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Sex without limit:
Messalina, Empress of Rome
by Sister Usha and Brother Osiris
Sex has for many centuries been associated with power. Men holding economic or political power have often used that power to coerce women into having sex. Women have been known to use sex to gain power, sleeping with powerful men in order to advance their careers, buy freedom from bondage, or (in times of war) obtain military secrets from enemy leaders. We now tell the true story of a woman who created a viscious spiral. She used her political power to gain sex, and used that sex to gain more power. This eventually resulted in her destruction. That woman is Messalina, Empress of Rome.
Messalina was born in Rome in the year 22 of the Christian Era. She was the daughter of a wealthy patrician, and was by all accounts beautiful. At the age of 14, she married to a man more than three times her age. Not only was he older than her, but he was also physically deformed: hunchbacked, with a serious twitch in his neck, stuttering quite frequently, etc. Most of the people around thought that he was stupid as well, but that part was untrue.
Why did she marry him? The emperor asked her to. The man was the emperor's uncle. The emperor thought that it would be a very funny joke for his deformed old uncle to marry a beautiful, lively young girl. So, he presented her as a gift, a present from a loving nephew to a kindly old man.
Was this sort of thing customary in Rome? No, especially not such a gesture involving the daughter of an aristocrat. But this particular emperor was one to whom very few people had the courage to say to no. This was the same emperor who appointed a horse to the Roman Senate; decreed the death penalty for anyone using the word "goat" in his presence; marched his army across Gaul so that he could stand on the beach, yell a few curses at his arch-enemy, Neptune, God of the Sea, then pick up a few seashells and march home; and once burst out laughing hysterically at a banquet, explaining "Gee, it just occurred to me that with a mere gesture I could have anyone at this table beheaded. Isn't that wild?" He was, in a word, nuts, and everyone in Rome knew it was a phenomenally bad idea to get him angry. So, when he suggested to these two people that they get married, they both said, "Sure. Whatever."
Five years later, the Praetorian guards had enough sense to assissinate Emperor Caligula. In the chaos that followed, the throne passed to the one member of the imperial family noone would have predicted a month earlier would ever become emperor: Caligula's Uncle Claudius. Thus at the age of 19, Messalina suddenly found herself bearing the title "Empress of Rome."
Claudius was by all accounts a kindly old man, especially compared to his predecessor (Caligula) and his successor (Nero), but there was no way that he could satisfy the sexual desires of an energetic young woman. She turned elsewhere, acquiring lovers in the palace and among the guards. It is impossible to know for sure how many lovers she had, but some estimates put the number at over 100. She began to elicit favors from men, then to demand them, acquiring significant political power in her own right. She had at least one man (probably more) beheaded for refusing her.
One story about Messalina is particularly intriguing. She allegedly issued a challenge to the most famous prostitute in Rome. The two agreed to an endurance contest, to see who could have sex for the longest period of time, non-stop. Guards lined up and took turns with the two women. Messalina won.
Claudius loved his wife and turned a blind eye to such reports. Eventually, however, she was accused of joining a conspiracy with one of her favorite lovers to depose Claudius. The historical record is unclear as to whether the reports were actually true, but in Rome, accusations did not necessarily need to be true. Claudius reluctantly signed papers ordering Messalina's execution. She was beheaded at age 26.
To us, Messalina leaves a mixed legacy. The Goddess in her form of sex drive was very strong in Messalina. Most of us, male or female, would envy the amount of pleasure she apparently obtained from this. We also respect her courage in being unafraid of her sexuality, her willingness to be open about it.
On the other hand, we deplore her infidelity to her husband. In our opinion, extramarital sex should be done only with the full permission of the spouse, and she clearly did not have this. We also deplore the misuse of sex to gain power, and certainly the coersion she used with deadly force to obtain new partners. Sex certainly does give women power to control men; using that power to increase the amount of love and happiness in the world is a noble cause. Using that power to further one's own ambitions while crushing those who resist is evil. Thus in our own theological terms, the Goddess was strong in Messalina, but so were demons causing her to use her power in unfortunate ways.
The power of the Goddess lives within every woman. Every woman has a choice on how to use that power. She can suppress it, as many women have done. She can use it to create children. She can use it to bring happiness to one or more men. She can use it to gain political or economic power for herself. Deciding between these various options is the most important decision a woman will ever make. Let each woman do it wisely.