[107] It is a surprising circumstance that the words _basium_, _basiare_, _basiator_ (kiss, to kiss, kisser) appear only to have come into use by the Romans from the time of Catullus onwards, and are found almost exclusively in Martial, Juvenal and the still later Petronius, so coinciding with a period in which dissoluteness of morals had reached the highest pitch among the Romans. Some would derive the word _basium_ from βάζω, loqui, (to speak); so perhaps it may have been used in a similar way to narrare (to tell) in _Martial_ (III. 84.) in the sense of _cunnilingere_. Βάζω, βαίνω, βεινῶ and βινῶ (to speak, to go, to have sexual intercourse) seem all to have one and the same stem. The second of the two Epigrams of _Martial_ quoted in the text reminds us almost involuntarily of the first Tarsica of Chrysostom. Apparently _basium_ and _basiare_ always imply a _vicious kiss_, to _kiss viciously_, in a general way. Hence _Martial_, XI. 62., Mediumque mavult basiare quam summum, (And she had rather kiss his middle than his head). _Petronius_, Sat., Ultime cinaedus supervenit,—extortis nos clunibus cecidit, modo basiis olidissimis inquinavit. (Finally a _cinaedus_ appeared,—he made at us with writhing buttocks, and anon befouled us with most evil-smelling kisses). [108] _Galen_, loco citato, mentions in particular the physicians. _Crito_ and _Pamphilus_, who lived in the reign of Domitian, and who accordingly were contemporaries of _Martial’s_, as pre-eminently successful in the treatment of _mentagra_. [109] Also _Hippocrates_, De aere aq. et loc. p. 549. Vol. I. ed. Kühn, says: ἀλλὰ τὴν _ἡδονὴν κρατέειν_, διότι πολύμορφα γίνεται τὰ ἐν τοῖς θηρίοις· περὶ μὲν οὖν _Αἰγυπτίων_ καὶ Λιβύων οὕτως ἔχειν μοι δοκεῖ. (But that _love of pleasure_ gained the mastery, inasmuch as the passions in beasts are of many forms; now with regard to the _Egyptians_ and Libyans this seems to me to be the case). [110] _Julian_, Caesares, in “Opera Omnia” Paris 1630. 4to., Pt. II. p. 9., Ἐπιστραφέντες δὲ πρὸς τὴν καθέδραν ὤφθησαν ὠτειλαὶ κατὰ τὸν νῶτον μυρίαι, καυτῆρες τινὲς καὶ ξέσματα, καὶ πληγαὶ χαλεπαὶ καὶ μώλωπες, ὑπὸ τῆς ἀκολασίας καὶ ὠμότητος, ψωραί τινες καὶ λειχῆνες, οἷον ἐγκεκαυμέναι. (for translation see text). [111] _Suetonius_, Vita Tiberii ch. 68. [112] _Tacitus_, Annals bk. IV. ch. 57. [113] _Galen_, De composit. medicament. secundum genera bk. V. ch. 12. edit. Kühn Vol. XIII. p. 836. [114] _Bertrandi_, “Abh. von den Geschwüren” (Treatise on Ulcers) from the Italian. Erfurt 1790. 8vo. § 200.