Nonetheless, many people saw the uncoupling of art and morality as dangerous, decadence shook the Victorian establishment with its sensuality, sexual, and political experimentation.
Liberalism had already lost. Its greatest champion, the United States, had run aground after pointless wars, terminal decadence, and bureaucratic takeover by activists and special interests.
He spoke of heredity, of innate criminality, of Lombroso, of Charcot, of evolution, of the struggle for existence, of hypnotism, of hypnotic suggestion, and of decadence.
This was very ordinary in Ancient Rome, even if excessive indulgence in sexual relations with younger men was perceived to be a sign of moral decadence.