(Then the tall Galli, and the one-eyed priestess with her sacred rattle, instil terror of _the gods that make men’s bodies swell_, unless three times at dawn you have eaten the prescribed head of garlic). True we cannot from the passage of Plutarch directly conclude that ulcers of the throat also were ascribed to the anger of the Syrian goddess in consequence of indulgence in a fish diet; rather should we expect what is said to apply primarily to external skin-ulcers, occurring on other parts, as just on the shin-bone. Still we shall be quite justified in making the reference general, more particularly as liver-complaint is also ascribed to the goddess’s interference, and we shall see that in Antiquity the cause of all ulcers was supposed to lie in some fault of the liver. Now as the fish had necessarily to be put into the mouth to be swallowed, and as it was always supposed the punishment of the goddess followed immediately on the offence, and affected the immediately active part, throat-ulcers might very naturally be taken to be a result of such punishment. This again only further confirms our explanation just above to the effect that ulcers of the throat were a consequence resulting from vicious indulgence. For the Temple-service of the Dea Syra was of course connected with every sort of licentious practice. Taking into consideration this marked prevalence of _Corrosion of the Shin-bones_, we might argue with considerable probability that it pointed to the existence of a disease of the bones following as a result of vicious indulgence. On the other hand the observation that the precise time the body became covered with ulceration was after indulgence in fish-eating cannot help being of weight in connection with the doctrine of Leprosy; for to the present day we note as very frequent among peoples whose chief nutriment is fish various forms of Leprosy. And again, we may very likely see in this prohibition of a fish diet, which is also mentioned by _Athenaeus_[50], a sanitary regulation justified by experience as necessary in Syria, where skin-diseases and ulcerations were so common. But not alone in Egypt and Syria did _fellation_ lead to suchlike unhappy results; we find the same to have been the case at Rome, as is proved by the following passage of _Martial_[51], a passage that has hitherto been completely overlooked in this connection, but which is none the less of great importance: _Indignas premeret pestis cum tabida fauces Inque ipsos vultus serperet atra lues_: Siccis ipse genis flentes hortatus amicos Decrevit Stygios Festus adire lacus. Nec tamen obscuro pia polluit ora veneno, Aut torsit lenta tristia fata fame: Sanctam Romana vitam sed morte peregit, Dimisitque animam nobiliore via. Hanc mortem fatis magni praeferre Catonis Fama potest: huius Caesar amicus erat.