wayfarers in wonderland 567
interests of youths might otherwise be turned to the officially more heinous
sin of sodomy. What is clear, however, is that male/male sex was seen in
Venice almost invariably in terms of a relationship between an older sexu-
ally active youth and a younger passive one. Mirroring the age distinctions
discussed earlier, the younger males involved were usually assumed to be
feminine and in their early to mid-teens, the older males more masculine
and aggressive in their late teens and twenties. once again theoretically,
males once they married left such relationships behind to focus on fam-
ily and reproduction. criminal records suggest strongly that when male
sodomy in Venice fit this pattern and did not involve what was perceived
as threatening political dimensions—groups that involved young upper
class youths and older men were especially feared—it was seldom pros-
ecuted. rather, prosecution focused on exceptional cases involving older
men or dangerous groups, a pattern that was broken occasionally, how-
ever, when it appears there was a momentary panic about the growing
popularity of such activities.49
There are indications that such sodomy particularly oriented towards
a youth culture was a significant part of the illicit world of sex in Venice
across the renaissance. in fact, legislation designed to limit the crime and
sin restricted ball games and other forms of gaming by youths in certain
areas of the city, schools of abacus and fencing, gymnastics in certain
establishments, and even gatherings of youths in particular pastry and
candy shops, among other activities.50 The famous comedy The Master of
the Horse (Il Marescalco), by Pietro aretino, provides an interesting por-
trayal of the age stereotypes associated with sodomy at the time, even
as to a degree it challenges them. although set in Modena, it was largely
written in Venice and filled with references to the city, providing a rela-
tively sympathetic description of the travails of the lead character known
simply as the Marescalco, a young man who has reached the age when it is
assumed he should marry and leave behind the illicit pleasures of a male/
male loving relationship—his “gioventudini” as one character describes
49 see ibid., pp. 109–45, and the important article by nicholas s. davidson, “sodomy in
early Modern Venice,” in Tom Betteridge, ed., Sodomy in Early Modern Europe (Manchester,
2002), pp. 65–81. for a study that presents a similar vision of age distinctions to that of
Boundaries of Eros for florence, see Michael J. rocke, Forbidden Friendships: Homosexuality
in Male Culture in Renaissance Florence (new york, 1996). see also for Venice, Patricia
labalme, “sodomy and Venetian Justice in the renaissance,” The Legal History Review, 52
(1984), 217–54; as well as Giovanni dall’orto, “ ‘socratic love’ as a disguise for same-sex
love in the italian renaissance,” Journal of Homosexuality 16 (1988), 33–65.
50 ruggiero, Boundaries of Eros, pp. 138–40.