pander

pander The verb pander means to cater to, or profit by, the vices of others. But for centuries it meant to act as a go-between in clandestine love affairs.

Pandaro was a character in Boccaccio's Filostrato. He was the cousin of Cressida and, living up to his unsavory reputation, acted as go-between in her affair with Troilus. Chaucer took him over in his Troilus and Criseyde as Pandarus, changing him from cousin to uncle but retaining his unsavory role. His name came to be used as a generic term for “an arranger of sexual liaisons.” In each instance Pandaro or Pandare obtained Cressida's favors for the pleasure of Troilus, son of the king of Troy. But the match did not last long. Cressida deserted her lover for a Greek. Shakespeare through Pandarus intoned: “Since I have such pains to bring you together, let all pitiful goers-between be call'd to the world's end after my name; call them all Pandars.”

The sense of pander in today's contemporary usage is to appeal to someone's lower tastes or lower nature. It might be said of anyone who gains power and popularity by arousing the emotions and prejudices of people. Such a person might also be called a demagogue.