One of the epigrams that Martial dedicates to sex between women, with the intention of ridiculing this type of relationship, mocks Bassa, who has a reputation as an irreproachable wife but secretly vents her lasciviousness with her friends. Martial mocks her sexual habits by calling them a portentous gimmick, which in reality turns out to be only a miserable simulation of real sex, namely sex with a man. The way the epigram is constructed and the imagery used suggest a comparison between this type of sexual intercourse and other forms of sexual gratification, which are also weak substitutes for “real” sex, resorted to in order to appease the urgency of uncontrollable desire.
Mencacci, F. (2024). L'enigma di Bassa (Mart. 1, 90). In F. Giannotti, A. Fo (a cura di), Antiqua amicitia: studi di lingua e letteratura latina in onore di Silvia Mattiacci (pp. 135-142). Pisa : ETS.
L'enigma di Bassa (Mart. 1, 90)
Mencacci, Francesca
2024-01-01
Abstract
One of the epigrams that Martial dedicates to sex between women, with the intention of ridiculing this type of relationship, mocks Bassa, who has a reputation as an irreproachable wife but secretly vents her lasciviousness with her friends. Martial mocks her sexual habits by calling them a portentous gimmick, which in reality turns out to be only a miserable simulation of real sex, namely sex with a man. The way the epigram is constructed and the imagery used suggest a comparison between this type of sexual intercourse and other forms of sexual gratification, which are also weak substitutes for “real” sex, resorted to in order to appease the urgency of uncontrollable desire.
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https://hdl.handle.net/11365/1275694