If young people in the seventeenth century were unable to drink alcohol in moderation, then there was another evil lurking around the corner that was far worse for their well-being: namely, promiscuity. In the early modern period, getting drunk and having sex went hand in hand. According to the story that Gillis Quintijn told about the young people of Haarlem, foreigners were a bad influence on the Dutch, and Quintijn did not mince his words when it came to expounding the consequence of excessive drinking. Groups of single men such as students, sailors, and apprentices were the most likely to engage in licentious behavior. For them, going to brothels and picking up prostitutes was a way of life.

Whore-hopping

In his satire Satyricon in corruptae iuventutis mores corruptos (1631), which depicted the corruption of the students of Leiden, professor Jan Bodecher Benning described how a young student lost his virginity after visiting a brothel. As we saw in the previous chapter, in the same book Bodecher Benning had already castigated students for their excessive drinking. One thing led to another. Bodecher Benning had left too many clues in his descriptions, however, and the students picked up on them. The keen student recognized many details of the local brothels in Bodecher Benning's depiction, and figured out that the young professor must have visited them himself, and not only for field research. One student scathingly commented that the ethics professor should have consulted Kaspar Barthius’ Latin translation of La Celestina (1624). The original was published in Latin (Pornoboscodidascalus [Teacher of the Brothel Master], 1499). The student viciously pointed out that if Bodecher Benning had read La Celestina Benning, it would have helped him with his jargon.

What Bodecher Benning failed to understand was that womanizing was an important part of academic life. It was just as relevant as attending classes. In the popular academic albums where students recorded their poems and witty expressions, a student named R. Schatton scribbled down a verse for another student about how arousing he found girls’ bottoms.