_Flagellations of a religious and voluntary kind were practised
among the ancient Heathens._
We have hitherto only treated of involuntary Flagellations, and
such as were in all cases inflicted by force on those who suffered
them. But besides Flagellations of this kind, there were others of
a voluntary sort among the Heathens, to which those who underwent
them, freely and willingly submitted, and which may indeed create our
surprise in a much greater degree than the former.
Thus, at Lacedæmon, there was a celebrated Festival, which was kept
annually, and was named the _Day of Flagellations_, on account of
the ceremony that was performed in it, of whipping before the altar
of Diana a number of Boys, who freely submitted to that painful
treatment; and this Festival has been mentioned by a great number of
Authors.
Plutarch, for instance, in his Book of the _Customs of the
Lacedæmonians_, relates, that he had been an eye-witness of the
celebration of the solemnity we speak of. ‘Boys (says he) are whipped
for a whole day, often to death, before the altar of Diana the
Orthian; and they suffer it with chearfulness, and even joy: nay,
they strive with each other for victory; and he who bears up the
longest time, and has been able to endure the greatest number of
stripes, carries the day. This solemnity is called _The Contest_ (or
race) _of Flagellations_; and is celebrated every year.’
Cicero, in his Tusculana, has also mentioned this custom of the
Lacedæmonians. ‘Boys (says he) at Sparta are lashed before the Altar
in so severe a manner, that the blood issues from their body. While I
was there, I several times heard it said that Boys had been whipped
to death; none of whom ever uttered the least complaint, or so much
as groaned.’ And in another place Cicero likewise says, ‘Boys, at
Sparta, utter no complaint, though lacerated by repeated lashes.’
Nay more; Mozonius, in _Stobæus_, relates that the Spartan Boys were
rather pleased with these flagellating solemnities. ‘The sons of the
Lacedæmonians make it very evident (says Mozonius) that stripes do
not appear to them either shameful or hard to be borne, since they
allow themselves to be whipped in public, and take a pride in it.’
The Scholiast or Commentator of Thucydides relates the same things
of the Lacedæmonian young men; and says that those among them who
could bear the greatest number of lashes, acquired much glory by it.
‘And indeed (says he) the _Flagellations_ are performed at particular
times during a certain number of days; and those who receive the
greatest number of stripes, are accounted the most manly.’
The Parents of the young men who were thus publickly whipped, were
commonly present during the performance of the ceremony; and so far
were they from discouraging their Sons from going through it, that,
as Lucian relates, they deemed it a shameful piece of cowardice
in them, if they seemed to yield to the violence of the lashes,
and in consequence of this notion they exhorted them to go stoutly
through the whole trial. ‘Indeed (continues Lucian) a number of them
frequently died in the _conflict_, thinking it was unworthy of them,
so long as they continued to live, to yield to blows and bodily pain,
in sight of their friends and relations.’ ‘And to those who die upon
those occasions, Statues, as you will see, are erected at Sparta, in
the public places.’
Seneca, in his Treatise upon _Providence_, has also mentioned those
singular _Flagellations_ which took place at Lacedæmon, as well as
the conduct of the Lacedæmonian Fathers on those occasions. ‘Do not
you think (says he) that the Lacedæmonians hate their children, who
try their tempers by having them lashed publickly? Their very Fathers
exhort them firmly to bear the lashes of the whips; and intreat them,
when torn to pieces and half dead, still to continue to offer their
wounds to other wounds.’
In fine, with so much solemnity were the flagellating ceremonies and
trials we mention performed, that a Priestess, as Silenus of Chios
relates, constantly presided over them, holding up a small statue
of the Goddess in her hand while the young Men were lashed; and,
to crown all, Priests were established to inspect the stripes and
marks of the blows, and draw omens from them. ‘I am witness (says
Lucian) that there are Priests appointed to inspect the lashes and
stripes[28].’ To this it maybe added, that these extraordinary
ceremonies of the Lacedæmonians, which are here described, were
preserved among them, notwithstanding the numerous revolutions which
their Republic underwent, to very late times; and Tertullian mentions
them as continuing, in his days, to be regularly celebrated every
year. ‘For (says that Author) the Festival of _The Flagellations_
is still in these days looked upon as a very great solemnity at
Lacedæmon. Every body knows in what Temple all the young Men of the
best families are lashed in the presence of their Relations and
friends, who exhort them to bear to the last this cruel ceremony[29].’
Even Philosophers among the Greeks, I mean particular sects of them,
had adopted the practice of voluntary Flagellation. Lucian relates in
one of his Dialogues, that there were Philosophers in his time, ‘who
trained young Men to endure labour, pain, and want; and who made the
practice of virtue consist in these austerities. A number of them
would bind themselves; others whipped themselves; and those who were
the most tender, flead their outer skin with instruments of iron made
for that purpose.’
However, austerities of this kind were only practised by particular
Sects of Philosophers, as hath been above observed; and the
generality of them were so far from adopting such practices, that a
great many ridiculed them. Of this we have an instance in the Book of
the _Life of Apollonius Tyanæus_, written by Philostrates. In this
Book, Apollonius is said to have spoken in the following manner to
_Thespesion_. ‘Flagellations are practised before the altar of Diana
Scythia, because the Oracles have ordered it so; now, I think that
it would be folly to resist the will of the Gods. If so (Thespesion
answers) you shew, O Apollonius, that the Gods of the Greeks possess
but little wisdom, since they prescribe to Men who think they are
free, to lash themselves with whips.’
Nor was the practice of those Flagellations to which the persons
who underwent them willingly submitted, confined to the Nations of
Greece; but the same had also been adopted in other Countries. It
obtained among the Thracians, as we find in Artemidorus. ‘The young
Men of noble families among the Thracians (says that Author) are on
certain occasions cruelly lashed.’
Voluntary Flagellations were also in use among the Egyptians. It
even seems that this practice took its origin among them; and they
used them as a method of atoning for their sins, and appeasing the
incensed Deity. Herodotus has left us an account of the manner in
which they commonly performed their flagellations, in the account
he has given of the Festival which they celebrated in honour of the
great Goddess. ‘After preparing themselves by fasting (he says) they
begin to offer Sacrifices, and they mutually beat each other during
the time that the offerings are burning on the Altar: this done, the
viands which remain after the sacrifice is accomplished, are placed
upon tables before those who compose the Assembly.’
The same Herodotus says on another occasion, ‘I have already related
in what manner the Festival of Isis is celebrated in the city of
Busiris. While the Sacrifice is performing, the whole Assembly,
amounting to several thousands of both Men and Women, beat one
another.’ To this Herodotus adds, that ‘he is not allowed to mention
the reason why those beatings were performed[30].’
Among the Syrians, we likewise find that the use of voluntary
Flagellations had been adopted; and their Priests practised them
upon themselves with astonishing severity. Apuleius, in his
_Metamorphosis_ of the Golden Ass, relates the manner in which these
Priests both made incisions in their own flesh, and lashed themselves
voluntarily.
‘In fine, they dissect their own arms with two-edged knives, which
they use constantly to carry about them. In the mean while, one of
them begins to rave and sigh, and seems to draw his breath from his
very bowels. He at last feigns to fall into a kind of phrenetic fit,
pretending that he is replete with the spirit of the Goddess; as
if the presence of the Gods ought not to make Men better, instead
of rendering them disordered and weak. But now, behold what kind
of favour the Divine Will is going to bestow upon him. He begins
to vociferate, and, by purposely contrived lies, to upbraid and
accuse himself in the same manner as if he had been guilty of having
entertained bad designs against the mysteries of their holy Religion.
He then proceeds to award a sentence of punishment against himself;
and at the same time grasping his scourge, an instrument which those
Priests constantly wear about them, and which is made of twisted
woollen cords armed with small bones, he lashes himself with repeated
blows; all the while manifesting a wonderful, though affected
firmness, notwithstanding the violence and number of the stripes.’
From all that is above related, it is pretty evident that those
Syrian Priests used (or seemed to use) themselves, in this cruel
manner, only with a view to raise admiration in the minds of weak and
superstitious persons by this extraordinary affectation of superior
sanctity, and thereby to cheat them out of their money. At least this
is the conjecture made by Philippus Beroaldus, in his Commentaries on
the _Metamorphosis_ of the Golden Ass, who says, that those Priests
were no better than Jugglers, or rather Cheats, who only aimed at
catching the money of the Fools who gazed at them[31].
Nay, the opinion of the merit of voluntary or religious
Flagellations, was in antient times grown so universal, that we find
them to have also been practised among the Romans, who had adopted
notions on that subject of the same kind with those of the Syrians
and the Egyptians, and thought that the Gods were, upon particular
occasions, to be appeased by using scourges and whips. An instance
of this notion or practice is to be met with in the Satyricon of
Petronius, in which _Encolpus_ relates, that, being upon the sea, the
people of the ship flagellated him, in order, as they thought, to
prevent a storm. ‘It was resolved (he says) among the Mariners, to
give us each forty stripes, in order to appease the tutelar Deity of
the ship. No time accordingly is lost; the furious Mariners set upon
us with cords in their hands, and endeavour to appease the Deity by
the effusion of the meanest blood: as to me, I received three lashes,
which I endured with Spartan magnanimity[32].’
But the most curious instance of religious Flagellations, among the
Romans, and indeed among all other Nations, is that of the ceremony
which the Romans called _Lupercalia_; a ceremony which was performed
in honour of the God Pan, and had been contrived in Arcadia, where
it was in use so early as the times of King Evander, and whence it
was afterwards brought over to Italy. In this Festival, a number
of Men used to dance naked, as Virgil informs us: ‘Here (says he)
the dancing _Salii_, and naked _Luperci_[33].’ And Servius, in his
Commentary upon this verse of Virgil, explains to us who these
_Luperci_ were. They were (he says) Men who, upon particular
solemnities, used to strip themselves stark naked; in this situation
they ran about the streets, carrying straps of leather in their
hands, with which they struck the Women they met in their way. Nor
did those Women run away from them; on the contrary, they willingly
presented the palms of their hands to them, in order to receive their
blows; imagining, through a superstitious notion received among the
Romans, that these blows, whether applied to their hands or to their
belly, had the power of rendering them fruitful, or procuring them an
easy delivery.
The same facts are also alluded to, by Juvenal, who says in his
second Satire, ‘Nor is it of any service to her, to offer the palms
of her hands to a nimble _Lupercus_[34].’ And the antient Scholiast
on Juvenal observes on this verse, that barren Women, in Rome,
used to throw themselves into the way of the _Luperci_ when become
furious, and were beaten by them with straps[35].
Other Authors, besides those above, have mentioned this festival
of the Lupercalia. Among others, _Festus_, in his Book on the
_Signification of words_, informs us, that the _Luperci_ were
also sometimes called _Crepi_, on account of the kind of noise
(_crepitus_) which they made with their straps, when they struck the
Women with them: ‘For it is a custom among the Romans (continues the
same Author) for Men to run about naked during the festival of the
Lupercalia, and to strike all the Women they meet, with _straps_.’
Prudentius, I find, has also mentioned the same festival in his Roman
Martyr: ‘What is the meaning (says he) of this shameful ceremony? By
thus running about the streets under the shape of Luperci, you show
that you are persons of low condition. Would you not deem a Man to be
the meanest of Slaves, who would run naked about the public streets,
and amuse himself with striking the young Women[36]?’
All the Flagellations we have abovementioned were performed in public
Solemnities, or with religious views of some kind or other; but
there were other instances of voluntary fustigations (as we learn
from the ancient Authors) in which those who performed them were
actuated by no such laudable motives; or at least, had no precise
intention that has been made known to us. Such were the Flagellations
mentioned by St. Jerom, in his Observations on the Epitaph of the
Widow _Marcella_. In these Observations St. Jerom informs us, that
there were Men in Rome silly enough to lay their posteriors bare in
the public Markets, or open Streets, and to suffer themselves to be
lashed by a pretended Conjuror. ‘It is no wonder (says he) that a
false Diviner lashes the buttocks of those blockheads in the middle
of the Streets, and in the Market-place[37].’
And these Conjurors not only lashed the persons who desired them to
do so, but they, at other times, would also lash themselves, as we
learn from Plautus, though an early Writer; for those Flagellations
we mention were, it seems, an old practice among the vulgar in Rome.
‘Pray, is it not (says an Actor in one of this Author’s Plays) is it
not the Conjuror who lashes himself[38]?’
Another proof of the practice of those both active and passive
flagellations which prevailed among the People in Rome, is also to be
drawn from the above-mentioned Book of Festus, on the _Signification
of words_. Festus, explaining in that Book the signification of
the word _Flagratores_, says, that this word signified ‘those who
allowed themselves to be whipped for money.’ And M. Dacier, a person
of consummate learning in all that relates to Antiquity, says, in
his Notes on the above Author, that the word _Flagratores_ signified
likewise ‘those who whipped others:’ he adds, that this was the more
common acceptation of the word[39].
Besides the flagellations just mentioned, which perhaps were also
owing to some superstitious notion or other in those persons who
practised them, we find, in antient Authors, instances of lashings
and whippings performed in a way perfectly jocular, and as a kind of
innocent pastime. None is more remarkable than that which is related
by Lucian of the Philosopher Peregrinus. This Peregrinus (Lucian
observes) was a Cynic Philosopher of a very impudent disposition. He
lived in the time of the Emperor Trajan: after having embraced the
Christian Religion, he returned to his former Sect: and then used
frequently to lash himself in public in rather an indecent manner.
‘Surrounded by a croud of Spectators, he handled his _pudendum_
(αἰδοῖον) which he exhibited as a thing, he said, of no value. He
afterwards both gave himself, and received from the Bystanders,
lashes upon his posteriors, and performed a number of other juvenile
tricks equally surprizing as these.’
We also find in Suetonius another instance of sportive lashings or
slappings among the Ancients; and these, too, practiced upon no less
a person than a Roman Emperor. The Emperor here alluded to, was the
Emperor Claudius. ‘When he happened (says Suetonius) to fall asleep
after his dinner, which was a customary thing with him, they threw
stones of olives or of dates at him, in order to awaken him; or
sometimes the Court Buffoons would rouse him, by striking him, in a
jocular way, with a strap or a scourge[40].’
In fine, I shall conclude this Chapter with an instance of voluntary
flagellation among the Ancients, which was not only free either from
the superstition or wantonness above-mentioned, but was moreover
produced by rational, and, we may say, laudable motives. The instance
I mean, is that of the flagellations bestowed upon himself by a
certain Philosopher, mentioned by Suidas. The Philosopher’s name
was _Superanus_: he was a Disciple of Lascaris; though past the
age of thirty years, he had taken a strong resolution of applying
himself to Science, and began at that time to read the works of the
most famous Orators. So earnest was he in his design of succeeding
in those studies which he had undertaken, that ‘he never grudged
himself either the rod or sharp lectures, in order to learn all that
Schoolmasters and Tutors teach their Pupils. He even was more than
once seen, in the public Baths, to inflict upon himself the severest
corrections[41].’
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