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
[369] _Hesychius does_ give the word ἀνάρσιοι, and explains it
by ἀνάρμοστοι πολέμιοι· ἀπὸ τοῦ μὴ συνηρμοσθῆναι τοῖς ἤθεσιν.
(incompatible foes: from their not being _compatible in character
and disposition_). Plutarch, περὶ τῆς ἐν Τιμαίῳ ψυχογονίας (On the
Generation of the Soul in Plato’s “Timaeus”) near the end says: οἱ
ποιηταὶ καλοῦσιν _ἀναρσίους_ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς καὶ τοὺς πολεμίους, ὡς
ἀναρμοστίαν τὴν διαφορὰν οὖσαν. (the poets call _incompatible_ such
as are hostile and at enmity, the difference being irreconcileable).
_Zonaras_, Lexicon, writes: s. v. _ἀνάρσιοι_· ἐχθροί· _ἀδικοί_·
ἀνάρμοστοι. (under the word ἀνάρσιοι—incompatible: hostile;
_unjust_; irreconcileable). Similarly the Etymologicum Magnum; s.
v. _ἀνάρσιοι_· ἀδικοὶ, ἐχθροί.—ὁ ἀνάρμοστος καὶ ἀσύμφωνος· Ὦρος·
πολέμιος, _ὑβριστής_· καὶ _ἄναρσις_· νεῖκος, πόλεμος. (under the word
ἀνάρσιοι—incompatible: _unjust_, hostile,—one that is irreconcileable,
discordant. Orus (the Grammarian) gives: enemy, _overbearing_ man;
also _ἄναρσις_,—incompatibility: strife, war). According to this we
might very well read for ἐναρέες ἀνάρσιοι; for the Temple-robbers had
been ἄδικοι and ὑβρισταὶ (unjust, overbearing), and were further known
as pathics—whose vice was ἀδικία and ὕβρις (injustice, overbearing
violence), as we have seen again and again. Another point is that
_Homer_, Iliad XXIV. 365., Odyssey X. 459., uses the expression
ἀνάρσιοι in the sense of ὑβρισταὶ, ἄδικοι (overbearing, unjust men),
and this fact was always likely to be of weight with Herodotus, even
when he was translating a foreign word. Inasmuch as the word ἀνάρσιοι
had several meanings, he may very well have added the ἀνδρόγυνοι in the
second passage, instead of the καλοῦσι Σκύθαι (the Scythians call it),
in explanation of it.
[370] Liber quisquis virtuti studet. Opera. edit. Mangey, Vol. II.
p. 465., Λέγετο γοῦν, ὅτι θεασάμενός τινα τῶν ὠνουμένων, _ὃν θήλεια
νόσος εἶχεν_ ἐκ τῆς ὄψεως _οὐκ ἄῤῥενα_, προελθὼν ἔφη, σύ με πρίω· σὺ
γὰρ ἀνδρὸς χρείαν ἔχειν μοι δοκεῖς· ὡς τὸν μὲν δυσωπηθέντα ἐφ’ οἷς
ἑαυτῷ σύνοιδε, καταδῦναι, τοὺς δὲ ἄλλους τὸ σὺν εὐτολμίᾳ εὐθυβόλον
ἐκπλήττεσθαι. (for translation see text above).
_Diogenes Laertius_, bk. VI. ch. 2. note 4, relates the story only
in outline: Φησὶ δὲ Μένιππος ἐν τῇ Διογένους πράσει, ὡς ἁλοὺς καὶ
πωλούμενος ἠρωτήθη τί οἶδε ποιεῖν; ἀπεκρίνατο, Ἀνδρῶν ἄρχειν· καὶ
πρὸς τὸν κήρυκα, Κήρυσσε, ἔφη, εἴ τις ἐθέλει δεσπότην αὑτῷ πρίασδαι.
(Menippus says in the sale of Diogenes that the philosopher, a captive
and for sale as a slave, was asked what he could do. He answered,
“Govern men”; turning to the crier and adding, “Cry!—does anyone wish
to buy a master to govern him?”). Comp. ibid. note 9.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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