Two Pathic Subcultures in Ancient Rome

Two Pathic Subcultures in Ancient Rome 355
of the dual role of the cinaedus in Juvenal, Williams is forced to conclude
either that Laronia is wrong or that she is invoking the law to punish the
cinaedus indirectly, "because if the law penalizing stuprum with freeborn
males were to be enforced, his potential lovers might be deterred
from becoming involved with him." 120 But Juvenal understands that cinaedi
are not exclusive pathics; they are usually men who have chosen
reciprocal relationships with other men. Let us recall Laronia's evaluation
of the subculture. "First watch and scrutinize men, for their ways
are many," she says. "But their numbers protect them, like phalanxes
joined at the nub (umbo). Great is the concord among pathics."'2'
Umbo, literally the boss on a Roman soldier's shield that limited the
overlap in the testudo formation, may also mean any appendage or even
the swelling on the front of a toga. The use of this word is clearly a sexual
joke, implying that cinaedi are collegial participants in both offices of
sexual union.
There is evidence of reciprocal relationships in other sources, most
notably among the protagonists of the Satyricon.'22 Cato the Elder is
reported to have said, "If you are unchaste both in front and in back"
("si tu et adversus et aversus impudicus es"; Cic. De Or. 2.256), an early
reference not only to such libertines as Hostius Quadra, whose multiplicity
of sex acts is described in prurient detail by Seneca (QNat. 1.16),
but probably to men in ordinary reciprocal relationships. Cato's barb is
not original. According to Aulus Gellius, "Plutarch says that the philosopher
Arcesilaus used sharp words with respect to a rich man who had
once been too effeminate, but who was said [now] to be incorruptible
and free from debauchery. For when he saw him with his cracked voice,
his artfully arranged hair, and his glances full of lewdness and voluptuous
allure, he said, 'It makes no difference whether you are a cinacdus fore
or aft.' "123 While the figurative meaning of this maxim is what gives it
pungency (i.e., "fore or aft" means "up front or in secret"), its interest
for us lies in the explicit assumption that cinacdi were associated with
20Williams (n. 2 above), pp. 187-91. Richlin, "Not before Homosexuality," pp. 552
and 569-71, argues instead that the lex Scantinia is aimed at the passive partner. She concludes
that the two "diseases" are performing fellatio and being anally penetrated, both
exclusively the province of the pathic.
121 "Respice primum / et scrutare viros, faciunt nam plura; sed illos / defendit numerus
iunctacque umbone phalanges. / magna inter molles concordia" (2.44-47).
122
Williams, pp. 221-22, 341-49; Richardson, p. 113.
123"Plutarchus refert Arcesilaum philosophum vehementi verbo usum esse de quodam
nimis delicato divite, qui incorruptus tamen et a stupro integer dicebatur. Nam cum vocem
cius infractam capillumque arte compositum et oculos ludibundos atque inlecebrae voluptatisque
plenos videret: 'nihil interest,' inquit 'quibus membris cinacdi citis, posterioribus
an prioribus'" (Gell. N.A. 3.5). Plutarch actually does not relate the story but only the
saying.
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