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
[104] _Oribasius_, De morb. curat., edit. Eunap. bk. III. ch.
59., in Steph. collect. p. 637., Ergo quibus nihil affertur auxilii
ab iis medicamentis quae mediocriter siccant et exacerbantur ab iis
quae siccant vehementer, eas λειχῆνας ἄγριους vocant. (Accordingly such
_lichens_ as are in no way benefited by remedies that are moderate
siccatives, and are aggravated by those that are violent ones, these
they call λειχῆνας ἀγρίους (malignant lichens)).
[105] _Jöhrens_, in his Dissertation already cited speaks
thus on the subject (p. 47): “De feminis, cum suavia maritorum evitare
nequiverint, quomodo ab ista infectione liberae evaserint, maius
restat dubium: nos opinamur, cum viri barbam saepius radi soliti
fuerint, ea propter patentibus a novacula poris virulentum illud
fermentum aut incentivum toxicum facilis sese insinuare et characterem
suum imprimere; imberbes contra feminas, glabritie cutis resistente
_porisque minus patulis_, sospitari potuisse.” (In the case of women,
when they have been unable to avoid the caresses of husbands, it
remains very doubtful how they have got off free from this infection.
Our own opinion is that as men have always been accustomed to have the
beard shaved frequently, for this reason the pores being opened more
widely by the action of the razor, that virulent ferment and active
poison creeps in more easily and produces its characteristic effect. On
the other hand women being beardless, the baldness of the skin offering
an obstacle and the _pores being less open_, have been able to escape).
[106] However this did happen in isolated cases, as is shown
by the example of Philaenis, who indeed was a Tribad properly, in
_Martial_, bk. VII. Epigr. 67.,
Post haec omnia cum libidinatur,
Non fellat, putat hoc parum virile.
Sed plane medias vorat puellas.
Di mentem tibi dent tuam, Philaeni,
Cunnum lingere quae putas virile.
(After all these indulgences when she still feels lustful, she does not
_fellate_, this she deems unmanly; she just mouths girls’ middles. The
gods give you your desire, Philaenis, you who think it a _manly_ vice
to act the cunnilingue). Comp. bk. IV. Epigr. 41. But it was always a
very exceptional thing to find this vice practised among women; in fact
_Juvenal_, Sat. II. 47-49., denies it altogether:
Non erit ullum
Exemplum in nostro tam detestabile sexu,
Taedia non lambit Cluviam, nec Flora Catullam.
(No such detestable example is to be found in our sex,—Taedia does not
lick Cluvia, nor Flora Catulla).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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