THE SCENE: The reputation of the roman emperor Elagabalus was so low that his biographer found ways to ascribe even his acts of public charity to intimately personal motivations.
THE TEXT: He made a public bath in the palace and at the same time made the baths of Plautianus available to the people, so that he might thereby collect paramours from among men with large organs. Careful attention was given to seeking out from the recesses of the whole city, and from among sailors, ‘onobeli’, which is what they used to call those who looked extra virile.
– The Augustan History, Aelius Lampridius, 4th Century AD
