The Plague of Lust, Vol. 2 (of 2): Being a History of Venereal Disease in Classical AntiquityRosenbaum, Julius
History
The Plague of Lust, Vol. 2 (of 2): Being a History of Venereal Disease in Classical Antiquity
Rosenbaum, Julius
Sexually transmitted diseases -- History
nutriment, and the stomach for swallowing food. But when these inward
parts, viz. abdomen, stomach and chest, are attacked by a disease, the
disease is in turn conveyed and carried to the œsophagus, the tonsils
and neighbouring regions.
Children up to the age of puberty suffer most in this way, for children
have the very greatest and most marked desire for coolness, because
with them the natural heat is at its greatest; the longing for foods of
various sorts and cold beverages is boundless; while they shout loudly
both in quarrel and at play. This is equally true of girls up to the
commencement of menstruation.
With regard to locality, _Egypt_ gives most numerous examples of the
disease, for this country has at once a dry air to breathe, and many
sorts of comestibles,—roots, herbs, garden vegetables, pungent seeds;
while the drink is either thick, being Nile water, or artificially made
pungent with barley or with grape-skins. In _Syria_ the disease is also
found, especially in Coelesyria. For this reason the ulcers in question
are known as _Egyptian_ or _Syrian_ ulcers.
The mode and fashion in which death occurs in these cases is
deplorable. The pain is a cutting and burning pain, as in anthrax
(carbuncle, malignant pustule), the breath foul-smelling, the patient
exhaling an intensely offensive breath, and re-inhaling into the chest
another no less so. Patients are so loathsome to themselves they cannot
tolerate their own smell; the face is pale or livid, the temperature
excessively high, the thirst as distressing as in fever. Yet they
reject drink when offered from dread of the pain of swallowing; for
they undergo great agony both by the compression of the palate and
by the return of the liquid through the nose. No sooner have they
lain down than they spring up again; then finding they cannot bear an
upright posture, no sooner have they sat down than they are forced by
their agony to lie back once more. Most commonly they move about in
an upright attitude. For as they are unable to sleep, they avoid all
rest, as though they were fain to drive away one torture with another.
Inhalation is deep, for they long for fresh air to cool themselves;
exhalation on the contrary short and hurried, for the ulcers already
burning like fire are heated yet further by contact of the feverish
breath as it streams out. Hoarseness comes on, and loss of voice, and
this goes on continuously increasing, until suddenly coming to the end
of their resistance they give up the ghost.”
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account