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
“A man saw in a dream his penis covered with hair to the extreme tip,
shaggy with very thick hair that grew all of a sudden on it. He was a
notorious cinaedus, indulging in every abominable pleasure, effeminate
and a man-woman; only never using his member as a _man_ does. In this
way it happened that that part was so little employed, that through
not being rubbed against another body hair actually grew on it.” The
same author relates in another place[364]: “A man saw in a dream the
rôle[365] of a man-woman played on the stage; _his privy member fell
sick_. A man thought he saw a priest of Cybelé (a castrated man); _his
privy member fell sick_. This happened in the first instance because of
the name, in the second because of the coincidence of the fact with the
spectator’s condition. And indeed you know what κωμῳδεῖν (to represent
in comedy) signifies in dreams, and what it means to see a priest
of Cybelé. You remember too that if any one dreams he sees a Comedy
or Tragedy and remembers it afterwards, the event can be predicted
according to the plot of the piece dreamed of.”
The passage affords us yet another proof as to the causes that were
supposed in Antiquity to condition the rise of diseases of the
genitals, and we need certainly feel no surprise if we find the
ætiological relations of these complaints even in professional writers
wrapped in all but impenetrable obscurity.
Now what _is_ the word ἐναρέες? Some scholars take it to be Greek;
and accordingly would read ἐναγέες (persons who have sinned against
the godhead), as _Bouhier_ did, and perhaps _Caelius Rhodoginus_
even in his time, or else ανάριες (_imbelles, ad luctum_ veneream
inepti,—unwarlike, i.e. unfit for the struggle of love), which was
_Coray’s_ emendation. _Stark_ does not believe in any corruption of
the word, but thinks it should be derived from ἐναίρω (_spolio_,—I
rob, spoil), ἔναρα (_spolia_,—spoils), making it signify _virilitate
spoliati_,—men robbed of their virility. But ἐναίρω according to
_Buttmann’s_ Lexilogus, p. 276., means “to send down to Hades”, to
slay, ἔναρα the spoils taken from the _slain_, and from this comes the
idea of spoliation, deprivation. The word undoubtedly occurs (Homer,
Iliad XXIV. 244.) in the sense of “to be slain”, but the meaning
_virilitate spoliari_ (to be deprived of virility) without the addition
of some supplemental word can certainly not be authenticated in old
Writers. Supposing this derivation to be correct, ἐναρέες might signify
simply (Temple) robbers, and as a matter of fact the glosses give
ὁπλίται (warriors) as an explanation. It is a surprising thing that
those who make out the νοῦσος θήλεια to have been gonorrhœa (clap),
should not have derived the word from ἐάρ, the sap, the seed, with
inserted ν.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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