The artificial penis was a commonplace among the erotica of ancient civilizations; there is abundant evidence of its use in Egypt, Assyria, India, Mexico, all over the world. It has been found in tombs; frequently was it to be seen as an ex-voto; in a slightly modified form it is yet the favourite mascot of Southern Italy.[82] Often enough they do not trouble to disguise the form. Aristophanes mentions the object in his _Lysistrata_ (411 B.C.), and one of the most spirited dialogues (VI) of Herodas (_circa_ 300-250 B.C.) is that where Koritto and Metro prattle prettily of their βαύβων, whilst (in another mime, VII) the ladies visit Kerdon the leather-worker who has fashioned this masterpiece. Truly Herodas is as modern to-day in London or in Paris as he ever was those centuries ago in the isle of Cos. _Fascinum_, explains the _Glossarium Eroticum Linguæ Latinæ_,[83] “Penis fictitius ex corio, aut pannis lineis uel sericis, quibus mulieres uirum mentiebantur. Antiquissima libido, lesbiis et milesiis feminis præsertim usitatissima. _Fascinis_ illis abutebantur meretrices in tardos ascensores.” As one might expect Petronius has something to say on the subject in a famous passage where that savage old hag[84] Œnothea fairly frightened Encolpius with her _scorteum fascinum_, upon which an erudite Spanish scholar, Don Antonio Gonzalez de Salas, glosses: “Rubrum penem coriaceum ut Suidas exsertim tradit uoce φαλλόι. Confecti & ex uaria materia uarios in usus olim _phalli_ ex ligno, _ficu_ potissimum qui _ficulnei_ sæpius adpellati, ex _ebore_, ex _auro_, ex _serico_, & ex _lineo panno_, quibus Lesbiæ tribades abutebantur.”[85] And Tibullus, speaking of the image of Priapus, has:[86] Placet Priape? qui sub arboris coma Soles sacrum reuincte pampino caput Ruber sedere cum rubente fascino. The Church, of course, condemned with unhesitating voice all such practices, whether they were connected (in however slight a degree) with Witchcraft or not. Arnobius, who regards all such offences as detestable, in his _Aduersus Nationes_, V (_circa_ A.D. 296), relates a curiously obscene anecdote which seems to point to the use of the fascinum by the Galli, the priests of Berecynthian Cybele,[87] whose orgies were closely akin to those of Dionysus. And the same story is related by Clement of Alexandria Προτρεπτικὸς πρὸς Ἕλληνας (_circa_ A.D. 190); by Julius Firmicus Maternus, _De Errore profanarum Religionum_ (A.D. 337-350); by Nicetas (_ob._ _circa_ A.D. 414) in a commentary on S. Gregory of Nanzianzus, oratio XXXIX; and by Theodoret (_ob._ _circa_ A.D. 457) _Sermo octaua de Martyribus_. Obviously some very primitive rite is in question.