Page:The Female-Impersonators 1922 book scan.djvu/49

Rh whom he loves far more than a father loves an only son. Socrates' two most brilliant disciples, Plato and Xenophon, wrote books, still extant, one of the purposes of which was defence of Socrates from the charge mentioned.

, the St. Paul of the pagan classic world—as was its Jesus (Socrates)—was an androgyne. His voluminous "Dialogues"—one of the world's two score of literary masterpieces—are permeated with homosexuality. In the Symposium, Plato confesses himself a homosexualist. In his day, homosexuality was not regarded a disgrace any more than heterosexuality. The charge against Socrates was largely a pretext, the politicians having to give some plausible reason for ridding themselves of him.

Plato's falsetto voice—a common characteristic of androgynes—is commented on in writings of his day still extant. He never married nor procreated.

has been adjudged by sexologists an androgyne of the mild type. He was the first prominent Greek to dispense with hirsute decorations. The probability is that he was naturally beardless. But in imitation of the genius and leader of their generation, all the men who wished to be somebody started to shave clean. Knowledge of the razor first became common in Greece because Alexander the Great happened to be congenitally beardless!

As a monarch, Alexander was compelled to espouse a woman. But he spent nearly all his married life absent from his legal spouse, and was incapable of procreation. All the evidence is that his real soulmate was a young warrior of his entourage. The two were inseparable. His strange affection for other