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
(Nor yet when done with generation, within the house hard by the hearth
expose the privates, but retire aside). St. Augustine, De civit. dei
bk. XIV., Omnes gentes adeo tenent in usu pudenda velare, ut quidam
barbari illas corporis partes nec in balneis undas habeant. (All
nations in fact make it a habit to cover the privates, so much so that
some Barbarians do not expose the parts of the body naked even in the
Baths). _St. Ambrose_, Offic. I. 18., Licet plerique se et in lavacro,
quantum possunt, tegant, ut vel illic, ubi nudum totum est corpus,
huius modi intecta portio sit. (Most men may also cover themselves,
as much as they can, even in the Bath, so that even there, where the
whole body is naked, a part may so be hidden). _Arnobius_, bk. V.,
Propudiosa corporum monstratur obscoenitas, obiectanturque partes
illae, quas pudor communis abscondere, quas naturalis verecundiae lex
iubet, quas inter aures castas sine venia nefas est ac sine honoribus
apellare praefatis. (The foulest abomination of men’s bodies is
exhibited, and those parts exposed, which common modesty, the natural
law of shamefacedness, bids us conceal, which among ears polite it
is forbidden to name without asking pardon and making a preface of
apologies).—bk. III., Insignire his partibus, quas enumerare, quas
persequi probus audeat nemo, nec sine summae foeditatis horrore mentis
imaginatione concipere. (To parade those parts, which no honourable man
dare name or describe, nor even without a shudder at such a height of
foulness conceive a mental picture of). Comp. p. 42. and _Oppenheim_,
loco citato p. 128., who undoubtedly ranks the importance of the vice
of paederastia too high, when he finds in it the main reason for the
feeling of shame prevalent among the Turks.
[273] _Aristophanes_, Wasps 578., παίδων τοίνυν δοκιμαζομένων αἰδοῖα
πάρεστι θεᾶσθαι. (Yet when boys are under test, men may see their
privates). Comp. _Athenaeus_, Deipnos. bk. XII. p. 550. Petit, Ad
legg. Attic. p. 227. At Rome likewise in cases of marriage disputes
the men were obliged to offer their genital organs for examination
(_Quintilian_, Declam. 279.), a Law which was only revoked by
Justinian. Comp. _Gundlingiana_ No. 23. pp. 342 sqq. We learn from
_Plato_, Theaetet. 151., ποίαν χρῆ ποίῳ ἀνδρὶ συνοῦσαν ὡς ἀρίστους
παῖδας τίκτειν, (what sort of maid must mate with what sort of man
to produce as fine children as may be), that the marriageable girls
were examined by the midwives,—a procedure that Plato wished to see
universally introduced in his ideal State (De legg. bk. XII.). But
against this _Theodoretus_, Contra Graecos bk. IX., declaims vigorously.
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