3

The Regimen of Pleasures

Sexual acts must therefore be placed under an extremely careful regimen. But this regimen is very different from a prescriptive system that would try to define a “natural,” legitimate, and acceptable form of practice. It is remarkable that almost nothing is said in these regimens about the type of sexual acts that one may engage in or about those which Nature disfavors. Rufus, for example, mentions relations with boys in passing. He also alludes to the positions the partners can take, but he translates the dangers of these positions directly into quantitative terms: they would demand a greater expenditure of strength than the others. ^{1 *} Remarkable, too, is the fact that these regimens are more “concessive” than “normative.” Rufus sets forth his regimen after having evoked the pathogenic effects of sexual activity—if it is exaggerated and practiced unduly—and after submitting that these acts “are not harmful absolutely, in every respect, provided that one considers the opportuneness of the act, the limit that is to be put on it, and the hygienic constitution of the person who performs it.” ² And Galen says, also with a view to limitations, that he would not want that “people were completely prohibited from practicing sexual intercourse.” ^{3 †} These are circumstantial regimens, which demand that one take great care to determine the conditions that will least affect the whole combination of balances. Four variables are singled out: the auspicious occasion for procreation, the age of the subject, the time frame (the season or the hour of the day), and individual temperament.

1. The regimen of the aphrodisia and procreation . An entirely traditional theme said that noble offspring—euteknia— could not be engendered unless one took a certain number of precautions. The disorders of conception would be reflected in one’s progeny. Not only because the descendants would resemble their parents, but because they would bear the characteristics of the act that brought them into existence. We recall the recommendations of Aristotle and Plato on this point. ⁵ That the sexual act, in its procreative finality, requires a good deal of care and a meticulous preparation is a principle that one finds again in the medical regimens of the imperial epoch. These regimens prescribe a long-term preparation first of all. This involves a general conditioning of the body and the soul designed to produce or maintain in the individual the qualities with which the semen will need to be imbued and by which the embryo will need to be marked. One must form oneself as the prior image of the child one wishes to have. A passage from Athenaeus, cited by Oribasius, is very explicit on this point: those who intend to beget children must have body and soul in the best possible condition. In other words, the soul must be tranquil and completely free of pain, of worries accompanied by fatigue, and of any other affliction; and the body must be healthy and not spoiled in any way. ⁶ An immediate preparation is necessary as well: a period of restraint during which the sperm accumulates and gathers strength, while the urge acquires the necessary intensity (too-frequent sexual relations prevent the sperm from reaching the degree of elaboration at which it becomes fully potent). A rather strict alimentary diet is recommended: no food that is too hot or too moist, just “a light meal which will give the impetus towards coitus, and which should not be overloaded with too many ingredients”; no indigestion, no drunkenness; in short, a general purification of the body that will ensure the quietude necessary to the sexual function. It is in this way that “the farmer sows only after having first cleansed the soil and removed any foreign material.” ⁷ Soranus, who gives this advice, puts no trust in those who prescribe, for a good conception, waiting until the period of the full moon; the essential thing is to choose “a time in which the body is neither in want nor overburdened, but in a satisfactory state in every respect”—both for physiological reasons (the harmful humors that rise up in the body may prevent the seed from adhering to the fundus of the uterus) and for ethical reasons (the embryo will be imbued with the condition of the procreators).

There is, of course, a time more favorable than others in the woman’s cycle. According to a metaphor that is already quite ancient and that will still do long service in Christianity, “every season is not propitious for sewing seed upon the land for the purpose of bringing forth fruit, so in humans too not every time is suitable for conception of the seed discharged in intercourse.” ⁸ Soranus places this favorable time immediately after menstruation. His argumentation rests on the metaphor—which is not personal to him, moreover—of the appetite. ⁹ The uterus is avid; it consumes, it loads itself with nutriment, sometimes with blood (the normal case), sometimes with seed (and fertilization occurs). To be procreative, the sexual act must take place at a favorable time in this alimentary rhythm. Not before menstruation, for “just as the stomach when overburdened with some kind of material and turned to nausea is disposed to vomit what oppresses it and is averse to receiving food, so according to the same principle, the uterus, being congested at the time of menstruation, is well adapted for the evacuation of the blood which has flowed into it, but is unfitted for the reception and retention of the seed.” Not during menstrual evacuation, which constitutes a kind of natural vomiting, when the semen runs the risk of being swept out as well. Nor when the flow has completely stopped: the uterus, desiccated and chilled, is then no longer in a condition to receive the seed. The favorable time is when “the flow is ceasing,” so that the uterus is still moist with blood and permeated with warmth, “and hence turgescent with a craving to receive the sperm.” ¹⁰ This craving, which reappears in the body after purgation, is manifested in the woman by a desire that disposes her to sexual intercourse. ¹¹

But there is more still. For conception to occur in suitable conditions and for the offspring to have every possible quality, the sexual act itself must be performed with the observance of certain precautions. Soranus says nothing precise on this subject. He simply indicates the necessity of a prudent and calm behavior, one that avoids all the disturbances, all the intoxications that might be reflected in the embryo, since the latter would be a kind of mirror and witness of these excesses: “Thus, in order that the offspring may not be rendered misshapen, women must be sober during coitus because in drunkenness the soul becomes the victim of strange phantasies; this furthermore, because the offspring bears some resemblance to the mother as well, not only in body but in soul. Therefore it is good that the offspring be made to resemble the soul when it is stable and not deranged by drunkenness.” ¹² Finally, during pregnancy sexual relations must be extremely limited: completely discontinued in the first period, because intercourse “causes movement in the whole body in general and especially in the various parts about the uterus which need rest. For just as the stomach when quiet retains the food, but when shaken often ejects through vomiting what it has received, so also the uterus when not shaken holds fast the seed; when agitated, however, discharges it.” ¹³ Yet some physicians, such as Galen, consider it advisable to resume intercourse and practice it during pregnancy: “It is not good for pregnant women either to abstain from coitus or to return to it continually: for in women who are abstinent childbirth becomes more difficult, whereas in those who constantly indulge in coitus the infant will be weak; there may even be a miscarriage.” ¹⁴

Hence there is a whole government of the aphrodisia , whose principle and whose justification are in this preparation of offspring. It is not that there is an obligation to practice sexual intercourse only in order to have children: if the conditions of probable conception are carefully laid down, this is not for the purpose of setting the limits of the legitimate act by means of them, but is meant to serve as useful advice for anyone who cares about their offspring. And if the latter are an important concern, this is in the form of a duty that the parents can assume with respect to them. It is also an obligation vis-à-vis themselves since it is advantageous for them to have offspring endowed with the best qualities. These obligations that surround procreation define a whole set of possible errors, which are at the same time faults. And they are so numerous, they bring in so many different factors, that few procreations would be successful were it not for Nature’s ability to compensate for these failings and to prevent disasters. At least this is how Galen justifies both the necessity of taking a large number of precautions and the fact that in spite of everything many births come off well: “How frequently in the fathers that beget and the mothers that bear us it must be not error that is rare but right-doing. For drunkards consort with drunkards, and men do not know their own whereabouts from repletion with women in the same state. Hence in this way the very beginning of our procreation is faulty; and then come the unspeakable errors of the pregnant woman, her indifference to proper exercise, her gluttony, passions, drunkenness, bathing, and untimely indulgence in love [akarion aphrodision ]. Nevertheless, to such outrages Nature opposes many acts and performs them successfully.” Peasants are careful when they sow their fields; but, Galen notes, taking up the Socratic themes of the care of the self, humans who “take little heed of themselves” in their own lives are no longer concerned about their progeny either. ¹⁵

2. The age of the subject . The practice of the aphrodisia must neither be continued too long nor begun too early. Sexual intercourse when one is old is dangerous: it exhausts a body no longer capable of reconstituting the elements that were withdrawn from it. ¹⁶ But it is also harmful when one is too young. It arrests growth and disturbs the development of the signs of puberty—which are the result of the body’s development of the seminal elements. “Nothing hinders the progress of the soul and the body as does a premature and excessive practice of sexual intercourse.” ¹⁷ And Galen: “Many young people are attacked by incurable diseases due to sexual relations because they insisted on violating the time prescribed by Nature.” ¹⁸ What is this “prescribed time”? Is it the appearance or confirmation of the signs of puberty? All the physicians are in agreement that puberty for boys is situated at about the age of fourteen. But all are in agreement as well that access to the aphrodisia should not be had so early. One finds scarcely any exact indication concerning the age at which one may begin sexual intercourse. In any case several years should pass during which the body is forming the seminal liquids without it being advisable to evacuate them. Whence the necessity of a specific regimen designed to ensure the self-control of adolescents. The physicians prescribe, in keeping with tradition, a life of intense physical exercise. Thus Athenaeus: “Since the production of sperm begins at that age [fourteen] and since young people have very strong cravings which incite them to sexual intercourse, physical exercises should be very numerous, so that tiring the body and the soul very quickly, they may repress their desires from the beginning.” ¹⁹

The problem for girls is a little different. The practice of early marriage doubtless caused people to concede that the first sexual relations and childbearing could occur as soon as menstruation was regularly established. ²⁰ This is the opinion of Soranus, who advises reliance on organic criteria in setting the age for marriage and not on the desires of the girls themselves. Depending on education, these desires can awaken before the body is ready; “since the female conceives seed into the substance of a living being,” there is a danger when the body of the woman has not reached the maturity necessary to this function; so it is good that she remain a virgin until menstruation has been established spontaneously. ²¹ Other physicians envisage a much later date. Thus Rufus of Ephesus considers that a pregnancy before the age of eighteen risks being unfavorable to mother and child alike. He recalls that this is the age recommended long ago by Hesiod; and he points out that this age—quite late in the eyes of some—did not have, in a former time, the drawbacks that it may have subsequently assumed. In those days, women led a life just as active as men; it is overeating and idleness that cause problems in unmarried girls, making it desirable for them to have sexual relations, which may facilitate the menstrual flow. The solution Rufus suggests, then, is a relatively late marriage (at about eighteen), but a marriage prepared for by a whole regimen that ought to accompany the life of the young girl even before puberty. During childhood let girls be mixed with boys; then when the age comes for separating them from boys, place them under a very careful regimen: no meat, no overly rich dishes, no or very little wine, long walks, exercises. It must be kept in mind that idleness “is for them the most harmful thing of all,” and that it is “advantageous to have the exercises be a means of putting warmth into movement and of reheating the habit of the body, but in such a manner that they remain women and do not take on a masculine character.” Participation in choruses in which one sings and dances seems to be Rufus’ idea of the best form of exercise: “Choruses were not invented just for honoring the deity, but also in view of health.” ²²

3. The “favorable time.” The kairos of the sexual act is the topic of many discussions. As concerns the larger time frame, the traditional calendar is taken more or less for granted: winter and spring are the best seasons; autumn is accepted by some, rejected by others; in a general way, it is thought that one should abstain, as much as possible, during the summer. ²³ On the other hand, determining the right hour of the day requires that a variety of factors be taken into account. In addition to the religious considerations that Plutarch mentions in one of his table-talks, ²⁴ the question of the right time is linked to that of exercise, eating, and digestion. It is best not to let sexual intercourse be preceded by exercises that are too strenuous, which divert to other parts of the body the resources it needs. Inversely, baths and rubdowns are recommended after lovemaking. It is not good to practice the aphrodisia before meals, when one is hungry, because under these conditions the act is not tiring but it loses some of its force. ²⁵ But, on the other hand, one must avoid copious meals and excessive quantities of drink. The time of digestion is always harmful: “That is why coitus in the middle of the night is deceptive, because then the food is not yet elaborated; the same is true of coitus that one has early in the morning, because there still may be ill-digested food in the stomach and because all the superfluities have not yet been evacuated through the urine and the feces.” ²⁶ So that, all things considered, it is after a moderate meal and before sleep—or possibly before the afternoon nap—that the time will be most favorable for sexual intercourse. According to Rufus, Nature herself indicated her preference for this time by giving the body its strongest excitation then. Furthermore, if one wishes to have children, it is appropriate that the man “engage in sexual intercourse after having eaten and drunk to satisfaction, whereas the woman ought to follow a less invigorating diet”; indeed, it is necessary that “the one give and the other receive.” ²⁷ Galen is of the same opinion: he recommends that time when one is going to sleep, after having enjoyed “a solid meal but one that does not cause discomfort.” In this way the food is sufficient to nourish and strengthen the body, and sleep allows one to repair the fatigue; further, this is the best moment for conceiving children “because the woman retains the sperm better while sleeping”; finally, this is in fact the hour for which Nature herself indicates her preference by giving rise then to desire. ^{28 *}

4. Individual temperaments . Rufus posits as a general principle that the natures most suited for coition are those which are “more or less hot and moist”; in return, sexual activity is rather unfavorable for constitutions that are cold and dry. Thus, in order to maintain or restore the warm moisture needed in the aphrodisia , it is good to adopt an entire complex and continuous regimen of suitable exercise and proper nourishment. Around sexual activity, and in order to preserve the balance it risks upsetting, one must keep to a whole mode of living. It is helpful to drink pale red wine, to eat oven bread made from bran (its moisture is useful for preparation and regulation); to consume, in the meat category, young goat, lamb, hen, grouse, partridge, goose, duck; in the seafood category, octopus and mollusks—together with turnips, broad beans, green beans, chick peas (for their heat), and grapes (for their moisture). As for the activities to which one should resort, they include excursions, on foot or horseback, and running, but neither too fast nor too slow; but no violent exercises, no gesticulation as in javelin throwing (which diverts the nutritive material to other parts of the body), no excessively hot baths, no heating and cooling off; no strenuous work. One should also avoid anything that would contribute to tiring the body—anger, joy that is too great, and pain. ³⁰

* Rufus also notes that the standing position is tiring.

^† Note, however, in Celsus, a moderate judgment: “Coition is neither to be desired overmuch, nor overmuch to be feared.” ⁴

* It may be added that for Celsus, night is preferable “but care should be taken that by day it not be immediately followed by a meal, and at night not immediately followed by work and wakefulness.” ²⁹