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

INTRODUCTION

the other a high one. Duris (AZh., xii, 542c; FAG., ii, 475) had told of the debaucheries of Demetrius of Phalerum, governor of Athens for many years ; he mentions the luxurious drinking-bouts arranged by him, “ his secret orgies with women, and nightly amours with young men ; the man who gave other people laws and acted as the guardian of their lives claimed for himself the greatest licence. He also took great pride in his personal appearance, dyed his hair blond, and painted his face. He wanted to be beautiful, and to make himself agreeable to everyone who met him.”

A lite of pleasure as the true object of life, which alone indicates happiness, had been also made the motto of an entire philosophical school. It had been founded by Aristippus, who, according to the testimony of Athenzeus (xii, 544; see also C. M. Wieland’s romance, Aristipp), beautified his life “ by luxurious clothing and the enjoyment of love ”. His favourite mistress was the famous courtesan Lais.

Of special significance for the Greek conception of sensual enjoyments are the ideas which the great savant and musical theorist Aristoxenus (Ath., xii, 545a4; FHG., ii, 276), in his Life of Archytas, put into the mouth of Polyarchus, who was notorious for his luxurious mode of life and was one of the ambassadors who had been sent by the younger Dionysius to Tarentum. In conversation with Archytas and his pupils, sensual enjoyment in the widest sense of the word was talked about. Polyarchus delivers a long lecture, in whch he endeavours to prove that the entire edifice of virtue erected by the ethical philosophers is contrary to human nature; that Nature herself demands that we should make pleasure the maxim of our life. The greatest possible exaltation of the feeling of pleasure is the aim of every intelligent man, but to suppress the desire for pleasure means neither intelligence nor happiness, but only shows that the

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