Two Pathic Subcultures in Ancient Rome

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Two Pathic Subcultures in Ancient Rome 341 We know little about how or where the men of this subculture congregated. Urban baths seem to have served as cruising grounds, as we shall see below. The evidence of Petronius and other sources further suggests that brothels and wharves were fairly comfortable environments for homosexual fraternizing and soliciting.68 The Roman theater was reputed to be a hotbed of pathic activity and seems to have been a favorite hangout for prostitutes, both male and female. Plautus (Poen. 17-18) issues an injunction for adult male prostitutes, scorta exoleta, not to sit on the proscenium once the show starts. This would imply that they posted themselves before the crowd to advertise their charms to the crowd of potential customers. The lex Roscia of 67 B.C.E., which reserved the orchestra for the senatorial class and the first fourteen rows of seats for equestrians, probably put an end to this practice-but not to cruising in the theater. In Petronius 126, the maid of "Circe" claims that her mistress looks for willing sex partners who sit behind the first fourteen rows among the plebs. It is possible that after the lex Roscia was passed some overtly effeminate men among the aristocratic orders were compelled to sit with the plebs (cf. Mart. 5.41), perhaps because effeminacy was associated with aggressive prostitution. Caesar's model town charter, the lex Iulia municipalis (Tabula Heracleensis 123, 134, and 138), forbids men who sell their bodies from sitting beside town leaders in public places.69 What can we glean about the development of the urban subculture in Rome? Perhaps the most important observation is that it was not a timeless institution. Saara Lilja and Jane Cody have made the surprising discovery that there are no effeminate males portrayed in the plays of Terence and Plautus, which date from the early second century B.C.E. and constitute the earliest substantial body of literature in the Roman record.7' This is not out of ignorance of the type: Greek Old and Middle Comedy feature effeminate men, and transvestic dancers and mimes do appear on the fringes of Plautus's plays.7' This paucity may be due to a 68For brothels, see A. Varone, Erotica Pompeiana: Iscrizioni d'amore sui muri di Pompei (Rome, 1993). The House of Jupiter and Ganymede in Ostia seems to have been a brothel specializing in same-sex services to males, but some women left their names on the walls as well. See Clarke, The Houses of Roman Italy (n. 20 above), pp. 323-24. For wharves, see Verg. Catal. 13 and S.H.A. Heliogab. 8.7. 69MacMullen (n. 15 above), p. 495. 70Lilja (n. 2 above), p. 39; Jane M. Cody, "The senex amator in Plautus' Casina," Hermes 104 (1976): 453-76, at 473-76. Cody correctly distances the transvestic elements in Casina and Atellan farce from homosexuality. Cross-dressing is simply a natural device for producing comic situations with rich potential for sexual misadventure. The possible exceptions are the male dancers called cinaedi, who apparently wore womenfs clothes (see Plaut. Men. 513-14), and other stage types such as depilated actors (Asin. 402). But these are a marginal group in Plautus, and they never play significant roles in his plays. 71 Regarding effeminate men in Greek Comedy, see Cody, p. 474. This content downloaded from 71.172.231.156 on Wed, 24 Jul 2013 18:27:33 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
342 RABUN TAYLOR corresponding lack of effeminates or any sort of homosexual relationship in Greek New Comedy, which provided the models for the plays of Terence and Plautus. Still, one would expect a character type with such abundant comic potential to make an appearance in Plautus if in fact it had currency in society at large; but it simply does not seem to have resonated with Roman audiences of the time. The only kind of same-sex behavior overtly presented in extant Roman comedy of this period has the master penetrating the slave.72 A typically uncomplicated Plautine pathic is Dordalus, who in Persa 804 is presented as a cinaedus novus ("new pansy") and is promptly subjected to unspecified physical abuse from Toxilius, to which he responds, "Ow! He's ripping my buns apart!" ("Ei, natis pervellit"; 846). Then there is the potential pathic, on his way to becoming a new pansy: always a man in an inferior social position who goes unwillingly (at first) to his fate. In Asinaria 418-27, we have the case of a cinaedus in the making, the cook Congrio. Euclio, the free man, has tried with some success to humiliate him through metaphorical (or actual) penetration: EUCLIO: Why did you threaten me [with a knife]? CONGRIO: Shabby of me, I admit. I should have shoved it in your ribs [latus = loins]! EUCLIO: There's no greater villain alive than you-and believe me, no one I would do in more happily. CONGRIO: That's damned obvious without a word from you: my condition is testimony [testis = testicle] to that. Thanks to your rammings [fustibus], I'm far softer [mollior = more pathic] than any cinaedus. Why, how dare you touch me, you bum! EUCLIO: What's that? Still asking for it? Perhaps I did less than you deserved! CONGRIO: Back off, or it'll go badly for you, so long as this head [caput = penis] is functioning. EUCLIO: I wouldn't bet on the future, but your head sure is functioning now!73 '2Lilja, p. 39. The rarc cases when a master is thrcatened with the samc (Plaut. Asin. 703-5, Rudens 1073-75) only happen if he was oncc a pathic slavc himself; see Williams (n. 1 abovc), pp. 43-44. 73" EUCLIO: Quid comminatu's / mihi? CONGRIO: Istud male factum arbitror, quia non latus fodi. / EUCLIO: Homo nullust te scelestior qui vivat hodie, / neque quoi cgo dc industria amplius malc plus libens faxim. / CONGRIO: Pol etsi taccas, palam id quidcm cst: rcs ipsa testist; / ita fustibus sum mollior magis quam ullus cinacdus. / sed quid tibi nos tactiost, mendicc homo? EUCLIO: Quae rcs? / etiam rogitas? an quia minus quam acquom erat fcci? CONGRIO: Sine, at hercle cum magno malo tuo, si hoc caput scntit. / EuCLIO: POI ego haud scio quid post fiat: tuom nunc caput sentit." This content downloaded from 71.172.231.156 on Wed, 24 Jul 2013 18:27:33 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Page 1 and 2: Two Pathic Subcultures in Ancient R
Page 3 and 4: 320 RABUN TAYLOR invoked a savage m
Page 5 and 6: 322 RABUN TAYLOR tion, between inte
Page 7 and 8: 324 RABUN TAYLOR A FEW REMARKS ABOU
Page 9 and 10: 326 RABUN TAYLOR context of the ant
Page 11 and 12: 328 RABUN TAYLOR pius as active, Gi
Page 13 and 14: 330 RABUN TAYLOR arouse] me, if you
Page 15 and 16: 332 RABUN TAYLOR ously he had broug
Page 17 and 18: 334 RABUN TAYLOR In his description
Page 19 and 20: 336 RABUN TAYLOR cult may also have
Page 21 and 22: 338 RABUN TAYLOR AN URBAN SUBCULTUR
Page 23: 340 RABUN TAYLOR Thus Seneca says t
Page 27 and 28: 344 RABUN TAYLOR by freeborn males
Page 29 and 30: 346 RABUN TAYLOR are effeminati; he
Page 31 and 32: 348 RABUN TAYLOR Empire, "those who
Page 33 and 34: 350 RABUN TAYLOR or, more likely, t
Page 35 and 36: 352 RABUN TAYLOR dia with "shameful
Page 37 and 38: 354 RABUN TAYLOR But another cinacd
Page 39 and 40: 356 RABUN TAYLOR both the active an
Page 41 and 42: 358 RABUN TAYLOR lectual patronage
Page 43 and 44: 360 RABUN TAYLOR of these prostitut
Page 45 and 46: 362 RABUN TAYLOR behind when they e
Page 47 and 48: 364 RABUN TAYLOR four bathhouses."
Page 49 and 50: 366 RABUN TAYLOR tency of the repor
Page 51 and 52: 368 RABUN TAYLOR dresses the part o
Page 53 and 54: 370 RABUN TAYLOR men solicited in b

Two Pathic Subcultures in Ancient Rome

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?