The Garden of Priapus: Sexuality and Aggression in Roman Humor

352 Pages·1992·6.41 MB·English

by  Amy Richlin

The Garden of Priapus
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The Garden of Priapus
SEXUALITY AN D AGGRESSIO N
IN ROMA N HUMO R
REVISED EDITIO N
Amy Richli n
New York Oxford
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1992
Oxford University Press
Oxford Ne w York Toront o
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and associated companies in
Berlin Ibada n
Copyright © 198 3 b y Yale University Press
Copyright © 199 2 by Amy Richlin
First published in the United States in 1983
by Yale University Press, New Haven.
First issued in revised paperback edition
by Oxford University Press, 1992 .
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.,
200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 1001 6
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording , or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Richlin, Amy, 1951--
The garden of Priapus : sexuality and aggression in Roman humor /
Amy Richlin.—Rev. ed.
p. cm . Include s bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-19-506873-4 (paper)
i. Lati n wit and humor—History and criticism. 2 . Eroti c poetry,
Latin—History and criticism. 3 . Aggressivenes s (Psychology) in
literature. 4 . Satire , Latin——History and criticism.
5. Priapu s (Greek deity) in literature. 6 . Se x in literature.
7. Invective . I . Title.
pA6095.R53 199 2
877'.010935 38—d02 0 91-2671 6
987654321
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
PARENTIBUS OPTIMI S LEPIDISSIMISQU E
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Preface
This book began as a means of determining th e place of Juvenal 2, 6, and 9
relative to Juvenal's satir e as a whole and t o the res t o f Roman satire. Th e
works read in this endeavor proved interesting enough in their own right that
the analysis of them her e takes up much mor e space than the analysis of Ju-
venal 2, 6, and 9; still, the initial aim informs the book. Thus the book largely
ignores several areas only tangential t o the study of satire. I presume that an
analysis of sexual humor i n Roma n comed y and o f all Roman sexua l graffit i
and erotic art will be most missed; both areas provide ample material for fur-
ther books, and I hope these books will be written. The date and the problem
of Greek versus Roman in comedy, and my lack of expertise as an epigrapher,
excluded thes e area s from th e presen t study . A third are a not covere d here
includes authors later than Juvenal, excep t for some episodes in Apuleius; Lu-
cian, Apuleius, Tertullian, Ausonius , Claudian, and others all clamor for at-
tention.
To find out more about Roman humor I have borrowed theories from other
disciplines, especially from psycholog y and anthropology. I found bot h fields
stimulating and illuminating for reading ancient texts, and I hope the present
study wil l be viewed no t a s an aberration o r a trespass bu t a s a valid an d
promising direction for classical philology. The scope of this book has dictated
that no one author be treated i n depth; moreover, several important phenom -
ena—Roman sexua l mores, sexuality in Roman religion, and the relationship
between the Roman ideals of the military, the monetary, and the sexual—are
only adumbrated i n these pages.
Several problem s o f terminology nee d t o b e state d clearl y at th e outset .
First, i n the analysis of Roman homosexuality two great differences fro m cur-
rent norm s will be noticed: (i) Th e Roman s made little mention of female
homosexuality, an d s o lesbianism will rarel y be mentioned here. (2) Roman
invective assume d tha t ther e was only one main kin d of male homosexual,
viii Preface
pathic (those wh o were penetrated); these are often identified as effeminate .
Men who penetrated othe r males (usually boys) were generally assumed to be
bisexual; free men who penetrated adul t males were either punishing them or
engaging i n a rare form of homosexuality. Henc e th e ter m pathic will ofte n
appear here, designating a man who only enjoys being penetrated. Th e word
puer, "boy," will be used of the boys who appear in literature as sex objects.
The notion of homosexual reciprocity appears in Latin literature only rarely and
in extreme cases.
The translations throughout ar e my own and render primary obscenities in
Latin by their English equivalents. Ancient and some modern works are abbre-
viated throughou t accordin g t o the conventions of classical philology, an d I
have generally used the forms listed in the second edition of the Oxford Classical
Dictionary. In a few cases I use abbreviations other than those listed there: AP
for th e Anthologia Palatina (collected Greek epigrams) ; Cat. fo r Catullus; D .
for th e Digest (of Roman law ) and C. fo r the Codex; S. fo r Horace's Sermones
(satires); AA fo r Ovid's Ars Amatoria; Pr. for the Carmina Priapea; VA fo r the
Virgilian Appendix. In quoted text s I use the following symbols to mark differ -
ent problems i n ancient texts: angle brackets set off words conjectured by the
editor; square brackets indicate material lost from an inscription and filled in
by the editor; daggers set off material believed by the editor to be corrupt and
not yet satisfactorily emended.
Finally, on the texts themselves. Two that appear repeatedly may need some
introduction: for the Carmina Priapea I have used Mueller's text, in his edition
of Catullus, Tibullus, and Propertius (Leipzig , 1892); for the three Priapics of
the Catalepton an d th e lon g Priapi c "Qui d Ho c Nov i Est? " I have used th e
Oxford edition of the Virgilian Appendix (1966), edited by Clausen et al. This
last poem will appear as Oxford VA "Quid Hoc Novi Est?" or in some short-
ened version of this cumbrous handle. I have used Marx's edition of Lucilius,
and Gow and Page's editions of poems from th e Greek Anthology wher e avail-
able, but have retained the traditional numberings. In referring to Freud's Jokes
and Their Relation to the Unconscious, I have used the pagination of the Norto n
edition for the convenience of students.
Acknowledgments
What a pleasure it is to be able to thank the people to whom this book brought
me. Sinc e 1982 I have had a new source of support i n the sisterhood of the
Women's Classical Caucus, whose members have challenged me to go further
and helped out along the way. In addition, I want to thank Sandra Joshel for
her mythi c bibliography an d sens e of humor; Terr i Mars h for her grasp of
theory an d sens e of honor; Molly Myerowit z Levine for peripatetic exegesis ;
and Suzanne Dixon, Mary-Ka y Gamel, and Diana Robin for broadening my
horizons. Specia l thank s t o Gordo n William s fo r his unfailing support an d
kindly ear: tibi cano et Musis. Not onl y here but i n all that I do I am inspired
by the courage, work , and vision of two remarkable classicists and feminists :
Judith Hallett and Marilyn Skinner.
To m y ne w colleagues a t th e Universit y of Southern California , both i n
Classics and the Program for the Study of Women and Men in Society, heart-
felt thanks—especiall y t o Lois Banner, to Donald McGuir e and Carolyn De-
wald of the 1990 Writing Group, and to the much-missed Jeffrey Henderson .
You have given me a wonderful place to work.
This edition was made possible by the imagination, initiative , and energy
of Rachel Toor, no w o f Duke University Press. A researc h leave from th e
University of Southern California gave me the time I needed, fo r which I am
most grateful.
Above all, thank s t o everyon e who told me they had used th e boo k and
found i t helpful; there can be no words more heartwarming to a writer. And
thanks to Lon, for the distractions.
Los Angeles A.R .
October 1991