Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2016 20:35:48 GMT 8
I came across this little note about the Roman emperor Augustus:
He went so far in restraining the licentiousness of actors, that upon discovering that Stephanio, a performer of the highest class, had a married woman with her hair cropped, and dressed in boy's clothes, to wait upon him at table, he ordered him to be whipped through all the three theatres, and then banished him.
Well, OK, she was a married woman. But how do we know what her husband was up to? Maybe he had his hair long, was dressed as a girl and was waiting on an actress. I mean, if it’s fun and games we’re into, I could think of worse than that.
But if Augustus didn’t like that sort of carry-on, what was he into himself?
He took particular pleasure in witnessing pugilistic contests, especially those of the Latins, not only between combatants who had been trained scientifically, whom he used often to match with the Greek champions; but even between mobs of the lower classes fighting in streets, and tilting at random, without any knowledge of the art.
Whatever floats your boat, I suppose. You’d think as emperor he’d want to discourage street brawls, but an emperor can do as he pleases, can’t he?
In any case, if Stephanio was whipped and then banished, what became of his playmate? We’re not told that. Although we can imagine that Augustus wasn’t too nice to her. During his reign he was trying to encourage good old-fashioned Roman and family values (does that sound depressingly familiar?), despite the facts
(1) he had innumerable casual liaisons himself;
(2) he stole his last wife Livia from her husband when she was pregnant and arranged for a quickie divorce and re-marriage; and
(3) his daughter Julia was, let us say, “wild”, and everybody in Rome knew it except him. When he finally found out about it, he banished her to a desert island.
So much for family values. But you know what they say, the more it changes, the more it stays the same.
He went so far in restraining the licentiousness of actors, that upon discovering that Stephanio, a performer of the highest class, had a married woman with her hair cropped, and dressed in boy's clothes, to wait upon him at table, he ordered him to be whipped through all the three theatres, and then banished him.
Well, OK, she was a married woman. But how do we know what her husband was up to? Maybe he had his hair long, was dressed as a girl and was waiting on an actress. I mean, if it’s fun and games we’re into, I could think of worse than that.
But if Augustus didn’t like that sort of carry-on, what was he into himself?
He took particular pleasure in witnessing pugilistic contests, especially those of the Latins, not only between combatants who had been trained scientifically, whom he used often to match with the Greek champions; but even between mobs of the lower classes fighting in streets, and tilting at random, without any knowledge of the art.
Whatever floats your boat, I suppose. You’d think as emperor he’d want to discourage street brawls, but an emperor can do as he pleases, can’t he?
In any case, if Stephanio was whipped and then banished, what became of his playmate? We’re not told that. Although we can imagine that Augustus wasn’t too nice to her. During his reign he was trying to encourage good old-fashioned Roman and family values (does that sound depressingly familiar?), despite the facts
(1) he had innumerable casual liaisons himself;
(2) he stole his last wife Livia from her husband when she was pregnant and arranged for a quickie divorce and re-marriage; and
(3) his daughter Julia was, let us say, “wild”, and everybody in Rome knew it except him. When he finally found out about it, he banished her to a desert island.
So much for family values. But you know what they say, the more it changes, the more it stays the same.