256
PAI~
T ISAN REVIEW
COllstitlltioll oj Sparta:
Wh en a virtuo us Lacadaemo nian took pai llS to JI1 ake a true friend of a
boy w hose talen ts he admired and
to
ta ke h il1l fo r a compani on,
Lyc urgus wo uld praise th e man and rega rd the rela ti o nship as th e
fin est fo rm o f edu ca ti o n. 13ut th e Spartan h wgive r th o ro ughly disap–
proved o f all d esire obv io usly co nce rn ed w ith the h d's perso n. As a
result o f thi s view, love rs at Sparta were as little addi cted to se nsual
pleasures in th e company of their loved o nes as pJrents are in relations
with their children o r bro th ers w ith brothers.
But this is too mu ch fo r X enoph o n , w ho adds:
Some people refu se all the sa Jl1 e to be li eve such a thin g. I am not
surprised .
Many ge nerati o ns late r, Plu ta rch respo nds to th e excess ive pretensions
o f Greek homosexuality with a similar skepti cism:
H omosex uals w ho cla im th at se nsuJlity plays no pa rt in th eir aft:l irs do
so because th ey are ashamed of th emsel ves ;lIld fea r punishment. T hey
have
to
have some exc use for app roac hi ng good-looking boys, so th ey
make a show of fri endship and virtu e. T hey cover th e l1l se lves with
dust in th e arena, take cold baths, and frown heav ily. T hey assume the
o utward airs of a learn ed phil osoph er. .
Yet the visio n o f the philosophers of th e classica l age of an affair of
minds rath er th an bodi es ass ured th e p lace of lIlind and spirit in male at–
tac hments, whi ch in a large nUllIber of caseS also had a sex ual element.
But it must be relll embered that th e G re eks were concern ed primarily
with the nature of love , no t th e sex o f o ne's partn e r. Thus, th e criticism
o f excessive sensuali ty betwee n homosex ual lovers reflected a moral view
that appli ed equall y to rel ati o ns with w omen and to w hat Fo uca ult has
called " the usc of pleasure." Moderati o n and self-maste ry were always the
ce ntral issues, and
to
have loose mo rals was to be in capable o f resisting
sexual pleasure with eithe r women or boys.
Altho ugh the G reeks themselves fi-cquently qu esti o ned , criti cized, and
satiri zed the sexual aspects of male homosexuality, they ce lebrated the ef–
fectiveness of lo ve between males in p rodu cin g th e manl y virtu es. Plato
makes Phaedo say in the
Sylllposilllll:
