[lit-ideas] Slave to love, slave to sex (Is: "sex-slave"
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 22:00:58 EDT
R. Paul:
"I know little Hegel and less Greek, but a 'barbarian' and a slave were not
the same thing for Aristotle. A barbarian was originally simply a non-Greek,
so-called because of his unintelligible speech: barbarbarbar...and so on.
'Barbarian' was originally neutral; I don't think Aristotle ever uses it
pejoratively. Athenians had no need for a supply of barbarians.
'Natural slaves' (doulos) are discussed near the beginning of the Politics;
such people are slaves by nature, minimally rational, and minimally virtuous—
rational and virtuous only to the extent that they are capable of understanding
and carrying out the despotes' requests.
Natural slavery is different from legal slavery, e.g. captives and prisoners
of war who are set to work in the lead mines and elsewhere. It was in
principle possible to escape from legal bondage, but not to escape from one's
natural
state as a slave.
Slaves are probably mentioned somewhere in the NE, but the Politics is
usually considered the main source for Aristotle's views on natural and legal
slavery."
I was considering H. Dover's treatment of the Demosthenes prosecution of
Timarkhos. Apparently, Timarkhos had prostituted 'herself',
This is Dover:
"It is noticeable that the law says not 'if ANYONE has prostituted himself'
but 'if AN ATHENIAN (lit. 'someone of the Athenians') has prostituted
himself."
"No one but AN ATHENIAN CITIZEN COULD HOLD ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE AT ATHENS,
OR MAKE A PROPOSAL IN THE ASSEMBLY. FOREIGNERS WERE NOT affected by the law
which imposed penalties on men who sought to exercise these functions after
prostituting themselves."
"We should expect in consequence that males who made a living from
prostitution would be predominantly non-Athenian"
(why?)
Well, this "expectation is borne out by a section of Aiskhines' peroration."
Aiskhines writes:
"Tell those who are hunters of [males] as are easily caught TO TURN TO
FOREIGN VISITORS OR RESIDENT FOREIGNERS, so that they may not be denied the
pursuit of their inclinations and you (sc. the people of Athens) may come to
no
harm."
The problem here is "aesthetic". What if such hunters were not _attracted_
to foreign visitors or even resident foreigners?
"The prostitutes who paid the tax levies on their profession were PRESUMABLY
FOR THE MOST PART FOREIGNERS. The passage implies taht no law was concerned
to deny satisfaction to sexual inclinations on a commercial basis PROVIDED
THAT NO ATHENIAN was procured for the purpose.
"For the period before Timarkhos, the one contractual commercial
relationship for which we do have detailed evidence involved a male who had AT
BEST
MARGINAL CITIZEN STATUS and may in fact have been regarded as being, for all
practical purposes, A FOREIGNER."
"Simon conceived a desire for a PLATAEAN (?). Simon that he would compel the
PLATAEAN by illegal force to do whatever he (i. e. Simon) wished."
And thus be deemed 'a slave'.
"Those Plataeans who escaped in time from the Peloponnesian capture of
Plataiai in 427 were GIVEN ATHENIAN CITIZENSHIP. The decree did not give
Athenian
citizenship indiscriminately ... the offer should be closed when the
fugitives of 427 had been dealt with."
"A limit was set to the range of administrative offices which should be open
to these new citizens, and it was provided that the limitation should apply
to those of their issue whose birth did not SATISFY ATHENIAN CRITERIA OF
LEGITIMACY."
I'm wondering what a proudish prick Aristotle looks in all that, when he
hadn't been even born, as Plato and Socrates had, in Athens -- Indeed, he was
just a resident 'foreigner'.
"Given these facts, it is quite possible that the Plataean did NOT possess
Athenian citizen status at all. And even if he did, he could NEVER HAVE BEEN
REGARDED by Athenians in the same light as [someone] of pure Athenian
ancestry" (as Plato.)
"Rather remarkable if he hired someone for prostitution (hetairesis) for a
larger sum than he in fact possesses!"
"Once the law had been made, prostitution will naturally have become the
special PRESERVE OF FOREIGNERS."
"A FOREIGNER at Athens was regarded as being OF LOWER WORTH than a citizen,
so that any event which adversely affected the prosperity or character of a
foreigner was LESS IMPORTANT than it would have been if it had adversely
affected a citizen in the same way and to the same extent. It is easy to
arouse
indignation at injury done by a FOREIGNER to a CITIZEN, and judgment in a
lawsuit between a citizen and a foreigner was apt to go against the foreigner
in
circumstances where the outcome would have been less predictable if both
parties had been citizens."
"A character in Aristophanes (Knights 347) ridicules one who thinks himself
a capable speaker just because "you prsented some piddling case against a
foreign resident".
"Misgolas and Phaidros found TImarkhos having lunch with some visiting
foreigners. They threatened the foreigners and told them to come along to the
prison, because they had corruputed a youth ******OF FREE STATUS******; the
foreigners were freightened and disappeared, leaving the party they had been
prepared."
"Misgolas and Phaidros were bluffing, and the bluff is made all the more
remarkable by saying not 'an Athenian youth' but "A FREE YOUTH" (sc. of any
nationality). Even if the foreigners had been apprehended at the climax of an
erotic tangle with Timarkhos, provided that Timarkhos had said that he was
doing
it because he liked it, no one had broken the law; but the foreigners were
not prepared to face citizen accusers".
It was so legalistic that R. Burton preferred the Middle East, where sexual
adventures with slaves was, while 'less free' (on the part of the slave) less
apt to be seen as an illegality.
Cheers,
JL
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