----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2005 12:28 PM
Subject: A strange Lolita sighting
Dear List,
As I was leafing through a book titled " The
Most Evil Women in History" ( 2004), by Shelley Klein, I came to the
chapter on Valeria Messalina, third wife of Tiberius Claudius
Caesar, Caligulaīs uncle, considered " the synonim of
all feminine vices and faults ".
I was struck by the
chapterīs title ( as it also appears in the bookīs Index) :
" Valeria Messalina, a Roman Lolita ".
Underneath, a quote from Robert Gravesī, " I,
Claudius":
" When a not very intelligent or
handsome fifty-year old man falls in love with an adolescent girl of
fifteen, very bright and beautiful, there is usually no
good outcome".
Why not Ada, I thought... Wasnīt she also a
nymphet in the eyes of Professor Rack, Krolikīs ... and probably her
fatherīs ? But then, poor Lolita is more famous!
I found the book in a translation, so the English
words are not as they must appear in Kleinīs or Gravesī original.
Jansy