Adventures of King Pausole, the

The code of government of the legendary (Anatole France's) mythic King Pausole prescribed but two laws for his subjects: the first being, Hurt no man, and the second, Then do as you please.

Pierre Louys, pseudonym of Pierre Louis (1870-1925), was a French novelist and poet who expressed pagan sensuality with stylistic perfection. Louys frequented Parnassian and Symbolist circles and was a friend of the composer Claude Debussy. He founded various literary reviews, notably La Conque in 1891. His "Chansons de Bilitis" (1894), prose poems about Sapphic love, purporting to be translations from the Greek, deceived even experts. "Aphrodite" (1896), a novel depicting courtesan life in ancient Alexandria, made him famous and it became the best-selling work by any living French writer (350,000 copies).