The Persians had been corrupted in the same school; (Herodot. l. i. c. 135.) A curious dissertation might be formed on the introduction of paederasty after the time of Homer, its progress among the Greeks of Asia and Europe, the vehemence of their passions, and the thin device of virtue and friendship which amused the philosophers of Athens. But
scelera ostendi oportet dum puniuntur, abscondi
flagitia.