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
However, granted there actually was an excrescence previously existing,
which had been removed by the knife, of what nature was the said
excrescence? It is scarcely possible, with Heindorf, to suppose the
Satyriasis of Aristotle[132] to be intended here; with much greater
probability _Schneider_ in his Greek Dictionary, under the word
διονυσιακὸς (Dionysiac, connected with Dionysus) drew attention to the
definition of _Galen_ (edit. Kühn XIX. p. 443.): διονυσίσκοι εἰσὶν
ὀστώδεις ὑπεροχαὶ ἐγγὺς κροτάφων γιγνόμεναι. λέγονται δὲ κέρατα ἀπὸ
τῶν κερασφορούντων ζάων κεκλημένα. (διονυσίσκοι are bony excrescences
growing near the temples, and they are called horns, so named from
the animals that carry horns). A passage of _Heliodorus_ (_Cocchi
Ant., Graecorum chirurgici libri, e collect. Nicetae Florent._ 1754.
fol., p. 125.) which _Oribasius, De fracturis_, has preserved, gives
a slightly different account; it reads: Ὀστώδης ἐπίφυσις ἐν παντὶ μὲν
γίγνεται μέρει τοῦ σώματος, πλεοναζόντως δὲ ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ, μάλιστα
δὲ πλησίον τῶν κροτάφων·Ὅταν δὲ δύο ἐπιφύσεις γένωνται πλησιάζουσαι
τοῖς κροτάφοις, κέρατα ταῦτα τινες εἴωθασιν ὀνομάζειν, ἔνιοι δὲ
_διονυσιακοὺς_ τοὺς οὕτω πεπονθότας ἀνθρώπους προσηγόρευσαν. (Bony
outgrowth may occur in every part of the body, but pre-eminently on
the head, and particularly near the temples. But when there are two
such growths in the neighbourhood of the temples, some are wont to call
them _horns_, but others name the patients so afflicted διονυσιακοὶ).
Then follows the description of the outgrowth, and the method of its
removal by excision. On this passage _Cocchi_ found an old marginal
gloss from the hand of Nicotas (?), κέρατα μὲν λέγεται ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν
κεράτων ἐκφύσεως, τῶν γιγνομένων τοῖς ἀλόγοις ζώοις. _Διονυσιακοὺς_ δὲ
αὐτοὺς προσαγορεύουσιν, ἀπὸ τῆς πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἐμφερείας _ὡς αὐτός_
φησιν ἐν τοῖς χειρουργουμένοις,—(they are called horns from the growth
of the horns that appear on the lower animals. And they name them
διονυσιακοὶ from the likeness to the god Dionysus, as he says himself,
in the carved figures),—which on the whole confirms the statement of
Heliodorus, though he (Cocchi) prefers, following this indication,
to emend the passage of Galen also so as to read, διονυσιακοί, _οἷς_
ὀστώδεις ὑπεροχαὶ ἐγγὺς κροτάφων _γίγνονται_, (Dionysiaci, so they are
called, i. e. those in whom bony excrescences grow near the temples).
This much, that we should read διονυσιακοὶ for διονυσίσκοι, is evident,
but whether the rest of the emendations are to be accepted may well
be open to doubt, as the second clause of the sentence, “and they are
called κέρατα (horns), so named from the animals that carry horns”,
obviously implies that the term διονυσιακοὶ is used in reference not to
the individual, but to the outgrowth. Schneider indeed agrees with the
emendation of Cocchi, but has in error put Sarmentus in the place of
Messius.
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