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From the article: " ...when a man's son prostitutes himself to a member of Atia's staff, instead of accepting it, the man seeks revenge -- how else? -- by gang-raping the staff member. Yes, nothing restores honor to a family quite like forced sodomy.
As anyone who studied ancient Rome on anything more than a superficial level knows, to the Roman male, honor came from being an active force, not a passive one. this was true in politics and war, but especially in sex. The real man, in order to have respect and be honored, was a penetrator. To be on the receiving end was shameful. To recover his standing, he had turn around and be the aggressor. Just a little time spent reading Catullus will make this clear. When he starts off one poem with "Pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo"--"Up your ass and in your mouth...", he is being very Roman.
On the whole, I just love this series. It has its errors, but it is about as close to the real thing as we are ever likely to get. The gritty nature of late republican Rome comes through, looking like what we would now call third world, is just perfect. No pristine, gleaming white marble, just fithy streets, brick everywhere and riotous color. Plus, ya just gotta love Pullo...
