Adultery

Adultery (pronounced uh-duhl-tuh-ree)

(1) Voluntary sexual intimacy between a married person and someone with whom they do not enjoy the benefit of lawful marriage.

(2) Used loosely, based on biblical traditions, lewdness or unchastity of thought as well as act; sinful sexual behavior as a category (priests have long lists of what's deemed sinful).

(3) In historical biblical use, faithlessness in religion (obsolete). 

(4) In English common law, the fine and penalty formerly imposed for the offence of adultery (obsolete).

(5) In historic ecclesiastical jargon, the intrusion of a person into a bishopric during the life of the bishop.

(6) In political economy, adulteration; corruption.

(7) Injury; degradation; ruin (obsolete). 

1325-1375: From the Middle English adulterie, from the Classical Latin adulterium (voluntary violation of the marriage bed).  Adulterie replaced an earlier Middle English form advouterie, drawn from the Old French avoutrie.  So, construct was: adulterie, altered (as if directly from Latin adulterium) from avoutrie, via Old French from Latin adulterium, from adulter, back formation from adulterāre.  Modern spelling, with the re-inserted -d, is from early fifteenth century.  Interestingly, in Middle English, word also applied even to "sex between husband and wife for recreational purposes”, sex for other than procreation being regarded by the church as idolatry, perversion and heresy.  The church variously classified the sin as single adultery (with an unmarried person) and double adultery (with a married person).  In Old English the word was æwbryce (breach of lawful marriage), drawn from the German Ehebruch.  The old English synonym advowtry is long obsolete.  Adultery, adulterousness, adulterant, adulterer & adulteress are nouns, adulter is a noun & verb, adulterize is a verb, adulterate is a verb & adjective, adulterous is an adjective and adulterously is an adverb; the most common noun plural is adulterers (the pleasing feminine form adulteresses seems to have been sacrificed in the quest for gender-neutrality).

In the US, Adultery Dune in Arizona corresponds to the Navajo sei adilehe (adultery sand), the place where, prior to European settlement, illicit lovers met.  It’s apparently something between Hampstead Heath and Death Valley as depicted in Michelangelo Antonioni’s (1912-2007) Zabriskie Point (1970).  Everyone should see Zabriskie Point before they die.

As one might imagine, the tradition of adultery goes way back and so does the condemnation by clerics and others; it is of course proscribed by one of the Ten Commandments (coming in usually at 6 or 7 in most translations) in the Christian Bible's Old Testament and the ever zealous Leviticus (at 20:10) spelled out the consequences: If there is a man who commits adultery with another man's wife, one who commits adultery with his friend's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.  In the hierarchy of sin, that the injunction again adultery appears usually at (6) or (7) in the Ten Commandments has by some been used to suggest it may not be thought by God to be as serious a matter as blasphemy (3) but worse than coveting thy neighbor’s ass.  That’s probably theologically dubious and the order of listing is thought thematic rather than a ranking of relative sinfulness.  The first four commandments focus on the “vertical” relationship between man and God while the later six deal with the “horizontal” relationships between people.  Still, while unlikely much to impress the uncompromising Leviticus, some have tried to gloss over the sinfulness, occasionally on the basis of “the end justifying the means”.  In De vita Caesarum (circa 121) (literally “On the Life of the Caesars” but better known in English as The Lives of the Twelve Caesars (twelve (substantially anecdotal) biographies of Julius Caesar (100-44 BC; Roman general and dictator of Rome 49-44 BC) and the first eleven emperors of the Roman Empire during the Principate)), Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (circa 70-circa 123) wrote of August Caesar (63 BC-14 AD): “That he was guilty of several acts of adultery is not denied, even by his friends; but they allege excuse for in, that he engaged in these intrigues, not from lewdness, but from policy, in order to discover more easily the designs of his enemies, through their wives.”

Double Adultery: adulterousness Cheryl Kernot (left) & adulterer Gareth Evans (right).

Although adultery can be a difficult, complicated business, to avoid things ending badly, there are really two options.  One is not to commit adultery because, in the words of  English author, Arthur Hugh Clough (1819-1861), "advantage rarely comes of it."  Option two is not to get caught but there is a long list of politicians who made the greatest mistake of all: getting caught.  Although adultery seemed once almost obligatory (and once also tolerated) for French politicians great and humble, in the English-speaking world, it's always a scandal.  Of late, we’ve had the helpfully named Anthony Weiner (b 1964), Bill Clinton (b 1946; US president 1993-2001) who had only himself to blame and Sir John Major (b 1943; UK prime-minister 1990-1997) who really must be admired; an affair with Edwina Currie (b 1946) hardly being safe-sex.  Jim Cairns (1914–2003) perjured himself while lying about his affair and John Profumo (1915–2006) committed adultery with Christine Keeler (1942–2017) while she was enjoying another adulterous affair with a Russian spy.  While leader of the opposition, Ben Chifley (1885–1951; prime minister of Australia 1945 to 1949) told the prime-minister he was going home to read a detective story, dying that night in the company of his mistress; men wept at the news of his death.  John Kennedy's (JFK, 1917–1963; US president 1961-1963) adultery was (within the beltway), famous even at the time and David Lloyd George (1863–1945; UK prime-minister 1916-1922) blatantly took his mistress to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919; one author claimed even the long-assumed faithful Winston Churchill (1875-1965; UK prime-minister 1940-1945 & 1951-1955) may have strayed.  Doing his bit, Gareth Evans (b 1944; Australian Labor Party (ALP) senator or MP 1978-1999, sometime attorney-general & foreign minister) had an affair with then Democrats leader Cheryl Kernot (b 1948) who subsequently rated on them and joined the ALP although whether that was because or in spite of Gareth’s adulterous caresses has never been clear.  Unfortunately, when Ms Kernot published her memoir Speaking for Myself Again (2002), she neglected to discuss her adulterous affair which prompted one journalist to reveal what had until then been only “insider knowledge”.  Whether or not that lack of disclosure contributed to be book being reputedly the least successful Australian political memoir isn’t certain but it was out-sold even by Peter Howson’s (1919–2009) The Howson diaries: the life of politics that, while packed with fascinating details to delight the insiders, also lacked the juicy bits which might have interested a wider audience.

End of the line for Sir Billy Snedden.

Most illustrious are those said to have died on the job, expiring usually in hotel rooms following heart-attacks or strokes.  The list includes the 70 year old Nelson Rockefeller (1908-1979; US vice-president 1974-1977) who was with a 25 year old aide and the 76 year old Albert Speer (1905–1981; Nazi court architect 1934-1942; Nazi minister of armaments and war production 1942-1945) who was in the company of an admirer of 37.  Lord Palmerston (1784-1865; variously UK prime-minister or foreign secretary on several occasions 1830-1865) is rumoured to have died on a billiard table with a housemaid and Pope John XII (circa 933–964; pope 955-964) is said to have died in circumstances not dissimilar.  Famously, Sir Billy Snedden (1926–1987), at 61, breathed his last in a Travelodge at Sydney's Rushcutter’s Bay with a somewhat younger woman who was his son’s ex-girlfriend, an event recorded by what was perhaps the Melbourne Truth's most memorable front page.  Remarkably, despite decades of speculation, her identity has never publicly been confirmed.

Escorting then-wife Natalie (b 1969, left) and noticing mistress Vicki Campion (b 1985, right). Former National Party (the old Country Party) leader Barnaby Joyce (b 1967; thrice (between local difficulties) deputy prime minister of Australia 2016-2022).

Mr Joyce joined a long line of adulterous politicians who made the greatest mistake of all: getting caught.  He's pictured here escorting (then) wife to the parliament's mid-winter ball in June 2017 (left) and casting his mistress an admiring glance (right).  The whip he carried was thought a photo-opportunity prop, verisimilitude for his “rural & regional shtick” rather than an indication of any other proclivities but who knows?  In a sense, Mr Joyce was a victim because when rugby union (and other codes) player Israel Folau (b 1989) in 2019 posted on social media a list of those God condemns to Hell which included “drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolaters”, while there was strident support for the gay community, despite the mention of “adulterers” and “drunks” being obviously a blatant an attack on Mr Joyce's character, not a whisper was heard in his defence.  Still, at the time she became his mistress, Ms Campion was unmarried, Mr Joyce thus guilty only of  “single adultery” so there's that.