Ancient & modern
THE world heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis believes that women weaken a boxer, and therefore avoids sex for three weeks before a big fight. The theory is a hoary one.
It was based in the ancient world on the idea that semen was a vital factor in keeping a man strong. The doctor Aretaeus (1st century AD) says, 'If any man is in possession of semen, he is fierce, courageous and physically mighty, like beasts. Evidence for this is to be found in athletes who practise abstinence.'
Even involuntary nocturnal emissions were thought to be enfeebling, threatening one's endurance and breathing. The thinker Philostratus (3rd century AD) says in his Gumnastikos that those who have had one 'should take exercise carefully and build up their strength more than usual, since they now have a deficit in their system . . their workouts should be easy to do but spread out over a longer period of time, so that their lungs may be exercised'.
Prevention, however, is better than cure, and the doctor Galen (2nd century An) recommends that athletes take precautions against them: 'A flattened lead plate is an object to be placed under the muscles of the loins of an athlete in training, chilling them whenever they might have nocturnal emissions of semen.' But if sex before exercise was regarded as potentially deleterious to health, exercise before sex was strongly recommended, especially foot-races and horse-riding.
Many stories are told of heroic feats of abstinence from athletes bent only on sporting glory. The notoriously irresistible hetaira Lais is said to have fallen madly in love with one Aristotle from Cyrene (not the Aristotle). He was having none of it, but promised to take her back with him to Cyrene if he enjoyed any success at the games. After he swept the board, he kept his promise — by having a realistic statue made of her and sending that back.
Some athletes refused to tolerate even the mention of sex in their presence, walking out of the room when the conversation turned that way. The pancratiast Cleitomachus is said to have averted his gaze when he saw two dogs mating. Even so, in the homo-erotic atmosphere of the gymnasium, the naked athletes were aware of the temptations. Infibulation, tying up the foreskin, seems to have been practised in an attempt to avoid the embarrassment of overexcitement in the heat of the moment.
Lennox may have his problems with Mike Tyson this week, but one cannot quite believe that this will be one of them.
Peter Jones
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