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
[302] _Galen_, De usu partium bk. XIV. ch. 10. (IV. p. 187.), πηλίκην
γὰρ ἔχει δύναμιν εἰς τὴν τῶν περιεχομένων ἔκκρισιν ὁ οἷον σπασμὸς τῶν
μορίων τοῖς ἀφροδισίοις ἑπόμενος, ἔνεστί σοι μαθεῖν ἔκ τε τῶν ἐπιληψίων
τῶν μεγάλων κἀκ τοῦ παθήματος, ὃ δὴ καλεῖται γονόῤῥοια· κατὰ μὲν γὰρ
τὰς ἰσχυρὰς ἐπιληψίας, ὅτι τὸ πᾶν σῶμα σπᾶται σφοδρῶς, καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ τὰ
γεννητικὰ μόρια, διὰ τοῦτο ἐκκρίνεται τὸ σπέρμα· κατὰ δὲ τὰς γονοῤῥοίας
αὐτῶν μόνων ἐστὶ τὸ πάθημα τῶν σπερματικῶν ἀγγείων· ὁποίαν οὖν τάσιν
ἐν τοῖς εἰρημένοις νοσήμασι πάσχει, τοιαύτην ἴσχοντα ταῖς συνουσίαις
ἐκκρίνει τὸ σπέρμα. (for how great a force in the way of stimulating
the secretion of the surrounding glands is exerted by the species
of spasm of the parts that follows on amatory action, you may learn
from the seizures in the more serious forms of epilepsy, as also from
the affection which is known as gonorrhœa. For in violent epileptic
seizures, because the whole body is strongly convulsed, and with it the
procreative parts, for this reason the semen is secreted; whereas in
gonorrhœas the affection is one solely of the actual seminal vessels.
Accordingly whatever tension these parts undergo in the diseases
mentioned is the same in degree as they experience on secreting semen
in acts of sexual intercourse). Comp. Note 2.
[303] _Galen_, Method. medendi bk. XIV. ch. 7. (X. p. 967.), αὐτίκα
γέ τοι πάθος ἐστὶ τὸ καλούμενον ὑπὸ τῶν νεωτέρων πριαπισμὸς, ἐπειδὴ
τὸ αἰδοῖον ἀκουσίως ἐξαίρεται, τῶν οὕτω διακειμένων· ὃ θεασάμενός τις
τῶν ἐν τοῖσδε τοῖς ὑπομνήμασι προγεγυμνασμένων ἑτοίμως γνωριεῖ τοῦ
τῶν ἐμφυσημάτων ὑπάρχον γένους· (The immediate complaint is what is
called by the younger school Priapism, when the private part is erected
involuntarily in patients so afflicted; and if any of my readers who
have been prepared beforehand in the present memoranda see this, he
will readily recognize the phænomenon to belong to the class of the
emphysemata, or inflations). De sympt. caus. bk. III. ch. 11. (VII. p.
266).
[304] _Galen_, De causis morb. ch. 6. (VII. p. 22.), καὶ ὡς ἐνίοτε
μὲν εἰλικρινὴς ἐπιῤῥεῖ τούτων ἕκαστος τῶν χυμῶν, ἐνίοτε δ’ ἀλλήλοις
ἐπιμίγνυνται· καὶ ὡς αἱ τῶν οἰδούντων—μορίων διαθέσεις ἐντεῦθεν ἐπὶ
πλεῖστον ποικίλλονται ... καὶ σατυριάσεις ἐκ τούτου τοῦ γένους εἰσὶ.
(And so sometimes each of these humours is secreted pure, while at
other times they are mixed one with the other; and so from this
circumstance the conditions of the parts suffering swelling vary in the
highest degree.... Now cases of satyriasis are of this kind). Comp.
Method. med. bk. XIV. ch. 7.
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