Aphrodisian Desires For Those Who Know

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Aphrodisian Desires For Those Who Know

"I hear that a profuse change throughout your flesh disposes you toward Aphrodisian intercourse. As long as you neither disregard the laws, nor dismiss those reasonably established customs, nor distress any of the neighbors, nor damage your flesh, nor deplete what is necessary, do as you please according to your own preference. It is impossible however not to be a little constrained by at least one of these complications; therefore Aphrodisia is never advantageous, and desirable only if it has not caused harm." – I took a shot at Sententiae Vaticana 51, leaving the word for "sexual desire" untranslated.

I should note that some attribute this quote to A Letter To Pythocles From Metrodoros (not Epicurus).

For context: Traumatized Mr. Incredible / People Who Know meme

Comments 3

November 3, 2024 at 11:02 AM

As a dutiful student of Epicurus, I volunteer myself to go ahead and dive into the Aphrodisian intercourses, so you all can be witness to its destructiveness. It is going to be a great sacrifice, but it'll be for the good of my friends...8)
November 3, 2024 at 6:46 AM

So the original Greek is a term associated with a particular god, rather than just a generic word for the mechanics that are involved? If so then maybe there is a lot more loaded into the phrase rather than just "disposes you to sexual relations."
November 3, 2024 at 7:02 AM
Author

I agree. Reading it as "[the pleasures] of Aphrodite" or "Aphrodite's works" might provide a more nuanced reading, before the typically-translated (somewhat clinical) terms "sexual desire", or "sexual drive", or "sexuality".

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