +The condition of women in ancient Hellas sufficiently accounts for the +result. There was no opportunity in the harem or the zenana of raising +homosexual passion to the same moral and spiritual efficiency as it +obtained in the camp, the palæstra, and the schools of the philosophers. +Consequently, while the Greeks utilised and ennobled boy-love, they left +Lesbian love to follow the same course of degeneracy as it pursues in +modern times. + +In order to see how similar the type of Lesbian love in ancient Greece +was to the form which it assumed in modern Europe, we have only to +compare Lucian's Dialogues with Parisian tales by Catulle Mendès or Guy +de Maupassant. The woman who seduces the girl she loves, is, in the +girl's phrase, "over-masculine," "androgynous." The Megilla of Lucian +insists upon being called Megillos. The girl is a weaker vessel, pliant, +submissive to the virago's sexual energy, selected from the class of +meretricious _ingénues_. + +There is an important passage in the _Amores_ of Lucian which proves +that the Greeks felt an abhorrence of sexual inversion among women +similar to that which moderns feel for its manifestation among men. +Charicles, who supports, the cause of normal heterosexual passion, +argues after this wise: + + "If you concede homosexual love to males, you must in justice grant + the same to females; you will have to sanction carnal intercourse + between them; monstrous instruments of lust will have to be + permitted, in order that their sexual congress may be carried out; + that obscene vocable, tribad, which so rarely offends our ears--I + blush to utter it--will become rampant, and Philænis will spread + androgynous orgies throughout our harems." + +What these monstrous instruments of lust were may be gathered from the +sixth mime of Herodas, where one of them is described in detail. +Philænis may, perhaps, be the poetess of an obscene book on sensual +refinements, to which Athanæus alludes (_Deipnosophistæ_, viii, 335). It +is also possible that Philænis had become the common designation of a +Lesbian lover, a tribad. In the latter periods of Greek literature, as I +have elsewhere shown, certain fixed masks of Attic comedy (corresponding +to the masks of the Italian _Commedia dell' Arte_) created types of +character under conventional names--so that, for example, Cerdo became a +cobbler, Myrtalë a common whore, and possibly Philænis a Lesbian invert. + +The upshot of this parenthetical investigation is to demonstrate that, +while the love of males for males in Greece obtained moralisation, and +reached the high position of a recognised social function, the love of +female for female remained undeveloped and unhonoured, on the same level +as both forms of homosexual passion in the modern European world are. + + + + +XX. + + +Greece merged into Rome; but, though the Romans aped the arts and +manners of the Greeks, they never truly caught the Hellenic spirit. Even +Virgil only trod the court of the Gentiles of Greek culture. It was not, +therefore, possible that any social custom so peculiar as paiderastia +should flourish on Latin soil. Instead of Cleomenes and Epameinondas, we +find at Rome, Nero, the bride of Sporus, and Commodus the public +prostitute. Alcibiades is replaced by the Mark Antony of Cicero's +_Philippic_. Corydon, with artificial notes, takes up the song of +Ageanax. The melodies of Meleager are drowned in the harsh discords of +Martial. Instead of love, lust was the deity of the boy-lover on the +shores of Tiber. + +In the first century of the Roman Empire, Christianity began its work of +reformation. When we estimate the effect of Christianity, we must bear +in mind that the early Christians found Paganism disorganised and +humanity rushing to a precipice of ruin. Their first efforts were +directed toward checking the sensuality of Corinth, Athens, Rome, the +capitals of Syria and Egypt. Christian asceticism, in the corruption of +the Pagan systems, led logically to the cloister and the hermitage. The +component elements of society had been disintegrated by the Greeks in +their decadence, and by the Romans in their insolence of material +prosperity. To the impassioned followers of Christ, nothing was left but +separation from nature, which had become incurable in its monstrosity of +vices. But the convent was a virtual abandonment of social problems. + +From this policy of despair, this helplessness to cope with evil, and +this hopelessness of good on earth, emerged a new and nobler synthesis, +the merit of which belongs in no small measure to the Teutonic converts +to the Christian faith. The Middle Ages proclaimed, through chivalry, +the truth, then for the first time fully apprehended, that woman is the +mediating and ennobling element in human life. Not in escape into the +cloister, not in the self-abandonment to vice, but in the fellow-service +of free men and women must be found the solution of social problems. The +mythology of Mary gave religious sanction to the chivalrous enthusiasm; +and a cult of woman sprang into being, to which, although it was +romantic and visionary, we owe the spiritual basis of our domestic and +civil life. The _modus vivendi_ of the modern world was found. + + +FINIS. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Compare the fine rhetorical passage in Max. Tyr., _Dissert._, xxiv. +8, ed. Didot, 1842. + +[2] i. 135. + +[3] Numerous localities, however, claimed this distinction. See Ath., +xiii. 601. Chalkis in EubÅ“a, as well as Crete, could show the sacred +spot where the mystical assumption of Ganymede was reported to have +happened. + +[4] _Laws_, i. 636. Cp. _Timæus_, quoted by Ath., p. 602. Servius, _ad +Aen._ x, 325, says that boy-love spread from Crete to Sparta, and thence +through Hellas, and Strabo mentions its prevalence among the Cretans (x. +483). Plato (Rep. v. 452) speaks of the Cretans as introducing naked +athletic sports. + +[5] _Laws_, viii. 863. + +[6] See Ath., xiii. 602. Plutarch, in the Life of Pelopidas (Clough, +vol. ii. p. 219), argues against this view. + +[7] See Rosenbaum, _Lustseuche im Alterthume_, p. 118. + +[8] Max. Tyr., _Dissert._, ix. + +[9] See Sismondi, vol. ii. p. 324, Symonds, _Renaissance in Italy_, _Age +of the Despots_, p. 435; Tardieu, _Attentats aux MÅ“urs_, _Les Ordures de +Paris_; Sir R. Burton's _Terminal Essay_ to the "Arabian Nights;" +Carlier, _Les Deux Prostitutions_, etc. + +[10] I say almost, because something of the same sort appeared in Persia +at the time of Saadi. + +[11] Plato, in the _Phædrus_, the _Symposium_, and the _Laws_, is +decisive on the mixed nature of paiderastia. + +[12] Theocr., _Paidika_, probably an Æolic poem of much older date. + +[13] _Phædrus_, p. 252, Jowett's translation. + +[14] Page 178, Jowett. + +[15] Clough, vol. ii. p. 218. + +[16] Book vii. 4, 7. + +[17] We may compare a passage from the _Symposium_ ascribed to Xenophon, +viii. 32. + +[18] Page 182, Jowett. + +[19] Plutarch, _Eroticus_, cap. xvii. p. 791, 40, Reiske. + +[20] Lang's translation, p. 63. + +[21] See Athenæus, xiii. 602, for the details. + +[22] See Athenæus, xiii. 602, who reports an oracle in praise of these +lovers. + +[23] Ar., _Pol._, ii. 9. + +[24] See Theocr. _Aïtes_ and the _Scholia_. + +[25] See Plutarch's _Eroticus_, 760, 42, where the story is reported on +the faith of Aristotle. + +[26] _Pelopidas_, Clough's trans., vol. ii. 218. + +[27] Cap. xvi. p. 760, 21. + +[28] Cap. xxiii. p. 768, 53. Compare Max. Tyr., _Dissert._, xxiv. 1. See +too the chapter on Tyrannicide in Ar. Pol., viii. (v.) 10. + +[29] Clough's trans., vol. v. p. 118. + +[30] _Hellenics_, bk. ix. cap. xxvi. + +[31] Suidas, under the heading _Paidika_, tells of two lovers who both +died in battle, fighting each to save the other. + +[32] See, for example, _Æschines against Timarchus_, 59. + +[33] Trans. by Sir G. C. Lewis, vol. ii. pp. 309-313. + +[34] _Symp._ 182 A. + +[35] i. 132. + +[36] _De Rep._, iv. 4. + +[37] I need hardly point out the parallel between this custom and the +marriage customs of half-civilised communities. + +[38] The general opinion of the Greeks with regard to the best type of +Dorian love is well expressed by Maximus Tyrius, _Dissert._, xxvi. 8. +"It is esteemed a disgrace to a Cretan youth to have no lover. It is a +disgrace for a Cretan youth to tamper with the boy he loves. O custom, +beautifully blent of self-restraint and passion! The man of Sparta loves +the lad of Lacedæmon, but loves him only as one loves a fair statue; and +many love one, and one loves many." + +[39] _Laws_, i. 636. + +[40] _Pol._, ii. 7, 4. + +[41] Lib. 13,602, E. + +[42] It is not unimportant to note in this connection that paiderastia +of no ignoble type still prevails among the Albanian mountaineers. + +[43] The foregoing attempt to reconstruct a possible environment for the +Dorian form of paiderastia is, of course, wholly imaginative. Yet it +receives certain support from what we know about the manners of the +Albanian mountaineers and the nomadic Tartar tribes. Aristotle remarks +upon the paiderastic customs of the Kelts, who in his times were +immigrant. + +[44] See above, Section V. + +[45] It appears from the reports of travellers that this form of passion +is not common among those African tribes who have not been corrupted by +Musselmans or Europeans. + +[46] It may be plausibly argued that Æschylus drew the subject of his +_Myrmidones_ from some such non-Homeric epic. See below, Section XII. + +[47] 182 A. Cp. _Laws_, i. 636. + +[48] _Eroticus_, xvii. p. 761, 34. + +[49] See Plutarch, _Pelopidas_, Clough, vol. ii. p. 219. + +[50] Clough, as quoted above, p. 219. + +[51] The connection of the royal family of Macedon by descent with the +Æacidæ, and the early settlement of the Dorians in Macedonia, are +noticeable. + +[52] Cf. Athenæus, x. 435. + +[53] Hadrian in Rome, at a later period, revived the Greek tradition +with even more of caricature. His military ardour, patronage of art, and +love for Antinous seem to hang together. + +[54] _Dissert._, xxvi. 8. + +[55] See Athen., xiii., 609, F. The prize was armour and the wreath of +myrtle. + +[56] _Symp._ 182, B. In the _Laws_, however, he mentions the Barbarians +as corrupting Greek morality in this respect. We have here a further +proof that it was the noble type of love which the Barbarians +discouraged. For _Malakia_ they had no dislike. + +[57] Bergk., _Poetæ Lyrica Græci_, vol. ii. p. 490, line 87 of Theognis. + +[58] _Ibid._, line 1,353. + +[59] _Ibid._, line 1,369. + +[60] _Ibid._, lines 1,259-1,270. + +[61] _Ibid._, line 1,267. + +[62] _Ibid._, lines 237-254. Translated by me in _Vagabunduli Libellus_, +p. 167. + +[63] Bergk., _Poetæ Lyrici Græci_, vol. ii. line 1,239. + +[64] _Ibid._, line 1,304. + +[65] _Ibid._, line 1,327. + +[66] _Ibid._, line 1,253. + +[67] _Ibid._, line 1,335. + +[68] _Eroticus_, cap. v. p. 751, 21. See Bergk., vol. ii. p. 430. + +[69] See Cic., _Tusc._, iv. 33 + +[70] Bergk., vol. iii. p. 1,013. + +[71] _Ibid._, p. 1,045. + +[72] _Ibid._, pp. 1,109, 1,023; fr. 24, 26. + +[73] _Ibid._, p. 1,023; fr. 48. + +[74] Maximus Tyrius, _Dissert._, xxvi., says that Smerdies was a +Thracian, given, for his great beauty, by his Greek captors to +Polycrates. + +[75] See what Agathon says in the _Thesmophoriazuse_ of Aristophanes. + +[76] xv. 695. + +[77] Bergk., vol. iii. p. 1,293. + +[78] _Ibid._, vol. i. p. 327. + +[79] Athen., xiii. 601 A. + +[80] See the fragments of the _Myrmidones_ in the _Poetæ Scenici Græci_, +My interpretation of them is, of course, conjectural. + +[81] Lucian, _Amores_; Plutarch, _Eroticus_; Athenæus, xiii. 602 E. + +[82] Possibly Æschylus drew his fable from a non-Homeric source, but if +so, it is curious that Plato should only refer to Homer. + +[83] _Symph._, 180 A. Xenophon, _Symph._, 8, 31, points out that in +Homer Achilles avenged the death of Patroclus, not as his lover, but as +his comrade in arms. + +[84] Cf. Eurid., _Hippol._, l. 525; Plato, _PhÅ“dr._, p. 255; Max. Tyr., +_Dissert._, xxv. 2. + +[85] See _Poetæ Scenici_, _Fragments of Sophocles_. + +[86] _Eroticus_; p. 790 E. + +[87] Ath., p. 602 E. + +[88] _Tusc._, iv. 33. + +[89] See Athenæus, xiii. pp. 604, 605, for two very outspoken stories +about Sophocles at Chios and apparently at Athens. In 582, e, he +mentions one of the boys beloved by Sophocles, a certain Demophon. + +[90] Plato, _Parm._, 127 A. + +[91] Pausanias, v. 11, and see Meier, p. 159, note 93. + +[92] This, by the way, is a strong argument against the theory that the +_Iliad_ was a post-Herodotean poem. A poem in the age of Pisistratus or +Pericles would not have omitted paiderastia from his view of life, and +could not have told the myth of Ganymede as Homer tells it. It is +doubtful whether he could have preserved the pure outlines of the story +of Patroclus. + +[93] Page 182, Jowett's trans. Mr. Jowett censures this speech as +sophistic and confused in view. It is precisely on this account that it +is valuable. The confusion indicates the obscure conscience of the +Athenians. The sophistry is the result of a half-acknowledged false +position. + +[94] Page 181, Jowett's trans. + +[95] See the curious passages in Plato, _Symp._, p. 192; Plutarch, +_Erot._, p. 751; and Lucian, _Amores_, c. 38. + +[96] Quoted by Athen, xiii. 573 B. + +[97] As Lycon chaperoned Autolycus at the feast of Callias.--_Xen. +Symp._ Boys incurred immediate suspicion if they went out alone to +parties. See a fragment from the _Sappho_ of Ephippus in Athen., xiii. +p. 572 C. + +[98] Line 137. The joke here is that the father in Utopia suggests, of +his own accord, what in Athens he carefully guarded against. + +[99] Page 222, Jowett's trans. + +[100] _Clouds_, 948 and on. I have abridged the original, doing violence +to one of the most beautiful pieces of Greek poetry. + +[101] Aristophanes returns to this point below, line 1,036, where he +says that youths chatter all day in the hot baths and leave the +wrestling-grounds empty. + +[102] There was a good reason for shunning each. The Agora was the +meeting-place of idle gossips, the centre of chaff and scandal. The +shops were, as we shall see, the resort of bad characters and panders. + +[103] Line 1,071, _et seq._ + +[104] Caps. 44, 45, 46. The quotation is only an abstract of the +original. + +[105] Worn up to the age of about eighteen. + +[106] Compare with the passages just quoted two epigrams from the _Mousa +Paidiké_ (Greek _Anthology_, sect. 12): No. 123, from a lover to a lad +who has conquered in a boxing-match; No. 192, where Straton says he +prefers the dust and oil of the wrestling-ground to the curls and +perfumes of a woman's room. + +[107] Page 255 B. + +[108] 1,025. + +[109] _Charmides_, p. 153. + +[110] _Lysis_, 206, This seems, however, to imply that on other +occasions they were separated. + +[111] _Charmides_, p. 154, Jowett. + +[112] Page 155, Jowett. + +[113] Cap. i. 8. + +[114] See cap. viii. 7. This is said before the boy, and in his hearing. + +[115] Cap. iii. 12. + +[116] Cap. iv. 10, _et seq._ The English is an abridgment. + +[117] _Laws_, i. 636 C. + +[118] Athen., xiii. 602 D. + +[119] _Eroticus_. + +[120] Line 60, ascribed to Theocritus, but not genuine. + +[121] Athen., xiii. 609 D. + +[122] _Mousa Paidiké_, 86. + +[123] Compare the _Atys_ of Catullus: "Ego mulier, ego adolescens, ego +ephebus, ego puer, Ego gymnasi fui flos, ego eram decus olei." + +[124] See the law on these points in _Æsch. adv. Timarchum_. + +[125] Thus Aristophanes, quoted above. + +[126] Aristoph., _Ach._, 144, and _Mousa Paidiké_, 130. + +[127] See Sir William Hamilton's _Vases_. + +[128] Lysias, according to Suidas, was the author of five erotic +epistles adressed to young men. + +[129] See Aristoph., _Plutus_, 153-159; _Birds_, 704-707. Cp. _Mousa +Paidiké_, 44, 239, 237. The boys made extraordinary demands upon their +lovers' generosity. The curious tale told about Alcibiades points in +this direction. In Crete they did the like, but also set their lovers to +execute difficult tasks, as Eurystheus imposed the twelve labours on +Herakles. + +[130] Page 29. + +[131] _Mousa Paidiké_, 8: cp. a fragment of Crates, _Poetæ Comici_, +Didot, p. 83. + +[132] _Comici Græci_, Didot, pp. 562, 31, 308. + +[133] It is curious to compare the passage in the second _Philippic_ +about the youth of Mark Antony with the story told by Plutarch about +Alcibiades, who left the custody of his guardians for the house of +Democrates. + +[134] See both _Lysias against Simon_ and _Æschines against Timarchus_. + +[135] _Peace_, line 11; compare the word _Pallakion_ in Plato, _Comici +Græci_, p. 261. + +[136] Diog. Laert., ii. 105. + +[137] Plato's _Phædo_, p. 89. + +[138] _Orat. Attici_, vol. ii. p. 223. + +[139] See Herodotus. Max. Tyr. tells the story (_Dissert._, xxiv, 1) in +detail. The boy's name was Actæon, wherefore he may be compared, he +says, to that other Actæon who was torn to death by his own dogs. + +[140] 153. + +[141] _Symp._, 217. + +[142] _Phædr._, 256. + +[143] Page 17. My quotations are made from Dobson's _Oratores Attici_, +vol. xii., and the references are to his pages. + +[144] Page 30. + +[145] Page 67. + +[146] Page 67. + +[147] Page 59. + +[148] Page 75. + +[149] Page 78. + +[150] Æchines, p. 27, apologises to Misgolas, who was a man, he says, of +good breeding, for being obliged to expose his early connection with +Timarchus. Misgolas, however, is more than once mentioned by the comic +poets with contempt as a notorious rake. + +[151] See _Pol._, ii. 7, 5; ii. 6, 5; ii. 9, 6. + +[152] The advocates of paiderastia in Greece tried to refute the +argument from animals (_Laws_, p. 636 B; cp. _Daphnis and Chloe_, lib. +4, what Daphnis says to Gnathon) by the following considerations: Man is +not a lion or a bear. Social life among human beings is highly +artificial; forms of intimacy unknown to the natural state are therefore +to be regarded, like clothing, cooking of food, houses, machinery, &c., +as the invention and privilege of rational beings. See Lucian, _Amores_, +33, 34, 35, 36, for a full exposition of this argument. See also _Mousa +Paidiké_, 245. The curious thing is that many animals are addicted to +all sorts of so-called unnatural vices. + +[153] Maximus Tyrius, who, in the rhetorical analysis of love alluded to +before (p. 172), has closely followed Plato, insists upon the confusion +introduced by language. _Dissert._, xxiv. 3. Again, _Dissert._, xxvi. 4; +and compare _Dissert._, xxv. 4. + +[154] This is the development of the argument in the _Phædrus_, where +Socrates, improvising an improvement on the speech of Lysias, compares +lovers to wolves and boys to lambs. See the passage in Max. Tyr., where +Socrates is compared to a shepherd, the Athenian lovers to butchers, and +the boys to lambs upon the mountains. + +[155] This again is the development of the whole eloquent analysis of +love, as it attacks the uninitiated and unphilosophic nature, in the +_Phædrus_. + +[156] Jowett's trans., p. 837. + +[157] _Dissert._, xxv. 1. The same author pertinently remarks that, +though the teaching of Socrates on love might well have been considered +perilous, it, formed no part of the accusations of either Anytus or +Aristophanes. _Dissert._, xxiv., 5-7 + +[158] This is a remark of Diotima's. Maximus Tyrius (_Dissert._, xxvi. +8) gives it a very rational interpretation. Nowhere else, he says, but +in the human form, does the light of the divine beauty shine so clear. +This is the word of classic art, the word of the humanities, to use a +phrase of the Renaissance. It finds an echo in many beautiful sonnets of +Michelangelo. + +[159] See Bergk., vol. ii. pp. 616-629, for a critique of the canon of +the highly paiderastic epigrams which bear Plato's name and for their +text. + +[160] I select the _Vita Nuova_ as the most eminent example of mediæval +erotic mysticism. + +[161] _Tusc._, iv. 33; _Decline and Fall_, cap. xliv. note 192. + +[162] See Meier, cap. 15. + +[163] Cap. 23. + +[164] Cap. 54. + +[165] Page 4. + +[166] It is noticeable that in all ages men of learning have been +obnoxious to paiderastic passions. Dante says (_Inferno_, xv. 106):-- + + "In somma sappi, che tutti fur cherci, + E letterati grandi e di gran fama, + D'un medesmo poccato al mondo lerci." + +Compare Ariosto, _Satire_, vii. + +[167] _Dissert._, xxvi. 9. + +[168] I am aware that the genuineness of the essay has been questioned. + +[169] _Mousa Paidiké_, i. + +[170] _Ibid._, 208. + +[171] _Ibid._, 258, 2. + +[172] _Ibid._, 70, 65, 69, 194, 220, 221, 67, 68, 78, and others. + +[173] Perhaps ten are of this sort. + +[174] 8, 125, for example. + +[175] 132, 256, 221. + +[176] 219. + +[177] 7. + +[178] 17. Compare 86. + +[179] Ed. Kayser, pp. 343-366. + +[180] It is worth comparing the letters of Philostratus with those of +Alciphron, a contemporary of Lucian. In the latter there is no hint of +paiderastia. The life of parasites, grisettes, lorettes, and young men +about town at Athens is set forth in imitation probably of the later +comedy. Athens is shown to have been a Paris _à la Murger_. + +[181] See the introduction by Marcus Aurelius to his _Meditations_. + +[182] See quotations in Rosenbaum, 119-140. + +[183] See Athen., xii. 517, for an account of their grotesque +sensuality. + +[184] The following passage may be extracted from a letter of +Winckelmann (see Pater's _Studies in the History of the Renaissance_, p. +162): "As it is confessedly the beauty of man which is to be conceived +under one general idea, so I have noticed that those who are observant +of beauty only in women, and are moved little or not at all by the +beauty of men, seldom have an impartial, vital, inborn instinct for +beauty in art. To such persons the beauty of Greek art will ever seem +wanting, because its supreme beauty is rather male than female." To this +I think we ought to add that, while it is true that "the supreme beauty +of Greek art is rather male than female," this is due not so much to any +passion of the Greeks for male beauty as to the fact that the male body +exhibits a higher organisation of the human form than the female. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Problem in Greek Ethics, by +John Addington Symonds + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PROBLEM IN GREEK ETHICS *** + +***** This file should be named 32022-0.txt or 32022-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/0/2/32022/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This ebook was +produced from scanned images of public domain material at +Google Books.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/32022-0.zip b/32022-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2b99636 --- /dev/null +++ b/32022-0.zip diff --git a/32022-8.txt b/32022-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..973d9a6 --- /dev/null +++ b/32022-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4043 @@ +Project Gutenberg's A Problem in Greek Ethics, by John Addington Symonds + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Problem in Greek Ethics + Being an inquiry into the phenomenon of sexual inversion + +Author: John Addington Symonds + +Release Date: April 17, 2010 [EBook #32022] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PROBLEM IN GREEK ETHICS *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This ebook was +produced from scanned images of public domain material at +Google Books.) + + + + + + + + + +A + +PROBLEM + +IN + +GREEK ETHICS + +BEING + +AN INQUIRY INTO THE PHENOMENON OF + +_SEXUAL INVERSION_ + +ADDRESSED ESPECIALLY TO MEDICAL PSYCHOLOGISTS AND JURISTS + +BY + +JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS + +_PRIVATELY PRINTED_ + +FOR + +THE AREOPAGITIGA SOCIETY + +LONDON + +1908 + +_Privately Printed in Holland for the Society._ + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The following treatise on Greek Love was written in the year 1873, when +my mind was occupied with my _Studies of Greek Poets_. I printed ten +copies of it privately in 1883. It was only when I read the Terminal +Essay appended by Sir Richard Burton to his translation of the _Arabian +Nights_ in 1886, that I became aware of M. H. E. Meier's article on +Pæderastie (Ersch and Gruber's _Encyclopædie_, Leipzig, Brockhaus, +1837). My treatise, therefore, is a wholly independent production. This +makes Meier's agreement (in Section 7 of his article) with the theory I +have set forth in Section X. regarding the North Hellenic origin of +Greek Love, and its Dorian character, the more remarkable. That two +students, working separately upon the same mass of material, should have +arrived at similar conclusions upon this point strongly confirms the +probability of the hypothesis. + +J. A. SYMONDS. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +I. INTRODUCTION: Method of treating the subject. + +II. Homer had no knowledge of paiderastia--Achilles--Treatment of Homer +by the later Greeks. + +III. The Romance of Achilles and Patroclus. + +IV. The heroic ideal of masculine love. + +V. Vulgar paiderastia--How introduced into Hellas--Crete--Laius--The +myth of Ganymede. + +VI. Discrimination of two loves, heroic and vulgar. The mixed sort is +the paiderastia defined as Greek love in this essay. + +VII. The intensity of paiderastia as an emotion, and its quality. + +VIII. Myths of paiderastia. + +IX. Semi-legendary tales of love--Harmodius and Aristogeiton. + +X. Dorian Customs--Sparta and Crete--Conditions of Dorian life--Moral +quality of Dorian love--Its final degeneracy--Speculations on the early +Dorian _Ethos_--Boeotians' customs--The sacred band--Alexander the +Great--Customs of Elis and Megara--_Hybris_--Ionia. + +XI. Paiderastia in poetry of the lyric age. Theognis and +Kurnus--Solon--Ibycus, the male Sappho--Anacreon and Smerdies--Drinking +songs--Pindar and Theoxenos--Pindar's lofty conception of adolescent +beauty. + +XII. Paiderastia upon the Attic stage--_Myrmidones_ of +Æschylus--_Achilles' lovers_, and _Niobe_ of Sophocles--The _Chrysippus_ +of Euripides--Stories about Sophocles--Illustrious Greek paiderasts. + +XIII. Recapitulation of points--Quotation from the speech of Pausanias +on love in Plato's _Symposium_--Observations on this speech. Position of +women at Athens--Attic notion of marriage as a duty--The institution of +_Paidagogoi_--Life of a Greek boy--Aristophanes' _Clouds_--Lucian's +_Amores_--The Palæstra--The _Lysis_--The _Charmides_--Autolicus in +Xenophon's _Symposium_--Speech of Critobulus on beauty and +love--Importance of gymnasia in relation to paiderastia--Statues of +Erôs--Cicero's opinions--Laws concerning the gymnasia--Graffiti on +walls--Love-poems and panegyrics--Presents to boys--Shops and _mauvais +lieux_--Paiderastic _Hetaireia_--Brothels--Phædon and Agathocles. +Street-brawls about boys--_Lysias in Simonem_. + +XIV. Distinctions drawn by Attic law and custom--_Chrestoi +Pornoi_--Presents and money--Atimia of freemen who had sold their +bodies--The definition of _Misthosis_--_Eromenos_, _Hetairekos_, +_Peporneumenos_, distinguished--_Æschines against Timarchus_--General +Conclusion as to Attic feeling about honourable paiderastia. + +XV. Platonic doctrine on Greek love--The asceticism of the +_Laws_--Socrates--His position defined by Maximus Tyrius--His science of +erotics--The theory of the _Phædrus_: erotic _Mania_--The mysticism of +the _Symposium_: love of beauty--Points of contact between Platonic +paiderastia and chivalrous love: _Mania_ and Joie: Dante's _Vita +Nuova_--Platonist and Petrarchist--Gibbon on the "thin device" of the +Athenian philosophers--Testimony of Lucian, Plutarch, Cicero. + +XVI. Greek liberty and Greek love extinguished at Chæronea--The +Idyllists--Lucian's _Amores_--Greek poets never really gross--_Mousa +Paidiké_--Philostratus' _Epistolai Erotikai_--Greek Fathers on +paiderastia. + +XVII. The deep root struck by paiderastia in +Greece--Climate--Gymnastics--Syssitia--Military life--Position of Women: +inferior culture; absence from places of resort--Greek leisure. + +XVIII. Relation of paiderastia to the fine arts--Greek sculpture wholly +and healthily human--Ideals of female deities--Paiderastia did not +degrade the imagination of the race--Psychological analysis underlying +Greek mythology--The psychology of love--Greek mythology fixed before +Homer--Opportunities enjoyed by artists for studying women--Anecdotes +about artists--The æsthetic temperament of the Greeks, unbiased by +morality and religion, encouraged paiderastia--_Hora_--Physical and +moral qualities admired by a Greek--Greek ethics were +æsthetic--_Sophrosyne_--Greek religion was æsthetic--No notion of +Jehovah--Zeus and Ganymede. + +XIX. Homosexuality among Greek women--Never attained to the same dignity +as paiderastia. + +XX. Greek love did not exist at Rome--Christianity--Chivalry--The _modus +vivendi_ of the modern world. + + + + +A PROBLEM IN GREEK ETHICS. + + + + +I. + + +For the student of sexual inversion, ancient Greece offers a wide field +for observation and reflection. Its importance has hitherto been +underrated by medical and legal writers on the subject, who do not seem +to be aware that here alone in history have we the example of a great +and highly-developed race not only tolerating homosexual passions, but +deeming them of spiritual value, and attempting to utilise them for the +benefit of society. Here, also, through the copious stores of literature +at our disposal, we can arrive at something definite regarding the +various forms assumed by these passions, when allowed free scope for +development in the midst of refined and intellectual civilisation. What +the Greeks called paiderastia, or boy-love, was a phenomenon of one of +the most brilliant periods of human culture, in one of the most highly +organised and nobly active nations. It is the feature by which Greek +social life is most sharply distinguished from that of any other people +approaching the Hellenes in moral or mental distinction. To trace the +history of so remarkable a custom in their several communities, and to +ascertain, so far as this is possible, the ethical feeling of the Greeks +upon this subject, must be of service to the scientific psychologist. It +enables him to approach the subject from another point of view than that +usually adopted by modern jurists, psychiatrists, writers on forensic +medicine. + + + + +II. + + +The first fact which the student has to notice is that in the Homeric +poems a modern reader finds no trace of this passion. It is true that +Achilles, the hero of the _Iliad_, is distinguished by his friendship +for Patroclus no less emphatically than Odysseus, the hero of the +_Odyssey_, by lifelong attachment to Penelope, and Hector by love for +Andromache. But in the delineation of the friendship of Achilles and +Patroclus there is nothing which indicates the passionate relation of +the lover and the beloved, as they were afterwards recognised in Greek +society. This is the more remarkable because the love of Achilles for +Patroclus added, in a later age of Greek history, an almost religious +sanction of the martial form of paiderastia. In like manner the +friendship of Idomeneus for Meriones, and that of Achilles, after the +death of Patroclus, for Antilochus, were treated by the later Greeks as +paiderastic. Yet, inasmuch as Homer gives no warrant for this +interpretation of the tales in question, we are justified in concluding +that homosexual relations were not prominent in the so-called heroic age +of Greece. Had it formed a distinct feature of the society depicted in +the Homeric poems, there is no reason to suppose that their authors +would have abstained from delineating it. We shall see that Pindar, +Æschylus and Sophocles, the poets of an age when paiderastia was +prevalent, spoke unreservedly upon the subject. + +Impartial study of the _Iliad_ leads us to the belief that the Greeks of +the historic period interpreted the friendship of Achilles and Patroclus +in accordance with subsequently developed customs. The Homeric poems +were the Bible of the Greeks, and formed the staple of their education; +nor did they scruple to wrest the sense of the original, reading, like +modern Bibliolaters, the sentiments and passions of a later age into the +text. Of this process a good example is afforded by Æschines in the +oration against Timarchus. While discussing this very question of the +love of Achilles, he says: "He, indeed, conceals their love, and does +not give its proper name to the affection between them, judging that the +extremity of their fondness would be intelligible to instructed men +among his audience." As an instance the orator proceeds to quote the +passage in which Achilles laments that he will not be able to fulfil his +promise to Menoetius by bringing Patroclus home to Opus. He is here +clearly introducing the sentiments of an Athenian hoplite who had taken +the boy he loved to Syracuse and seen him slain there. + +Homer stood in a double relation to the historical Greeks. On the one +hand, he determined their development by the influence of his ideal +characters. On the other, he underwent from them interpretations which +varied with the spirit of each successive century. He created the +national temperament, but received in turn the influx of new thoughts +and emotions occurring in the course of its expansion. It is, therefore, +highly important, on the threshold of this inquiry, to determine the +nature of that Achilleian friendship to which the panegyrists and +apologists of the custom make such frequent reference. + + + + +III. + + +The ideal of character in Homer was what the Greeks called heroic; what +we should call chivalrous. Young men studied the _Iliad_ as our +ancestors studied the Arthurian romances, finding there a pattern of +conduct raised almost too high above the realities of common life for +imitation, yet stimulative of enthusiasm and exciting to the fancy. +Foremost among the paragons of heroic virtue stood Achilles, the +splendour of whose achievements in the Trojan war was only equalled by +the pathos of his friendship. The love for slain Patroclus broke his +mood of sullen anger, and converted his brooding sense of wrong into a +lively thirst for vengeance. Hector, the slayer of Patroclus, had to be +slain by Achilles, the comrade of Patroclus. No one can read the _Iliad_ +without observing that its action virtually turns upon the conquest +which the passion of friendship gains over the passion of resentment in +the breast of the chief actor. This the Greek students of Homer were not +slow to see; and they not unnaturally selected the friendship of +Achilles for their ideal of manly love. It was a powerful and masculine +emotion, in which effeminacy had no part, and which by no means excluded +the ordinary sexual feelings. Companionship in battle and the chase, in +public and in private affairs of life, was the communion proposed by +Achilleian friends--not luxury or the delights which feminine +attractions offered. The tie was both more spiritual and more energetic +than that which bound man to woman. Such was the type of comradeship +delineated by Homer; and such, in spite of the modifications suggested +by later poets, was the conception retained by the Greeks of this heroic +friendship. Even Æschines, in the place above quoted, lays stress upon +the mutual loyalty of Achilles and Patroclus as the strongest bond of +their affection: "regarding, I suppose, their loyalty and mutual +goodwill as the most touching feature of their love."[1] + + + + +IV. + + +Thus the tale of Achilles and Patroclus sanctioned among the Greeks a +form of masculine love, which, though afterwards connected with +paiderastia properly so-called, we are justified in describing as +heroic, and in regarding as one of the highest products of their +emotional life. It will be seen, when we come to deal with the +historical manifestations of this passion, that the heroic love which +took its name from Homer's Achilles existed as an ideal rather than an +actual reality. This, however, is equally the case with Christianity and +chivalry. The facts of feudal history fall below the high conception +which hovered like a dream above the knights and ladies of the Middle +Ages; nor has the spirit of the Gospel been realised, in fact, by the +most Christian nations. Still we are not on that account debarred from +speaking of both chivalry and Christianity as potent and effective +forces. + + + + +V. + + +Homer, then, knew nothing of paiderastia, though the _Iliad_ contained +the first and noblest legend of heroic friendship. Very early, however, +in Greek history boy-love, as a form of sensual passion, became a +national institution. This is proved abundantly by mythological +traditions of great antiquity, by legendary tales connected with the +founding of Greek cities, and by the primitive customs of the Dorian +tribes. The question remains how paiderastia originated among the +Greeks, and whether it was introduced or indigenous. + +The Greeks themselves speculated on this subject, but they arrived at no +one definite conclusion. Herodotus asserts that the Persians learned the +habit, in its vicious form, from the Greeks;[2] but, even supposing this +assertion to be correct, we are not justified in assuming the same of +all barbarians who were neighbours of the Greeks; since we know from the +Jewish records and from Assyrian inscriptions that the Oriental nations +were addicted to this as well as other species of sensuality. Moreover, +it might with some strain on language be maintained that Herodotus, in +the passage above referred to, did not allude to boy-love in general, +but to the peculiarly Hellenic form of it which I shall afterwards +attempt to characterise. + +A prevalent opinion among the Greeks ascribed the origin of paiderastia +to Crete; and it was here that the legend of Zeus and Ganymede was +localised.[3] "The Cretans," says Plato,[4] "are always accused of +having invented the story of Ganymede and Zeus, which is designed to +justify themselves in the enjoyment of such pleasures by the practice of +the god whom they believe to have been their lawgiver." + +In another passage,[5] Plato speaks of the custom that prevailed before +the time of Laius--in terms which show his detestation of a vice that +had gone far toward corrupting Greek society. This sentence indicates +the second theory of the later Greeks upon this topic. They thought that +Laius, the father of OEdipus, was the first to practise _Hybris_, or +lawless lust, in this form, by the rape committed on Chrysippus, the son +of Pelops.[6] To this crime of Laius, the Scholiast to the _Seven +against Thebes_ attributes all the evils which afterwards befell the +royal house of Thebes, and Euripides made it the subject of a tragedy. +In another but less prevalent Saga the introduction of paiderastia is +ascribed to Orpheus. + +It is clear from these conflicting theories that the Greeks themselves +had no trustworthy tradition on the subject. Nothing, therefore, but +speculative conjecture is left for the modern investigator. If we need +in such a matter to seek further than the primal instincts of human +nature, we may suggest that, like the orgiastic rites of the later +Hellenic cultus, paiderastia in its crudest form was transmitted to the +Greeks from the East. Its prevalence in Crete, which, together with +Cyprus, formed one of the principal links between Phoenicia and Hellas +proper, favours this view. Paiderastia would, on this hypothesis, like +the worship of the Paphian and Corinthian Aphrodite, have to be regarded +as in part an Oriental importation.[7] Yet, if we adopt any such +solution of the problem, we must not forget that in this, as in all +similar cases, whatever the Greeks received from adjacent nations, they +distinguished with the qualities of their own personality. Paiderastia +in Hellas assumed Hellenic characteristics, and cannot be confounded +with any merely Asiatic form of luxury. In the tenth section of this +Essay I shall return to the problem, and advance my own conjecture as to +the part played by the Dorians in the development of paiderastia into a +custom. + +It is enough for the present to remark that, however introduced, the +vice of boy-love, as distinguished from heroic friendship, received +religious sanction at an early period. The legend of the rape of +Ganymede was invented, according to the passage recently quoted from +Plato, by the Cretans with the express purpose of investing their +pleasures with a show of piety. This localisation of the religious +sanction of paiderastia in Crete confirms the hypothesis of Oriental +influence; for one of the notable features of Græco Asiatic worship was +the consecration of sensuality in the Phallus cult, the _Hiero douloi_ +(temple slaves, or _bayadères_) of Aphrodite, and the eunuchs of the +Phrygian mother. Homer tells the tale of Ganymede with the utmost +simplicity. The boy was so beautiful that Zeus suffered him not to dwell +on earth, but translated him to heaven and appointed him the cupbearer +of the immortals. The sensual desire which made the king of gods and men +prefer Ganymede to Leda, Io, Danaë, and all the maidens whom he loved +and left on earth, is an addition to the Homeric version of the myth. In +course of time the tale of Ganymede, according to the Cretan reading, +became the nucleus around which the paiderastic associations of the +Greek race gathered, just as that of Achilles formed the main point in +their tradition of heroic friendship. To the Romans and the modern +nations the name of Ganymede, debased to Catamitus, supplied a term of +reproach, which sufficiently indicates the nature of the love of which +he became eventually the eponym. + + + + +VI. + + +Resuming the results of the last four sections, we find two separate +forms of masculine passion clearly marked in early Hellas--a noble and a +base, a spiritual and a sensual. To the distinction between them the +Greek conscience was acutely sensitive; and this distinction, in theory +at least, subsisted throughout their history. They worshipped Erôs, as +they worshipped Aphrodite, under the twofold titles of Ouranios +(celestial) and Pandemos (vulgar, or _volvivaga_); and, while they +regarded the one love with the highest approval, as the source of +courage and greatness of soul, they never publicly approved the other. +It is true, as will appear in the sequel of this essay, that boy-love in +its grossest form was tolerated in historic Hellas with an indulgence +which it never found in any Christian country, while heroic comradeship +remained an ideal hard to realise, and scarcely possible beyond the +limits of the strictest Dorian sect. Yet the language of philosophers, +historians, poets and orators is unmistakable. All testify alike to the +discrimination between vulgar and heroic love in the Greek mind. I +purpose to devote a separate section of this inquiry to the +investigation of these ethical distinctions. For the present, a +quotation from one of the most eloquent of the later rhetoricians will +sufficiently set forth the contrast, which the Greek race never wholly +forgot:[8]-- + + "The one love is mad for pleasure; the other loves beauty. The one + is an involuntary sickness; the other is a sought enthusiasm. The + one tends to the good of the beloved; the other to the ruin of + both. The one is virtuous; the other incontinent in all its acts. + The one has its end in friendship; the other in hate. The one is + freely given; the other is bought and sold. The one brings praise; + the other blame. The one is Greek; the other is barbarous. The one + is virile; the other effeminate. The one is firm and constant; the + other light and variable. The man who loves the one love is a + friend of God, a friend of law, fulfilled of modesty, and free of + speech. He dares to court his friend in daylight, and rejoices in + his love. He wrestles with him in the playground and runs with him + in the race, goes afield with him to the hunt, and in battle fights + for glory at his side. In his misfortune he suffers, and at his + death he dies with him. He needs no gloom of night, no desert + place, for this society. The other lover is a foe to heaven, for he + is out of tune and criminal; a foe to law, for he transgresses law. + Cowardly, despairing, shameless, haunting the dusk, lurking in + desert places and secret dens, he would fain be never seen + consorting with his friend, but shuns the light of day, and follows + after night and darkness, which the shepherd hates, but the thief + loves." + +And again, in the same dissertation, Maximus Tyrius speaks to like +purpose, clothing his precepts in imagery:-- + + "You see a fair body in bloom and full of promise of fruit. Spoil + not, defile not, touch not the blossom. Praise it, as some wayfarer + may praise a plant--even so by Phoebus' altar have I seen a young + palm shooting toward the sun. Refrain from Zeus and Phoebus' tree; + wait for the fruit-season and thou shall love more righteously." + +With the baser form of paiderastia I shall have little to do in this +essay. Vice of this kind does not vary to any great extent, whether we +observe it in Athens or in Rome, in Florence of the sixteenth or in +Paris of the nineteenth century;[9] nor in Hellas was it more noticeable +than elsewhere, except for its comparative publicity. The nobler type of +masculine love developed by the Greeks is, on the contrary, almost +unique in[10] the history of the human race. It is that which more than +anything else distinguishes the Greeks from the barbarians of their own +time, from the Romans and from modern men in all that appertains to the +emotions. The immediate subject of the ensuing inquiry will, therefore, +be that mixed form of paiderastia upon which the Greeks prided +themselves, which had for its heroic ideal the friendship of Achilles +and Patroclus, but which in historic times exhibited a sensuality +unknown to Homer.[11] In treating of this unique product of their +civilisation I shall use the terms _Greek Love_, understanding thereby a +passionate and enthusiastic attachment subsisting between man and youth, +recognised by society and protected by opinion, which, though it was not +free from sensuality, did not degenerate into mere licentiousness. + + + + +VII. + + +Before reviewing the authors who deal with this subject in detail, or +discussing the customs of the several Greek states, it will be well to +illustrate in general the nature of this love, and to collect the +principal legends and historic tales which set it forth. + +Greek love was, in its origin and essence, military. Fire and valour, +rather than tenderness or tears, were the external outcome of this +passion; nor had _Malachia_, effeminacy, a place in its vocabulary. At +the same time it was exceedingly absorbing. "Half my life," says the +lover, "lives in thine image, and the rest is lost. When thou art kind, +I spend the day like a god; when thy face is turned aside, it is very +dark with me."[12] Plato, in his celebrated description of a lover's +soul, writes:[13]-- + + "Wherever she thinks that she will behold the beautiful one, + thither in her desire she runs. And when she has seen him, and + bathed herself with the waters of desire, her constraint is + loosened and she is refreshed, and has no more pangs and pains; and + this is the sweetest of all pleasures at the time, and is the + reason why the soul of the lover will never forsake his beautiful + one, whom he esteems above all; he has forgotten mother and + brethren and companions, and he thinks nothing of the neglect and + loss of his property. The rules and proprieties of life, on which + he formerly prided himself, he now despises, and is ready to sleep + like a servant, wherever he is allowed, as near as he can to his + beautiful one, who is not only the object of his worship, but the + only physician who can heal him in his extreme agony." + +These passages show how real and vital was the passion of Greek love. It +would be difficult to find more intense expressions of affection in +modern literature. The effect produced upon the lover by the presence of +his beloved was similar to that inspiration which the knight of romance +received from his lady. + + "I know not," says Phædrus, in the _Symposium_ of Plato,[14] "any + greater blessing to a young man beginning life than a virtuous + lover, or to the lover than a beloved youth. For the principle + which ought to be the guide of men who would nobly live--that + principle, I say, neither kindred, nor honour, nor wealth, nor any + other motive is able to implant so well as love. Of what am I + speaking? Of the sense of honour and dishonour, without which + neither states nor individuals ever do any good or great work. And + I say that a lover who is detected in doing any dishonourable act, + or submitting, through cowardice, when any dishonour is done to him + by another, will be more pained at being detected by his beloved + than at being seen by his father, or by his companions, or by any + one else. The beloved, too, when he is seen in any disgraceful + situation, has the same feeling about his lover. And if there were + only some way of contriving that a state or an army should be made + up of lovers and their loves, they would be the very best governors + of their own city, abstaining from all dishonour; and emulating one + another in honour; and when fighting at one another's side, + although a mere handful, they would overcome the world. For what + lover would not choose rather to be seen by all mankind than by his + beloved, either when abandoning his post, or throwing away his + arms? He would be ready to die a thousand deaths rather than endure + this. Or who would desert his beloved or fail him in the hour of + danger? The veriest coward would become an inspired hero, equal to + the bravest, at such a time; love would inspire him. That courage + which, as Homer says, the god breathes into the soul of heroes, + love of his own nature inspires into the lover." + +With the whole of this quotation we might compare what Plutarch in the +Life of Pelopidas relates about the composition of a Sacred Band;[15] +while the following anecdote from the _Anabasis_ of Xenophon may serve +to illustrate the theory that regiments should consist of lovers.[16] +Episthenes of Olynthus, one of Xenophon's hoplites, saved a beautiful +boy from the slaughter commanded by Seuthes in a Thracian village. The +king could not understand why his orders had not been obeyed, till +Xenophon excused his hoplite by explaining that Episthenes was a +passionate boy-lover, and that he had once formed a corps of none but +beautiful men. Then Seuthes asked Episthenes if he was willing to die +instead of the boy, and he answered, stretching out his neck, "Strike," +he says, "if the boy says 'Yes,'[17] and will be pleased with it." At +the end of the affair, which is told by Xenophon with a quiet humour +that brings a little scene of Greek military life vividly before us, +Seuthes gave the boy his liberty, and the soldier walked away with him. + +In order further to illustrate the hardy nature of Greek love, I may +allude to the speech of Pausanias in the _Symposium_ of Plato.[18] The +fruits of love, he says, are courage in the face of danger, intolerance +of despotism, the virtues of the generous and haughty soul. + + "In Ionia," he adds, "and other places, and generally in countries + which are subject to the barbarians, the custom is held to be + dishonourable; loves of youth share the evil repute of philosophy + and gymnastics because they are inimical to tyranny, for the + interests of rulers require that their subjects should be poor in + spirit, and that there should be no strong bond of friendship or + society among them, which love, above all other motives, is likely + to inspire, as our Athenian tyrants learned by experience." + + + + +VIII. + + +Among the myths to which Greek lovers referred with pride, besides that +of Achilles, were the legends of Theseus and Peirithous, of Orestes and +Pylades, of Talos and Rhadamanthus, of Damon and Pythias. Nearly all the +Greek gods, except, I think, oddly enough, Ares, were famous for their +love. Poseidon, according to Pindar, loved Pelops; Zeus, besides +Ganymede, was said to have carried off Chrysippus. Apollo loved +Ayacinth, and numbered among his favourites Branchos and Claros. Pan +loved Cyparissus, and the spirit of the evening star loved Hymenæus. +Hypnos, the god of slumber, loved Endymion, and sent him to sleep with +open eyes, in order that he might always gaze upon their beauty. (Ath. +xiii. 564). The myths of Phoebus, Pan, and Hesperus, it may be said in +passing, are paiderastic parallels to the tales of Adonis and Daphne. +They do not represent the specific quality of national Greek love at all +in the same way as the legends of Achilles, Theseus, Pylades, and +Pythias. We find in them merely a beautiful and romantic play of the +mythopoeic fancy, after paiderastia had taken hold on the imagination of +the race. The case is different with Herakles, the patron, eponym, and +ancestor of Dorian Hellas. He was a boy-lover of the true heroic type. +In the innumerable amours ascribed to him we always discern the note of +martial comradeship. His passion for Iolaus was so famous that lovers +swore their oaths upon the Theban's tomb;[19] while the story of his +loss of Hylas supplied Greek poets with one of their most charming +subjects. From the idyll of Theocritus called _Hylas_ we learn some +details about the relation between lover and beloved, according to the +heroic ideal. + + "Nay, but the son of Amphitryon, that heart of bronze, he that + abode the wild lion's onset, loved a lad, beautiful Hylas--Hylas of + the braided locks, and he taught him all things as a father + teaches his child, all whereby himself became a mighty man and + renowned in minstrelsy. Never was he apart from Hylas,..... and all + this that the lad might be fashioned to his mind, and might drive a + straight furrow, and come to the true measure of man."[20] + + + + +IX. + + +Passing from myth to semi-legendary history, we find frequent mention +made of lovers in connection with the great achievements of the earliest +age of Hellas. What Pausanias and Phædrus are reported to have said in +the _Symposium_ of Plato, is fully borne out by the records of the +numerous tyrannicides and self-devoted patriots who helped to establish +the liberties of the Greek cities. When Epimenides of Crete required a +human victim in his purification of Athens from the _Musos_ of the +Megacleidæ, two lovers, Cratinus and Aristodemus, offered themselves as +a voluntary sacrifice for the city.[21] The youth died to propitiate the +gods; the lover refused to live without him. Chariton and Melanippus, +who attempted to assassinate Phalaris of Agrigentum, were lovers.[22] So +were Diocles and Philolaus, natives of Corinth, who removed to Thebes, +and after giving laws to their adopted city, died and were buried in one +grave.[23] Not less celebrated was another Diocles, the Athenian exile, +who fell near Megara in battle, fighting for the boy he loved.[24] His +tomb was honoured with the rites and sacrifices specially reserved for +heroes. A similar story is told of the Thessalian horseman +Cleomachus.[25] This soldier rode into a battle which was being fought +between the people of Eretria and Chalkis, inflamed with such enthusiasm +for the youth he beloved, that he broke the foemen's ranks and won the +victory for the Chalkidians. After the fight was over Cleomachus was +found among the slain, but his corpse was nobly buried; and from that +time forward love was honoured by the men of Chalkis. These stories +might be paralleled from actual Greek history. Plutarch, commenting upon +the courage of the sacred band of Thebans,[26] tells of a man "who, when +his enemy was going to kill him, earnestly requested him to run him +through the breast, that his lover might not blush to see him wounded in +the back." In order to illustrate the haughty temper of Greek lovers, +the same author, in his _Erotic Dialogue_, records the names of Antileon +of Metapontum, who braved a tyrant in the cause of the boy he loved;[27] +of Crateas, who punished Archelaus with death for an insult offered to +him; of Pytholaus, who treated Alexander of Pheræ in like manner; and of +another youth who killed the Ambracian tyrant Periander for a similar +affront.[28] To these tales we might add another story by Plutarch in +his Life of Demetrius Poliorketes. This man insulted a boy called +Damocles, who, finding no other way to save his honour, jumped into a +cauldron of boiling water and was killed upon the spot.[29] A curious +legend, belonging to semi-mythical romance related by Pausanias,[30] +deserves a place here, since it proves to what extent the popular +imagination was impregnated by notions of Greek love. The city of +Thespia was at one time infested by a dragon, and young men were offered +to appease its fury every year. They all died unnamed and unremembered +except one, Cleostratus. To clothe this youth, his lover, Menestratus, +forged a brazen coat of mail, thick set with hooks turned upwards. The +dragon swallowed Cleostratus and killed him, but died by reason of the +hooks. Thus love was the salvation of the city and the source of +immortality to the two friends. + + * * * * * + +It would not be difficult to multiply romances of this kind; the +rhetoricians and moralists of later Greece abound in them.[31] But the +most famous of all remains to be recorded. This is the story of +Harmodius and Aristogeiton, who freed Athens from the tyrant Hipparchus. +There is not a speech, a poem, essay, a panegyrical oration in praise of +either Athenian liberty or Greek love which does not tell the tale of +this heroic friendship. Herodotus and Thucydides treat the event as +matter of serious history. Plato refers to it as the beginning of +freedom for the Athenians. "The drinking-song in honour of these lovers, +is one of the most precious fragments of popular Greek poetry which we +possess. As in the cases of Lucretia and Virginia, so here a tyrant's +intemperance was the occasion, if not the cause, of a great nation's +rising. Harmodius and Aristogeiton were reverenced as martyrs and +saviours of their country. Their names gave consecration to the love +which made them bold against the despot, and they became at Athens +eponyms of paiderastia."[32] + + + + +X. + + +A considerable majority of the legends which have been related in the +preceding section are Dorian, and the Dorians gave the earliest and most +marked encouragement to Greek love. Nowhere else, indeed, except among +the Dorians, who were an essentially military race, living like an army +of occupation in the countries they had seized, herding together in +barracks and at public messes, and submitting to martial drill and +discipline, do we meet with paiderastia developed as an institution. In +Crete and Lacedæmon it became a potent instrument of education. What I +have to say, in the first instance, on this matter is derived almost +entirely from C. O. Müllers's _Dorians_,[33] to which work I refer my +readers for the authorities cited in illustration of each detail. Plato +says that the law of Lycurgus in respect to love was _Poikiles_,[34] by +which he means that it allowed the custom under certain restrictions. It +would appear that the lover was called Inspirer, at Sparta, while the +youth he loved was named Hearer. These local phrases sufficiently +indicate the relation which subsisted between the pair. The lover +taught, the hearer learned; and so from man to man was handed down the +tradition of heroism, the peculiar tone and temper of the state to +which, in particular among the Greeks, the Dorians clung with obstinate +pertinacity. Xenophon distinctly states that love was maintained among +the Spartans with a view to education; and when we consider the customs +of the state, by which boys were separated early from their homes and +the influences of the family were almost wholly wanting, it is not +difficult to understand the importance of the paiderastic institution. +The Lacedæmonian lover might represent his friend in the Assembly. He +was answerable for his good conduct, and stood before him as a pattern +of manliness, courage, and prudence. Of the nature of his teaching we +may form some notion from the precepts addressed by the Megarian +Theognis to the youth Kurnus. In battle the lovers fought side by side; +and it is worthy of notice that before entering into an engagement the +Spartans sacrificed to Erôs. It was reckoned a disgrace if a youth found +no man to be his lover. Consequently we find that the most illustrious +Spartans are mentioned by their biographers in connection with their +comrades. Agesilaus heard Lysander; Archidamus, his son, loved +Cleonymus; Cleomenes III, was the hearer of Xenares and the inspirer of +Panteus. The affection of Pausanias, on the other hand, for the boy +Argilus, who betrayed him according to the account of Thucydides,[35] +must not be reckoned among these nobler loves. In order to regulate the +moral conduct of both parties, Lycurgus made it felony, punishable with +death or exile, for the lover to desire the person of a boy in lust; +and, on the other hand, it was accounted exceedingly disgraceful for the +younger to meet the advances of the elder with a view to gain. Honest +affection and manly self-respect were exacted on both sides; the bond of +union implied no more of sensuality than subsists between a father and a +son, a brother and a brother. At the same time great license of +intercourse was permitted. Cicero, writing long after the great age of +Greece, but relying probably upon sources to which we have no access, +asserts that, "Lacedæmoni ipsi cum omnia concedunt in amore juvenum +_præter stuprum_ tenui sane muro dissæpiunt id quod excipiunt: +_complexus enim concubitusque permittunt_."[36] The Lacedæmonians, while +they permit all things except outrage in the love of youths, certainly +distinguish the forbidden by a thin wall of partition from the +sanctioned, for they allow embraces and a common couch to lovers." + +In Crete the paiderastic institutions were even more elaborate than at +Sparta. The lover was called _Philetor_, and the beloved one _Kleinos_. +When a man wished to attach to himself a youth in the recognised bonds +of friendship, he took him away from his home, with a pretence of force, +but not without the connivance, in most cases, of his friends.[37] For +two months the pair lived together among the hills, hunting and fishing. +Then the _Philetor_ gave gifts to the youth, and suffered him to return +to his relatives. If the _Kleinos_ (illustrious or laudable) had +received insult or ill-treatment during the probationary weeks, he now +could get redress at law. If he was satisfied with the conduct of his +would-be comrade, he changed his title from _Kleinos_ to _Parastates_ +(comrade and bystander in the ranks of battle and life), returned to +the _Philetor_, and lived thenceforward in close bonds of public +intimacy with him. + + * * * * * + +The primitive simplicity and regularity of these customs make it appear +strange to modern minds; nor is it easy to understand how they should +ever have been wholly free from blame. Yet we must remember the +influences which prevalent opinion and ancient tradition both contribute +toward preserving a delicate sense of honour under circumstances of +apparent difficulty. The careful reading of one _Life_ by Plutarch, +that, for instance, of Cleomenes or that of Agis, will have more effect +in presenting the realities of Dorian existence to our imagination than +any amount of speculative disquisition. Moreover, a Dorian was exposed +to almost absolute publicity. He had no chance of hiding from his +fellow-citizens the secrets of his private life. It was not, therefore, +till the social and political complexion of the whole nation became +corrupt that the institutions just described encouraged profligacy.[38] +That the Spartans and the Cretans degenerated from their primitive ideal +is manifest from the severe critiques of the philosophers. Plato, while +passing a deliberate censure on the Cretans for the introduction of +paiderastia into Greece,[39] remarks that _syssitia_, or meals in +common, and _gymnasia_ are favourable to the perversion of the passions. +Aristotle, in a similar argument,[40] points out that the Dorian habits +had a direct tendency to check the population by encouraging the love of +boys and by separating women from the society of men. An obscure passage +quoted from Hagnon by Athenæus might also be cited to prove that the +Greeks at large had formed no high opinion of Spartan manners.[41] But +the most convincing testimony is to be found in the Greek language: "to +do like the Laconians, to have connection in Laconian way, to do like +the Cretans," tell their own tale, especially when we compare these +phrases with, "to do like the Corinthians, the Lesbians, the Siphnians, +the Phoenicians, and other verbs formed to indicate the vices localised +in separate districts. + + * * * * * + +Up to this point I have been content to follow the notices of Dorian +institutions which are scattered up and down the later Greek authors, +and which have been collected by C. O. Müller. I have not attempted to +draw definite conclusions, or to speculate upon the influence which the +Dorian section of the Hellenic family may have exercised in developing +paiderastia. To do so now will be legitimate, always remembering that +what we actually know about the Dorians is confined to the historic +period, and that the tradition respecting their early customs is derived +from second-hand authorities. + + * * * * * + +It has frequently occurred to my mind that the mixed type of paiderastia +which I have named Greek Love took its origin in Doris. Homer, who knew +nothing about the passion as it afterwards existed, drew a striking +picture of masculine affection in Achilles. And Homer, I may add, was +not a native of northern Greece. Whoever he was, or whoever they were, +the poet, or the poets, we call Homer, belonged to the south-east of the +Ægean. Homer, then, may have been ignorant of paiderastia. Yet +friendship occupies the first place in his hero's heart, while only the +second is reserved for sexual emotion. Now Achilles came from Phthia, +itself a portion of that mountain region to which Doris belonged.[42] Is +it unnatural to conjecture that the Dorians in their migration to +Lacedæmon and Crete, the recognised headquarters of the custom, carried +a tradition of heroic paiderastia along with them? Is it unreasonable to +surmise that here, if anywhere in Hellas, the custom existed from +prehistoric times? If so, the circumstances of their invasion would have +fostered the transformation of this tradition into a tribal institution. +They went forth, a band of warriors and pirates, to cross the sea in +boats, and to fight their way along the hills and plains of Southern +Greece. The dominions they had conquered with their swords they occupied +like soldiers. The camp became their country, and for a long period of +time they literally lived upon the bivouac. Instead of a city-state, +with is manifold complexities of social life, they were reduced to the +narrow limits and the simple conditions of a roving horde. Without +sufficiency of women, without the sanctities of established domestic +life, inspired by the memory of Achilles, and venerating their ancestor +Herakles, the Dorian warriors had special opportunity for elevating +comradeship to the rank of an enthusiasm. The incidents of emigration +into a distant country--perils of the sea, passages of rivers and +mountains, assaults of fortresses and cities, landings on a hostile +shore, night-vigils by the side of blazing beacons, foragings for food, +picquet services in the front of watchful foes--involved adventures +capable of shedding the lustre of romance on friendship. These +circumstances, by bringing the virtues of sympathy with the weak, +tenderness for the beautiful, protection for the young, together with +corresponding qualities of gratitude, self-devotion and admiring +attachment, into play, may have tended to cement unions between man and +man no less firm than that of marriage. On such connections a wise +captain would have relied for giving strength to his battalion, and for +keeping alive the flame of enterprise and daring. Fighting and foraging +in company, sharing the same wayside board and heath-strewn bed, +rallying to the comrade's voice in onset, relying on the comrade's +shield when fallen, these men learned the meanings of the words +_Philetor_ and _Parastates_. To be loved was honourable, for it implied +being worthy to be died for. To love was glorious, since it pledged the +lover to self-sacrifice in case of need. In these conditions the +paiderastic passion may have well combined manly virtue with carnal +appetite, adding such romantic sentiment as some stern men reserve +within their hearts for women.[43] A motto might be chosen for a lover +of this early Dorian type from the Æolic poem ascribed to Theocritus: +"And made me tender from the iron man I used to be." + + * * * * * + +In course of time, when the Dorians had settled down upon their +conquered territories, and when the passions which had shown their more +heroic aspect during a period of warfare came, in a period of idleness, +to call for methods of restraint, then the discrimination between +honourable and base forms of love, to which Plato pointed as a feature +of the Dorian institutions, took place. It is also more than merely +probable that in Crete where these institutions were the most precisely +regulated, the Dorian immigrants came into contact with Phoenician vices, +the repression of which required the adoption of a strict code.[44] In +this way paiderastia, considered as a mixed custom, partly martial, +partly luxurious, recognised by public opinion and controlled by law, +obtained among the Dorian Tribes, and spread from them throughout the +states of Hellas. Relics of numerous semi-savage habits--thefts of food, +ravishment as a prelude to marriage, and so forth--indicate in like +manner the survival among the Dorians of primitive tribal institutions. + +It will be seen that the conclusion to which I have been drawn by the +foregoing consideration is that the mixed form of paiderastia, called by +me in this essay "Greek love," owed its peculiar quality, what Plato +called its intricacy of "laws and customs," to two diverse strains of +circumstances harmonised in the Greek temperament. Its military and +enthusiastic elements were derived from the primitive conditions of the +Dorians during their immigration into Southern Greece. Its refinements +of sensuality and sanctified impurity are referable to contact with +Phoenician civilisation. The specific form it assumed among the Dorians +of the historic period, equally removed from military freedom and from +Oriental luxury, can be ascribed to the operation of that organising, +moulding and assimilating spirit which we recognise as Hellenic. + +The position thus stated is, unfortunately, speculative rather than +demonstrable; and in order to establish the reasonableness of the +speculation, it would be natural at this point to introduce some account +of paiderastia as it exists in various savage tribes, if their customs +could be seen to illustrate the Doric phase of Greek love. This, +however, is not the case. Study of Mr. Herbert Spencer's Tables, and of +Bastian's _Der Mensch in der Geschichte_ (vol. iii. pp. 304-323), +together with the facts collected by travellers among the North American +Indians, and the mass of curious information supplied by Rosenbaum in +his _Geschichte der Lustseuche im Alterthume_, makes it clear to my mind +that the unisexual vices of barbarians follow, not the type of Greek +paiderastia, but that of the Scythian disease of effeminacy, described +by Herodotus and Hippocrates as something essentially foreign and +non-Hellenic. In all these cases, whether we regard the Scythian +impotent effeminates, the North American Bardashes, the Tsecats of +Madagascar, the Cordaches of the Canadian Indians and similar classes +among Californian Indians, natives of Venezuela, and so forth--the +characteristic point is that effeminate males renounce their sex, assume +female clothes, and live either in promiscuous concubinage with the men +of the tribe or else in marriage with chosen persons. This abandonment +of the masculine attributes and habits, this assumption of feminine +duties and costume, would have been abhorrent to the Doric custom. +Precisely similar effeminacies were recognised as pathological by +Herodotus, to whom Greek paiderastia was familiar. The distinctive +feature of Dorian comradeship was that it remained on both sides +masculine, tolerating no sort of softness. For similar reasons, what we +know about the prevalence of sodomy among the primitive peoples of +Mexico, Peru and Yucatan, and almost all half-savage nations,[45] +throws little light upon the subject of the present inquiry. Nor do we +gain anything of importance from the semi-religious practices of +Japanese Bonzes or Egyptian priests. Such facts, taken in connection +with abundant modern experience of what are called unnatural vices, only +prove the universality of unisexual indulgence in all parts of the world +and under all conditions of society. Considerable psychological interest +attaches to the study of these sexual aberrations. It is also true that +we detect in them the germ or raw material of a custom which the Dorians +moralised or developed after a specific fashion; but nowhere do we find +an analogue to their peculiar institutions. It was just that effort to +moralise and adapt to social use a practice which has elsewhere been +excluded in the course of civil growth, or has been allowed to linger +half-acknowledged as a remnant of more primitive conditions, or has +re-appeared in the corruption of society; it was just this effort to +elevate paiderastia according to the æsthetic standard of Greek ethics +which constituted its distinctive quality in Hellas. We are obliged, in +fact, to separate this, the true Hellenic manifestation of the +paiderastic passion, from the effeminacies, brutalities, and gross +sensualities which can be noticed alike in imperfectly civilised and in +luxuriously corrupt communities. + + * * * * * + +Before leaving this part of the subject, I must repeat that what I have +suggested regarding the intervention of the Dorians in creating the type +of Greek love is a pure speculation. If it has any value, that is due to +the fixed and regulated forms which paiderastic institutions displayed +at a very early date in Crete and Sparta, and also to the remnants of +savage customs embedded in them. It depends to a certain extent also +upon the absence of paiderastia in Homer. But on this point something +still remains to be said. Our Attic authorities certainly regarded the +Homeric poems as canonical books, decisive for the culture of the first +stage of Hellenic history. Yet it is clear that Homer refined Greek +mythology, while many of the cruder elements of that mythology survived +from pre-Homeric times in local cults and popular religious observances. +We know, moreover, that a body of non-Homeric writings, commonly called +the cyclic poems, existed by the side of Homer, some of the material of +which is preserved to us by dramatists, lyrists, historians, antiquaries +and anecdotists. It is not impossible that this so-called cyclical +literature contained paiderastic elements, which were eliminated, like +the grosser forms of myth, in the Homeric poems.[46] If this be +conceded, we might be led to conjecture that paiderastia was a remnant +of ancient savage habits, ignored by Homer, but preserved by tradition +in the race. Given the habit, the Greeks were certainly capable of +carrying it on without shame. We ought to resist the temptation to seek +a high and noble origin for all Greek institutions. But there remains +the fact that, however they acquired the habit, whether from North +Dorian customs antecedent to Homer, or from conditions of experience +subsequent to the Homeric age, the Greeks gave it a dignity and an +emotional superiority which is absent in the annals of barbarian +institutions. Instead of abandoning it as part of the obsolete lumber of +their prehistoric origins, they chose to elaborate it into the region of +romance and ideality. And this they did in spite of Homer's ignorance of +the passion or of his deliberate reticence. Whatever view, therefore, we +may take about Homer's silence, and about the possibility of paiderastia +occurring in the lost poems of the cyclic type, or lastly, about its +probable survival in the people from an age of savagery, we are bound to +regard its systematical development among the Dorians as a fact of +paramount significance. + +In that passage of the _Symposium_[47] where Plato notices the Spartan +law of love as _Poikilos_, he speaks with disapprobation of the +Boeotians, who were not restrained by custom and opinion within the same +strict limits. Yet it should here be noted that the military aspect of +Greek love in the historic period was nowhere more distinguished than at +Thebes. Epaminondas was a notable boy-lover; and the names of his +beloved Asopichus and Cephisodorus are mentioned by Plutarch.[48] They +died, and were buried with him at Mantinea. The paiderastic legend of +Herakles and Iolaus was localised in Boeotia; and the lovers, Diocles and +Philolaus, who gave laws to Thebes, directly encouraged those masculine +attachments, which had their origin in the Palæstra.[49] The practical +outcome of these national institutions in the chief town of Boeotia was +the formation of the so-called Sacred Band, or Band of Lovers, upon whom +Pelopidas relied in his most perilous operations. Plutarch relates that +they were enrolled, in the first instance, by Gorgidas, the rank and +file of the regiment being composed of young men bound together by +affection. Report goes that they were never beaten till the battle of +Chæronea. At the end of that day, fatal to the liberties of Hellas, +Philip of Macedon went forth to view the slain; and when he "came to +that place where the three hundred that fought his phalanx lay dead +together, he wondered, and understanding that it was the band of lovers, +he shed tears, and said, 'Perish any man who suspects that these men +either did or suffered anything that was base.'"[50] As at all the other +turning points of Greek history, so at this, too, there is something +dramatic and eventful. Thebes was the last strong-hold of Greek freedom; +the Sacred Band contained the pith and flower of her army; these lovers +had fallen to a man, like the Spartans of Leonidas at Thermopylæ, +pierced by the lances of the Macedonian phalanx; then, when the day was +over and the dead were silent, Philip, the victor in that fight, shed +tears when he beheld their serried ranks, pronouncing himself therewith +the fittest epitaph which could have been inscribed upon their stelë by +a Hellene. + + * * * * * + +At Chæronea, Greek liberty, Greek heroism, and Greek love, properly +so-called, expired. It is not unworthy of notice that the son of the +conqueror, young Alexander, endeavoured to revive the tradition of +Achilleian friendship. This lad, born in the decay of Greek liberty, +took conscious pleasure in enacting the part of a Homeric hero, on the +altered stage of Hellas and of Asia, with somewhat tawdry histrionic +pomp.[51] Homer was his invariable companion upon his marches; in the +Troad he paid special honour to the tomb of Achilles, running naked +races round the barrow in honour of the hero, and expressing the envy +which he felt for one who had so true a friend and so renowned a poet to +record his deeds. The historians of his life relate that, while he was +indifferent to women,[52] he was madly given to the love of males. This +the story of his sorrow for Hephaistion sufficiently confirms. A kind of +spiritual atavism moved the Macedonian conqueror to assume on the vast +Bactrian plain the outward trappings of Achilles Agonistes.[53] + +Returning from this digression upon Alexander's almost hysterical +archaism, it should next be noticed that Plato includes the people of +Elis in the censure which he passes upon the Boeotians. He accused the +Eleans of adopting customs which permitted youths to gratify their +lovers without further distinction of age, or quality, or opportunity. +In like manner, Maximus Tyrius distinguishes between the customs of +Crete and Elis: "While I find the laws of the Cretans excellent, I must +condemn those of Elis for their license."[54] Elis,[55] like Megara, +instituted a contest for beauty among youths; and it is significant that +the Megarians were not uncommonly accused of _Hybris_, or wanton lust, +by Greek writers. Both the Eleans and the Megarians may therefore +reasonably be considered to have exceeded the Greek standard of taste in +the amount of sensual indulgence which they openly acknowledged. In +Ionia, and other regions of Hellas exposed to Oriental influences, Plato +says that paiderastia was accounted a disgrace.[56] At the same time he +couples with paiderastia, in this place, both addiction to gymnastic +exercise and to philosophical studies, pointing out that despotism was +always hostile to high thoughts and haughty customs. The meaning of the +passage, therefore, seems to be that the true type of Greek love had no +chance of unfolding itself freely on the shores of Asia Minor. Of +paiderastic _Malakia_, or effeminacy, there is here no question, else +Plato would probably have made Pausanias use other language. + + + + +XI. + + +Before proceeding to discuss the conditions under which paiderastia +existed in Athens, it may be well to pause and to consider the tone +adopted with regard to it by some of the earlier Greek poets. Much that +is interesting on the subject of the true Hellenic Erôs can be gathered +from Theognis, Solon, Pindar, Æschylus, and Sophocles; while the lyrics +of Anacreon, Alcæus, Ibycus, and others of the same period illustrate +the wanton and illiberal passion (_Hybris_) which tended to corrode and +undermine the nobler feeling. + +It is well known that Theognis and his friend Kurnus were members of +the aristocracy of Megara. After Megara had thrown off the yoke of +Corinth in the early part of the sixth century, the city first submitted +to the democratic despotism of Theagenes, and then for many years +engaged in civil warfare. The larger number of the elegies of Theognis +are specially intended to instruct Kurnus how he ought to act as an +illustrious party-leader of the nobles (_Esthloi_) in their contest with +the people (_Deiloi_). They consist, therefore, of political and social +precepts, and for our present purpose are only important as illustrating +the educational authority assumed by a Dorian _Philetor_ over his +friend. The personal elegies intermingled with these poems on conduct +reveal the very heart of a Greek lover at his early period. Here is one +on loyalty:-- + + "Love me not with words alone, while your mind and thoughts are + otherwise, if you really care for me and the heart within you is + loyal. But love me with a pure and honest soul, or openly disown + and hate me; let the breach between us be avowed. He who hath a + single tongue and a double mind is a bad comrade, Kurnus, better as + a foe than a friend."[57] + +The bitter-sweet of love is well described in the following couplets:-- + + "Harsh and sweet, alluring and repellent, until it be crowned with + completion, is love for young men. If one brings it to perfection, + then it is sweet; but if a man pursues and does not love, then it + is of all things the most painful."[58] + +The same strain is repeated in the lines which begin, "a boy's love is +fair to keep, fair to lay aside."[59] As one time Theognis tells his +friend that he has the changeable temper of a hawk, the skittishness of +a pampered colt.[60] At another he remarks that boys are more constant +than women in their affection.[61] His passion rises to its noblest +height in a poem which deserves to rank with some of Shakespeare's +sonnets, and which, like them, has fulfilled its own promise of +immortality.[62] In order to appreciate the value of the fame conferred +on Kurnus by Theognis, and celebrated in such lofty strains, we must +remember that these elegies were sung at banquets. "The fair young men," +of whom the poet speaks, boy-lovers themselves, chaunted the praise of +Kurnus to the sound of flutes, while the cups went round or the lyre was +passed from hand to hand of merry-making guests. A subject to which +Theognis more than once refers is calumny:-- + + "Often will the folk speak vain things against thee in my ears, and + against me in thine. Pay thou no heed to them."[63] + +Again, he frequently reminds the boy he loves, whether it be Kurnus or +some other, that the bloom of youth is passing, and that this is a +reason for showing kindness.[64] This argument is urged with what +appears like coarseness in the following couplet:-- + + "O boy, so long as thy chin remains smooth, never will I cease from + fawning, no, not if it is doomed for me to die."[65] + +A couplet, which is also attributed to Solon, shows that paiderastia at +this time in Greece was associated with manly sports and pleasures:-- + + "Blest is the man who loves brave steeds of war, + Fair boys, and hounds, and stranger guests from far."[66] + +Nor must the following be omitted:-- + + "Blest is the man who loves, and after play, + Whereby his limbs are supple made and strong, + Retiring to his home, 'twixt sleep and song, + Sports with a fair boy on his breast all day."[67] + +The following couplet is attributed to him by Plutarch,[68] nor does +there seem any reason to doubt its genuineness. The text seems to be +corrupt, but the meaning is pretty clear:-- + + "In the charming season of the flower-time of youth thou shalt love + boys, yearning for their thighs and honeyed mouth." + +Solon, it may be remembered, thought it wise to regulate the conditions +under which the love of free youths might be tolerated. + +The general impression produced by a careful reading of Theognis is that +he entertained a genuine passion for Kurnus, and that he was anxious to +train the young man's mind in what he judged the noblest principles. +Love, at the same time, except in its more sensual moments, he describes +as bitter-sweet and subject to anxiety. That perturbation of the +emotions, which is inseparable from any of the deeper forms of personal +attachment, and which the necessary conditions of boy-love exasperated, +was irksome to the Greek. It is not a little curious to observe how all +the poets of the despotic age resent and fret against the force of their +own feeling, differing herein from the singers of chivalry, who +idealised the very pains of passion. + +Of Ibycus, who was celebrated among the ancients as the lyrist of +paiderastia,[69] very little has been preserved to us, but that little +is sufficient to indicate the fervid and voluptuous style of his art. +His imagery resembles that of Anacreon. The onset of love, for instance, +in one fragment is compared to the down-swooping of a Thracian +whirlwind; in another the poet trembles at the approach of Erôs like an +old racehorse who is dragged forth to prove his speed once more. + +Of the genuine Anacreon we possess more numerous and longer fragments, +and the names of his favourites, Cleobulus, Smerdies, Leucaspis, are +famous. The general tone of his love-poems is relaxed and Oriental, and +his language abounds in phrases indicative of sensuality. The following +may be selected:-- + + "Cleobulus I love, for Cleobulus I am mad, Cleobulus I watch and + worship with my gaze."[70] + +Again:-- + + "O boy, with the maiden's eyes, I seek and follow thee, but thou + heedest not, nor knowest that thou art my soul's charioteer." + +In another place he speaks of[71]-- + + "Love, the virginal, gleaming and radiant with desire." + +_Syneban_ (to pass the time of youth with friends) is a word which +Anacreon may be said to have made current in Greek. It occurs twice in +his fragments,[72] and exactly expresses the luxurious enjoyment of +youthful grace and beauty which appear to have been his ideal of love. +We are very far here from the Achilleian friendship of the _Iliad_. Yet, +occasionally, Anacreon uses images of great force to describe the attack +of passion, as when he says that love has smitten him with a huge axe, +and plunged him in a wintry torrent.[73] + +It must be remembered that both Anacreon and Ibycus were court poets, +singing in the palaces of Polycrates and Hippias. The youths they +celebrated were probably little better than the _exoleti_ of a Roman +Emperor.[74] This cannot be said exactly of Alcæus, whose love for +black-eyed Lycus was remembered by Cicero and Horace. So little, +however, is left of his erotic poems that no definite opinion can be +formed about them. The authority of later Greek authors justifies our +placing him upon the list of those who helped to soften and emasculate +the character of Greek love by their poems.[75] + +Two Athenian drinking-songs preserved by Athenæus,[76] which seem to +bear the stamp of the lyric age, may here be quoted. They serve to +illustrate the kind of feeling to which expression was given in public +by friends and boy-lovers:-- + + "Would I were a lovely heap of ivory, and that lovely boys carried + me into the Dionysian chorus."[77] + +This is marked by a very delicate, though naïf, fancy. The next is no +less eminent for its sustained, impassioned, simple, rhythmic feeling:-- + + "Drink with me, be young with me, love with me, wear crowns with + me, with me when I am mad be mad, with me when I am temperate be + sober." + +The greatest poet of the lyric age, the lyrist _par excellence_ Pindar, +adds much to our conception of Greek love at this period. Not only is +the poem to Theoxenos, whom he loved, and in whose arms he is said to +have died in the theatre at Argos, one of the most splendid achievements +of his art;[78] but its choice of phrase, and the curious parallel which +it draws between the free love of boys and the servile love of women, +help us to comprehend the serious intensity of this passion. "The +flashing rays of his forehead," and "is storm-tossed with desire," and +"the young-limbed bloom of boys," are phrases which it is impossible +adequately to translate. So, too, are the images by which the heart of +him who does not feel the beauty of Theoxenos is said to have been +forged with cold fire out of adamant, while the poet himself is compared +to wax wasting under the sun's rays. In Pindar, passing from Ibycus and +Anacreon, we ascend at once into a purer and more healthful atmosphere, +fraught, indeed, with passion and pregnant with storm, but no longer +simply sensual. Taken as a whole, the Odes of Pindar, composed for the +most part in the honour of young men and boys, both beautiful and +strong, are the work of a great moralist as well as a great artist. He +never fails to teach by precept and example; he does not, as Ibycus is +reported to have done, adorn his verse with legends of Ganymede and +Tithonus, for the sake of insinuating compliments. Yet no one shared in +fuller measure the Greek admiration for health and grace and vigour of +limb. This is obvious in the many radiant pictures of masculine +perfection he has drawn, as well as in the images by which he loves to +bring the beauty-bloom of youth to mind. The true Hellenic spirit may be +better studied in Pindar than in any other poet of his age; and after we +have weighed his high morality, sound counsel, and reverence for all +things good, together with the passion he avows, we shall have done +something toward comprehending the inner nature of Greek love. + + + + +XII. + + +The treatment of paiderastia upon the Attic stage requires separate +considerations. Nothing proves the popular acceptance and national +approval of Greek love more forcibly to modern minds than the fact that +the tragedians like Æschylus and Sophocles made it the subject of their +dramas. From a notice in Athenæus it appears that Stesichorus, who first +gave dramatic form to lyric poetry, composed interludes upon paiderastic +subjects.[79] But of these it is impossible to speak, since their very +titles have been lost. What immediately follows, in the narrative of +Athenæus, will serve as text for what I have to say upon this topic. +"And Æshylus, that mighty poet, and Sophocles, brought masculine loves +into the theatre through their tragedies. Wherefore some are wont to +call tragedy a paiderast; and the spectators welcome such." Nothing, +unfortunately, remains of the plays which justified this language but a +few fragments cited by Aristophanes, Plutarch, Lucian, and Athenæus. To +examine these will be the business of this section. + +The tragedy of the _Myrmidones_, which formed part of a trilogy by +Æschylus upon the legend of Achilles, must have been popular at Athens, +for Aristophanes quotes it no less than four times--twice in the +_Frogs_, once in the _Birds_, and once in the _Ecclesiazusæ_. We can +reconstruct its general plan from the lines which have come down to us +on the authority of the writers above mentioned.[80] The play opened +with an anapæstic speech of the chorus, composed of the clansmen of +Achilles, who upbraided him for staying idle in his tent while the +Achaians suffered at the hands of Hector. Achilles replied with the +metaphor of the eagle stricken by an arrow winged from one of his own +feathers. Then the embassy of Phoenix arrived, and Patroclus was sent +forth to battle. Achilles, meanwhile, engaged in a game of dice; and +while he was thus employed Antilochus entered with the news of the death +of Patroclus. The next fragment brings the whole scene vividly before +our eyes. + +"Wail for me, Antilochus, rather than for the dead man--for me, +Achilles, who still live." After this, the corpse of Patroclus was +brought upon the stage, and the son of Peleus poured forth a lamentation +over his friend. The _Threnos_ of Achilles on this occasion was very +celebrated among the ancients. One passage of unmeasured passion, which +described the love which subsisted between the two heroes, has been +quoted, with varieties of reading, by Lucian, Plutarch, and +Athenæus.[81] Lucian says: "Achilles, bewailing the death of Patroclus +with unhusbanded passion, broke forth into the truth in self-abandonment +to woe." Athenæus gives the text as follows:-- + + "Hadst thou no reverence for the unsullied holiness of thighs, O + thou ungrateful for the showers of kisses given." + +What we have here chiefly to notice is the change which the tale of +Achilles had undergone since Homer.[82] Homer represented Patroclus as +older in years than the son of Peleus, but inferior to him in station; +nor did he hint which of the friends was the _Erastes_ of the other. +That view of their comradeship had not occurred to him. Æschylus makes +Achilles the lover; and for this distortion of the Homeric legend he was +severely criticised by Plato.[83] At the same time, as the two lines +quoted from the _Threnos_ prove, he treated their affection from the +point of view of post-Homeric paiderastia. + +Sophocles also wrote a play upon the legend of Achilles, which bears for +its title _Achilles' Loves_. Very little is left of this drama; but +Hesychius has preserved one phrase which illustrates the Greek notion +that love was an effluence from the beloved person through the eyes into +the lover's soul,[84] while Stobæus quotes the beautiful simile by which +love is compared to a piece of ice held in the hand by children.[85] +Another play of Sophocles, the _Niobe_, is alluded to by Plutarch and by +Athenæus for the paiderastia which it contained. Plutarch's words are +these:[86] "When the children of Niobe, in Sophocles, are being pierced +and dying, one of them cries out, appealing to no other rescuer or ally +than his lover: Ho! comrade, up and aid me!" Finally, Athenæus quotes a +single line from the _Colchian Women_ of Sophocles, which alludes to +Ganymede, and runs as follows:[87] "Inflaming with his thighs the +royalty of Zeus." + +Whether Euripides treated paiderastia directly in any of his plays is +not quite certain, though the title _Chrysippus_, and one fragment +preserved from that tragedy-- + + "Nature constrains me though I have sound judgment"-- + +justify us in believing that he made the crime of Laius his subject. It +may be added that a passage in Cicero confirms this belief.[88] The +title of another tragedy, _Peirithous_, seems in like manner to point at +friendship; while a beautiful quotation from the _Dictys_ sufficiently +indicates the high moral tone assumed by Euripides in treating of Greek +love. It runs as follows:--"He was my friend; and never may love lead me +to folly, nor to Kupris. There is, in truth, another kind of love--love +for the soul, righteous, temperate, and good. Surely men ought to have +made this law, that only the temperate and chaste should love and send +Kupris, daughter of Zeus, a-begging." The philosophic ideal of +comradeship is here vitalised by the dramatic vigour of the poet; nor +has the Hellenic conception of pure affection for "a soul, just, +upright, temperate and good," been elsewhere more pithily expressed. The +Euripidean conception of friendship, it may further be observed, is +nobly personified in Pylades, who plays a generous and self-devoted part +in the three tragedies of _Electra_, _Orestes_, and _Iphigenia in +Tauris_. + +Having collected these notices of tragedies which dealt with boy-love, +it may be well to add a word upon comedies in the same relation. We hear +of a _Paidika_ by Sophron, a _Malthakoi_ by the older Cratinus, a +_Baptoee_ by Empolis, in which Alcibiades and his society were satirised. +_Paiderastes_ is the title of plays by Diphilis and Antiphanes; +_Ganymedes_ of plays of Alkaeus, Antiphanes and Eubulus. + +What has been quoted from Æschylus and Sophocles sufficiently +establishes the fact that paiderastia was publicly received with +approbation on the tragic stage. This should make us cautious in +rejecting the stories which are told about the love adventures of +Sophocles.[89] Athenæus calls him a lover of lads, nor is it strange if, +in the age of Pericles, and while he was producing the _Achilles' +Loves_, he should have shared the tastes of which his race approved. + +At this point it may be as well to mention a few illustrious names +which, to the student of Greek art and literature, are indissolubly +connected with paiderastia. Parmenides, whose life, like that of +Pythagoras, was accounted peculiarly holy, loved his pupil Zeno.[90] +Pheidias loved Pantarkes, a youth of Elis, and carved his portrait in +the figure of a victorious athlete at the foot of the Olympian Zeus.[91] +Euripides is said to have loved the adult Agathon Lysias, Demosthenes, +and Æschines, orators whose conduct was open to the most searching +censure of malicious criticism, did not scruple to avow their love. +Socrates described his philosophy as the science of erotics. Plato +defined the highest form of human existence to be "philosophy together +with paiderastia," and composed the celebrated epigrams on Aster and on +Agathon. This list might be indefinitely lengthened. + + + + +XIII. + + +Before proceeding to collect some notes upon the state of paiderastia at +Athens, I will recapitulate the points which I have already attempted to +establish. In the first place, paiderastia was unknown to Homer.[92] +Secondly, soon after the heroic age, two forms of paiderastia appeared +in Greece--the one chivalrous and martial, which received a formal +organisation in the Dorian states; the other sensual and lustful which, +though localised to some extent at Crete, pervaded the Greek cities +like a vice. Of the distinction between these two loves the Greek +conscience was well aware, though they came in course of time to be +confounded. Thirdly, I traced the character of Greek love, using that +term to indicate masculine affection of a permanent and enthusiastic +temper, without further ethical qualification, in early Greek history +and in the institutions of the Dorians. In the fourth place, I showed +what kind of treatment it received at the hands of the elegiac, lyric, +and tragic poets. + + * * * * * + +It now remains to draw some picture of the social life of the Athenians +in so far as paiderastia is concerned, and to prove how Plato was +justified in describing Attic customs on this point as qualified by +important restriction and distinction. + + * * * * * + +I do not know a better way of opening this inquiry, which must by its +nature be fragmentary and disconnected, than by transcribing what Plato +puts into the mouth of Pausanias in the _Symposium_.[93] After observing +that the paiderastic customs of Elis and Boeotia involved no perplexity, +inasmuch as all concessions to the god of love were tolerated, and that +such customs did not exist in any despotic states, he proceeds to +Athens. + + "There is yet a more excellent way of legislating about them, which + is our own way; but this, as I was saying, is rather perplexing. + For observe that open loves are held to be more honourable than + secret ones, and that the love of the noblest and highest, even if + their persons are less beautiful than others, is especially + honourable. Consider, too, how great is the encouragement which all + the world gives to the lover; neither is he supposed to be doing + anything dishonourable; but if he succeeds he is praised, and if he + fail he is blamed. And in the pursuit of his love, the custom of + mankind allows him to do many strange things, which philosophy + would bitterly censure if they were done from any motive of + interest or wish for office or power. He may pray and entreat, and + supplicate and swear, and be a servant of servants, and lie on a + mat at the door; in any other case friends and enemies would be + equally ready to prevent him, but now there is no friend who will + be ashamed of him and admonish him, and no enemy will charge him + with meanness or flattery; the actions of a lover have a grace + which ennobles them, and custom has decided that they are highly + commendable, and that there is no loss of character in them; and + what is strangest of all, he only may swear or forswear himself + (this is what the world says), and the gods will forgive his + transgression, for there is no such thing as a lover's oath. Such + is the entire liberty which gods and men have allowed the lover, + according to the custom which prevails in our part of the world. + From this point of view a man fairly argues that in Athens to love + and to be loved is held to be a very honourable thing. But when + there is another regime, and parents forbid their sons to talk with + their lovers, and place them under a tutor's care, and their + companions and equals cast in their teeth anything of this sort + which they may observe, and their elders refuse to silence the + reprovers, and do not rebuke them; any one who reflects on all this + will, on the contrary, think that we hold these practices to be + most disgraceful. But the truth, as I imagine, and as I said at + first, is, that whether such practices are honourable or whether + they are dishonourable is not a simple question; they are + honourable to him who follows them honourably, dishonourable to him + who follows them dishonourably. There is dishonour in yielding to + the evil, or in an evil manner; but there is honour in yielding to + the good, or in an honourable manner. Evil is the vulgar lover who + loves the body rather than the soul, and who is inconstant because + he is a lover of the inconstant, and, therefore, when the bloom of + youth, which he was desiring, is over, takes wing and flies away, + in spite of all his words and promises; whereas the love of the + noble mind, which is one with the unchanging, is lifelong." + +Pausanias then proceeds, at considerable length, to describe how the +customs of Athens required deliberate choice and trial of character as a +condition of honourable love; how it repudiated hasty and ephemeral +attachments, and engagements formed with the object of money-making or +political aggrandisement; how love on both sides was bound to be +disinterested, and what accession both of dignity and beauty the passion +of friends obtained from the pursuit of philosophy, and from the +rendering of mutual services upon the path of virtuous conduct. + +This sufficiently indicates, in general terms, the moral atmosphere in +which Greek love flourished at Athens. In an earlier part of his speech +Pausanias, after dwelling upon the distinction between the two kinds of +Aphrodite, heavenly and vulgar, describes the latter in a way which +proves that the love of boys was held to be ethically superior to that +of women.[94] + + "The Love who is the offspring of the common Aphrodite is + essentially common, and has no discrimination, being such as the + meaner sort of men feel, and is apt to be of women as well as of + youths, and is of the body rather than the soul; the most foolish + beings are the objects of this love, which desires only to gain an + end, but never thinks of accomplishing the end nobly, and therefore + does good and evil quite indiscriminately. The goddess who is his + mother is far younger than the other, and she was born of the union + of the male and female, and partakes of both." + +Then he turns to the Uranian love. + + "The offspring of the heavenly Aphrodite is derived from a mother + in whose birth the female has no part. She is from the male only; + this is that love which is of youths, and the goddess being older, + has nothing of wantonness. Those who are inspired by this love turn + to the male, and delight in him who is the most valiant and + intelligent nature; any one may recognise the pure enthusiasts in + the very character of their attachments; for they love not boys, + but intelligent beings whose reason is beginning to be developed, + much about the time at which their beards begin to grow. And in + choosing them as their companions they mean to be faithful to them, + and pass their whole life in company with them, not to take them in + their inexperience, and deceive them, and play the fool with them, + or run away from one to another of them. But the love of young boys + should be forbidden by law, because their future is uncertain; they + may turn out good or bad, either in body or soul, and much noble + enthusiasm may be thrown away upon them; in this matter the good + are a law to themselves, and the coarser sort of lovers ought to be + restrained by force, as we restrain or attempt to restrain them + from fixing their affections on women of free birth." + +These long quotations from a work accessible to every reader may require +apology. My excuse for giving them must be that they express in pure +Athenian diction a true Athenian view of this matter. The most salient +characteristics of the whole speech are, first, the definition of a code +of honour, distinguishing the nobler from the baser forms of +paiderastia; secondly, the decided preference of male over female love; +thirdly, the belief in the possibility of permanent affection between +paiderastic friends; and, fourthly, the passing allusion to rules of +domestic surveillance under which Athenian boys were placed. To the +first of these points I shall have to return on another occasion. With +regard to the second, it is sufficient for the present purpose to +remember that free Athenian women were comparatively uneducated and +uninteresting, and that the hetairai had proverbially bad manners. While +men transacted business and enjoyed life in public, their wives and +daughters stayed in the seclusion of the household, conversing to a +great extent with slaves, and ignorant of nearly all that happened in +the world around them. They were treated throughout their lives as +minors by the law, nor could they dispose by will of more than the worth +of a bushel of barley. It followed that marriages at Athens were usually +matches of arrangement between the fathers of the bride and the +bridegroom, and that the motives which induced a man to marry were less +the desire for companionship than the natural wish for children and a +sense of duty to the country.[95] Demosthenes, in his speech against +Neæra, declares:[96] "We have courtesans for our pleasures, concubines +for the requirements of the body, and wives for the procreation of +lawful issue." If he had been speaking at a drinking-party, instead of +before a jury, he might have added, "and young men for intellectual +companions." + +The fourth point which I have noted above requires more illustration, +since its bearing on the general condition of Athenian society is +important. Owing to the prevalence of paiderastia, a boy was exposed in +Athens to dangers which are comparatively unknown in our great cities, +and which rendered special supervision necessary. It was the custom for +fathers, when they did not themselves accompany their sons,[97] to +commit them to the care of slaves chosen usually among the oldest and +most trustworthy. The duty of the attendant guardian was not to instruct +the boy, but to preserve him from the addresses of importunate lovers or +from such assaults as Peisthetærus in the _Birds_ of Aristophanes +describes.[98] He followed his charge to the school and the gymnasium, +and was responsible for bringing him home at the right hour. Thus at the +end of the _Lysis_ we read:[99]-- + + "Suddenly we were interrupted by the tutors of Lysis and Menexenus; + who came upon us like an evil apparition with their brothers, and + bade them go home, as it was getting late. At first, we and the + bystanders drove them off; but afterwards, as they would not mind, + and only went on shouting in their barbarous dialect, and got + angry, and kept calling the boys--they appeared to us to have been + drinking rather too much at the Hermæa, which made them difficult + to manage--we fairly gave way and broke up the company." + +In this way the daily conduct of Athenian boys of birth and good +condition was subjected to observation; and it is not improbable that +the charm which invested such lads as Plato portrayed in his _Charmides_ +and _Lysis_ was partly due to the self-respect and self-restraint +generated by the peculiar conditions under which they passed their life. + +Of the way in which a Greek boy spent his day, we gain some notion from +two passages in Aristophanes and Lucian. The Dikaios Logos[100] tells +that-- + + "in his days, when justice flourished and self-control was held in + honour, a boy's voice was never heard. He walked in order with his + comrades of the same quarter, lightly clad even in winter, down to + the school of the harp-player. There he learned old-fashioned hymns + to the gods, and patriotic songs. While he sat, he took care to + cover his person decently; and when he rose, he never forgot to rub + out the marks which he might have left upon the dust lest any man + should view them after he was gone. At meals he ate what was put + before him, and refrained from idle chattering. Walking through the + streets, he never tried to catch a passer's eye or to attract a + lover. He avoided the shops, the baths,[101] the Agora, the houses + of Hetairai.[102] He reverenced old age and formed within his soul + the image of modesty. In the gymnasium he indulged in fair and + noble exercise, or ran races with his comrades among the + olive-trees of the Academy." + +The Adikos Logos replies by pleading that this temperate sort of life is +quite old-fashioned; boys had better learn to use their tongues and +bully. In the last resort he uses a clinching _argumentum ad +juvenem_.[103] + +Were it not for the beautiful and highly-finished portraits in Plato, to +which I have already alluded, the description of Aristophanes might be +thought a mere ideal; and, indeed, it is probable that the actual life +of the average Athenian boy lay mid-way between the courses prescribed +by the Dikaios and the Adikos Logos. + +Meanwhile, since Euripides, together with the whole school of studious +and philosophic speculators, are aimed at in the speeches of the Adikos +Logos, it will be fair to adduce a companion picture of the young Greek +educated on the athletic system, as these men had learned to know him. I +quote from the _Autolycus_, a satyric drama of Euripides:-- + + "There are a myriad bad things in Hellas, but nothing is worse than + the athletes. To begin with, they do not know how to live like + gentlemen, nor could they if they did; for how can a man, the slave + of his jaws and his belly, increase the fortune left him by his + father? Poverty and ill-luck find them equally incompetent. Having + acquired no habits of good living, they are badly off when they + come to roughing it. In youth they shine like statues stuck about + the town, and take their walks abroad; but when old age draws nigh, + you find them as threadbare as an old coat. Suppose a man has + wrestled well, or runs fast, or has hurled a quoit, or given a + black eye in fine style, has he done the State a service by the + crowns he won? Do soldiers fight with quoits in hand, or without + the press of shields can kicks expel the foeman from the gate? + Nobody is fool enough to do these things with steel before his + face. Keep, then, your laurels for the wise and good, for him who + rules a city well, the just and temperate, who by his speeches + wards off ill, allaying wars and civil strife. These are the things + for cities, yea, and for all Greece to boast of." + +Lucian represents, of course, a late period of Attic life. But his +picture of the perfect boy completes, and in some points supplements, +that of Aristophanes. Callicratidas, in the _Dialogue on Love_, has +just drawn an unpleasing picture of a woman, surrounded in a fusty +boudoir with her rouge-pots and cosmetics, perfumes, paints, combs, +looking-glasses, hair-dyes, and curling irons. Then he turns to praise +boys:[104] + + "How different is the boy! In the morning, he rises from his chaste + couch, washes the sleep from his eyes with cold water, puts on his + chlamys,[105] and takes his way to the school of the musician or + the gymnast. His tutors and guardians attend him, and his eyes are + bent upon the ground. He spends the morning in studying the poets + and philosophers, in riding, or in military drill. Then he betakes + himself to the wrestling-ground, and hardens his body with noontide + heat and sweat and dust. The bath follows and a modest meal. After + this he returns for awhile to study the lives of heroes and great + men. After a frugal supper sleep at last is shed upon his eyelids." + +Such is Lucian's sketch of the day spent by a young Greek at the famous +University of Athens. Much is, undoubtedly, omitted; but enough is said +to indicate the simple occupations to which an Athenian youth, capable +of inspiring an enthusiastic affection, was addicted. Then follows a +burst of rhetoric, which reveals, when we compare it with the dislike +expressed for women, the deeply-seated virile nature of Greek love. + + "Truly he is worthy to be loved. Who would not love Hermes in the + palæstra, or Phoebus at the lyre, or Castor on the racing-ground? + Who would not wish to sit face to face with such a youth, to hear + him talk, to share his toils, to walk with him, to nurse him in + sickness, to attend him on the sea, to suffer chains and darkness + with him if need be? He who hated him should be my foe, and who so + loved him should be loved by me. At his death I would die; one + grave should cover us both; one cruel hand cut short our lives!" + +In the sequel of the dialogue Lucian makes it clear that he intends +these raptures of Callicratidas to be taken in great measure for +romantic boasting. Yet the fact remains that, till the last, Greek +paiderastia among the better sort of men implied no effeminacy. +Community of interest in sport, in exercise, and in open-air life +rendered it attractive.[106] + + "Son of Eudiades, Euphorion, + After the boxing-match, in which he beat, + With wreaths I crowned, and set fine silk upon, + His forehead and soft blossoms honey-sweet; + Then thrice I kissed him all beblooded there; + His mouth I kissed, his eyes, his every bruise; + More fragrant far than frankincense, I swear. + Was the fierce chrism that from his brows did ooze." + + "I do not care for curls or tresses + Displayed in wily wildernesses; + I do not prize the arts that dye + A painted cheek with hues that fly: + Give me a boy whose face and hand + Are rough with dust or circus-sand, + Whose ruddy flesh exhales the scent + Or health without embellishment: + Sweet to my sense is such a youth, + Whose charms have all the charm of truth: + Leave paints and perfumes, rouge, and curls, + To lazy, lewd Corinthian girls." + +The palæstra was the place at Athens where lovers enjoyed the greatest +freedom. In the _Phædrus_ Plato observes that the attachment of the +lover for a boy grew by meetings and personal contact[107] in the +gymnasiums and other social resorts, and in the _Symposium_ he mentions +gymnastic exercises, with philosophy, and paiderastia, as the three +pursuits of freemen most obnoxious to despots. Æschines, again +describing the manners of boy-lovers in language familiar to his +audience, uses these phrases: "having grown up in gymnasium and games," +and "the man having been a noisy haunter of gymnasiums, and having been +the lover of multitudes." Aristophanes, also, in the _Wasps_,[108] +employs similar language: "and not seeking to go revelling around in +exercising grounds." I may compare Lucian, _Amores_, cap. 2, "you care +for gymnasiums and their sleek oiled combatants," which is said to a +notorious boy-lover. Boys and men met together with considerable liberty +in the porches, peristyles and other adjuncts to an Attic +wrestling-ground; and it was here, too, that sophists and philosophers +established themselves, with the certainty of attracting a large and +eager audience for their discussions. It is true that an ancient law +forbade the presence of adults in the wrestling-grounds of boys; but +this law appears to have become almost wholly obsolete in the days of +Plato. Socrates, for example, in the _Charmides_, goes down immediately +after his arrival from the camp at Potidæa into the palæstra of Taureas +to hear the news of the day, and the very first question which he asks +his friends is whether a new beauty has appeared among the youths.[109] +So again in the _Lysis_, Hippothales invites Socrates to enter the +private palæstra of Miccus, where boys and men were exercising together +on the feast-day of Hermes.[110] "The building," he remarks, "is a +newly-erected palæstra, and the entertainment is generally conversation, +to which you are welcome." The scene which immediately follows is well +known to Greek students as one of the most beautiful and vivid pictures +of Athenian life. One group of youths are sacrificing to Hermes; another +are casting dice in a corner of the dressing-room. Lysis himself is +"standing among the other boys and youths, having a crown upon his head, +like a fair vision, and not less worthy of praise for his goodness than +for his beauty." The modesty of Lysis is shown by the shyness which +prevents him joining Socrates' party until he has obtained the company +of some of his young friends. Then a circle of boys and men is formed in +a corner of the court, and a conversation upon friendship begins. +Hippothales, the lover of Lysis, keeps at a decorous distance in the +background. Not less graceful as a picture is the opening of the +_Charmides_. In answer to a question of Socrates, the frequenters of the +palæstra tell him to expect the coming of young Charmides. He will then +see the most beautiful boy in Athens at the time: "for those who are +just entering are the advanced guard of the great beauty of the day, and +he is likely to be not far off." There is a noise and a bustle at the +door, and while the Socratic party continues talking Charmides enters. +The effect produced is overpowering:[111]-- + + "You know, my friend, that I cannot measure anything, and of the + beautiful I am simply such a measure as a white line is of chalk; + for almost all young persons appear to be beautiful in my eyes. But + at that moment when I saw him coming in, I confess that I was quite + astonished at his beauty and his stature; all the world seemed to + be enamoured of him; amazement and confusion reigned when he + entered; and a troop of lovers followed him. That grown-up men like + ourselves should have been affected in this way was not surprising, + but I observed that there was the same feeling among the boys; all + of them, down to the very least child, turned and looked at him, as + if he had been a statue." + +Charmides, like Lysis, is persuaded to sit down by Socrates, who opens a +discussion upon the appropriate question of _Sophrosyne_, or modest +temperance and self-restraint.[112] + + "He came as he was bidden, and sat down between Critias and me. + Great amusement was occasioned by everyone pushing with might and + main at his neighbour in order to make a place for him next to + them, until at the two ends of the row one had to get up, and the + other was rolled over sideways. Now I, my friend, was beginning to + feel awkward; my former bold belief in my powers of conversing with + him had vanished. And when Critias told him that I was the person + who had the cure, he looked at me in such an indescribable manner, + and was going to ask a question; and then all the people in the + palæstra crowded about us, and, O rare! I caught a sight of the + inwards of his garment, and took the flame. Then I could no longer + contain myself. I thought how well Cydias understood the nature of + love when, in speaking of a fair youth, he warns someone, 'not to + bring the fawn in the sight of the lion to be devoured by him,' for + I felt that I had been overcome by a sort of wild-beast appetite." + +The whole tenor of the dialogue makes it clear that, in spite of the +admiration he excited, the honour paid him by a public character like +Socrates and the troops of lovers and of friends surrounding him, yet +Charmides was unspoiled. His docility, modesty, simplicity, and +healthiness of soul are at least as remarkable as the beauty for which +he was so famous. + +A similar impression is produced upon our minds by Autolycus in the +_Symposium_ of Xenophon.[113] Callias, his acknowledged lover[114] had +invited him to a banquet after a victory which he had gained in the +pancration; and many other guests, including the Socratic party, were +asked to meet him. Autolycus came, attended by his father; and as soon +as the tables were covered and the seats had been arranged, a kind of +divine awe fell upon the company. The grown-up men were dazzled by the +beauty and the modest bearing of the boy, just as when a bright light is +brought into a darkened room. Everybody gazed at him, and all were +silent, sitting in uncomfortable attitudes of expectation and +astonishment. The dinner party would have passed off very tamely if +Phillipus, a professional diner-out and jester, had not opportunely made +his appearance. Autolycus meanwhile never uttered a word, but lay beside +his father like a breathing statue. Later on in the evening he was +obliged to answer a question. He opened his lips with blushes, and all +he said was,[115] "Not I, by gad." Still, even this created a great +sensation in the company. Everybody, says Xenophon, was charmed to hear +his voice, and turned their eyes upon him. It should be remarked that +the conversation at this party fell almost entirely upon matters of +love. Critobulus, for example, who was very beautiful and rejoiced in +having many lovers, gave a full account of his own feelings for +Cleinias.[116] + + "You all tell me," he argued, "that I am beautiful, and I cannot + but believe you; but if I am, and if you feel what I feel when I + look on Cleinias, I think that beauty is better worth having than + all Persia. I would choose to be blind to everybody else if I could + only see Cleinias, and I hate the night because it robs me of his + sight. I would rather be the slave of Cleinias than live without + him; I would rather toil and suffer danger for his sake than live + alone at ease and in safety. I would go through fire with him, as + you would with me. In my soul I carry an image of him better made + than any sculptor could fashion." + +What makes this speech the more singular is that Critobulus was a +newly-married man. + +But to return from this digression to the palæstra. The Greeks were +conscious that gymnastic exercises tended to encourage and confirm the +habit of paiderastia. "The cities which have most to do with +gymnastics," is the phrase which Plato uses to describe the states where +Greek love flourished.[117] Herodotus says the barbarians borrowed +gymnastics together with paiderastia from the Hellenes; and we hear that +Polycrates of Samos caused the gymnasia to be destroyed when he wished +to discountenance the love which lent the warmth of personal enthusiasm +to political associations.[118] It was common to erect statues of love +in the wrestling-grounds; and there, says Plutarch,[119] the god's wings +grew so wide that no man could restrain his flight. Readers of the +idyllic poets will remember that it was a statue of Love which fell from +its pedestal in the swimming-bath upon the cruel boy who had insulted +the body of his self-slain friend.[120] Charmus, the lover of Hippias, +erected an image of Erôs in the academy at Athens which bore this +epigram:-- + + "Love, god of many evils and various devices, Charmus set up this + altar to thee upon the shady boundaries of the gymnasium."[121] + +Erôs, in fact, was as much at home in the gymnasia of Athens as +Aphrodite in the temples of Corinth; he was the patron of paiderastia, +as she of female love. Thus Meleager writes:-- + + "The Cyprian queen, a woman, hurls the fire that maddens men for + females; but Erôs himself sways the love of males for males."[122] + +Plutarch, again, in the Erotic dialogue, alludes to "Erôs, where +Aphrodite is not; Erôs apart from Aphrodite." These facts relating to +the gymnasia justified Cicero in saying, "Mihi quidem hæc in Græcorum +gymnasiis nata consuetudo videtur; _in quibus isti liberi et concesi +sunt amores_." He adds, with a true Roman's antipathy to Greek æsthetics +and their flimsy screen for sensuality, "Bene ergo Ennius, _flagitii +principium est nudare inter cives corpora_."[123] "To me, indeed, it +seems that this custom was generated in the gymnasiums of the Greeks, +for there those loves are freely indulged and sanctioned. Ennius +therefore very properly observed that the beginning of vice is the habit +of stripping the body among citizens." + +The Attic gymnasia and schools were regulated by strict laws. We have +already seen that adults were not supposed to enter the palæstra; and +the penalty for the infringement of this rule by the gymnasiarch was +death. In the same way, schools had to be shut at sunset and not opened +again before daybreak; nor was a grown-up man allowed to frequent them. +The public chorus teachers of boys were obliged to be above the age of +forty.[124] Slaves who presumed to make advances to a free boy were +subject to the severest penalties; in like manner they were prohibited +from gymnastic exercises. Æschines, from whom we learn these facts, +draws the correct conclusion that gymnastics and Greek love were +intended to be the special privilege of freemen. Still, in spite of all +restrictions, the palæstra was the centre of Athenian profligacy, the +place in which not only honourable attachments were formed, but +disgraceful bargains also were concluded;[125] and it is not improbable +that men like Taureas and Miccus, who opened such places of amusement as +a private speculation, may have played the part of go-betweens and +panders. Their walls, and the plane-trees which grew along their open +courts, were inscribed by lovers with the names of boys who had +attracted them. To scrawl up, "Fair is Dinomeneus, fair is the boy," was +a common custom, as we learn from Aristophanes and from this anonymous +epigram in the _Anthology_:[126]-- + + "I said and once again I said, 'fair, fair'; but still will I go on + repeating how fascinating with his eyes is Dositheus. Not upon an + oak, nor on a pine-tree, nor yet upon a wall, will I inscribe this + word; but love is smouldering in my heart of hearts." + +Another attention of the same kind from a lover to a boy was to have a +vase or drinking-cup of baked clay made, with a portrait of the youth +depicted on its surface, attended by winged genii of health and love. +The word "Fair" was inscribed beneath, and symbols of games were +added--a hoop or a fighting-cock.[127] Nor must I here omit the custom +which induced lovers of a literary turn to praise their friends in prose +or verse. Hippothales, in the _Lysis_ of Plato, is ridiculed by his +friends for recording the great deeds of the boy's ancestors, and +deafening his ears with odes and sonnets. A diatribe on love, written by +Lysias with a view to winning Phædrus, forms the starting-point of the +dialogue between that youth and Socrates.[128] We have, besides, a +curious panegyrical oration (called _Eroticos Logos_), falsely ascribed +to Demosthenes, in honour of a youth, Epicrates, from which some +information may be gathered concerning the topics usually developed in +these compositions. + +Presents were of course a common way of trying to win favour. It was +reckoned shameful for boys to take money from their lovers, but fashion +permitted them to accept gifts of quails and fighting cocks, pheasants, +horses, dogs and clothes.[129] There existed, therefore, at Athens +frequent temptations for boys of wanton disposition, or for those who +needed money to indulge expensive tastes. The speech of Æschines, from +which I have already frequently quoted, affords a lively picture of the +Greek rake's progress, in which Timarchus is described as having sold +his person in order to gratify his gluttony and lust and love of gaming. +The whole of this passage,[130] it may be observed in passing, reads +like a description of Florentine manners in a sermon of Savonarola. + +The shops of the barbers, surgeons, perfumers, and flower-sellers had an +evil notoriety, and lads who frequented these resorts rendered +themselves liable to suspicion. Thus Æschines accuses Timarchus of +having exposed himself for hire in a surgeon's shop at the Peiræus; +while one of Straton's most beautiful epigrams[131] describes an +assignation which he made with a boy who had attracted his attention in +a garland-weaver's stall. In a fragment from the _Pyraunos_ of Alexis, +a young man declares that he found thirty professors of the "voluptuous +life of pleasure," in the Cerameicus during a search of three days; +while Cratinus and Theopompus might be quoted to prove the ill fame of +the monument to Cimon and the hill of Lycabettus.[132] + +The last step in the downward descent was when a youth abandoned the +roof of his parents or guardians and accepted the hospitality of a +lover.[133] If he did this, he was lost. + +In connection with this portion of the subject, it may be well to state +that the Athenian law recognised contracts made between a man and boy, +even if the latter were of free birth, whereby the one agreed to render +up his person for a certain period and purpose, and the other to pay a +fixed sum of money.[134] The phrase "a boy who has been a prostitute," +occurs quite naturally in Aristophanes;[135] nor was it thought +disreputable for men to engage in these _liaisons_. Disgrace only +attached to the free youth who gained a living by prostitution; and he +was liable, as we shall see, at law to loss of civil rights. + +Public brothels for males were kept in Athens, from which the state +derived a portion of its revenues. It was in one of these bad places +that Socrates first saw Phædo.[136] This unfortunate youth was a native +of Elis. Taken prisoner in war, he was sold in the public market to a +slave-dealer, who then acquired the right by Attic law to prostitute his +person and engross his earnings for his own pocket. A friend of +Socrates, perhaps Cebes, bought him from his master, and he became one +of the chief members of the Socratic circle. His name is given to the +Platonic dialogue on immortality, and he lived to found what is called +the Eleo-Socratic School. No reader of Plato forgets how the sage, on +the eve of his death, stroked the beautiful long hair of Phædo,[137] and +prophesied that he would soon have to cut it short in mourning for his +teacher. + +Agathocles, the tyrant of Syracuse, is said to have spent his youth in +brothels of this sort--by inclination, however, if the reports of his +biographers be not calumnious. + +From what has been collected on this topic, it will be understood that +boys in Athens not unfrequently caused quarrels and street-brawls, and +that cases for recovery of damages or breach of contract were brought +before the Attic law-courts. The Peiræus was especially noted for such +scenes of violence. The oration of Lysias against Simon is a notable +example of the pleadings in a cause of this description.[138] Simon, the +defendant, and Lysias, the plaintiff (or some one for whom Lysias had +composed the speech) were both of them attached to Theodotus, a boy from +Platæa. Theodotus was living with the plaintiff; but the defendant +asserted that the boy had signed an agreement to consort with him for +the consideration of three hundred drachmæ, and, relying on this +contract, he had attempted more than once to carry off the boy by force. +Violent altercations, stone-throwings, house-breakings, and encounters +of various kinds having ensued, the plaintiff brought an action for +assault and battery against Simon. A modern reader is struck with the +fact that he is not at all ashamed of his own relation towards +Theodotus. It may be noted that the details of this action throw light +upon the historic brawl at Corinth, in which a boy was killed, and which +led to the foundation of Syracuse by Archias the Bacchiad.[139] + + + + +XIV. + + +We have seen in the foregoing section that paiderastia at Athens was +closely associated with liberty, manly sports, severe studies, +enthusiasm, self-sacrifice, self-control, and deeds of daring, by those +who cared for those things. It has also been made abundantly manifest +that no serious moral shame attached to persons who used boys like +women, but that effeminate youths of free birth were stigmatised for +their indecent profligacy. It remains still to ascertain the more +delicate distinctions which were drawn by Attic law and custom in this +matter, though what has been already quoted from Pausanias, in the +_Symposium_ of Plato, may be taken fairly to express the code of honour +among gentlemen. + +In the _Plutus_,[140] Aristophanes is careful to divide "boys with +lovers," into "the good," and "the strumpets." This distinction will +serve as basis for the following remarks. A very definite line was drawn +by the Athenians between boys who accepted the addresses of their lovers +because they liked them or because they were ambitious of comradeship +with men of spirit, and those who sold their bodies for money. Minute +inquiry was never instituted into the conduct of the former class; else +Alcibiades could not have made his famous declaration about +Socrates,[141] nor would Plato in the _Phædrus_ have regarded an +occasional breach of chastity, under the compulsion of violent passion, +as a venial error.[142] The latter, on the other hand, besides being +visited with universal censure, were disqualified by law from exercising +the privileges of the franchise, from undertaking embassies, from +frequenting the Agora, and from taking part in public festivals, under +the penalty of death. Æschines, from whom we learn the wording of this +statute, adds:[143] "This law he passed with regard to youths who sin +with facility and readiness against their own bodies." He then proceeds +to define the true nature of prostitution, prohibited by law to the +citizens of Athens. It is this: "Any one who acts in this way towards a +single man, provided he do it with payment, seems to me to be liable to +the reproach in question."[144] The whole discussion turns upon the word +_Misthos_. The orator is cautious to meet the argument that a written +contract was necessary in order to construct a case of _Hetaireia_ at +law.[145] In the statute, he observes, there is no mention of "contract" +or "deed in writing." The offence has been sufficiently established +"when in any way whatever payment has been made." + +In order to illustrate the feeling of the Athenians with regard to +making profit out of paiderastic relations, I may perhaps be permitted +to interrupt the analysis of Æschines by referring to Xenophon's +character (_Anab._ si, 6, 21) of the Strategus Menon. The whole tenor of +his judgment is extremely unfavourable toward this man, who invariable +pursued selfish and mean aims, debasing virtuous qualities like ambition +and industry in the mere pursuit of wealth and power. He was, in fact, +devoid of chivalrous feeling, good taste, and honour. About his +behaviour as a youth, Xenophon writes: "With Ariæus, the barbarian, +because this man was partial to handsome youths, he became extremely +intimate while he was still in the prime of adolescence; moreover, he +had Tharypas for his beloved, he being beardless and Tharypas a man +with a beard." His crime seems to have been that he prostituted himself +to the barbarian Ariæus in order to advance his interest, and, probably +with the same view, flattered the effeminate vanity of an elder man by +pretending to love him out of the right time or season. Plutarch +(_Pyrrhus_) mentions this Tharypas as the first to introduce Hellenic +manners among the Molossi. + +When more than one lover was admitted, the guilt was aggravated. "It +will then be manifest that he has not only acted the strumpet, but that +he has been a common prostitute. For he who does this indifferently, and +with money, and for money, seems to have incurred that designation." +Thus the question finally put to the Areopagus, in which court the case +against Timarchus was tried, ran as follows, in the words of +Æschines:[146] "To which of these two classes will you reckon +Timarchus--to those who have had a lover, or to those who have been +prostitutes?" In his rhetorical exposition, Æschines defines the true +character of the virtuous _Eromenos_. Frankly admitting his own +partiality for beautiful young men, he argues after this fashion:[147] +"I do not attach any blame to love. I do not take away the character of +handsome lads. I do not deny that I have often loved, and had many +quarrels and jealousies in this matter. But I establish this as an +irrefutable fact, that, while the love of beautiful and temperate youths +does honour to humanity and indicates a generous temper, the buying of +the person of a free boy for debauchery is a mark of insolence and +ill-breeding. To be loved is an honour: to sell yourself is a disgrace." +He then appeals to the law which forbade slaves to love, thereby +implying that this was the privilege and pride of free men. He alludes +to the heroic deed of Aristogeiton and to the great example of Achilles. +Finally, he draws up a list of well-known and respected citizens whose +loves were notorious, and compares them with a parallel list of persons +infamous for their debauchery. What remains in the peroration to this +invective traverses the same ground. Some phrases may be quoted which +illustrate the popular feeling of the Athenians. Timarchus is +stigmatised[148] as, "the man and male who, in spite of this, has +debauched his body by womanly acts of lust," and again as, "one who +against the law of nature has given himself to lewdness." It is obvious +here that Æschines, the self-avowed boy-lover, while seeking to crush +his opponent by flinging effeminacy and unnatural behaviour in his +teeth, assumes at the same time that honourable paiderastia implies no +such disgrace. Again, he observes that it is as easy to recognise a +pathic by his impudent behaviour as a gymnast by his muscles. Lastly, he +bids the judges force intemperate lovers to abstain from free youths, +and satisfy their lusts upon the persons of foreigners and aliens.[149] +The whole matter at this distance of time is obscure, nor can we hope to +apprehend the full force of distinctions drawn by a Greek orator +appealing to a Greek audience. We may, indeed, fairly presume that, as +is always the case with popular ethics, considerable confusion existed +in the minds of the Athenians themselves, and that, even for them, to +formulate the whole of their social feelings on this topic consistently, +would have been impossible. The main point, however, seems to be that at +Athens it was held honourable to love free boys with decency; that the +conduct of lovers between themselves, within the limits of recognised +friendship, was not challenged; and that no particular shame attached to +profligate persons so long as they refrained from tampering with the +sons of citizens.[150] + + + + +XV. + + +The sources from which our information has hitherto been +drawn--speeches, poems, biographies, and the dramatic parts of +dialogues--yield more real knowledge about the facts of Athenian +paiderastia than can be found in the speculations of philosophers. In +Aristotle, for instance, paiderastia is almost conspicuous by its +absence. It is true that he speculates upon the Cretan customs in the +_Politics_, mentions the prevalence of boy-love among the Kelts, and +incidentally notices the legends of Diocles and Cleomachus;[151] but he +never discusses the matter as fully as might have been expected from a +philosopher whose speculations covered the whole field of Greek +experience. The chapters on _Philia_, in the _Ethics_, might indeed have +been written by a modern moralist for modern readers, though it is +possible that in his treatment of "friendship with pleasure for its +object," and "friendship with advantage for its object," Aristotle is +aiming at the vicious sort of paiderastia. As regards his silence in +the _Politics_, it is worth noticing that this treatise breaks off at +the very point where we should naturally look for a scientific handling +of the education of the passions; and, therefore, it is possible that we +may have lost the weightiest utterance of Greek philosophy upon the +matter of our enquiry. + +Though Aristotle contains but little to the purpose, the case is +different with Plato; nor would it be possible to omit a detailed +examination of the Platonic doctrine on the topic, or to neglect the +attempt he made to analyse and purify a passion, capable, according to +his earlier philosophical speculations, of supplying the starting-point +for spiritual progress. + +The first point to notice in the Platonic treatment of paiderastia is +the difference between the ethical opinions expressed in the _Phædrus_, +_Symposium_, _Republic_, _Charmides_, and _Lysis_, on the one hand, and +those expounded in the _Laws_ upon the other. The _Laws_, which are +probably a genuine work of Plato's old age, condemn that passion which, +in the _Phædrus_ and _Symposium_, he exalted as the greatest boon of +human life and as the groundwork of the philosophical temperament; the +ordinary social manifestations of which he described with sympathy in +the _Lysis_ and the _Charmides_; and which he viewed with more than +toleration in the _Republic_. It is not my business to offer a solution +of this contradiction; but I may observe that Socrates, who plays the +part of protagonist in nearly all the other dialogues of Plato, and who, +as we shall see, professed a special cult of love, is conspicuous by his +absence in the _Laws_. It is, therefore, not improbable that the +philosophical idealisation of paiderastia, to which the name of Platonic +love is usually given, should rather be described as Socratic. However +that may be, I think it will be well to deal first with the doctrine put +into the mouth of the Athenian stranger in the _Laws_, and then to pass +on to the consideration of what Socrates is made to say upon the subject +of Greek love in the earlier dialogues. + +The position assumed by Plato in the _Laws_ (p. 636) is this: Syssitia +and gymnasia are excellent institutions in their way, but they have a +tendency to degrade natural love in man below the level of the beasts. +Pleasure is only natural when it arises out of the intercourse between +men and women, but the intercourse between men and men, or women and +women, is contrary to nature.[152] The bold attempt at overleaping +Nature's laws was due originally to unbridled lust. + +This position is developed in the eighth book (p. 836), where Plato +directs his criticism, not only against what would now be termed the +criminal intercourse between persons of the same sex, but also against +incontinence in general. While framing a law of almost monastic rigour +for the regulation of the sexual appetite, he remains an ancient Greek. +He does not reach the point of view from which women are regarded as the +proper objects of both passion and friendship, as the fit companions of +men in all relations of life; far less does he revert to his earlier +speculations upon the enthusiasm generated by a noble passion. The +modern ideal of marriage and the chivalrous conception of womanhood as +worthy to be worshipped are like unknown to him. Abstinence from the +delights of love, continence except for the sole end of procreation, is +the rule which he proposes to the world. + + * * * * * + +There are three distinct things, Plato argues, which, owing to the +inadequacy of language to represent states of thought, have been +confounded.[153] These are friendship, desire, and a third mixed +species. Friendship is further described as the virtuous affection of +equals in taste, age and station. Desire is always founded on a sense of +contrast. While friendship is "gentle and mutual through life," desire +is "fierce and wild."[154] The true friend seeks to live chastely with +the chaste object of his attachment, whose soul he loves. The lustful +lover longs to enjoy the flower of his youth and cares only for the +body. The third sort is mixed of these; and a lover of this composite +kind is torn asunder by two impulses, "the one commanding him to enjoy +the youth's person, the other forbidding him to do so."[155] The +description of the lover of the third species so exactly suits the +paiderast of nobler quality in Greece, as I conceive him to have +actually existed, that I shall give a full quotation of this +passage:[156]-- + + "As to the mixed sort, which is made up of them both, there is, + first of all, a difficulty in determining what he who is possessed + by this third love desires; moreover, he is drawn different ways, + and is in doubt between the two principles, the one exhorting him + to enjoy the beauty of the youth, and the other forbidding him; for + the one is a lover of the body and hungers after beauty like ripe + fruit, and would fain satisfy himself without any regard to the + character of the beloved; the other holds the desire of the body to + be a secondary matter, and, looking rather than loving with his + soul, and desiring the soul of the other in a becoming manner, + regards the satisfaction of the bodily love as wantonness; he + reverences and respects temperance and courage and magnanimity and + wisdom, and wishes to live chastely with the chaste object of his + affection." + +It is remarkable that Plato, in this analysis of the three sorts of +love, keeps strictly within the bounds of paiderastia. He rejects desire +and the mixed sort of love, reserving friendship (_Philia_) and +ordaining marriage for the satisfaction of the aphrodisiac instinct at a +fitting age, but more particularly for the procreation of children. +Wantonness of every description is to be made as much a sin as incest, +both by law and also by the world's opinion. If Olympian victors, with +an earthly crown in view, learn to live chastely for the preservation of +their strength while training, shall not men, whose contest is for +heavenly prizes, keep their bodies undefiled, their spirits holy? + +Socrates, the mystagogue of amorous philosophy, is absent, as I have +observed, from this discussion of the laws. I turn now to those earlier +dialogues in which he expounds the doctrine of Platonic, or, as I should +prefer to call it, Socratic, love. We know from Xenophon, as well as +Plato, that Socrates named his philosophy the Science of Love. The one +thing on which I pride myself, he says, is knowledge of all matters that +pertain to love. It furthermore appears that Socrates thought himself in +a peculiar sense predestined to reform and to ennoble paiderastia. +"Finding this passion at its height throughout the whole of Hellas, but +most especially in Athens, and all places full of evil lovers and of +youths seduced, he felt a pity for both parties. Not being a lawgiver +like Solon, he could not stop the custom by statute, nor correct it by +force, nor again dissuade men from it by his eloquence. He did not, +however, on that account abandon the lovers or the boys to their fate, +but tried to suggest a remedy." This passage, which I have paraphrased +from Maximus Tyrius,[157] sufficiently expresses the attitude assumed +by Socrates in the Platonic dialogue. He sympathises with Greek lovers, +and avows a fervent admiration for beauty in the persons of young men. +At the same time, he declares himself upon the side of temperate and +generous affection and strives to utilise the erotic enthusiasm as a +motive power in the direction of philosophy. This was really nothing +more or less than an attempt to educate the Athenians by appealing to +their own higher instincts. We have seen that paiderastia in the prime +of Hellenic culture, whatever sensual admixture it might have contained, +was a masculine passion. It was closely connected with the love of +political independence, with the contempt for Asiatic luxury, with the +gymnastic sports, and with the intellectual interests which +distinguished Hellenes from barbarians. Partly owing to the social +habits of their cities, and partly to the peculiar notions which they +entertained regarding the seclusion of free women in the home, all the +higher elements of spiritual and mental activity, and the conditions +under which a generous passion was conceivable, had become the exclusive +privileges of men. It was not that women occupied a semi-servile +station, as some students have imagined, or that within the sphere of +the household they were not the respected and trusted helpmates of men. +But circumstances rendered it impossible for them to excite romantic and +enthusiastic passion. The exaltation of the emotions was reserved for +the male sex. + +Socrates, therefore, sought to direct and moralise a force already +existing. In the _Phædrus_ he describes the passion of love between man +and boy as a madness, not different in quality from that which inspires +poets; and, after painting that fervid picture of the lover, he declares +that the true object of a noble life can only be attained by passionate +friends, bound together in the chains of close yet temperate +comradeship, seeking always to advance in knowledge, self-restraint, and +intellectual illumination. The doctrine of the _Symposium_ is not +different, except that Socrates here takes a higher flight. The same +love is treated as the method whereby the soul may begin her mystic +journey to the region of essential beauty, truth, and goodness. It has +frequently been remarked that Plato's dialogues have to be read as +poems, even more than as philosophical treatises; and if this be true at +all, it is particularly true of both the _Phædrus_ and the _Symposium_. +The lesson which both essays seem intended to inculcate is this: love, +like poetry and prophecy, is a divine gift, which diverts men from the +common current of their lives; but in the right use of this gift lies +the secret of all human excellence. The passion which grovels in the +filth of sensual grossness may be transformed into a glorious +enthusiasm, a winged splendour, capable of soaring to the contemplation +of eternal verities. How strange will it be, when once those heights of +intellectual intuition have been scaled, to look down again to earth and +view the _Meirakidia_ in whom the soul first recognised the form of +beauty![158] There is a deeply-rooted mysticism, an impenetrable +soofyism, in the Socratic doctrine of Erôs. + +In the _Phædrus_, the _Symposium_, the _Charmides_, the _Lysis_, and the +_Republic_, Plato dramatised the real Socrates, while he gave liberal +scope to his own personal sympathy for paiderastia.[159] In the _Laws_, +if we accept this treatise as the work of his old age, he discarded the +Socratic mask, and wrote a kind of palinode, which indicates more moral +growth than pure disapprobation of the paiderastic passion. I have +already tried to show that the point of view in the _Laws_ is still +Greek: that their author has not passed beyond the sphere of Hellenic +ethics. He has only become more ascetic in his rule of conduct as the +years advanced, importing the _rumores senum severiorum_ into his +discourse, and recognising the imperfection of that halting-point +between the two logical extremes of Pagan license and monastic +asceticism which in the fervour of his greener age he advocated. As a +young man, Plato felt sympathy for love so long as it was paiderastic +and not spent on women; he even condoned a lapse through warmth of +feeling into self-indulgence. As an old man, he denounced carnal +pleasure of all kinds, and sought to limit the amative instincts to the +one sole end of procreation. + +It has so happened that Plato's name is still connected with the ideal +of passion purged from sensuality. Much might be written about the +parallel between the _mania_ of the _Phædrus_ and the _joy_ of mediæval +amorists. Nor would it be unprofitable to trace the points of contact +between the love described by Dante in the _Vita Nuova_ and the +paiderastia exalted to the heavens by Plato.[160] The spiritual passion +for Beatrice, which raised the Florentine poet above vile things, and +led him by the philosophic paths of the _Convito_ to the beatific vision +of the _Paradiso_, bears no slight resemblance to the _Erôs_ of the +_Symposium_. Yet we know that Dante could not have studied Plato's +works; and the specific love which Plato praised he sternly stigmatised. +The harmony between Greek and mediæval mysticism in this matter of the +emotions rests on something permanent in human nature, common alike to +paiderastia and to chivalrous enthusiasm for woman. + +It would be well worth raising here the question whether there was not +something special both in the Greek consciousness itself, and also in +the conditions under which it reached maturity, which justified the +Socratic attempt to idealise paiderastia. Placed upon the borderland of +barbarism, divided from the Asiatic races by an acute but narrow line of +demarcation, the Greeks had arrived at the first free notion of the +spirit in its disentanglement from matter and from symbolism. But this +notion of the spirit was still æsthetic, rather than strictly ethical or +rigorously scientific. In the Greek gods, intelligence is perfected and +character is well defined; but these gods are always concrete persons, +with corporeal forms adapted to their spiritual essence. The +interpenetration of spiritual and corporeal elements in a complete +personality, the transfusion of intellectual and emotional faculties +throughout a physical organism exactly suited to their adequate +expression, marks Greek religion and Greek art. What the Greeks +worshipped in their ritual, what they represented in their sculpture, +was always personality--the spirit and the flesh in amity and mutual +correspondence; the spirit burning through the flesh and moulding it to +individual forms; the flesh providing a fit dwelling for the spirit +which controlled and fashioned it. Only philosophers, among the Greeks, +attempted to abstract the spirit as a self-sufficient, independent, +conscious entity; and these philosophers were few, and what they wrote +or spoke had little direct influence upon the people. This being the +mental attitude of the Greek race, it followed as a necessity that their +highest emotional aspirations, their purest personal service, should be +devoted to clear and radiant incarnations of the spirit in a living +person. They had never been taught to regard the body with a sense of +shame, but rather to admire it as the temple of the spirit, and to +accept its needs and instincts with natural acquiescence. Male beauty +disengaged for them the passion it inspired from service of domestic, +social, civic duties. The female form aroused desire, but it also +suggested maternity and obligations of the household. The male form was +the most perfect image of the deity, self-contained, subject to no +necessities of impregnation, determined in its action only by the laws +of its own reason and its own volition. + +Quite a different order of ideas governed the ideal adopted by mediæval +chivalry. The spirit in its self-sufficingness, detached from the body, +antagonistic to the body, had been divinised by Christianity. Woman, +regarded as a virgin and at the same time a mother, the maiden-mother of +God made man, had been exalted to the throne of heaven. The worship of +woman became, by a natural and logical process, the correlative in +actual human life for that worship of the incarnate Deity which was the +essence of religion. A remarkable point in mediæval love is that the +sensual appetites were, theoretically at least, excluded from the homage +paid to woman. It was not the wife or the mistress, but the lady, who +inspired the knight. Dante had children by Gemma, Petrarch had children +by an unknown concubine, but it was the sainted Beatrice, it was the +unattainable Laura, who received the homage of Dante and of Petrarch. + +In like manner, the sensual appetites were, theoretically at least, +excluded from Platonic paiderastia. It was the divine in human +flesh--"the radiant sight of the beloved," to quote from Plato; "the +fairest and most intellectual of earthly bodies," to borrow a phrase +from Maximus Tyrius--it was this which stimulated the Greek lover, just +as a similar incarnation of divinity inspired the chivalrous lover. Thus +we might argue that the Platonic conception of paiderastia furnishes a +close analogue to the chivalrous devotion to women, due regard being +paid to the differences which existed between the plastic ideal of Greek +religion and the romantic ideal of mediæval Christianity. The one veiled +sodomy, the other adultery. That in both cases the conception was rarely +realised in actual life only completes the parallel. + +To pursue this inquiry further is, however, alien to my task. It is +enough to have indicated the psychological agreement in respect of +purified affection which underlay two such apparently antagonistic +ideals of passion. Few modern writers, when they speak with admiration +or contempt of Platonic love, reflect that in its origin this phrase +denoted an absorbing passion for young men. The Platonist, as appears +from numerous passages in the Platonic writings, would have despised the +Petrarchist as a vulgar woman-lover. The Petrarchist would have loathed +the Platonist as a moral Pariah. Yet Platonic love, in both its Attic +and its mediæval manifestations, was one and the same thing. + +The philosophical ideal of paiderastia in Greece, which bore the names +of Socrates and Plato, met with little but contempt. Cicero, in a +passage which has been echoed by Gibbon, remarked upon, "the thin device +of virtue and friendship which amused the philosophers of Athens."[161] +Epicurus criticised the Stoic doctrine of paiderastia by sententiously +observing that philosophers only differed from the common race of men in +so far as they could better cloak their vice with sophistries. This +severe remark seems justified by the opinions ascribed to Zeno by +Plutarch, Sextus Empiricus, and Stobæus.[162] But it may be doubted +whether the real drift of the Stoic theory of love, founded on +_Adiaphopha_, was understood. Lucian, in the _Amores_,[163] makes +Charicles, the advocate of love for women, deride the Socratic ideal as +vain nonsense, while Theomnestus, the man of pleasure, to whom the +dispute is finally referred, decides that the philosophers are either +fools or humbugs.[164] Daphnæus, in the erotic dialogue of Plutarch, +arrives at a similar conclusion; and, in an essay on education, the same +author contends that no prudent father would allow the sages to enter +into intimacy with his sons.[165] The discredit incurred by philosophers +in the later age of Greek culture is confirmed by more than one passage +in Petronius and Juvenal, while Athenæus especially inveighs against +philosophic lovers as acting against nature.[166] The attempt of the +Platonic Socrates to elevate, without altering, the morals of his race +may therefore be said fairly to have failed. Like his Republic, his love +existed only in heaven. + + + + +XVI. + + +Philip of Macedon, when he pronounced the panegyric of the Sacred Band +at Chæronea, uttered the funeral oration of Greek love in its nobler +forms. With the decay of military spirit and the loss of freedom, there +was no sphere left for that type of comradeship which I attempted to +describe in Section IV. The philosophical ideal, to which some +cultivated Attic thinkers had aspired, remained unrealised, except, we +may perhaps suppose, in isolated instances. Meanwhile, paiderastia as a +vice did not diminish. It only grew more wanton and voluptuous. Little, +therefore, can be gained by tracing its historical development further, +although it is not without interest to note the mode of feeling and the +opinion of some later poets and rhetoricians. + +The Idyllists are the only poets, if we except a few epigrammatists of +the _Anthology_, who preserve a portion of the old heroic sentiment. No +true student of Greek literature will have felt that he could strictly +censure the paiderastic passages of the _Thalysia_, _Aïtes_, _Hylas_, +_Paidika_. They have the ring of genuine and respectable emotion. This +may also be said about the two fragments of Bion which begin, _Hespere +tas eratas_ and _Olbioi oi phileontes_. The _Duserôs_, ascribed without +due warrant to Theocritus, is in many respects a beautiful composition, +but it lacks the fresh and manly touches of the master's style, and +bears the stamp of an unwholesome rhetoric. Why, indeed, should we pity +this suicide, and why should the statue of Love have fallen on the +object of his admiration? Maximus Tyrius showed more sense when he +contemptuously wrote about those men who killed themselves for love of a +beautiful lad in Locri:[167] "And in good sooth they deserved to die." + +The dialogue, entitled _Erotes_, attributed to Lucian, deserves a +paragraph. More than any other composition of the rhetorical age of +Greek literature, it attempts a comprehensive treatment of erotic +passion, and sums up the teaching of the doctors and the predilections +of the vulgar in one treatise.[168] Like many of Lucian's compositions, +it has what may be termed a retrospective and resumptive value. That is +to say, it represents less the actual feeling of the author and his age +than the result of his reading and reflection brought into harmony with +his experience. The scene is laid at Cnidus, in the groves of Aphrodite. +The temple and the garden and the statue of Praxiteles are described +with a luxury of language which strikes the keynote of the dialogue. We +have exchanged the company of Plato, Xenophon, or Æschines for that of a +Juvenalian _Græculus_, a delicate æsthetic voluptuary. Every epithet +smells of musk, and every phrase is a provocative. The interlocutors +are Callicratides, the Athenian, and Charicles, the Rhodian. +Callicratides kept an establishment of _exoleti_; when the down upon +their chins had grown beyond the proper point--"when the beard is just +sprouting, when youth is in the prime of charm," they were drafted off +to farms and country villages. Charicles maintained a harem of +dancing-girls and flute-players. The one was "madly passionate for +lads;" the other no less "mad for women." Charicles undertook the cause +of women, Callicratides that of boys. Charicles began. The love of women +is sanctioned by antiquity; it is natural; it endures through life; it +alone provides pleasure for both sexes. Boys grow bearded, rough, and +past their prime. Women always excite passion. Then Callicratides takes +up his parable. Masculine love combines virtue with pleasure. While the +love of women is a physical necessity, the love of boys is a product of +high culture and an adjunct of philosophy. Paiderastia may be either +vulgar or celestial; the second will be sought by men of liberal +education and good manners. Then follow contrasted pictures of the lazy +woman and the manly youth. The one provokes to sensuality, the other +excites noble emulation in the ways of virile living. Lucian, summing up +the arguments of the two pleaders, decides that Corinth must give way to +Athens, adding: "Marriage is open to all men, but the love of boys to +philosophers only." This verdict is referred to Theomnestus, a Don Juan +of both sexes. He replies that both boys and women are good for +pleasure; the philosophical arguments of Callicratides are cant. + + * * * * * + +This brief abstract of Lucian's dialogue on love indicates the cynicism +with which its author viewed the subject, using the whole literature and +all the experience of the Greeks to support a thesis of pure hedonism. +The sybarites of Cairo or Constantinople at the present moment might +employ the same arguments, except that they would omit the philosophic +cant of Callicratides. + + * * * * * + +There is nothing in extant Greek literature, of a date anterior to the +Christian era, which is foul in the same sense as that in which the +works of Roman poets (Catullus and Martial), Italian poets (Beccatelli +and Baffo), and French poets (Scarron and Voltaire) are foul. Only +purblind students will be unable to perceive the difference between the +obscenity of the Latin races and that of Aristophanes. The difference, +indeed, is wide and radical, and strongly marked. It is the difference +between a race naturally gifted with a delicate, æsthetic sense of +beauty, and one in whom that sense was always subject to the +perturbation, of gross instincts. But with the first century of the new +age a change came over even the imagination of the Greeks. Though they +never lost their distinction of style, that precious gift of lightness +and good taste conferred upon them with their language, they borrowed +something of their conquerors' vein. This makes itself felt in the +_Anthology_. Straton and Rufinus suffered the contamination of the Roman +genius, stronger in political organisation than that of Hellas, but +coarser and less spiritually tempered in morals and in art. Straton was +a native of Sardis, who flourished in the second century. He compiled a +book of paiderastic poems, consisting in a great measure of his own and +Meleager's compositions, which now forms the twelfth section of the +_Palatine Anthology_. This book he dedicated, not to the Muse, but to +Zeus; for Zeus was the boy-lover among deities;[169] he bade it carry +forth his message of fair youths throughout the world;[170] and he +claimed a special inspiration from heaven for singing of one sole +subject, paiderastia.[171] It may be said with truth that Straton +understood the bent of his own genius. We trace a blunt earnestness of +intention in his epigrams, a certainty of feeling and directness of +artistic treatment, which show that he had only one object in view. +Meleager has far higher qualities as a poet, and his feeling, as well as +his style, is more exquisite. But he wavered between the love of boys +and women, seeking in both the satisfaction of emotional yearnings which +in the modern world would have marked him as a sentimentalist. The +so-called _Mousa Paidiké_, "Muse of Boyhood," is a collection of two +hundred and fifty-eight short poems, some of them of great artistic +merit, in praise of boys and boy-love. The common-places of these +epigrams are Ganymede and Erôs;[172] we hear but little of +Aphrodite--her domain is the other section of the _Anthology_, called +Erotika. A very small percentage of these compositions can be described +as obscene;[173] none are nasty, in the style of Martial or Ausonius; +some are exceedingly picturesque;[174] a few are written in a strain of +lofty or of lovely music;[175] one or two are delicate and subtle in +their humour.[176] The whole collection supplies good means of judging +how the Greeks of the decadence felt about this form of love. _Malakia_ +is the real condemnation of this poetry, rather than brutality or +coarseness. A favourite topic is the superiority of boys over girls. +This sometimes takes a gross form;[177] but once or twice the treatment +of the subject touches a real psychological distinction, as in the +following epigram:[178]-- + + "The love of women is not after my heart's desire; but the fires of + male desire have placed me under inextinguishable coals of burning. + The heat there is mightier; for the more powerful is male than + female, the keener is that desire." + +These four lines give the key to much of the Greek preference for +paiderastia. The love of the male, when it has been apprehended and +entertained, is more exciting, they thought, more absorbent of the whole +nature, than the love of the female. It is, to use another kind of +phraseology, more of a mania and more of a disease. + +With the _Anthology_ we might compare the curious _Epistolai Erotikai_ +of Philostratus.[179] They were in all probability rhetorical +compositions, not intended for particular persons; yet they indicate the +kind of wooing to which youths were subjected in later Hellas.[180] The +discrepancy between the triviality of their subject-matter and the +exquisiteness of their diction is striking. The second of these +qualities has made them a mine for poets. Ben Jonson, for example, +borrowed the loveliest of his lyrics from the following _concetto_:--"I +sent thee a crown of roses, not so much honouring thee, though this, +too, was my meaning, but wishing to do some kindness to the roses that +they might not wither." Take, again, the phrase: "Well, and love himself +is naked, and the graces and the stars;" or this, "O rose, that has a +voice to speak with!"--or this metaphor for the footsteps of the +beloved, "O rhythms of most beloved feet, O kisses pressed upon the +ground!" + +While the paiderastia of the Greeks was sinking into grossness, +effeminacy, and æsthetic prettiness, the moral instincts of humanity +began to assert themselves in earnest. It became part of the higher +doctrine of the Roman Stoics to suppress this form of passion.[181] The +Christians, from St. Paul onwards, instituted an uncompromising crusade +against it. Theirs was no mere speculative warfare, like that of the +philosophers at Athens. They fought with all the forces of their +manhood, with the sword of the Lord and with the excommunications of the +Church, to suppress what seemed to them an unutterable scandal. Dio +Chrysostom, Clemens Alexandrinus, and Athanasius, are our best +authorities for the vices which prevailed in Hellas during the +Empire;[182] the Roman law, moreover, proves that the civil governors +aided the Church in its attempt to moralise the people on this point. + + + + +XVII. + + +The transmutation of Hellas proper into part of the Roman Empire, and +the intrusion of Stoicism and Christianity into the sphere of Hellenic +thought and feeling, mark the end of the Greek age. It still remains, +however, to consider the relation of this passion to the character of +the race, and to determine its influence. + +In the fifth section of this essay, I asserted that it is now impossible +to ascertain whether the Greeks derived paiderastia from any of the +surrounding nations, and if so, from which. Homer's silence makes it +probable that the contact of Hellenic with Phoenician traders in the +post-heroic period led to the adoption by the Greek race of a custom +which they speedily assimilated and stamped with an Hellenic character. +At the same time, I suggested in the tenth section that paiderastia, in +its more enthusiastic and martial form, may have been developed within +the very sanctuary of Greek national existence by the Dorians, matured +in the course of their migrations, and systematised after their +settlement in Crete and Sparta. That the Greeks themselves regarded +Crete as the classic ground of paiderastia favours either theory, and +suggests a fusion of them both; for the geographical position of this +island made it the meeting-place of Hellenes with the Asiatic races, +while it was also one of the earliest Dorian acquisitions. + +When we come to ask why this passion struck roots so deep into the very +heart and brain of the Greek nation, we must reject the favourite +hypothesis of climate. Climate is, no doubt, powerful to a great extent +in determining the complexion of sexual morality; yet, as regards +paiderastia, we have abundant proof that nations both of North and South +have, according to circumstances quite independent of climatic +conditions, been both equally addicted and equally averse to this +habit. The Etruscan,[183] the Chinese, the ancient Keltic tribes, the +Tartar hordes of Timour Khan, the Persians under Moslem rule--races sunk +in the sloth of populous cities, as well as the nomadic children of the +Asian steppes, have all acquired a notoriety at least equal to that of +the Greeks. The only difference between these people and the Greeks in +respect to paiderastia is that everything which the Greek genius touched +acquired a portion of its distinction, so that what in semi-barbarous +society may be ignored as vice, in Greece demands attention as a phase +of the spiritual life of a world-historic nation. + +Like climate, ethnology must also be eliminated. It is only a +superficial philosophy of history which is satisfied with the +nomenclature of Semitic, Aryan, and so forth; which imagines that +something is gained for the explanation of a complex psychological +problem when hereditary affinities have been demonstrated. The deeps of +national personality are far more abysmal than this. Granting that +climate and descent are elements of great importance, the religious and +moral principles, the æsthetic apprehensions, and the customs which +determine the character of a race, leave always something still to be +analysed. In dealing with Greek paiderastia, we are far more likely to +reach a probable solution if we confine our attention to the specific +social conditions which fostered the growth of this passion in Greece, +and to the general habit of mind which permitted its evolution out of +the common stuff of humanity, than if we dilate at ease upon the climate +of the Ægean, or discuss the ethnical complexion of the Hellenic stock. +In other words, it was the Pagan view of human life and duty which gave +scope to paiderastia, while certain special Greek customs aided its +development. + +The Greeks themselves, quoted more than once above, have put us on the +right track in this inquiry. However paiderastia began in Hellas, it was +encouraged by gymnastics and syssitia. Youths and boys engaged together +in athletic exercises, training their bodies to the highest point of +physical attainment, growing critical about the points and proportions +of the human form, lived of necessity in an atmosphere of mutual +attention. Young men could not be insensible to the grace of boys in +whom the bloom of beauty was unfolding. Boys could not fail to admire +the strength and goodliness of men displayed in the comeliness of +perfected development. Having exercised together in the +wrestling-ground, the same young men and boys consorted at the common +tables. Their talk fell naturally upon feats of strength and training; +nor was it unnatural, in the absence of a powerful religious +prohibition, that love should spring from such discourse and +intercourse. + +The nakedness, which Greek custom permitted in gymnastic games and some +religious rites, no doubt contributed to the erotic force of masculine +passion; and the history of their feeling upon this point deserves +notice. Plato, in the _Republic_ (452), observes that "not long ago the +Greeks were of the opinion, which is still generally received among the +barbarians, that the sight of a naked man was ridiculous and unseemly." +He goes on to mention the Cretans and the Lacedæmonians as the +institutors of naked games. To these conditions may be added dances in +public, the ritual of gods like Erôs, ceremonial processions, and +contests for the prize of beauty. + +The famous passage in the first book of Thucydides (cap. vi.) +illustrates the same point. While describing the primitive culture of +the Hellenes, he thinks it worth while to mention that the Spartans, who +first stripped themselves for running and wrestling, abandoned the +girdle which it was usual to wear around the loins. He sees in this +habit one of the strongest points of distinction between the Greeks and +barbarians. Herodotus insists upon the same point (book i. 10), which is +further confirmed by the verse of Ennius: "Flagitii," &c. + +The nakedness which Homer (_Iliad_, xxii. 66) and Tyrtæus (i. 21) +describes as shameful and unseemly is that of an old man. Both poets +seem to imply that a young man's naked body is beautiful even in death. + +We have already seen that paiderastia, as it existed in early Hellas, +was a martial institution, and that it never wholly lost its virile +character. This suggests the consideration of another class of +circumstances which were in the highest degree conducive to its free +development. The Dorians, to begin with, lived like regiments of +soldiers in barracks. The duty of training the younger men was thrown +upon the elder; so that the close relations thus established in a race +which did not positively discountenance the love of male for male rather +tended actively to encourage it. Nor is it difficult to understand why +the romantic emotions in such a society were more naturally aroused by +male companions than by women. Matrimony was not a matter of elective +affinity between two persons seeking to spend their lives agreeably and +profitably in common, so much as an institution used by the State for +raising vigorous recruits for the national army. All that is known about +the Spartan marriage customs, taken together with Plato's speculations +about a community of wives, proves this conclusively. It followed that +the relation of the sexes to each other was both more formal and more +simple than it is with us; the natural and the political purposes of +cohabitation were less veiled by those personal and emotional +considerations which play so large a part in modern life. There was less +scope for the emergence of passionate enthusiasm between men and women, +while the full conditions of a spiritual attachment, solely determined +by reciprocal inclination, were only to be found in comradeship. In the +wrestling-ground, at the common tables, in the ceremonies of religion, +at the Pan-hellenic games, in the camp, in the hunting-field, on the +benches of the council chamber, and beneath the porches of the Agora, +men were all in all unto each other. Women meanwhile kept the house at +home, gave birth to babies, and reared children till such time as the +State thought fit to undertake their training. It is, moreover, well +known that the age at which boys were separated from their mothers was +tender. Thenceforth they lived with persons of their own sex; their +expanding feelings were confined within the sphere of masculine +experience until the age arrived when marriage had to be considered in +the light of a duty to the commonwealth. How far this tended to +influence the growth of sentiment, and to determine its quality, may be +imagined. + +In the foregoing paragraph I have restricted my attention almost wholly +to the Dorians: but what has just been said about the circumstance of +their social life suggests a further consideration regarding paiderastia +at large among the Greeks, which takes rank with the weightiest of all. +The peculiar status of Greek women is a subject surrounded with +difficulty; yet no man can help feeling that the idealisation of +masculine love, which formed so prominent a feature of Greek life in the +historic period, was intimately connected with the failure of the race +to give their proper sphere in society to women. The Greeks themselves +were not directly conscious of this fact; nor can I remember any passage +in which a Greek has suggested that boy-love flourished precisely upon +the special ground which had been wrestled from the right domain of file +other sex. Far in advance of the barbarian tribes around them, they +could not well discern the defects of their own civilisation; nor was it +to be expected that they should have anticipated that exaltation of the +love of women into a semi-religious cult which was the later product of +chivalrous Christianity. We, from the standpoint of a more fully +organised society, detect their errors, and pronounce that paiderastia +was a necessary consequence of their unequal social culture; nor do we +fail to notice that, just as paiderastia was a post-Homeric intrusion +into Greek life, so women, after the age of the Homeric poems, suffered +a corresponding depression in the social scale. In the _Iliad_ and the +_Odyssey_, and in the tragedies which deal with the heroic age, they +play a part of importance for which the actual conditions of historic +Hellas offered no opportunities. + +It was at Athens that the social disadvantages of women told with +greatest force; and this perhaps may help to explain the philosophic +idealisation of boy-love among the Athenians. To talk familiarly with +free women on the deepest subjects, to treat them as intellectual +companions, or to choose them as associates in undertakings of political +moment, seems never to have entered the mind of an Athenian. Women were +conspicuous by their absence from all places of resort--from the +palæstra, the theatre, the Agora, Pnyx, the law-court, the symposium; +and it was here, and here alone, that the spiritual energies of the men +expanded. Therefore, as the military ardour of the Dorians naturally +associated itself with paiderastia, so the characteristic passion of the +Athenians for culture took the same direction. The result in each case +was a highly wrought psychical condition, which, however alien to our +instincts, must be regarded as an exaltation of the race above its +common human needs--as a manifestation of fervid, highly-pitched +emotional enthusiasm. + +It does not follow from the facts which I have just discussed that, +either at Athens or at Sparta, women were excluded from an important +position in the home, or that the family in Greece was not the sphere of +female influence more active than the extant fragments of Greek +literature reveal to us. The women of Sophocles and Euripides, and the +noble ladies described by Plutarch, warn us to be cautious in our +conclusions on this topic. The fact, however, remains that in Greece, as +in mediæval Europe, the home was not regarded as the proper sphere for +enthusiastic passion: both paiderastia and chivalry ignored the family, +while the latter even set the matrimonial tie at nought. It is therefore +precisely at this point of the family, regarded as a comparatively +undeveloped factor in the higher spiritual life of Greeks, that the two +problems of paiderastia and the position of women in Greece intersect. + +In reviewing the external circumstances which favoured paiderastia, it +may be added, as a minor cause, that the leisure in which the Greeks +lived, supported by a crowd of slaves, and attending chiefly to their +physical and mental culture, rendered them peculiarly liable to +pre-occupations of passion and pleasure-seeking. In the early periods, +when war was incessant, this abundance of spare time bore less corrupt +fruit than during the stagnation into which the Greeks, enslaved by +Macedonia and Rome, declined. + +So far, I have been occupied in the present section with the specific +conditions of Greek society which may be regarded as determining the +growth of paiderastia. With respect to the general habit of mind which +caused the Greeks, in contradistinction to the Jews and Christians, to +tolerate this form of feeling, it will be enough here to remark that +Paganism could have nothing logically to say against it. The further +consideration of this matter I shall reserve for the next division of my +essay, contenting myself for the moment with the observation that Greek +religion and the instincts of the Greek race offered no direct obstacle +to the expansion of a habit which was strongly encouraged by the +circumstances I have just enumerated. + + + + +XVIII. + + +Upon a topic of great difficulty, which is, however, inseparable from +the subject-matter of this inquiry, I shall not attempt to do more than +to offer a few suggestions. This is the relation of paiderastia to Greek +art. Whoever may have made a study of antique sculpture will not have +failed to recognise its healthy human tone, its ethical rightness. There +is no partiality for the beauty of the male sex, no endeavour to reserve +for the masculine deities the nobler attributes of man's intellectual +and moral nature, no extravagant attempt to refine upon masculine +qualities by the blending of feminine voluptuousness. Aphrodite and +Artemis hold their place beside Erôs and Hermes. Ares is less +distinguished by the genius lavished on him than Athene. Hera takes rank +with Zeus, the Nymphs with the Fauns, the Muses with Apollo. Nor are +even the minor statues, which belong to decorative rather than high art, +noticeable for the attribution of sensual beauties to the form of boys. +This, which is certainly true of the best age, is, with rare exceptions, +true of all the ages of Greek plastic art. No prurient effeminacy +degraded, deformed, or unduly confounded, the types of sex idealised in +sculpture. + +The first reflection which must occur to even prejudiced observers, is +that paiderastia did not corrupt the Greek imagination to any serious +extent. The license of Paganism found appropriate expression in female +forms, but hardly touched the male; nor would it, I think, be possible +to demonstrate that obscene works of painting or of sculpture were +provided for paiderastic sensualists similar to those pornographic +objects which fill the reserved cabinet of the Neapolitan Museum. Thus, +the testimony of Greek art might be used to confirm the asseveration of +Greek literature, that among free men, at least, and gentle, this +passion tended even to purify feelings which, in their lust for women, +verged on profligacy. For one androgynous statue of Hermaphroditus or +Dionysus there are at least a score of luxurious Aphrodites and +voluptuous Bacchantes. Erôs himself, unless he is portrayed according to +the Roman type of Cupid, as a mischievous urchin, is a youth whose +modesty is no less noticeable than his beauty. His features are not +unfrequently shadowed with melancholy, as appears in the so-called +Genius of the Vatican, and in many statues which might pass for genii of +silence or of sleep as well as love. It would be difficult to adduce a +single wanton Erôs, a single image of this god provocative of sensual +desires. There is not one before which we could say--The sculptor of +that statue had sold his soul to paiderastic lust. Yet Erôs, it may be +remembered, was the special patron of paiderastia. + +Greek art, like Greek mythology, embodied a finely graduated +half-unconscious analysis of human nature. The mystery of procreation +was indicated by phalli on the Hermæ. Unbridled appetite found +incarnation in Priapus, who, moreover, was never a Greek god, but a +Lampsacene adopted from the Asian coast by the Romans. The natural +desires were symbolised in Aphrodite Praxis, Kallipugos, or Pandemos. +The higher sexual enthusiasm assumed celestial form in Aphrodite +Ouranios. Love itself appeared personified in the graceful Erôs of +Praxiteles; and how sublimely Pheidias presented this god to the eyes of +his worshippers can now only be guessed at from a mutilated fragment +among the Elgin marbles. The wild and native instincts, wandering, +untutored and untamed, which still connect man with the life of woods +and beasts and April hours, received half-human shape in Pan and +Silenus, the Satyrs and the Fauns. In this department of semi-bestial +instincts we find one solitary instance bearing upon paiderastia. The +group of a Satyr tempting a youth at Naples stands alone among numerous +similar compositions which have female or hermaphroditic figures, and +which symbolise the violent and comprehensive lust of brutal appetite. +Further distinctions between the several degrees of love were drawn by +the Greek artists. Himeros, the desire that strikes the spirit through +the eyes, and Pothos, the longing of souls in separation from the object +of their passion, were carved together with Erôs by Scopas for +Aphrodite's temple at Megara. Throughout the whole of this series there +is no form set aside for paiderastia, as might have been expected if the +fancy of the Greeks had idealised a sensual Asiatic passion. Statues of +Ganymede carried to heaven by the eagle are, indeed, common enough in +Græco-Roman plastic art; yet, even here, there is nothing which +indicates the preference for a specifically voluptuous type of male +beauty. + +It should be noticed that the mythology of the Greeks was determined +before paiderastia laid hold upon the race. Homer and Hesiod, says +Herodotus, made the Hellenic theogony, and Homer and Hesiod knew only of +the passions and emotions which are common to all healthy semi-civilised +humanity. The artists, therefore, found in myths and poems +subject-matter which imperatively demanded a no less careful study of +the female than of the male form; nor were beautiful women wanting. +Great cities placed their maidens at the disposition of sculptors and +painters for the modelling of Aphrodite. The girls of Sparta in their +dances suggested groups of Artemis and Oreads. The Hetairai of Corinth +presented every detail of feminine perfection freely to the gaze. Eyes +accustomed to the "dazzling vision" of a naked athlete were no less +sensitive to the virginal veiled grace of the Athenian Canephoroi. The +temples of the female deities had their staffs of priestesses, and the +oracles their inspired prophetesses. Remembering these facts, +remembering also what we read about Æolian ladies who gained fame by +poetry, there is every reason to understand how sculptors found it easy +to idealise the female form. Nor need we imagine, because Greek +literature abounds in references to paiderastia, and because this +passion played an important part in Greek history, that therefore the +majority of the race were not susceptible in a far higher degree to +female charms. On the contrary, our best authorities speak of boy-love +as a characteristic which distinguished warriors, gymnasts, poets, and +philosophers from the common multitude. As far as regards artists, the +anecdotes which are preserved about them turn chiefly upon their +preference for women. For one tale concerning the Pantarkes of Pheidias, +we have a score relating to the Campaspe of Apelles and the Phryne of +Praxiteles. + +It may be judged superfluous to have proved that the female form was +idealised in sculpture by the Hellenes at least as nobly as the male; +nor need we seek elaborate reasons why paiderastia left no perceptible +stain upon the art of a race distinguished before all things by the +reserve of good taste. At the same time, there can be no reasonable +doubt that the artistic temperament of the Greeks had something to do +with its wide diffusion and many sided development. Sensitive to every +form of loveliness, and unrestrained by moral or religious prohibition, +they could not fail to be enthusiastic for that corporeal beauty, unlike +all other beauties of the human form, which marks male adolescence no +less triumphantly than does the male soprano voice upon the point of +breaking. The power of this corporeal loveliness to sway their +imagination by its unique æthetic charm is abundantly illustrated in the +passages which I have quoted above from the _Charmides_ of Plato and +Xenophon's _Symposium_. An expressive Greek phrase, "Youths in their +prime of adolescence, but not distinguished by a special beauty," +recognises the persuasive influence, separate from that of true beauty, +which belongs to a certain period of masculine growth. The very +evanescence of this "bloom of youth" made it in Greek eyes desirable, +since nothing more clearly characterises the poetic myths which +adumbrate their special sensibility than the pathos of a blossom that +must fade. When distinction of feature and symmetry of form were added +to this charm of youthfulness, the Greeks admitted, as true artists are +obliged to do, that the male body displays harmonies of proportion and +melodies of outline more comprehensive, more indicative of strength +expressed in terms of grace, than that of women.[184] I guard myself +against saying--more seductive to the senses, more soft, more delicate, +more undulating. The superiority of male beauty does not consist in +these attractions, but in the symmetrical development of all the +qualities of the human frame, the complete organisation of the body as +the supreme instrument of vital energy. In the bloom of adolescence the +elements of feminine grace, suggested rather than expressed, are +combined with virility to produce a perfection which is lacking to the +mature and adult excellence of either sex. The Greek lover, if I am +right in the idea which I have formed of him, sought less to stimulate +desire by the contemplation of sensual charms than to attune his spirit +with the spectacle of strength at rest in suavity. He admired the +chastened lines, the figure slight but sinewy, the limbs well-knit and +flexible, the small head set upon broad shoulders, the keen eyes, the +austere reins, and the elastic movement of a youth made vigorous by +exercise. Physical perfection of this kind suggested to his fancy all +that he loved best in moral qualities. Hardihood, self-discipline, +alertness of intelligence, health, temperance, indomitable spirit, +energy, the joy of active life, plain living and high thinking--these +qualities the Greeks idealised, and of these, "the lightning vision of +the darling," was the living incarnation. There is plenty in their +literature to show that paiderastia obtained sanction from the belief +that a soul of this sort would be found within the body of a young man +rather than a woman. I need scarcely add that none but a race of artists +could be lovers of this sort, just as none but a race of poets were +adequate to apprehend the chivalrous enthusiasm for woman as an object +of worship. + +The morality of the Greeks, as I have tried elsewhere to prove, was +æsthetic. They regarded humanity as a part of a good and beautiful +universe, nor did they shrink from any of their normal instincts. To +find the law of human energy, the measure of man's natural desires, the +right moment for indulgence and for self-restraint, the balance which +results in health, the proper limit for each several function which +secures the harmony of all, seem to them the aim of ethics. Their +personal code of conduct ended in "modest self-restraint:" not +abstention, but selection and subordination ruled their practice. They +were satisfied with controlling much that more ascetic natures +unconditionally suppress. Consequently, to the Greeks, there was nothing +at first sight criminal in paiderastia. To forbid it as a hateful and +unclean thing did not occur to them. Finding it within their hearts, +they chose to regulate it, rather than to root it out. It was only after +the inconveniences and scandals to which paiderastia gave rise had been +forced upon their notice, that they felt the visitings of conscience and +wavered in their fearless attitude. + +In like manner, the religion of the Greeks was æsthetic. They analysed +the world of objects and the soul of man, unconsciously perhaps, but +effectively, and called their generalisations by the names of gods and +goddesses. That these were beautiful and filled with human energy was +enough to arouse in them the sentiments of worship. The notion of a +single Deity who ruled the human race by punishment and favour, hating +certain acts while he tolerated others--in other words, a God who +idealised one part of man's nature to the exclusion of the rest--had +never passed into the sphere of Greek conceptions. When, therefore, +paiderastia became a fact of their consciousness, they reasoned thus: If +man loves boys, God loves boys also. Homer and Hesiod forgot to tell us +about Ganymede and Hyacinth and Hylas. Let these lads be added to the +list of Danaë and Semele and Io. Homer told us that, because Ganymede +was beautiful, Zeus made him the serving-boy of the immortals. We +understand the meaning of that tale. Zeus loved him. The reason why he +did not leave him here on earth like Danaë was that he could not beget +sons upon his body and people the earth with heroes. Do not our wives +stay at home and breed our children? "Our favourite youths" are always +at our side. + + + + +XIX. + + +Sexual inversion among Greek women offers more difficulties than we met +with in the study of paiderastia. This is due, not to the absence of the +phenomenon, but to the fact that feminine homosexual passions were never +worked into the social system, never became educational and military +agents. The Greeks accepted the fact that certain females are +congenitally indifferent to the male sex, and appetitive of their own +sex. This appears from the myth of Aristophanes in Plato's _Symposium_, +which expresses in comic form their theory of sexual differentiation. +There were originally human beings of three sexes: men, the offspring of +the sun; women, the offspring of the earth; hermaphrodites, the +offspring of the moon. They were round with two faces, four hands, four +feet, and two sets of reproductive organs apiece. In the case of the +third (hermaphroditic or lunar) sex, one set of reproductive organs was +male, the other female. Zeus, on account of the insolence and vigour of +these primitive human creatures, sliced them into halves. Since that +time, the halves of each sort have always striven to unite with their +corresponding halves, and have found some satisfaction in carnal +congress--males with males, females with females, and (in the case of +the lunar or hermaphroditic creatures) males and females with one +another. Philosophically, then, the homosexual passion of female for +female, and of male for male, was placed upon exactly the same footing +as the heterosexual passion of each sex for its opposite. Greek logic +admitted the homosexual female to equal rights with the homosexual male, +and both to the same natural freedom as heterosexual individuals of +either species. + +Although this was the position assumed by philosophers, Lesbian passion, +as the Greeks called it, never obtained the same social sanction as +boy-love. It is significant that Greek mythology offers no legends of +the goddesses parallel to those which consecrated paiderastia among the +male deities. Again, we have no recorded example, so far as I can +remember, of noble friendships between women rising into political and +historical prominence. There are no female analogies to Harmodius and +Aristogeiton, Cratinus and Aristodemus. It is true that Sappho and the +Lesbian poetesses gave this female passion an eminent place in Greek +literature. But the Æolian women did not found a glorious tradition +corresponding to that of the Dorian men. If homosexual love between +females assumed the form of an institution at one moment in Æolia, this +failed to strike roots deep into the subsoil of the nation. Later +Greeks, while tolerating, regarded it rather as an eccentricity of +nature, or a vice, than as an honourable and socially useful emotion. +The condition of women in ancient Hellas sufficiently accounts for the +result. There was no opportunity in the harem or the zenana of raising +homosexual passion to the same moral and spiritual efficiency as it +obtained in the camp, the palæstra, and the schools of the philosophers. +Consequently, while the Greeks utilised and ennobled boy-love, they left +Lesbian love to follow the same course of degeneracy as it pursues in +modern times. + +In order to see how similar the type of Lesbian love in ancient Greece +was to the form which it assumed in modern Europe, we have only to +compare Lucian's Dialogues with Parisian tales by Catulle Mendès or Guy +de Maupassant. The woman who seduces the girl she loves, is, in the +girl's phrase, "over-masculine," "androgynous." The Megilla of Lucian +insists upon being called Megillos. The girl is a weaker vessel, pliant, +submissive to the virago's sexual energy, selected from the class of +meretricious _ingénues_. + +There is an important passage in the _Amores_ of Lucian which proves +that the Greeks felt an abhorrence of sexual inversion among women +similar to that which moderns feel for its manifestation among men. +Charicles, who supports, the cause of normal heterosexual passion, +argues after this wise: + + "If you concede homosexual love to males, you must in justice grant + the same to females; you will have to sanction carnal intercourse + between them; monstrous instruments of lust will have to be + permitted, in order that their sexual congress may be carried out; + that obscene vocable, tribad, which so rarely offends our ears--I + blush to utter it--will become rampant, and Philænis will spread + androgynous orgies throughout our harems." + +What these monstrous instruments of lust were may be gathered from the +sixth mime of Herodas, where one of them is described in detail. +Philænis may, perhaps, be the poetess of an obscene book on sensual +refinements, to which Athanæus alludes (_Deipnosophistæ_, viii, 335). It +is also possible that Philænis had become the common designation of a +Lesbian lover, a tribad. In the latter periods of Greek literature, as I +have elsewhere shown, certain fixed masks of Attic comedy (corresponding +to the masks of the Italian _Commedia dell' Arte_) created types of +character under conventional names--so that, for example, Cerdo became a +cobbler, Myrtalë a common whore, and possibly Philænis a Lesbian invert. + +The upshot of this parenthetical investigation is to demonstrate that, +while the love of males for males in Greece obtained moralisation, and +reached the high position of a recognised social function, the love of +female for female remained undeveloped and unhonoured, on the same level +as both forms of homosexual passion in the modern European world are. + + + + +XX. + + +Greece merged into Rome; but, though the Romans aped the arts and +manners of the Greeks, they never truly caught the Hellenic spirit. Even +Virgil only trod the court of the Gentiles of Greek culture. It was not, +therefore, possible that any social custom so peculiar as paiderastia +should flourish on Latin soil. Instead of Cleomenes and Epameinondas, we +find at Rome, Nero, the bride of Sporus, and Commodus the public +prostitute. Alcibiades is replaced by the Mark Antony of Cicero's +_Philippic_. Corydon, with artificial notes, takes up the song of +Ageanax. The melodies of Meleager are drowned in the harsh discords of +Martial. Instead of love, lust was the deity of the boy-lover on the +shores of Tiber. + +In the first century of the Roman Empire, Christianity began its work of +reformation. When we estimate the effect of Christianity, we must bear +in mind that the early Christians found Paganism disorganised and +humanity rushing to a precipice of ruin. Their first efforts were +directed toward checking the sensuality of Corinth, Athens, Rome, the +capitals of Syria and Egypt. Christian asceticism, in the corruption of +the Pagan systems, led logically to the cloister and the hermitage. The +component elements of society had been disintegrated by the Greeks in +their decadence, and by the Romans in their insolence of material +prosperity. To the impassioned followers of Christ, nothing was left but +separation from nature, which had become incurable in its monstrosity of +vices. But the convent was a virtual abandonment of social problems. + +From this policy of despair, this helplessness to cope with evil, and +this hopelessness of good on earth, emerged a new and nobler synthesis, +the merit of which belongs in no small measure to the Teutonic converts +to the Christian faith. The Middle Ages proclaimed, through chivalry, +the truth, then for the first time fully apprehended, that woman is the +mediating and ennobling element in human life. Not in escape into the +cloister, not in the self-abandonment to vice, but in the fellow-service +of free men and women must be found the solution of social problems. The +mythology of Mary gave religious sanction to the chivalrous enthusiasm; +and a cult of woman sprang into being, to which, although it was +romantic and visionary, we owe the spiritual basis of our domestic and +civil life. The _modus vivendi_ of the modern world was found. + + +FINIS. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Compare the fine rhetorical passage in Max. Tyr., _Dissert._, xxiv. +8, ed. Didot, 1842. + +[2] i. 135. + +[3] Numerous localities, however, claimed this distinction. See Ath., +xiii. 601. Chalkis in Euboea, as well as Crete, could show the sacred +spot where the mystical assumption of Ganymede was reported to have +happened. + +[4] _Laws_, i. 636. Cp. _Timæus_, quoted by Ath., p. 602. Servius, _ad +Aen._ x, 325, says that boy-love spread from Crete to Sparta, and thence +through Hellas, and Strabo mentions its prevalence among the Cretans (x. +483). Plato (Rep. v. 452) speaks of the Cretans as introducing naked +athletic sports. + +[5] _Laws_, viii. 863. + +[6] See Ath., xiii. 602. Plutarch, in the Life of Pelopidas (Clough, +vol. ii. p. 219), argues against this view. + +[7] See Rosenbaum, _Lustseuche im Alterthume_, p. 118. + +[8] Max. Tyr., _Dissert._, ix. + +[9] See Sismondi, vol. ii. p. 324, Symonds, _Renaissance in Italy_, _Age +of the Despots_, p. 435; Tardieu, _Attentats aux Moeurs_, _Les Ordures +de Paris_; Sir R. Burton's _Terminal Essay_ to the "Arabian Nights;" +Carlier, _Les Deux Prostitutions_, etc. + +[10] I say almost, because something of the same sort appeared in Persia +at the time of Saadi. + +[11] Plato, in the _Phædrus_, the _Symposium_, and the _Laws_, is +decisive on the mixed nature of paiderastia. + +[12] Theocr., _Paidika_, probably an Æolic poem of much older date. + +[13] _Phædrus_, p. 252, Jowett's translation. + +[14] Page 178, Jowett. + +[15] Clough, vol. ii. p. 218. + +[16] Book vii. 4, 7. + +[17] We may compare a passage from the _Symposium_ ascribed to Xenophon, +viii. 32. + +[18] Page 182, Jowett. + +[19] Plutarch, _Eroticus_, cap. xvii. p. 791, 40, Reiske. + +[20] Lang's translation, p. 63. + +[21] See Athenæus, xiii. 602, for the details. + +[22] See Athenæus, xiii. 602, who reports an oracle in praise of these +lovers. + +[23] Ar., _Pol._, ii. 9. + +[24] See Theocr. _Aïtes_ and the _Scholia_. + +[25] See Plutarch's _Eroticus_, 760, 42, where the story is reported on +the faith of Aristotle. + +[26] _Pelopidas_, Clough's trans., vol. ii. 218. + +[27] Cap. xvi. p. 760, 21. + +[28] Cap. xxiii. p. 768, 53. Compare Max. Tyr., _Dissert._, xxiv. 1. See +too the chapter on Tyrannicide in Ar. Pol., viii. (v.) 10. + +[29] Clough's trans., vol. v. p. 118. + +[30] _Hellenics_, bk. ix. cap. xxvi. + +[31] Suidas, under the heading _Paidika_, tells of two lovers who both +died in battle, fighting each to save the other. + +[32] See, for example, _Æschines against Timarchus_, 59. + +[33] Trans. by Sir G. C. Lewis, vol. ii. pp. 309-313. + +[34] _Symp._ 182 A. + +[35] i. 132. + +[36] _De Rep._, iv. 4. + +[37] I need hardly point out the parallel between this custom and the +marriage customs of half-civilised communities. + +[38] The general opinion of the Greeks with regard to the best type of +Dorian love is well expressed by Maximus Tyrius, _Dissert._, xxvi. 8. +"It is esteemed a disgrace to a Cretan youth to have no lover. It is a +disgrace for a Cretan youth to tamper with the boy he loves. O custom, +beautifully blent of self-restraint and passion! The man of Sparta loves +the lad of Lacedæmon, but loves him only as one loves a fair statue; and +many love one, and one loves many." + +[39] _Laws_, i. 636. + +[40] _Pol._, ii. 7, 4. + +[41] Lib. 13,602, E. + +[42] It is not unimportant to note in this connection that paiderastia +of no ignoble type still prevails among the Albanian mountaineers. + +[43] The foregoing attempt to reconstruct a possible environment for the +Dorian form of paiderastia is, of course, wholly imaginative. Yet it +receives certain support from what we know about the manners of the +Albanian mountaineers and the nomadic Tartar tribes. Aristotle remarks +upon the paiderastic customs of the Kelts, who in his times were +immigrant. + +[44] See above, Section V. + +[45] It appears from the reports of travellers that this form of passion +is not common among those African tribes who have not been corrupted by +Musselmans or Europeans. + +[46] It may be plausibly argued that Æschylus drew the subject of his +_Myrmidones_ from some such non-Homeric epic. See below, Section XII. + +[47] 182 A. Cp. _Laws_, i. 636. + +[48] _Eroticus_, xvii. p. 761, 34. + +[49] See Plutarch, _Pelopidas_, Clough, vol. ii. p. 219. + +[50] Clough, as quoted above, p. 219. + +[51] The connection of the royal family of Macedon by descent with the +Æacidæ, and the early settlement of the Dorians in Macedonia, are +noticeable. + +[52] Cf. Athenæus, x. 435. + +[53] Hadrian in Rome, at a later period, revived the Greek tradition +with even more of caricature. His military ardour, patronage of art, and +love for Antinous seem to hang together. + +[54] _Dissert._, xxvi. 8. + +[55] See Athen., xiii., 609, F. The prize was armour and the wreath of +myrtle. + +[56] _Symp._ 182, B. In the _Laws_, however, he mentions the Barbarians +as corrupting Greek morality in this respect. We have here a further +proof that it was the noble type of love which the Barbarians +discouraged. For _Malakia_ they had no dislike. + +[57] Bergk., _Poetæ Lyrica Græci_, vol. ii. p. 490, line 87 of Theognis. + +[58] _Ibid._, line 1,353. + +[59] _Ibid._, line 1,369. + +[60] _Ibid._, lines 1,259-1,270. + +[61] _Ibid._, line 1,267. + +[62] _Ibid._, lines 237-254. Translated by me in _Vagabunduli Libellus_, +p. 167. + +[63] Bergk., _Poetæ Lyrici Græci_, vol. ii. line 1,239. + +[64] _Ibid._, line 1,304. + +[65] _Ibid._, line 1,327. + +[66] _Ibid._, line 1,253. + +[67] _Ibid._, line 1,335. + +[68] _Eroticus_, cap. v. p. 751, 21. See Bergk., vol. ii. p. 430. + +[69] See Cic., _Tusc._, iv. 33 + +[70] Bergk., vol. iii. p. 1,013. + +[71] _Ibid._, p. 1,045. + +[72] _Ibid._, pp. 1,109, 1,023; fr. 24, 26. + +[73] _Ibid._, p. 1,023; fr. 48. + +[74] Maximus Tyrius, _Dissert._, xxvi., says that Smerdies was a +Thracian, given, for his great beauty, by his Greek captors to +Polycrates. + +[75] See what Agathon says in the _Thesmophoriazuse_ of Aristophanes. + +[76] xv. 695. + +[77] Bergk., vol. iii. p. 1,293. + +[78] _Ibid._, vol. i. p. 327. + +[79] Athen., xiii. 601 A. + +[80] See the fragments of the _Myrmidones_ in the _Poetæ Scenici Græci_, +My interpretation of them is, of course, conjectural. + +[81] Lucian, _Amores_; Plutarch, _Eroticus_; Athenæus, xiii. 602 E. + +[82] Possibly Æschylus drew his fable from a non-Homeric source, but if +so, it is curious that Plato should only refer to Homer. + +[83] _Symph._, 180 A. Xenophon, _Symph._, 8, 31, points out that in +Homer Achilles avenged the death of Patroclus, not as his lover, but as +his comrade in arms. + +[84] Cf. Eurid., _Hippol._, l. 525; Plato, _Phoedr._, p. 255; Max. Tyr., +_Dissert._, xxv. 2. + +[85] See _Poetæ Scenici_, _Fragments of Sophocles_. + +[86] _Eroticus_; p. 790 E. + +[87] Ath., p. 602 E. + +[88] _Tusc._, iv. 33. + +[89] See Athenæus, xiii. pp. 604, 605, for two very outspoken stories +about Sophocles at Chios and apparently at Athens. In 582, e, he +mentions one of the boys beloved by Sophocles, a certain Demophon. + +[90] Plato, _Parm._, 127 A. + +[91] Pausanias, v. 11, and see Meier, p. 159, note 93. + +[92] This, by the way, is a strong argument against the theory that the +_Iliad_ was a post-Herodotean poem. A poem in the age of Pisistratus or +Pericles would not have omitted paiderastia from his view of life, and +could not have told the myth of Ganymede as Homer tells it. It is +doubtful whether he could have preserved the pure outlines of the story +of Patroclus. + +[93] Page 182, Jowett's trans. Mr. Jowett censures this speech as +sophistic and confused in view. It is precisely on this account that it +is valuable. The confusion indicates the obscure conscience of the +Athenians. The sophistry is the result of a half-acknowledged false +position. + +[94] Page 181, Jowett's trans. + +[95] See the curious passages in Plato, _Symp._, p. 192; Plutarch, +_Erot._, p. 751; and Lucian, _Amores_, c. 38. + +[96] Quoted by Athen, xiii. 573 B. + +[97] As Lycon chaperoned Autolycus at the feast of Callias.--_Xen. +Symp._ Boys incurred immediate suspicion if they went out alone to +parties. See a fragment from the _Sappho_ of Ephippus in Athen., xiii. +p. 572 C. + +[98] Line 137. The joke here is that the father in Utopia suggests, of +his own accord, what in Athens he carefully guarded against. + +[99] Page 222, Jowett's trans. + +[100] _Clouds_, 948 and on. I have abridged the original, doing violence +to one of the most beautiful pieces of Greek poetry. + +[101] Aristophanes returns to this point below, line 1,036, where he +says that youths chatter all day in the hot baths and leave the +wrestling-grounds empty. + +[102] There was a good reason for shunning each. The Agora was the +meeting-place of idle gossips, the centre of chaff and scandal. The +shops were, as we shall see, the resort of bad characters and panders. + +[103] Line 1,071, _et seq._ + +[104] Caps. 44, 45, 46. The quotation is only an abstract of the +original. + +[105] Worn up to the age of about eighteen. + +[106] Compare with the passages just quoted two epigrams from the _Mousa +Paidiké_ (Greek _Anthology_, sect. 12): No. 123, from a lover to a lad +who has conquered in a boxing-match; No. 192, where Straton says he +prefers the dust and oil of the wrestling-ground to the curls and +perfumes of a woman's room. + +[107] Page 255 B. + +[108] 1,025. + +[109] _Charmides_, p. 153. + +[110] _Lysis_, 206, This seems, however, to imply that on other +occasions they were separated. + +[111] _Charmides_, p. 154, Jowett. + +[112] Page 155, Jowett. + +[113] Cap. i. 8. + +[114] See cap. viii. 7. This is said before the boy, and in his hearing. + +[115] Cap. iii. 12. + +[116] Cap. iv. 10, _et seq._ The English is an abridgment. + +[117] _Laws_, i. 636 C. + +[118] Athen., xiii. 602 D. + +[119] _Eroticus_. + +[120] Line 60, ascribed to Theocritus, but not genuine. + +[121] Athen., xiii. 609 D. + +[122] _Mousa Paidiké_, 86. + +[123] Compare the _Atys_ of Catullus: "Ego mulier, ego adolescens, ego +ephebus, ego puer, Ego gymnasi fui flos, ego eram decus olei." + +[124] See the law on these points in _Æsch. adv. Timarchum_. + +[125] Thus Aristophanes, quoted above. + +[126] Aristoph., _Ach._, 144, and _Mousa Paidiké_, 130. + +[127] See Sir William Hamilton's _Vases_. + +[128] Lysias, according to Suidas, was the author of five erotic +epistles adressed to young men. + +[129] See Aristoph., _Plutus_, 153-159; _Birds_, 704-707. Cp. _Mousa +Paidiké_, 44, 239, 237. The boys made extraordinary demands upon their +lovers' generosity. The curious tale told about Alcibiades points in +this direction. In Crete they did the like, but also set their lovers to +execute difficult tasks, as Eurystheus imposed the twelve labours on +Herakles. + +[130] Page 29. + +[131] _Mousa Paidiké_, 8: cp. a fragment of Crates, _Poetæ Comici_, +Didot, p. 83. + +[132] _Comici Græci_, Didot, pp. 562, 31, 308. + +[133] It is curious to compare the passage in the second _Philippic_ +about the youth of Mark Antony with the story told by Plutarch about +Alcibiades, who left the custody of his guardians for the house of +Democrates. + +[134] See both _Lysias against Simon_ and _Æschines against Timarchus_. + +[135] _Peace_, line 11; compare the word _Pallakion_ in Plato, _Comici +Græci_, p. 261. + +[136] Diog. Laert., ii. 105. + +[137] Plato's _Phædo_, p. 89. + +[138] _Orat. Attici_, vol. ii. p. 223. + +[139] See Herodotus. Max. Tyr. tells the story (_Dissert._, xxiv, 1) in +detail. The boy's name was Actæon, wherefore he may be compared, he +says, to that other Actæon who was torn to death by his own dogs. + +[140] 153. + +[141] _Symp._, 217. + +[142] _Phædr._, 256. + +[143] Page 17. My quotations are made from Dobson's _Oratores Attici_, +vol. xii., and the references are to his pages. + +[144] Page 30. + +[145] Page 67. + +[146] Page 67. + +[147] Page 59. + +[148] Page 75. + +[149] Page 78. + +[150] Æchines, p. 27, apologises to Misgolas, who was a man, he says, of +good breeding, for being obliged to expose his early connection with +Timarchus. Misgolas, however, is more than once mentioned by the comic +poets with contempt as a notorious rake. + +[151] See _Pol._, ii. 7, 5; ii. 6, 5; ii. 9, 6. + +[152] The advocates of paiderastia in Greece tried to refute the +argument from animals (_Laws_, p. 636 B; cp. _Daphnis and Chloe_, lib. +4, what Daphnis says to Gnathon) by the following considerations: Man is +not a lion or a bear. Social life among human beings is highly +artificial; forms of intimacy unknown to the natural state are therefore +to be regarded, like clothing, cooking of food, houses, machinery, &c., +as the invention and privilege of rational beings. See Lucian, _Amores_, +33, 34, 35, 36, for a full exposition of this argument. See also _Mousa +Paidiké_, 245. The curious thing is that many animals are addicted to +all sorts of so-called unnatural vices. + +[153] Maximus Tyrius, who, in the rhetorical analysis of love alluded to +before (p. 172), has closely followed Plato, insists upon the confusion +introduced by language. _Dissert._, xxiv. 3. Again, _Dissert._, xxvi. 4; +and compare _Dissert._, xxv. 4. + +[154] This is the development of the argument in the _Phædrus_, where +Socrates, improvising an improvement on the speech of Lysias, compares +lovers to wolves and boys to lambs. See the passage in Max. Tyr., where +Socrates is compared to a shepherd, the Athenian lovers to butchers, and +the boys to lambs upon the mountains. + +[155] This again is the development of the whole eloquent analysis of +love, as it attacks the uninitiated and unphilosophic nature, in the +_Phædrus_. + +[156] Jowett's trans., p. 837. + +[157] _Dissert._, xxv. 1. The same author pertinently remarks that, +though the teaching of Socrates on love might well have been considered +perilous, it, formed no part of the accusations of either Anytus or +Aristophanes. _Dissert._, xxiv., 5-7 + +[158] This is a remark of Diotima's. Maximus Tyrius (_Dissert._, xxvi. +8) gives it a very rational interpretation. Nowhere else, he says, but +in the human form, does the light of the divine beauty shine so clear. +This is the word of classic art, the word of the humanities, to use a +phrase of the Renaissance. It finds an echo in many beautiful sonnets of +Michelangelo. + +[159] See Bergk., vol. ii. pp. 616-629, for a critique of the canon of +the highly paiderastic epigrams which bear Plato's name and for their +text. + +[160] I select the _Vita Nuova_ as the most eminent example of mediæval +erotic mysticism. + +[161] _Tusc._, iv. 33; _Decline and Fall_, cap. xliv. note 192. + +[162] See Meier, cap. 15. + +[163] Cap. 23. + +[164] Cap. 54. + +[165] Page 4. + +[166] It is noticeable that in all ages men of learning have been +obnoxious to paiderastic passions. Dante says (_Inferno_, xv. 106):-- + + "In somma sappi, che tutti fur cherci, + E letterati grandi e di gran fama, + D'un medesmo poccato al mondo lerci." + +Compare Ariosto, _Satire_, vii. + +[167] _Dissert._, xxvi. 9. + +[168] I am aware that the genuineness of the essay has been questioned. + +[169] _Mousa Paidiké_, i. + +[170] _Ibid._, 208. + +[171] _Ibid._, 258, 2. + +[172] _Ibid._, 70, 65, 69, 194, 220, 221, 67, 68, 78, and others. + +[173] Perhaps ten are of this sort. + +[174] 8, 125, for example. + +[175] 132, 256, 221. + +[176] 219. + +[177] 7. + +[178] 17. Compare 86. + +[179] Ed. Kayser, pp. 343-366. + +[180] It is worth comparing the letters of Philostratus with those of +Alciphron, a contemporary of Lucian. In the latter there is no hint of +paiderastia. The life of parasites, grisettes, lorettes, and young men +about town at Athens is set forth in imitation probably of the later +comedy. Athens is shown to have been a Paris _à la Murger_. + +[181] See the introduction by Marcus Aurelius to his _Meditations_. + +[182] See quotations in Rosenbaum, 119-140. + +[183] See Athen., xii. 517, for an account of their grotesque +sensuality. + +[184] The following passage may be extracted from a letter of +Winckelmann (see Pater's _Studies in the History of the Renaissance_, p. +162): "As it is confessedly the beauty of man which is to be conceived +under one general idea, so I have noticed that those who are observant +of beauty only in women, and are moved little or not at all by the +beauty of men, seldom have an impartial, vital, inborn instinct for +beauty in art. To such persons the beauty of Greek art will ever seem +wanting, because its supreme beauty is rather male than female." To this +I think we ought to add that, while it is true that "the supreme beauty +of Greek art is rather male than female," this is due not so much to any +passion of the Greeks for male beauty as to the fact that the male body +exhibits a higher organisation of the human form than the female. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Problem in Greek Ethics, by +John Addington Symonds + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PROBLEM IN GREEK ETHICS *** + +***** This file should be named 32022-8.txt or 32022-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/0/2/32022/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This ebook was +produced from scanned images of public domain material at +Google Books.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Problem in Greek Ethics + Being an inquiry into the phenomenon of sexual inversion + +Author: John Addington Symonds + +Release Date: April 17, 2010 [EBook #32022] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PROBLEM IN GREEK ETHICS *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This ebook was +produced from scanned images of public domain material at +Google Books.) + + + + + + +</pre> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="c">A</p> + +<h2>PROBLEM</h2> + +<p class="c">IN</p> + +<h1>GREEK ETHICS</h1> + +<p class="c">BEING<br /> +AN INQUIRY INTO THE PHENOMENON OF<br /> +<br /> +<i>SEXUAL INVERSION</i><br /> +<br /> +ADDRESSED ESPECIALLY TO MEDICAL PSYCHOLOGISTS AND JURISTS</p> + +<p class="c">BY</p> + +<h3>JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS</h3> + +<p class="c"><i>PRIVATELY PRINTED</i><br /> +FOR<br /> +THE <span title="AREOPAGITIGA">ΑΡΕΟΠΑΓΙΤΙΓΑ</span> SOCIETY<br /> +LONDON<br /> +1908<br /> +</p> + +<p class="c"><i>Privately Printed in Holland for the Society.</i></p> + +<h3>PREFACE.</h3> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">he</span> following treatise on Greek Love was written in the year 1873, when +my mind was occupied with my <i>Studies of Greek Poets</i>. I printed ten +copies of it privately in 1883. It was only when I read the Terminal +Essay appended by Sir Richard Burton to his translation of the <i>Arabian +Nights</i> in 1886, that I became aware of M. H. E. Meier's article on +Pæderastie (Ersch and Gruber's <i>Encyclopædie</i>, Leipzig, Brockhaus, +1837). My treatise, therefore, is a wholly independent production. This +makes Meier's agreement (in Section 7 of his article) with the theory I +have set forth in Section X. regarding the North Hellenic origin of +Greek Love, and its Dorian character, the more remarkable. That two +students, working separately upon the same mass of material, should have +arrived at similar conclusions upon this point strongly confirms the +probability of the hypothesis.</p> + +<p class="r">J. A. SYMONDS.</p> + +<h3 class="top15">CONTENTS.</h3> + +<p class="c">———</p> + +<table summary="toc" +cellpadding="5" +cellspacing="0"> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#I">I</a>.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Introduction:</span> Method of treating the subject.</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#II">II</a>.</td><td class="ind"> Homer had no knowledge of paiderastia—Achilles—Treatment of Homer by the later Greeks.</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#III">III</a>.</td><td> The Romance of Achilles and Patroclus.</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#IV">IV</a>.</td><td> The heroic ideal of masculine love.</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#V">V</a>.</td><td class="ind"> Vulgar paiderastia—How introduced into Hellas—Crete—Laius—The myth of Ganymede.</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#VI">VI</a>.</td><td class="ind"> Discrimination of two loves, heroic and vulgar. The mixed sort is the paiderastia defined as Greek love in this essay.</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#VII">VII</a>.</td><td> The intensity of paiderastia as an emotion, and its quality.</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#VIII">VIII</a>.</td><td> Myths of paiderastia.</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#IX">IX</a>.</td><td> Semi-legendary tales of love—Harmodius and Aristogeiton.</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#X">X</a>.</td><td class="ind"> Dorian Customs—Sparta and Crete—Conditions of Dorian life—Moral +quality of Dorian love—Its final degeneracy—Speculations +on the early Dorian <i>Ethos</i>—Bœotians' customs—The sacred +band—Alexander the Great—Customs of Elis and Megara—<i>Hybris</i>—Ionia.</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#XI">XI</a>.</td><td class="ind"> Paiderastia in poetry of the lyric age. Theognis and Kurnus—Solon—Ibycus, +the male Sappho—Anacreon and Smerdies—Drinking +songs—Pindar and Theoxenos—Pindar's lofty conception +of adolescent beauty.</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#XII">XII</a>.</td><td class="ind"> Paiderastia upon the Attic stage—<i>Myrmidones</i> of Æschylus—<i>Achilles' +lovers</i>, and <i>Niobe</i> of Sophocles—The <i>Chrysippus</i> +of Euripides—Stories about Sophocles—Illustrious Greek +paiderasts.</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#XIII">XIII</a>.</td><td class="ind"> Recapitulation of points—Quotation from the speech of Pausanias +on love in Plato's <i>Symposium</i>—Observations on this speech. +Position of women at Athens—Attic notion of marriage as a +duty—The institution of <i>Paidagogoi</i>—Life of a Greek boy—Aristophanes' +<i>Clouds</i>—Lucian's <i>Amores</i>—The Palæstra—The +<i>Lysis</i>—The <i>Charmides</i>—Autolicus in Xenophon's <i>Symposium</i>—Speech +of Critobulus on beauty and love—Importance of +gymnasia in relation to paiderastia—Statues of Erôs—Cicero's +opinions—Laws concerning the gymnasia—Graffiti on walls—Love-poems +and panegyrics—Presents to boys—Shops and +<i>mauvais lieux</i>—Paiderastic <i>Hetaireia</i>—Brothels—Phædon and +Agathocles. Street-brawls about boys—<i>Lysias in Simonem</i>.</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#XIV">XIV</a>.</td><td class="ind"> Distinctions drawn by Attic law and custom—<i>Chrestoi Pornoi</i>—Presents +and money—Atimia of freemen who had sold their +bodies—The definition of <i>Misthosis</i>—<i>Eromenos</i>, <i>Hetairekos</i>, +<i>Peporneumenos</i>, distinguished—<i>Æschines against Timarchus</i>—General +Conclusion as to Attic feeling about honourable +paiderastia.</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#XV">XV</a>.</td><td class="ind"> Platonic doctrine on Greek love—The asceticism of the <i>Laws</i>—Socrates—His +position defined by Maximus Tyrius—His science +of erotics—The theory of the <i>Phædrus</i>: erotic <i>Mania</i>—The +mysticism of the <i>Symposium</i>: love of beauty—Points of contact +between Platonic paiderastia and chivalrous love: <i>Mania</i> and +Joie: Dante's <i>Vita Nuova</i>—Platonist and Petrarchist—Gibbon +on the "thin device" of the Athenian philosophers—Testimony +of Lucian, Plutarch, Cicero.</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#XVI">XVI</a>.</td><td class="ind"> Greek liberty and Greek love extinguished at Chæronea—The +Idyllists—Lucian's <i>Amores</i>—Greek poets never really gross—<i>Mousa +Paidiké</i>—Philostratus' <i>Epistolai Erotikai</i>—Greek Fathers +on paiderastia.</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#XVII">XVII</a>.</td><td class="ind"> The deep root struck by paiderastia in Greece—Climate—Gymnastics—Syssitia—Military +life—Position of Women: inferior +culture; absence from places of resort—Greek leisure.</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#XVIII">XVIII</a>.</td><td class="ind"> Relation of paiderastia to the fine arts—Greek sculpture wholly +and healthily human—Ideals of female deities—Paiderastia did +not degrade the imagination of the race—Psychological analysis +underlying Greek mythology—The psychology of love—Greek +mythology fixed before Homer—Opportunities enjoyed by artists +for studying women—Anecdotes about artists—The æsthetic +temperament of the Greeks, unbiased by morality and religion, +encouraged paiderastia—<i>Hora</i>—Physical and moral qualities +admired by a Greek—Greek ethics were æsthetic—<i>Sophrosyne</i>—Greek +religion was æsthetic—No notion of Jehovah—Zeus and +Ganymede.</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#XIX">XIX</a>.</td><td> Homosexuality among Greek women—Never attained to the +same dignity as paiderastia.</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#XX">XX</a>.</td><td class="ind"> Greek love did not exist at Rome—Christianity—Chivalry—The +<i>modus vivendi</i> of the modern world.</td></tr> +</table> + +<h1 class="top15"><span class="smcap">A Problem in Greek Ethics.</span></h1> + +<hr /> + +<h3><a name="I" id="I"></a>I.</h3> + +<p>F<span class="smcap">or</span> the student of sexual inversion, ancient Greece offers a wide field +for observation and reflection. Its importance has hitherto been +underrated by medical and legal writers on the subject, who do not seem +to be aware that here alone in history have we the example of a great +and highly-developed race not only tolerating homosexual passions, but +deeming them of spiritual value, and attempting to utilise them for the +benefit of society. Here, also, through the copious stores of literature +at our disposal, we can arrive at something definite regarding the +various forms assumed by these passions, when allowed free scope for +development in the midst of refined and intellectual civilisation. What +the Greeks called paiderastia, or boy-love, was a phenomenon of one of +the most brilliant periods of human culture, in one of the most highly +organised and nobly active nations. It is the feature by which Greek +social life is most sharply distinguished from that of any other people +approaching the Hellenes in moral or mental distinction. To trace the +history of so remarkable a custom in their several communities, and to +ascertain, so far as this is possible, the ethical feeling of the Greeks +upon this subject, must be of service to the scientific psychologist. It +enables him to approach the subject from another point of view than that +usually adopted by modern jurists, psychiatrists, writers on forensic +medicine.</p> + +<h3><a name="II" id="II"></a>II.</h3> + +<p>The first fact which the student has to notice is that in the Homeric +poems a modern reader finds no trace of this passion. It is true that +Achilles, the hero of the <i>Iliad</i>, is distinguished by his friendship +for Patroclus no less emphatically than Odysseus, the hero of the +<i>Odyssey</i>, by lifelong attachment to Penelope, and Hector by love for +Andromache. But in the delineation of the friendship of Achilles and +Patroclus there is nothing which indicates the passionate relation of +the lover and the beloved, as they were afterwards recognised in Greek +society. This is the more remarkable because the love of Achilles for +Patroclus added, in a later age of Greek history, an almost religious +sanction of the martial form of paiderastia. In like manner the +friendship of Idomeneus for Meriones, and that of Achilles, after the +death of Patroclus, for Antilochus, were treated by the later Greeks as +paiderastic. Yet, inasmuch as Homer gives no warrant for this +interpretation of the tales in question, we are justified in concluding +that homosexual relations were not prominent in the so-called heroic age +of Greece. Had it formed a distinct feature of the society depicted in +the Homeric poems, there is no reason to suppose that their authors +would have abstained from delineating it. We shall see that Pindar, +Æschylus and Sophocles, the poets of an age when paiderastia was +prevalent, spoke unreservedly upon the subject.</p> + +<p>Impartial study of the <i>Iliad</i> leads us to the belief that the Greeks of +the historic period interpreted the friendship of Achilles and Patroclus +in accordance with subsequently developed customs. The Homeric poems +were the Bible of the Greeks, and formed the staple of their education; +nor did they scruple to wrest the sense of the original, reading, like +modern Bibliolaters, the sentiments and passions of a later age into the +text. Of this process a good example is afforded by Æschines in the +oration against Timarchus. While discussing this very question of the +love of Achilles, he says: "He, indeed, conceals their love, and does +not give its proper name to the affection between them, judging that the +extremity of their fondness would be intelligible to instructed men +among his audience." As an instance the orator proceeds to quote the +passage in which Achilles laments that he will not be able to fulfil his +promise to Menœtius by bringing Patroclus home to Opus. He is here +clearly introducing the sentiments of an Athenian hoplite who had taken +the boy he loved to Syracuse and seen him slain there.</p> + +<p>Homer stood in a double relation to the historical Greeks. On the one +hand, he determined their development by the influence of his ideal +characters. On the other, he underwent from them interpretations which +varied with the spirit of each successive century. He created the +national temperament, but received in turn the influx of new thoughts +and emotions occurring in the course of its expansion. It is, therefore, +highly important, on the threshold of this inquiry, to determine the +nature of that Achilleian friendship to which the panegyrists and +apologists of the custom make such frequent reference.</p> + +<h3><a name="III" id="III"></a>III.</h3> + +<p>The ideal of character in Homer was what the Greeks called heroic; what +we should call chivalrous. Young men studied the <i>Iliad</i> as our +ancestors studied the Arthurian romances, finding there a pattern of +conduct raised almost too high above the realities of common life for +imitation, yet stimulative of enthusiasm and exciting to the fancy. +Foremost among the paragons of heroic virtue stood Achilles, the +splendour of whose achievements in the Trojan war was only equalled by +the pathos of his friendship. The love for slain Patroclus broke his +mood of sullen anger, and converted his brooding sense of wrong into a +lively thirst for vengeance. Hector, the slayer of Patroclus, had to be +slain by Achilles, the comrade of Patroclus. No one can read the <i>Iliad</i> +without observing that its action virtually turns upon the conquest +which the passion of friendship gains over the passion of resentment in +the breast of the chief actor. This the Greek students of Homer were not +slow to see; and they not unnaturally selected the friendship of +Achilles for their ideal of manly love. It was a powerful and masculine +emotion, in which effeminacy had no part, and which by no means excluded +the ordinary sexual feelings. Companionship in battle and the chase, in +public and in private affairs of life, was the communion proposed by +Achilleian friends—not luxury or the delights which feminine +attractions offered. The tie was both more spiritual and more energetic +than that which bound man to woman. Such was the type of comradeship +delineated by Homer; and such, in spite of the modifications suggested +by later poets, was the conception retained by the Greeks of this heroic +friendship. Even Æschines, in the place above quoted, lays stress upon +the mutual loyalty of Achilles and Patroclus as the strongest bond of +their affection: "regarding, I suppose, their loyalty and mutual +goodwill as the most touching feature of their love."<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<h3><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV.</h3> + +<p>Thus the tale of Achilles and Patroclus sanctioned among the Greeks a +form of masculine love, which, though afterwards connected with +paiderastia properly so-called, we are justified in describing as +heroic, and in regarding as one of the highest products of their +emotional life. It will be seen, when we come to deal with the +historical manifestations of this passion, that the heroic love which +took its name from Homer's Achilles existed as an ideal rather than an +actual reality. This, however, is equally the case with Christianity and +chivalry. The facts of feudal history fall below the high conception +which hovered like a dream above the knights and ladies of the Middle +Ages; nor has the spirit of the Gospel been realised, in fact, by the +most Christian nations. Still we are not on that account debarred from +speaking of both chivalry and Christianity as potent and effective +forces.</p> + +<h3><a name="V" id="V"></a>V.</h3> + +<p>Homer, then, knew nothing of paiderastia, though the <i>Iliad</i> contained +the first and noblest legend of heroic friendship. Very early, however, +in Greek history boy-love, as a form of sensual passion, became a +national institution. This is proved abundantly by mythological +traditions of great antiquity, by legendary tales connected with the +founding of Greek cities, and by the primitive customs of the Dorian +tribes. The question remains how paiderastia originated among the +Greeks, and whether it was introduced or indigenous.</p> + +<p>The Greeks themselves speculated on this subject, but they arrived at no +one definite conclusion. Herodotus asserts that the Persians learned the +habit, in its vicious form, from the Greeks;<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> but, even supposing this +assertion to be correct, we are not justified in assuming the same of +all barbarians who were neighbours of the Greeks; since we know from the +Jewish records and from Assyrian inscriptions that the Oriental nations +were addicted to this as well as other species of sensuality. Moreover, +it might with some strain on language be maintained that Herodotus, in +the passage above referred to, did not allude to boy-love in general, +but to the peculiarly Hellenic form of it which I shall afterwards +attempt to characterise.</p> + +<p>A prevalent opinion among the Greeks ascribed the origin of paiderastia +to Crete; and it was here that the legend of Zeus and Ganymede was +localised.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> "The Cretans," says Plato,<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> "are always accused of +having invented the story of Ganymede and Zeus, which is designed to +justify themselves in the enjoyment of such pleasures by the practice of +the god whom they believe to have been their lawgiver."</p> + +<p>In another passage,<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> Plato speaks of the custom that prevailed before +the time of Laius—in terms which show his detestation of a vice that +had gone far toward corrupting Greek society. This sentence indicates +the second theory of the later Greeks upon this topic. They thought that +Laius, the father of Œdipus, was the first to practise <i>Hybris</i>, or +lawless lust, in this form, by the rape committed on Chrysippus, the son +of Pelops.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> To this crime of Laius, the Scholiast to the <i>Seven +against Thebes</i> attributes all the evils which afterwards befell the +royal house of Thebes, and Euripides made it the subject of a tragedy. +In another but less prevalent Saga the introduction of paiderastia is +ascribed to Orpheus.</p> + +<p>It is clear from these conflicting theories that the Greeks themselves +had no trustworthy tradition on the subject. Nothing, therefore, but +speculative conjecture is left for the modern investigator. If we need +in such a matter to seek further than the primal instincts of human +nature, we may suggest that, like the orgiastic rites of the later +Hellenic cultus, paiderastia in its crudest form was transmitted to the +Greeks from the East. Its prevalence in Crete, which, together with +Cyprus, formed one of the principal links between Phœnicia and Hellas +proper, favours this view. Paiderastia would, on this hypothesis, like +the worship of the Paphian and Corinthian Aphrodite, have to be regarded +as in part an Oriental importation.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> Yet, if we adopt any such +solution of the problem, we must not forget that in this, as in all +similar cases, whatever the Greeks received from adjacent nations, they +distinguished with the qualities of their own personality. Paiderastia +in Hellas assumed Hellenic characteristics, and cannot be confounded +with any merely Asiatic form of luxury. In the tenth section of this +Essay I shall return to the problem, and advance my own conjecture as to +the part played by the Dorians in the development of paiderastia into a +custom.</p> + +<p>It is enough for the present to remark that, however introduced, the +vice of boy-love, as distinguished from heroic friendship, received +religious sanction at an early period. The legend of the rape of +Ganymede was invented, according to the passage recently quoted from +Plato, by the Cretans with the express purpose of investing their +pleasures with a show of piety. This localisation of the religious +sanction of paiderastia in Crete confirms the hypothesis of Oriental +influence; for one of the notable features of Græco Asiatic worship was +the consecration of sensuality in the Phallus cult, the <i>Hiero douloi</i> +(temple slaves, or <i>bayadères</i>) of Aphrodite, and the eunuchs of the +Phrygian mother. Homer tells the tale of Ganymede with the utmost +simplicity. The boy was so beautiful that Zeus suffered him not to dwell +on earth, but translated him to heaven and appointed him the cupbearer +of the immortals. The sensual desire which made the king of gods and men +prefer Ganymede to Leda, Io, Danaë, and all the maidens whom he loved +and left on earth, is an addition to the Homeric version of the myth. In +course of time the tale of Ganymede, according to the Cretan reading, +became the nucleus around which the paiderastic associations of the +Greek race gathered, just as that of Achilles formed the main point in +their tradition of heroic friendship. To the Romans and the modern +nations the name of Ganymede, debased to Catamitus, supplied a term of +reproach, which sufficiently indicates the nature of the love of which +he became eventually the eponym.</p> + +<h3><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI.</h3> + +<p>Resuming the results of the last four sections, we find two separate +forms of masculine passion clearly marked in early Hellas—a noble and a +base, a spiritual and a sensual. To the distinction between them the +Greek conscience was acutely sensitive; and this distinction, in theory +at least, subsisted throughout their history. They worshipped Erôs, as +they worshipped Aphrodite, under the twofold titles of Ouranios +(celestial) and Pandemos (vulgar, or <i>volvivaga</i>); and, while they +regarded the one love with the highest approval, as the source of +courage and greatness of soul, they never publicly approved the other. +It is true, as will appear in the sequel of this essay, that boy-love in +its grossest form was tolerated in historic Hellas with an indulgence +which it never found in any Christian country, while heroic comradeship +remained an ideal hard to realise, and scarcely possible beyond the +limits of the strictest Dorian sect. Yet the language of philosophers, +historians, poets and orators is unmistakable. All testify alike to the +discrimination between vulgar and heroic love in the Greek mind. I +purpose to devote a separate section of this inquiry to the +investigation of these ethical distinctions. For the present, a +quotation from one of the most eloquent of the later rhetoricians will +sufficiently set forth the contrast, which the Greek race never wholly +forgot:<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>—</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"The one love is mad for pleasure; the other loves beauty. The one +is an involuntary sickness; the other is a sought enthusiasm. The +one tends to the good of the beloved; the other to the ruin of +both. The one is virtuous; the other incontinent in all its acts. +The one has its end in friendship; the other in hate. The one is +freely given; the other is bought and sold. The one brings praise; +the other blame. The one is Greek; the other is barbarous. The one +is virile; the other effeminate. The one is firm and constant; the +other light and variable. The man who loves the one love is a +friend of God, a friend of law, fulfilled of modesty, and free of +speech. He dares to court his friend in daylight, and rejoices in +his love. He wrestles with him in the playground and runs with him +in the race, goes afield with him to the hunt, and in battle fights +for glory at his side. In his misfortune he suffers, and at his +death he dies with him. He needs no gloom of night, no desert +place, for this society. The other lover is a foe to heaven, for he +is out of tune and criminal; a foe to law, for he transgresses law. +Cowardly, despairing, shameless, haunting the dusk, lurking in +desert places and secret dens, he would fain be never seen +consorting with his friend, but shuns the light of day, and follows +after night and darkness, which the shepherd hates, but the thief +loves."</p></div> + +<p>And again, in the same dissertation, Maximus Tyrius speaks to like +purpose, clothing his precepts in imagery:—</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"You see a fair body in bloom and full of promise of fruit. Spoil +not, defile not, touch not the blossom. Praise it, as some wayfarer +may praise a plant—even so by Phœbus' altar have I seen a young +palm shooting toward the sun. Refrain from Zeus and Phœbus' tree; +wait for the fruit-season and thou shall love more righteously."</p></div> + +<p>With the baser form of paiderastia I shall have little to do in this +essay. Vice of this kind does not vary to any great extent, whether we +observe it in Athens or in Rome, in Florence of the sixteenth or in +Paris of the nineteenth century;<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> nor in Hellas was it more noticeable +than elsewhere, except for its comparative publicity. The nobler type of +masculine love developed by the Greeks is, on the contrary, almost +unique in<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> the history of the human race. It is that which more than +anything else distinguishes the Greeks from the barbarians of their own +time, from the Romans and from modern men in all that appertains to the +emotions. The immediate subject of the ensuing inquiry will, therefore, +be that mixed form of paiderastia upon which the Greeks prided +themselves, which had for its heroic ideal the friendship of Achilles +and Patroclus, but which in historic times exhibited a sensuality +unknown to Homer.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> In treating of this unique product of their +civilisation I shall use the terms <i>Greek Love</i>, understanding thereby a +passionate and enthusiastic attachment subsisting between man and youth, +recognised by society and protected by opinion, which, though it was not +free from sensuality, did not degenerate into mere licentiousness.</p> + +<h3><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII.</h3> + +<p>Before reviewing the authors who deal with this subject in detail, or +discussing the customs of the several Greek states, it will be well to +illustrate in general the nature of this love, and to collect the +principal legends and historic tales which set it forth.</p> + +<p>Greek love was, in its origin and essence, military. Fire and valour, +rather than tenderness or tears, were the external outcome of this +passion; nor had <i>Malachia</i>, effeminacy, a place in its vocabulary. At +the same time it was exceedingly absorbing. "Half my life," says the +lover, "lives in thine image, and the rest is lost. When thou art kind, +I spend the day like a god; when thy face is turned aside, it is very +dark with me."<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> Plato, in his celebrated description of a lover's +soul, writes:<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a>—</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"Wherever she thinks that she will behold the beautiful one, +thither in her desire she runs. And when she has seen him, and +bathed herself with the waters of desire, her constraint is +loosened and she is refreshed, and has no more pangs and pains; and +this is the sweetest of all pleasures at the time, and is the +reason why the soul of the lover will never forsake his beautiful +one, whom he esteems above all; he has forgotten mother and +brethren and companions, and he thinks nothing of the neglect and +loss of his property. The rules and proprieties of life, on which +he formerly prided himself, he now despises, and is ready to sleep +like a servant, wherever he is allowed, as near as he can to his +beautiful one, who is not only the object of his worship, but the +only physician who can heal him in his extreme agony."</p></div> + +<p>These passages show how real and vital was the passion of Greek love. It +would be difficult to find more intense expressions of affection in +modern literature. The effect produced upon the lover by the presence of +his beloved was similar to that inspiration which the knight of romance +received from his lady.</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"I know not," says Phædrus, in the <i>Symposium</i> of Plato,<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> "any +greater blessing to a young man beginning life than a virtuous +lover, or to the lover than a beloved youth. For the principle +which ought to be the guide of men who would nobly live—that +principle, I say, neither kindred, nor honour, nor wealth, nor any +other motive is able to implant so well as love. Of what am I +speaking? Of the sense of honour and dishonour, without which +neither states nor individuals ever do any good or great work. And +I say that a lover who is detected in doing any dishonourable act, +or submitting, through cowardice, when any dishonour is done to him +by another, will be more pained at being detected by his beloved +than at being seen by his father, or by his companions, or by any +one else. The beloved, too, when he is seen in any disgraceful +situation, has the same feeling about his lover. And if there were +only some way of contriving that a state or an army should be made +up of lovers and their loves, they would be the very best governors +of their own city, abstaining from all dishonour; and emulating one +another in honour; and when fighting at one another's side, +although a mere handful, they would overcome the world. For what +lover would not choose rather to be seen by all mankind than by his +beloved, either when abandoning his post, or throwing away his +arms? He would be ready to die a thousand deaths rather than endure +this. Or who would desert his beloved or fail him in the hour of +danger? The veriest coward would become an inspired hero, equal to +the bravest, at such a time; love would inspire him. That courage +which, as Homer says, the god breathes into the soul of heroes, +love of his own nature inspires into the lover."</p></div> + +<p>With the whole of this quotation we might compare what Plutarch in the +Life of Pelopidas relates about the composition of a Sacred Band;<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> +while the following anecdote from the <i>Anabasis</i> of Xenophon may serve +to illustrate the theory that regiments should consist of lovers.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> +Episthenes of Olynthus, one of Xenophon's hoplites, saved a beautiful +boy from the slaughter commanded by Seuthes in a Thracian village. The +king could not understand why his orders had not been obeyed, till +Xenophon excused his hoplite by explaining that Episthenes was a +passionate boy-lover, and that he had once formed a corps of none but +beautiful men. Then Seuthes asked Episthenes if he was willing to die +instead of the boy, and he answered, stretching out his neck, "Strike," +he says, "if the boy says 'Yes,'<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> and will be pleased with it." At +the end of the affair, which is told by Xenophon with a quiet humour +that brings a little scene of Greek military life vividly before us, +Seuthes gave the boy his liberty, and the soldier walked away with him.</p> + +<p>In order further to illustrate the hardy nature of Greek love, I may +allude to the speech of Pausanias in the <i>Symposium</i> of Plato.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> The +fruits of love, he says, are courage in the face of danger, intolerance +of despotism, the virtues of the generous and haughty soul.</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"In Ionia," he adds, "and other places, and generally in countries +which are subject to the barbarians, the custom is held to be +dishonourable; loves of youth share the evil repute of philosophy +and gymnastics because they are inimical to tyranny, for the +interests of rulers require that their subjects should be poor in +spirit, and that there should be no strong bond of friendship or +society among them, which love, above all other motives, is likely +to inspire, as our Athenian tyrants learned by experience."</p></div> + +<h3><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII.</h3> + +<p>Among the myths to which Greek lovers referred with pride, besides that +of Achilles, were the legends of Theseus and Peirithous, of Orestes and +Pylades, of Talos and Rhadamanthus, of Damon and Pythias. Nearly all the +Greek gods, except, I think, oddly enough, Ares, were famous for their +love. Poseidon, according to Pindar, loved Pelops; Zeus, besides +Ganymede, was said to have carried off Chrysippus. Apollo loved +Ayacinth, and numbered among his favourites Branchos and Claros. Pan +loved Cyparissus, and the spirit of the evening star loved Hymenæus. +Hypnos, the god of slumber, loved Endymion, and sent him to sleep with +open eyes, in order that he might always gaze upon their beauty. (Ath. +xiii. 564). The myths of Phœbus, Pan, and Hesperus, it may be said in +passing, are paiderastic parallels to the tales of Adonis and Daphne. +They do not represent the specific quality of national Greek love at all +in the same way as the legends of Achilles, Theseus, Pylades, and +Pythias. We find in them merely a beautiful and romantic play of the +mythopœic fancy, after paiderastia had taken hold on the imagination of +the race. The case is different with Herakles, the patron, eponym, and +ancestor of Dorian Hellas. He was a boy-lover of the true heroic type. +In the innumerable amours ascribed to him we always discern the note of +martial comradeship. His passion for Iolaus was so famous that lovers +swore their oaths upon the Theban's tomb;<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> while the story of his +loss of Hylas supplied Greek poets with one of their most charming +subjects. From the idyll of Theocritus called <i>Hylas</i> we learn some +details about the relation between lover and beloved, according to the +heroic ideal.</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"Nay, but the son of Amphitryon, that heart of bronze, he that +abode the wild lion's onset, loved a lad, beautiful Hylas—Hylas of +the braided locks, and he taught him all things as a father +teaches his child, all whereby himself became a mighty man and +renowned in minstrelsy. Never was he apart from Hylas,..... and all +this that the lad might be fashioned to his mind, and might drive a +straight furrow, and come to the true measure of man."<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p></div> + +<h3><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX.</h3> + +<p>Passing from myth to semi-legendary history, we find frequent mention +made of lovers in connection with the great achievements of the earliest +age of Hellas. What Pausanias and Phædrus are reported to have said in +the <i>Symposium</i> of Plato, is fully borne out by the records of the +numerous tyrannicides and self-devoted patriots who helped to establish +the liberties of the Greek cities. When Epimenides of Crete required a +human victim in his purification of Athens from the <i>Musos</i> of the +Megacleidæ, two lovers, Cratinus and Aristodemus, offered themselves as +a voluntary sacrifice for the city.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> The youth died to propitiate the +gods; the lover refused to live without him. Chariton and Melanippus, +who attempted to assassinate Phalaris of Agrigentum, were lovers.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> So +were Diocles and Philolaus, natives of Corinth, who removed to Thebes, +and after giving laws to their adopted city, died and were buried in one +grave.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> Not less celebrated was another Diocles, the Athenian exile, +who fell near Megara in battle, fighting for the boy he loved.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> His +tomb was honoured with the rites and sacrifices specially reserved for +heroes. A similar story is told of the Thessalian horseman +Cleomachus.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> This soldier rode into a battle which was being fought +between the people of Eretria and Chalkis, inflamed with such enthusiasm +for the youth he beloved, that he broke the foemen's ranks and won the +victory for the Chalkidians. After the fight was over Cleomachus was +found among the slain, but his corpse was nobly buried; and from that +time forward love was honoured by the men of Chalkis. These stories +might be paralleled from actual Greek history. Plutarch, commenting upon +the courage of the sacred band of Thebans,<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> tells of a man "who, when +his enemy was going to kill him, earnestly requested him to run him +through the breast, that his lover might not blush to see him wounded in +the back." In order to illustrate the haughty temper of Greek lovers, +the same author, in his <i>Erotic Dialogue</i>, records the names of Antileon +of Metapontum, who braved a tyrant in the cause of the boy he loved;<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> +of Crateas, who punished Archelaus with death for an insult offered to +him; of Pytholaus, who treated Alexander of Pheræ in like manner; and of +another youth who killed the Ambracian tyrant Periander for a similar +affront.<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> To these tales we might add another story by Plutarch in +his Life of Demetrius Poliorketes. This man insulted a boy called +Damocles, who, finding no other way to save his honour, jumped into a +cauldron of boiling water and was killed upon the spot.<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> A curious +legend, belonging to semi-mythical romance related by Pausanias,<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> +deserves a place here, since it proves to what extent the popular +imagination was impregnated by notions of Greek love. The city of +Thespia was at one time infested by a dragon, and young men were offered +to appease its fury every year. They all died unnamed and unremembered +except one, Cleostratus. To clothe this youth, his lover, Menestratus, +forged a brazen coat of mail, thick set with hooks turned upwards. The +dragon swallowed Cleostratus and killed him, but died by reason of the +hooks. Thus love was the salvation of the city and the source of +immortality to the two friends.</p> + +<p class="top5"> difficult to multiply romances of this kind; the +rhetoricians and moralists of later Greece abound in them.<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> But the +most famous of all remains to be recorded. This is the story of +Harmodius and Aristogeiton, who freed Athens from the tyrant Hipparchus. +There is not a speech, a poem, essay, a panegyrical oration in praise of +either Athenian liberty or Greek love which does not tell the tale of +this heroic friendship. Herodotus and Thucydides treat the event as +matter of serious history. Plato refers to it as the beginning of +freedom for the Athenians. "The drinking-song in honour of these lovers, +is one of the most precious fragments of popular Greek poetry which we +possess. As in the cases of Lucretia and Virginia, so here a tyrant's +intemperance was the occasion, if not the cause, of a great nation's +rising. Harmodius and Aristogeiton were reverenced as martyrs and +saviours of their country. Their names gave consecration to the love +which made them bold against the despot, and they became at Athens +eponyms of paiderastia."<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p> + +<h3><a name="X" id="X"></a>X.</h3> + +<p>A considerable majority of the legends which have been related in the +preceding section are Dorian, and the Dorians gave the earliest and most +marked encouragement to Greek love. Nowhere else, indeed, except among +the Dorians, who were an essentially military race, living like an army +of occupation in the countries they had seized, herding together in +barracks and at public messes, and submitting to martial drill and +discipline, do we meet with paiderastia developed as an institution. In +Crete and Lacedæmon it became a potent instrument of education. What I +have to say, in the first instance, on this matter is derived almost +entirely from C. O. Müllers's <i>Dorians</i>,<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> to which work I refer my +readers for the authorities cited in illustration of each detail. Plato +says that the law of Lycurgus in respect to love was <i>Poikiles</i>,<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> by +which he means that it allowed the custom under certain restrictions. It +would appear that the lover was called Inspirer, at Sparta, while the +youth he loved was named Hearer. These local phrases sufficiently +indicate the relation which subsisted between the pair. The lover +taught, the hearer learned; and so from man to man was handed down the +tradition of heroism, the peculiar tone and temper of the state to +which, in particular among the Greeks, the Dorians clung with obstinate +pertinacity. Xenophon distinctly states that love was maintained among +the Spartans with a view to education; and when we consider the customs +of the state, by which boys were separated early from their homes and +the influences of the family were almost wholly wanting, it is not +difficult to understand the importance of the paiderastic institution. +The Lacedæmonian lover might represent his friend in the Assembly. He +was answerable for his good conduct, and stood before him as a pattern +of manliness, courage, and prudence. Of the nature of his teaching we +may form some notion from the precepts addressed by the Megarian +Theognis to the youth Kurnus. In battle the lovers fought side by side; +and it is worthy of notice that before entering into an engagement the +Spartans sacrificed to Erôs. It was reckoned a disgrace if a youth found +no man to be his lover. Consequently we find that the most illustrious +Spartans are mentioned by their biographers in connection with their +comrades. Agesilaus heard Lysander; Archidamus, his son, loved +Cleonymus; Cleomenes III, was the hearer of Xenares and the inspirer of +Panteus. The affection of Pausanias, on the other hand, for the boy +Argilus, who betrayed him according to the account of Thucydides,<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> +must not be reckoned among these nobler loves. In order to regulate the +moral conduct of both parties, Lycurgus made it felony, punishable with +death or exile, for the lover to desire the person of a boy in lust; +and, on the other hand, it was accounted exceedingly disgraceful for the +younger to meet the advances of the elder with a view to gain. Honest +affection and manly self-respect were exacted on both sides; the bond of +union implied no more of sensuality than subsists between a father and a +son, a brother and a brother. At the same time great license of +intercourse was permitted. Cicero, writing long after the great age of +Greece, but relying probably upon sources to which we have no access, +asserts that, "Lacedæmoni ipsi cum omnia concedunt in amore juvenum +<i>præter stuprum</i> tenui sane muro dissæpiunt id quod excipiunt: +<i>complexus enim concubitusque permittunt</i>."<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> The Lacedæmonians, while +they permit all things except outrage in the love of youths, certainly +distinguish the forbidden by a thin wall of partition from the +sanctioned, for they allow embraces and a common couch to lovers."</p> + +<p>In Crete the paiderastic institutions were even more elaborate than at +Sparta. The lover was called <i>Philetor</i>, and the beloved one <i>Kleinos</i>. +When a man wished to attach to himself a youth in the recognised bonds +of friendship, he took him away from his home, with a pretence of force, +but not without the connivance, in most cases, of his friends.<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> For +two months the pair lived together among the hills, hunting and fishing. +Then the <i>Philetor</i> gave gifts to the youth, and suffered him to return +to his relatives. If the <i>Kleinos</i> (illustrious or laudable) had +received insult or ill-treatment during the probationary weeks, he now +could get redress at law. If he was satisfied with the conduct of his +would-be comrade, he changed his title from <i>Kleinos</i> to <i>Parastates</i> +(comrade and bystander in the ranks of battle and life), returned to +the <i>Philetor</i>, and lived thenceforward in close bonds of public +intimacy with him.</p> + +<p class="top5">The primitive simplicity and regularity of these customs make it appear +strange to modern minds; nor is it easy to understand how they should +ever have been wholly free from blame. Yet we must remember the +influences which prevalent opinion and ancient tradition both contribute +toward preserving a delicate sense of honour under circumstances of +apparent difficulty. The careful reading of one <i>Life</i> by Plutarch, +that, for instance, of Cleomenes or that of Agis, will have more effect +in presenting the realities of Dorian existence to our imagination than +any amount of speculative disquisition. Moreover, a Dorian was exposed +to almost absolute publicity. He had no chance of hiding from his +fellow-citizens the secrets of his private life. It was not, therefore, +till the social and political complexion of the whole nation became +corrupt that the institutions just described encouraged profligacy.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> +That the Spartans and the Cretans degenerated from their primitive ideal +is manifest from the severe critiques of the philosophers. Plato, while +passing a deliberate censure on the Cretans for the introduction of +paiderastia into Greece,<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> remarks that <i>syssitia</i>, or meals in +common, and <i>gymnasia</i> are favourable to the perversion of the passions. +Aristotle, in a similar argument,<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> points out that the Dorian habits +had a direct tendency to check the population by encouraging the love of +boys and by separating women from the society of men. An obscure passage +quoted from Hagnon by Athenæus might also be cited to prove that the +Greeks at large had formed no high opinion of Spartan manners.<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> But +the most convincing testimony is to be found in the Greek language: "to +do like the Laconians, to have connection in Laconian way, to do like +the Cretans," tell their own tale, especially when we compare these +phrases with, "to do like the Corinthians, the Lesbians, the Siphnians, +the Phœnicians, and other verbs formed to indicate the vices localised +in separate districts.</p> + +<p class="top5">Up to this point I have been content to follow the notices of Dorian +institutions which are scattered up and down the later Greek authors, +and which have been collected by C. O. Müller. I have not attempted to +draw definite conclusions, or to speculate upon the influence which the +Dorian section of the Hellenic family may have exercised in developing +paiderastia. To do so now will be legitimate, always remembering that +what we actually know about the Dorians is confined to the historic +period, and that the tradition respecting their early customs is derived +from second-hand authorities.</p> + +<p class="top5">It has frequently occurred to my mind that the mixed type of paiderastia +which I have named Greek Love took its origin in Doris. Homer, who knew +nothing about the passion as it afterwards existed, drew a striking +picture of masculine affection in Achilles. And Homer, I may add, was +not a native of northern Greece. Whoever he was, or whoever they were, +the poet, or the poets, we call Homer, belonged to the south-east of the +Ægean. Homer, then, may have been ignorant of paiderastia. Yet +friendship occupies the first place in his hero's heart, while only the +second is reserved for sexual emotion. Now Achilles came from Phthia, +itself a portion of that mountain region to which Doris belonged.<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> Is +it unnatural to conjecture that the Dorians in their migration to +Lacedæmon and Crete, the recognised headquarters of the custom, carried +a tradition of heroic paiderastia along with them? Is it unreasonable to +surmise that here, if anywhere in Hellas, the custom existed from +prehistoric times? If so, the circumstances of their invasion would have +fostered the transformation of this tradition into a tribal institution. +They went forth, a band of warriors and pirates, to cross the sea in +boats, and to fight their way along the hills and plains of Southern +Greece. The dominions they had conquered with their swords they occupied +like soldiers. The camp became their country, and for a long period of +time they literally lived upon the bivouac. Instead of a city-state, +with is manifold complexities of social life, they were reduced to the +narrow limits and the simple conditions of a roving horde. Without +sufficiency of women, without the sanctities of established domestic +life, inspired by the memory of Achilles, and venerating their ancestor +Herakles, the Dorian warriors had special opportunity for elevating +comradeship to the rank of an enthusiasm. The incidents of emigration +into a distant country—perils of the sea, passages of rivers and +mountains, assaults of fortresses and cities, landings on a hostile +shore, night-vigils by the side of blazing beacons, foragings for food, +picquet services in the front of watchful foes—involved adventures +capable of shedding the lustre of romance on friendship. These +circumstances, by bringing the virtues of sympathy with the weak, +tenderness for the beautiful, protection for the young, together with +corresponding qualities of gratitude, self-devotion and admiring +attachment, into play, may have tended to cement unions between man and +man no less firm than that of marriage. On such connections a wise +captain would have relied for giving strength to his battalion, and for +keeping alive the flame of enterprise and daring. Fighting and foraging +in company, sharing the same wayside board and heath-strewn bed, +rallying to the comrade's voice in onset, relying on the comrade's +shield when fallen, these men learned the meanings of the words +<i>Philetor</i> and <i>Parastates</i>. To be loved was honourable, for it implied +being worthy to be died for. To love was glorious, since it pledged the +lover to self-sacrifice in case of need. In these conditions the +paiderastic passion may have well combined manly virtue with carnal +appetite, adding such romantic sentiment as some stern men reserve +within their hearts for women.<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> A motto might be chosen for a lover +of this early Dorian type from the Æolic poem ascribed to Theocritus: +"And made me tender from the iron man I used to be."</p> + +<p class="top5">In course of time, when the Dorians had settled down upon their +conquered territories, and when the passions which had shown their more +heroic aspect during a period of warfare came, in a period of idleness, +to call for methods of restraint, then the discrimination between +honourable and base forms of love, to which Plato pointed as a feature +of the Dorian institutions, took place. It is also more than merely +probable that in Crete where these institutions were the most precisely +regulated, the Dorian immigrants came into contact with Phœnician vices, +the repression of which required the adoption of a strict code.<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> In +this way paiderastia, considered as a mixed custom, partly martial, +partly luxurious, recognised by public opinion and controlled by law, +obtained among the Dorian Tribes, and spread from them throughout the +states of Hellas. Relics of numerous semi-savage habits—thefts of food, +ravishment as a prelude to marriage, and so forth—indicate in like +manner the survival among the Dorians of primitive tribal institutions.</p> + +<p>It will be seen that the conclusion to which I have been drawn by the +foregoing consideration is that the mixed form of paiderastia, called by +me in this essay "Greek love," owed its peculiar quality, what Plato +called its intricacy of "laws and customs," to two diverse strains of +circumstances harmonised in the Greek temperament. Its military and +enthusiastic elements were derived from the primitive conditions of the +Dorians during their immigration into Southern Greece. Its refinements +of sensuality and sanctified impurity are referable to contact with +Phoenician civilisation. The specific form it assumed among the Dorians +of the historic period, equally removed from military freedom and from +Oriental luxury, can be ascribed to the operation of that organising, +moulding and assimilating spirit which we recognise as Hellenic.</p> + +<p>The position thus stated is, unfortunately, speculative rather than +demonstrable; and in order to establish the reasonableness of the +speculation, it would be natural at this point to introduce some account +of paiderastia as it exists in various savage tribes, if their customs +could be seen to illustrate the Doric phase of Greek love. This, +however, is not the case. Study of Mr. Herbert Spencer's Tables, and of +Bastian's <i>Der Mensch in der Geschichte</i> (vol. iii. pp. 304-323), +together with the facts collected by travellers among the North American +Indians, and the mass of curious information supplied by Rosenbaum in +his <i>Geschichte der Lustseuche im Alterthume</i>, makes it clear to my mind +that the unisexual vices of barbarians follow, not the type of Greek +paiderastia, but that of the Scythian disease of effeminacy, described +by Herodotus and Hippocrates as something essentially foreign and +non-Hellenic. In all these cases, whether we regard the Scythian +impotent effeminates, the North American Bardashes, the Tsecats of +Madagascar, the Cordaches of the Canadian Indians and similar classes +among Californian Indians, natives of Venezuela, and so forth—the +characteristic point is that effeminate males renounce their sex, assume +female clothes, and live either in promiscuous concubinage with the men +of the tribe or else in marriage with chosen persons. This abandonment +of the masculine attributes and habits, this assumption of feminine +duties and costume, would have been abhorrent to the Doric custom. +Precisely similar effeminacies were recognised as pathological by +Herodotus, to whom Greek paiderastia was familiar. The distinctive +feature of Dorian comradeship was that it remained on both sides +masculine, tolerating no sort of softness. For similar reasons, what we +know about the prevalence of sodomy among the primitive peoples of +Mexico, Peru and Yucatan, and almost all half-savage nations,<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> +throws little light upon the subject of the present inquiry. Nor do we +gain anything of importance from the semi-religious practices of +Japanese Bonzes or Egyptian priests. Such facts, taken in connection +with abundant modern experience of what are called unnatural vices, only +prove the universality of unisexual indulgence in all parts of the world +and under all conditions of society. Considerable psychological interest +attaches to the study of these sexual aberrations. It is also true that +we detect in them the germ or raw material of a custom which the Dorians +moralised or developed after a specific fashion; but nowhere do we find +an analogue to their peculiar institutions. It was just that effort to +moralise and adapt to social use a practice which has elsewhere been +excluded in the course of civil growth, or has been allowed to linger +half-acknowledged as a remnant of more primitive conditions, or has +re-appeared in the corruption of society; it was just this effort to +elevate paiderastia according to the æsthetic standard of Greek ethics +which constituted its distinctive quality in Hellas. We are obliged, in +fact, to separate this, the true Hellenic manifestation of the +paiderastic passion, from the effeminacies, brutalities, and gross +sensualities which can be noticed alike in imperfectly civilised and in +luxuriously corrupt communities.</p> + +<p class="top5">Before leaving this part of the subject, I must repeat that what I have +suggested regarding the intervention of the Dorians in creating the type +of Greek love is a pure speculation. If it has any value, that is due to +the fixed and regulated forms which paiderastic institutions displayed +at a very early date in Crete and Sparta, and also to the remnants of +savage customs embedded in them. It depends to a certain extent also +upon the absence of paiderastia in Homer. But on this point something +still remains to be said. Our Attic authorities certainly regarded the +Homeric poems as canonical books, decisive for the culture of the first +stage of Hellenic history. Yet it is clear that Homer refined Greek +mythology, while many of the cruder elements of that mythology survived +from pre-Homeric times in local cults and popular religious observances. +We know, moreover, that a body of non-Homeric writings, commonly called +the cyclic poems, existed by the side of Homer, some of the material of +which is preserved to us by dramatists, lyrists, historians, antiquaries +and anecdotists. It is not impossible that this so-called cyclical +literature contained paiderastic elements, which were eliminated, like +the grosser forms of myth, in the Homeric poems.<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> If this be +conceded, we might be led to conjecture that paiderastia was a remnant +of ancient savage habits, ignored by Homer, but preserved by tradition +in the race. Given the habit, the Greeks were certainly capable of +carrying it on without shame. We ought to resist the temptation to seek +a high and noble origin for all Greek institutions. But there remains +the fact that, however they acquired the habit, whether from North +Dorian customs antecedent to Homer, or from conditions of experience +subsequent to the Homeric age, the Greeks gave it a dignity and an +emotional superiority which is absent in the annals of barbarian +institutions. Instead of abandoning it as part of the obsolete lumber of +their prehistoric origins, they chose to elaborate it into the region of +romance and ideality. And this they did in spite of Homer's ignorance of +the passion or of his deliberate reticence. Whatever view, therefore, we +may take about Homer's silence, and about the possibility of paiderastia +occurring in the lost poems of the cyclic type, or lastly, about its +probable survival in the people from an age of savagery, we are bound to +regard its systematical development among the Dorians as a fact of +paramount significance.</p> + +<p>In that passage of the <i>Symposium</i><a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> where Plato notices the Spartan +law of love as <i>Poikilos</i>, he speaks with disapprobation of the +Bœotians, who were not restrained by custom and opinion within the same +strict limits. Yet it should here be noted that the military aspect of +Greek love in the historic period was nowhere more distinguished than at +Thebes. Epaminondas was a notable boy-lover; and the names of his +beloved Asopichus and Cephisodorus are mentioned by Plutarch.<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> They +died, and were buried with him at Mantinea. The paiderastic legend of +Herakles and Iolaus was localised in Bœotia; and the lovers, Diocles and +Philolaus, who gave laws to Thebes, directly encouraged those masculine +attachments, which had their origin in the Palæstra.<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> The practical +outcome of these national institutions in the chief town of Bœotia was +the formation of the so-called Sacred Band, or Band of Lovers, upon whom +Pelopidas relied in his most perilous operations. Plutarch relates that +they were enrolled, in the first instance, by Gorgidas, the rank and +file of the regiment being composed of young men bound together by +affection. Report goes that they were never beaten till the battle of +Chæronea. At the end of that day, fatal to the liberties of Hellas, +Philip of Macedon went forth to view the slain; and when he "came to +that place where the three hundred that fought his phalanx lay dead +together, he wondered, and understanding that it was the band of lovers, +he shed tears, and said, 'Perish any man who suspects that these men +either did or suffered anything that was base.'"<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> As at all the other +turning points of Greek history, so at this, too, there is something +dramatic and eventful. Thebes was the last strong-hold of Greek freedom; +the Sacred Band contained the pith and flower of her army; these lovers +had fallen to a man, like the Spartans of Leonidas at Thermopylæ, +pierced by the lances of the Macedonian phalanx; then, when the day was +over and the dead were silent, Philip, the victor in that fight, shed +tears when he beheld their serried ranks, pronouncing himself therewith +the fittest epitaph which could have been inscribed upon their stelë by +a Hellene.</p> + +<p class="top5">At Chæronea, Greek liberty, Greek heroism, and Greek love, properly +so-called, expired. It is not unworthy of notice that the son of the +conqueror, young Alexander, endeavoured to revive the tradition of +Achilleian friendship. This lad, born in the decay of Greek liberty, +took conscious pleasure in enacting the part of a Homeric hero, on the +altered stage of Hellas and of Asia, with somewhat tawdry histrionic +pomp.<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> Homer was his invariable companion upon his marches; in the +Troad he paid special honour to the tomb of Achilles, running naked +races round the barrow in honour of the hero, and expressing the envy +which he felt for one who had so true a friend and so renowned a poet to +record his deeds. The historians of his life relate that, while he was +indifferent to women,<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> he was madly given to the love of males. This +the story of his sorrow for Hephaistion sufficiently confirms. A kind of +spiritual atavism moved the Macedonian conqueror to assume on the vast +Bactrian plain the outward trappings of Achilles Agonistes.<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p> + +<p>Returning from this digression upon Alexander's almost hysterical +archaism, it should next be noticed that Plato includes the people of +Elis in the censure which he passes upon the Bœotians. He accused the +Eleans of adopting customs which permitted youths to gratify their +lovers without further distinction of age, or quality, or opportunity. +In like manner, Maximus Tyrius distinguishes between the customs of +Crete and Elis: "While I find the laws of the Cretans excellent, I must +condemn those of Elis for their license."<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> Elis,<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> like Megara, +instituted a contest for beauty among youths; and it is significant that +the Megarians were not uncommonly accused of <i>Hybris</i>, or wanton lust, +by Greek writers. Both the Eleans and the Megarians may therefore +reasonably be considered to have exceeded the Greek standard of taste in +the amount of sensual indulgence which they openly acknowledged. In +Ionia, and other regions of Hellas exposed to Oriental influences, Plato +says that paiderastia was accounted a disgrace.<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> At the same time he +couples with paiderastia, in this place, both addiction to gymnastic +exercise and to philosophical studies, pointing out that despotism was +always hostile to high thoughts and haughty customs. The meaning of the +passage, therefore, seems to be that the true type of Greek love had no +chance of unfolding itself freely on the shores of Asia Minor. Of +paiderastic <i>Malakia</i>, or effeminacy, there is here no question, else +Plato would probably have made Pausanias use other language.</p> + +<h3><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI.</h3> + +<p>Before proceeding to discuss the conditions under which paiderastia +existed in Athens, it may be well to pause and to consider the tone +adopted with regard to it by some of the earlier Greek poets. Much that +is interesting on the subject of the true Hellenic Erôs can be gathered +from Theognis, Solon, Pindar, Æschylus, and Sophocles; while the lyrics +of Anacreon, Alcæus, Ibycus, and others of the same period illustrate +the wanton and illiberal passion (<i>Hybris</i>) which tended to corrode and +undermine the nobler feeling.</p> + +<p>It is well known that Theognis and his friend Kurnus were members of +the aristocracy of Megara. After Megara had thrown off the yoke of +Corinth in the early part of the sixth century, the city first submitted +to the democratic despotism of Theagenes, and then for many years +engaged in civil warfare. The larger number of the elegies of Theognis +are specially intended to instruct Kurnus how he ought to act as an +illustrious party-leader of the nobles (<i>Esthloi</i>) in their contest with +the people (<i>Deiloi</i>). They consist, therefore, of political and social +precepts, and for our present purpose are only important as illustrating +the educational authority assumed by a Dorian <i>Philetor</i> over his +friend. The personal elegies intermingled with these poems on conduct +reveal the very heart of a Greek lover at his early period. Here is one +on loyalty:—</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"Love me not with words alone, while your mind and thoughts are +otherwise, if you really care for me and the heart within you is +loyal. But love me with a pure and honest soul, or openly disown +and hate me; let the breach between us be avowed. He who hath a +single tongue and a double mind is a bad comrade, Kurnus, better as +a foe than a friend."<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p></div> + +<p>The bitter-sweet of love is well described in the following couplets:—</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"Harsh and sweet, alluring and repellent, until it be crowned with +completion, is love for young men. If one brings it to perfection, +then it is sweet; but if a man pursues and does not love, then it +is of all things the most painful."<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a></p></div> + +<p>The same strain is repeated in the lines which begin, "a boy's love is +fair to keep, fair to lay aside."<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> As one time Theognis tells his +friend that he has the changeable temper of a hawk, the skittishness of +a pampered colt.<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> At another he remarks that boys are more constant +than women in their affection.<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> His passion rises to its noblest +height in a poem which deserves to rank with some of Shakespeare's +sonnets, and which, like them, has fulfilled its own promise of +immortality.<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> In order to appreciate the value of the fame conferred +on Kurnus by Theognis, and celebrated in such lofty strains, we must +remember that these elegies were sung at banquets. "The fair young men," +of whom the poet speaks, boy-lovers themselves, chaunted the praise of +Kurnus to the sound of flutes, while the cups went round or the lyre was +passed from hand to hand of merry-making guests. A subject to which +Theognis more than once refers is calumny:—</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"Often will the folk speak vain things against thee in my ears, and +against me in thine. Pay thou no heed to them."<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p></div> + +<p>Again, he frequently reminds the boy he loves, whether it be Kurnus or +some other, that the bloom of youth is passing, and that this is a +reason for showing kindness.<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> This argument is urged with what +appears like coarseness in the following couplet:—</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"O boy, so long as thy chin remains smooth, never will I cease from +fawning, no, not if it is doomed for me to die."<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p></div> + +<p>A couplet, which is also attributed to Solon, shows that paiderastia at +this time in Greece was associated with manly sports and pleasures:—</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"Blest is the man who loves brave steeds of war,<br /> +Fair boys, and hounds, and stranger guests from far."<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a><br /> +</p> + +<p>Nor must the following be omitted:—</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Blest is the man who loves, and after play,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Whereby his limbs are supple made and strong,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Retiring to his home, 'twixt sleep and song,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Sports with a fair boy on his breast all day."<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a></span><br /> +</p> + +<p>The following couplet is attributed to him by Plutarch,<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> nor does +there seem any reason to doubt its genuineness. The text seems to be +corrupt, but the meaning is pretty clear:—</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"In the charming season of the flower-time of youth thou shalt love +boys, yearning for their thighs and honeyed mouth."</p></div> + +<p>Solon, it may be remembered, thought it wise to regulate the conditions +under which the love of free youths might be tolerated.</p> + +<p>The general impression produced by a careful reading of Theognis is that +he entertained a genuine passion for Kurnus, and that he was anxious to +train the young man's mind in what he judged the noblest principles. +Love, at the same time, except in its more sensual moments, he describes +as bitter-sweet and subject to anxiety. That perturbation of the +emotions, which is inseparable from any of the deeper forms of personal +attachment, and which the necessary conditions of boy-love exasperated, +was irksome to the Greek. It is not a little curious to observe how all +the poets of the despotic age resent and fret against the force of their +own feeling, differing herein from the singers of chivalry, who +idealised the very pains of passion.</p> + +<p>Of Ibycus, who was celebrated among the ancients as the lyrist of +paiderastia,<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> very little has been preserved to us, but that little +is sufficient to indicate the fervid and voluptuous style of his art. +His imagery resembles that of Anacreon. The onset of love, for instance, +in one fragment is compared to the down-swooping of a Thracian +whirlwind; in another the poet trembles at the approach of Erôs like an +old racehorse who is dragged forth to prove his speed once more.</p> + +<p>Of the genuine Anacreon we possess more numerous and longer fragments, +and the names of his favourites, Cleobulus, Smerdies, Leucaspis, are +famous. The general tone of his love-poems is relaxed and Oriental, and +his language abounds in phrases indicative of sensuality. The following +may be selected:—</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"Cleobulus I love, for Cleobulus I am mad, Cleobulus I watch and +worship with my gaze."<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a></p></div> + +<p>Again:—</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"O boy, with the maiden's eyes, I seek and follow thee, but thou +heedest not, nor knowest that thou art my soul's charioteer."</p></div> + +<p>In another place he speaks of<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a>—</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"Love, the virginal, gleaming and radiant with desire."<br /> +</p> + +<p><i>Syneban</i> (to pass the time of youth with friends) is a word which +Anacreon may be said to have made current in Greek. It occurs twice in +his fragments,<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> and exactly expresses the luxurious enjoyment of +youthful grace and beauty which appear to have been his ideal of love. +We are very far here from the Achilleian friendship of the <i>Iliad</i>. Yet, +occasionally, Anacreon uses images of great force to describe the attack +of passion, as when he says that love has smitten him with a huge axe, +and plunged him in a wintry torrent.<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a></p> + +<p>It must be remembered that both Anacreon and Ibycus were court poets, +singing in the palaces of Polycrates and Hippias. The youths they +celebrated were probably little better than the <i>exoleti</i> of a Roman +Emperor.<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> This cannot be said exactly of Alcæus, whose love for +black-eyed Lycus was remembered by Cicero and Horace. So little, +however, is left of his erotic poems that no definite opinion can be +formed about them. The authority of later Greek authors justifies our +placing him upon the list of those who helped to soften and emasculate +the character of Greek love by their poems.<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a></p> + +<p>Two Athenian drinking-songs preserved by Athenæus,<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> which seem to +bear the stamp of the lyric age, may here be quoted. They serve to +illustrate the kind of feeling to which expression was given in public +by friends and boy-lovers:—</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"Would I were a lovely heap of ivory, and that lovely boys carried +me into the Dionysian chorus."<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a></p></div> + +<p>This is marked by a very delicate, though naïf, fancy. The next is no +less eminent for its sustained, impassioned, simple, rhythmic feeling:—</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"Drink with me, be young with me, love with me, wear crowns with +me, with me when I am mad be mad, with me when I am temperate be +sober."</p></div> + +<p>The greatest poet of the lyric age, the lyrist <i>par excellence</i> Pindar, +adds much to our conception of Greek love at this period. Not only is +the poem to Theoxenos, whom he loved, and in whose arms he is said to +have died in the theatre at Argos, one of the most splendid achievements +of his art;<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> but its choice of phrase, and the curious parallel which +it draws between the free love of boys and the servile love of women, +help us to comprehend the serious intensity of this passion. "The +flashing rays of his forehead," and "is storm-tossed with desire," and +"the young-limbed bloom of boys," are phrases which it is impossible +adequately to translate. So, too, are the images by which the heart of +him who does not feel the beauty of Theoxenos is said to have been +forged with cold fire out of adamant, while the poet himself is compared +to wax wasting under the sun's rays. In Pindar, passing from Ibycus and +Anacreon, we ascend at once into a purer and more healthful atmosphere, +fraught, indeed, with passion and pregnant with storm, but no longer +simply sensual. Taken as a whole, the Odes of Pindar, composed for the +most part in the honour of young men and boys, both beautiful and +strong, are the work of a great moralist as well as a great artist. He +never fails to teach by precept and example; he does not, as Ibycus is +reported to have done, adorn his verse with legends of Ganymede and +Tithonus, for the sake of insinuating compliments. Yet no one shared in +fuller measure the Greek admiration for health and grace and vigour of +limb. This is obvious in the many radiant pictures of masculine +perfection he has drawn, as well as in the images by which he loves to +bring the beauty-bloom of youth to mind. The true Hellenic spirit may be +better studied in Pindar than in any other poet of his age; and after we +have weighed his high morality, sound counsel, and reverence for all +things good, together with the passion he avows, we shall have done +something toward comprehending the inner nature of Greek love.</p> + +<h3><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII.</h3> + +<p>The treatment of paiderastia upon the Attic stage requires separate +considerations. Nothing proves the popular acceptance and national +approval of Greek love more forcibly to modern minds than the fact that +the tragedians like Æschylus and Sophocles made it the subject of their +dramas. From a notice in Athenæus it appears that Stesichorus, who first +gave dramatic form to lyric poetry, composed interludes upon paiderastic +subjects.<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> But of these it is impossible to speak, since their very +titles have been lost. What immediately follows, in the narrative of +Athenæus, will serve as text for what I have to say upon this topic. +"And Æshylus, that mighty poet, and Sophocles, brought masculine loves +into the theatre through their tragedies. Wherefore some are wont to +call tragedy a paiderast; and the spectators welcome such." Nothing, +unfortunately, remains of the plays which justified this language but a +few fragments cited by Aristophanes, Plutarch, Lucian, and Athenæus. To +examine these will be the business of this section.</p> + +<p>The tragedy of the <i>Myrmidones</i>, which formed part of a trilogy by +Æschylus upon the legend of Achilles, must have been popular at Athens, +for Aristophanes quotes it no less than four times—twice in the +<i>Frogs</i>, once in the <i>Birds</i>, and once in the <i>Ecclesiazusæ</i>. We can +reconstruct its general plan from the lines which have come down to us +on the authority of the writers above mentioned.<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> The play opened +with an anapæstic speech of the chorus, composed of the clansmen of +Achilles, who upbraided him for staying idle in his tent while the +Achaians suffered at the hands of Hector. Achilles replied with the +metaphor of the eagle stricken by an arrow winged from one of his own +feathers. Then the embassy of Phœnix arrived, and Patroclus was sent +forth to battle. Achilles, meanwhile, engaged in a game of dice; and +while he was thus employed Antilochus entered with the news of the death +of Patroclus. The next fragment brings the whole scene vividly before +our eyes.</p> + +<p>"Wail for me, Antilochus, rather than for the dead man—for me, +Achilles, who still live." After this, the corpse of Patroclus was +brought upon the stage, and the son of Peleus poured forth a lamentation +over his friend. The <i>Threnos</i> of Achilles on this occasion was very +celebrated among the ancients. One passage of unmeasured passion, which +described the love which subsisted between the two heroes, has been +quoted, with varieties of reading, by Lucian, Plutarch, and +Athenæus.<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> Lucian says: "Achilles, bewailing the death of Patroclus +with unhusbanded passion, broke forth into the truth in self-abandonment +to woe." Athenæus gives the text as follows:—</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"Hadst thou no reverence for the unsullied holiness of thighs, O +thou ungrateful for the showers of kisses given."</p></div> + +<p>What we have here chiefly to notice is the change which the tale of +Achilles had undergone since Homer.<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> Homer represented Patroclus as +older in years than the son of Peleus, but inferior to him in station; +nor did he hint which of the friends was the <i>Erastes</i> of the other. +That view of their comradeship had not occurred to him. Æschylus makes +Achilles the lover; and for this distortion of the Homeric legend he was +severely criticised by Plato.<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> At the same time, as the two lines +quoted from the <i>Threnos</i> prove, he treated their affection from the +point of view of post-Homeric paiderastia.</p> + +<p>Sophocles also wrote a play upon the legend of Achilles, which bears for +its title <i>Achilles' Loves</i>. Very little is left of this drama; but +Hesychius has preserved one phrase which illustrates the Greek notion +that love was an effluence from the beloved person through the eyes into +the lover's soul,<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> while Stobæus quotes the beautiful simile by which +love is compared to a piece of ice held in the hand by children.<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> +Another play of Sophocles, the <i>Niobe</i>, is alluded to by Plutarch and by +Athenæus for the paiderastia which it contained. Plutarch's words are +these:<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> "When the children of Niobe, in Sophocles, are being pierced +and dying, one of them cries out, appealing to no other rescuer or ally +than his lover: Ho! comrade, up and aid me!" Finally, Athenæus quotes a +single line from the <i>Colchian Women</i> of Sophocles, which alludes to +Ganymede, and runs as follows:<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> "Inflaming with his thighs the +royalty of Zeus."</p> + +<p>Whether Euripides treated paiderastia directly in any of his plays is +not quite certain, though the title <i>Chrysippus</i>, and one fragment +preserved from that tragedy—</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Nature constrains me though I have sound judgment"—</span><br /> +</p> + +<p class="nind">justify us in believing that he made the crime of Laius his subject. It +may be added that a passage in Cicero confirms this belief.<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> The +title of another tragedy, <i>Peirithous</i>, seems in like manner to point at +friendship; while a beautiful quotation from the <i>Dictys</i> sufficiently +indicates the high moral tone assumed by Euripides in treating of Greek +love. It runs as follows:—"He was my friend; and never may love lead me +to folly, nor to Kupris. There is, in truth, another kind of love—love +for the soul, righteous, temperate, and good. Surely men ought to have +made this law, that only the temperate and chaste should love and send +Kupris, daughter of Zeus, a-begging." The philosophic ideal of +comradeship is here vitalised by the dramatic vigour of the poet; nor +has the Hellenic conception of pure affection for "a soul, just, +upright, temperate and good," been elsewhere more pithily expressed. The +Euripidean conception of friendship, it may further be observed, is +nobly personified in Pylades, who plays a generous and self-devoted part +in the three tragedies of <i>Electra</i>, <i>Orestes</i>, and <i>Iphigenia in +Tauris</i>.</p> + +<p>Having collected these notices of tragedies which dealt with boy-love, +it may be well to add a word upon comedies in the same relation. We hear +of a <i>Paidika</i> by Sophron, a <i>Malthakoi</i> by the older Cratinus, a +<i>Baptœe</i> by Empolis, in which Alcibiades and his society were satirised. +<i>Paiderastes</i> is the title of plays by Diphilis and Antiphanes; +<i>Ganymedes</i> of plays of Alkaeus, Antiphanes and Eubulus.</p> + +<p>What has been quoted from Æschylus and Sophocles sufficiently +establishes the fact that paiderastia was publicly received with +approbation on the tragic stage. This should make us cautious in +rejecting the stories which are told about the love adventures of +Sophocles.<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> Athenæus calls him a lover of lads, nor is it strange if, +in the age of Pericles, and while he was producing the <i>Achilles' +Loves</i>, he should have shared the tastes of which his race approved.</p> + +<p>At this point it may be as well to mention a few illustrious names +which, to the student of Greek art and literature, are indissolubly +connected with paiderastia. Parmenides, whose life, like that of +Pythagoras, was accounted peculiarly holy, loved his pupil Zeno.<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> +Pheidias loved Pantarkes, a youth of Elis, and carved his portrait in +the figure of a victorious athlete at the foot of the Olympian Zeus.<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> +Euripides is said to have loved the adult Agathon Lysias, Demosthenes, +and Æschines, orators whose conduct was open to the most searching +censure of malicious criticism, did not scruple to avow their love. +Socrates described his philosophy as the science of erotics. Plato +defined the highest form of human existence to be "philosophy together +with paiderastia," and composed the celebrated epigrams on Aster and on +Agathon. This list might be indefinitely lengthened.</p> + +<h3><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII.</h3> + +<p>Before proceeding to collect some notes upon the state of paiderastia at +Athens, I will recapitulate the points which I have already attempted to +establish. In the first place, paiderastia was unknown to Homer.<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> +Secondly, soon after the heroic age, two forms of paiderastia appeared +in Greece—the one chivalrous and martial, which received a formal +organisation in the Dorian states; the other sensual and lustful which, +though localised to some extent at Crete, pervaded the Greek cities +like a vice. Of the distinction between these two loves the Greek +conscience was well aware, though they came in course of time to be +confounded. Thirdly, I traced the character of Greek love, using that +term to indicate masculine affection of a permanent and enthusiastic +temper, without further ethical qualification, in early Greek history +and in the institutions of the Dorians. In the fourth place, I showed +what kind of treatment it received at the hands of the elegiac, lyric, +and tragic poets.</p> + +<p class="top5">It now remains to draw some picture of the social life of the Athenians +in so far as paiderastia is concerned, and to prove how Plato was +justified in describing Attic customs on this point as qualified by +important restriction and distinction.</p> + +<p class="top5">I do not know a better way of opening this inquiry, which must by its +nature be fragmentary and disconnected, than by transcribing what Plato +puts into the mouth of Pausanias in the <i>Symposium</i>.<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> After observing +that the paiderastic customs of Elis and Bœotia involved no perplexity, +inasmuch as all concessions to the god of love were tolerated, and that +such customs did not exist in any despotic states, he proceeds to +Athens.</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"There is yet a more excellent way of legislating about them, which +is our own way; but this, as I was saying, is rather perplexing. +For observe that open loves are held to be more honourable than +secret ones, and that the love of the noblest and highest, even if +their persons are less beautiful than others, is especially +honourable. Consider, too, how great is the encouragement which all +the world gives to the lover; neither is he supposed to be doing +anything dishonourable; but if he succeeds he is praised, and if he +fail he is blamed. And in the pursuit of his love, the custom of +mankind allows him to do many strange things, which philosophy +would bitterly censure if they were done from any motive of +interest or wish for office or power. He may pray and entreat, and +supplicate and swear, and be a servant of servants, and lie on a +mat at the door; in any other case friends and enemies would be +equally ready to prevent him, but now there is no friend who will +be ashamed of him and admonish him, and no enemy will charge him +with meanness or flattery; the actions of a lover have a grace +which ennobles them, and custom has decided that they are highly +commendable, and that there is no loss of character in them; and +what is strangest of all, he only may swear or forswear himself +(this is what the world says), and the gods will forgive his +transgression, for there is no such thing as a lover's oath. Such +is the entire liberty which gods and men have allowed the lover, +according to the custom which prevails in our part of the world. +From this point of view a man fairly argues that in Athens to love +and to be loved is held to be a very honourable thing. But when +there is another regime, and parents forbid their sons to talk with +their lovers, and place them under a tutor's care, and their +companions and equals cast in their teeth anything of this sort +which they may observe, and their elders refuse to silence the +reprovers, and do not rebuke them; any one who reflects on all this +will, on the contrary, think that we hold these practices to be +most disgraceful. But the truth, as I imagine, and as I said at +first, is, that whether such practices are honourable or whether +they are dishonourable is not a simple question; they are +honourable to him who follows them honourably, dishonourable to him +who follows them dishonourably. There is dishonour in yielding to +the evil, or in an evil manner; but there is honour in yielding to +the good, or in an honourable manner. Evil is the vulgar lover who +loves the body rather than the soul, and who is inconstant because +he is a lover of the inconstant, and, therefore, when the bloom of +youth, which he was desiring, is over, takes wing and flies away, +in spite of all his words and promises; whereas the love of the +noble mind, which is one with the unchanging, is lifelong."</p></div> + +<p>Pausanias then proceeds, at considerable length, to describe how the +customs of Athens required deliberate choice and trial of character as a +condition of honourable love; how it repudiated hasty and ephemeral +attachments, and engagements formed with the object of money-making or +political aggrandisement; how love on both sides was bound to be +disinterested, and what accession both of dignity and beauty the passion +of friends obtained from the pursuit of philosophy, and from the +rendering of mutual services upon the path of virtuous conduct.</p> + +<p>This sufficiently indicates, in general terms, the moral atmosphere in +which Greek love flourished at Athens. In an earlier part of his speech +Pausanias, after dwelling upon the distinction between the two kinds of +Aphrodite, heavenly and vulgar, describes the latter in a way which +proves that the love of boys was held to be ethically superior to that +of women.<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a></p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"The Love who is the offspring of the common Aphrodite is +essentially common, and has no discrimination, being such as the +meaner sort of men feel, and is apt to be of women as well as of +youths, and is of the body rather than the soul; the most foolish +beings are the objects of this love, which desires only to gain an +end, but never thinks of accomplishing the end nobly, and therefore +does good and evil quite indiscriminately. The goddess who is his +mother is far younger than the other, and she was born of the union +of the male and female, and partakes of both."</p></div> + +<p>Then he turns to the Uranian love.</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"The offspring of the heavenly Aphrodite is derived from a mother +in whose birth the female has no part. She is from the male only; +this is that love which is of youths, and the goddess being older, +has nothing of wantonness. Those who are inspired by this love turn +to the male, and delight in him who is the most valiant and +intelligent nature; any one may recognise the pure enthusiasts in +the very character of their attachments; for they love not boys, +but intelligent beings whose reason is beginning to be developed, +much about the time at which their beards begin to grow. And in +choosing them as their companions they mean to be faithful to them, +and pass their whole life in company with them, not to take them in +their inexperience, and deceive them, and play the fool with them, +or run away from one to another of them. But the love of young boys +should be forbidden by law, because their future is uncertain; they +may turn out good or bad, either in body or soul, and much noble +enthusiasm may be thrown away upon them; in this matter the good +are a law to themselves, and the coarser sort of lovers ought to be +restrained by force, as we restrain or attempt to restrain them +from fixing their affections on women of free birth."</p></div> + +<p>These long quotations from a work accessible to every reader may require +apology. My excuse for giving them must be that they express in pure +Athenian diction a true Athenian view of this matter. The most salient +characteristics of the whole speech are, first, the definition of a code +of honour, distinguishing the nobler from the baser forms of +paiderastia; secondly, the decided preference of male over female love; +thirdly, the belief in the possibility of permanent affection between +paiderastic friends; and, fourthly, the passing allusion to rules of +domestic surveillance under which Athenian boys were placed. To the +first of these points I shall have to return on another occasion. With +regard to the second, it is sufficient for the present purpose to +remember that free Athenian women were comparatively uneducated and +uninteresting, and that the hetairai had proverbially bad manners. While +men transacted business and enjoyed life in public, their wives and +daughters stayed in the seclusion of the household, conversing to a +great extent with slaves, and ignorant of nearly all that happened in +the world around them. They were treated throughout their lives as +minors by the law, nor could they dispose by will of more than the worth +of a bushel of barley. It followed that marriages at Athens were usually +matches of arrangement between the fathers of the bride and the +bridegroom, and that the motives which induced a man to marry were less +the desire for companionship than the natural wish for children and a +sense of duty to the country.<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> Demosthenes, in his speech against +Neæra, declares:<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> "We have courtesans for our pleasures, concubines +for the requirements of the body, and wives for the procreation of +lawful issue." If he had been speaking at a drinking-party, instead of +before a jury, he might have added, "and young men for intellectual +companions."</p> + +<p>The fourth point which I have noted above requires more illustration, +since its bearing on the general condition of Athenian society is +important. Owing to the prevalence of paiderastia, a boy was exposed in +Athens to dangers which are comparatively unknown in our great cities, +and which rendered special supervision necessary. It was the custom for +fathers, when they did not themselves accompany their sons,<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> to +commit them to the care of slaves chosen usually among the oldest and +most trustworthy. The duty of the attendant guardian was not to instruct +the boy, but to preserve him from the addresses of importunate lovers or +from such assaults as Peisthetærus in the <i>Birds</i> of Aristophanes +describes.<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> He followed his charge to the school and the gymnasium, +and was responsible for bringing him home at the right hour. Thus at the +end of the <i>Lysis</i> we read:<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a>—</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"Suddenly we were interrupted by the tutors of Lysis and Menexenus; +who came upon us like an evil apparition with their brothers, and +bade them go home, as it was getting late. At first, we and the +bystanders drove them off; but afterwards, as they would not mind, +and only went on shouting in their barbarous dialect, and got +angry, and kept calling the boys—they appeared to us to have been +drinking rather too much at the Hermæa, which made them difficult +to manage—we fairly gave way and broke up the company."</p></div> + +<p>In this way the daily conduct of Athenian boys of birth and good +condition was subjected to observation; and it is not improbable that +the charm which invested such lads as Plato portrayed in his <i>Charmides</i> +and <i>Lysis</i> was partly due to the self-respect and self-restraint +generated by the peculiar conditions under which they passed their life.</p> + +<p>Of the way in which a Greek boy spent his day, we gain some notion from +two passages in Aristophanes and Lucian. The Dikaios Logos<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> tells +that—</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"in his days, when justice flourished and self-control was held in +honour, a boy's voice was never heard. He walked in order with his +comrades of the same quarter, lightly clad even in winter, down to +the school of the harp-player. There he learned old-fashioned hymns +to the gods, and patriotic songs. While he sat, he took care to +cover his person decently; and when he rose, he never forgot to rub +out the marks which he might have left upon the dust lest any man +should view them after he was gone. At meals he ate what was put +before him, and refrained from idle chattering. Walking through the +streets, he never tried to catch a passer's eye or to attract a +lover. He avoided the shops, the baths,<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> the Agora, the houses +of Hetairai.<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> He reverenced old age and formed within his soul +the image of modesty. In the gymnasium he indulged in fair and +noble exercise, or ran races with his comrades among the +olive-trees of the Academy."</p></div> + +<p>The Adikos Logos replies by pleading that this temperate sort of life is +quite old-fashioned; boys had better learn to use their tongues and +bully. In the last resort he uses a clinching <i>argumentum ad +juvenem</i>.<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a></p> + +<p>Were it not for the beautiful and highly-finished portraits in Plato, to +which I have already alluded, the description of Aristophanes might be +thought a mere ideal; and, indeed, it is probable that the actual life +of the average Athenian boy lay mid-way between the courses prescribed +by the Dikaios and the Adikos Logos.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, since Euripides, together with the whole school of studious +and philosophic speculators, are aimed at in the speeches of the Adikos +Logos, it will be fair to adduce a companion picture of the young Greek +educated on the athletic system, as these men had learned to know him. I +quote from the <i>Autolycus</i>, a satyric drama of Euripides:—</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"There are a myriad bad things in Hellas, but nothing is worse than +the athletes. To begin with, they do not know how to live like +gentlemen, nor could they if they did; for how can a man, the slave +of his jaws and his belly, increase the fortune left him by his +father? Poverty and ill-luck find them equally incompetent. Having +acquired no habits of good living, they are badly off when they +come to roughing it. In youth they shine like statues stuck about +the town, and take their walks abroad; but when old age draws nigh, +you find them as threadbare as an old coat. Suppose a man has +wrestled well, or runs fast, or has hurled a quoit, or given a +black eye in fine style, has he done the State a service by the +crowns he won? Do soldiers fight with quoits in hand, or without +the press of shields can kicks expel the foeman from the gate? +Nobody is fool enough to do these things with steel before his +face. Keep, then, your laurels for the wise and good, for him who +rules a city well, the just and temperate, who by his speeches +wards off ill, allaying wars and civil strife. These are the things +for cities, yea, and for all Greece to boast of."</p></div> + +<p>Lucian represents, of course, a late period of Attic life. But his +picture of the perfect boy completes, and in some points supplements, +that of Aristophanes. Callicratidas, in the <i>Dialogue on Love</i>, has +just drawn an unpleasing picture of a woman, surrounded in a fusty +boudoir with her rouge-pots and cosmetics, perfumes, paints, combs, +looking-glasses, hair-dyes, and curling irons. Then he turns to praise +boys:<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a></p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"How different is the boy! In the morning, he rises from his chaste +couch, washes the sleep from his eyes with cold water, puts on his +chlamys,<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> and takes his way to the school of the musician or +the gymnast. His tutors and guardians attend him, and his eyes are +bent upon the ground. He spends the morning in studying the poets +and philosophers, in riding, or in military drill. Then he betakes +himself to the wrestling-ground, and hardens his body with noontide +heat and sweat and dust. The bath follows and a modest meal. After +this he returns for awhile to study the lives of heroes and great +men. After a frugal supper sleep at last is shed upon his eyelids."</p></div> + +<p>Such is Lucian's sketch of the day spent by a young Greek at the famous +University of Athens. Much is, undoubtedly, omitted; but enough is said +to indicate the simple occupations to which an Athenian youth, capable +of inspiring an enthusiastic affection, was addicted. Then follows a +burst of rhetoric, which reveals, when we compare it with the dislike +expressed for women, the deeply-seated virile nature of Greek love.</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"Truly he is worthy to be loved. Who would not love Hermes in the +palæstra, or Phœbus at the lyre, or Castor on the racing-ground? +Who would not wish to sit face to face with such a youth, to hear +him talk, to share his toils, to walk with him, to nurse him in +sickness, to attend him on the sea, to suffer chains and darkness +with him if need be? He who hated him should be my foe, and who so +loved him should be loved by me. At his death I would die; one +grave should cover us both; one cruel hand cut short our lives!"</p></div> + +<p>In the sequel of the dialogue Lucian makes it clear that he intends +these raptures of Callicratidas to be taken in great measure for +romantic boasting. Yet the fact remains that, till the last, Greek +paiderastia among the better sort of men implied no effeminacy. +Community of interest in sport, in exercise, and in open-air life +rendered it attractive.<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a></p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Son of Eudiades, Euphorion,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">After the boxing-match, in which he beat,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">With wreaths I crowned, and set fine silk upon,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">His forehead and soft blossoms honey-sweet;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Then thrice I kissed him all beblooded there;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">His mouth I kissed, his eyes, his every bruise;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">More fragrant far than frankincense, I swear.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Was the fierce chrism that from his brows did ooze."</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"I do not care for curls or tresses</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Displayed in wily wildernesses;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">I do not prize the arts that dye</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">A painted cheek with hues that fly:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Give me a boy whose face and hand</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Are rough with dust or circus-sand,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Whose ruddy flesh exhales the scent</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Or health without embellishment:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Sweet to my sense is such a youth,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Whose charms have all the charm of truth:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Leave paints and perfumes, rouge, and curls,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">To lazy, lewd Corinthian girls."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>The palæstra was the place at Athens where lovers enjoyed the greatest +freedom. In the <i>Phædrus</i> Plato observes that the attachment of the +lover for a boy grew by meetings and personal contact<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> in the +gymnasiums and other social resorts, and in the <i>Symposium</i> he mentions +gymnastic exercises, with philosophy, and paiderastia, as the three +pursuits of freemen most obnoxious to despots. Æschines, again +describing the manners of boy-lovers in language familiar to his +audience, uses these phrases: "having grown up in gymnasium and games," +and "the man having been a noisy haunter of gymnasiums, and having been +the lover of multitudes." Aristophanes, also, in the <i>Wasps</i>,<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> +employs similar language: "and not seeking to go revelling around in +exercising grounds." I may compare Lucian, <i>Amores</i>, cap. 2, "you care +for gymnasiums and their sleek oiled combatants," which is said to a +notorious boy-lover. Boys and men met together with considerable liberty +in the porches, peristyles and other adjuncts to an Attic +wrestling-ground; and it was here, too, that sophists and philosophers +established themselves, with the certainty of attracting a large and +eager audience for their discussions. It is true that an ancient law +forbade the presence of adults in the wrestling-grounds of boys; but +this law appears to have become almost wholly obsolete in the days of +Plato. Socrates, for example, in the <i>Charmides</i>, goes down immediately +after his arrival from the camp at Potidæa into the palæstra of Taureas +to hear the news of the day, and the very first question which he asks +his friends is whether a new beauty has appeared among the youths.<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> +So again in the <i>Lysis</i>, Hippothales invites Socrates to enter the +private palæstra of Miccus, where boys and men were exercising together +on the feast-day of Hermes.<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> "The building," he remarks, "is a +newly-erected palæstra, and the entertainment is generally conversation, +to which you are welcome." The scene which immediately follows is well +known to Greek students as one of the most beautiful and vivid pictures +of Athenian life. One group of youths are sacrificing to Hermes; another +are casting dice in a corner of the dressing-room. Lysis himself is +"standing among the other boys and youths, having a crown upon his head, +like a fair vision, and not less worthy of praise for his goodness than +for his beauty." The modesty of Lysis is shown by the shyness which +prevents him joining Socrates' party until he has obtained the company +of some of his young friends. Then a circle of boys and men is formed in +a corner of the court, and a conversation upon friendship begins. +Hippothales, the lover of Lysis, keeps at a decorous distance in the +background. Not less graceful as a picture is the opening of the +<i>Charmides</i>. In answer to a question of Socrates, the frequenters of the +palæstra tell him to expect the coming of young Charmides. He will then +see the most beautiful boy in Athens at the time: "for those who are +just entering are the advanced guard of the great beauty of the day, and +he is likely to be not far off." There is a noise and a bustle at the +door, and while the Socratic party continues talking Charmides enters. +The effect produced is overpowering:<a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a>—</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"You know, my friend, that I cannot measure anything, and of the +beautiful I am simply such a measure as a white line is of chalk; +for almost all young persons appear to be beautiful in my eyes. But +at that moment when I saw him coming in, I confess that I was quite +astonished at his beauty and his stature; all the world seemed to +be enamoured of him; amazement and confusion reigned when he +entered; and a troop of lovers followed him. That grown-up men like +ourselves should have been affected in this way was not surprising, +but I observed that there was the same feeling among the boys; all +of them, down to the very least child, turned and looked at him, as +if he had been a statue."</p></div> + +<p>Charmides, like Lysis, is persuaded to sit down by Socrates, who opens a +discussion upon the appropriate question of <i>Sophrosyne</i>, or modest +temperance and self-restraint.<a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a></p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"He came as he was bidden, and sat down between Critias and me. +Great amusement was occasioned by everyone pushing with might and +main at his neighbour in order to make a place for him next to +them, until at the two ends of the row one had to get up, and the +other was rolled over sideways. Now I, my friend, was beginning to +feel awkward; my former bold belief in my powers of conversing with +him had vanished. And when Critias told him that I was the person +who had the cure, he looked at me in such an indescribable manner, +and was going to ask a question; and then all the people in the +palæstra crowded about us, and, O rare! I caught a sight of the +inwards of his garment, and took the flame. Then I could no longer +contain myself. I thought how well Cydias understood the nature of +love when, in speaking of a fair youth, he warns someone, 'not to +bring the fawn in the sight of the lion to be devoured by him,' for +I felt that I had been overcome by a sort of wild-beast appetite."</p></div> + +<p>The whole tenor of the dialogue makes it clear that, in spite of the +admiration he excited, the honour paid him by a public character like +Socrates and the troops of lovers and of friends surrounding him, yet +Charmides was unspoiled. His docility, modesty, simplicity, and +healthiness of soul are at least as remarkable as the beauty for which +he was so famous.</p> + +<p>A similar impression is produced upon our minds by Autolycus in the +<i>Symposium</i> of Xenophon.<a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> Callias, his acknowledged lover<a name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> had +invited him to a banquet after a victory which he had gained in the +pancration; and many other guests, including the Socratic party, were +asked to meet him. Autolycus came, attended by his father; and as soon +as the tables were covered and the seats had been arranged, a kind of +divine awe fell upon the company. The grown-up men were dazzled by the +beauty and the modest bearing of the boy, just as when a bright light is +brought into a darkened room. Everybody gazed at him, and all were +silent, sitting in uncomfortable attitudes of expectation and +astonishment. The dinner party would have passed off very tamely if +Phillipus, a professional diner-out and jester, had not opportunely made +his appearance. Autolycus meanwhile never uttered a word, but lay beside +his father like a breathing statue. Later on in the evening he was +obliged to answer a question. He opened his lips with blushes, and all +he said was,<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> "Not I, by gad." Still, even this created a great +sensation in the company. Everybody, says Xenophon, was charmed to hear +his voice, and turned their eyes upon him. It should be remarked that +the conversation at this party fell almost entirely upon matters of +love. Critobulus, for example, who was very beautiful and rejoiced in +having many lovers, gave a full account of his own feelings for +Cleinias.<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a></p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"You all tell me," he argued, "that I am beautiful, and I cannot +but believe you; but if I am, and if you feel what I feel when I +look on Cleinias, I think that beauty is better worth having than +all Persia. I would choose to be blind to everybody else if I could +only see Cleinias, and I hate the night because it robs me of his +sight. I would rather be the slave of Cleinias than live without +him; I would rather toil and suffer danger for his sake than live +alone at ease and in safety. I would go through fire with him, as +you would with me. In my soul I carry an image of him better made +than any sculptor could fashion."</p></div> + +<p>What makes this speech the more singular is that Critobulus was a +newly-married man.</p> + +<p>But to return from this digression to the palæstra. The Greeks were +conscious that gymnastic exercises tended to encourage and confirm the +habit of paiderastia. "The cities which have most to do with +gymnastics," is the phrase which Plato uses to describe the states where +Greek love flourished.<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> Herodotus says the barbarians borrowed +gymnastics together with paiderastia from the Hellenes; and we hear that +Polycrates of Samos caused the gymnasia to be destroyed when he wished +to discountenance the love which lent the warmth of personal enthusiasm +to political associations.<a name="FNanchor_118_118" id="FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> It was common to erect statues of love +in the wrestling-grounds; and there, says Plutarch,<a name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> the god's wings +grew so wide that no man could restrain his flight. Readers of the +idyllic poets will remember that it was a statue of Love which fell from +its pedestal in the swimming-bath upon the cruel boy who had insulted +the body of his self-slain friend.<a name="FNanchor_120_120" id="FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> Charmus, the lover of Hippias, +erected an image of Erôs in the academy at Athens which bore this +epigram:—</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"Love, god of many evils and various devices, Charmus set up this +altar to thee upon the shady boundaries of the gymnasium."<a name="FNanchor_121_121" id="FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a></p></div> + +<p>Erôs, in fact, was as much at home in the gymnasia of Athens as +Aphrodite in the temples of Corinth; he was the patron of paiderastia, +as she of female love. Thus Meleager writes:—</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"The Cyprian queen, a woman, hurls the fire that maddens men for +females; but Erôs himself sways the love of males for males."<a name="FNanchor_122_122" id="FNanchor_122_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a></p></div> + +<p>Plutarch, again, in the Erotic dialogue, alludes to "Erôs, where +Aphrodite is not; Erôs apart from Aphrodite." These facts relating to +the gymnasia justified Cicero in saying, "Mihi quidem hæc in Græcorum +gymnasiis nata consuetudo videtur; <i>in quibus isti liberi et concesi +sunt amores</i>." He adds, with a true Roman's antipathy to Greek æsthetics +and their flimsy screen for sensuality, "Bene ergo Ennius, <i>flagitii +principium est nudare inter cives corpora</i>."<a name="FNanchor_123_123" id="FNanchor_123_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> "To me, indeed, it +seems that this custom was generated in the gymnasiums of the Greeks, +for there those loves are freely indulged and sanctioned. Ennius +therefore very properly observed that the beginning of vice is the habit +of stripping the body among citizens."</p> + +<p>The Attic gymnasia and schools were regulated by strict laws. We have +already seen that adults were not supposed to enter the palæstra; and +the penalty for the infringement of this rule by the gymnasiarch was +death. In the same way, schools had to be shut at sunset and not opened +again before daybreak; nor was a grown-up man allowed to frequent them. +The public chorus teachers of boys were obliged to be above the age of +forty.<a name="FNanchor_124_124" id="FNanchor_124_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> Slaves who presumed to make advances to a free boy were +subject to the severest penalties; in like manner they were prohibited +from gymnastic exercises. Æschines, from whom we learn these facts, +draws the correct conclusion that gymnastics and Greek love were +intended to be the special privilege of freemen. Still, in spite of all +restrictions, the palæstra was the centre of Athenian profligacy, the +place in which not only honourable attachments were formed, but +disgraceful bargains also were concluded;<a name="FNanchor_125_125" id="FNanchor_125_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> and it is not improbable +that men like Taureas and Miccus, who opened such places of amusement as +a private speculation, may have played the part of go-betweens and +panders. Their walls, and the plane-trees which grew along their open +courts, were inscribed by lovers with the names of boys who had +attracted them. To scrawl up, "Fair is Dinomeneus, fair is the boy," was +a common custom, as we learn from Aristophanes and from this anonymous +epigram in the <i>Anthology</i>:<a name="FNanchor_126_126" id="FNanchor_126_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a>—</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"I said and once again I said, 'fair, fair'; but still will I go on +repeating how fascinating with his eyes is Dositheus. Not upon an +oak, nor on a pine-tree, nor yet upon a wall, will I inscribe this +word; but love is smouldering in my heart of hearts."</p></div> + +<p>Another attention of the same kind from a lover to a boy was to have a +vase or drinking-cup of baked clay made, with a portrait of the youth +depicted on its surface, attended by winged genii of health and love. +The word "Fair" was inscribed beneath, and symbols of games were +added—a hoop or a fighting-cock.<a name="FNanchor_127_127" id="FNanchor_127_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a> Nor must I here omit the custom +which induced lovers of a literary turn to praise their friends in prose +or verse. Hippothales, in the <i>Lysis</i> of Plato, is ridiculed by his +friends for recording the great deeds of the boy's ancestors, and +deafening his ears with odes and sonnets. A diatribe on love, written by +Lysias with a view to winning Phædrus, forms the starting-point of the +dialogue between that youth and Socrates.<a name="FNanchor_128_128" id="FNanchor_128_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> We have, besides, a +curious panegyrical oration (called <i>Eroticos Logos</i>), falsely ascribed +to Demosthenes, in honour of a youth, Epicrates, from which some +information may be gathered concerning the topics usually developed in +these compositions.</p> + +<p>Presents were of course a common way of trying to win favour. It was +reckoned shameful for boys to take money from their lovers, but fashion +permitted them to accept gifts of quails and fighting cocks, pheasants, +horses, dogs and clothes.<a name="FNanchor_129_129" id="FNanchor_129_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a> There existed, therefore, at Athens +frequent temptations for boys of wanton disposition, or for those who +needed money to indulge expensive tastes. The speech of Æschines, from +which I have already frequently quoted, affords a lively picture of the +Greek rake's progress, in which Timarchus is described as having sold +his person in order to gratify his gluttony and lust and love of gaming. +The whole of this passage,<a name="FNanchor_130_130" id="FNanchor_130_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> it may be observed in passing, reads +like a description of Florentine manners in a sermon of Savonarola.</p> + +<p>The shops of the barbers, surgeons, perfumers, and flower-sellers had an +evil notoriety, and lads who frequented these resorts rendered +themselves liable to suspicion. Thus Æschines accuses Timarchus of +having exposed himself for hire in a surgeon's shop at the Peiræus; +while one of Straton's most beautiful epigrams<a name="FNanchor_131_131" id="FNanchor_131_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> describes an +assignation which he made with a boy who had attracted his attention in +a garland-weaver's stall. In a fragment from the <i>Pyraunos</i> of Alexis, +a young man declares that he found thirty professors of the "voluptuous +life of pleasure," in the Cerameicus during a search of three days; +while Cratinus and Theopompus might be quoted to prove the ill fame of +the monument to Cimon and the hill of Lycabettus.<a name="FNanchor_132_132" id="FNanchor_132_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_132_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a></p> + +<p>The last step in the downward descent was when a youth abandoned the +roof of his parents or guardians and accepted the hospitality of a +lover.<a name="FNanchor_133_133" id="FNanchor_133_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_133_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> If he did this, he was lost.</p> + +<p>In connection with this portion of the subject, it may be well to state +that the Athenian law recognised contracts made between a man and boy, +even if the latter were of free birth, whereby the one agreed to render +up his person for a certain period and purpose, and the other to pay a +fixed sum of money.<a name="FNanchor_134_134" id="FNanchor_134_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_134_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a> The phrase "a boy who has been a prostitute," +occurs quite naturally in Aristophanes;<a name="FNanchor_135_135" id="FNanchor_135_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_135_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a> nor was it thought +disreputable for men to engage in these <i>liaisons</i>. Disgrace only +attached to the free youth who gained a living by prostitution; and he +was liable, as we shall see, at law to loss of civil rights.</p> + +<p>Public brothels for males were kept in Athens, from which the state +derived a portion of its revenues. It was in one of these bad places +that Socrates first saw Phædo.<a name="FNanchor_136_136" id="FNanchor_136_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_136_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> This unfortunate youth was a native +of Elis. Taken prisoner in war, he was sold in the public market to a +slave-dealer, who then acquired the right by Attic law to prostitute his +person and engross his earnings for his own pocket. A friend of +Socrates, perhaps Cebes, bought him from his master, and he became one +of the chief members of the Socratic circle. His name is given to the +Platonic dialogue on immortality, and he lived to found what is called +the Eleo-Socratic School. No reader of Plato forgets how the sage, on +the eve of his death, stroked the beautiful long hair of Phædo,<a name="FNanchor_137_137" id="FNanchor_137_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_137_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> and +prophesied that he would soon have to cut it short in mourning for his +teacher.</p> + +<p>Agathocles, the tyrant of Syracuse, is said to have spent his youth in +brothels of this sort—by inclination, however, if the reports of his +biographers be not calumnious.</p> + +<p>From what has been collected on this topic, it will be understood that +boys in Athens not unfrequently caused quarrels and street-brawls, and +that cases for recovery of damages or breach of contract were brought +before the Attic law-courts. The Peiræus was especially noted for such +scenes of violence. The oration of Lysias against Simon is a notable +example of the pleadings in a cause of this description.<a name="FNanchor_138_138" id="FNanchor_138_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_138_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> Simon, the +defendant, and Lysias, the plaintiff (or some one for whom Lysias had +composed the speech) were both of them attached to Theodotus, a boy from +Platæa. Theodotus was living with the plaintiff; but the defendant +asserted that the boy had signed an agreement to consort with him for +the consideration of three hundred drachmæ, and, relying on this +contract, he had attempted more than once to carry off the boy by force. +Violent altercations, stone-throwings, house-breakings, and encounters +of various kinds having ensued, the plaintiff brought an action for +assault and battery against Simon. A modern reader is struck with the +fact that he is not at all ashamed of his own relation towards +Theodotus. It may be noted that the details of this action throw light +upon the historic brawl at Corinth, in which a boy was killed, and which +led to the foundation of Syracuse by Archias the Bacchiad.<a name="FNanchor_139_139" id="FNanchor_139_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_139_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a></p> + +<h3><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV.</h3> + +<p>We have seen in the foregoing section that paiderastia at Athens was +closely associated with liberty, manly sports, severe studies, +enthusiasm, self-sacrifice, self-control, and deeds of daring, by those +who cared for those things. It has also been made abundantly manifest +that no serious moral shame attached to persons who used boys like +women, but that effeminate youths of free birth were stigmatised for +their indecent profligacy. It remains still to ascertain the more +delicate distinctions which were drawn by Attic law and custom in this +matter, though what has been already quoted from Pausanias, in the +<i>Symposium</i> of Plato, may be taken fairly to express the code of honour +among gentlemen.</p> + +<p>In the <i>Plutus</i>,<a name="FNanchor_140_140" id="FNanchor_140_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_140_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> Aristophanes is careful to divide "boys with +lovers," into "the good," and "the strumpets." This distinction will +serve as basis for the following remarks. A very definite line was drawn +by the Athenians between boys who accepted the addresses of their lovers +because they liked them or because they were ambitious of comradeship +with men of spirit, and those who sold their bodies for money. Minute +inquiry was never instituted into the conduct of the former class; else +Alcibiades could not have made his famous declaration about +Socrates,<a name="FNanchor_141_141" id="FNanchor_141_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_141_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a> nor would Plato in the <i>Phædrus</i> have regarded an +occasional breach of chastity, under the compulsion of violent passion, +as a venial error.<a name="FNanchor_142_142" id="FNanchor_142_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_142_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> The latter, on the other hand, besides being +visited with universal censure, were disqualified by law from exercising +the privileges of the franchise, from undertaking embassies, from +frequenting the Agora, and from taking part in public festivals, under +the penalty of death. Æschines, from whom we learn the wording of this +statute, adds:<a name="FNanchor_143_143" id="FNanchor_143_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_143_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a> "This law he passed with regard to youths who sin +with facility and readiness against their own bodies." He then proceeds +to define the true nature of prostitution, prohibited by law to the +citizens of Athens. It is this: "Any one who acts in this way towards a +single man, provided he do it with payment, seems to me to be liable to +the reproach in question."<a name="FNanchor_144_144" id="FNanchor_144_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_144_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a> The whole discussion turns upon the word +<i>Misthos</i>. The orator is cautious to meet the argument that a written +contract was necessary in order to construct a case of <i>Hetaireia</i> at +law.<a name="FNanchor_145_145" id="FNanchor_145_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_145_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a> In the statute, he observes, there is no mention of "contract" +or "deed in writing." The offence has been sufficiently established +"when in any way whatever payment has been made."</p> + +<p>In order to illustrate the feeling of the Athenians with regard to +making profit out of paiderastic relations, I may perhaps be permitted +to interrupt the analysis of Æschines by referring to Xenophon's +character (<i>Anab.</i> si, 6, 21) of the Strategus Menon. The whole tenor of +his judgment is extremely unfavourable toward this man, who invariable +pursued selfish and mean aims, debasing virtuous qualities like ambition +and industry in the mere pursuit of wealth and power. He was, in fact, +devoid of chivalrous feeling, good taste, and honour. About his +behaviour as a youth, Xenophon writes: "With Ariæus, the barbarian, +because this man was partial to handsome youths, he became extremely +intimate while he was still in the prime of adolescence; moreover, he +had Tharypas for his beloved, he being beardless and Tharypas a man +with a beard." His crime seems to have been that he prostituted himself +to the barbarian Ariæus in order to advance his interest, and, probably +with the same view, flattered the effeminate vanity of an elder man by +pretending to love him out of the right time or season. Plutarch +(<i>Pyrrhus</i>) mentions this Tharypas as the first to introduce Hellenic +manners among the Molossi.</p> + +<p>When more than one lover was admitted, the guilt was aggravated. "It +will then be manifest that he has not only acted the strumpet, but that +he has been a common prostitute. For he who does this indifferently, and +with money, and for money, seems to have incurred that designation." +Thus the question finally put to the Areopagus, in which court the case +against Timarchus was tried, ran as follows, in the words of +Æschines:<a name="FNanchor_146_146" id="FNanchor_146_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_146_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a> "To which of these two classes will you reckon +Timarchus—to those who have had a lover, or to those who have been +prostitutes?" In his rhetorical exposition, Æschines defines the true +character of the virtuous <i>Eromenos</i>. Frankly admitting his own +partiality for beautiful young men, he argues after this fashion:<a name="FNanchor_147_147" id="FNanchor_147_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_147_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a> +"I do not attach any blame to love. I do not take away the character of +handsome lads. I do not deny that I have often loved, and had many +quarrels and jealousies in this matter. But I establish this as an +irrefutable fact, that, while the love of beautiful and temperate youths +does honour to humanity and indicates a generous temper, the buying of +the person of a free boy for debauchery is a mark of insolence and +ill-breeding. To be loved is an honour: to sell yourself is a disgrace." +He then appeals to the law which forbade slaves to love, thereby +implying that this was the privilege and pride of free men. He alludes +to the heroic deed of Aristogeiton and to the great example of Achilles. +Finally, he draws up a list of well-known and respected citizens whose +loves were notorious, and compares them with a parallel list of persons +infamous for their debauchery. What remains in the peroration to this +invective traverses the same ground. Some phrases may be quoted which +illustrate the popular feeling of the Athenians. Timarchus is +stigmatised<a name="FNanchor_148_148" id="FNanchor_148_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_148_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a> as, "the man and male who, in spite of this, has +debauched his body by womanly acts of lust," and again as, "one who +against the law of nature has given himself to lewdness." It is obvious +here that Æschines, the self-avowed boy-lover, while seeking to crush +his opponent by flinging effeminacy and unnatural behaviour in his +teeth, assumes at the same time that honourable paiderastia implies no +such disgrace. Again, he observes that it is as easy to recognise a +pathic by his impudent behaviour as a gymnast by his muscles. Lastly, he +bids the judges force intemperate lovers to abstain from free youths, +and satisfy their lusts upon the persons of foreigners and aliens.<a name="FNanchor_149_149" id="FNanchor_149_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_149_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a> +The whole matter at this distance of time is obscure, nor can we hope to +apprehend the full force of distinctions drawn by a Greek orator +appealing to a Greek audience. We may, indeed, fairly presume that, as +is always the case with popular ethics, considerable confusion existed +in the minds of the Athenians themselves, and that, even for them, to +formulate the whole of their social feelings on this topic consistently, +would have been impossible. The main point, however, seems to be that at +Athens it was held honourable to love free boys with decency; that the +conduct of lovers between themselves, within the limits of recognised +friendship, was not challenged; and that no particular shame attached to +profligate persons so long as they refrained from tampering with the +sons of citizens.<a name="FNanchor_150_150" id="FNanchor_150_150"></a><a href="#Footnote_150_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a></p> + +<h3><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV.</h3> + +<p>The sources from which our information has hitherto been +drawn—speeches, poems, biographies, and the dramatic parts of +dialogues—yield more real knowledge about the facts of Athenian +paiderastia than can be found in the speculations of philosophers. In +Aristotle, for instance, paiderastia is almost conspicuous by its +absence. It is true that he speculates upon the Cretan customs in the +<i>Politics</i>, mentions the prevalence of boy-love among the Kelts, and +incidentally notices the legends of Diocles and Cleomachus;<a name="FNanchor_151_151" id="FNanchor_151_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_151_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a> but he +never discusses the matter as fully as might have been expected from a +philosopher whose speculations covered the whole field of Greek +experience. The chapters on <i>Philia</i>, in the <i>Ethics</i>, might indeed have +been written by a modern moralist for modern readers, though it is +possible that in his treatment of "friendship with pleasure for its +object," and "friendship with advantage for its object," Aristotle is +aiming at the vicious sort of paiderastia. As regards his silence in +the <i>Politics</i>, it is worth noticing that this treatise breaks off at +the very point where we should naturally look for a scientific handling +of the education of the passions; and, therefore, it is possible that we +may have lost the weightiest utterance of Greek philosophy upon the +matter of our enquiry.</p> + +<p>Though Aristotle contains but little to the purpose, the case is +different with Plato; nor would it be possible to omit a detailed +examination of the Platonic doctrine on the topic, or to neglect the +attempt he made to analyse and purify a passion, capable, according to +his earlier philosophical speculations, of supplying the starting-point +for spiritual progress.</p> + +<p>The first point to notice in the Platonic treatment of paiderastia is +the difference between the ethical opinions expressed in the <i>Phædrus</i>, +<i>Symposium</i>, <i>Republic</i>, <i>Charmides</i>, and <i>Lysis</i>, on the one hand, and +those expounded in the <i>Laws</i> upon the other. The <i>Laws</i>, which are +probably a genuine work of Plato's old age, condemn that passion which, +in the <i>Phædrus</i> and <i>Symposium</i>, he exalted as the greatest boon of +human life and as the groundwork of the philosophical temperament; the +ordinary social manifestations of which he described with sympathy in +the <i>Lysis</i> and the <i>Charmides</i>; and which he viewed with more than +toleration in the <i>Republic</i>. It is not my business to offer a solution +of this contradiction; but I may observe that Socrates, who plays the +part of protagonist in nearly all the other dialogues of Plato, and who, +as we shall see, professed a special cult of love, is conspicuous by his +absence in the <i>Laws</i>. It is, therefore, not improbable that the +philosophical idealisation of paiderastia, to which the name of Platonic +love is usually given, should rather be described as Socratic. However +that may be, I think it will be well to deal first with the doctrine put +into the mouth of the Athenian stranger in the <i>Laws</i>, and then to pass +on to the consideration of what Socrates is made to say upon the subject +of Greek love in the earlier dialogues.</p> + +<p>The position assumed by Plato in the <i>Laws</i> (p. 636) is this: Syssitia +and gymnasia are excellent institutions in their way, but they have a +tendency to degrade natural love in man below the level of the beasts. +Pleasure is only natural when it arises out of the intercourse between +men and women, but the intercourse between men and men, or women and +women, is contrary to nature.<a name="FNanchor_152_152" id="FNanchor_152_152"></a><a href="#Footnote_152_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a> The bold attempt at overleaping +Nature's laws was due originally to unbridled lust.</p> + +<p>This position is developed in the eighth book (p. 836), where Plato +directs his criticism, not only against what would now be termed the +criminal intercourse between persons of the same sex, but also against +incontinence in general. While framing a law of almost monastic rigour +for the regulation of the sexual appetite, he remains an ancient Greek. +He does not reach the point of view from which women are regarded as the +proper objects of both passion and friendship, as the fit companions of +men in all relations of life; far less does he revert to his earlier +speculations upon the enthusiasm generated by a noble passion. The +modern ideal of marriage and the chivalrous conception of womanhood as +worthy to be worshipped are like unknown to him. Abstinence from the +delights of love, continence except for the sole end of procreation, is +the rule which he proposes to the world.</p> + +<p class="top5">There are three distinct things, Plato argues, which, owing to the +inadequacy of language to represent states of thought, have been +confounded.<a name="FNanchor_153_153" id="FNanchor_153_153"></a><a href="#Footnote_153_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a> These are friendship, desire, and a third mixed +species. Friendship is further described as the virtuous affection of +equals in taste, age and station. Desire is always founded on a sense of +contrast. While friendship is "gentle and mutual through life," desire +is "fierce and wild."<a name="FNanchor_154_154" id="FNanchor_154_154"></a><a href="#Footnote_154_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a> The true friend seeks to live chastely with +the chaste object of his attachment, whose soul he loves. The lustful +lover longs to enjoy the flower of his youth and cares only for the +body. The third sort is mixed of these; and a lover of this composite +kind is torn asunder by two impulses, "the one commanding him to enjoy +the youth's person, the other forbidding him to do so."<a name="FNanchor_155_155" id="FNanchor_155_155"></a><a href="#Footnote_155_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a> The +description of the lover of the third species so exactly suits the +paiderast of nobler quality in Greece, as I conceive him to have +actually existed, that I shall give a full quotation of this +passage:<a name="FNanchor_156_156" id="FNanchor_156_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_156_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a>—</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"As to the mixed sort, which is made up of them both, there is, +first of all, a difficulty in determining what he who is possessed +by this third love desires; moreover, he is drawn different ways, +and is in doubt between the two principles, the one exhorting him +to enjoy the beauty of the youth, and the other forbidding him; for +the one is a lover of the body and hungers after beauty like ripe +fruit, and would fain satisfy himself without any regard to the +character of the beloved; the other holds the desire of the body to +be a secondary matter, and, looking rather than loving with his +soul, and desiring the soul of the other in a becoming manner, +regards the satisfaction of the bodily love as wantonness; he +reverences and respects temperance and courage and magnanimity and +wisdom, and wishes to live chastely with the chaste object of his +affection."</p></div> + +<p>It is remarkable that Plato, in this analysis of the three sorts of +love, keeps strictly within the bounds of paiderastia. He rejects desire +and the mixed sort of love, reserving friendship (<i>Philia</i>) and +ordaining marriage for the satisfaction of the aphrodisiac instinct at a +fitting age, but more particularly for the procreation of children. +Wantonness of every description is to be made as much a sin as incest, +both by law and also by the world's opinion. If Olympian victors, with +an earthly crown in view, learn to live chastely for the preservation of +their strength while training, shall not men, whose contest is for +heavenly prizes, keep their bodies undefiled, their spirits holy?</p> + +<p>Socrates, the mystagogue of amorous philosophy, is absent, as I have +observed, from this discussion of the laws. I turn now to those earlier +dialogues in which he expounds the doctrine of Platonic, or, as I should +prefer to call it, Socratic, love. We know from Xenophon, as well as +Plato, that Socrates named his philosophy the Science of Love. The one +thing on which I pride myself, he says, is knowledge of all matters that +pertain to love. It furthermore appears that Socrates thought himself in +a peculiar sense predestined to reform and to ennoble paiderastia. +"Finding this passion at its height throughout the whole of Hellas, but +most especially in Athens, and all places full of evil lovers and of +youths seduced, he felt a pity for both parties. Not being a lawgiver +like Solon, he could not stop the custom by statute, nor correct it by +force, nor again dissuade men from it by his eloquence. He did not, +however, on that account abandon the lovers or the boys to their fate, +but tried to suggest a remedy." This passage, which I have paraphrased +from Maximus Tyrius,<a name="FNanchor_157_157" id="FNanchor_157_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_157_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a> sufficiently expresses the attitude assumed +by Socrates in the Platonic dialogue. He sympathises with Greek lovers, +and avows a fervent admiration for beauty in the persons of young men. +At the same time, he declares himself upon the side of temperate and +generous affection and strives to utilise the erotic enthusiasm as a +motive power in the direction of philosophy. This was really nothing +more or less than an attempt to educate the Athenians by appealing to +their own higher instincts. We have seen that paiderastia in the prime +of Hellenic culture, whatever sensual admixture it might have contained, +was a masculine passion. It was closely connected with the love of +political independence, with the contempt for Asiatic luxury, with the +gymnastic sports, and with the intellectual interests which +distinguished Hellenes from barbarians. Partly owing to the social +habits of their cities, and partly to the peculiar notions which they +entertained regarding the seclusion of free women in the home, all the +higher elements of spiritual and mental activity, and the conditions +under which a generous passion was conceivable, had become the exclusive +privileges of men. It was not that women occupied a semi-servile +station, as some students have imagined, or that within the sphere of +the household they were not the respected and trusted helpmates of men. +But circumstances rendered it impossible for them to excite romantic and +enthusiastic passion. The exaltation of the emotions was reserved for +the male sex.</p> + +<p>Socrates, therefore, sought to direct and moralise a force already +existing. In the <i>Phædrus</i> he describes the passion of love between man +and boy as a madness, not different in quality from that which inspires +poets; and, after painting that fervid picture of the lover, he declares +that the true object of a noble life can only be attained by passionate +friends, bound together in the chains of close yet temperate +comradeship, seeking always to advance in knowledge, self-restraint, and +intellectual illumination. The doctrine of the <i>Symposium</i> is not +different, except that Socrates here takes a higher flight. The same +love is treated as the method whereby the soul may begin her mystic +journey to the region of essential beauty, truth, and goodness. It has +frequently been remarked that Plato's dialogues have to be read as +poems, even more than as philosophical treatises; and if this be true at +all, it is particularly true of both the <i>Phædrus</i> and the <i>Symposium</i>. +The lesson which both essays seem intended to inculcate is this: love, +like poetry and prophecy, is a divine gift, which diverts men from the +common current of their lives; but in the right use of this gift lies +the secret of all human excellence. The passion which grovels in the +filth of sensual grossness may be transformed into a glorious +enthusiasm, a winged splendour, capable of soaring to the contemplation +of eternal verities. How strange will it be, when once those heights of +intellectual intuition have been scaled, to look down again to earth and +view the <i>Meirakidia</i> in whom the soul first recognised the form of +beauty!<a name="FNanchor_158_158" id="FNanchor_158_158"></a><a href="#Footnote_158_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a> There is a deeply-rooted mysticism, an impenetrable +soofyism, in the Socratic doctrine of Erôs.</p> + +<p>In the <i>Phædrus</i>, the <i>Symposium</i>, the <i>Charmides</i>, the <i>Lysis</i>, and the +<i>Republic</i>, Plato dramatised the real Socrates, while he gave liberal +scope to his own personal sympathy for paiderastia.<a name="FNanchor_159_159" id="FNanchor_159_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_159_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a> In the <i>Laws</i>, +if we accept this treatise as the work of his old age, he discarded the +Socratic mask, and wrote a kind of palinode, which indicates more moral +growth than pure disapprobation of the paiderastic passion. I have +already tried to show that the point of view in the <i>Laws</i> is still +Greek: that their author has not passed beyond the sphere of Hellenic +ethics. He has only become more ascetic in his rule of conduct as the +years advanced, importing the <i>rumores senum severiorum</i> into his +discourse, and recognising the imperfection of that halting-point +between the two logical extremes of Pagan license and monastic +asceticism which in the fervour of his greener age he advocated. As a +young man, Plato felt sympathy for love so long as it was paiderastic +and not spent on women; he even condoned a lapse through warmth of +feeling into self-indulgence. As an old man, he denounced carnal +pleasure of all kinds, and sought to limit the amative instincts to the +one sole end of procreation.</p> + +<p>It has so happened that Plato's name is still connected with the ideal +of passion purged from sensuality. Much might be written about the +parallel between the <i>mania</i> of the <i>Phædrus</i> and the <i>joy</i> of mediæval +amorists. Nor would it be unprofitable to trace the points of contact +between the love described by Dante in the <i>Vita Nuova</i> and the +paiderastia exalted to the heavens by Plato.<a name="FNanchor_160_160" id="FNanchor_160_160"></a><a href="#Footnote_160_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> The spiritual passion +for Beatrice, which raised the Florentine poet above vile things, and +led him by the philosophic paths of the <i>Convito</i> to the beatific vision +of the <i>Paradiso</i>, bears no slight resemblance to the <i>Erôs</i> of the +<i>Symposium</i>. Yet we know that Dante could not have studied Plato's +works; and the specific love which Plato praised he sternly stigmatised. +The harmony between Greek and mediæval mysticism in this matter of the +emotions rests on something permanent in human nature, common alike to +paiderastia and to chivalrous enthusiasm for woman.</p> + +<p>It would be well worth raising here the question whether there was not +something special both in the Greek consciousness itself, and also in +the conditions under which it reached maturity, which justified the +Socratic attempt to idealise paiderastia. Placed upon the borderland of +barbarism, divided from the Asiatic races by an acute but narrow line of +demarcation, the Greeks had arrived at the first free notion of the +spirit in its disentanglement from matter and from symbolism. But this +notion of the spirit was still æsthetic, rather than strictly ethical or +rigorously scientific. In the Greek gods, intelligence is perfected and +character is well defined; but these gods are always concrete persons, +with corporeal forms adapted to their spiritual essence. The +interpenetration of spiritual and corporeal elements in a complete +personality, the transfusion of intellectual and emotional faculties +throughout a physical organism exactly suited to their adequate +expression, marks Greek religion and Greek art. What the Greeks +worshipped in their ritual, what they represented in their sculpture, +was always personality—the spirit and the flesh in amity and mutual +correspondence; the spirit burning through the flesh and moulding it to +individual forms; the flesh providing a fit dwelling for the spirit +which controlled and fashioned it. Only philosophers, among the Greeks, +attempted to abstract the spirit as a self-sufficient, independent, +conscious entity; and these philosophers were few, and what they wrote +or spoke had little direct influence upon the people. This being the +mental attitude of the Greek race, it followed as a necessity that their +highest emotional aspirations, their purest personal service, should be +devoted to clear and radiant incarnations of the spirit in a living +person. They had never been taught to regard the body with a sense of +shame, but rather to admire it as the temple of the spirit, and to +accept its needs and instincts with natural acquiescence. Male beauty +disengaged for them the passion it inspired from service of domestic, +social, civic duties. The female form aroused desire, but it also +suggested maternity and obligations of the household. The male form was +the most perfect image of the deity, self-contained, subject to no +necessities of impregnation, determined in its action only by the laws +of its own reason and its own volition.</p> + +<p>Quite a different order of ideas governed the ideal adopted by mediæval +chivalry. The spirit in its self-sufficingness, detached from the body, +antagonistic to the body, had been divinised by Christianity. Woman, +regarded as a virgin and at the same time a mother, the maiden-mother of +God made man, had been exalted to the throne of heaven. The worship of +woman became, by a natural and logical process, the correlative in +actual human life for that worship of the incarnate Deity which was the +essence of religion. A remarkable point in mediæval love is that the +sensual appetites were, theoretically at least, excluded from the homage +paid to woman. It was not the wife or the mistress, but the lady, who +inspired the knight. Dante had children by Gemma, Petrarch had children +by an unknown concubine, but it was the sainted Beatrice, it was the +unattainable Laura, who received the homage of Dante and of Petrarch.</p> + +<p>In like manner, the sensual appetites were, theoretically at least, +excluded from Platonic paiderastia. It was the divine in human +flesh—"the radiant sight of the beloved," to quote from Plato; "the +fairest and most intellectual of earthly bodies," to borrow a phrase +from Maximus Tyrius—it was this which stimulated the Greek lover, just +as a similar incarnation of divinity inspired the chivalrous lover. Thus +we might argue that the Platonic conception of paiderastia furnishes a +close analogue to the chivalrous devotion to women, due regard being +paid to the differences which existed between the plastic ideal of Greek +religion and the romantic ideal of mediæval Christianity. The one veiled +sodomy, the other adultery. That in both cases the conception was rarely +realised in actual life only completes the parallel.</p> + +<p>To pursue this inquiry further is, however, alien to my task. It is +enough to have indicated the psychological agreement in respect of +purified affection which underlay two such apparently antagonistic +ideals of passion. Few modern writers, when they speak with admiration +or contempt of Platonic love, reflect that in its origin this phrase +denoted an absorbing passion for young men. The Platonist, as appears +from numerous passages in the Platonic writings, would have despised the +Petrarchist as a vulgar woman-lover. The Petrarchist would have loathed +the Platonist as a moral Pariah. Yet Platonic love, in both its Attic +and its mediæval manifestations, was one and the same thing.</p> + +<p>The philosophical ideal of paiderastia in Greece, which bore the names +of Socrates and Plato, met with little but contempt. Cicero, in a +passage which has been echoed by Gibbon, remarked upon, "the thin device +of virtue and friendship which amused the philosophers of Athens."<a name="FNanchor_161_161" id="FNanchor_161_161"></a><a href="#Footnote_161_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> +Epicurus criticised the Stoic doctrine of paiderastia by sententiously +observing that philosophers only differed from the common race of men in +so far as they could better cloak their vice with sophistries. This +severe remark seems justified by the opinions ascribed to Zeno by +Plutarch, Sextus Empiricus, and Stobæus.<a name="FNanchor_162_162" id="FNanchor_162_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_162_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> But it may be doubted +whether the real drift of the Stoic theory of love, founded on +<i>Adiaphopha</i>, was understood. Lucian, in the <i>Amores</i>,<a name="FNanchor_163_163" id="FNanchor_163_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_163_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a> makes +Charicles, the advocate of love for women, deride the Socratic ideal as +vain nonsense, while Theomnestus, the man of pleasure, to whom the +dispute is finally referred, decides that the philosophers are either +fools or humbugs.<a name="FNanchor_164_164" id="FNanchor_164_164"></a><a href="#Footnote_164_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> Daphnæus, in the erotic dialogue of Plutarch, +arrives at a similar conclusion; and, in an essay on education, the same +author contends that no prudent father would allow the sages to enter +into intimacy with his sons.<a name="FNanchor_165_165" id="FNanchor_165_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_165_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a> The discredit incurred by philosophers +in the later age of Greek culture is confirmed by more than one passage +in Petronius and Juvenal, while Athenæus especially inveighs against +philosophic lovers as acting against nature.<a name="FNanchor_166_166" id="FNanchor_166_166"></a><a href="#Footnote_166_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a> The attempt of the +Platonic Socrates to elevate, without altering, the morals of his race +may therefore be said fairly to have failed. Like his Republic, his love +existed only in heaven.</p> + +<h3><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a>XVI.</h3> + +<p>Philip of Macedon, when he pronounced the panegyric of the Sacred Band +at Chæronea, uttered the funeral oration of Greek love in its nobler +forms. With the decay of military spirit and the loss of freedom, there +was no sphere left for that type of comradeship which I attempted to +describe in Section IV. The philosophical ideal, to which some +cultivated Attic thinkers had aspired, remained unrealised, except, we +may perhaps suppose, in isolated instances. Meanwhile, paiderastia as a +vice did not diminish. It only grew more wanton and voluptuous. Little, +therefore, can be gained by tracing its historical development further, +although it is not without interest to note the mode of feeling and the +opinion of some later poets and rhetoricians.</p> + +<p>The Idyllists are the only poets, if we except a few epigrammatists of +the <i>Anthology</i>, who preserve a portion of the old heroic sentiment. No +true student of Greek literature will have felt that he could strictly +censure the paiderastic passages of the <i>Thalysia</i>, <i>Aïtes</i>, <i>Hylas</i>, +<i>Paidika</i>. They have the ring of genuine and respectable emotion. This +may also be said about the two fragments of Bion which begin, <i>Hespere +tas eratas</i> and <i>Olbioi oi phileontes</i>. The <i>Duserôs</i>, ascribed without +due warrant to Theocritus, is in many respects a beautiful composition, +but it lacks the fresh and manly touches of the master's style, and +bears the stamp of an unwholesome rhetoric. Why, indeed, should we pity +this suicide, and why should the statue of Love have fallen on the +object of his admiration? Maximus Tyrius showed more sense when he +contemptuously wrote about those men who killed themselves for love of a +beautiful lad in Locri:<a name="FNanchor_167_167" id="FNanchor_167_167"></a><a href="#Footnote_167_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a> "And in good sooth they deserved to die."</p> + +<p>The dialogue, entitled <i>Erotes</i>, attributed to Lucian, deserves a +paragraph. More than any other composition of the rhetorical age of +Greek literature, it attempts a comprehensive treatment of erotic +passion, and sums up the teaching of the doctors and the predilections +of the vulgar in one treatise.<a name="FNanchor_168_168" id="FNanchor_168_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_168_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a> Like many of Lucian's compositions, +it has what may be termed a retrospective and resumptive value. That is +to say, it represents less the actual feeling of the author and his age +than the result of his reading and reflection brought into harmony with +his experience. The scene is laid at Cnidus, in the groves of Aphrodite. +The temple and the garden and the statue of Praxiteles are described +with a luxury of language which strikes the keynote of the dialogue. We +have exchanged the company of Plato, Xenophon, or Æschines for that of a +Juvenalian <i>Græculus</i>, a delicate æsthetic voluptuary. Every epithet +smells of musk, and every phrase is a provocative. The interlocutors +are Callicratides, the Athenian, and Charicles, the Rhodian. +Callicratides kept an establishment of <i>exoleti</i>; when the down upon +their chins had grown beyond the proper point—"when the beard is just +sprouting, when youth is in the prime of charm," they were drafted off +to farms and country villages. Charicles maintained a harem of +dancing-girls and flute-players. The one was "madly passionate for +lads;" the other no less "mad for women." Charicles undertook the cause +of women, Callicratides that of boys. Charicles began. The love of women +is sanctioned by antiquity; it is natural; it endures through life; it +alone provides pleasure for both sexes. Boys grow bearded, rough, and +past their prime. Women always excite passion. Then Callicratides takes +up his parable. Masculine love combines virtue with pleasure. While the +love of women is a physical necessity, the love of boys is a product of +high culture and an adjunct of philosophy. Paiderastia may be either +vulgar or celestial; the second will be sought by men of liberal +education and good manners. Then follow contrasted pictures of the lazy +woman and the manly youth. The one provokes to sensuality, the other +excites noble emulation in the ways of virile living. Lucian, summing up +the arguments of the two pleaders, decides that Corinth must give way to +Athens, adding: "Marriage is open to all men, but the love of boys to +philosophers only." This verdict is referred to Theomnestus, a Don Juan +of both sexes. He replies that both boys and women are good for +pleasure; the philosophical arguments of Callicratides are cant.</p> + +<p class="top5">This brief abstract of Lucian's dialogue on love indicates the cynicism +with which its author viewed the subject, using the whole literature and +all the experience of the Greeks to support a thesis of pure hedonism. +The sybarites of Cairo or Constantinople at the present moment might +employ the same arguments, except that they would omit the philosophic +cant of Callicratides.</p> + +<p class="top5">There is nothing in extant Greek literature, of a date anterior to the +Christian era, which is foul in the same sense as that in which the +works of Roman poets (Catullus and Martial), Italian poets (Beccatelli +and Baffo), and French poets (Scarron and Voltaire) are foul. Only +purblind students will be unable to perceive the difference between the +obscenity of the Latin races and that of Aristophanes. The difference, +indeed, is wide and radical, and strongly marked. It is the difference +between a race naturally gifted with a delicate, æsthetic sense of +beauty, and one in whom that sense was always subject to the +perturbation, of gross instincts. But with the first century of the new +age a change came over even the imagination of the Greeks. Though they +never lost their distinction of style, that precious gift of lightness +and good taste conferred upon them with their language, they borrowed +something of their conquerors' vein. This makes itself felt in the +<i>Anthology</i>. Straton and Rufinus suffered the contamination of the Roman +genius, stronger in political organisation than that of Hellas, but +coarser and less spiritually tempered in morals and in art. Straton was +a native of Sardis, who flourished in the second century. He compiled a +book of paiderastic poems, consisting in a great measure of his own and +Meleager's compositions, which now forms the twelfth section of the +<i>Palatine Anthology</i>. This book he dedicated, not to the Muse, but to +Zeus; for Zeus was the boy-lover among deities;<a name="FNanchor_169_169" id="FNanchor_169_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_169_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a> he bade it carry +forth his message of fair youths throughout the world;<a name="FNanchor_170_170" id="FNanchor_170_170"></a><a href="#Footnote_170_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a> and he +claimed a special inspiration from heaven for singing of one sole +subject, paiderastia.<a name="FNanchor_171_171" id="FNanchor_171_171"></a><a href="#Footnote_171_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a> It may be said with truth that Straton +understood the bent of his own genius. We trace a blunt earnestness of +intention in his epigrams, a certainty of feeling and directness of +artistic treatment, which show that he had only one object in view. +Meleager has far higher qualities as a poet, and his feeling, as well as +his style, is more exquisite. But he wavered between the love of boys +and women, seeking in both the satisfaction of emotional yearnings which +in the modern world would have marked him as a sentimentalist. The +so-called <i>Mousa Paidiké</i>, "Muse of Boyhood," is a collection of two +hundred and fifty-eight short poems, some of them of great artistic +merit, in praise of boys and boy-love. The common-places of these +epigrams are Ganymede and Erôs;<a name="FNanchor_172_172" id="FNanchor_172_172"></a><a href="#Footnote_172_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a> we hear but little of +Aphrodite—her domain is the other section of the <i>Anthology</i>, called +Erotika. A very small percentage of these compositions can be described +as obscene;<a name="FNanchor_173_173" id="FNanchor_173_173"></a><a href="#Footnote_173_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a> none are nasty, in the style of Martial or Ausonius; +some are exceedingly picturesque;<a name="FNanchor_174_174" id="FNanchor_174_174"></a><a href="#Footnote_174_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a> a few are written in a strain of +lofty or of lovely music;<a name="FNanchor_175_175" id="FNanchor_175_175"></a><a href="#Footnote_175_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a> one or two are delicate and subtle in +their humour.<a name="FNanchor_176_176" id="FNanchor_176_176"></a><a href="#Footnote_176_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a> The whole collection supplies good means of judging +how the Greeks of the decadence felt about this form of love. <i>Malakia</i> +is the real condemnation of this poetry, rather than brutality or +coarseness. A favourite topic is the superiority of boys over girls. +This sometimes takes a gross form;<a name="FNanchor_177_177" id="FNanchor_177_177"></a><a href="#Footnote_177_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a> but once or twice the treatment +of the subject touches a real psychological distinction, as in the +following epigram:<a name="FNanchor_178_178" id="FNanchor_178_178"></a><a href="#Footnote_178_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a>—</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"The love of women is not after my heart's desire; but the fires of +male desire have placed me under inextinguishable coals of burning. +The heat there is mightier; for the more powerful is male than +female, the keener is that desire."</p></div> + +<p>These four lines give the key to much of the Greek preference for +paiderastia. The love of the male, when it has been apprehended and +entertained, is more exciting, they thought, more absorbent of the whole +nature, than the love of the female. It is, to use another kind of +phraseology, more of a mania and more of a disease.</p> + +<p>With the <i>Anthology</i> we might compare the curious <i>Epistolai Erotikai</i> +of Philostratus.<a name="FNanchor_179_179" id="FNanchor_179_179"></a><a href="#Footnote_179_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a> They were in all probability rhetorical +compositions, not intended for particular persons; yet they indicate the +kind of wooing to which youths were subjected in later Hellas.<a name="FNanchor_180_180" id="FNanchor_180_180"></a><a href="#Footnote_180_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a> The +discrepancy between the triviality of their subject-matter and the +exquisiteness of their diction is striking. The second of these +qualities has made them a mine for poets. Ben Jonson, for example, +borrowed the loveliest of his lyrics from the following <i>concetto</i>:—"I +sent thee a crown of roses, not so much honouring thee, though this, +too, was my meaning, but wishing to do some kindness to the roses that +they might not wither." Take, again, the phrase: "Well, and love himself +is naked, and the graces and the stars;" or this, "O rose, that has a +voice to speak with!"—or this metaphor for the footsteps of the +beloved, "O rhythms of most beloved feet, O kisses pressed upon the +ground!"</p> + +<p>While the paiderastia of the Greeks was sinking into grossness, +effeminacy, and æsthetic prettiness, the moral instincts of humanity +began to assert themselves in earnest. It became part of the higher +doctrine of the Roman Stoics to suppress this form of passion.<a name="FNanchor_181_181" id="FNanchor_181_181"></a><a href="#Footnote_181_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a> The +Christians, from St. Paul onwards, instituted an uncompromising crusade +against it. Theirs was no mere speculative warfare, like that of the +philosophers at Athens. They fought with all the forces of their +manhood, with the sword of the Lord and with the excommunications of the +Church, to suppress what seemed to them an unutterable scandal. Dio +Chrysostom, Clemens Alexandrinus, and Athanasius, are our best +authorities for the vices which prevailed in Hellas during the +Empire;<a name="FNanchor_182_182" id="FNanchor_182_182"></a><a href="#Footnote_182_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a> the Roman law, moreover, proves that the civil governors +aided the Church in its attempt to moralise the people on this point.</p> + +<h3><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a>XVII.</h3> + +<p>The transmutation of Hellas proper into part of the Roman Empire, and +the intrusion of Stoicism and Christianity into the sphere of Hellenic +thought and feeling, mark the end of the Greek age. It still remains, +however, to consider the relation of this passion to the character of +the race, and to determine its influence.</p> + +<p>In the fifth section of this essay, I asserted that it is now impossible +to ascertain whether the Greeks derived paiderastia from any of the +surrounding nations, and if so, from which. Homer's silence makes it +probable that the contact of Hellenic with Phœnician traders in the +post-heroic period led to the adoption by the Greek race of a custom +which they speedily assimilated and stamped with an Hellenic character. +At the same time, I suggested in the tenth section that paiderastia, in +its more enthusiastic and martial form, may have been developed within +the very sanctuary of Greek national existence by the Dorians, matured +in the course of their migrations, and systematised after their +settlement in Crete and Sparta. That the Greeks themselves regarded +Crete as the classic ground of paiderastia favours either theory, and +suggests a fusion of them both; for the geographical position of this +island made it the meeting-place of Hellenes with the Asiatic races, +while it was also one of the earliest Dorian acquisitions.</p> + +<p>When we come to ask why this passion struck roots so deep into the very +heart and brain of the Greek nation, we must reject the favourite +hypothesis of climate. Climate is, no doubt, powerful to a great extent +in determining the complexion of sexual morality; yet, as regards +paiderastia, we have abundant proof that nations both of North and South +have, according to circumstances quite independent of climatic +conditions, been both equally addicted and equally averse to this +habit. The Etruscan,<a name="FNanchor_183_183" id="FNanchor_183_183"></a><a href="#Footnote_183_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a> the Chinese, the ancient Keltic tribes, the +Tartar hordes of Timour Khan, the Persians under Moslem rule—races sunk +in the sloth of populous cities, as well as the nomadic children of the +Asian steppes, have all acquired a notoriety at least equal to that of +the Greeks. The only difference between these people and the Greeks in +respect to paiderastia is that everything which the Greek genius touched +acquired a portion of its distinction, so that what in semi-barbarous +society may be ignored as vice, in Greece demands attention as a phase +of the spiritual life of a world-historic nation.</p> + +<p>Like climate, ethnology must also be eliminated. It is only a +superficial philosophy of history which is satisfied with the +nomenclature of Semitic, Aryan, and so forth; which imagines that +something is gained for the explanation of a complex psychological +problem when hereditary affinities have been demonstrated. The deeps of +national personality are far more abysmal than this. Granting that +climate and descent are elements of great importance, the religious and +moral principles, the æsthetic apprehensions, and the customs which +determine the character of a race, leave always something still to be +analysed. In dealing with Greek paiderastia, we are far more likely to +reach a probable solution if we confine our attention to the specific +social conditions which fostered the growth of this passion in Greece, +and to the general habit of mind which permitted its evolution out of +the common stuff of humanity, than if we dilate at ease upon the climate +of the Ægean, or discuss the ethnical complexion of the Hellenic stock. +In other words, it was the Pagan view of human life and duty which gave +scope to paiderastia, while certain special Greek customs aided its +development.</p> + +<p>The Greeks themselves, quoted more than once above, have put us on the +right track in this inquiry. However paiderastia began in Hellas, it was +encouraged by gymnastics and syssitia. Youths and boys engaged together +in athletic exercises, training their bodies to the highest point of +physical attainment, growing critical about the points and proportions +of the human form, lived of necessity in an atmosphere of mutual +attention. Young men could not be insensible to the grace of boys in +whom the bloom of beauty was unfolding. Boys could not fail to admire +the strength and goodliness of men displayed in the comeliness of +perfected development. Having exercised together in the +wrestling-ground, the same young men and boys consorted at the common +tables. Their talk fell naturally upon feats of strength and training; +nor was it unnatural, in the absence of a powerful religious +prohibition, that love should spring from such discourse and +intercourse.</p> + +<p>The nakedness, which Greek custom permitted in gymnastic games and some +religious rites, no doubt contributed to the erotic force of masculine +passion; and the history of their feeling upon this point deserves +notice. Plato, in the <i>Republic</i> (452), observes that "not long ago the +Greeks were of the opinion, which is still generally received among the +barbarians, that the sight of a naked man was ridiculous and unseemly." +He goes on to mention the Cretans and the Lacedæmonians as the +institutors of naked games. To these conditions may be added dances in +public, the ritual of gods like Erôs, ceremonial processions, and +contests for the prize of beauty.</p> + +<p>The famous passage in the first book of Thucydides (cap. vi.) +illustrates the same point. While describing the primitive culture of +the Hellenes, he thinks it worth while to mention that the Spartans, who +first stripped themselves for running and wrestling, abandoned the +girdle which it was usual to wear around the loins. He sees in this +habit one of the strongest points of distinction between the Greeks and +barbarians. Herodotus insists upon the same point (book i. 10), which is +further confirmed by the verse of Ennius: "Flagitii," &c.</p> + +<p>The nakedness which Homer (<i>Iliad</i>, xxii. 66) and Tyrtæus (i. 21) +describes as shameful and unseemly is that of an old man. Both poets +seem to imply that a young man's naked body is beautiful even in death.</p> + +<p>We have already seen that paiderastia, as it existed in early Hellas, +was a martial institution, and that it never wholly lost its virile +character. This suggests the consideration of another class of +circumstances which were in the highest degree conducive to its free +development. The Dorians, to begin with, lived like regiments of +soldiers in barracks. The duty of training the younger men was thrown +upon the elder; so that the close relations thus established in a race +which did not positively discountenance the love of male for male rather +tended actively to encourage it. Nor is it difficult to understand why +the romantic emotions in such a society were more naturally aroused by +male companions than by women. Matrimony was not a matter of elective +affinity between two persons seeking to spend their lives agreeably and +profitably in common, so much as an institution used by the State for +raising vigorous recruits for the national army. All that is known about +the Spartan marriage customs, taken together with Plato's speculations +about a community of wives, proves this conclusively. It followed that +the relation of the sexes to each other was both more formal and more +simple than it is with us; the natural and the political purposes of +cohabitation were less veiled by those personal and emotional +considerations which play so large a part in modern life. There was less +scope for the emergence of passionate enthusiasm between men and women, +while the full conditions of a spiritual attachment, solely determined +by reciprocal inclination, were only to be found in comradeship. In the +wrestling-ground, at the common tables, in the ceremonies of religion, +at the Pan-hellenic games, in the camp, in the hunting-field, on the +benches of the council chamber, and beneath the porches of the Agora, +men were all in all unto each other. Women meanwhile kept the house at +home, gave birth to babies, and reared children till such time as the +State thought fit to undertake their training. It is, moreover, well +known that the age at which boys were separated from their mothers was +tender. Thenceforth they lived with persons of their own sex; their +expanding feelings were confined within the sphere of masculine +experience until the age arrived when marriage had to be considered in +the light of a duty to the commonwealth. How far this tended to +influence the growth of sentiment, and to determine its quality, may be +imagined.</p> + +<p>In the foregoing paragraph I have restricted my attention almost wholly +to the Dorians: but what has just been said about the circumstance of +their social life suggests a further consideration regarding paiderastia +at large among the Greeks, which takes rank with the weightiest of all. +The peculiar status of Greek women is a subject surrounded with +difficulty; yet no man can help feeling that the idealisation of +masculine love, which formed so prominent a feature of Greek life in the +historic period, was intimately connected with the failure of the race +to give their proper sphere in society to women. The Greeks themselves +were not directly conscious of this fact; nor can I remember any passage +in which a Greek has suggested that boy-love flourished precisely upon +the special ground which had been wrestled from the right domain of file +other sex. Far in advance of the barbarian tribes around them, they +could not well discern the defects of their own civilisation; nor was it +to be expected that they should have anticipated that exaltation of the +love of women into a semi-religious cult which was the later product of +chivalrous Christianity. We, from the standpoint of a more fully +organised society, detect their errors, and pronounce that paiderastia +was a necessary consequence of their unequal social culture; nor do we +fail to notice that, just as paiderastia was a post-Homeric intrusion +into Greek life, so women, after the age of the Homeric poems, suffered +a corresponding depression in the social scale. In the <i>Iliad</i> and the +<i>Odyssey</i>, and in the tragedies which deal with the heroic age, they +play a part of importance for which the actual conditions of historic +Hellas offered no opportunities.</p> + +<p>It was at Athens that the social disadvantages of women told with +greatest force; and this perhaps may help to explain the philosophic +idealisation of boy-love among the Athenians. To talk familiarly with +free women on the deepest subjects, to treat them as intellectual +companions, or to choose them as associates in undertakings of political +moment, seems never to have entered the mind of an Athenian. Women were +conspicuous by their absence from all places of resort—from the +palæstra, the theatre, the Agora, Pnyx, the law-court, the symposium; +and it was here, and here alone, that the spiritual energies of the men +expanded. Therefore, as the military ardour of the Dorians naturally +associated itself with paiderastia, so the characteristic passion of the +Athenians for culture took the same direction. The result in each case +was a highly wrought psychical condition, which, however alien to our +instincts, must be regarded as an exaltation of the race above its +common human needs—as a manifestation of fervid, highly-pitched +emotional enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>It does not follow from the facts which I have just discussed that, +either at Athens or at Sparta, women were excluded from an important +position in the home, or that the family in Greece was not the sphere of +female influence more active than the extant fragments of Greek +literature reveal to us. The women of Sophocles and Euripides, and the +noble ladies described by Plutarch, warn us to be cautious in our +conclusions on this topic. The fact, however, remains that in Greece, as +in mediæval Europe, the home was not regarded as the proper sphere for +enthusiastic passion: both paiderastia and chivalry ignored the family, +while the latter even set the matrimonial tie at nought. It is therefore +precisely at this point of the family, regarded as a comparatively +undeveloped factor in the higher spiritual life of Greeks, that the two +problems of paiderastia and the position of women in Greece intersect.</p> + +<p>In reviewing the external circumstances which favoured paiderastia, it +may be added, as a minor cause, that the leisure in which the Greeks +lived, supported by a crowd of slaves, and attending chiefly to their +physical and mental culture, rendered them peculiarly liable to +pre-occupations of passion and pleasure-seeking. In the early periods, +when war was incessant, this abundance of spare time bore less corrupt +fruit than during the stagnation into which the Greeks, enslaved by +Macedonia and Rome, declined.</p> + +<p>So far, I have been occupied in the present section with the specific +conditions of Greek society which may be regarded as determining the +growth of paiderastia. With respect to the general habit of mind which +caused the Greeks, in contradistinction to the Jews and Christians, to +tolerate this form of feeling, it will be enough here to remark that +Paganism could have nothing logically to say against it. The further +consideration of this matter I shall reserve for the next division of my +essay, contenting myself for the moment with the observation that Greek +religion and the instincts of the Greek race offered no direct obstacle +to the expansion of a habit which was strongly encouraged by the +circumstances I have just enumerated.</p> + +<h3><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII"></a>XVIII.</h3> + +<p>Upon a topic of great difficulty, which is, however, inseparable from +the subject-matter of this inquiry, I shall not attempt to do more than +to offer a few suggestions. This is the relation of paiderastia to Greek +art. Whoever may have made a study of antique sculpture will not have +failed to recognise its healthy human tone, its ethical rightness. There +is no partiality for the beauty of the male sex, no endeavour to reserve +for the masculine deities the nobler attributes of man's intellectual +and moral nature, no extravagant attempt to refine upon masculine +qualities by the blending of feminine voluptuousness. Aphrodite and +Artemis hold their place beside Erôs and Hermes. Ares is less +distinguished by the genius lavished on him than Athene. Hera takes rank +with Zeus, the Nymphs with the Fauns, the Muses with Apollo. Nor are +even the minor statues, which belong to decorative rather than high art, +noticeable for the attribution of sensual beauties to the form of boys. +This, which is certainly true of the best age, is, with rare exceptions, +true of all the ages of Greek plastic art. No prurient effeminacy +degraded, deformed, or unduly confounded, the types of sex idealised in +sculpture.</p> + +<p>The first reflection which must occur to even prejudiced observers, is +that paiderastia did not corrupt the Greek imagination to any serious +extent. The license of Paganism found appropriate expression in female +forms, but hardly touched the male; nor would it, I think, be possible +to demonstrate that obscene works of painting or of sculpture were +provided for paiderastic sensualists similar to those pornographic +objects which fill the reserved cabinet of the Neapolitan Museum. Thus, +the testimony of Greek art might be used to confirm the asseveration of +Greek literature, that among free men, at least, and gentle, this +passion tended even to purify feelings which, in their lust for women, +verged on profligacy. For one androgynous statue of Hermaphroditus or +Dionysus there are at least a score of luxurious Aphrodites and +voluptuous Bacchantes. Erôs himself, unless he is portrayed according to +the Roman type of Cupid, as a mischievous urchin, is a youth whose +modesty is no less noticeable than his beauty. His features are not +unfrequently shadowed with melancholy, as appears in the so-called +Genius of the Vatican, and in many statues which might pass for genii of +silence or of sleep as well as love. It would be difficult to adduce a +single wanton Erôs, a single image of this god provocative of sensual +desires. There is not one before which we could say—The sculptor of +that statue had sold his soul to paiderastic lust. Yet Erôs, it may be +remembered, was the special patron of paiderastia.</p> + +<p>Greek art, like Greek mythology, embodied a finely graduated +half-unconscious analysis of human nature. The mystery of procreation +was indicated by phalli on the Hermæ. Unbridled appetite found +incarnation in Priapus, who, moreover, was never a Greek god, but a +Lampsacene adopted from the Asian coast by the Romans. The natural +desires were symbolised in Aphrodite Praxis, Kallipugos, or Pandemos. +The higher sexual enthusiasm assumed celestial form in Aphrodite +Ouranios. Love itself appeared personified in the graceful Erôs of +Praxiteles; and how sublimely Pheidias presented this god to the eyes of +his worshippers can now only be guessed at from a mutilated fragment +among the Elgin marbles. The wild and native instincts, wandering, +untutored and untamed, which still connect man with the life of woods +and beasts and April hours, received half-human shape in Pan and +Silenus, the Satyrs and the Fauns. In this department of semi-bestial +instincts we find one solitary instance bearing upon paiderastia. The +group of a Satyr tempting a youth at Naples stands alone among numerous +similar compositions which have female or hermaphroditic figures, and +which symbolise the violent and comprehensive lust of brutal appetite. +Further distinctions between the several degrees of love were drawn by +the Greek artists. Himeros, the desire that strikes the spirit through +the eyes, and Pothos, the longing of souls in separation from the object +of their passion, were carved together with Erôs by Scopas for +Aphrodite's temple at Megara. Throughout the whole of this series there +is no form set aside for paiderastia, as might have been expected if the +fancy of the Greeks had idealised a sensual Asiatic passion. Statues of +Ganymede carried to heaven by the eagle are, indeed, common enough in +Græco-Roman plastic art; yet, even here, there is nothing which +indicates the preference for a specifically voluptuous type of male +beauty.</p> + +<p>It should be noticed that the mythology of the Greeks was determined +before paiderastia laid hold upon the race. Homer and Hesiod, says +Herodotus, made the Hellenic theogony, and Homer and Hesiod knew only of +the passions and emotions which are common to all healthy semi-civilised +humanity. The artists, therefore, found in myths and poems +subject-matter which imperatively demanded a no less careful study of +the female than of the male form; nor were beautiful women wanting. +Great cities placed their maidens at the disposition of sculptors and +painters for the modelling of Aphrodite. The girls of Sparta in their +dances suggested groups of Artemis and Oreads. The Hetairai of Corinth +presented every detail of feminine perfection freely to the gaze. Eyes +accustomed to the "dazzling vision" of a naked athlete were no less +sensitive to the virginal veiled grace of the Athenian Canephoroi. The +temples of the female deities had their staffs of priestesses, and the +oracles their inspired prophetesses. Remembering these facts, +remembering also what we read about Æolian ladies who gained fame by +poetry, there is every reason to understand how sculptors found it easy +to idealise the female form. Nor need we imagine, because Greek +literature abounds in references to paiderastia, and because this +passion played an important part in Greek history, that therefore the +majority of the race were not susceptible in a far higher degree to +female charms. On the contrary, our best authorities speak of boy-love +as a characteristic which distinguished warriors, gymnasts, poets, and +philosophers from the common multitude. As far as regards artists, the +anecdotes which are preserved about them turn chiefly upon their +preference for women. For one tale concerning the Pantarkes of Pheidias, +we have a score relating to the Campaspe of Apelles and the Phryne of +Praxiteles.</p> + +<p>It may be judged superfluous to have proved that the female form was +idealised in sculpture by the Hellenes at least as nobly as the male; +nor need we seek elaborate reasons why paiderastia left no perceptible +stain upon the art of a race distinguished before all things by the +reserve of good taste. At the same time, there can be no reasonable +doubt that the artistic temperament of the Greeks had something to do +with its wide diffusion and many sided development. Sensitive to every +form of loveliness, and unrestrained by moral or religious prohibition, +they could not fail to be enthusiastic for that corporeal beauty, unlike +all other beauties of the human form, which marks male adolescence no +less triumphantly than does the male soprano voice upon the point of +breaking. The power of this corporeal loveliness to sway their +imagination by its unique æthetic charm is abundantly illustrated in the +passages which I have quoted above from the <i>Charmides</i> of Plato and +Xenophon's <i>Symposium</i>. An expressive Greek phrase, "Youths in their +prime of adolescence, but not distinguished by a special beauty," +recognises the persuasive influence, separate from that of true beauty, +which belongs to a certain period of masculine growth. The very +evanescence of this "bloom of youth" made it in Greek eyes desirable, +since nothing more clearly characterises the poetic myths which +adumbrate their special sensibility than the pathos of a blossom that +must fade. When distinction of feature and symmetry of form were added +to this charm of youthfulness, the Greeks admitted, as true artists are +obliged to do, that the male body displays harmonies of proportion and +melodies of outline more comprehensive, more indicative of strength +expressed in terms of grace, than that of women.<a name="FNanchor_184_184" id="FNanchor_184_184"></a><a href="#Footnote_184_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a> I guard myself +against saying—more seductive to the senses, more soft, more delicate, +more undulating. The superiority of male beauty does not consist in +these attractions, but in the symmetrical development of all the +qualities of the human frame, the complete organisation of the body as +the supreme instrument of vital energy. In the bloom of adolescence the +elements of feminine grace, suggested rather than expressed, are +combined with virility to produce a perfection which is lacking to the +mature and adult excellence of either sex. The Greek lover, if I am +right in the idea which I have formed of him, sought less to stimulate +desire by the contemplation of sensual charms than to attune his spirit +with the spectacle of strength at rest in suavity. He admired the +chastened lines, the figure slight but sinewy, the limbs well-knit and +flexible, the small head set upon broad shoulders, the keen eyes, the +austere reins, and the elastic movement of a youth made vigorous by +exercise. Physical perfection of this kind suggested to his fancy all +that he loved best in moral qualities. Hardihood, self-discipline, +alertness of intelligence, health, temperance, indomitable spirit, +energy, the joy of active life, plain living and high thinking—these +qualities the Greeks idealised, and of these, "the lightning vision of +the darling," was the living incarnation. There is plenty in their +literature to show that paiderastia obtained sanction from the belief +that a soul of this sort would be found within the body of a young man +rather than a woman. I need scarcely add that none but a race of artists +could be lovers of this sort, just as none but a race of poets were +adequate to apprehend the chivalrous enthusiasm for woman as an object +of worship.</p> + +<p>The morality of the Greeks, as I have tried elsewhere to prove, was +æsthetic. They regarded humanity as a part of a good and beautiful +universe, nor did they shrink from any of their normal instincts. To +find the law of human energy, the measure of man's natural desires, the +right moment for indulgence and for self-restraint, the balance which +results in health, the proper limit for each several function which +secures the harmony of all, seem to them the aim of ethics. Their +personal code of conduct ended in "modest self-restraint:" not +abstention, but selection and subordination ruled their practice. They +were satisfied with controlling much that more ascetic natures +unconditionally suppress. Consequently, to the Greeks, there was nothing +at first sight criminal in paiderastia. To forbid it as a hateful and +unclean thing did not occur to them. Finding it within their hearts, +they chose to regulate it, rather than to root it out. It was only after +the inconveniences and scandals to which paiderastia gave rise had been +forced upon their notice, that they felt the visitings of conscience and +wavered in their fearless attitude.</p> + +<p>In like manner, the religion of the Greeks was æsthetic. They analysed +the world of objects and the soul of man, unconsciously perhaps, but +effectively, and called their generalisations by the names of gods and +goddesses. That these were beautiful and filled with human energy was +enough to arouse in them the sentiments of worship. The notion of a +single Deity who ruled the human race by punishment and favour, hating +certain acts while he tolerated others—in other words, a God who +idealised one part of man's nature to the exclusion of the rest—had +never passed into the sphere of Greek conceptions. When, therefore, +paiderastia became a fact of their consciousness, they reasoned thus: If +man loves boys, God loves boys also. Homer and Hesiod forgot to tell us +about Ganymede and Hyacinth and Hylas. Let these lads be added to the +list of Danaë and Semele and Io. Homer told us that, because Ganymede +was beautiful, Zeus made him the serving-boy of the immortals. We +understand the meaning of that tale. Zeus loved him. The reason why he +did not leave him here on earth like Danaë was that he could not beget +sons upon his body and people the earth with heroes. Do not our wives +stay at home and breed our children? "Our favourite youths" are always +at our side.</p> + +<h3><a name="XIX" id="XIX"></a>XIX.</h3> + +<p>Sexual inversion among Greek women offers more difficulties than we met +with in the study of paiderastia. This is due, not to the absence of the +phenomenon, but to the fact that feminine homosexual passions were never +worked into the social system, never became educational and military +agents. The Greeks accepted the fact that certain females are +congenitally indifferent to the male sex, and appetitive of their own +sex. This appears from the myth of Aristophanes in Plato's <i>Symposium</i>, +which expresses in comic form their theory of sexual differentiation. +There were originally human beings of three sexes: men, the offspring of +the sun; women, the offspring of the earth; hermaphrodites, the +offspring of the moon. They were round with two faces, four hands, four +feet, and two sets of reproductive organs apiece. In the case of the +third (hermaphroditic or lunar) sex, one set of reproductive organs was +male, the other female. Zeus, on account of the insolence and vigour of +these primitive human creatures, sliced them into halves. Since that +time, the halves of each sort have always striven to unite with their +corresponding halves, and have found some satisfaction in carnal +congress—males with males, females with females, and (in the case of +the lunar or hermaphroditic creatures) males and females with one +another. Philosophically, then, the homosexual passion of female for +female, and of male for male, was placed upon exactly the same footing +as the heterosexual passion of each sex for its opposite. Greek logic +admitted the homosexual female to equal rights with the homosexual male, +and both to the same natural freedom as heterosexual individuals of +either species.</p> + +<p>Although this was the position assumed by philosophers, Lesbian passion, +as the Greeks called it, never obtained the same social sanction as +boy-love. It is significant that Greek mythology offers no legends of +the goddesses parallel to those which consecrated paiderastia among the +male deities. Again, we have no recorded example, so far as I can +remember, of noble friendships between women rising into political and +historical prominence. There are no female analogies to Harmodius and +Aristogeiton, Cratinus and Aristodemus. It is true that Sappho and the +Lesbian poetesses gave this female passion an eminent place in Greek +literature. But the Æolian women did not found a glorious tradition +corresponding to that of the Dorian men. If homosexual love between +females assumed the form of an institution at one moment in Æolia, this +failed to strike roots deep into the subsoil of the nation. Later +Greeks, while tolerating, regarded it rather as an eccentricity of +nature, or a vice, than as an honourable and socially useful emotion. +The condition of women in ancient Hellas sufficiently accounts for the +result. There was no opportunity in the harem or the zenana of raising +homosexual passion to the same moral and spiritual efficiency as it +obtained in the camp, the palæstra, and the schools of the philosophers. +Consequently, while the Greeks utilised and ennobled boy-love, they left +Lesbian love to follow the same course of degeneracy as it pursues in +modern times.</p> + +<p>In order to see how similar the type of Lesbian love in ancient Greece +was to the form which it assumed in modern Europe, we have only to +compare Lucian's Dialogues with Parisian tales by Catulle Mendès or Guy +de Maupassant. The woman who seduces the girl she loves, is, in the +girl's phrase, "over-masculine," "androgynous." The Megilla of Lucian +insists upon being called Megillos. The girl is a weaker vessel, pliant, +submissive to the virago's sexual energy, selected from the class of +meretricious <i>ingénues</i>.</p> + +<p>There is an important passage in the <i>Amores</i> of Lucian which proves +that the Greeks felt an abhorrence of sexual inversion among women +similar to that which moderns feel for its manifestation among men. +Charicles, who supports, the cause of normal heterosexual passion, +argues after this wise:</p> + +<div class="quotation"><p>"If you concede homosexual love to males, you must in justice grant +the same to females; you will have to sanction carnal intercourse +between them; monstrous instruments of lust will have to be +permitted, in order that their sexual congress may be carried out; +that obscene vocable, tribad, which so rarely offends our ears—I +blush to utter it—will become rampant, and Philænis will spread +androgynous orgies throughout our harems."</p></div> + +<p>What these monstrous instruments of lust were may be gathered from the +sixth mime of Herodas, where one of them is described in detail. +Philænis may, perhaps, be the poetess of an obscene book on sensual +refinements, to which Athanæus alludes (<i>Deipnosophistæ</i>, viii, 335). It +is also possible that Philænis had become the common designation of a +Lesbian lover, a tribad. In the latter periods of Greek literature, as I +have elsewhere shown, certain fixed masks of Attic comedy (corresponding +to the masks of the Italian <i>Commedia dell' Arte</i>) created types of +character under conventional names—so that, for example, Cerdo became a +cobbler, Myrtalë a common whore, and possibly Philænis a Lesbian invert.</p> + +<p>The upshot of this parenthetical investigation is to demonstrate that, +while the love of males for males in Greece obtained moralisation, and +reached the high position of a recognised social function, the love of +female for female remained undeveloped and unhonoured, on the same level +as both forms of homosexual passion in the modern European world are.</p> + +<h3><a name="XX" id="XX"></a>XX.</h3> + +<p>Greece merged into Rome; but, though the Romans aped the arts and +manners of the Greeks, they never truly caught the Hellenic spirit. Even +Virgil only trod the court of the Gentiles of Greek culture. It was not, +therefore, possible that any social custom so peculiar as paiderastia +should flourish on Latin soil. Instead of Cleomenes and Epameinondas, we +find at Rome, Nero, the bride of Sporus, and Commodus the public +prostitute. Alcibiades is replaced by the Mark Antony of Cicero's +<i>Philippic</i>. Corydon, with artificial notes, takes up the song of +Ageanax. The melodies of Meleager are drowned in the harsh discords of +Martial. Instead of love, lust was the deity of the boy-lover on the +shores of Tiber.</p> + +<p>In the first century of the Roman Empire, Christianity began its work of +reformation. When we estimate the effect of Christianity, we must bear +in mind that the early Christians found Paganism disorganised and +humanity rushing to a precipice of ruin. Their first efforts were +directed toward checking the sensuality of Corinth, Athens, Rome, the +capitals of Syria and Egypt. Christian asceticism, in the corruption of +the Pagan systems, led logically to the cloister and the hermitage. The +component elements of society had been disintegrated by the Greeks in +their decadence, and by the Romans in their insolence of material +prosperity. To the impassioned followers of Christ, nothing was left but +separation from nature, which had become incurable in its monstrosity of +vices. But the convent was a virtual abandonment of social problems.</p> + +<p>From this policy of despair, this helplessness to cope with evil, and +this hopelessness of good on earth, emerged a new and nobler synthesis, +the merit of which belongs in no small measure to the Teutonic converts +to the Christian faith. The Middle Ages proclaimed, through chivalry, +the truth, then for the first time fully apprehended, that woman is the +mediating and ennobling element in human life. Not in escape into the +cloister, not in the self-abandonment to vice, but in the fellow-service +of free men and women must be found the solution of social problems. The +mythology of Mary gave religious sanction to the chivalrous enthusiasm; +and a cult of woman sprang into being, to which, although it was +romantic and visionary, we owe the spiritual basis of our domestic and +civil life. The <i>modus vivendi</i> of the modern world was found.</p> + +<p class="c top15">FINIS.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Compare the fine rhetorical passage in Max. Tyr., +<i>Dissert.</i>, xxiv. 8, ed. Didot, 1842.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> i. 135.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Numerous localities, however, claimed this distinction. See +Ath., xiii. 601. Chalkis in Eubœa, as well as Crete, could show the +sacred spot where the mystical assumption of Ganymede was reported to +have happened.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>Laws</i>, i. 636. Cp. <i>Timæus</i>, quoted by Ath., p. 602. +Servius, <i>ad Aen.</i> x, 325, says that boy-love spread from Crete to +Sparta, and thence through Hellas, and Strabo mentions its prevalence +among the Cretans (x. 483). Plato (Rep. v. 452) speaks of the Cretans as +introducing naked athletic sports.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> <i>Laws</i>, viii. 863.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> See Ath., xiii. 602. Plutarch, in the Life of Pelopidas +(Clough, vol. ii. p. 219), argues against this view.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> See Rosenbaum, <i>Lustseuche im Alterthume</i>, p. 118.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Max. Tyr., <i>Dissert.</i>, ix.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> See Sismondi, vol. ii. p. 324, Symonds, <i>Renaissance in +Italy</i>, <i>Age of the Despots</i>, p. 435; Tardieu, <i>Attentats aux Mœurs</i>, +<i>Les Ordures de Paris</i>; Sir R. Burton's <i>Terminal Essay</i> to the "Arabian +Nights;" Carlier, <i>Les Deux Prostitutions</i>, etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> I say almost, because something of the same sort appeared +in Persia at the time of Saadi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Plato, in the <i>Phædrus</i>, the <i>Symposium</i>, and the <i>Laws</i>, +is decisive on the mixed nature of paiderastia.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Theocr., <i>Paidika</i>, probably an Æolic poem of much older +date.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> <i>Phædrus</i>, p. 252, Jowett's translation.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Page 178, Jowett.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Clough, vol. ii. p. 218.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Book vii. 4, 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> We may compare a passage from the <i>Symposium</i> ascribed to +Xenophon, viii. 32.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Page 182, Jowett.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Plutarch, <i>Eroticus</i>, cap. xvii. p. 791, 40, Reiske.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Lang's translation, p. 63.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> See Athenæus, xiii. 602, for the details.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> See Athenæus, xiii. 602, who reports an oracle in praise +of these lovers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Ar., <i>Pol.</i>, ii. 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> See Theocr. <i>Aïtes</i> and the <i>Scholia</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> See Plutarch's <i>Eroticus</i>, 760, 42, where the story is +reported on the faith of Aristotle.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> <i>Pelopidas</i>, Clough's trans., vol. ii. 218.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Cap. xvi. p. 760, 21.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Cap. xxiii. p. 768, 53. Compare Max. Tyr., <i>Dissert.</i>, +xxiv. 1. See too the chapter on Tyrannicide in Ar. Pol., viii. (v.) 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Clough's trans., vol. v. p. 118.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> <i>Hellenics</i>, bk. ix. cap. xxvi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Suidas, under the heading <i>Paidika</i>, tells of two lovers +who both died in battle, fighting each to save the other.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> See, for example, <i>Æschines against Timarchus</i>, 59.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Trans. by Sir G. C. Lewis, vol. ii. pp. 309-313.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> <i>Symp.</i> 182 A.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> i. 132.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> <i>De Rep.</i>, iv. 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> I need hardly point out the parallel between this custom +and the marriage customs of half-civilised communities.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> The general opinion of the Greeks with regard to the best +type of Dorian love is well expressed by Maximus Tyrius, <i>Dissert.</i>, +xxvi. 8. "It is esteemed a disgrace to a Cretan youth to have no lover. +It is a disgrace for a Cretan youth to tamper with the boy he loves. O +custom, beautifully blent of self-restraint and passion! The man of +Sparta loves the lad of Lacedæmon, but loves him only as one loves a +fair statue; and many love one, and one loves many."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> <i>Laws</i>, i. 636.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> <i>Pol.</i>, ii. 7, 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> Lib. 13,602, E.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> It is not unimportant to note in this connection that +paiderastia of no ignoble type still prevails among the Albanian +mountaineers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> The foregoing attempt to reconstruct a possible +environment for the Dorian form of paiderastia is, of course, wholly +imaginative. Yet it receives certain support from what we know about the +manners of the Albanian mountaineers and the nomadic Tartar tribes. +Aristotle remarks upon the paiderastic customs of the Kelts, who in his +times were immigrant.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> See above, Section V.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> It appears from the reports of travellers that this form +of passion is not common among those African tribes who have not been +corrupted by Musselmans or Europeans.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> It may be plausibly argued that Æschylus drew the subject +of his <i>Myrmidones</i> from some such non-Homeric epic. See below, Section +XII.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> 182 A. Cp. <i>Laws</i>, i. 636.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> <i>Eroticus</i>, xvii. p. 761, 34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> See Plutarch, <i>Pelopidas</i>, Clough, vol. ii. p. 219.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> Clough, as quoted above, p. 219.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> The connection of the royal family of Macedon by descent +with the Æacidæ, and the early settlement of the Dorians in Macedonia, +are noticeable.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> Cf. Athenæus, x. 435.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> Hadrian in Rome, at a later period, revived the Greek +tradition with even more of caricature. His military ardour, patronage +of art, and love for Antinous seem to hang together.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> <i>Dissert.</i>, xxvi. 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> See Athen., xiii., 609, F. The prize was armour and the +wreath of myrtle.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> <i>Symp.</i> 182, B. In the <i>Laws</i>, however, he mentions the +Barbarians as corrupting Greek morality in this respect. We have here a +further proof that it was the noble type of love which the Barbarians +discouraged. For <i>Malakia</i> they had no dislike.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> Bergk., <i>Poetæ Lyrica Græci</i>, vol. ii. p. 490, line 87 of +Theognis.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, line 1,353.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, line 1,369.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, lines 1,259-1,270.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, line 1,267.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, lines 237-254. Translated by me in <i>Vagabunduli +Libellus</i>, p. 167.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> Bergk., <i>Poetæ Lyrici Græci</i>, vol. ii. line 1,239.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, line 1,304.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, line 1,327.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, line 1,253.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, line 1,335.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> <i>Eroticus</i>, cap. v. p. 751, 21. See Bergk., vol. ii. p. +430.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> See Cic., <i>Tusc.</i>, iv. 33</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> Bergk., vol. iii. p. 1,013.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 1,045.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 1,109, 1,023; fr. 24, 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 1,023; fr. 48.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> Maximus Tyrius, <i>Dissert.</i>, xxvi., says that Smerdies was +a Thracian, given, for his great beauty, by his Greek captors to +Polycrates.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> See what Agathon says in the <i>Thesmophoriazuse</i> of +Aristophanes.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> xv. 695.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> Bergk., vol. iii. p. 1,293.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, vol. i. p. 327.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> Athen., xiii. 601 A.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> See the fragments of the <i>Myrmidones</i> in the <i>Poetæ +Scenici Græci</i>, My interpretation of them is, of course, conjectural.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> Lucian, <i>Amores</i>; Plutarch, <i>Eroticus</i>; Athenæus, xiii. +602 E.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> Possibly Æschylus drew his fable from a non-Homeric +source, but if so, it is curious that Plato should only refer to Homer.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> <i>Symph.</i>, 180 A. Xenophon, <i>Symph.</i>, 8, 31, points out +that in Homer Achilles avenged the death of Patroclus, not as his lover, +but as his comrade in arms.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> Cf. Eurid., <i>Hippol.</i>, l. 525; Plato, <i>Phœdr.</i>, p. 255; +Max. Tyr., <i>Dissert.</i>, xxv. 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> See <i>Poetæ Scenici</i>, <i>Fragments of Sophocles</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> <i>Eroticus</i>; p. 790 E.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> Ath., p. 602 E.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> <i>Tusc.</i>, iv. 33.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> See Athenæus, xiii. pp. 604, 605, for two very outspoken +stories about Sophocles at Chios and apparently at Athens. In 582, e, he +mentions one of the boys beloved by Sophocles, a certain Demophon.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> Plato, <i>Parm.</i>, 127 A.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> Pausanias, v. 11, and see Meier, p. 159, note 93.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> This, by the way, is a strong argument against the theory +that the <i>Iliad</i> was a post-Herodotean poem. A poem in the age of +Pisistratus or Pericles would not have omitted paiderastia from his view +of life, and could not have told the myth of Ganymede as Homer tells it. +It is doubtful whether he could have preserved the pure outlines of the +story of Patroclus.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> Page 182, Jowett's trans. Mr. Jowett censures this speech +as sophistic and confused in view. It is precisely on this account that +it is valuable. The confusion indicates the obscure conscience of the +Athenians. The sophistry is the result of a half-acknowledged false +position.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> Page 181, Jowett's trans.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> See the curious passages in Plato, <i>Symp.</i>, p. 192; +Plutarch, <i>Erot.</i>, p. 751; and Lucian, <i>Amores</i>, c. 38.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> Quoted by Athen, xiii. 573 B.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> As Lycon chaperoned Autolycus at the feast of +Callias.—<i>Xen. Symp.</i> Boys incurred immediate suspicion if they went +out alone to parties. See a fragment from the <i>Sappho</i> of Ephippus in +Athen., xiii. p. 572 C.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> Line 137. The joke here is that the father in Utopia +suggests, of his own accord, what in Athens he carefully guarded +against.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> Page 222, Jowett's trans.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> <i>Clouds</i>, 948 and on. I have abridged the original, doing +violence to one of the most beautiful pieces of Greek poetry.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> Aristophanes returns to this point below, line 1,036, +where he says that youths chatter all day in the hot baths and leave the +wrestling-grounds empty.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> There was a good reason for shunning each. The Agora was +the meeting-place of idle gossips, the centre of chaff and scandal. The +shops were, as we shall see, the resort of bad characters and panders.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> Line 1,071, <i>et seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> Caps. 44, 45, 46. The quotation is only an abstract of +the original.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> Worn up to the age of about eighteen.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> Compare with the passages just quoted two epigrams from +the <i>Mousa Paidiké</i> (Greek <i>Anthology</i>, sect. 12): No. 123, from a lover +to a lad who has conquered in a boxing-match; No. 192, where Straton +says he prefers the dust and oil of the wrestling-ground to the curls +and perfumes of a woman's room.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> Page 255 B.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> 1,025.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> <i>Charmides</i>, p. 153.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> <i>Lysis</i>, 206, This seems, however, to imply that on other +occasions they were separated.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> <i>Charmides</i>, p. 154, Jowett.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> Page 155, Jowett.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> Cap. i. 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> See cap. viii. 7. This is said before the boy, and in his +hearing.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> Cap. iii. 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> Cap. iv. 10, <i>et seq.</i> The English is an abridgment.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> <i>Laws</i>, i. 636 C.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> Athen., xiii. 602 D.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> <i>Eroticus</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> Line 60, ascribed to Theocritus, but not genuine.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_121_121" id="Footnote_121_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> Athen., xiii. 609 D.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_122_122" id="Footnote_122_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> <i>Mousa Paidiké</i>, 86.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_123_123" id="Footnote_123_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> Compare the <i>Atys</i> of Catullus: "Ego mulier, ego +adolescens, ego ephebus, ego puer, Ego gymnasi fui flos, ego eram decus +olei."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_124_124" id="Footnote_124_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> See the law on these points in <i>Æsch. adv. Timarchum</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_125_125" id="Footnote_125_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> Thus Aristophanes, quoted above.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_126_126" id="Footnote_126_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> Aristoph., <i>Ach.</i>, 144, and <i>Mousa Paidiké</i>, 130.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_127_127" id="Footnote_127_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> See Sir William Hamilton's <i>Vases</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_128_128" id="Footnote_128_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> Lysias, according to Suidas, was the author of five +erotic epistles adressed to young men.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_129_129" id="Footnote_129_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> See Aristoph., <i>Plutus</i>, 153-159; <i>Birds</i>, 704-707. Cp. +<i>Mousa Paidiké</i>, 44, 239, 237. The boys made extraordinary demands upon +their lovers' generosity. The curious tale told about Alcibiades points +in this direction. In Crete they did the like, but also set their lovers +to execute difficult tasks, as Eurystheus imposed the twelve labours on +Herakles.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_130_130" id="Footnote_130_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> Page 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_131_131" id="Footnote_131_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> <i>Mousa Paidiké</i>, 8: cp. a fragment of Crates, <i>Poetæ +Comici</i>, Didot, p. 83.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_132_132" id="Footnote_132_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> <i>Comici Græci</i>, Didot, pp. 562, 31, 308.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_133_133" id="Footnote_133_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> It is curious to compare the passage in the second +<i>Philippic</i> about the youth of Mark Antony with the story told by +Plutarch about Alcibiades, who left the custody of his guardians for the +house of Democrates.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_134_134" id="Footnote_134_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> See both <i>Lysias against Simon</i> and <i>Æschines against +Timarchus</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_135_135" id="Footnote_135_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> <i>Peace</i>, line 11; compare the word <i>Pallakion</i> in Plato, +<i>Comici Græci</i>, p. 261.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_136_136" id="Footnote_136_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> Diog. Laert., ii. 105.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_137_137" id="Footnote_137_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> Plato's <i>Phædo</i>, p. 89.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_138_138" id="Footnote_138_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> <i>Orat. Attici</i>, vol. ii. p. 223.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_139_139" id="Footnote_139_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> See Herodotus. Max. Tyr. tells the story (<i>Dissert.</i>, +xxiv, 1) in detail. The boy's name was Actæon, wherefore he may be +compared, he says, to that other Actæon who was torn to death by his own +dogs.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_140_140" id="Footnote_140_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> 153.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_141_141" id="Footnote_141_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> <i>Symp.</i>, 217.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_142_142" id="Footnote_142_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142_142"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> <i>Phædr.</i>, 256.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_143_143" id="Footnote_143_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143_143"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> Page 17. My quotations are made from Dobson's <i>Oratores +Attici</i>, vol. xii., and the references are to his pages.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_144_144" id="Footnote_144_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144_144"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> Page 30.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_145_145" id="Footnote_145_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145_145"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> Page 67.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_146_146" id="Footnote_146_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146_146"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> Page 67.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_147_147" id="Footnote_147_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147_147"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> Page 59.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_148_148" id="Footnote_148_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148_148"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> Page 75.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_149_149" id="Footnote_149_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149_149"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> Page 78.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_150_150" id="Footnote_150_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150_150"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> Æchines, p. 27, apologises to Misgolas, who was a man, he +says, of good breeding, for being obliged to expose his early connection +with Timarchus. Misgolas, however, is more than once mentioned by the +comic poets with contempt as a notorious rake.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_151_151" id="Footnote_151_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151_151"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> See <i>Pol.</i>, ii. 7, 5; ii. 6, 5; ii. 9, 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_152_152" id="Footnote_152_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152_152"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> The advocates of paiderastia in Greece tried to refute +the argument from animals (<i>Laws</i>, p. 636 B; cp. <i>Daphnis and Chloe</i>, +lib. 4, what Daphnis says to Gnathon) by the following considerations: +Man is not a lion or a bear. Social life among human beings is highly +artificial; forms of intimacy unknown to the natural state are therefore +to be regarded, like clothing, cooking of food, houses, machinery, &c., +as the invention and privilege of rational beings. See Lucian, <i>Amores</i>, +33, 34, 35, 36, for a full exposition of this argument. See also <i>Mousa +Paidiké</i>, 245. The curious thing is that many animals are addicted to +all sorts of so-called unnatural vices.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_153_153" id="Footnote_153_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153_153"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> Maximus Tyrius, who, in the rhetorical analysis of love +alluded to before (p. 172), has closely followed Plato, insists upon the +confusion introduced by language. <i>Dissert.</i>, xxiv. 3. Again, +<i>Dissert.</i>, xxvi. 4; and compare <i>Dissert.</i>, xxv. 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_154_154" id="Footnote_154_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154_154"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> This is the development of the argument in the <i>Phædrus</i>, +where Socrates, improvising an improvement on the speech of Lysias, +compares lovers to wolves and boys to lambs. See the passage in Max. +Tyr., where Socrates is compared to a shepherd, the Athenian lovers to +butchers, and the boys to lambs upon the mountains.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_155_155" id="Footnote_155_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155_155"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> This again is the development of the whole eloquent +analysis of love, as it attacks the uninitiated and unphilosophic +nature, in the <i>Phædrus</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_156_156" id="Footnote_156_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156_156"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> Jowett's trans., p. 837.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_157_157" id="Footnote_157_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157_157"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> <i>Dissert.</i>, xxv. 1. The same author pertinently remarks +that, though the teaching of Socrates on love might well have been +considered perilous, it, formed no part of the accusations of either +Anytus or Aristophanes. <i>Dissert.</i>, xxiv., 5-7</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_158_158" id="Footnote_158_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158_158"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> This is a remark of Diotima's. Maximus Tyrius +(<i>Dissert.</i>, xxvi. 8) gives it a very rational interpretation. Nowhere +else, he says, but in the human form, does the light of the divine +beauty shine so clear. This is the word of classic art, the word of the +humanities, to use a phrase of the Renaissance. It finds an echo in many +beautiful sonnets of Michelangelo.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_159_159" id="Footnote_159_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159_159"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> See Bergk., vol. ii. pp. 616-629, for a critique of the +canon of the highly paiderastic epigrams which bear Plato's name and for +their text.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_160_160" id="Footnote_160_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160_160"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> I select the <i>Vita Nuova</i> as the most eminent example of +mediæval erotic mysticism.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_161_161" id="Footnote_161_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161_161"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> <i>Tusc.</i>, iv. 33; <i>Decline and Fall</i>, cap. xliv. note +192.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_162_162" id="Footnote_162_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162_162"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> See Meier, cap. 15.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_163_163" id="Footnote_163_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163_163"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> Cap. 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_164_164" id="Footnote_164_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164_164"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> Cap. 54.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_165_165" id="Footnote_165_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165_165"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> Page 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_166_166" id="Footnote_166_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166_166"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> It is noticeable that in all ages men of learning have +been obnoxious to paiderastic passions. Dante says (<i>Inferno</i>, xv. +106):— +</p><p> +</p><p class="poem"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"In somma sappi, che tutti fur cherci,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">E letterati grandi e di gran fama,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">D'un medesmo poccato al mondo lerci."</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Compare Ariosto, <i>Satire</i>, vii.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_167_167" id="Footnote_167_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167_167"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> <i>Dissert.</i>, xxvi. 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_168_168" id="Footnote_168_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168_168"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> I am aware that the genuineness of the essay has been +questioned.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_169_169" id="Footnote_169_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_169_169"><span class="label">[169]</span></a> <i>Mousa Paidiké</i>, i.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_170_170" id="Footnote_170_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_170_170"><span class="label">[170]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 208.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_171_171" id="Footnote_171_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_171_171"><span class="label">[171]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 258, 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_172_172" id="Footnote_172_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_172_172"><span class="label">[172]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 70, 65, 69, 194, 220, 221, 67, 68, 78, and +others.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_173_173" id="Footnote_173_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_173_173"><span class="label">[173]</span></a> Perhaps ten are of this sort.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_174_174" id="Footnote_174_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_174_174"><span class="label">[174]</span></a> 8, 125, for example.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_175_175" id="Footnote_175_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_175_175"><span class="label">[175]</span></a> 132, 256, 221.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_176_176" id="Footnote_176_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_176_176"><span class="label">[176]</span></a> 219.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_177_177" id="Footnote_177_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_177_177"><span class="label">[177]</span></a> 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_178_178" id="Footnote_178_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_178_178"><span class="label">[178]</span></a> 17. Compare 86.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_179_179" id="Footnote_179_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_179_179"><span class="label">[179]</span></a> Ed. Kayser, pp. 343-366.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_180_180" id="Footnote_180_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_180_180"><span class="label">[180]</span></a> It is worth comparing the letters of Philostratus with +those of Alciphron, a contemporary of Lucian. In the latter there is no +hint of paiderastia. The life of parasites, grisettes, lorettes, and +young men about town at Athens is set forth in imitation probably of the +later comedy. Athens is shown to have been a Paris <i>à la Murger</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_181_181" id="Footnote_181_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_181_181"><span class="label">[181]</span></a> See the introduction by Marcus Aurelius to his +<i>Meditations</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_182_182" id="Footnote_182_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_182_182"><span class="label">[182]</span></a> See quotations in Rosenbaum, 119-140.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_183_183" id="Footnote_183_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_183_183"><span class="label">[183]</span></a> See Athen., xii. 517, for an account of their grotesque +sensuality.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_184_184" id="Footnote_184_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_184_184"><span class="label">[184]</span></a> The following passage may be extracted from a letter of +Winckelmann (see Pater's <i>Studies in the History of the Renaissance</i>, p. +162): "As it is confessedly the beauty of man which is to be conceived +under one general idea, so I have noticed that those who are observant +of beauty only in women, and are moved little or not at all by the +beauty of men, seldom have an impartial, vital, inborn instinct for +beauty in art. To such persons the beauty of Greek art will ever seem +wanting, because its supreme beauty is rather male than female." To this +I think we ought to add that, while it is true that "the supreme beauty +of Greek art is rather male than female," this is due not so much to any +passion of the Greeks for male beauty as to the fact that the male body +exhibits a higher organisation of the human form than the female.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Problem in Greek Ethics, by +John Addington Symonds + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PROBLEM IN GREEK ETHICS *** + +***** This file should be named 32022-h.htm or 32022-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/0/2/32022/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This ebook was +produced from scanned images of public domain material at +Google Books.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Problem in Greek Ethics + Being an inquiry into the phenomenon of sexual inversion + +Author: John Addington Symonds + +Release Date: April 17, 2010 [EBook #32022] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PROBLEM IN GREEK ETHICS *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This ebook was +produced from scanned images of public domain material at +Google Books.) + + + + + + + + + +A + +PROBLEM + +IN + +GREEK ETHICS + +BEING + +AN INQUIRY INTO THE PHENOMENON OF + +_SEXUAL INVERSION_ + +ADDRESSED ESPECIALLY TO MEDICAL PSYCHOLOGISTS AND JURISTS + +BY + +JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS + +_PRIVATELY PRINTED_ + +FOR + +THE AREOPAGITIGA SOCIETY + +LONDON + +1908 + +_Privately Printed in Holland for the Society._ + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The following treatise on Greek Love was written in the year 1873, when +my mind was occupied with my _Studies of Greek Poets_. I printed ten +copies of it privately in 1883. It was only when I read the Terminal +Essay appended by Sir Richard Burton to his translation of the _Arabian +Nights_ in 1886, that I became aware of M. H. E. Meier's article on +Paederastie (Ersch and Gruber's _Encyclopaedie_, Leipzig, Brockhaus, +1837). My treatise, therefore, is a wholly independent production. This +makes Meier's agreement (in Section 7 of his article) with the theory I +have set forth in Section X. regarding the North Hellenic origin of +Greek Love, and its Dorian character, the more remarkable. That two +students, working separately upon the same mass of material, should have +arrived at similar conclusions upon this point strongly confirms the +probability of the hypothesis. + +J. A. SYMONDS. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +I. INTRODUCTION: Method of treating the subject. + +II. Homer had no knowledge of paiderastia--Achilles--Treatment of Homer +by the later Greeks. + +III. The Romance of Achilles and Patroclus. + +IV. The heroic ideal of masculine love. + +V. Vulgar paiderastia--How introduced into Hellas--Crete--Laius--The +myth of Ganymede. + +VI. Discrimination of two loves, heroic and vulgar. The mixed sort is +the paiderastia defined as Greek love in this essay. + +VII. The intensity of paiderastia as an emotion, and its quality. + +VIII. Myths of paiderastia. + +IX. Semi-legendary tales of love--Harmodius and Aristogeiton. + +X. Dorian Customs--Sparta and Crete--Conditions of Dorian life--Moral +quality of Dorian love--Its final degeneracy--Speculations on the early +Dorian _Ethos_--Boeotians' customs--The sacred band--Alexander the +Great--Customs of Elis and Megara--_Hybris_--Ionia. + +XI. Paiderastia in poetry of the lyric age. Theognis and +Kurnus--Solon--Ibycus, the male Sappho--Anacreon and Smerdies--Drinking +songs--Pindar and Theoxenos--Pindar's lofty conception of adolescent +beauty. + +XII. Paiderastia upon the Attic stage--_Myrmidones_ of +AEschylus--_Achilles' lovers_, and _Niobe_ of Sophocles--The _Chrysippus_ +of Euripides--Stories about Sophocles--Illustrious Greek paiderasts. + +XIII. Recapitulation of points--Quotation from the speech of Pausanias +on love in Plato's _Symposium_--Observations on this speech. Position of +women at Athens--Attic notion of marriage as a duty--The institution of +_Paidagogoi_--Life of a Greek boy--Aristophanes' _Clouds_--Lucian's +_Amores_--The Palaestra--The _Lysis_--The _Charmides_--Autolicus in +Xenophon's _Symposium_--Speech of Critobulus on beauty and +love--Importance of gymnasia in relation to paiderastia--Statues of +Eros--Cicero's opinions--Laws concerning the gymnasia--Graffiti on +walls--Love-poems and panegyrics--Presents to boys--Shops and _mauvais +lieux_--Paiderastic _Hetaireia_--Brothels--Phaedon and Agathocles. +Street-brawls about boys--_Lysias in Simonem_. + +XIV. Distinctions drawn by Attic law and custom--_Chrestoi +Pornoi_--Presents and money--Atimia of freemen who had sold their +bodies--The definition of _Misthosis_--_Eromenos_, _Hetairekos_, +_Peporneumenos_, distinguished--_AEschines against Timarchus_--General +Conclusion as to Attic feeling about honourable paiderastia. + +XV. Platonic doctrine on Greek love--The asceticism of the +_Laws_--Socrates--His position defined by Maximus Tyrius--His science of +erotics--The theory of the _Phaedrus_: erotic _Mania_--The mysticism of +the _Symposium_: love of beauty--Points of contact between Platonic +paiderastia and chivalrous love: _Mania_ and Joie: Dante's _Vita +Nuova_--Platonist and Petrarchist--Gibbon on the "thin device" of the +Athenian philosophers--Testimony of Lucian, Plutarch, Cicero. + +XVI. Greek liberty and Greek love extinguished at Chaeronea--The +Idyllists--Lucian's _Amores_--Greek poets never really gross--_Mousa +Paidike_--Philostratus' _Epistolai Erotikai_--Greek Fathers on +paiderastia. + +XVII. The deep root struck by paiderastia in +Greece--Climate--Gymnastics--Syssitia--Military life--Position of Women: +inferior culture; absence from places of resort--Greek leisure. + +XVIII. Relation of paiderastia to the fine arts--Greek sculpture wholly +and healthily human--Ideals of female deities--Paiderastia did not +degrade the imagination of the race--Psychological analysis underlying +Greek mythology--The psychology of love--Greek mythology fixed before +Homer--Opportunities enjoyed by artists for studying women--Anecdotes +about artists--The aesthetic temperament of the Greeks, unbiased by +morality and religion, encouraged paiderastia--_Hora_--Physical and +moral qualities admired by a Greek--Greek ethics were +aesthetic--_Sophrosyne_--Greek religion was aesthetic--No notion of +Jehovah--Zeus and Ganymede. + +XIX. Homosexuality among Greek women--Never attained to the same dignity +as paiderastia. + +XX. Greek love did not exist at Rome--Christianity--Chivalry--The _modus +vivendi_ of the modern world. + + + + +A PROBLEM IN GREEK ETHICS. + + + + +I. + + +For the student of sexual inversion, ancient Greece offers a wide field +for observation and reflection. Its importance has hitherto been +underrated by medical and legal writers on the subject, who do not seem +to be aware that here alone in history have we the example of a great +and highly-developed race not only tolerating homosexual passions, but +deeming them of spiritual value, and attempting to utilise them for the +benefit of society. Here, also, through the copious stores of literature +at our disposal, we can arrive at something definite regarding the +various forms assumed by these passions, when allowed free scope for +development in the midst of refined and intellectual civilisation. What +the Greeks called paiderastia, or boy-love, was a phenomenon of one of +the most brilliant periods of human culture, in one of the most highly +organised and nobly active nations. It is the feature by which Greek +social life is most sharply distinguished from that of any other people +approaching the Hellenes in moral or mental distinction. To trace the +history of so remarkable a custom in their several communities, and to +ascertain, so far as this is possible, the ethical feeling of the Greeks +upon this subject, must be of service to the scientific psychologist. It +enables him to approach the subject from another point of view than that +usually adopted by modern jurists, psychiatrists, writers on forensic +medicine. + + + + +II. + + +The first fact which the student has to notice is that in the Homeric +poems a modern reader finds no trace of this passion. It is true that +Achilles, the hero of the _Iliad_, is distinguished by his friendship +for Patroclus no less emphatically than Odysseus, the hero of the +_Odyssey_, by lifelong attachment to Penelope, and Hector by love for +Andromache. But in the delineation of the friendship of Achilles and +Patroclus there is nothing which indicates the passionate relation of +the lover and the beloved, as they were afterwards recognised in Greek +society. This is the more remarkable because the love of Achilles for +Patroclus added, in a later age of Greek history, an almost religious +sanction of the martial form of paiderastia. In like manner the +friendship of Idomeneus for Meriones, and that of Achilles, after the +death of Patroclus, for Antilochus, were treated by the later Greeks as +paiderastic. Yet, inasmuch as Homer gives no warrant for this +interpretation of the tales in question, we are justified in concluding +that homosexual relations were not prominent in the so-called heroic age +of Greece. Had it formed a distinct feature of the society depicted in +the Homeric poems, there is no reason to suppose that their authors +would have abstained from delineating it. We shall see that Pindar, +AEschylus and Sophocles, the poets of an age when paiderastia was +prevalent, spoke unreservedly upon the subject. + +Impartial study of the _Iliad_ leads us to the belief that the Greeks of +the historic period interpreted the friendship of Achilles and Patroclus +in accordance with subsequently developed customs. The Homeric poems +were the Bible of the Greeks, and formed the staple of their education; +nor did they scruple to wrest the sense of the original, reading, like +modern Bibliolaters, the sentiments and passions of a later age into the +text. Of this process a good example is afforded by AEschines in the +oration against Timarchus. While discussing this very question of the +love of Achilles, he says: "He, indeed, conceals their love, and does +not give its proper name to the affection between them, judging that the +extremity of their fondness would be intelligible to instructed men +among his audience." As an instance the orator proceeds to quote the +passage in which Achilles laments that he will not be able to fulfil his +promise to Menoetius by bringing Patroclus home to Opus. He is here +clearly introducing the sentiments of an Athenian hoplite who had taken +the boy he loved to Syracuse and seen him slain there. + +Homer stood in a double relation to the historical Greeks. On the one +hand, he determined their development by the influence of his ideal +characters. On the other, he underwent from them interpretations which +varied with the spirit of each successive century. He created the +national temperament, but received in turn the influx of new thoughts +and emotions occurring in the course of its expansion. It is, therefore, +highly important, on the threshold of this inquiry, to determine the +nature of that Achilleian friendship to which the panegyrists and +apologists of the custom make such frequent reference. + + + + +III. + + +The ideal of character in Homer was what the Greeks called heroic; what +we should call chivalrous. Young men studied the _Iliad_ as our +ancestors studied the Arthurian romances, finding there a pattern of +conduct raised almost too high above the realities of common life for +imitation, yet stimulative of enthusiasm and exciting to the fancy. +Foremost among the paragons of heroic virtue stood Achilles, the +splendour of whose achievements in the Trojan war was only equalled by +the pathos of his friendship. The love for slain Patroclus broke his +mood of sullen anger, and converted his brooding sense of wrong into a +lively thirst for vengeance. Hector, the slayer of Patroclus, had to be +slain by Achilles, the comrade of Patroclus. No one can read the _Iliad_ +without observing that its action virtually turns upon the conquest +which the passion of friendship gains over the passion of resentment in +the breast of the chief actor. This the Greek students of Homer were not +slow to see; and they not unnaturally selected the friendship of +Achilles for their ideal of manly love. It was a powerful and masculine +emotion, in which effeminacy had no part, and which by no means excluded +the ordinary sexual feelings. Companionship in battle and the chase, in +public and in private affairs of life, was the communion proposed by +Achilleian friends--not luxury or the delights which feminine +attractions offered. The tie was both more spiritual and more energetic +than that which bound man to woman. Such was the type of comradeship +delineated by Homer; and such, in spite of the modifications suggested +by later poets, was the conception retained by the Greeks of this heroic +friendship. Even AEschines, in the place above quoted, lays stress upon +the mutual loyalty of Achilles and Patroclus as the strongest bond of +their affection: "regarding, I suppose, their loyalty and mutual +goodwill as the most touching feature of their love."[1] + + + + +IV. + + +Thus the tale of Achilles and Patroclus sanctioned among the Greeks a +form of masculine love, which, though afterwards connected with +paiderastia properly so-called, we are justified in describing as +heroic, and in regarding as one of the highest products of their +emotional life. It will be seen, when we come to deal with the +historical manifestations of this passion, that the heroic love which +took its name from Homer's Achilles existed as an ideal rather than an +actual reality. This, however, is equally the case with Christianity and +chivalry. The facts of feudal history fall below the high conception +which hovered like a dream above the knights and ladies of the Middle +Ages; nor has the spirit of the Gospel been realised, in fact, by the +most Christian nations. Still we are not on that account debarred from +speaking of both chivalry and Christianity as potent and effective +forces. + + + + +V. + + +Homer, then, knew nothing of paiderastia, though the _Iliad_ contained +the first and noblest legend of heroic friendship. Very early, however, +in Greek history boy-love, as a form of sensual passion, became a +national institution. This is proved abundantly by mythological +traditions of great antiquity, by legendary tales connected with the +founding of Greek cities, and by the primitive customs of the Dorian +tribes. The question remains how paiderastia originated among the +Greeks, and whether it was introduced or indigenous. + +The Greeks themselves speculated on this subject, but they arrived at no +one definite conclusion. Herodotus asserts that the Persians learned the +habit, in its vicious form, from the Greeks;[2] but, even supposing this +assertion to be correct, we are not justified in assuming the same of +all barbarians who were neighbours of the Greeks; since we know from the +Jewish records and from Assyrian inscriptions that the Oriental nations +were addicted to this as well as other species of sensuality. Moreover, +it might with some strain on language be maintained that Herodotus, in +the passage above referred to, did not allude to boy-love in general, +but to the peculiarly Hellenic form of it which I shall afterwards +attempt to characterise. + +A prevalent opinion among the Greeks ascribed the origin of paiderastia +to Crete; and it was here that the legend of Zeus and Ganymede was +localised.[3] "The Cretans," says Plato,[4] "are always accused of +having invented the story of Ganymede and Zeus, which is designed to +justify themselves in the enjoyment of such pleasures by the practice of +the god whom they believe to have been their lawgiver." + +In another passage,[5] Plato speaks of the custom that prevailed before +the time of Laius--in terms which show his detestation of a vice that +had gone far toward corrupting Greek society. This sentence indicates +the second theory of the later Greeks upon this topic. They thought that +Laius, the father of OEdipus, was the first to practise _Hybris_, or +lawless lust, in this form, by the rape committed on Chrysippus, the son +of Pelops.[6] To this crime of Laius, the Scholiast to the _Seven +against Thebes_ attributes all the evils which afterwards befell the +royal house of Thebes, and Euripides made it the subject of a tragedy. +In another but less prevalent Saga the introduction of paiderastia is +ascribed to Orpheus. + +It is clear from these conflicting theories that the Greeks themselves +had no trustworthy tradition on the subject. Nothing, therefore, but +speculative conjecture is left for the modern investigator. If we need +in such a matter to seek further than the primal instincts of human +nature, we may suggest that, like the orgiastic rites of the later +Hellenic cultus, paiderastia in its crudest form was transmitted to the +Greeks from the East. Its prevalence in Crete, which, together with +Cyprus, formed one of the principal links between Phoenicia and Hellas +proper, favours this view. Paiderastia would, on this hypothesis, like +the worship of the Paphian and Corinthian Aphrodite, have to be regarded +as in part an Oriental importation.[7] Yet, if we adopt any such +solution of the problem, we must not forget that in this, as in all +similar cases, whatever the Greeks received from adjacent nations, they +distinguished with the qualities of their own personality. Paiderastia +in Hellas assumed Hellenic characteristics, and cannot be confounded +with any merely Asiatic form of luxury. In the tenth section of this +Essay I shall return to the problem, and advance my own conjecture as to +the part played by the Dorians in the development of paiderastia into a +custom. + +It is enough for the present to remark that, however introduced, the +vice of boy-love, as distinguished from heroic friendship, received +religious sanction at an early period. The legend of the rape of +Ganymede was invented, according to the passage recently quoted from +Plato, by the Cretans with the express purpose of investing their +pleasures with a show of piety. This localisation of the religious +sanction of paiderastia in Crete confirms the hypothesis of Oriental +influence; for one of the notable features of Graeco Asiatic worship was +the consecration of sensuality in the Phallus cult, the _Hiero douloi_ +(temple slaves, or _bayaderes_) of Aphrodite, and the eunuchs of the +Phrygian mother. Homer tells the tale of Ganymede with the utmost +simplicity. The boy was so beautiful that Zeus suffered him not to dwell +on earth, but translated him to heaven and appointed him the cupbearer +of the immortals. The sensual desire which made the king of gods and men +prefer Ganymede to Leda, Io, Danae, and all the maidens whom he loved +and left on earth, is an addition to the Homeric version of the myth. In +course of time the tale of Ganymede, according to the Cretan reading, +became the nucleus around which the paiderastic associations of the +Greek race gathered, just as that of Achilles formed the main point in +their tradition of heroic friendship. To the Romans and the modern +nations the name of Ganymede, debased to Catamitus, supplied a term of +reproach, which sufficiently indicates the nature of the love of which +he became eventually the eponym. + + + + +VI. + + +Resuming the results of the last four sections, we find two separate +forms of masculine passion clearly marked in early Hellas--a noble and a +base, a spiritual and a sensual. To the distinction between them the +Greek conscience was acutely sensitive; and this distinction, in theory +at least, subsisted throughout their history. They worshipped Eros, as +they worshipped Aphrodite, under the twofold titles of Ouranios +(celestial) and Pandemos (vulgar, or _volvivaga_); and, while they +regarded the one love with the highest approval, as the source of +courage and greatness of soul, they never publicly approved the other. +It is true, as will appear in the sequel of this essay, that boy-love in +its grossest form was tolerated in historic Hellas with an indulgence +which it never found in any Christian country, while heroic comradeship +remained an ideal hard to realise, and scarcely possible beyond the +limits of the strictest Dorian sect. Yet the language of philosophers, +historians, poets and orators is unmistakable. All testify alike to the +discrimination between vulgar and heroic love in the Greek mind. I +purpose to devote a separate section of this inquiry to the +investigation of these ethical distinctions. For the present, a +quotation from one of the most eloquent of the later rhetoricians will +sufficiently set forth the contrast, which the Greek race never wholly +forgot:[8]-- + + "The one love is mad for pleasure; the other loves beauty. The one + is an involuntary sickness; the other is a sought enthusiasm. The + one tends to the good of the beloved; the other to the ruin of + both. The one is virtuous; the other incontinent in all its acts. + The one has its end in friendship; the other in hate. The one is + freely given; the other is bought and sold. The one brings praise; + the other blame. The one is Greek; the other is barbarous. The one + is virile; the other effeminate. The one is firm and constant; the + other light and variable. The man who loves the one love is a + friend of God, a friend of law, fulfilled of modesty, and free of + speech. He dares to court his friend in daylight, and rejoices in + his love. He wrestles with him in the playground and runs with him + in the race, goes afield with him to the hunt, and in battle fights + for glory at his side. In his misfortune he suffers, and at his + death he dies with him. He needs no gloom of night, no desert + place, for this society. The other lover is a foe to heaven, for he + is out of tune and criminal; a foe to law, for he transgresses law. + Cowardly, despairing, shameless, haunting the dusk, lurking in + desert places and secret dens, he would fain be never seen + consorting with his friend, but shuns the light of day, and follows + after night and darkness, which the shepherd hates, but the thief + loves." + +And again, in the same dissertation, Maximus Tyrius speaks to like +purpose, clothing his precepts in imagery:-- + + "You see a fair body in bloom and full of promise of fruit. Spoil + not, defile not, touch not the blossom. Praise it, as some wayfarer + may praise a plant--even so by Phoebus' altar have I seen a young + palm shooting toward the sun. Refrain from Zeus and Phoebus' tree; + wait for the fruit-season and thou shall love more righteously." + +With the baser form of paiderastia I shall have little to do in this +essay. Vice of this kind does not vary to any great extent, whether we +observe it in Athens or in Rome, in Florence of the sixteenth or in +Paris of the nineteenth century;[9] nor in Hellas was it more noticeable +than elsewhere, except for its comparative publicity. The nobler type of +masculine love developed by the Greeks is, on the contrary, almost +unique in[10] the history of the human race. It is that which more than +anything else distinguishes the Greeks from the barbarians of their own +time, from the Romans and from modern men in all that appertains to the +emotions. The immediate subject of the ensuing inquiry will, therefore, +be that mixed form of paiderastia upon which the Greeks prided +themselves, which had for its heroic ideal the friendship of Achilles +and Patroclus, but which in historic times exhibited a sensuality +unknown to Homer.[11] In treating of this unique product of their +civilisation I shall use the terms _Greek Love_, understanding thereby a +passionate and enthusiastic attachment subsisting between man and youth, +recognised by society and protected by opinion, which, though it was not +free from sensuality, did not degenerate into mere licentiousness. + + + + +VII. + + +Before reviewing the authors who deal with this subject in detail, or +discussing the customs of the several Greek states, it will be well to +illustrate in general the nature of this love, and to collect the +principal legends and historic tales which set it forth. + +Greek love was, in its origin and essence, military. Fire and valour, +rather than tenderness or tears, were the external outcome of this +passion; nor had _Malachia_, effeminacy, a place in its vocabulary. At +the same time it was exceedingly absorbing. "Half my life," says the +lover, "lives in thine image, and the rest is lost. When thou art kind, +I spend the day like a god; when thy face is turned aside, it is very +dark with me."[12] Plato, in his celebrated description of a lover's +soul, writes:[13]-- + + "Wherever she thinks that she will behold the beautiful one, + thither in her desire she runs. And when she has seen him, and + bathed herself with the waters of desire, her constraint is + loosened and she is refreshed, and has no more pangs and pains; and + this is the sweetest of all pleasures at the time, and is the + reason why the soul of the lover will never forsake his beautiful + one, whom he esteems above all; he has forgotten mother and + brethren and companions, and he thinks nothing of the neglect and + loss of his property. The rules and proprieties of life, on which + he formerly prided himself, he now despises, and is ready to sleep + like a servant, wherever he is allowed, as near as he can to his + beautiful one, who is not only the object of his worship, but the + only physician who can heal him in his extreme agony." + +These passages show how real and vital was the passion of Greek love. It +would be difficult to find more intense expressions of affection in +modern literature. The effect produced upon the lover by the presence of +his beloved was similar to that inspiration which the knight of romance +received from his lady. + + "I know not," says Phaedrus, in the _Symposium_ of Plato,[14] "any + greater blessing to a young man beginning life than a virtuous + lover, or to the lover than a beloved youth. For the principle + which ought to be the guide of men who would nobly live--that + principle, I say, neither kindred, nor honour, nor wealth, nor any + other motive is able to implant so well as love. Of what am I + speaking? Of the sense of honour and dishonour, without which + neither states nor individuals ever do any good or great work. And + I say that a lover who is detected in doing any dishonourable act, + or submitting, through cowardice, when any dishonour is done to him + by another, will be more pained at being detected by his beloved + than at being seen by his father, or by his companions, or by any + one else. The beloved, too, when he is seen in any disgraceful + situation, has the same feeling about his lover. And if there were + only some way of contriving that a state or an army should be made + up of lovers and their loves, they would be the very best governors + of their own city, abstaining from all dishonour; and emulating one + another in honour; and when fighting at one another's side, + although a mere handful, they would overcome the world. For what + lover would not choose rather to be seen by all mankind than by his + beloved, either when abandoning his post, or throwing away his + arms? He would be ready to die a thousand deaths rather than endure + this. Or who would desert his beloved or fail him in the hour of + danger? The veriest coward would become an inspired hero, equal to + the bravest, at such a time; love would inspire him. That courage + which, as Homer says, the god breathes into the soul of heroes, + love of his own nature inspires into the lover." + +With the whole of this quotation we might compare what Plutarch in the +Life of Pelopidas relates about the composition of a Sacred Band;[15] +while the following anecdote from the _Anabasis_ of Xenophon may serve +to illustrate the theory that regiments should consist of lovers.[16] +Episthenes of Olynthus, one of Xenophon's hoplites, saved a beautiful +boy from the slaughter commanded by Seuthes in a Thracian village. The +king could not understand why his orders had not been obeyed, till +Xenophon excused his hoplite by explaining that Episthenes was a +passionate boy-lover, and that he had once formed a corps of none but +beautiful men. Then Seuthes asked Episthenes if he was willing to die +instead of the boy, and he answered, stretching out his neck, "Strike," +he says, "if the boy says 'Yes,'[17] and will be pleased with it." At +the end of the affair, which is told by Xenophon with a quiet humour +that brings a little scene of Greek military life vividly before us, +Seuthes gave the boy his liberty, and the soldier walked away with him. + +In order further to illustrate the hardy nature of Greek love, I may +allude to the speech of Pausanias in the _Symposium_ of Plato.[18] The +fruits of love, he says, are courage in the face of danger, intolerance +of despotism, the virtues of the generous and haughty soul. + + "In Ionia," he adds, "and other places, and generally in countries + which are subject to the barbarians, the custom is held to be + dishonourable; loves of youth share the evil repute of philosophy + and gymnastics because they are inimical to tyranny, for the + interests of rulers require that their subjects should be poor in + spirit, and that there should be no strong bond of friendship or + society among them, which love, above all other motives, is likely + to inspire, as our Athenian tyrants learned by experience." + + + + +VIII. + + +Among the myths to which Greek lovers referred with pride, besides that +of Achilles, were the legends of Theseus and Peirithous, of Orestes and +Pylades, of Talos and Rhadamanthus, of Damon and Pythias. Nearly all the +Greek gods, except, I think, oddly enough, Ares, were famous for their +love. Poseidon, according to Pindar, loved Pelops; Zeus, besides +Ganymede, was said to have carried off Chrysippus. Apollo loved +Ayacinth, and numbered among his favourites Branchos and Claros. Pan +loved Cyparissus, and the spirit of the evening star loved Hymenaeus. +Hypnos, the god of slumber, loved Endymion, and sent him to sleep with +open eyes, in order that he might always gaze upon their beauty. (Ath. +xiii. 564). The myths of Phoebus, Pan, and Hesperus, it may be said in +passing, are paiderastic parallels to the tales of Adonis and Daphne. +They do not represent the specific quality of national Greek love at all +in the same way as the legends of Achilles, Theseus, Pylades, and +Pythias. We find in them merely a beautiful and romantic play of the +mythopoeic fancy, after paiderastia had taken hold on the imagination of +the race. The case is different with Herakles, the patron, eponym, and +ancestor of Dorian Hellas. He was a boy-lover of the true heroic type. +In the innumerable amours ascribed to him we always discern the note of +martial comradeship. His passion for Iolaus was so famous that lovers +swore their oaths upon the Theban's tomb;[19] while the story of his +loss of Hylas supplied Greek poets with one of their most charming +subjects. From the idyll of Theocritus called _Hylas_ we learn some +details about the relation between lover and beloved, according to the +heroic ideal. + + "Nay, but the son of Amphitryon, that heart of bronze, he that + abode the wild lion's onset, loved a lad, beautiful Hylas--Hylas of + the braided locks, and he taught him all things as a father + teaches his child, all whereby himself became a mighty man and + renowned in minstrelsy. Never was he apart from Hylas,..... and all + this that the lad might be fashioned to his mind, and might drive a + straight furrow, and come to the true measure of man."[20] + + + + +IX. + + +Passing from myth to semi-legendary history, we find frequent mention +made of lovers in connection with the great achievements of the earliest +age of Hellas. What Pausanias and Phaedrus are reported to have said in +the _Symposium_ of Plato, is fully borne out by the records of the +numerous tyrannicides and self-devoted patriots who helped to establish +the liberties of the Greek cities. When Epimenides of Crete required a +human victim in his purification of Athens from the _Musos_ of the +Megacleidae, two lovers, Cratinus and Aristodemus, offered themselves as +a voluntary sacrifice for the city.[21] The youth died to propitiate the +gods; the lover refused to live without him. Chariton and Melanippus, +who attempted to assassinate Phalaris of Agrigentum, were lovers.[22] So +were Diocles and Philolaus, natives of Corinth, who removed to Thebes, +and after giving laws to their adopted city, died and were buried in one +grave.[23] Not less celebrated was another Diocles, the Athenian exile, +who fell near Megara in battle, fighting for the boy he loved.[24] His +tomb was honoured with the rites and sacrifices specially reserved for +heroes. A similar story is told of the Thessalian horseman +Cleomachus.[25] This soldier rode into a battle which was being fought +between the people of Eretria and Chalkis, inflamed with such enthusiasm +for the youth he beloved, that he broke the foemen's ranks and won the +victory for the Chalkidians. After the fight was over Cleomachus was +found among the slain, but his corpse was nobly buried; and from that +time forward love was honoured by the men of Chalkis. These stories +might be paralleled from actual Greek history. Plutarch, commenting upon +the courage of the sacred band of Thebans,[26] tells of a man "who, when +his enemy was going to kill him, earnestly requested him to run him +through the breast, that his lover might not blush to see him wounded in +the back." In order to illustrate the haughty temper of Greek lovers, +the same author, in his _Erotic Dialogue_, records the names of Antileon +of Metapontum, who braved a tyrant in the cause of the boy he loved;[27] +of Crateas, who punished Archelaus with death for an insult offered to +him; of Pytholaus, who treated Alexander of Pherae in like manner; and of +another youth who killed the Ambracian tyrant Periander for a similar +affront.[28] To these tales we might add another story by Plutarch in +his Life of Demetrius Poliorketes. This man insulted a boy called +Damocles, who, finding no other way to save his honour, jumped into a +cauldron of boiling water and was killed upon the spot.[29] A curious +legend, belonging to semi-mythical romance related by Pausanias,[30] +deserves a place here, since it proves to what extent the popular +imagination was impregnated by notions of Greek love. The city of +Thespia was at one time infested by a dragon, and young men were offered +to appease its fury every year. They all died unnamed and unremembered +except one, Cleostratus. To clothe this youth, his lover, Menestratus, +forged a brazen coat of mail, thick set with hooks turned upwards. The +dragon swallowed Cleostratus and killed him, but died by reason of the +hooks. Thus love was the salvation of the city and the source of +immortality to the two friends. + + * * * * * + +It would not be difficult to multiply romances of this kind; the +rhetoricians and moralists of later Greece abound in them.[31] But the +most famous of all remains to be recorded. This is the story of +Harmodius and Aristogeiton, who freed Athens from the tyrant Hipparchus. +There is not a speech, a poem, essay, a panegyrical oration in praise of +either Athenian liberty or Greek love which does not tell the tale of +this heroic friendship. Herodotus and Thucydides treat the event as +matter of serious history. Plato refers to it as the beginning of +freedom for the Athenians. "The drinking-song in honour of these lovers, +is one of the most precious fragments of popular Greek poetry which we +possess. As in the cases of Lucretia and Virginia, so here a tyrant's +intemperance was the occasion, if not the cause, of a great nation's +rising. Harmodius and Aristogeiton were reverenced as martyrs and +saviours of their country. Their names gave consecration to the love +which made them bold against the despot, and they became at Athens +eponyms of paiderastia."[32] + + + + +X. + + +A considerable majority of the legends which have been related in the +preceding section are Dorian, and the Dorians gave the earliest and most +marked encouragement to Greek love. Nowhere else, indeed, except among +the Dorians, who were an essentially military race, living like an army +of occupation in the countries they had seized, herding together in +barracks and at public messes, and submitting to martial drill and +discipline, do we meet with paiderastia developed as an institution. In +Crete and Lacedaemon it became a potent instrument of education. What I +have to say, in the first instance, on this matter is derived almost +entirely from C. O. Muellers's _Dorians_,[33] to which work I refer my +readers for the authorities cited in illustration of each detail. Plato +says that the law of Lycurgus in respect to love was _Poikiles_,[34] by +which he means that it allowed the custom under certain restrictions. It +would appear that the lover was called Inspirer, at Sparta, while the +youth he loved was named Hearer. These local phrases sufficiently +indicate the relation which subsisted between the pair. The lover +taught, the hearer learned; and so from man to man was handed down the +tradition of heroism, the peculiar tone and temper of the state to +which, in particular among the Greeks, the Dorians clung with obstinate +pertinacity. Xenophon distinctly states that love was maintained among +the Spartans with a view to education; and when we consider the customs +of the state, by which boys were separated early from their homes and +the influences of the family were almost wholly wanting, it is not +difficult to understand the importance of the paiderastic institution. +The Lacedaemonian lover might represent his friend in the Assembly. He +was answerable for his good conduct, and stood before him as a pattern +of manliness, courage, and prudence. Of the nature of his teaching we +may form some notion from the precepts addressed by the Megarian +Theognis to the youth Kurnus. In battle the lovers fought side by side; +and it is worthy of notice that before entering into an engagement the +Spartans sacrificed to Eros. It was reckoned a disgrace if a youth found +no man to be his lover. Consequently we find that the most illustrious +Spartans are mentioned by their biographers in connection with their +comrades. Agesilaus heard Lysander; Archidamus, his son, loved +Cleonymus; Cleomenes III, was the hearer of Xenares and the inspirer of +Panteus. The affection of Pausanias, on the other hand, for the boy +Argilus, who betrayed him according to the account of Thucydides,[35] +must not be reckoned among these nobler loves. In order to regulate the +moral conduct of both parties, Lycurgus made it felony, punishable with +death or exile, for the lover to desire the person of a boy in lust; +and, on the other hand, it was accounted exceedingly disgraceful for the +younger to meet the advances of the elder with a view to gain. Honest +affection and manly self-respect were exacted on both sides; the bond of +union implied no more of sensuality than subsists between a father and a +son, a brother and a brother. At the same time great license of +intercourse was permitted. Cicero, writing long after the great age of +Greece, but relying probably upon sources to which we have no access, +asserts that, "Lacedaemoni ipsi cum omnia concedunt in amore juvenum +_praeter stuprum_ tenui sane muro dissaepiunt id quod excipiunt: +_complexus enim concubitusque permittunt_."[36] The Lacedaemonians, while +they permit all things except outrage in the love of youths, certainly +distinguish the forbidden by a thin wall of partition from the +sanctioned, for they allow embraces and a common couch to lovers." + +In Crete the paiderastic institutions were even more elaborate than at +Sparta. The lover was called _Philetor_, and the beloved one _Kleinos_. +When a man wished to attach to himself a youth in the recognised bonds +of friendship, he took him away from his home, with a pretence of force, +but not without the connivance, in most cases, of his friends.[37] For +two months the pair lived together among the hills, hunting and fishing. +Then the _Philetor_ gave gifts to the youth, and suffered him to return +to his relatives. If the _Kleinos_ (illustrious or laudable) had +received insult or ill-treatment during the probationary weeks, he now +could get redress at law. If he was satisfied with the conduct of his +would-be comrade, he changed his title from _Kleinos_ to _Parastates_ +(comrade and bystander in the ranks of battle and life), returned to +the _Philetor_, and lived thenceforward in close bonds of public +intimacy with him. + + * * * * * + +The primitive simplicity and regularity of these customs make it appear +strange to modern minds; nor is it easy to understand how they should +ever have been wholly free from blame. Yet we must remember the +influences which prevalent opinion and ancient tradition both contribute +toward preserving a delicate sense of honour under circumstances of +apparent difficulty. The careful reading of one _Life_ by Plutarch, +that, for instance, of Cleomenes or that of Agis, will have more effect +in presenting the realities of Dorian existence to our imagination than +any amount of speculative disquisition. Moreover, a Dorian was exposed +to almost absolute publicity. He had no chance of hiding from his +fellow-citizens the secrets of his private life. It was not, therefore, +till the social and political complexion of the whole nation became +corrupt that the institutions just described encouraged profligacy.[38] +That the Spartans and the Cretans degenerated from their primitive ideal +is manifest from the severe critiques of the philosophers. Plato, while +passing a deliberate censure on the Cretans for the introduction of +paiderastia into Greece,[39] remarks that _syssitia_, or meals in +common, and _gymnasia_ are favourable to the perversion of the passions. +Aristotle, in a similar argument,[40] points out that the Dorian habits +had a direct tendency to check the population by encouraging the love of +boys and by separating women from the society of men. An obscure passage +quoted from Hagnon by Athenaeus might also be cited to prove that the +Greeks at large had formed no high opinion of Spartan manners.[41] But +the most convincing testimony is to be found in the Greek language: "to +do like the Laconians, to have connection in Laconian way, to do like +the Cretans," tell their own tale, especially when we compare these +phrases with, "to do like the Corinthians, the Lesbians, the Siphnians, +the Phoenicians, and other verbs formed to indicate the vices localised +in separate districts. + + * * * * * + +Up to this point I have been content to follow the notices of Dorian +institutions which are scattered up and down the later Greek authors, +and which have been collected by C. O. Mueller. I have not attempted to +draw definite conclusions, or to speculate upon the influence which the +Dorian section of the Hellenic family may have exercised in developing +paiderastia. To do so now will be legitimate, always remembering that +what we actually know about the Dorians is confined to the historic +period, and that the tradition respecting their early customs is derived +from second-hand authorities. + + * * * * * + +It has frequently occurred to my mind that the mixed type of paiderastia +which I have named Greek Love took its origin in Doris. Homer, who knew +nothing about the passion as it afterwards existed, drew a striking +picture of masculine affection in Achilles. And Homer, I may add, was +not a native of northern Greece. Whoever he was, or whoever they were, +the poet, or the poets, we call Homer, belonged to the south-east of the +AEgean. Homer, then, may have been ignorant of paiderastia. Yet +friendship occupies the first place in his hero's heart, while only the +second is reserved for sexual emotion. Now Achilles came from Phthia, +itself a portion of that mountain region to which Doris belonged.[42] Is +it unnatural to conjecture that the Dorians in their migration to +Lacedaemon and Crete, the recognised headquarters of the custom, carried +a tradition of heroic paiderastia along with them? Is it unreasonable to +surmise that here, if anywhere in Hellas, the custom existed from +prehistoric times? If so, the circumstances of their invasion would have +fostered the transformation of this tradition into a tribal institution. +They went forth, a band of warriors and pirates, to cross the sea in +boats, and to fight their way along the hills and plains of Southern +Greece. The dominions they had conquered with their swords they occupied +like soldiers. The camp became their country, and for a long period of +time they literally lived upon the bivouac. Instead of a city-state, +with is manifold complexities of social life, they were reduced to the +narrow limits and the simple conditions of a roving horde. Without +sufficiency of women, without the sanctities of established domestic +life, inspired by the memory of Achilles, and venerating their ancestor +Herakles, the Dorian warriors had special opportunity for elevating +comradeship to the rank of an enthusiasm. The incidents of emigration +into a distant country--perils of the sea, passages of rivers and +mountains, assaults of fortresses and cities, landings on a hostile +shore, night-vigils by the side of blazing beacons, foragings for food, +picquet services in the front of watchful foes--involved adventures +capable of shedding the lustre of romance on friendship. These +circumstances, by bringing the virtues of sympathy with the weak, +tenderness for the beautiful, protection for the young, together with +corresponding qualities of gratitude, self-devotion and admiring +attachment, into play, may have tended to cement unions between man and +man no less firm than that of marriage. On such connections a wise +captain would have relied for giving strength to his battalion, and for +keeping alive the flame of enterprise and daring. Fighting and foraging +in company, sharing the same wayside board and heath-strewn bed, +rallying to the comrade's voice in onset, relying on the comrade's +shield when fallen, these men learned the meanings of the words +_Philetor_ and _Parastates_. To be loved was honourable, for it implied +being worthy to be died for. To love was glorious, since it pledged the +lover to self-sacrifice in case of need. In these conditions the +paiderastic passion may have well combined manly virtue with carnal +appetite, adding such romantic sentiment as some stern men reserve +within their hearts for women.[43] A motto might be chosen for a lover +of this early Dorian type from the AEolic poem ascribed to Theocritus: +"And made me tender from the iron man I used to be." + + * * * * * + +In course of time, when the Dorians had settled down upon their +conquered territories, and when the passions which had shown their more +heroic aspect during a period of warfare came, in a period of idleness, +to call for methods of restraint, then the discrimination between +honourable and base forms of love, to which Plato pointed as a feature +of the Dorian institutions, took place. It is also more than merely +probable that in Crete where these institutions were the most precisely +regulated, the Dorian immigrants came into contact with Phoenician vices, +the repression of which required the adoption of a strict code.[44] In +this way paiderastia, considered as a mixed custom, partly martial, +partly luxurious, recognised by public opinion and controlled by law, +obtained among the Dorian Tribes, and spread from them throughout the +states of Hellas. Relics of numerous semi-savage habits--thefts of food, +ravishment as a prelude to marriage, and so forth--indicate in like +manner the survival among the Dorians of primitive tribal institutions. + +It will be seen that the conclusion to which I have been drawn by the +foregoing consideration is that the mixed form of paiderastia, called by +me in this essay "Greek love," owed its peculiar quality, what Plato +called its intricacy of "laws and customs," to two diverse strains of +circumstances harmonised in the Greek temperament. Its military and +enthusiastic elements were derived from the primitive conditions of the +Dorians during their immigration into Southern Greece. Its refinements +of sensuality and sanctified impurity are referable to contact with +Phoenician civilisation. The specific form it assumed among the Dorians +of the historic period, equally removed from military freedom and from +Oriental luxury, can be ascribed to the operation of that organising, +moulding and assimilating spirit which we recognise as Hellenic. + +The position thus stated is, unfortunately, speculative rather than +demonstrable; and in order to establish the reasonableness of the +speculation, it would be natural at this point to introduce some account +of paiderastia as it exists in various savage tribes, if their customs +could be seen to illustrate the Doric phase of Greek love. This, +however, is not the case. Study of Mr. Herbert Spencer's Tables, and of +Bastian's _Der Mensch in der Geschichte_ (vol. iii. pp. 304-323), +together with the facts collected by travellers among the North American +Indians, and the mass of curious information supplied by Rosenbaum in +his _Geschichte der Lustseuche im Alterthume_, makes it clear to my mind +that the unisexual vices of barbarians follow, not the type of Greek +paiderastia, but that of the Scythian disease of effeminacy, described +by Herodotus and Hippocrates as something essentially foreign and +non-Hellenic. In all these cases, whether we regard the Scythian +impotent effeminates, the North American Bardashes, the Tsecats of +Madagascar, the Cordaches of the Canadian Indians and similar classes +among Californian Indians, natives of Venezuela, and so forth--the +characteristic point is that effeminate males renounce their sex, assume +female clothes, and live either in promiscuous concubinage with the men +of the tribe or else in marriage with chosen persons. This abandonment +of the masculine attributes and habits, this assumption of feminine +duties and costume, would have been abhorrent to the Doric custom. +Precisely similar effeminacies were recognised as pathological by +Herodotus, to whom Greek paiderastia was familiar. The distinctive +feature of Dorian comradeship was that it remained on both sides +masculine, tolerating no sort of softness. For similar reasons, what we +know about the prevalence of sodomy among the primitive peoples of +Mexico, Peru and Yucatan, and almost all half-savage nations,[45] +throws little light upon the subject of the present inquiry. Nor do we +gain anything of importance from the semi-religious practices of +Japanese Bonzes or Egyptian priests. Such facts, taken in connection +with abundant modern experience of what are called unnatural vices, only +prove the universality of unisexual indulgence in all parts of the world +and under all conditions of society. Considerable psychological interest +attaches to the study of these sexual aberrations. It is also true that +we detect in them the germ or raw material of a custom which the Dorians +moralised or developed after a specific fashion; but nowhere do we find +an analogue to their peculiar institutions. It was just that effort to +moralise and adapt to social use a practice which has elsewhere been +excluded in the course of civil growth, or has been allowed to linger +half-acknowledged as a remnant of more primitive conditions, or has +re-appeared in the corruption of society; it was just this effort to +elevate paiderastia according to the aesthetic standard of Greek ethics +which constituted its distinctive quality in Hellas. We are obliged, in +fact, to separate this, the true Hellenic manifestation of the +paiderastic passion, from the effeminacies, brutalities, and gross +sensualities which can be noticed alike in imperfectly civilised and in +luxuriously corrupt communities. + + * * * * * + +Before leaving this part of the subject, I must repeat that what I have +suggested regarding the intervention of the Dorians in creating the type +of Greek love is a pure speculation. If it has any value, that is due to +the fixed and regulated forms which paiderastic institutions displayed +at a very early date in Crete and Sparta, and also to the remnants of +savage customs embedded in them. It depends to a certain extent also +upon the absence of paiderastia in Homer. But on this point something +still remains to be said. Our Attic authorities certainly regarded the +Homeric poems as canonical books, decisive for the culture of the first +stage of Hellenic history. Yet it is clear that Homer refined Greek +mythology, while many of the cruder elements of that mythology survived +from pre-Homeric times in local cults and popular religious observances. +We know, moreover, that a body of non-Homeric writings, commonly called +the cyclic poems, existed by the side of Homer, some of the material of +which is preserved to us by dramatists, lyrists, historians, antiquaries +and anecdotists. It is not impossible that this so-called cyclical +literature contained paiderastic elements, which were eliminated, like +the grosser forms of myth, in the Homeric poems.[46] If this be +conceded, we might be led to conjecture that paiderastia was a remnant +of ancient savage habits, ignored by Homer, but preserved by tradition +in the race. Given the habit, the Greeks were certainly capable of +carrying it on without shame. We ought to resist the temptation to seek +a high and noble origin for all Greek institutions. But there remains +the fact that, however they acquired the habit, whether from North +Dorian customs antecedent to Homer, or from conditions of experience +subsequent to the Homeric age, the Greeks gave it a dignity and an +emotional superiority which is absent in the annals of barbarian +institutions. Instead of abandoning it as part of the obsolete lumber of +their prehistoric origins, they chose to elaborate it into the region of +romance and ideality. And this they did in spite of Homer's ignorance of +the passion or of his deliberate reticence. Whatever view, therefore, we +may take about Homer's silence, and about the possibility of paiderastia +occurring in the lost poems of the cyclic type, or lastly, about its +probable survival in the people from an age of savagery, we are bound to +regard its systematical development among the Dorians as a fact of +paramount significance. + +In that passage of the _Symposium_[47] where Plato notices the Spartan +law of love as _Poikilos_, he speaks with disapprobation of the +Boeotians, who were not restrained by custom and opinion within the same +strict limits. Yet it should here be noted that the military aspect of +Greek love in the historic period was nowhere more distinguished than at +Thebes. Epaminondas was a notable boy-lover; and the names of his +beloved Asopichus and Cephisodorus are mentioned by Plutarch.[48] They +died, and were buried with him at Mantinea. The paiderastic legend of +Herakles and Iolaus was localised in Boeotia; and the lovers, Diocles and +Philolaus, who gave laws to Thebes, directly encouraged those masculine +attachments, which had their origin in the Palaestra.[49] The practical +outcome of these national institutions in the chief town of Boeotia was +the formation of the so-called Sacred Band, or Band of Lovers, upon whom +Pelopidas relied in his most perilous operations. Plutarch relates that +they were enrolled, in the first instance, by Gorgidas, the rank and +file of the regiment being composed of young men bound together by +affection. Report goes that they were never beaten till the battle of +Chaeronea. At the end of that day, fatal to the liberties of Hellas, +Philip of Macedon went forth to view the slain; and when he "came to +that place where the three hundred that fought his phalanx lay dead +together, he wondered, and understanding that it was the band of lovers, +he shed tears, and said, 'Perish any man who suspects that these men +either did or suffered anything that was base.'"[50] As at all the other +turning points of Greek history, so at this, too, there is something +dramatic and eventful. Thebes was the last strong-hold of Greek freedom; +the Sacred Band contained the pith and flower of her army; these lovers +had fallen to a man, like the Spartans of Leonidas at Thermopylae, +pierced by the lances of the Macedonian phalanx; then, when the day was +over and the dead were silent, Philip, the victor in that fight, shed +tears when he beheld their serried ranks, pronouncing himself therewith +the fittest epitaph which could have been inscribed upon their stele by +a Hellene. + + * * * * * + +At Chaeronea, Greek liberty, Greek heroism, and Greek love, properly +so-called, expired. It is not unworthy of notice that the son of the +conqueror, young Alexander, endeavoured to revive the tradition of +Achilleian friendship. This lad, born in the decay of Greek liberty, +took conscious pleasure in enacting the part of a Homeric hero, on the +altered stage of Hellas and of Asia, with somewhat tawdry histrionic +pomp.[51] Homer was his invariable companion upon his marches; in the +Troad he paid special honour to the tomb of Achilles, running naked +races round the barrow in honour of the hero, and expressing the envy +which he felt for one who had so true a friend and so renowned a poet to +record his deeds. The historians of his life relate that, while he was +indifferent to women,[52] he was madly given to the love of males. This +the story of his sorrow for Hephaistion sufficiently confirms. A kind of +spiritual atavism moved the Macedonian conqueror to assume on the vast +Bactrian plain the outward trappings of Achilles Agonistes.[53] + +Returning from this digression upon Alexander's almost hysterical +archaism, it should next be noticed that Plato includes the people of +Elis in the censure which he passes upon the Boeotians. He accused the +Eleans of adopting customs which permitted youths to gratify their +lovers without further distinction of age, or quality, or opportunity. +In like manner, Maximus Tyrius distinguishes between the customs of +Crete and Elis: "While I find the laws of the Cretans excellent, I must +condemn those of Elis for their license."[54] Elis,[55] like Megara, +instituted a contest for beauty among youths; and it is significant that +the Megarians were not uncommonly accused of _Hybris_, or wanton lust, +by Greek writers. Both the Eleans and the Megarians may therefore +reasonably be considered to have exceeded the Greek standard of taste in +the amount of sensual indulgence which they openly acknowledged. In +Ionia, and other regions of Hellas exposed to Oriental influences, Plato +says that paiderastia was accounted a disgrace.[56] At the same time he +couples with paiderastia, in this place, both addiction to gymnastic +exercise and to philosophical studies, pointing out that despotism was +always hostile to high thoughts and haughty customs. The meaning of the +passage, therefore, seems to be that the true type of Greek love had no +chance of unfolding itself freely on the shores of Asia Minor. Of +paiderastic _Malakia_, or effeminacy, there is here no question, else +Plato would probably have made Pausanias use other language. + + + + +XI. + + +Before proceeding to discuss the conditions under which paiderastia +existed in Athens, it may be well to pause and to consider the tone +adopted with regard to it by some of the earlier Greek poets. Much that +is interesting on the subject of the true Hellenic Eros can be gathered +from Theognis, Solon, Pindar, AEschylus, and Sophocles; while the lyrics +of Anacreon, Alcaeus, Ibycus, and others of the same period illustrate +the wanton and illiberal passion (_Hybris_) which tended to corrode and +undermine the nobler feeling. + +It is well known that Theognis and his friend Kurnus were members of +the aristocracy of Megara. After Megara had thrown off the yoke of +Corinth in the early part of the sixth century, the city first submitted +to the democratic despotism of Theagenes, and then for many years +engaged in civil warfare. The larger number of the elegies of Theognis +are specially intended to instruct Kurnus how he ought to act as an +illustrious party-leader of the nobles (_Esthloi_) in their contest with +the people (_Deiloi_). They consist, therefore, of political and social +precepts, and for our present purpose are only important as illustrating +the educational authority assumed by a Dorian _Philetor_ over his +friend. The personal elegies intermingled with these poems on conduct +reveal the very heart of a Greek lover at his early period. Here is one +on loyalty:-- + + "Love me not with words alone, while your mind and thoughts are + otherwise, if you really care for me and the heart within you is + loyal. But love me with a pure and honest soul, or openly disown + and hate me; let the breach between us be avowed. He who hath a + single tongue and a double mind is a bad comrade, Kurnus, better as + a foe than a friend."[57] + +The bitter-sweet of love is well described in the following couplets:-- + + "Harsh and sweet, alluring and repellent, until it be crowned with + completion, is love for young men. If one brings it to perfection, + then it is sweet; but if a man pursues and does not love, then it + is of all things the most painful."[58] + +The same strain is repeated in the lines which begin, "a boy's love is +fair to keep, fair to lay aside."[59] As one time Theognis tells his +friend that he has the changeable temper of a hawk, the skittishness of +a pampered colt.[60] At another he remarks that boys are more constant +than women in their affection.[61] His passion rises to its noblest +height in a poem which deserves to rank with some of Shakespeare's +sonnets, and which, like them, has fulfilled its own promise of +immortality.[62] In order to appreciate the value of the fame conferred +on Kurnus by Theognis, and celebrated in such lofty strains, we must +remember that these elegies were sung at banquets. "The fair young men," +of whom the poet speaks, boy-lovers themselves, chaunted the praise of +Kurnus to the sound of flutes, while the cups went round or the lyre was +passed from hand to hand of merry-making guests. A subject to which +Theognis more than once refers is calumny:-- + + "Often will the folk speak vain things against thee in my ears, and + against me in thine. Pay thou no heed to them."[63] + +Again, he frequently reminds the boy he loves, whether it be Kurnus or +some other, that the bloom of youth is passing, and that this is a +reason for showing kindness.[64] This argument is urged with what +appears like coarseness in the following couplet:-- + + "O boy, so long as thy chin remains smooth, never will I cease from + fawning, no, not if it is doomed for me to die."[65] + +A couplet, which is also attributed to Solon, shows that paiderastia at +this time in Greece was associated with manly sports and pleasures:-- + + "Blest is the man who loves brave steeds of war, + Fair boys, and hounds, and stranger guests from far."[66] + +Nor must the following be omitted:-- + + "Blest is the man who loves, and after play, + Whereby his limbs are supple made and strong, + Retiring to his home, 'twixt sleep and song, + Sports with a fair boy on his breast all day."[67] + +The following couplet is attributed to him by Plutarch,[68] nor does +there seem any reason to doubt its genuineness. The text seems to be +corrupt, but the meaning is pretty clear:-- + + "In the charming season of the flower-time of youth thou shalt love + boys, yearning for their thighs and honeyed mouth." + +Solon, it may be remembered, thought it wise to regulate the conditions +under which the love of free youths might be tolerated. + +The general impression produced by a careful reading of Theognis is that +he entertained a genuine passion for Kurnus, and that he was anxious to +train the young man's mind in what he judged the noblest principles. +Love, at the same time, except in its more sensual moments, he describes +as bitter-sweet and subject to anxiety. That perturbation of the +emotions, which is inseparable from any of the deeper forms of personal +attachment, and which the necessary conditions of boy-love exasperated, +was irksome to the Greek. It is not a little curious to observe how all +the poets of the despotic age resent and fret against the force of their +own feeling, differing herein from the singers of chivalry, who +idealised the very pains of passion. + +Of Ibycus, who was celebrated among the ancients as the lyrist of +paiderastia,[69] very little has been preserved to us, but that little +is sufficient to indicate the fervid and voluptuous style of his art. +His imagery resembles that of Anacreon. The onset of love, for instance, +in one fragment is compared to the down-swooping of a Thracian +whirlwind; in another the poet trembles at the approach of Eros like an +old racehorse who is dragged forth to prove his speed once more. + +Of the genuine Anacreon we possess more numerous and longer fragments, +and the names of his favourites, Cleobulus, Smerdies, Leucaspis, are +famous. The general tone of his love-poems is relaxed and Oriental, and +his language abounds in phrases indicative of sensuality. The following +may be selected:-- + + "Cleobulus I love, for Cleobulus I am mad, Cleobulus I watch and + worship with my gaze."[70] + +Again:-- + + "O boy, with the maiden's eyes, I seek and follow thee, but thou + heedest not, nor knowest that thou art my soul's charioteer." + +In another place he speaks of[71]-- + + "Love, the virginal, gleaming and radiant with desire." + +_Syneban_ (to pass the time of youth with friends) is a word which +Anacreon may be said to have made current in Greek. It occurs twice in +his fragments,[72] and exactly expresses the luxurious enjoyment of +youthful grace and beauty which appear to have been his ideal of love. +We are very far here from the Achilleian friendship of the _Iliad_. Yet, +occasionally, Anacreon uses images of great force to describe the attack +of passion, as when he says that love has smitten him with a huge axe, +and plunged him in a wintry torrent.[73] + +It must be remembered that both Anacreon and Ibycus were court poets, +singing in the palaces of Polycrates and Hippias. The youths they +celebrated were probably little better than the _exoleti_ of a Roman +Emperor.[74] This cannot be said exactly of Alcaeus, whose love for +black-eyed Lycus was remembered by Cicero and Horace. So little, +however, is left of his erotic poems that no definite opinion can be +formed about them. The authority of later Greek authors justifies our +placing him upon the list of those who helped to soften and emasculate +the character of Greek love by their poems.[75] + +Two Athenian drinking-songs preserved by Athenaeus,[76] which seem to +bear the stamp of the lyric age, may here be quoted. They serve to +illustrate the kind of feeling to which expression was given in public +by friends and boy-lovers:-- + + "Would I were a lovely heap of ivory, and that lovely boys carried + me into the Dionysian chorus."[77] + +This is marked by a very delicate, though naif, fancy. The next is no +less eminent for its sustained, impassioned, simple, rhythmic feeling:-- + + "Drink with me, be young with me, love with me, wear crowns with + me, with me when I am mad be mad, with me when I am temperate be + sober." + +The greatest poet of the lyric age, the lyrist _par excellence_ Pindar, +adds much to our conception of Greek love at this period. Not only is +the poem to Theoxenos, whom he loved, and in whose arms he is said to +have died in the theatre at Argos, one of the most splendid achievements +of his art;[78] but its choice of phrase, and the curious parallel which +it draws between the free love of boys and the servile love of women, +help us to comprehend the serious intensity of this passion. "The +flashing rays of his forehead," and "is storm-tossed with desire," and +"the young-limbed bloom of boys," are phrases which it is impossible +adequately to translate. So, too, are the images by which the heart of +him who does not feel the beauty of Theoxenos is said to have been +forged with cold fire out of adamant, while the poet himself is compared +to wax wasting under the sun's rays. In Pindar, passing from Ibycus and +Anacreon, we ascend at once into a purer and more healthful atmosphere, +fraught, indeed, with passion and pregnant with storm, but no longer +simply sensual. Taken as a whole, the Odes of Pindar, composed for the +most part in the honour of young men and boys, both beautiful and +strong, are the work of a great moralist as well as a great artist. He +never fails to teach by precept and example; he does not, as Ibycus is +reported to have done, adorn his verse with legends of Ganymede and +Tithonus, for the sake of insinuating compliments. Yet no one shared in +fuller measure the Greek admiration for health and grace and vigour of +limb. This is obvious in the many radiant pictures of masculine +perfection he has drawn, as well as in the images by which he loves to +bring the beauty-bloom of youth to mind. The true Hellenic spirit may be +better studied in Pindar than in any other poet of his age; and after we +have weighed his high morality, sound counsel, and reverence for all +things good, together with the passion he avows, we shall have done +something toward comprehending the inner nature of Greek love. + + + + +XII. + + +The treatment of paiderastia upon the Attic stage requires separate +considerations. Nothing proves the popular acceptance and national +approval of Greek love more forcibly to modern minds than the fact that +the tragedians like AEschylus and Sophocles made it the subject of their +dramas. From a notice in Athenaeus it appears that Stesichorus, who first +gave dramatic form to lyric poetry, composed interludes upon paiderastic +subjects.[79] But of these it is impossible to speak, since their very +titles have been lost. What immediately follows, in the narrative of +Athenaeus, will serve as text for what I have to say upon this topic. +"And AEshylus, that mighty poet, and Sophocles, brought masculine loves +into the theatre through their tragedies. Wherefore some are wont to +call tragedy a paiderast; and the spectators welcome such." Nothing, +unfortunately, remains of the plays which justified this language but a +few fragments cited by Aristophanes, Plutarch, Lucian, and Athenaeus. To +examine these will be the business of this section. + +The tragedy of the _Myrmidones_, which formed part of a trilogy by +AEschylus upon the legend of Achilles, must have been popular at Athens, +for Aristophanes quotes it no less than four times--twice in the +_Frogs_, once in the _Birds_, and once in the _Ecclesiazusae_. We can +reconstruct its general plan from the lines which have come down to us +on the authority of the writers above mentioned.[80] The play opened +with an anapaestic speech of the chorus, composed of the clansmen of +Achilles, who upbraided him for staying idle in his tent while the +Achaians suffered at the hands of Hector. Achilles replied with the +metaphor of the eagle stricken by an arrow winged from one of his own +feathers. Then the embassy of Phoenix arrived, and Patroclus was sent +forth to battle. Achilles, meanwhile, engaged in a game of dice; and +while he was thus employed Antilochus entered with the news of the death +of Patroclus. The next fragment brings the whole scene vividly before +our eyes. + +"Wail for me, Antilochus, rather than for the dead man--for me, +Achilles, who still live." After this, the corpse of Patroclus was +brought upon the stage, and the son of Peleus poured forth a lamentation +over his friend. The _Threnos_ of Achilles on this occasion was very +celebrated among the ancients. One passage of unmeasured passion, which +described the love which subsisted between the two heroes, has been +quoted, with varieties of reading, by Lucian, Plutarch, and +Athenaeus.[81] Lucian says: "Achilles, bewailing the death of Patroclus +with unhusbanded passion, broke forth into the truth in self-abandonment +to woe." Athenaeus gives the text as follows:-- + + "Hadst thou no reverence for the unsullied holiness of thighs, O + thou ungrateful for the showers of kisses given." + +What we have here chiefly to notice is the change which the tale of +Achilles had undergone since Homer.[82] Homer represented Patroclus as +older in years than the son of Peleus, but inferior to him in station; +nor did he hint which of the friends was the _Erastes_ of the other. +That view of their comradeship had not occurred to him. AEschylus makes +Achilles the lover; and for this distortion of the Homeric legend he was +severely criticised by Plato.[83] At the same time, as the two lines +quoted from the _Threnos_ prove, he treated their affection from the +point of view of post-Homeric paiderastia. + +Sophocles also wrote a play upon the legend of Achilles, which bears for +its title _Achilles' Loves_. Very little is left of this drama; but +Hesychius has preserved one phrase which illustrates the Greek notion +that love was an effluence from the beloved person through the eyes into +the lover's soul,[84] while Stobaeus quotes the beautiful simile by which +love is compared to a piece of ice held in the hand by children.[85] +Another play of Sophocles, the _Niobe_, is alluded to by Plutarch and by +Athenaeus for the paiderastia which it contained. Plutarch's words are +these:[86] "When the children of Niobe, in Sophocles, are being pierced +and dying, one of them cries out, appealing to no other rescuer or ally +than his lover: Ho! comrade, up and aid me!" Finally, Athenaeus quotes a +single line from the _Colchian Women_ of Sophocles, which alludes to +Ganymede, and runs as follows:[87] "Inflaming with his thighs the +royalty of Zeus." + +Whether Euripides treated paiderastia directly in any of his plays is +not quite certain, though the title _Chrysippus_, and one fragment +preserved from that tragedy-- + + "Nature constrains me though I have sound judgment"-- + +justify us in believing that he made the crime of Laius his subject. It +may be added that a passage in Cicero confirms this belief.[88] The +title of another tragedy, _Peirithous_, seems in like manner to point at +friendship; while a beautiful quotation from the _Dictys_ sufficiently +indicates the high moral tone assumed by Euripides in treating of Greek +love. It runs as follows:--"He was my friend; and never may love lead me +to folly, nor to Kupris. There is, in truth, another kind of love--love +for the soul, righteous, temperate, and good. Surely men ought to have +made this law, that only the temperate and chaste should love and send +Kupris, daughter of Zeus, a-begging." The philosophic ideal of +comradeship is here vitalised by the dramatic vigour of the poet; nor +has the Hellenic conception of pure affection for "a soul, just, +upright, temperate and good," been elsewhere more pithily expressed. The +Euripidean conception of friendship, it may further be observed, is +nobly personified in Pylades, who plays a generous and self-devoted part +in the three tragedies of _Electra_, _Orestes_, and _Iphigenia in +Tauris_. + +Having collected these notices of tragedies which dealt with boy-love, +it may be well to add a word upon comedies in the same relation. We hear +of a _Paidika_ by Sophron, a _Malthakoi_ by the older Cratinus, a +_Baptoee_ by Empolis, in which Alcibiades and his society were satirised. +_Paiderastes_ is the title of plays by Diphilis and Antiphanes; +_Ganymedes_ of plays of Alkaeus, Antiphanes and Eubulus. + +What has been quoted from AEschylus and Sophocles sufficiently +establishes the fact that paiderastia was publicly received with +approbation on the tragic stage. This should make us cautious in +rejecting the stories which are told about the love adventures of +Sophocles.[89] Athenaeus calls him a lover of lads, nor is it strange if, +in the age of Pericles, and while he was producing the _Achilles' +Loves_, he should have shared the tastes of which his race approved. + +At this point it may be as well to mention a few illustrious names +which, to the student of Greek art and literature, are indissolubly +connected with paiderastia. Parmenides, whose life, like that of +Pythagoras, was accounted peculiarly holy, loved his pupil Zeno.[90] +Pheidias loved Pantarkes, a youth of Elis, and carved his portrait in +the figure of a victorious athlete at the foot of the Olympian Zeus.[91] +Euripides is said to have loved the adult Agathon Lysias, Demosthenes, +and AEschines, orators whose conduct was open to the most searching +censure of malicious criticism, did not scruple to avow their love. +Socrates described his philosophy as the science of erotics. Plato +defined the highest form of human existence to be "philosophy together +with paiderastia," and composed the celebrated epigrams on Aster and on +Agathon. This list might be indefinitely lengthened. + + + + +XIII. + + +Before proceeding to collect some notes upon the state of paiderastia at +Athens, I will recapitulate the points which I have already attempted to +establish. In the first place, paiderastia was unknown to Homer.[92] +Secondly, soon after the heroic age, two forms of paiderastia appeared +in Greece--the one chivalrous and martial, which received a formal +organisation in the Dorian states; the other sensual and lustful which, +though localised to some extent at Crete, pervaded the Greek cities +like a vice. Of the distinction between these two loves the Greek +conscience was well aware, though they came in course of time to be +confounded. Thirdly, I traced the character of Greek love, using that +term to indicate masculine affection of a permanent and enthusiastic +temper, without further ethical qualification, in early Greek history +and in the institutions of the Dorians. In the fourth place, I showed +what kind of treatment it received at the hands of the elegiac, lyric, +and tragic poets. + + * * * * * + +It now remains to draw some picture of the social life of the Athenians +in so far as paiderastia is concerned, and to prove how Plato was +justified in describing Attic customs on this point as qualified by +important restriction and distinction. + + * * * * * + +I do not know a better way of opening this inquiry, which must by its +nature be fragmentary and disconnected, than by transcribing what Plato +puts into the mouth of Pausanias in the _Symposium_.[93] After observing +that the paiderastic customs of Elis and Boeotia involved no perplexity, +inasmuch as all concessions to the god of love were tolerated, and that +such customs did not exist in any despotic states, he proceeds to +Athens. + + "There is yet a more excellent way of legislating about them, which + is our own way; but this, as I was saying, is rather perplexing. + For observe that open loves are held to be more honourable than + secret ones, and that the love of the noblest and highest, even if + their persons are less beautiful than others, is especially + honourable. Consider, too, how great is the encouragement which all + the world gives to the lover; neither is he supposed to be doing + anything dishonourable; but if he succeeds he is praised, and if he + fail he is blamed. And in the pursuit of his love, the custom of + mankind allows him to do many strange things, which philosophy + would bitterly censure if they were done from any motive of + interest or wish for office or power. He may pray and entreat, and + supplicate and swear, and be a servant of servants, and lie on a + mat at the door; in any other case friends and enemies would be + equally ready to prevent him, but now there is no friend who will + be ashamed of him and admonish him, and no enemy will charge him + with meanness or flattery; the actions of a lover have a grace + which ennobles them, and custom has decided that they are highly + commendable, and that there is no loss of character in them; and + what is strangest of all, he only may swear or forswear himself + (this is what the world says), and the gods will forgive his + transgression, for there is no such thing as a lover's oath. Such + is the entire liberty which gods and men have allowed the lover, + according to the custom which prevails in our part of the world. + From this point of view a man fairly argues that in Athens to love + and to be loved is held to be a very honourable thing. But when + there is another regime, and parents forbid their sons to talk with + their lovers, and place them under a tutor's care, and their + companions and equals cast in their teeth anything of this sort + which they may observe, and their elders refuse to silence the + reprovers, and do not rebuke them; any one who reflects on all this + will, on the contrary, think that we hold these practices to be + most disgraceful. But the truth, as I imagine, and as I said at + first, is, that whether such practices are honourable or whether + they are dishonourable is not a simple question; they are + honourable to him who follows them honourably, dishonourable to him + who follows them dishonourably. There is dishonour in yielding to + the evil, or in an evil manner; but there is honour in yielding to + the good, or in an honourable manner. Evil is the vulgar lover who + loves the body rather than the soul, and who is inconstant because + he is a lover of the inconstant, and, therefore, when the bloom of + youth, which he was desiring, is over, takes wing and flies away, + in spite of all his words and promises; whereas the love of the + noble mind, which is one with the unchanging, is lifelong." + +Pausanias then proceeds, at considerable length, to describe how the +customs of Athens required deliberate choice and trial of character as a +condition of honourable love; how it repudiated hasty and ephemeral +attachments, and engagements formed with the object of money-making or +political aggrandisement; how love on both sides was bound to be +disinterested, and what accession both of dignity and beauty the passion +of friends obtained from the pursuit of philosophy, and from the +rendering of mutual services upon the path of virtuous conduct. + +This sufficiently indicates, in general terms, the moral atmosphere in +which Greek love flourished at Athens. In an earlier part of his speech +Pausanias, after dwelling upon the distinction between the two kinds of +Aphrodite, heavenly and vulgar, describes the latter in a way which +proves that the love of boys was held to be ethically superior to that +of women.[94] + + "The Love who is the offspring of the common Aphrodite is + essentially common, and has no discrimination, being such as the + meaner sort of men feel, and is apt to be of women as well as of + youths, and is of the body rather than the soul; the most foolish + beings are the objects of this love, which desires only to gain an + end, but never thinks of accomplishing the end nobly, and therefore + does good and evil quite indiscriminately. The goddess who is his + mother is far younger than the other, and she was born of the union + of the male and female, and partakes of both." + +Then he turns to the Uranian love. + + "The offspring of the heavenly Aphrodite is derived from a mother + in whose birth the female has no part. She is from the male only; + this is that love which is of youths, and the goddess being older, + has nothing of wantonness. Those who are inspired by this love turn + to the male, and delight in him who is the most valiant and + intelligent nature; any one may recognise the pure enthusiasts in + the very character of their attachments; for they love not boys, + but intelligent beings whose reason is beginning to be developed, + much about the time at which their beards begin to grow. And in + choosing them as their companions they mean to be faithful to them, + and pass their whole life in company with them, not to take them in + their inexperience, and deceive them, and play the fool with them, + or run away from one to another of them. But the love of young boys + should be forbidden by law, because their future is uncertain; they + may turn out good or bad, either in body or soul, and much noble + enthusiasm may be thrown away upon them; in this matter the good + are a law to themselves, and the coarser sort of lovers ought to be + restrained by force, as we restrain or attempt to restrain them + from fixing their affections on women of free birth." + +These long quotations from a work accessible to every reader may require +apology. My excuse for giving them must be that they express in pure +Athenian diction a true Athenian view of this matter. The most salient +characteristics of the whole speech are, first, the definition of a code +of honour, distinguishing the nobler from the baser forms of +paiderastia; secondly, the decided preference of male over female love; +thirdly, the belief in the possibility of permanent affection between +paiderastic friends; and, fourthly, the passing allusion to rules of +domestic surveillance under which Athenian boys were placed. To the +first of these points I shall have to return on another occasion. With +regard to the second, it is sufficient for the present purpose to +remember that free Athenian women were comparatively uneducated and +uninteresting, and that the hetairai had proverbially bad manners. While +men transacted business and enjoyed life in public, their wives and +daughters stayed in the seclusion of the household, conversing to a +great extent with slaves, and ignorant of nearly all that happened in +the world around them. They were treated throughout their lives as +minors by the law, nor could they dispose by will of more than the worth +of a bushel of barley. It followed that marriages at Athens were usually +matches of arrangement between the fathers of the bride and the +bridegroom, and that the motives which induced a man to marry were less +the desire for companionship than the natural wish for children and a +sense of duty to the country.[95] Demosthenes, in his speech against +Neaera, declares:[96] "We have courtesans for our pleasures, concubines +for the requirements of the body, and wives for the procreation of +lawful issue." If he had been speaking at a drinking-party, instead of +before a jury, he might have added, "and young men for intellectual +companions." + +The fourth point which I have noted above requires more illustration, +since its bearing on the general condition of Athenian society is +important. Owing to the prevalence of paiderastia, a boy was exposed in +Athens to dangers which are comparatively unknown in our great cities, +and which rendered special supervision necessary. It was the custom for +fathers, when they did not themselves accompany their sons,[97] to +commit them to the care of slaves chosen usually among the oldest and +most trustworthy. The duty of the attendant guardian was not to instruct +the boy, but to preserve him from the addresses of importunate lovers or +from such assaults as Peisthetaerus in the _Birds_ of Aristophanes +describes.[98] He followed his charge to the school and the gymnasium, +and was responsible for bringing him home at the right hour. Thus at the +end of the _Lysis_ we read:[99]-- + + "Suddenly we were interrupted by the tutors of Lysis and Menexenus; + who came upon us like an evil apparition with their brothers, and + bade them go home, as it was getting late. At first, we and the + bystanders drove them off; but afterwards, as they would not mind, + and only went on shouting in their barbarous dialect, and got + angry, and kept calling the boys--they appeared to us to have been + drinking rather too much at the Hermaea, which made them difficult + to manage--we fairly gave way and broke up the company." + +In this way the daily conduct of Athenian boys of birth and good +condition was subjected to observation; and it is not improbable that +the charm which invested such lads as Plato portrayed in his _Charmides_ +and _Lysis_ was partly due to the self-respect and self-restraint +generated by the peculiar conditions under which they passed their life. + +Of the way in which a Greek boy spent his day, we gain some notion from +two passages in Aristophanes and Lucian. The Dikaios Logos[100] tells +that-- + + "in his days, when justice flourished and self-control was held in + honour, a boy's voice was never heard. He walked in order with his + comrades of the same quarter, lightly clad even in winter, down to + the school of the harp-player. There he learned old-fashioned hymns + to the gods, and patriotic songs. While he sat, he took care to + cover his person decently; and when he rose, he never forgot to rub + out the marks which he might have left upon the dust lest any man + should view them after he was gone. At meals he ate what was put + before him, and refrained from idle chattering. Walking through the + streets, he never tried to catch a passer's eye or to attract a + lover. He avoided the shops, the baths,[101] the Agora, the houses + of Hetairai.[102] He reverenced old age and formed within his soul + the image of modesty. In the gymnasium he indulged in fair and + noble exercise, or ran races with his comrades among the + olive-trees of the Academy." + +The Adikos Logos replies by pleading that this temperate sort of life is +quite old-fashioned; boys had better learn to use their tongues and +bully. In the last resort he uses a clinching _argumentum ad +juvenem_.[103] + +Were it not for the beautiful and highly-finished portraits in Plato, to +which I have already alluded, the description of Aristophanes might be +thought a mere ideal; and, indeed, it is probable that the actual life +of the average Athenian boy lay mid-way between the courses prescribed +by the Dikaios and the Adikos Logos. + +Meanwhile, since Euripides, together with the whole school of studious +and philosophic speculators, are aimed at in the speeches of the Adikos +Logos, it will be fair to adduce a companion picture of the young Greek +educated on the athletic system, as these men had learned to know him. I +quote from the _Autolycus_, a satyric drama of Euripides:-- + + "There are a myriad bad things in Hellas, but nothing is worse than + the athletes. To begin with, they do not know how to live like + gentlemen, nor could they if they did; for how can a man, the slave + of his jaws and his belly, increase the fortune left him by his + father? Poverty and ill-luck find them equally incompetent. Having + acquired no habits of good living, they are badly off when they + come to roughing it. In youth they shine like statues stuck about + the town, and take their walks abroad; but when old age draws nigh, + you find them as threadbare as an old coat. Suppose a man has + wrestled well, or runs fast, or has hurled a quoit, or given a + black eye in fine style, has he done the State a service by the + crowns he won? Do soldiers fight with quoits in hand, or without + the press of shields can kicks expel the foeman from the gate? + Nobody is fool enough to do these things with steel before his + face. Keep, then, your laurels for the wise and good, for him who + rules a city well, the just and temperate, who by his speeches + wards off ill, allaying wars and civil strife. These are the things + for cities, yea, and for all Greece to boast of." + +Lucian represents, of course, a late period of Attic life. But his +picture of the perfect boy completes, and in some points supplements, +that of Aristophanes. Callicratidas, in the _Dialogue on Love_, has +just drawn an unpleasing picture of a woman, surrounded in a fusty +boudoir with her rouge-pots and cosmetics, perfumes, paints, combs, +looking-glasses, hair-dyes, and curling irons. Then he turns to praise +boys:[104] + + "How different is the boy! In the morning, he rises from his chaste + couch, washes the sleep from his eyes with cold water, puts on his + chlamys,[105] and takes his way to the school of the musician or + the gymnast. His tutors and guardians attend him, and his eyes are + bent upon the ground. He spends the morning in studying the poets + and philosophers, in riding, or in military drill. Then he betakes + himself to the wrestling-ground, and hardens his body with noontide + heat and sweat and dust. The bath follows and a modest meal. After + this he returns for awhile to study the lives of heroes and great + men. After a frugal supper sleep at last is shed upon his eyelids." + +Such is Lucian's sketch of the day spent by a young Greek at the famous +University of Athens. Much is, undoubtedly, omitted; but enough is said +to indicate the simple occupations to which an Athenian youth, capable +of inspiring an enthusiastic affection, was addicted. Then follows a +burst of rhetoric, which reveals, when we compare it with the dislike +expressed for women, the deeply-seated virile nature of Greek love. + + "Truly he is worthy to be loved. Who would not love Hermes in the + palaestra, or Phoebus at the lyre, or Castor on the racing-ground? + Who would not wish to sit face to face with such a youth, to hear + him talk, to share his toils, to walk with him, to nurse him in + sickness, to attend him on the sea, to suffer chains and darkness + with him if need be? He who hated him should be my foe, and who so + loved him should be loved by me. At his death I would die; one + grave should cover us both; one cruel hand cut short our lives!" + +In the sequel of the dialogue Lucian makes it clear that he intends +these raptures of Callicratidas to be taken in great measure for +romantic boasting. Yet the fact remains that, till the last, Greek +paiderastia among the better sort of men implied no effeminacy. +Community of interest in sport, in exercise, and in open-air life +rendered it attractive.[106] + + "Son of Eudiades, Euphorion, + After the boxing-match, in which he beat, + With wreaths I crowned, and set fine silk upon, + His forehead and soft blossoms honey-sweet; + Then thrice I kissed him all beblooded there; + His mouth I kissed, his eyes, his every bruise; + More fragrant far than frankincense, I swear. + Was the fierce chrism that from his brows did ooze." + + "I do not care for curls or tresses + Displayed in wily wildernesses; + I do not prize the arts that dye + A painted cheek with hues that fly: + Give me a boy whose face and hand + Are rough with dust or circus-sand, + Whose ruddy flesh exhales the scent + Or health without embellishment: + Sweet to my sense is such a youth, + Whose charms have all the charm of truth: + Leave paints and perfumes, rouge, and curls, + To lazy, lewd Corinthian girls." + +The palaestra was the place at Athens where lovers enjoyed the greatest +freedom. In the _Phaedrus_ Plato observes that the attachment of the +lover for a boy grew by meetings and personal contact[107] in the +gymnasiums and other social resorts, and in the _Symposium_ he mentions +gymnastic exercises, with philosophy, and paiderastia, as the three +pursuits of freemen most obnoxious to despots. AEschines, again +describing the manners of boy-lovers in language familiar to his +audience, uses these phrases: "having grown up in gymnasium and games," +and "the man having been a noisy haunter of gymnasiums, and having been +the lover of multitudes." Aristophanes, also, in the _Wasps_,[108] +employs similar language: "and not seeking to go revelling around in +exercising grounds." I may compare Lucian, _Amores_, cap. 2, "you care +for gymnasiums and their sleek oiled combatants," which is said to a +notorious boy-lover. Boys and men met together with considerable liberty +in the porches, peristyles and other adjuncts to an Attic +wrestling-ground; and it was here, too, that sophists and philosophers +established themselves, with the certainty of attracting a large and +eager audience for their discussions. It is true that an ancient law +forbade the presence of adults in the wrestling-grounds of boys; but +this law appears to have become almost wholly obsolete in the days of +Plato. Socrates, for example, in the _Charmides_, goes down immediately +after his arrival from the camp at Potidaea into the palaestra of Taureas +to hear the news of the day, and the very first question which he asks +his friends is whether a new beauty has appeared among the youths.[109] +So again in the _Lysis_, Hippothales invites Socrates to enter the +private palaestra of Miccus, where boys and men were exercising together +on the feast-day of Hermes.[110] "The building," he remarks, "is a +newly-erected palaestra, and the entertainment is generally conversation, +to which you are welcome." The scene which immediately follows is well +known to Greek students as one of the most beautiful and vivid pictures +of Athenian life. One group of youths are sacrificing to Hermes; another +are casting dice in a corner of the dressing-room. Lysis himself is +"standing among the other boys and youths, having a crown upon his head, +like a fair vision, and not less worthy of praise for his goodness than +for his beauty." The modesty of Lysis is shown by the shyness which +prevents him joining Socrates' party until he has obtained the company +of some of his young friends. Then a circle of boys and men is formed in +a corner of the court, and a conversation upon friendship begins. +Hippothales, the lover of Lysis, keeps at a decorous distance in the +background. Not less graceful as a picture is the opening of the +_Charmides_. In answer to a question of Socrates, the frequenters of the +palaestra tell him to expect the coming of young Charmides. He will then +see the most beautiful boy in Athens at the time: "for those who are +just entering are the advanced guard of the great beauty of the day, and +he is likely to be not far off." There is a noise and a bustle at the +door, and while the Socratic party continues talking Charmides enters. +The effect produced is overpowering:[111]-- + + "You know, my friend, that I cannot measure anything, and of the + beautiful I am simply such a measure as a white line is of chalk; + for almost all young persons appear to be beautiful in my eyes. But + at that moment when I saw him coming in, I confess that I was quite + astonished at his beauty and his stature; all the world seemed to + be enamoured of him; amazement and confusion reigned when he + entered; and a troop of lovers followed him. That grown-up men like + ourselves should have been affected in this way was not surprising, + but I observed that there was the same feeling among the boys; all + of them, down to the very least child, turned and looked at him, as + if he had been a statue." + +Charmides, like Lysis, is persuaded to sit down by Socrates, who opens a +discussion upon the appropriate question of _Sophrosyne_, or modest +temperance and self-restraint.[112] + + "He came as he was bidden, and sat down between Critias and me. + Great amusement was occasioned by everyone pushing with might and + main at his neighbour in order to make a place for him next to + them, until at the two ends of the row one had to get up, and the + other was rolled over sideways. Now I, my friend, was beginning to + feel awkward; my former bold belief in my powers of conversing with + him had vanished. And when Critias told him that I was the person + who had the cure, he looked at me in such an indescribable manner, + and was going to ask a question; and then all the people in the + palaestra crowded about us, and, O rare! I caught a sight of the + inwards of his garment, and took the flame. Then I could no longer + contain myself. I thought how well Cydias understood the nature of + love when, in speaking of a fair youth, he warns someone, 'not to + bring the fawn in the sight of the lion to be devoured by him,' for + I felt that I had been overcome by a sort of wild-beast appetite." + +The whole tenor of the dialogue makes it clear that, in spite of the +admiration he excited, the honour paid him by a public character like +Socrates and the troops of lovers and of friends surrounding him, yet +Charmides was unspoiled. His docility, modesty, simplicity, and +healthiness of soul are at least as remarkable as the beauty for which +he was so famous. + +A similar impression is produced upon our minds by Autolycus in the +_Symposium_ of Xenophon.[113] Callias, his acknowledged lover[114] had +invited him to a banquet after a victory which he had gained in the +pancration; and many other guests, including the Socratic party, were +asked to meet him. Autolycus came, attended by his father; and as soon +as the tables were covered and the seats had been arranged, a kind of +divine awe fell upon the company. The grown-up men were dazzled by the +beauty and the modest bearing of the boy, just as when a bright light is +brought into a darkened room. Everybody gazed at him, and all were +silent, sitting in uncomfortable attitudes of expectation and +astonishment. The dinner party would have passed off very tamely if +Phillipus, a professional diner-out and jester, had not opportunely made +his appearance. Autolycus meanwhile never uttered a word, but lay beside +his father like a breathing statue. Later on in the evening he was +obliged to answer a question. He opened his lips with blushes, and all +he said was,[115] "Not I, by gad." Still, even this created a great +sensation in the company. Everybody, says Xenophon, was charmed to hear +his voice, and turned their eyes upon him. It should be remarked that +the conversation at this party fell almost entirely upon matters of +love. Critobulus, for example, who was very beautiful and rejoiced in +having many lovers, gave a full account of his own feelings for +Cleinias.[116] + + "You all tell me," he argued, "that I am beautiful, and I cannot + but believe you; but if I am, and if you feel what I feel when I + look on Cleinias, I think that beauty is better worth having than + all Persia. I would choose to be blind to everybody else if I could + only see Cleinias, and I hate the night because it robs me of his + sight. I would rather be the slave of Cleinias than live without + him; I would rather toil and suffer danger for his sake than live + alone at ease and in safety. I would go through fire with him, as + you would with me. In my soul I carry an image of him better made + than any sculptor could fashion." + +What makes this speech the more singular is that Critobulus was a +newly-married man. + +But to return from this digression to the palaestra. The Greeks were +conscious that gymnastic exercises tended to encourage and confirm the +habit of paiderastia. "The cities which have most to do with +gymnastics," is the phrase which Plato uses to describe the states where +Greek love flourished.[117] Herodotus says the barbarians borrowed +gymnastics together with paiderastia from the Hellenes; and we hear that +Polycrates of Samos caused the gymnasia to be destroyed when he wished +to discountenance the love which lent the warmth of personal enthusiasm +to political associations.[118] It was common to erect statues of love +in the wrestling-grounds; and there, says Plutarch,[119] the god's wings +grew so wide that no man could restrain his flight. Readers of the +idyllic poets will remember that it was a statue of Love which fell from +its pedestal in the swimming-bath upon the cruel boy who had insulted +the body of his self-slain friend.[120] Charmus, the lover of Hippias, +erected an image of Eros in the academy at Athens which bore this +epigram:-- + + "Love, god of many evils and various devices, Charmus set up this + altar to thee upon the shady boundaries of the gymnasium."[121] + +Eros, in fact, was as much at home in the gymnasia of Athens as +Aphrodite in the temples of Corinth; he was the patron of paiderastia, +as she of female love. Thus Meleager writes:-- + + "The Cyprian queen, a woman, hurls the fire that maddens men for + females; but Eros himself sways the love of males for males."[122] + +Plutarch, again, in the Erotic dialogue, alludes to "Eros, where +Aphrodite is not; Eros apart from Aphrodite." These facts relating to +the gymnasia justified Cicero in saying, "Mihi quidem haec in Graecorum +gymnasiis nata consuetudo videtur; _in quibus isti liberi et concesi +sunt amores_." He adds, with a true Roman's antipathy to Greek aesthetics +and their flimsy screen for sensuality, "Bene ergo Ennius, _flagitii +principium est nudare inter cives corpora_."[123] "To me, indeed, it +seems that this custom was generated in the gymnasiums of the Greeks, +for there those loves are freely indulged and sanctioned. Ennius +therefore very properly observed that the beginning of vice is the habit +of stripping the body among citizens." + +The Attic gymnasia and schools were regulated by strict laws. We have +already seen that adults were not supposed to enter the palaestra; and +the penalty for the infringement of this rule by the gymnasiarch was +death. In the same way, schools had to be shut at sunset and not opened +again before daybreak; nor was a grown-up man allowed to frequent them. +The public chorus teachers of boys were obliged to be above the age of +forty.[124] Slaves who presumed to make advances to a free boy were +subject to the severest penalties; in like manner they were prohibited +from gymnastic exercises. AEschines, from whom we learn these facts, +draws the correct conclusion that gymnastics and Greek love were +intended to be the special privilege of freemen. Still, in spite of all +restrictions, the palaestra was the centre of Athenian profligacy, the +place in which not only honourable attachments were formed, but +disgraceful bargains also were concluded;[125] and it is not improbable +that men like Taureas and Miccus, who opened such places of amusement as +a private speculation, may have played the part of go-betweens and +panders. Their walls, and the plane-trees which grew along their open +courts, were inscribed by lovers with the names of boys who had +attracted them. To scrawl up, "Fair is Dinomeneus, fair is the boy," was +a common custom, as we learn from Aristophanes and from this anonymous +epigram in the _Anthology_:[126]-- + + "I said and once again I said, 'fair, fair'; but still will I go on + repeating how fascinating with his eyes is Dositheus. Not upon an + oak, nor on a pine-tree, nor yet upon a wall, will I inscribe this + word; but love is smouldering in my heart of hearts." + +Another attention of the same kind from a lover to a boy was to have a +vase or drinking-cup of baked clay made, with a portrait of the youth +depicted on its surface, attended by winged genii of health and love. +The word "Fair" was inscribed beneath, and symbols of games were +added--a hoop or a fighting-cock.[127] Nor must I here omit the custom +which induced lovers of a literary turn to praise their friends in prose +or verse. Hippothales, in the _Lysis_ of Plato, is ridiculed by his +friends for recording the great deeds of the boy's ancestors, and +deafening his ears with odes and sonnets. A diatribe on love, written by +Lysias with a view to winning Phaedrus, forms the starting-point of the +dialogue between that youth and Socrates.[128] We have, besides, a +curious panegyrical oration (called _Eroticos Logos_), falsely ascribed +to Demosthenes, in honour of a youth, Epicrates, from which some +information may be gathered concerning the topics usually developed in +these compositions. + +Presents were of course a common way of trying to win favour. It was +reckoned shameful for boys to take money from their lovers, but fashion +permitted them to accept gifts of quails and fighting cocks, pheasants, +horses, dogs and clothes.[129] There existed, therefore, at Athens +frequent temptations for boys of wanton disposition, or for those who +needed money to indulge expensive tastes. The speech of AEschines, from +which I have already frequently quoted, affords a lively picture of the +Greek rake's progress, in which Timarchus is described as having sold +his person in order to gratify his gluttony and lust and love of gaming. +The whole of this passage,[130] it may be observed in passing, reads +like a description of Florentine manners in a sermon of Savonarola. + +The shops of the barbers, surgeons, perfumers, and flower-sellers had an +evil notoriety, and lads who frequented these resorts rendered +themselves liable to suspicion. Thus AEschines accuses Timarchus of +having exposed himself for hire in a surgeon's shop at the Peiraeus; +while one of Straton's most beautiful epigrams[131] describes an +assignation which he made with a boy who had attracted his attention in +a garland-weaver's stall. In a fragment from the _Pyraunos_ of Alexis, +a young man declares that he found thirty professors of the "voluptuous +life of pleasure," in the Cerameicus during a search of three days; +while Cratinus and Theopompus might be quoted to prove the ill fame of +the monument to Cimon and the hill of Lycabettus.[132] + +The last step in the downward descent was when a youth abandoned the +roof of his parents or guardians and accepted the hospitality of a +lover.[133] If he did this, he was lost. + +In connection with this portion of the subject, it may be well to state +that the Athenian law recognised contracts made between a man and boy, +even if the latter were of free birth, whereby the one agreed to render +up his person for a certain period and purpose, and the other to pay a +fixed sum of money.[134] The phrase "a boy who has been a prostitute," +occurs quite naturally in Aristophanes;[135] nor was it thought +disreputable for men to engage in these _liaisons_. Disgrace only +attached to the free youth who gained a living by prostitution; and he +was liable, as we shall see, at law to loss of civil rights. + +Public brothels for males were kept in Athens, from which the state +derived a portion of its revenues. It was in one of these bad places +that Socrates first saw Phaedo.[136] This unfortunate youth was a native +of Elis. Taken prisoner in war, he was sold in the public market to a +slave-dealer, who then acquired the right by Attic law to prostitute his +person and engross his earnings for his own pocket. A friend of +Socrates, perhaps Cebes, bought him from his master, and he became one +of the chief members of the Socratic circle. His name is given to the +Platonic dialogue on immortality, and he lived to found what is called +the Eleo-Socratic School. No reader of Plato forgets how the sage, on +the eve of his death, stroked the beautiful long hair of Phaedo,[137] and +prophesied that he would soon have to cut it short in mourning for his +teacher. + +Agathocles, the tyrant of Syracuse, is said to have spent his youth in +brothels of this sort--by inclination, however, if the reports of his +biographers be not calumnious. + +From what has been collected on this topic, it will be understood that +boys in Athens not unfrequently caused quarrels and street-brawls, and +that cases for recovery of damages or breach of contract were brought +before the Attic law-courts. The Peiraeus was especially noted for such +scenes of violence. The oration of Lysias against Simon is a notable +example of the pleadings in a cause of this description.[138] Simon, the +defendant, and Lysias, the plaintiff (or some one for whom Lysias had +composed the speech) were both of them attached to Theodotus, a boy from +Plataea. Theodotus was living with the plaintiff; but the defendant +asserted that the boy had signed an agreement to consort with him for +the consideration of three hundred drachmae, and, relying on this +contract, he had attempted more than once to carry off the boy by force. +Violent altercations, stone-throwings, house-breakings, and encounters +of various kinds having ensued, the plaintiff brought an action for +assault and battery against Simon. A modern reader is struck with the +fact that he is not at all ashamed of his own relation towards +Theodotus. It may be noted that the details of this action throw light +upon the historic brawl at Corinth, in which a boy was killed, and which +led to the foundation of Syracuse by Archias the Bacchiad.[139] + + + + +XIV. + + +We have seen in the foregoing section that paiderastia at Athens was +closely associated with liberty, manly sports, severe studies, +enthusiasm, self-sacrifice, self-control, and deeds of daring, by those +who cared for those things. It has also been made abundantly manifest +that no serious moral shame attached to persons who used boys like +women, but that effeminate youths of free birth were stigmatised for +their indecent profligacy. It remains still to ascertain the more +delicate distinctions which were drawn by Attic law and custom in this +matter, though what has been already quoted from Pausanias, in the +_Symposium_ of Plato, may be taken fairly to express the code of honour +among gentlemen. + +In the _Plutus_,[140] Aristophanes is careful to divide "boys with +lovers," into "the good," and "the strumpets." This distinction will +serve as basis for the following remarks. A very definite line was drawn +by the Athenians between boys who accepted the addresses of their lovers +because they liked them or because they were ambitious of comradeship +with men of spirit, and those who sold their bodies for money. Minute +inquiry was never instituted into the conduct of the former class; else +Alcibiades could not have made his famous declaration about +Socrates,[141] nor would Plato in the _Phaedrus_ have regarded an +occasional breach of chastity, under the compulsion of violent passion, +as a venial error.[142] The latter, on the other hand, besides being +visited with universal censure, were disqualified by law from exercising +the privileges of the franchise, from undertaking embassies, from +frequenting the Agora, and from taking part in public festivals, under +the penalty of death. AEschines, from whom we learn the wording of this +statute, adds:[143] "This law he passed with regard to youths who sin +with facility and readiness against their own bodies." He then proceeds +to define the true nature of prostitution, prohibited by law to the +citizens of Athens. It is this: "Any one who acts in this way towards a +single man, provided he do it with payment, seems to me to be liable to +the reproach in question."[144] The whole discussion turns upon the word +_Misthos_. The orator is cautious to meet the argument that a written +contract was necessary in order to construct a case of _Hetaireia_ at +law.[145] In the statute, he observes, there is no mention of "contract" +or "deed in writing." The offence has been sufficiently established +"when in any way whatever payment has been made." + +In order to illustrate the feeling of the Athenians with regard to +making profit out of paiderastic relations, I may perhaps be permitted +to interrupt the analysis of AEschines by referring to Xenophon's +character (_Anab._ si, 6, 21) of the Strategus Menon. The whole tenor of +his judgment is extremely unfavourable toward this man, who invariable +pursued selfish and mean aims, debasing virtuous qualities like ambition +and industry in the mere pursuit of wealth and power. He was, in fact, +devoid of chivalrous feeling, good taste, and honour. About his +behaviour as a youth, Xenophon writes: "With Ariaeus, the barbarian, +because this man was partial to handsome youths, he became extremely +intimate while he was still in the prime of adolescence; moreover, he +had Tharypas for his beloved, he being beardless and Tharypas a man +with a beard." His crime seems to have been that he prostituted himself +to the barbarian Ariaeus in order to advance his interest, and, probably +with the same view, flattered the effeminate vanity of an elder man by +pretending to love him out of the right time or season. Plutarch +(_Pyrrhus_) mentions this Tharypas as the first to introduce Hellenic +manners among the Molossi. + +When more than one lover was admitted, the guilt was aggravated. "It +will then be manifest that he has not only acted the strumpet, but that +he has been a common prostitute. For he who does this indifferently, and +with money, and for money, seems to have incurred that designation." +Thus the question finally put to the Areopagus, in which court the case +against Timarchus was tried, ran as follows, in the words of +AEschines:[146] "To which of these two classes will you reckon +Timarchus--to those who have had a lover, or to those who have been +prostitutes?" In his rhetorical exposition, AEschines defines the true +character of the virtuous _Eromenos_. Frankly admitting his own +partiality for beautiful young men, he argues after this fashion:[147] +"I do not attach any blame to love. I do not take away the character of +handsome lads. I do not deny that I have often loved, and had many +quarrels and jealousies in this matter. But I establish this as an +irrefutable fact, that, while the love of beautiful and temperate youths +does honour to humanity and indicates a generous temper, the buying of +the person of a free boy for debauchery is a mark of insolence and +ill-breeding. To be loved is an honour: to sell yourself is a disgrace." +He then appeals to the law which forbade slaves to love, thereby +implying that this was the privilege and pride of free men. He alludes +to the heroic deed of Aristogeiton and to the great example of Achilles. +Finally, he draws up a list of well-known and respected citizens whose +loves were notorious, and compares them with a parallel list of persons +infamous for their debauchery. What remains in the peroration to this +invective traverses the same ground. Some phrases may be quoted which +illustrate the popular feeling of the Athenians. Timarchus is +stigmatised[148] as, "the man and male who, in spite of this, has +debauched his body by womanly acts of lust," and again as, "one who +against the law of nature has given himself to lewdness." It is obvious +here that AEschines, the self-avowed boy-lover, while seeking to crush +his opponent by flinging effeminacy and unnatural behaviour in his +teeth, assumes at the same time that honourable paiderastia implies no +such disgrace. Again, he observes that it is as easy to recognise a +pathic by his impudent behaviour as a gymnast by his muscles. Lastly, he +bids the judges force intemperate lovers to abstain from free youths, +and satisfy their lusts upon the persons of foreigners and aliens.[149] +The whole matter at this distance of time is obscure, nor can we hope to +apprehend the full force of distinctions drawn by a Greek orator +appealing to a Greek audience. We may, indeed, fairly presume that, as +is always the case with popular ethics, considerable confusion existed +in the minds of the Athenians themselves, and that, even for them, to +formulate the whole of their social feelings on this topic consistently, +would have been impossible. The main point, however, seems to be that at +Athens it was held honourable to love free boys with decency; that the +conduct of lovers between themselves, within the limits of recognised +friendship, was not challenged; and that no particular shame attached to +profligate persons so long as they refrained from tampering with the +sons of citizens.[150] + + + + +XV. + + +The sources from which our information has hitherto been +drawn--speeches, poems, biographies, and the dramatic parts of +dialogues--yield more real knowledge about the facts of Athenian +paiderastia than can be found in the speculations of philosophers. In +Aristotle, for instance, paiderastia is almost conspicuous by its +absence. It is true that he speculates upon the Cretan customs in the +_Politics_, mentions the prevalence of boy-love among the Kelts, and +incidentally notices the legends of Diocles and Cleomachus;[151] but he +never discusses the matter as fully as might have been expected from a +philosopher whose speculations covered the whole field of Greek +experience. The chapters on _Philia_, in the _Ethics_, might indeed have +been written by a modern moralist for modern readers, though it is +possible that in his treatment of "friendship with pleasure for its +object," and "friendship with advantage for its object," Aristotle is +aiming at the vicious sort of paiderastia. As regards his silence in +the _Politics_, it is worth noticing that this treatise breaks off at +the very point where we should naturally look for a scientific handling +of the education of the passions; and, therefore, it is possible that we +may have lost the weightiest utterance of Greek philosophy upon the +matter of our enquiry. + +Though Aristotle contains but little to the purpose, the case is +different with Plato; nor would it be possible to omit a detailed +examination of the Platonic doctrine on the topic, or to neglect the +attempt he made to analyse and purify a passion, capable, according to +his earlier philosophical speculations, of supplying the starting-point +for spiritual progress. + +The first point to notice in the Platonic treatment of paiderastia is +the difference between the ethical opinions expressed in the _Phaedrus_, +_Symposium_, _Republic_, _Charmides_, and _Lysis_, on the one hand, and +those expounded in the _Laws_ upon the other. The _Laws_, which are +probably a genuine work of Plato's old age, condemn that passion which, +in the _Phaedrus_ and _Symposium_, he exalted as the greatest boon of +human life and as the groundwork of the philosophical temperament; the +ordinary social manifestations of which he described with sympathy in +the _Lysis_ and the _Charmides_; and which he viewed with more than +toleration in the _Republic_. It is not my business to offer a solution +of this contradiction; but I may observe that Socrates, who plays the +part of protagonist in nearly all the other dialogues of Plato, and who, +as we shall see, professed a special cult of love, is conspicuous by his +absence in the _Laws_. It is, therefore, not improbable that the +philosophical idealisation of paiderastia, to which the name of Platonic +love is usually given, should rather be described as Socratic. However +that may be, I think it will be well to deal first with the doctrine put +into the mouth of the Athenian stranger in the _Laws_, and then to pass +on to the consideration of what Socrates is made to say upon the subject +of Greek love in the earlier dialogues. + +The position assumed by Plato in the _Laws_ (p. 636) is this: Syssitia +and gymnasia are excellent institutions in their way, but they have a +tendency to degrade natural love in man below the level of the beasts. +Pleasure is only natural when it arises out of the intercourse between +men and women, but the intercourse between men and men, or women and +women, is contrary to nature.[152] The bold attempt at overleaping +Nature's laws was due originally to unbridled lust. + +This position is developed in the eighth book (p. 836), where Plato +directs his criticism, not only against what would now be termed the +criminal intercourse between persons of the same sex, but also against +incontinence in general. While framing a law of almost monastic rigour +for the regulation of the sexual appetite, he remains an ancient Greek. +He does not reach the point of view from which women are regarded as the +proper objects of both passion and friendship, as the fit companions of +men in all relations of life; far less does he revert to his earlier +speculations upon the enthusiasm generated by a noble passion. The +modern ideal of marriage and the chivalrous conception of womanhood as +worthy to be worshipped are like unknown to him. Abstinence from the +delights of love, continence except for the sole end of procreation, is +the rule which he proposes to the world. + + * * * * * + +There are three distinct things, Plato argues, which, owing to the +inadequacy of language to represent states of thought, have been +confounded.[153] These are friendship, desire, and a third mixed +species. Friendship is further described as the virtuous affection of +equals in taste, age and station. Desire is always founded on a sense of +contrast. While friendship is "gentle and mutual through life," desire +is "fierce and wild."[154] The true friend seeks to live chastely with +the chaste object of his attachment, whose soul he loves. The lustful +lover longs to enjoy the flower of his youth and cares only for the +body. The third sort is mixed of these; and a lover of this composite +kind is torn asunder by two impulses, "the one commanding him to enjoy +the youth's person, the other forbidding him to do so."[155] The +description of the lover of the third species so exactly suits the +paiderast of nobler quality in Greece, as I conceive him to have +actually existed, that I shall give a full quotation of this +passage:[156]-- + + "As to the mixed sort, which is made up of them both, there is, + first of all, a difficulty in determining what he who is possessed + by this third love desires; moreover, he is drawn different ways, + and is in doubt between the two principles, the one exhorting him + to enjoy the beauty of the youth, and the other forbidding him; for + the one is a lover of the body and hungers after beauty like ripe + fruit, and would fain satisfy himself without any regard to the + character of the beloved; the other holds the desire of the body to + be a secondary matter, and, looking rather than loving with his + soul, and desiring the soul of the other in a becoming manner, + regards the satisfaction of the bodily love as wantonness; he + reverences and respects temperance and courage and magnanimity and + wisdom, and wishes to live chastely with the chaste object of his + affection." + +It is remarkable that Plato, in this analysis of the three sorts of +love, keeps strictly within the bounds of paiderastia. He rejects desire +and the mixed sort of love, reserving friendship (_Philia_) and +ordaining marriage for the satisfaction of the aphrodisiac instinct at a +fitting age, but more particularly for the procreation of children. +Wantonness of every description is to be made as much a sin as incest, +both by law and also by the world's opinion. If Olympian victors, with +an earthly crown in view, learn to live chastely for the preservation of +their strength while training, shall not men, whose contest is for +heavenly prizes, keep their bodies undefiled, their spirits holy? + +Socrates, the mystagogue of amorous philosophy, is absent, as I have +observed, from this discussion of the laws. I turn now to those earlier +dialogues in which he expounds the doctrine of Platonic, or, as I should +prefer to call it, Socratic, love. We know from Xenophon, as well as +Plato, that Socrates named his philosophy the Science of Love. The one +thing on which I pride myself, he says, is knowledge of all matters that +pertain to love. It furthermore appears that Socrates thought himself in +a peculiar sense predestined to reform and to ennoble paiderastia. +"Finding this passion at its height throughout the whole of Hellas, but +most especially in Athens, and all places full of evil lovers and of +youths seduced, he felt a pity for both parties. Not being a lawgiver +like Solon, he could not stop the custom by statute, nor correct it by +force, nor again dissuade men from it by his eloquence. He did not, +however, on that account abandon the lovers or the boys to their fate, +but tried to suggest a remedy." This passage, which I have paraphrased +from Maximus Tyrius,[157] sufficiently expresses the attitude assumed +by Socrates in the Platonic dialogue. He sympathises with Greek lovers, +and avows a fervent admiration for beauty in the persons of young men. +At the same time, he declares himself upon the side of temperate and +generous affection and strives to utilise the erotic enthusiasm as a +motive power in the direction of philosophy. This was really nothing +more or less than an attempt to educate the Athenians by appealing to +their own higher instincts. We have seen that paiderastia in the prime +of Hellenic culture, whatever sensual admixture it might have contained, +was a masculine passion. It was closely connected with the love of +political independence, with the contempt for Asiatic luxury, with the +gymnastic sports, and with the intellectual interests which +distinguished Hellenes from barbarians. Partly owing to the social +habits of their cities, and partly to the peculiar notions which they +entertained regarding the seclusion of free women in the home, all the +higher elements of spiritual and mental activity, and the conditions +under which a generous passion was conceivable, had become the exclusive +privileges of men. It was not that women occupied a semi-servile +station, as some students have imagined, or that within the sphere of +the household they were not the respected and trusted helpmates of men. +But circumstances rendered it impossible for them to excite romantic and +enthusiastic passion. The exaltation of the emotions was reserved for +the male sex. + +Socrates, therefore, sought to direct and moralise a force already +existing. In the _Phaedrus_ he describes the passion of love between man +and boy as a madness, not different in quality from that which inspires +poets; and, after painting that fervid picture of the lover, he declares +that the true object of a noble life can only be attained by passionate +friends, bound together in the chains of close yet temperate +comradeship, seeking always to advance in knowledge, self-restraint, and +intellectual illumination. The doctrine of the _Symposium_ is not +different, except that Socrates here takes a higher flight. The same +love is treated as the method whereby the soul may begin her mystic +journey to the region of essential beauty, truth, and goodness. It has +frequently been remarked that Plato's dialogues have to be read as +poems, even more than as philosophical treatises; and if this be true at +all, it is particularly true of both the _Phaedrus_ and the _Symposium_. +The lesson which both essays seem intended to inculcate is this: love, +like poetry and prophecy, is a divine gift, which diverts men from the +common current of their lives; but in the right use of this gift lies +the secret of all human excellence. The passion which grovels in the +filth of sensual grossness may be transformed into a glorious +enthusiasm, a winged splendour, capable of soaring to the contemplation +of eternal verities. How strange will it be, when once those heights of +intellectual intuition have been scaled, to look down again to earth and +view the _Meirakidia_ in whom the soul first recognised the form of +beauty![158] There is a deeply-rooted mysticism, an impenetrable +soofyism, in the Socratic doctrine of Eros. + +In the _Phaedrus_, the _Symposium_, the _Charmides_, the _Lysis_, and the +_Republic_, Plato dramatised the real Socrates, while he gave liberal +scope to his own personal sympathy for paiderastia.[159] In the _Laws_, +if we accept this treatise as the work of his old age, he discarded the +Socratic mask, and wrote a kind of palinode, which indicates more moral +growth than pure disapprobation of the paiderastic passion. I have +already tried to show that the point of view in the _Laws_ is still +Greek: that their author has not passed beyond the sphere of Hellenic +ethics. He has only become more ascetic in his rule of conduct as the +years advanced, importing the _rumores senum severiorum_ into his +discourse, and recognising the imperfection of that halting-point +between the two logical extremes of Pagan license and monastic +asceticism which in the fervour of his greener age he advocated. As a +young man, Plato felt sympathy for love so long as it was paiderastic +and not spent on women; he even condoned a lapse through warmth of +feeling into self-indulgence. As an old man, he denounced carnal +pleasure of all kinds, and sought to limit the amative instincts to the +one sole end of procreation. + +It has so happened that Plato's name is still connected with the ideal +of passion purged from sensuality. Much might be written about the +parallel between the _mania_ of the _Phaedrus_ and the _joy_ of mediaeval +amorists. Nor would it be unprofitable to trace the points of contact +between the love described by Dante in the _Vita Nuova_ and the +paiderastia exalted to the heavens by Plato.[160] The spiritual passion +for Beatrice, which raised the Florentine poet above vile things, and +led him by the philosophic paths of the _Convito_ to the beatific vision +of the _Paradiso_, bears no slight resemblance to the _Eros_ of the +_Symposium_. Yet we know that Dante could not have studied Plato's +works; and the specific love which Plato praised he sternly stigmatised. +The harmony between Greek and mediaeval mysticism in this matter of the +emotions rests on something permanent in human nature, common alike to +paiderastia and to chivalrous enthusiasm for woman. + +It would be well worth raising here the question whether there was not +something special both in the Greek consciousness itself, and also in +the conditions under which it reached maturity, which justified the +Socratic attempt to idealise paiderastia. Placed upon the borderland of +barbarism, divided from the Asiatic races by an acute but narrow line of +demarcation, the Greeks had arrived at the first free notion of the +spirit in its disentanglement from matter and from symbolism. But this +notion of the spirit was still aesthetic, rather than strictly ethical or +rigorously scientific. In the Greek gods, intelligence is perfected and +character is well defined; but these gods are always concrete persons, +with corporeal forms adapted to their spiritual essence. The +interpenetration of spiritual and corporeal elements in a complete +personality, the transfusion of intellectual and emotional faculties +throughout a physical organism exactly suited to their adequate +expression, marks Greek religion and Greek art. What the Greeks +worshipped in their ritual, what they represented in their sculpture, +was always personality--the spirit and the flesh in amity and mutual +correspondence; the spirit burning through the flesh and moulding it to +individual forms; the flesh providing a fit dwelling for the spirit +which controlled and fashioned it. Only philosophers, among the Greeks, +attempted to abstract the spirit as a self-sufficient, independent, +conscious entity; and these philosophers were few, and what they wrote +or spoke had little direct influence upon the people. This being the +mental attitude of the Greek race, it followed as a necessity that their +highest emotional aspirations, their purest personal service, should be +devoted to clear and radiant incarnations of the spirit in a living +person. They had never been taught to regard the body with a sense of +shame, but rather to admire it as the temple of the spirit, and to +accept its needs and instincts with natural acquiescence. Male beauty +disengaged for them the passion it inspired from service of domestic, +social, civic duties. The female form aroused desire, but it also +suggested maternity and obligations of the household. The male form was +the most perfect image of the deity, self-contained, subject to no +necessities of impregnation, determined in its action only by the laws +of its own reason and its own volition. + +Quite a different order of ideas governed the ideal adopted by mediaeval +chivalry. The spirit in its self-sufficingness, detached from the body, +antagonistic to the body, had been divinised by Christianity. Woman, +regarded as a virgin and at the same time a mother, the maiden-mother of +God made man, had been exalted to the throne of heaven. The worship of +woman became, by a natural and logical process, the correlative in +actual human life for that worship of the incarnate Deity which was the +essence of religion. A remarkable point in mediaeval love is that the +sensual appetites were, theoretically at least, excluded from the homage +paid to woman. It was not the wife or the mistress, but the lady, who +inspired the knight. Dante had children by Gemma, Petrarch had children +by an unknown concubine, but it was the sainted Beatrice, it was the +unattainable Laura, who received the homage of Dante and of Petrarch. + +In like manner, the sensual appetites were, theoretically at least, +excluded from Platonic paiderastia. It was the divine in human +flesh--"the radiant sight of the beloved," to quote from Plato; "the +fairest and most intellectual of earthly bodies," to borrow a phrase +from Maximus Tyrius--it was this which stimulated the Greek lover, just +as a similar incarnation of divinity inspired the chivalrous lover. Thus +we might argue that the Platonic conception of paiderastia furnishes a +close analogue to the chivalrous devotion to women, due regard being +paid to the differences which existed between the plastic ideal of Greek +religion and the romantic ideal of mediaeval Christianity. The one veiled +sodomy, the other adultery. That in both cases the conception was rarely +realised in actual life only completes the parallel. + +To pursue this inquiry further is, however, alien to my task. It is +enough to have indicated the psychological agreement in respect of +purified affection which underlay two such apparently antagonistic +ideals of passion. Few modern writers, when they speak with admiration +or contempt of Platonic love, reflect that in its origin this phrase +denoted an absorbing passion for young men. The Platonist, as appears +from numerous passages in the Platonic writings, would have despised the +Petrarchist as a vulgar woman-lover. The Petrarchist would have loathed +the Platonist as a moral Pariah. Yet Platonic love, in both its Attic +and its mediaeval manifestations, was one and the same thing. + +The philosophical ideal of paiderastia in Greece, which bore the names +of Socrates and Plato, met with little but contempt. Cicero, in a +passage which has been echoed by Gibbon, remarked upon, "the thin device +of virtue and friendship which amused the philosophers of Athens."[161] +Epicurus criticised the Stoic doctrine of paiderastia by sententiously +observing that philosophers only differed from the common race of men in +so far as they could better cloak their vice with sophistries. This +severe remark seems justified by the opinions ascribed to Zeno by +Plutarch, Sextus Empiricus, and Stobaeus.[162] But it may be doubted +whether the real drift of the Stoic theory of love, founded on +_Adiaphopha_, was understood. Lucian, in the _Amores_,[163] makes +Charicles, the advocate of love for women, deride the Socratic ideal as +vain nonsense, while Theomnestus, the man of pleasure, to whom the +dispute is finally referred, decides that the philosophers are either +fools or humbugs.[164] Daphnaeus, in the erotic dialogue of Plutarch, +arrives at a similar conclusion; and, in an essay on education, the same +author contends that no prudent father would allow the sages to enter +into intimacy with his sons.[165] The discredit incurred by philosophers +in the later age of Greek culture is confirmed by more than one passage +in Petronius and Juvenal, while Athenaeus especially inveighs against +philosophic lovers as acting against nature.[166] The attempt of the +Platonic Socrates to elevate, without altering, the morals of his race +may therefore be said fairly to have failed. Like his Republic, his love +existed only in heaven. + + + + +XVI. + + +Philip of Macedon, when he pronounced the panegyric of the Sacred Band +at Chaeronea, uttered the funeral oration of Greek love in its nobler +forms. With the decay of military spirit and the loss of freedom, there +was no sphere left for that type of comradeship which I attempted to +describe in Section IV. The philosophical ideal, to which some +cultivated Attic thinkers had aspired, remained unrealised, except, we +may perhaps suppose, in isolated instances. Meanwhile, paiderastia as a +vice did not diminish. It only grew more wanton and voluptuous. Little, +therefore, can be gained by tracing its historical development further, +although it is not without interest to note the mode of feeling and the +opinion of some later poets and rhetoricians. + +The Idyllists are the only poets, if we except a few epigrammatists of +the _Anthology_, who preserve a portion of the old heroic sentiment. No +true student of Greek literature will have felt that he could strictly +censure the paiderastic passages of the _Thalysia_, _Aites_, _Hylas_, +_Paidika_. They have the ring of genuine and respectable emotion. This +may also be said about the two fragments of Bion which begin, _Hespere +tas eratas_ and _Olbioi oi phileontes_. The _Duseros_, ascribed without +due warrant to Theocritus, is in many respects a beautiful composition, +but it lacks the fresh and manly touches of the master's style, and +bears the stamp of an unwholesome rhetoric. Why, indeed, should we pity +this suicide, and why should the statue of Love have fallen on the +object of his admiration? Maximus Tyrius showed more sense when he +contemptuously wrote about those men who killed themselves for love of a +beautiful lad in Locri:[167] "And in good sooth they deserved to die." + +The dialogue, entitled _Erotes_, attributed to Lucian, deserves a +paragraph. More than any other composition of the rhetorical age of +Greek literature, it attempts a comprehensive treatment of erotic +passion, and sums up the teaching of the doctors and the predilections +of the vulgar in one treatise.[168] Like many of Lucian's compositions, +it has what may be termed a retrospective and resumptive value. That is +to say, it represents less the actual feeling of the author and his age +than the result of his reading and reflection brought into harmony with +his experience. The scene is laid at Cnidus, in the groves of Aphrodite. +The temple and the garden and the statue of Praxiteles are described +with a luxury of language which strikes the keynote of the dialogue. We +have exchanged the company of Plato, Xenophon, or AEschines for that of a +Juvenalian _Graeculus_, a delicate aesthetic voluptuary. Every epithet +smells of musk, and every phrase is a provocative. The interlocutors +are Callicratides, the Athenian, and Charicles, the Rhodian. +Callicratides kept an establishment of _exoleti_; when the down upon +their chins had grown beyond the proper point--"when the beard is just +sprouting, when youth is in the prime of charm," they were drafted off +to farms and country villages. Charicles maintained a harem of +dancing-girls and flute-players. The one was "madly passionate for +lads;" the other no less "mad for women." Charicles undertook the cause +of women, Callicratides that of boys. Charicles began. The love of women +is sanctioned by antiquity; it is natural; it endures through life; it +alone provides pleasure for both sexes. Boys grow bearded, rough, and +past their prime. Women always excite passion. Then Callicratides takes +up his parable. Masculine love combines virtue with pleasure. While the +love of women is a physical necessity, the love of boys is a product of +high culture and an adjunct of philosophy. Paiderastia may be either +vulgar or celestial; the second will be sought by men of liberal +education and good manners. Then follow contrasted pictures of the lazy +woman and the manly youth. The one provokes to sensuality, the other +excites noble emulation in the ways of virile living. Lucian, summing up +the arguments of the two pleaders, decides that Corinth must give way to +Athens, adding: "Marriage is open to all men, but the love of boys to +philosophers only." This verdict is referred to Theomnestus, a Don Juan +of both sexes. He replies that both boys and women are good for +pleasure; the philosophical arguments of Callicratides are cant. + + * * * * * + +This brief abstract of Lucian's dialogue on love indicates the cynicism +with which its author viewed the subject, using the whole literature and +all the experience of the Greeks to support a thesis of pure hedonism. +The sybarites of Cairo or Constantinople at the present moment might +employ the same arguments, except that they would omit the philosophic +cant of Callicratides. + + * * * * * + +There is nothing in extant Greek literature, of a date anterior to the +Christian era, which is foul in the same sense as that in which the +works of Roman poets (Catullus and Martial), Italian poets (Beccatelli +and Baffo), and French poets (Scarron and Voltaire) are foul. Only +purblind students will be unable to perceive the difference between the +obscenity of the Latin races and that of Aristophanes. The difference, +indeed, is wide and radical, and strongly marked. It is the difference +between a race naturally gifted with a delicate, aesthetic sense of +beauty, and one in whom that sense was always subject to the +perturbation, of gross instincts. But with the first century of the new +age a change came over even the imagination of the Greeks. Though they +never lost their distinction of style, that precious gift of lightness +and good taste conferred upon them with their language, they borrowed +something of their conquerors' vein. This makes itself felt in the +_Anthology_. Straton and Rufinus suffered the contamination of the Roman +genius, stronger in political organisation than that of Hellas, but +coarser and less spiritually tempered in morals and in art. Straton was +a native of Sardis, who flourished in the second century. He compiled a +book of paiderastic poems, consisting in a great measure of his own and +Meleager's compositions, which now forms the twelfth section of the +_Palatine Anthology_. This book he dedicated, not to the Muse, but to +Zeus; for Zeus was the boy-lover among deities;[169] he bade it carry +forth his message of fair youths throughout the world;[170] and he +claimed a special inspiration from heaven for singing of one sole +subject, paiderastia.[171] It may be said with truth that Straton +understood the bent of his own genius. We trace a blunt earnestness of +intention in his epigrams, a certainty of feeling and directness of +artistic treatment, which show that he had only one object in view. +Meleager has far higher qualities as a poet, and his feeling, as well as +his style, is more exquisite. But he wavered between the love of boys +and women, seeking in both the satisfaction of emotional yearnings which +in the modern world would have marked him as a sentimentalist. The +so-called _Mousa Paidike_, "Muse of Boyhood," is a collection of two +hundred and fifty-eight short poems, some of them of great artistic +merit, in praise of boys and boy-love. The common-places of these +epigrams are Ganymede and Eros;[172] we hear but little of +Aphrodite--her domain is the other section of the _Anthology_, called +Erotika. A very small percentage of these compositions can be described +as obscene;[173] none are nasty, in the style of Martial or Ausonius; +some are exceedingly picturesque;[174] a few are written in a strain of +lofty or of lovely music;[175] one or two are delicate and subtle in +their humour.[176] The whole collection supplies good means of judging +how the Greeks of the decadence felt about this form of love. _Malakia_ +is the real condemnation of this poetry, rather than brutality or +coarseness. A favourite topic is the superiority of boys over girls. +This sometimes takes a gross form;[177] but once or twice the treatment +of the subject touches a real psychological distinction, as in the +following epigram:[178]-- + + "The love of women is not after my heart's desire; but the fires of + male desire have placed me under inextinguishable coals of burning. + The heat there is mightier; for the more powerful is male than + female, the keener is that desire." + +These four lines give the key to much of the Greek preference for +paiderastia. The love of the male, when it has been apprehended and +entertained, is more exciting, they thought, more absorbent of the whole +nature, than the love of the female. It is, to use another kind of +phraseology, more of a mania and more of a disease. + +With the _Anthology_ we might compare the curious _Epistolai Erotikai_ +of Philostratus.[179] They were in all probability rhetorical +compositions, not intended for particular persons; yet they indicate the +kind of wooing to which youths were subjected in later Hellas.[180] The +discrepancy between the triviality of their subject-matter and the +exquisiteness of their diction is striking. The second of these +qualities has made them a mine for poets. Ben Jonson, for example, +borrowed the loveliest of his lyrics from the following _concetto_:--"I +sent thee a crown of roses, not so much honouring thee, though this, +too, was my meaning, but wishing to do some kindness to the roses that +they might not wither." Take, again, the phrase: "Well, and love himself +is naked, and the graces and the stars;" or this, "O rose, that has a +voice to speak with!"--or this metaphor for the footsteps of the +beloved, "O rhythms of most beloved feet, O kisses pressed upon the +ground!" + +While the paiderastia of the Greeks was sinking into grossness, +effeminacy, and aesthetic prettiness, the moral instincts of humanity +began to assert themselves in earnest. It became part of the higher +doctrine of the Roman Stoics to suppress this form of passion.[181] The +Christians, from St. Paul onwards, instituted an uncompromising crusade +against it. Theirs was no mere speculative warfare, like that of the +philosophers at Athens. They fought with all the forces of their +manhood, with the sword of the Lord and with the excommunications of the +Church, to suppress what seemed to them an unutterable scandal. Dio +Chrysostom, Clemens Alexandrinus, and Athanasius, are our best +authorities for the vices which prevailed in Hellas during the +Empire;[182] the Roman law, moreover, proves that the civil governors +aided the Church in its attempt to moralise the people on this point. + + + + +XVII. + + +The transmutation of Hellas proper into part of the Roman Empire, and +the intrusion of Stoicism and Christianity into the sphere of Hellenic +thought and feeling, mark the end of the Greek age. It still remains, +however, to consider the relation of this passion to the character of +the race, and to determine its influence. + +In the fifth section of this essay, I asserted that it is now impossible +to ascertain whether the Greeks derived paiderastia from any of the +surrounding nations, and if so, from which. Homer's silence makes it +probable that the contact of Hellenic with Phoenician traders in the +post-heroic period led to the adoption by the Greek race of a custom +which they speedily assimilated and stamped with an Hellenic character. +At the same time, I suggested in the tenth section that paiderastia, in +its more enthusiastic and martial form, may have been developed within +the very sanctuary of Greek national existence by the Dorians, matured +in the course of their migrations, and systematised after their +settlement in Crete and Sparta. That the Greeks themselves regarded +Crete as the classic ground of paiderastia favours either theory, and +suggests a fusion of them both; for the geographical position of this +island made it the meeting-place of Hellenes with the Asiatic races, +while it was also one of the earliest Dorian acquisitions. + +When we come to ask why this passion struck roots so deep into the very +heart and brain of the Greek nation, we must reject the favourite +hypothesis of climate. Climate is, no doubt, powerful to a great extent +in determining the complexion of sexual morality; yet, as regards +paiderastia, we have abundant proof that nations both of North and South +have, according to circumstances quite independent of climatic +conditions, been both equally addicted and equally averse to this +habit. The Etruscan,[183] the Chinese, the ancient Keltic tribes, the +Tartar hordes of Timour Khan, the Persians under Moslem rule--races sunk +in the sloth of populous cities, as well as the nomadic children of the +Asian steppes, have all acquired a notoriety at least equal to that of +the Greeks. The only difference between these people and the Greeks in +respect to paiderastia is that everything which the Greek genius touched +acquired a portion of its distinction, so that what in semi-barbarous +society may be ignored as vice, in Greece demands attention as a phase +of the spiritual life of a world-historic nation. + +Like climate, ethnology must also be eliminated. It is only a +superficial philosophy of history which is satisfied with the +nomenclature of Semitic, Aryan, and so forth; which imagines that +something is gained for the explanation of a complex psychological +problem when hereditary affinities have been demonstrated. The deeps of +national personality are far more abysmal than this. Granting that +climate and descent are elements of great importance, the religious and +moral principles, the aesthetic apprehensions, and the customs which +determine the character of a race, leave always something still to be +analysed. In dealing with Greek paiderastia, we are far more likely to +reach a probable solution if we confine our attention to the specific +social conditions which fostered the growth of this passion in Greece, +and to the general habit of mind which permitted its evolution out of +the common stuff of humanity, than if we dilate at ease upon the climate +of the AEgean, or discuss the ethnical complexion of the Hellenic stock. +In other words, it was the Pagan view of human life and duty which gave +scope to paiderastia, while certain special Greek customs aided its +development. + +The Greeks themselves, quoted more than once above, have put us on the +right track in this inquiry. However paiderastia began in Hellas, it was +encouraged by gymnastics and syssitia. Youths and boys engaged together +in athletic exercises, training their bodies to the highest point of +physical attainment, growing critical about the points and proportions +of the human form, lived of necessity in an atmosphere of mutual +attention. Young men could not be insensible to the grace of boys in +whom the bloom of beauty was unfolding. Boys could not fail to admire +the strength and goodliness of men displayed in the comeliness of +perfected development. Having exercised together in the +wrestling-ground, the same young men and boys consorted at the common +tables. Their talk fell naturally upon feats of strength and training; +nor was it unnatural, in the absence of a powerful religious +prohibition, that love should spring from such discourse and +intercourse. + +The nakedness, which Greek custom permitted in gymnastic games and some +religious rites, no doubt contributed to the erotic force of masculine +passion; and the history of their feeling upon this point deserves +notice. Plato, in the _Republic_ (452), observes that "not long ago the +Greeks were of the opinion, which is still generally received among the +barbarians, that the sight of a naked man was ridiculous and unseemly." +He goes on to mention the Cretans and the Lacedaemonians as the +institutors of naked games. To these conditions may be added dances in +public, the ritual of gods like Eros, ceremonial processions, and +contests for the prize of beauty. + +The famous passage in the first book of Thucydides (cap. vi.) +illustrates the same point. While describing the primitive culture of +the Hellenes, he thinks it worth while to mention that the Spartans, who +first stripped themselves for running and wrestling, abandoned the +girdle which it was usual to wear around the loins. He sees in this +habit one of the strongest points of distinction between the Greeks and +barbarians. Herodotus insists upon the same point (book i. 10), which is +further confirmed by the verse of Ennius: "Flagitii," &c. + +The nakedness which Homer (_Iliad_, xxii. 66) and Tyrtaeus (i. 21) +describes as shameful and unseemly is that of an old man. Both poets +seem to imply that a young man's naked body is beautiful even in death. + +We have already seen that paiderastia, as it existed in early Hellas, +was a martial institution, and that it never wholly lost its virile +character. This suggests the consideration of another class of +circumstances which were in the highest degree conducive to its free +development. The Dorians, to begin with, lived like regiments of +soldiers in barracks. The duty of training the younger men was thrown +upon the elder; so that the close relations thus established in a race +which did not positively discountenance the love of male for male rather +tended actively to encourage it. Nor is it difficult to understand why +the romantic emotions in such a society were more naturally aroused by +male companions than by women. Matrimony was not a matter of elective +affinity between two persons seeking to spend their lives agreeably and +profitably in common, so much as an institution used by the State for +raising vigorous recruits for the national army. All that is known about +the Spartan marriage customs, taken together with Plato's speculations +about a community of wives, proves this conclusively. It followed that +the relation of the sexes to each other was both more formal and more +simple than it is with us; the natural and the political purposes of +cohabitation were less veiled by those personal and emotional +considerations which play so large a part in modern life. There was less +scope for the emergence of passionate enthusiasm between men and women, +while the full conditions of a spiritual attachment, solely determined +by reciprocal inclination, were only to be found in comradeship. In the +wrestling-ground, at the common tables, in the ceremonies of religion, +at the Pan-hellenic games, in the camp, in the hunting-field, on the +benches of the council chamber, and beneath the porches of the Agora, +men were all in all unto each other. Women meanwhile kept the house at +home, gave birth to babies, and reared children till such time as the +State thought fit to undertake their training. It is, moreover, well +known that the age at which boys were separated from their mothers was +tender. Thenceforth they lived with persons of their own sex; their +expanding feelings were confined within the sphere of masculine +experience until the age arrived when marriage had to be considered in +the light of a duty to the commonwealth. How far this tended to +influence the growth of sentiment, and to determine its quality, may be +imagined. + +In the foregoing paragraph I have restricted my attention almost wholly +to the Dorians: but what has just been said about the circumstance of +their social life suggests a further consideration regarding paiderastia +at large among the Greeks, which takes rank with the weightiest of all. +The peculiar status of Greek women is a subject surrounded with +difficulty; yet no man can help feeling that the idealisation of +masculine love, which formed so prominent a feature of Greek life in the +historic period, was intimately connected with the failure of the race +to give their proper sphere in society to women. The Greeks themselves +were not directly conscious of this fact; nor can I remember any passage +in which a Greek has suggested that boy-love flourished precisely upon +the special ground which had been wrestled from the right domain of file +other sex. Far in advance of the barbarian tribes around them, they +could not well discern the defects of their own civilisation; nor was it +to be expected that they should have anticipated that exaltation of the +love of women into a semi-religious cult which was the later product of +chivalrous Christianity. We, from the standpoint of a more fully +organised society, detect their errors, and pronounce that paiderastia +was a necessary consequence of their unequal social culture; nor do we +fail to notice that, just as paiderastia was a post-Homeric intrusion +into Greek life, so women, after the age of the Homeric poems, suffered +a corresponding depression in the social scale. In the _Iliad_ and the +_Odyssey_, and in the tragedies which deal with the heroic age, they +play a part of importance for which the actual conditions of historic +Hellas offered no opportunities. + +It was at Athens that the social disadvantages of women told with +greatest force; and this perhaps may help to explain the philosophic +idealisation of boy-love among the Athenians. To talk familiarly with +free women on the deepest subjects, to treat them as intellectual +companions, or to choose them as associates in undertakings of political +moment, seems never to have entered the mind of an Athenian. Women were +conspicuous by their absence from all places of resort--from the +palaestra, the theatre, the Agora, Pnyx, the law-court, the symposium; +and it was here, and here alone, that the spiritual energies of the men +expanded. Therefore, as the military ardour of the Dorians naturally +associated itself with paiderastia, so the characteristic passion of the +Athenians for culture took the same direction. The result in each case +was a highly wrought psychical condition, which, however alien to our +instincts, must be regarded as an exaltation of the race above its +common human needs--as a manifestation of fervid, highly-pitched +emotional enthusiasm. + +It does not follow from the facts which I have just discussed that, +either at Athens or at Sparta, women were excluded from an important +position in the home, or that the family in Greece was not the sphere of +female influence more active than the extant fragments of Greek +literature reveal to us. The women of Sophocles and Euripides, and the +noble ladies described by Plutarch, warn us to be cautious in our +conclusions on this topic. The fact, however, remains that in Greece, as +in mediaeval Europe, the home was not regarded as the proper sphere for +enthusiastic passion: both paiderastia and chivalry ignored the family, +while the latter even set the matrimonial tie at nought. It is therefore +precisely at this point of the family, regarded as a comparatively +undeveloped factor in the higher spiritual life of Greeks, that the two +problems of paiderastia and the position of women in Greece intersect. + +In reviewing the external circumstances which favoured paiderastia, it +may be added, as a minor cause, that the leisure in which the Greeks +lived, supported by a crowd of slaves, and attending chiefly to their +physical and mental culture, rendered them peculiarly liable to +pre-occupations of passion and pleasure-seeking. In the early periods, +when war was incessant, this abundance of spare time bore less corrupt +fruit than during the stagnation into which the Greeks, enslaved by +Macedonia and Rome, declined. + +So far, I have been occupied in the present section with the specific +conditions of Greek society which may be regarded as determining the +growth of paiderastia. With respect to the general habit of mind which +caused the Greeks, in contradistinction to the Jews and Christians, to +tolerate this form of feeling, it will be enough here to remark that +Paganism could have nothing logically to say against it. The further +consideration of this matter I shall reserve for the next division of my +essay, contenting myself for the moment with the observation that Greek +religion and the instincts of the Greek race offered no direct obstacle +to the expansion of a habit which was strongly encouraged by the +circumstances I have just enumerated. + + + + +XVIII. + + +Upon a topic of great difficulty, which is, however, inseparable from +the subject-matter of this inquiry, I shall not attempt to do more than +to offer a few suggestions. This is the relation of paiderastia to Greek +art. Whoever may have made a study of antique sculpture will not have +failed to recognise its healthy human tone, its ethical rightness. There +is no partiality for the beauty of the male sex, no endeavour to reserve +for the masculine deities the nobler attributes of man's intellectual +and moral nature, no extravagant attempt to refine upon masculine +qualities by the blending of feminine voluptuousness. Aphrodite and +Artemis hold their place beside Eros and Hermes. Ares is less +distinguished by the genius lavished on him than Athene. Hera takes rank +with Zeus, the Nymphs with the Fauns, the Muses with Apollo. Nor are +even the minor statues, which belong to decorative rather than high art, +noticeable for the attribution of sensual beauties to the form of boys. +This, which is certainly true of the best age, is, with rare exceptions, +true of all the ages of Greek plastic art. No prurient effeminacy +degraded, deformed, or unduly confounded, the types of sex idealised in +sculpture. + +The first reflection which must occur to even prejudiced observers, is +that paiderastia did not corrupt the Greek imagination to any serious +extent. The license of Paganism found appropriate expression in female +forms, but hardly touched the male; nor would it, I think, be possible +to demonstrate that obscene works of painting or of sculpture were +provided for paiderastic sensualists similar to those pornographic +objects which fill the reserved cabinet of the Neapolitan Museum. Thus, +the testimony of Greek art might be used to confirm the asseveration of +Greek literature, that among free men, at least, and gentle, this +passion tended even to purify feelings which, in their lust for women, +verged on profligacy. For one androgynous statue of Hermaphroditus or +Dionysus there are at least a score of luxurious Aphrodites and +voluptuous Bacchantes. Eros himself, unless he is portrayed according to +the Roman type of Cupid, as a mischievous urchin, is a youth whose +modesty is no less noticeable than his beauty. His features are not +unfrequently shadowed with melancholy, as appears in the so-called +Genius of the Vatican, and in many statues which might pass for genii of +silence or of sleep as well as love. It would be difficult to adduce a +single wanton Eros, a single image of this god provocative of sensual +desires. There is not one before which we could say--The sculptor of +that statue had sold his soul to paiderastic lust. Yet Eros, it may be +remembered, was the special patron of paiderastia. + +Greek art, like Greek mythology, embodied a finely graduated +half-unconscious analysis of human nature. The mystery of procreation +was indicated by phalli on the Hermae. Unbridled appetite found +incarnation in Priapus, who, moreover, was never a Greek god, but a +Lampsacene adopted from the Asian coast by the Romans. The natural +desires were symbolised in Aphrodite Praxis, Kallipugos, or Pandemos. +The higher sexual enthusiasm assumed celestial form in Aphrodite +Ouranios. Love itself appeared personified in the graceful Eros of +Praxiteles; and how sublimely Pheidias presented this god to the eyes of +his worshippers can now only be guessed at from a mutilated fragment +among the Elgin marbles. The wild and native instincts, wandering, +untutored and untamed, which still connect man with the life of woods +and beasts and April hours, received half-human shape in Pan and +Silenus, the Satyrs and the Fauns. In this department of semi-bestial +instincts we find one solitary instance bearing upon paiderastia. The +group of a Satyr tempting a youth at Naples stands alone among numerous +similar compositions which have female or hermaphroditic figures, and +which symbolise the violent and comprehensive lust of brutal appetite. +Further distinctions between the several degrees of love were drawn by +the Greek artists. Himeros, the desire that strikes the spirit through +the eyes, and Pothos, the longing of souls in separation from the object +of their passion, were carved together with Eros by Scopas for +Aphrodite's temple at Megara. Throughout the whole of this series there +is no form set aside for paiderastia, as might have been expected if the +fancy of the Greeks had idealised a sensual Asiatic passion. Statues of +Ganymede carried to heaven by the eagle are, indeed, common enough in +Graeco-Roman plastic art; yet, even here, there is nothing which +indicates the preference for a specifically voluptuous type of male +beauty. + +It should be noticed that the mythology of the Greeks was determined +before paiderastia laid hold upon the race. Homer and Hesiod, says +Herodotus, made the Hellenic theogony, and Homer and Hesiod knew only of +the passions and emotions which are common to all healthy semi-civilised +humanity. The artists, therefore, found in myths and poems +subject-matter which imperatively demanded a no less careful study of +the female than of the male form; nor were beautiful women wanting. +Great cities placed their maidens at the disposition of sculptors and +painters for the modelling of Aphrodite. The girls of Sparta in their +dances suggested groups of Artemis and Oreads. The Hetairai of Corinth +presented every detail of feminine perfection freely to the gaze. Eyes +accustomed to the "dazzling vision" of a naked athlete were no less +sensitive to the virginal veiled grace of the Athenian Canephoroi. The +temples of the female deities had their staffs of priestesses, and the +oracles their inspired prophetesses. Remembering these facts, +remembering also what we read about AEolian ladies who gained fame by +poetry, there is every reason to understand how sculptors found it easy +to idealise the female form. Nor need we imagine, because Greek +literature abounds in references to paiderastia, and because this +passion played an important part in Greek history, that therefore the +majority of the race were not susceptible in a far higher degree to +female charms. On the contrary, our best authorities speak of boy-love +as a characteristic which distinguished warriors, gymnasts, poets, and +philosophers from the common multitude. As far as regards artists, the +anecdotes which are preserved about them turn chiefly upon their +preference for women. For one tale concerning the Pantarkes of Pheidias, +we have a score relating to the Campaspe of Apelles and the Phryne of +Praxiteles. + +It may be judged superfluous to have proved that the female form was +idealised in sculpture by the Hellenes at least as nobly as the male; +nor need we seek elaborate reasons why paiderastia left no perceptible +stain upon the art of a race distinguished before all things by the +reserve of good taste. At the same time, there can be no reasonable +doubt that the artistic temperament of the Greeks had something to do +with its wide diffusion and many sided development. Sensitive to every +form of loveliness, and unrestrained by moral or religious prohibition, +they could not fail to be enthusiastic for that corporeal beauty, unlike +all other beauties of the human form, which marks male adolescence no +less triumphantly than does the male soprano voice upon the point of +breaking. The power of this corporeal loveliness to sway their +imagination by its unique aethetic charm is abundantly illustrated in the +passages which I have quoted above from the _Charmides_ of Plato and +Xenophon's _Symposium_. An expressive Greek phrase, "Youths in their +prime of adolescence, but not distinguished by a special beauty," +recognises the persuasive influence, separate from that of true beauty, +which belongs to a certain period of masculine growth. The very +evanescence of this "bloom of youth" made it in Greek eyes desirable, +since nothing more clearly characterises the poetic myths which +adumbrate their special sensibility than the pathos of a blossom that +must fade. When distinction of feature and symmetry of form were added +to this charm of youthfulness, the Greeks admitted, as true artists are +obliged to do, that the male body displays harmonies of proportion and +melodies of outline more comprehensive, more indicative of strength +expressed in terms of grace, than that of women.[184] I guard myself +against saying--more seductive to the senses, more soft, more delicate, +more undulating. The superiority of male beauty does not consist in +these attractions, but in the symmetrical development of all the +qualities of the human frame, the complete organisation of the body as +the supreme instrument of vital energy. In the bloom of adolescence the +elements of feminine grace, suggested rather than expressed, are +combined with virility to produce a perfection which is lacking to the +mature and adult excellence of either sex. The Greek lover, if I am +right in the idea which I have formed of him, sought less to stimulate +desire by the contemplation of sensual charms than to attune his spirit +with the spectacle of strength at rest in suavity. He admired the +chastened lines, the figure slight but sinewy, the limbs well-knit and +flexible, the small head set upon broad shoulders, the keen eyes, the +austere reins, and the elastic movement of a youth made vigorous by +exercise. Physical perfection of this kind suggested to his fancy all +that he loved best in moral qualities. Hardihood, self-discipline, +alertness of intelligence, health, temperance, indomitable spirit, +energy, the joy of active life, plain living and high thinking--these +qualities the Greeks idealised, and of these, "the lightning vision of +the darling," was the living incarnation. There is plenty in their +literature to show that paiderastia obtained sanction from the belief +that a soul of this sort would be found within the body of a young man +rather than a woman. I need scarcely add that none but a race of artists +could be lovers of this sort, just as none but a race of poets were +adequate to apprehend the chivalrous enthusiasm for woman as an object +of worship. + +The morality of the Greeks, as I have tried elsewhere to prove, was +aesthetic. They regarded humanity as a part of a good and beautiful +universe, nor did they shrink from any of their normal instincts. To +find the law of human energy, the measure of man's natural desires, the +right moment for indulgence and for self-restraint, the balance which +results in health, the proper limit for each several function which +secures the harmony of all, seem to them the aim of ethics. Their +personal code of conduct ended in "modest self-restraint:" not +abstention, but selection and subordination ruled their practice. They +were satisfied with controlling much that more ascetic natures +unconditionally suppress. Consequently, to the Greeks, there was nothing +at first sight criminal in paiderastia. To forbid it as a hateful and +unclean thing did not occur to them. Finding it within their hearts, +they chose to regulate it, rather than to root it out. It was only after +the inconveniences and scandals to which paiderastia gave rise had been +forced upon their notice, that they felt the visitings of conscience and +wavered in their fearless attitude. + +In like manner, the religion of the Greeks was aesthetic. They analysed +the world of objects and the soul of man, unconsciously perhaps, but +effectively, and called their generalisations by the names of gods and +goddesses. That these were beautiful and filled with human energy was +enough to arouse in them the sentiments of worship. The notion of a +single Deity who ruled the human race by punishment and favour, hating +certain acts while he tolerated others--in other words, a God who +idealised one part of man's nature to the exclusion of the rest--had +never passed into the sphere of Greek conceptions. When, therefore, +paiderastia became a fact of their consciousness, they reasoned thus: If +man loves boys, God loves boys also. Homer and Hesiod forgot to tell us +about Ganymede and Hyacinth and Hylas. Let these lads be added to the +list of Danae and Semele and Io. Homer told us that, because Ganymede +was beautiful, Zeus made him the serving-boy of the immortals. We +understand the meaning of that tale. Zeus loved him. The reason why he +did not leave him here on earth like Danae was that he could not beget +sons upon his body and people the earth with heroes. Do not our wives +stay at home and breed our children? "Our favourite youths" are always +at our side. + + + + +XIX. + + +Sexual inversion among Greek women offers more difficulties than we met +with in the study of paiderastia. This is due, not to the absence of the +phenomenon, but to the fact that feminine homosexual passions were never +worked into the social system, never became educational and military +agents. The Greeks accepted the fact that certain females are +congenitally indifferent to the male sex, and appetitive of their own +sex. This appears from the myth of Aristophanes in Plato's _Symposium_, +which expresses in comic form their theory of sexual differentiation. +There were originally human beings of three sexes: men, the offspring of +the sun; women, the offspring of the earth; hermaphrodites, the +offspring of the moon. They were round with two faces, four hands, four +feet, and two sets of reproductive organs apiece. In the case of the +third (hermaphroditic or lunar) sex, one set of reproductive organs was +male, the other female. Zeus, on account of the insolence and vigour of +these primitive human creatures, sliced them into halves. Since that +time, the halves of each sort have always striven to unite with their +corresponding halves, and have found some satisfaction in carnal +congress--males with males, females with females, and (in the case of +the lunar or hermaphroditic creatures) males and females with one +another. Philosophically, then, the homosexual passion of female for +female, and of male for male, was placed upon exactly the same footing +as the heterosexual passion of each sex for its opposite. Greek logic +admitted the homosexual female to equal rights with the homosexual male, +and both to the same natural freedom as heterosexual individuals of +either species. + +Although this was the position assumed by philosophers, Lesbian passion, +as the Greeks called it, never obtained the same social sanction as +boy-love. It is significant that Greek mythology offers no legends of +the goddesses parallel to those which consecrated paiderastia among the +male deities. Again, we have no recorded example, so far as I can +remember, of noble friendships between women rising into political and +historical prominence. There are no female analogies to Harmodius and +Aristogeiton, Cratinus and Aristodemus. It is true that Sappho and the +Lesbian poetesses gave this female passion an eminent place in Greek +literature. But the AEolian women did not found a glorious tradition +corresponding to that of the Dorian men. If homosexual love between +females assumed the form of an institution at one moment in AEolia, this +failed to strike roots deep into the subsoil of the nation. Later +Greeks, while tolerating, regarded it rather as an eccentricity of +nature, or a vice, than as an honourable and socially useful emotion. +The condition of women in ancient Hellas sufficiently accounts for the +result. There was no opportunity in the harem or the zenana of raising +homosexual passion to the same moral and spiritual efficiency as it +obtained in the camp, the palaestra, and the schools of the philosophers. +Consequently, while the Greeks utilised and ennobled boy-love, they left +Lesbian love to follow the same course of degeneracy as it pursues in +modern times. + +In order to see how similar the type of Lesbian love in ancient Greece +was to the form which it assumed in modern Europe, we have only to +compare Lucian's Dialogues with Parisian tales by Catulle Mendes or Guy +de Maupassant. The woman who seduces the girl she loves, is, in the +girl's phrase, "over-masculine," "androgynous." The Megilla of Lucian +insists upon being called Megillos. The girl is a weaker vessel, pliant, +submissive to the virago's sexual energy, selected from the class of +meretricious _ingenues_. + +There is an important passage in the _Amores_ of Lucian which proves +that the Greeks felt an abhorrence of sexual inversion among women +similar to that which moderns feel for its manifestation among men. +Charicles, who supports, the cause of normal heterosexual passion, +argues after this wise: + + "If you concede homosexual love to males, you must in justice grant + the same to females; you will have to sanction carnal intercourse + between them; monstrous instruments of lust will have to be + permitted, in order that their sexual congress may be carried out; + that obscene vocable, tribad, which so rarely offends our ears--I + blush to utter it--will become rampant, and Philaenis will spread + androgynous orgies throughout our harems." + +What these monstrous instruments of lust were may be gathered from the +sixth mime of Herodas, where one of them is described in detail. +Philaenis may, perhaps, be the poetess of an obscene book on sensual +refinements, to which Athanaeus alludes (_Deipnosophistae_, viii, 335). It +is also possible that Philaenis had become the common designation of a +Lesbian lover, a tribad. In the latter periods of Greek literature, as I +have elsewhere shown, certain fixed masks of Attic comedy (corresponding +to the masks of the Italian _Commedia dell' Arte_) created types of +character under conventional names--so that, for example, Cerdo became a +cobbler, Myrtale a common whore, and possibly Philaenis a Lesbian invert. + +The upshot of this parenthetical investigation is to demonstrate that, +while the love of males for males in Greece obtained moralisation, and +reached the high position of a recognised social function, the love of +female for female remained undeveloped and unhonoured, on the same level +as both forms of homosexual passion in the modern European world are. + + + + +XX. + + +Greece merged into Rome; but, though the Romans aped the arts and +manners of the Greeks, they never truly caught the Hellenic spirit. Even +Virgil only trod the court of the Gentiles of Greek culture. It was not, +therefore, possible that any social custom so peculiar as paiderastia +should flourish on Latin soil. Instead of Cleomenes and Epameinondas, we +find at Rome, Nero, the bride of Sporus, and Commodus the public +prostitute. Alcibiades is replaced by the Mark Antony of Cicero's +_Philippic_. Corydon, with artificial notes, takes up the song of +Ageanax. The melodies of Meleager are drowned in the harsh discords of +Martial. Instead of love, lust was the deity of the boy-lover on the +shores of Tiber. + +In the first century of the Roman Empire, Christianity began its work of +reformation. When we estimate the effect of Christianity, we must bear +in mind that the early Christians found Paganism disorganised and +humanity rushing to a precipice of ruin. Their first efforts were +directed toward checking the sensuality of Corinth, Athens, Rome, the +capitals of Syria and Egypt. Christian asceticism, in the corruption of +the Pagan systems, led logically to the cloister and the hermitage. The +component elements of society had been disintegrated by the Greeks in +their decadence, and by the Romans in their insolence of material +prosperity. To the impassioned followers of Christ, nothing was left but +separation from nature, which had become incurable in its monstrosity of +vices. But the convent was a virtual abandonment of social problems. + +From this policy of despair, this helplessness to cope with evil, and +this hopelessness of good on earth, emerged a new and nobler synthesis, +the merit of which belongs in no small measure to the Teutonic converts +to the Christian faith. The Middle Ages proclaimed, through chivalry, +the truth, then for the first time fully apprehended, that woman is the +mediating and ennobling element in human life. Not in escape into the +cloister, not in the self-abandonment to vice, but in the fellow-service +of free men and women must be found the solution of social problems. The +mythology of Mary gave religious sanction to the chivalrous enthusiasm; +and a cult of woman sprang into being, to which, although it was +romantic and visionary, we owe the spiritual basis of our domestic and +civil life. The _modus vivendi_ of the modern world was found. + + +FINIS. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Compare the fine rhetorical passage in Max. Tyr., _Dissert._, xxiv. +8, ed. Didot, 1842. + +[2] i. 135. + +[3] Numerous localities, however, claimed this distinction. See Ath., +xiii. 601. Chalkis in Euboea, as well as Crete, could show the sacred +spot where the mystical assumption of Ganymede was reported to have +happened. + +[4] _Laws_, i. 636. Cp. _Timaeus_, quoted by Ath., p. 602. Servius, _ad +Aen._ x, 325, says that boy-love spread from Crete to Sparta, and thence +through Hellas, and Strabo mentions its prevalence among the Cretans (x. +483). Plato (Rep. v. 452) speaks of the Cretans as introducing naked +athletic sports. + +[5] _Laws_, viii. 863. + +[6] See Ath., xiii. 602. Plutarch, in the Life of Pelopidas (Clough, +vol. ii. p. 219), argues against this view. + +[7] See Rosenbaum, _Lustseuche im Alterthume_, p. 118. + +[8] Max. Tyr., _Dissert._, ix. + +[9] See Sismondi, vol. ii. p. 324, Symonds, _Renaissance in Italy_, _Age +of the Despots_, p. 435; Tardieu, _Attentats aux Moeurs_, _Les Ordures +de Paris_; Sir R. Burton's _Terminal Essay_ to the "Arabian Nights;" +Carlier, _Les Deux Prostitutions_, etc. + +[10] I say almost, because something of the same sort appeared in Persia +at the time of Saadi. + +[11] Plato, in the _Phaedrus_, the _Symposium_, and the _Laws_, is +decisive on the mixed nature of paiderastia. + +[12] Theocr., _Paidika_, probably an AEolic poem of much older date. + +[13] _Phaedrus_, p. 252, Jowett's translation. + +[14] Page 178, Jowett. + +[15] Clough, vol. ii. p. 218. + +[16] Book vii. 4, 7. + +[17] We may compare a passage from the _Symposium_ ascribed to Xenophon, +viii. 32. + +[18] Page 182, Jowett. + +[19] Plutarch, _Eroticus_, cap. xvii. p. 791, 40, Reiske. + +[20] Lang's translation, p. 63. + +[21] See Athenaeus, xiii. 602, for the details. + +[22] See Athenaeus, xiii. 602, who reports an oracle in praise of these +lovers. + +[23] Ar., _Pol._, ii. 9. + +[24] See Theocr. _Aites_ and the _Scholia_. + +[25] See Plutarch's _Eroticus_, 760, 42, where the story is reported on +the faith of Aristotle. + +[26] _Pelopidas_, Clough's trans., vol. ii. 218. + +[27] Cap. xvi. p. 760, 21. + +[28] Cap. xxiii. p. 768, 53. Compare Max. Tyr., _Dissert._, xxiv. 1. See +too the chapter on Tyrannicide in Ar. Pol., viii. (v.) 10. + +[29] Clough's trans., vol. v. p. 118. + +[30] _Hellenics_, bk. ix. cap. xxvi. + +[31] Suidas, under the heading _Paidika_, tells of two lovers who both +died in battle, fighting each to save the other. + +[32] See, for example, _AEschines against Timarchus_, 59. + +[33] Trans. by Sir G. C. Lewis, vol. ii. pp. 309-313. + +[34] _Symp._ 182 A. + +[35] i. 132. + +[36] _De Rep._, iv. 4. + +[37] I need hardly point out the parallel between this custom and the +marriage customs of half-civilised communities. + +[38] The general opinion of the Greeks with regard to the best type of +Dorian love is well expressed by Maximus Tyrius, _Dissert._, xxvi. 8. +"It is esteemed a disgrace to a Cretan youth to have no lover. It is a +disgrace for a Cretan youth to tamper with the boy he loves. O custom, +beautifully blent of self-restraint and passion! The man of Sparta loves +the lad of Lacedaemon, but loves him only as one loves a fair statue; and +many love one, and one loves many." + +[39] _Laws_, i. 636. + +[40] _Pol._, ii. 7, 4. + +[41] Lib. 13,602, E. + +[42] It is not unimportant to note in this connection that paiderastia +of no ignoble type still prevails among the Albanian mountaineers. + +[43] The foregoing attempt to reconstruct a possible environment for the +Dorian form of paiderastia is, of course, wholly imaginative. Yet it +receives certain support from what we know about the manners of the +Albanian mountaineers and the nomadic Tartar tribes. Aristotle remarks +upon the paiderastic customs of the Kelts, who in his times were +immigrant. + +[44] See above, Section V. + +[45] It appears from the reports of travellers that this form of passion +is not common among those African tribes who have not been corrupted by +Musselmans or Europeans. + +[46] It may be plausibly argued that AEschylus drew the subject of his +_Myrmidones_ from some such non-Homeric epic. See below, Section XII. + +[47] 182 A. Cp. _Laws_, i. 636. + +[48] _Eroticus_, xvii. p. 761, 34. + +[49] See Plutarch, _Pelopidas_, Clough, vol. ii. p. 219. + +[50] Clough, as quoted above, p. 219. + +[51] The connection of the royal family of Macedon by descent with the +AEacidae, and the early settlement of the Dorians in Macedonia, are +noticeable. + +[52] Cf. Athenaeus, x. 435. + +[53] Hadrian in Rome, at a later period, revived the Greek tradition +with even more of caricature. His military ardour, patronage of art, and +love for Antinous seem to hang together. + +[54] _Dissert._, xxvi. 8. + +[55] See Athen., xiii., 609, F. The prize was armour and the wreath of +myrtle. + +[56] _Symp._ 182, B. In the _Laws_, however, he mentions the Barbarians +as corrupting Greek morality in this respect. We have here a further +proof that it was the noble type of love which the Barbarians +discouraged. For _Malakia_ they had no dislike. + +[57] Bergk., _Poetae Lyrica Graeci_, vol. ii. p. 490, line 87 of Theognis. + +[58] _Ibid._, line 1,353. + +[59] _Ibid._, line 1,369. + +[60] _Ibid._, lines 1,259-1,270. + +[61] _Ibid._, line 1,267. + +[62] _Ibid._, lines 237-254. Translated by me in _Vagabunduli Libellus_, +p. 167. + +[63] Bergk., _Poetae Lyrici Graeci_, vol. ii. line 1,239. + +[64] _Ibid._, line 1,304. + +[65] _Ibid._, line 1,327. + +[66] _Ibid._, line 1,253. + +[67] _Ibid._, line 1,335. + +[68] _Eroticus_, cap. v. p. 751, 21. See Bergk., vol. ii. p. 430. + +[69] See Cic., _Tusc._, iv. 33 + +[70] Bergk., vol. iii. p. 1,013. + +[71] _Ibid._, p. 1,045. + +[72] _Ibid._, pp. 1,109, 1,023; fr. 24, 26. + +[73] _Ibid._, p. 1,023; fr. 48. + +[74] Maximus Tyrius, _Dissert._, xxvi., says that Smerdies was a +Thracian, given, for his great beauty, by his Greek captors to +Polycrates. + +[75] See what Agathon says in the _Thesmophoriazuse_ of Aristophanes. + +[76] xv. 695. + +[77] Bergk., vol. iii. p. 1,293. + +[78] _Ibid._, vol. i. p. 327. + +[79] Athen., xiii. 601 A. + +[80] See the fragments of the _Myrmidones_ in the _Poetae Scenici Graeci_, +My interpretation of them is, of course, conjectural. + +[81] Lucian, _Amores_; Plutarch, _Eroticus_; Athenaeus, xiii. 602 E. + +[82] Possibly AEschylus drew his fable from a non-Homeric source, but if +so, it is curious that Plato should only refer to Homer. + +[83] _Symph._, 180 A. Xenophon, _Symph._, 8, 31, points out that in +Homer Achilles avenged the death of Patroclus, not as his lover, but as +his comrade in arms. + +[84] Cf. Eurid., _Hippol._, l. 525; Plato, _Phoedr._, p. 255; Max. Tyr., +_Dissert._, xxv. 2. + +[85] See _Poetae Scenici_, _Fragments of Sophocles_. + +[86] _Eroticus_; p. 790 E. + +[87] Ath., p. 602 E. + +[88] _Tusc._, iv. 33. + +[89] See Athenaeus, xiii. pp. 604, 605, for two very outspoken stories +about Sophocles at Chios and apparently at Athens. In 582, e, he +mentions one of the boys beloved by Sophocles, a certain Demophon. + +[90] Plato, _Parm._, 127 A. + +[91] Pausanias, v. 11, and see Meier, p. 159, note 93. + +[92] This, by the way, is a strong argument against the theory that the +_Iliad_ was a post-Herodotean poem. A poem in the age of Pisistratus or +Pericles would not have omitted paiderastia from his view of life, and +could not have told the myth of Ganymede as Homer tells it. It is +doubtful whether he could have preserved the pure outlines of the story +of Patroclus. + +[93] Page 182, Jowett's trans. Mr. Jowett censures this speech as +sophistic and confused in view. It is precisely on this account that it +is valuable. The confusion indicates the obscure conscience of the +Athenians. The sophistry is the result of a half-acknowledged false +position. + +[94] Page 181, Jowett's trans. + +[95] See the curious passages in Plato, _Symp._, p. 192; Plutarch, +_Erot._, p. 751; and Lucian, _Amores_, c. 38. + +[96] Quoted by Athen, xiii. 573 B. + +[97] As Lycon chaperoned Autolycus at the feast of Callias.--_Xen. +Symp._ Boys incurred immediate suspicion if they went out alone to +parties. See a fragment from the _Sappho_ of Ephippus in Athen., xiii. +p. 572 C. + +[98] Line 137. The joke here is that the father in Utopia suggests, of +his own accord, what in Athens he carefully guarded against. + +[99] Page 222, Jowett's trans. + +[100] _Clouds_, 948 and on. I have abridged the original, doing violence +to one of the most beautiful pieces of Greek poetry. + +[101] Aristophanes returns to this point below, line 1,036, where he +says that youths chatter all day in the hot baths and leave the +wrestling-grounds empty. + +[102] There was a good reason for shunning each. The Agora was the +meeting-place of idle gossips, the centre of chaff and scandal. The +shops were, as we shall see, the resort of bad characters and panders. + +[103] Line 1,071, _et seq._ + +[104] Caps. 44, 45, 46. The quotation is only an abstract of the +original. + +[105] Worn up to the age of about eighteen. + +[106] Compare with the passages just quoted two epigrams from the _Mousa +Paidike_ (Greek _Anthology_, sect. 12): No. 123, from a lover to a lad +who has conquered in a boxing-match; No. 192, where Straton says he +prefers the dust and oil of the wrestling-ground to the curls and +perfumes of a woman's room. + +[107] Page 255 B. + +[108] 1,025. + +[109] _Charmides_, p. 153. + +[110] _Lysis_, 206, This seems, however, to imply that on other +occasions they were separated. + +[111] _Charmides_, p. 154, Jowett. + +[112] Page 155, Jowett. + +[113] Cap. i. 8. + +[114] See cap. viii. 7. This is said before the boy, and in his hearing. + +[115] Cap. iii. 12. + +[116] Cap. iv. 10, _et seq._ The English is an abridgment. + +[117] _Laws_, i. 636 C. + +[118] Athen., xiii. 602 D. + +[119] _Eroticus_. + +[120] Line 60, ascribed to Theocritus, but not genuine. + +[121] Athen., xiii. 609 D. + +[122] _Mousa Paidike_, 86. + +[123] Compare the _Atys_ of Catullus: "Ego mulier, ego adolescens, ego +ephebus, ego puer, Ego gymnasi fui flos, ego eram decus olei." + +[124] See the law on these points in _AEsch. adv. Timarchum_. + +[125] Thus Aristophanes, quoted above. + +[126] Aristoph., _Ach._, 144, and _Mousa Paidike_, 130. + +[127] See Sir William Hamilton's _Vases_. + +[128] Lysias, according to Suidas, was the author of five erotic +epistles adressed to young men. + +[129] See Aristoph., _Plutus_, 153-159; _Birds_, 704-707. Cp. _Mousa +Paidike_, 44, 239, 237. The boys made extraordinary demands upon their +lovers' generosity. The curious tale told about Alcibiades points in +this direction. In Crete they did the like, but also set their lovers to +execute difficult tasks, as Eurystheus imposed the twelve labours on +Herakles. + +[130] Page 29. + +[131] _Mousa Paidike_, 8: cp. a fragment of Crates, _Poetae Comici_, +Didot, p. 83. + +[132] _Comici Graeci_, Didot, pp. 562, 31, 308. + +[133] It is curious to compare the passage in the second _Philippic_ +about the youth of Mark Antony with the story told by Plutarch about +Alcibiades, who left the custody of his guardians for the house of +Democrates. + +[134] See both _Lysias against Simon_ and _AEschines against Timarchus_. + +[135] _Peace_, line 11; compare the word _Pallakion_ in Plato, _Comici +Graeci_, p. 261. + +[136] Diog. Laert., ii. 105. + +[137] Plato's _Phaedo_, p. 89. + +[138] _Orat. Attici_, vol. ii. p. 223. + +[139] See Herodotus. Max. Tyr. tells the story (_Dissert._, xxiv, 1) in +detail. The boy's name was Actaeon, wherefore he may be compared, he +says, to that other Actaeon who was torn to death by his own dogs. + +[140] 153. + +[141] _Symp._, 217. + +[142] _Phaedr._, 256. + +[143] Page 17. My quotations are made from Dobson's _Oratores Attici_, +vol. xii., and the references are to his pages. + +[144] Page 30. + +[145] Page 67. + +[146] Page 67. + +[147] Page 59. + +[148] Page 75. + +[149] Page 78. + +[150] AEchines, p. 27, apologises to Misgolas, who was a man, he says, of +good breeding, for being obliged to expose his early connection with +Timarchus. Misgolas, however, is more than once mentioned by the comic +poets with contempt as a notorious rake. + +[151] See _Pol._, ii. 7, 5; ii. 6, 5; ii. 9, 6. + +[152] The advocates of paiderastia in Greece tried to refute the +argument from animals (_Laws_, p. 636 B; cp. _Daphnis and Chloe_, lib. +4, what Daphnis says to Gnathon) by the following considerations: Man is +not a lion or a bear. Social life among human beings is highly +artificial; forms of intimacy unknown to the natural state are therefore +to be regarded, like clothing, cooking of food, houses, machinery, &c., +as the invention and privilege of rational beings. See Lucian, _Amores_, +33, 34, 35, 36, for a full exposition of this argument. See also _Mousa +Paidike_, 245. The curious thing is that many animals are addicted to +all sorts of so-called unnatural vices. + +[153] Maximus Tyrius, who, in the rhetorical analysis of love alluded to +before (p. 172), has closely followed Plato, insists upon the confusion +introduced by language. _Dissert._, xxiv. 3. Again, _Dissert._, xxvi. 4; +and compare _Dissert._, xxv. 4. + +[154] This is the development of the argument in the _Phaedrus_, where +Socrates, improvising an improvement on the speech of Lysias, compares +lovers to wolves and boys to lambs. See the passage in Max. Tyr., where +Socrates is compared to a shepherd, the Athenian lovers to butchers, and +the boys to lambs upon the mountains. + +[155] This again is the development of the whole eloquent analysis of +love, as it attacks the uninitiated and unphilosophic nature, in the +_Phaedrus_. + +[156] Jowett's trans., p. 837. + +[157] _Dissert._, xxv. 1. The same author pertinently remarks that, +though the teaching of Socrates on love might well have been considered +perilous, it, formed no part of the accusations of either Anytus or +Aristophanes. _Dissert._, xxiv., 5-7 + +[158] This is a remark of Diotima's. Maximus Tyrius (_Dissert._, xxvi. +8) gives it a very rational interpretation. Nowhere else, he says, but +in the human form, does the light of the divine beauty shine so clear. +This is the word of classic art, the word of the humanities, to use a +phrase of the Renaissance. It finds an echo in many beautiful sonnets of +Michelangelo. + +[159] See Bergk., vol. ii. pp. 616-629, for a critique of the canon of +the highly paiderastic epigrams which bear Plato's name and for their +text. + +[160] I select the _Vita Nuova_ as the most eminent example of mediaeval +erotic mysticism. + +[161] _Tusc._, iv. 33; _Decline and Fall_, cap. xliv. note 192. + +[162] See Meier, cap. 15. + +[163] Cap. 23. + +[164] Cap. 54. + +[165] Page 4. + +[166] It is noticeable that in all ages men of learning have been +obnoxious to paiderastic passions. Dante says (_Inferno_, xv. 106):-- + + "In somma sappi, che tutti fur cherci, + E letterati grandi e di gran fama, + D'un medesmo poccato al mondo lerci." + +Compare Ariosto, _Satire_, vii. + +[167] _Dissert._, xxvi. 9. + +[168] I am aware that the genuineness of the essay has been questioned. + +[169] _Mousa Paidike_, i. + +[170] _Ibid._, 208. + +[171] _Ibid._, 258, 2. + +[172] _Ibid._, 70, 65, 69, 194, 220, 221, 67, 68, 78, and others. + +[173] Perhaps ten are of this sort. + +[174] 8, 125, for example. + +[175] 132, 256, 221. + +[176] 219. + +[177] 7. + +[178] 17. Compare 86. + +[179] Ed. Kayser, pp. 343-366. + +[180] It is worth comparing the letters of Philostratus with those of +Alciphron, a contemporary of Lucian. In the latter there is no hint of +paiderastia. The life of parasites, grisettes, lorettes, and young men +about town at Athens is set forth in imitation probably of the later +comedy. Athens is shown to have been a Paris _a la Murger_. + +[181] See the introduction by Marcus Aurelius to his _Meditations_. + +[182] See quotations in Rosenbaum, 119-140. + +[183] See Athen., xii. 517, for an account of their grotesque +sensuality. + +[184] The following passage may be extracted from a letter of +Winckelmann (see Pater's _Studies in the History of the Renaissance_, p. +162): "As it is confessedly the beauty of man which is to be conceived +under one general idea, so I have noticed that those who are observant +of beauty only in women, and are moved little or not at all by the +beauty of men, seldom have an impartial, vital, inborn instinct for +beauty in art. To such persons the beauty of Greek art will ever seem +wanting, because its supreme beauty is rather male than female." To this +I think we ought to add that, while it is true that "the supreme beauty +of Greek art is rather male than female," this is due not so much to any +passion of the Greeks for male beauty as to the fact that the male body +exhibits a higher organisation of the human form than the female. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Problem in Greek Ethics, by +John Addington Symonds + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PROBLEM IN GREEK ETHICS *** + +***** This file should be named 32022.txt or 32022.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/0/2/32022/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This ebook was +produced from scanned images of public domain material at +Google Books.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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