Chapter 6

Hinc grandes Galli et cum sistro lusca sacerdos,Incussere Deos inflantes corpora, si nonPraedictum ter mane caput gustaveris alli.

Hinc grandes Galli et cum sistro lusca sacerdos,

Incussere Deos inflantes corpora, si non

Praedictum ter mane caput gustaveris alli.

(Then the tall Galli, and the one-eyed priestess with her sacred rattle, instil terror ofthe gods that make men’s bodies swell, unless three times at dawn you have eaten the prescribed head of garlic).

Whether this passage affords any direct proof would seem doubtful, inasmuch as theinflare corpus(to make the body swell) properly speaking only refers to the abdomen. To this also the eating of the allium (garlic), which no doubt first won its magic significance on account of its carminative properties, appears to point.

However another explanation is possible. Referring back to the passage ofPorphyriusquoted above on p. 254., thetumoresCoracinus had contracted in consequence of his general incontinence with women, which incontinence had at last brought him as asenex? (old man) to such a condition of weakness that nothing was left him but the vice ofcunnilingereto satisfy his still unexhausted lubricity. A side light in this case may be thrown on the matter by Horace’s description of theAnus libidinosa(The lecherous old woman) in Epodes VIII. 9. 19.:

Venter mollis et femurtumentibusExilesurisadditum.—FascinumQuod ut superbo provoces ab inguineOre allaborandum est tibi.

Venter mollis et femurtumentibus

Exilesurisadditum.—Fascinum

Quod ut superbo provoces ab inguine

Ore allaborandum est tibi.

(Flabby belly and skinny thigh joined with swollen calves,—A tool, that requires you, in order to call it up from the supercilious groin, to work it with the mouth).Casaubonin his commentary on the passage ofPersiusis for connecting this, as well as theTumores Syrii, with ἕλκεα Συριακὰ (Syrian sores), and—as quoted on p. 253 above—to regard them as a consequence of the wrath of theDea Syria(Syrian goddess). No doubt as a matter of fact thetumoreswere a result of debauchery, one that was prevalent in Syria and was disseminated thence to Rome, for they attacked acunnilingueno less than other debauchees; but this brings us no nearer to aknowledge of their nature. We should perhaps be inclined to regard them as swellings of the tonsils or of the lympathic glands of the throat, having the same significance as the inguinal buboes in affections of the genitals.

But what are theBerecynthii furores(Berecynthian frenzies)? Possibly nocturnal pains in the bones, that torment a patient to the pitch of frenzy? The metaphor, drawn from the nocturnal rites of Cybelé, must be admitted to be a happy one. Still, however acceptable conjectures of the sort may be to many, we cannot take them seriously. It appears to us most judicious to regard theSyrii tumoresas being ulcerations that covered the body of Coracinus, and by their violent itching reduced him to a state of frenzy. Our view as stated is confirmed by Epigram 108. ofAusonius:

In scabiosum Polygitonem.

Thermarum in solio si quis Polygitona viditUlcera membrorum scabie putrefacta foventem,Praeposuit cunctis spectacula talia ludis.Principio tremulis gannitibus aëra pulsat,Verbaque lascivos meretricum imitantia coetusVibrat et obscoenae numeros pruriginis implet.Brachia deinde rotat velut enthea daemone Maenas,Pectus, crura, latus, ventrem, femora,inguina,suras,Tergum, colla, humeros luteae Symplegadis antrum.Tam diversa locis vaga carnificina pererrat,Donec marcentem calidi fervore lavacriBlandus letali solvat dulcedine morbus.Desectos sic fama viros, ubi cassa libidoFemineos coetus et non sua bella lacessit,Irrita vexato consumere gaudia lecto:Titillata brevi quum iam sub fine voluptasFervet et ingesto peragit ludibria morsu.Turpia non aliter Polygiton membra resolvit,Et quia debentur suprema piacula vitae,Ad Phlegethonteas sese iam praeparat undas.

Thermarum in solio si quis Polygitona vidit

Ulcera membrorum scabie putrefacta foventem,

Praeposuit cunctis spectacula talia ludis.

Principio tremulis gannitibus aëra pulsat,

Verbaque lascivos meretricum imitantia coetus

Vibrat et obscoenae numeros pruriginis implet.

Brachia deinde rotat velut enthea daemone Maenas,

Pectus, crura, latus, ventrem, femora,inguina,suras,

Tergum, colla, humeros luteae Symplegadis antrum.

Tam diversa locis vaga carnificina pererrat,

Donec marcentem calidi fervore lavacri

Blandus letali solvat dulcedine morbus.

Desectos sic fama viros, ubi cassa libido

Femineos coetus et non sua bella lacessit,

Irrita vexato consumere gaudia lecto:

Titillata brevi quum iam sub fine voluptas

Fervet et ingesto peragit ludibria morsu.

Turpia non aliter Polygiton membra resolvit,

Et quia debentur suprema piacula vitae,

Ad Phlegethonteas sese iam praeparat undas.

(To the scabby Polygiton.—If any man caught sight of Polygiton on the seat of the Thermae bathingthe sores on his limbs all rotten with scab, he preferred so entertaining a spectacle to all the games. First he beats the air with twittering, whining noises, and utters broken sounds in imitation of the wanton embraces of harlots, and completes the symphony of his foul-minded lechery.Then he twirls his arms about like a Maenad under the god’s afflatus; breast, legs, flank, belly, thighs,groin,calves, back, neck, shoulders, cave of the bemired Symplegades,—i.e. hollow between buttocks,—in so many different places does the shooting torture fly, until he droops and faints in the warmth of the hot bath and the disease is soothed and gives a fatal respite. So it is said castrated eunuchs, when barren desire tries hard for embraces with women and for contests they cannot properly engage in, are consumed with empty transports on the tossed and tumbled bed,—till eventually their lust, tickled and tickled, flames high for a last moment, and completes the wanton act by applying the mouth and biting. So with Polygiton a final spasm relaxes his disfigured limbs, and the last sin-offerings of his life being due, thus makes himself ready for the waves of Phlegethon).

True the connexion with the vice ofcunnilingereis apparently lost here, but this also may be preserved without any great straining of the words, as we shall see presently; and accordingly theTumores Syriican be quite well regarded as a consequence of the vice of thecunnilingus.

Ever since the so-called first appearance of Venereal Disease, most of the advocates of the antiquity of the complaint have made a point of bringing inMentagra85within the purview of the quotations they adduce to prove their contention, although strictly speaking they were never likely to succeed in a direct demonstration that the disease was really and truly connected with sexual excesses. Accordingly, to the present day the majority of them see in it nothing more than a form of Leprosy, particularly asHensler86andSprengelwere among those who decided in favour of its leprous character. Instead of giving a useless list of names of the different authors, who in former days declared for the one view or the other, we think it more expedient to quote first of all the capital authority, a passage in Pliny87, setting this down as it stands so as to be able afterwards to form a correct appreciation of its bearing:

Cap. I. “Sensit etfacieshominum novos omnique aevo priore incognitos, non Italiae modo, verum etiam universae prope Europae morbos: tunc quoque non tota Italia, nec per IllyricumGalliasve aut Hispanias magnopere vagatos, aut alibi, quam Romae circaque: sine dolore quidem illos ac sine pernicie vitae: sed tanta foeditate, ut quaecunque mors praeferenda esset.

Cap. II. “Gravissimum ex hislichenasappellavereGraeco nomine: Latine, quoniam a mento fere oriebatur,ioculari primum lascivia(ut est procax natura multorum in alienis miseriis) mox et usurpato vocabulo,mentagram: occupantem in multis totos utique vultus, oculis tantum immunibus, descendentem88vero et in colla pectusque ac manus, foedo cutis furfure89.

Cap. III. “Non fuerathaec luesapud maiores patresque nostros. Et primumTiberii Claudii, Caesarisprincipatu medio irrepsit in Italiam, quodam Perusino equite Romano Quaestorio scriba, quum in Asia apparuisset inde contagionem eius importante. Nec sensere id malum feminae aut servitia, plebesque humilis, aut media: sed proceres veloci transitu osculi maxime: foediore multorum qui perpeti medicinam toleraverant, citatrice, quam morbo. Causticis90namque curabatur, ni usque in ossa corpus exustum esset, rebellante taedio. Advenerunt ex Aegypto,genitrice talium vitiorum, medici, hanc solam operam afferentes, magna sua praeda. Siquidem certum est, Manilium Cornutum, e Praetoriis legatum Aquitanicae provinciae, H.S. CC. elocasse in eo morbo curandum sese.”

(Ch. I. Moreover the humanfaceexperienced new diseases, and such as had been unknown in any former age not merely to Italy but to the whole of Europe very nearly, and these not widely diffused over Italy generally, or through Illyricum or the provinces of Gaul or of Spain, or indeed anywhere else but just in Rome and its neighbourhood. They were painless, it is true, and did not involve loss of life, but were of such a horrible nature that death in any form would have been preferable.

Ch. II. The most serious of these diseases they calledlichenes,—scabs, a Greek name; in Latin, as the malady generally showed itself first on the chin, it was known asmentagra,—chin-bane, scab or tetterof the chin, at the first by way of jest and mockery—for it is the nature of the multitude to make merry at others’misfortunes,—but soon this became the recognized word. In many persons it covered absolutely the whole countenance, the eyes alone being left unaffected, with a horrible scurf of the skin, going down sometimes to the neck as well, and breast, and hands.

Ch. III.This plaguehad not existed among our ancestors or fathers. For the first time it crept into Italy in the middle of the reign ofTiberius Claudius Caesar, a certain Perusinius, a Roman knight and Quaestorian secretary, after a period of service in Asia, importing the contagion from there. But women did not suffer from the malady, or slaves, nor yet common folk of humble or middle-class station; but nobles, and this particularly by the rapid infection of an embrace. In many cases the scar, where patients had submitted to medical treatment, was more horrible than the disease itself. For indeed it was curable by caustics, except when the body had been consumed to the very bones, the slowness of the treatment defeating its own end. Physicians arrived from Egypt,mother-land of such taints, practising this cure exclusively, to their own great profit. If, that is, it is true that Manilius Cornutus, of the Praetorians and governor of the Province of Aquitania, offered 200,000 sesterces for his cure when attacked by this disease).

Here if ever, it particularly behoves us to begin with an elucidation of the meaning of the name given to the malady under discussion.Gruner91long ago called attention to the divergence of opinion as to the signification of λειχῆνες (scabs) among the writers of Antiquity, but without success in putting the actual facts in a clear light. We must try if we can be more fortunate. An old etymologist says: λειχὴν παρὰ τὸ λείχω, καὶ γὰρ φάσιν ἐκ τοῦ λείχειν τὸ πάθος ἐπαίρεται92, (λειχὴν comes from λείχω,—I lick, because they say the complaint is set up by licking). On this we may say.—there is no doubt λειχῆνες and λιχῆνες are derived from λείχειν or λίχειν, but the explanationKrausgives of the reason in his Lexicon we cannot think conceivable, viz. “because Lichen, the same as a parasitic plant does, or a skin-disease in animals, always creeps round further and further (seeHerpes,—creeping eruption), oras it were licks its way,” for λείχειν is not so muchlambere, λάπτειν,—to lick over, lick along, aslingere,ligurire93,—to lick up, lick up greedily. At the same time it is true the word (lambere) was used by the Romans in a somewhat similar sense, so perhaps we ought not to refer tolambit flamma(a flame licks), but rather to Plautus’expression (Pers. prolog. 5.), “quorum imagines lambunt hederae sequaces” (whose images creeping ivy-tendrils lick, i.e. entwine). Most probably there are two different stems underlying the word. Of these one is λέγειν,—to lay, etc., hence λέγνη, the edging, the border, λίγνυς, soot (depositing itself on the edge), together with the bye-forms λέχω, λίχω with which in fact λιχὴν,moss94, so far as it forms on the edge, the surface, fringes it, would be connected. The other stem will be λίγω, or λείγω (comp. λίβω and λείβω), λείχω and λείχην, λίγγω, λίζω, to which would have to be referred also λίγυς and λιγυρὸς,—clear, shrill (ligurire, lingere,—to lick greedily, to lick), inall of which the underlying sense is of licking, and the noise connected with it.

It is plain that later on the derivatives of these stems suffered manifold variations and corruptions; but how much of all this is to be attributed to speakers and writers among the Greeks themselves, and how much to subsequent transcribers and editors of their work, it might be difficult to decide. But every day we have occasion to note a number of words, to which accident or other circumstances have given an ambiguous character. These, used quite unsuspectingly by the ignorant, make the better informed person blush, or else extort a smile from him that often enough causes the speaker no little embarrassment to know the reason. Undoubtedly it was the same with the Greeks and Romans, and so confusions between λίχω and λείχω, λιχὴν and λειχὴν, might have easily arisen, from which people were subsequently unable to extricate themselves. Originally perhaps λείχω, equally withlingoandligurio(to lick), may have had the simple sense of licking, and only through later accretions to the meaning, have acquired an ambiguous character; soon however this got transferred to it to the exclusion of all others, and we find it used preferentially as the regular word forcunnilingere. The correctness of our conclusion would seem to follow above all from the passage ofAristophanes95givenbelow, where it is the additional words that narrow down the meaning of λείχω (I lick), and definitely bring out the special signification. The words are said of Ariphrades, who reminds us of the ἀποφρὰς (unmentionable), the name Lucian appropriates to Timarchus:

Οὐδὲ παμπόνηρος, ἀλλὰ καὶ προσεξεύρηκέ τι·τὴν γὰρ αὑτοῦγλῶτταν αἰσχραῖς ἡδοναῖς μαίνεται,ἐν κασαυρίοισι λείχων τὴν ἀπόπτυστον δρόσον,καὶ μολύνων τὴν ὑπήνην, καὶ κυκῶν τὰς ἐσχάρας.

Οὐδὲ παμπόνηρος, ἀλλὰ καὶ προσεξεύρηκέ τι·

τὴν γὰρ αὑτοῦγλῶτταν αἰσχραῖς ἡδοναῖς μαίνεται,

ἐν κασαυρίοισι λείχων τὴν ἀπόπτυστον δρόσον,

καὶ μολύνων τὴν ὑπήνην, καὶ κυκῶν τὰς ἐσχάρας.

(Nor yet utterly villainous is he, but he has discovered yet another device; for he polluted his own tongue with foul delights,in the stews licking up the abominable dew, defiling the hair on the upper lip, and tumbling the girls’nymphae).

In the following Epigram96of an unknown authorλείχω is found used absolutely, without any supplementary words:

Χείλωνκαὶλείχωνἴσα γράμματα· ἐς τί δὲ τοῦτο;ΛείχεικαὶΧείλων, κἂν ἴσα, κἂν ἄνισα.

Χείλωνκαὶλείχωνἴσα γράμματα· ἐς τί δὲ τοῦτο;

ΛείχεικαὶΧείλων, κἂν ἴσα, κἂν ἄνισα.

(Χείλων,—a proper name, also meansof the lips,—and λείχων,—licking,—have the like letters; now what does this point to? Chilon licks lips, whether lips like his own, or whether unlike). In explanation of this EpigramForbigersays (loco citato p. 326.): “Lusus in Chilonem cunnilingum. Hunc ait iure quodam suo lingere, qui vel nomine iisdem literis constante prae se fert lingentem et lingentem quidem tum labra oris, ut labris ligentis similia, tum cunni, ut dissimilia.” (Pun on the name of Chilon, acunnilingue. The poet says he (Chilon) licks by a sort of inherent right of his own, who even in his name, made up of the same letters, proclaims himself as licking, and licking now the lips of the mouth, which are like the lips of the licker, now those of the female organ, which are unlike). Χεῖλος was in fact used also of the lips of a woman’s organ, thenymphae; the Scholiast on τὰς ἐσχάρας (thenymphae) in the passage from Aristophanes given a little above, interprets this word by τὰ χείλη τῶν γυναικείων αἰδοίων (the lips of the female privates). According toSchneiderin his Lexicon χείλων (adj.) signifiesthick-lipped. Perhaps it was this very Epigram that ledLambert Bosiusto make the statement that χείλων arose by a mere transposition of the letters from λείχον.

Now if λείχην,—for we consider it should be thus accented,—is derived from λείχω (I lick), we cannot but regard it as meaning: somethingproduced by licking, a complaint brought on by licking, and particularlyby the licking of the cunnilingue! Surely the Greeks could hardly have expressed themselves more clearly. Then the fact that the name came from the mouth of the common people is the very best reason for its not having been understood by the educated. Yet all the while an entirely similar formof expression has grown up in the mouth of the German common people, the real meaning of which very few have fathomed, but which most certainly arose in the same way as the Greek λείχην. No doubt many of my readers have again and again heard it said of some one with an eruption round the mouth, that is, someone suffering fromHerpes labialis(Creeping eruption of the lips): “Well! youhavebeen licking!”—for which educated people substitute the obviously insufficient, “Youhavebeen picking!” Very commonly again one may hear: “Youhavebeen lickinggreben, or pickinggreben; and this wordgrebenis understood as being identical withgrieben,—greavesin English, i.e. the remnants of lard that has been cut up into pieces and fried, because the separate pustules of theherpes labialisresemble in appearance thegreaves. So people sometimes also say still more explicitly, “Youhavebeen licking, or picking,greaves; and one of them has been left sticking to your mouth, to prove your greediness!”

This explanation may seem a very likely one to many; nevertheless we incline to believe the word to be of later origin, and to have arisen from ignorance of the actual facts. We consider it more probable thatgrebenowes its origin to some corruption of language growing out ofgremium, the bosom. We have been led to this conjecture by a statement ofAdelung’sin his Dictionary, Article “Grieben”, where he says: “In middle-Latingrieben, (greaves), were called, in accordance with a common interchange change of the letters b. and m.gremium”,—though indeed we cannot regard the word as solely and entirely mediæval Latin, for it is found occurring as early asPliny(Hist. Nat. XII. 19.) andColumella(Res Rust. XII. 19. 3.), and is evidently connected withcremare(to burn). So just as in this casecremiumandgremiummay have been used interchangeably, hasgrebegrown out ofgremein German, and the latter come to be used as a synonym ofgriebe,—the latter words according to this having as little in common with one another as the former. However those better practised in the science of word formation must here decide!

Now as to the wordMentagra(Tetter, Scab). This was evidently a word first framed by the Romans, as is distinctly stated not alone byPliny, but byGalenas well (De compos. medic. secundum locos Bk. V., edit. Kühn Vol. XII. p. 839.). The latter says: Ἐκδόριον λειχήνων· ταύτῃ Πάμφιλος χρησάμενος ἐπὶ Ῥώμης πλεῖστον ἐπορίσατοἐπικρατούσης ἐν τῇ πόλει τῆς μεντάγρας λεγομένης. (Blister for Lichenes (Scabs); in this way Pamphilus in his practise at Rome made most headway againstthe Mentagra as it was called, then prevalent in the city). It is usually considered to be formed on the analogy ofPodagra,Chiragra(gout of the feet, gout of the hands) etc. frommentum, the chin, and ἄγρα, the act of catching, seizing hold of,—so a disease that attacks the chin. But more probably all these words are compounded not with ἄγρα at all, but with ἄλγος (suffering). That is to say just as ἀλγαλέος, by Attic interchange of letters, becomes ἀργαλέος (grievous), κεφαλαλγία becomes κεφαλαργία (head-ache), and ληθαλγία, ληθαργία (drowsiness, lethargy), so from ποδαλγία we get ποδαργία, and then by metathesis ποδάγρα (gout). (Comp.Doederlein“Lateinische Synonyme und Etymologien”,—Latin Synonyms and Etymologies Pt. 4. p. 424.). The remarkPlinyadds however “ioculari primum lascivia” (at first by way of jesting mockery) evidently points to some ambiguity underlying the word. But whether this consists in the recognition of the likeness in sound betweenmentum, the chin, andmenta, ormentula, the virile member, or is to be looked for in the ἄγρα, it might be difficult to determine. Still it seems probable, but without wishing to entirely exclude the former hypothesis, that the latter is the case, as will appear directly.

Galen97distinguishes between λειχὴν ἁπλοῦς and λειχὴν ἄγριος (simplelichen, and malignantlichen) in his enumeration of Skin-diseases, and still more plainly in another place98he says: “λειχὴν is likewise a Skin-disease; there are two forms of it, ὁ μὲν ἥμερος καὶ πρᾳότερος, ὁ δὲ ἄγριος καὶ χαλεπώτερος (the one benignant and milder, the other malignant and more serious). But in both of them minute scales are detached from the skin, and the part of the skin underneath the scales is reddened and almost ulcerated. The affection arises from a salt phlegmatic humour (φλέγματος ἁλμυροῦ) and yellow gall, hence the scales fall from the skin as in glazed pottery-ware (? ἐπὶ τῶν ἁλμῶν τῶν κεραμίων). The affection is cured by internal phlegmagogues and external embrocations.” We have already on p. 139. above, in the footnote on ἄγριος (wild, savage) and χαλεπός (hard, harsh), noted how these words are used with special reference to the vice of paederastia, but they are also applied generally to the vice, the different forms of which we have been examining here. This follows fromPlato99andPlutarch100, at any rate so far as ἄγριος isconcerned, which indeed we may conveniently render byvicious. The original meaning being overlooked, λείχην and λιχὴν had been taken as synonymous,—possibly the Latinlichenosfirst led to the mistake; then naturally enough an appropriate epithet was sought, to signify thelichenwhich was the result of licking in a vicious fashion. But this according to the already existing mode of speech could be nothing else than ἄγριος101again,—λειχὴν ἄγριος, with which λειχὴν ἁπλοῦς,lichen insons, (simple, innocentlichen) was naturally contrasted.

Yet whileCriton, as cited inAëtius, simply and quite correctly interpreted Mentagra by ἄγριος λειχὴν (fierce, malignant lichen),Galenappears to have been still ignorant of the special meaning. This is shown by the words ἥμερος and πρᾳότερος (gentle, benignant,—milder), which obviously are correct opposites of ἄγριος onlyifthe latter is understood, as it is inCelsus, as equivalent toferus(fierce, malignant), but in no way account for the ἁπλοῦς (simple, innocent), which Galen no doubt found already established as distinguishing epithet of λιχὴν. How little he fathomed the nature of the evil, is proved by his ætiology of it, which makes the complaint result from the φλέγμα ἁλμυρὸν (salt phlegmatic humour) and the χολὴ ξανθὴ (yellow gall). The unprofessionalMartialhad a better word to say on the subject when he wrote hissordidique lichenes(filthy, squalid-looking lichens). Similarly it would seem theagrain Mentagra should be taken as pointing to ἄγριος (fierce, malignant). Can it be perhaps that in this way the μολύνων τὴν ὑπήνην (polluting the hair on the upper lip) ofAristophanes,the Latinbarbam inquinare(to pollute the beard), have come to be used as synonyms forcunnilingere?Martialseems to imply it by histriste mentum,mentum periculosum(disfigured chin, perilous chin). Perhaps too theSycosis menti(Sycosis,—fig-like eruption, of the chin) ofCelsusand the later Greek medical writers should likewise be regarded as coming under this head. At a matter of fact,Archigenessays so in so many words, as cited inGalen(De comp. med. secundum locos. Bk. V. edit. Kühn Vol. XII. p. 847.), ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν συκωδῶν τῶν ἐπὶ τοῦ γενείου, λεγομένων δὲ μενταγρῶν, ὑπὸ δέ τινων λειχήνων ἀγρίων, ποιεῖ κ. τ. λ. (but in the case of the sycotic, or fig-like, eruptions on the chin, which are called mentagrae, and by others malignant lichens, he proceeds as follows, etc.), and calls the affection of the chin, as do other Physicians, generally ἐξανθήματα ἐν τοῖς γενείοις (efflorescences, eruptions on the chin),—p. 824.

If we have thus succeeded in establishing the meanings oflichensandmentagra, the rest of the passage ofPlinywill admit of easy explanation. The disease in many cases it seems invaded the whole face, in the same way as theatra lues(black contagion) in the passages quoted above fromMartialunderfellation. Perhaps all of these,—indeed,Plinyalso sayslues,—are the be referred, as is actually done byFarnabiusin his notes, tomentagra, seeing that the disease could perfectly well, though certainly much seldomer, arise equally from the practise offellation. Thedouble entendrebetweenmentum(the chin) andmentaormentula(the virile member) would so acquire all the more point.

The expressionfoedo cutis furfure(with a horrible scurf of the skin) appears to have led a number of authors to believe that this was the capital characteristic of the complaint, and that the distinction between λιχὴν and λείχην was merely one of degree. This view was advocated in particular byWillian102, who ascribes it also toPaulus Aegineta103as well as toOribasius104though both of these authors limit themselves to saying that the moderately siccative remedies are of no benefit in λείχην ἄγριος (malignant lichen), whereas the more violent ones aggravate it, and that for this reason it was called ἄγριος. Hence Willian’sLichen agrius(malignant lichen) has nothing in common with thelichenof the Greeks and Romans but the mere name, for it follows clearly from the wordsfoediore cicatrice(with a more horrible scar) that occur a little further down inPliny, that a process of skinning over by ulceration was part of the disease, and did not owe its existence solely to the caustic remedies employed.

Theimmunity of women105equally admits of easyexplanation, for in the first place women were not likely to have readily conceived the idea of acting after the manner of acunnilingue106, and even iffellationis admitted to be an occasionally concurrent cause ofmentagra, still it would seem, as already stated, to supervene much less often as a consequence of the latter vice; while in cases where it does, it is of a milder form and it is rather the internal parts of the mouth that are imperilled. Besides, it is to be remembered that women generally speaking suffer less frequently from pustulous disorders of the cutaneous glands affecting the face than men do, as is well seen at the present day with Acne. In the parts neighbouring on the genitals this is exactly reversed. Still this immunity of women must not be insisted on too far, as those persons of the female sex who used to practisefellation, the Summoenianae (womenof the suburbs) lay too completely outside the range ofPliny’sobservation.

As to theservi(slaves) andPlebs humilis(Commons of humble station), these were surely unlikely, however little restraint they may have put on their sensual appetites, to have readily fallen into suchlike forms of vice,—forms which spring as a rule from the brain of unoccupied, rich idlers. We have only to appeal to modern experience to substantiate this. How many individuals of the lowest and middle classes have the records of forensic medicine to show as having been paederasts and so on? Wild aberrations in morals have at no period begun with the common man! So we see it was the Proceres (Nobles) who were in an especial degree attacked by thementagra.

At the same time the most conspicuous cause ofmentagra, the practice ofcunnilingerewas by no means theonlyway of getting it, for the malady, likecondylomataon the genital organs, was evidently connected with a contagion,—a fact which is clearly enough brought out by the laymanPliny, whereas the Physicians say nothing about this. Accordingly the disorder was capable of being disseminated bykissingfrom one individual to another. But it was not thevelox transitus osculi(swift transmission of a kiss) that was instrumental in spreading the disease, but rather thebasium(wanton kiss),—which depended on some yet unidentified lascivious device107, sucking, playing withthe tongue or the like. Still we must remember that at the very time thementagrawas spreading with such terrible rapidity, a perfectmania for kissinghad broken out at Rome.Martialdescribes this admirably in the two following Epigrams, which are of the very highest importance in connection with our subject:

Book XII.Epigram 59:

De importunis basiatoribus.

Tantum dat tibi Roma basiorumPost annos modo quindecim reverso,Quantum Lesbia non dedit Catullo.Te vicinia tota, te pilosusHircoso premit osculo colonus.Hinc instat tibi textor, inde fullo,Hinc sutor modo pelle basiata,Hincmenti dominus periculosi,Hinc defioculusque et inde lippus,Fellatorque recensque cunnilingus.Iam tanti tibi non fuit redire.

Tantum dat tibi Roma basiorum

Post annos modo quindecim reverso,

Quantum Lesbia non dedit Catullo.

Te vicinia tota, te pilosus

Hircoso premit osculo colonus.

Hinc instat tibi textor, inde fullo,

Hinc sutor modo pelle basiata,

Hincmenti dominus periculosi,

Hinc defioculusque et inde lippus,

Fellatorque recensque cunnilingus.

Iam tanti tibi non fuit redire.

(Of pestilent Kissers: Rome bestows more kisses on you, on your return to her after fifteen years’ absence, than ever Lesbia gave Catullus. The whole neighbourhood kisses you, and the hirsute countryman presses you in his goaty embrace. One side the weaver is upon you, the other the fuller, here the cobbler who but now kissed his leather; here comesthe owner of a perilous chin, here the one-eyed man and here the blear, and thefellator, and thecunnilinguefresh from work. Now surely to return was not of such importance to you as all this.)

Book XI.Epigram 98:

Ad Bassum.

Effugere non est, Basse, basiatores.Instant, morantur, persequuntur, occurruntEt hinc et illinc, usquequaque, quacunque.Non ulcus acre pustulaeve lucentes,Nec triste mentum sordidique lichenes,Nec labra pingui delibuta ceroto,Nec congelati gutta proderit nasi.Et aestuantem basiant et algentem,Et nuptiale basium reservantem.Non te cucullis asseret caput tectum,Lectica nec te tuta pelle veloque,Nec vindicabit sella saepius clausa.Rimas per omnes basiator intrabit.Non consulatus ipse, non tribunatus,Saevique fasces, nec superba clamosiLictoris abiget virga basiatorem.Sedeas in alto tu licet tribunali,Et e curuli iura gentibus reddas:Ascendet illa basiator atque illa:Febricitantem basiabit et flentem:Dabit oscitanti basium natantique,Dabit et cacanti. Remedium mali solum estFacias amicum, basiare quem nolis.

Effugere non est, Basse, basiatores.

Instant, morantur, persequuntur, occurrunt

Et hinc et illinc, usquequaque, quacunque.

Non ulcus acre pustulaeve lucentes,

Nec triste mentum sordidique lichenes,

Nec labra pingui delibuta ceroto,

Nec congelati gutta proderit nasi.

Et aestuantem basiant et algentem,

Et nuptiale basium reservantem.

Non te cucullis asseret caput tectum,

Lectica nec te tuta pelle veloque,

Nec vindicabit sella saepius clausa.

Rimas per omnes basiator intrabit.

Non consulatus ipse, non tribunatus,

Saevique fasces, nec superba clamosi

Lictoris abiget virga basiatorem.

Sedeas in alto tu licet tribunali,

Et e curuli iura gentibus reddas:

Ascendet illa basiator atque illa:

Febricitantem basiabit et flentem:

Dabit oscitanti basium natantique,

Dabit et cacanti. Remedium mali solum est

Facias amicum, basiare quem nolis.

(To Bassus: Escape the kissers, no! it is not to be done, Bassus. They set upon you, wait for you, pursue you, meet you, here, there, and everywhere, in every street, at every corner.Neither acrid ulcer nor shiny pustules, neither disfigured chinnor foul scabs, nor lips anointed with pink salve, nor the drop at the tip of a frozen nose will save you. They kiss a man sweating with heat and starving with cold, nay! even a man keeping his lips pure for the nuptial kiss. A head muffled in hoods will not exempt you, nor a litter guarded with rug and curtain, nor the sedan kept closed most of the time get you off.The kisser will in by every chink. Not the very consulship, not the tribuneship, not the stern fasces and threatening rod of the shouting lictor will keep away the kisser. Though you sit exalted on the high tribunal, or give laws to the people from the curule seat, both to one and the other the kisser will climb up. He will kiss a man shaking with fever, and drivelling with cold. He will give a kiss to a man gaping, to a man swimming, even to a man shitting! The one and only cure for the plague is to make a real friend, whom you will not need to kiss).

Now we shall be in a position to explain to our satisfaction whatMartialmeant bybasia lasciva(wanton kisses),—XI. 24.—basia maligna(pestilent kisses),—XII. 55.—andPetronius(ch. 23.) by hisconspuere aliquem basio immundissimo(to beslobber anyone with a most filthy kiss); and we shall be in no way surprised at the fact thatmentagranot only attacked the Roman nobles as a virtual epidemic, but that thevelox transitus osculi(the swift transmission of a kiss) was alleged by Pliny as a reason of its communication.

Finally as to the historical factor in connection withmentagra,—it is implied in the account Pliny gives that it wasonly at Romeit was regarded as a new disease. It must have been already known to the Greeks, for they possessed the nameLichenfor it. The Greek physicians, of whom several of the ones quoted byGalenlived some considerable time before Claudius, know nothing about the disease being a new one, whileGalenhimself says simply,ἐπικρατούσηςἐν τῇ πόλει τῆς μεντάγρας λεγομέμης, (when thementagraas it was calledwas prevalentin the city).Plutarchagain, though he (Symposiaca bk. VIII. Quaest. 9.) wrote a special Chapter on new diseases, with particular reference to Elephantiasis, never mentionsmentagraat all. He represents it as having been introduced into Rome from Asia, and it was from Egypt, theGenetrixtalium vitiorum(Mother-land of suchlike abominations), the Physicians108were imported who understood how to cure the disorder. We have more than once noted that Asia was the breeding place of sexual excesses, and described how vice spread from thence over different countries and how as a result of these practices the affections of the parts naturally concerned that arose first in Asia subsequently passed on to these same countries. For Rome this was in an especial degree the case with Egypt, where the undermining of morality had gone farthest;Martial109spoke justly when he said “Nequitias tellus scit dare nulla magis,” (No other land knows better how to produce finished rascality). But the intercourse with Asia and Egypt arose mainly in the time of Pompey, and became from that period ever more active, while concurrently luxury was on the increase and the old Virtus (manly virtue) of the Romans disappearing more and more every day,—above all when Tiberius by his own example elevated every form of vice into a sort of fancy article demanded by fashion.

Not that the Emperor went unpunished, for he himself probably suffered frommentagra.Julian110says of him, that when Romulus had invited to the feast of the Saturnalia all gods and Caesars, Tiberius appeared with the rest, “but when he turned round to take his seat, on his back could be seen in thousands scars, marks of burnings and scrapings, indurated weals and callosities, results of his excesses and wild lusts, cankers and scabs as it were burnt in”. Nay! according toSuetonius111his face itself borecrebri et subtiles tumores(a multitude of minute swellings); andTacitus112says of him:Praegracilis et incurva proceritas, nudus capillo vertex, ulcerosa facies, ac plerumque medicaminibus interstincta, (Tall and of a most graceful, albeit bowed, figure; the head bald, the face coveredwith ulcers, and generally patched with medical plasters). WhenGalen113mentions a τροχίσκος πρὸς ἕρπητας ὁ Τιβηρίου Καίσαρος (a lozenge for creeping eruptions, Tiberius Caesar’s), this does not in any way necessarily imply that this was prescribed as a remedy against eruptive symptoms on theface, for Tiberius, as we see from the passage quoted fromJulian, suffered from eruptions on all the other parts of his body. Even if an affection of the face was intended, the expression ἕρπης (creeping eruption), in view of the marked tendency of the disease to spread to neighbouring parts, was not at all an unnatural one to be used; and we may say, speaking generally, that the view which holds the Greeks to have indicated by the word ἕρπης any one definite and distinct form of eruption is entirely mistaken.Bertrandi114indeed endeavours to show thatmentagrawas a form of malignant tetter. That the application of plasters as a remedy inmentagrawas frequently recommended andemployed is shown both byGalenandAëtius115.

But in proportion as the exciting cause grew ever more and more common, thecunnilinguebeing now no longer contented with girls, but employing for the satisfaction of his shameful mania women and even pregnant women as well, and at last actually women during menstruation, the resulting consequences were bound to occur not only more frequently but also in a more dangerous form. At first it was merely single pustules, which appeared round the mouth and took possession of the chin, and which were confounded withSycosis menti(Sycosis,—fig-like eruption of the chin), a complaint liable to arise from other causes as well and one long since familiar, without attracting particular attention as anything uncommon. Later on when neither morbid vaginal phlegm nor yet menstrual blood repelled thecunnilingueany longer, there was set up a diseased process in the cutaneous glands, the resulting secretion rapidly drying formed a white crust or scurf, and this was detached in flakes resembling bran. All this could not fail to arouse remark, and accordingly the Romans, little practised in medical diagnosis, saw in it a new disease, which in turn received a new name. Just as in more modern times the introduction of Venereal disease was attributed to a leprous Knight from the Holy Land, so now at RomePerusinus, eques Romanus, Quaestorius scriba(Perusinus, a Roman knight, a secretary in the Quaestorian office) was heldresponsible for bringingmentagrafrom Asia. As a matter of fact he probably got hismentagrain Asia in exactly the same manner in which it was acquired in Rome,—if indeed we are on general grounds to give any weight to this part of the story. At any rate modern times have given us many examples of how much credence mankind is ready to give to an account of the introduction of a disease by one definite individual. But the disease did not stop at the cutaneous glands, the hair-glands were also involved, the hair fell away, and ulcers formed, which spread around with destructive virulence, as was particularly the case in Martial’s day. On the other hand it is true deep-seated ulceration never supervened, but the disease rather extended on the surface from the face onwards, spreading more or less over the whole of the rest of the body116, and thus assumed the form of Psora (Itch) or Lepra (Leprosy),—a phænomenon we shall have to return to once more later, its right appreciation being of theutmost importance for the History of Venereal Disease.

Now, since on the one hand everycunnilingueis not attacked bymentagra, while on the other sometimes ulcers of the inner portion of the mouth, sometimesmentagra, and the latter sometimes local, sometimes of wide extent, are noted, the following question calls for an answer. What circumstances conditioned these phænomena and, generally, the special frequency ofmentagrain Italy? Leaving out of account a variety of other considerations, we are bound in this place to call in along with other factors of our explanation some special and particular influence of theGenius epidemicus(the aggregate of epidemical conditions at large), which just at that time favoured the rise of skin complaints. However slight the material Antiquity affords us on this point, and especially so far as concerns the time a little before and after Our Lord’s birth, still wedofind a datum for Italy at any rate which we certainly ought not to leave unutilized. This is the statement ofPliny(ch. 5. and Bk. XX. ch. 52.) to the effect that it was in the time of Pompey the Great, or according toPlutarch(loco citato) in that of Asclepiades, thatelephantiasisfirst showed itself in Italy. It follows that at that period favourable external circumstances also were in existence in connection with the conditions of disease at large,—as indeed the ready extension ofmentagrafrom the chin onwards to the rest of the body proves even more clearly.

But it must not for a moment be supposed that thereforementagrawas ofepidemic origin. Without at all wishing to embark on the consideration of the ætiological factors ofelephantiasis, we may just mention the fact that according to Pliny’s account this disease too, equally withmentagra, would seem to have always begun with theface117. The conjectureis all but unavoidable, that very possibly in either case it was the practices of thecunnilinguethat supplied the exciting cause for the misfortune; and this would also probably explain how it waselephantiasiscame to be connected in men’s minds with theMorbus phoeniceus(Phoenician disease). Still, as already explained, this would only be equivalent to making it responsible inindividualcases,—cases that tend inevitably to render the properunderstanding of the action ofelephantiasis, as well as of its history, considerably more difficult. May it not also be to some extent the case that under the general name ofelephantiasisforms of disease of very different sorts have been confounded? The views held by the Ancients on this and on the other skin diseases still remain in too much obscurity for anyone to be able to give a decisive judgement on the point. For the rest most probably theatra luesandscelerata lues(black contagion, abominable contagion), spoken of above, likewise come under the category ofmentagra. This we have felt ourselves constrained to ascribe not solely to the practise of the vice of thecunnilingueas a cause, but tofellationalso,—only that in the latter case, as we have pointed out, it is rather the inner, in the former rather the external parts, that became affected.

Several of the commentators onHorace, and particularlyLaevinus Torrentius118have referred the much-discussedMorbus Campanus119to the head ofmentagra;accordingly this will be no inappropriate place at any rate to mention it, though without aiming at a complete explanation.Horacerepresents two buffoons,MessiusandSarmentus, as rallying each other for the amusement of the company:

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