His. Antq. Doric Race, Origin of the Pederastic custom

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This is a section from The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race by [[Karl Otfried M�ller]].

Vol. II, Book 4, Chapter iv, �8; pg 304-306. Preceding section: His. Antq. Doric Race, And (Pederasty) of Crete. Following section: His. Antq. Doric Race, Education of the youth at Sparta. Early stages.

Origins of this (Pederastic) custom

"It is indeed clear that a custom of such general prevalence cannot have originated from any accidental impression or train of reasoning; but must have been founded on feelings natural to the whole Doric race. Now that the affection of the lover was not entirely mental, and that a pleasure in beholding the beauty and vigour, the manly activity and excercise ¹ of the youth was also present, is certain. But it is a very different question, whether this custom, universally prevalent both in Crete and Sparta, followed by the noblest men, by the legislators encouraged with all care, and having so powerful an influence on education, was identical with the vice to which in its name and outward form it is so nearly allied.

"The subject should be carefully considered, before, with Aristotle, we answer this question in the affirmative, who not only takes the fact as certain, but even accounts for it by supposing that the custom was instituted by the legislator of Crete as a check to population. ² Is it, I ask, likely that so disgraceful a vice, not practised in secret, but publicly acknowledged and countenanced by the state, not confined to a few individuals, but common for centuries to the whole people, should really have existed, and this in the race of all the Greeks, the most distinguished for its healthy, temperate, and even ascetic habits? These difficulties must be solved before the testimony of Aristotle can be received.

"I will now offer what appears to me the most probable view to this question. The Dorians seem in early times to have considered an intimate friendship and connexion between males as necessary for their proper education. But the objection which would have presented itself in a later age, viz. the liability to abuse of such a habit, had then no existence, as has been already remarked by a learned writer. ³ And hence they saw no disadvantage to counterbalance the advantages which they promised themselves in the unrestrained intercourse which would be the natural consequence of the new institution. It is also true that the manners of simple and primitive nations generally have and need less restraint than those whom a more general intercourse and the greater facility of concealment have forced to enact prohibitory laws. This view is in fact confirmed by the declaration of Cicero, that the Laced�monians brought the lover into the closest relation with the object of his love, and that every sign of affection was permitted pr�ter stuprum; ⁴ for although in the times of the corruption of manners this proximity would have been attended with the most dangerous consequences, in early times it never would have been permitted, if any pollution had been apprehended from it. And we know from another source that this stuprum was punished by the Laced�monians most severly, viz. with banishment or death. ⁵ It may be moreover added, that this pure connexion was encouraged by the Doric principle of taking education from the hands of parents, and introducing boys in early youth to a wider society than their home could afford. ⁶

Notes of text

1. According to Plato and Cicero (Leg. I. p. 636 B. Tusc. Qu�st. IV. 34. comp. Boeckh ad Leg. p. 106.) This practice originated from the gymnastic exercises; a supposition probably not true in this general sense.
2. Polit. II. 7.5.—It is however true of Athens only, and not of the Dorians, that the love of the male supplied the place of that of the female sex.
3. Welcker, Sappho von einem herrschenden vorurtheill befreit, p. 41. Confederates in arms are called Αχιλληιοι φιλοι in the beautiful Fragment of �olian lyric poetry, attributed to Theocritus, XXVIII. 34. Comp. Arrian. Peripl. Pont. p. 23.
4. Cidero de Rep. IV. 4. Laced�monii ipsi cum omnia concedunt in amore juvenum pr�ter stuprum, ienui sane muro diss�piunt id quod excipiunt: complexus enim concubitusque permittunt.
5. �lian V. H. III. 12. On account of this provision the Laced�monian law is called ποικιλοs by Plato Sympos. p. 182. The purity of the Laced�monian custom is also attested by Xenophon, the best authority on Doric manners. Ει τιs παιδοs σωματοs ορεγομενοs φανειν, αισχιστον τουτο θειs (ο Λυκουργοs) εποιησεν εν Δακεδαιμονι μηδεν ηττον ερασταs παιδικων απεχεσθαι η γονειs παιδων η και αδελφοι αδελφων ειs αφροδισια απεχονται, de Rep. Lac. 2.13; and see Schneider's note. Plato however has a different opinion of it. Leg. I. p. 638. VIII. p. 836. The Cretan fell into worse repute than the Laced�monian custom, Plutarch de Educ. 14. Both however are praised as equally innocent by Maximus Tyrius, Diss. X. p. 113. The suspicions thrown upon it are perhaps to be entirely traced to the Attic comic poets; thus Eupolis ap. Athen. I. p. 17 D. Hesych. et al. Lexicog. in Κυσολακων and λακωνιζειν. Comp. Suidas and Apostolius, XI. 73. Λακωνικον τροπον περαινειν.
6. On the subject of this last part generally, see Meiners' Miscellaneous Philosophical Writings, vol. I. p. 61, and History of the Female Sex, vol. I. p. 321. Herder's Thoughts on the Philosophy of History, Works, vol. V. p. 173. Since the first publication of this work, the view of the above question taken in the text has been approved by Jacobs, Miscellaneous Works, III. Leben und Kunst der Alten, II. (1829) pp. 212, sqq.

Addendum & Commentary

(For your use.)

• Plato in his The Laws:

(Megillus the Spartan is speaking about homosexuality) "Yet, for myself, I hold that our Lacedaemonian lawgiver is right to command avoidance of pleasures. ... In Sparta, to my mind, this matter of pleasure is ordered better than in any place on earth. That which, by its keen delightsomeness, most easily entangles men in outrage and all manner of follies is, by our law, banished entirely from our territory. Neither in our country districts, nor in towns which are controlled by Spartans, can you find drinking parties, with the strong incentives to various pleasures that attend them." (�636e f)

• Ernie Bradford, in his The Battle for the West—Thermopyl� 480 writes:

"Also, contrary to the attitude that might have been expected among a warrior caste, homosexuality seems to have been little known—quite unlike the Thebans in northern Greece who were to make a cult among their soldiers of couples fighting side by side together, as in the famous 'Theban Band of Lovers'." (pg 64)