66 Thomas Hobson engine at Tufts University finds at least 62 uses of ἀσέλγεια in 29 classical works, plus 52 uses of the adverb ἀσελγῶς in 34 works, not counting its appearances as a verb, an adjective, and in compound form5. Countless additional uses of the root are found in the patristic period. Among pa- gan authors, the root is used most frequently by Demosthenes, Polybius, Philostratus, and Plutarch. According to W. Havers6, the basic meaning is “verrückt, wahnsinnig” (crazy, insane), from which it developed the meanings “liebestoll, wohllüstig” (love-crazed, lustful), and “unzucht” (promiscuous); it appears to come from an original ἐλεγαίνω7. Ἀσέλγεια is mostly used to denote extremes of either violence (it is of- ten paired with ὗβρις and/or βία), sexual licentiousness, or insolence. All three meanings express a senseless shamelessness that knows no limits.8 Plutarch uses ἀσελγαίνειν as the opposite of σωφρονεῖν or “to practice self-restraint” (Lib. educ. 13.A.10). Plato (Symp. 190c) speaks of the ἀσέλγεια of men who dare to assault the gods themselves with the intent of taking their place. Demosthenes (Con. 54.4.7) uses the word to describe the behavior of men who were dumping chamberpots on the slaves of their host. Plutarch (Apoph. lac. 233.A.3) tells of men from Chios who deliberately vomited at dinner and soiled the chairs they sat on with excrement, prompting their Spartan hosts to say, “The Spartans grant Chians permission to be utterly gross (ἀσελγαίνειν)”. Some specific examples from Plutarch help to narrow down what kind of behavior is intended when ἀσέλγεια is used to refer to sexual misdeeds. In Par. Min. 311.A.5, Smyrna falls in love with her father Cinyras and tricks him into consorting with him in the dark. When Cinyras finds out the truth, he pursues this “most wanton woman” (τήν ἀσελγεστάτην) with the sword. In Par. min. 314.A.11, Phaedrea is described as “the wanton woman” (ἡ ἀσελγής) for falling in love with her step-son and pursuing him. And in Pel. 28.5.1, Plutarch speaks of a woman oppressed by a tyrant who, “in addition to his other debaucheries (ἀσέλγειας), had made her youngest brother his paramour”. www.perseus.tufts.edu. 5 Havers, IF 195. 6 LSJ, s. v. ἐλεγαίνω: “to be wrathful, wanton, violent”. 7 J. B. Lightfoot (Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians: A Revised Text With Introduc- 8 tion, Notes, and Dissertations [London 1890] 210-1) calls ἀσέλγεια “an open and reckless contempt of propriety…In classical Greek the word ἀσέλγεια generally signifies insolence or violence toward another, as it is defined in Bekker’s Anecd. p. 451, ἡ μετ᾽ ἐπηρεασμοῦ καὶ Θρασύτητος βία. In the later language, in the New Testament for instance, the prominent idea is sensuality, according to the loose definition in Etym. Magn. ἑτοιμότης πρὸς πᾶσαν ἡδονήν: comp. Polyb. xxxvii.2 πολλῂ δε τις ἀσέλγεια καὶ περὶ τὰς σωματικᾶς ἐπιθυμίας αὐτῷ σὐνηκολούθει. Thus it has much the same meaning as ὗβρις.”