type of comradeship
delineated by Homer; and such, in spite of the modifications suggested
by later poets, was the conception retained by the Greeks of this heroic
friendship. Even AEschines, in the place above quoted, lays stress upon
the mutual loyalty of Achilles and Patroclus as the strongest bond of
their affection: "regarding, I suppose, their loyalty and mutual
goodwill as the most touching feature of their love."[1]

IV.

Thus the tale of Achilles and Patroclus sanctioned among the Greeks a
form of masculine love, which, though afterwards connected with
paiderastia properly so-called, we are justified in describing as
heroic, and in regarding as one of the highest products of their
emotional life. It will be seen, when we come to deal with the
historical manifestations of this passion, that the heroic love which
took its name from Homer's Achilles existed as an ideal rather than an
actual reality. This, however, is equally the case with Christianity and
chivalry. The facts of feudal history fall below the high conception
which hovered like a dream above the knights and ladies of the Middle
Ages; nor has the spirit of the Gospel been realised, in fact, by the
most Christian nations. Still we are not on that account debarred from
speaking of both chivalry and Christianity as potent and effective
forces.

V.

Homer, then, knew nothing of paiderastia, though the _Iliad_ contained
the first and noblest legend of heroic friendship. Very early, however,
in Greek history boy-love, as a form of sensual passion, became a
national institution. This is proved abundantly by mythological
traditions of great antiquity, by legendary tales connected with the
founding of Greek cities, and by the primitive customs of the Dorian
tribes. The question remains how paiderastia originated among the
Greeks, and whether it was introduced or indigenous.

The Greeks themselves speculated on this subject, but they arrived at no
one definite conclusion. Herodotus asserts that the Persians learned the
habit, in its vicious form, from the Greeks;[2] but, even supposing this
assertion to be correct, we are not justified in assuming the same of
all barbarians who were neighbours of the Greeks; since we know from the
Jewish records and from Assyrian inscriptions that the Oriental nations
were addicted to this as well as other species of sensuality. Moreover,
it might with some strain on language be maintained that Herodotus,