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PARIS
CHARLES CARRINGTON
LIBRARIE DE FOLK-LORE, ANTHROPOLOGIE
13, FAUBOURG MONTMARTRE, 13
FOOTNOTES:
[1] It would be a great mistake to think that because SPRENGEL wrote
his History here, the opposite must be true. The greater part of the
Works collected by him are no longer to be found. It is only too
evident that the earlier administrators of the library, especially
ERSCH, so famous as a Historian of Literature, left the medical side
almost totally unconsidered; and what gaps the Administration of
to-day has to fill up is sufficiently evidenced by the yearly Lists of
Additions.
[2] The Bibliography of Authorities and Historians has been placed at
the end of the present volume.
[3] “On the Venereal Disease in the Northern Provinces of European
Turkey” in: Russian Compendium for Natural and Medical Science, edited
by _Alex. Crichton_, _Jos. Rehmann_, _C. Fr. Burdach_, vol. I. Riga and
Leipzig 1815. large 8vo. pp. 230.
[4] “Geschichte der Lustseuche” (History of the Venereal Disease), Vol.
I. p. 326.
[5] _Celsus_, De re medica Bk. VI. ch. 18., “Proxima sunt ea,
quae ad partes obscoenas pertinent, quarum apud Graecos vocabula
et tolerabilius se habent et accepta iam usu sunt, cum omni fere
medicorum volumine atque sermone iactentur, apud nos foediora verba, ne
consuetudine quidem aliqua verecundius loquentium commendata sunt.”
(Next are particulars relating to the unmentionable parts; the name
of these among the Greeks are less objectionable and are now accepted
by usage, as they are freely employed by physicians both in books and
speech, whereas with ourselves the words are coarse, not approved by
any customary use on the part of those who speak with any regard to
modesty.) How strictly the words, especially in the case of the poets,
were scrutinised in this respect even in later times still, is shown
by the passage in _Aulus Gellius_, Noct. Attic. Bk. X. ch. 10.; and in
_Petronius_, Satir. 132, Polyaenus says: Ne nominare quidem te (scil.
penem) inter res serias fas est. Poenitentiam agere sermonis mei coepi,
secretoque rubore perfundi, quod oblitus verecundiae meae cum ea parte
corporis verba contulerim, quam ne ad cogitationem quidem admittere
severioris notae homines solent.”
(It is forbidden even to mention thee (viz. the penis) in serious
discourse. I have begun to do penance for my words and to feel the glow
of a secret blush, because forgetful of my modesty I expressed in words
that part of the body, which men of the stricter type refuse to admit
even into their thoughts.) So the collector of Priapeia appeals to the
reader: Conveniens Latio pone supercilium! (Lay aside the disapproving
frown that befits Latium); and later on people used to say of such
talk, they wished to speak plain _Latin_, just as we say, speak _plain
English_; while the Greek would excuse himself by his ἄγροικος καὶ
ἄμουσός εἰμι, (I am but am unpolished rustic).
[6] Satir. II. 8-13.
[7] _Athenaeus_, Deipnosoph. bk. XIII. ch. 21.—Comp. _Aristotle_,
Politics bk. VII. ch. 17.
[8] Bk. XII. Epigr. 43.—Comp. _H. Paldamus_, “Römische Erotik.”
Greisswald 1833. large 8vo.
[9] _Priapeia_, Carm. 1.
Ludens haec ego teste te, Priape,
Horto carmina digna, non libello;
Ergo quidquid est, quod otiosus
Templi parietibus tui notavi
In partem accipias bonam rogamus.
Carm. 41.
Quisquis venerit huc, poeta fiat,
Et versus mihi dedicet iocosos;
Qui non fecerit, inter eruditos
Ficosissimus ambulet poeta.
Carm. 49.
Tu quicunque vides circa tectoria nostra
Non nimium casti carmina plena ioci;
(The songs I sing, thou art my witness, Priapus, are worthy but of a
garden, not of a book. Wherefore whate’er it be that in leisure hours I
have writ on thy temple-walls, receive, we pray, in good part.)
(Whosoe’er comes hither must become a poet and dedicate to me some
merry lines; whoe’er refuses, amidst the learned let him walk most
wooden of poets.—N.B. _ficosus_ means at once like a fig-tree and
_afflicted with piles_; perhaps we might render “most costive of
poets”.)
(Thou beholdest, whoe’er thou art, around the plaster of our walls
lines teeming with not too chastened a wit.)
also in _Martial_, bk. XII. Epigr. 62. we read:
Qui carbone rudi, putrique creta
Scribit carmina, quae legunt cacantes.
(Who with rough charcoal or crumbly chalk writes verses that men read
as they shit.)
[10] _Clement of Alexandria_, Paedag. bk. II. ch. 10. ὅσοι δὲ
τὴν παραβολὴν διώκουσι, πταίουσι περὶ τὸ κατὰ φύσιν, _σφᾶς αὐτοὺς
βλάπτοντες_, κατὰ τὰς παρανόμους συνουσίας.
(“Now they that follow the parable sin aginst nature, _hurting their
own selves_, according to their lawless conversation.”)
[11] _Larcher_, “Mémoire sur Venus,” (Memoir on Venus). Paris 1775.
pp. 312. 8vo.—_De la Chau_, “Dissertation sur les Attributs de Venus,”
(Dissertation on the Attributes of Venus. Paris 1776. pp. 91. 4to. In
German, by C. Richter. Vienna 1783. pp. 179. 8vo.—_J. C. F. Manso_,
“Ueber die Venus,” (On Venus): in “Versuche über einige Gegenstände aus
der Mythologie der Griechen und Römer,” (Essays on certain Subjects
from the Mythology of the Greeks and Romans). Leipzig 1784. large 8vo.
pp. 1-308. The Treatise is the most complete account we possess on
the subject of Venus.—_Lenz, C. G._, “Die Göttin von Paphos auf alten
Bildwerken und Baphomet,” (The Goddess of Paphos in Ancient Sculptures
and Baphomet.) Gotha 1808. pp. 26. 4to., with Copperplates.—_Münter,
Fr._, “Der Tempel der himmlischen Göttin zu Paphos,” (The Temple
of the heavenly Goddess at Paphos). Copenhagen 1824. pp. 40. with
Copperplates.—_Lajard, Felix._ “Recherche sur le culte, les symboles,
les attributs et les monuments figurés de Venus en orient et en
occident,” (Researches on the Cult, Symbols, Attributes and artistic
Monuments of Venus in East and West). Paris 1834. 4to., with 30 Plates,
fol. Known to us only from the notices.
[12] _Orpheus_, Hymn. 55.
Οὐρανίη Ἀφροδίτη,
παντογενὴς, γενέτειρα θεὰ, γεννᾷς δὲ τὰ πὰντα,
ὅσσα τ’ ἐν οὐρανῷ ἐστι καὶ ἐν γαίῃ πολυκάρπῳ
ἐν πόντου τε βυθῷ. γαμοστόλε, μῆτερ ἐρώτῶν.
(Heavenly Aphrodité, parent of all, mother Goddess,—for thou
engenderest all things, all things that are in heaven and in fruitful
earth and in depth of ocean,—harbinger of marriage, mother of loves).
[Transcriber’s Note: παντογενὴς (parent of all) should read ποντογενὴς
(sea-born).]
_Homer_, Hymn. 9. to Venus:
Κυπρογενῆ Κυθέρειαν ἀείσομαι, _ἥτε βροτοῖσιν
μείλιχα δῶρα δίδωσιν_, ἐφ’ ἱμερτῷ δὲ προσώπῳ
αἰεὶ μειδιάει, καὶ ἐφ’ ἱμερτὸν φέρει ἄνθος.
(Cyprus-born Cytherea will I sing, who _to men gives sweet gifts_, and
on her lovely visage has ever a smile, and brings a lovely blossom of
love).
[13] _Hesiod_, Theogonia, 190-206.
[14] Consult the Poem of _Sappho_ in _Brunck_, Analect. vet. poet.
Graec., Vol. I. p. —_Suidas_ under the word Ψιθυριστής (whisperer),
as epithet of Venus. _Eustathius_ on Homer, Odyssey, XX., p. 1881.
Her attribute was a key to the Heart. _Pindar_, Pyth. IV. 390. Comp.
_Ovid_, Fast. IV. 133 sqq.
[15] The Trojan women used to betake themselves before their marriage
to the river Scamander, to bathe in it and say: Receive, Scamander, our
Virginity. _Aeschines_, Epist. II. p. 738.
[16] _Herodotus_, Bk. II. ch. 64. Καὶ τὸ μὴ μίσγεσθαι γυναιξὶ, ἐν
ἱροῖς, μηδὲ ἀλούτους ἀπὸ γυναικῶν ἐς ἱρὰ ἐσιέναι, οὗτοι εἰσὶ οἱ
πρῶτοι θρησκεύσαντες· _οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλοι σχεδὸν πάντες ἄνθρωποι_, πλὴν
Αἰγυπτίων καὶ Ἑλλήνων, _μίσγονται ἐν ἱροῖσι_.
(And the practice of not having intercourse with women in temples, and
not going into temples unwashed after such intercourse, these practices
they were the first to observe as a matter of religion; _for almost
all the rest of mankind_, except Egyptians and Greeks, _have sexual
intercourse in temples_.) Comp. _Clement of Alexandria_, Stromat. bk.
I. p. 361.
[17] Already in his time St. Jerome affirmed: omnem concubitum
coniugale esse peccatum, nisi causa procreandi sobolem (that all
conjugal coition is a sin, except for the sake of begetting offspring);
and _Andr. Beverland_ (de peccato originali—On Original Sin, p. 60.);
Ingenitum nefas nil aliud est, quam coeundi ista libido, (Inborn sin is
nothing else than the foul craving for coition). With this should be
compared the view of _Lycurgus_, which _Plutarch_ cites in his life of
him.
Also _Athenaeus_ (Deipnosoph. Bk. XXI. p. 510.) says: προκριθείσης
γοῦν τῆς' Ἀφροδίτης, αὕτη δ’ ἐστὶν ἡ ἡδονὴ, πάντα συνεταράχθη. (thus
Aphrodité being rather chosen,—now this is sensual pleasure,—all was
thrown into confusion.) _Clement of Alexandria_, Paedog. bk. II. ch.
10. Ψιλὴ γὰρ ἡδονὴ, κἂν ἐν γάμῳ παραληφθῇ, παράνομός ἐστι καὶ ἄδικος
καὶ ἄλογος. (For base pleasure—i.e. pleasure for its own sake,—even
though it have been enjoyed in wedlock, is unlawful and unjust and
unreasonable.)—_Philo_, De opificio mundi, pp. 34, 35, 38. De Allegoria,
II. p. 1100. ὄφιν εἶναι σύμβολον ἡδονῆς. (the snake is the symbol of
sensual pleasure.) With some coarseness Rabbi Zahira explains the
Fall. The Tree, he says, that bore the forbidden fruit signifies the
instrument of generation in Man; not the Tree in the midst of the
garden of Eden, he comments, but the Tree in the midst of the body,
which is not in the midmost of the garden, but in the midmost of the
Woman, for it is there that the garden is planted. _Nork_, “Braminen
und Rabinen,” (Brahmins and Rabbis). Meissen 1836. large 8vo. pp. 91.
[18] Descript. Graeciae, bk. I. ch. 14.
[19] _Homer_, Odyss. Bk. VIII. 362.—_Hesiod_, Theog. 193.—_Strabo_,
XIV. 983.—_Tacitus_, Hist. II. 3.—_Pausanias_, VIII. 5. 2.
[20] _Sanchoniathon_, Fragment. edit. Orelli, p. 34., _Eusebius_,
Praeparat. Evang., I. 10., τὴν δὲ Ἀστάρτην Φοίνικες τὴν Ἀφροδίτην εἶναι
λέγουσι. (Now the Phoenicians say that Astarté is Aphrodité.)
[21] _Herodotus_, Bk. I. ch. 105. _Homer_, Hymn. IX. 1. _Ruhnken_,
Epist. crit. I. p. 51. _Heyne_, Antiquarische Aufs. I. p. 135.
[22] Hence the Father _Ephraim Syrus_ (Hymn in Opp. Vol. II. p. 457.
_Gesenius_, “Kommentar. zum Jesaias,” (Commentary on Isaiah), Pt. II.
p. 540. Ephraim lived 379 A. D.):—It is Venus that led astray her
followers, the Ishmaelites. Into our land also she came, how most
abundantly do the sons of Hagar honour her.
A street-walker (they call) the Moon,
Like a courtesan they represent Venus.
Twain they call female among the Stars.
And not merely names are they,
Names without meaning, these female names,
Abounding in Wantonness are they in themselves.
For since they are the women of all men,
Who amongst them can be modest,
Who amongst them chaste,
Who exercised his wedlock after the fashion of the fowls?
Who (otherwise than the Chaldaeans) introduced the Festival of that
frantic Goddess, at whose Solemnities Women practise harlotry?
[23] Histor. Bk. I. ch. 199. Ἐπεὰν δὲ μιχθῇ, ἀποσιωσαμένη τῇ θεῷ,
ἀπαλλάσσεται ἐς τὰ οἰκία· καὶ τὠπὸ τούτου οὐκ οὕτω μέγα τί οἱ δώσεις
ὥς μιν λάμψεαι. (But after she has gone with a man, and so acquitted
her obligation to the goddess, she returns to her home; and from
that time forth no gift however great will prevail with her.) The
same thing is related also by _Baruch_ VI. 42, 43. Comp. _Voss_ on
_Virgil_, Georgics, II. 523 sqq. To this day we find amongst the bold
sons of the Desert, the Arabians, some trace of this devotion of their
fathers, Niebuhr writes (“Beschreibung von Arabien”—(Description of the
Arabians), Copenhagen 1772, p. 54. note.): “I read that the Europeans
have investigated with great erudition and eloquence the question, Num
inter naturalis debiti et conjugalis officii egerium liceat psallere,
orare, etc.? (Whether in the performance of the debt of nature and
the conjugal office it is lawful to sing, to pray, and so on?) I do
not know what the Mohammedans have written on this matter. I have
been assured that it is their custom to begin all their occupations
with the words; Bismallâh errachmân errachhîm (in the name of the
merciful and gracious God), and that they must say this also “ante
conjugalis officii egerium (before the performance of the conjugal
office), and that no reputable man omits this.” So at the present day
in Italy the courtesan bows before the image of her Madonna, before
she gives herself, and says to her, “Madonna, mi ajuta!” or “Madonna,
mi perdonna!” (Madonna, be my aid!, Madonna, pardon me!) whilst she
draws a veil over her picture, and calls this Christianity! For the
rest Constantine abolished the custom in question at Babylon and
at Heliopolis, and destroyed the Temples of Venus at those places.
_Eusebius_, Life of Constantine, III. p. 58. _Socrates_, Eccles. Hist.
I. 18.
[24] _Heeren_, “Ideen über Politik und Handel,” (Ideas on Political
Science and Trade), Pt. I. 2. p. 257.
[25] So we think we ought to understand the _κατα_πορνεύει τὰ θήλεα
τέκνα (prostitute _down_ their female children) in the text, for the
expression is evidently formed on the same plan as the καθῆσθαι ἐπ’
οἰκήματος (to sit down at a house of ill-fame in _Plato_, Charmides,
163. c.; because the brothels lay near the harbour, and so in the more
low-lying region, away from Athens itself. In the same way the Romans
used the verb _descendere_ (to go down), e. g. _Horace_, Satires I. 2.
34., because the public houses of ill-fame at Rome were in the valley,
in the Subura.
[26] Hist. of Alexander the Great, Bk. V. ch. 1. Comp. Isaiah, XIV.
11., XLVII. 1. Jeremiah, LI. 39. Daniel, V. 1.
[27] Bk. XI. p. 532. Ἀλλὰ καὶ θυγατέρας οἱ ἐπιφανέστατοι τοῦ ἔθνους
ἀνιεροῦσι παρθένους, αἷς νόμος ἐστὶ, καταπορνευθείσαις πολὺν χρόνον
παρὰ τῇ θεῷ μετὰ ταῦτα δίδοσθαι πρὸς γάμον. (Moreover the chief men
of the nation consecrate their daughters when still virgins, and it
is the custom for these, after acting as prostitutes for a long time
in the service of the goddess, then to be given in marriage). Hence
the Scholiast also to _Juvenal_, Satir. I. 104, “Mesopotameni homines
effrenatae libidinis sunt in utroque sexu, ut Salustius meminit,”
(The inhabitants of Mesopotamia are people of unbridled lustfulness
in either sex, as Sallust records); and _Cedrenus_, Chaldaeorum et
Babyloniorum leges plenae sunt impudicitiae atque turpitudinis, (the
laws of the Chaldaeans and Babylonians are full of indecency and
foulness).
[28] Bk. I chs. 93, 94. The ἐνεργαζόμεναι παιδίσκαι (maids working
at their handicraft) mentioned in this passage are maids who, to use
Heine’s expression, practice their _horizontal_ craft. Herodotus’ story
is also found mentioned in _Strabo_ Bk. XI. p. 533., _Aelian_, Var.
Hist., bk, IV. ch. 1., and _Athenaeus_, Deipnos. bk. XII. p. 516.
[29] Augustine, De Civit. Dei, bk. IV. ch. 10. Cui (Veneri) etiam
Phoenices donum de prostitutione filiarum, ante quam iungerent
eas viro, (To whom—Venus,—the Phoenicians also made a gift of the
prostitution of their daughters, before they married them to a
husband). _Athenagoras_, Adv. Graecos, p. 27. D., Γυναῖκες γοῦν ἐν
εἰδωλείοις τῆς Φοινικίας πάλαι προκαθέζοντο ἀπαρχόμεναι τοῖς ἐκεῖ
θεοῖς ἑαυτῶν τὴν τοῦ σώματος αυτῶν μισθαρνίαν, νομίζουσαι τῇ πορνείᾳ
τὴν θεὸν ἑαυτῶν ἱλάσκεσθαι. (Thus women used of old to sit in the
idolatrous temples of the Phoenicians, offering as first-fruits to
the gods therein the hire of the prostitution of their own bodies,
deeming that by fornication was their goddess propitiated). Comp.
_Eusebius_, De Praeparat. Evangel. IV. 8.—_Athanasius_, Orat. contra
Gentes.—_Theodoret_, Hist. Eccles. I. 8.
[30] De Dea Syra, ch. 6.
[31] _Valerius Maximus_, bk. II. ch. 6. 15., Sicae enim fanum est
Veneris, in quod matronae (Poenicarum) conferebant; atque inde
prosedentes ad quaestum, dotes corporis iniuria contrahebant, (for
at Sica is a shrine of Venus, to which the matrons—amongst the
Phoenicians—used to repair; and there sitting for hire, earned their
dowers by the prostitution of their persons).
[32] _Justinus_, Histor. Philipp., bk. XVIII, ch. 5., Mos erat Cypriis,
virgines ante nuptias statutis diebus, dotalem pecuniam quaesituras, in
quaestum ad litus maris mittere, pro reliqua pudicitia libamenta Veneri
soluturas. (It was a custom among the Cyprians to send the virgins
before their marriage on fixed days to the sea-shore, there to sit for
hire and so earn money for their dowry, to thus render to Venus the
first-fruits of their maidenhood). Comp. _Athenaeus_, Deipnos. bk. XII,
p. 516.
[33] _Justinus_, Histor. Philipp., bk. XXI. ch. 3., Cum Rheginorum
tyranni Leophronis bello Locrenses premerentur, voverant, si victores
forent, ut die festo Veneris virgines suas prostituerent. Quo voto
intermisso cum adversa bella cum Lucanis gererent, in concionem eos
Dionysius vocat: hortatur ut uxores filiasque suas in templum Veneris
quam possint ornatissimas mittant, ex quibus sorte ductae centum
voto publico fungantur, religionisque gratia uno stent in lupanari
mense omnibus ante iuratis viris, ne quis ullam attaminet. Quae res ne
virginibus voto civitatem solventibus fraudi esset, decretum facerent:
ne qua virgo nuberet, priusquam illae maritis traderentur. etc. (The
people of Locri, when they were hard pressed in the war with Leophron
tyrant of the Rhegians, had made a vow, that should they be victorious,
they would abandon their virgins to prostitution on the feast-day of
Venus. But this vow was broken, and when they were waging a disastrous
war with the Lucanians, Dionysius calls them to an assembly, wherein
he urges them to send their wives and daughters to the Temple of Venus
in the gayest array they could, and that of these a hundred should
be chosen by lot to carry out the public vow; that to fulfil the
obligation to the goddess they should stand publicly in a brothel one
month, all men having previously bound themselves by oath that none
should deflower any one of them. Further that this thing should be no
detriment to the maidens who so freed the city of its vow, a decree
should be passed to the effect that no maiden might marry, until these
were given to husbands; etc.). Comp. _Athenaeus_, Deipnos., bk. XII. p.
516. _Strabo_, bk. VI. p. 259, says: προεγάμει τὰς νυμφοστοληθείσας,
(he used to lie first with maidens that had been made brides).
[34] “De Babyloniorum instituto, ut mulieres ad Veneris templum
prostarent,” (On the Babylonian custom of Women prostituting themselves
at the Temple of Venus), note on Herodotus, I. p. 199 in Commentat.
Soc. Reg. Götting., Vol. XVI. pp. 30-42.
[35] Vermischte Schriften, vol. VI. pp. 23-50, “Ueber eine Stelle bei
Herodot.” (On a passage in Herodotus).
[36] According to _Tacitus_, Histor. II. 2., Under no circumstances
must blood flow on the altars of the Paphian goddess.
[37] “Ideen über Politik und Handel,” (Ideas on Political Science and
Trade), I. 2. p. 180. note 2.
[38] The King of Calicut at the southern extremity of Malabar gives
his principal Priest a honorarium of 500 dollars, that he may loose
his wives’ virgin-zone for him in the name of the Deity. _Sonnerat_,
“Voyage aux Indes orientales” (Travels to the East Indies), Vol. I. p.
69. _Hamilton_, “New Account of the East Indies,” Vol. I. p. 308.
[39] _Herodotus_, bk. IV. ch. 172.—_Pomponius Mela_, bk. I. ch. 8. § 35.
[40] _Diodorus Siculus_, bk. V. ch. 18.
[41] Menstruation was under the protection of the goddess _Mena_
(Augustine, De Civ. Dei, bk. XI. 11. VII. 2.; but Myllita was the Moon!
[42] Therefore in the case of the Lydians the women themselves
selected their Strangers. _Strabo_, bk. XI. p. 533., δέχονται δὲ οὐ
τοὺς τυχόντας τῶν ξένων, ἀλλὰ μάλιστα τοὺς ἀπὸ ἴσου ἀξιώματος. (but
they receive not just the first-comers amongst the strangers, but by
preference those of an equal position).
[43] So even in the Middle Ages, e. g. at Venice, it was quite usual
for the daughters to earn their dowry by selling their bodies, and
there, as in France, it was the mothers who acted as procuresses to
their daughters with this object. _Stephanus_, “Apologie d’Herodote”,
Vol. I. pp. 46-49. _Fr. Jacobs_, loco citato, p. 40.
[44] Memorari quoque solent causae physicae, seu marium seu feminarum
corporis infirmitatis, quibus floris virginei decerpendi molestia
aggravatur. (Certain physical reasons also are mentioned, connected
with bodily defects whether of the man or the woman, which aggravate
the difficulty of deflowering a virgin), _Heyne_, loco citato, p. 39.
When these partly dietetic and prophylactic relations of the practice
disappeared from the memory of the people, the _Priapus_ kept only
its fecundating qualities, and accordingly we read in _Augustine_,
De Civitate Dei, bk. VI. ch. 9., Sed quid hoc dicam, cum ibi sit et
Priapus nimius masculus, super cuius immanissimum et turpissimum
fascinum sedere nova nupta jubeatur more honestissimo et religiossimo
matronarum? (But why tell of this, though Priapus is there, with the
exaggerated penis of a man, on whose huge and foul organ the newly-wed
bride is told to _sit_, following the custom held highly honourable
and religious of matrons?) Comp. _Lactantius_, I. 20.—_Tertullian_,
Adnot. II. 11. The same is related by _Arnobius_, bk. VI. ch. 7., of
the similar god _Mutuus_: Etiamne Mutuus, cuius immanibus pudendis,
horrentique fascino, vestras inequitare matronas, et auspicabile
ducitis et optatis. (Mutuus too, on whose huge pudenda, and horrid
organ you think it auspicious and desirable for your matrons to ride).