But notwithstanding the extraordinary Kindness and Beuty of the Women, the Venetians are generally so brutish, that they wou'd rather chuse a Boy, tho' as ugly as an Ape, than the most Amiable Girl in the World. This is the predominant Vice of the Nation, with whch they are so miserably intoxicated, that they spare no Pains or Cost to satisfie their beastly Passions: And even some of 'em are such Prodigies of Infamy, and have so entirely lost all sense of Humanity, that they turn Succubus's to Porters and Gondoliers, whom [p.406] they hire to act that Filthiness upon their polluted Bodies. All their Conversations are larded with those detestasble Impurities; and as in France 'tis the usual Custom of young Persons to divert themselves with talking of their Intrigues with a lovely Mistress, their Discourses in this Place run perpetually on their Masculine Amours. Nor are the Turks themselves more addicted to this unnatural Abomination than the Italian seem to be. The Monks, especially, are infamous for Sodomy as well as Whoredom; and perhaps not without reason, for tho' I am not so particularly acquainted with their manner of Living, as to give you an exact Account of their Customs and Practice, I can assure you (and one sight of their Convents wou'd convince you) that they assume a great deal more Liberty than their Brethren in France. [p.407]
SOURCE: Jean Dumont, A New Voyage to the Levant, By the Sieur du Mont, Done into English, London, 1702. CITATION: If you cite this Web page, please use the following citation:
Rictor Norton (Ed.), "The Vice of the Venetians," Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook. 20 December 2020 <http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/1702vene.htm>.
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