In seduction, the woman was no longer a passive sex object she had become an active agent, a figure of power. For Cleopatra, it was a means of consolidating an empire. These first great seductresses were like military generals plan-ning the destruction of an enemy, and indeed early accounts of seduction often compare it to battle, the feminine version of warfare. Their power was not physical but psychological, not forceful but indirect and cunning.
They learned to work on the mind first, stimulating fantasies, keeping a man wanting more, creating patterns of hope and despair-the essence of seduction. In the face of violence and brutality, these women made seduction a sophisticated art, the ultimate form of power and persuasion. Men who had physical force and all the social power-men like King David, the Trojan Paris, Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, King Fu Chai-would find themselves becoming the slave of a woman. They would be forced into pursuit, trying anything to win back the favors they once had tasted and growing weak and emotional in the process. Just when the men wanted more, they found their pleasures withdrawn. But then, invariably, the women would turn cold and indifferent, confusing their victims. Men would grow hooked on these refined, sensual pleasures-they would fall in love. They might also lead them astray literally, taking them on a journey, as Cleopatra lured Julius Caesar on a trip down the Nile. Once they had their victims’ interest, these women would lure them away from the mascu-line world of war and politics and get them to spend time in the feminine world-a world of luxury, spectacle, and pleasure. By showing only glimpses of flesh, they would tease a man’s imagination, stimulating the desire not just for sex but for something greater: the chance to possess a fantasy figure. First they would draw a man in with an al-luring appearance, designing their makeup and adornment to fashion the image of a goddess come to life. These women-among them Bathsheba, from the Old Testament Helen of Troy the Chinese siren Hsi Shi and the greatest of them all, Cleopatra-invented seduction. There were some, though, whose hunger for power was too great, and who, over the years, through much cleverness and creativity, invented a way of turn-ing the dynamic around, creating a more lasting and effective form of power. What good was a power that was so temporary and frail? Yet women had no choice but to submit to this condition. A woman could always toy with this desire, but once she gave in to sex the man was back in control and if she withheld sex, he could simply look elsewhere-or exert force. Of course men had one weakness: their insatiable desire for sex. They had no way to compete, no weapon at their disposal that could make a man do what they wanted-politically, socially, or even in the home. Only a select few had power, but no one suffered under this scheme of things more than women.
There was little need for subtlety-a king or emperor had to be merciless.
Thousands of years ago, power was mostly gained through physical vio-lence and maintained with brute strength.
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