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

MaLeE HOMOSEXUALITY

that no one in the ancient times of Greece ever supposed otherwise.

The Ilad, the greatest old epos of the Greeks that has come down to us, represents a hymn to friendship. From the third book onwards the love of the two youths, Achilles and Patroclus, runs through the whole poem until the conclusion, and is represented in such detail that one can no longer speak of mere friendship. This shows itself still more when Achilles learns that Patroclus has fallen in battle. ‘Terrible is the sorrow of the unhappy youth, who stands, a prey to gloomy forebodings, on the seashore, tormented by uncertainty ; words die on his lips, while his soul is torn by sorrow ; he strews dust upon the crown of his head ; then, quite overcome, he throws himself upon the ground, pulling out his hair. After the first rage of his sorrow has gradually calmed down, when the elementary burst of passion is followed by a slow bleeding to death of the soul, then his only thought is to take vengeance on him who has robbed him of what he loved best. He desires neither food nor drink, and his soul thirsts only for revenge.

He vows to his dead friend that he will not celebrate his obsequies ‘‘ until he has brought him the weapons of Hector, the murderer. He will also slay twelve noble youths before the funeral pyre, Troy’s noble sons, in anger at thy murder i But before he can carry out his revenge, he relieves his heart by a touching lament for the dead. Among other things he says: ‘“‘O never could anything more bitter come upon me, no, not even if I should hear of my father’s death.”

All this is language of love, not of friendship, and so the ancients have nearly always regarded the bond. To give only one piece of evidence, one of the poems of the Anthology (Anth. Pal., vil, 143 ; cf. Pindar, Olymp., x, 19; Xen., Sympos., 8, 31; Lucian, Towxaris, 10; Ovid, Tristia, 1, 9, 29) says: “Two men most distinguished by friendship and

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