Sexual life in ancient Greece : with thirty-two full-page plates

CHAPTER Wl

THE HuMAN FIGURE I. CLOTHING

The question whether the men’s clothing is a result of the awakened sense of shame or whether the sense of shame developed after the use of clothing, as to which there was formerly a lively dispute, is decided in the latter sense. This is no longer a theory, but can be regarded as a proved fact; hence it is superfluous to repeat the proofs that have often been stated. The most primitive art of clothing grew out of the desire to protect oneself against the inclemency of the weather ; the skin of animals that were slain for food was made use of, and the covering of the body that followed only very slowly produced, on the one hand, the feeling that one had something to conceal, on the other hand, the wish to adorn oneself or to bring into prominence individual parts of the body and thereby to accentuate one’s sensual charms. The adornment of the body is at the present day the chief object of “ clothing’”’ among the people living in a state of nature in the torrid zone; it remained the object of dress, even after the progress of culture had developed the so-called feeling of shame, to cover the body entirely or some parts of it, according as the feeling of shame that had become the property of individuals or the whole people (which is now called “ morals”) demanded it. It cannot therefore be a question for us to describe the dress of the Greeks with the detail required by a history of costume; our task will be limited to showing how far the feeling of shame on the one hand, and the need of adornment on the other dominated the fashion. Since, at the

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