The Plague of Lust, Vol. 1 (of 2): Being a History of Venereal Disease in Classical AntiquityRosenbaum, Julius
History
The Plague of Lust, Vol. 1 (of 2): Being a History of Venereal Disease in Classical Antiquity
Rosenbaum, Julius
Sexually transmitted diseases -- History
Therefore if we take the sentence literally and regard σώματα as being
the subject, it reads: “wherefore also the bodies (of the Galli) were
subject to tax to the Romans to this day.” We have seen already how the
word τέλος signified among the Greeks the “prostitution tax,” and how
the Septuagint translators rendered the Hebrew קְדֵשָׁה (Kêdeshah) and
קָדֵשׁ (Kâdesh), by which names the Priests of Cybelé were understood,
by τελεσφόρος and τελισκόμενος (subject to tax, paying tax), how the
Priests of Cybelé are characterised by other writers as men who were
Pathics in honour of their goddess, and how as a matter of fact the
_Cinaedi_ or _Exoleti_ at Rome in the time of the Emperor Severus had
to pay an impost similar to the prostitution-tax. The _scholion_ then
shows us that the Galli also were subjected to this impost payable to
the State. Were it a question merely of Castrated persons or indeed of
anything else but actual Paederastia, the whole _scholion_ would be
unintelligible; yet _Stark_ maintains that simply Eunuchs are intended,
and this because of the words that are appended, to the effect that the
Galli were Priests of Demeter. No doubt they may have been castrated,
but this is a side issue; the important point is, that they were
Pathics.
Finally we have still a passage from _Dio Chrysostom_[389] to mention,
in which however the hitherto almost stereotyped expression θήλεια
νόσος (feminine disease) is exchanged for γυναικεία νόσος (womanly
disease). The author is here expounding how all acts are under the
governance of a definite Genius or Spirit, and says: “for a weakling
and faint-hearted Spirit of this sort leads readily to the γυναικεία
νόσος (womanly disease) and other shames, to which is attached
punishment and disgrace.” Then in the following sentences the life and
appearance of one governed by this Spirit are more exactly described,
in such a way that there can be no possibility of supposing anything
else to be intended than the vice of the Pathic, and even _Stark_ (p.
12.) admits this much.
On reviewing once again what has been said, we find that the Scythians
in Asia became acquainted with paederastia, when Pathics returned from
foreign lands, and henceforth practised the vice at home as well. Their
fellow-countrymen could only suppose an evil demon animated them. So
when at length as a natural result of their vice they fell sick in
body and in mind, when nervous disorders and imbecility visited the
unfortunates, they never for a moment ascribed this to the vice these
men practised, but rather regarded their condition as a consequence of
the avenging wrath of Venus, whose temple they had robbed, and thus
brought into connection an earlier incident and a later.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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