Peter Jones

The feminist courtesans

<p class="p1"><span class="s1">In ancient Rome, all the sexual power was in the hands of the hetaira</span></p>

issue 11 November 2017

Some MPs have been exploiting their power by their sexual fumblings with the lower ranks. The result is that when the fumbled finally pluck up the courage to reveal all, or are eventually believed, the situation does no one any favours. It should all be quite different.

The MPs could up their game. As Rome’s finest love-poet Ovid made clear, sex was supposed to be fun, and mutual fun too. No one gets that from groping and lunging. His Ars Amatoria, decorated with amusingly ironical examples from the gods and heroes of ancient myth, offered top tips about how to find and keep a lover, even a married one. It was all in the thrill of the chase: staking out territory, patience, careful personal grooming, trips to theatres and games, elegant billets-doux, secret signs, subtle compliments, a degree of acting up, thoughtful gifts, careful risk-taking and, most of all, privacy.

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