
Originally Posted by
Montauk
I believe the Romans viewed a strong sex drive as part of the virtue of virility (interestingly, along with endurance to discomfort), but saw wanton overindulgence as the undesireable extreme. Young Men who frequented brothels too often or had too many mistresses or a mistress they spent too much times with were spoken to or cut off from funds/sent away by the Family Patriarch. Older Men who overindulged were the subject of ridicule. It was believed that too much sexual indulgence sapped the strength/endurance of a man and caused him to neglect his duties. What many call "Victorian Ideas" are actually from the Victorian's idealization of Rome and Roman Values.
Funnily, the Wiki page on Virility contains information about male Sperm, part of the latest project by Post Modernists to try to conflate the very slow and gradual loss of viable sperm in men generally with the sharp drop of female fertility.