Edward Carpenter

Iolaus Edward Carpenter

Book Excerpt: ...with this fraternity in arms, in #Sparta# and in #Crete#, are described with care and at considerable length in the following extract from Muller's History and Antiquities of the Doric Race, book iv., ch. 4, par. 6: "At Sparta the party loving was called eispnelas and his affection was termed a breathing in, or inspiring (eispnein); which expresses the pure and mental connection between the two persons, and corresponds with the name of the other, viz.: aitas i.e., listener or hearer. Now it appears to have been the practice for every youth of good character to have his lover; and on the other hand every well-educated man was bound by custom to be the lover of some youth. Instances of this connection are furnished by several of the royal family of Sparta; thus, Agesilaus, while he still belonged to the herd (agele) of youths, was the hearer (aitas) of Lysander, and himself had in his turn also a hearer..