+1 for History of Rome podcast

Let's not mention that as a member of the upwardly mobile middle class, Lucius will enter into a political alliance with an elderly man of the upper class, with sexual favors key to the agreement, approved by his father as a key bargaining chip in the patronage system. As long as Lucius doesn't take the role of passive partner in anal intercourse, the arrangement will be considered legal, and his family will reap the benefits, but if he becomes known as a bottom, his family will be the laughing stock of the forum and they'll lose their implied quid pro quo, and Lucius' goals in the political sphere will be dashed. Nothing is more important in the institutionalized buggery of Ancient Rome than the power exchange offered in where he was in the sack.

Of course, if he fucks the old man, it's all cool, his dignitas remains.