Thus in the zenith of my lust I reign, I drink to swive, and swive to drink again, Let other monarchs who their sceptres bear, To keep their subjects less in love than fear, Be slaves to crowns—my nation shall bee free, My pintle only shall my sceptre be. Your grace at once hath from the powers above A princely wisdom and a princely love, Whilst you permit your subjects to enjoy That freedom which a tyrant would destroy, By this your royal tarse will purchase more Than all the riches of the kings of Zoar.

Beginning in 1869, when the study of homosexuality can be said to have begun with the establishment of sexology, this Encyclopedia offers accounts of the most important international developments in an area that now occupies a critical place in many fields of academic endeavours. While gays and lesbians have shared many aspects of life, their histories and cultures developed in profoundly different ways. To reflect this crucial fact, the Encyclopedia has been prepared in two separate volumes assuring that both histories receive full, unbiased attention and that a broad range of human experience is covered. Written by some of the most famous names in the field, as well as new researchers this is intended as a reference for students and scholars in all areas of study, as well as the general public.

How have major civilizations of the last two millennia treated people who were attracted to their own sex? In a narrative tour de force, Louis Crompton chronicles the lives and achievements of homosexual men and women alongside a darker history of persecution, as he compares the Christian West with the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome, Arab Spain, imperial China, and pre-Meiji Japan. Ancient Greek culture celebrated same-sex love in history, literature, and art, making high claims for its moral influence. By contrast, Jewish religious leaders in the sixth century B.C.E. branded male homosexuality as a capital offense and, later, blamed it for the destruction of the biblical city of Sodom. When these two traditions collided in Christian Rome during the late empire, the tragic repercussions were felt throughout Europe and the New World. Louis Crompton traces Church-inspired mutilation, torture, and burning of sodomites in sixth-century Byzantium, medieval France, Renaissance Italy, and in Spain under the Inquisition. But Protestant authorities were equally committed to the execution of homosexuals in the Netherlands, Calvin's Geneva, and Georgian England. The root cause was religious superstition, abetted by political ambition and sheer greed. Yet from this cauldron of fears and desires, homoerotic themes surfaced in the art of the Renaissance masters--Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Sodoma, Cellini, and Caravaggio--often intertwined with Christian motifs. Homosexuality also flourished in the court intrigues of Henry III of France, Queen Christina of Sweden, James I and William III of England, Queen Anne, and Frederick the Great. Anti-homosexual atrocities committed in the West contrast starkly with the more tolerant traditions of pre-modern China and Japan, as revealed in poetry, fiction, and art and in the lives of emperors, shoguns, Buddhist priests, scholars, and actors. In the samurai tradition of Japan, Crompton makes clear, the celebration of same-sex love rivaled that of ancient Greece. Sweeping in scope, elegantly crafted, and lavishly illustrated, Homosexuality and Civilization is a stunning exploration of a rich and terrible past.

The Farce of Sodom or The Quintessence of Debauchery is a play written by English libertine John Wilmot, the Second Earl of Rochester. Wilmot, who was portrayed in the movie The Libertine by Johnny Depp, was popularized in the 17th century as a poet and playwright. His works remaon popular today due to their raunchiness and pornographic language. This is a publication of his play The Farce of Sodom or The Quintessence of Debauchery, which is one of the most well known of his works. The Farce of Sodom or The Quintessence of Debauchery is highly recommended for those who are fans of John Wilmot and also those who are discovering his writings for the first time.

The Farce of Sodom is a sexually explicit play which satirizes the reign of Charles II of England during the Restoration of the English monarchy. Explicit and uncompromising in tone, this send-up of the Royal Court grossly exaggerates the rumors surrounding the court of the king. We witness the homosexual King Bolloximian ban ordinary sexual intercourse in his kingdom, decreeing that only anal intercourse be permitted among the entire population. The excesses of the wealthy are shown in a sequence of erotic acts in a court preoccupied with luxuriating in debauchery. Eventually the nature of the acts the wealthy are consigned to perform upsets enough members of the court, and King Bolloximian is violently deposed. He and his closest companions are then consigned to hellfire. Banned for centuries, during recent years The Farce of Sodom has attracted renewed appreciation, with a version of the drama staged at the 2011 Edinburgh Festival.

No más de seis meses después de la publicación de Personae, Pound había preparado otro volumen de poesía bajo el auspicio de Elkin Mathews (Vigo Street, Londres), bajo el título de Exultations (1909).De los veintisiete poemas de Exultations, sin embargo, más de diez fueron repeticiones de A Lume Spento y A Quinzaine For This Yule.Esta edición, hasta ahora inédita en toda su extensión en lengua castellana, fue preparada por el poeta y crítico literario Juan Arabia.