\

M A N U A L OF Classical

Erotology (De figuris Veneris) J J

BY FRED. CHAS. FORBERG

I ATIN TEXT A N D ENGLISH TRANSLATION

TWO VOLUMES IN ONE

GROVE PRESS, INC. NEW YORK

1966

'jnn*?

Copyright 1966 by Grove Press, Inc.

This edition constitutes the first complete, bilingual publication of the present work,

De figuris Veneris.

All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the copy-

right proprietor.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 66-24913

First Printing

I In preieni volume is a facsimile edition, re-I Ini ing ;is closely as possible in all aspects Ini luding paper and binding, the original Eng-li I. edition of 1844, which was privately I ted and limited to one hundred copies.

Manufactured in the United States of America

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MANUAL OP CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY

FIRST VOLUME

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NOTE

One Hundred Copies only of this volume have been printed (all on the same paper and the type distributed) for Viscount Julian Smithson M. A., the Translator, and his Friends. None of these Copies are for Sale.

MANUAL OF

Classical Erotology (De figuris Veneris)

BY

FRED. CHAS. FORBERG

I ATIN TBXT AND LITERAL ENGUSH VERSION.

F I R S T V O L U M E

MANCHESTER One Hundred Copies

rKIVATELY PRINTED FOR VISCOUNT JULIAN SMITHSON M. A., AND FRIENDS

1884

"rv 'jr^wc

Jbretoorb

11 ll perhaps well to stateat once that the Ma-iiu.il oi Classical Erotology is intended only IHI Students of the Classics, Lawyers, Psycho-logists and Medical Men. Those persons, we think, who may peruse it as ameans ofawaken-|B| vi)luptuous sensations will be severely dlllppointed. Never did a work more serious ' M. from the press. Here we have no curious i niic story born of a diseased mind, but a cold, 111. 1111 m analysis of those human passions which ll I.i ever the object of Science to wrestle with .IIHI overthrow.

Ai a basis also for the correct interpretation Oi the drama of the ancient world, Forberg's

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VI FOREWORD FOREWORD VII

studies are most valuable. Apart from that ex-traordinary book, Rosenbaum's History of the Esoteric Habits, Beliefs and Customs of Antiquity, we know of no other compilation which casts so intense a search-light upon those Crimes, Fol-lies and Perversions of the Sixth Sense which transformed the olden glory of Greece and Rome into a by-word and a reproach amongst the na-tions.

The present English translation now offered to Scholars is entirely new and strictly exact. No liberties have been taken with the text. It was felt that any attempt to add more colour, or to increase the effect, involving a departure from the lines of stern simplicity laid down by Forberg, would have detracted from the scien-tific value and character of the work.

The late Isidore Liseux issued in 1882 a French version with the Latin text imprime a cent cxcmplaires for himself and friends . This work is now very seldom to be met with because the whole edition was privately subscribed by Scholars and Bibliophiles before its appearance.

I'In 1 111 1 vi in', copyists went of course immediate-it Id Mnk and some wretched penny-a-liner, Utll 11-, Ignorant of both Latin and Greek, pro-llU'til 'I. I n;;lish transcript full of faults, based

mil) he French text. I In if is no need to add that such a book as

I I no value to the Student as a work of . 1 1. n. 1 . 1.11 the faulty and forceless renderings

III 11 i" I" met with in Liseux' version are re-I'l.'l I with charming exactness, while the

IK 1 .-I ilir in iginal text makes it all the more a 1 llinit 10 HI cept the work as a guide. Having

'In. much concerning the only two trans-1 illuii known to us, we proceed to give some

i| ;;ood master Forberg and what is l 1 il ihc inception and building up of his

III I i l ' i 1 I I V I ' C .

I I niiciii Author of this book never be- l in mi'.. I liMiame is mentionedoccasional-

mi' Kion with the Hermaphroditus of \ I) icadelli, known by the surname of

HI inn-., which he edited. Brunet, Charles " I" 1, 1 nil the llibliographie des Ouvragcs rcla-

VIII FOREWORD

tifs aux Femmes, a I' Amour et au Manage, speak of him in this connexion; while a list of his works appears moreover in the Index Locuple-tissimus Librorum or Bucher-Lexicon (Bibliograph-ical Lexicon) of Christian Gottlob Kayser, Leipzig, 1834. But with the exception of the xAllgemeine Deutsche Biographic, the publication of which was commenced in 1878 by the His-torical Commission of the Munich Academy, and which has devoted a short notice to him, all Dictionaries and Collections whether of An-cient or of Modern Biography are mute with respect to him. The Conversations-Lexicon and the vast Encyclopaedia of Ersch and Gruber do not contain a single line about him, while Mi-chaud, Didot, Bachelet and Dezobry, Bouillet, Vapereau, utterly ignore his existence. For all that he well deserves a word or two.

Friedrich Karl Forberg was born in the year 1770 at Meuselwitz, in the Duchy of Saxe-Alten-burg, and died in 1848 at Hildburghausen. He was a philosopher and a collaborator with Fichte, hwile he devoted a part of his attention to

FOREWORD IX

M li|Mnir. exegesis : but above all he was a philo-l>i mi, and ;i humanist, at once learned and in-|tll Ittve. I !

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T h e second part of his life seems to have been devoted entirely to Literature. In 1807 he was appointed as Conservator of the Aulic Li-brary at Coburg, and having had enough of philosophy, he turned his whole attention tc the study of Latin and Greek antiquity. Previously to this his tastes had already been revealed by the publication of several pretty editions of t h e minor Latin erotic poets ; these form a collection of six or eight volumes in i 6 m o . , with red m a r -gin-lines, and are now very difficult to procure. T h e discovery he made in the Coburg library of a manuscript of the Hermaphroditus of Pan-ormi tanus , offering important new readings and variants from the received text, suggested the idea to him of producing a definitive edition of the work , with copious commentaries.

T h e said Hermaphrodi tus so called, b e -cause , says La Monnoye, all the filth in con-nection with both sexes forms the theme of the volume , is a collection of Latin Epigrams filled out with a pa tchwork of quotations from Virgil, Ovid and Marrial, in which memory has-

FOREWORD XI much larger share than imagination, and

h li li 1 never appeared to us to possess any II l>i' MIy value. But the mishaps the book

1.. It Ail to encounter, its having been publicly 1 1 in manuscript in the marke t places of Bo-I", n 1 I .11.11.1 and Milan, the anathemas hurled nii.i u l>y some savants, and the favour wi th lii' li 11 w.is received by others, who were glad

iken by iis perusal old reminiscences, have | | y i n 11 1 kind of reputation. T h e Abbe Mercier .l> Halm Lcger was the first to publish it in I ' m . together with the works of four other

1 "I 1 In- same sort : Ramusius de Rimini , llti 111 M.iximus, Jovianus Pontanus , and

|u mi. . 'i.-i undus (a). But Forberg, whilst fully ' iling the work and particularly the cour-III llic learned Frenchman, found much to

in. I I mil with; the Epigrams of Panormitanus

. .1 OIIIIIIJIH illustrium Poetarum, Antonii Vanor-mwtii iriminensis; Pacifici OtCaximi Asculani;

HHAMI I'ontani; Jo. Secundi Hagiensis, Lusus in fill Inn ex coiicibas manuscriplis, nunc pri-

Paritils, proslat ad Pristrinum, in Vico , 1 / 1'iiiit, at Molini's, Rue Mignon), 1791, 8vo.

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X I I FOREWORD FOREWORD XIII

were not numbered, which made citations from them troublesome, a great number of readings were faulty, and, thanks to his manuscript, he could correct them; lastly, Mercier de Saint-Legcr had omitted to give any running com-mentary on his author, to explain his text by means of notes and the comparison of parallel passages, whereas according to Forberg a book of this character required notes by tens and hundreds, each verse, each hemistich, each word, offering matter for philosophical reflect-ions and highly interesting comparisons. He therefore took the book in hand and began to collect with inquisitive care everything the An-cients had written upon the delicate subjects treated in the a Hermaphroditus .

But having come to the end of his task, he found that his commentary would drown the book, that hardly wouldhe be able to get in a verse of it every two or three pages, all the remainder of the book being taken up by his notes, and that the result would be chaos. Dividing his work into two parts, he left the smaller one in th

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XIV FOREWORD FOREWORD XV

at once substantial, nourishing and savoury, is hisown work, the work which he elaborated from his own resources, from his inexhaustible me-mory and from his astonishing knowledge of the Greek and Latin authors down to their mi-nutest details. On reprinting this excellent work, which undoubtedly deserved to be translated, we have given it a new title, one that is much more suitable than the old, The Manual of Classical Erotology . In virtue of the charm, the abundance, the variety of the citations, it is a priceless erotic Anthology; in virtue of the methodical classification of the contents Forberg has adopted, it is a didactic work, a veritable Manual. He began with collecting from the Greek and Latin writers the largest number possible ofscattered notices, which might serve for points of comparison with the Epigrams of Beccadelli; having possessed himselt of a large accumulation ot these, it occurred to him to set them out in order, arranging them in conformity with the similarity of their contents, deciding finally upon a division into eight chapters, cor-responding with the same number of special

in mil bltations of the amorous fancy and its de-pravltiei:

I. Of Copulation. II Of Pederastia.

III. - Of Irrumation. IV. Of Masturbation. V. Of Cunnilingues.

VI. OfTribads. VII Of Intercourse with Animals.

V111. Of Spintrian Postures.

I [a found that he had to make subdivisions in I ich (lass according to the nature of the subject, 10 note particularities, individualities; and the Contrast between this scientific apparatus, and il" facetious matters subjected to the rigorous I' . of deduction and demonstration is not the |i III amusing feature of the book. Probably no One but a German savant could have conceived ili.' Idea of thus classifying by categories, groups, fvnn.i, variations, species and sub-species all I iiuw.i forms ot natural and unnatural lusts, ac-COrdlng to the most trustworthy authors. But

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XVI FOREWORD

Forberg pursued another aim besides. In the course of his researches he had noticed how re-ticent the annotators and expounders generally are in clearing up matters which would seem to require it the most, some in consequence of a false reserve, others for fear of appearing too knowing, and others again from ignorance; also how many mistakes and gross blunders they have fallen into, by reason of their not understanding the language of erotics and failing to grasp its infinite shades of meaning.

It is precisely on those obscure and difficult passages of the Ancient poets, on those expres-sions purposely chosen for their ambiguity, which have been the torment of the critics and the puzzle of the most erudite commentators, that our learned Humanist has concentrated his most convincing observations.

The number of authors, Greek, Latin, French, German, English, Dutch, whom he has laid under contribution in order to formulate his exact and judicious classifications, mounts up to a formid-able total. There are to be found in the Manual

FOREWORD XVII

./ h'rotobgy something like five hundred passages, Cullld Irom more than one hundred and fifty

Orkli all classified, explained, commented upon, IBd in most cases, enveloped in darkness as they 11 nl been, made plain as light iself by the mere 11' i ol juxtaposition. With Forberg for a guide ii le need henceforth fear to go astray, to I" licvi-, lor instance, like M. Leconte de Lisle, Hi n the woman of whom Horace says that she hinges neither dress nor place, peccalve su-/', / nt has not erred beyond measure ; what .1 mistake! or with M. Nisard to translate Btlttonius expression ilhidere caput alicuius I ID .utempt some ones life (c)!

Forberg, a philosopher, has treated these de-I*> iic subjects like a philosopher, namely, in a purely speculative manner, as a man quite above in.I lu-yond terrestrial matters, and particularly II with respect to the lubricities which he has

mule it his task to examine so closely. He de-i Lues he knows nothing of them personally,

l.) See below pp. 41 and 195 respectively.

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XVIII FOREWORD

has never thought of making experimental inves-tigations on them, but derives all his knowledge, from books. His candour is beyond suspicion. He has not escaped censure; but having a reply ready for every objection and authorities to quote on every point, he found an answer to his de-tractors ready made in the phrase of Justus Lip-sius, who had been reproached with taking plea-sure in the abominations of Petronius : The wines you set upon the table excite the drunkard and leave the sober man perfectly calm; in the same way, these kinds of reading may very like, ly inflame an imagination already depraved, but they make no impression upon a mind that is chaste and disciplined .

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY

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DE

Figuris Veneris

THE

Metamorphoses of Venus

4RIAS Veneris figuras reccnsere consilium gs est, non omnes omnino illas quidem : qui

0 0 , ^ enim fieri posset, ut mille modi Vene-ris ( i ) , mille figuree, per quas ingeniosa libidinis

( i ) Ouidius, de Arte amatoria, / , 4}}, 36 : Non mihi sacriUgas mtrtlrkum ut prosequar artes,

Cum lotidtm Unguis tint satis ora decern.

Aloisia Sigxa : Quol inflexiones, quot corporis conver-sions, tot sunt Veneris figurcc. Nee numerus iniri, nee doceri aplior vohtptali potest. Quisque a libidine sua, a loco, a tempore, qium indui figuram velit, capit consilium. Sed non omnibus idem amor. (Colloq. VI.)

E propose to pass in review the differ-ent metamorphoses of Venus, though truly not all of them. For hew

II it possible to specify the thousand modes(r ) ,

(1) Ovid, Art of Love, I, 455, 36 : To fully expose ill.- ungodly wiles of harlots, ten mouths, and as many MOfues to boot, would not suffice.

Aloysia Sigea : The body in sacrificing to Venus can lulu- as many postures as there are ways in which it can !.MHI and curve. It is equally impossible to enumerate all ilicse, as it is to say which is best fitted to give pleas-III r. Bach acts in this respect according to his own cbp-|(| | , according to place, time, and so on, choosing the our he prefers. Love is not identical for each and all. (Dialogue VI.)

4 THE MANUAL

satietas audeat Venerem jungcre, numero cotnpre henderentur ? sed eas ita per cerla genera digestas, ut sua quxque loco facile aptari posse videatur. Noli vero, Lector curiose, aliena forte spe animum pascere. Neque enim nos ii sumus, qui gloiiolam petamus expertaaut nove tentala prodendo inpalees-tra,qua tirocinium nequaquam posaerimus ; neque est instituti noslri, oculis auribusve acceptatradere; neque etiam, ut maxime vellemus, ita tibi satis-facere ullo modo possemus, qui toll pendeamus a libris, toti simus in libris. vix versemur inter homines. Lusimus hsec otia primum animi causa, aliud ex alio nectentes, philosophia, in qua olim quasi tabernaculum vitse collocare puiabamus, nunc jacenie; an floret, cujus quxque prope dies nova videt dogmata cito peritura pullulare ut quot pbilosofhi, tot fere hodie philosopbim, seclx nullie fro cohorte singulares exstare videan-

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 5

the thousand forms of Love, on which the inventive satiety of pleasure ventures? But at .1 ny rate such as fall into distinct and definite kinds admit of being easily and methodically . lassified. Do not, inquisitive reader, hope for more than this. We are not of those who seek after a petty personal glory by unveiling the results of their own experience or by describing novel tours deforce in the wrestling-school; we .ue not so much as raw recruits at this game. Nor yet is it our intention to reveal things we li.ive seen or heard in this connexion. If we Would) we could not, to your satisfaction, for books are our only authorities. We are solely .mil entirely bookmen, and scarce frequent our follow creatures at all.

These trifles engaged our attention first as a mere pastime. We were led to them accidentally, us we roamed from subject to subject; forPhi-loiophy, the garden we had hoped to set up our 1 i-nt in for life, lies desolate. How can Philo-sophy flourish in times like ours, when almost I very new day sees new systems sprout forth, to die down again to morrow; when there are .is many philosophers as philosophies, when schools have ceased to exist, when instead of

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tur ? Delude vera eliam propterca, at eorum ralio-nibus aliquanluhim consuleremus, qui in liberiore scriptorum velenim simplicitale salibusque nudis hand raro hzrentes deseri se quererentur ptidica in-terprctum aid brevitale aut tacilurnitate, licet qui pueris scripserint, eosjure suo abslinuisse ab obscenis volnplalibus diligenlius et explanatius enarrandis infitias iverit nemo.

Si quidquam peccaveriimis, ignoscas qucesumus cum supelleciili nostrse curtx, turn insolentiorum libidinum impcritice, qux solet regnare in oppidis parvis, turn vera etiain menlularum Melocaben-sium, si placet, probitali.

Non nostrum est exemplum. Prxivit Astyanassa, qux Suida teste {?!) primo scripsit rapl cr/y^cam

(2) Suidas xn *> * * j x a T a .

mrtw fen*** *w-

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 7

Roups only individuals are to be met withPOur MCOnd motive was to provide some satisfaction, however little, to the claims of those readers wlio very often find themselves disconcerted by i lu- unconventional raciness of Ancient au-thors and their out-spoken witticisms, and justly I omplain of the prudish brevity or entire silence Oi the Commentators who leave their difficulties unexplained. Of course these latter wrote for the young; and no one can blame them under the dfcu instances for not having dwelt carefully and . iniously on shameful secrets.

11 we have fallen into any mistakes, lay the fault, we beg, first on our insufficient intellectual furniture, secondly on our ignorance as to the more uncommon forms of lust, an ignorance I'icvalent in small towns, and lastly, if you pltue, put it down to the honest simplicity of our Coburg citizens' members.

Wc only follow others' example. We have predecessors in Astyanassa, who according to Suldas (2) first wrote of Erotic Postures ;

1 I) Suidas under Astyanassa : Astyanassa, maid of 1 |i Itn tlie wife of Menelaus, who was the first to invent 1 In- ,lillcrent positions in the act of love. She wrote Of I rotlc Postures ; and was followed and imitated by Phi-

8 THE MANUAL GUVOU&UTT.XGW : przivit Pkilxnis Satnia (3), vel potius, ne de aliena fama detrahere videamur, qui librum itep'i T.ZW.QMV o-yr^ rutov a^ poSiadov matronee honestx nomine inscripsit, Polycrates, sophistes Jltheniensis: preeivit Elepkantis (4) sive Elephan-

(})Priapeia,IX//i. AJ hanc puclla, pane nomen adject,

Solet venire cum stto fv'utore, Qttx ut tot figuras, quot 'Philxnis cnarrai.

Non invent!, pruriginosa discedit.

Vindiccm jams nacta est JEschriomm, quo auctore exstat epitaphium Philxnidis ab Athenxo libro VIII, cap. 1), scrvatum, in quo extremo :

Ovix -J)v e; |av5pa; [laxXo;, ouoe r||j.u>S'f]C IIo).vixpctTirn hi, TT|V yovT|V 'A8r)vaTo, Aiywv TI itaiitaXniaa, xa'i xaxri yXwiraai "Eypa^iV oaa ' ^ p a ^ ' iyw y i p oux olSa.

Pros manibus fuerunl Pbilxnidis libelli Timarcho Lu-ciani, in Apophrade, p. isS, tomi VII, Operum a Jo. Petro Scbmidio tditorum : TIoO yap xauta (ovo(iata xa't f-niiaxa) TWV (5i|3Xi(i>v eipiaxei;; ix tuv $iXatvc8o{ SeXtwv, S;

(4) Siit'lotiius in Tiberio, cap. 4). Cubicuh plurifa-riam disposila tabellis ac sigillis lascivissimarum pictu-rarum it figuration adornavit librisque Elephantidis in-

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 9

and in Philaenis of Samos (3), or rather, to deprive no one of his due, Polycrates, an Athe-nian sophist, who brought out under the name of III honourable matron a book On the various l'ostures of Love . Then there was Elephan-til (4) or Elephantine, a Greek girl, whose li-

l.ienis and Elephantine^ who carried further the series ot luchlike obscenities .

(3) Priapeia, LXIII : To her a certain girl (I very ni-.iily gave her name) is wont to come with her para-mour; and if she fails to discover as many postures as I'lulaenis describes, she goes away again still itching wiih desire .

Philaenis has found a champion of her good name in Acschrion, who wrote an epitaph for her that is still extant In Aihenaeus, bk. VIII, ch. 13 : The last lines read : I was not lustful for men. nor a gad-about; but Polycrates, by race an Athenian, a mill clapper of talk, a foul-tongued Ophlst, wrote what he wrote; I know nought of it

i l l 1 , I ler works were familiar to Timarchus in Lucian (Apo-

1 '"M, p. 158, vol. VII, of Works of Lucian, edit. J. I' Schmid : Tell me where you find these words and ipretiions, in what books? is it in the volumes of Phlltenls, that are always in your hands?

1 .|) Suetonius, Tiberius, ch. 43 : He decorated his var-llgl and variously arranged sleeping-chambers withpic-1'in'i and bas-reliefs of the most licentious character, mil inruished them with the works of Philaenis, that

1 0 THE MANUAL

tine, puella Grxca, cujus lascivis libellis Tiberius struxit, tie cui in opera edenda exemplar impzratx. schemae dttsset.

Priapeia, III. Obsceitis tigido Deo lobelias Ducetts ex Elephatilidos libellis Dat dotium Lalage, rogatone tente*, Si piclas opus edat ad figuras.

Fuerunt igitur, qui figuras ab Elephantide enarratas pictis tabulis, ipsa forsan prxeunle, exprimerent. Rujus-modi tabulas dicat Priapo, rogatque velit ipsam permokre, et tentare, nuilt docilis sit discipula pictis istis coeitndi modis omnibus fideliter imitandis. Tales lobelias lascivarwnfigu-raruni, sive ex Elephanlidos, sive Philznidis libris, sive aliunde ductus, quis enim dubitet, in tarn blandi argumenti illecebris artificium ingenia desudasse certatim atqne etabo-rasse? respcxit Ovidius de Arte amatoria, II, 680.

. . . Vcr.trum jmigmil per mille figuras, Inveuiatplures nulla labella modus...

et auctor vtteris epigrammatis a Josfpho Scaligero ad Pria-peium 111, in lucent protracti :

hione modes onmes dtthes imitates lobelias Transetit, et lecto pmdeat ilia meo.

Nihil frequenlius fuisse Upmanis, quam tecta parietes-qut obscenis picluris adornare, intdligere est ex Proptrlio II, VI, 27, seqq.

Quae man.ts obuiias dtp ins. it prima tabellas, Et posuit casta turpia visa domot

Iilajiiiellarum ingtnuos corrupit ocel!ost Nequitixqiu sux noluit esse rudes.

Nun istis olim varialant teela figuris, Quuvi paries nullo crintiuepittas cral.

I

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY I I

1 rntious writings Tiberius is said to have fur-11.1 line in performing should want a model of the pos-iinr required. ;>

I'tiapeia, III : Taking pictures from the licentious ciiises of Elephantis, Lalage presents them an offering n'llie stiff-standing god, and begs you prove if sheper-I'uiip. agreeably to the pictured postures.

It would seem then that artists depicted the postures Ini ribed by Elephantis, she herself possibly setting the MUUnple. Paintings of the sort Lalage dedicates to Pria-I'ui, and asks her lover to have her and see if she is a do-I ilr pupil in faithfully imitating all the modes of connec-ted depicted in them. No doubt such representations 11I licentious postures, taken from the works of Elephantis HI Pliilaenis or elsewhere stimulated the ingenuity of AniMs to work out in emulation these enticing motifs to iin' highest degree of finish. Ovid alludes to such 111 Ks of art in his Art of Love, II, 680 : They unite in love in a thousand postures; no picture could sug-

iny fresh ones... : as also the author of an an- "Hi Hpigram quoted by Joseph Scaliger in hi: Coramen-l iry on the Priapeia, III : And when she has thrown IIPISCII into every posture in imitation of the seductive pii lutes, she may go : but let the picture be left hanging mil my bed. Nothing was commoner with the Romans 1I1.111 to decorate the walls and partitions of rooms with li. iniious paintings, as may be gathered from Proper-din. II, vi, 27 sqq. : The hand that first painted filthy pi. lines, and exposed foul sights in an honest home, cor-nipicil the pure eyes of young maids, and chose to make iin in accomplices of his own lubricity. In old days our Willi were not daubed with fancies of this vile sort, when never a partition was adorned with a vicious subject .

I 12 THE MANUAL OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY '3 C&sar cubicula, inslraxissefertur : prwivit Paxa-mus(ji), qui AuBsxa-ex^ composuit de figuris obscenis : pmivit Sotadcs Maronita (6), Cinxdo-

(5) Suidas. Ili^aiio; AwSexata/vov oVtt 5e 7tp\ TWV alffypffij o/y-iUcctuv, - ^ BM8 />ue referri puto Cyre-nen quondam Sw8;xau.Ti-/avov dictam. Videtur enim me-retricula ilia duodecim Veneris figuras non tarn scripts quam facto expressisse. Suidas in AcoSixau/rixavov : Ku-pr;vf] ti{ eitio-y)p.o; y eyovev exatpa 8u>8exa[irixavo; JmxaXou-(ivy), 8ii TO TOja-jTa a/riaaTX Iv T?) ayvouffia noteiv. Aristophanes in Ranis 1361-63 :

ToXp.a; tafia pieXir) ij/Jyetv 'Avx TO So>5ixa[ia/avov K-jp^w^ peXoiiotfi>v ;

Nominatur etiam Thesmophoriis, /04 , sed nominatur lantum. Ccterum not semper laudamus Aristophanem Bur-mannianiuu. Dubito, man scriptoribus de figuris Veneris adntimcraiidiis sit Musseus, cujus pathicissimcs libellos, Syba-riticis cellulites ct saleprurieute tinctos, Instantium Rujum legere jubct MartiMs XII, 97, ea tamen lege, ut puella ejus prxsto sit, ne thalassionem indical manibus libidinosis, fial-que sine fcemina marilus.

(6) Athtmeus, XIV, I} : 'O SJ'IWVSXQ; Xoyo;T* SuraSo-j xa'i T itpb TOUTO'J 'Iwv:xi xa)oi|MVCC iroi?ip.aTa, 'AXsl;av8pO'j K TOO AITCOXOJ, xa'i ITJpriTo; TOO MiXrjo-iou, xai 'AXl!;o'j, xa\ aXXtov TOIOOTMV IIO!/)TU>V 7tpoyepsTai. KaXttvti SI OUTO; xa\ xtvai8oX6yo;. "Hxp.aff 8k Sv TU> ei'8si TOUTW 2u>Ta8

nr.licdhissleeping-roomwith ;alsoPaxamus(5) In) composed the Dodecatechnon on lascivious

pMtures; and Sotades (6) of Maroneia, sur-

( ,) Suidas : Paxamus wrote the Dodecatechnon; the Hlbjtct is the obscene postures. But I think he has no n o d reason to connect with this the epithet Dodecame-MtflM tfiven to a certain Cyren. The said wanton dam-11 %cc nis to have practised rather than described the

irlvc postures of Venus. Suidas under Dodecamechanon : I litre was a famous betaera, Cyrene by name, further

i now u as Dodecamechanos, because she practised twelve different postures in making love .

. Iristophanes says in the Frogs, 1361-63 : Do you dare 1.1. titicize my songs, you that modulate your cadences u the twelve-fold postures of Cyrene? . Her name - i n . :ilso in the Thesmophoria\usae (104), but merely

In 1 name. (Our invariable rule is to quote from Bur-IIMIIII'S edition of Aristophanes.) I am doubtful as to intther Musaeus should be counted among writers on the

1 inn.: postures. Martial (XII, 97) recommends Ins-1 num. Rufus to read his (Musaeus1) books, as being of iin most advanced lasciviousness, vying with those of the lybiritesin obscenity and full of the most suggestive and pli y wit; warning him at the same t ime to have his-

1 11I ready to hand, if he did not want his hands to per-I.n HI the wedding-march and consummate the marriage Ithout a woman at all.

('.) Alhenaeus, XIV, 13 : Also the Ionic dialect has 10 -.iimv the poems of Sotades and the Ionic poems | i . . cling his, those of Alexander the Aetolian, and Pyres Ol Miletus, and Alexis, and others of the same class. T h e l.iM nieniioned is known as the Cinaedologue. But in

14 THE MANUAL

logus dictus, a quo Sotadeerum nouien mansit omni generi Hbrorutn, nimiz impudkiiiz nota insi-gnium : prwivit Sabellus, in quern Martialis, XII,

43 Facundos mibi de libidinosis Legisti nimiutn, Sabelle, versus, Quales nee Didymi (j) seiunt puellse, Nee mollcs Elepbantidos libelli. Sunt illic Veneris novae figurx, Quales perditus audeat fululor. Prxstent et taceant quid cxoleti :

vli; 'Aito).)>

3 6 THE MANUAL Quo sympkgmate qui nque copukntur, Qua plures teneantur a catena, Exstinctam liceat quid ad lucemam; Tanti non erat esse te disertum.

Prxivit vir divini ingenii Petrus Aretinus, quern tabellas (8) sedecim obscenissimas a Julio Romano pictas, a Marco turn Antonio in sere incisas, carminibus intemperantissimis, ut nihil supra, illustrasse iniqua farna canit : prxivit Lau-renlius Venerins (9), nobilis Vertetus, auctor li-

(8) Vide sis Lexicon Baelianum, sub Pierre Aretin, et Murrii Journal zur Kunstgeschichte, tomoXlV,pag. r-73.

(9) Petrus Bxlius in Lexico, sub Pierre Aretin : By a un dialogue de Magdalena et de Giulia, qui a pour hire la Puttana errante, oil il est traiti au long de i diversi con-giungimenti jusqu'au nombre de trente-emq. L Aritm, quoique Youvrage ait loujours iti imprimi sous son nam,

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY J7 once, how a greater number still can make a chain. It was hardly worth the pains to be eru-dite .

Moreover amongst our predecessors was the famous Pietro Aretino (8), a man of an almost divine genius, whom ill-natured report repre-sents as having illustrated sixteen plates painted by Julio Romano and engraved on copper by Marc-Antonio with verses ind ecent beyond all expression; Lorenzo Veniero again (9), a Ve-

(8) See Bayle's Dictionary, article : Pierre Aretin; also Murr's Journal zur Kunstgeschichte (Year-Book of the History of Art), vol. XIV, pp. 1-72.

(9) Pierre Bayle, in his Dictionary, under Pierre Aritin : There is a Dialogue betwen Maddalena and Giulia, entitled In Vuttana Errante (The wandering whore), in which re exhaustively treated i diversi congiungimenli (the dif-ferent modes of intercourse), tothe number of thirty-five. Aretino, though the book has always been printed under his name, disowns it, declaring it to be the work cf one dfliis pupils named Veniero. Brttnet, Manuel du Li-hraire (Book dealer's Handbook). .< The Puttana errante, 1 little book, very rare, quite worthy of Aretino in view Of the obscenities it countains, but which has been erro-neously attributed to him. Lorenzo Veniero, a Venetian nobleman, is the real author. He published it to avenge liimself on a Venetian courtesan named Angela, whom he ilesignates under the insulting name ofZaffetta, that is to y, in the Venetian dialect, daughter of a police-spy .

[Bayle, Forberg and many other writers have confused

iS THE MANUAL OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 19

belli Italic scrmone conscripti, cum indict La Puttana errante, quo coeundi non minus triginta qiiinqite modes enumerate sibi sumsit. Prxivit de-niquc Nicolaus Chorerius, juriconsultus Franco-gallus, qui Aloisice Sigxx, virginis His panes, nomeniprcefixitSaxnx Sotadicre de arcanis Amoris et Veneris, quanquam et fertnr libelliis sub nomine Joannis Mcursii cum epigraphs : Elegantiie Latini sermonis; in quo libelb nescias, ntrum Latini loquendi occur at am et sine molestia diligentem ele-gantiam, an Jestivitatem et facetiarum leporem, an eruditionis Romance scintillas idcntidem micantes, an multam et copiosam orationem, exquisitis et ver-borum et sententiarum luminibus, antiquitatem

le disavoue, et dit quit est a"un de ses eleves, nornmi te Veniero. Brunei in Manuel du libraire :

20 THE MANUAL

redolentibus, velut gemmis distinctam, an prsecla-ram artem prodigialiter variandi rem unam magis admireris. Alios mittatnus.

Non defuerunt prsdecessoribus nostris (antiqitio-rum quidem, quos laudavimus, omnium opera tempus nobis invidisse dolemus) censores tetrici, nee tamen lectores studiosi. Nequeforsandeerunt utrique el nostra paginx. Hominem ilia sapit, ac famx securi hominibus scripsimus, naturam subducto supercilio furca expellere non consuetis, sed qui semel vivere auderent, quicquid et in tenebris non essent, nee in publico videri vellent, atque etiam, uti in omnibus rebus, ila in Venereis, aureampotissimum tenendam putarent mediocritatem. Valeant ceteri habeantque sibi sapentise nomen!

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 21

urn that glitter everywhere, the rich and copious I loquence graced as with jewels by polished l ad luminous words and phrases of a pleasant unique flavour, or lastly the pre-eminent skill li.played in varying wi thsuch manifold versatil-

II v one simple theme . T h e others we need no t mention further.

( )ur predecessors, whe the r the more m o d e r n ,

DI potest opus Venereum aut per mentu-lam aut sine mentula. Si per mentulam, frictio mentulx, in qua omnis voluptas

versatur, effici potest aut cunno, aut culo, aut ore, aut tnanu aliisve cavis corporis; si sine mentula, cunnus fodi potest aut lingua, aut clitoride, aut alia quacuuqne re, virili veretro simili.

HE work of Venus may be accomplish-ed with or without the help of the mentula (virile member). If with the

nicntula, the friction of this organ, in which fric-noii the whole pleasure consists, can be effected ruber in the vulva (female organ), in the anus (arse-hole), in the mouth, by the hand or in any I avity of the body. If without the mentula, the vulva maybe worked either with the tongue, with the clitoris, or with any object resembling ilie virile organ.

CAPUT I

DE FUTUTIONE

C primum quidem videamus de opere, quod fit per mentulamcunnocommissam. Id quidem proprie dicitur fittuere. Varius

autem modus futuendi. Potest enim fututio fieri aut protii cum supina, aut supini cumprona, aut supini cum aversa, aut sedentis cum adversa, aut sedentis cum aversa, aut stantis vel ingeniculantis cum ad-versa, aut stantis vel ingeniculantis cum aversa. Jam singula dispiciamus.

Coitus proni cum supina est modus communis

CHAPTER I

OF COPULATION

ND first of all let us consider what is accomplished be means of the mentula introduced into the vulva. This is, pro-

perly speaking, to effect copulation ; but there .iic various ways of doing it.. As a matter of fact ( opulation can be effected:the man face down-w.irds with the woman on her back, the man Dii his back with the woman face down, the BUM on his back with the woman turning her back to him; the man sitting with the woman nirning her face towards him., sitting with the woman turning her back to him; the man stand-lag or kneeling with the woman turning her (ice towards him, standing or kneeling with 11- woman turning her back to him. Let us rx;iinine each of these methods separately.

(Coition with the man face down on the woman

CAPUT I

DE FUTUTIONE

C primum quidem videamus de opere, quod fit per mentulam cunno commissam. Id quidem proprie dicitur futuere. Varius

autem modus futuendi. Potest enim fututio fieri aut proni cum supina, aut supini cumprona, autsupini cum aversa, aut sedentis cum adversa, aut sedentis cum aversa, aut stantis vel ingeniculantis cum ad-versa, aut stantis vel ingeniculantis cum aversa. Jam singula dispiciamus.

Coitus proni cum supina est modus communis

fy&^4fc^-$^4&%4$^*&4&

26 THE MANUAL atque etiam ad naturam maxime accommodates. Aloisia Sigxa {Colloq. VI):

0 vcro communem Veneris usum et figuram unice laudo, tit in supinam vir procumbat, pectus pec-tore, ventrem ventre comprimat, pubes pubi colludat, diffindens rigido conto teneram rimam. Nam quid dulcius cogitando fingi potest, quam resupinam amati corporis blando pondere ad irrequietse sed suavis impa-tientix molles incitari furias ? Quid gratius, quam amantis vultu pasci, osculis, suspiriis et patrantium oculorum incendiis? quid prsestabilius, quam amores suos fovene complexibus, sensibus quidem, quos ncn setast non vitium ullum obtudit? Quid utriusque libi-dini, utriusque voluptatilxtius concutientis et succutien-tis lascivis motitationibus ? Quid opportunius prx vo-luptate emorientibus, quam flammescentium suavio-rum vivida vi reviviscere ? Qui aversa ludit in Venere, uni tantum alterive sensui gratificatur, omnibus qui in adversa.

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 2 7 who lies on her back is the ordinary method, and the most natural.

Aloysia Sigaea says:

For my own part I like the usual custom and 1 lie ordinary method best: the man should lie upon the woman, who is on her back, breast to l>rcast, stomach to stomach, pubis to pubis, pierc-ui|! her tender cleft with his rigid spear. Indeed what can be imagined sweeter than for the wo-man to lie extended on her back, bearing the welcome weight of her lovers' body, and exci-ting him to the tender transports of a restless l>ut delicious voluptuousness ? What more plea-sant than to feast on her lovers' face, his kisses, liis sighs, and the fire of his wanton eyes ? What bitter than to press- the loved one in her arms and so awake new fires of desire, to participate in amorous sensations unblunted by any taint < >l age or infirmity ? What more favorable to the lilight and enjoyment of both than such lasci-vious movements given and received? What more opportune at the instant of dying a volup-iious death than to recover again under the 1 (vivifying vigour of burning kisses? He who plies Venus on the reverse side, satisfies but one of his senses , he who does the same face M face satisfies them all . (Dialogue VI.)

28 THE MANUAL

Formosas feeminas potissimum hac figura utiju-bet Magister Anwrum (De Arte amatoria, HI, 771-73) :

Nota sibi sint quseque : modos a corpore certos Sutnile. Non omnes una figura decet;

Qux facie prxsignis eris, resupina jaceto.

Induitur vero hxc ipsa figura non una ratione. Nam potest aut eques intra feminarecipere supinam, aut supina equitem, et posterior quidem ratio rursus fingi potest aut ita, ut supina jaceat pedibus divari-tas, ciaut sublatis.

In ilium quidem modum, quo supina jacet pedi-bus divaricatis, Venerem figurare Octaviam jussit Caviceus (Aloisia Sigxa, Colloq. V) :

< Nolo te motitare clunes, et mutuis motibus meis respondere. Immo nolo te crura tollere, nee ambo simul nee alterum alterumve, cum super te conscendero. Scd hxc sunt qux volo. Trimum divariceris etaperias quatn

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 29 Ovid, the Master of Loves' Mysteries, invites

pretty women to take this posture by prefe-rence :

See you reckon up each of your charms, and take your posture according to your beauty. One and the same mode does not become every woman. You are especially attractive of face; then lie on your back. (Art of Love III, 771-773 )

This posture is by no means limited to one mode. The woman lying on her back, the rider may clasp her between his legs, or she may re-ceive him between hers. Yet another position may be adopted, according as the woman lie luck with legs stretched wide apart or with the knees raised.

It is this position, lying on her back with Ir^s wide apart, that Caviceo asks Olympia to .r.sume for making Love:

I do not wish you , he says, to work your buttocks, or to respond with correspon-ding movements to my efforts. Neither do I w lib you to lift your legs up, whether both at niicc. or one after the other, when I have mount-11I you. What I do wish you to do is this: First 11 etch your thighs as far apart, open them as

3 THE MANUAL aptissimepoteris Jemina. Vulvam ostentes nuntulxfi-gendam, et eo corporis situ non mutato ad finem usque libidinem perduci meam patiaris... Numeres omnes concussiones mcas. Vide nc pecccs in nutnero.

Imaginem desideras ? evolvas fabulas Romanensis \nscriptx : Felicia, ou Mes fredaines, caput xxv partis II, etfruaris tabula adjectx argumento.

In hunc autem modum, quo supina jacet pedibus sublatis, Tulliam disposuit Callias (Aloisia Sigma, Colloq. IV) :

Cum me effudero in amatum istad pectus, brachiis amplectere me. Nulla res complexum tuum solvat. Quin etiam tolle quam altissime poteris crura, ita ut lepidissimi pedes admotis calcibus politissimas nates exosculentur.

Si quis supinam pedibus sublatis jacentem vult inire, potest is alia quoque ratione ac Tulliana et forsan multo suaviori collocare amicam ita, ut pedes supinx in lumbos equitis decussatim tollantur: cujus figurx imaginem jucundissimam, qua possit cuique

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 3 I

wide as a woman well can. Offer your vulva to the member which is going to pierce it, and without altering this position, let me complete the work... Count my thrusts one by one, and nee you make no mistake in the total (Aloysia Sigaea, Dialogue V).

Would you see a representation of this ? Tike the tale Filicia ou mes fredaines, part II, i hap. xxv, and look at the plate facing the text.

The other position, ia which the woman is lying with her knees raised, is the one which (iallias makes Tullia take :

After I am lying upon your dear body , he says, press me fast in your arms, and hold me thus embraced. Draw your legs back as far as you can, so that your pretty feet touch your huttocks, smooth as marble (Aloysia Sigaea, Dialogue VI).

II you would enter the woman lying on her hack with her legs in the air, it may be done in vet another way than Tullia's mode, and one perhaps still more delicious, by placing your mistress so that she rests her legs crossed over the loins of her rider. A representation of this very pleasant posture, which would rouse the

32 THE MANUAL

vel Hippolyto inguen concitari, adspieias Felicias laudatx partis IV capitii xxv adjectam. Neque in-venusta est ejusdem figurse imago, qux paulo ante caput xxi comitatur. Hoc schemate videtur usa esse Doris in epigranimate Sosipatri, p. 5 84 tomi I Ana-lectorum Brunkii :

A(i>p(Sa T)V poSorcuyov uicip Xe^wv Siaretv*; "Av6eatv 4v ^Xoepot; adavaxoi; fiyova

'H yap incepipuleffffi n&ov 8ia(3aaa |*e ICOWJIV, "Hvuev axXtvdto? tov KiicptBoi; SiXi^ o*.

2v*o equitasse Doridem, patet ex Siatei'va?: strata jacebat pedibusque sublatis constringebat equitem.

Possunt vero etiam pedes supinm tolli ab aliis. Sic Aloisius Venerem Tullix juvit subactore Fabricio (Aloisia Sigsea, Colloq. IV) :

Ecceadvolant, ninquit, AloisiusFabriciusque. Tolle crura, ait Fabricius, macheeram in-tentans. Tollo. Tunc effundit se in pectus meum, el

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 33 numbed tool of a Hippolytus, is to be found in part IV. of the Filicia mentioned above. There is another similar plate in chap, xxi, not with-out charm. Doris, in the epigram of Sosipater, vol. I. of the Analecta of Brunck (p. 584), seems also to have made a trial of this figure :

When I stretched Doris with the rosy but-tocks on the bed, I felt immortal in my youth-lul vigour; for she clipped me round the mid-dle with her strong legs, and unswervingly lode out the long-course of Love.

Doris did not bestride him ; the expression, When I stretched shows this; she was lying on her back, and with her feet lifted up clasped her rider.

But again the feet of the woman lying on her back may also be held up by others. In this way Aloysio enjoyed Tullia with the help of Fa-brizio, in the VI. Dialogue of Aloysia Sigaea, where Tullia expresses herself as follows:

a Aloysio and Fabrizio come running towards me. Lift up your legs , says Aloysio to me, I hreatening me with his cutlass. I lifted them up. Then down he lies on my bosom, and plunges II is cutlass in my ever open wound. Fabrizio rais-td my two legs in the air, and slipping a hand

34 THE MANUAL immergti in ulcus insanabile machxram. Ulramquc mihi Aloisius tibiam sustollil, el sub poplitibus altcni et altera tnissa manu agitat ipse lumbos mihi nullo meo labore. Procax ridiculx motitationis genus! In-cendi me dixi, sed dido citius restagnans Veneris spuma restinxit inccndium (10).

Pedibus, nescio sua an aliena ope, sublalis sc dcdit Leda medicisindulgente marilo admissis (Mar-tialis, XI, 72) :

Hystericam vetulo se dixerat esse marilo, F.t queritur futui Leda necesse sibi,

Sed jlens alque gemens tanli negat esse salutem, Scquc refert potius proposuisse mori.

Fir rogat ul vival, virides nee deserat annos, FA fieri quod jam nonfacit ipse sinit.

(10) Nee Aristoplianis xtatt arlcs ejusmodi incognitas juisse, discimusex versiculis 889, 90, in Pace :

Ta'Jt/i; nsxfupa -nizxyayel-i ivippw.y. Adde v. 1254 in Avibus:

Tf,{ SiaxAvov

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 35 under each of my hams, moves my loins forme without any trouble on my part. What a singu-lar and pleasant mode of making you move! I declared I was on fire, but before I could end my sentence, the overflowing foam of Venus quen-ched the fire (10) .

So too was it with feet in air, whether of her wn accord or seconded by another, that Leda Have herself, with her husband's consent, to the doctors who had been called in, as Martial des-cribes the scene :

To her old spouse Leda had declared herself to be hysterical, and complains she must needs be f...cked; yet with tears and groans avers she will not buy health at such a price, and swears she had rather die. The husband beseechesher to live, not to die in her youth and beauty; and permits others to do what he cannot effect him-iclf. Straightway the doctors arrive, the ma-

(1 o) This method was not unknown at the time of Aris-lophanes, as we see from the following passage of the Vtact :

So that you may straightway, lifting up the girl's i'i;-., accomplish high in air the mysteries (v. 889, No).

And in the Birds he says : For this girl, your first messenger, why I I will lift

up her legs and will in between her thighs (v. 1254, 50-

36 THE MANUAL

Protinus accedunt fnedici, medicieque recedunt, Tollunturque pedes : o medicitm gravis !

Licet prono et rem habere cum semisupina, ant oblique, sive in lecto, sive in sella, effusa, aut in latus jacente.

Et in lecto quidem effundijubet Ovidiusobliquum, cui femur sit juvenile, careant quoque pectora menda (De Arte amat., Ill, 781, 782) :

Cui femur est juvenile, carent quoque pectora menda, Semper in obliquo fusa sit ilia toro (11).

Coitum autem proni cum oblique in sella effusa belle et festive more suo depinxit Aloisia Sigxa {Colloq. V) :

Lsetus festinusque accurrit Caviceus, mihi (Oc-taviae verba sunt); indusium tollit manumque pro-cacem parti mese admovet. Debinc sedere jubet. Ut se-debam, utroque ponit sub pede sellam, ita ut cruribus altius sublatis borti porta ad speratos impetus obversa

(11) Alia figura prodit ex hctione quorundam librorum:

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 37 nons retire; and up go the wife's legs in air; oh ! medicine grave and stern ! (XI, 72.)

Pace downwards to her the man may do the woman's business, while she is half reclining, either obliquely in bed, or on a chair, or lying .sideways.

The latter position is recommended by Ovid to the woman with rounded thighs and faultless figure :

She that has young rounded thigh and flaw-less bosom, should ever lie reclined sideways on the couch >/ (11) (Art of Love, III, v. 78 r, 782).

Copulation face to face with the woman sk-iing obliquely is described by Aloysia Siga*a with her usual elegance and vivacity :

Caviceo came on, blithe and joyous (it is ()lympia speaking). He despoils me of my che-mise, and his libertine hand touches my parts. I le tells me to sit down again as I was seated be-iore, and places a chair under either foot in such a way that my legs were lifted high in air, and 1 lie gate of my garden was wide open to the as-

S/c/ vir, in obliquo fusa sit ipsa toro.

(11) Readers will find another figure given in some of 1 lie books : The man should be standing, while the

omtn reclines sideways on the bed.

38 THE MANUAL

patent tota. Dexteram tamen subtus nates insinuavit, paulo magis admovit me ad se... Larva sustinebat hastx pondus. Tunc procubuit in me..., applicuit arietem foribus meis, in rimam priorem, cujus labra diducebat digitis, inseruit mutonis caput. Hie vero hsesit, nee ultra quidquam conatus est. Octavia mea dulcissima, inquit, complectere me, dextrum femur tuum suble- va et in lumbos meos mitte . Non intelligo quid velis, inquam. Sub hxcfemur ipse meum sub-dita manu superinjicit in lumbos suos, situ quo vo-luerat. Demum adigit in Venereum scopum mentulam et principio quidem impellit levi concussione, mox for-tiori, ac postremum eo nisu, ut summum mihi non du-bitarem imminere pcriculum. Rigida ea erat ac si cor-nea... Tanta vi ruebat, ut lacerari me exclamarem. Taululum requievit ab opere. Sile, amabo, cor-culum, inquit, ita hxc res agitur : obdura immo-ta. Iterum subter dunes manum misit, promovitque ad se, quxvidebar infugam converti. Nee mora, cre-

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGV 39 ..inks I was expecting. He then slides his right hand under my buttocks and draws me alittleclos-cr to him. With his left he supported the weight of his spear. Then he laid himself down on me... [ntc his battering-ram to my gate, inserted the head of his member into the outermost fissure, opening the lips of it with his fingers. But there hestopped,andfora while made no furtherattack. I (ktavia sweetest , he says, clasp me tightly, raise your right thigh and rest it on my side. I do not know what you want , I said. I Icaring this he lifted my thigh with his own hind, and guided it round his loin, as he wish-i,l ; finally he forced his arrow into the target ol Venus. In the beginning he pushes in with gentle blows, then quicker, and at last with such force I could not doubt that I was in great dan-ger. His member was hard as horn, and he for-I i-il it in so cruelly, that I cried out, You will 1 t i r me to pieces 1 He stopped a moment from lir, work. I implore you to be quiet, my dear >:, In- laid, it can only be done this way ; endure ii without flinching . Again his hand slid under my buttocks, drawing me nearer,for I had made J leint to draw back, and without more delay plied me with such fast and furious blows that I was near fainting away. With a violent effort In- forced his spear right in, and the point

4o THE MANUAL bris concussionibus ita me fatigavit, ul fere animo deficeretn. Rapido post impetu hastam impulit, sum-mvsque mucro hmsit in summo ulcere. Clamorem tollo... In sudor em defluxit Venereum Caviceus. Sensi me imbre fervido irrigari... Cum jam deficeret Cavi-ceus, incessit me quasi micturientis pruriens libido : turn el ipsa ultra dunes tollo, et illico sensi magna cum voluptate excerni ex me nescio quid, quod mira-bXler me ea in parte demulcebat. Conniventes mihi ocuti, crebri anhelitus, vultus mihi ignescere, totum corpus dilabi. Ah I ah! ah! deficio, Cavici, excla-mo; siste fugientem animam!

Coittim denique cum semisupina jacente in latus, et dextrum quidem latus, Naso judicat simplicissi-mum esse et minimi laboris(De Arte, 111, 787,88):

Milk modi Veneris : simplex minimique laboris, Cum jacet in dextrum semisupina latus.

Prscipue hancfiguram inire jubet longiores fcemi-nas, ibidem versiculis 779, 80 :

Strata premat genibus, paulum cervice reflexa, Fcemina,per longum conspicienda latus.

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 41 lixeii itself in the depths of the wound. I cry nut... Caviceo spurted out his venerean exuda-tion, and I felt irrigated by a burning rain... Just as Caviceo slackened, I experienced a sort

4 2 THE MANUAL

Hoc modo Phyllis videtur esse fututa {Mart. X, 81):

Cum duo venissent ad Phyllida mane fututum, Et nudam cuperet sumere uterque prior,

Tromisit pariter se Phyllis utrique daturam, Et dedit. Ille pedem sustulit, hie tunicam.

Pedem igitur semisapinse in latus jacentis sustulit fututor, tunicam psedico.

Pergamus ad earn figuram, qua supinus rem habet cum prona .Parte equitis versa vice hie sustinet fcemina, equivir. Hanc figuram dicunt Hector eum equum, ex illo Martialis, XI, 105 :

Masturbabantur Phrygii post ostia servi, Hectoreo quoties sedcrat uxor equo.

Negat autem Ovidins (De Arte amat., ///, 777, 78) diserte, placuisse earn figuram Andromachee,

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 45 ll her long shapely flank (Jlrt of Love, III, v. /79,80).

11 seems that the Phyllis of Martial allowed lin .(.If to be done in that way :

" Two arrived in the morning, who wanted 10 lie with Phyllis, and each was fain to be first to hold her naked body in his arms; Phyllis promis-I d to satisfy them both together, and she did it; one lifted her leg, the other her tunic (X, 81).

She was lying on her side; the f... lifted her 11 I; the pederast her tunic.

We now come to the manner, in which the 111.111 lying on his back has connection with the \ unian face downwards. The parts are inter- hinged; the woman plays the rider and the in in the horse. This figure was called the horse "I Hector.

Martial says : Behind the doors the Phrygian slaves

would be masturbating, every time Andromache 1H'united her Hector horse fashion (XI, 105).

I >vid, however, with much sagacity denies ih.K this posture could have pleased Androma-1 he; her figure was too tall, for this to have been

44 THE MANUAL neque poiuisseautdebuisse Mi ut Idngissimeeplacere; vehi enim decere parvas :

Parva vehatur equo; quod erat longissima, nunquam Thebais Hectoreo nupta resedit equo.

Non nostrum est componere litem. Certe banc figuram induit Sempronia cum Chry-

sogono (Aloisia, Colloq. VII) :

Impatiens moras Chrysogonus : Exuistivestes , inqait; nunc figuram illam, Sempronia mea, qua nosti tantopere delectari me, indue. Exsilit in su-pinum, et sedens obversa spiculum candens divaricatis femoribus vibrat ipsa in se sua manu.

Idem schema servus ilk Horatii Satir. 11, vn, 50, imperavit meretriculx,qux :

...sub clara nuda lucerna, Clunibus... agitavit equum lasciva supinum.

Matrons tamen qux in ilia ipsa Satira, versi-culo 64, non peccat superne , id schematis

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 45 agreeable or even possible for her. It is for little women, that it is pleasant to be thus placed:

A little woman may very well get astride on her horse; but tall and majestic as she was, 1 lie Thebanbride never mounted the Hectorean horse (y4rt of Love III, v. 777, 778).

It is no business of ours to decide the ques-tion.

At any rate Sempronia takes this posture with Crisogono.

He could wait no longer : Are you undress-" ed , said Crisogono. Now, my Sempro-nia, take the position, which gives me so much pleasure, you know which. He stretches him-t-lf down on his back, she gets upon him as-nide, with her face towards him. and with her Own hand guides his burning arrow between her tliihs (Aloysia Sigea, Dial. VII).

This is the same attitude, which in Horace is imposed by the slave upon the little harlot, who :

naked in the light of the lantern, plied with wanton wiles and moving buttocks the horse beneath her (Sat. II. vn, v. 50).

As to the matron spoken of v. 64 of the same ..itire as never having sinned above , no doubt

4 6 THE MANUAL

nequaquam arrisit : nam diversa diversas ju-vant.

Neque valde placuisse videtur Mi, qnam Xan-thias jusserat xeXYjTfcac in VespisAristophanis, v. 499, quserit enim indignabunda, ludens tamen ambiguitate nominis, iyrannidemne Hippix mo-liatur :

'0!;o8uiM)6e?

4s THE MANUAL Plures hxc equitando Veneris palxstra exhibere figuras docta, quant ipsa Philxnis, multiformis ilia gaudiorum artifex gratias agit Veneri in illo epigrammate, quod Hesperios quosdam juvenes, su-pinos ipsam subeuntes, nuper ita emeruerit, ut fati-gatis mentulis lascivientibus neutiquam pruriginosi discederent. Supinos exercere maris etiam erat Lysi-dicx, non ita facile in Veneris stadio lassandee, quse proximo Asclepiadis epigrammate :

IloX!)v iiicTtov i'lraov iyd^iaae1), ov rcoxe 3' aiT?j

THE MANUAL OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY SI satiavil, usque dum lassis animis el marcidis artuhus defatigati simul ambo corruimus. inter mutuos am-plexus animas anhelantes.

Proximam figuram, supini cum aversa, Jinxit Rangonius cum Octavia, Tullia magistra (xAloisia Sigxa, Colloq. VT) :

Rangonius. Vide ut arrigo. Sed volo nova via ad rem ire.

Tullia. Nova via ? non, per prurigincm meam! non ibis now via.

Rangonius. 'Peccavi lingua. Volui dicere, nova figura.

Tullia. Qux tandem crit? Occurrit ultro : vocant Hectoreum equum. Extendi te supinum, Rangoni has-tgque ilia fulminatrix hostem quserat intenta, quern confodiat. Aptel

Octavia. Quid facere vis, me, Tullia 1 Tullia. Surge, et aversa intra femina iua Rango-

nium subjice. Ejus machsera jacentis vaginx respondeat imminentis. Apte collocasti te. Bene est.

Rangonius. O dorsum Dionxum! o lumbos ebur-.neosl o incendiarias nates !

till both of us exhausted, powerless and with useless limbs, sunk down, exhaling our souls in mutual embraces (Metamorph., II, ch. n) .

The next figure, the man lying supine and the woman turning her back to him, is executed by Rangoni with Ottavia, nnder the direction of Tullia:

RANGONI : Look how stiff I stand ! But I want to try the bliss in a new way.

TULLIA : In a new way ? No! I swear by my wanton soul you shall not. You shall not take a new way.

RANGONI : It was a slip of the tongue; I meant to say a new posture.

TULLIA : And what sort of one ? I have an idea... what they call the horse of Hector. Lie down on your back, Rangoni; let your puissant spear stand firm to the enemy,who is to be pierc-ed. Well done!

OTTAVIA : What must I do, Tullia? TULLIA : Clip Rangoni between your thighs,

mounting him a-straddle. His cutlass as he lies should meet your sheath poised over it. Why! you' ve taken the position admirably. Excellent!

RANGONI: O h ! what a back, worthy of Ve-nus 1 O h ! the ivory sides ! O h ! the inviting but-tocks !

52 THE MANUAL Tullia. Ah his abstine makdidis. Cunno maledicit,

qui natibus cum laude benedicit. At enim sapis, Octa-via. Voravit tibi rudem mentuhm, Rangoni, heluo cunnus.

Octavia. Adcs, Rangoni. En, en ades, Rangoni, fnihi opi.

Rangonius. Adsum, Octavia, adsum. Adcs tu ? ades hi ?

Tullia. Tain cito defecistis ambo?

Pygiaca ctiam sacra, ad qua Eumolpus puel-latn quandam invitavit apud Petronium, cap. CXL, accipicnda videntur de schemate supini cum aversa :

Eumolpus noil distulit puellam invitare ad pygiaca sacra. Pullan: quidcm exoravit, ut scderet supra com-mendatam bonitalem {supra ipsum, cujus bonitat mater filiam commcndavcrat), Coraci autem impera-vit, ut ledum, in quo ipse jacebat, subiret; positisque in pavimcnto manibus, dominum luinbis suis commo-veret. Ille lentc parebat imperio, puellxque artificium

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 55

TULLIA : No naughty words! He who praises the buttocks, slanders the vulva ! You know bet-ter, Ottavia ! Her greedy vulva has swallowed your bristling member whole, Rangoni.

OTTAVIA: Quick, Rangoni, it is coming!... quick, quick, help me !

RANGONI : I am coming, Ottavia, I am come ! Are you ? Are you, darling!

TULLIA : How now ? Are you so quickly done up, you two ? (Aloysia Sigaea, Dial. VI).

The pygiacic (12) mysteries, to which Eu-molpus in Petronius (Satires, ch. CXL), invites a young girl, refer to the posture practised by the man lying on his back, with the woman upon him, her back turned towards him.

Eumolpus did not hesitate to invite the young girl to the pygiacic mysteries, but begged of her to seat herself upon the goodness known to her (that being himself, to whose goodness the mother had recommended her daughter), and ordered Corax to get on his stomach under the bed on which he was, so that with his hands pressed against the floor, he might assist with his movements those of his master. Corax obeyed, beginning with slow undulations responding to

( 12) From iwy-r) buttock.

5 4 THE MANUAL

parimotu rcmuntrabat. Cum ergo res ad effectum spec-taret, clara Eumolpus voce exhortabatur Cornea, tit spis-saret officium. Sic inter mercenarium amicamque positus senex veluti oscillatione ludebat. .

Quid minim, si inpygiacis istis sacris forte solce-cismum fecit Eumolpi mcntula, aberrando ab una caverna ad alteram ?

Imaginem hujus figures in ees incisam reperiesin elegantissimo opere Hancarvilliano inscripto : Mow numents du culte secret des dames romaines, capiti xxv adjeclam, neque te pigebit accepisse verba doctissimi interpretis ;

Cette attitude est c.u gout de beaucoup de gens, et its dames mimes y trouvent plus de plaisir. On pritend que Priape va plus au fond, et que la belle, par ses mouvements, se procure une volupti plus vive et une libation plus abondante.

Num fieri possit, ut aversus commode futuat sttpinam, viderint experti. Recte mini Aloisia. Colloq. VI;

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY ss those of the young girl. When the crisis was ap-proaching, Eumolpus exhorted Corax with a loud voice to quicken up his movements. Thus placed between his servant and his mistress, the old man took his pleasure as in a swing.

Would it be surprising, if in these posterior mysteries, Eumolpus' member had perchance gone wrong, and taken by mistake one orifice for the other ?

You will find this figure represented in a cop-per-plate engraving in the very elegant book of d'Hancarville, Monuments du culte secret des da-mes romaines, ch. xxv, and you will be glad to know the note, with which the learned annota-tor accompanies the same.

This attitude is to the taste of many men, and even the ladies find an increase of pleasure in practising it. It is supposed, thatPriapus pen-etrates farther in, and that the fair one by her movements procures for herself a more volup-tuous delight, and a more abundant libation.

Is it possible for the man, conveniently, to manage the business while turning his back to the woman lying on her back ? Experts must decide. Aloysia Sigaea says with good common sense:

56 THE MANUAL MulLr sunt, inqvit, qua- ad effcclum venire

nequeant, licet supra quam excogitari possit flcxibilcs sint coeuntium in Veneris sacra artus et lumbi. 'Pro-jects plura in mentem meditando et commentando solent cadere quam vcre fieri possint. Ut impotentis animi desideriis nihil impervium, sic nihil cogitationi cxsulta-bundxet intemperanti difficile. Quo vult, el qihtentai viatn, insimuit se; vel in abruptis invenitplanam.Neti_ ita corporibus facilia factu omnia, qua mens aut bona aut mala suadet.

Sedentes viros opus peragentes cum fceminis ad-vcrsis spectare est in altero opere Hancarvilliano, cui index : Monuments de la vie privee des douze Cesars, tabula XXVII, ejusdemque operis tabula XVostendet curiositatitusefiguram sedentis aversam futuentis. Augustus ibi sedet, lerentiam (13), Mx-

(13) Dio Cass. L1V, 19 : OJTU> yap 5v navu auTT|{ rfia, wcte xat aY

58 THE MANUAL cenaiis, prxsenlis Mitts quidcm, sed dormientis, nempe imperatori dormientis, uxorem gremio accep-tam pone fodiens imperatoria licentia. Similem figu-rant quazras in Contes et Nouvelles en vers par Jean de la Fontaine, tabula fabelhe le Tableau adjccta, pagina 223 tonti II exempli Amsielodami anno 1762 excusi.

Nihil frcquenlius coiin slantis cum adversa, qui cum unoquoque fere loco peragi facillimo negotio potest, tunica modo amicce sublata teloque virili educto, turn maxime accommodus videtur rationibus eorum, si qui opportunitate raptim oblata uti velint, prxserthn ubiopus est, ut fere fit in rebus furtivis, properalo. Itaslabant vicinxillaesinefincprurientes, quarum salacitatem queritur Priapus Priapeio XXV:

Aul prxcidile seminale membrum, Quod Mis mibi noctjbus fatigant Vicinx.sinc fine prurientes, Vernis passerilms salaciorcs, Ant rum par '...

an pulas, alio cuhu certantes tulisse, atque eo, quo spectandas se ^rxlueruHt De devorantibus oculis Paridis ?

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 59 her onto his lap ; Maecenas is present, asleep asleep of course only for the Emperor. You may see a similar posture in the Contes et Nouvelles en vers by Jean de la Fontaine; it is on the plate appended to the tale, called Le Tableau, p. 223, vol. II, Amsterdam, 1762.

Nothing is more frequent than conjunction whilst standing, the woman with her back to the man; it is indeed very easy to do it that way in any place, as you have only to lift up the fair one's petticoats, and out with your weapon; it is, therefore, the best manner for those who have to make instantaneous use of an opportu-nity, when it is important to be sharp about it, as may happen, when you take your pleasure in secret. Thus Priapus complains of the wives and daughters of his neighbours, who came inces-santly to him burning with ticklish desires.

Cut off my genital member, which every night and all night long my neighbours' wives and daughters, for ever and for ever in heat, more wanton than sparrows in springtide, tire to death, or I shall burst!... (Priapeia, XXV). which the Goddesses three presented themselves before the dazed eyes of Paris?

6o THE MANUAL Nostra delate memini artis medicx magistrum

celeberrimum (pxnc nomen adject), arcessita, ut rei fidem faceret, erubescentefilia, anditoribusque sub-ridentibusdigitocommonstrata, cxclamare: Hanc stando feci. Imaginem figurx petas ex Monu-ments de la vie privee des douze Cesars, tabula XL VI, ct similem ex Monuments du culte secretx des dames romaines, XIII.

Sed potest etiam stans coire turn adversa sublata, ita guidon, ut aut totum corpus lollatur, cruribus famine? lumbis viri impositis, aut inferior tantum pars corporis snrsum levetur, superior jaceat supina. Vis tu figure utriusque non illepidx adspectit pas-cere oculos? evolvas, necpcenitebit, tabulam XXIVin Monuments du culte secret des dames romaines, ac tabulam XL in Monuments de la vie privee des douze Cesars. Alterutra species, nisi quid me jallit, obversabatur ante oculos Nasoni (De Arte, /7/, 775,76):

Mihnion humeris Atalanics crura fcrcbal; Si bona sunt, hoc sunt accipicmia modo.

OF CLASSICAL KROTOLOGY 61

I remember a medical man of our time, one of the most celebrated professors, (I had nearly ut-tered his name), who to emphasize this, called his daughter, and pointing to the blushing girl, while his hearers could not help smiling said : This girl I fabricated standing. A representa-tion of this position is to be found in the Mo-numents de lavieprive'edesdou^eCdsars, pi. XLVI, and another in the Monuments du culte secret des dames romaines, pi. XIII.

But further, a man may join himself to a wo-man standing face to face by supporting her in such a way, that her whole body is lifted up, her thighs resting on the man's hips, or else by lift-ing up the lower part of her body, whilst the upper part is resting on a couch. Will you feast your eyes with a representation of this not un-graceful position ? If so you will not omit to look at plate XXIV of the Monuments du culte secret des dames romaines, and plate XL of the Mo-numents de la vie privde des dou%e Cisars; Ovid, if lam not mistaken, had his eyes on one or the other of these figures :

Milanion was supporting Atalanta's legs on his shoulders; if they are fine legs this is how

62 THE MANUAL

Certc priorem speciein depinxit nequitiarum Ma-gistra, Aloisia Sigxa, ita quidem vivide, lepide, laute, ut nihil posset supra, Colloq. VI:

Proximus successit Turrianus... Surrexeram (Tullia loquitur) e leclo; nuda tram : amgebat. Nee mora. Mammam inanu utraque prehend.it utram-que, et intorquens intra femina spiculum fervidum et durum : En, inquit, domim, ut te appetit hoc lelum, non quo letum, sed Iceta omnia inferam tibi. Sis precor dux ipsa excutienti mcr.tulse hoc in exco itinerc, ne aberret a scopo : nam tnanus mcas ab hac felicitate, qua fruuntur, baud dimoverim. Facia ut fieri volebat. Appuli ego igneum telum ad igneum os-tium. Sensil, impellit et infigit... Momento, et ad alteram alterumve concussum resoluta sum incredibili cum titillatiotic, ita ut parum abfuerit, quin deficerent poplites mihi. Siste, aio, fugientem animam . Sc'w qua fugit, refert subridens. Tibi scilicet elapsuram per id infimum putas ostium, quod teneo : sed ecce occlusum id est aptissime. Dicens conten-tione quadam spiritus summa faciebat, ut increscent moles turgenlis mentulas, et : Retro repellam fugi-

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 63

they should be held (Jirtof Love, III, w . 775, 776). The former of these modes is no doubt that described by Aloysia Sigaea, Past Mistress of these naughtinesses, and with a vivacity, a grace, and elegance that leaves nothing to be de-sired :

La Tour came forward instantly I had thrown myself on the foot of the bed (Tullia is speaking) I was naked; his member was erect. Without more ado he grasps in either hand one of my breasts, and brandishing his hard and inflamed lance between my thighs, exclaims Look Madam, how this weapon is darting at you, notto kill you, but to give you the greatest possible pleasure. Pray, guide this blind appli- cant into the dark recess, so that it may not miss its destination; I will not remove my hands from where they are, I would not deprive them of the bliss they enjoy. I do as he wishes, I introduce myself the flaming dart into the burn-ing centre; he feels it, drives in, pushes home... After one or two strokes I felt myself melting away with incredible titillation, and my knees all but gave way. Stop , I cried stop my soul, it is escaping! I know , he replied,

I 6 4 THE MANUAL

tivam aniinam, adjickbat, acerrimos etiam motus ckbat.Altius ad vivum pcrsedit mucro. Ea vi sursum dukes ingerebat impetus, deliciosos penetrabat furores, ut, quande cerlc omnc non poterat corpus, saltern cupiditates omnes, desidcria, libidines, cogitationes ani-tnunque amemtem in corpus meum effunderet libidi-noso nisu. Demum cum scnsil liquidi xstus adven-tanlcm vesaniam, /nanus natibus meis subjicit, sub-levat in acm.Ego furentis artus arctissimis brachiorum alligo complexibus, et femorum tibiarumque alterno volumine femora natcsquc, iki ut ejus ab collo pen-dcrem vibrata ex humo. Sic pendebam quasi clavo afjixa. Bum in longum labor Irahilur, iterum non segnem me solvit Venus in Vcnerem. Tembcrare mibi non polui, quia cxclamarem acriori amoris cestroper-cita : Sentio omnes, scntio funonis cum Jove concum-bentis delictus omnes; feror in caelum/ ... Eodem temporis punch exundantis seminis humescenti igne geni-tale arvum conspersit Turrianus, quern Venus et Amor

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 65

which I have possession; but I keep it well stop-ii pered. Whilst speaking he endeavoured, by holding his breath, still further to increase the already enormous size of his swollen member. I am going to thrust back your escaping soul , he added, poking me more and more violently. His sword pierced yet deeper into the quick. Re-doubling bis delicious blows, he filled me with transports of pleasure, working so forcefully that, albeit he could not get his whole body into me, he impregnated me with all his passion, all his lascivious desires, his very thoughts, his wholedelirioussoul,by his voluptuous embraces. At last feeling the approach of the ecstasy and the boiling over of the liquid, he slips his hands under my buttocks, and lifts me up bodily. I do my part; I twine my arms closely round his form, my thighs and legs being at the same time intertwisted and entangled with his, so that I found myself suspended on his neck in the air, lifted clean offtheground; I was thus hanging, as it were, fixed on a peg. I had not the patience to wait for him, as he was going on, and again I swooned with pleasure. In the most violent raptures I could not help crying out I feel all... I feel all the delights of Juno lying with Jupiter. lam in heaven. At this moment La Tour, pushed by Venus and Cupido to the acme

66 THE MANUAL omnibus suis agebant furoribus in libidinem. Hedera turn ita nuci hxrtt circumvoluta, ut hxrebam Turriauo brachiorum femorumque amplexu conjuncta.

Speciem vero posteriorem, qua fingiposse diximus coilum stantis cum sablala, etsi paululum inwiu-tatam,reprxsentavit Conraduscum Tnllia(Aloisia, Colloq. VI) :

Mihi femina (Tullix verba audis) apcruit. Non displicebat Conradus, nee admodv.m placebat : nee negavi, nee dedi... Ilk vero novum molitur modum, nee ineptum. In sinistrum sibi humerum tollit dextrum supinx femur : post transfigit ictum exspectanlem, non oplantem. Femori dextro suosupinx injecerat sinistrum. Adacto in intima. telo concutere, subagitare, urgere. Quid plum ?

Verum enimvero potest etiam stans inire aversatn, quadrupedum more, quorum coitus fieri solet mare

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 67

of voluptuousnes, poured a plenteous flood of his well into the genial hold, burning like Are. The creeper does not cling more closely round the walnut tree than I held fast to La Tour with my arms and legs (Dial. VI).

As to the last manner by means of which co-pulation may be achieved, the man standing with the woman half lifted up, Conrad practises it with slight modifications.

(TULLIA speaking) : He opened my thighs I do not dislike Conrad, though I am not par-ticularly partial to him. I neither consented, nor refused. As to him, he fancied a novel posture, and not at all a bad one. I was lying on my back; he raised my right thigh on his shoulder, and in this position he transfixed me, while I was awaiting the event, without greatly desiring it. He had at the same time extended my left thigh along his right thigh. His tool plunged in to the root, he began to push and poke, quicker and quicker. What need to say more? Picture the conclusion for yourself (Dial. VI).

Last of all, a man can get into a woman turn-ing her back to him after the manner of the quadrupeds, who can have no connection with their females otherwise than by mounting upon

68 THE MANUAL fozminam aversam inscendente (14). Fuerunt qui faeminas pone dedolatas fcecundiws par ere crederent. Lucretius (De Rerum Natura, IV, 1259-1262)

... Nam more ferarum Quadrupedumque magis ritu plerumque putantur Concipere uxores, quia sic loca sumere possunt Tectoribus positis sublatis semina lumbis,

Aloisia Sigaea, Colloq. VI:

Viam Veneris esse dicunt alii ex Natural prx-scripto, si quadrupedum more prima et projectis lumbis ineatur mulier : nam sicpromtius virilem invehiinmu-liebrem sulcum et seminis fluctus in arvum genitale... Sed negant medici pronx concubitum natural convenire, quipartium generationi insudanhum conformationi, ut probant, non convenit.

Quicquid id est, sxpe fit ut nequeant mulieres iniri secus atque aversx. Quo enim alio modo obesus venter ventri obeso aut gravido commissus ret finem reperiai? Hanc ob causam Augustus fertur Liviam

(14) Uberius hum locum tractavit Plinius, capite 63 libri X Historic Naturalis.

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 6 9

them from behind (14). Some authorities have held that a woman conceives easier while on all fours. Lucretius says :

< Women are said to conceive more read-ily when down after the manner of beasts, as the organs can absorb the seed best so, when the bosom is depressed and the loins lifted (Of the Nature of Things, IV, vv. 1259-1262).

Also Aloysia Sigaea :] Some people pretend that the fashion to

make love indicated by Nature is that one where the woman offers herself for copulation after the manner of the animals, bent down with the Hips raised; the virile ploughshare penetrates tnus more conveniently into the female furrow, and the seminal flow waters the field of love... The doctors, however, are against this posture ; they say it is incompatible with tne conforma-tion of the parts destined for generation . (Dial. VI.)

However this may be, it happens frequently, that women cannot be managed in any other way. Given an obese man and a woman like-wise obese or with child, how are they to do'

(14) Pliny has treated this at great length in his Natural History (Book X, ch. 63).

7o THE MANUAL Drusillam, cum Tiberii Neronismatrimoniosextum jam mensem gravidam abduxisset, pecudum more compressisse, cujus compressus jucundam imaginem tibi prxbebunt Monuments de la vie privee des douze Cesars, tabula VII; at cur fraudari te patiamur iis, quae luculentus editor ad illustrandam tabulam adnotavit? Sic fere habent:

Cette Drusille est la fameuse Livie, femme de Tibere Neron, qui avoit ete un des amis d'An-toine : Auguste en devint passionnement amou-reux, et Tibere la lui ceda, quoiqu'elle fut grosse de six mois. L'on plaisanta beaucoup sur cet em-pressement de 1'empereur, et un jour qu'ils etoient tous a table, et que Livie dtoit couchee pres d'Au-guste, un de ces enfants nus, que les matrones elevoient pour servir a leurs plaisirs, s'approchant de Livie : Quid agis hie, domim, lui dit-il, (i ecce enim tnaritus turn (Neronem monstrabai) ; illic est (15). Livie accoucha peu de temps apres, et Ton disoit publiquement a Rome que les

(15) Conferas caput 44 libri XLVIU Dionis Cassii.

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 71 the thing otherwise ? This is the reason why, so they say, Augustus having married Livia Drusilla, divorced wife of Tiberius Nero and already six months gone in pregnancy, had connection with her after the manner of animals. Plate VII of the Monuments de la vie privee des dou^e Cisars will give you an idea of the posture assumed by both of them. But why should we not give you the annotations whereby the learned editor has elucidated the plate ? Here they are :

This Drusilla was the famous Livia, the wife of Tiberius Nero, who had been one of An-thony's friends. Augustus fell violently in love with her, and Tiberius gave her up to him, al-though she was at the time six months with child. A good many jokes were made about the eagerness of the Emperor, and one day, while they were all at table, and Livia was reclining by Augustus, one of those naked children, whom matrons used to educate for their pleasures, going up to Livia said : What are you doing here? yonder is your husband , pointing to Nero, therehe is (15). Soon afterwards Livia was confined, and the Romans said openly, that lucky people get children three months after

(15) Compare Dio Cassius, bk. XLV1II, ch. 44.

72 THE MANUAL

gens heureux avoient des enfants apres trois mois de mariage, ce qui passa meme en proverbe. Un historien dit qu'Auguste fut oblige de caresser sa femme more pecundum, a cause de sa grossesse ; et c'est a cette luxurieuse attitude que fait allusion le came d'Apollonius, graveur celebre du temps d'Auguste. L'dtat oil etoit Livie peut, il est vrai, avoir rendu cette posture necessaire, mais il paroit qu'elle dtoit en tout temps du gout des Anciens, soit qu'ils crussent, ainsi que l'indique Lucrece, que cette attitude dtoit favorable a la generation, soit plut6t qu'ils la preterassent par un raffinement de volupt. Les postures les plus recherchees, les moins naturelles souvent, ont paru en tout temps a quelques debauches augmenter le plaisir de la jouissance. Mais il faut convenir que Tima-gination va encore au dela de la possibility rdelle.

Singularem causam. cur necesse sit coire cum aversa, commenta est Aloisias sagacitas, Colloq. VII:

(i Commendant Veneres (cunnuin) qui now om-nino inter femina delitescat condttus : novetn decemve distet lantum pollices ab umbilico. Demissa plerisque puellis itu fugit pubes, ut aversa videaiur ad Venerem via. Difficilis cumislisconcubitus. Non potuit Theodora

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 73 being married, which passed into a proverb. One historian says that Augustus was obliged to caress his wife after the manner of beasts on account of her pregnancy, and it was to this luxurious attitude that the cameo of Apollonius, the celebrated gem-cutter of the time of Augus-tus, makes allusion. True that the state in which Liviawas may have made this posture necessary : but it seems that it was at all times to the taste of the Ancients,either because they considered this attitude favourable for procreation, as Lu-cretius maintains, or because they found it to be a refinement of voluptuousness. The most ex-traordinary and least natural postures have al-ways appeared to rakes as enhancing the plea-sure of the conjunction. But it must be admitted thatimaginationstilloutrunsactual possibilities.

A singular reason for the necessity of encoun-tering a woman backwards is given by Aloysia Sigaea, with her usual sagacity :

For pleasure, one likes a vulva which is not placed too far back, so as to be entirely hidden by the thighs; it should not be more than nine or ten inches from the navel. With the greater number of girls the pubis goes so far down, that it may easily be taken as the other way of pleasure. With such coition is difficult. Theo-

74 THE MANUAL OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 75 Aspilcucta nisi posito pectore et sublatis genua lumbis devirginari. Frustra supinx vir ivsudarat superfusus : oleum per Aider at.

Jubet Ovidius eas potissimum quxrere coitum aver sum, quibus jam venire cceperint rugae corpus aranles (De Arte, /IT, 785, 86) :

Tu quoque cui rugis uterum Lucina notavit, Ut celer aversis utere Paribus equis.

Eodem spectare victetur prxceptum paulo ante versu 774 datum:

Spectentur tergo quis sua terga placent.

Sed missa necessitate sarpenumero constat foeminas ponefutui libidinisgratia, cum summa sit voluptas voluptatem variare. Nee alia de causa Fabricium Tullia. passa est aversa apud Aloisiam Sigxam, Colloq. VI:

Surgente Aloisio (Tullia loquitur), novum se Fabricius accingit ad pugnam. Rubicunda illi et mi-nitabunda turgebat mentula. Amah, domina ob

dora Aspilqueta could not be deflowered, till she placed herself prone on her stomach, with her knees drawn up to her sides. Vainly had her husband tried to manage her, while lying on her back, he only lost his oil (Dialogue VII).

Ovid recommends this way with women who begin to be wrinkled :

Likewise you, whose stomach Lucina has marked with wrinkles, mount from behind, like the flying Parthian with his steed (Art of Love, III, v. 785, 86).

The same advice also seems to be given by him a little before :

Let them be seen from behind whose backs are sightly (v. 774).

But besides necessity, it is a fact that women are worked in this way out of mere caprice, va-riety offering the greatest pleasure. It is simply for this reason that Tullia suffers Fabrizio to do lier that way, in Aloysia Sigaea :

As Aloisio got up (Tullia speaks) Fabri-zio makes ready for another attack. His member is swollen up, red and threatening. I begofyou B Madam , he says, turn over on your face. I did as he wished. When he saw my buttocks,

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76 THE MANUAL OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 77 verte te in faciem, ait. Obverio, ut volebat... At enim ut nates vidii, qux candore suo ebur et nivem obscurarent: O te pulchram I ait. Sed erige te in genua, demisso superioris corporis trunco. ... De-mitto caput et pectus tollo nates... Trusit in iniimam vulvam rapidum et igneum telum. Mammam utram-que cepit manu utraque. Post agitare ccepit, et momento dulcis profluere rivus in mollem Veneris sinum, et ego etiam miris deliniri deliciis. Trx voluptate parum ab-fuit, quin deficerem. Ea me seminis copia excreti ex Fa-brich lumbis implevit et demulsil, ea copia excreti e meis exhausit mihi vires. Hoc uno concuhitu plus amisi virium, quamprioribus tribus (id).

Nova nee infaceta ratione peractus est coitus ille aversus, cujus bellct imago conspicitur in Monu-ments du culte secret des dames romaines, ta-

(16) Res inventionis est satis antiqucc. Hue spectant Aristophanea ilia in Pace v. 8Q6 :

'Eirt 77)? 7ta),at'stv, TCTpanoS^ SVj iiTavxi, el in Lysistrata, v. 231

Ou

78 THE MANUAL bula XXVIII. In manus illic procumbit fcemina, inferiore corporis parte funiculis sublata, et stanti fututori obversa. Neque valde diversam figuram exhibuisse videtur uxor ilia fabri, quam, narrante Apuleio Metamorph. libro IX, inclinatam dolio pronam superincurvatus, secure dedolabat (adul-ter). Lepidi facinoris imago adjunct a est fabulx le Cuvier in Contes et Nouvelles par Jean de La Fontaine, tomo II, pagina 215.

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 79 hands placed on the ground, while the lower part of the body is lifted up and suspended by cords; she is turning her back to the man who stands. This seems to be much the same position as was taken up by the wife of the artisan Apu-leius speaks of in his Metamorphoses (book IX), whom

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82 THE MANUAL tus : pathicus adultior vel emeritus, exoletus. Mas-culx Veneris (nam cum tnulto rarius fiat, ut pxdi-centur fceminx quam mares, mascula solet dici ab eo quod plerumque fit), masculx igitur Veneris fructu satiatur libido aut agendo, quod est pxdjco-num, aut patiendo, quod est pathicorum. Et volup-tas quidem pxdiconis facile intelligitur. cum omnis voluptas mentulx pendeat ex frictione; qui autem fieri possit, ut pathicus voluptatem capiat alienopene intra viscera acto, difficilius videtur ad intelligen-dum, mei quidem ingenii exiguitati, qui sim talium artium plane rudis atque hospes. Cave enim existi-mes, voluptatem pathici tantum esse secundariam, neque pathicum substernere pudicitiam pxdiconi nisi 0, ut legitimum Veneris lusum pxiicando sibi prx-ludat, ignavixque mentulx, quoad ejus possit, me-deatur, vel adspectu virtutis alieni nervi, velpodicis quadam titillatione, quemadmodum eandemvim non mododigitis inesse in anum (19) trusts docet Anto-

(19) Similiter scorteum penem anoEncolpii inseruit CEno-tbea ad langttentem tiervum pueri excitandum; Petronius, c. ij8 : ProfertCEnothea scorteum fascimim,quod, ntoleo et

OF CLASSICAL EROTOLOGY 83 ininate; if adult or worn out, he is named exo-lete. The masculine pleasure (so called because women allowed themselves much more rarely to be pedicated than men) is appreciated equally by the active party, the pedicon, as by the pas-sive party, the patient. The pleasure of the pe-dicon is easy to understand, as the enjoyment of the virile member consists in the intensity of the friction ; the pleasure felt by the patient by the introduction of the member in his entrails is more difficult to make out, a least for my feeble intelligence, for such practices are quite strange to me. Do not believe, however, that the pleasure of the patient is only secondary, nor yet that he prostitutes himself only in order to do the same afterwards himself, nor that he re-medies in this way the sluggishness of his own member by the vigorous working of another man's nerve causing a pleasurable tidllation of the posterior, analogous to that which Antonius Panormitanus (Hermapbroditus, I, 20), tells us may be produced by inserting the fingers in the anus (19), or still better, by beating the same

(19) Thus Oenothea, to excite the lad's feeble nerve, pushes a leathern mentula (member) into Eucolpius' anus (Petronius, 138): Oenothea fetches a leathern con-

84 THE MANUAL nius epigrammaie XX libri prions Hermaphro-diti, sed et verberibus podici inflictis Aloisia Sigxa, Colloq. V:

Audio esse nostros inter homines Alphonsum mar-chionem, quern verbera excitant ad pugnam, alio