Two Pathic Subcultures in Ancient Rome

Two Pathic Subcultures in Ancient Rome 327
this role inversion is perceived as a transgression of a person's social identity
and is sometimes associated with witchcraft.22 Rome's literary moralists
thought it a terrible thing for a free adult male to be an open pathic,
and it was even worse if he hid it. Juvenal writes, "I blame the Fates
for those who parade their pox with glance and gesture. Their wretched
candor, their frenzy itself begs forgiveness. Worse are those who attack
such things with Herculean words, and fresh from these manly harangues
set their hindquarters humming'"23
But men who were thought to prefer the passive role were never as
thoroughly institutionalized in Rome as have been, for example, the
modern pasivos in Latin America or the bayot in the Philippines.24 In Roman
urban society, even a "pathic" who by all appearances kept in his
place probably had little satisfaction in that fact. The thing that made
life tolerable for men of this sort, as for the men who were less forthright
in confessing their homosexual inclination, was the existence of a subculture-an
institution that could hide a man's proclivities or selectively
advertise them, according to his wishes. This provided psychological
support and confirmation of his sexuality and allowed him to assume
sexual roles and relationships unacceptable to society at large. It is such
an institution to which Juvenal's Laronia refers when she says, "First
watch and scrutinize men, for their ways are many. But their numbers
protect them, like phalanxes joined at the nub. Great is the concord
among pathics."25
The view from the inside is best presented in the Satyricon. Craig Williams's
reading of the novel reveals an environment where freeborn men
have genuine relationships in which they trade active and passive roles
without shame:
We are far removed indeed from the nearly universal preoccupation
with penetrative role discussed in the preceding chapters. In Encolpius'
warm recollection of his encounters with Giton and Endymion,
it seems crassly out of place to ask who is penetrating
whom. The texts simply do not invite their readers to make such
an inquiry.... The difference in their ages alone would have suggested
to Petronius' readership a clear assignment of roles: Encol-
22 Randolph Trumbach, "London's Sodomites: Homosexual Behavior and Western Culture
in the 18th Century," Journal of Social History 11(1977): 1-33, at S.
23"Hunc ego fatis / inputo, qui vultu morbum incessuque fatetur. / horum simplicitas
miserabilis, his furor ipse / dat veniam; sed peiiores, qui talia verbis / Herculis invadunt et
dc virtute locuti / clunem agitant" (Juv. 2.16-21).
24 Frederick Whitam and Robin Mathy, Male Homosexuality in Four Societies (New York,
1986), pp. 133-53.
2sURespice primum / et scrutare viros, faciunt nam plura; sed illos / defendit numerus
iunctacque umbone phalanges. / magna inter molles concordia" (Juv. 2.44-47).
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