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
(With her (Cleopatra’s) herd of foul men stained with disease—vice). It
is taken by _Stark_ as by most of the commentators to mean _castrated_
persons, though strictly speaking it implies nothing more than a
contemptuous circumlocution for Egyptians. The boys that were kept in
the brothels at Rome for purposes of paederastia were for the most
part from Egypt, whence they were imported in flocks. Accordingly
the poet calls the whole _entourage_ of Cleopatra pathics. There can
be no mistake, if only we translate thus: _cum contaminato grege
virorum, morbo turpium_, (with a polluted herd of men, defiled with
disease—vice). In this Horace was all the more justified, because as a
matter of fact Cleopatra did keep cinaedi, as we learn from _Suidas_:
s. v. κίναιδα καὶ κιναιδία· ἠ ἀναισχυντία· ἀπὸ τοῦ κινεῖν τὰ αἰδοῖα. _Ὁ
τῆς Κλεοπάτρας κίναιδος_ Χελιδὼν ἐκαλεῖτο. (under the words κίναιδα
and κίναιδία: shameless practice; from the moving (τὸ κινεῖν of the
genitals. _Cleopatra’s cinaedus_ was called Chelidon. True _Terence_,
Eunuch. I. 2. 87., makes Phaedria say:
Porro _eunuchum_ dixisti velle te,
_Quia solae utuntur his reginae_, repperi,
(I have discovered wherefore you said you wanted a _eunuch_, because
only queens use them) and Donatus observes on the passage that
_reginae_ (queens) stands for _feminae divites_ (rich ladies).
Accordingly just as Eunuchus is used for cinaedus or pathicus, in the
same way cinaedus might very well stand in _Suidas_ for eunuch, and
as a matter of fact the _entourage_ of Cleopatra may have consisted
of actual eunuchs. Still it is Horace’s main point that they were
_pathics_. As to the reason why _reginae_ (queens, rich ladies) kept
_castrati_ (eunuchs) at all, comp. p. 125 above.—The Latin _grex_
(herd) is sufficiently explained by the παίδων ἀγέλας (herds of boys)
in the passages already quoted (p. 131.) from _Tatian_ and _Justin
Martyr_, along side which we may put the μειρακίων ὡραίων ἀγέλαι (herds
of lads in the bloom of youth) of _Clement of Alexandria_, Paedag. bk.
III. ch. 4. The word is used in the same sense by _Seneca_, Epist 95.,
Transeo _puerorum infelicium greges_, quos post transacta convivia
aliae cubiculi contumeliae expectant. Transeo _agmina exoletorum_ per
nationes coloresque descripta. (I pass over the _herds of unhappy
boys_, whom after the feast is done, other affronts of the bed-chamber
await. I pass over the _serried ranks of debauchees_ (cinaedi)
marshalled by nation and complexion.) _Cicero_, Ad Atticum I. 13.,
Concursabant barbatuli iuvenes, totus ille _grex_ Catilinae, (Thither
flocked the youths of the baby beards, all the _herd_ of Catiline’s
friends.) _Petronius_, Sat. ch. 40., Grex agit in scena mimum. (The
common herd plays the mime on the stage.) _Grex_ was used generally
for any crowd of _common_ men.—The use of the word _contaminatus_
(polluted) brings to mind _catamitus_, which bears the sense of
pathic, e. g. in _Cicero_, Philipp. II. 31., _Appuleius_, Metam. I.
p.
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