In truth, the libertines share much with their "undead" victims. In eighteenth century Europe, sodomy was a capital crime. Sade himself was hanged in effigy after he was convicted in absentia for committing sodomy with his valet, a charge that stemmed from the infamous Marseilles affair. For this crime alone, the Sadian libertine lives under the shadow of the scaffold. Hence the libertine's fascination with the afterlife.