Marquis De Sade: His Life and Work, by Dr. Iwan Bloch

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Tribadism

This chapter is perhaps most notable for the sexual life of France in the eighteenth century from an historical viewpoint. We do not believe that ancient Lesbos saw such conditions as ruled in France at this time. Here too de Sade's works truly mirror the picture of his age and inform us on the frequency of amor lesbicus or Sapphic love.

Juliette immediately opens with a description of the passionate tribadic scene among the nuns of the Panthémont convent (Juliette I, 43, if.). Mondor entertained himself by peeping at a lesbic love scene (Juliette I, 283). A decided type of tribade was drawn in the man-hater, Clairwil (Juliette II, 106), who promptly organized an orgy with Juliette and four other women (Juliette II, 138-150, also III, 157). The highest tribadic arts were to be found in Bologna (Juliette II, 306 ff.). The Princess Borgia (Juliette IV, 100 ff.), Queen Charlotte of Naples (Juliette V, 259, VI, 12 ff.) are tribades. This specialty of love has a great number of adherents in Venice (Juliette VI, 156 ff.).

In Justine there are also to be found as many, if not more, lesbian scenes, e.g., between Dorothée and Madame Gernande (Justine III, 285); Seraphine was a worshipper of the Sapphic art (Justine IV, 116).

De Sade also did not lack allusions on the explanation of tribadism. A tribadic orgy between Juliette and Durand surprised a young and an old woman, the latter in the autumn of her life and resigned to her own sex a substitute. But perhaps she was predestined to this by the extreme length of her clitoris. De Sade mentioned this expressly as being the case of another tribade, Madame de Volmar (Juliette I, 34). Only twenty years old, she was the passionate companion of Delbène and had a clitoris de trois pouces, thus being able to play the rôle of a man and pederast. The Venetian tribade Zatta was a similar woman with masculine allurements (Juliette VI, 194). De Sade asserted that nearly all tribades, practiced paedicatio.

Mirabeau described in My Conversion a tribadic orgy of thirty court ladies. The descriptions of this author, whom Diderot and numerous other authors have followed, did not transgress reality. Mairobert in his English Spy furnished us with many highly interesting documents that afford astounding insights into the activity and organization of the Parisian tribades of the eighteenth century. His already often mentioned Confessions of a Young Girl unrolled a picturesque panorama of the mysteries of the notorious Sect Anandryne which celebrated its orgies in the Temple of Vesta.

A young girl from the town Villiers le Bel, daughter of a peasant, was recruited by Madame Gourdan for her bordello. One day the father met her as a prostitute at the Tuileries. A great public scandal grew from this. But the daughter had already been promised to the Imperial Academy of Music so that the father had to return home empty-handed. In addition she became pregnant. Mairobert had the girl, who called herself Mademoiselle Sapho, tell him the story of her life. It can certainly be assumed that Mairobert, the imperial censor in all the secrets of Parisian society, has woven in his own experiences in the Confessions of a Young Girl. At any rate this strange report is one of the most famous and important contributions to the cultural history of France in the eighteenth century. We give a detailed discussion of the case and book.

From youth Sapho was inclined to coquetry, fond of finery, vain, lazy and with an insatiable desire for pleasure; in short, all the attributes of a prostitute. At fifteen she was already very lascivious and often gazed in admiration at her own nudeness and lasciviously caressed all parts of her body. This circumstance is very instructive and shows how sexual perversity comes to the fore. Sapho would never have been seduced by Gourdan no matter how she was kept at home by her parents unless the girl had found an opportunity for intercourse with a man; it is clear that such a fiery nature went of her own accord on the path of tribadism due to the necessity of her nature. The mode of life, the interplay of contrary sexual feelings play the main rôle. We look very skeptically at her heredity.

One day Sapho was surprised at these caressings of her body and was severely punished by her mother; she decided to flee from her parents. We have already mentioned that Madame Gourdan had a branch of her Parisian bordello at Villiers le Bel; Sapho had often seen the inmates prettily dressed, laughing, singing and dancing in the village. She determined to go there and was naturally received with joy and sent to Gourdan in Paris where she was turned over to an accomplice who took charge of the first prostitutions of Gourdan's novices. But after this accomplice had examined the girl she forgot about her usual course and sent the following characteristic letter to Gourdan:

You have found a pearl in this child; she is, on my honor, pucelle, if she is not a vierge. But she has the clitoris of a devil. She will be hence more useful for women than men. Our dear tribade must pay you the weight in gold for this acquisition.

Gourdan immediately let this discovery be known to Madame de Furiel, one of the most famous tribades of Paris, by the following letter:

Madame:

I have discovered far you a king's—or better—a queen's piece that will suit perfectly your depraved taste—for I cannot judge otherwise inclinations so contrary to mine own. But I know your generosity which causes me to relax my rigorousness and beg to inform you that I have secured for your services the prettiest clitoris in all France, a virgin, at most, 15 years. Just try for yourself and I am certain that you will be unable to thank me enough. If not send her back to me, understanding, of course, that you will not have maltreated her. She will always be the choicest piece of virginity for the finest of connoisseurs.

The business was completed and Sapho was sold to Furiel for 100 louisdors.

There now follows a description of the luxurious house of Madame de Furiel. First Sapho had to take a bath, eat a rich supper and then go to bed. On the following morning Furiel's dentist investigated Sapho's mouth, fixed her teeth, cleaned her and gave her aromatic mouthwash. Then followed another bath, careful manicuring of fingers and nails, removal of superfluous hair and a thorough cleaning of all parts of her body. She was next sprayed with a great amount of essences and perfumes, her hair was curled into great locks and let fall loose on her breasts, bright flowers were placed in her hair. A slip, à la tribade (cut wide in front and back) was carefully adjusted so that nothing was really hidden. She was then brought to Madame de Furiel.

Madame de Furiel, reclining on a sofa, received her. She was a woman of about thirty years, brunette with very black eyebrows, somewhat corpulent and masculine (homasse). It took two hours for Sapho to be initiated into all the mysteries of lesbian love. After the love-bout Madame de Furiel called two chambermaids by whom they were washed and perfumed. Then they sat down to a delicious supper at which Furiel told Sapho all about tribadism in Paris and that they were organized as the Secte Anandryne and held their festivals in the Temple of Vesta. Not every woman was admitted. There were examinations for those who desired entrance to the sect. They were especially severe for married women and only one out of ten passed. The parties were shut up in a boudoir, which contained a statue of Priapus "dans toute son énergie." There were besides different groups of males and females in the most obscene positions. The wall-frescoes displayed similar pictures. Numerous representations of the male members excited the senses; books and pictures of an obscene content lay on the table. At the foot of the statue was a little fire that had to be continually fed with inflammable material, so that the postulante had always to take care that there was sufficient fuel on the fire; if but for a moment she forgot to watch the fire in the entrancement of so many objects of masculine passion, the fire went out and gave proof of her weakness and destruction. These examinations lasted three hours daily for three days.

After this tale Madame de Furiel promised our Sapho pretty clothes, hats, diamonds, theatres, promenades, instruction in reading, writing, dancing and singing if she would only be true to her and never have intercourse with men. Sapho readily agreed to this.

Then on the next day began the great metamorphosis. Modists, manicurists, and other shop-girls arrived and surrounded Sapho in all comfort, she was then brought to the opera and was joyously admired by the other tribades.

On the following day Sapho was introduced into the mysteries of the anandryne sect with great solemnity and notable ceremonies. In the middle of the Temple of Vesta stood a cylindrical room that received light from a glass cover on top and on the sides. A small statue of Vesta was in the room. The goddess was represented standing majestically on a globe as if just stepping down to preside at the meeting. She seemed to sway in mid-air.

About this sanctuary of the goddess was a small corridor, in which two tribades paraded up and down during the meeting so that all the entrances were watched. Between the entrances stood a marble plaque on which were inscribed golden verses, at each side were altars with the necessary vestal fires. Next to the most resplendent altar stood a bust of Sappho, the protector of the temple, the oldest and most noted tribade. Next to the other altar stood a bust of Mademoiselle (alias Chevalier) d'Eon, "the most famous modern tribade." Around the niches in the walls stood the famous Greek tribades sung of by Sappho: Thelesyle, Amythone, Cydno, Megare, Pyrrhine, Andromeda, Cyrine, etc. In the middle of the room stood a great cylindrical couch on which rested the Lady President and her scholars. Pairs of tribades sat all around in Turkish fashion on small footstools, each pair interlaced and composed of mother and novice, or in the mystical terminology, incuba and succuba. The walls of the room were decorated with hundreds of reliefs, showing the various private parts of the woman as shown in Venette's Tableau of Conjugal Love, Buffon's Natural History and in the cleverest anatomical plates.

The reception of our Sapho was in the following manner: all the tribades sat in their places in their festival clothes. The mothers wore a red levite with a blue girdle, the novices a white levite and a red girdle and no underclothes. As Sapho entered she first saw the holy fire that burned with a pleasant and aromatic flame upon a golden pan; it was continually fed by two tribades with pulverized fuel. Sapho had to kneel at the feet of the president, Mademoiselle Raucourt, a noted actress at the Comédie Française; her mother, Madame Furiel said: "Dear president and dear companions, here is a postulante. She appears to have all the desirable properties. She has never had intercourse with a man, is wonderfully built, and has shown fire and zeal at the trial I gave her. I beg that she be taken in under the name Sapho." After this speech both had to withdraw. Shortly thereafter one of the guardesses of Sapho informed her that she had been admitted to a test without a dissenting vote. Sapho was then completely undressed, given a pair of white slippers, covered with a light mantel and brought back to the assemblage. Here the Lady President arose, gave Sapho her own seat and uncovered her mantel. Sapho was then put to a thorough examination by all the tribades as to how many of the thirty charms of women inscribed on the marble plaque she possessed:

Then one of the oldest of tribades read the following old French poem:

Let her who claims the honor of being beautiful,
Of reproducing in herself the superb model
Of Helen who once set the universe aflame
Spread in her favor thirty diverse charms!
That covering her thrice each in turn,
White, and black, and red intermingled
Offer as many times to the marveling eyes
The changeful hues of a single color.
Since nine times to this masterpiece of love
Nature, prodigal and miserly turn by turn,
In opposed extremes, with an ever-sure hand
Traces for her the measure of her dimensions
Three little trifles still, she will have in her features
The perfect contrasts of a divine combination.
Let her hair be blood, her teeth like ivory,
Let her skin surpass the freshness of a pure lily,
So that the eye, the eyebrows, but of a blacker shade,
That the lashes emphasize its whiteness.
Let her nail, her cheek, her lip be vermilion;
Her hair, her waist, her hand long;
Her teeth, her feet short and also her ears.
Let her brow be high, and her breast broad;
Let the nymph above all, with rounded buttocks
Present well-rounded forms to her lovers;
Let her be so at the waist that her lover without hurting her
Can firmly encircle her with two hands;
Let her sweet mouth with infallible augury
Announce the narrow painful access to pleasure.
Let the anus, the vulva and the belly
Be gently swelled and never flat.
A little nose pleases greatly, also a little head.
A teat which resists the kiss that it invites;
Fine hair, thin lips, and very delicate fingers
Complete this beautiful whole which one never meets.

Of these charms somewhat more than half were needed for admittance, i.e., at least sixteen. Each pair of tribades decided separately and whispered their opinion into the ear of the Lady President, who counted them and announced the result. All had decided in favor of our novice. This result was then corroborated by a kiss à la florentine. Sapho was then dressed as a tribade and had to swear an oath never to have intercourse with men or to betray the secrets of the order. Then Madame Raucourt gave an inaugural address whose content in short was:

"Ladies, receive me in your ranks, I am worthy of you." These words are to be found in the Lettres of Mile. D’Eon. This d'Eon was a model for tribadism. Her expression can well stand as a motto for the address.

Next Raucourt spoke of the origin of the Secte Anandryne. Lycurgus had started a school for tribades in Sparta. The convents in modern Europe, an emanation of the colleges of vestals, embody the constant priesthood of tribadism. How gratifying it is that a woman can find her pleasure so much easier than a mere man. For any suitable instrument in the boudoir or toilette is sufficient for the purpose.

Tribadism must spread everywhere the cult of Vesta and furnish zealous propaganda for it. The best known tribades were then named. Duchess of Urbsrex, Marquise de Terracenes, Madame de Furiel (the protectress of our Sapho and wife of the general-procurator), the Marquise de Téchul (who dressed as a chambermaid, cook or modist to satisfy her passion), Mademoiselle Clairon (famous actress of the Théâtre Français), the actress Arnould, the German tribade Sonck (kept by a brother of the Prussian king). Poulet-Malassis has solved the puzzles of these names in his edition of The English Spy: "Furiel" is Mme. de Fleury, "Urbsrex" is the Duchess of Villeroy, "Terracenes" is the Marquise de Senecterre and "Téchal" is the Marquise de Luchet.

Mlle. Julie, a young tribade, is mentioned; she has been initiated into the lesbian art of love by Arnould and Raucourt. In conclusion the joys of tribadism are extolledL intercourse between the opposite sexes is fleeting, short and illusory. Only that between women is true, pure and lasting and has no remorse. Are defloration, pregnancy and childbirth pleasures?

"Tribadism leaves no remorse and is the sauve-garde of our young girls and widows, it increases our charms, holds them longer, is the comfort of our old age when no man wants us, a real rose without thorns throughout our whole life."

After this effective speech the holy fire is allowed to go out and all depart for the banquet in the vestibule; there is an abundance of wines, especially those of the Greeks; a number of passionate verses are sung from Sappho. When all were intoxicated and could no longer restrain their passions, the fire was again lighted in the sanctuary, and a wild orgy began. The two heroines who held their "lovebout" longest received as a reward a golden medal with the picture of Vesta and the pictures and names of the two heroines. On this day the winners were Madame de Furiel and Sapho.

Thus we leave our happy Sapho in the arms of her victory.

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Pederasty

Marquis de Sade sang the song of pederasty in all refrains. The most finished and expert pederast was Dolmancé in the Philosophy in the Boudoir. "There is," says Dolmancé, "no other pleasure in the world comparable to this, Oh, there is nothing more delightful than the back of a sweet young boy!" (Philosophy in the Boudoir I, 99). He described in detail all the joys of this vice. Although Dolmancé felt more drawn to the male sex he was not abashed at undertaking paedicatio with a woman and indeed introduced young Eugenie to this pleasure. On the other hand Bressac, whom Justine surprised in the act of intercourse with his lackeys, was a thorough homosexualist and had a deep hatred for the feminine sex (Justine 1, 145). As far as we recall, he was the only character whose sexual perversion de Sade ascribed to heredity. All the others had gradually acquired sexual perversions during their formative years. We are certain that de Sade who showed himself to be a profound savant of patho-sexual personalities here described from reality. And so it is in real life. Pederasty by heredity is the exception; pederasty by seduction, by vicious degeneracy and last but not least by mental illness, is the rule. Bressac develops the theory that the pathicus, of whom he was one, was destined by Nature to be an entirely different man from all others (Justine I, 162-164). He explained that this inborn passion rested upon a construction toute différente. It would be a stupidité to punish them for what was not their fault. Dolmancé, however, gave an entirely different explanation that suffices for most pederasts. "If the purpose of nature was not such then why did she make the openings to the exact proportion of our members. What other reason could there be for nature to have made round openings."

The tribades, too, in de Sade rejoiced at Grecian love, whether by artificial instruments or by the aid of a clitoris. The spread of this vice is described as tremendous by contemporary authors. Duvergier tells that the pederasts are much sought after and are well paid. Numerous scenes of pederasty appear in the pages of Justine and Juliette.

Since the sixteenth century pederasty had found an increasing horde of devotees in Paris. Mirabeau assures us that during the reign of Henry III "men were found in mutual embrace under the portals of the Louvre," and that under Louis XIV pederasty was governed under strict laws and statutes. Henry III was himself a homosexual. Henry IV was very much opposed to it but could not prevent the reappearance of homosexual intercourse in court under Louis XIII. Philipp Orleans, brother of Louis XIV, became a homosexual; the story of his unhappy marriage with Elizabeth Charlotte von der Pfalz, due to his preference for men, is well known. It is reported on contemporary authority that nobles in the court of Louis XIV vied to turn him from his perverted path so that they could rule him by a mistress. But the young king exhibited a deadly hate toward the men who so sought to influence him. One of the Gentlemen of the Chamber of the king reports in his Memoirs that in 1652 after a dinner with the fifteen year old king Cardinal Mazarin had sexual intercourse with him.

In an old work Gallant France (1695), which is the second part of the Amorous History of the Gauls of Prince of Bussy-Rabutin, there is a chapter on the founding of a pederasty club by the Duke of Grammont, Sire de Tilladet, Manicamp and Marquis de Biran. All members were investigated on the strength, health, potency, vitality and beauty of their bodies. Celibacy from women was a cardinal rule. Every member had to undergo a rigid regime to fit himself for the arduous duties and demands of his laybrethren. If one of the brothers married he had to explain if it had happened because he was forced by his parents, by reason of an inheritance, dowry, etc. He had at the same time to swear never to love his wife and to sleep with her only until she bore him a son. For this grace, special permission was also necessary and this was allowed him only once a week. The brothers were divided in four classes although the father-priors could possess anyone. Those wishing to enter the order were examined in a series by the four father-priors. A strict silence over the affairs of the club was enjoined and only those whose inclination for Greek love were known could be admitted to the rest. The pederastic orgies took place in a country house. The participants wore over their official robe a cross on which was represented in relief a man stepping on a woman. The club did not last long for a royal prince joined the ranks and the club was summarily banned by the king.

At any rate the cult of pederasty was still prevalent in the French court in the eighteenth century. It would have been a miracle if that lascivious roué, Louis XV, had not fallen a victim to paedicatio and other homosexual practices. So it is reported that he often showed himself nude to a handsome boy that he was fond of and often embraced him.

The Revolution also brought this vice to the highest point. We have already given many illustrations of pederasty. In the year 1798, Dupin, the Commissioner of the Department of the Seine, reported: "For some time there has spread a yet more shameful kind of immorality. The reports of the police-agents on pederasty have increased to a horribly enormous sum. Sodomy and sapphic love have also appeared with the same boldness until they are as prevalent as prostitution."

In his Porter of Chartreux of 1789, Rétif de la Bretonne declared that "pederasty, bestiality and other forms of immorality degraded France continually for five or six generations."

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Flagellation and Phlebotomy

Flagellation, that mighty assistant of vice, was thoroughly described in all its branches by Marquis de Sade in all his seven works. We mention only the great scenes of flagellation in Justine and Juliette (Justine III, 129; Juliette II, 138-150) between women; (Juliette V, 335). Juliette with three young modists visits the home of the Duke of Dendemar in St. Maur; his sexual monomania consisted of whipping the girls until they bled; he had to pay great sums for his pleasurable sacrifices (Juliette I, 344 ff.).

Marquis de Sade had also made extensive literary researches on this subject. He mentioned the most important writings of his time on flagellation by Meibom and Boileau (Juliette V, 169). These studies had taught him that it was the man who at all times took the active role in flagellation. He was surprised that the active whipping found little preference in women with their natural cruelty and had Dolmancé hope for the time that women would also show themselves masters in this specialty (Philosophy in the Boudoir I, 157).

Interesting details are given by Cooper in his Flagellation and the Flagellants in the Eighteenth Century. Voltaire often mentions the whip especially when he wants to make the jesuits look ridiculous. The whip is also often mentioned in the memoirs of the time.

The blows were often imparted on even small children. It was asserted that thereby the muscles and skin were "strengthened." In all French convent schools the rod was the usual punishment for the young girl, as it was the favorite instrument for flagellation with the nuns. The holy sisters whipped their students with delight in the same manner that the holy fathers absolved their penitents.

During the Reign of Terror the nuns were waylaid and ignominiously flogged. The tragic case of Théroigne de Méricourt is well known. She was flogged by a band of women and as a consequence lost her reason. After the downfall of Robespierre the young girls on the street were disrobed and beaten by the anti-terrorists.

Shortly before the Reign of Terror there existed a Whipping Club whose feminine members "delightfully laid on the whip." Many respectable ladies belonged to this club of whose sexual tendency there can be no doubt.

There has already been so much written about Jean Jacques Rousseau’s preference for this kind of sexual excitation that we refer to Krafft Ebing for the story of his chastisement by Mademoiselle Lambercier. Cooper is full of stories of battles in which the fair sex took a prominent part. His reports on some causes célèbres of this kind are very interesting.

England is well known today as the classic land of sexual flagellation. One of her most famous flagellants was Theresa Berkeley in London, 28, Charlotte Street, who obtained great wealth and fame through her art. She possessed untold numbers of instruments of all kinds for excitation and enrichment of passion, "Thus, at her shop, whoever went with plenty of money, could be bitched, whipped, fustigated, scourged, needlepricked, half-hung, holly-brushed, furse-brushed, butcher-brushed, stinging-nettled, curry-combed, phlebotomized and tortured till he had a belly full." She also had prostitutes, a Negress and a gypsy for active flagellation. She invented a machine which caused the man fastened in it to experience voluptuous sensations (The Berkeley Horse). "There is a print in Mrs. Berkeley's memoirs, representing a man upon it quite naked. A woman is sitting in a chair exactly under it, with her bosom, belly and bottom exposed: she is manualizing his embolon, whilst Mrs. Berkeley is bitching his posteriors. The female acting as fricatrix was intended for Fisher, a fine, tall, dark-haired girl. Everyone who visited Charlotte Street at that day must recall her as well as the good humored blonde, Willis; the plump, tight, frisky and merryarsed Thurlow. Grenville with the enormous bubbies; Bentine, with breadth of hip and splendor of buttock; Oliver, the gypsy, whose brown skin, wicked black eyes, and medicean form would melt an anchorite; the mild and amiable Palmer with luxurious and well fledged mount, from whose tufted honors many a noble lord has stolen a sprig; and Pryce, the pleasing and complaisant, who, if birch was the question, could both give and take." Berkeley died in 1836, having amassed a fortune of 10,000 pounds sterling in eight years. Her correspondence containing letters from both sexes and from the highest classes in Europe were destroyed.

We gave this small description because we have found no description of the Institution of Mrs. Berkeley in modern works on flagellation and because there are to be found in de Sade's works similar machines in which the victims are tied.

Phlebotomy also plays an important part with de Sade. In the third volume of Justine there appeared a Prince Gernande, who could excite himself only by bleeding the veins of women. There were many such scenes in his works. Particularly horrible was the scene in which the prince bled his own wife and then satisfied himself sexually on her unconscious body (Justine III, 253).

Phlebotomy in the eighteenth century was an operation also practiced by the clergy. Brissaud stated that there were definite periods for bloodletting in convents. With the Carthusian friars, for example, the rule was five times a year, with the premonstrates once a year. The feasts of St. Matthew and Valentine were special seasons for bloodletting.

Raulin was accustomed to cure the frequent hysteria of women by phlebotomy. Brierre de Boismont reported the case of a man who had infusions made in the genitals and posteriors of his wife. As soon as he saw the blood, he became extremely excited and satisfied himself on her person.

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Aphrodisiacs, Cosmetics, Abortions and Quackeries

De Sade gave special attention to "sexual medicines” (in the widest sense) in his works. Here, too, will plainly be seen that his descriptions had in almost every case an exact counterpart in the actual world.

It is no wonder that the many and unnatural debaucheries wore out the roués of de Sade and that they needed sexual stimulants to a great degree. There was no scarcity of aphrodisiacs of all kinds to enliven anew the impotent cravings of de Sade's characters. Delmonse had to rub very vigorously the scrotum of the impotent merchant Dubourg. This unfortunate had also to continually take bouillons composes d’aramotes et d’épins (Justine I, 62). Cornaro has whiskey used there. Oil of Wintergreen burns like the very devil. But Durand rubbed the member itself with a terribly exciting activity. The ancient Persians' use of asafoetida was also powerful. The odor of jasmine was also popular. De Sade also knew internal as well as external aphrodisiacs. Juliette used wine, liqueurs, opium (the opinion today is that opium has the negative result) and "other aphrodisiacs that were openly sold in Italy" (Juliette IV, 104). Durand has a regular business with aphrodisiacs and anti aphrodisiacs (Juliette III, 229).

We have already mentioned that the bordello of Madame Gourdan was richly furnished with sexual stimulants. The Pastilles à la Richelieu were also alluded to. Since the latter are of importance in relation to Marquis de Sade and their main ingredient, cantharides, "played an important rôle in France in the eighteenth century," a few words on these cantharidic stimulants may not be amiss. The cantharides mentioned by Dioscordies (Materia Medica, Lib. II, Cap. 65) have been used for a long time as sexual stimulants. The Roman poet Lucretius is said to have died as a result of an aphrodisiac containing cantharide. Ambroise Paré reports many such cases. In Paré's time the use of pastilles or bonbons was the fashion in France. The home of these bonbons with their aphrodisiac effect was Italy, from where they were introduced to France by Catherine de Medici. The courts of Henry III and Charles IX found employment for them. In the eighteenth century Richelieu made very prolific use of the seemingly innocent bonbons. His propaganda for the pastilles named after him had as a result their adoption as the fashion in the last year of the reign of Louis XV. At this time occurred the affair of Marquis de Sade in Marseilles, the bonbons playing a fatal rôle. The Secret Tablets of Madame du Barry, the Powder of Joy, the Seraglio- pastilles were all very probably cantharidic.

The cantharides were a dangerous method for they very easily caused inflammation of the kidneys, urethra and skin. The erections produced by them came by the excitation of the mucous membrane of the urethra and bladder. An advancement of sexuality can best be observed at the beginning of the action.

Cosmetics enjoyed an especially wide use. Charlatanry was at its height in this field. Thus in 1769 a society received the privilege of renting parasols on both sides of the Pont Neuf so that persons wishing to cross the bridge and protect their delicate skin from the ravages of the sun might hire a parasol at one end of the bridge and return it at the other. The aids for beauty were so numerous that Casanova had perfect right—he also liked to play the charlatan from time to time—in forbidding the use of all cosmetic applications to the Duchess of Chartres who suffered from acne. He prescribed a mild purgative and the constant cleansing.

For depilation Marquis de Sade mentioned Rusma, the Turkish depilatory. "Rusma" is an old and favorite depilatory of the Orientals. The Depilatory Paste or Rusma Turcorum or Nurék Persarum is composed of 2 parts auripigment, 15 parts calcaria and a 2.5 parts of wheaten flour. That is the prescription of J. J. Plenck, a famous dermatologist of the eighteenth century. It may be noted here, that Marquis de Sade had a great interest in all medical and anthropological matters. He studied by himself all the available scientific works of his time. We shall later mention how his wife had to continually supply him with books when he was in prison.

A notable anomaly in the eighteenth century was the so-called false virginities; its great frequency brought it into special prominence. The remainder of the hymen was sought and brought together artificially by astringent means, mainly by narrowing the introitus vaginae. This attempt had a long history in France. In the thirteenth chapter of the surgery of Henry de Mondeville, a physician of the fourteenth century, there are instructions on the deception of virginity by the use of astringent plants. A number of other methods to draw blood at the touch are also given. Such practices were ordinary occurrences in the France of the eighteenth century. We have already noted the virginity-water of Madame Gourdan. De Sade knew other methods for the restoration of the hymen. Delbènee praised her pomade and wanted to repair the already deflowered Laurette (Juliette I, 171) and gave to Juliette, victim of the same fate, a myrthus extract, which she had to rub in for nine days in order to arise on the tenth a virgin, (Juliette I, 179). Duvergier also used a similar virginity salve (Juliette I, 187).

In general this whole century was a golden age for toilette aids. It is notable that all important cosmetic aids of modern times were employed in the eighteenth century. There were hundreds of essences, pastes and salves, toilette waters and astringents. Especially important was, of course, the rouge. An anecdote of the Reign of Terror told by Mercier illustrates the high opinions of rouge by women:

Marton: Dear Lady—
Marquise: Marton, I am just arising—
Marton: Here I am, dear lady—
Marquise: My child, what's new?
Marton: Dear lady, there is talk of a rebellion that is supposed to have broken out this morning.
Marquise: And why not?
Marton: There is talk of destruction, of pillage, of rape, yes, even—
Marquise: Even rape—O child, you're joking—heavens, if one—
Marton: Oh! I have heard everywhere that the monsters will kill all the women, and, it is said, that those that please them will fall victims to their lust—
Marquise (very sprightly): I tremble—Marton-dress me—Marton—my rouge! Quickly, my rouge! Heavens! How I look—pale—I must look dreadful—they will kill me!

The men likewise used the same toilette articles, rouged themselves, spilled "artificial tests" and depilated their entire body at the request of their mistress. A great achievement in the eighteenth century in the cosmetic field was the bath. In the latter half of the year they became an immense luxury and were mostly used for cosmetic baths. The heroines of de Sade after their full day's or night's work take their bath.

The writings of Marquis de Sade afford a frightful picture of the frequency of abortion and contraception which had a definite connection with cosmetics in the eighteenth century. The statistics of Galliot which began with the year of 1789 show what a horrible decline there was in the birth rate. "The state must go further: it must not only protect the infant but also the fetus." All the means used today were known then; every possible means was used to hinder conception or to force away the forms. Highly characteristic is the discussion in Philosophy in the Boudoir in which Madame de St. Ange, upon a question from Eugenie, told of the means of prevention: of éponges, which served the women, condoms which served the men and paedicatio, which was an excellent method for both parties. But if this "misfortune" had happened, the heroes and heroines of de Sade knew means and ways of killing the fruit in the womb (Juliette III, 204, 212).

A last group of sexual cures was the anti-venereal class, with which the country was flooded. For in spite of all the debaucheries there was a great fear of syphilis and the charlatans found a very gullible public for their lies. We are not certain whether the bordello with its emblazoned motto Safe Love fulfilled its promises. At any rate extreme precaution was certainly justified. Casanova had a cardinal principle never to sleep in a strange bed. Juliette always investigated her clients for syphilitic symptoms. A man tainted with syphilis received short shrift with Juliette. It is told in The English Spy how a man voluntarily got syphilis so that he could infect his mistress who would pass it on to his rival. A similar idea was carried out by de Sade in Philosophy in the Boudoir. There a syphilitic servant is brought in and before the eyes of the triumphant monster infected the unhappy Madame de Mistival, whereupon Dolmancé called out: Parbleu, voici une inoculation, comme Tronchin n'en fit de ses jours (Philosophy in the Boudoir).

Medical preventatives against syphilis were mainly fashioned in the cellars of the Palais Royal. There were also many who made their wares known by means of fugitive papers and posted advertisements of their wares an the streets and walls.

We have previously mentioned the charlatan Agirony and the "specificurn of Doctor Préval." The latter was perhaps the most notorious charlatan of the eighteenth century. It was indeed Guilbert de Préval who introduced Rétif de la Bretonne to the secret of Parisian prostitution and the artes amandi of the Palais Royal. The history of this arch-charlatan is told in detail in The English Spy.

Préval studied from 1746 in Cannes, where he built up a rich practice, and then moved to Paris to take his doctor's degree in anatomical studies in Paris. He spent over twenty years on the therapy of syphilis and discovered at the end of this period an "infallible cure" against this disease, of which he cured more than eight thousand people! The specific also possessed the power of curing all the other "blood and skin diseases." This cure was also a trustworthy prophylactic for syphilis. It was claimed to be a so-called eau fondante but really consisted of a sublimate of lime-water. It finally also served for a diagnosis of syphilis for which purpose it was, for example, used by Madame Gourdan. The announcement of this cure made an extraordinary sensation and "there was a tremendous riot in the old court when all the roués came storming at his door." Préval was received with the honors scarcely accorded to the discoverer of a new part of the world but was asked to perform his miracle in the presence of witnesses. Préval assented. In the June of 1772 there occurred the unbelievable. In the presence of respectable gentlemen our charlatan completed coition with an unfortunate prostitute who had already been under observation in the hospital of the Compassionate Sisters. He first, of course, had taken his infallible cure. He remained healthy but it was not investigated whether this immunity was the result of a previous but indiscernible syphilis. Parent Duchatelet "could still name the witnesses of this remarkable scene, but the high circle in which they moved prevented the disclosure of their names."

Since we are not in the position of Parent Duchatelet we can name the gentlemen. There were the Duke of Chartres, Count de la Marche, Richelieu, Duke of Nivernois, and other "cavaliers." Préval was ordered by a Parisian magistrate to try his cure on the syphilitics in Bicêtre. Six men and four women were given him for this purpose. These affairs came to the knowledge of the Parisian Medical Faculty and at a notable meeting on August 8, 1772, the name of Préval was stricken from the lists of their members. He started action against the faculty and brought the suit before the Parliament. The decree of the faculty was lifted early in 1777 but on August 13, 1777, it was again confirmed and Préval in addition had to pay a penalty of 3000 francs. The arguments for the decision of the faculty were of a questionable character. We quote from the charges: "It is a matter of morals to investigate to what degree may be permitted a remedy which has no other purpose but the enhancement of pleasure in vice and removal of all restraint and punishment. We believe it would be a calamity to allow any such purpose for destruction of morals." Even Girtaner, a vigorous moralist, noted: "The discoverer of such a method earns the thanks and not the hatred of the human race for thereby in a short time syphilis throughout the entire world could be destroyed. And what friend of man does not desire so fortunate a revolution!"

The main preventative in the eighteenth century for venereal diseases was the same as today's—the condom. We have pointed many times to the wide use of condoms of which there was a whole arsenal in every bordello. The prostitutes in business for themselves also used these redingotes d'Angleterre. When Casanova came to Marseilles and according to his custom sought his first relaxation from the trip at a prostitute's where he expressed fear of disease, the girl offered english caps. But he did not care for them because they were of poor quality. Thereupon the beauty offered "better quality at 3 francs apiece and which were sold only in dozen lots." Casanova bought a whole dozen and had a few specimens adapted for the use of a fifteen-year-old servant girl.

The condom was discovered by a London doctor in the court of Charles II, named Dr. Conton; hence it should really be called conton. According to the plan of the doctor it was to be prepared from ceaca of lambs. For this purpose the desired length of the intestine was cut from the lamb, dried and then well oiled to make it soft and pliable. Proksch in his Prevention of the Venereal Diseases gives a complete history of this discovery and believed that in modern times "the hyper-moralistic ravings against the condom have almost entirely ceased." All doctors recognize the high value of the condom as a method of protection against venereal disease. Most of the recognition of the protective value of the condom came involuntary from sources one never expected. In 1826 there appeared a Papal Bull by Leo XII in which he damned this discovery "because it hindered the arrangement of providence." The moralistic attacks against the condom hold no water with those who know that everything in this world is misused and that the health of society must be considered more important than the caprices of an individual. The doctor who protects the health of the family cannot take the stand of the theologian.

After detailed physical and chemical examination of forty-eight varieties of condoms Proksch came to the conclusion that those made of india-rubber were the best and withstood the greatest amount of pressure.

We finally come to the last group of aphrodisiacs. They were the substitutes for man; the artificial apparatus by which women compensated for the absence of man. They were the leather phallus, godmichés, the consoler or as in English dildo. These artificial penes have been in use since ancient times. During the eighteenth century they became very prevalent in France. De Sade described the workings of an automatic godmiché (Juliette V, 328) as well as other sharp pointed instruments that were used by the tribade Zatta (Joliette VI, 124). The engravings in Philosophy in the Boudoir show that the dildos used in the eighteenth century were similarly constructed to the ones found in France today. Garnier gives the following description: "Here in Paris they make perfect imitations of hard red rubber; they are sold secretly at the known addresses to all the interested parties. The mechanism is most ingenious. They can be blown up and filled with milk or any other liquid. They heat up in contact with the vagina and the liquid flows out at the psychological moment to give the proper illusion.”

These things were not only used in lesbian bouts but also between male and female; Madame de St. Ange used it for paedicatio of Dolmancé (Philosophy in the Boudoir II, 31).

Gamier believed that the Japanese Balls, which were used in Japan, China and India from the earliest times by nymphomaniacs, first reached Europe in 1819 and were then written up in the Dictionary of Medical Science. This is entirely wrong. We have shown that these Pommes d'Amour were already well known in France in the middle of the eighteenth century.

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Gastronomy and Alcoholism

Sine Baccho et Cerere friget Venus. Good food and drink are also aphrodisiacs not to be despised. Marquis de Sade knew this well. In the very beginning of Juliette, Delbène called out after the orgy: “Déjeunons près amils, restausons-nous; lorsqu’on a beaucoup déchargé il faut réparer ce qu’on a perdu” (Juliette I, 10). "Good plentiful food makes one efficient for physical love," said Noirceuil (Juliette II, 151). "Let us drink," said Rodin, "I love to prepare myself for the joys of love by a good drink" (Justine I, 332). Ambroise described "the powers that Bacchus lend to Venus" (Justine III, 126). The participants in the horrible orgy at Minister Saint Fond's prepared themselves by "splendid wine and opulent food (Juliette II, 15). Juliette and Queen Charlotte of Naples drank two flasks full of champagne between their love scenes (Juliette IV, 18). A horrible gourmée was Count Gernande who had for a motto: "Intemperance is my goddess, her image stands next to that of Venus in my temple." He prepared himself for the joys of love by drinking 12 flasks of wines of different kinds, 2 flasks of liqueur, 1 flask of rum, 2 glasses of punch and 10 cups of coffee! (Justine III, 231-232).

The eighteenth century was "in truth the age of great chefs and cuisines.” Everyone was at that time a gourmand, especially among the aristocracy where "very excellent meals were prepared." Indigestion was often the punishment of the glutton. The Field Marshal, Prince Soubise, was "more famous for his opulent dinners than his battles." The prince had an especial preference for a sumptuous omelet that cost one hundred thalers. Voltaire spoke very sharply against gastronomic excesses which he held were ruinous both for mind and body. The alcoholic parties which under the regency took place every evening in the Palais Royal, were again adopted under the rule of Louis XVI. According to Brillat Savarin the chevaliers and the abbés were the greatest connoisseurs of transcendental gastronomy. Déjeuners littéraires et philosophiques et soupers célèbres were the fashion throughout all France. Casanova, de la Bretonne and many others have often described such feasts.

Reichardt has well described how the alcoholic debaucheries served to enkindle the muses in the Reign of Terror. He concluded that the unaccustomed strong drinks were in the main responsible for that bloody September Day.

It is notable that Marquis de Sade delineated the vegetarian and the anti-alcoholic types in his novels. The first code of modern vegetarianism was the work of J. Newton, Return to Nature and Defense of the Vegetable Regime, which appeared in London in 1811. De Sade described in Bandole a typical vegetarian and prohibitionist who refrained for sexual grounds. He ate little, and then only vegetables, and drank only water. A number of such characters and beliefs appeared in Justine and Juliette.

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Crime and Murder

The fact that prostitution and crime go hand-in-hand was clearly stated in Marquis de Sade's novels. Fatime, the sixteen-year-old friend of Juliette, had as her specialty stealing from her customers, for one of the most famous thieves, Dorval, of the suburb La Villette. The latter had reported to him by spies through all Paris the arrival of every stranger, whom he had seduced and robbed with the help of his prostitutes. He experienced intense sexual pleasure if he were present at the execution of such robberies. We shall later speak of his theory and justification of robbery. The chief passion of the Venetian tribade, Zanetti, was also robbery. Such personalities to whom robbery was a delight, appeared very often in de Sade.

The greediness for money at this time in France was very enormous. We read in Rameau's Nephew: "There is no longer a country. I see only tyrants and slaves from one end of the country to another. Gold is All, and he without gold is Nought." Gold, as Madame de Hurset has it, was the universal motor of the age. The robbers and thieves who flooded the pages of de Sade's novels formed the real framework of the Revolution and were closely connected with prostitution in the city and provinces. Since 1789 robbery and murder took a sharp climb and became daily occurrences during the Revolution. The first half of the year 1792 proved most prolific in robberies and murders. The prisons and guards had increased almost double. August the 10th and the September Day both gave a dreadful impulse to all kinds of crimes.

Paris drew more and more to itself the swarms of criminals from all over the country. The first few months of the year 1796 saw armed bands of thieves openly parading down the streets looking for plunder. They would search for well-to-do houses, break in, terrify and murder the inhabitants and then proceed at their leisure in despoiling the house.

The reasons for this criminal state of affairs in Paris and the vicinity were drawn up in an official report: the number of public places of depravity, the degeneration of morals, the hiding places of prostitutes and robbers, the schools of vice, the balls, the gambling dens, the impotency of the police force because of politics, numbers, etc., etc.

All conversation in Paris turned on murders and robberies. The impunity of crime called forth more and more disrespect for the law and for continual imitations of the latest crimes. It meant the citizen’s life to be found on strange streets in the dark. Even the respectable streets had to be patrolled by a body of citizens at night. Jaded Paris certainly received its morning quota of thrills when it heard the latest recitals of the crimes of the night before.

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Poisoning

Poisoning ever follows in the wake of prostitution and sexual debaucheries. Even in Ancient Rome, Suburra, the residential and business section of prostitutes, was the gathering place for poison-makers and sellers. It was no accident that the notorious poisoners like Brinvilliers and Voisin, were sexually passionate women. De Sade, with his profound knowledge of all relationships of the sexual life, thoroughly understood this connection and brought it out in the description of his characters. In a highly intuitive manner he painted the mood and passions of the poisoners who received tremendous sexual satisfaction from their profession (Juliette III, 214). Poisoning was also given the preference over other kinds of killing because of its quietness. Verneuil said: "No forceful act! Under your very eyes death surprises the victim, without noise or scandal. O Justine! Justine! Poison is a splendid power! How many services has it performed! How many people enrichened! Of how many useless beings has it freed the world!" (Justine III, 235.)

The poisoner Durand living in the Faubourg was an erotic monster par excellence (Juliette III, 220 ff.). De Sade plainly described her as a sickly degenerate individual. He displayed an hysteric fit of Durand that represented a panorama of classic poisoning with her cold, calculated cruelty, her cynical atheism and her colossal sexual excitability. She had an entire garden full of poisonous plants and a great number of prepared poisons, emmenagogs, aphrodisiacs and anti-aphrodisiacs. Her main poisons were: the poudre du crapaud verdier which when given to a girl in coitus gave the other party the greatest of pleasure in seeing her moribund contractions and sufferings; the chair calcinée de l’engu, espèce de tigre d’Ethiopie, by which a young man was removed from the world; the poison royal by which, according to de Sade, many members of the royal family of Louis XV were poisoned. There were also poisoned needles and arrows and various snake-poisons, Cucuruca, Cocol, Polpoc, Aimorrhois, etc.

Minister Saint Fond carried on a wholesale poisoning. Likewise Noirceuil sang a hymn of praise to Brinvilliers (Juliette II, 31 and 85); Juliette poisoned Count Lorsange with the poison royal and mixed strammonium in the chocolate of the monstrous cannibal, Minski (Juliette III, 285 and IV, 15). When Durand and Juliette opened a bordello in Venice, the poison-trade was a profitable sideline (Juliette V1, 251).

Since the seventeenth century, which had a real epidemic of poisoning under the rule of Louis XIV and the aristocracy, poison became the ever-increasing favorite of the land. At that time the notorious Abbé Guibourg, the organizer of the Devil's Masses, supplied the entire aristocracy with poison and lovephiltres. Poisonings indeed became so numerous that the King had to organize a special tribunal, the chamber royale de l’arsénale or chamber ardente which dealt exclusively with cases of poisoning. The poisoner best known was Marie Madelaine Marquise de Brinvilliers, very often mentioned by Marquis de Sade. It is interesting to note that this female devil reveled in sexual debaucheries from earliest youth. An insatiable sexual appetite was her lot throughout her whole life. She early learned the art of making poisons and devoted herself zealously to this field. She poisoned her father, two brothers, sisters and many others. Upon discovery of her crime she was beheaded. The corpse was then burned and scattered to the four winds so that as Madame de Sévigné wrote in her letters: "All Paris ran the danger of breathing in the atoms of this little woman and thereby becoming infected with the same poisonous desires."

And this infection actually spread. The poisonings increased in dreadful fashion. The most notorious poisoners of the seventeenth century, Voisin, Vigouroux, Oeillets and Delagragne were also active in the field of prostitution. Both trades developed hand-in-hand in the eighteenth century. The most famous poisoner was Desrues and his wife, whose one desire was to get rich at any price, and who poisoned all who stood in their way.

De Sade had this Desrues serve as hangman of the great robber Cartouche at an orgy (Juliette VI, 323). Rétif de la Bretonne described the whole affair in the fourth volume of Gentle Ladies.

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Public Executions

The works of Marquis de Sade drip with the blood of his century. No one before or after him has described with such monstrous fidelity that dangerous union which ruled steadfastly and securely throughout the century: the union of the century—Vice and Blood! He brought his age to eternal life in the pages of his novels. Hence his works have such horrible effects upon the reader. The terror and fear, the horror and dread, the vice and blood, all have their living corpse in the novels of Marquis de Sade: Justine and Juliette.

The executions in the eighteenth century were public. Before the Revolution the executions had a horrible effect upon the populace: during the Revolution the guillotine had an even more powerful influence for cruelty and ferocity.

Montesquieu in his Spirit of the Laws as well as Voltaire and many others, described the public executions and declared that they were making the people more cruel in spirit, regarding the executions as pleasurable spectacles.

Until the Revolution the principal kinds of death penalties in France were quartering, the wheel and the gallows. The less stringent decapitation was so seldom practiced that even the executioners forgot the methods as was shown by the execution of Count de Lally in 1766. The usual form of execution was the wheel, often met with in de Sade. The unfortunate delinquent was stretched out on a wagon-wheel. The executioner with a heavy iron band broke the upper and larger bones of the victim with great dexterity so that he might be awarded the approval of the spectators. The criminal was then fastened to the spokes of the wheel and exhibited to the spectators in his dying convulsions.

The punishment at the gallows is well known. We shall become acquainted with quartering at the later description of the horrible execution of Damiens.

An execution was always "a great festival for the populace" which was extremely curious to see all the morbid details. Most of the executions took place on the Place de Grève. The most famous were those of the robber Cartouche and his band (November 27, 1721), the robber Nivet and his accomplices (1729) by the "wheel," Deschauffonis, who was first strangled and then burned (1733), the wife-murderer Lescombat by the gallows (1755), Derues and his wife by the wheel (1777). The day and hour set for the execution were cried throughout the streets, printed accounts of the trial were hawked by street-urchins. In this tumultuous and often passionately moved mass, women and children were not those least impatient. Each followed avec ardeur all the dramatic points of the execution which often lasted for more than an hour.

The executioner, surrounded by his servants, bore the expression of a seigneur on display; he was barbered and powdered, clothed in white silk and looked about very proudly. His every movement was jealously watched. The condemned soon learnt whether the crowd was in a good or bad mood according to the expression of sympathetic or curse words on the part of the spectators.

The most horrible execution, perhaps of all time, was that of unfortunate Robert François Damiens who made an attempt on the life of Louis XV and on March 21 of that year was tortured to death. Thomas Carlyle in his The French Revolution cries out: "Ah, the eternal stars look down as if shedding tears of compassion down on the unfortunate people." We believe that a thousand executions by the guillotine cannot balance the terrible execution such as that of poor Damiens, who merited the sympathy of heaven and the stars. This shameful deed of the ancien régime could not have been washed away by all the blood that fell during the Revolution.

And when the individual details are given, the cruelty in Marquis de Sade's works seems entirely conceivable and heralds the passionate bloodthirstiness of the Revolution.

We possess the following account of the execution of Damiens by an eyewitness, de Croy, which we follow in the main. The same judgment was carried out on Damiens as on the murderer of Henry IV, François Ravaillac, on May 27, 1610. On the morning of March 28, 1757 Damiens was put on the rack; with glowing hot forceps his breasts, arms, legs and calves were torn out and in the wounds were poured molten lead, boiling oil, burning pitch mixed with red hot wax and sulphur. At three o'clock in the afternoon the victim was first brought to Notre Dame and then to the Place de Grève. All the streets that he had to pass by were packed with people who showed "neither hate nor pity." Charles Manselet reported: "Wherever one turns one's eyes one sees only crowds in Rue de la Tannerie! The crowds at the intersection of Rue de I'Épine and Rue de Mouton! The crowds in every part of the Place de Grève. The court itself was a compact mass, consisting of all possible classes, particularly the rabble."

At half past four that dreadful spectacle began. In the middle of the court was a low platform upon which the victim, who showed neither fear nor wonder but asked only for a quick death, was bound fast with iron rings by the six executioners so that his body was completely bound. Thereupon his right hand was extended and was placed in a sulphurous fire; the poor fellow let loose a dreadful outcry. According to Manselet, while his hair was burning, they stood on end. Thereupon his body was again attacked with glowing tongs and pieces of flesh were ripped from his bosom, thighs and other parts; molten lead and boiling oil were again spilled on the fresh wounds, the resulting stench (declared Richelieu in his Memoirs), infected the air of the entire court. Then four horses on the four sides of the platforms pulled hard on the heavy cables bound to his arms, shoulders, hands and feet. The horses were spurred on so that they might pull the victim apart. But they were unused to acting as the handmaids of executioners. For more than a hour they were beaten to strain away so that they might tear off the legs or arms of the victim. Only the wailing cries of pain informed the "prodigious number of spectators" of the unbelievable sufferings that a human creature had to endure. The horses now increased to six, were again whipped and forced to jerk away at the cables. The cries of Damiens increased to a maniacal roaring. And again the horses failed. Finally the executioner received permission from the judges to lighten the horrible task of the horses by cutting off the chains. First the hips were freed. The victim "turned his head to see what was happening," he did not cry but only turned close to the crucifix which was held out to him and kissed it while the two father-confessors spoke to him. At last after one and one-half hours of this "unparalleled suffering" the left leg was torn off. The people clapped their hands in applause! The victim betrayed only "curiosity and indifference." But when the other leg was torn off he started anew his wailing. After the chains on his shoulders had been cut off his right arm was the first to go. His cries became weaker and his head began to totter. When the left arm was ripped off the head fell backwards. So there was only left a trembling rump that was still alive and a head whose hair had suddenly become white. He still lived! As the hair was cut off and his legs and hands collected and dropped into a basket, the father-confessors stepped up to the remainder of Damiens. But Henry Sanson, the executioner, held them back and told them that Damiens had just drawn his last breath. "The fact is" wrote trustworthy Rétif, "that I saw the body still move about and the lower jaw move up and down as if he wanted to speak." The rump still breathed! His eyes turned to the spectators. It is not reported if the people clapped their hands a second time. At any rate during the length of the entire execution none moved from their places in the court or from the windows of adjoining buildings. The remainder of this martyr was burnt at a stake and the ashes strewn to the four winds. "Such was the end of that poor unfortunate who it may well be believed—suffered the greatest tortures that a human being has ever been called upon to endure." So concluded the Duke de Croy, an eyewitness, whose report we have almost literally translated. We will give a few more accounts by eyewitnesses of that fateful day when an entire populace greedily waited through few hours for the most dreadful tortures that the world had ever seen.

"The assemblage of people in Paris at this execution was unbelievable. The citizen of near and far provinces, even foreigners, came for the festival. The windows, roofs, streets were packed head on head. Most surprising of all was the dreadful impatient curiosity of women who strained for closer views of the torturings." Madame du Hausset tells in her memoirs that gambling went on during the execution and that wagers were made on the length of the duration of the tortures by Damiens.

Casanova, one of those who came from a foreign country to see the execution, reported a scene that was an excellent if terrible example of the theory of de Sade, that the tortures of another spur on real pleasure. He writes: "On March 28, the day of the Martyrdom of Damiens, I called for the ladies at Lambertini's and since the carriage could scarcely hold us all, I placed my charming friend on my lap without much difficulty and so amused ourselves until we came to the Place de Grève. The three ladies pressed as close to each other as they could so that they could all look through the window. They rested on their arms so we could see over their heads.

"We had the patience to maintain our uncomfortable position for four hours of this horrible spectacle. The execution of Damiens is too well-known for me to write about it. Also because the description would take too long and because nature revolts at such atrocities. During the execution of this sacrifice of the jesuits (his execution was said to have been done by order of the jesuits), I had to turn my eyes and hold my ears so that I might not hear that heart-rending cry when he had but half of his body. But Lambertini and her old friend made not the slightest movement; was that because of the cruelty of their souls? I had to pretend that I believed them when they said that his crime had prevented them from feeling sympathy for his plight. The fact is that Tiretta occupied herself during the execution in a most peculiar manner. She lifted her skirt high because, she said, she didn't want it dirtied. And her friend obliged her in the same way. Their hands were busily engaged during all the tortures."

Commentaries to Casanova's account are superfluous. That it was not an isolated case of satyriasis but one of the phases accompanying the horrible execution and calling forth passionate ecstasies was shown clearly by the fact that this charming sexual maneuver lasted two hours as expressly mentioned by Casanova later. "The action was repeated and without a resistance.” That Louis XV told the embassies all the details of the execution with great satisfaction is not strange. The execution of the poisoner Desrues who, on May 6, 1772, was placed on the wheel and then burnt alive, was also "well attended by a distinguished crowd."

The Revolution hence found a ready public for executions. We have mentioned a number of times that de Sade witnessed all the atrocities of the Reign of Terror since he was freed from prison in 1790 and was a prisoner again only from December, 1793 to July 28, 1794. The first forerunners of the September murder, the storming of the Bastille (July 14, 1789), the drive to Versailles (October 5, 1789), the bloody events in Avignon in 1790 and 1791, showed what roles the women played in the executions and murders. In Avignon the fight between the Papal Aristocrats and the Patriotic Brigands for the possession of Avignon flamed to white heat. Thomas Carlyle has well described the open street murders and the role of l’escuger in Bk. V, Chap. III of his The French Revolution. "A hundred and thirty corpses of men, nay of women and even of children (for the trembling mother, hastily seized, could not leave her infant), lie heaped in that glacière; putrid under putriditics: the horror of the world!"

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Ethnological and Historical Examples

Marquis de Sade was a keen observer. He had besides become very well acquainted with contemporary literature during his stay in prison. It is therefore no wonder that we find the signs of both properties in his work. What seems to us most characteristic is the great rôle that ethnology plays with de Sade. That was no accident. The first pretences to folklore started in France. Lafitau wrote the first important work of this kind in 1724 on the American savages. The great interest in the wild races was increased by the number of expeditions of French savants in the eighteenth century. We name only such well known figures as Bouguer, La Condamine, Bougainville, La Pérouse, Marchand, d'Auteroche, Duhalde, Charlevoix, Savary, Le Vaillant, Volney, Dumont. In a tentative fashion comparative analyses of morals and customs of primitive races and the development of humanity were essayed. The glorification of European civilization thus started from these early ideas of ethnology. Lafitau says: "I have read with great irritation the usual works on savage races; they are described to us as people who have no religious instincts, no knowledge of a God, no personality, neither laws, justice nor organization; men who have only the form in common with us. They indeed differ but little from animals." This conception of savage races is also found in de Sade.

He justified all the vice and cruelty found in the savage races. James Cook found pederasty rampant in the South Seas. Therefore it was good (Philosophy in the Boudoir I, 201). The cruelty of women was the same all over the world. Zingua, Queen of Angola (often mentioned by de Sade), the "most cruel of all women" sacrificed her lover after her pleasure, had battles fought for her and gave herself to the victor and had all pregnant women under thirty years of age stamped to death in a huge mortar. (Philosophy in the Boudoir, 1856.) Zoë, the wife of the Chinese Emperor, found the greatest pleasure in having criminals executed before her very eyes, and had all slaves sacrificed in the bed chamber where she was engaged with her husband. The greater the cruelty, the greater the pleasure. She found her greatest enjoyment in watching men roasted alive! Theodora amused herself by castrating men (ib., p. 157). De Sade also told the well known story of Amerigo Vespucci, that the women of Florida had their men place small poisonous insects in their members which swelled up tremendously at the contact and caused an insatiable libido accompanied by dreadful pain and ulcers (Philosophy in the Boudoir I, 157). De Sade had ethnological examples in plenty for poisoning, prostitution, anthropophagy, sexual degeneration, Malthusianism, atheism, etc. The Bible, for one, gave him a number of examples. Then the Africans, Asiatics, Turks, Chinese, etc., etc. De Sade had all the facts. He had all the available material and quoted that in Lapland, Tartary and America it was "an honor to prostitute one's wife," that the Illyrians celebrated remarkable mass orgies, that adultery flourished among the Greeks, that the Romans borrowed one another's wives, that his beloved Zingua had made a law that proscribed vulgivaguibilité of the women. Sparta, Formosa, Otaheiti, Cambodia, China, Japan, Peru, Cucuana, Riogabor, Scotland, etc., afforded him a mass of convincing examples on the justification of his theories.

All bizarre ideas, all remarkable cases of notorious erotic monsters were made use of by de Sade. Noirceuil declared that he would marry twice in one day and indeed at ten o'clock dressed as a woman he married a man; a twelve o'clock, dressed as a man, he married a boy who was married as a woman. Juliette also wanted to marry in the same church and at the same time, two tribades, one dressed as a woman and another dressed as a man. This, of course, was an imitation of the double union of Nero who married Tigellinus as a woman and Sporus as a man (Juliette VI, 319). Juliette, who did not want to fall behind Noirceuil in imitative talent, took an example from the Empress Theodora. She sprinkled barley in her most secret part and had the geese peck there, thus affording her continued pleasure (Juliette IV, 341).

De Sade made continual mention of Marshal Gilles Laval de Rais throughout Justine, Juliette and the Philosophy in the Boudoir. This "bluebeard" was a man of elegant appearance and great learning. At the age of 27 he left the court and army, cast off his wife and child, disappeared to his lonely castle, delved in mystical studies, alchemy, devil-craft and similar pursuits, finally gave himself up to sexual debaucheries and became a pederast, kidnapper, murderer, sadist, coprophiliac, etc., etc. This monster systematically murdered over 140 children in his castle. The victim was thrown on the floor, his throat cut deep and Gilles de Rais drank in his pleasures in watching the convulsive movements of the body. Then the extremities were cut off, breast and stomach opened and the entrails ripped out. At times he sat on the body of the victim to feel the death struggles. He also beheaded the corpse, took the head in his hands, looked at it closely and kissed it passionately. He often said to his accomplices: "No one in the world understands or can understand what I have done in my life. There is no other person who could have enacted my deeds." The heroes of de Sade spoke with similar pride of their crimes.

But the very age of Marquis de Sade was full of similar figures! "How many secret privileged criminals were there," asked Michelet, "who were not prosecuted? How many murders were set down as simple disappearances?"

De Sade also mentioned very often Count Charolais (1700-1760) who "committed murder for pleasure." This Count combined a raging cynicism with an unbelievable boldness. He loved to see blood flowing at his orgies and executed the courtesans who were brought to him in a dreadful fashion. "In the middle of his debaucheries with his mistress he would suddenly shoot a roof-thatcher. The rolling of the body from the roof afforded him infinite satisfaction." Abbé de Beauffremont is also said to have shot down people on the roofs. De Sade indeed placed this monomania in his register of sexual perversions. Juliette shot her father, while satisfying herself sexually with another man, in order to increase the pleasure (Juliette III, 115).

According to Michelet, Charolais loved the fair sex only "in bloody condition.” His father, Prince Condé, had derived his pleasure from poisoning people as, for example, the poet Santeul, and had willed to his sons, the Duke of Bourgogne and Prince Charolais, these perverse inclinations. Both served as accomplices at the orgies of Madam de Prie. One day, there appeared a Madame de Sart S… who when undressed by the princes was lightly browned in a servette. In spite of this experience the victim again came to the house of de Prie and this time was "roasted like a bud." Michelet expressly mentioned that the Duke of Bourgogne had this horrible idea. This monster was described in Juliette as Duke Dendemar, who poured burning oil on the naked bodies of four prostitutes (Juliette I, 352).

The notorious anthropophagist, Blaize Ferrage, called Seyé, seemed to have served the Marquis as a model. This man terrorized the Pyrenees, killed men, women and especially young children; he ate men only when hungry; he used the women sexually before he murdered them; it was reported that he especially satisfied his passion in the most brutal manner on children. On December 12, 1782, he was condemned to death by the whel; on the following day, only 25 years old, he was executed. De Sade described such an anthropophagist in Minski, the "Hermit of the Apennines" (Juliette III, 313).

Brunet mentioned additional sadistic types of the eighteenth century. A respectable Pole, author of many historical works, Count von Potocki, committed crimes "of the kind of Marquis de Sade." In Lyons the morals before the Revolution were so degenerate that "a number of sadistic outrages took place within a short time." Michelet rightly said in his History of the French Revolution that "not without justice did a notorious writer find a number of his episodes in his horrible novels in Lyons."

Jean Paul Marat, undoubtedly the most bloodthirsty person among the great Revolutionaries, gave the Marquis many ideas that are to be found in his novels. "He behaved like a drunkard who had washed himself in blood and was greedy for the flow of more blood." He advised mass murders in his Friend of the People and returned again and again to this favorite topic of his. We will encounter this idea of mass murders more than once in de Sade's novels.

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Conditions in Italy

In the year 1772, after the Marsellais Scandal, Marquis de Sade and his cousin fled to Italy where they remained for six years. The result of this story was the description of Italian conditions which occupy more than three volumes of Juliette (from the end of the third volume to the end of the sixth volume). The Marquis made it clear that he knew Italy from his own experience and said (Juliette III, 290): "Those who know me are aware that I went to Italy with a very pretty woman whom I, by a unique principle of obscene philosophy, introduced to the Grandduke of Toscana, the Pope, Princess Borgia, the King and Queen of Naples. They may be assured that I have truthfully described the actual morals of these persons. Had the reader himself been an eyewitness he could not have described them more truthfully. The reader may also be assured that I have faithfully described my journey with the greatest accuracy."

Italy was undoubtedly the breeding-ground of real modern and refined immorality. We have but to mention Pietro Aretino, Pope Alexander VI, Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia, Giulio Romano and Agostino and Annibale Carracci, those great artists of passion. In comparison how innocent and naive sound the love-adventures in Boccaccio's Decameron! The Renaissance and the jesuits started a new era in the sexual life of Italy.

Marquis do Sade described the growth of prostitution in Italy as enormous. All the cities that Juliette visited overflowed with prostitutes of all kinds who bore themselves proudly and were in no way ashamed. According to the glossary of the Pope a real whore was one who had sinned at least 23,000 times! What an enormous mount of sins Italy had on its poor head!

Venice was especially degenerate in its sexual life and Marquis do Sade had some horrible things to tell (Juliette IV, p. 144 ff.). The courtesans, for centuries the "pestilence of the city," were glorified in Venice. "Where in the world were there so many charms and pleasures as in Venice? Where were the courtesans prettier, better formed and more accomplished as priestesses of Cytherea? To Venice on the first train came all the roués, to taste every sin they could imagine and to find many they had never dreamed of. Only one purpose led all to Venice. This was the significance of the city of lagoons: The metropolis of absolute freedom for sexual delights. The prostitutes enjoyed the especial protection of the authorities."

Italy was very famous for its pederasty. Marquis de Sade, in this point certainly a true observer, cried: "The back is the best part of Italy" (Juliette III, 290). This was the inheritance from Greece and Rome. Dante even mentioned the great spread of homosexualism in the fifteenth and sixteenth stanza of the Inferno. Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484) swore allegiance in the widest sense to pederasty and was said to have raised his Ganymede to a cardinalship. A few cardinals asked the Pope to be allowed to practice pederasty and the Pope is said to have granted it. The following verse found its adherent in Pope Sixtus IV.

Since Rome (Roma) delighted in inverse love (amor),
Love took its name from inverse Rome.

In the eighteenth century pederasty was the daily fare in Italy. Indeed one ran the danger of being attacked by pederasts in the open streets. Casanova told of such an attempt that a man made upon him. Cardinal Brancaforte, one of the greatest roués of the world, according to Casanova, "when he went into a bordello he went in to stay," was especially fond of pederasty. At a stay in Paris a young girl of Padua confessed to him that some men had taken certain freedoms with her that were strongly forbidden in the codes. Before he granted her absolution he desired to hear every detail of the crime. At each recital he would cry "but this is monstrous! Oh, my dear, you have committed a horrible sin—but it’s a very pretty story." Casanova, gave many similar anecdotes.

Even today masculine protection in Italy is more general than in any other country. "In Naples, today, on the Via Toledo young men offer themselves to passersby and the pimps proudly describe their masculine as well as feminine wares." Moll, who tells this in his Perversions of the Sex Instinct believes that Italy has always been more disposed to homosexualism than all other countries of Europe.

It is unnecessary to add that the Italian clergy of the eighteenth century played a great part in these sexual debaucheries. The enormous number of the clergy that overran the entire country speaks for itself. Joseph Goroni, whose interesting Memoirs have been verified as historically accurate, estimated that the Kingdom of Naples (without counting Sicily) had 60,000 monks, 3,000 lay brothers and 22,000 nuns in a population of 480,000. Those clergy were of an "unheard of ignorance" and of a monstrous débauche crapuleuse. The convents were scenes of most depraved orgies. The clergy was in addition so rich that it possessed one-third of all the property in the country. Casanova was escorted in all the Italian bordellos by the clergy. The horrible abuse of castrates for spiritual purposes is an additional proof of the extreme depravity of the Italian clergy.

Zoophilia and sodomy were also more rampant in Italy than in other countries. Marquis de Sade saw in the house of Princess Borgiose a regular parade of turkey-cocks, a great bull-dog, one ape and a goat used as Maîtres de plaisir! (Juliette IV, 262.) The shepherds in Sicily were one and all said to have preferred goats. Cardinal Bellarmin after 1624 had "immoral intercourse with women and four pretty goats." Casanova was replete with information on sexual affairs and conditions in Italy. In his own words "there was no kind of depravity that was not practiced in Italy, especially among the clergy." Marquis de Sade's description of Pope Pius VI and Queen Charlotte of Naples will prove interesting.

According to de Sade this Pope was a great roué (Juliette IV, 26 f.); Juliette had a long conversation with him on the immorality of the Popes (TV, 270, ff.) and called him "an old ape" (IV, 285). Later His Holiness held an equally long discourse and his conclusion was that murder was the "simplest and most legitimate action in the world" (IV, 370) and did not fall behind this assurance in his numerous orgies (V, I ff.).

Was Pope Pius VI such a man? History assents only partly. Pius VI (1775-1798), previously Giovanni Angelo, Prince Braschi, was one of the most beautiful men of his times, "tall, of noble appearance and rudulent complexion." He carried his royal wand coquettishly, liked to show his well-rounded lines and laid great emphasis on his harboring.

He had the clergy and the faithful worship him with a stupid veneration, but which often concealed an ironical attitude. Pius was regarded in the Vatican as a much bespotted man, outside, as a god. When he stopped into the street, the women cried: "Quanto è bello, quanto è bello!" Cardinal Bemis called him a lively child who had always to be watched. According to Casanova, he approved of prostitution; according to Gorani, he had many mistresses and even committed incest with his natural daughter. In all, a handsome man with too many vanities that he could not help but succumb to.

Marquis do Sade described Queen Charlotte of Naples as the perfect tribade (Juliette V, 258) and wrote of her charms "according to nature." She, as well as her husband, King Ferdinand IV, were distinguished by their high degree of passionate cruelty and often expressed themselves with a cold fervor on the great Neapolitan festival, at which 400 persons were killed (Juliette VI, 1).

Here Marquis de Sade actually described "according to nature." Gorani and Coletta as well as other authorities, agree that Charlotte was an actual Messalina and Ferdinand a suitable consort.

The relation of Charlotte to the famous Lady Emma Hamilton, the huntress of Nelson, was especially notorious. Coletta’s judgment on tribadic liaison is confirmed by all scientific investigators.

De Sade's description of orgies celebrated in the ruins of Pompey actually occurred (Juliette V, 34 ff.). The great mass-murder of which de Sade wrote is also an historical fact. On October 18, 1794, there was a great street fight in Naples, thirty men were killed and many hundreds were wounded.

All other Neapolitan conditions were actually as bad as represented in Juliette. According to Gorani the Roman Empire had never seen such moral corruption as in the court of Naples, no such Messalina as Queen Charlotte. Nelson said of Naples: "Not a woman is virtuous, not a turn deserves but to be hanged on the gallows." Again according to Consul, King Ferdinand IV's main passion was the torturing and killing of conies, cats and men; his next preference was his countless love-adventures, leaving Acton and the Queen to go on with their orgies without him.

We have seen that Marquis de Sade presented in the main a true account of the condition of cultural and sexual life in France and Italy and that his works have high value in regard to historical, literary, and philosophical proposes. In a later section we will give detailed analysis of his works.