294: BAWD GAMES
(For amplification, see Allison Glazebrook & Barbara Tsakirgis (eds.), Houses of Ill-Repute: The Archæology of Brothels, Houses, and Taverns in the Greek World, Univ. Penn. Press, 2016); also Paul Chrystal, In Bed with the Ancient Greeks, Amberley Publishing, 2016).
Reviewing The Outcast Manufacturers, Theodore Dreiser observed: “Fort was never interested in sex… a little more sex and this book might have been popular.”
Enter The Animals: “There is a house in New Orleans/They call the Rising Sun./It’s been the ruin of many a poor boy,/And, God, I know, I’m one.”
One Roman youth may have carried Burdon’s burden. He was congratulated (Horace, 1. 2. 30-5) by Cato the Censor for using brothels rather than fucking married women. However, when he realised the youth’s frequent visits, the follow-up was “I told you to visit, not live there.” Horace prefaces this anecdote with the remark that quite some Romans’ erotic priority was “a stinking stew”.
