The phrase poikilos nomos sums up the problem of erotic ambivalence. Nomos means ‘law,’ ‘custom,’ or ‘convention’ and refers to the code of conduct for Athenian lovers and their boys in aristocratic circles of the time. Poikilos is an adjective applicable to anything variegated, complex or shifting, for example, a ‘dappled’ fawn, a ‘spangled’ wing, an ‘intricately wrought’ metal, a ‘complicated’ labyrinth, an ‘abstruse’ mind, a ‘subtle’ lie, a ‘devious’ double-entendre. Nomos implies something fixed firm in conventional sentiment and behavior; poikilos refers to what scintillates with change
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